Contining on the introspective theme, last night I saw Half Nelson. I went to see this firstly because I'm a sucker for a teacher movie, secondly because Ryan Gosling got an Oscar nomination and thirdly I'd heard that despite those first two things, this remained a very subtle film.
And subtle it was. Ryan Gosling is Mr Dunne, a teacher at a predominantly black school, who happens to have a crack addiction. Tracey is his student who stumbles upon him blacked out in a locker room one night, and they subsequently form a (non-sexual) friendship. Once again, outside of this there isn't a whole lot I can say about the plot. Teacher has drug addiction, student has grown up before her time and accepts it and wants to be his friend. He gets a bit weirded out and turns away from her, she turns to drug dealing friend of the family for adult male guidance (she is the daughter of a single mother).
Ryan Gosling deserved his Oscar nomination for this, and being as it's well known that I don't agree with Forrest Whittaker winning, I seriously think Ryan should have won it for this subtle, textured performance. The girl who played Tracey (whose name I do not recall at this juncture) was also amazing, I hope we get the pleasure of seeing her more often, and in roles as substantial as this one.
This slow paced, introspective movie ends with a very poignant collision of circumstances involving Mr Dunne and Tracey. This moment isn't over explained, but the viewer is left with no doubt as to the conclusion that can/should be drawn. Half Nelson is hard work, but worth it.
8 out of 10.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Romulus, My Father
This is a new Australian movie, starring Eric Bana and a fantastic kid caclled Kodi Smit-Mcphee. Based on a true story, it traces a few years in the life of Raimond and his father Romulus, coping with life on the land, trying to get Rai an education, and the sporadic and poisoning presence of Rai's mother Christina.
There isn't much to say about the plot other than what the flyer says. It celebrates 'the unbreakable bond between father and son'. And it celebrates it in a very subtle and moving way. The characters have real flaws, and real problems. The solutions are often messy.
It is a very slow moving film, and probably could have benefitted from some selective editing for it to appeal to a broader audience. But as it is, the intergrity in the script remains intact, and as an exploration of one kind of relationship, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
8.5 out of 10.
There isn't much to say about the plot other than what the flyer says. It celebrates 'the unbreakable bond between father and son'. And it celebrates it in a very subtle and moving way. The characters have real flaws, and real problems. The solutions are often messy.
It is a very slow moving film, and probably could have benefitted from some selective editing for it to appeal to a broader audience. But as it is, the intergrity in the script remains intact, and as an exploration of one kind of relationship, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
8.5 out of 10.
Copying Beethoven
Allow me to divert a little from the lovefest that is my movie blog right now, to a movie i loathed with the intensity of a thousand burning desert suns.
Copying Beethoven.
One would think that this film had several things going for it. Ed Harris, Beethoven's 9th, Beethoven himself, the period in Germany, Germany itself etc etc. With a character like Beethoven to work with - a deaf composer for God's sake! - you'd think this film would be a meaty tribute to a fantastic composer. Not so.
From this minute this film started up, with German characters making no attempt at any accents other than American, I knew that I was going to tell Rosie who had free tickets, to spend her time watching something else. For some reason unbeknownst to me, the makers had decided that Beethoven's young, innane female copyist was more interesting than him. That her seeming power over a genius was going to please an audience, and that her simpering would come across as strong, yet feminine. Not so.
The performances themselves were terrible, but in the defence of the actors, they had nothing to work with. The dialogue was abysimal - cliche after cliche after cliche is offensive coming out of the mouth of any character, let alone the mouth of Ed Harris playing Beethoven. The costumes were laughably amateur, the staging was poor, and even Beethoven's deafness was inconsistent - he needed his copyist to beat for him to follow in the debut of the 9th, but could hear his own quartet being played at the end?
The one shining point of this movie was the music. But it was Beethoven, it would be a little difficult to stuff it up. Although come to think of it, during the 10 minutes or so when we were treated to the best bits of the 9th Symphony, we did have to watch the bloody copyist with her stilted performance, beating out the time to Ed Harris.
Ugh. Don't waste your braincells on this one.
3 out of 10.
Copying Beethoven.
One would think that this film had several things going for it. Ed Harris, Beethoven's 9th, Beethoven himself, the period in Germany, Germany itself etc etc. With a character like Beethoven to work with - a deaf composer for God's sake! - you'd think this film would be a meaty tribute to a fantastic composer. Not so.
From this minute this film started up, with German characters making no attempt at any accents other than American, I knew that I was going to tell Rosie who had free tickets, to spend her time watching something else. For some reason unbeknownst to me, the makers had decided that Beethoven's young, innane female copyist was more interesting than him. That her seeming power over a genius was going to please an audience, and that her simpering would come across as strong, yet feminine. Not so.
The performances themselves were terrible, but in the defence of the actors, they had nothing to work with. The dialogue was abysimal - cliche after cliche after cliche is offensive coming out of the mouth of any character, let alone the mouth of Ed Harris playing Beethoven. The costumes were laughably amateur, the staging was poor, and even Beethoven's deafness was inconsistent - he needed his copyist to beat for him to follow in the debut of the 9th, but could hear his own quartet being played at the end?
The one shining point of this movie was the music. But it was Beethoven, it would be a little difficult to stuff it up. Although come to think of it, during the 10 minutes or so when we were treated to the best bits of the 9th Symphony, we did have to watch the bloody copyist with her stilted performance, beating out the time to Ed Harris.
Ugh. Don't waste your braincells on this one.
3 out of 10.
The Science of Sleep
From the director of 'Eternal Sunshine...' comes this largely abstract piece, blurring the dreams and reality of a Spanish guy living in France, who apparently sometimes speaks English as well. The beginning of the film sees his dream life and his reality clearly distinct from each other, but as the film progresses, the two blur as he falls for the girl across the hall and invites her into his blurred reality.
The visuals were amazing - bright and abstract and very child like in some ways, but very adult in others. His dream world, according to the people i was with, was very much like their own (but nothing like mine, apparently my dreams are quite dull in comparison, although I have grown quite fond of them!) which I think allowed them to relate to this film a little more than I did. Additionally, i failed to find some of his *ahem* quirks endearing as we were asked to believe the girl across the hall did, which added to my detachment from the film.
However, adding the most to my detachment was the fact that I was absolutely exhausted and actually slept for at least a 3rd of this film, and probably wasn't paying as much attention as I could to the rest of it. I cry post migraine pain as my excuse but honestly, this film really did fail to get me in at the beginning as much as I thought it was going to. I was so convinced I would find this as charming and quirky as everyone else that I went along thinking it would keep me awake. Apparently not!! I was grumpy afterwards and even called this 'quirky for the sake of being quirky' in a very sour tone, which is unlike me - i usually love quirk! this being so uncharacteristic of me, I am prepared to give this a second viewing before I pass judgement with a rating!
At this stage it's a 6 - but I'm open to liking it more the second time.
The visuals were amazing - bright and abstract and very child like in some ways, but very adult in others. His dream world, according to the people i was with, was very much like their own (but nothing like mine, apparently my dreams are quite dull in comparison, although I have grown quite fond of them!) which I think allowed them to relate to this film a little more than I did. Additionally, i failed to find some of his *ahem* quirks endearing as we were asked to believe the girl across the hall did, which added to my detachment from the film.
However, adding the most to my detachment was the fact that I was absolutely exhausted and actually slept for at least a 3rd of this film, and probably wasn't paying as much attention as I could to the rest of it. I cry post migraine pain as my excuse but honestly, this film really did fail to get me in at the beginning as much as I thought it was going to. I was so convinced I would find this as charming and quirky as everyone else that I went along thinking it would keep me awake. Apparently not!! I was grumpy afterwards and even called this 'quirky for the sake of being quirky' in a very sour tone, which is unlike me - i usually love quirk! this being so uncharacteristic of me, I am prepared to give this a second viewing before I pass judgement with a rating!
At this stage it's a 6 - but I'm open to liking it more the second time.
History Boys
Here I am, back again! Never fear, I have been seeing movies but just not writing about them.
So, History Boys. About a bunch of 18ish year old boys, doing their final term at some middle class boys school in the UK, trying to get into Oxford or Cambridge. I went to see this with Rosie only for the purposes of a good laugh and a bit of an escape on a Saturday afternoon and I was pleasantly surprised. Turns out it was translated from stage to screen, so it had that extra little dimension that I like so much. Some reviews said this didn't translate well, and granted, there were aspects that didn't.
Not much surprising plot wise - there is a pretty boy, a gay boy, a couple of gay teachers and some miscellaenous other students - stupid joke, alternative dude etc etc. It's about their interactions were surprisingly human and I think a refreshing change from the way you usually see boys that age portrayed on screen. These guys were actually human, altho still obviously 18 year old boys.
I suppose the gay angle was a bit surprising, as was the way the issue of one of the teachers occasionally um, hitting on his students was handled, But it was all dealt with in a way that I found it strangely easy to accept, if not easy to believe. All topped off with some amusing performances (i saw 'amusing' not 'great' because some of them, especially the headmaster, were a bit 'stagey') and fitting music.
There is a bit of a coda at the end that seemed a little unnecessary, and I think this is where reviewers before me have taken exception. Totally forgiveable in my opinion though. This is a surprising, funny and sometimes genuinely emotional film.
7.5 out of 10
So, History Boys. About a bunch of 18ish year old boys, doing their final term at some middle class boys school in the UK, trying to get into Oxford or Cambridge. I went to see this with Rosie only for the purposes of a good laugh and a bit of an escape on a Saturday afternoon and I was pleasantly surprised. Turns out it was translated from stage to screen, so it had that extra little dimension that I like so much. Some reviews said this didn't translate well, and granted, there were aspects that didn't.
Not much surprising plot wise - there is a pretty boy, a gay boy, a couple of gay teachers and some miscellaenous other students - stupid joke, alternative dude etc etc. It's about their interactions were surprisingly human and I think a refreshing change from the way you usually see boys that age portrayed on screen. These guys were actually human, altho still obviously 18 year old boys.
I suppose the gay angle was a bit surprising, as was the way the issue of one of the teachers occasionally um, hitting on his students was handled, But it was all dealt with in a way that I found it strangely easy to accept, if not easy to believe. All topped off with some amusing performances (i saw 'amusing' not 'great' because some of them, especially the headmaster, were a bit 'stagey') and fitting music.
There is a bit of a coda at the end that seemed a little unnecessary, and I think this is where reviewers before me have taken exception. Totally forgiveable in my opinion though. This is a surprising, funny and sometimes genuinely emotional film.
7.5 out of 10
Monday, April 2, 2007
Running With Scissors
A bizarre pastiche of family drama and outrageous comedy. Seemingly a good idea, but the elements were so poorly blended that actually, not so much.
Boy raised by dysfunctional parents watches their messy divorce, and ends up stuck with his mentally unstable mother. He ends up under the guardianship of his mother very odd therapist and his very odd family, and starts a relationship with an older, schizophrenic man.
The preview led me to expect a delightfully quirky blend of The Royal Tenenbaums and Tarnation. Instead I was presented with a hateful mix of good performances and some genuinely hilarious moments totally overun by weirdness and poor direction.
I really have no words to describe how I feel about this film except....
Weirdest. Movie. Ever.
5
Boy raised by dysfunctional parents watches their messy divorce, and ends up stuck with his mentally unstable mother. He ends up under the guardianship of his mother very odd therapist and his very odd family, and starts a relationship with an older, schizophrenic man.
The preview led me to expect a delightfully quirky blend of The Royal Tenenbaums and Tarnation. Instead I was presented with a hateful mix of good performances and some genuinely hilarious moments totally overun by weirdness and poor direction.
I really have no words to describe how I feel about this film except....
Weirdest. Movie. Ever.
5
Sunday, April 1, 2007
The Lives of Others
I have been experiencing a movie slump of late - we've been going through a dry patch of decent movies. So needless to say, I had high expectations for this Best Foreign Film Oscar winner. I passed up a free V-Festival ticket to see it, so if it was anything less than spectacular i was going to be disappointed.
My god. Disappointd could not be further from the actual state of affairs. Pan's Labyrinth was the favourite to win the Oscar, but this was in no way a real upset - how anyone could say that this was less deserving would be beyond me.
The Lives of Others was set in East Germany in the 80s, before the wall came down. Without giving too much away, it's about the Stasi (State Security) surveillance of 'suspicious', potentially subversive artists. Basically, an artist and his actress wife come to the attention of the Stasi, and their apartment is bugged and they begin to be closely watched. The agent put in charge of their case becomes emotionally involved, and the plot is built from there. To say anything else would give it away.
For me, the success of this film lay in the subtlety. The plot could easily have become so convoluted and detracted from the themes, but instead it was restrained and relatively simple, and the facts spoke for themselves. The timing of release couldn't have been better, and the air of suspicion that had fallen over East Germany at the time recalls McCarthyism and Guantanamo Bay.
The subtlety continued over to the technicalities of the film - the score was gorgeous and fitting but never obtrusive. The visuals were stunning, it was gorgeous to look at in a very simple, stripped back way that allowed full immersion into bleak political and social climate of East Germany, without being manipulative.
The people I saw this movie with asked me afterwards if I had cried and my answer was that I was too profoundly moved to think about crying. The emotions, the politics and the human interactions in this film really did enough talking and there was no need for fancy gimmicks to artificially satisfy me. The ending involved a few jumps forward in time and one very poignant moment capped it off - it could so easily have gone awry but stayed dead on track the whole time.
Adding to the greatness of this movie was the fact that apparently the actor who plays the Stasi member monitoring the couple under suspicion was himself monitored in the 80s in East Germany.
I really just can't pick a flaw.
10
My god. Disappointd could not be further from the actual state of affairs. Pan's Labyrinth was the favourite to win the Oscar, but this was in no way a real upset - how anyone could say that this was less deserving would be beyond me.
The Lives of Others was set in East Germany in the 80s, before the wall came down. Without giving too much away, it's about the Stasi (State Security) surveillance of 'suspicious', potentially subversive artists. Basically, an artist and his actress wife come to the attention of the Stasi, and their apartment is bugged and they begin to be closely watched. The agent put in charge of their case becomes emotionally involved, and the plot is built from there. To say anything else would give it away.
For me, the success of this film lay in the subtlety. The plot could easily have become so convoluted and detracted from the themes, but instead it was restrained and relatively simple, and the facts spoke for themselves. The timing of release couldn't have been better, and the air of suspicion that had fallen over East Germany at the time recalls McCarthyism and Guantanamo Bay.
The subtlety continued over to the technicalities of the film - the score was gorgeous and fitting but never obtrusive. The visuals were stunning, it was gorgeous to look at in a very simple, stripped back way that allowed full immersion into bleak political and social climate of East Germany, without being manipulative.
The people I saw this movie with asked me afterwards if I had cried and my answer was that I was too profoundly moved to think about crying. The emotions, the politics and the human interactions in this film really did enough talking and there was no need for fancy gimmicks to artificially satisfy me. The ending involved a few jumps forward in time and one very poignant moment capped it off - it could so easily have gone awry but stayed dead on track the whole time.
Adding to the greatness of this movie was the fact that apparently the actor who plays the Stasi member monitoring the couple under suspicion was himself monitored in the 80s in East Germany.
I really just can't pick a flaw.
10
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Becoming Jane
I saw this tonight with a free pass, in advance screenings. And quite frankly, I wasn't expecting much. Except of course a giant perve at James McAvoy. Which I got. Oh yes, I did.
Anyway.
The movie is the stort of Jane Austen before she became a published author. After crap previews (all sequels or three-quels, terrible business) I was feeling even more negative. I'm not naturally predisposed to period pieces, and after the debacle earlier in the year with Marie Antoinette (yes! I got in another dig!) I wasn't expecting to magically become disposed. I don't generally like the whole disposing of human emotions and reactions for the sake of the tone of the period thing.
But that's where the beauty of Becoming Jane lay (except in James McAvoy, i would like to lie with him myself ha ha ha). The tone of the period remained intact, but the chemistry between Jane Austen and Thomas Lefroy was never denied, and in fact it was often acted upon - not in a totally modern day jump into bed kind of fashion, but there was more than the standard issue period piece long brooding gazes. The onscreen chemistry between Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy was enough to make me think they MUST have hooked up at least once after a day of filming, and in fact the performance even allowed Anne Hathaway to endear herself to me - not an easy task.
Additionally, I was concerned that the parallels between what was going on in the movie and the book she was writing at the time (Pride and Prejudice) were going to be smacking me in the face but they were thankfully subtle. The film was a bit long which is a standard gripe for me, and proceedings could definitely have been a little more succinct. And there was a bizarre bit at the end where it was 15 years into the future or whatever that I didn't really appreciate, but all in all this was a really enjoyable film experience, and a cut above most period pieces.
8 out of 10.
ps: James McAvoy. Omg.
Anyway.
The movie is the stort of Jane Austen before she became a published author. After crap previews (all sequels or three-quels, terrible business) I was feeling even more negative. I'm not naturally predisposed to period pieces, and after the debacle earlier in the year with Marie Antoinette (yes! I got in another dig!) I wasn't expecting to magically become disposed. I don't generally like the whole disposing of human emotions and reactions for the sake of the tone of the period thing.
But that's where the beauty of Becoming Jane lay (except in James McAvoy, i would like to lie with him myself ha ha ha). The tone of the period remained intact, but the chemistry between Jane Austen and Thomas Lefroy was never denied, and in fact it was often acted upon - not in a totally modern day jump into bed kind of fashion, but there was more than the standard issue period piece long brooding gazes. The onscreen chemistry between Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy was enough to make me think they MUST have hooked up at least once after a day of filming, and in fact the performance even allowed Anne Hathaway to endear herself to me - not an easy task.
Additionally, I was concerned that the parallels between what was going on in the movie and the book she was writing at the time (Pride and Prejudice) were going to be smacking me in the face but they were thankfully subtle. The film was a bit long which is a standard gripe for me, and proceedings could definitely have been a little more succinct. And there was a bizarre bit at the end where it was 15 years into the future or whatever that I didn't really appreciate, but all in all this was a really enjoyable film experience, and a cut above most period pieces.
8 out of 10.
ps: James McAvoy. Omg.
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