Thracian dawg's reviews

Page contents: Osaka elegy – (1936) / Never let me go – (2010) / Monsters – (2010) / The Lincoln lawyer – (2011 ) / Tokyo-ga – (1985) – Wenders / The Red and the White– (1968) / Source Code – (2011) / Clockwise – (1986 ) / Bliss – (1985 ) / My Father's guests – (2010) / TiMER – (2009) / Certified copy – (2010) / Bridesmaids – (2011) / Another year– (2010)

Osaka elegy (1936) Mizoguchi

The tears of women
　
Ayako (Isuzu Yamada) is the perfect daughter. She puts her filial duties before her own happiness; she takes (from her shiftless father and brother) the sole responsibility of ensuring their family's prosperity and status. Obviously this could be taken how supremely under valued women are/were in general/ in prewar Japan.

Although the film concentrates on her tragic fall from grace; one should watch Mr. Asai, the president of the pharmaceutical company, as the first responder to Ayako's plight, his role functions as a comic counterpoint to hers.

Mr Asai owes his station in life to his wife, he married into her wealth, and for that was given the largely ceremonial title of president. But around the house, it's clear who wears the pants, and he in turn, takes out his feelings of inadequacy by belittling and bossing around the servants. The film begins with him on the front lawn, closing his eyes and praying: "I hope I win the lottery!" After his wife saunters in one night brazenly in the wee hours of morning. At breakfast, He whines he should get a mistress, she scoffs right in his face: Go ahead!

There's a beautifully mined hypocrisy in the scenes when Mr Asai and Ayako are caught together; yet equal and opposite consequences based on their sex. As a woman, she's invisible when it comes to help and understanding; but obviously the guilty one when it comes to footing the bill and paying the price.

There's a subtle arc for Ayako, she starts off as mild mannered receptionist and slowly navigates these murky waters to become fiercely indifferent to her life. At the close of the film, I didn't know whether to be afraid or happy for her.

Never let me go (2010) Romanek

Beautiful Oblivion

The film is wonderfully subtle and wholly dependent on the viewer discovering the muted drama. There's a nice little mash of science fiction that borrows diverse elements such as technological advancements from the far future and antiquated morals from the past to create the boarding school, Hailsham. At first glance, this venerable instiution appears to be the cream of the crop and exclusively reserved for upper class children during the 30's. Though the time line establishes the story as beginning in England in the 70's.

Hailsham instills a fierce sense of pride and purpose in the children with a carefully groomed docility, since they are a select few, bred from birth for public service and the common good. Though, upon graduating from Hailsham, their education appears to have ill prepared them for the real world. Their beliefs seems to be a hazy amalgam of superstition, speculation and hushed desires. Later in the film, as adults, it's learned that all the boarding schools have closed down and been replaced with something a more efficent. So they remain, the very last remnants of a experiment winding down.

All the actors are uniformly good, even the bit players can supply a stark look that tells you everything. But I'll mention the seamless transistion from Izzy Meikle-Small who plays the younger Kathy---as a child wise beyond her years, and the grown-up version, Carey Mulligan. They almost appear to be real life sisters. A delicate meditation on the brevity of life and love.

Monsters (2010) Edwards

More or less?

Science fiction road movie. A rich girl and a photographer are thrown together when she's hospitalized during her stay in Mexico. Since he's the only salaried employee from her Daddy's magazine within a hundred miles of her---he's saddled with the thankless task of accompanying her back to civilization.

Travel is always a bitch in the third world. The film uses this down time to explore their personal issues. He's estranged from his young son. She's on the cusp of marriage but it's gradually dawning on her that she really doesn't want to be married. The body of the film has them at first tolerating one another then it establishes a kind of begrudging friendship---not that a romance that blossoms between, but it establishes a kind of intimacy. (Although in real life, they've since married---so what do I know)

More action or More suggestion?

I definitely would went in the other direction and opted for more suggestion. Since the action is already coded into the background. With fighter jets streaking across the sky; or slowly driving by rotting and rusting tanks and burned out helicopters; or passing through armed check points---there's little doubt to where we are and the progress of our two travellers at all times.

Nice things? The no frills guerrilla film making. There's a realistic dilapidation going on with the props and the locations. Making one of the characters a photographer is also good idea, since he's always looking and documenting his surroundings. There's clever appropriation of " Species" in the opening moments, but rather than supplying how to diagrams to splice alien DNA into ours, they have graciously supplied open vials of prostatic fluid. And despite the vast geographical area of the forbidden zone, a large indigenous population still lives there---being too poor to migrate or immigrate elsewhere; they have adopted a kind of down to earth, fatalistic philosophy that comes with living in a war zone.
　
It deserves a comparison to Tarkovsky, although this clearly isn't the forbidden metaphysical zone of Stalker. There's only a faint suggestion of experiences and emotions being heightened in the zone---instead of taking advantage of the remaining daylight hours to hot foot it the American border, they deliberately slow the pace down and spend a last night beneath the shooting stars atop of a moss covered Aztec pyramid.

As a bug hunt or a creature feature, there's not enough of those fight or flight scenes to satisfy avid fans of the genre. I chalk it up to the inexperience of the director, Gareth Edwards. He's done a few documentaries but this is his first feature. He hedges his bets by beginning with an action tease, then it segues into a road trip for the rest of the movie. Ultimately, the final result is a little unsatisfying either way because of this hybrid.
　


http://impawards.com/intl/uk/2010/monsters_ver3_xlg.html

I'm waiting to see Never Let Me Go. I liked the book a lot so was interested to read your review of the film TD.

Excellent reviews as always

Christine, one of the stranger resonances I got from NLMG was that of Gregor Samsa sitting by his open window.

The lincoln lawyer - (2011 ) ~ Furman

http://www.impawards.com/2011/lincoln_lawyer_xlg.html

Reeling in the sleaze

The set-up? Mick Haller (Matthew McConaughey) is an extremely successful defense lawyer who is the go to guy in the seedy Los Angeles underworld of petty thieves and nickel and dime criminals. His clientele are all small fish living hand to mouth, so his, is strictly a cash and carry business. The story begins when his excited Bondsman points him in the direction of a floundering whale, who may need his expertise.

"The Lincoln lawyer" is an enjoyable little suspense / courtroom drama. And a really great role for Matthew McConaughey; it fits him hand in glove as a slightly over the hill, smooth talking litigator who sees all the angles in advance and thinks he's walking on water, but as the story progresses he discovers he's actually knee deep in the muck and the waters are rising. The filmmakers have also cast him slightly against type to thwart our expectations. So, sorry to disappoint the gals, but there's no obligatory beach scenes and McConaughey doesn't remove his shirt for this one.

McConaughey is also surrounded by great bit players who continually enliven the intrigue with their little bursts of energy. Marisa Tomei fills out his back story. The scruffy William H Macy plays his investigator. Michaela Conlin---the forensic artist from TV's "Bones" plays a detective. I particularly enjoyed Josh Lucas turn as the greenhorn prosecutor who can not believe the waking nightmare of getting his ass kicked---this badly, or as they refer to it in the film: the torment of a 1,000 razor blades.

Haller is an interesting character. His vanity plate seems at first to be a crass advertisement, but later becomes a character tell. He seems above it all and oblivious, but is beginning to suffer indigestion problems (stomach ulcers?) He's moving from sometime social drinker to serious tippling. He's a bottom feeder and completely aware he's moving away from his comfort zone to in order to swallow this new case, hook, line and sinker, but he can't resist the easy money.

Negatives? There is some really egregious product placement. The opening of the film almost consists entirely of vanity shots of their product. Which immediately forced me to make a game of identifying the other examples of it in the film.

One fun fact. The original title for the script was the Lamborghini countach counselor, but the logistics would have been a total nightmare; they would have had to buy two other identical cars and take them apart for the camera shots---plus having nice both chauffeur and passenger in the front seat would have insinuated really different character vibes, so the producers sadly had to abandon this very lucrative offer and downsize with another more spacious model ... okay, now I'm just being plain silly.

The lincoln lawyer ~

Tokyo-ga - (1985) - Wenders
　
Gaga over Tokyo

Wim Wenders hops a plane during a break in the shooting of "Paris, Texas" to commemorate (1983) the 20th anniversary of Yasujirô Ozu's passing in Tokyo. Ozu's subject of predilection was the family and over his 35 year career, all the changes and mutations within Japanese society were indelibly captured in his films. Wenders' stated premise is see whether or not any remnants Ozu's fabled Japan still exists; however the film is more a travel diary of found images and personal observations.

Wenders mentions the rare transcendence of the authentic in something so fake and manipulative as motion picture, but the film has those little moments; the camera shy Chris Marker (La jeteé, Sans soleil) ; school boys playing stick ball in a cemetery beneath a canopy of cherry blossoms; a delivery man skillfully hops on his bike and pedals away with 4 large steaming bowls of soup perched on his delivery tray. A pilgrimage to Ozu's grave site reveals no name on his black marble headstone, only a cryptic inscription: Mu (nothingness)

There's a small scene with (a very young and dapper looking) Werner Herzog, reminding us the film industry is filled with businessmen obsessed with BO and prestige who have an almost total contempt for the viewing public; but there are still a few intrepid souls still obsessed with image and meaning and willing to communicate the secret secrets of our world.

Wenders notes the clumsy attempts of the Japanese to appropriate American culture. Since there's no space for actual golf courses, practicing your fairway and tee shots in Japan becomes a zen-like exercise on the rooftops of skyscrapers. Rock and roll aficionados with pompadours and leather jackets practise their dance steps together in the park---Elvis would be rolling over in his grave. Which is funny, since these observations mirror is own clumsy attempts to appropriate and distill Japanese society with his camera.

There is a mildly alienating technique of not supplying sub-titles to the interviews, he instead supplies his own version of what was said. Although this purports to be about Ozu, it actually provides a lot more insight into Wenders personality.

Tokyo-ga ~

The Red and the White - (1968) - Jancsó

No one here gets out alive

This Hungarian war movie from 1968 commemorating the golden anniversary of the Soviet victory really succeeds in a portrayal of war as being an execrise in futility without a whisper of nobility. The camera seems to be slightly above it all, impartially observing the folly, reserving judgment; at times following a character (irregardless of side) for a while, then moving onto someone else. There are no heroes here, simply because they don't survive long enough to become one.

There's no combat per sec---only summary and sickening field executions. The film was, of course, immediately banned by the Soviets on it's release for this refusal to glorify the heroic struggle of the motherland. We get the barest of motivations: the Hungarians volunteered to fight along side their Soviet brothers, but that's about it. Although the title implies there are compelling ideological reasons for this struggle, but in practise, it's less clear cut.

There's a deliberate blurring of friend and foe; the opening scene makes it clear there are no front lines or fixed points of reference. The local monastery in the region is the jewel in the conflict, since both sides use it as a garrison headquarters and hospital---but it's highly contested, and it falls and is reclaimed with astonishing speed.

If there is a slight bias, it goes to the Reds. There's an element of sadism with the White guards, they take the time to befriend an enemy soldier and even dangle freedom in front of them before doing them in in cold blood. Individual officers can be extremely brutal or forgiving depending entirely on the direction of the wind. One minute the soldiers are strutting around, with the power of life and death over a vanquished enemy, the next moment their weapons and rank have been taken, they're stripped to the waist, standing in a field, awaiting the same fate. The victors on both sides take part in ritual degradation.

A typical 4 minute music video nowadays probably has the same amount of cuts as this old 90 minute film; the takes can be (deliciously) long and reflective, though the content may not be. The wonderful tracking shots create a sense of movement and the wide open spaces and panoramas contribute to the palpable sense of vulnerability and dread---as we see one side in the foreground, and their enemy beginning to mount an counterattack in the background. "The Red and the White" deserves it's place on the short list of great anti-war films.

The Red and the White ~

Source Code - (2011) ~ Jones



The Learning curve

The set-up? Captain Colter Stevens awakens in a strange improbable universe---He was sitting in a commuter train one moment and then in some sort of tin can space craft the next, whereas his last hazy memory was flying his whirlybird in Afghanistan.

A difficult film to review for two reasons, there's a strong brew of separate genres: Part action film with little bits and pieces of suspense, drama, science fiction and romance all thrown into the mix. Also a lot of the fun comes from the pristine twists and turns in the story, but ultimately this house of cards collapses when the slightest puff of logic comes to bear upon it.
　
The actors get strong marks for their work in stereotypical roles. Jeffrey Wright is the self absorbed inventor of the program. Michelle Monaghan gets the clunky girlfriend part but manages to suggest the deep swell of a life changing moment in her life. Vera Farmiga is almost chained to a web cam, but suggests tactical retreats and a growing empathy with Colter through her facial expressions. Jake Gyllenhaal gets a flashy role since with each new sequence he modulates his performance.

I loved the little bits and pieces of residual stuff left over ... so stop reading if you haven't seen the film.

View Spoilers

WARNING: "Source Code" spoilers below

Do overs are problematic. In life, you're extremely lucky if you get a single one. Here, they simply reboot the scenario endlessly, which if you think about it, kind of removes the tension since there's no stakes. You might even send a civilian schlub, completely lacking in intelligence training or intuition and he could simply rule out each passenger one by one until the culprit was found.

Do overs are problematic. In life, you're extremely lucky if you get a single one. Here, they simply reboot the scenario endlessly, which if you think about it, kind of removes the tension since there's no stakes. You might even send a civilian schlub, completely lacking in intelligence training or intuition and he could simply rule out each passenger one by one until the culprit was found.

A good action film with a jangle of science fiction. Think "Déjà Vu" meets "Groundhog Day"--- without the comedy. The ending is also wonderfully open ended.

Overt product placement: Dunkin' Donuts; CNN; Russel Peters; Bing and the City of Chicago.


Source Code ~

Clockwise - (1986 ) ~ Morahan
　
The unravelling of Principal Simpson

I remember not liking this the first time I saw this---it was good but just so so, but this has really improved with age. There's a really exquisite beginning. Everything you need to know about our hero (John Cleese) is totally nailed down and bolted into place during the opening sequence. This is a man who has found his niche career-wise, and in life as a high school Principal. Ensconced in his office, he can ferret out the tiniest of transgressions with his trusty binoculars in the simmering chaos of school courtyards below.

I actually imagined being a child in such a school and shuddered at the thought of such horrid state of affairs. Perhaps the collective cries of outrage and secret prayers of the children have reached the gates of heaven and the Gods have decided intervene on their behalf, since his undoing involves an almost Olympian level of timed and orchestrated (dare I say, clockwork?) happenstance.

He leaves School early one day to receive an honour during the annual conference of British Principals in another town. There's a rigid class system in England---not that anyone born to a knock-about life has to stay there, upward mobility is possible, but everyone is conscious of their origins in society. So being appointed chairmen and the key note speaker at this conference, rather than an empty and pompous gesture, is actually a great honour, him being from a lowly public school.

The downside? The film is completely subtle in that it relies on visual irony and ironic characterization to work it's message. Case in point; there's a small scene where a Matron strolls down a peaceful country road in the middle of a wheat field. Principal Simpson and a student jog past her to on their way to the car. What the woman saw, of course, was a young woman fleeing for her life and a sex starved monk bounding after her. The kerfuffle that started all this is repeated at the end, implying another movie is about to begin.

Clockwise ~

Finally caught up on your reviews very good


Absolutely hated this movie, boring acting and predictable plot

__________________
Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
Buddha

Added one more, so you're still behind. Heh heh.




Bliss - (1985 ) ~ Lawrence

Breakdown or breakthrough?
　
The set-up? An Australian black comedy with touches of surrealism from Ray Lawrence (Lantana, Jindabyne) Harry Joy (Barry Otto) is living the high life: He has a lucrative advertising business; a caring wife; two adoring children; wonderful friends; a shiny jaguar; a spacious house in the suburbs, in short, he's got it all ... then he keels over in his backyard and dies.
　
Well, not quite, the first responders are quick to arrive and even quicker with the reanimation and paddle him back to the living. However now, his wonderful world is just slightly out of whack and even ominous; and the more Harry questions this strangeness, the more he believes he was never returned to the living and is still roasting somewhere on the nether regions of hell.

In his advertising business, Harry deliberately promoted products that were (at times willfully) unhealthy for to the general public. Business models don't enter dysfunction into their working model unless it's immediate and troubling---like the product exploding unexpectedly shortly after purchase. But catastrophic failure further down the line isn't a problem, since we'll have long since shuffled off this mortal coil by then. But doing good and being good is of paramount importance to Harry now. He may have been willing to accept the cheques without looking too closely from who they were coming from before but where will he draw the line and how much will he be willing to compromise his newly found goodness?

There's a wonderful scene where the owner of the sanitarium tells him he can simply buy his sanity if he wants---she could care less, she's merely running a warehouse business. (Harry's been at cross purposes with the family since his health scare and they've had him legally committed to smarten him up and control the family business) The suggestion being the business worlds penetration of mental health care systems is now so complete they decide what is reasonable and measured; and the even more delicious and darker suggestion they also define insanity based on the bottom line.

So how much thought of moral responsibility comes to bear in your choice of a profession? Fast food clogs your arteries. Soft drinks rot your teeth. Flooding communities with guns turns them into war zones. We all need to work in order to survive, but at what cost for others?

"Bliss" is interesting in that it points to the moral conundrum of trying to be decent and caring in a world that can't make a stinking dime off this. The majority of characters are afflicted with some level of (moral?) sickness. And the film wickedly suggests that goodness is actually impossible to achieve since we're all plugged into this technological wonderland and everyone is interconnected and compromised. If you don't take the easy money---someone else will.

Terry Gilliam obviously enjoyed this film. In "Brazil" there's a scene where Sam Lowry drives his dinky little service car down a road dwarfed on either side by mastodon trucks---he's lifted that shot directly from this film.

The moments of surrealism are fine, but there even finer moments of poetry. Harry's having a fight with the newly found love of his life, Honey Barbara, so He patches things up with one of the longest love letters in the history of cinema. "Bliss" is kind of hard to track down---being OOP for so long, but given a choice, opt for the director's cut. This film has mellowed like fine wine.

Bliss ~

this movie some friends of mine invested in it and made a matzoh from it

My Father's guests / Les invités de mon père (2010) - Le Ny

http://impawards.com/intl/france/201..._mon_pere.html

Merely visiting

The set-up? Babette (Karin Viard) and Arnaud (Fabrice Lucini) have heard vague rumblings about their 80 year old father opening his home and giving refuge to a family of refugees, which truth be told, is not entirely out of character for him. However, when they show up at Sunday dinner, half expecting some malnourished and bony refugees from Africa, what they find instead, is a single mom Tatiana (a peroxide bombshell from Russia) and her 14 year old daughter.

This is essentially Babette's and to a lesser extent her brother's reactions to this; as adult children they revisit their sweet and sour relationship with their father. Sweet in the sense, Babette has always looked up at him to the point of idealization. Sour in that Arnaud has lived his entire life in his overlarge shadow, though he can scarcely contain his glee with this tumble from his high horse. We never really get a definitive look inside the father's house, it's always seen from their eyes. So Tatiana comes off a little rough around the edges, even to the point of a slight vilification, her willingness to sacrifice herself for a better future for her daughter isn't even weighed in the balance.

Likes? A dry intellectual investigation about illegal immigrants (in France they're called "Les sans-papiers") is made flesh and blood by the story which encapsulates the larger question, then the film proceeds to stand it on it's head. Biological citizens (born and bred in the homeland) are quick to point out the obvious economic opportunism of illegal aliens, but less forthcoming and opinionated in pointing out our own deliberate impoverishment and systemic exploitation of third world nations.

There's a scene where Arnaud (a successful lawyer) enumerates the various legal penalties to Daddy dearest if he were to be brought to court for his actions. Which shows a telling contrast between the generations. After listening to the litany of the loss of reputation; a sliding scale of monetary fines and jail time, the old man quite rightly merely sniffs at these threats---belonging to a disappearing generation that intimately experienced the horrors of war. Your opponents just don't have minor policy differences with you. They invite you to the village square where everyone is either hung or shoot en masse. Problem solved. Whereas, for the son, belonging to a consumer based society: these penalties are strong enough to ensure his compliance and submission to the Status quo which mistakenly equates freedom with ... the freedom to merely buy more stuff.

The three main actors are also all gifted comedians, so they and inject comedy into this drama at the drop of a hat. Of little interest for action mongers.


My Father's guests ~

Thanks for this, Dawg. It sounds like something I'd like to see.

April: The month that was in movies
* = rewatch
　

Little white lies (2010) - Canet
Ugh! The screenplay was a train wreck; an unsuccessful graft of high drama and (the entirely) sentimental trials and tribulations of a closely knit group of Parisian 30 somethings. There was something really wonky with the soundtrack, the all anglo soundtrack provides the pop tunes (need we say at a modest sum?) to the film, but not the soundtrack to their lives.
Textuality (2011) - Sonoda
Two Rich yuppies carry on multiple affairs with multiple partners at the same time and wonder how come their lives are so emotionally empty and superficial. Fails to generate any suspense or engagement on any level. The characters are almost repulsive in their selfishness.
　

* Can't hardly wait (1998) - Elfont & Kaplan
Unknown (2011) - Collet-serra
A Bourne Identity knock-off that pales when compared with the original.
Cops (1922) - Keaton & Cline
18 minute short. One inventive gag with a ladder.
　

* Lust for power (2006) - Chabrol
Winter in Wartime (2008) - Koolhoven

* The 4th man (1983) - Verhoeven
The commentary was a hoot, Being soundly bashed by the critics in his first couple of films, Verhoeven deliberately overloaded the film with overt symbolism---out of spite. and of course, the critics responded by heaping lavish praise on the film. This seems like a dress rehearsal for Basic instinct.
Source Code (2011) - Jones
The Cameraman (1928) - Sedgwick
The Blacksmith (1922 - Keaton & St. Clair
20 minute short.
My little Bride (2004) - Ho-jonn
Hanna (2011) - Wright
The way the camera lingers on that alabaster skin; those piercing egg shell blue eyes, the director seems acutely aware this belongs in the pre-catalog of Saoirse Ronan movies before she becomes a megastar.
Sita sings the blues (2008) - Paley
Insidious (2010) - Wan
Overkill on the credits much? I think the director even wrote his name on the blackboard during one of the classroom scenes. Obligatory Rose Byrne watch. Yipes! Her first mommy role.
The high cost of living (2010) - Chow
Low budget drama and first film for the director. Can a drug dealer have a conscience? Yes, if that drug dealer is Zack Braff.
My Father's guests - (2010) ~ Le Ny

* Remains of the day (1993) - Nichols
* My life in pink (1997) - Berliner
* Juno (2004) - Reichman
* A judgement in stone (1995) - Chabrol
A cautionary tale about illiteracy.
Win win (2011 ) - McCarthy
Points out you don't have to be a super parent, you just have to be present in your kid's life. For an at risk teen, this could mean all the difference.
Ménilmontant (1926) - Kirsanoff
In a better world (2010) - Blier
Youth of the Beast (1963) - Sukuzi

The vanishing (1988) - Sluizer
A great bloodless, goreless serial killer flick.
　

* Superbad (2007) - Mottola
Loved the end scene, when the film telescopes into a remembrance of things past.


High light reel (Rewatches ineligible)

Best scene: The vanishing. Saskia strikes up a conversation with the grim reaper.
Best comic relief: Sita sings the blues: The three commentators have studied the material in grade school, although their recollections about the myth are a little hazy now that they're older.
Best unintentionally hilarious scene: Textuality. The hero goes on an all night bender ... with a six-pack from a trendy microbrewery.
Early Signs of the onset of dementia. Number of films I forgot seeing: 2 (Jenna Elfman as an angel / stripper with car problems? Wait a minute! I've seen this before! The blinking *spider*sphinx* beauty shop sign. Wait a minute! I've seen this before!)
Best supporting actress: Amy Ryan in Win win
Best actor: François Cluzet in Little white lies, he plays a slightly irascible and finicky restaurateur who shares his beach house with everyone during the summer.

TiMER (2009) - Schaeffer

http://www.impawards.com/2010/timer_xlg.html

Romance for Dummies

What if a company produced a bio-medical implant that could confirm your one true love? Even supplying the actual day when your two paths aligned. And just in case---love is blind, or if your stepping out of a crowded metro station or a football stadium, the simultaneous beeping of the wrist implants will lead you directly to your one true love and guarantee the connection. This is the premise of the film.

Unfortunately, a whole mess of other behaviors and problems flood into the vacuum created by absolute certainty---and the heroines family perfectly illustrates these polar opposites. Oona's (Emma Caulfield) wrist plate remains stubbornly blank and unactivated---although immensely popular and successful; some troglodytes still refuse to buy into the service: an essential service rendered for a measly monthly pittance! Which turns Oona into a serial dater of TiMERless men, and once there's the slightest emotional spark in their relationship, she drags him down to a local TiMER outlet to get implanted and confirm that he's the one. Which of course, sets him on the prim rose path to his romantic destiny and leaves her empty handed once again. And the darker implication that she may be destined to be an old maid.

I loved the quick throwaway (and often ironic) humour from Writer/Director Jacqueline Schaeffer. I'm actually looking forward to see what's she's going to do in the future---the girl's got mad skills. The premise is so rich it could have been spun in several different directions depending on the genre; for instance, the Romantic drama would have just run with the tragic love affair. The Science fiction thriller would have exposed what a crock the company's product was, etc, etc.

Although it doesn't really hit the dizzy heights of a dyed in the wool Rom Com; since it actually takes the time to explore some of the prickly questions of recreational sex; and the two principles don't quite convince us in the end, that this was their one great doomed love affair. TiMER is one of the rare Rom Com's that lingers on long afterwards because of it's ideas of predestination and fate.

TiMER ~

Certified copy - (2010) - Kiarostami



The act of looking at illusions
　
Art house flick. The set-up? A writer (William Shimell) is in Tuscany on a book tour for his latest opus: Certified copy, an artsy fartsy essay on the nature of reproduction in art. He advances the premise that a knock-off is just as good as an original. He does his reading and book signing. And the next day, he's got a day to kill before his train leaves later that night, so he accepts an invitation from an art dealer (Juliette Binoche) to show him a little sight seeing. She opts for a day trip to the nearby village of Luciagno. On the surface, the film is a walking tour of a this small Tuscan village with an intellectual conversation between two strangers.

They filter life through their respective personalities. Being an author and an intellectual, James, is at home parsing the smallest sliver of thought and can pontificate on emotional minutiae---yet he's also surprisingly earthy. She's vibrant and emotional with both feet planted in the here and now but quick to challenge some of his assumptions when need be.

But perception depends on reality and reality depends on information. There's a scene in the film that perfectly illustrates this: William watches a middle aged couple in a courtyard, the man (with his back to him) is haranguing his wife, so much so, one fears for the woman's safety. Then the man does a quarter turn and everything we assumed about them completely changes.

The film grows by narrative echoes. These little details, suggest something deeper or completely spin the story in a totally new direction depending on how authentic they were. This constant playfulness between the real and the imagined produces a kind of delicate vertigo that makes certain scenes in the film quite stirring.

Now, the 64 dollar question, will you like it? In the first person, spending a day strolling through a Tuscan village would be a treasured memory---years if not decades later one would recall the line of newlyweds waiting to have their picture taken before the golden tree; or walking through a darkened passageway and suddenly coming into a sun dappled plaza; or having lunch beneath leafy trees at a sidewalk terrace with a light breeze dancing with the table cloth; or the lapping of the water in the fountain; or the minuscule museums crammed with tourists and treasure. But alas, we are watching a distillation of that experience. How deeply can a copy resonate within you? It's up to the viewer to decide.

Also, the narrative is wonderfully open ended; at the end of the film what we thought was real and what was fake---with only a slight dilation of the eyes the exact opposite is also true ... and what exactly was being copied there? It's up to the viewer to decide.

Certified copy ~

Wow, what a difference a re-watch makes. Ten years later, instead of two strangers on the make in this tourist town; this is now clearly, an old married couple bickering their way through the afternoon, He is on a book tour, so he is only touching base with her, he has an evening train to catch later on. An instead of a first visit (they only live 30 minutes over in the next town) this was the location of their honeymoon 15 years earlier, so the visit is a rather shabby copy of that event. In a café, their babysitter first calls him, then annoyingly calls her immediately afterwards not knowing they are sitting across from one another and she blows up angrily. This ancient village is awash with young married couples positively vibrating with happiness putting James in the minority. Part of the wedding ritual here is a visit to a museum as a talisman for happiness; each couple will have a copy of themselves standing with the golden tree. James isn't down with the show, in fact he has a hissy fit in the museum refusing to be photographed with a young couple that has requested their presence in their picture because he doesn't want to encourage all this emotional sap. The truth is, the majority of them will grow distant and break apart. I loved all the echoes here; twice their couple is contrasted with a couple that is growing old together.

Bridesmaids - (2011) - Feig



Maid of dishonour

The set-up? The title should suffice.

The film actually begins as a character study and the riot of internal emotions set off in Annie (Kristin Wiig) by the impending wedding of her best friend Lilian (Maya Rudolph) The luminous happiness of her BFF's impending nuptials is throwing all the short comings of her own life into high relief. It isn't until the first wedding party with the discovery of the unmet nemesis that the film begins to thrown in alternating sequences of comedy. Despite Annie's best intentions, the passive aggressive tendencies of envy and jealousy slowly work their way to the surface. And although only one guy gets a role that competes with the cast of women characters, I would hesitate to call this a chick flick---given the excesses of comedic raunch.

The other bridesmaids are intriguingly suggested, they all seem to be hiding a bruise. Rose Byrne's character suggests a little vulnerability and hurt in her wonderful life. And after a string of interesting secondary characters Kristen Wig does a seamless step up and into a starring role without an noticeable stumble. (Confessions of a Shopaholic + Isla Fisher, anyone?)

The two credited screenwriters are both women, Wiig and Annie Mumolo---She plays the nervous flyer who sits next to Wiig in coach. Although Apatow lends his name to an above the title credit, but other than a publicity tactic---just how much of a contribution did he actually make to the film? It's directed by Paul Feig---a prolific hyphenate in his own right, and I have a feeling this is his baby.

On a side note, this film makes me appreciate how utterly fearless film actors and actresses must be in the age of high definition. I mean, on the big screen, every skin discoloration is evident; every pimple is a mole hill, the tiniest scar from childhood is a deep cut, any body imperfection is right out in the open. Most actors actually improve when the theatrical film is shrunk to DVD.

Bridesmaids ~

Another year (2010) Leigh

The communal garden

Mike Leigh fans will certainly enjoy his latest offering; though I doubt first time viewers will be sufficiently impressed to join the choir and start singing his praises. The film is broken into chapters which marks the imperceptible passage of time, but it also functions to give the audience a little breathing space in this very muted drama (especially the acting) about a middle aged couple on the cusp of retirement.

The lion's share of the film is simply family get togethers and visits from their friends; who celebrate personal milestones and wee successes, but mostly complain about the burden of getting old---which will certainly resonate with the boomers. With infinite patience Tom (Jim Broadbent) and Gerry (Ruth Sheen) listen to their litany of woes and offer gentle advice that goes unheard.

Although written and directed by Leigh; they rehearsed the film for several months, allowing the actors to improvise their parts; Jim Broadbent's contributions are particularly apparent in this regard.

The most striking thing in the mix is Lesley Manville's tragicomic portrayal of Mary. She's unwilling to part with her girlish fantasies---in the right light, she still looks forty-something. She not so secretly, lusts after Tom and Gerry's thirty-something son ... who's polite and clearly not interested in these come-ons---which seem to increase with each glass of wine. Another visiting friend of the couple is Ken---he's Mary's mirror image, who also missed the boat and would be delighted to spend some time with her. They may even have a chance at the brass ring. But she's clearly aghast that someone so old and decrepit would show interest in her. But it's also not too hard to imagine, both of them as young bloods when hooking up and breaking hearts was easy as a parlour game.

In Leigh's previous film "Happy-go-lucky", happiness was deliberately projected outwards (which apparently annoyed a lot of people---they thought it was completely false, no one could be that up beat) whereas in this film, the couple modestly project their happiness inwards into their happily functioning couple, and therefore highly undramatic marriage. It also posits the question: why is happiness a secret for so many people?

Another year ~