Politist, adj. (Police, Adjective.)

I loved this movie. However, I have to admit that I fell asleep a couple times in the beginning, but it wasn't out of boredom or not wanting to see it. I am just freaking exhausted these days.

This film shouldn't be slept through, though. In my defense, the tempo of the first half is very slow and quiet. We watch as Dragos Bucur (of The Paper will be Blue "fame") goes about his slow, quiet life as a police officer on a case.

Dialog and action increase as we get a peek into his relationship with his new wife, who is a school teacher. We start to understand that he doesn't believe in what he is doing and, indeed is unclear on his role as police officer in a case such as the one he is working on.

Lots of great word play and discussion of words and metaphors, meanings of words and why we use them as symbols and rely on them to encompass ideas.

Engaging and well-acted. Every time I see a Romanian film, I am reminded how much I like Romanian cinema.

Learned: there is a sport called, "foot tennis" which is like soccer and tennis combined.

Los abrazos rotos (Broken Embraces)

Really enjoyed this as I do Almodóvar in general. He has this great way of telling engaging, unique stories purely though his fairly normal characters. His muse, Penelope Cruz, is pitch perfect as usual.

These are everyday people in their everyday lives and extraordinary things happen. Sometimes I feel like there are Almodóvar films happening all around us all, all the time.

After watching this I decided that Almodóvar is a version of Woody Allen. A gay, Spanish, Woody Allen.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Terry Gilliam has made some fantastic and extraordinary films - like this and this and this. The Imaginarium, isn't in the league of those, but it's close - it wants to be and I want it to be, but it's not.

The things I loved:
*Tom Waits, first and foremost, plays the perfect devil. He is spectacular and I was giddy with....giddiness?...whatever, so psyched whenever he was on screen.
*The four actors playing the role of Tony, I think worked great and added a bonus surreality to the movie that was fun and unexpected (even though I had read that it was coming.)
*The costumes, the props and the sets - even the CGI (is that what that is called?) stuff which I tend not to like inside the imaginarium - were gorgeous.

The things I didn't love: ...are harder to put into words.

*I was left feeling a little overworked to sort out all the plots at the end. I think things tied up clumsily and forgettably. I think Gilliam is capable of better and I wanted extraordinary.

*The premise of the film requires (as Gilliam often does) a HUGE amount just letting go and enjoying what's happening without worrying over the details. I am happy to do that, for sure, but it would be a better movie if Gilliam worked on those details and little more.

*Lily Cole's tiny chin made me nervous.

And last but not least - for the just effin' weird file: At one point in the Imaginarium, Heath Ledger's character sees a crying child on the side of a river and wonders aloud if this is where he must chose between good and evil. In response, Lily Cole's character, with whom we sympathize, exclaims, "That's not a choice, it's a child!" I audibly gasped and was distracted by it for the rest of the film. WTF? Is Gilliam anti-abortion?

I'm giving it a 3.5 out of 5 stars rating - go see it, but know that Gilliam could have (and has!) done better.