The late jal90's 2014 Movie Diary Thread

Watched on 04/10/2014


In the end the best thing this movie has is its main acting. Leea Klemola makes a brilliant work and makes her character look immediate and understandable in any gesture or reaction. The story overall is satisfying and I think its point of view is interesting enough in its depiction of a minority group. But to a point this label of "social cinema" damages it because I feel that some of the conflict is brought there in a contrived way, namely the whole police investigation thing which seems underdeveloped and to a point unnecessary, just like an additional situation to reinforce the drama of the character. On the other hand, the script is kind of flawed and irregular; this happens mainly because some events seem to happen too fastly. How the main love relationship develops is my biggest issue in that sense.

Oh yeah, I should update this. It will take a long while...

Watched on 04/12/2014


Maybe the thing I appreciated the most in this movie was recognizing again the tone of Polanski's apartment trilogy in it. Set entirely in a theater, and with only two actors, this is an incredibly intense experience that takes advantage of its limits to offer a claustrophobic psychosexual journey with really powerful dialogues and in general a strong character interaction, which remains fascinating till the very end. An ending that, I admit, looks a bit too over-the-top, but as a mean of surreal daydream, it fits quite well and is a great climax.



Crysta is a very charismatic character; that and the considerably good aesthetic effort are the main qualities of a movie that otherwise can only be an entertaining and forgettable experience because the writing, despite it doesn't completely ruin the mood, is rushed and ineffective in many fronts, so the development of the story doesn't really transmit emotions except for some climax moments. All in all it's just a nice environmentalist fable but with the final result I think it had a lot of potential that ended up being wasted.

Watched on 04/13/2014


A typical Korean thriller that deals with a complicated story following a crime investigation, and with its most striking quality in the stylized violence it depicts, though this ends up being its double-edged sword because it looks aesthetically overdone in various instances. Other than that it is a solid and impressive effort in every aspect, with a great pacing and acting, but compared to masterpieces of the "genre" (Oldboy, Memories of murder) it lacks the moral and emotional resonance those had.

04/14/2014


The secret of NIMH is a wonderful fairytale, a story that I'd enjoy hearing again and again... narrated by somebody who doesn't really know how to tell it. The writing is at times contrived, it makes rushed decisions and even has deus ex instances, but what it tells is so incredibly enthralling that I think the movie trascends these flaws, even on one of those deus ex moments the scenography and the emotional resonance of what is happening is fascinating. So while a cold analysis should probably mean lowering its rating, its impact as an experience would make this unfair to me. Miss Brisby, by the way, is a hell of a character and one of the best female leads/heroines in an animated movie, just everything about her, from her strong will to her weakness and fears is great.

Are you dead?

04/16/2014


This epic masterpiece is the result of putting together two of the greatest themes in film history (sharks and octopusses) in a single story, therefore taking advantage of the best each of them have to offer. The acting is wonderful, the scientists almost look like scientists (they have lab coats!) and the militars look close enough to militars (they have... uh... uniforms). Not to mention the scientific mechanism behind the catastrophe, which totally makes sense and makes you think about the dangers of defrosting prehistoric creatures that will condemn Earth to destruction. It is worth of mention that it never tries to defy the laws of physics despite being such an action-packed story, being totally serious with the scientific part of the narration that makes this a believable, everyday storyline despite the epicness. We should take this as a warning and stop warming up the planet, the next ferocious beasts we defrost could mean the end of life on Earth.