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Drama Foreign Movie Reviews

Summer Rain – A Spanish Film Directed by Antonio Banderas That May Be Too Abstract Even for the Picture House Fans

Cynthia and I have just started our Spanish class so there is no reason to give this Spanish film a miss.  Before you read on, if you are not a huge fan of the European picture house movies, chances are you may not enjoy this at all.  Simply a fan is not enough, must be a huge one.  It’s slow; it’s random; it’s the seventies.

Now, with that expectation set, “Summer Rain” is Antonio Banderas’s second Spanish movie as a director.  Subtly, he expresses his own ambition and emotion to the Spanish film industry through the movie.  The Spanish title is “Camino de los Ingleses, El”.  That roughly translates to “The English Road” or “The English Way”.  Be it as “Summer Rain” or “The English Road”, both concepts relate directly to the story.  Perhaps the former one is easier for the audience to connect with.

Let’s look at how faithfully “Summer Rain” portrays Spain in the seventies.  The costumes, the sunglasses, the typewriters, the street scenes look authentic.  The attitude towards sex and relationship, I think that is pretty authentic as well.  The filming looks old fashion and so is the music.  And if you pay attention to the scene composition, time and time again, you would see a similar concept composed in different ways.  For instance, the dropping of the kidney into the bucket and the dropping of the same actor who has his kidney removed into the swimming pool filmed from underneath the pool; the sister who comes out from the balcony and steps back into the shadow and then later, the brother who does the same – both linked by a similar emotion; the beginning scene with a flower and a car drives passes by and the ending scene with the same angle but different flower, and with the same car that passes by – if you are into this sort of details, you may find the film an art to admire.  This dualism extends beyond scene composition.  It works its way into the characters as well.  A young boy’s hatred towards his porn star birth mother is in a relationship with a prostitute.  Irony?  Perhaps.  But there is no coincidence.

Another worth noting observation is that the sex scenes are extremely artistic.  Some of the scenes would have been really awkward to watch, borderline gross, but I think the filmmaker has managed to get the ideas across without turning the film into a pornography.  And some sex scenes are extremely seductive.  Just when I thought I have seen it all on big screens.  (Note: Please don’t watch this film purely based on what this paragraph says.)

The flip side, on the other hand, is that the storyboarding of the scenes can be a bit random and the abstractly lengthy narration – artistic to some – may not sit well with the majority of the audience.  The main story is straightforward.  One young boy comes out of the hospital with one less kidney and the book “Divine Comedy” in his hand.  He has decided to be a poet.  One young girl whose passion is to dance and is willing to do whatever it takes to attain that dream.  There are other friends of them whom each has a journey of his own to take.  Together, their fates intertwine and a new destiny is weaved.

But is it only one destiny?  To say more would be to give out the spoilers.  So I shall end my write-up here and let you decide if “Summer Rain” is for you or not.  It is a film with open interpretation.  And I personally am not sure if many of you may find the pain of going through this 2 hours film justifies the joy of a potential interpretation – if there is one for you that is.

*     *     *    SPOILERS BELOW     *     *     *

If you notice, the narrator always seems a bit detached from the movie.  He is physically in the story but he takes no part in how the story develops.  Or does he?  I think he ‘writes’ the story.  And what you see is just one version of the story.  Towards the end, as he says ‘another viewpoint’, the entire story is rewritten from the beginning.  There is a different flower by the road.  Subtle difference that may result in a different story.

Is the beginning scene how the story begins?  Or is there a mixture of concepts here?  Try to recall with me.  There is an image of the ballet dancer in the operation room, with the young boy alone without the doctors.  There is this young boy naked flying on top of the world looking so peaceful.  This young boy wouldn’t have known this dancer prior to the operation, would he?  I can only imagine that beyond the ending scene, he has been taken to the hospital after he is found sitting in a chair at the middle of the road the next morning unconscious.  And he has died and gone to the netherworld.  The opening scene could well be a mix of the opening and the end.

That brings up a good point here on Dante’s “Divine Comedy”.  Inside Dante’s epic poem that he journeys through the three realms of the dead – Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, Beatrice is the ideal woman who guides him through Heaven.  Although the reference to “Divine Comedy” is limited, I can’t help but to visualize that this group of friends together with the abstract narrator have journeyed through the similar and if the linkage is too far fetched, that could contribute to one of the major weaknesses of this film.

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Drama Foreign Movie Reviews

10 Promises to My Dog – A Sweet Japanese Movie That Has Mass Appeal

Ask ten people who have or had dogs as their companions and you may hear ten unique, at times breathtaking stories.  Without giving out any spoilers, “10 Promises to My Dog” is not one of those typical Hollywood films that involve a dog that saves the world.  There is no adventure of that sort.  Instead, it’s a story of a young 14 years old girl Akari, her parents, her childhood friend, and a dog named Socks.  A simple story that emphasizes on the little events in life that bond companions, difficult choices and sacrifices people make in the name of ‘family’ (and in this case, Socks included of course).  The story is then being fast forwarded to 10 years later when Akari grows older, reunited with her childhood friend, and something in life do change, some don’t.

Within this rather depressing storyline, the magic of the casting (again, Socks included) turns the entire mood of the movie around, like a fireplace in a cold winter night.  The 14 years old young and sweet actress Mayuko Fukuda (福田麻由子) is certainly one of my favorites.  Such a sweet personality and smile she has that matches so well with the puppy (a Golden Retriever?).  It is such a joy to watch the younger version of Akari.  The amazing thing is that the actress who plays the older Akari, Lena Tanaka (田中麗奈), is just as sweet.  If I am to pick one tiny detail to critic, I would say that while the casting of the 28 years old Lena Tanaka is still believable, having the 34 years old actor Ryo Kase to play the supposed to be 24 years old childhood friend of Akari is a bit far off.  My friend TK and I thought that Ryo Kase is selected because he is a professional guitar player in real life as demanded by the plot.  After some research at home, he is actually one of the actors who played in Clint Eastwood’s “Letter from Iwo Jima”.

Anyway, details.

Besides the dog and the girl (or girls counting the young and older ones), I also enjoy watching the acting of Akari’s father – so loving, so sincere.  I would suppose the ten promises Akari has made to the puppy are a good reminder to those who already have pets as their companions as well as those who consider keeping one.  There have been rather sad stories of owners abandoning their pets after realizing that there is a certain responsibility in keeping a companion.  And I personally think that some of these promises are good reminders on how we shall treat our own family and friends too.  If I could take home one theme, that would be the so-called obligations or sacrifices made however restrictive and confining at times don’t necessary make my world smaller but instead, make me a real person (as in not living in my own world I guess).

In the end of the movie when the theme song sang by BoA was played, Cynthia’s eyes were swollen with tears.  I asked when she has started crying and she told me that since the puppy appeared on the screen.  Oh dear, how can one cry for more than an hour in this 117 minutes movie?

Below is a movie trailer without subtitles.

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Drama Foreign Movie Reviews

Accuracy of Death, Sweet Rain, 死神の精度 – Whatever the Title is, It’s Takeshi Kaneshiro

OK.  I have to make this movie the final stop of my Asian Movie Marathon, take a break, and blog about something else.  This morning, I asked Cynthia who is not a big fan of Japanese movies, “Why pick this?”  Her answer was “Takeshi Kaneshiro” together with a isn’t-that-obvious look.

Isn’t that obvious that all the girls love Takeshi?  The sound of exhilaration from the female audience at those heart-melting moments makes me wonder if “Accuracy of Death” (literal translation) or “Sweet Rain” (alternative International title) is indeed a chick-flick (it’s probably not).

It’s not a tear jerking movie for sure.  “Accuracy of Death” is divided into 3 parts with each part tells a story of its own.  The “Death God” or better known as “Grim Reaper” in English talks to his targets (or contracts?) in human form and judges them for a week.  On the 8th day, he then makes a decision to “proceed” (i.e. death) or “suspend”.  What is special about this film is that by and large, the three sub-plots are unpredictable.  With such a high degree of unpredictability comes a price of a lack of anticipation of something dramatic.  At times, both Cynthia and I wondered where the story was heading.  It is also one of those movies that when the ending hits you, it really hits you and makes you go “ah-ha”.  Perhaps not as deep as I personally wish it to be.  But it is good for a change and have something challenges our minds a bit.

From my close to non-existing understanding of the Japanese language with lots of help from the online translator, the movie appears to be inspired by part 1, 2, and 6 of a 6-book series written by 伊坂幸太郎 between 2003 to 2005 – 「死神の精度」「死神と藤田」and「死神対老女」.  I wonder what happens to the rest of the stories.  Perhaps time for me to learn Japanese.

An unusual mystery Japanese movie uplifted by a good sense of humor.  All three sub-stories have different themes and since my favorite one is the first one, the rest of the stories seem to fall flat just a tiny bit.  After some research, I found the music video clip (featured below) sung by the main actress from the first story, 小西真奈美 (Manami Konishi), titled “Sunny Day”. 

Out of the four Asian films that I have recently watched – “Dance of a Dragon”, “Ayat-Ayat Cinta”“Chocolate”, and “Accuracy of Death” – and if we could have time for only one movie, Cynthia would pick “Ayat-Ayat Cinta”.  I would probably pick “Chocolate”.  It is quite a rare moment that there are so many good Asian films showing at the same time.  And hence this crazy marathon.

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Drama Foreign Movie Reviews

Ayat-Ayat Cinta (Verses of Love) – More Than Just A Romance Drama

With close to a quarter of a billion population, you would have thought the filmmaker would pick a better looking Indonesian actor who is worthy of having four girls falling head over heels in love with and ends up marrying two.  Well, at least the filmmaker picks the right pair of drop dead gorgeous actresses for “Ayat-Ayat Cinta” – officially translated as “Signs of Love” and literally means “Verses of Love”.

I have such a high anticipation for “Ayat-Ayat Cinta” because an Indonesian film worthy of the International market is rare and I do have a certain affection towards Indonesia.  Besides, I thought Cynthia would love to watch a film in her mother tongue.  On top of that, I did take language lessons back in Indonesia donkey years ago so I am not 100% clueless on the dialogues like other foreign films.

Let’s put things in perspective here.  According to Cynthia, majority of the Indonesia productions are either in the genres of horror or slapstick comedy or teen comedy.  To take on a romance drama that explores such a wide range of topics even with a budget that well exceeds the average cost of an Indonesian film (I read it’s double) is an admirable effort.  I can certainly imagine that if I was an Indonesian, I too would feel proud watching this movie.  With a script of “Long Live Indonesia” in the foreign land of Egypt, who wouldn’t?

A few feel good factors and a few really good eye candies aside, “Ayat-Ayat Cinta” has attempted to shine a more balanced light on Islamic as a religion of patience and sincerity.  This 126 minutes film, I believe, is a timely answer to the 16 minutes controversial short film “Fitna” by Geert Wilders that portrays Islam as a religion of terrorism (shocking images, avoid if you have a weak stomach).  It is a balanced view because while the traditions are observed – such as the prayers, Islamic teaching, and how men and women should not touch each other unless they are related – it does tackle the social issues such as domestic violence, rape as well as the challenge of a polygamy marriage.

There are parts of the movie that move me a great deal.  It portrays the emotional aspect really well, certainly believable.  As someone who is a non-Indonesian, I found myself talking to Cynthia a lot during the show to seek clarification.  For instance, I did not know that during an Islamic wedding, the bride’s father holds the hand of the groom over the Quran with the bride sitting on the side and that signifies a transfer of “responsibility”.  I was quite shocked to see that as an equivalent to the Western “exchange of wedding vow”.  Also, because the dialogues have a mix of Arabic and Bahasa Indonesia and the characters who are supposed to be Arabians speak in Bahasa Indonesia, it could be quite confusing for those who does more than reading the subtitles.

An extremely slow moving movie (I think this one is even slower than “Dance of the Dragon”), what it lacks is the quality of production and a tighter and more realistic storyline.  However, for those who are into foreign movies that expose human emotions and are original – in the sense of an Indonesian student in Egypt and eventually marries a Muslim and a Christian – “Ayat-Ayat Cinta” may satisfy a different taste bud of yours.

On a lighter note, I don’t think any guy on earth would mind the headache of having Carissa Putri and Rianti Cartwright as wives.  I personally …

OK, I have watched the Fann Wong’s “Dance of the Dragon” follows by “Ayat-Ayat Cinta”.  Can you guess which one I am going to watch next?  It’s so obvious!

PS. For those who are interested to read more on Islam, check out my book review of “Islam By Karen Armstrong – A Short History”.

Categories
Drama Movie Reviews

Dance of the Dragon = 1/2 Star?! What Are You Smoking? Shoot the Scriptwriter If You Must

Com’on people.  Half-a-star and you buy that?  If someone is sending a DVD of this movie to me as a Christmas gift, I promise I will watch it before Easter (got to love that one critic I heard using cold turkey analogy though).  Putting “Dance of the Dragon” just half-a-star above Paris Hilton’s “Hottie and Nottie” is just wrong.  You hear that “The Straits Times”?  You’ve got to review your movie review framework.

Because this film has such a bad publicity in Singapore, none of my friends wish to watch this “trash”.  But from what I read in the Internet, there are people who enjoy watching this film.  People who are not just from Singapore, but Australia, Japan, and Korea.

So, why do the Singaporeans and the media dislike this production so much?  And what do I think of this film after watching it alone?  Here are some thoughts of mine.

  1. Cinematography – “Dance of the Dragon” is an art-house type of production.  It is meant to be a slow moving film.  The cinematography is beautiful.  Pay attention to the vibrant colors, the angles, and the composition of each frame.  That is art.  One scene, there is an old man practicing Tai Chi on a rooftop.  The fluidity of motion and contrasts with the lines against the backdrop.  Observe how his hands almost touch the lines in the background and never quite cross them.  There are scenes that are juxtaposed with independent plots that happen in different locations at the same time.  The dance scenes especially the one towards the ending, albeit a tad too short, move me.
  2. Soundtrack – The symphonic soundtrack, I think, supports the film and the scene development really well.  I am actually surprised by the quality as it is something that often overlooked in a non-Hollywood production.  For those who think that the music is too slow and boring, well, it is a slow moving film to start with.
  3. Script – If someone’s head needs to roll, that would be the scriptwriter.  What are you thinking?!  I think a lot of negativity stems from a poorly written script with poorly written dialogues and poorly written storyline.  It is an immature, unrealistic, and unnecessary piece of work.  Boo!
  4. Chemistry – The neither-here-nor-there love relationship between the characters can be quite frustrating to watch, especially for those of us who are so used to the dramas of the Korean, the Japanese, and the Hollywood.  Maybe Singaporeans are just not dramatic enough?  None of my Singaporean friends do seem to engage in some deeply passionate love affairs even to the extend of a suicidal love-me-or-I-will-die mentality like in Hong Kong (where I was born).  If it was up to me, I would totally rewrite the love story and put more at stake.  I would have the characters furiously kissing each other, being caught cheating, and being caught in a downward spiral fall into a love so strong that … you are going to cry.  That’s right.  Hire me, you hear me?
  5. A Theme – Horrible scriptwriting aside, “Dance of the Dragon” does have a consistent theme and it runs in parallel both with Jang Hyuk’s as well as Fann Wong’s character.  It is about dare to dream, pursue your dream, and it is not about wining but becoming the person you want to be.  Cool, no?
  6. The Cast (The Korean) – The Korean (heart-throb?) actor Jang Hyuk who made famous in the romance drama film Windstruck (2004) is certainly my favorite actor in this film.  He acts well in both the Korea portion as well as the Singapore portion of the story.  And he is charming!  OK, to be frank, I find his dance moves really stiff.  But then again, if you follow the storyline (at least the horrible scriptwriter gets this one right), it just says that he loves to dance and he dreams to be a dancer.  It never says that he is born with this natural talent that without any formal training, he is going to conquer the world.  Can I relate to this aspect of his character?  Certainly I can.  Certainly many people can.
  7. The Cast (The Singaporean) – OK.  Fann Wong speaks English can sound a bit odd.  Perhaps we are so used to Singaporeans speaking Singlish with the accents mixed with Chinese words and the lah.  I thought she has done better than what I have expected – proper English at least (again, refer to point 3 for bad lines).  Surely she would have done a much better job in Mandarin.  But her language aside, she looks celestial on the big screen.  Those dresses, and shoes, and even her hairstyling and make-up – immaculate.  Look, Fann Wong is not exactly a 18 years old and at her age, she is really stunning.  Do her tears move me?  Sure they do.  Does she look elegant?  Without a doubt.  Do I love her?  Absolutely!
  8. The Cast (The Chinese-American and Hawaiian descent) – Trained in Bruce Lee’s signature martial art Jeet Kune Do, I think Jason Scott Lee has added a dimension of authenticity to the film.  Granted that he should show more facets to his acting (again, please blame the scriptwriter) and you may only get to see a different side of him towards the end of the film, he has a role to play and given the circumstances, he plays it well.
  9. Authenticity – I didn’t know that dance moves can be documented and the film does provide me with a peep into the dancer’s world.  I read somewhere (from a Korean) that the Korean village scenes shot in Singapore is pretty authentic.  And how about the Singapore scenes?  Well, I must say there is a certain level of disconnection between the Central Business District outdoor shots (together with a sparkling new Comfort taxi) and the shots from the film set.  It is as though they are of a different decade.  I am OK with that.  Actually I am quite happy to see some local culture and traditions that unfortunately in a worldwide scale are giving way to the post-modernization and, to some countries, post-colonial era.

OK.  Now I feel a lot better.  Although “Dance of the Dragon” is far from being a classic, it is even further from that miserable unfounded 1/2 star rating.  I suspect that this film is going to do better in overseas, which is rather sad.  Seeing Singapore and a Singaporean actress on a big screen does give a lift to my heart.  Shouldn’t we all be just a tiny bit lenient on “Dance of the Dragon” rather than wearing our “not-bad-equals-to-pretty good” hats?

It’s an art-house movie.  Rate it as one if you must.

Categories
Drama Movie Reviews Romance

The Other Boleyn Girl – How Accurate I Wonder

The Other Boleyn Girl

Knowing that I was about to recover from my flu, Cynthia tapped onto the Sunday morning paper and said, “I want to watch number 1, 2, and 3.”  “What’s number 1?” I asked.  She said something and I replied, “Huh?  What boleh girl?” (‘Boleh’ in Malay means ‘can’, which ironically is not too far from the plot).  It was not as hilarious as my friend TK whom we met later at the cinema.  He joked: The Other Boon Lay Girl.  (‘Boon Lay’ is a small housing estate in Singapore.)

“The Other Boleyn Girl” has both the talented Natalie Portman (TK and I are big fans of her) and the beautiful Scarlett Johansson as the main actresses.  To top it up, Eric Bana (my favorite Hector of Troy!) played King Henry VIII.  I had no idea what to expect from the movie and I came out of the theatre feeling a bit more aware of some of the important events in England such as the breaking away from the Roman Catholic Church and the birth of Queen Elizabeth I.  I certainly had no idea the importance of the role played by Anne Boleyn and Mary Boleyn – the sisters acted by Natalie and Scarlett.

The life of King Henry VIII is rich and complex.  Married six times and having a few mistresses of his own, “The Other Boleyn Girl” portrays only a facet of his life – his affair to Mary Boleyn and his marriage to Anne Boleyn.  If the film sticks to the original intend and tell a story from the other Boleyn girl’s perspective – that is Mary played by Scarlett – it may have been more focused and intense.  But we all know how captivating Natalie’s acting can be and she does have a lot of air time in the movie.  In that sense, I am not sure if I was watching The Boleyn Girl instead.  Validity of the historical accuracy aside, I too find the casting of two Americans and an Australian with little or no British accent to play these main English characters odd.

There is little doubt that the acting is great.  And Natalie Portman is such a versatile actress.  If you try not to think too hard on what one man would do just to get a baby boy of his own or how all of these was a bloody mess due to one man’s lust, it is actually quite an entertaining romance drama to watch.  “The Other Boleyn Girl” does seem to me like a prequel to the more epic movies “Elizabeth” and “Elizabeth: The Golden Age”.  In such, the reminiscence of Natalie Portman’s role as Queen Amidala as sequel to the epic movies of Star Wars episodes is quite startling – to me at least.

Somehow there is a yearning within me to learn what exactly happened to Anne and Mary’s lives during their time.  The plot of the movie may not have done the history justice.  And I wonder, will the filmmakers hundred years down the road be fascinated by the stories of Prince Charles and Princess Diana and make a movie out of their lives?  One thing I am sure is: royal scandals sell – especially ones that come with sex and blood.

Categories
Drama Foreign Movie Reviews

Sky Of Love (Koizora) – Starring Yui Aragaki (新垣結衣)

Sky of Love (Koizora)

I can’t help but to draw similarities between my favourite Japanese star YUI and the 19 years old model turned actress turned singer Yui Aragaki that go slightly deeper than just a name resemblance and a birthday that is only 3 months apart. Both starred in a rather sad movie (“Midnight Sun” for YUI), both look so pure and cute and innocent, sound so pure and cute and innocent, and both released a studio album after the show (I will review Yui Aragaki’s new album in my next post and YUI’s albums are “From Me to You” and “Can’t Buy Me Love”) with very similar vocal texture as well.  But as a true fan of YUI, what do I make of Yui Aragaki?

Music talent to be addressed in a separate post, Yui Aragaki does have acting talent for the romance drama genre.  It is hard not to fall in love with her on the screen (though I must say, Cynthia was more delighted by the main actor Haruma Miura instead … those sexy lips she said).  I had no idea what “Sky Of Love” was about.  I wasn’t even sure if it was a tear jerking movie at all.  All I knew was that the novel that the movie was based upon was once featured on paper late last year.  A cell-phone novel that took the Japanese market by storm.  I read that the cell-phone novel genre tends to have short sentences (hence a rather short and engaging plot development?) and chided by the old school novelists.  Initially, this cell-phone novel was hosted in one of the Japanese websites amongst many others.  I guess if the story is good, it doesn’t matter where it started.

In a few short and vague words, “Sky of Love” is about a young girl falling in love for the first time, vowed not to fall in love again, and found courage to love someone forever.  Cynthia criticize this particular genre as something that comes straight from a template; every Japanese or Korean tear jerking movie tells the same story.  I do agree that they are all there to basically jerk your tears.  But if you look at the typical Hollywood action thriller or romance or any type of mainstream movie, there are always three stages of the plot: the development, the conflict, and the resolution.  I learned that from the PC game “The Movies” (hey, geeks can be quite ‘knowledgeable’ by playing games too you know!).

Sometimes I ask myself, why do I love the Japanese or Korean or Thai horror movies if I don’t really scream that much?  Or why do I love the Japanese or Korean romance drama if I don’t really cry?  Anyway, Cynthia in her own words told me that she cried till she got a headache.  TK used the same amount of tissue paper as Cynthia for a totally different reason (running nose … ha ha ha).  I am not sure what TK’s friend makes out of the movie.  I may be bias.  I personally like this movie very much – both the storyline and the acting.  Predictable storyline most of the time, there are some rare moments that delight and surprise.

Related Blog Entry: Yui Aragaki (新垣結衣) – Sora (そら) – Girlie Voice, Good Song Choice, But Doubtful Vocal Skill.

Categories
Drama Movie Reviews

There Will Be Blood – Daniel Day-Lewis

There Will Be Blood

There will be a bunch of viewers leaving the theater feeling enchanted by the Oscar winning performance of the lead actor and mesmerized by the cinematography of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s America.  There will also be a bunch of viewers who find the film too long (160 minutes), the storyline too inconclusive, and the acting too intense.  For all that is worth, “There Will Be Blood” is not meant to be released as a blockbuster though it has made it to the top 10 best films of 2007 by the critics.

You know what it is like to read a book from the good old days.  The plot of this film has an old literature feel, which is not surprising as it is inspired by Upton Sinclair’s novel, “Oil!” written in 1927.  ‘Inspired’ is the keyword because the film only adapts the first half of the book.  Imagine how long the film would be had it covered the entire book (320 minutes?!).  In the defense of this rather inconclusive storyline, Paul Thomas Anderson did write the screenplay with Daniel Day-Lewis in mind as the lead actor.  That probably explains why the entire film centers mostly on one single character, the silver miner turned oil man Daniel Plainview played by Day-Lewis.

I am a huge fan of Daniel Day-Lewis and love his roles in “The Last of the Mohicans”, “In the Name of the Father”, and “Gangs of New York”.  His acting-in-character approach works well in “There Will Be Blood”.  You can clearly see that he was not acting in the film but has rather become the character.  It can be scary to watch because the main character Daniel Plainview is not necessarily the most likeable character in the film.  The main character itself is complex.  Daniel Plainview is the down-to-earth-get-your-hands-dirty kind of person who devotes his entire life in the pursuit of success.  He takes in an orphan as his son and as a ‘business partner’ to enhance his image when dealing with the communities.  He accumulates enough hatred along the way and does not hesitate to kill.  He has no faith in religion but yet is forced to join a Christian community as part of a business deal.

In “There Will Be Blood”, you will see Daniel Day-Lewis drenched in oil, covered in mud and dirt, slapped on his face till his cheek turned red, and shouting with such an animalistic emotion till you see saliva dripping from his mouth.  Gosh, there are only a handful of actors who are in his league.  Plenty of memorable scenes in this film, I can certainly see why Daniel Day-Lewis has beaten George Clooney (“Michael Clayton”), Johnny Depp (“Sweeney Todd”), and Viggo Mortensen (“Eastern Promises”) for the Oscar title by a large margin (note: I have yet to watch Tommy Lee Jones’s “In the Valley of Elah”).

I can imagine one day in the distant future, I will watch this classic production again reciting some of the lines together with Day-Lewis (“I drink your milkshake!” or “I’m finished!”).  Is “There Will Be Blood” suited for mass consumption?  Probably not as I think it is a film to admire rather than a film to entertain.

Categories
Comedy Drama Movie Reviews

Juno – Comedy Drama Doesn’t Come Better Than This

Juno

Drama is my favorite genre.  This time, the talented young actress Ellen Page is not going to experiment with how to trap a pedophile and cut his balls like she did in “Hard Candy (2005)”.  Instead, her character, a 16-year old Juno, has become pregnant and decided to find the perfect couple to adopt her baby.  The winning formula of this critically acclaimed and box office success ($156 million gross from a $6.5 million film is pretty good) in my opinion is: a believable storyline, a lively script, great soundtrack of Indie music that goes so well with the movie’s theme, and the superb acting of Ellen Page.  The script is so good that keep you smiling throughout the show.  There are just way too many memorable scenes, from beginning to the very end.  The storyline has enough opportunity for Ellen Page to shine.  Amidst the rather unfortunate incident of teen pregnancy, the portrait of a Juno’s pro-life journey warms audience’s hearts.  Juno is not the sweet young girl as you may imagine.  She is more like a slightly grown up version of “Hard Candy” – sharp-tongued with attitude, without the balls cutting kind of angst – laterally – of course.

Voted by the critics as the top 10 film of the year 2007, “Juno” shouldn’t disappoint at all.  It is worth checking out when you have time.  Who knows?  “Juno” could be the very first Blu-ray movie I own now that Blu-ray has won the format war.

Categories
Drama Movie Reviews

Sweeney Todd – Yawn?

Sweeney Tood

Why does the musical film adaptation “Sweeney Todd” receive such a positive review from so many sources?  I don’t know.  One thing I know though is that director Tim Burton loves to work with Johnny Depp and especially his wife Helena Bonham Carter time and time again.

Maybe it was the green tea or maybe it was something I ate the night before, I had a terrible stomach cramp.  I thought I wasn’t able to make it to this evening’s movie outing.  Maybe there is such a thing as ‘green tea overdose’.  But since I am replacing alcohol with green tea, I ain’t going to quit that as yet.

“Sweeney Todd” surely made my stomach churned with all those throat cutting scenes and blood spurting scenes.  The blood does look fake but still … that silver blade that cuts throat after throat, gruesome!  I give a thumb up to the computer generated scenes though. The effect goes well with the dark, insane nature of the movie.  If I could bypass the utterly boring monotonous melody and silly lyrics, I would say the acting is pretty good.  Come to think of it, I am a big fan of Tim Burton for his “Corpse Bride” (2005).  Had “Sweeney Todd” be filmed in the same way as “Corpse Bride”, I may be able to enjoy those silly music.  It is hard to watch Johnny Depp sings about being complete with his blade or Helena Carter sings about the worst pie in London.  I just couldn’t get into the mood with real actors.

That is my view.  How about the rest of the Movie Review Squad?  TK fell asleep 20% of the time, couldn’t bear to see the blood scenes, and Cynthia thinks that it is so-so and below expectation.

My stomach cramps again.  I should moderate on green tea consumption.