As a fun twist to our "Movie Night with the Holubs" we let them pick out a couple film festival films and they are not telling us what they are. This was the first of the two they chose.
At turns gruesome and funny and gruesomely funny, this plot rang a little of 6 Feet Under meets Weekend at Bernie's (that's the second time that film has been mentioned in this blog) but it was smart and very Mexican, which is what you hope from a foreign film. The parts I enjoyed most were surrounding the side-plot of the daughter of the funeral parlor-owner and the nephew of the dead man.
A little inconsistent, but enjoyable and fun.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Son of Rambow
We attended the SIFF opening night gala and saw this film It was nice. Funny and cute and a "crowd-pleaser" in the way that, for whatever reason, makes me like it less. It had some great moments of humor and bumbled along in a touching "Stand by Me" kind of boys-will-be-boys-growing-up kind of way. The 80s soundtrack was superb and the kids who acted were great. I would say that this is a good movie, but I wasn't wowed by it.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Fay Grim
I thought I tried to watch Henry Fool (the first in this two-movie series) when I was in college, and I thought I remembered that I didn't like it and didn't watch the whole thing. Then we did a quick lookup on imdb and the dates don't match up, so I was mistaken. Now I have to wonder if I remember watching it at all. If only I had started this blog 10 years ago...
In any case, this movie, the sequel - (which I read that you didn't have to see Henry Fool in order to enjoy) with the deadpan and hilarious Parker Posey and the intense and so-ugly-he's-handsome Jeff Goldblum - started strong and then petered out a little in the last half hour. It felt like it got tangled up in its own web of intersecting spy plot lines. But, it did have some funny dialog and quirky situations (the scenes with the "toy" deserve special mention) and I would give it 2 1/2 stars out of 5 and maybe more on a second watching.
I don't know how much I like Hal Hartley. This wasn't super-smart or gripping in the way that The Book of Life was. I think the rapid-fire-ping-pong match style dialog is a Hal Hartley trademark and I like it. Perhaps I should give Henry Fool a (nother?) chance.
In any case, this movie, the sequel - (which I read that you didn't have to see Henry Fool in order to enjoy) with the deadpan and hilarious Parker Posey and the intense and so-ugly-he's-handsome Jeff Goldblum - started strong and then petered out a little in the last half hour. It felt like it got tangled up in its own web of intersecting spy plot lines. But, it did have some funny dialog and quirky situations (the scenes with the "toy" deserve special mention) and I would give it 2 1/2 stars out of 5 and maybe more on a second watching.
I don't know how much I like Hal Hartley. This wasn't super-smart or gripping in the way that The Book of Life was. I think the rapid-fire-ping-pong match style dialog is a Hal Hartley trademark and I like it. Perhaps I should give Henry Fool a (nother?) chance.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Monday, May 07, 2007
En el hoyo (In the Pit)
Documentaries are not easy. When they aren't done really well, it is really hard to sit through them. I wouldn't say that this was the case for this film, necessarily, but I don't think that pointing a camera at a few well-seasoned characters and a mind-blowing public works project automatically makes for an interesting story on its own. The bridge in Mexico City has been under construction for decades and the workers are still plugging away at it and the routine of their world is shown without much focus or arc or progress. (Perhaps that's the point, but again, it doesn't make for interesting cinema.) I enjoyed this well enough, though, and the characters with their funny nicknames for each other and their obsessions and weaknesses did hold my attention. The filmmaker didn't judge them for who they were, and while I wouldn't want to hang out with any of them, I did feel like I met some colorful folks and watched them work for an hour. Huh.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Cha no aji (The Taste of Tea)
Everything about this movie was positively delightful. I am tagging is as Top 10 of 2007 already because I know I won't see 10 better movies.
A wonderfully toady grandfather, a manga animator mother, a hypnotherapist father and a son obsessed with the game Go (and a girl who plays it). Oh yeah, and a daughter who is followed by a giant version of herself and throw in a few bigger-than-life-size manga character costumes and some sort of weird Japanese mob. An ordinary family living their ordinary lives in beautiful, rural Japan.
You know in the first two minutes that it will be quirky and fun. It's not an LHFF in the sense that it is shallow or easy; this is a weird movie and not for everyone, but in the 2+ hours you get to know this family really well -- you celebrate and sing with them and recover from loss with them. You forgive them their bizarre quirks because they're family. Really well done. I want to see everything by this director.
A wonderfully toady grandfather, a manga animator mother, a hypnotherapist father and a son obsessed with the game Go (and a girl who plays it). Oh yeah, and a daughter who is followed by a giant version of herself and throw in a few bigger-than-life-size manga character costumes and some sort of weird Japanese mob. An ordinary family living their ordinary lives in beautiful, rural Japan.
You know in the first two minutes that it will be quirky and fun. It's not an LHFF in the sense that it is shallow or easy; this is a weird movie and not for everyone, but in the 2+ hours you get to know this family really well -- you celebrate and sing with them and recover from loss with them. You forgive them their bizarre quirks because they're family. Really well done. I want to see everything by this director.
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