January 31, 2009

The Fire Within

Directed by Louis Malle

Synopsis from the Criterion website:

“After garnering international acclaim for such seminal crowd-pleasers as The Lovers and Zazie dans le métro,Louis Malle gave his fans a shock with The Fire Within (Le feu follet), a penetrating study of individual and social inertia. Maurice Ronet (Elevator to the Gallows), in an implosive, haunted performance, plays Alain Leroy, a self-destructive writer who resolves to kill himself and spends the next twenty-four hours trying to reconnect with a host of wayward friends. Unsparing in its portrait of Alain’s inner turmoil and shot with remarkable clarity, The Fire Within is one of Malle’s darkest and most personal films.”

The Fire Within is poetic, it’s vibrant, it’s shocking.  Louis Malle takes you through the few last days of a man who has dealt with alcoholism and depression.  After being “cured” for the former, the latter becomes much more prevalent.  Beautiful black and white images and introspective dialogue stand out as strengths of this 60’s masterpiece. 

7/10

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January 31, 2009

Revolutionary Road

Directed by Sam Mendes, based on the novel by Richard Yates

Synopsis from IMDB:

“April and Frank Wheeler are a young, thriving couple living with their two children in a Connecticut suburb in the mid-1950s. Their self-assured exterior masks a creeping frustration at their inability to feel fulfilled in their relationships or careers. Frank is mired in a well-paying but boring office job, and April is a housewife still mourning the demise of her hoped-for acting career. Determined to identify themselves as superior to the mediocre sprawl of suburbanites who surround them, they decide to move to France where they will be better able to develop their true artistic sensibilities, free of the consumerist demands of capitalist America. As their relationship deteriorates into an endless cycle of squabbling, jealousy and recriminations, their trip and their dreams of self-fulfillment are thrown into jeopardy.”

Great movie, all I can say is WHERE ARE THE NOMINATIONS!

7.8/10

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January 31, 2009

Lights in the Dusk

 

 By Aki Kaurismaki

Synopsis from IMDB:

Koistenin is a sad sack, a man without affect or friends. He’s a night-watchman in Helsinki with ideas of starting his own business, but nothing to go with those intentions. He sometimes talks a bit with a woman who runs a snack trailer near his work. Out of the blue, a young sophisticated blonde woman attaches herself to Koistenin. He thinks of her as his girlfriend, he takes her on her rounds. She’s in league with a crook who’s planning a jewel robbery, and Koistenin is their patsy. Will he ever wise up?

This is the story of a working man who ambitiously yearns for something more, something to call his own.  He is the victim of a criminal business man, who uses a woman to infiltrate his simple life.  The movie is filled with an existentialist vibe that leaves alot of interpretation up to the viewer. 

Engaging, sometimes charming, thought provoking and definitely impacting, Lights in the Dusk is most certainly worth a watch

7/10

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January 31, 2009

The Man Without A Past

By Aki Kaurismaki

Synopsis from IMDB:

The second part of Aki Kaurismäki’s “Finland” trilogy, the film follows a man who arrives in Helsinki and gets beaten up so severely he develops amnesia. Unable to remember his name or anything from his past life, he cannot get a job or an apartment, so he starts living on the outskirts of the city and slowly starts putting his life back on track

The Man Without a Past was quite a delightful surprise.  I picked it up from the library, after having read about finnish filmaker Aki Kaurismaki in a Jim Jarmusch interview.  The movie was great – a simple store well executed.  The very minimalistic approach to the characters was intriguing, allowing your mind to explore the scenarios and environment freely.  As the man starts to put his life back together we find out more and more about the mans past, and his future both.

7.5/10

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January 14, 2009

Shock Corridor

Written and Dircected by Samuel Fuller

Synopsis (from IMDB.com)

Johnny Barrett, an ambitious journalist, is determined to win a Pulitzer Prize by solving a murder committed in a lunatic asylum and witnessed only by three inmates, from whom the police have been unable to extract the information. With the connivance of a psychiatrist, and the reluctant help of his girlfriend, he succeeds in having himself declared insane and sent to the asylum. There he slowly tracks down and interviews the witnesses – but things are stranger than they seem …

This week, I picked up Shock Corridor from the local library.  I have been reading alot about Samuel Fuller lately, and decided to check some of his movies out.  Shock Corridor (though supposedly not near his best work) was a very intriguing movie.  Filled with mystery, suspense, and twists, the plot moved along very well.  The visual style of this movie added alot, shot on nice black and white with vivid color dream sequences grabbing your attention often.  As the main character dives deeper into insanity himself, we see things like rain storms passing through long, symmetrical hallways.  For 1963, this movie was very wild, and may even still be shocking to this day.  Any fan of One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest will definitely appreciate this little-known gem.

7.7/10

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January 14, 2009

Written on the Wind

Written on the wind is a great melodrama directed by Douglas Sirk.  Sirk was a major inspiration to many directors including Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and even Todd Haynes.  Sirk made many melodramas, dealing with relationships, and all the emotions of human life.

Written on the Wind is a glossy, technicolor picture from 1956, and it is filled with these such emotions.  The story is about a Texas oil family, and their life long friend Mitch Wayne (Rock Hudson).  Mitch introduces Kyle (Robert Stack) to Lucy (Lauren Bacall).  Kyle, the rich playboy son of the family instantly takes a liking to Lucy and marries her almost as quickly.  Of course, Mitch is jealous and hurt, but as a friend, he gracefully accepts it.  Mitch is constantly being pursued by the daughter Marylee, however her reputation as a tramp has forever turned Mitch off of his childhood friend.  As Kyle falls further into alcoholism, a severe jealousy arises in him, because his father has always like Mitch more.  Kyle suspects that Mitch and Lucy are secretly in love, and so the lives of all the characters begin to spiral out of control.

The gripping conclusion is both unexpected, and poignant.

7.5/10

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January 14, 2009

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Directed by David Fincher

Starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is one of the year’s most anticipated Hollywood movies:  it combines fairytale-like situations with everyday issues like acceptance and individuality.

By now, I am sure you have heard the premise of this movie.  Benjamin Button is born as an 85 year old man, and ages in reverse to infancy.  This leads the main character through a series of both obstacles and opportunities, as you can imagine.

I won’t repeat the outline of the story here, as that is readily found anywhere, and you have probably seen the trailers.  I just want to go over some of its strengths and weaknesses.

First off, the movie is fascinating.  Well executed effects and interesting story make for one 3 hr movie you don’t mind sitting through.  Whenever you start to get bored, a new problem, or a new phase in life creeps up to provide more drama.  Cate Blanchett is, as always, wonderful, however, Brad Pitt leaves much to be desired.  I understand that he was playing a simpler person, often in situations over his head and beyond his understanding, but I still feel like a little depth from Pitt would have gone a long way.  It seemed that he really had no personality, he was a rehashing of Forrest Gump, plus the aging difference.  This was the first disappointment.  The second act of the movie also seemed to drag.  While Button is aging, either at the beginning or the end of the movie, everything remains very interesting.  However, when Button is simply a middle aged man trying to court his childhood girlfriend, everything seems to fall flat.  It just went on and on.  Pitt didn’t even seem to mind when Blanchett repeatedly ditched him and ran off with other guys.  It was just a bit empty feeling.

Overall, it was very interesting, and definitely worth seeing.  Don’t expect a ton out of it, and it will be good to you.  I found the similarities to the Forrest Gump story all to apparent, and seeing as they are from the same screenwriter, I am not surprised.

5.9/10

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January 13, 2009

Slumdog Millionaire at the Golden Globes

In addition to my last post, I would also like to add that Slumdog Millionaire won several Golden Globes.  The Golden Globes are awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press – a group of international journalists in the greater LA area.  There are about 50 members I believe, from all around the world.

Best motion picture – Drama

Best Director

Best Screenplay – Drama

Best Original Score

Quite an impressive feat for Slumdog, I definitely would not have picked it to win all of those, although it is a good choice.

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January 13, 2009

Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire is one of the most talked about movies of the year.  Directed by Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later), it has been on both viewers and critics top 5 lists lately.  I saw this at the Garneau Theater a few weeks ago, and it definitely lived up to alot of the hype.

First off, one of the reasons this movie has received so much attention is because of its all bollywood cast.  The film takes place in India, and features a cast of non-actors.  This gives people a chance to judge the movie entirely based on story and visual style, not just the actors in the movie.  This movie combines an indie film simplistic view with a flashy visual style to good effect.  The visual style manages to retain the depth of the story, while keeping the watcher interested the entire time, a hard mix to do well.

While the story is overall fairly straightforward, although the timeline is presented out of order.  To summarize, Jamal, a young “slumdog” has won the majority of the Indian “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”.  Assuming he has been cheating, he is ruthlessly interrogated.  In order to prove his innocence, he must explain how he knows each answer, and the majority of the story is told this way.  It  gets the viewer interested right off the bat, and then fill out the rest of the story as it goes.  This really works in this case, and adds up to quite an enjoyable and unpredictable telling.

On the downside, the movie is accused of being emotionally manipulative.  Basically, it is inescapably single minded story telling, there is no room for opinion or interpretation.  The lack of subtext and depth is the biggest drawback of this movie for me.  It seems like a great first watch, but when the surprises are gone, there really is not alot left to discover about Slumdog.  A shame really, as the first time through is so enjoyable.

Overall, the movie earns 6.9 / 10 in my books.

It was very entertaining and unique, however falls flat upon further exploration.

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January 13, 2009

Weddings!

Without further ado, some photos from the summer’s weddings.

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