Ten Canoes

Three layers of story within a story: a narrator who introduces the characters, the current story and the story that they are being told. It's a really well-executed mirror image in that the "modern" men are watching their counterparts from long, long ago. Great myth culture -- the birth myth is fantastic! Lots of...uhm...didgeridoos. Heh. The first movie completely filmed in an indigenous Aboriginal language. Very enjoyable.

The Simpsons Movie

The only thing this needed was MORE RALPH!

Happy Birthday to wegtomovies! 100 Posts

I guess it's not a "birthday" in the typical sense, but there has to be some kind of blog post milestone to commemorate that this is the 101st one. The link in the title is to my first post: our 2004 movie list. I started this blog so I would remember all the movies we saw and because we have increased our movie-going quite substantially over the last few years, I am really glad to have this space as a reminder to think about films after I see them and write a little bit about what distinguishes them from other movies for me. It was born out of the problem that sometimes, "I saw that movie" after a few months would drift into, "Did we see that? Did I like it?" I do this for the same reason that my mother catalogs the weather: to help us remember what was going on. Thanks for reading!

When the Road Bends: Tales of a Gypsy Caravan

Fun and touching documentary about several Rom bands who join for a tour across North America. Wonderful music, wonderful people who (sometimes) don't speak each other's languages, who have come from different corners of the globe, all finding an understanding of one another (sometimes more than other times) through their music and the roots of the Romani people.

I loved visiting the home towns of each band. I loved how all families, no matter how big or small or well off or poor, whether they drive an old car or a horse and buggy, live in high-rise apartments, shacks in small rural towns, or large cities, all love their children. All want their kids to be happy. All cherish their next generation. This was so touching to me that it, more than the sharing thread of struggle and persecution that the different cultures found common ground on, this made me aware of how the same we all are.

L'Iceberg

A woman becomes obsessed with icebergs. Why? I won't tell you. She drops everything and leaves on a quest to sate her insatiable desire to be near (on?) an iceberg. What does she find and how? I won't say. There is little dialog and a large amount of somewhat whimsical slapstick humor (in a style reminiscent of Jacques Tati, Marcel Marceau and others) and it is brilliantly executed, which that is why the movie works so wonderfully well. There are some outright belly-laughs and some more subtle, weird humor, but it was the physical comedy which won me over. Highlights are: Fiona under the sheets, the dad and kids with the butter, the man dancing at his party and the senior citizens with their umbrellas. Intrigued? You should be. Go see this.

Da hong deng long gao gao gua (Raise the Red Lantern)

Made in 1991, set in China around 1920. Stunningly beautiful. Based on a novella by Sue Tong.

We watch four seasons of the lives of four wives of a master. He is never shown clearly, but that isn't important. This movie isn't about the master, or even the state of these women's rights or freedoms, or lack of either. This is a movie about the fourth wife and the relationships between her and other 3 wives. It has serious morals, like a fable. It is about rules and consequences of breaking them. It is also about the chess-like power plays that ripple under the surface of everything these women do.

The fourth wife (or sister or concubine or mistress -- they are called all three and the words seem to be interchangeable, even though in English they have distinctly different meanings) is educated but has resigned herself to the life of a concubine. She is headstrong and smart and at first doesn't want to get drawn into the petty (or serious) games of the other three wives. Don't overlook that they other three don't feel resigned to this life. And at least one of the maids wishes, literally on her life to be a mistress. Our heroine is different, but she too gives into the jealousy and hunger for power. She wants to hear the housekeeper call, "Light the red lanterns in the fourth house!" (meaning that she will get to spend the night with the master and have a chance at giving him a son) as much as the others crave the same for themselves.

The most enjoyable thing about this film for me was the camera work and colors. Slow, long shots of rooftops and courtyards decked out in lanterns and snow and pale blue morning light. It was a feast for the eyes.

Killer of Sheep

An intimate look at the state of the African American family in Watts in the late 70s. Made in 1973, the feeling is absolutely authentic and I thought at first we might be watching a documentary. Kids throw dirt in empty lots, hair picks are thrust crookedly into afros and the suits are spectacular. What's even more amazing is that Charles Burnett made this film while at UCLA for a budget of $5000. True independent film at its core.

The title character is a father, husband and friend and we watch has he moves through each of his roles in a slow and seemingly despondent manner. By day he works in a slaughter house, by night he can't sleep. He is tired and still must face the hardships he and his circle of friends and family are met with every day.

Cinematically, this is a hard film. Intense shot cuts from the slaughterhouse to the kids, the dozens of kids, who are the next generation to struggle. However, there is hope. His wife and kids love him. Friends become pregnant and are happy about it -- life carries on despite it all.

Sicko

Jon and I left this movie feeling really angry. As per his usual, Moore tries to make it funny, and entertaining, but we are in a dire situation in this country and it is already so out of hand that it will never be fixed.

Several people in the film are asked if we have any chance of catching up to the rest of the "westernized" world and providing free health care to all -- to take care of our citizens -- to have free house calls and free nannies for newborns and mandatory paid maternity leave -- but they all agree it is not possible. If we are sick and poor or out of work due to illness and beaten down then we won't worry that the government is wire-tapping, torturing and lying to us. That is how the US government wants us.

Even Barack, folks.

He too wants us scared and quiet.

Corporations own our health care system (which isn't a system at all!) and their employees get bonuses for denying coverage to sick people. Citizens of other countries can't believe that we would turn away people who cannot pay. Are we heartless? Cruel?

Yes and yes.

Ratatouille

Out on the streets, that's where we'll meet
You make the night, I always cross the line
Tightened our belts, abuse ourselves
Get in our way, we'll put you on your shelf
Another day, some other way
We're gonna go, but then we'll see you again
I've had enough, we've had enough
Cold in vain, she said

I knew right from the beginning
That you would end up winnin'
I knew right from the start
You'd put an arrow through my heart

Round and round
With love we'll find a way just give it time
Round and round
What comes around goes around
I'll tell you why

Dig.

A Mighty Heart

I wish that Mariane was played by some unknown actress. Don't get me wrong - Jolie does fine. I am not going to say that she is fantastic or that this is her best movie ever or any superlatives, because I just don't like her and it is hard for me to be objective. I have seen more interviews with her and non-acting parts than I have films of hers, really. I think the role of Mariane would be astonishingly difficult. Jolie loses her accent a few times which is just the kind of thing that bugs me about her. I also hate how directors always do close ups of her eyes flickering and twitching. All that said, I really didn't want this review to be about how I don't like Jolie -- the movie was very well done and that's what I should write about.

I was most impressed by how, even though we all know what happened to Danny Pearl, there was still this horrific anticipation of what was to come. I was sad, uncomfortable and dreading the outcome. This was not an easy film to watch.

I love the community of people surrounding her in this film who support her through and take part in her tragedy. All these people, in this house came together and lived through this horror, just like the families and friends of the 12 other people who were kidnapped and murdered in Pakistan that month. Pearl is not alone. Nor is he more important than the "enemy combatants" being held in Guantanamo Bay.

La Môme (La Vie en Rose)

Through a series of flashbacks and memories, we watch the extraordinary life of Edith Piaf. The music is fantastic and I was simply spellbound by the three actresses portray her at 5 and 10 years old and then in adulthood. All three are amazing.

It seems to me that Edith never, until quite late in life, owned her life or career - even her greatest love wasn't really hers. People managed/owned/manipulated her from the moment she was born until the ripe old age of 47 when she died.

There is a moment or two where you see glimpses of her being in control, but because the story is told in such a non-linear way, I can't tell if that was my own reading or intended. I really enjoyed the actors around her, but we don't get to meet the characters very much.

I learned a lot about her and really enjoyed the sad melodrama.

Delirious

Tom DiCillo made Living in Oblivion and Johnny Suede, both of which I loved, but not quite as much as his more recent, Box of Moonlight, which is one of my top 10 films of all time.

Sometimes expectations are the enemy of experience. This movie would have been a big letdown, if I hadn't checked my expectations right before we went in. I'm not sure what made me do it, but I was glad I consciously lowered them.

In this film, a quirky paparazzi befriends a homeless youth and they work together to get the perfect "shot heard 'round the world." Of course, the homeless guy is hunky and wants a showbiz career...

One DiCillo trademark is how he has a bumbling man as a mentor to another bumbling man and they learn from each other and it's usually pretty funny. That is the case in this film, but the storyline is quite bland and predictable, and Steve Buscemi's character is not quite likable and there really wasn't anything that set this film apart. I am also tired of blonde bombshells in his films....and why is she always just in her bra?? The best scenes in the movie are of Buscemi's character's parents.

A shame to end SIFF on a disappointment. A bigger shame that DeCillo has moved from a favorite director, to a director who made a few films I like.

Wie man sein Leben kocht (How to Cook Your Life)

If you think all Zen masters are calm, confident and wise, meet Edward Espe Brown. He is a Zen master and he is a chef. He is a little neurotic, angry, impatient and funny. We watch him cook and teach cooking and laugh at life and himself. This was a very enjoyable little film.

Hîrtia va fi albastrã (The Paper Will be Blue)

The new(ish) wealth of film coming out of Romania is that it (at least from what we have seen) is smart, consistent and has that...thing....whatever it is that makes it unmistakably Romanian. The three films we have seen from there lately are darkly funny. Some more dark and some more funny, but they all seem to point to a national interest in the plodding, hard parts of life. They also like to make fun of people. This is good.

This movie is about a real moment in Romanian history that was fraught with uncertainty, violence and sadness, but also, movement, excitement and change. We get glimpses of all of this as we follow a small platoon of Militia soldiers through the night of December 22, 1989. Not knowing who or what they are fighting for or protecting, they choose to look for their AWOL team member who, out of excitement, defected to the revolutionaries.

Not for everyone, but certainly my kind of movie.

Paris, je t'aime

Go see this movie.

18 short films about Paris, each by a different director, each with the title of a different neighborhood. The directors include the Coen brothers, Gus Van Sant, Wes Craven (!) Gerard Depardieu... the list goes on and on. The only thing more impressive than the list of directors is the casts. Linking to all of them on IMDB would take forever so I will just list a sampling here:
Steve Buscemi, Natalie Portman, Nick Nolte, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Elijah Wood, Juliette Binoche, Marianne Faithfull, Willem Defoe - it's an amazing spectacle.

Some highlights:
Gus Van Sant directs The Marais and we watch as two hot young men (In a Van Sant film!?!? no way....) share a conversation.
I loved Willem Dafoe as the Grim Reaper in Place Des Victoires.
14ème Arrondissement followed a frumpy postal worker from Denver (brilliantly portrayed by Margo Martindale) with a fanny pack through her 6 day trip to Paris by herself. (Awesome!)

As I type this, I realize that I could find a highlight in almost every one of the shorts and really it's just a fantastic group of films that needs to be seen. It would be easier to write about which ones I didn't like as much, but what's the point in that?

Also as I type this, I realize my friend Gibson will make me pick a favorite, which I don't want to do, but for him, I will: Faubourg Saint-Denis where a blind student and his girlfriend take us all over Paris and it made me want to walk to the travel agent and buy a ticket today.

Offset

A perfect example of a movie we would probably never see if it weren't for SIFF. This drama, a sad and intense family story about a marriage, an offset printing machine and German-Romanian relations, is a little long and bleak. But other than that, I don't have many complaints. The acting is strong, the characters, while not very likable, are interesting and their flaws are what make this good.

The main theme running through this is that people's prejudices run deep. The boss hates Germans, the Germans hate Romanians, the mother-in-law-to-be just wants to go back to Germany, the (German) printing machine doesn't even work right when using inks from anywhere but Germany. If there is a message, it's keep to your own kind, or problems will follow.

Co-written by the writer of The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, which you can read my review of here.

Morirse en domingo (Never on a Sunday)

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.

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.

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.

28 Weeks Later

28 minutes later, we both knew this was stupid.

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.

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.

Efter brylluppet (After the Wedding)

The human condition is never more difficult, gripping and intense than when it's in the hands of a Danish film maker. Take pretty much anything by Lars von Trier and even the darkly funny Adam's Apples by Andres Thomas Jensen (who co-wrote this film) and you'll start to understand that the Danes love to make you wince.

I haven't seen anything else by this director, Susan Bier, but in this film she doesn't, and Danes in general don't, shy away from the ugly, the uncomfortable or the unpleasantness of being human. In fact, these are the things they celebrate and I love them for that. Where most directors would move the camera away, they will zoom in on the spittle threads in the open, gaping mouth, the snot dripping onto the upper lip and the gasping sobs of a human in emotional torment. Beautiful!

In this great Danish drama, the life paths of an orphanage worker in India and a wealthy businessman in Denmark cross. They have to figure out their difficult situation, moving forward to new beginnings and ends as they get what they need from one another. Great camera work: interesting/weird shots that recur and develop the themes...well written, brilliantly acted.

The Wind that Shakes the Barley

Set in beautiful, rural Ireland in the 20s, Padraic Delaney and Cillian Murphy (whose crazy, wide-set, turquoise eyes are recognizable from the weird and wonderful Breakfast on Pluto) portray brothers who are Republican freedom fighters. They wage guerrilla war side by side in the anti-British movement until a turning point puts them on opposite sides of the ever-evolving conflict.

I am not sure I really enjoyed this movie. There were some heart-wrenching and horrific scenes and the payoff for going through it wasn't that great. The take-away message? War fuckin' sucks. There are no winners. Freedom at any cost is never as romantic as it sounds etc. etc. It was brutally sad, but I wasn't wholly sympathetic with any of the main characters, so the sadness (and my enjoyment) was diluted.

Ireland is gorgeous though. And their accents are nice. And Jon made some jokes about his wind shaking his barley. That part was pretty good too.

The Cats of Mirkitani

When Linda Hattendorf met Jimmy he was living under the awning of a grocery in Lower Manhattan in New York. She begins to engage and film him for a possible documentary.
He is a "grand master artist" born in Sacramento, California. He grew up in Hiroshima, went to art school and came back to America only to be interred in Tule Lake interment camp after Pearl Harbor. His citizenship was taken away by the US government and he ended up homeless in the 80s in New York.

The film's amazing twist happens on 9/11 when, after the towers collapsed, Washington Square is deserted, but Linda finds Mirikitani in his usual spot, covered in dust and coughing in the toxic cloud. She invites him in to her (tiny) apartment and we begin to get to know him. I think this film is about the meaning of "home" and all the ways we can lose and find it.

We watch as, over the next few years, he paints in her apartment, hangs out with her cat, sings and waters plants. She helps him get his SSI benefits and finds him senior housing. Through her research and help, he visits Tule Lake, is reunited with his sister, who he hasn't seen in 60 years, and he teaches art classes at the senior home where he lives. The sweetest moments of the film are about the two of them.

Zwartboek (The Black Book)

Two bad movies in a row and I have to start thinking that we are seeing too many movies. Would I rather see a bad film than no film? My instinct is to say , "no" but history doesn't lie, and I think I knew that The Lookout was going to be bad and I think I knew that this was going to be bad and we went anyway. How many times have I been surprised by low expectations with a good outcome? About 5 in the last 2 years. Not very good odds.

This was unrealistic drivel, and completely over the top and the fact that this guy directed Showgirls shouldn't be a surprise. He's a pervert (and not in any interesting way) and a sensationalist. I was thinking that Total Recall was enjoyable compared to this, but then I remembered that Total Recall is a P.K. Dick story and P.K. is great. This guy is not. I half expected the three-boobed Martian prostitute to pop into the picture at some point. Would have made as much sense as the cauldron of shit scene.

Well, the one thing this movie has going for it is that it has inspired the most links in any one post yet. I think I would have preferred not see this movie.

The Lookout

Ouch. My brain.

Nothing about this didn't suck.

TMNT

Those crazy turtles are at it again! The action scenes are so well done, you forget they are wearing costumes...After defeating Shredder in the last movie, the turtles have grown up (?) and apart and Leonardo (who always was the bossy one) and their sensei, Master Splinter, to pull them together to defeat the new evil that is lurking in NYC.

My secret favorite is Donatello. He is so funny! I just LOVE that turtle.

Into Great Silence

Once again, Jon and I were pretty much the only people under 60 in the audience. Why does that always happen?

This is a documentary about the Grande Chartreuse monks. They are the ones who make the Green Chartreuse Liquor, although, the production of it wasn't shown in this film. According to Wiki, they have moved the production of the drink to Spain, but it is named after its color which shares its name with the monastery, which is named after the mountains in which it is situated in the French Alps.

These monks are silent most of the time, except for on a weekly jaunt into the woods and some ceremonial occasions. So...you have three hours of pretty much silent images, except for footsteps, chopping, sawing, praying, bells ringing...you know, Monk Noises. But, that said, the hole left by the silence really puts you in their daily lives and it is rather peaceful and beautiful watching the seasons pass while the monks immerse themselves in work and prayer and play (they do play -- one particularly joyful scene showed the monks sledding down a steep snowy hill on a sunny day.)

The filmmaker was invited to come film, but only without a crew and without artificial lights so the documentary is reduced to basic natural elements: light, space, time.

Very calm and meditative. Very long. It left us asking some questions, such as, "Where do monks go pee?"

Colour Me Kubrick: A True....ish Story

John Malkovich carries this movie, no question, but it would be hard to go wrong with the subject matter: a gay, crazy, conman pretends to be Stanley Kubrick (for the seemingly sole purpose of staying drunk and getting laid by rich men) but he knows very little about Kubrick and seems to forget sometimes that he is pretending -- it's ripe for comedy.

That is, if you aren't Stanley Kubrick

Malkovich has a Jim Carrey quality to him in this role, which is neither compliment nor insult in my mind, just an observation. In that he is portraying a man who is portraying someone else, who keeps changing his approach to said portrayal, his body language and facial expressions are as much a part of the character as the affected accents, lines and costumes. Speaking of costumes, an honorable mention for fantastic costumes goes to Victoria Russell (who hasn't done movie costumes for 20 years -- since the wonderful, horrible Gothic!)

The back story can be read here -- but shouldn't be until after you've seen the movie.

I'll also say that while this movie was thoroughly enjoyable, all of us agreed that the execution wasn't top notch. A clearer storyline would have helped...what we have are hilarious vignettes, but they could use more structure and definition in and of themselves, or a more cohesive timeline to connect them all.

Fanny and Alexander

Bergman has directed over 40 movies and his career spans 7 decades. He is a movie force to be reckoned with. Fanny and Alexander is a tale of growing up in turn of the century Sweden. Multiple generations partaking in happy Christmas rituals at a well-to-do family's gathering are shown in gorgeous warm candlelit glow. The details of the house's holiday decorations are particularly enjoyable. We are treated to a closeup look at the goings on behind closed doors and an intimate portrait of a family. The first two hours of this movie progress rather conventionally. At first we wondered where the trademark Bergman closeups and bizarre Seventh Seal segues were. However as the characters' lives unfold before us, we are brought gently into Bergman's supernatural world. The final hour is a wonderful mix of brilliant and shocking scene transitions, ghosts and dreams, insane characters and the wonder of a child's imagination.

Gwoemul (The Host)

I am a huge fan of three-dimensional characters. In general, they will make any movie watchable and they can make a great movie sublime. I instantly loved the family which is at the center of this intense and hilarious monster movie. In a letter to Landmark's Film-Club members, Bong Joon-ho, co-writer and director of The Host writes:

...how important it is to balance the appearance of a monster with lovable, empathetic characters. For this, I devised a very “typically” Korean family who are by turns funny, inept, and heroic—like anyone’s family....The film shows how these exceedingly normal people, no different from our everyday neighbors, are transformed into monster-fighting warriors.

While the action was fun and the sub-text politically savvy, what I liked most about this movie were the moments of humor, sometimes slapstick, but also at times, brilliantly subtle. It comes back the characters who make that possible.

I also need to mention the monster, who, through fantastic special effects, is superbly executed and terrifying.

The Rules of the Game

Wow! This was such a great surprise! I expected slapstick and low-brow humor, but I was so wrong. A group of rich folks gather in the woods at an estate for a weekend romp, but lies are told and marriages crumble and the poor servants are just as wound up in it all as the rich bourgeoisie. It takes place just before the second World War. Reminded me right away of Gosford Park (highly recommended for fans of Altman). Well shot, well told. Humans haven't changed much in 70 years.

Zodiac

Scary, entertaining, great costumes, great dialog and acting. They did an amazing job of putting you in SF in the 70s and 80s.

Mafioso

This was billed as a black comedy, but it didn't strike me as particularly funny. Sure, there were moments to laugh at, but the main storyline is quite tragic and sad. Alberto Sordi was amazing. If you go see this movie, he is the reason to do so. It is a mafia movie and so fans of that will enjoy the great characters.

Tears of the Black Tiger

My favorite review of this so far said, "Unless you've seen this movie, you haven't seen anything like it." It's a Thai Spaghetti Western. It's Technicolor-overdrive. It's funny. There's a midget. Cowboys and robbers and gangs of bad guys. A sad Thai soundtrack. A sad bride-to-be. Betrayal. Fun!

Black Snake Moan

I can't decide what's worse: that this film wants to be taken seriously or that someone out there might watch this piece of shit and actually think, "Wow, two humans helping each other. How nice that one tames the savage sexual appetite (which is obviously always the direct outcome) of a woman abused in childhood and the other, a white woman, tames the sorrow in a black man's heart with her....uhm...savage sexuality."

This film races right by offensive and directly into ridiculous.

Two more words about why you should skip this film: Justin Timberlake.

The Aura

Ingredients: An epileptic taxidermist with a photographic memory, a wife-beating hunting buddy, a shack in the woods, a casino ripe to be ripped off and an incredible dog. Outcome: Exciting and unique thriller set in the gorgeous hills and forest of Argentina. From the director of Nine Queens. He died before (or right after?) this movie was released.

2006 Live Action Academy Award Nominated Shorts

Pretty good mix this year:

An LDS-esque missionary who is stuck in a sticky situation over his indiscretion with a married woman.

A busy business man whose dad locks himself in a cupboard at the old folks' home.

A father and son who are abandoned by their wife/mom and who invite her mom home with them to cook, clean and take care of them...

A great story of a small, smart girl in an Senegalese village who wants to improve her life and the lives of those around her.

West Bank Story. My least favorite. Warring falafel huts. Snapping. Singing. It won the Oscar. Fuckin' figures.

God Grew Tired of Us

The amazing and inspirational stories of the Lost Boys of the Sudan often reveal hardships and horror that no American child has ever had to face. Their incredible journies don't stop, however, when the young men reach America. Sometimes heartwarming, sometimes sad, and sometimes very funny, this movie is a great introduction to the history of the (ongoing) situation in Sudan. It also highlights some of the issues faced by the Sudanese here in the U.S. (work, school, assimilation, potato chips.)

The movie is great and you should watch it, but allow me to digress for a moment:

More information on this topic can be found in many arenas lately. Which is a wonderful thing -- more people need to find out what happened, is happening and what we can do to make a difference. In my opinion, one of the best places to start is a book by Dave Eggers, about a Sudanese named Valentino Achak Deng, called What is the What. Read the fantastic NYT review here. (Not everyone likes the book -- check out Travis Nichols' review here.)

You can also visit the Valentino Achak Deng Foundation here.

When Jon and I saw Valentino speak earlier this year, one of the most memorable moments for me was when he said that he felt the need to tell his story because he believed the rest of the world would not have let this happen if they had known about it. I wish I believed this, because I do feel like the world knows about horrors that happen all the time, but our governments and media are complacent and we, Americans at least, in general, do not care about that which we don't see as affecting our day to day lives. In fact, we are blind to the hardships of others to a criminal degree. Movies like God Grew Tired of Us and books like What is the What are a step in the right direction, making these stories visible and tangible and un-ignorable.

Breach

Boring.

The Lives of Others

Wow. Thrilling and cold and sad and I saw a side of the history of Germany that I had only known about a little bit.

The Stasi were a HUGE group of government employees (secret police and intelligence) who worked as part of a machine of oversight and control. They used very intense tactics of questioning and blaming and blackmail to scare people into submission. You must never speak badly of the Government. You must always be a loyal East German. Art and expression were severely limited to that which did not question this.

There were artists and authors and actors whom they "approved of" but even they were suspect at all times and under surveillance sometimes for any hint of not being loyal or saying or doing anything that might reflect poorly on East Germany. The Stasi themselves even did not trust one another. I may not have the history completely correct, but you can read more about the Stasi here.

This film is about a group of artists and the Stasi guy who watches them. What he learns and comes to understand. It was a great lesson in human nature and conscience and I really loved it.

Given our current government situation, this is a good reminder of what it looks like when people who believe they have unlimited power are in charge. Sometimes I wonder how close we would get to a situation like the Stasi before the braindead apathy of this country would wake up.

The Italian

Light Hearted Foreign Film, for sure, but some might question the light-hearted part. This movie was watchable due to the little boy actor, Kolya Spiridonov, being just about the best little kid actor I have never seen.

There's no slapstick or madcap antics as appear so often in LHFFs, but there is humor and even some fart jokes. There are also teen prostitutes and some grizzly fights. The story drew me in and it was interesting until the end. That and the kid made this worth admission.

Venus

This is a good movie. But not for me. Jon and I were the youngest people in the audience by at least 20 years.

It showed promise in the beginning with the old friends exchanging old-person pills and living it up in a senior citizen kind of way. But as soon as the young girl was introduced and we are asked to see Peter as sexual, it goes south, so to speak. The image of Peter O'Toole saying "cunt" is burned in my head and it is not sexy. Peter O'Toole is an old, old man. I don't want to think about Peter O'Toole being sexual.


Not even this young Peter O'Toole.




And certainly not this old Peter.




(UPDATE: I just realized that "peter" is sometimes used as a word for penis, which makes a) his name hilarious and b) my post hilarious.)

The Last King of Scotland

I heard Forest Whitaker studied insects for this role. He also interviewed Idi Amin's family, and other Ugandans and learned some Swahili so he could ad-lib dialog. I know there many who don't like Whitaker, but this role, this hugely loved and hated personality, is his on a plate. He has and deserves to win awards for his portrayal.

I questioned the choice to make a fictional character be a central role in this very horrific factual time and place, but I decided that the Scottish doctor is a necessary mechanism for getting close to Amin. And it works. And it's believable. Scary. Sad.

Scully (Gillian Anderson) makes a sexy appearance.

Inland Empire

I absolutely LOVED this movie.

I have no idea what it is about.

Lynch employs his trademark -- using film like paint, where he brushes bold and startling strokes and colors of character and dialog and the end result is a gorgeous, engrossing, bizarre....thing. You can expect stories within stories within stories and stream of consciousness as "plot line" (read: "plot Möbius strip") and dual and triple personalities.

Themes of family and folklore and escapes and trust are blended with scenes of rabbit outfits and Polish gypsies. Huh.

Three hours. Pure Lynch.

Pan's Labyrinth

Guillermo del Toro has created a gloriously dark fairy tale. It's violent and creepy and wondrous and innocent all at once.

The child actress, Ivana Baquero, did a great job and the historical context (Franco's Spain) added to the depth of the story. I had to include a picture of this guy:

as he was my favorite.

The lines between a child's fantasy and reality blur imperceptibly and the special effects are great.

The Treasures of Long Gone John

We had never heard of Long Gone John. Turns out he's a music producer who started the careers of many an unknown artist over the years and now is more known as an art collector who owns originals by Robert Williams, Mark Ryden, Todd Schorr and Camille Rose Garcia. He's huge in the toy and collectible industry His collections are insane. His house is a museum of music, art and artifacts (celebrity prescriptions bottles!). The coolest thing about this documentary was watching Todd Schorr paint a huge custom piece for LG John in time lapse. Interesting and entertaining for folks who like this kind of art or who are interested in the 70s and 80s punk scene in L.A.

Our 2006 Movie List

All these are blogged in the archives:

10 Items or Less
Adam's Apples
An Inconvenient Truth (Top 10)
The Architect
Army of Shadows
Babel (Top 10)
Beowulf & Grendel
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Bene...
Brick
Brothers of the Head (Top 10)
Bubble - Another Steven Soderbergh Experience (Top 10)
Caché
Children of Men
The Davinci Code
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
The Devil and Daniel Johnston
Don't Come Knocking (Top 10)
Expiration Date
Factotum
Fast Food Nation
House of Sand
Iraq in Fragments
Jesus Camp
Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man
Little Miss Sunshine
loudQUIETloud: A Film About Pixies (Top 10)
Manderlay (Top 10)
Marie Antoinette
Match Point (or Woody does Crime and Punishment)
My Country My Country
Oscar-Nominated Short Films
Our Brand is Crisis
The Painted Veil
A Prairie Home Companion
The Proposition (Top 10)
Quinceañera
Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles
Running with Scissors
A Scanner Darkly
The Science of Sleep (Top 10)
Stranger Than Fiction
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
This Film is Not Yet Rated
Tideland (Top 10)
Tristam Shandy - A Cock and Bull Story
Tsotsi
The U.S. vs. John Lennon
V for Vendetta
Volver
The Weeping Meadow
Who Killed the Electric Car?
Why We Fight

Children of Men

What a great movie for the last one of the year!

We had read some good things about this but didn't know much about the plot etc. It's set in the future and pretty bleak. There are some really cheesy things, but it never takes itself too seriously and the plot and story are well told. Michael Caine is fabulous.

Really enjoyable.

The Painted Veil

I would call this a character portrait of a relationship, but also of two very intriguing characters. Both Watts and Norton do their parts justice. I just learned that Garbo played Kitty in a 30's version. I would be curious to see it.

It was elegant and carefully crafted. A languorous, intimate look at this deeply disturbed relationship set in gorgeous, otherworldly early 20th century China.

Not great, but recommended.

The Architect

There is very little redeemable in this film. Cliche explorations of sexuality, marriage, growing up, parenting -- it takes on way too much. The final straw for me was the teenaged daughter crying in the back of the older guy's truck saying: "Hold me....don't you want me?" through pathetic tears. She might even have her shirt off...I blocked it all out. This scene was simply too much and it came about half-way through the movie and it did get worse from there.

Isabella Rossellini is mysteriously in this film.

10 Items or Less

Short and sweet. The actors seemed like they really had a great time with these roles. I loved Morgan Freeman. We all play roles in our lives every day. It's a basic metaphor, but well told and really, really enjoyable.

Interesting fact: Brad Silberling also directed 2004's Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

Stranger Than Fiction

My low expectations really helped in my enjoyment of this film.

Emma Thompson was great.

Will Ferrell is a funny man.

The story is good, if not original, and there were some truly hilarious moments, but still I was underwhelmed.

Volver

Pedro Almodóvar is so good at what he does. I love a director whose films you can spot a mile away. Almodóvar stories are rich and multi-layered. His characters are so completely enjoyable. Penelope Cruz was fantastic. I found out Volver means "to return" before I saw it and I liked to look at all the characters "returning" in their own ways.

Fast Food Nation

Richard Linklater, who, in my opinion, has a career which spans highs and lows not usually achieved by one director, has missed the mark. The book Fast Food Nation is a book. The story doesn't hold up to screenplay, with its strained dialog and characters who come off as stereotypes in their effort to represent wider swatches of society. It's trite. It tries too hard. The message of this move can be boiled down into 7 words: Don't eat at McDonalds, it hurts everyone. There, now you don't need to see it.

Iraq in Fragments

It's hard not to try to draw parallels between this and the other Iraq documentary that we saw earlier this year, but they don't actually have much in common. This one follows the war from three very different perspectives, all Iraqi, and all devastated in different ways by the state of their country at our hands.

The cinematography is simply stunning. Almost as stunning as what we have done to the people of Iraq in the name of Spreading Freedom.

Again, I must say that the people who need to see this movie won't.

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

This film is pretty much the same as the previous one. Except not complicated, not challenging, not grim (...well, maybe a little. The fuckin' frat boys were as grim as America gets.) and it has Sacha Baron Cohen naked.

The biggest difference is that I hurt myself laughing while watching Borat. Literally. I actually hurt when it was over.

I love Borat.

Babel

One complaint I heard about this movie before I saw it is that it is "too complicated." I guess it's all about how hard you are comfortable working for your movie enjoyment. I like to be challenged. I want my brain working and my thoughts provoked. I rarely go to the movies for escapism, in fact, I think I need to see movies to reaffirm that I am part of humanity. This movie is great example of this mechanism.

I only found this movie complicated on the surface and once you get underneath to the general gist of the connections between the story lines, you are sucked into what happens in each corner of the world. We are reminded of our humanity and preciousness (and universality) of life.

A few scenes stick out for me, but the brothers laughing on the cliffs and leaning into the blowing wind stayed with me for days.

I wasn't floored by this film, but in all the best ways it was a very grim, very difficult, complex reminder of the whole of joy and tragedy that we all as humans experience in life.

I really loved 21 Grams and Amores Perros and this was great too, so Alejandro González Iñárritu is moving up my directors list.

Tideland

Terry Gilliam is my hero.

The movie starts with a plea from the director to let go a little bit and find our inner child. He looked through the lens of childhood to make this amazing film and we should look through a similar lens to watch and enjoy it.

So many things are right about this movie. We have Jeff Bridges (The Dude!!), who is PERFECT. We have freaky characters (especially Dell, played by uber-tall Janet McTeer) and we have a dream-like photography, bizarro (even gruesome) situations and an innocent, sing-song skipping toward death down the rabbit hole feel that makes all the horror and uncomfortableness seem like, well, childsplay.