It took
a bit longer than I had hoped for, but as you might recall a few
weeks back I started listing and briefly critiquing all the movies I
had seen while my PC was undergoing repairs. Basically all the films
I had wanted to review on my blog in the past three months but
couldn't due to lack of online access are now shortly described here
so my avid readers will know what flicks I failed to report on and
what gems (or less gemmy movies) they might have missed. Today: part
three. It won't be the last part, but hopefully the end is in sight
and I can soon get back to posting movie reviews the regular way;
however, I will try to write less elaborate pieces, since it has been
brought to my attention that few people these days bother to read a
2,000 word review when they got alternative options that would save
them a lot of time (but would also provide them with less knowledge).
We'll see how things go in the future, but for now, here's a few more
movies I had the pleasure (or not so much) of watching recently.
Like
Someone in Love: **/*****
Unusual
French/Japanese co-production by Iranian born filmmaker Abbas
Kiarostami, dealing with a young prosititute in Tokyo who hooks up
with an old man for a few days who provides her with a place to stay
and transportation to school. When the senior meets the girl's
boyfriend, who strongly intends to marry her but has financial
predicaments of his own, he takes the elderly man for her
grandfather, a role he does not deny, with dire consequences. Or so
we are left to assume, since the whole film is working towards a
seemingly violent confrontation between the deceived boyfriend and
his girl and her would-be benefactor. However, Kiarostami does not
bother to gives us a proper ending, thus making the audience
emotionally invest in characters without rewarding us with a proper
send-off. And it was already a tough job getting us invested in them,
considering the slow pace and hardly existing montage that makes it
hard to stay involved and ultimately makes for a rather dull film
that cuts away when things would have gotten interesting. However, it
must be said that due to its calm overall rhythm the abrupt ending
(of the film that is, not of the series of events it portrays) is
that much more disturbing and risqué. But that's not enough to make
for a satisfactory viewing experience: when things finally start to
get interesting, the movie is over.
NO:
****/*****
Academy
Award nominated Chilean film about the opposition's attempts to get
the people of Chile to vote dictator Pinochet out of office in the
1988 referendum. Sly advertising agent René (Gael Garcia Bernal)
construes an unusual 'NO' campaign that, instead of underscoring all
the terrible things that are wrong with the dictatorship, shows
everything that's fun about democracy under the motto 'democracy is
happiness'. René's opportunist boss however works for the 'YES'
front, trying to undo his employee's attempts at creating a
persuasive campaign via ruthless intimidation. However, his
despicable way of working against the opposition by making René's
ads look stupid and uninformed backfires on him and the regime.
However, René and his team still have to deal with agressive
intimidations by the dictatorship's sinister agents, making for an
ever more oppressive and stressful working environment to change the
country for the better. Making excellent use of a nostalgic eighties
video look, complete with small screen television frame format and
lousy picture quality, this movie at first feels like an old
documentary, but looks can be deceiving, since it ultimately proves
to be an ingenious mix between political satire and suspense.
Interestingly enough, despite making us root for the small band of
political activists taking a stand against tyranny, the film does
have the audacity in the end to ask whether life in Chile has
improved that much, now being swamped in typical capitalist
omnipresent advertising and routine product placement, making for a
dull life for the older René.
Skyfall:
****/*****
There's
little to add to everything that has already been said about this
film, other than my own opinion which somewhat predictably follows
the majority of positive attitudes towards this celebration of 50
years of 007. Skyfall witnesses James Bond (23rd
movie, third starring Daniel Craig as the dashing British secret
agent) seemingly meeting an untimely demise due to friendly fire,
after which MI6 gets attacked in general and M (Dame Judi Dench) in
particular by a shadow from her past. Fortunately, 007 proves to be
still alive and soon moves against the shady figure (a wonderfully
villainous Javier Bardem) who shares quite a few traits with himself,
making for an increasingly small scale, deeply personal climactic
struggle between both sides, with tragic results. Directed by Sam
Mendes, this is one of the less action oriented Bond flicks, opting
for character drama instead, fleshing out the Bond character and his
emotional connection with his boss. Both revisiting and rewriting 50
years of Bond history, the movie successfully walks a fine line
between the more serious attitude of the Craig films and the funkier
take on the character from days past, without ever going too far
either way and respecting the characters' journey at all times. Old
characters return (Q, Ms. Moneypenny) in new guises, both indicating
how much has changed over time and how much remains the same. The
film is laced with references to earlier Bond films, but few of them
are so in-your-face they threaten to subvert the film's pacing. If
you're looking for action only, you might end up disappointed since
the high adrenaline chase scene that opens the movie is never
surpassed later on, but the emotional climax which includes the death
of a major character and the set-up for many more Bonds to come makes
it all worthwhile. If only all movie franchises would turn 50 this
gracefully...
Argo:
****/*****
Best
Picture winner of 2012, finally re-affirming Ben Affleck's position
as a top Hollywood player, even as an actor (though he also directed
and produced this film). An intriguing and surprisingly funny film,
despite its heavy and, in some respects, sensitive topic, Argo
chronicles the 1980 attempt by the CIA to extract American diplomatic
personnel caught in the crossfires of the Iranian revolution. Their
solution: pretend like we're making a Sci-Fi flick like Star Wars
and we're scouting for suitable desert locations. Surprisingly,
it worked. However, the film has gotten much criticism by taking some
creative license with actual historical events (as such Hollywood
films always do), among them the diminished role of the Canadian
embassy in this shadow play. Nevertheless, it stands tall as a slick
political thriller with plenty of moments of utter absurdity to
relieve the excessive tension at times and also applying a delightful eighties' feel to the whole. For science fiction
aficionados it's particularly fascinating stuff, giving us a glimpse
of an epic fantasy flick that sadly never materialized, simply
because it was all a ruse. Wouldn't it be nice if Affleck decided to
finish what the CIA started and make an actual Argo after all?
Wishful thinking, since his response would more than likely be 'Argo
fuck yourselves'. Too bad...
