A collection of my idiosyncratic thoughts & film reviews. I find spending time sitting in the dark watching far too many films back to back a deeply relaxing experience. International, Indy, Hollywood, Vampires - I have very flexible tastes...
Well, if you've been following me on Twitter this probably isn't really news at all. But in short this year I'm planning to try out a new festival SXSW Film which takes place in Austin, TX. I've heard nothing but good about it and judging from their website there are a ton of things to do/see. So around March 12th I'm planning to make my way there. Which means either a lot of movie postings or none for a while at that point depending on how much fun I'm having.
As a SXSW newbie I've been trolling the web for advice/info. Their website has some nice schedule info and I've been playing with that (sadly with the death of B-Side I'm assuming I won't finally get a chance to try out their "festival genius" technology. I'll be posting interesting stuff about the festival in the run up to it's start as I stumble across it. Today just wanted to share a few intro links I dug up. Plan to update with more as I come across them - if you've got any to share would love an email tip or a post in the comments.
One of the most useful and comprehensive seeming guides I found was published by the Slackerwood blog. They're planning a 2010 version from what I understand though as I don't know that there a ton of changes their 2009 Guide to SXSW should work pretty well. Updated: Their 2010 Guide to Venues now live.
There's also a three part series (I, II, III,IV) entitled "SXSW Film - Real Tips for Real People" by Larry Richman that's worth reading. If you attend a fair number of festivals I'm not sure it's going to surprise you, but still more info = better, yes?
Film School Rejects have a ton of previews of the films that will be screened. It looks great, but I haven't had the time to dig into it yet.
Here's a cute video guide to their queuing system at the festival:
And a basic guide to the film venues
If you feel you just need a ton of everything going on at SXSW in video format you can also checkout preview trailers for most (if not all) of the films screening - here.
Update 3/5: The SXSW website has published a super useful pdf version of the film screening grid that's nicely configurated for printing and carrying around. It's available right - here.
I totally expected to hate, hate, hate this movie. Turns out this is one of those times where low expectations are your friend. I find this approach really only works when a film has some qualities you'd enjoy but isn't really perfect (or even particularly good). So there has to be something there to redeem it. No amount of properly modest expectations were going to save Last Chance Harveyfor me, as an example. I can't really call the film great - or even particularly good. But as a basic romantic something or other it was pleasant enough. As long as you don't think too much about the character motivations it served it's purpose for me last Sunday which was taking the edge off "here comes the week" stress. Though you should note it took me over a week to jot anything down about the movie - so totally excited by it I was not.
Dear John starts off with Amanda Seyfried aka Savannah (beautiful blond girl from money with some sort of positive for the universe educational goals to remind you she's not a character from Heathers) "meets cute" with hunky special forces surfer dude John (Channing Tatum). John's a man with an undescribed angry past and a Dad (Richard Jenkins back to being somewhat criminally under used post The Visitor) with good qualities but some limitations via a condition (perhaps) approximating Asperger's. They fall in love and then spend a bunch of the next hour corresponding by letter back and forth. Big weepy letters - which thankfully aren't all that detailed therefore allowing us to believe they're poignant (at least a little, remember I'm a glass half full guy when it comes to movies). The plan is he'll be home from the military in a year and they can live happily ever after. But then comes 9/11 and everyone in his unit re-ups. But of course as we all learned in The Princess Bride true love can survive anything. Except perhaps this script which throws the characters for a loop or two (or perhaps five). I'll whine slightly about some of those details after the jump to give folks a fighting chance at avoiding spoilers - it's not like I'm running The New Yorker here where they guarantee a spoiler in each paragraph. That said, a lot has been written about the contortions of the story here. Personally I agree with all of them and then some - but hey, not everything has to be a work of art.
One last thing you should know (besides the fact that apparently I'm an easier than typical mark for the romantic genre) - I may have a slight bias on this film due to the casting of Amanda Seyfried who I find pleasant to watch onscreen. Plus she's still working off a positive bounce in my view for having owned the bookends of Jennifer's Body which were the best parts of the film (OK, possibly the only not boring parts). So either that (or the cocktail I had with the film at Gold Class Cinemas) may be affecting my judgment slightly here. Meaning if I ever see Dear John I retain the right to decide it was a dreadful mess. After the jump below I'll just mention my one peeve about the film that I just don't get. There will be some minor spoilers...
Cop Out does have a few things going for it
- A well cut set of trailers that made me laugh while thinking that maybe, just maybe I could tolerate Tracy Morgan on the big screen.
- Directed by Kevin Smith who I feel I have not fully repaid the debt that came due the 1st time I saw Chasing Amy and Mallrats. Though a big part of that was cancelled out by Zack and Miri Make a Porno.
- A character played by the helpful skinhead in "Some Kind of Wonderful" who apparently has not aged a day in 20 years (though he always seemed a bit old in Wonderful to be in High School). Oops, I looked that up - not true at all (which makes more sense), just the guy from Weeds who as usual seems like he's having way too much fun in his role.
- Starts out with the Beastie Boys doing No Sleep till Brooklyn in accordance with the laws of nature as governing any motion picture set in that fine borough.
Sadly, that's about where the positives end. Almost all of the true laughs are in the red band trailer and the action isn't enough to stand on it's own. While I appreciate the never ending stream of visual, verbal and musical references to other buddy cop films, as Roger Ebert recently warned it's not a good idea for film makers to remind you of better films.
Most of the dynamic between detective partners Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan you can probably deduce from the poster and general knowledge about the actors. Bruce Willis plays a slightly comedic version of himself from Die Hard and Morgan a less funny version of his character from 30 Rock. Partners for 9 years they've grown indulgent of each other in the way a married couple might. It's hard to see why they would have stuck together all this time, but that's probably what the suspension of disbelief is all about. The story as it were revolves around a drug kingpin who's missing a Mercedes and Bruce Willis who's missing a very valuable baseball card. He needs that card to pay for his daughter's wedding to avoid the humiliation of having Jason Lee (his daughter's stepfather) from picking up the tab. Though it's hard to imagine Willis would be more humiliated than Lee for his connection with the Chipmunks movies. Still, Lee's presence is a pleasant reminder that Kevin Smith directed (though did not write) this film. Which made me want to like the film even if Smith couldn't figure out a way for Lee to offer someone a dipped pretzel. Oops - almost forgot to continue with the "story" aka an excuse for folks to crack wise (in an R rated way) and shoot each other (in a very TV A-Team PG-13 way).
The baseball card gets stolen and then mixed up with the gangsters through the dealings of parkour loving Seann William Scott. The dynamic between Scott, Willis and Morgan is perhaps the best part of the film. Beyond that I'll admit to a few chuckles with maybe one or two real laughs over the movie's run. But it's too little too late. Go if you must - there are worse choices to be made. But don't expect to fully get your money's worth. A rental at best.
I won't even get into the gross mis-usage of folks such as Kevin Pollak. Still seems like I owe Mr. Smith at least that much...
Continuing my post from yesterday here's a quick rundown of the Academy Award Nominated shorts in the "live action" category. In a positive note I just realized that the academy managed to find five shorts to honor without including Love that played at SIFF which my friend Scott summarized as a "maudlin piece of pathos porn." I haven't taken a tally, but I'm hoping at least one of the shorts films played at SIFF this year - as this was the first year that Seattle became a qualifying festival for this award. OK, on to the films...
The Door (Ireland) - A sad but well made film about the after effects of Chernobyl on a family. I'd seen this in Palm Springs last summer. It's not at all fun but it's effective. And I always appreciate the showing vs. telling which this one is pretty good at.
Instead of Abracadabra (Sweden) - Probably my favorite of the bunch, and definitely the one I'm rooting for to win. If only for it's unabashedly dorky nature. The main character is still living with his parents at an age where that doesn't seem ideal. But he's got plans, specifically to be a magician whose act has a touch of darkly gothic mystery and mayhem (paraphrasing him). Though as you might expect the reality is slightly different. He's even invented his own catch phrase to replace the standard 'Abracadabra' - but I won't spoil that part for you. After some home performances go wrong he meets a neighbor at the hospital and tries to woo her - largely by his performances. Which is problematic given his propensity to injure bystanders during them. Sort of sweet though. My kind of short (or longer film for that matter).
Kavi (India/USA) - A boy and his family live and work essentially as slaves in a brick making facility in India. Brings attention to an important issue while still producing a compelling short.
Miracle Fish (Australia) - Parent's lame gift may have a dramatic outcome of a very dramatic day's events. A young boy goes to school on his birthday. After a bit of run of the mill movie taunting he takes a nap in the infirmary. When he wakes up everyone is gone. The rest of the film deals with what happened. This was a repeat viewing from Palm Springs and it was interesting to watch the audience reaction now that I knew in what direction it was actually heading. Sorry, couldn't find a trailer or any other video for this one.
The New Tenants (Denmark/USA) - black comedy about two guys who rented an apartment without knowing the full story of it beforehand. Turns out it's important to ask why your apartment is vacant. It's educational even beyond that, apparently heroin looks a lot like baking flour. And those are not two things you want to mix up (though I sort of knew that second part). It's listed from Denmark but the entire film is in English. As I like my shorts a little comic and a little dark this was my second favorite of the group. Though there's some distance between this one and the first. Still was fun.
This past week I saw Prodigal Sons a documentary wherein a former male star of the football team returns to her Montana town now as a woman. The good news is that even though she seems to have been very much expecting the opposite her former friends appear to largely accepting. More troubling for her is the resumption of her relationship with her adopted brother who has serious anger control issues due to a head injury. Oh, and he's the grandson of Orson Welles. But as interesting as the setup may sound by the end it just seemed like a view into a family dealing with serious mental health issues with the brother. Perhaps a very honest and real one - which I'm sure is why many others have told me how much they enjoyed the film. For me though, interesting for a while - but then quickly fell into my own very personal designation - I don't need to watch this for learning and/or entertainment camp. Which has nothing to do with the transgender issues involved. Strictly that I don't find watching families suffer through issues involving anger control and likely mental illness particularly enjoyable. Nor that revealing in this case if I stop to think about it.
If you do want to see it I'd say the less you know the better so I will stop here. The film will be screening at SIFF Cinema in March. It played at SIFF 2009 and many other festivals to from what I can tell were positive reviews. So don't necessarily let me talk you out of it...
Each year Landmark Theaters does a nice thing each year where for a week they put together a program highlighting all the short films that are nominated for that year's academy award. Or maybe they just screen someone elses package - I'm not that sure, but I like it all the same. Of the ten I've seen three of them (all at Palm Springs's Shortsfest) - but I suspect that's far more than even the concerted movie goer. So for the price of a ticket you can see all the animated ones, wait 30 minutes and then for the price of another ticket see all the live action ones. So heading down during matinee pricing for $15 I'm now completely caught up on my animated and live action shorts nominees. None were bad, some were very entertaining. Perhaps none were truly life alteringly great, but I didn't really expect that for $15. This post will deal with the animated films, a following one will discuss the live action shorts.
Overall animation shorts were better than I expected. Normally animated shorts are a mixed bag for me, I'm not an uncritical fan of the genre. This time through though they were more hit than miss. If you're an animation fan, I suspect you'll be pretty pleased with all the choices. In addition to the actual animated Oscar nominated shorts they tacked on a few others, presumably to round out the overall running time. They were fine too, but I'm not discussing them below just out of mild laziness.
French Roast (France) - Missed this one today due to arriving late. But don't know why what I wrote when I saw it at Shortsfest in Palm Springs wouldn't apply. Cute animated feature about mistaken identity and how that can almost get you arrested for bank robbery in France if and when you don't pay your bill at the local bistro. Life lesson - if you forget your wallet just fess up, don't keep ordering more and more coffee. Even if it seemed like a good idea in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. You can watch the film in its entirety below.
Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty (Ireland) - Perhaps if your grandmother's last name is Grimm you really don't want her to read you a bedtime story. At least that's how the child in this story feels. We soon discover why as she tells a super scary (and seemingly very personal) version of Sleeping Beauty. Very cute and well executed. Judge for yourself, the full film is embedded directly below.
The Lady and the Reaper (Spain) - An older woman who's happy to die (to reunite with her beloved husband) is on the way to her reward hand in hand with the Grim Reaper. But modern medicine attempts to snatch her back leading the Reaper to engage in an an extended fight with her doctor. Beautifully rendered, though it dragged for me just a tiny little bit in the middle. Again, you can watch the entire thing below thanks to the magic of YouTube.
Logorama (Argentina) - slightly violated and foul mouthed story about the end of the world (or maybe just California) build nearly wholly out of corporate logos. I suspect someone (OK, many someones) are probably not terribly happy about this. You can get a visual sense of what they're up to from the trailer below. While technically very clever I still go more for the storytelling so this is probably my least favorite of the shorts.
A Matter of Loaf and Death (UK) - I don't think I've ever seen a Wallace and Gromit cartoon before - was fairly enjoyable. Wallace and his dog Gromit run a bakery where it appeals the canine part of the team is the more diligent employee. This 30 minute or so long film deals with a rash of baker murders. Twelve have been killed so far, and you don't have to be a genius to realize the killer may be aiming for a baker's dozen. Very entertaining and interesting to look at. You can get a flavor from the trailer below.
If this film hadn't inspired so many other borderline snarky things to say there would be an overwhelming temptation to start off by suggesting that the makers of this film were trying to give the full title of Precious a run for its money. While I'm going to go ahead and indulge my deep seated need to poke fun at this film throughout this posting I'm going to fess up right here and admit I enjoyed my outing to see this film. Most likely because I've never read the source material, and because a copy isn't always a bad thing, or perhaps there's just a deep seated defect in my soul . Regardless, I checked my cynicism at the door and just enjoyed the film for what it was. Within the confines of its genre I thought it was reasonably put together and pushed most of the required (if expected) buttons.
Let's see if I can do the story in a nutshell. At the start of the film Poseidon (greek god of the sea I believe) walks out of the water in Coney Island Brooklyn. Then he walks (it would appear) to Manhattan to meet Zeus at the top of Mt. Olympus (in the Empire State Building). Yes, I'm also wondering why Poseidon didn't just get out of the water in Manhattan - though I always love seeing the Astroland amusement part onscreen - so no complaints. Maybe he just wanted to stop at Mrs. Stahls for a knish - I'd hate to have been around when he found out they're out of business. Anyway ... Zeus is pissed because someone stole his lightening (you'd think he'd be more careful with something like that). Based on a history of bad blood he blames Poseidon - and assumes he used his son to steal it. Demanding it back he threatens war between the gods (and likely death to humanity) unless it's returned in two weeks. So to start, the Greek gods are real, along with any mythological creater that can be used in service of the story. Enter - Percy Jackson your average American dyslexic teen with a somewhat rough home life. Yep - you got it, son of Poseidon. Before you know it folks are after the boy who lived Percy and he's shipped off to training camp to learn how demi-god kids roll. There he meets Annabel (daughter of Athena) and finds out his friend Grover is really a half goat dude who has been assigned to keep an eye on him. After surviving a very rough game of capture the flag (where for some reasons they fight with true swords - which would seem to cut down on the number of demi-gods) they head out to take the steps needed to convince everyone that Percy didn't steal the lightening, and save the day. It's not as though you're not going to have some idea where things are going, and there's not going to be an award given for the film's writing at next year's Oscars I expect. Nonetheless I found it a diverting couple of hours - and only the last battle scene sort of lost my interest (I almost always find the final big bad showdown sort of a letdown). That's all I was looking for in a movie like this - so I've got no complaints.
David Plotz from Slate.com liked the film far less than I but is totally correct that it seems ridiculously derivative from the Harry Potter books. Right down to Percy and two friends, one male slightly dorky but willing to do anything for Harry Percy and a strong intelligent female character there to get them out of the stickiest spots. Though in this world Harry Percy and Hermione Annabeth seem clearly destined to hook up. Which leads me to another one of Plotz's complaints - the characters (apparently bumped up in the age from the novel) are pretty sexualized. For me that isn't really a problem - I sort of like the extra romantic dimension in the recent Potter films (sorry - see the film and then try not treating the material interchangably). But if I'd taken my spawn to a PG film where there's near constant references to sex - oblique perhaps but not entirely unsubtle I might be less than thrilled. Think I'm kidding? - one character finally grows his horns after presumably being made into a man by the queen of the underworld - and I don't mean he celebrated his Bar Mitzvah in the underworld. Also, don't get me started on the sexual tension dealt with through swordplay at the end - though perhaps that's a current abstinence only education technique for all I know. Given that Alexandra Daddario who plays Annabeth is in her 20's you don't have to feel that badly if you transpose any of your childhood Xena musings over to her. So again - critical complaint noted - but not a personal complaint.
I could go on - but honestly, you're just going to go or not. If you're a huge fan of the books, or a youngster I have no idea how you're going to react. But I'll roll the dice on the next one - assuming they make enough money to go again.
Oh, and if you are going to see the film, afterward can you take a look at the spoiler related questions past the jump and let me know if you've got any insight there?
There's probably a few jokes I can make about how 44 Inch Chest was about something completely different than what I expected. But instead of being childish I suppose I should at least briefly talk about the actual movie. Ray Winstone (who was the only high point of the new Mel Gibson film Edge of Darkness) plays Colin, a tough man wronged by his wife, at least in his eyes. Her transgression - telling him she's leaving him for another man. OK, admittedly that would be a blow to most anyone - but Colin takes it especially hard. While Colin is inconsolable his crew, a bunch of other tough guys who appear to be criminals of an unspecified variety, kidnap the younger man who his wife was going to run off with and lock him in a large piece of bedroom furniture (I believe the 44 inch chest of the title). Most of the movie takes place in the room with the chest as Colin decides whether or not to kill the man, and looks back on what went wrong.
The contrast of the older rough men dealing often honestly with their emotions is an interesting approach to things. While their conversations are laced with profanity (tip, do not play a drinking game with this film involving the word cunt unless you want to die) the dialog is the best part of the film. Unfortunately the story, aka kill the man or not, and exactly what happened to his wife left me a bit underwhelmed. Not to mention that as charming as some of the conversations are Colin is ultimately a very hard man to like. Perhaps as a live, staged piece if might have felt different - but as it stands the 90 or so minutes of this film felt rather long. Perhaps better suited to video where the ability to turn on subtitles would let you make the most of the obscenity filled dialog.
Mine is a documentary about animals abandoned during Hurricane Katrina and the efforts to save them followed by difficulties some owners had in being reunited with their pets. Along the way it gets involved with some legal issues of pet ownership - along the lines of living creatures vs. property, etc. It was an interesting and generally balanced doc that makes a solid addition to the collection of films that emerged from Katrina. It's of course a bit of a tearjerker - but not quite in the way the Hachi - A Dog's Tale was, reducing me to a wet, whimpering pile of mush.
At first it doesn't sound like there'd be much of an issue. How sympathetic does it sound that people left their animals behind? While that is still on the minds of some of the rescue workers interviewed the reality seems more complicated. Thinking back on the botched plans and chaos around Katrina one remembers the difficulty many residents had evacuating at all. Public options to get out and housing often (if not always) refused to take in dogs and cats. And some people were physically forced to leave animals behind by rescuers. Given limited resources I'm not going to argue the logic - the main point the film makes is that people did not leave all the animals behind by choice. Or that choice was between their own lives and their pets.
After effectively giving us the background as to how the pets were lost the film begins to explained animal rescue efforts. As well as how many factors conspired to keep human/animal families from being reunited. There are some sad stories here across the board. Some turn out well, others less so.
In the grander scheme of things most of these issues probably pale in comparison to other Katrina related tragedies. But the documentary takes a part of the chaos I hadn't heard of before and tells the story in an even handed way and well. Glad I got to see it (even if it took me a while to get to posting a summary). A special thanks to SIFF Cinema for hosting a free screening of this film for members.
From the outset I've got to say that I think my opinion of Youth in Revolt is a victim of seriously high expectations. Having seen the trailer a while back I picked up the book on which the film is based. Then I picked up the sequel, and its sequel. All that knowledge did not help me set reasonable expectations for the onscreen version.
I think this film is definitely worth a look. But if you at all enjoy it then, and only then, I'd suggest checking out the source material. This isn't Twilight where the movie and the book were largely the same. While some of the best set pieces and lines may remain in the movie version this is a greatly simplified set of characters from the book and the story is made far sweeter (and consequently less entertaining) than the version in the series of books. The books are produced in diary form - and the sense of a largely unbalanced, perennially horny 14 year old inner voice is largely lost here. I've since read that this is series of books that are a huge hit with teens that an adult should be embarrassed to enjoy. They're not perfect and can drag briefly here and there - but I zipped through them all as they became more and more ridiculous. To paraphrase Edward Cullen, (apparently) I've been mentally 17 for a very long time...
The high level story line of the book and the films are largely the same. Main character Nick Twisp is your perhaps typical, smarter than average geeky kid who doesn't have a lot of success with the ladies (or avoiding bullies). His parents are divorced and each are train wrecks in their own way. On what seems at first to be a pretty crappy vacation to a trailer park he meets his dream girl Sheeni Saunders. The smart, hot, sexually frank girl stuck in a small town is an inordinate lover of all things French and for some reason seems to be drawn to Nick. But with their vacation over, Nick is pulled out of her life with no way to continue seeing her. Hoping to consumate their relationship Nick decides to do anything necessary in order to return to her. And once there beyond anything to try and stay in Sheeni's life. So, (and this makes more sense when you see it) Nick invents a very entertaining alter ego Francois Dillinger who is the devil on his shoulder pushing him to be bad. Or to live life to the fullest, depending on how you see things.
The dialog and some of the ridiculous extremes Nick/Francois get into make this more than your run of the mill 'I need to lose my virginity' flick. Thankfully they kept some of the rawness of the book, sticking with the perhaps less commercially appealing R-rating in order to not completely deviate from the original material. In the book all the characters are wildly underage which I suspect would bother many onscreen - though from what I can recall believing that 14 year olds don't think about sex is a bit delusional. In the film they bump everyone up a bit into their later teens - probably wisely in this case. Michael Cera and Portia Doubleday did a good job with the material and all the supporting cast generally fit their roles. The book is a huge meandering piece of work and the screenwriters managed to cut it down reasonably well. But at the end of the day having read the novels seriously took away form the film. I'd give Youth in Revolt something in the range of a B- grade, but I suspect if you don't already have some of the best lines in your head you'd probably rate it significantly higher. The friend who attended with me managed a dramatic near spit-take at some point - always a good sign. And to be fair - I laughed more at this than I probably did at a fair amount of other recent "comedies."
I've leave you with one of the best lines of both the book and the movie, from the musings of Sheeni Saunders as she apologizes to Nick for having read his diary, "I have found that people who can successfully resist temptation invariably lead depressingly stunted lives." Truly, words to live by...
Based on conversations I've had with folks online and (literally on lines) at film festivals Police, Adjective is one of those love it or hate it movies. Personally, I really enjoyed it - but many folks leave completely mystified as to why it was worthy of being filmed at all. Laying my cards on the table at the start I'll confess I'm at least in the strong-like camp (love might just be a little strong at this point in the relationship). I recommend checking it out - just don't expect a typical police procedural.
The film was written and directed by Corneliu Porumboiu who also brought us 12:08 East of Bucharest. I got more into this film - though if I recall I was a little sleepy during 12:08, so I've always wondered if I under appreciated it then. Police, Adjective is a strange bird. The main character, Cristi, is a police detective who has been assigned to a case involving drug trafficking. Except that the "trafficker" appears to be a high school kid who is just sharing his personal marijuana stash with two friends. One of those friends has called in the police for a reason never explained, and Cristi is assigned to build a case. He's nothing if not a thorough policeman as he tirelessly follows everyone involved in the case, producing voluminous notes on their comings and goings. We quickly begin to understand that things are taking so long because Cristi doesn't want to arrest the boy. If arrested he'll end up in prison for a number of years. But Cristi has just come back from his honeymoon out of the country where people openly did same thing without consequence. With Romania joining the EU he just doesn't see the point of ruining someone's life when the "crime" will likely soon not be one at all. This causes considerable pressure from his commanding officer, who has absolutely no interest in the police introducing their own judgment about whether a law should be or should not be enforced. The film slowly but consistently moves towards the point where Cristi will be forced to make an ultimate decision about how he will proceed. In the meantime he continues to follow the suspects looking to perhaps catch the boy's source - which would give him the ability to arrest (possibly) a real drug trafficker in his place.
For a film with very little talking (much of the first third at least is nearly silent) words carry a lot of weight. From Cristi's discussions over grammar with his wife (who is prone to correcting his police reports) to a much talked about final lecture from his boss about the definition of conscience (not to mention the proper use of parts of speech) - words and their meanings get a thorough going over. Much of it was (at least to me) funny in a darkly comic way. At the same time it seems clear that the director is trying to make a deeper comment about Romanian society - perhaps about a the follow the rules without subtlety mentality that might have been a good survival strategy during the days of Ceausescu - but seems to be causing problems in this present day story. As one other reviewer helpfully pointed out, police is rarely used as an adjective - with the exception of police state. I won't claim to fully understand the meaning within the context of Romanian history. But even without that I thought it worked quite well as a tale of someone struggling to handle a problem where their ethics conflict with their livelihood, and the likely outcome of such a conflict.
The only thing that bothered me was some frustration with Cristi. Perhaps the police in Romania look at things so fundamentally differently that this would never have occurred to him. But when he kept following the youths around trying to figure out how not to arrest them I kept thinking that the easiest thing to do would be to follow them a bit less well and write reports indicating that they'd stopped the illegal activity. But that's just lazy old me.
Overall I found the film very satisfying. Don't go at the end of a long day, be sure you're not tired and try to enjoy the leisurely pacing. Hope you're not in the "what was the point of all that" camp if you do go. Not that there's anything wrong with that either...
Aasif Mandvi perhaps best known as a correspondent on The Daily Show (if not his small role in Ghost Town) gets to be the center of attention of this crowd pleasing foodie film (that he also co-wrote). It's not an especially complex tale - a "by the numbers" chef is forced out of his comfort zone when he's forced to take over his father's simple Indian restaurant. Given some magical influences he rediscovers his roots and of course becomes a smash success (I don't think I'm really giving anything away there). It's colorful, light fun with some truly amazing looking food at the end. I'd heard it was a popular film with Palm Springs audiences - which bluntly doesn't always mean it's going to be any good. But in this case I had a great time, even given my naturally cynical leanings. By the end I'd bought into the story enough to care about the characters, enjoy his success, etc. It's easy to find minor things to quibble here and there - but honestly, these were all washed away for me as I indulged a bit in the pleasures afforded by the positive life affirming story on display. So basically - I recommend checking it out when it hopefully makes its way into theaters sometime soon.
One warning - I do remember thinking "maybe I should leave" when Aasif's character's boss makes a first scene appearance in the kitchen saying something groan worthy like "listen up ladies!" Just fight that instinct and give it a chance. It was worth it.
Screening Notes:
Oh, if you haven't figured it out by now - I saw this film at the Palm Springs film festival (in fact I think I'm now fully caught up with that event). The cast, producers and some of the crew (I believe) were in attendance at the screening I went to. I managed to take this sort of blurry shot of the group. This isn't really the sort of film that requires a lot of Q&A analysis - but the group gamely fielded questions and talked a bit about the process that brought the film together for a while. Afterward, they hung around outside the Regal as festival goer's accosted them outside for pictures and to compare notes on sunglasses. And generally interrupting their attempt to figure out what to do in Palm Springs between screenings (not that I was eavesdropping or anything)
If your main goal is to watch a lot of darkly shot scenes of 1890's gothic English countryside then this is absolutely your film. If you're looking for a stimulating, exciting genre B-movie then you may want to look elsewhere. From the visual feel of the film, and the well known actors it's clear that a lot of effort and money was put into The Wolfman. But not a lot of it seems to have been spent on the script, which is a pretty run of the mill endeavor; man returns home to find out what killed his brother, man meets werewolf, man becomes werewolf, stuff happens tale. There are some twists (ok, maybe one) - but I'd be pretty surprised if you don't see it coming from the film's early points. If not from the trailer itself.
I went with pretty low expectations, which often helps me like a film more. Though in this case those modest expectations were just barely met. Even Benicio Del Toro, Emily Blunt, and Anthony Hopkins didn't generate any significant excitement or tension for me. Which seems like it should be the point of a werewolf film. Unless it's the kind where they take their shirts off a lot - though I suppose that's intended to create tension too, just of a slightly different sort. Either way, I wouldn't recommend coming out to see this one.
If you're looking for something with a bit of tension and don't feel like going to a theater - may I suggest Trianglewhich I just watched courtesy of Amazon's on-demand service. It kept my attention throughout and has a similar non-linear mind-fuck feel as Timecrimes. It's damn hard to explain the plot in a few words - so I won't. But I will say that not once during Triangle did my mind think to get up and seek out popcorn. For contrast that's about all I thought about during The Wolfman.
Realized I've been totally slacking at writing up notes on the rest of the films I saw in Palm Springs in January. So trying to get back to it now. I think this almost gets me back up to date on festival films - will try to finish the rest this weekend.
Glorious 39 (UK) - Arrived about 20 minutes later to this fairly long film about privileged British society (in government and otherwise) plotting to keep the country out of WW-II. While that wasn't entirely on purpose (a trip to Koffi with a friend just got away from us) missing the start of the film seems to have been advantageous. I didn't feel as though I really was that far behind on the plot, and by the end it's hard to imagine I would have liked the film more if it just had 20 minutes extra. Even without that chunk at the beginning of the film this felt a little long at times.
I'm not sure how many of the characters in the film are based on specific people and/or events. Glorious is the name of the main character (pictured above) who is the adopted daughter of an upper class English family. While increasingly evil plans to eliminate any forces that support opposing Hitler unspool, Glorious slowly begins to realize something may be rotten in the state of Denmark. There's some incrediblely TV feeling editing going on (you can almost taste the commercial breaks) and the acting is perhaps a bit stiff. I did like this perspective of pre-war England, driven largely by people who perhaps genuinely (if delusionally) believed that taking on Germany would be the death of their way of life - and the smart alternative was avoiding war. What they expected to happen after Hitler took over Europe I have no idea. I wouldn't cancel plans you were looking forward to in order to catch this film is all I'm trying to say.
Nothing Personal (Netherlands) - highly recommend checking out this film if it makes its way through your town (or on video). I kept hearing great things about this film - but the description just didn't wow me. I'm so glad I saw it anyway. This is a subtle yet complex picture that some might view as slow - but I personally think revealed itself at a nicely measured pace. A young woman from the Netherlands who seems to have lost something large and just wants to be alone meets an older man who has lost his wife in Ireland and lives by himself in a house in the woods. They begrudgingly share space physically for a while when he offers her a place to sleep and food in exchange for work on the land. But talking or non work interactions aren't on the menu. Quiet, slow and (at least for me) fascinating and at times beautiful. I know it doesn't sound like much from the description but I thought this was one of the best films I saw in Palm Springs. It goes in directions you don't 100% expect at times - and if you're so inclined will give you something to talk about with your friends over dinner. I could say a lot more, but as the male lead of the film is fond of saying, "talent knows when to quit"
A Rational Solution (Sweden)- When they remake this in the US (if they haven't already) it will be a very different film - sadly I fear starring Ashton Kutcher. Not that I'm actually expecting them to do so - but then again I thought Let the Right One In was damn near perfect in it's original form and assumed folks would worry too much about being struck with a lightening bolt from the movie gods to fuck with The Karate Kid. So, in short I'm getting cynical.
This was billed as a black comedy - and I was sort of hoping for something a bit twisted in the way of Adam's Apple of a few years back. That's not quite what I got. It was a solid, well acted film, but not one I really felt I needed to see. It's set in what seems to be a smallish town with a lot of the characters working in a paper mill and attending the same church. A couple in this group is giving a class on keeping a marriage healthy. So of course being black comedy one of them ends up having a torrid affair with a friend's wife. When it comes to light rather than deal with the transgression emotionally with one of the typical outcomes (breaking up, or breaking off the relationship) the man teaching the marriage course decides they should approach the problem logically. Given that their affair is probably driven by lust which will burn out unless they're kept from each other somehow he convinces everyone that they should all move in together. As one might expect there are some problems with this idea - all of which manifest themselves by the end of the film. Personally, I took it as a demonstration of the problems that arise when someone overly logical attempts to solve a problem using those skills when the "right" decision is one that's really emotional. Not that I know anything about that... However, judging by the Q&A afterward there's a lot of other ways to view this film too. You'll almost definitely leave discussing it - so that's a positive. But for me it wasn't really filled with a bunch of surprising or particularly revealing insights. That with the general lack of funny (for me) puts it in the good but not great category.
A Matter of Principle (Argentina) - One of the strongest openings of a film at Palm Springs left me literally crying I was laughing so hard. A group of men are standing around in an office break room as one of them relates such a fundamental (yet hilarious) misunderstanding of the end of Citizen Kane that it's worth renting just for that. Sadly it was completely downhill from that point on. The basic storyline follows a man towards the end of his career who has conducted himself according to a strict sense of ethics. He won't even have lunch with one of the younger women in his office for fear that someone will think he's having an affair. When a new boss arrives at the same point he's struggling with some financial issues he has to decide just how much he's willing to give up for his principles. Overall as much as I wanted to love this movie (and I really did) I found it a bit boring and not particularly interesting. Which means I won't even take the time to go into the rant I had after the film about the reasonableness of the principles it was expousing in the end (one of which seemed to be taking on unsustainable debt - though a fellow viewer may have convinced me there was an explanation for that part).
First a caveat - I am clearly not the intended target demographic for Valentine's Day (the movie). Nonetheless, I can love me a romantic comedy, even a really sappy one at times. So I don't feel completely unqualified to offer an opinion of this film. I had at least a pocket of optimism given that rhere certainly seemed to be enough actors and actresses for me to like someone in it. Given this huge ensemble production - so I figured I could overlook Ashton Kutcher and Jamie Foxx and maybe enjoy the ride. I was somewhat nervous about hating it - but steeling myself with a pre-film cocktail I decided to try nonetheless. The first trailer they showed before the film was for Sex in the City 2 - so it's not as if I didn't have advance warning if I wanted to flee the theater before the actual film began. But I soldiered on...
What transpired isn't really anything bad. But it didn't strike any significant chords with me. There were a few laughs - though in my case far less than the general audience's reaction. It occurred to me that perhaps they'd had more than the one pre-film drink - but a significant portion of the crowd truly seemed to like it. Which I'm glad about - just because it didn't involve me in caring doesn't mean others should have a bad time.
The film is a large ensemble piece that follows multiple couples on Valentine's Day as they either break up, enjoy the "holiday" or get together. Their lives intersect and enough coincidences abound to make Charles Dickens smile. Amidst the relationships are two high school seniors whose stories seem to exist only to point out why they rightfully choose not to have sex. Taken as a whole the entire exercise felt like an Abstinence Now version of Crash. Individual performances range from cute to standard for the actor. There's a fair amount of chest baring by the men (sorry except for Twilight's Taylor Lautner who stays fully clothed) - clearly the producer wanted to hedge their bets. Sorry guys, besides a sleepy head Jessica Alba the biggest treat you're likely to find is Anne Hathaway talking dirty - well PG-13 dirty at least. Apparently, smoking dope without negative consequences gets you an R rating - but constant references to sexual spanking you have to explain to your 14 year old is cool. Well, one front at a time I suppose. ;-)
Several people have pointed out this is probably best viewed as a lightweight copy of Love, Actually. My memory is a little hazy, but I'm pretty sure that's a far superior film. Fairly recently I saw another ensemble relationships film from Italy called Ex. Either of these probably should be on your list ahead of Valentine's Day. But if you need a date movie for the big weekend and you haven't found your true soul-mate who'll sit through District 13: Ultimatum with you this is probably better than some alternatives. It doesn't star Mel Gibson and it's pleasant enough, aka, I don't think you'll tear your hair out during the film. Though can't promise the same for those forced to sit through that Sex in the City 2 trailer. Yikes...
PS: I really was struck by the two abstinence is the right thing storylines. They just seemed so blatantly thrown in it made me long for the good old days where we expected the 18 year old lovers to actually hook up. Or at least try to fuck a pie. Guess I'm just old fashioned that way.
I'm either turning into a very cynical, hard to please moviegoer or I'm just having a bad streak of luck. Sharing that streak of luck is Steve Buscemi's character in the film Saint John of Las Vegas. John is a former Vegas resident who clearly had a gambling problem. Eventually he got out of town, somewhat got his habit under control and got a nice boring job at an insurance agency. He lives in a surburban house in a gated community and seems to be getting by. At work he flirts with Sarah Silverman, and while you get the impression he's still on the edge, he's not falling off the cliff quite yet. But there are clearly demons there.
When he tries to approach his boss for a raise instead he's asked to accompany a veteran fraud investigator on a big case. Paired with Virgil (Romany Malco) they head off in the direction of Vegas to try and prove a suspicious car accident was staged. Along the way they encounter quirky characters as John either gains confidence or spirals closer to bottom - depending how you look at it. Every once in a while he calls back to speak with Sarah Silverman's character who is obsessed with smiley faces (and being Ms. Silverman - having her hair pulled).
If you're thinking this sounds like a Coen brothers film crossed with a smidge of Jim Jarmusch you wouldn't be that far off. At least in terms of intent. While there's a few mildly entertaining episodes the whole is less than the parts. And the parts aren't exactly mind blowing either.
It's a decent effort - but as I didn't care about any of the characters, the destination, nor the journey I can't find much to recommend it. Well, it was fairly short - that helped. Overall, I believe the word the kids use to describe this feeling is 'meh' - seems as good a phrase to close on as any ...
Several years ago there was great French martial arts action film called (at least in the US) District B-13 which was a hybrid of Escape from New York fused with crazy parkour action. Parkour being less about fighting but being to traverse seemingly any terrain under ones own power. Often while running away from someone chasing you - though in these films it's commonly mixed into a pretty unique style of fighting. It's also crazy fun to watch on screen. So I was pretty jazzed to see the sequel which is finally making its way onto US screens.
I don't completely remember the plot of the original District-13. Something about unrest in the Paris suburbs causing the French government to wall them off from the rest of the city. Of course colorful gangs took over - as they are prone to do in the movies. Some sort of issue causes local good guy Leito to team with police officer Damien to climb walls, jump through stuff and generally kick ass. At the end the government promises to ease the conditions in the district. The new film starts 3 years later and of course that hasn't happened. Instead a new series of challenges threatens the district. Mainly an involved conspiracy involving the head of the national head of the secret police (or something like that) and a big real estate developer. Yes, with the bursting of the housing bubble real estate developers are the new middle eastern terrorists as go-to cinematic bad guys. And they're equally sympathetic.
You really don't need to see the first film to enjoy this one. And enjoy it I think most people will. It's silly, and brainless and a lot of fun. While there are still some fast edits we can often watch a significant sequence of slick physical moves leading one to see the actors are very talented. That's as opposed to a a lot of recent films where the action is cut together from lots of teeny tiny little pieces edited together. At least for me that adds a visceral thrill that I just don't get watching John Travolta stringing together a chain of micro-edits to look like an action here.
Speaking of Travolta, when I walked out I couldn't help but compare it to the other semi-comic actioner I just saw set in the city of lights - From Paris With Love. Both have plots that strain one's ability to suspend disbelief - but D13 Ultimatum delivers the goods - where I just thought From Paris With Love was mostly groan worthy. Then I got home and noticed on IMDB that Luc Besson had been involved in writing both. Maybe the dialog here is equally embarrassing (though there's probably less of it), or maybe it just sounds better in French. But I suspect it's just that if you actually build a little excitement one can forgive almost anything. So all said - lots of fun - glad I went. That is all.
I've heard good things about Portland's film festival in the past, but have never taken the time to look into it much. When I learned some friends from Seattle were down there enjoying press screenings I pulled up the festival's website for a closer look. The selection is really great - well worth checking out if you're in the area. I've seen a fair number of films screening (21 or so) but there's still a bunch of things left that I've heard positive buzz about. The full catalog can be downloaded - here. Finally, there's the price, which at $250 for a full series pass that covers admission to the NW Film Center year round (and includes press screenings) is a steal. I don't expect to make a trip down to Portland for this year's festival, but I'm definitely going to keep it in mind as a possible weekend away for next year.
I've listed the films I've seen before with some of my notes (mostly stolen from the original posts). First off the must-see films recommendations that are either in my top for the year list (or likely to make for 2010) and/or have something special about them making it worth the effort to see them on a big screen. If you see only two things I don't think you'll go wrong if they're A Prophet and Gigante. OK, on to the details:
A Prophet (France) - one of the top films I saw in 2009. I have yet to meet someone who hasn't really enjoyed it - though I'm sure such people are out there. Nice as they may be, they are simply incorrect on this point. A French rags to riches heartwarming tale of a young kid who goes into prison a weak, illiterate failure and leaves as an organized crime kingpin. The lead actor is great - along with everything else. Sure a bit bloody at times, but pure cinematic entertainment.
Gigante (Uruguay) - This was absolutely the best heavy metal themed stalking = love story I've ever seen. All kidding aside this was a very sweet (as long as you don't think about the likely outcome in real life) romantic film. A security guard falls for a member of his supermarket's cleaning crew. He starts to learn about her mainly through observation. First via the video surveillance system it's his job to monitor, and then by following her. A huge guy that also works as a bouncer and listens to metal he looks as though he could be a goon but of course turns out to be a sweet honorable guy. Again, except for the stalking. Very satisfying and likely made on a limited budget this is a director to watch.
Nothing Personal (Ireland/Netherlands) - Just saw this in Palm Springs and still haven't written up the description. A young woman from the Netherlands who seems to have lost something large and just wants to be alone meets an older man who has lost his wife in Ireland and wants to be alone on his house in the woods. They begrudgingly share space physically for a while when he offers her a place to sleep and food in exchange for work on the land. But talking or non work interactions aren't on the menu. Quiet, slow and (at least for me) fascinating and at times beautiful. I know it doesn't sound like much from the description but I thought this was one of the best films I saw in Palm Springs.
Fish Tank (UK) - A coming of age story about a 15 year old girl from what I guess you can call an 'at risk' background. Raised often neglectfully by her single mom her only refuge is her personal time with hip hop dance. When a man comes into her mom's life and offers some positive reinforcement she seems to be on a more positive track. Will things go dark? - well that's pretty clear if you read the description or have ever seen a movie with a 'nice guy' and a sexually awakening teen in the house. Well played across the board it's a pleasure to watch. Except when it's not - though that's in a good way too.
About Elly (Iran) - A group of upper class Iranians head off on vacation. The married couples bring along a young woman they're trying to setup with a single member of their long standing group. Some things go terribly wrong and a variety of lies and related deceits come to the forefront. Like many Iranian films it seems like it probably works at other levels as well.
Rembrandt's J'Accuse (Netherlands) - A documentary about a painting? Rembrandt's "Night Watch" gets the murder mystery movie treatment as the film explains the hidden story of the painting. Occasionally a touch of "The da Vinci Code" except really good and without the bizarre Hanks haircut. Part of the film's premise is that we're visually illiterate - afterward it's hard not to cede the point. Even if I'm not sure of the veracity of everything said it was still interesting to watch and think about. If you're not a student of painting it'll surely get you to look at your next art exhibit differently
The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls (New Zealand) - near the start of this film a man relates an experience at a party at a comedy festival. Learning from he hailed from New Zealand the producer asked him to give him a sense as to the state of comedy was there, for example who's the biggest act there? When he responded it was the Topp Twins, yodeling lesbian twins the fellow coughed and suddenly recognized someone else he needed to talk with. That anecdote is a perfect start to this documentary which gives outsiders a quick but effective crash course in the twin's career. The movie is both interesting AND entertaining - just try it. Really...
And here's the rest - many of these are still very good in my opinion.
Small Crime (Cyprus) - on a small island the young local police officer would do anything to transfer to Athens. With limit respect for his authority and no real crime he's bored and frustrated. This potentially changes when an older man falls to his death. Accident or new world order conspiracy at work? Simple film with a slow pace, potential love and a minimum of crime. Great ad for their local tourism board too. A pleasant diversion - don't expect something transcendent and I think most folks will enjoy.
Shameless (Czech Republic) - follows the lives of a husband and wife as their marriage unravels. Pretty directly due to the husband's shameless chasing of their au pair due to a serious case of seven year itch. Plus as he suddenly realizes his wife does have a prominent nose - seems as good a reason as any. Directed by the filmmaker who helmed Divided We Fall and Beauty in Trouble I went in with high expectations. It's a pleasant enough film (with at least one or two serious laughs) - though not as good as the latter.
Terribly Happy (Denmark) - Danish black comedy about policeman who's sentenced to penance at an out of the way town. There's a bit of an off kilter Twin Peaks property to the endeavor from the get go. Complete with the little girl pushing a stuffed animal laden pram about town, the three prominent citizens playing cards in a barren room, and the ominous "we handle things ourselves here" intro from the townsfolk. Of course as every good law man the new officer arrives with his own "past" to be dealt with. Throw in a femme fatale, people mysteriously gone missing, a voice over about problems being disposed of in the bog and away things go... Not bad - but not as fantastic as I was hoping for given the Danish flair for black comedy.
Garbage Dreams (Egypt) - t seems that up until recently Cairo, Egypt had no centralized municipal garbage service. Instead the work of garage collection was performed by a community of poor residents who made their living picking up and recycling trash. This documentary profiles three young men involved in the trade specifically and the community around them in general. It's an interesting film and I definitely learned about a world I didn't know existed. My only (small) complaint is that I actually would have liked to learn more about how they do what they do in a deeper way. But overall it held my attention and taught me something. So not a runaway fantastic doc but worth adding to your list if the subject interests you.
Bluebeard (France) - Didn't much care for this stylized, artistic take on the Bluebeard tale. I'm not super fond of the director and have been liking each of her film's a bit less than the last. As always technically and visually proficient - just not my cup of tea.
Welcome (France) - A boy arrives in France from Iraq with the goal of getting to London to meet up with his love. He tries without success to make the illegal crossing into England (with others seeking work there). Stuck back in France he hits upon the idea of swimming the English channel. Taking lessons at what appears to be an equivalent of the Y he develops a friendship with his instructor. The film is both a story of friendship/love/choices but also provides a window into the mixed feelings on immigration within France. I was pulled in enough to care about the characters. Didn't completely fall in love with the film - but was a solid effort in my book.
Chameleon (Hungary) - A (perhaps cautionary) tale of two men who grew up in a state home together and who are now con men. Their game of choice is seducing vulnerable women and then separating them from their savings. Until one of them reaches for a bigger score. Does greed undo them? will they find true love? And is true love to be found in women or hard currency? These are the issues that may or may not be resolved. You'll just need to see it to find out. I liked the film, being partial to the con genre. It's not an outstanding example of the form but it was a reasonable enough.
The Sicilian Girl (Italy) - Based on the true story dramatic recreation of a Sicilian girl who took a stand against the mafia. I found it powerful at times and well done. If you don't feel like you must see another film on the impacts of organized crime I don't think you'll regret skipping it. But worth fitting in if you'd like to see a slightly different take on a familiar subject. Maybe not different - just more personal.
The Reverse (Poland) - Truly a dark/black comedy. I didn't know that going in, which introduced a strange queasiness as I laughed at horrible events and began to question my moral compass (at least more than usual). Set in post WW-II Poland a woman, her mother and her grandmother do what they need to survive under tough but arbitrary Communist rule. I didn't completely love it, but I was interested in the characters AND laughed. The music over the end is just a brilliant touch. Be warned, if you cannot picture any circumstance in which a bathtub filled with sulfuric acid (or equally caustic agent) can be a source of humor, stay away
Police, Adjective (Romania) - I struggled with maybe putting this on the must see list. It's a slow, almost dialog free at times film where a policeman follows a possible suspect for days to build a case against him for distributing drugs. Except he's just really sharing them with friends. The policeman's ethics weigh on him while his superiors push him for the bust. Probably more a commentary on the Romanian experience than just what's on the surface this divides folks into love it or hate it camps. I'm way more on the side of love it. Just don't go sleepy and be prepared to listen, focus and think. And at a key moment forgive yourself for thinking WTF?
The Good, The Bad, and the Weird (South Korea) - Offbeat take on the classic western from South Korea. The obvious comparison for me on this film beyond the classic of the similar title is with the Japanese tribute/mashup Wild West Sukiyaki Django. The Korean film plays it considerably straighter. The "plot" involves a highly sought after treasure map. It's repeatedly stolen resulting in a string of bandits chasing each other. All being chased by a bounty hunter. There's a fair amount of over the top (and often played for camp) gun play. It hits a specific cinema pleasure spot effectively. So as I believe I wrote for Sukiyaki Django, if Westerns are your cup of tea I'd suggest checking this out. From what I could tell from the audience reaction they'd agree with me on that one. I'm not a western film guy so this film wasn't a huge standout for me.
Like You Know it All (South Korea) - About a film director who has a preternatural ability to upset those around him without intending to. Self absorbed, he's a hard guy to like as he wanders from situation to situation. Whether it's upsetting the director of a film festival he's attending by promising to drink with some volunteers without any real intent, sleeping with his friends wife when they briefly think he's dead (I'm not joking), or sleeping with a faculty member's wife when he knows the guy is very much alive - problems seem to follow him around. As in some other recent films from Korea there's a lot of scenes of folks drinking too much while sitting around and talking. None as interesting as those from the film entirely about that aptly named Daytime Drinking. The entire time I was watching this film I kept thinking it seemed very familiar. Afterwards I realized it's from the same director as Woman on the Beach. There are some structural similarities (both follow jerky directors who stir up problems without fully intending) and definite similar style and pacing. Though I believe I liked the earlier film better. This one felt a bit long, and while funny at parts didn't leave a very strong positive impression.
Home (Switzerland) - A case study of why you never, ever, ever want to buy a house alongside a major freeway. Actually.... it's about a family that lives in a house at the end of a never completed highway. They seem incredibly happy and close. All is well. Then the project which has been on hold for 10 years is suddenly completed. Cutting them off from their lifestyle and causing both the family and the individuals to go into a cycle of decline that just gets worse and worse. It's listed as a comedy - but I don't think that's the most accurate description. I thought it was interesting for the first half - but as the problems mounted and the family became somewhat insane I started to become a bit less interested. By the end - where everything is pretty much falling I'd realized that I watched a well acted, well put together story that left me a little less than satisfied.
The Wedding Song (Tunisia) - Set in Tunisia during WWII the German occupation is driving a further wedge between Muslim and Jewish residents - who seemed to somewhat be on shaky footing to begin with. The story centers around the close friendship between two young women on the cusp of marriage. One Muslim and one Jewish until the Nazi presence it doesn't seem they felt their religion was at odds with their friendship. But things are of course deeply tested under the circumstances. There's an attempt to throw an erotic charge into the mix as the two women get involved with their fiances/husbands. You can read that as lots of breasts. The general mix of genres just didn't hook me and everything just left me feeling a bit befuddled with the exercise. I challenge you to see it though and not leave debating both the how (special effects or not) and the why (from a significance perspective) of the on screen waxing. Others I've spoken too really liked it. Different strokes as they say...
- It takes place in Paris - which for me is always nice to see on-screen.
- You get to watch the film's writer win a wager wherein they clearly bet someone they could get a Hollywood movie made wherein a character carries around a huge vase filled with cocaine for at least 20 minutes, for no discernible reason.
- If you loved the dialog in The Transporter 3 prepare to be inspired again.
Then the less good points:
- It could have been shot anywhere - the Paris part is beside the point. To waste the Paris location seems almost criminal. On the silly, yet related side - apparently in the bad parts of Paris everyone speaks English. I guess my experience must have just been completely different because I stayed in nicer parts of town.
- It's so preposterous that it gets one thinking along unintended axes. For example afterward my friend and I seemed to reach the conclusion that it's perhaps unfair to the engineering skills of actual suicide vest makers. Whose apparent ineptitude was central to the film's outcome.
- While the plot wraps around on itself in an oddly predictable yet bizarre way taking a truly dark turn towards the end (which I will disclose all about in the spoiler filler post-jump commentary) it never quite hits the "so bad it's awesome" mark. Just the jaw dropping, "did they really just say that?" head shaking mark, over and over again.
But maybe I should explain a bit about the "plot" of the film. At the start we meet James Reece (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) an assistant at the US embassy in Paris. He has a very attractive girlfriend who he seems fine with telling that he's a covert operative (you'd think that's a no no unless your last name is Bond, and even then...). Not that he's a full fledged member of the fraternity. Turns out he does less than thrilling work like changing license plates when the bad guys aren't looking (yes, really - and no, I'm still not sure why that was something that needed to be done). Early on we get the less than subtle summary of his situation via his boss - he's a great thinker but a little conventional. Yes, this comes up while they're playing chess - are you sure you haven't seen this film? Reece is always asking the mystery boss man on the phone for "special ops" training (or something similar). Eventually he gets what he's been asking for when he's tasked to work with an agent in town for a special mission, Charlie Wax (John Travolta). Wax is a nothing by the book bad ass who by their own count (yes, this comes up) seems to kill roughly one person an hour. Though in actuality the body count is way higher. Once James gets Wax out of the airport their mission begins - at which point the truth of their assignment is slowly revealed and the PG-13 violence goes nonstop. As does the comically weak dialog. Oops - I just looked it up and apparently it's actually rated R. That's pretty surprising as there's an appalling lack of gratuitous nudity for a film of this sort. The violence quota is there - but I'm surprised it's up to R level. Oh wait - they do ingest some of that cocaine without negative consequences (other than those explained in the spoiler section after the jump). And you know where that got a recent Meryl Streep film.
Some of the short action sequences are fairly reasonable. And if you love Travolta hamming things up you may get a kick here and there. But true thrills were few and far between (which may be an overly kind way of putting things). For me the main source of pleasure was pondering what folks were thinking as the worked out the script. There are of course twists and turns of increasing inanity throughout the film. Most importantly the goings on never really seemed to build tension and the obvious buddy partner relationship between the two men came across as unnatural. Once the whole set piece with the vase of cocaine is up most of the remaining fun came down to wondering if there's any chance of real people behaving that dumbly. That is probably not the sort of blurb the filmmakers were looking for.
If you've been reading the blog hopefully you'll agree with my assessment that I can love some truly spectacularly stupid crap. If I recall I gave a fairly positive if not glowing review to Crank 2 (and a rave to Sexykiller). Things don't have to make sense for something to be great - even if there are no zombies involved. But if you're going to take a dumb concept and go for it - don't hold back. If anything From Paris With Love just isn't dumb enough to make the cut for me. Maybe by the third time Travolta plays the crazy tough guy from Pelham 123 he'll get it just right. Just not there for me yet.
OK - that's all for now. The truly ridiculous stuff is after the jump. But be warned, it is TOTALLY FULL OF SPOILERS. So if you want the full "Wow - I truly can't say anything about this cinematic experience but .... Wow! ...." ride go see the movie then come back and continue reading (I'll wait). Otherwise ... you have been warned.
