1/31/08

In The Mood For Love

If you are a fan of foreign movies, you should never overlook this wonderful mood piece from Hong Kong, 2001. The two enormously attractive leads are caught in a web of suspicion, loneliness and attraction that is almost palpable. They are both married to spouses who travel and for some time, they manage to subdue their individual suspicions about these spouses and their fidelity.

As time passes, each separately starts to add up the evidence, but doesn't like the answer. They worry about the neighbors (it is during a critical housing shortage in Hong Kong and their teeny living spaces are not necessarily indicative of their financial situations) and what they might be accused of, as many separate families find themselves living cheek by jowl in private homes. The rain, the noodles carried in the thermos, the gorgeous dresses worn by Maggie Cheung, the polite demeanor of Tony Leung, all add to the rich tapestry this movie weaves.

This is a treasured DVD in my collection, so I looked it up on line and here was one viewer's experience with the movie:

I was recommended this film as one of the best love stories ever told. And as I am huge fan of love, I bought the ticket and sat myself in the theatre. After 90 minutes I left the theatre with nothing but disappointment and the theme song as the only positive thing of the film. I was appalled at the story itself, that two people can love each other but be so afraid as to never act it. I just couldn't get past the language barrier and the cultural barrier. The second time I ran into it... I was in a different mood, no longer had any expectation ... and had more patience, more relaxed mind to "see" the film... and as soon as I opened my eyes, I discovered the love... the beauty of the film. I went beyond the language and the love story and saw the acting (not even for a moment did I ever feel like they were acting!) and the cinematography. The first time I heard a definition of what a film is, I was told that it should be a chain of perfectly balanced photographs (shots) and this is the film to match the description. Almost every shot has an idea behind it, and combined with the music... and the light effects... the result is just a masterpiece! And a masterpiece is just something that you must have in your collection of films.

I don't see it in the Seattle Public Library inventory, so I hope you'll find it in the on-line rental catalogs. It may turn up on international television occasionally, so keep an eye out for it.
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Zhou Yu's Train

In case you like foreign films, this 2003 film from China (the DVD of which I obtained from the public library) has many things going for it:
  • Three extremely attractive leads; lovely Li Gong who is a major star in China;
  • Tony Leung Ka Fai, an Asian heartthrob veteran of many action films, as well as dozens of comedies and romances;
  • Hong Lei Sun, who has come on the cinema scene more recently, but we'll see lots more of him.
  • Terrific photography, you'll see shots of China you've never seen before.
  • Subtle symbolism on occasion...watch the trains and the tracks.
  • Wonderful translation in the captions, not too colloquial or pedantic, but informal and effective.
  • Careful filmmaking: activity in the background actually reflects what's going on in the scene.

The ending made me go back and check the name of the factory worker, but to no avail. I'm still not sure where the lovely young woman in Tibet actually came from.

The general theme of this romantic movie is about a woman who falls in love with a sensitive poet. She rides the eponymous train to visit him twice a week. During the course of these rides, she encounters a handsome veterinarian who flirts with her and eventually becomes acquainted with her. Sometimes the destination is what it's all about, sometimes the journey itself...

1/29/08

The Cuckoo

This oddball little 2003 movie is...I think...Russian, but the three main characters speak Russian, Finnish and some sort of Laplander... which is actually the main point of the story. Of course the DVD is captioned. Whew!

WWII is winding down and a Russian officer is being taken back to be court marshaled. At the same time, a young Finnish sniper is being chained to a nearby rocky hillside for insubordination to the Nazis...he really doesn't want to fight anymore. He was a college student shanghaied into the war and has no more stomach for it.

Through a series of serendipitous events, the two men end up in the sturdy little hut of a young Laplander woman, whose husband was taken away to fight four years ago and she hasn't heard from him since. An interesting aspect of this movie is watching what she has to do for her day-to-day survival. Her life is hard, but she is a hard worker in a very matter-of-fact way, and it doesn't occur to her to complain.

Setting aside the plot devices that develop in this inevitable triangle, the charming thing about this script is how they fail to communicate. Each person continues to speak his or her own tongue and you see the others gamely try to respond. Obviously they have no idea what has been said, so their response is completely out of line, even though the first speaker fails to realize it. They use a combination of body language and hand signals for generalities but the fine points are completely lost. With the 20/20 insight of captions, you smile as their guesses get further and further afield, although you certainly hope the officer won't eat the mushrooms...

They are not aware when the war actually ends, although they have been hoping all along.

1/28/08

Driving Lessons

Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley in the "Harry Potter" series) is the emotionally locked-in son of a Church of England minister, played by Nicholas Farrell (Horatio in Kenneth Branaugh's "Hamlet," "Amazing Grace" and "Twelfth Night" 1996) and his wife, played by Laura Linney ("The Savages," "The Squid and the Whale," "You Can Count on Me" and "Breach"). Of course, any criticism of a Christian-based church is an easy target these days and this is no exception. It is immediately obvious that Linney's character (with a passable British accent, by the way) is not as true blue as her family or the congregation might expect. Of course, with Oliver Milburn ("Me Without You" and "The Forsyte Saga" 2003) to offer temptation, one can scarcely blame her! Their trysts are covered up by the eponymous "driving lessons" which the mother gives the son, who in reality has to sit outside in the car, while Mom enjoys other diversions inside her lover's home.

Because he is seventeen ("...and a HALF!"), it is time he gets a job, so he finds a part-time gig with a semi-retired, second-rate actress, played by the wonderful Julie Walters ("Billy Elliot," "Calendar Girls" and "Educating Rita") who, by the way, is just wrapping her role as Meryl Streep's chum in this summer's musical, "Mamma Mia!" As a further aside, we will all have to make note of her physical well-being this summer, as her character in "Driving Lessons" has an unmistakable "dowager's hump" and I can only HOPE it is just her customarily thorough preparation for a role instead of a real symptom of osteoporosis.

The actress is shameless in the way she manipulates the young man into defying his mother no matter how much he objects. Over the course of a few months, she allows him the freedom to acknowledge hypocrisy and rebel against it. Watching the way she does it is the gist of the film. Both of the leads are wonderful and the supporting cast is flawless. There are nice shots of the British countryside and I loved the views of Edinburgh.

This is a nice film!

1/25/08

How She Move

As you may gather from the wording of the title, I was one of the few token white faces both on screen and in the audience. I went mainly because I have heard of "Step Dancing" but had never seen it in action.

And "Action" is the best word for it. This is a powerful, rhythmic form of dance that utilizes stomping boots, slapping hands, pounding sticks and is an intricately choreographed form of dance. The story line is clichéd, although it was interesting to hear the Caribbean lilt to the African American characters who are based in Canada. Of course, "mean streets" are found everywhere, not just in the United States.

The main character is a well-educated young woman who wishes to go on to medical school. Her junkie sister has drained the family finances before a fatal overdose, so our heroine must qualify for a scholarship. She loses hope for the scholarship and determines that she could earn money for her education by joining a step dancing team and winning the "Big Contest." Of course, her former friends and classmates aren't supportive of her aspirations and she has to learn a lesson that all of us should be reminded of: "The ones who care don't matter, and the ones who matter don't care."

I very much enjoyed the contests, admired the costumes and appreciated the skill and determination of the (MANY!) performers as they poured their abundant talent and energy into their efforts.

Step Dancing

As you may gather from the wording of the title, I was one of the few token white faces both on screen and in the audience. I went mainly because I have heard of "Step Dancing" but had never seen it in action.

And "Action" is the best word for it. This is a powerful, rhythmic form of dance that utilizes stomping boots, slapping hands, pounding sticks and is an intricately choreographed form of dance. The story line is clichéd, although it was interesting to hear the Caribbean lilt to the African American characters who are based in Canada. Of course, "mean streets" are found everywhere, not just in the United States.

The main character is a well-educated young woman who wishes to go on to medical school. Her junkie sister has drained the family finances before a fatal overdose, so our heroine must qualify for a scholarship. She loses hope for the scholarship and determines that she could earn money for her education by joining a step dancing team and winning the "Big Contest." Of course, her former friends and classmates aren't supportive of her aspirations and she has to learn a lesson that all of us should be reminded of: "The ones who care don't matter, and the ones who matter don't care."

I very much enjoyed the contests, admired the costumes and appreciated the skill and determination of the (MANY!) performers as they poured their abundant talent and energy into their efforts.

1/24/08

Rambo

Okay. It is what it is. No mature insights like Stallone provided in his last installment of "Rocky," but instead a portrait of a loner -- numb and dumb -- living in isolation in Burma. Burma, as we all know, has the dubious honor of hosting the world's longest-lasting revolution so far...sixty years and counting...

Stallone wrote, directed and starred in this one, so obviously we know who to blame for the ultra-violent scenes, the brutality, and the grisly aftermath of violence with rotting corpses, missing limbs and grieving survivors.

As usual for contemporary movies, he has ramped up the blood, the gore and the blowie uppie stuff. It will titillate the moviegoer looking for same....That is the best I can do.

1/22/08

Untraceable

No, no, no.... This is another endurance test! In my opinion, writers are a sick bunch. They keep dreaming up horrific ways to kill people and dodos like to read about it or watch... In fact, that IS the message in this nasty, repugnant movie.

Diane Lane ("Unfaithful," "The Outsiders" and "Must Love Dogs") is a Portland-based FBI agent who works with Tom Hank's son Colin ("That Thing That You Do" and "Orange County"). They are techies who capture Internet predators and generally live, breath and speak computers (but never very loud...).

They encounter a "streaming" website that is virtually untraceable. It displays the first attention getter, which is a cat that dies on screen. Then, with increasing brutality, you see a series of murders slowly conducted on-line with the caption that the more people log on to watch, the faster the seemingly random victim will die. A sidebar displays the swiftly climbing number of hits, while blogs from viewers also appear in a gleefully bloodthirsty stream as millions of viewers follow the torture and death of each victim. The audience in the theater was riveted, even as I writhed in anxiety (I'm not very good at on-screen torture).

This was a very, very long 100 minutes. If I were to find any redeeming qualities, I would say that at least Diane Lane's FBI agent doesn't wait around to be rescued and Portland looks photogenic. Wet, but photogenic... That's the best I can do...sorry...

1/18/08

Mad Money

Does Queen Latifah always get all the good lines? Or does she just deliver whatever lines she gets so well that it just seems that way? It certainly did in "Hairspray!"

Between Katie Holmes ("Thank You for Smoking" and "Pieces of April"), Diane Keaton ("The Family Stone" and "Something's Gotta Give") and the Queen herself ("The Perfect Holiday" and "Beauty Shop"), there is absolutely no contest! For one thing, her character has much more common sense, has something to lose (her children!), and is on the brink of a new relationship.

As you may already know, this is a "Heist" film. Their target is the Federal Reserve Bank where all three hold flunky jobs, thus are under constant scrutiny but are not considered capable of being any threat to the overall security of the place. Keaton's husband, Ted Danson ("Bye Bye, Benjamin" and LOTS of TV work) has been downsized and they are quickly slipping into a quagmire of unpaid bills and potential bankruptcy. She can't even pay her cleaning lady for work already done! They have a spacious house in an upscale neighborhood and are desperate to save face! She quickly discovers that she has NO job skills and at her age isn't a very marketable job applicant.

Diane eventually gets a job as a cleaning attendant at the Federal Reserve Bank simply because it is unskilled labor and she doesn't have a prison record. Katie pushes highly secured carts of paper money slated to be shredded because it is worn or damaged. Queen is in charge of the shredder.

Suffice it to say, beyond all logic and reason, these three gals devise a "fool-proof scheme" and thus unfolds the plot.

If I had to choose a favorite scene, it would be early on when Katie drops her bag and her personal effects are strewn all over the floor. The two older gals help pick it up and can't help but spot a syringe. Naturally, they refuse to include her in their scheme until she gets "clean." As they voice their concerns, a thought slowly dawns on Katie's face and she begins to smile..."Are you guys doing an intervention?" She is so honored she fails to tell them for awhile that she is a diabetic.

Predictable, entertaining, flimsy, nothing to promote here...sorry. Just kinda cute.

1/15/08

Cloverfield

DO NOT GO TO THIS MOVIE!!!!!

This is "Blair Witch Project" gone hi tech. This is a party video gone nuts. This is a frenetic, confusing, horrifying mess. It is supposedly shot by an amateur so the herky-jerky camera work is non-stop, headache inducing, blurred and messy.

DO NOT GO TO THIS MOVIE!!!!!

The actors are all unknowns so we can buy into the initial farewell party plot. I found it interesting that in the later frantic Manhattan mob scenes, there were no people older than forty or younger than eighteen...I'm just sayin'....

DO NOT GO TO THIS MOVIE!!!!!

There has been a clever advance publicity program maintaining lots of mystery and suspense. You may have seen the shot of the head of the Statue of Liberty tumbling down a Manhattan street. There is a LOT of blowie uppie stuff!

DO NOT GO TO THIS MOVIE!!!!!

Any questions?

Addendum: I live a block from the Cinerama movie theatre. When "Cloverfield" was playing there, they put a sign on the ticket window stating that the camera techniques would cause motion sickness and that there would be NO refunds!

1/9/08

27 Dresses

Every bridesmaid's dress comes complete with the promise, "...and you can wear it again for other occasions!" Fat chance!

Our heroine Jane, played by Katherine Heigl ("Knocked Up" and "Grey's Anatomy"), is the super girlfriend, super sister and super Special Assistant to the boss, always on top of everything, always willing to go the extra mile, always overlooked and underappreciated.

In an interview, Heigl said she felt her character in "Knocked Up" was grouchy and humorless. She'd better be careful, as this one tends to start out the same way...

Jane is devoted to her boss, played by Edward Burns ("The Brothers McMullen" and "Sidewalks of New York"), who is a kind, sensitive, generous and intelligent ecologist. He is even in the Big Brother program! Yeah, he is waaaay too good to be true! And his character is blind as a bat. He takes her devotion for granted, thoughtlessly exploits her skills and energy, plus he can't see the forest for the trees! Her best friend Casey, played by our favorite professional best friend, Jane Greer ("13 Going on 30," "The TV Set" and "American Dreamz") is a welcome familiar face! And she doesn't disappoint. Her character is wry, observant, and just a tad foul-mouthed.

This is a romantic comedy, so suffice it to say Jane finds herself in a losing situation with her younger sister, who has come back to stay for awhile. In addition, she is exploited by a journalist played by James Marsden ("Enchanted" and "The Notebook") who finds her willingness to participate as a bridesmaid in twenty-seven (27!) weddings as either a personality flaw or downright lunacy. By the time she has modeled all 27 outfits for him, she is beginning to see his point...a little...

Luckily the pace picks up about the time she wrecks her car; after that, the movie becomes fun, so stay with it!

This is no "Miss Congeniality," but it IS diverting.

1/4/08

Snow Cake

Okay you Rental fans...this one got by me, maybe it got by you, as well.

It's time to try "Snow Cake," a 2007 movie starring Sigourney Weaver ("Working Girl" and "Gorillas in the Mist"), Alan Rickman ("Sense and Sensibility" and "Die Hard") and Carrie Anne Moss ("The Matrix" and "Disturbia"). I had avoided this movie in the multiplex because I thought it would be upsetting. On the contrary, this quiet movie explores people who are different and ends up being a feel-good experience.

Alan Rickman is driving in Canada, heading toward Winnipeg, and through a series of inconsequential little events, ends up with a young hitchhiker on board. She is a free spirit, smart, witty and fun, on her way home to visit her mother. Rickman is traumatized by a horrific auto accident and ends up at the girl's home with her mother (Weaver) who turns out to be a high-functioning autistic. As he comes to understand the mother, he comes to admire the daughter and to accept his own shortcomings as well.

The personalities of the principals insinuate their way into your heart, you end up caring about what happens to each of them and as you know, I find this to be an integral element for a movie that I like.

Check it out....