Slumdog Millionaire
Danny Boyle, 2008 (10*)Best Picture (AA,BAA,GG)
Slumdog was worth the wait, as it never came "to a theater near me", so I waited for the dvd. Fans of either British director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, A Life Less Ordinary) or Bollywood movies won’t be disappointed. You know you're in a Boyle film from the very beginning, when this story of two brothers growing up as orphans in the streets of Mumbai starts with Jamal (now almost an adult), played by Dev Petel, being brutally interrogated by police about fraud on a game show. The frank and brutal style of Trainspotting is evident throughout this film in tilted camera angles, blurred street montages, quick crowd pans, fast editing, even more trains. Its either Boyle or Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai (Chungking Express), both have similar action styles. Both cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle and editor Chris Dickens won well-deserved Oscars, as the pace and visual style of the entire film are knockouts – it only slows down a little toward the end, and after the first 90 minutes you’re nearly breathless.
The film begins in the present, then tells the story of Jamal and his brother Salim in flashbacks, wonderfully played by four young actors at two age levels when growing up. The story contantly shifts back to the police interrogation, and Jamal’s story of how he knows all the trivia allowing him to do well on the show. (Amil Kapoor is very good as the slick game show host). We get glimpses of Latika, a girl the brothers help when all are orphans, and who grows up into the gorgeous Freida Pinto, one of the most stunning actresses ever.
Without giving too much away, this is brutal story of crime and survival that is also a heartwarming and uplifting story. It shows the darker side of India: religious violence, torture, child abduction, street crime, child slavery. Basically, all the things you get from extreme poverty. Yet, in Jamal, we have a character based on hope and positive self-image, rising above his roots, who turns away from organized crime, continues to fight for survival, and search for his true love.
This had to be an excellent novel, based on "Q & A" by Vikas Swarup. The screenplay adaptation by Simon Beaufoy was an excellent and won an Oscar®. However, I think the real star of the film is A.R. Rahman's terrific music (one of the best scores in years), winning him two Oscars®, as he also won for the song "Jai Ho", shown over a mock Bollywood musical number during the film’s closing credits, with the entire cast dancing between trains. Hats off to either Boyle or Tandan for that terrific sendup, from a movie that was hardly musical, or even light-hearted.
I rarely give out a 10, but this will make the second one for 2008 films, Wall-E being the other. I’m very surprised that Indian co-director Loveleen Tandan didn’t also receive an Oscar®, as Danny Boyle did. Slumdog swept the Oscars® if you weren’t noticing, winning for picture, director, adapted screenplay, cinematography, editing, sound, music, and song. Eight Oscars®
Note: The film is in English; what little is in Hindi is translated with on-screen balloon subtitles coming from the character speaking, a novel way to do those. On top of the Oscars®, Slumdog won just about every critic's award this year that Wall-E didn't win.
A link to the awards page (75 won in all) at IMDB: Slumdog Awards
Good Bye, Lenin!
Wolfgang Becker, 2003, Germany (9*)This is a heartwarming German comedy about the fall of the wall and the GDR, and the resulting German reunification. While you're watching, you realize that in time it's a very poignant tale of a son's love for his mother, touchingly portrayed by Katrine Sass. A single mom, she turns her interest to the socialist government after her husband leaves her with two kids, defecting to the west while on a business trip to West Berlin. He remains just an imaginary figure to the kids, now teenagers.
One night, on her way to a government function as a 'model citizen', she gets stopped by the police, then has a heart attack while witnessing a demonstration of students at the wall, who riot with the police, and goes into a coma just when history is about to be made. Fortunately for her, she misses the collapse of the wall and the East German government, and the whole socialist Europe dream.
When she awakens (now in just Germany), her kids go to great extremes to hide the world-changing events from her, with hilarious results. A filmmaking buddy of the son, lovingly played by Daniel Bruhl, helps them in a way I won't spoil. You'll never see a son, played by go through this much out of love for his mother. A totally original story, reminds one of the old classic comedies, and like those, its a film you can watch again and again. One of the best German films.
This internationally acclaimed film still has a popular web site:
Good Bye Lenin Website
Other great German films: Nowhere in Africa, The Lives of Others (both Oscar® winners for foreign film), and Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo
Ballad of a Soldier
Grigori Chukhrai, Russia, 1959, bw (9*)- This Russian film is one of the most beautiful black and white films of any era. it was one of the first to be released in the U.S. after the Stalin reign ended and there were more liberal attitudes, ushering in a new wave of young fimmakers. This is a simple anti-war tale about a nineteen year old soldier, played by Vladimir Ivashov. It reality, it becomes nothing more than an early 'road film’.
The plot concerns a pass he receives to visit home after destroying two German tanks in the film’s dramatic and well-shot opening sequence. From then on, we are away from the front line, witnessing a young soldier’s journey home to see his mother on a special leave due to his heroism. Conditions are so bad during the war that at times he has to bribe train guards with cans of food, which was that scarce even for soldiers. The gorgeous Shanna Prokharenko plays a wholesome young Russian girl he meets on the train and who shares his trip.
Chukhrai manages to avoid sentimentality, but tells a story with a lot of heart and optimism, at the same time showing the fortitude with which the Russian people, mostly rural peasants, face the massive Nazi invasion of their homeland, which created a 1500-mile war front, something we can’t imagine here. Imagine two armies facing off along the entire length of the Mississippi River. There’s much beautiful cinematography, some very creative camera angles, and riveting amateur faces as much of the film involves the train trip - the viewer is taken along the same journey home to the prairie.
Some call this film propaganda; then watch some John Wayne or other U.S. war films, which are far worse with lots of yankee bravado, and always some heroic deaths. This is unpredictable, and far more subtle and effective. One of the best Russian films , unfortunately no other films of Chukhrai's are available.
The Emperor and the Assassin
Chen Kaige, 1998, China (8*)This is a spectacular looking Chinese historical epic, with seemingly a hundred thousand extras, making it similar in scope and style to the films The Last Emperor and Zhang Yimou’s Hero. Running over 2 ½ hours, this film concerns the emperor of Qin, wonderfully played by Li Xuejian, before the kingdoms of China are unified in 220 B.C., a dictate left him by his ancestors, "unify the seven kingdoms".
His consort is beautifully played, as usual, by Gong Li, one of the great Chinese actresses (who also should have an Oscar®). She has an idea to aid unification (or takeover) to return as a traitor to her province Yan (where she is from), at war with Qin, and get that king to send an assassin back to Qin in order to provoke a war that will allow Qin to take over Yan without the other kingdoms interfering. She ironically finds an assassin, whose story we also are shown, who has vowed never to kill again. (Yes, we are shown why in a beautifully shot flashback).
This is a long, complex plot that keeps you guessing, as no one seems trustworthy or loyal, everyone has a reason to kill the other. Cinematically excellent and very well directed, this has some terrific shots of ancient armies and attacks on cities, but spends a lot of time in the courts, where the acting is all superb, creating a Shakespearean level drama. Everything looks beautifully opulent, from the sets to the costumes. I loved the pool with the submerged bridge that is elevated for visitors to the court. Any fan of epics, Chinese films, or historical costume dramas will not be disappointed.
The Incredibles
Brad Bird, 2004 (8*)
One of the more sarcastic and humorous of the recent animated classics, the Incredibles actually referes to a family of ex-superheroes of that name, led by the voices of dad Craig T. Nelson and mom Holly Hunter. They are now in the witness protection program, and bored to death. Of course, unless they jumped back into action, we wouldn’t have a film, so you can expect the inevitable animated superhero action here to spice up the comedy. Samuel L. Jackson voices another superhero, Frozone, who works with ice, a reference to Ice Nine from Kurt Vonnegut’s A Cat’s Cradle, perhaps?
This story has a script so good that it was nominated for an Oscar®. Two Oscars®, Sound and Animated Feature. It also won 16 awards for animated feature that year, and numerous other awards. Here is the awards page for it at Internet Movie Database:
Incredibles Award Page
One of the more sarcastic and humorous of the recent animated classics, the Incredibles actually referes to a family of ex-superheroes of that name, led by the voices of dad Craig T. Nelson and mom Holly Hunter. They are now in the witness protection program, and bored to death. Of course, unless they jumped back into action, we wouldn’t have a film, so you can expect the inevitable animated superhero action here to spice up the comedy. Samuel L. Jackson voices another superhero, Frozone, who works with ice, a reference to Ice Nine from Kurt Vonnegut’s A Cat’s Cradle, perhaps?
This story has a script so good that it was nominated for an Oscar®. Two Oscars®, Sound and Animated Feature. It also won 16 awards for animated feature that year, and numerous other awards. Here is the awards page for it at Internet Movie Database:
Incredibles Award Page
The Right Stuff
Philip Kaufman, 1983 (9*)This is the true story of America’s early astronaut program. The men who had the “right stuff” were test pilots, who were the first selected as astronauts, even though they weren’t really doing any piloting at that stage. Kaufman’s film has a big budget and a giant cast, and it shows. Admittedly a Hollywood version of a patriotic story, it’s nevertheless very exciting and realistic, especially the early sequences of Chuck Yeager, played by Sam Shepherd, breaking the sound barrier. The movie also has Scott Glenn, Dennis Quaid, Ed Harris, Fred Ward as astronauts, Barbara Hershey and Veronica Cartwright as wives, and many others. It manages to maintain a sense of humor and personality by concentrating on a small group of people in just the very beginning of the program. Based on Thomas Wolfe’s best-selling book. Along with Apollo 13, the best true stories among space films.
The River
Jean Renoir, 1951 (7*)The French master Jean Renoir discovered Ms. Rumer Godden's 1946 novel about living in India, The River, but couldn't find anyone to back the film as the story lacked the usual action elements of most western films about Asia. Eventually a florist tycoon, Kenneth McEldowney, backed the film but they didn't have enough capital to hire big Hollywood actors, so the cast is actually part professional, part amateur. The book and film are really not about a strong plot (it centers on a young teenage girl's awkward coming of age), but are more like a documentary film on life along the Ganges, the river culture and lives along its banks; that and colonialist Britons trying to co-exist while living in a foreign country.
Released in 1951, this was Renoir's first film in English and first color film. Son of the famous French impressionist painter, Auguste, he really captured beautiful, rich early Technicolor. Martin Scorsese, moved by this film at age 9 in the theater, led the restoration effort, completed in 2004. The Criterion dvd edition is gorgeous as the look is really the film's star, the glorious cinematography of a beautiful and colorful slice of Hindu culture.
For me the highlight of the Criterion dvd is the documentary done by the BBC, An Indian Affair, in which they returned to India with an 88 year old Rumer Godden to visit the locales where she grew up and that she hadn't seen in over half a century. Sadly, many have been allowed to deteriorate. This documentary is as well filmed as the Renoir movie, and the dvd also features interfiews with Scorsese, Renoir, and producer McEldowney.
Westerners may learn about Indian culture from this film; though some of the techniques look a little dated, and the acting a little forced at times, this was the first color film shot in India, and as such, the movie takes on a more important societal role than mere entertainment.
Morgan!
'Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment'
Karel Reisz, 1966, bw (8*)
This small and unique film made actor David Warner a star. He’s more lovable here than as Evil Incarnate in Time Bandits, or the evil computer program in Tron, as he plays Morgan, a zany but lovable psychotic who’s obsessed with giant apes, Communism, and ex-wife Vanessa Redgrave. However she’s moving on and about to get re-married, sending Morgan on a chest-thumping binge of jealous insanity.
Yes, there's some silliness, but also some deceptively subtle psyshosis portrayed on film, some from Morgan's point of view. It's very easy to empathize with him here as we've all been driven a little nuts by love. Vanessa has such a beautiful laugh in this that you can easily imagine what deprivation Morgan must feel being separated from her.
Director Reisz (who also directed The French Lieutenant's Woman) has made an original comedy that reminds me of perhaps a forerunner to the Charles Kaufman comedies Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Being John Malkovich. Uneven, but so original they remain in your memory. One of the last black-and-white classics as well, I think as a throwback to the classic Ealing Studio comedies of the 40's and 50's.
Karel Reisz, 1966, bw (8*)
This small and unique film made actor David Warner a star. He’s more lovable here than as Evil Incarnate in Time Bandits, or the evil computer program in Tron, as he plays Morgan, a zany but lovable psychotic who’s obsessed with giant apes, Communism, and ex-wife Vanessa Redgrave. However she’s moving on and about to get re-married, sending Morgan on a chest-thumping binge of jealous insanity.
Yes, there's some silliness, but also some deceptively subtle psyshosis portrayed on film, some from Morgan's point of view. It's very easy to empathize with him here as we've all been driven a little nuts by love. Vanessa has such a beautiful laugh in this that you can easily imagine what deprivation Morgan must feel being separated from her.
Director Reisz (who also directed The French Lieutenant's Woman) has made an original comedy that reminds me of perhaps a forerunner to the Charles Kaufman comedies Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Being John Malkovich. Uneven, but so original they remain in your memory. One of the last black-and-white classics as well, I think as a throwback to the classic Ealing Studio comedies of the 40's and 50's.
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Anthony Minghella, 1999 (8*)
This was the second film version of Patricia Highsmith’s novel Mr. Ripley, the first being Rene Clement’s 1961 French film Purple Noon. In this more sinister version from director Anthony Minghella (The English Patient), ‘frat boy’ Tom Ripley is played by Matt Damon, going out of character. Tom is in Europe with his childhood friend Jude Law, trying to earn money from Law’s father back in the states if he can convince Law to give up his playboy ways and come back home and do something productive. Ripley has no money and is dependent on this bonus, until then he’s living off of his friend, hence his dilemna. He's also falling for Law's girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow.
There are some unforeseen plot twists I can’t mention – but this version changes the story a little, and is a more menacing and disarming version. Philip Seymour Hoffman adds a lot to this version as Law’s friend Freddie, who was barely an afterthought in the French film. Fans of the book or crime and suspense films should watch both filmed versions, perhaps this version first.
This was the second film version of Patricia Highsmith’s novel Mr. Ripley, the first being Rene Clement’s 1961 French film Purple Noon. In this more sinister version from director Anthony Minghella (The English Patient), ‘frat boy’ Tom Ripley is played by Matt Damon, going out of character. Tom is in Europe with his childhood friend Jude Law, trying to earn money from Law’s father back in the states if he can convince Law to give up his playboy ways and come back home and do something productive. Ripley has no money and is dependent on this bonus, until then he’s living off of his friend, hence his dilemna. He's also falling for Law's girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow.
There are some unforeseen plot twists I can’t mention – but this version changes the story a little, and is a more menacing and disarming version. Philip Seymour Hoffman adds a lot to this version as Law’s friend Freddie, who was barely an afterthought in the French film. Fans of the book or crime and suspense films should watch both filmed versions, perhaps this version first.
Sleepwalking Through the Mekong
John Pirozzi, 2009 (8*)
Mostly in English, with some subtitles. Available this April
There’s a very unique L.A. band called Dengue (‘din-gay’) Fever, whom you might have heard on NPR. They play a unique sixties-based 'L.A. filtered' Cambodian rock, which they say was derived from surf music, but you couldn’t tell from what Dengue Fever puts out, it sounds closer to psychedelic rock to me, with some almost Garcia-like guitar. The Holtzman brothers who formed the band hired a strong-voiced Cambodian singer, Chhom Nimol, who was famous there before immigrating to the U.S. Their music is actually covers of famous Cambodian rock singers, who, due to the massacres committed by the Kymer Rouge regime, sadly did not survive that turbulent era. Along with Nimol, they are keeping this music alive in the world, and in this film, they take the music back to its people.
Director Pirozzi has filmed an engrossing documentary of Dengue Fever as they travel to Cambodia for the first time to perform what is essentially that culture’s modern music, and for singer Nimol, it’s a homecoming after five years absence. Pirozzi often shows the band’s performances from a close and wide-angle view (see photo), making the viewer feel that they are seeing the music live themselves, sometimes from onstage, sometimes as part of the crowd.
Rather than concentrate on just the band, Pirozzi also shows many wonderful images of Cambodia and its people, successfully using a montage effect at times, like traveling is shown in old b&w classic films. Since the entire country seems to travel on motor scooters, a hand-held camera is often used from a scooter in the middle of the traffic so we get a feeling of how chaotic the streets are there, yet everyone seems safe enough that no one wears helmets, not even entire families of 4-5 people on one scooter. The band was lucky enough to be there during the Water Festival, celebrating the end of monsoon season when the Mekong River actually changes direction, so we get to see what looks like their Mardi Gras, as thousands pour into Phnom Penh from the countryside for a festival of fireworks, music, water sports, and food.
Pirozzi includes encounters with local Cambodian music masters, and we see some of the effort being made with young people to keep this culture alive, which barely survived the war years and in some cases has a lone surviving instrumentalist. The Cambodian people appear very outgoing and friendly, a friend of mine who lived in Thailand said as much. Director Pirozzi has created a wonderful film of cross-cultural meetings that created lasting impressions and immediate friendships.
My only complaint with this film is that at 65 minutes, it’s about half an hour too short, so it feels 'tv length'. Thankfully, Pirozzi added about another 45 minutes of short films to the dvd so viewers won’t be disappointed. In fact, one song, “1000 Tears of a Tarantula”, is a wonderful jazz excursion that blends the best of both American and Cambodian music into one ethereal musical journey – this is the best music on the dvd, and should have been included in the film. If you like the music, there’s an excellent soundtrack to the film on CD released as part of the dvd package. We need more music films this rare, stories that show good music, a joyous cultural exchange, and a window into a society that’s been overlooked far too long by the rest of the world.
Here’s the website for the film: Sleepwalking Through the Mekong
For artwork: Dengue Fever Promo Art
Mostly in English, with some subtitles. Available this April
There’s a very unique L.A. band called Dengue (‘din-gay’) Fever, whom you might have heard on NPR. They play a unique sixties-based 'L.A. filtered' Cambodian rock, which they say was derived from surf music, but you couldn’t tell from what Dengue Fever puts out, it sounds closer to psychedelic rock to me, with some almost Garcia-like guitar. The Holtzman brothers who formed the band hired a strong-voiced Cambodian singer, Chhom Nimol, who was famous there before immigrating to the U.S. Their music is actually covers of famous Cambodian rock singers, who, due to the massacres committed by the Kymer Rouge regime, sadly did not survive that turbulent era. Along with Nimol, they are keeping this music alive in the world, and in this film, they take the music back to its people.
Director Pirozzi has filmed an engrossing documentary of Dengue Fever as they travel to Cambodia for the first time to perform what is essentially that culture’s modern music, and for singer Nimol, it’s a homecoming after five years absence. Pirozzi often shows the band’s performances from a close and wide-angle view (see photo), making the viewer feel that they are seeing the music live themselves, sometimes from onstage, sometimes as part of the crowd.
Rather than concentrate on just the band, Pirozzi also shows many wonderful images of Cambodia and its people, successfully using a montage effect at times, like traveling is shown in old b&w classic films. Since the entire country seems to travel on motor scooters, a hand-held camera is often used from a scooter in the middle of the traffic so we get a feeling of how chaotic the streets are there, yet everyone seems safe enough that no one wears helmets, not even entire families of 4-5 people on one scooter. The band was lucky enough to be there during the Water Festival, celebrating the end of monsoon season when the Mekong River actually changes direction, so we get to see what looks like their Mardi Gras, as thousands pour into Phnom Penh from the countryside for a festival of fireworks, music, water sports, and food.
Pirozzi includes encounters with local Cambodian music masters, and we see some of the effort being made with young people to keep this culture alive, which barely survived the war years and in some cases has a lone surviving instrumentalist. The Cambodian people appear very outgoing and friendly, a friend of mine who lived in Thailand said as much. Director Pirozzi has created a wonderful film of cross-cultural meetings that created lasting impressions and immediate friendships.
My only complaint with this film is that at 65 minutes, it’s about half an hour too short, so it feels 'tv length'. Thankfully, Pirozzi added about another 45 minutes of short films to the dvd so viewers won’t be disappointed. In fact, one song, “1000 Tears of a Tarantula”, is a wonderful jazz excursion that blends the best of both American and Cambodian music into one ethereal musical journey – this is the best music on the dvd, and should have been included in the film. If you like the music, there’s an excellent soundtrack to the film on CD released as part of the dvd package. We need more music films this rare, stories that show good music, a joyous cultural exchange, and a window into a society that’s been overlooked far too long by the rest of the world.
Here’s the website for the film: Sleepwalking Through the Mekong
For artwork: Dengue Fever Promo Art
Gadjo Dilo
aka, The Crazy Stranger
Tony Gatliff, 1997, Romania (8*)
Now, when have you ever seen a film that shows the passionate lifestyle of gypsies, and not just the gypsy catfight in From Russia With Love? We finally have one, and it full of music, drinking, dancing, and passion. A young Parisian is seen walking in the beginning, and it turns out that he’s a gypsy descendent, and is in Romania searching for the singer of a song that his father loved to listen to while dying. He finds a great drunken musician named Izidor, who takes him under his wing, and begins to teach him the language, so he won’t be a “gadjo”, or outsider. He also meets the seductive beauty played by Rona Hartner, whose dancing, singing, and eroticism steal the film. Hartner, who also records music cds and does paintings, won two film festival awards for Best Actress for this film. Down a star for some unnecessary violence. Winner of 9 international awards.
Awards: Gadjo Dilo Awards
Tony Gatliff, 1997, Romania (8*)
Now, when have you ever seen a film that shows the passionate lifestyle of gypsies, and not just the gypsy catfight in From Russia With Love? We finally have one, and it full of music, drinking, dancing, and passion. A young Parisian is seen walking in the beginning, and it turns out that he’s a gypsy descendent, and is in Romania searching for the singer of a song that his father loved to listen to while dying. He finds a great drunken musician named Izidor, who takes him under his wing, and begins to teach him the language, so he won’t be a “gadjo”, or outsider. He also meets the seductive beauty played by Rona Hartner, whose dancing, singing, and eroticism steal the film. Hartner, who also records music cds and does paintings, won two film festival awards for Best Actress for this film. Down a star for some unnecessary violence. Winner of 9 international awards.
Awards: Gadjo Dilo Awards
Rivers and Tides
Thomas Riedelsheimer, 2003 (9*)
This is an amazing documentary that is not like any other because the artist Andy Goldsworthy is so unique. It's slow to get started but once you see how and why he does what he does it all makes intuitive sense. Its all about time and the ephemeral nature of living things. He uses natural media he finds in nature, rarely planning anything in advance. Only his rock sculptures last longer than the day he makes them. Most are temporary: ice sculptures that glow then melt in the sunlight, leaf 'snakes' held with thorns that he sends down a stream, or autumn leaves arranged from dark to light creating an artificial hole. He sometimes build 'rock piles like people use to mark trails worldwide', but they're big egg-shaped and carefully done with no mortar, yet they hold together as if made to stand in this shape like silent sentinels. He has designed a permanent wall in a sculpture garden, but let professional “wallers” build that. You don't have to be an artist to appreciate this movie. It also has several short films as a bonus. Goldsworthy has done so much of this that a film of all his outdoor artwork could actually last weeks! Inspiring...
This is an amazing documentary that is not like any other because the artist Andy Goldsworthy is so unique. It's slow to get started but once you see how and why he does what he does it all makes intuitive sense. Its all about time and the ephemeral nature of living things. He uses natural media he finds in nature, rarely planning anything in advance. Only his rock sculptures last longer than the day he makes them. Most are temporary: ice sculptures that glow then melt in the sunlight, leaf 'snakes' held with thorns that he sends down a stream, or autumn leaves arranged from dark to light creating an artificial hole. He sometimes build 'rock piles like people use to mark trails worldwide', but they're big egg-shaped and carefully done with no mortar, yet they hold together as if made to stand in this shape like silent sentinels. He has designed a permanent wall in a sculpture garden, but let professional “wallers” build that. You don't have to be an artist to appreciate this movie. It also has several short films as a bonus. Goldsworthy has done so much of this that a film of all his outdoor artwork could actually last weeks! Inspiring...
Ashes of Time Redux
Wong Kar Wai, 1994, China (8*)Redux Version 2008
This film is a work of art. Director Wong Kar-Wai never films a straight narrative story, but makes cinematic art: visually stunning, lyrical, a visual statement about time and memory, yet done with the seasons cycling around as if to imply all of life is circular. In a way, this is like a Chinese spaghetti western, about a man who hires swordsmen for contract killings. One can actually see visual homage to Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, with blurred action images and extreme closeups, and also Antonioni's Red Desert, with long slow tributes to abstract beauty in nature. Wong Kar Wai has never been one to disappoint me, even if the story is a little slow, the visuals are enough to keep me riveted, such as in Fallen Angels, the sequel to Chungking Express.
This is a poetic, haunting film, I'm glad that Wong recut it and made it a little more woven together, even as it is, it's free flowing like "the river of time", and even the narrative, usually boring, adds some poetry of its own. (Not sure about the addition of the Yo-Yo Ma score though, the music is actually distracting). I can't get one thought out of my mind, "a man's worst enemy is his memory", and since part of this film uses the plot device of a wine that makes one forget, it's a painful point that one cannot escape, as a character says "the more you try to forget, the more you remember".
This is a great cast, the last names reading like a haiku: Chueng, Leung, Lin, Lau, Leung, Cheung, Young, Chou, Cheung. There's even two Tony Leungs (Ka Fai and Chiu Wai for you real fans! ..also Maggie Cheung, thankfully). If you're not a Wong Kar Wai fan, start with Chungking and Angels, then In the Mood for Love - these films have a breathtaking beauty thanks to the cinematography of Christopher Doyle, who also works with Zhang Yimou.
Short Cuts 1
..I thought it my duty to warn people of some films to avoid. Here's a recent batch of forgettable wastes of time.
The Ninth Gate (Polanski, 2003?) - Occult garbage about rare books about the devil (who knew he was an artist to boot? I think his pseudonym was "Rockwell"!) with Johnny Depp and Frank Langella both wasted; Rosemary's Baby this isn't, awful it is. 3*
Untraceable (Gregory Hoblit, 08) - Sadistic internet killer plays with the police (Diane Lane, Colin Hanks, Tom's son) and the public; just an excuse for gory murders, not well done at that. 3*
Breach - true story of FBI mole/spy Robert Hansson should have been better with Chris Cooper in the lead; a numbing bore as most spies are boring anyway, which this shows. Watch The Good Shepherd instead (DeNiro directed Matt Damon). 4*
Tipping the Velvet (Geoffrey Sax, 02) - sensational BBC mini-series about male impersonators in London with lots of R rated Lesbian scenes, and even with Diana Rigg's daughter (Rachel Sterling?) in the lead, it's overly sentimental and over the top. Only for the prurient. 4*
Keeping the Faith (Edward Norton, 2000) - comedic fluff with Ed Norton (directing also), Ben Stiller, and Jenna Gelfman torn between a rabbi (Stiller) and a priest (Norton). Yep, it's a stretch, not funny, and you keep waiting for something interesting to happen. 4*
My Super Ex-Girlfriend (Ivan Reitman) - with a big director and Uma Thurman, you'd expect more from this, but it's not funny nor exciting in the least. super ex-bitch is more like it - a yawner. 3*
Le Professional (George Lautner, 81, France) - terribly lit and overexposed movie, you can see double shadows on the walls in every interior scene, distracts from the boring hit man story, which also has some awful music. Belmondo deserves better. 2*
The Ninth Gate (Polanski, 2003?) - Occult garbage about rare books about the devil (who knew he was an artist to boot? I think his pseudonym was "Rockwell"!) with Johnny Depp and Frank Langella both wasted; Rosemary's Baby this isn't, awful it is. 3*
Untraceable (Gregory Hoblit, 08) - Sadistic internet killer plays with the police (Diane Lane, Colin Hanks, Tom's son) and the public; just an excuse for gory murders, not well done at that. 3*
Breach - true story of FBI mole/spy Robert Hansson should have been better with Chris Cooper in the lead; a numbing bore as most spies are boring anyway, which this shows. Watch The Good Shepherd instead (DeNiro directed Matt Damon). 4*
Tipping the Velvet (Geoffrey Sax, 02) - sensational BBC mini-series about male impersonators in London with lots of R rated Lesbian scenes, and even with Diana Rigg's daughter (Rachel Sterling?) in the lead, it's overly sentimental and over the top. Only for the prurient. 4*
Keeping the Faith (Edward Norton, 2000) - comedic fluff with Ed Norton (directing also), Ben Stiller, and Jenna Gelfman torn between a rabbi (Stiller) and a priest (Norton). Yep, it's a stretch, not funny, and you keep waiting for something interesting to happen. 4*
My Super Ex-Girlfriend (Ivan Reitman) - with a big director and Uma Thurman, you'd expect more from this, but it's not funny nor exciting in the least. super ex-bitch is more like it - a yawner. 3*
Le Professional (George Lautner, 81, France) - terribly lit and overexposed movie, you can see double shadows on the walls in every interior scene, distracts from the boring hit man story, which also has some awful music. Belmondo deserves better. 2*
A Night at the Opera
Sam Wood, 1935 (7*)
This Marx Brothers gem features probably their most famous scene: the stateroom on the ocean liner that is a phone booth to begin with (Groucho’s line) and they cram about 15 people in, from stowaways to maids to waiters, who fall out when Margaret Dumont (yes, she's on hand, thankfully) opens the door. However, like kissing scenes in your Saturday westerns growing up (when kids would actually boo in the theater!), this has some lengthy and pointless musical numbers to wait out before the comedic pace returns. Admitted that Chico had a humorous style on the piano and did his numbers in one take, but Harpo on harp is always tedious, and this also has some operetta-like songs and dances that do nothing for the Marx style except slow it down. In the better Duck Soup, the musical numbers were zany and made sense to the plot, “Hooray for Captain Spalding” was actually nominated for an Oscar. Still, one of their best in the comedy parts.
Quote: “That’s the sanity clause” – “You can’t a-foola me, there ain’t no sanity clause!”
This Marx Brothers gem features probably their most famous scene: the stateroom on the ocean liner that is a phone booth to begin with (Groucho’s line) and they cram about 15 people in, from stowaways to maids to waiters, who fall out when Margaret Dumont (yes, she's on hand, thankfully) opens the door. However, like kissing scenes in your Saturday westerns growing up (when kids would actually boo in the theater!), this has some lengthy and pointless musical numbers to wait out before the comedic pace returns. Admitted that Chico had a humorous style on the piano and did his numbers in one take, but Harpo on harp is always tedious, and this also has some operetta-like songs and dances that do nothing for the Marx style except slow it down. In the better Duck Soup, the musical numbers were zany and made sense to the plot, “Hooray for Captain Spalding” was actually nominated for an Oscar. Still, one of their best in the comedy parts.
Quote: “That’s the sanity clause” – “You can’t a-foola me, there ain’t no sanity clause!”
The Tunnel
Roland Suso Richter, 2001, Germany (8*)
Based on a true story from the 50’s of East German swimmer Harry Melchior who defected to West Germany then enlisted the aid of an odd assortment of diggers to see if they could dig a 145-meter tunnel to the east to help their relatives also escape to the west. This is a riveting film, if lengthy (nearly 3 hrs), that manages to maintain its tension throughout, and is a better escape film than the obviously Hollywooden Great Escape, and without any big stars as well. Mixing dark color with some grainy black & white sections, director Ricther manages to maintain a near documentary feel in a story that should have been told decades ago. Reminiscent of the Leon Uris novel Mila 18, about trapped Jews tunneling out of the Warsaw ghetto.
Based on a true story from the 50’s of East German swimmer Harry Melchior who defected to West Germany then enlisted the aid of an odd assortment of diggers to see if they could dig a 145-meter tunnel to the east to help their relatives also escape to the west. This is a riveting film, if lengthy (nearly 3 hrs), that manages to maintain its tension throughout, and is a better escape film than the obviously Hollywooden Great Escape, and without any big stars as well. Mixing dark color with some grainy black & white sections, director Ricther manages to maintain a near documentary feel in a story that should have been told decades ago. Reminiscent of the Leon Uris novel Mila 18, about trapped Jews tunneling out of the Warsaw ghetto.
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