Back to movie watching!
1) Ocean’s Twelve – Rating 9/10 for Entertainment value, Story (what story?)
This was the first Hollywood movie I have seen in Madrid (or in Europe for that matter). It was difficult to find a theatre which showed movies in English but I managed to find the single theatre that showed English movies with Spanish subtitles as opposed to all the other theatres which have Hollywood movies dubbed in Spanish.
If I had not seen this movie in Europe I would have hated it. This movie is not even close to the cool factor of Ocean’s Eleven. But all the European references (two mentions of Madrid), one huge plug for Arsenal, the amazing selection of Gotan Project’s music and the jazzy role given to Vincent Cassel made this enjoyable. There is a complete lack of story and the screenplay is to be taken with a huge slice of disbelief.
2) The 39 Steps (1935 movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock) – Rating 10/10
This is vintage Hitchcock. Despite being an early film, it is technically excellent. A simple story which movies at a brisk pace. A man is watching a theatre show. A gunshot causes commotion and as he leaves the theatre, he runs into a woman who asks to leave with him. Since he is taken by her, he agrees. When he reaches home, the woman mentions that she was the one who fired the gun. Why? Because she is a spy and her life is in danger. Ofcourse, the man does not believe her and laughs it off. She mentions that the two men standing on the road across his apartment are trying to kill her (and indeed there are two men underneath the street light). In the middle of the night, the man is woken up as the woman blurts something and falls dead on his bed. He then notices the knife stuffed in her back. From there on, he tries piecing what she said and in the morning, he finds himself as a wanted fugitive. Just a good movie!!!
One can see how in the upcoming decades a lot of films 'borrowed' Hitchcock's elements from this movie.
3) Man on the Train (original title Homme du train, directed by Patrice Leconte)
I started watching this movie but due to a DVD technical problem, most of the opening scenes were skipped. I never did finish this movie but it looked dull enough. I might revisit it one day.
4) Beyond Borders (directed by Martin Campbell) – Rating 6/10
Such promise but a real disappointment in the end! The tag line leads us to believe this is a love story set against the backdrop of some of the World’s dangerous spots – Ethiopia, Cambodia and Chechnya. But the big problem is that the love story never feels real and the entire plot seems forced.
5) A World Without Thieves (original title Tian Xia Wu Zei directed by Xiaogang Feng) – Rating 9/10
This is hugely enjoyable movie except the ending. Andy Lau and Rene Liu are two con artists who excel in their field. But Rene’s character is having doubts and wants to quit -- she even insists on visiting a Tibetan monastery to pray. When she finds out that her co-partner stole from innocent people at the temple, she is disgusted. She briefly parts ways where she encounters a village simpleton who helps her (they don’t get much simpler than this guy). After she gets back together with her co-thief, they find themselves at a train station seething with thieves. The village simpleton is also looking to catch the same train and is taking his entire life savings with him – he wants to return to the village, buy a house and get married. Everyone warns the simpleton not to take the money on the train as there are thieves around. To prove that there are no thieves, he loudly announces at the train station that how much money he is carrying. Such a public announcement attracts all the thieves. The con couple take to him and look out after him (the woman treats the simpleton like her brother and the male counterpart wants to steal the simpleton’s money to teach him about life). But when another rival thieves group go after the money, the movie develops in a rivalry contest between the two groups of thieves. A very good movie! And then there is the ending. No one in Hollywood or Bollywood will have guts to make such an ending. In some ways it is poetic and given the movie context, it is logical.
6) 2046 (directed by Kar Wai Wong)
The supposed sequel to 2000’s In the Mood for Love is an intriguing watch. However, since the movie did not come with any English subtitles I am not yet qualified to fully rate it. One can clearly find traces of In the Mood for love in this flick. For the record, Ziyi Zhang is absolutely perfect in her role.
7) Raincoat (directed by Rituparno Ghosh): 9/10
This is a play. No question about it. One only wishes it was a pure play as that would have saved the horrible flashbacks which add nothing to the movie. That being said, it is a very good story indeed. But what spoiled the movie for me was the poor work of Ashwariya. I don’t know if I should blame her or the director or both. Ashwariya’s character is supposed to be a simple villager yet in the flaskbacks (before she moved to the city) every sentence spoken by her contains words of perfect English and her manners show plenty of sophistication. Yet when she movies to a big city as Calcutta, she behaves more like a villager than she did while living in the village! She claims not to know any English but every now and then, she speaks some words with perfect English such as ‘Dietitian’ and yet in some words her village accent returns (like ‘phone’). Her dress sense seems to represent complete abandon, maybe to point towards her village care free sense of life?
Why am I being so harsh on such a good movie indeed? I have to. Given how much praise is heaped onto Rituparno and Ms. Rai, one should expect a completely polished product with no room for errors. Yet there are errors. That being said, Ajay Devgan is perfect, as is Annu Kapoor.
8) Other Bollywood flicks:
Musafir – Good idea despite a few Hollywood copied scenes. However, poor direction, lack of acting from the actresses and a dull screenplay are the bad parts. Heck, even the item songs are badly choreographed.
Naach – Shades of Rangeela all over the movie. It starts off really good but the last 30 minutes are a drag. If the main point of the movie is to portray dance as an art form (be it expressionism, ballet), then how come at the crunch moment, the dances are reduced to traditional Bollywood item numbers? There are some scenes of sheer goodness though.
Hulchul – Surprizingly I enjoyed this more than the above two movies. A lot of parallels with Priyadarshan’s ‘Doli Saja Ke Rakhana’. A good watch overall.
Swades – The less said the better. It could have been a good movie if it was not busy preaching a sermon every few minutes. Is it so hard to make an honest real movie? Apparently. This movie tried to Bollywood-ize reality and that never works.
9) The Whole Ten Yards – Rating 4/10
I really loved the original but this sequel is plain bad. There are a few genuine funny scenes but overall it is a highly dull flick.
Sunday, January 30, 2005
Sunday, December 05, 2004
December 2004 Wrap Up
Facing Windows: Rating 7/10
I missed seeing this at the Film festival but a good Italian friend told me this was not such a great movie (despite winning numerous domestic Italian movie awards). And I agree with him, this movie was not great at all, but quite bland. Sure the acting was good and the story had potential but in the end the movie was boring. There are two parallel stories in the movie and despite the director trying to tie them together, they never really feel seem connected.
The House of Flying Daggers:
Rating, Story: 3/10
Rating, Technical aspects (Visuals, Fights, Set Design): 10/10
A huge disappointment!! Sure there are great fight scenes – people will talk about the Bamboo & snow field fights and the colorful sets at the start of the movie but overall, the movie is incomplete. The movie starts off with an elaborate story line but once the love triangle kicks in, the assassin/conspiracy story is forgotten. In fact, if the love triangle was given so much importance, then what was the point of having the assassin story line?
The love story is much much weaker than either Crouching Tiger or Hero!
The Day After Tomorrow: Entertaining but full of plot holes, as expected.
Rating, Plot: 4/10
Rating, Visuals: 8/10
This movie was much more easy to watch than I had expected J The CGI graphics are really good and the ice storms, tornado’s, etc are very chilling and had my attention. Ofcourse, the negative point is the weak screenplay, choppy acting in some parts and well huge plot holes. None the less, it is a fun movie to watch.
The Girl Next Door: Rating 6/10
Unlike other high school movies, this flick does have a decent story line in mind -- a hooker moves next door to a high school outcast and changes his life. Now as clichéd as it seems the story line would have worked. However, the movie tries to do too much and is muddled up by the end – the movie moves from a high school comedy to a romantic flick to a dark comedy and then finally ends up by showing that the porn industry has a sweet and tender side.
The Chronicles of Riddick: Rating 8/10
The Riddick character was amazing in Pitch Black and in this movie once again, he steals the show. With a bigger budget, the Chronicles is a visual pleasure. The CGI graphics are quite something and the entire Story world is great. This is a role made only for Vin Diesel and he completely dives into his character.
Before Sunset: Rating 10/10
This movie will not seem as good if one has not seen Before Sunrise. That being sad, the movie starts off 9 years after the first movie left off. The movie is a delight to watch. And the camera work plus editing is flawless, it is perfect. The only negative comment about the movie is that I still think that Ethan Hawke’s expressions are weak in some scenes just like in the first movie. But Julie Delpy is perfect as usual.
I missed seeing this at the Film festival but a good Italian friend told me this was not such a great movie (despite winning numerous domestic Italian movie awards). And I agree with him, this movie was not great at all, but quite bland. Sure the acting was good and the story had potential but in the end the movie was boring. There are two parallel stories in the movie and despite the director trying to tie them together, they never really feel seem connected.
The House of Flying Daggers:
Rating, Story: 3/10
Rating, Technical aspects (Visuals, Fights, Set Design): 10/10
A huge disappointment!! Sure there are great fight scenes – people will talk about the Bamboo & snow field fights and the colorful sets at the start of the movie but overall, the movie is incomplete. The movie starts off with an elaborate story line but once the love triangle kicks in, the assassin/conspiracy story is forgotten. In fact, if the love triangle was given so much importance, then what was the point of having the assassin story line?
The love story is much much weaker than either Crouching Tiger or Hero!
The Day After Tomorrow: Entertaining but full of plot holes, as expected.
Rating, Plot: 4/10
Rating, Visuals: 8/10
This movie was much more easy to watch than I had expected J The CGI graphics are really good and the ice storms, tornado’s, etc are very chilling and had my attention. Ofcourse, the negative point is the weak screenplay, choppy acting in some parts and well huge plot holes. None the less, it is a fun movie to watch.
The Girl Next Door: Rating 6/10
Unlike other high school movies, this flick does have a decent story line in mind -- a hooker moves next door to a high school outcast and changes his life. Now as clichéd as it seems the story line would have worked. However, the movie tries to do too much and is muddled up by the end – the movie moves from a high school comedy to a romantic flick to a dark comedy and then finally ends up by showing that the porn industry has a sweet and tender side.
The Chronicles of Riddick: Rating 8/10
The Riddick character was amazing in Pitch Black and in this movie once again, he steals the show. With a bigger budget, the Chronicles is a visual pleasure. The CGI graphics are quite something and the entire Story world is great. This is a role made only for Vin Diesel and he completely dives into his character.
Before Sunset: Rating 10/10
This movie will not seem as good if one has not seen Before Sunrise. That being sad, the movie starts off 9 years after the first movie left off. The movie is a delight to watch. And the camera work plus editing is flawless, it is perfect. The only negative comment about the movie is that I still think that Ethan Hawke’s expressions are weak in some scenes just like in the first movie. But Julie Delpy is perfect as usual.
Sunday, November 14, 2004
November Wrap-up
1) Intimate Strangers (Directed by Patrice Leconte, Produced by Alain Sarde): Rating 8/10
This is a classic French movie and has a few signs of an Alain Sarde production as well (for example Nathalie, Jet Lag, Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud, Dry Cleaning). Those signs involve a relationship in trouble and ample intelligent conversation which tries to resolve the situation. This time around the sensuality is all in the conversation itself. A woman walks into a shrink’s office and starts unloading her worries. Then just like that, she abruptly ends her talk and walks off wanting to return for another session. The only snag is that the shrink is not a shrink at all but a mere tax advisor; the woman had walked into the wrong door. So the tax advisor heads down the hall into the therapist’s office to get advice on what do with the situation. Needless to say, he continues to listen to the woman’s needs. The movie heads towards a predictable ending but there are some interesting events along the way. If one has seen plenty of French movies, then this one will not seem to be that great. Still a decent watch! It is still refreshing to see un-glossy actors giving an amazing performance, which only French movies can provide.
2) Monsieur Ibrahim (Directed by Francois Dupeyron): Rating 11/10
This is a PERFECT movie! Along with Exils, this is the best movie I have seen this year. It is refreshing to see Omar Sharif (who plays a Turkish shop owner) given a charming role which he plays to perfection. But the real gem of this movie is the young actor, Pierre Boulanger, who gives a virtuoso performance as the 14 year old Momo. Boulanger’s expressions are priceless (feisty when they have to be, innocent when needed) and Omar Sharif rightly believes that this kid will be a star one day.
So what’s the story? A majority of the movie involves Momo’s coming of age tale -- Momo never really knew his mother because she left when he was an infant and his father is off on his own most of the time. So Momo balances his mostly solitary life with meaningful conversations with M. Ibrahim. And this is where he grows from a young boy into a useful man. The last bit of the movie involves a road journey as well. But a truly pleasant movie!!!!!!!!!!
3) The Mother (Directed by Roger Michell): Rating 4/10
A rating of this movie depends on the fact whether one buys the affair development between a mother and her daughter’s boyfriend. If one buys the entire process, then like most critics, one will be bowled over by this movie. But if one does not believe the story, then the entire movie seems contrived and pointless. Curiously, the movie is based on Hanif Kureishi’s book so I am not sure how the book might have been. An elderly couple comes to London to visit their children. And typical of this day and age, the children have a busy life and can’t look after their parents. The father dies on the trip and the mother finds her entire life shook-up. She opts to stay in London with her daughter as her son is too busy always. Through a very smooth and casual process, the mother rediscovers her zest for life in the arms of her daughter’s boyfriend (a man half her age, give or take a few years). I just didn’t buy the entire process and well thought the entire movie was a waste.
4) Bon Voyage (Directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau): Rating 5/10
Maybe I was not in the mood but this movie just didn’t interest me one bit. It has an interesting cast with Isabelle Adjani, Gerard Depardieu and Peter Coyote. But this murder chase movie set in the mood of World War II seemed really boring.
5) Trio of Truffaut movies – Also there are trio of Francois Truffaut movies that I am currently finishing up.
a) Bed and Board – This is the fourth in the Antoine Doinel series of movies with 400 Blows, Love at Twenty, Stolen Kisses being the other three. Unfortunately, I saw the French version without any subtitles. But such was the beauty of the movie that I managed to follow more or less what was going on.
b) Stolen Kisses – The 3rd Antoine Doinel movie, with 400 Blows being the first one. Once again, the movie glides effortlessly as Antoine goes from one failed project to another.
c) The Last Metro – I have not finished this 1980 movie starring Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu.
6) Hiroshima mon Amour (Directed by Alain Resnais) -- I am trying to finish up this 1959 movie so I can watch and understand H-Story, the 2001 Nobuhiro Suwa movie about the making of the original Hiroshima movie.
This is a classic French movie and has a few signs of an Alain Sarde production as well (for example Nathalie, Jet Lag, Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud, Dry Cleaning). Those signs involve a relationship in trouble and ample intelligent conversation which tries to resolve the situation. This time around the sensuality is all in the conversation itself. A woman walks into a shrink’s office and starts unloading her worries. Then just like that, she abruptly ends her talk and walks off wanting to return for another session. The only snag is that the shrink is not a shrink at all but a mere tax advisor; the woman had walked into the wrong door. So the tax advisor heads down the hall into the therapist’s office to get advice on what do with the situation. Needless to say, he continues to listen to the woman’s needs. The movie heads towards a predictable ending but there are some interesting events along the way. If one has seen plenty of French movies, then this one will not seem to be that great. Still a decent watch! It is still refreshing to see un-glossy actors giving an amazing performance, which only French movies can provide.
2) Monsieur Ibrahim (Directed by Francois Dupeyron): Rating 11/10
This is a PERFECT movie! Along with Exils, this is the best movie I have seen this year. It is refreshing to see Omar Sharif (who plays a Turkish shop owner) given a charming role which he plays to perfection. But the real gem of this movie is the young actor, Pierre Boulanger, who gives a virtuoso performance as the 14 year old Momo. Boulanger’s expressions are priceless (feisty when they have to be, innocent when needed) and Omar Sharif rightly believes that this kid will be a star one day.
So what’s the story? A majority of the movie involves Momo’s coming of age tale -- Momo never really knew his mother because she left when he was an infant and his father is off on his own most of the time. So Momo balances his mostly solitary life with meaningful conversations with M. Ibrahim. And this is where he grows from a young boy into a useful man. The last bit of the movie involves a road journey as well. But a truly pleasant movie!!!!!!!!!!
3) The Mother (Directed by Roger Michell): Rating 4/10
A rating of this movie depends on the fact whether one buys the affair development between a mother and her daughter’s boyfriend. If one buys the entire process, then like most critics, one will be bowled over by this movie. But if one does not believe the story, then the entire movie seems contrived and pointless. Curiously, the movie is based on Hanif Kureishi’s book so I am not sure how the book might have been. An elderly couple comes to London to visit their children. And typical of this day and age, the children have a busy life and can’t look after their parents. The father dies on the trip and the mother finds her entire life shook-up. She opts to stay in London with her daughter as her son is too busy always. Through a very smooth and casual process, the mother rediscovers her zest for life in the arms of her daughter’s boyfriend (a man half her age, give or take a few years). I just didn’t buy the entire process and well thought the entire movie was a waste.
4) Bon Voyage (Directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau): Rating 5/10
Maybe I was not in the mood but this movie just didn’t interest me one bit. It has an interesting cast with Isabelle Adjani, Gerard Depardieu and Peter Coyote. But this murder chase movie set in the mood of World War II seemed really boring.
5) Trio of Truffaut movies – Also there are trio of Francois Truffaut movies that I am currently finishing up.
a) Bed and Board – This is the fourth in the Antoine Doinel series of movies with 400 Blows, Love at Twenty, Stolen Kisses being the other three. Unfortunately, I saw the French version without any subtitles. But such was the beauty of the movie that I managed to follow more or less what was going on.
b) Stolen Kisses – The 3rd Antoine Doinel movie, with 400 Blows being the first one. Once again, the movie glides effortlessly as Antoine goes from one failed project to another.
c) The Last Metro – I have not finished this 1980 movie starring Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu.
6) Hiroshima mon Amour (Directed by Alain Resnais) -- I am trying to finish up this 1959 movie so I can watch and understand H-Story, the 2001 Nobuhiro Suwa movie about the making of the original Hiroshima movie.
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
October Movie Wrap-up
1) Carandiru (directed by Hector ) : Rating 10/10
This movie is based on a true story. But as it turns out certain characters were changed from real life to fit the movie mould. Nonetheless, this is a very interesting movie. The story revolves around an incident in a Brazilian prison where riot squad massacred un-armed prisoners for purely political reasons. The movie is divided into two segments – the first segment (almost ¾ of the movie) focuses on the prisoners and their stories, lives etc as seen from the eyes of the Prison Doctor. The second segment outlines the prison massacre.
This method works quite well – since we have come to identify the prisoners from the first segment, the massacre puts things into perspective.
2) Close Your Eyes (also known as Doctor Sleep): Rating 9/10
Quite a thriller from the UK! The story revolves around a doctor who uses hypnosis to cure his patients of their smoking habits. During one case, he tells his woman patient not to think of nasty images like a girl floating in the water next time on. The woman is surprised – how on earth did the doctor read her mind? Well as it turns out she is a cop working on a serial killer case. She enlists his help in trying to solve a bizarre sequence of killings.
3) The Ladykillers (directed by the Coen Brothers): Rating 5/10
Once upon a time a movie by the Coen brothers was a sure thing -- Blood Simple, Fargo, O Brother Where Are Thou, The Big Leobowski, Barton Fink, The Man Who Wasn’t there! But that has changed. For the second year in a row, they have produced a dud. This could have something to do with the fact that like the dull and boring Intolerable Cruelty, the Ladykillers is not a script written by the two brothers. There is only so much a person can do when working with someone else’s script or even a remake. Even though Ladykillers has the typical Noir elements from other Coen movies but it is not enough to liven a movie.
Massively disappointing!!
4) Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring (Korean movie by Ki-duk Kim): Rating 8/10
The director of the Isle returns with a visually pleasing movie. The story is simple enough – a Buddhist monk lives with a little boy on a floating monastery in the middle of a lake. The movie starts off in Spring and shows the lives of the two monks. The little boy is mischievous and goes out of his way to harm animals around him. So the elder monk teaches the boy a lesson. We next move to Summer when the little boy has grown up into a teenager -- an age where his hormones are acting up. When a young woman comes to stay at the monastery, well his sexual drive kicks in. From there on, the next seasons outline different stages in the young monk’s life. The movie eventually comes full circle to the start, just like things eventually do.
The Winter story is visually STUNNING. Beautiful!
5) Bus 174 (Brazilian Documentary):
This documentary has gotten nothing but rave reviews everywhere. It centers around a real-life bus hostage situation in Brazil where the media beam the entire incident live on tv. The documentary has interesting parts and tries to piece the entire story together – the identity of the armed person, the motives behind the act, the role of the police, and how things turned out. The film gives a realistic look at the characters used widely in movies such as City of God, Carandiru and Man of the Year. But for some bizarre, I didn’t find this movie that engaging. I lost interest after a while and well was bored.
This movie is based on a true story. But as it turns out certain characters were changed from real life to fit the movie mould. Nonetheless, this is a very interesting movie. The story revolves around an incident in a Brazilian prison where riot squad massacred un-armed prisoners for purely political reasons. The movie is divided into two segments – the first segment (almost ¾ of the movie) focuses on the prisoners and their stories, lives etc as seen from the eyes of the Prison Doctor. The second segment outlines the prison massacre.
This method works quite well – since we have come to identify the prisoners from the first segment, the massacre puts things into perspective.
2) Close Your Eyes (also known as Doctor Sleep): Rating 9/10
Quite a thriller from the UK! The story revolves around a doctor who uses hypnosis to cure his patients of their smoking habits. During one case, he tells his woman patient not to think of nasty images like a girl floating in the water next time on. The woman is surprised – how on earth did the doctor read her mind? Well as it turns out she is a cop working on a serial killer case. She enlists his help in trying to solve a bizarre sequence of killings.
3) The Ladykillers (directed by the Coen Brothers): Rating 5/10
Once upon a time a movie by the Coen brothers was a sure thing -- Blood Simple, Fargo, O Brother Where Are Thou, The Big Leobowski, Barton Fink, The Man Who Wasn’t there! But that has changed. For the second year in a row, they have produced a dud. This could have something to do with the fact that like the dull and boring Intolerable Cruelty, the Ladykillers is not a script written by the two brothers. There is only so much a person can do when working with someone else’s script or even a remake. Even though Ladykillers has the typical Noir elements from other Coen movies but it is not enough to liven a movie.
Massively disappointing!!
4) Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring (Korean movie by Ki-duk Kim): Rating 8/10
The director of the Isle returns with a visually pleasing movie. The story is simple enough – a Buddhist monk lives with a little boy on a floating monastery in the middle of a lake. The movie starts off in Spring and shows the lives of the two monks. The little boy is mischievous and goes out of his way to harm animals around him. So the elder monk teaches the boy a lesson. We next move to Summer when the little boy has grown up into a teenager -- an age where his hormones are acting up. When a young woman comes to stay at the monastery, well his sexual drive kicks in. From there on, the next seasons outline different stages in the young monk’s life. The movie eventually comes full circle to the start, just like things eventually do.
The Winter story is visually STUNNING. Beautiful!
5) Bus 174 (Brazilian Documentary):
This documentary has gotten nothing but rave reviews everywhere. It centers around a real-life bus hostage situation in Brazil where the media beam the entire incident live on tv. The documentary has interesting parts and tries to piece the entire story together – the identity of the armed person, the motives behind the act, the role of the police, and how things turned out. The film gives a realistic look at the characters used widely in movies such as City of God, Carandiru and Man of the Year. But for some bizarre, I didn’t find this movie that engaging. I lost interest after a while and well was bored.
Saturday, October 16, 2004
October Movie notes
1) La Belle noiseuse (aka The Beautiful Troublemaker) directed by Jacques Rivette: Rating 7/10
This 1991 French movie is all about Emmanuelle Beart or specifically Beart’s body. Michel Piccoli plays Edouard Frenhofer, a reclusive painter with his own unique painting style. Frenhofer has stopped painting a while ago but when Beart agrees to pose for him, he finds his rhythm back. There are things about art which are difficult to translate and the same goes for this movie. Some things don’t translate fully but nonetheless a decent movie. Beart’s expressions are spot on as usual.
2) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (directed by Michel Gondry): Rating 6/10
A great story idea penned by Charlie Kaufman, Gondry and Pierre Bismuth but a very poor on screen execution. Jim Carrey as expected is great in his role but the problem really is with the movie rhythm. The movie is caught in between a European and Hollywood feel. If it was a truly a French movie, then it would have worked. If it was in the realm of a complete Hollywood movie, then maybe it could have made it. The story is around the idea that people can go to a certain company to erase their painful memories. The journey through Carrey’s brain when his memories are being wiped is a great visual achievement. But in the end, very disappointed.
3) Coffee and Cigarettes (directed by Jim Jarmusch): Rating 4/10
A series of 11 black and white shorts filmed with a common thread of caffeine and nicotine. 10 of the shorts feature coffee, 2 have tea (with one being coffee free). I think only one short does not have cigarettes.
Anyway, the first 6 movies can be discarded. That is a big thing considering the first one stars Roberto Benigni as a severe coffee/cigarette junkie. Jarmusch shot the first few shorts in 1986 and then finished the rest of the films in 2002/03 or so. After movies such as Ghost Dog, Night on Earth, Dead Man, I was expecting more from him. But in the end, most of the efforts are not that great.
The seventh movie titled ‘Cousins’ starring Cate Blanchett in a double role is quite good. This is the only movie which features expresso.
The 8th movie is best forgetten.
The 9th movie titled ‘Cousins?’ is probably the best of the lot starring Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan. This is the only short which does not have coffee but only tea.
The 10th movie starts Bill Murray & RZA, GZA (of the Wu-Tang Clan) and is not bad. This one also features herbal tea.
4) Ju-on: The Grudge (directed by Takashi Shimizu): Rating 6.5/10
I finally watched the original Japanese movie before the Hollywood remake is released on Oct 22. Now, I was expecting a lot more scary scenes from this movie than what transpires. But in typical Japanese horror fashion, the scares are brought on by carefully constructed scenes focusing on background music and tiny details. There is no need for slashing gory scenes to make people jump with anticipation; just simple scenes which slowly unravel the horror works efficiently. The story revolves around a haunted house, which has a curse placed on it because of a murder committed there. Anyone who comes in contact with the house will not survive no matter where they run to. The movie is jam packed with situations which evoke horror even before anything is shown – dark attics, an empty bathroom, closets, dark rooms, etc. It is not a bad movie but I guess what disappointed me was the expectations I had from this flick.
This 1991 French movie is all about Emmanuelle Beart or specifically Beart’s body. Michel Piccoli plays Edouard Frenhofer, a reclusive painter with his own unique painting style. Frenhofer has stopped painting a while ago but when Beart agrees to pose for him, he finds his rhythm back. There are things about art which are difficult to translate and the same goes for this movie. Some things don’t translate fully but nonetheless a decent movie. Beart’s expressions are spot on as usual.
2) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (directed by Michel Gondry): Rating 6/10
A great story idea penned by Charlie Kaufman, Gondry and Pierre Bismuth but a very poor on screen execution. Jim Carrey as expected is great in his role but the problem really is with the movie rhythm. The movie is caught in between a European and Hollywood feel. If it was a truly a French movie, then it would have worked. If it was in the realm of a complete Hollywood movie, then maybe it could have made it. The story is around the idea that people can go to a certain company to erase their painful memories. The journey through Carrey’s brain when his memories are being wiped is a great visual achievement. But in the end, very disappointed.
3) Coffee and Cigarettes (directed by Jim Jarmusch): Rating 4/10
A series of 11 black and white shorts filmed with a common thread of caffeine and nicotine. 10 of the shorts feature coffee, 2 have tea (with one being coffee free). I think only one short does not have cigarettes.
Anyway, the first 6 movies can be discarded. That is a big thing considering the first one stars Roberto Benigni as a severe coffee/cigarette junkie. Jarmusch shot the first few shorts in 1986 and then finished the rest of the films in 2002/03 or so. After movies such as Ghost Dog, Night on Earth, Dead Man, I was expecting more from him. But in the end, most of the efforts are not that great.
The seventh movie titled ‘Cousins’ starring Cate Blanchett in a double role is quite good. This is the only movie which features expresso.
The 8th movie is best forgetten.
The 9th movie titled ‘Cousins?’ is probably the best of the lot starring Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan. This is the only short which does not have coffee but only tea.
The 10th movie starts Bill Murray & RZA, GZA (of the Wu-Tang Clan) and is not bad. This one also features herbal tea.
4) Ju-on: The Grudge (directed by Takashi Shimizu): Rating 6.5/10
I finally watched the original Japanese movie before the Hollywood remake is released on Oct 22. Now, I was expecting a lot more scary scenes from this movie than what transpires. But in typical Japanese horror fashion, the scares are brought on by carefully constructed scenes focusing on background music and tiny details. There is no need for slashing gory scenes to make people jump with anticipation; just simple scenes which slowly unravel the horror works efficiently. The story revolves around a haunted house, which has a curse placed on it because of a murder committed there. Anyone who comes in contact with the house will not survive no matter where they run to. The movie is jam packed with situations which evoke horror even before anything is shown – dark attics, an empty bathroom, closets, dark rooms, etc. It is not a bad movie but I guess what disappointed me was the expectations I had from this flick.
Sunday, October 03, 2004
Festival Wrap Up
Well the festival is over. There were quite a few good movies that I saw and I even missed seeing some of the more popular festival movies. My overall pick for the favourite movie was Exiles by Tony Gatlif. But here is the summary of the final few days:
Day Seven: Thu, Sept 30
The Motocycle Diaries (directed by Walter Salles): Rating 8/10
If this movie did not have the name Che Guevera associated with it, then there would have hardly been any hype around it despite it being well acted and beautifully shot by Eric Gautier (truly deserving of his Cannes Award). The movie is NOT about Che but instead about two young men, Ernesto and Alberto, who plan a road trip through Latin America. The motorcycle trip comes with its problems and adventures, and is a life altering experience for both. There are no technical flaws with the movie, but the only thing that weighs the movie down is the hype.
Kopps (directed by Josef Fares): Rating 10/10
A hilarious movie set in a small crime free Swedish town. Since the crime rate is non-existent, the local police station is about to be shut down. Facing the prospect of losing their jobs, the Kopps decide to boost the crime rate themselves. Interesting characters all around – well acted and just plain fun.
Slim Sussie (directed by Ulf Malmros): Rating 8/10
Another movie set in a small Swedish town. A brother, Erik, returns to his hometown to find his sister, Sussie. It has been a few years since Erik left the town to head to the city and soon learns that things changed quite a bit for Sussie. Each person has a different version of what happened to Sussie and trying to piece everything together becomes a problem for Erik. The movie is jam packed with references to Hollywood movies (Usual Suspects, Clockwork Orange, etc) and contains some memorable characters. When the pace of the movie slows down, a few songs help pick up the slack.
Day 8: Friday, Oct 1
Facing Windows (directed by Ferzan Ozpetek):
I was late for this movie and since the show was sold out, I was turned away with quite a few other people.
Primer (directed by Shane Carruth): Rating 8/10
A classic festival movie -- small budget ($7000 dollars) & a great idea! Four young engineers work in a garage (outside of their regular 50 hour a week jobs) to come up with the next big thing. What the big thing is supposed to be, none of them knows; they just go with the flow. The start of the movie is impossible to comprehend as technical terms are thrown around, but it is clear it has something to do with freezing temperatures. Two of the men stumble onto something and decide to keep it from the other two. This is where the movie goes off on a different tangent (sci-fi) – the two men find a way to create their very own time machine. It is an interesting watch, even though hard to understand everything. Each person will take something different from this movie.
Day 9: Sat, Oct 2
Exiles (directed by Tony Gatlif): Rating 11/10
The best movie for me at the festival! It stood head and shoulders above everything else. That being said, the movie might be a hit or miss for others. The story is simple as can be – Zano and Naima decide to leave Paris and head to Algeria to find their roots. Their parents were from Algeria and they are keen to return to a land they have only heard about (they don’t even speak Arabic). Their journey consists of heading through Spain and finally sneaking into Algeria (the Algerian border is closed). Since this is a Tony Gatlif movie, the traditional flamenco musical sequences are present. And an additional bonus is the presence of Rai music (not truly Rai but shades of it). A movie with a simple story but brilliant direction (Gatlif rightly deserved the best director award at Cannes). At no point in the movie does anything seem fake – this is a movie made by a person who cares to make a movie, who has a story to tell, who has something to convey. This is not a movie made for money but out of love. A classic!!!!
Lost Embrace (directed by Daniel Burman): Rating 5/10
A disappointing movie! For some reason this movie bagged a couple of awards at the Berlin film festival.
Red Cockroaches (directed by Miguel Coyula): Rating 4/10
A movie made on a shoe string budget, apparently $2000 dollars. The movie is shot entirely on dv camera and was edited by Coyula on his computer. There are some neat aspects in the movie but overall it is hugely disappointing. The movie is set in the future where DNA manipulation can bring back dead people. Acid Rain causes mutations and red cockroaches are the carriers of this mutation disease. Adam immediately takes to a woman he sees in a subway station. But she disappears and all he finds is a tooth. A few scenes later, Adam discovers the woman, Lily, is his long lost sister who Adam and his mother had thought to be dead. Adam and Lily engage in sexual union and once the incest starts, the sci-fi angle is thrown out of the window.
One can say that given the small budget, this is a significant effort. But there are too many loop holes in this one. Now, with a bigger budget, something could be made from this story.
Day 10: Sun, Oct 3
Memron (directed by Nancy Hower): Rating 7/10
A mocumentary completely in the style of Christopher Guest! Memron was once the biggest company on the planet but due to some book-keeping errors (err, stealing money), the company is facing bankruptcy and are forced to lay off more than thousands of employees. The movie shows the plight of the employees and takes a jab at the CEO’s who still continue to be given VIP treatment despite being crooks.
First five Festival days can be found here.
Day Seven: Thu, Sept 30
The Motocycle Diaries (directed by Walter Salles): Rating 8/10
If this movie did not have the name Che Guevera associated with it, then there would have hardly been any hype around it despite it being well acted and beautifully shot by Eric Gautier (truly deserving of his Cannes Award). The movie is NOT about Che but instead about two young men, Ernesto and Alberto, who plan a road trip through Latin America. The motorcycle trip comes with its problems and adventures, and is a life altering experience for both. There are no technical flaws with the movie, but the only thing that weighs the movie down is the hype.
Kopps (directed by Josef Fares): Rating 10/10
A hilarious movie set in a small crime free Swedish town. Since the crime rate is non-existent, the local police station is about to be shut down. Facing the prospect of losing their jobs, the Kopps decide to boost the crime rate themselves. Interesting characters all around – well acted and just plain fun.
Slim Sussie (directed by Ulf Malmros): Rating 8/10
Another movie set in a small Swedish town. A brother, Erik, returns to his hometown to find his sister, Sussie. It has been a few years since Erik left the town to head to the city and soon learns that things changed quite a bit for Sussie. Each person has a different version of what happened to Sussie and trying to piece everything together becomes a problem for Erik. The movie is jam packed with references to Hollywood movies (Usual Suspects, Clockwork Orange, etc) and contains some memorable characters. When the pace of the movie slows down, a few songs help pick up the slack.
Day 8: Friday, Oct 1
Facing Windows (directed by Ferzan Ozpetek):
I was late for this movie and since the show was sold out, I was turned away with quite a few other people.
A classic festival movie -- small budget ($7000 dollars) & a great idea! Four young engineers work in a garage (outside of their regular 50 hour a week jobs) to come up with the next big thing. What the big thing is supposed to be, none of them knows; they just go with the flow. The start of the movie is impossible to comprehend as technical terms are thrown around, but it is clear it has something to do with freezing temperatures. Two of the men stumble onto something and decide to keep it from the other two. This is where the movie goes off on a different tangent (sci-fi) – the two men find a way to create their very own time machine. It is an interesting watch, even though hard to understand everything. Each person will take something different from this movie.
Day 9: Sat, Oct 2
Exiles (directed by Tony Gatlif): Rating 11/10
The best movie for me at the festival! It stood head and shoulders above everything else. That being said, the movie might be a hit or miss for others. The story is simple as can be – Zano and Naima decide to leave Paris and head to Algeria to find their roots. Their parents were from Algeria and they are keen to return to a land they have only heard about (they don’t even speak Arabic). Their journey consists of heading through Spain and finally sneaking into Algeria (the Algerian border is closed). Since this is a Tony Gatlif movie, the traditional flamenco musical sequences are present. And an additional bonus is the presence of Rai music (not truly Rai but shades of it). A movie with a simple story but brilliant direction (Gatlif rightly deserved the best director award at Cannes). At no point in the movie does anything seem fake – this is a movie made by a person who cares to make a movie, who has a story to tell, who has something to convey. This is not a movie made for money but out of love. A classic!!!!
Lost Embrace (directed by Daniel Burman): Rating 5/10
A disappointing movie! For some reason this movie bagged a couple of awards at the Berlin film festival.
Red Cockroaches (directed by Miguel Coyula): Rating 4/10
A movie made on a shoe string budget, apparently $2000 dollars. The movie is shot entirely on dv camera and was edited by Coyula on his computer. There are some neat aspects in the movie but overall it is hugely disappointing. The movie is set in the future where DNA manipulation can bring back dead people. Acid Rain causes mutations and red cockroaches are the carriers of this mutation disease. Adam immediately takes to a woman he sees in a subway station. But she disappears and all he finds is a tooth. A few scenes later, Adam discovers the woman, Lily, is his long lost sister who Adam and his mother had thought to be dead. Adam and Lily engage in sexual union and once the incest starts, the sci-fi angle is thrown out of the window.
One can say that given the small budget, this is a significant effort. But there are too many loop holes in this one. Now, with a bigger budget, something could be made from this story.
Day 10: Sun, Oct 3
Memron (directed by Nancy Hower): Rating 7/10
A mocumentary completely in the style of Christopher Guest! Memron was once the biggest company on the planet but due to some book-keeping errors (err, stealing money), the company is facing bankruptcy and are forced to lay off more than thousands of employees. The movie shows the plight of the employees and takes a jab at the CEO’s who still continue to be given VIP treatment despite being crooks.
First five Festival days can be found here.
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Mid-way through the Film Festival
The festival has reached its halfway point and what better time to take the night off and recharge for the final four movie packed days. So here’s the news so far:
Day One: Friday, Sept 24
Of the three movies I had originally planned to see, I could only attend the midnight feature, Saw (from America by James Wan). The two that I missed were August Sun (from Srilanka) and Kamchatka (Argentina).
Saw (directed by James Wan): Rating a solid 9/10
A midnight feature is deemed to be cultish, gory, scary, etc. Saw is not as gory as the original version that premiered at Sundance, but it is still a stellar movie. The opening scenes are some of the best I have seen this year. Picture this:
The movie opens in darkness with a man immersed in a bathtub with a blade looking device escaping down the drain. The man hears another man’s voice. The other man says he has found a light switch. The lights come on slowly, one by one. Two men, strangers to each other, find themselves on opposite corners of a large, dirty bathroom. In the middle of the bathroom floor, equidistant from the two men, is a man lying dead, face down in his blood with a gun in one hand (part of his head seems blown off). Both men have one of their legs chained to the pipes on the wall. The men can’t remember why they are here? Who has brought them? What’s going on?
The movie then unfolds brilliantly. Echoes of Seven and Cube come to mind. But this movie stands on its own. The only negative point is a bit of slack near the ending but usually with this kind of genre, the endings try to achieve too much. A worthy see nonetheless. And when you consider this is an effort from a first time director, then the movie seems an even greater achievement.
Day Two: Saturday, Sept 25
11’09”01 – 11 different directors with each short film lasting 11 minutes, 9 seconds and one frame.
There are some interesting flicks in this one and some which will offend for sure. Here is a quick rating of each one
1) Segment from Iran by Samira Makhmalbaf: Rating 6/10
For some reason I didn’t take to this one. It is set in Iran dealing with refugee Afghani children and their school teacher trying to tell them about the incident. Topics of God and destruction are brought up.
2) Segment from France by Claude Lelouch: Rating 7/10
Set in New York dealing with a deaf, mute woman whose is on the verge of breaking up with her boyfriend (who works as a tour guide in the Trade Centers).
3) Segment from Egypt by Youssef Chahine: Rating 6/10
It brings up interesting ideas of a certain country's foreign policies and killing of innocent people but does not have a consistent flow. Also, made with the mood of a typical Egyptian movie (with dramatic background music)
4) Segment from Bosnia-Herzegovina by Danis Tanovic: Rating 9/10
An emotional piece which shows that one must keep on demonstrating even though no progress is being made.
5) Segment from Burkina Faso by Idrissa Ouedraogo: Rating 10/10
This was the only humorous segement. A boy believes he has seen Bin Laden in his small African village and rounds up his friends to nab Bin Laden so that they can claim the 25 million dollar prize.
6) Segment from United Kingdom by Ken Loach: Rating 10/10
This is the best of the lot. It shows an exiled Chilean in London remembering Sept 11, 1973 when America helped dispose of Chile’s government and supported the installation of Pinochet’s dictatorship.
7) Segment from Israel by Amos Gitai: Rating 8/10
This was a good episode which showed the media circus that follows real life terrorist incidents news reporting.
8) Segment from Mexico by Alejandro Inarritu: Rating 9/10
Powerful. Effective. And ends with the words “Does God's light guide us or blind us?”
9) Segment from USA by Sean Penn: Rating 10/10
Sheer genius. But the one to offend most people. It can be interpreted in a number of ways.
10) Segment from India by Mira Nair: Rating 7/10
Based on a true life story about a Pakistani person mistakenly judged as a terrorist in New York because of America’s blanket 1984 laws.
11) Segment from Japan by Shohei Imamura: Rating 3/10
This one sticks out from the rest. Set in 1945 Japan. A solider returns from the war and chooses to live like a snake rather than be human. The movie ends with the snake saying “There is no such thing as a Holy War”.
Clean (directed by Oliver Assayas): Rating 6/10
Oh the hype. Maggie Cheung won the Best Actress award for this movie at Cannes this year. And yet, she is the weakest element in this movie. The movie lacks any emotion and is cold and un-interesting. The only time Maggie acts with emotion is when she switches to Cantonese but in French and English, she delivers her lines with zero emotion. A huge let-down.
Kontroll (directed by Nimrod Antal): Rating 10/10
The buzz around this Hungarian movie ensured the line-up’s were huge and people were turned away. And what a movie it is!!!! The movie follows the lives of the underground subway metro staff on their daily routines – the insanity, the male power games, the inner turmoils, hilarious passengers, etc. The first half is a hilarious movie but the second half explores the shades of darkness lurking beneath.
Day 3: Sunday, Sept 26
Hukkle (directed by Gyorgy Palfi): Rating 7/10
No dialogues, but simply beautiful countryside of a small Hungarian town. An old man hiccups while life moves at a snail’s pace. In between the close up shots of snakes, insects, water, fishes, pig’s behind, there is a murder taking place. Enough clues are shown for us to piece together who was killed and how. A very offbeat movie which demonstrates the power of images.
Nathalie (directed by Anne Fontaine): Rating 9/10
A classic French movie. Emmanuelle Beart and Fanny Ardant are just perfect in their roles but Gerard Depardieu is not given much to do.
Nothing (directed by Vincenzo Natali): Rating 7/10
I headed into this movie only because it was by the director of the cult hit, Cube. The movie starts off poorly but really kicks into high gear after the first 20 minutes. The premise is best not told but that two friends who are social outcasts find themselves stranded in white empty space.
Note: The other option instead of Nothing was the Swedish movie, Kopps. Everyone I have talked to says that Kopps was hilarious. And sure enough, Hollywood is planning to remake this movie.
Day 4: Monday, Sept 27
I passed up the chance to watch the Czech movie, Zelary and award winning French movie, Since Otar Left. From word of mouth, it seems Zelary was well received.
The Shield (directed by Frederic Provost): Rating 6/10
I was disappointed by this French action movie. The slow and dull start really dampened things but the movie eventually managed to pick up.
Day 5: Tuesday, Sept 28
Choker Bali (directed by Rituparno Ghosh): Rating 6/10
This was the first time in the festival that my view of the screen was blocked by tall people sitting in front making it was hard to read all the subtitles. The movie started 20 minutes late and since I wanted to make the Brazilian movie later in the night, I had to leave the theater with 20 minutes to go. Will have to catch up with it later on.
Man of the Year (directed by Jose Henrique Fonseca): Rating 8/10
The hype around the movie was staggering because everyone had compared it to City of God. Well the movie is not as good as City of God but it is a good movie. A man loses a soccer bet and has to dye his hair blond. From then on, his life takes a completely different turn. Shades of Scarface, City of God, and every other slick gangster movie out there. Visually the movie is really good (the cinematography oozes with coolness, right out of a Michael Mann movie).
Note: For the second time in the night, it was hard to read the subtitles. This time we sat in the 2nd last row (as opposed to the 6th row from the front in Choker Bali) and a cascading stream of heads made it impossible to sit still. Apparently everyone around had the same problem.
Day One: Friday, Sept 24
Of the three movies I had originally planned to see, I could only attend the midnight feature, Saw (from America by James Wan). The two that I missed were August Sun (from Srilanka) and Kamchatka (Argentina).
Saw (directed by James Wan): Rating a solid 9/10
A midnight feature is deemed to be cultish, gory, scary, etc. Saw is not as gory as the original version that premiered at Sundance, but it is still a stellar movie. The opening scenes are some of the best I have seen this year. Picture this:
The movie opens in darkness with a man immersed in a bathtub with a blade looking device escaping down the drain. The man hears another man’s voice. The other man says he has found a light switch. The lights come on slowly, one by one. Two men, strangers to each other, find themselves on opposite corners of a large, dirty bathroom. In the middle of the bathroom floor, equidistant from the two men, is a man lying dead, face down in his blood with a gun in one hand (part of his head seems blown off). Both men have one of their legs chained to the pipes on the wall. The men can’t remember why they are here? Who has brought them? What’s going on?
The movie then unfolds brilliantly. Echoes of Seven and Cube come to mind. But this movie stands on its own. The only negative point is a bit of slack near the ending but usually with this kind of genre, the endings try to achieve too much. A worthy see nonetheless. And when you consider this is an effort from a first time director, then the movie seems an even greater achievement.
Day Two: Saturday, Sept 25
11’09”01 – 11 different directors with each short film lasting 11 minutes, 9 seconds and one frame.
There are some interesting flicks in this one and some which will offend for sure. Here is a quick rating of each one
1) Segment from Iran by Samira Makhmalbaf: Rating 6/10
For some reason I didn’t take to this one. It is set in Iran dealing with refugee Afghani children and their school teacher trying to tell them about the incident. Topics of God and destruction are brought up.
2) Segment from France by Claude Lelouch: Rating 7/10
Set in New York dealing with a deaf, mute woman whose is on the verge of breaking up with her boyfriend (who works as a tour guide in the Trade Centers).
3) Segment from Egypt by Youssef Chahine: Rating 6/10
It brings up interesting ideas of a certain country's foreign policies and killing of innocent people but does not have a consistent flow. Also, made with the mood of a typical Egyptian movie (with dramatic background music)
4) Segment from Bosnia-Herzegovina by Danis Tanovic: Rating 9/10
An emotional piece which shows that one must keep on demonstrating even though no progress is being made.
5) Segment from Burkina Faso by Idrissa Ouedraogo: Rating 10/10
This was the only humorous segement. A boy believes he has seen Bin Laden in his small African village and rounds up his friends to nab Bin Laden so that they can claim the 25 million dollar prize.
6) Segment from United Kingdom by Ken Loach: Rating 10/10
This is the best of the lot. It shows an exiled Chilean in London remembering Sept 11, 1973 when America helped dispose of Chile’s government and supported the installation of Pinochet’s dictatorship.
7) Segment from Israel by Amos Gitai: Rating 8/10
This was a good episode which showed the media circus that follows real life terrorist incidents news reporting.
8) Segment from Mexico by Alejandro Inarritu: Rating 9/10
Powerful. Effective. And ends with the words “Does God's light guide us or blind us?”
9) Segment from USA by Sean Penn: Rating 10/10
Sheer genius. But the one to offend most people. It can be interpreted in a number of ways.
10) Segment from India by Mira Nair: Rating 7/10
Based on a true life story about a Pakistani person mistakenly judged as a terrorist in New York because of America’s blanket 1984 laws.
11) Segment from Japan by Shohei Imamura: Rating 3/10
This one sticks out from the rest. Set in 1945 Japan. A solider returns from the war and chooses to live like a snake rather than be human. The movie ends with the snake saying “There is no such thing as a Holy War”.
Clean (directed by Oliver Assayas): Rating 6/10
Oh the hype. Maggie Cheung won the Best Actress award for this movie at Cannes this year. And yet, she is the weakest element in this movie. The movie lacks any emotion and is cold and un-interesting. The only time Maggie acts with emotion is when she switches to Cantonese but in French and English, she delivers her lines with zero emotion. A huge let-down.
Kontroll (directed by Nimrod Antal): Rating 10/10
The buzz around this Hungarian movie ensured the line-up’s were huge and people were turned away. And what a movie it is!!!! The movie follows the lives of the underground subway metro staff on their daily routines – the insanity, the male power games, the inner turmoils, hilarious passengers, etc. The first half is a hilarious movie but the second half explores the shades of darkness lurking beneath.
Day 3: Sunday, Sept 26
Hukkle (directed by Gyorgy Palfi): Rating 7/10
No dialogues, but simply beautiful countryside of a small Hungarian town. An old man hiccups while life moves at a snail’s pace. In between the close up shots of snakes, insects, water, fishes, pig’s behind, there is a murder taking place. Enough clues are shown for us to piece together who was killed and how. A very offbeat movie which demonstrates the power of images.
Nathalie (directed by Anne Fontaine): Rating 9/10
A classic French movie. Emmanuelle Beart and Fanny Ardant are just perfect in their roles but Gerard Depardieu is not given much to do.
Nothing (directed by Vincenzo Natali): Rating 7/10
I headed into this movie only because it was by the director of the cult hit, Cube. The movie starts off poorly but really kicks into high gear after the first 20 minutes. The premise is best not told but that two friends who are social outcasts find themselves stranded in white empty space.
Note: The other option instead of Nothing was the Swedish movie, Kopps. Everyone I have talked to says that Kopps was hilarious. And sure enough, Hollywood is planning to remake this movie.
Day 4: Monday, Sept 27
I passed up the chance to watch the Czech movie, Zelary and award winning French movie, Since Otar Left. From word of mouth, it seems Zelary was well received.
The Shield (directed by Frederic Provost): Rating 6/10
I was disappointed by this French action movie. The slow and dull start really dampened things but the movie eventually managed to pick up.
Day 5: Tuesday, Sept 28
Choker Bali (directed by Rituparno Ghosh): Rating 6/10
This was the first time in the festival that my view of the screen was blocked by tall people sitting in front making it was hard to read all the subtitles. The movie started 20 minutes late and since I wanted to make the Brazilian movie later in the night, I had to leave the theater with 20 minutes to go. Will have to catch up with it later on.
Man of the Year (directed by Jose Henrique Fonseca): Rating 8/10
The hype around the movie was staggering because everyone had compared it to City of God. Well the movie is not as good as City of God but it is a good movie. A man loses a soccer bet and has to dye his hair blond. From then on, his life takes a completely different turn. Shades of Scarface, City of God, and every other slick gangster movie out there. Visually the movie is really good (the cinematography oozes with coolness, right out of a Michael Mann movie).
Note: For the second time in the night, it was hard to read the subtitles. This time we sat in the 2nd last row (as opposed to the 6th row from the front in Choker Bali) and a cascading stream of heads made it impossible to sit still. Apparently everyone around had the same problem.
Thursday, September 16, 2004
Being Cool or being over-smart
Collateral (by Michael Mann): Rating either 10/10 or simply 3/10
Ok I admit I am a big fan of Tom Cruise. Despite the negative image of him, I believe he works hard in all his roles no matter how good or bad the movie is; the hard work could be in terms of acting or doing stunt work like in the terrible MI2. Collateral is a movie loved and praised by virtually every single critic out there. In fact, the actors and director also know this is a great movie. Which would explain why in every scene the actors are trying so hard to be smart, to be intelligent, to say the right things, to have the exact expression on their face -- they know they look good and the movie will be lapped by everyone.
Funny, now I see why all the critics hated Vanilla Sky -- they thought Cruise and Crowe were being cocky in making the movie. But the truth is that Vanilla Sky actually had a genuine purpose to it's story. Collateral on the other hand is an exercise in over-brilliance, and over-smartness. That being said, the movie is indeed shot brilliantly by Dion Beebe and Paul Cameron. But that is a trademark for Michael Mann movies -- his blue and green filters gave his movies like Heat, The Insider and Ali a very cool feeling.
The story for Collateral is simple enough -- Jamie Foxx plays a cab driver who ends up getting the assassin from hell, Tom Cruise, as a passenger. Cruise wants to hire Foxx for the entire night, and go from killing to killing without Foxx finding out. But things don't go as planned. The movie then develops into a cat and mouse game between the actors. For the coolness factor, some reference to Jazz is thrown in (you have to have a Miles Davis story, ofcourse), some philosophy is added to the mix, some magic realism symbols are portrayed (in a scene amid the chaos, a pair of foxes cross the cab's path; a symbol portraying that Jamie Foxx will outfox the killer, or that savage animals are roaming freely, pointing towards the killer Cruise, etc).
But just like Kill Bill, both movies I think fall under the weight of their over-smartness.Funny thing is a year ago I would not have noted such a thing and would have praised the movie to the hilt. But seeing a lot of foreign movies and the genuine story telling elements out there, this movie seems pointless. Sure it is excellent by the cineplex standards, but I got bored in the end. Mark Ruffalo has an interesting part and one dramatic scene involving him is very un-hollywood like. Javier Bardem is brought in to narrate a pointless story (equally as bad as David Carradine's SuperMan story in Kill Bill).
Final verdict: who am I to judge this movie? This movie knows it is so good that I don't have anything to say. Whoever critizes this movie will be labelled as having no taste!
Ok I admit I am a big fan of Tom Cruise. Despite the negative image of him, I believe he works hard in all his roles no matter how good or bad the movie is; the hard work could be in terms of acting or doing stunt work like in the terrible MI2. Collateral is a movie loved and praised by virtually every single critic out there. In fact, the actors and director also know this is a great movie. Which would explain why in every scene the actors are trying so hard to be smart, to be intelligent, to say the right things, to have the exact expression on their face -- they know they look good and the movie will be lapped by everyone.
Funny, now I see why all the critics hated Vanilla Sky -- they thought Cruise and Crowe were being cocky in making the movie. But the truth is that Vanilla Sky actually had a genuine purpose to it's story. Collateral on the other hand is an exercise in over-brilliance, and over-smartness. That being said, the movie is indeed shot brilliantly by Dion Beebe and Paul Cameron. But that is a trademark for Michael Mann movies -- his blue and green filters gave his movies like Heat, The Insider and Ali a very cool feeling.
The story for Collateral is simple enough -- Jamie Foxx plays a cab driver who ends up getting the assassin from hell, Tom Cruise, as a passenger. Cruise wants to hire Foxx for the entire night, and go from killing to killing without Foxx finding out. But things don't go as planned. The movie then develops into a cat and mouse game between the actors. For the coolness factor, some reference to Jazz is thrown in (you have to have a Miles Davis story, ofcourse), some philosophy is added to the mix, some magic realism symbols are portrayed (in a scene amid the chaos, a pair of foxes cross the cab's path; a symbol portraying that Jamie Foxx will outfox the killer, or that savage animals are roaming freely, pointing towards the killer Cruise, etc).
But just like Kill Bill, both movies I think fall under the weight of their over-smartness.Funny thing is a year ago I would not have noted such a thing and would have praised the movie to the hilt. But seeing a lot of foreign movies and the genuine story telling elements out there, this movie seems pointless. Sure it is excellent by the cineplex standards, but I got bored in the end. Mark Ruffalo has an interesting part and one dramatic scene involving him is very un-hollywood like. Javier Bardem is brought in to narrate a pointless story (equally as bad as David Carradine's SuperMan story in Kill Bill).
Final verdict: who am I to judge this movie? This movie knows it is so good that I don't have anything to say. Whoever critizes this movie will be labelled as having no taste!
Sunday, September 12, 2004
Quick summary of weekend movies
This is a very quick summary of three movies I saw this weekend.
1) Elephant Juice (1999 movie by Sam Miller): Rating 5/10
The movie is about relationships. There are some interesting moments but what I think kills the movie is the bad usage of the background sound. At times, the hip music is too loud and you can't hear the characters. The music is too over-powering at times, when the scene does not require it to be. The beautiful & talented Emmanuelle Beart is ok in this movie.
2) 400 Blows (Francois Truffaut): Rating 8/10
Do I dare rate this classic great movie? Yah I think I can.
3) In the Mood For Love (by Kar Wai Wong): Rating 7/10
I finally got around to watching this movie. And it's good but not that great. The music is great, and comes on at just the right times. The mood & feel for this movie are good.
1) Elephant Juice (1999 movie by Sam Miller): Rating 5/10
The movie is about relationships. There are some interesting moments but what I think kills the movie is the bad usage of the background sound. At times, the hip music is too loud and you can't hear the characters. The music is too over-powering at times, when the scene does not require it to be. The beautiful & talented Emmanuelle Beart is ok in this movie.
2) 400 Blows (Francois Truffaut): Rating 8/10
Do I dare rate this classic great movie? Yah I think I can.
3) In the Mood For Love (by Kar Wai Wong): Rating 7/10
I finally got around to watching this movie. And it's good but not that great. The music is great, and comes on at just the right times. The mood & feel for this movie are good.
Thursday, September 09, 2004
Trio of French movies
1) Le Placard (The Closet) by Francis Veber: Rating 10/10
20 minutes into the Closet, I wanted to bet that the director was the same person behind the 1998 French Hit, the Dinner Game. And sure enough, I was right. This was because both the Closet and the Dinner Game have an underlying similarity involving astute observances about how people really judge/manipulate others. Both those movies had Thierry Lhermitte playing a character who likes to have fun at the expense of others, a person who likes to toy with other’s emotions just because he can. The only current Hollywood director I can think of who makes such movies is Neil LaBute (Examples include The Shape of Things, Your Friends and Neighbours, In the Company of Men).
The Closet starts off with François Pignon (played by Daniel Auteuil) on the verge of getting fired. Despite working hard for 20 years in a Condom factory, Pignon is considered a boring person by his co-workers. And the macho Felix Santini (a fanstastic performance by Gerard Depardieu) considers Pignon an idiot and can’t wait to be rid of him. His job was the only thing holding Pignon together after his wife left him two years ago and his son refuses to acknowledge him. So when he learns he will be fired, he wants to kill himself. Thankfully his neighbour saves him and helps him with a plan to save his job. The neighbour suggests that Pignon fake coming out of ‘the closet’ -- that way he won’t get fired. And sure enough, the plan works. But things get complicated and Pignon’s dull life gets kick-started with a bang.
The movie shows how even the tiniest behavior can be judged in numerous ways by other people, and how delicate human relationships really are. It is a fine thread that everyone is walking on and sometimes it just takes a little bit to push someone off the edge or even help them to safety. There are good performances all around and the impressive Jean Rochefort (who really would have made an excellent Don Quixote in Terry Gillaim’s abandoned movie) is the company director who is baffled by Pignon’s sexual orientation.
Note: What is a sign that a foreign movie is really good? When Hollywood wants to remake it! Sure enough, the Closet is going to be remade in 2006 with Gurinder Chadha as the director.
2) Belphégor (Belphegor, Phantom of the Louvre) by Jean-Paul Salome: Rating 5/10
By the end of 2004, Jean-Paul Salome is going to be better known for his movie Arsene Lupin (based on a popular French comic book about a thief who robs the rich). But in 2001, Salome directed the beautiful Sophie Marceau and the impressive Julie Christie in this Horror movie about a soul that resides in the Louvre. The trouble starts in 1935 when an evil soul escapes from a 2000 year old Egyptian Mummy casket (being transported to Marseilles). Somehow the casket makes it to the Louvre where the soul strives to make it to the nether world. In order to do so, the soul must inhabit a human body, piece 7 pieces of Egyptian artifacts, and perform an ancient ritual to complete the journey to the other world.
In the end, the movie is nothing but a gloried journey through the halls of the Louvre (and even then only the same 2-3 halls are filmed repeatedly). One of the biggest problems with my movie copy was that it was dubbed. Dubbing is always a bad idea and the original French movie with English subtitles might have better but I still doubt if it would be any more entertaining. The movie is hardly scary and is dull at parts.
3) Vidocq by Pitof: Rating 10/10
This was a surprinzingly well done movie. The movie is set in 1830 Paris at a time when conspiracies and science ran amok. The movie is shot in manufactured sets with a Digital Camera -- in this case, the combination works. One can tell that the sets are fake, but the digital camera gives everything a closer and realistic feel -- the close-up's are effective and everything seems to be surreal. Overall, the movie does feel straight out of Alan Moore's From Hell -- cobble stoned roads, a mysterious killer on the loose, opium dens, detective on the case, etc.
The movie is about the search for a mysterious killer, the alchemist, who wears a mirror-mask and dons a long black cape. The Alchemist is responsible for killing a few notable men on the Parisian society. The movie starts off with Vidocq (played by Gerard Depardieu) on the case of the alchemist when he and the Alchemist fight a duel which results in Vidocq getting killed. Then the story is told in flash-backs and how Vidocq managed to get on the trails of the Alchemist. The rest is better watched......
Note: At times, the movie set-up feels like another French movie, The Brotherhood of the Wolf. But that movie fell apart at the end, and the ending is where Vidocq manages to stay afloat.
Also, the director Pitof (birth name, Jean-Christophe Comar) made his Hollywood debut in 2004 with Catwoman. I might just have to check out Catwoman just to see what Pitof did with that material.
20 minutes into the Closet, I wanted to bet that the director was the same person behind the 1998 French Hit, the Dinner Game. And sure enough, I was right. This was because both the Closet and the Dinner Game have an underlying similarity involving astute observances about how people really judge/manipulate others. Both those movies had Thierry Lhermitte playing a character who likes to have fun at the expense of others, a person who likes to toy with other’s emotions just because he can. The only current Hollywood director I can think of who makes such movies is Neil LaBute (Examples include The Shape of Things, Your Friends and Neighbours, In the Company of Men).
The Closet starts off with François Pignon (played by Daniel Auteuil) on the verge of getting fired. Despite working hard for 20 years in a Condom factory, Pignon is considered a boring person by his co-workers. And the macho Felix Santini (a fanstastic performance by Gerard Depardieu) considers Pignon an idiot and can’t wait to be rid of him. His job was the only thing holding Pignon together after his wife left him two years ago and his son refuses to acknowledge him. So when he learns he will be fired, he wants to kill himself. Thankfully his neighbour saves him and helps him with a plan to save his job. The neighbour suggests that Pignon fake coming out of ‘the closet’ -- that way he won’t get fired. And sure enough, the plan works. But things get complicated and Pignon’s dull life gets kick-started with a bang.
The movie shows how even the tiniest behavior can be judged in numerous ways by other people, and how delicate human relationships really are. It is a fine thread that everyone is walking on and sometimes it just takes a little bit to push someone off the edge or even help them to safety. There are good performances all around and the impressive Jean Rochefort (who really would have made an excellent Don Quixote in Terry Gillaim’s abandoned movie) is the company director who is baffled by Pignon’s sexual orientation.
Note: What is a sign that a foreign movie is really good? When Hollywood wants to remake it! Sure enough, the Closet is going to be remade in 2006 with Gurinder Chadha as the director.
2) Belphégor (Belphegor, Phantom of the Louvre) by Jean-Paul Salome: Rating 5/10
By the end of 2004, Jean-Paul Salome is going to be better known for his movie Arsene Lupin (based on a popular French comic book about a thief who robs the rich). But in 2001, Salome directed the beautiful Sophie Marceau and the impressive Julie Christie in this Horror movie about a soul that resides in the Louvre. The trouble starts in 1935 when an evil soul escapes from a 2000 year old Egyptian Mummy casket (being transported to Marseilles). Somehow the casket makes it to the Louvre where the soul strives to make it to the nether world. In order to do so, the soul must inhabit a human body, piece 7 pieces of Egyptian artifacts, and perform an ancient ritual to complete the journey to the other world.
In the end, the movie is nothing but a gloried journey through the halls of the Louvre (and even then only the same 2-3 halls are filmed repeatedly). One of the biggest problems with my movie copy was that it was dubbed. Dubbing is always a bad idea and the original French movie with English subtitles might have better but I still doubt if it would be any more entertaining. The movie is hardly scary and is dull at parts.
3) Vidocq by Pitof: Rating 10/10
This was a surprinzingly well done movie. The movie is set in 1830 Paris at a time when conspiracies and science ran amok. The movie is shot in manufactured sets with a Digital Camera -- in this case, the combination works. One can tell that the sets are fake, but the digital camera gives everything a closer and realistic feel -- the close-up's are effective and everything seems to be surreal. Overall, the movie does feel straight out of Alan Moore's From Hell -- cobble stoned roads, a mysterious killer on the loose, opium dens, detective on the case, etc.
The movie is about the search for a mysterious killer, the alchemist, who wears a mirror-mask and dons a long black cape. The Alchemist is responsible for killing a few notable men on the Parisian society. The movie starts off with Vidocq (played by Gerard Depardieu) on the case of the alchemist when he and the Alchemist fight a duel which results in Vidocq getting killed. Then the story is told in flash-backs and how Vidocq managed to get on the trails of the Alchemist. The rest is better watched......
Note: At times, the movie set-up feels like another French movie, The Brotherhood of the Wolf. But that movie fell apart at the end, and the ending is where Vidocq manages to stay afloat.
Also, the director Pitof (birth name, Jean-Christophe Comar) made his Hollywood debut in 2004 with Catwoman. I might just have to check out Catwoman just to see what Pitof did with that material.
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
One Mystic River, One Dangerous River
1) Mystic River (by Clint Eastwood): Rating 10/10.
This was a movie loved by the critics & packed with stars -- Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Lawrence Fishburne, and directed by the legendary Eastwood. The movie contained all the elements that the Oscars love -- topics of abuse, guilt, crime, redemption, misery, etc.
As a result the medai hung 'must-see' tags around this one.
So what's the verdict?
Yes the movie is worth watching! Yes, it is that good. Stephen King said that movie 'would burn in your memory'. And he is right. It leaves one with a haunting feeling.
If you let this movie get you emotionally, then you will be strung along and will feel the misery even before it happens in the movie. The only negative complain I had was with the sound -- the dialogues were barely audible in parts. This could be due to the fact that most of the dialogues were soft spoken and in whispers.
The movie starts off showing three young friends playing street hockey together. A certain 'incident' later, the movie jumps 25 years into their lives. The three kids have grown up (Penn, Robbins, Bacon) but we are not given much insight into their past 25 years. We gather little info about their lives as the movie moves along. Alternatively, we can freely fill in the gaps ourselves based on certain characteristics on display. Other than that, it's better to watch the movie without knowing the story and make your judgements along the way.
Initially, I was praising Lawrence Fishburne's character as being the most objective of the 4 men, since the other 3 were tied down by past burdens of friendship. But as the movie goes on, his objectivity proves to the undoing in some ways. If only people showed more faith, rather than jumping to conclusions.
Anyway...very good movie
2) Krai Thong (by Suthat Intaranupakorn): Rating 3/10
I was expecting something completely different from this Thai movie. I thought it was a tale about kings, warriors and love. Well it's about love all right and a different kind of warrior -- a Crocodile Hunter. And the crocodile in question is no ordinary beast, but one who can change into a human form. A B-grade horror movie with clearly fake computer simulations. And for the added exotic factor, the male monster crocodile has 2 female beauties in an underground cave to keep him company.
The title refers to Krai Thong, the warrior who hunts the human-croc down. Krai Thong finds himself married to two sisters (how this happens is hilarious to watch in itself). But Krai Thong is not happy with 2 women, he needs more. So he kills the evil human-croc and gets the underground beauties as well. One man, 4 women. Two women who live on land and two that live below land. Perfect :)
Hmm...the movie is funny when it shouldn't be.
This was a movie loved by the critics & packed with stars -- Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Lawrence Fishburne, and directed by the legendary Eastwood. The movie contained all the elements that the Oscars love -- topics of abuse, guilt, crime, redemption, misery, etc.
As a result the medai hung 'must-see' tags around this one.
So what's the verdict?
Yes the movie is worth watching! Yes, it is that good. Stephen King said that movie 'would burn in your memory'. And he is right. It leaves one with a haunting feeling.
If you let this movie get you emotionally, then you will be strung along and will feel the misery even before it happens in the movie. The only negative complain I had was with the sound -- the dialogues were barely audible in parts. This could be due to the fact that most of the dialogues were soft spoken and in whispers.
The movie starts off showing three young friends playing street hockey together. A certain 'incident' later, the movie jumps 25 years into their lives. The three kids have grown up (Penn, Robbins, Bacon) but we are not given much insight into their past 25 years. We gather little info about their lives as the movie moves along. Alternatively, we can freely fill in the gaps ourselves based on certain characteristics on display. Other than that, it's better to watch the movie without knowing the story and make your judgements along the way.
Initially, I was praising Lawrence Fishburne's character as being the most objective of the 4 men, since the other 3 were tied down by past burdens of friendship. But as the movie goes on, his objectivity proves to the undoing in some ways. If only people showed more faith, rather than jumping to conclusions.
Anyway...very good movie
2) Krai Thong (by Suthat Intaranupakorn): Rating 3/10
I was expecting something completely different from this Thai movie. I thought it was a tale about kings, warriors and love. Well it's about love all right and a different kind of warrior -- a Crocodile Hunter. And the crocodile in question is no ordinary beast, but one who can change into a human form. A B-grade horror movie with clearly fake computer simulations. And for the added exotic factor, the male monster crocodile has 2 female beauties in an underground cave to keep him company.
The title refers to Krai Thong, the warrior who hunts the human-croc down. Krai Thong finds himself married to two sisters (how this happens is hilarious to watch in itself). But Krai Thong is not happy with 2 women, he needs more. So he kills the evil human-croc and gets the underground beauties as well. One man, 4 women. Two women who live on land and two that live below land. Perfect :)
Hmm...the movie is funny when it shouldn't be.
Sunday, August 29, 2004
Weekend Flicks
1) Memories of Murder (by Joon-ho Bong): Rating a solid 8/10
Memories is based on the real life Serial killings in South Korea (around 1986-87 or so). There was no clear motives for the crime & the only common link was the fact that all the victims were women (unfortunately as all serial killings seem to be about). The small town cops are not equipped to handle such a case and stumble from vague guesses to even more hazzier motives. Enter a detective from Seoul who decides to shed some light onto the case. Based on the collective efforts, the police are finally able to piece together the face of the killer & his plan. The killer's face is never shown nor are his motives revealed. And even when the police chase the killer, they are unable to do anything because of inconclusive evidence.
The movie is a gripping thriller which keeps us guessing. And the movie tries to be as objective as possible without diving into contrived situations. The ending is unlike any other ever shown in a Hollywood serial killer flick which is what makes this a very good movie. The acting, the cinematography, editing, direction are all top notch. So why is it only an 8 out of 10? Not sure. But well worth the watch.
2) Sada (by Nobuhiko Obayashi):
It had to happen someday and it did -- I finally rented a Japanese movie without english subtitles. Since I don't understand chinese either, the chinese subtitles were not any help :) The movie is about the real life of geisha Sada Abe who shocked society when she sliced off the penis of her lover and wandered the streets with it (in 1936).
From what I could gather, the movie follows her life from the first time she lost her virginity, to her first love (a true mystery man), through a series of lovers to her court case. The movie is mostly in colour with some parts in black and white. An interesting scene starts in colour, shifts partly in black and white with only Sada in color (and her lover in b&w) until the entire scene is in b&w.
3) The Dressing Room (by Sanjay Srinivas): Rating 5/10
Another cricket movie but thankfully much better than the disastrous Stumped (2003). The movie tries to show a behind the scenes look at what goes on in the players dressing room on the eve of a big match. The story is around a goodwill cricket match between India and Pakistan to be held in Srinigar. The match may not be played due to terrorist threats (a bomb had gone off earlier in the week close to the stadium). The players are expected to continue training while the two governments try to reach an agreement regarding the match.
Since the movie is a low budget flick, we are not shown the match, which is a good thing. Sometimes a low budget can be a boon as it helps the director to focus on the story. But in this case, the story is contrived and rushed to a predictable climax. There are some bright moments tucked away in this movie. Sonali Kulkarni plays a tv reporter who does a decent job. But the real gem in this flick is Tom Alter, who for decades played a villain in Bollywood flicks. One wonders why no-one ever gave him a decent role in a movie? This time around he is the coach & physio for the Indian team.
Memories is based on the real life Serial killings in South Korea (around 1986-87 or so). There was no clear motives for the crime & the only common link was the fact that all the victims were women (unfortunately as all serial killings seem to be about). The small town cops are not equipped to handle such a case and stumble from vague guesses to even more hazzier motives. Enter a detective from Seoul who decides to shed some light onto the case. Based on the collective efforts, the police are finally able to piece together the face of the killer & his plan. The killer's face is never shown nor are his motives revealed. And even when the police chase the killer, they are unable to do anything because of inconclusive evidence.
The movie is a gripping thriller which keeps us guessing. And the movie tries to be as objective as possible without diving into contrived situations. The ending is unlike any other ever shown in a Hollywood serial killer flick which is what makes this a very good movie. The acting, the cinematography, editing, direction are all top notch. So why is it only an 8 out of 10? Not sure. But well worth the watch.
2) Sada (by Nobuhiko Obayashi):
It had to happen someday and it did -- I finally rented a Japanese movie without english subtitles. Since I don't understand chinese either, the chinese subtitles were not any help :) The movie is about the real life of geisha Sada Abe who shocked society when she sliced off the penis of her lover and wandered the streets with it (in 1936).
From what I could gather, the movie follows her life from the first time she lost her virginity, to her first love (a true mystery man), through a series of lovers to her court case. The movie is mostly in colour with some parts in black and white. An interesting scene starts in colour, shifts partly in black and white with only Sada in color (and her lover in b&w) until the entire scene is in b&w.
3) The Dressing Room (by Sanjay Srinivas): Rating 5/10
Another cricket movie but thankfully much better than the disastrous Stumped (2003). The movie tries to show a behind the scenes look at what goes on in the players dressing room on the eve of a big match. The story is around a goodwill cricket match between India and Pakistan to be held in Srinigar. The match may not be played due to terrorist threats (a bomb had gone off earlier in the week close to the stadium). The players are expected to continue training while the two governments try to reach an agreement regarding the match.
Since the movie is a low budget flick, we are not shown the match, which is a good thing. Sometimes a low budget can be a boon as it helps the director to focus on the story. But in this case, the story is contrived and rushed to a predictable climax. There are some bright moments tucked away in this movie. Sonali Kulkarni plays a tv reporter who does a decent job. But the real gem in this flick is Tom Alter, who for decades played a villain in Bollywood flicks. One wonders why no-one ever gave him a decent role in a movie? This time around he is the coach & physio for the Indian team.
Saturday, August 28, 2004
Batoru rouiaru II: Rekuiemu (2003)
Battle Royale II (by Kinji & Kenta Fukasaku): Rating 5/10
Having been a huge fan of the Original movie, I was hesistant to watch this movie because as we all know that sequels hardly live up to the original. And in this case, the sequel is muddled, confused and a plain mess. Part of the reason could be that the original director, Kinji passed away before the movie was completed. As a result, his son Kenta took up the job of finishing the movie. The movie looks to be in two different mind sets.
Also the original was based on a book which laid the foundation for the material really well. The second one had to work on an original script. Anyway, on with the review...
BRII takes place 3 years after the first one. In the first one, the adults had come up with a game to teach the youth a lesson -- every year a class of troubled youth is selected & put on an island where they to have them kill each other. Only one survivor should remain otherwise all the students would be killed. Well in the first one, there were two survivors (one male and female). The start of BRII shows us that the male student (Nanahara) has started a terrorist organization to take revenge on the adults. Nanahara is tired of adults waging wars and killing innocent children all over the world, especially Afghanistan. His terrorist organization is residing on an island (just like the island in the first one, hmmm). The adults decide to send the new group of BR students to the island to kill Nanahara.
The movie starts off as the BR game, transforms into a war movie (the landing on the island is eerily similar to Saving Private Ryan), morphs into a terrorist/political movie before turning into a tribute to Afghanistan and ending as a journey movie. Yes there are comments relating to a certain country which bombs other countries whenever it feels like it, yes this other country hardly shows any adult behaviour, but the comments do not fit in the movie. They seem forced.
On a positive note is the role of Takeuchi Riki. In the first movie, Takeshi Kitano was the impressive teacher. This time around the role needed someone with more edge, more hatred. And Takeuchi (of Dead or Alive movies) is perfect for the role. But even his evilness falters near the end and....
Enough said!! I was hugely disappointed with this movie.
Having been a huge fan of the Original movie, I was hesistant to watch this movie because as we all know that sequels hardly live up to the original. And in this case, the sequel is muddled, confused and a plain mess. Part of the reason could be that the original director, Kinji passed away before the movie was completed. As a result, his son Kenta took up the job of finishing the movie. The movie looks to be in two different mind sets.
Also the original was based on a book which laid the foundation for the material really well. The second one had to work on an original script. Anyway, on with the review...
BRII takes place 3 years after the first one. In the first one, the adults had come up with a game to teach the youth a lesson -- every year a class of troubled youth is selected & put on an island where they to have them kill each other. Only one survivor should remain otherwise all the students would be killed. Well in the first one, there were two survivors (one male and female). The start of BRII shows us that the male student (Nanahara) has started a terrorist organization to take revenge on the adults. Nanahara is tired of adults waging wars and killing innocent children all over the world, especially Afghanistan. His terrorist organization is residing on an island (just like the island in the first one, hmmm). The adults decide to send the new group of BR students to the island to kill Nanahara.
The movie starts off as the BR game, transforms into a war movie (the landing on the island is eerily similar to Saving Private Ryan), morphs into a terrorist/political movie before turning into a tribute to Afghanistan and ending as a journey movie. Yes there are comments relating to a certain country which bombs other countries whenever it feels like it, yes this other country hardly shows any adult behaviour, but the comments do not fit in the movie. They seem forced.
On a positive note is the role of Takeuchi Riki. In the first movie, Takeshi Kitano was the impressive teacher. This time around the role needed someone with more edge, more hatred. And Takeuchi (of Dead or Alive movies) is perfect for the role. But even his evilness falters near the end and....
Enough said!! I was hugely disappointed with this movie.
Thursday, August 26, 2004
Heaven, Head of State, 101 Reykjavík
1) Heaven (by Tom Tykwer): Rating 7/10.
10/10 for the first half of the movie, 4/10 for the second half.
What happens when you combine a famous German director (Run Lola Run), a legendary Polish writer (Krzysztof Kieslowski), a talented English Actress (Cate Blanchett), a rising American actor (Giovanni Ribisi), well known foreign producers (Anthony Minghella & Miramax to name a few) and put them together in an Italian movie?
A slice of Heaven? One would expect so!
But although Heaven has a very intriguing setup, the movie completely strips reasonable logic in the second half. The police station is always empty, anyone can walk in unquestioned, a person can be murdered quietly, etc.
Even though the original story was by Kieslowski, the movie has echoes of Tykwer's The Princess and the Warrior. Tykwer's Run Lola Run was fast paced and relentless, but The Princess was downright slow and reflective. And Heaven follows in the same poetic paths.
It's not a perfect movie. But it is worth seeing. Oh yah, the cinematography by Frank Griebe is stunning.
2) Head of State (by Chris Rock): Rating 4/10
Oh what a mess! Chris Rock's directorial debut is a plain mess. It does not know what it is -- a spoof, a comedy or a political satire. The movie does try to poke some well needed fun at the current American administration's attitude and policy, but it is wasted.
3) 101 Reykjavík (by Baltasar Kormákur): Rating 8/10
What can one do in a cold and dreary place? If it is always snowing, what can people do besides drink and have endless parties to forget their misery?
The movie is centered around Hlynur and his aimless life. Hlynur is almost 30, still lives at home with mom, does not have a job, nor does he know what to do with his life. His girlfriend, Hofi, is a pain and always on his case. Enter Lola: the Flamenco dancing woman who is a friend of Hlynur's mom. Lola stays with Hlynur while his mom is away, and well things happen. Upon retuning, Hlynur's mom reveals to Hlynur that she is in love with Lola. And Hlynur still has feelings for Lola. So what happens next?
The movie is oddly amusing and very watchable.
10/10 for the first half of the movie, 4/10 for the second half.
What happens when you combine a famous German director (Run Lola Run), a legendary Polish writer (Krzysztof Kieslowski), a talented English Actress (Cate Blanchett), a rising American actor (Giovanni Ribisi), well known foreign producers (Anthony Minghella & Miramax to name a few) and put them together in an Italian movie?
A slice of Heaven? One would expect so!
But although Heaven has a very intriguing setup, the movie completely strips reasonable logic in the second half. The police station is always empty, anyone can walk in unquestioned, a person can be murdered quietly, etc.
Even though the original story was by Kieslowski, the movie has echoes of Tykwer's The Princess and the Warrior. Tykwer's Run Lola Run was fast paced and relentless, but The Princess was downright slow and reflective. And Heaven follows in the same poetic paths.
It's not a perfect movie. But it is worth seeing. Oh yah, the cinematography by Frank Griebe is stunning.
2) Head of State (by Chris Rock): Rating 4/10
Oh what a mess! Chris Rock's directorial debut is a plain mess. It does not know what it is -- a spoof, a comedy or a political satire. The movie does try to poke some well needed fun at the current American administration's attitude and policy, but it is wasted.
3) 101 Reykjavík (by Baltasar Kormákur): Rating 8/10
What can one do in a cold and dreary place? If it is always snowing, what can people do besides drink and have endless parties to forget their misery?
The movie is centered around Hlynur and his aimless life. Hlynur is almost 30, still lives at home with mom, does not have a job, nor does he know what to do with his life. His girlfriend, Hofi, is a pain and always on his case. Enter Lola: the Flamenco dancing woman who is a friend of Hlynur's mom. Lola stays with Hlynur while his mom is away, and well things happen. Upon retuning, Hlynur's mom reveals to Hlynur that she is in love with Lola. And Hlynur still has feelings for Lola. So what happens next?
The movie is oddly amusing and very watchable.
Monday, August 23, 2004
August Movie Talk
I will only focus on the commerical movies as opposed to the festival screenings. Also, next to each movie is a quick rating (out of 10). Here goes:
1) Control Room (documentary by Jehane Noujaim): 10/10, A+
This is a really good movie. It shows that despite all the negative media coverage that Al Jazeera might be the only remaining democratic media outlet on the planet. There are two sides to every story. But Al Jazeera has tried to show the story by taking the middle path. In doing so it has drawn criticism both from the Arab World and the Western World. A must-see.
2) Secret Window (*ing Johnny Depp): 5/10
If it were not for Johnny Depp, this movie would be an utter waste. It is a decent movie until the last third. What makes it terrible is the predictable ending. That is not the fault of the director though -- the movie was based on an old Stephen King story. But one wishes that a different take was done on a highly predictable conclusion.
3) Breaking News (Dai si gein) by Johnny To: 6/10
Hong Kong's happening director returns with a bang! Breaking News is dull at the start & the end but strongest in the middle, where the director superbly incorporates some of the cat-mouse-mind-games elements from his earlier work, PTU. The movie is about a few gang leaders cornered by the police in an apartment building. The police were humiliated earlier by the gang leaders, so in order to save face, they decide to control the media information and spin the news to their advantage. Each police officer has a camera in their helmet and the police control room gets to decide what to show. For example, a particular chase sequence ends when the gang members safely run into an apartment and explode a gas tank in the hall, thus keeping the police at bay. But the police only decide to show the sequence where the gang members run into the apartment and edit the explosion scene out making it look like the police won. One of the gang members captured the real events via his camera cell phone & decides to upload the information on the web from the apartment. This results in the media accusing the police of lying and escalates the mind games between the police and the gang.
The most interesting sequence of the movie features the gang leaders cooking calmly while the police await outside -- a stylish scene that will surely be copied by Hollywood in the future.
4) Samsara (by Nalin Pan): 10/10
One of the most beautiful movies I have seen this year!! Perfect. It is a long movie but manages to be entertaining throughout and ends on a philosophical note. 'How do you prevent a drop of water from drying up?'. The entire movie essentially focuses on this question. A Buddist monk decides to renounce his religious life for the worldy pleasures of sex and love. But despite getting married, he begins to realize that satisfying one desire, always leads to other desires. The movie highlights his journey but more importantly, it tackles the spiritual question from a woman's point of view as well. It is always men who are willing to get up and leave for the mountains. But what about the women they leave behind? Did anyone ask what happenned to Buddha's wife?
5) Zhou Yu's Train (by Zhou Sun): 4/10
I was so looking forward to this Li Gong flick but was hugely disappointed. The movie moves backward and forward in time, all the time splicing Li Gong's train travels with the poems of her lover. But I lost interest very quickly. Maybe one day I might revisit this one.
6) Maria Full of Grace (Joshua Marston): 6/10
First time director, Joshua Marston, made a splash with this movie. Maria, won the audience award at Sundance and newcomer Catalina Sandino Moreno won the Best Actress award at the Berlin Film Festival. Yes, the 23 old Catalina has acted wonderfully. But what about the movie? The story is about drug mules who carry pellets in their stomach from Colombia to the USA. The movie takes a realistic approach showing Maria's life in Colombia and how in order to make some quick money, she agrees to become a mule. Anyway, this is sort of the movie the West loves to applaud and admire. But despite good acting and cinematography, the movie is ok.
7) Les Invasions barbares (aka The Barbarian Invasions) by Denys Arcand: 10/10
This is a wonderful movie by the Canadian director Arcand. It is sort of a sequel to the 1986 movie, The Decline of the American Empire. Having not seen the 1986 movie, I really liked Barbarians. A must see.
8) Drunken Master (by Woo-ping Yuen): 8/10
Jackie Chan established himself as a martial arts legend in this 1978 movie. The martial arts movies in this movie are absolutely amazing. One can see how this movie has served as 'inspiration' for a whole array of movies, including the recent Kill Bill.
9) Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (by George Clooney): 5/10
Maybe I was not in the mood, but I really lost interest in this movie after 20 minutes or so. A failed talk show writer gets recruited by the CIA for assignments around the world. Hmmm...
1) Control Room (documentary by Jehane Noujaim): 10/10, A+
This is a really good movie. It shows that despite all the negative media coverage that Al Jazeera might be the only remaining democratic media outlet on the planet. There are two sides to every story. But Al Jazeera has tried to show the story by taking the middle path. In doing so it has drawn criticism both from the Arab World and the Western World. A must-see.
2) Secret Window (*ing Johnny Depp): 5/10
If it were not for Johnny Depp, this movie would be an utter waste. It is a decent movie until the last third. What makes it terrible is the predictable ending. That is not the fault of the director though -- the movie was based on an old Stephen King story. But one wishes that a different take was done on a highly predictable conclusion.
3) Breaking News (Dai si gein) by Johnny To: 6/10
Hong Kong's happening director returns with a bang! Breaking News is dull at the start & the end but strongest in the middle, where the director superbly incorporates some of the cat-mouse-mind-games elements from his earlier work, PTU. The movie is about a few gang leaders cornered by the police in an apartment building. The police were humiliated earlier by the gang leaders, so in order to save face, they decide to control the media information and spin the news to their advantage. Each police officer has a camera in their helmet and the police control room gets to decide what to show. For example, a particular chase sequence ends when the gang members safely run into an apartment and explode a gas tank in the hall, thus keeping the police at bay. But the police only decide to show the sequence where the gang members run into the apartment and edit the explosion scene out making it look like the police won. One of the gang members captured the real events via his camera cell phone & decides to upload the information on the web from the apartment. This results in the media accusing the police of lying and escalates the mind games between the police and the gang.
The most interesting sequence of the movie features the gang leaders cooking calmly while the police await outside -- a stylish scene that will surely be copied by Hollywood in the future.
4) Samsara (by Nalin Pan): 10/10
One of the most beautiful movies I have seen this year!! Perfect. It is a long movie but manages to be entertaining throughout and ends on a philosophical note. 'How do you prevent a drop of water from drying up?'. The entire movie essentially focuses on this question. A Buddist monk decides to renounce his religious life for the worldy pleasures of sex and love. But despite getting married, he begins to realize that satisfying one desire, always leads to other desires. The movie highlights his journey but more importantly, it tackles the spiritual question from a woman's point of view as well. It is always men who are willing to get up and leave for the mountains. But what about the women they leave behind? Did anyone ask what happenned to Buddha's wife?
5) Zhou Yu's Train (by Zhou Sun): 4/10
I was so looking forward to this Li Gong flick but was hugely disappointed. The movie moves backward and forward in time, all the time splicing Li Gong's train travels with the poems of her lover. But I lost interest very quickly. Maybe one day I might revisit this one.
6) Maria Full of Grace (Joshua Marston): 6/10
First time director, Joshua Marston, made a splash with this movie. Maria, won the audience award at Sundance and newcomer Catalina Sandino Moreno won the Best Actress award at the Berlin Film Festival. Yes, the 23 old Catalina has acted wonderfully. But what about the movie? The story is about drug mules who carry pellets in their stomach from Colombia to the USA. The movie takes a realistic approach showing Maria's life in Colombia and how in order to make some quick money, she agrees to become a mule. Anyway, this is sort of the movie the West loves to applaud and admire. But despite good acting and cinematography, the movie is ok.
7) Les Invasions barbares (aka The Barbarian Invasions) by Denys Arcand: 10/10
This is a wonderful movie by the Canadian director Arcand. It is sort of a sequel to the 1986 movie, The Decline of the American Empire. Having not seen the 1986 movie, I really liked Barbarians. A must see.
8) Drunken Master (by Woo-ping Yuen): 8/10
Jackie Chan established himself as a martial arts legend in this 1978 movie. The martial arts movies in this movie are absolutely amazing. One can see how this movie has served as 'inspiration' for a whole array of movies, including the recent Kill Bill.
9) Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (by George Clooney): 5/10
Maybe I was not in the mood, but I really lost interest in this movie after 20 minutes or so. A failed talk show writer gets recruited by the CIA for assignments around the world. Hmmm...
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