Movies gone by: the continuation of the continuation

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 (23^rd 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...