Adi's Reviews
 

seeing as how i'm not very good at writing long ass reviews of movies and still want to share my opinion of them this is what i've come up with....short and concise reviews that you won't get tired of reading....:)

Abril Despedaçado ( Behind the sun ) - Walter Salles

This film is based on the Albanian novel, Broken April by Ismail Kadaré, but it takes place in the brasilian outback.

After his brother Ignacio is shot dead by their neighbour, it's Tonio's turn to protect the family honour and continue the fude that has been going on for longer than any of the two families can remember, a fude about land, a fude that has lost it's prupose over the years but who's participants cannot abandon it. Tonio is unwilling to continue with it, but under the pressure of his authoritative father, he ends up taking a life back, an eye for an eye. And now, he is the next target. But then he meets a girl, and realises he doesn't want to die just yet. His younger brother also realises this and decides to save his brother. And when the blood stained shirt of the latest victim turns yellow in the scorching sun, another tragedy is to take place.

This a very realistic portayal of life in the brasilian outback, with all it's hardships and misery, and the vendeta culture back in the early years of the 20th century.But somehow a semi-western movie set in brasil just didn't sit right with me, didn't really grab me emotionaly. Maybe it was the landscape that seemed so out of place ( a half desert set in Brasil? i dunno, it doesn't look right ) , maybe it was the crude and spartan dialogue that kept me at bay. Something was off, it just didn't sit right.However,it's still Salles, and worth watching...

The football factory - Nick Love
http://img326.imageshack.us/img326/5832/poster022lj.gif
a fun way to spend 87 minutes, fast pased movie about footy thugs, fights and doing drugs, in my opinion , it exaggerates reality a bit but still, it's fun to watch the brits curse and fight, i think they were trying a bit too hard to make a new trainspotting ( with the narration of the main caracter, which should have been a bit less hyper, it was a tad annoying )

3.5/5

Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War - Je-gyu Kang
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a story about two brothers being forced to fight in the korean war, this movie starts of with a cliche begining that almost put me off of watching it ( the classic scene of two brothers and how happy and innocent they were before the shit hits the fan *vomits*), still, be patient,soon it will turn into a very good display of what happens to people during the war, the changes they go through, one might call it a korean version of saving private ryan with very brutal battle scenes....worth the watch....

4/5

Nice work, adidasss! :up:

why thank you...*blushes*:)

Cheers, i've been looking forward to Brotherhood, though i think i can wait now and buy something more entertaining instead.

great reviews my croatian brother :D

i hope that i'm having a nightmare and that this is only temporary....my vera drake post?! where is it?!

Explanation here.

yeah, just saw it...

Vera Drake - Mike Leigh
http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/3200/drake0dc.png
Let's see if i can recreate the vera drake post , because it's a damn good movie and i'd hate to let it fall through the cracks.

So, it's set in the early 1950's post war England and deals with a woman that does illegal abortions. We see her as a devoted mother and wife, a darling and most lovable person, but at the same time, this woman doing something that at the time was considered highly immoral and definetly illegal. It's a movie that you just can't take your eyes from. As i said before, i couldn't wipe the grin from my face for the first hour of the movie,incredibly adorable, innocent characters which radiate with so much positive energy despite the difficult life they lead. The entire cast of the movie did such a wonderful job at interpreting the characters . Deeply moving film . A must watch.

5/5

All or nothing - Mike Leigh
http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/6...ingpuba3pr.jpg
Another brilliant and incredibly moving film from mike leigh. It's a film that makes you laugh and brakes your heart. it's set in the english projects and deals with disfunctional families that breed disfunctional kids, it's about apathy and depression, about people who, despite the fact that they live in claustrophobic flats in the modern bee hives that are housing estates, are ultimately very lonely, and it's about love that often gets lost in the midst of every day problems and the struggle to get by. Filled with fantasticly ordinary but lovable characters and with a score that sets an incredible tone to the film, it's a modern masterpiece.

5/5

La stanza del figlio ( Son's room ) – Nanni Moretti
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I had high hopes for this movie, it won Cannes in 2001 and certain critics seemed to be very fond of it. it's about a regular family ( the father is a psychiatrist ) with 2 kids, one of who ( the boy ) dies in a scuba diving accident. It seemed to me that unlike Leigh , who seems to be really familiar with the subject of his films , that Moretti is really not familiar with death but is only trying to imagine what it must feel like, and does a pretty weak job at it. The braking point of the movie ( the boys death ) was done very poorly in my opinion, without actually showing how the boy died, he jumps through the initial shock of the news very quickly and also, in my personal experience, the way the characters reacted to the boys death is simply not the way real life people react when they lose a child and brother, very bleak reactions from all of them, it was as if they had lost an acquaintance, not their son/brother. After that, it was as if he was trying to compensate for their weak reactions , the characters start to behave very erratic which simply didn't seem believable at this point. I'm sure that in the hands of a much better artist/director, this movie could have been better. Or maybe my standards were raised too high by seeing two brilliant Leigh films two nights in a row. Rent it and judge for yourself.

3.5/5

Mies vailla menneisyyttä (The man without a past) - Aki Kaurismäki
http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/2566/theman7kx.png
much celebrated movie for reasons that are lost to me. it's about a man that gets beaten up by a group of thugs and as a result loses his memory and starts a new life as a hobo. this is a strange art flick with actors who are either amateurs or purposely act in a very strange manner and with dialogues that remind me of Sodebergh's Schizopolis, or maybe it was just the bad translation, in any case it was annoying and made little sence, that's why i don't like to watch movies that are not in spanish, italian or english because i'm sure they don't translate half the dialogue.....to sum it up, a strange film and a boring viewing experience, maybe the message and it's artistic value went over my head, in any case, i wouldn't recommend it to my friends.....

2/5

I liked it. Didn't love it. But I liked it.

Oh well. :)

fair enough...:)

Bully - Larry Clark
http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/4938/bully8bl.png
Based on a true story, this movie is about a group of friends that decide to kill one of their buddies,a closet homosexual who is into abusing his friend ( hence the title *wink wink* ) and raping. It starts off very similar to Kids, shocking displays of sex, drugs and more sex, then sort of changes tempo whilst the kids plot the murder, which i thought dragged on a bit too long. also , i was bothered by the camera's movements at certain points. His insistence on using actors from his previous films ( namely Leo Fitzpatrick, the star of Kids...sorry dude, you simply cannot act ) nearly ruined the film, all i could focus on was his bad acting. Excellent performances from Michael Pitt ( the star of Last days, glad to see his movie career take off ) and Brad Renfro. All in all, shocking and tense, a good portrail of the screwed up lifes of bored american kids .The last part of the film and it's climax really saved it (oh and the fact that it's based on a true story helped me overlook certain annoyances, like some bad ,pointless and stupid dialogue ) so i'm going to give it.... ( drum roll please ):

3.5/5

Der Untergang ( Downfall ) - Oliver Hirschbiegel
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This is one of the most powerful and disturbing films I have watched and it will haunt me for a long time. I was hesitant to see it at first , the theme of the film seemed too disturbing, but finally I decided I had to see it. The film has been deemed one of the best war movies of all times, and that's exactly what it is. Based on the book by Hitler's last secretary, it tells the story of the last days of the third Reich, right from Hitler's trench. It's difficult to single out what disturbed me the most, the fanaticism of the people around him which resulted in mass suicides ( the scene when Mrs. Goebbels kills her own children is extremely chilling ) or the fact that evil has been given a human face ( for example, the shot of Goebbels waiting outside the room while his wife kills his children because he simply couldn't bring him self to watch it, or Eva Braun, Hitler's wife, who was displayed as a cheerful, pleasant woman and friend ). The director of this film was faced with an unbelievably difficult task and he did a fantastic job of it. It is absolute perfection. Bruno Ganz as Hitler is simply amazing. A classical film which few people will want to have in their DVD collection.

5/5

Thanks for the reviews, i really enjoyed them, I am a big Mike Leigh Fan I am glad you like him :D

thanks, it's nice to know someone actually reads this....

I've been reading - never commented tho. I like your taste in movies. It's good to have another MoFo who ranges beyond the standard 'hollywood' fare ;).

thanks, well, my intention with this thread was to focus on non-american films ( americans would call them foreign, but to me, american movies are also foreign ) and "smaller" american films , the ones that some of the mofo's here maybe didn't watch and this will perhapse turn their attention to them.....i don't see much point in reviewing fims that most of the people here watched.....

Yeah, that's my thinking on the reviewing front too. I can only really get it together to do a review when i really like a film anyway - or when i really wanna warn people away from it ;).

Sorry adidasss, didn't see your thread till now. Good work, glad you watched " Downfall " it's a fantastic film, and as you pointed out very haunting and disturbing, especially the scene with Goebbels' children.

Looks like some cool recommendations here.
Thanks adidasss.

uber cool...;)

Gegen die Wand ( Head-on) – Fatih Akin
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It seems that german cinematography has really awaken in the last 5 years and is putting out masterpieces like never before ( Goodbye Lenin, Die untergang, Gegen die wand ). This is a story about 2 Turkish Germans, Sibel and Chait, who meet in a hospital after they both tried to commit suicide. Sibel sees Chait as an opportunity to get away from her oppressive traditional family and asks him to marry her, just for pretence, which he eventually agrees on doing. A coupling of two unstable personalities ends in tragic consequences when they develop feelings for each other, something neither of them counted on. This film is an absolute masterpiece, it's everything i search for in movies, with vibrant characters that jump out from the screen, an incredible love story, it's poetic, disturbing and beyond powerful. I can't wait to see what Akin does next,he's such an incredible director and artist. I urge you to go to the videostore and rent it....NOW!!

5/5

Ok ;D

so....noone's seen it yet?

Swimming pool - François Ozon
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/3511/pool4uq.png
This is an erotic-criminalistic-thriller? about an english detective story writer Sarah Morton ( Charlotte Rampling) who decides to take a vacation in a french villa, owned by her publisher John, in order to try and find inspiration for her new novel. Her relaxation is interrupted by the sudden arrival of the publisher's daughter, Julie ( played by the beautiful Ludivine Sagnier ). After the initial annoyance and friction between the two of them, the promiscuous Lolita ,Julie ,soon starts to intrigue Sarah and turns into an inspiration for her new novel. A very good film by a talented young french director, i can't really say what makes this film interesting because that would ruin the experience but it's suffice to say that the movie is subject to various interpretations, so if anyone's seen it i would love to hear your thoughts on it.
4/5
p.s. wonderful picture isn't it?;)

Thanks for the review, I liked this one also :yup:

all the more reason to check out all the aforementioned films,especially gegen die wand and all or nothing, trust me, i have brilliant taste in films....;)

And soooooooo modest too! :laugh:

i know....*blushes*...;)

Asian Film Week
 

Lakposhtha hâm parvaz mikonand ( Turtles can fly) – Bahman Ghobadi

Well boys and girls, it happened, my local art theatre is having an Asian film week, so for the next 7 days I'm going to be enjoying some of the best films of today ( and recommending them to you of course ).

And to kickstart it, here's an amazing Iranian-Iraqi film about the lives of Kurd children in a refugee camp on the border between Iraq and Iran in the eve of the american invasion in Iraq. The main character is Satellite, a young boy who installs antennas , and in a time where the whole Kurdistan awaits the news of the american invasion and their liberation from Saddam's regime, becomes one of the most important people in the village. Satellite is also the leader of the local children ( most of which are orphans, just like him ) who earn their living by collecting land mines and selling them to the UN. His attention is drawn by a young girl who comes to the village with her brother ( a mysterious young boy with amputated hands and the ability to predict the future ) and a child. Their tragic, mystical and very painful story serves as the backbone of the film making it a highly powerful anti-war statement.

Beautifully written and with amateur actors ( as in most iranian fims ) that give the film a highly realistic and charming flare it's simply astonishing and yet another proof that truly brilliant and powerful films are not made in Hollywood. It made me laugh and brought tears to my eyes.See it or die!;)

I hope i can get it here, I am not ready to die yet, ;D it sounds very interesting :D

adidasss, you're a new proof that.......... .................................................................................................... ..
size doesn't matter! :p :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :rotfl:

Asian Film Week
 

Shijie (The World) – Zhang Ke Jia

Hmm....what to say about this film... ok, it's about a group of people working in a theme park in Beijing, called The world ( as you can see from the poster - why bother leaving Beijing when you can see the world....right there, in smaller proportions of course ). The poster is actually very sarcastic, as if they can actually leave China to see the world. It's a social drama and one can say that it also deals with the clashing of traditional china with the bustling new economy.

It's a great portrayal of the lives of people that come from the various provinces in China to Beijing in search of a better life , ordinary people and artists trying to make it in the big city. I stress the ordinary people part, very ordinary lives, very realistic display....so ordinary in fact that it gets a bit boring to be quite honest.

This film is long....very long ,140 minutes, so long that from the 40 people that actually came to see it, half of them walked away from the theatre half way through it. The director uses a strange technique to brake the dullness of the film ( you can see it from the poster ) , cartoons, dividing it into chapters . Whilst i loved certain parts of it ( in scenes where the music kicks in you get this incredible feeling of little people lost in a megalopolis of Beijing's magnitude, combined with long shots of bus rides during the night it gives the film a special and wonderful feeling of solitude ) ,on a whole, i have to say that it's longitude kind of ruined it for me. It's a demanding art flick that i simply cannot recommend , except for people who enjoy this type of film.

Asian Film Week
 

Salinui chueok (Memories of murder) – Joon-ho Bong

Wow, what a movie. Based on a true story about a series of murders in south Korea, it follows 2 detectives ( one a local incompetent neanderthal the other an intelligent detective from Seul ) in their attempts to find the killer.

A full blooded thriller ( i can't remember the last time i saw a good old fashioned thriller ) with comedic elements , it keeps you tied to the seat throughout the 129 minutes ( unlike "The world"). It's sort of a combination between The summer of Sam ( because it deals with actual events that took place in the past ) and Seven. Great directing ,the use of sound in certain scenes is simply awesome and makes your heart beat faster as the camera rolls with the excitement of the scene , on the other hand , it takes a sort of a documentaristic approach at portraying the increased frustration the main characters go through while encountering one dead end after another .

Hmm...now, i know OG did a review on this film,i've read it, but i really have to say that i don't see much difference between this film and the likes of Seven except for the fact that it really doesn't push for excitement in every other scene but, like i said earlier, it chooses the more realistic approach, and yet, strangely enough it manages to be just as interesting and tense. Some people mind the comedic elements saying it needlesly distracts from the seriousness of the story, i didn't mind it at all. In fact, i thought it was brilliant.Korean cinematography...you gotta love it.

p.s. i chose the same poster as OG because i feel it reflects the mysterious tone of the film perfectly ( and it's simply awsome;))

Asian Film Week
 

Tasogare seibei ( The Twilight Samurai ) – Yoji Yamada

First of all, this is not your typical samurai film with crazy fight scenes and swords flying everywhere.This is a wonderful, intimate story set in the late 19th century, about a poor and very modest samurai Seibei Iguchi who is left to care for his two children and a senile mother by himself after the death of his wife. As a very supporting and caring father, he starts paying more attention to the upbringing of his children and under the increased workload starts to let himself go, which the other samurai notice. He refuses the offer to marry again because he feels that his new wife might not appreciate his wonderful children. But soon, an old childhood sweetheart walks into his life ( after a divorce from an abusing husband ) and things start to look up as she brings joy back into the household.

A wonderful film that reminds me of "Pride and prejudice", very Jane Austen with suppressed emotions all over the place but with a typical Japanese "honor" system that guides and controls the main characters. It also depicts the slow decay of the samurai society ( in Croatia it was translated as "the twilight of the samurai", which is incorrect but sort of fits the subject ). In short, a very warm story that gives you an incredible and exotic ( well at least to me ) vibe of the rural 19th century Japan and that alone makes it worth the watch.

Thanks again for the short interesting reviews :yup:

haha...thanks nebbit, you're the only one that says anything..:)

i'll say something too then: you made me wanna see Memory of Murder, it lacks in my Korean videoteque, i can't believe i hadn't heard of it, i'm the Korean addict after all, here :rolleyes: :eek: :cool:

Sarin-eui cueok in Korean.

are you sure? because it says "salinui chueok" on my asian film week catalog and also on imdb.com and a bunch of other web sites, and i did a search for Sarin-eui cueok and nothing comes up....( by the way, you should read reviews more often because OG did one of "memories of murder" before me and his review is more superior ( although i don't agree with everything he said )
p.s. are you serious about the korean videoteque thing? there's actually such a thing?

Asian Film Week
 

Bom yeoreum gaeul gyeoul geurigo bom (Spring, summer, autumn, winter...and spring) – Kim Ki-Duk

One word that describes this movie – Zen. This is truly a Zen experience. The story is about a monk and a boy who he is teaching to become a monk. Divided into 5 chapters and spread through many years it tells the story of changes we all go trough and the lessons we learn from our mistakes.

It's set on a floating monastery on a mountain lake , one of the most beautiful locations i have seen in my life, simply spectacular scenery, and at first i was a bit troubled by this. After some 20 minutes of the film i was starting to think, ok, this is all beautiful, very nice to look at, but i think i prefer my films to have a bit more to them, some emotion, passion, love, anger, death....and much to my surprise, it has it all.

It's full of Buddhist symbolism which i unfortunately know little about and thus didn't fully understand it all. Like most Ki-Duk's films, it applies the rule "less is more" as far as dialogue is concerned so the characters don't speak much ( which is not to say that there is no dialogue in the film, there is, but as in Buddhism, it's well measured and profound ), their actions and body language speak a thousand words.

This is a very tranquil film ( but at times very moving , especially near the end ), a study of Buddhism. The sounds create this incredible soothing feeling so at the end of the film, you'll walk out of the theatre feeling refreshed as if you were practicing yoga for the past 90 minutes ( hmm....maybe i should take up yoga.......or not...;)). Wonderful director, i'm looking forward to Samaria.

Glad you liked Memories of Murder :D

i have you to thank you know, that picture you posted was so awsome i just had to see the movie....

1) i know, i'm using the new official transcription of Korean, which unfortunately is not used by everyone internationally.

2) i know that too. i should.

3) i meant my own private Korean videothek, more than half of my dvd collection or so...

Jesus man, that's a pretty big mistake!

do i sense some cynical background? ;)

no, for real, i mean, "salinui chueok" differs quite a bit from what you said, and it's printed on all the promotional material, on dvd's and whatnot, you would think they could ask someone...does salinui chueok even mean anything?

well, /l/ between vowels doesn't ever occur anyway, so the word could never even exist. and /ch/ is not any recognized transcription, since it was /ch'/ in the old version, and now just /c/. then if you write /eu/ like /u/, how would you write [u]? etc etc... but even if tis the government/university system i use, after all it's all transcription of a language written in another alphabet after all.

after all....;)

don't repeat my repetitions! grrrrrrrr!

don't hit me! *runs to escape the wrath of the dreaded froggy*

come back, i'm the one that jumps, not you! ;)

dude, why is that boy eating you?! have you been naughty again?

uuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhh........... i like it when they eat me?? ;)

Asian Film Week
 

Janghwa, Hongryeon (A tale of two sisters) - Ji-Woon Kim

First of all, let me begin by saying that i wasn't planning on making this "review" because i thought this movie doesn't deserve it, but it really bugged me so i just had to say something. This movie is the subject of many debates on imdb ...why? Because of it's one defining characteristic – it's incomprehensible on the first watch. Now, there are many films that require you to watch them again and again so you can understand them better, but the difference here being that this film not only leaves you completely clueless on what's been going on in the past 2 hours but also leaves you very frustrated. Take Donnie Darko for instance, very complex film that requires you to put in a lot of thought into it, but right until the very end you can follow the plot so easily, the end just makes you think on it's repercussions and it's deeper meaning. In "A tale...", the intended purpose of the ending is to try and make sense of what has been going on in the past hour or so.

The film starts off very good, a classic drama about two sisters that come home from the mental institution only to be abused by their stepmother while the father is clueless on the goings on in the house. The object of the stepmothers abuse is mainly the younger sister, whilst the older one is ready to stand up to her and defend the younger one. And this is all fine and dandy, until , some hour in to the movie, it takes a radical turn that made me feel like some other director and scriptwriter stepped in without even knowing what the previous part was about. I like surprises, but ones that actually make sense. Here, it seemed like the director/writer was just thinking " ok, how can i confuse the audience more?" .A David Lynch movie made more sense then this one. I would think that it is the task of the director to make the film an enjoyable experience and also to clarify the ( extremely ) complicated plot to the common viewer. In an attempt to make a radical twist in the film the only thing he accomplishes is to make the movie completely illogical.

For example:


It seems to me that the director simply didn't know how to tell the story right. Some people really liked it , i thought it was poorly done, well at least the "jigsaw puzzle" way of explaining the story, a bad choice when dealing with a story that is already complicated.
If you want really good horror/thriller films with radical twists in the plot, i suggest you rent the brilliant "Donnie Darko" and "The Others" , if you enjoy films that make no sense, by all means, watch this one. If i wanted to be completely confused and freaked out by the complete lack of logic i would have just dropped some acid and tripped out.
( and i can't believe that my longest review so far was of a movie i didn't enjoy )

hei, first of all, this time, the transcription is correct! :p :)

but 1) i really liked it. you're right about the script being confusing, no doubt. but is a movie just the script and you don't have any commentary about
the perfect, brilliant photography?
the great performance by such a young main character?
the magnificent soundtrack?
the splendid dvd presentation?
the feelings one gets, especially at the end, of such a deep beautiful melancholy?
isn't a movie all that too? and as a purpose, especially the latter one?

2) plus, even if confusing, i think we occidentals sometimes don't get the inherent logics of many Asian movies cuz of a difference in mentalities, which at least is a factor to consider.
see, this movie is full of symbolism, things one would maybe explain in words and story here, but just have to be hinted at, symbolized, in such a Korean small world as the movie describes.
take the mirror - at least in 2 important scenes - , whose importance is well shown in the official website, the link to which you can find in my http://www.movieforums.com/community...92&postcount=1 thread (no publicity intended), and



the pills she takes (and maybe the stepmother really does too) causes delusions, justifying the visions throughout the movie, which by the way me and some friends *did find* scary.
and there's much more to it, the story being based on a folktale.
and did you know that funny detail explaining the original title, that, nonono, doesn't mean "two sisters"......., that "In the original story, the sisters' names are Janghwa and Hongryeon (Rose Flower and Red Lotus). In the movie, they are Su-mi and Su-yeon (still mean Rose and Lotus)." (imdb)
that could make us look for more symbolism.
of course, the deleted scenes make things slightly clearer too.

so yes, it's confusing. or even a bit confused? but there's more to it, especially on a more subtle, emotional level, accompanied by those wonderful pictures... abstract, like music. and music cannot really be explained, can it?

yes, a humongous part
the photography is good, but i've come to expect that from asian films so i didn't think much of it ( and if you want truly stuning photography see "spring, summer..." by Kim Ki-Duk
the performance from the girl couldn't possibly save the movie, the soundtrack got a bit rediculous at times ( those slashing noises for instance), i watched it in the theatre so no dvd presentation for me, and i really didn't get any feeling of melancholy at the end, just confusion and frustration....like i said, the "jigsaw puzzle" style of the last hour of the movie was a wrong choice...
that's because you're wuses..;)haha....seriously though, even though the story is potentialy interesting ( in fact very interesting) i thought the director could have explained it better, although you haven't said anything about the clear lack of logic, sense and meaning of certain scenes and parts of the story....
and my lack of knowledge on the asian culture is more apparent when you watch "spring, summer....", this film could easily be done as a western remake because there is nothing inherently asian about the basic plot, it's common to us all....
the simbolism is just fine but it makes up a very small part of the total feel of the movie and the experience,and you simply cannot deny the things i've said about it...
( and yes, i have read that snippet on imdb )

don't get upset, people would think you're French! :p

all the things you say there are questions of taste, just like i'll never discuss Tori Amos with a hard-rock fan. different things appeal to us is all.
i'm still impressed by the photography.
i read i'm not the only one impressed too by the actress's richness of expression.
i never found the music ridiculous, but then i like Goth! :D
and you don't feel melancholy there, i do, how weird uh?

because i wanna rewatch it before i do.
and like i said, you were right on the being confusing, or do i have to write it down and sign? never said it's a perfect movie either, or something.

i don't understand what you mean by your comparison with one Kim Ki-Duk movie.

okay okay, i'll SIGN! :scream: :confused: :nope:

i don't deny anything, like i clearly WROTE, but i don't have to agree with you either on the whole experience of watching this movie!

yes you do!

( oh and the comparison would be regarding the use of symbolism and the much more stunning photography ( we're talking about the visual look here right?) in Kim Ki-Duk's film, actually, come to think of it, what was so stunning about the photography in this one?)

Asian Film Week
 

Jian Gui ( The eye) – Oxide Pang Chun

Well, this is a very different viewing experience from the tale of two sisters even though they're supposed to be of the same genre ( horror/thriller). It's very similar to the sixth sense only it doesn't have the surprise ending and is much more a full blooded horror then the sixth sense.

The story is about a young blind girl who gets a cornea transplantation, but soon after the operation starts seeing dead people most of whom are anything but benevolent.

I have to say , some scenes from this film almost gave me a heart attack, the use of sound to create an uneasy and creepy feeling is so brilliant, as well as to make you jump from your seat. The plot is very straight forward and fairly simple which makes for a good watch.

I loved how they were so meticulous when showing the process the main character goes through as a person that has regained sight after some 20 years. Certain parts of it were pretty silly ( the love affair between the girl and the psychiatrist was perhaps unnecessary ) but that doesn't hurt the film as a whole. All in all, a good scare, a good watch.

Asian Film Week
 

Samaria ( Samaritan girl ) – Kim Ki-Duk

Another good movie from Kim Ki-Duk, i'm really starting to dig this guy, can't wait for "3-iron". The story is a bit strange, it's about a young girl and her friend ( and lover?) who is prostituting herself so they can pay for the airplane tickets to europe. While the friend finds having sex with strange men an unusually fulfilling experience ( and loves all of her "lovers" ), the other one is getting more and more troubled by it.

During one of these meetings ( with men ) the friend gets caught by the police and throws herself out the window. After the death of her friend the other friend decides to give all the money back to the costumers ( as a means to undo what her friend has done ) and ends up having sex with them, and enjoying it, because she too starts to see it as a tool for making other people happy ( just like her deceased friend ) and maybe goes a bit nuts in the process...;)
But soon, her father sees her in a hotel room with a man and outraged by what his daughter has done ( or what the men were doing to his daughter ) starts on a path of revenge.

The use of silence as Ki-Duk's trademark of sorts is present again, but unlike in "Spring, summer...." where it serves to depict the process of personal growth, here, silence is detrimental to the destinies of the main characters.
This movie is like poetry, slow and thoughtful, an emotional journey, as the characters try to come to terms with what they had done, and to come to terms with one another . If only they had the courage to simply talk to each other things would have been so much different.

Thanks for the interesting reviews Dassy :D the Eye: i hate it when movies have the person having an affair with their Psychiatrist or therapist, because in real life it is a big deal, the therapist is usually struck off and publicly humiliated, :yup: there are very strict rules about this type of behaviour, thats my little rant, :D

I'm glad you dug The Eye, I think your review summed it up perfectly. Now I'm going to have to check out Samaria since you rated it higher, but having watched 3 Iron last night I can guess why - that movie is outstanding!

hahaha....thanks nebbit, i'm really growing quite fond of you you know....;) and i can't believe you managed to make a nickname from a nickname...that's very cute..:)
damn you for watching it before me! damn you!
oh, and i have different criterias for different movies, even though the eye wasn't as deep and meaningful as samaria, in it's own genre it's superb
p.s. don't you think the poster for samaritan girl is really beautiful and elegant? i had a choice between 2 posters and even though the other one was perhapse more true to the plot, i found this one to be prettier....:)

i watched it before you too, some 5 months ago! and yep, i liked it. good review! :)
didn't dig Samarta/Samaritan Girl so much though, which i saw half a year ago.

no i don't, YOU do!

I have been dying to see this, but can't find it anywhere.

ok, this time i'm positive that it's not samarta but samaria, because one of the chapters in the movie is called samaria....for sure....
and i wasn't exactly blown away by samaria, unlike turtles can fly ,hence the 4.5 rating, but i couldn't deny the wonderful storytelling and the very deep story, i thought "spring, summer..." was better and 3-iron is supposed to be his best film so OG, don't expect samaria to be as good as 3-iron....it's a good film, but it's not outstanding....

how about amazon?

haven't you realised yet that i am the SUPREME AUTHORITY ON WHAT'S GOOD AND WHAT'S NOT, ergo, you must agree with everything i say and if you disagree with me again i will go Kung-fu on your ass ( as soon as i learn it )!!

it won't work, i've always been polytheist! :p

yes yes Samaria, sorry for the mistake and typos and i'm running back to my learning books

Asian Film Week
 

Hauru no ugoku shiro (Howl's moving castle) – Hayao Miyazaki

Well, after reading fairly negative reviews on this film, i have to say i was very pleasantly surprised after having seen it. I'm a fan of Miyazaki ( although i've only seen 3 of his latest films ) so i simply had to see this one too, despite the reviews. And boy was i right.

This is a fantastic fairy tale about a young girl ( Sophie ), who, after an encounter with a wizard ( Howl ), gets turned into an old woman by a ( jealous ) witch . She then leaves her home in search of a counterspell . She ends up as a cleaning lady in Howl's magical moving castle and eventually falls in love with Howl, a young wizard who has lost his heart in a deal he made with a certain spirit. There's also a "little" war going on in the midst of all this, which Howl refuses to be a part of and thus creates enemies of the king's court witch.

This film is not only hilarious, but breathtakingly beautiful. And in my opinion it's better then Spirited away and very close to being as good as Princess Mononoke. I actually thought that Spirited away had to little magic in it and too few adorable characters, which Miyazaki more then makes up for in this one. It's filled with magical creatures ( ok, so was Spirited away ) and magic of all sorts ( flying battle ships, bewitched scarecrows, wizards and witches of all sorts doing their magic( god i'm such a kid ), which they didn't do very often in Spirited away) and there are so many adorable and funny characters you simply won't be able to wipe the grin from your face.

Not only is this film visually much more spectacular then Spirited away, but it's also way funnier, like when Sophie discovers the disadvantages of being old, or Howl's narcissism ( yes, narcissism!! I laughed my guts off in the scene where he goes nuts because Sophie mixed up his shampoo in the bathroom and his hair changed colour and the guy says in total despair that life isn't worth living if you're not pretty!!aaahahaha), the little fire Calcifer and his sarcastic humor, not to mention Heen the dog, who doesn't say a word but his cynical look sends you to the floor.

The story does get a bit confusing at the very end, but you can still understand the basic plot ( c'mon, it's a fairly tale, how complicated can it be ) and it in no way diminishes the overall experience of the film. So don't believe what they tell you ,it's awesome and great fun ( unless you're a grumpy grump with absolutely no sense of humor ).

Well boys and girls, the "Asian film week" has ended, hope you had some use of these reviews and will see most of these films.
So here's a little reminder of all the films i've seen and their ratings, going from the best to the worst ( which are still worth seeing ):

1. Turtles can fly – Bahman Ghobadi
( by far, the best of all the films i've seen in the film week ) - 5/5

2. Spring, summer, autumn, winter...and spring – Kim Ki-Duk - 5/5

3. Memories of murder – Joon-ho Bong - 5/5

4. Howl's moving castle – Hayao Miyazaki - 4.5/5

5. Samaritan girl – Kim Ki-Duk - 4.5/5

6. The Twilight Samurai – Yoji Yamada - 4/5

7. The eye – Oxide Pang Chun - 4/5

8. The World – Zhang Ke Jia - 3.5/5

9. A tale of two sisters – Ji-woon Kim - 2.5/5

hei, you're lucky to have such a festival of movies bud! and good reviews (in general! :p ;) )

please noooooooooooooo ;) ;)

Sounds like you had a great week, thanks for sharing it with us :yup:

thanks for reading....it was the most interesting film week of my life....but i'm quite exhausted now, it's not easy going to the theatre every day for 8 days in a row....

Blasphemy!

have you tried it?

The woodsman – Nicole Kassell

This is a film about a pedophile who comes back home after 12 years in prison and his struggle to get his life back together, to be normal. It gives you a very good inside look into the mind of a child molester, a person that is obviously sick and has a hard time controlling his urges.

Throughout most of the film, you see him as a normal guy and you start to relate to him and feel sorry for him, then suddenly the monster within him shows its ugly head making it rather hard for me to connect these two very different sides of him, even though that's probably realistic.

I had a slight problem with the casting, why was Eve in the film? And in such a relatively insignificant role? It was rather distracting because i kept waiting for her to make a more significant impact. Also, even though Kevin Bacon is brilliant in some cases, in certain scenes, mainly the scenes with the therapist, there was something off with his performance. On the other hand, he was outstanding in the scenes with the cop, where he turns into this stereotypical image of a sad,pathetic,disturbed individual ("you can't talk to me like that!"), as well as in the climax of the film. Still, i wonder if someone else would have been better for the role.

The way his brother-in-law interacted with him was a tad strange from my viewpoint, i don't understand why he was trying to be nice with him, as if nothing had happened and everything was normal...i know i would stay clear from a convicted child molester, wouldn't you? He did show what he really thought of him in that short but very powerful and awkward scene at the diner . The music reminded me a lot of Mary full of grace, very minimalist and cold, as is the cinematography, which suits the subject perfectly.



It was an intense viewing experience, but somewhat flawed , at least for me, because the way certain people interacted with him ( the brother in law and the girlfriend ) seemed unrealistic and made him look better than he really was. Is that even a flaw? Everything else is great.

Thanks for the review, I want to see this movie when it comes out here. :yup:

A home at the end of the world – Michael Mayer

This movie is based on a novel by the Pulitzer winning author of The Hours Michael Cunningham. It's about two boys, Bobby ( Colin Farrell ) and Jonathan (Dallas Roberts), who become inseparable friends in highschool.After Bobby's father dies he goes to live with Jonathan's family and their friendship turns into love. After highschool , Jonathan goes to live in New York while Bobby is left behind. He joins him a few years later and moves into his apartment, where Jonathan lives with Clare ( Robin Wright Penn ) and soon, a threesome is created.


For the first half of the film i had a feeling this was one of those average ( bad ) films based on a screenplay that won one of those screenplay contests, a feeble attempt of an untalented writer to reminisce on his childhood ( it's set in the 70's and early 80's ). One thing i found very distracting about the movie was the awful wig Farrell was wearing, it made him look ridiculous, like Wayne's world or something, like the movie was meant to be a comedy, which it really isn't. But ok, eventually he cut the hair.

Another thing that was way off, the casting. Colin Farrell, worlds biggest womanizer, was cast as Bobby, a shy and slightly confused character, innocent and simple ( sorta like Forest Gump, but a tad smarter )....i just couldn't identify him with the role, his face and presence simply screamed alfa male. The last half hour definitely redeemed the film because you get sucked into this vortex of sad/happy emotions and the central motif ( home is where the love is ) starts to brake through, but at the end, i regretted not reading the book, i have this feeling that much of the charm and vibe of the book was lost. Still, it's a fun watch, and hey, Roger Ebert says it's one of the best films of the year, now who am i to disagree with the great Mr. Ebert :eek: :rolleyes:

I enjoyed the Woodsman, but I agree with you on most of your points about where the film didn't work or struggled. Haven't seen A Home at the end of the World, I didn't fancy it when it was on genaeral release, and judging by your review, I didn't miss much. With regards to Colin Farrell, I'm not 100 % convinced by him as an actor, I can't think of too many of his roles that I've been that impressed, for me, he's a chancer who got lucky, but fair play to him, he's living life to the full, and he has had a slew of beautiful women on his arm, Rosaria Dawson and Angelina Jolie to mention the main two I'm jealous of!!!

He is more of a star than he is an actor, for sure, but that's due to what? His looks and Irishness? Yea, he will be in the star role for a while, he, being an actor, won't occur until something big hits him, such as Alexander, but that kinda bombed out, although I thought he did a great performance.

So far, I would say he is only average as an actor, but he doesn't turn in BAD work like so many people do, and tigerland performance was convincing, which shows that he could end up like a Bruce Willis or John Travolta character.

What I mean by that is less versatility, but more bang for your specific buck.

Hey, Paul Muni's been dead for 40 years, versatility is dead (Hillary Swanki, Johnny Depp, possible exceptions).

Yeah, for me Tigerland is his best performance to date, even more amazingly, it was directed by Joel Schumaker!!!
SWAT and Dare Devil were both appalling, I haven't seen Alexander yet, I'm not a huge fan of Oliver Stone, and I'm not exactly excited by the Miami Vice remake he's working on just now.
Still, he's a fellow Celt, so the best of luck to him, although he seems to have the luck of the Irish already when it comes to bagging hot mamas!

Watch Intermission and see if you feel the same. I think the guy can act, but I also think he's an arse...

He's actually pretty nice, he's not arrogant, but he is demanding of himself and others on the set of his works.

People call him arrogant because he drinks, smokes, and womanizes like there is no tomorrow. But that is because women love him, and love what he does.

Is he shallow? Not really. are the women shallow? Not really. It's just the way things are.

I'm Irish as well, so it's nice to see some rep besides Brosnan.

Inquiétudes ( A sight for sore eyes ) – Gilles Bourdos

This movie is based on a novel by Ruth Rendell, a clear-cut criminalistic thriller. The story revolves around Bruno and a Elise. Bruno is an art student with a troubled past and an obsession with pure white walls and empty space. After his father's death,he gets kicked out of college because of his problematic behavior and one day he decides to kill his abusive alcoholic uncle. Elise, on the other hand,witnessed her mothers murder at the age of 7.

Her father marries her therapist who becomes overprotective of her step daughter because she thinks who ever killed the girls mother could come back to kill the only remaining witness. Elise , sick of her mothers over protectiveness ( and a somewhat psychotic behavior ) searches for escape through Bruno. The psychotic step mother tries everything to keep them apart, while on the other hand, Bruno while trying to hide his uncles body gets himself into even more trouble. But that's not the end of it.

The movie is filled with people with murderous intentions and the music makes even the most benign behavior sinister and dangerous. The story is relatively clear so it's rather easy to follow it and to decipher the motivations of the main characters ( and their devious plans ). An interesting psychological thriller, beautifully shot, cold,and slightly claustrophobic ( especially when you figure out what Bruno's intentions are ) .

I read a very detrimental review about this film on european-films.net, the guy who wrote it is either stupid ( because he couldn't follow the plot ) or was on heavy drugs when he watched it. I say see it, it makes for a good watch as far as i'm concerned.

actually, i kinda liked SWAT, a fun action flick ( for the most part, the ending is rediculous ), never saw dare devil or alexandar, i don't think he's a bad actor, he just needs to stick to roles that are closer to his real character

So am I...

I'd put quite a few irish actors above Farrell, and none of them are Brosnan: Big Liam, Colm Meaney, Brendan Gleeson, Gab Byrne, Stuart Townsend, Cillian Murphy, Stephen Rea......

....and *cough* Omagh's own Sam Neill. ;)

Thanks for the review Dassy :D

The machinist – Brad Anderson

Well, i’m sure most of you have seen this film already, but for those of you that haven’t and actually reed these reviews here’s a brief outline of the story: Trevor Reznik ( a machinist in a factory ) suffers from insomnia , he hasn’t slept in a year and because of it is losing weight on a daily basis which makes him look like a scarecrow ( or someone dying from aids…. man, it was really gruesome seeing Bale so mutilated ).

One day, while taking a smoke brake, he meats a mysterious man called Ivan who claims he works in the factory but Trevor has never seen him before. While working on a machine, Trevor gets distracted by Ivan which results in his colleagues hand being cut off. When he says that Ivan distracted him, noone seems to know who he’s talking about which makes Trevor believe there is a mass conspiracy going so he goes on a frantic witch hunt to get to the bottom of things.


It’s a very good psychological thriller with the classical twist at the end.It's full of wonderful symbolism ( when Trevor is in the amusement park on the road666 ride, and the kid chooses hell instead of salvation ...and many others...) that give you a clue to what's going on.




It bothered me a bit that the film was shot in Spain , maybe it would have been better if i wasn’t aware of that fact because the entire film seemed a bit off, in the back of my mind i knew that everything i saw in the film was Spain but i was supposed to think it was America ( they did a fantastic job in recreating America but still, it just wasn’t the same ). It’s a wonderful little study of a man who’s guilt and his reluctance to deal with it is disrupting his mind and body.

P.s.:the title of the film was translated into Disappearing in Croatia, which suits the movie even better and the music is almost identical to the music in Inquiétudes, the director himself said that music wise they were trying to create a Hitchcock feel to it.

Great reviews all around, and good to see you liked The Machinist. We have memories of Murder at home right now, and can hopefully get to it tonight. I have had it there for a while, and have been dying to see it, but have been so damn busy since returning from vacation. Glad you liked The Eye, as well....

bravo for the good review!

:) thanks...

That Penis is Irish?

More love from the ladies ;)