Gummo

Gummo

Plot:

Centers around a couple of young individuals in a small town in Ohio.

Review:

This film actually comes close to a documentary and we get to see upclose the somewhat nihilistic lives of some residents in Xenia in the midwest. There is not a traditional narrative or story in any sense of the word, this is merely an observation into what some may call a decadent and tragic existence. Somewhat disturbing at times and definetely not polished to fit a "casual" viewer.

Xenia has been struck by a tournado a couple of years ago. This has affected the town quite a bit. Alienation and isolation increased even more and a touch of hopelessness strikes its citizens. Tummler (Nick Sutton) and Solomon (Jacob Reynolds) are the two leading actors and we get to follow their everyday lives that only seem to get more and more bizarre. We follow three sisters ( Most well known actress in this film Chloe Sevigny plays one of them) that are the ones portraying the last beacon of what is left of decency and morale but even they are in danger of getting dragged down into the mud, so to speak. We also encounter various other characters that too are smitten by the existensial angst that is abundant in this seemingly travesty of a place.

I find this to be interesting partially because it is a different take on films from what one usually see. It tells its story in shorter clips almost like short-story format. It doesn't offer any morals, good dialogue or exciting adventure. Its quite plain in alot of ways, and some of the time lacks dialogue completely. Has several strong scenes regardless and its quite difficult to be indifferent about it which almost always is a good thing in my opinion.

Trailer:

"Many more posts to come!"

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Big Trouble In Little China

Big Trouble In Little China

They do not make films like this anymore.

Plot:

A good versus evil fable from the 80's.

Review:

Granted it was a while since I saw this film, could actually be as far back as the VHS days, I have to say its a big favourite of mine. It's quite a unique piece and I'm not interested in spoiling anything. It spans over multiple genres which include comedy, action and fantasy. Tries to incorporate alot into it which is somewhat signifcant for the 80's in my experience. I've read rumours about a remake and I cannot possibly understand how they could ever make it better.

All american truck driver Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) is in San Francisco's Chinatown for buisness and meets up his old friend Wang. They play some cards and Jack wins, making Wang (Denis Dun) run out of change for a taxi. Jack agrees to drive him to the airport to pick up Wangs fiance which he hasn't seen since they were kids. The fiance with her green eyes is believed to have magical qualities by an evil sorcerer and is kidnapped by his dangerous street gang and Jack and Wang finds themselves in an adventure trying to get her back.

That is all I want to reveal about this film.

Trailer:

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Spun

Spun

Jonas Åkerlund does his film debut.

Plot:

Centers around the life and times of drugs and individuals using them.

Review:

You can quite easily tell Jonas Åkerlund is a musicvideo producer gone film producer. Very rapid pace with alot of different angles and just as you have settled on a frame, and grasped what it is trying to tell you, a new one is thrown out. Has fast close-ups on quite unorthodox things like a pimple, a bad tooth, strange bowel movement (!) and of course the sticking of needles into arms. All these close ups get an, according to the director, appropriate sound effect to go with it. This film is a lighthearted one and only really gets "close" out of disgust and/or morbid fascination, for there isnt much of a plot or character depth to speak of. Which of course is the intention with the whole film. Showing the everyday life of a drug addict.

First thing that happens is we find ourselves looking into a room where Fugit ( ), a drug addict,  Spider Mike, a drug dealer, ( John Leguizamo ) and Nikki, girlfriend of drug dealer,( Brittany Murphy ) is sitting around playing video games. They all have their own drug-fueled worlds with basically self-created problems. Ross is later introduced as the main character in this film. Ross is a young man with a newly found fascination for crystal meth and having a car makes him a very popular guy among his his new "friends" that are mentioned above. Ross gets to meet the maker of his drug, " The Cook" (Mickey Rourke) and a wild journey begins. 

It's quite hard to make a decent review out of this simply because its such a ride. Thats the only way one could explain it. This isnt a glorification of drugs nor is is the opposite. It doesn't take a stand whatsoever in my opinion. Its not that kind of film, the purpose of this is simply entertainment. I highly enjoyed it and I also liked the soundtrack with the magnificent Instant Repeater 99 by Soundtrack of our Lives at the end.

Trailer:



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Sphere

Sphere

Last film was non-serious Hoffman and in this we have serious Hoffman.

Plot:

A group of people go to the bottom of the ocean to investigate a crashed spaceship.

 

Review:

 

This is probably the single most interesting "mind boggling" film that has such mainstream hollywood actors in it.

Initial scene shows Psychologist Norman Goodman (Hoffman) being flown out to sea for an alleged airplane crash. What supposedly was an airplane is actually a spaceship thats been buried at the bottom of the ocean for 300 years. All of this is revealed to him by a military seargent named Barnes. Having written an acclaimed report on the subject of ufo's and how to to deal with such a scenario, Norman is the militaries go-to guy in this situation. What kind of people that would form the contact team is specified in the report and Norman therefore ends up meeting a biochemist named Beth Halperin (Stone), astrophysicist Ted Fielding (Liev Schreiber) and the mathematician Harry Adams (Jackson). All these people however have had some sort of relation to Norman beforehand.

Takes an unexpected turn around the middle of the film which I think is a fine one although I wouldn't really mind if they would have stayed with the initial direction which basically was about how a meeting with alien intelligence would turn out. The changing in pace and nerve was still quite welcome.

Having been a while since I've seen this, actually back in the VHS days, I do know that films tend to seem "old" really fast. Films made in the 90's are comparatively filled with what is "now" known as clichees and the general theme of the film may have been done alot of times which makes it predictable. I do find Sphere to stand the test of time, however.

 

Trailer:

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I Heart Huckabees

I Heart Huckabees

Doing a review on a film from the genre Comedy, which is very rare given the very few quality comedy movies.

Plot:

Young man is confused about life and seeks help from an older professional couple.

Review:

First comedy review. I wouldn't mind more at all but they are very hard to come by. Actually laughing is not something I often experience when watching the so called comedies that come out. It just feels like everything is either a There's something about Mary film or it is a movie that either has Adam Sandler or Ben Stiller in it and we all know how that goes.

Anyway, this a corky,unexpected and one of a kind "existential" comedy. Manages to poke fun at the pretentious approach people tend to have towards asking philosophical questions, or existensialism in short, but at the same time wants to ask those same questions, somewhat sincerely. A very bold and possibly self-defeating approach but it actually works and is a very enjoyable one and a half hour or so that is the I Heart Huckabees.

Poet/activist/destroyer of worlds Albert (Jason Schwartzman) experiences a very strange meeting and is quite puzzled about it. He decides to contact Vivian and Bernard ( here played by Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman) who are self proclaimed Existential detectives. They are hired to thoroughly explore the everyday life and psyche of said young man. Albert is paired up with firefighter Mark Wahlberg, Tommy in the movie, as they seem to be on the same path towards answers. Their investigation into the real issues that Albert has leads to two new characters entering the film. A couple by the names Brad (Jude Law) and Dawn (Naomi Watts). Brad is the corporate Albert is trying to work against in his philantropical work. Bernard and Vivian discover as they go on that, as everyone else, this couple have their own issues that needs to be faced. Sounds like a mess? Mess has negative connotations and thats not something im interested in associating this film with.

Tommy gets to be the messenger for one of the two main perspectives presented in this movie concerning life; the viewpoints of an author named Caterine Vauban (Isabell Huppert) which basically is about the world as a place of chaos and ultimately something negative and the only way to approach it is to accept it. The viewpoint of Bernard and Vivian is the complete opposite, that everything in the world is connected and that it has a purpose, it being of a positive nature. Whether or not either of them is right isn't really important in the film, it only seems to be focusing on asking and raising questions. Got me on a good mood despite the quite "heavy" theme and as with all the films I review, I recommend it.

Trailer:

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Fearless

Fearless

In my book one of the best movies of the 90s.

Plot:

Man survives a plane crash.

Review:

Having seen Jeff Bridges in Big Lebowski and The men who stare at goats, among others, makes it really interesting seeing him in something completely different. His acting in this film is quite spectacular. Peter Weir, the director, is mostly famous for his " Dead poets society" and this is nothing like it, Fearless is a more quieter but at the same time deeper film. Very underrated film in my opinion.

This film is based on a novel by Rafael Yglesias. A successful architecht from San Fransico named Max Klein survives a plane crash. Klein's partner and best friend did not survive neither did the child of Carla (Rosie Perez) which is a young Puerto Rican woman from Oakland. Max was afraid of flying before the plane crashed and facing a certain death while the plane is going down he finally accepts death. Having survived against all odd he finds himself with post-traumatic stress syndrome which creates a divide between him and reality and him and his family. Both being survivors and affected by PTSD Carla and Max forms a friendship in trying to cope with getting back into everyday life.

This is an interesting look into two human beings and their life after surviving a plane crash. Carlas emotional response is mostly guilt and blames herself for the loss of her child. Max experiences a lack of emotions and tries to challenge this by doing crazy stunts like walking on the edge of a skyscraper. It is an interesting look into such a basic emotion like fear or rather the lack of it and what that might do to a human being. Exploring emotions like this is very interesting, atleast exploring fear/fearlessness given that the emotion almost exclusively being explored in films is love.

Trailer:

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The Cell

The Cell

Do not let Jennifer Lopez discourage you.

Plot:

A psychotherapist and the mind of a serial killer.

Review:

Jennifer Lopez plays the role of Catherine Deane, a highly skilled psychotherapist and works for a company that has developed a new technology in therapy. It gives the therapist the possiblity of entering a patients mind and see what goes inside of it. Peter Novak (Vince Vaughn) is an FBI agent that has been trying to catch a serial killer by the name of Carl Stargher (Vincent D'onofrio). His trademark is drowning his victims and then dressing them up like dolls. 

Given Starghers filming of the process he kidnaps his victims and brings them to a place where he has everything set up. During an FBI raid Stargher ends up in a coma and can therefore not reveal where his latest victim is held unless they try an alternative approach and this is where Catherine Deane comes into the picture.

Very interesting movie and you get taken into a very disturbed mind of that of the killer. Vincent D'onofrio plays the twisted killer very convincingly. The director shows us a violent, twisted and macabre world inside the killers head and then the daunting task of trying to navigate it. Serial killers being depicted on film has been done time and time again this however is a refreshing and different approach to it.

This being a visual film I find it contraproductive to write more about it, as the old saying goes about pictures contra words. I realize now I've done quite a few reviews on movies with a strong visual focus but thats something I feel lacking in the majority of films thats being made. It gets the imagination working and you get to actually experience this other world for yourself as opposed to everything being so very predictable and blunt.

Trailer:

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The Legend Of The Pianist On The Ocean

The Legend of the pianist on the ocean

La leggenda del pianista sull'oceano (original title)

An italian production.

Plot:

A man, a piano the the ocean.

Review:

On the very first day of the year 1900, an child is found aboard a luxury liner in the coal room. A worker on the ship, played by Bill Nunn, discovers the child on The Virginian as the liner is called and names him 1900 with the full name being Danny Boodmann T.D. Lemon Nineteen-Hundred. The little boy goes on to loose his father 8 years later and in that same time frame realizes a wonderful gift of his, playing the piano.

This is a story based upon on a monologue by the Italian novelist Alessandro Baricco. A narrator is used in the film and that job is entrusted on to Max (Pruitt Taylor Vince) which is an American saxophone player. On his way to the pawn shop with a trumpet when he gets to hear the only recording done by 1900. Being told the master recording is aboard a ship that is about to be demolished he goes on a trip to try and save 1900 which he believes is on it. Max gets completely fascinated by 1900 and his music and he proceeds to speak of him to others in order to convince them he exist.


Through the interesting use of jumping back and forth in the timeline we get to see the story of 1900 and his life on the boat, travelling from one continent to the other. The question thats being raised in the film is whether or not he will actually leave the ship and explore the world outside of it?

Ennio Morricone is praised for his musical composition to movies and he delivers in this one aswell. Beautiful music and a beautiful story where Tim Roth does some very good acting. Even though this movie got a golden globe I have to say it feels a bit overlooked.

Trailer:

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Dirty Pictures

Dirty Pictures

Plot:

We get a peek into the life of an old man with an interest in drugs and consciousness.

Review:

Alexander "Sasha" Shulgin, or the "Godfather of Ecstasy", which he also is called in various circuits, is the main subject of this film. He is basically a very skilled ivy league chemist who lives in San Francisco who got interested in psychedelic drugs and their often very dramatic effects on the human body. But with regard to the U.S drug laws and the DEA being quite offensive and influential, Sasha decides to try his various experiments with his drug liberal psychiatrists of a wife.

Once they find a drug that attracts them both in taste they ask a few friends over to their house and share fraternally at the world premiere of the drug and just take it easy a couple of days. Sometimes they get out on public meetings and various art shows but usually, given their age, mostly spend time at home playing piano, baking muffins and experimenting with various chemicals.

Alexander is a part of a group of people that have been on both sides of the law but still have remained friends since the 70s and they have alot of stories to share. We get to follow both the philosophical and scientific side to psychadelics even though the documentary doesn't really go deeply into the subject. Interesting watch nonetheless.



Trailer:

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Shame

Shame

English director Steve Mcqueen does his second big production movie after Hunger.

Plot:

We get to follow a man with a sex addiction.

Review:

As the title implies, Shame is alive and well in Brandon (Michael Fassbender), a typical posh urban citizen of New York, and something he must live with every day. He has a sex addiction and it seems like a bottomless pit. His sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan) has also very casually, given they're not so casual relation, decided it was a good idea to come stay with him.

The plot in itself may sound very limited because there really is not all that much to it storywise. Shame is a story about the inner life of a man with an addiction so naturally there is only so much that one can speak about it. There is a story at its very core but the primary focus is that of Brandon and his addiction and how it plays out in his everyday life.

I was also wondering when we would see the guy who has read the pick-up book The Game too many times on screen. Here he was, as Brandons co-worker. He was quite painful to watch because of his need to always try to pick females up, but as a contrast to Brandon he was quite interesting.

A somewhat dark and uneasy film with some good acting by the two leading roles, especially Michael Fassbender. Having watched the collaboration between Fassbender and Mcqueen in Hunger I would say this is probably an even better film.

Trailer:

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Martha Marcy May Marlene

Martha Marcy May Marlene

A very interesting performance by Elizabeth Olsen in the leading role and great acting overall from all the people involved.

Plot:

Follows a young woman and her struggles with assimilating to a regular life after being involved with a cult.

Review:

Martha (Elizabeth Olsen) flees an abusive and manipulative cult lead by Patrick (John Hawkes). After several years of being off-the-grid, she calls her estranged sister Lucy (Sarah Paulson) to pick her up from a bus shelter. Lucy then brings her to the idyllic lakeside cottage she and her new husband Ted (Hugh Dancy) owns, where they imagine to spend time when not being in the city.

Adjusting to a normal life is hard as Martha struggles with memories coming back to haunt her and where she is quite confused on how to behave and whether or not she's actually managed to escape. The clash between Martha and her sisters completely different lifestyles is very telling and brings an interesting contrast. How Martha behaves quite unconventionally, atleast in her sister and husbands eyes and where they try to have patience with her.

The narrative is jumping between past and present in a non-confusing way and is quite brilliantly done. This is a spectacular movie simply because its very hard not to be affected by it. Its very uncomfortable and daunting throughout. The cult leader Hawkes does not overdo his character but stays in a very unpleasant but calm and relaxed character which makes him very belieavable.

Trailer:



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I Like Killing Flies

I Like Killing Flies

Despite the title and this disturbing image it is not a violent movie at all. Perhaps slightly verbally violent but its all in New York esque affection (?).

Plot:

Is about a man in his best age who runs a successful familyrestaurant in New York.

Review:

Kenny Shopsin, an overweight and garish little chef who loves conflict, white headbands and killing flies more than anything else, is at the epicenter of this story. His family is a part of all this and gets to put up with alot but Kenny is quite the likeable individual so he has that going for him. One could describe him as a "free-spirit" although im sure he wouldn't really approve of that label. 

He runs one of those restaurants that almost exclusively have regulars and the interior consist of strange paintings and odd homemade recipies placed all over the walls. One could describe the whole code of conduct here at the restaurant as a bit unorthodox. The fact that not everyone can sit down on the worn old black chair and order a deep fried "macaroni and cheese"-pancake of course add to the mystique.

Kenny throws quite the look on the newly arrived guests proceeds to poke them with a spatula and then decide their fate before he runs to the kitchen. He is tough but always fair and is just following his motto: "Everything tastes better fried," "The customer is almost always wrong" and "It never pays to be nice". Having had the restaurant at the same place for a very long time he ends up having to move due to the rents being raised to an intolerable level. The question now is how everything will turn out since the local was quite a big part of the whole one man ( almost) show that is Kenny Shopsins restaurant.

If you imagine the typical middle aged, cranky, loud and cursing at everyone-and-everything New yorker times two running a restaurant then this is he.

Trailer:



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The Parking Lot Movie

The Parking Lot Movie

Very interesting self-explanatory little documentary about special people working at a not so special place.

Plot:

Follow the daily lives of parking lot employees.

Review:

On "The Corner Parking Lot" in Charlottesville, Virginia, you are only hired if you fit into the somewhat contradictory epithet "conflict seeking bohemian". The man in charge - a daydreaming and very likeable individual - is not interested in having some prestigious career seeking yuppie destroying a potentially perfect parking experience at his wonderfully lined concrete mat.

The atmosphere at work, as you can assume, is so phenomenally laid back and frankly bordering on the laconic and the only thing that makes it tough is a game of "flip cone" (self-composed game among the parking guards - imagine warp without the medieval element and you end up somewhat close), an invasion of boozed "fratboys" and "sorority girls" or any of the very annoying parking guests (who for some reason always are owners of an SUV or Hummer, add to that semi-rich and overweight and you might get the picture) questions the pricing.

At first it starts off a bit mellow and slow, which I really dont mind at all, but after a few macabre incidents, where the jab to say the least is hanging in the air it definetely delivers and I find myself smiling. This is not the kind of movie that will make you laugh out loud or atleast not necessarely. It bides its time ,as the expression goes. There is great comical value in viewing these social outcasts sitting in a wooden cubicle for hours a day. Their individual stories are woven together into a pleasant mosaic of life as a parking attendant and suddenly I find myself taking their side against all the people who disturb the peace and quiet that hoovers over "Corner Parking Lot".

I had no expectations going into watching this and found myself quite surprised. Its at a decent length and has good production value even though the budget must have been almost non existant , or so I imagine. Working at the "Corner Parking Lot" could quite easily qualify as the dream job for millions of individuals who are either too lazy to do anything or are fed up with modern day pace.

Trailer:



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Sin Nombre

Sin Nombre

 

Mexican/american film that does the south american-teenager-journey-towards-the american dream story justice.

Plot:

South american teenager who journeys towards the american dream.

Review:

I always wanted to see someone portraying this very human fate, the fate that is the journey towards "life, liberty and pursuit of happiness" which "apparentely" is geographically located in North America. A movie that shows the quite, im sure, overwhelming, climactic (or anti-climactic), confusing and tough journey it must be. Heck, maybe it can even "humanize" immigrants to some greater extent. It could definetely be used politically, and be, atleast called, a documentary of sorts. Although this movie, to my knowledge, was greatly overlooked both in it just being "a movie" and also in any political or social awareness context. Perhaps humanizing immigrants is not such a interesting subject seeing as its not really what people in general define as "entertainment".

This story centralizes around two main characters which both are from Honduras. The first one being a member of the infamous Mara Salvatrucha gang and goes by the name Casper or as he is also called, young Willy. He is played by Edgar Flores. Having no intention of leaving his country prior to a difficult situation within the gang he is left with no choice but to run. Sayra ( played by Paulina Gaitan) is the other main character and she is reunited with her father and uncle in the striving for the promised land, as it were. Sayra already having family members in New Jersey, gets a note with a phone number that she is supposed to call when or if she arrives.

Sayra and Casper finds themselves on the same train and joins efforts to get to their shared destination but with two completely different motives.

Cary Fukunaga which is the director has made quite the job preparing for his debut film. Fukunaga's film feels authentic, which is quite crucial in a story like this, which probably has to do with the immigrants and emigrants he met prior to shooting the film aswell as having a number of great locations and actual Mara Salvatrucha members in it. Having spent two years doing research and actually doing parts of the train journey from Honduras to the U-S himself he was greatly prepared in all kinds of ways to make it the best debut film ive ever seen.





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Southland Tales

Southland Tales

 

Despite the quite eclectic mix of individuals acting in this movie I watched the whole thing and I wasn't disappointed. There a number of reasons why I appreciate this movie but the fact that its very hard to put a label on it is one thing I like.

Plot:

A dystopian scenario that takes place in Los Angeles, which is on the brink of economic, social and enviromental disaster. What sparked this was a nuclear weapon attack on the states of Texas, wiping parts of it out. Now as a result, The U.S has become a police state.

Review:

Besides the various ambitions with combining genres, the mere scope of the directors vision, the actor line-up is in itself is quite hard to actually "believe". Whatever ideas one might get in their head when reading the line-up I strongly suggest that you try to ignore those ideas. This is a very unpredictable movie and I actually had some sort of revelation watching it. It is a completely overlooked and unexplored way of making movies in my opinion.

The characters all have their own lives and strivings in this movie but they are also in smaller or bigger ways connected. We get to follow Boxer Santoros ( Played by Dwayne Johnson) as he returns to the city from the desert, accompanied by amnesia. He has several connections high up within the movie industry and the political scene which makes alot of people interested in getting a hold of him. Sarah Michelle Gellar playing Krista Now is Boxers "old" girlfriend and portrays an adult movie star who gets her own tv-show. Justin Timberlake plays an army veteran whos gotten a job as some kind of sniper and is also curiously enough a narrator in the movie. He starts his acting with: "This is how the world will end, not with a whimper...but with a bang." And a bang it is indeed, it has downright infantile plump jokes, apocalyptic vibe, science-fiction-y dimension and add to that a satirical political commentary with some liking to the revelation parts of the bible.

This isnt necessarely a light movie, everything isnt really blurted out and explained for you as a viewer. I usually dont like seeing movies twice unless alot of time passes inbetween but I dont feel watching it again has any negative effects on this movie, quite the contrary. It is a ride and for you to be able to puzzle everything together you might want to try and go a second or a third time. It lacks the traditional cinematic structure and is at time somewhat confusing with its messages and characters. I can imagine it is one of those movies that you really like or you really dont, there is no in-betweens with this movie.

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The Fall

The Fall

This movie feels like it belongs in a different decade from when it was made.

Plot:

Two human beings meet in a hospital and get lost inbetween fiction and reality.

Review:

With being very focused on the visual aspect of a movie it leaves little room for a long and detailed review. As mentioned, it jumps between two worlds and try to show how much of a thin line that may be between them. It starts off in Los Angeles in the 1920's in a hospital. A random encounter starts off an interesting relation between an injured stuntman named Roy ( played by Lee Pace) and a little girl named Alexandria ( played by Catinca Untaru) with a broken arm. He starts telling her a story that takes her far away from the hospital she's in.

This is a different kind of movie from what one usually sees and I find it worth the watch. One thing I appreciate is having non-known actors play lead parts which always in my opinion make for the movie being able to easier speak for itself rather than focus being on the actors. Manages to stay towards a "mature" audience even though it is sort of like a fairytale movie which often tends to lean towards a very young crowd, and it is interesting that they made it that way.


I certainly get the feeling, that I already mentioned, that this movie belongs to the 80s or 90s. They do not make movies like this anymore. Being made in 2006 it seemed somehow out of place. Movies in general that tend to focus towards being visually attracting is something that I definetely appreciate. Movies that seem to be their own universe, and I feel like thats how movies should be made. This could be subject to a or several conspiracy theories, how movies are generally very very blunt, but thats probably going to be another post.

Trailer:

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The Squid And The Whale

The Squid And The Whale

 

 

If there was ever a token knee-jerk indie movie, this could be it. This or Garden State.

Plot:

Two young men growing up faces the hardships of a parent break up.

Review:

The Squid and the Whale is both a tragic and comical look at what a divorce does to a family in New york in the 1980's. Jeff Daniels plays the character of dad, a pompous and somewhat arrogant writer whose feelings brought on by commercial failure (when all fails - teach literature at university) cause him to meet everyone with intellectual superiority. Daniels role is quite humorous. He's exactly the kind of guy that would have no problem being socially awkward at your dinner party where only two of eighteen people had even met before. He overanalyzes and will stop at nothing to get everyone else to match his own opinions.

 

Laura Linney plays the the mom and she does it quite well. This is a different kind of character than Daniels and it almost makes you wonder why they ever got married. She however gets the blame for the divorce since she was the one having the affair which in turn makes raising her kids difficult seeing as she lost her entitlement as moral authority.

Caught in the middle of this mess are the two young men. They join the different "sides" of the divorce, the oldest aligning with dad and the youngest with the mom. The oldest son is quite intolerable to watch due to how much of a replica of his dad he is the younger one however is quite the 21:st century metrosexual in making.

If its one thing that I liked about this movie it is the level of uneventfullness. Being a human being in the post-mtv generation where directors and producers cant stay on one frame for more than 3 seconds I find long takes glorious. I also find the old relic thinking of "building up to something" very pleasant. To be completely honest there is not a single scene in this movie that I find extremely memerable. This is a slow, uneventful and bland one and a half hour and I think its great.

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The Science of Sleep

The Science of Sleep

La science des rêves (original title)

Everything in life is better without expectations it seems and movies are no exception. A french-italian production.

Plot:

Existensial detective that actually thinks he can share his upsidedown world view with someone who happens to be a woman.

Review:

A friend showed me this movie if I'm not mistaken and I was quite immeditately interested in what it had to say. What this review may consist of can truly only be viewed as some sort of guideline or arrow pointing towards this movie. I really dont feel this section is appropriate or relevant. However, Michel Gondry is the director and he has also made the movie Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind. The most striking similarity is in the fact that Gondry seems to be the definition of a craftsman, he is skilled with practising a certain type of style and trade.

The Science of Sleep is about Stephane (Gael Garcia Bernal),who is being described as a creative and naive dreamer who moves from Mexico to his childhood home in Paris after his father's death. Wanting to express himself creatively in some way or another, he finds a job at a calendar company and believes it will serve him good. Good enough, anyway. Living across from Stephane is Stephanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg), an equally creative woman. ( Just got an image in my head where Peter Griffin in Family Guy would say they have the same name and then laugh in his manner in which he entertains me). They form a type of relationship which blossoms until the dream world of Stephane develops a liking for crashing in on Stephanes waking time.

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Shine

Shine

There may or may not be some kind of cinematic heresy to say that an academy awarded movie is underrated.

I still feel this movie has a place here. I have never heard anyone anywhere speak about this movie.

Plot:

The true story ( before "true story" became popular ) about a young man and his piano.

Review:

There is something light and non-pretentious over it, listed as drama but more towards the label indie in my opinion, which is attracting. Despite this fact, even though he is speaking about a book, I feel like quoting Bernard in Black books ( This is another review I need to make for this blog ) ; “This book is very, very good. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, it’ll change your life..Where do you live? Okay, go there, and await my instruction".

Armin Mueller-Stahl as the oldschool father figure is very belieavable and Geoffrey Rush is almost seeming to be acting in the movie about himself. The latter does such a strong personal portrait that the entire rest of the movie could be about condensation and the movie as a whole would still be worth watching in my opinion.

David ( Geoffrey Rush) is a stuttering, rambling individual who is suffering a complete breakdown at a young age. However, as a child his skills on the piano were unmatched. David seems to be deaf to anything but music. He perfects his playing over time and driven by his father, an opportunity is presented and he is able to go abroad to improve, but his father, ironically, denies him the chance. He leaves for London regardless where he drives himself to the point of exhaustion, having made it to Albert Hall, only to come back home and face the disowning of his father and therefore his whole family.

Being casted out, as it were, he tries to balance everyday life and with that being a bigger challenge then any piano piece he ends up staying in a mental asylum. Not being in for very long he stumbles upon this simple bar that gets his whole life to turn around 180 degrees back to his instrument and into the arms of a woman.

Watched this some 10 years ago or so and having never heard about it I was definetely surprised at the fact that I had never heard about it.

Trailer:

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