VENGEFUL TALE OF GUILT
Shane Meadows: Dead Mans Shoes, UK, 2004 with Paddy Considine, Gary Stretch
Viewed on Jan 13, 2010. Running time: 90 MIN.
One of the better films of 2004 now revisited again. More to come.
SUBURBIAN MADNESS IN DIRECTORIAL DEBUT
Sam Mendes: American Beauty, USA, 1999 with Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening
Viewed on Jan 12, 2010. Running time: 122 MIN.
A father in a midlife crisis finds cure in rebellious infatuation with daughters hot girlfriend, leading to ironic situations including awakening from pathetic marriage and apathetic work. Best direction by Mendes up to date. Wins the big race by an uncompromisable honesty and larger-than-life play by Spacey.
It’s a great thing when you realize you still have the ability to surprise yourself.
Filed under: Reviews | Tags: Alberto Lattuada, I dolci inganni, review, Sweet Deceptions
ADOLESCENT AFFECTION IN VIVID 60′S ITALY
Alberto Lattuada: Sweet Deceptions, Italy, 1960 with Catherine Spaak, Jean Sorel
Viewed on Jan 11, 2009. Running time: 95 MIN.
Italian adolescent Francesca falls in love with a slightly older family benefiter but can’t yet decide on him. In a very laid back kind of way, director Lattauda takes us around a slow paced Italy with everyday scenes of past time. Quite modest and interesting at the same time.
ILL DEEDS IN EARLY WORLD WAR DAYS
Michael Haneke: Das weisse Band, Austria, 2009 with Christian Friedel, Ernst Jacobi
Viewed on Dec 30, 2009. Running time: 144 MIN.
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MULTI LAYERED JAPANESE CRAZY CAKE
Shion Sono: Noriko’s Dinner Table, Japan, 2005 with Kazue Fukiishi
Viewed on Nov 27, 2009. Running time: 159 MIN.
More coming…
PROGRESSIVELY INGENIOUSLY
Shion Sono: Love Exposure, Japan, 2008 with Takahiro Nishijima
Viewed in September, 2009. Running time: 237 MIN.
More coming…
1984… AND A HALF, AND THEN SOME MORE.
Terry Gilliam: Brazil, United Kingdom, 1985 with Jonathan Pryce, Kim Greist
Viewed on DVD with English subtitles, Nov 25, 2009. Running time: 132 MIN.
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Filed under: Reviews | Tags: Audrey Dana, Firat Ayverdi, Philippe Lioret, review, Vincent Lindon, Welcome
UNPLEASANT TAKE ON MODERN REFUGEE POLICY
Philippe Lioret: Welcome, France, 2009 w Vincent Lindon, Firat Ayverdi, Audrey Dana
With English subtitles on Nov 21, 2009. Running time: 110 MIN.
In Philippe Lioret’s latest film Welcome the title is obviously a contradiction, but the meaning of the contradiction itself is just as obvious. It’s about illegal aliens in Europe, in this specific film narrowed down to Calais in France. And they are certainly not welcome.
Pic holds an unsettling tone throughout. While storylines tend to diverge, it’s reminiscent of Ulrich Seidl’s Import/Export in that it tells a story about people in motion in contemporary Europe. People whose conditions were bad from their take-off point, but becomes nonexistent in the grand, boarderless EU. The limitations with this modern refugee policy of EU is that it only benefits our own. This is all old news for Lioret’s protagonist Bilal (Firat Ayverdi) who comes from war-torn Iraq. His journey to Calais where the story begins has been long and painful, and the way to his love in London seems to stretch far beyond the horizon for the seventeen year old refugee.
These are harsh times, Lioret proclaims through images of a port district infested with immigrants, battering cops and even authorities that manifest a despicable manner not only towards refugees but just as well to people trying to help them. One of them is Simon (Vincent Lindon), a disgraced previous champion in swimming. He seeks atonement in Bilal for his previous mistakes in life and the two becomes committed to each other. But in these harsh times nothing is certain and struggle lays ahead for both of them.
Philippe Lioret covers pretty much the whole lot of it. Each of his characters carries around on fear, despair, desires, love, longings and struggle. It is classic ingredients taken from the ordinary lives of those immigrants. In Welcome, however, it blends well with the non-immigrants as well. It is something they have to live with constantly, but something that is exposed to us at times as well. It is indeed an unpleasant take on modern refugee policy, but it is nevertheless a necessary take.
“THIS IS BLISS”
Pen-Ek Ratanaruang: Last Life in the Universe, Thailand, 2003 w Tadanobu Asano
With English subtitles on Nov 20, 2009. Running time: 112 MIN.
Ratanaruang’s 2003 masterpiece (I can say this now, in retrospect) Last Life in the Universe is one of those type films that you’ve been meaning to see forever but just never got around to do so. I’ve been reading the interesting synopsis on IMDb and seen the beautiful poster so many times that I deemed it necessary to finally come around. It was worth it. Mesmerizing. Totally.
Filed under: Reviews | Tags: Corneliu Porumboiu, Dragos Bucur, Police Adjective, Politist adj, review
POLICE, SUBJECTIVE: CONSCIENTIOUS LAW
Corneliu Porumboiu: Police, Adjective, Romania, 2009 w Dragos Bucur, Vlad Ivanov
With English subtitles on Oct 30, 2009. Running time: 115 MIN.
In Police, Adjective, Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu devotes himself to a seemingly – at first glance – simple story about a small town cop reluctant of busting a minor for endorsing hashish with friends. Although vague at first, we learn that the civil police Cristi is having an unease conscience about nailing the young man, which may inflict seven years in prison for what Cristi believes to be a petty crime that will – soon enough – be looked upon more liberated. Throughout pic we follow his daily routines and interactions in the downbeat and austere town of Vaslui, including scenes of parodic bureaucracy and laudable lengthy takes.
Police, Adjective is admittedly in many ways difficult to interpret. The first half of the film deals with classic police work (classic as in reality, not classic as in previously depicted on film) including Cristi’s pursuit of suspects and filing reports. For an audience used to clustered action pics, this is nothing but tedious and unbearable to endure. From a more objective perspective, it could be conveyed as original and daring. This course of the film is harmless, it is on the contrary a certain, yet inevitable cul-de-sac initiated by a mere typo, that push it in a slightly too academic stand. On the other hand, it could also be considered an ironic twist when deciding how Cristi’s moral dilemmas should be solved.
One of the more unfortunate aspects of Porumboiu’s directing, in particular substantial for Police, Adjective but nonetheless equally visible in previous film 12:08 East of Bucharest, is that the [black] humor sometimes may appear so subtle that when juxtaposed to foreigners it can easily be completely lost (in translation.)
Watching Porumboiu’s battle between an objective and supreme law versus Cristi’s subjective conscientious law is evidently quite fascinating, despite the somewhat submissive, clustered conclusion it grants towards the end.
