ABOUT A BOY
**½
UK
A cynical London playboy matures through his
friendship with an under-privileged 12-year-old boy.
Predictable, sugary and sentimental to an almost patronizing point,
despite a few sharp
lines of dialogue and flashes of insight.
dir:
Paul Weitz & Adam Weitz
cast: Hugh Grant, Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, Rachel Weisz
ABOUT SCHMIDT
***½
USA
A 66-year-old struggles to deal with life after
retirement.
As a character study, it largely succeeds
through Nicholson's bravura performance, whereas the satire is somewhat
scarce and surprisingly cuddly considering the people involved. Yet in the
end, it packs its own emotional punch.
dir:
Alexander Payne
cast: Jack Nicholson, Kathy Bates, Hope Davis,
Dermot Mulroney
ADAPTATION
*****
USA
Writer Charlie Kaufman struggles to adapt Susan
Orlean's non-fiction book about an orchid aficionado into film.
A clever, cheeky, consistently ingenious take
on writer's block and the many processes of adaptation. Writer/protagonist
Kaufman playfully threatens to disappear up his own colon throughout, but inspired
direction and joyous performances push the film towards a highpoint of simultaneous absurdity and profundity.
dir:
Spike Jonze
wr:
Charlie Kaufman
ph:
Lance Acord
m:
Carter Burwell
cast: Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, Tilda
Swinton, Cara Seymour, Brian Cox
ANALYZE THAT
**
USA
After a reassuring, promising opening, it skips through some major plot holes
into sequel hell. As usual though, Kudrow livens up every frame she's in.
L'AUBERGE ESPAGNOLE
***
France/Spain
A young Frenchman goes to study in Barcelona and
moves into an apartment with another six international students.
A cutesy, clumsy and contrived exercise in comic-romantic self-indulgence
- European style - but with enough fun and warmth to make you overlook the
sugar and leave grinning gawkily.
wr/dir: Cédric Klapsich
cast: Romain Duris, Judith Godrèche, Audrey Tautou, Cècile De
France, Kelly Reilly, Kevin Bishop, Barnaby Metschurat, Federico D'Anna,
Cristina Brondo, Xavier De Guillebon
THE BANGER SISTERS
*½
USA
Talented actors struggle with very poor writing.
BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM
***
UK
Well, what were you expecting from that title?! Although surprisingly
respectful, it remains contrived and poorly acted for the most part. Luckily,
Juliet Stevenson knows what to do with the best lines.
BENEATH CLOUDS
**½
Australia
The light-skinned daughter of an Aboriginal mother and Irish father leaves
home in search of the latter and along the way meets an Aboriginal boy
who's escaped from a juvenile detention centre.
The intentions are mostly positive and there's some things this picture
gets very right. But the director refuses to recognize the limits of the
talents at hand (including his own).
wr/dir:
Ivan Sen
cast: Dannielle Hall, Damian Pitt, Jenna Lee Connors, Simon
Swan
BETTER LUCK TOMORROW
***
USA
A dark take on the high school experience from an Asian-American
perspective. A lot of clichés (not all) are subverted and the
charactiresations are solid.
dir:
Justin Lin
cast: Parry Shen, Jason J. Tobin, Sung Kang, Roger Fan, John
Cho, Jerry Mathers, Karin Anna Cheung
BLIND SPOT: HITLER'S SECRETARY
***
Austria
Hitler's secretary Traudl Junge recalls her service to the Fuhrer between
1942 and 1945 in long, static close-ups. The crafting is unimaginative to
say the least, but the story is a compelling one. The majority of events
Junge talks about were later adapted into "Downfall" (2004),
often retaining her perspective.
THE BOURNE IDENTITY
***½
A cool, very well-crafted, consistently entertaining and satisfying thriller.
BOWLING FOR COLLUMBINE
****
USA
A forceful, problematic but ultimately thought-provoking documentary on the American culture of fear.
dir: Michael Moore
BUBBA HO-TEP
***
USA
Elvis is alive and situated in an East Texas old folks home, from which he
has to fight against a resurrected mummy.
If it lacks anything, it's not guts or originality. It's weirdly
poignant.
wr/dir:
Don Coscarelli
cast: Bruce Campbell, Ossie Davis, Ella Joyce, Reggie
Bannister, Larry Pennell
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN
**½
USA
The adventures of elaborate high school con
artist Frank Abagnale Jr.
An overlong, overly earnest and curiously uninvolving account of a
fascinating man, with weak performances.
dir:
Steven Spielberg
cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken,
Martin Sheen, Nathalie Baye
CHANGING LANES
***
USA
An occasionally compelling account of dueling egos,
though unsure of whether it wants to be a psychological thriller or character
melodrama.
CHICAGO
***½
USA
An ambitious Chicago murderess exploits her infamy
to get in the limelight.
The classic Hollywood musical is revived, with numbers that prove
stunning when uninterrupted by the nervous, over-zealous editing. The stars
are also spectacular, but the direction is lacking in confidence and the sense
of setting disappointingly underdeveloped. All the same, you'll wanna see it more than once.
dir:
Rob Marshall
cast: Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard
Gere, Queen Latifah, John C. Reilly, Christine Baranski, Taye Diggs, Lucy
Liu
CITY OF GOD
***½
Brazil/France/USA
Gang wars span decades in a lawless housing
project in Rio de Janeiro.
A vivid, exuberant, engrossing exposé that progressively loses its grip.
dir: Fernando Meirelles
cast: Matheus Nachtergaele, Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro
Firmino da Hora, Jonathan Haagensen, Seu Jorge
CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND
***½
USA
An adaptation of Chuck Barris'
"unauthorized autobiography", which claimed he was recruited as
a CIA hitman while creating trashy game shows like The Dating Game.
Aside from some gaps in narrative and the distinct discomfort of a
couple of stars in a period setting, it's a clever, fast,
stylish and entertaining picture. A unique biopic that switches between
black comedy and espionage thriller, never picking a side or abandoning
its infectious nonchalance.
dir:
George Clooney
cast: Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore, George Clooney,
Julia Roberts, Rutger Hauer, Maggie Gyllenhaal
DAUGHTER FROM DANANG
****
Separated during the war in the 70s, a
Vietnamese woman is reunited with her adult daughter, who has grown up in
the USA.
An intelligent, detailed and engrossing account of a culture clash that
doesn't take sides.
dir:
Gail Dolgin, Vincente Franco
DEMONLOVER
****
France
A ruthless businesswoman gets involved in a corporate war.
A cool, original, engrossing thriller that gets away with a lot
simply because it gives you the comfortable feeling that you're in the hands of a
skilled filmmaker in complete control of his art.
wr/dir:
Olivier Assayas
cast: Connie Nielsen, Charles Berling, Chloë Sevigny, Gina
Gershon, Jean-Baptiste Malartre
DIE ANOTHER DAY
**
UK/USA
We laughed with him, then we laughed in spite of him and now Bond has finally
reached the point where we laugh at him.
DIRTY PRETTY THINGS
***½
UK
An illegal Nigerian immigrant discovers a human
heart in the hotel he works at, leading him towards further unsettling
discoveries.
A gripping account of the invisible people and their harrowing plight for
survival against unfeeling bureaucracy. Its tight thriller format allows
for the perfect distance to delve deep into this social problem without
getting lost in sensationalism.
dir:
Stephen Frears
wr: Steven Knight
cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Audrey Tautou, Sergi López, Sophie
Okonedo, Benedict Wong, Zlatko Buric, Kriss Dosanjh
DIVINE INTERVENTION
****
France/Morocco/Germany/Palestine
A variety of people living near the Jerusalem-Ramallah checkpoint try to
overcome a variety of personal and political obstacles.
A wry, absurdist, provocative portrait of a community on the edge,
presented in amusing, offbeat, often silent, seemingly disparate
vignettes, bearing a sensibility reminiscent of Tati. Subtitled "A
Chronicle of Love and Pain".
wr/dir:
Elia Suleiman
ph: Marc-André Batigne
ed: Véronique Lange
cast: Elia Suleiman, Emma Boltanski, Amer Daher, Jamel Daher,
Naeif Daher, George Ibrahim, Salman Nattor, Nazira Suleiman
8 MILE
**½
A talented young rapper lacks confidence and
moves back into his abusive mother's trailer.
Eminem is more entertaining as an outspoken moron than as a
poor boy who makes good with a single puppy dog expression. The settings
are vivid, but
the plot is among the oldest and most often recycled
in Hollywood.
dir:
Curtis Hanson
cast: Eminem, Kim Basinger, Brittany Murphy, Mekhi Phifer
EIGHT WOMEN
***½
France
In a remote French mansion in
the 50s, the man of the house is found murdered and the perpetrator is
among eight women related to him.
Comedy, mystery, heightened melodrama and musical interludes. Anything
goes in this combination of Agatha Christie, Douglas Sirk and George Cukor,
which at its core is purely an excuse to stare at an ensemble of French
movie goddesses. Unfortunately, the staginess of the
stage-bound source, though zealously embraced, is never quite overcome.
dir: François Ozon
cast: Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, Emmanuelle
Béart, Fanny Ardant, Virginie Ledoyen, Danielle Darrieux, Ludivine
Sagnier, Firmine Richard
FAR FROM HEAVEN
****½
USA
In the late 50s, the life of an outwardly blissful
housewife crumbles.
A bold, vibrant attempt at re-creating Sirk's melodramas
of the 50s, with freshly permitted insight and honesty as well as
meticulous art deco - even if the latter has an unfortunate tendency to distract from the
dramatic pull. However, in keeping with the theme of complex emotions
running beneath a glossy surface, beneath the deco you come across a layered screenplay,
sensitive direction and bravura performances.
wr/dir:
Todd Haynes
ph:
Edward Lachman
m:
Elmer Bernstein
cast: Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert,
Patricia Clarkson, Viola Davis, Celia Weston
FEMME FATALE
**
USA
A further flashy, self-indulgent addition to DePalma's weary oeuvre. Generally
laughable.
FRIDA
**½
USA
The life of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo.
No matter how formidable the subject - for a biopic to make for
interesting cinema, apart from a miracle, it would require passion,
insight and some stylizing. The stylistic touches here are awkward and seem
out of place, whereas the other two factors are lacking.
dir:
Julie Taymor
cast: Salma Hayek, Alfred Molina, Geoffrey Rush, Ashley Judd,
Edward Norton
FULL FRONTAL
**½
USA
There's good things, but mostly just lazy, really.
GANGS OF NEW YORK
**
USA
In NYC 1846, gang wars lead to the death of an
Irish-American leader, leaving behind a vengeful son.
A flawed, leaden, turgid historical essay, with mere
references to epic grandeur.
dir:
Martin Scorsese
cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz,
Jim Broadbent, John C. Reilly, Liam Neeson, Brendan Gleeson
THE GOOD GIRL
***
USA
Small town misery from a satiric perspective. Entertaining even when it fails to live up to
its initial promise due to director Miguel Arteta's (and, by implication,
writer Mike White's) unhealthy, incessant hate towards his characters.
THE GOOD THIEF
***½
France/UK/Ireland/Canada
An aging gambler plans to rob a casino in the
French Riviera.
A stylish, seductive, atmospheric remake of Melville's "Bob le
flambeur" (1955). Jordan knows how to exploit his setting.
dir: Neil Jordan
cast: Nick Nolte, Tcheky Karyo, Nutsa Kukhianidze, Emir
Kusturica, Ralph Fiennes
THE GURU
**
USA
Hollywood meets Bollywood. It's not a happy relationship.
HEAVEN
***½
Germany/Italy/USA/France/UK
A vengeful widow takes the law into her own
hands and falls in love with an officer.
This filming of the late Krzysztof
Kieslowski's final screenplay inevitably fails to abide by the
master's style as it struggles to discover its own. It's nicely composed and hypnotic for the most
part however, and even its shortcomings are fascinating in their own way.
dir:
Tom Tykwer
cast: Cate Blanchett, Giovanni Ribisi
HERO
***½
Hong Kong/China
In ancient China, the most powerful warlord
summons a nameless swordsman claiming to have defeated his three principal
enemies.
An impeccably crafted and visually ravishing wu xia epic. The frantic pace
initially detracts from the emotional impact and brushes over some
potentially dubious politics, but the sheer exhilaration inevitably leads
towards further viewings.
dir:
Zhang Yimou
ph:
Christopher Doyle
cast: Jet Li, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Maggie Cheung,
Zhang Ziyi, Daoming Chen, Donnie Yen
HOLLYWOOD ENDING
**½
USA
A has-been filmmaker is set to direct a prestige
Hollywood picture but then goes blind.
A broad, ineffectual, rarely funny and astonishingly feeble Hollywood
satire.
dir:
Woody Allen
cast: Woody Allen, Téa Leoni, Treat Williams, George Hamilton,
Mark Rydell, Debra Messing, Tiffani-Amber Thiessen
THE HOURS
****
USA
Virginia Woolf begins writing "Mrs.
Dalloway" in an outer London suburb in 1923; a lonely housewife reads the
novel in post-war L. A.; a modern-day NYC version of its
heroine is organizing a party in the honour of a dying poet.
An intriguing, elegantly crafted triptych that searches for - and
delivers - reasons for both melancholia and celebration. The acting is of a high
standard.
dir:
Stephen Daldry
ed:
Peter Boyle
cast: Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep, Ed
Harris, Stephen Dillane, John C. Reilly, Claire Danes, Alison Janney,
Toni Colette, Miranda Richardson, Jeff Daniels
HOUSE OF FOOLS
**½
Russia/France
The inhabitants of an insane asylum at the Russian-Chechnyan border are
abandoned one day in the middle of the conflict.
A fascinating concept (based on a true story), sadly under-developed. Amidst
all the heavy symbolism and forced surrealism, the picture nevertheless provides
for bits of self-consciously stunning imagery.
ICE AGE
**½
USA
A cliché-driven animated feature with irritating
characters and voice work, and one single brilliant comic sequence revolving
around the death of the dodo.
IGBY GOES DOWN
****
USA
A privileged teenager from a decadently
dysfunctional family cannot resist rebellion.
A witty, eccentric and brilliant satire that finds heart and emotional
sincerity amid the acid quips and pseudo-intellect of a proudly obnoxious
bourgeoisie, formidably brought to life by a flawless ensemble.
dir:
Burr Steers
wr:
Burr Steers
cast: Kieran Culkin, Claire Danes, Susan Sarandon, Jeff
Goldblum, Ryan Philippe, Amanda Peet, Bill Pullman
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST
***
USA
A weirdly miscast Wilde adaptation, which fanatically tries to disguise its
theatrical roots, though some of the wit comes through.
IN AMERICA
***
Ireland/UK
An Irish immigrant family in New York is faced
with various difficulties.
A sentimental family drama, clearly a very personal piece that jumps at
every chance for sentimentality. Much of it is told from the perspective of
the children, who are enchanting.
dir:
Jim Sheridan
cast: Paddy Considine, Samantha Morton, Sarah Bolger, Emma
Bolger, Djimon Hounsou
IN THIS WORLD
***½
UK
Two Afghan boys set out for a better life in
London.
A searing and deeply felt exposé of the refugee crisis, put together
quite remarkably.
dir: Michael Winterbottom
ph: Marcel Zyskind
m: Dario Marianelli
cast: Jamal Udon Torabi, Enayatullah Jumaudin
|
INSOMNIA
***½
USA
A morally ambiguous homicide detective
investigates the murder of a young girl in Alaska, where the constant
summer sunlight deprives him of sleep.
An accomplished Hollywood remake of a
Norwegian original, which makes for a shockingly clever and haunting psychological thriller.
dir: Christopher Nolan
cast: Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Hilary Swank, Martin Donovan
IRRÉVERSIBLE
***½
France
The lead-up to and repercussions of a brutal
rape.
In this visceral, intense, relentless exploration of sex and
violence (and their connection), attention-seeking Gaspar Noé seems eagerly bent on proving that the human is an instinctively hideous race. Cinema's
most ruthless and traumatic piece of sensory abuse, his film has profound truths
and parallels about art, civilisation and humanity laid down next to the
kind of irrelevant pseudo-intellectualism that leads him to cap things off
with a hysterical credo that undermines much of what's been demontrated.
dir:
Gaspar Noé
cast: Monica Belluci, Vincent Cassel, Albert Dupontel,
Philippe Nahon, Jo Prestia
JAPANESE
STORY
***
Australia
An arty vehicle for Toni Collette, who plays the unwilling tour guide to a
Japanese businessman visiting the Australian outback. Like its leading
lady's efforts, the picture is mannered and shallow until it takes a
detour in the third act towards something ostensibly more authentic.
Collette's performance grows flesh and bones even as the film stagnates
and becomes repetitive and the Japanese character is rounded off as an
exotic nothing.
dir: Sue Brooks
cast: Toni Collette, Gotaro Tsunashima, Matthew Dyktynski, Lynette
Curran, Kate Atkinson, John Howard, Justine Clark
LILJA 4-EVER
****
Sweden/Denmark
In post-USSR periphery, a 16-year-old is
abandoned by her mother and forced into prostitution.
A relentless, harrowing case study, driven by a forceful central
performance, even if at times, you start to wonder if Moodysson isn't just
being sadistic.
wr/dir:
Lukas Moodysson
cast: Oksana Akinshina, Artyom Bogucharsky, Lyubov
Agapova, Pavel Panomaryov, Tomasz Neuman, Liliya Shinkaryova, Elina
Benenson
LILO & STITCH
**½
USA
An odd, confused cartoon, borrowing heavily from Disney's own ample
supply of cute orphan crises as well as other people's stories of
extra-terrestrials and iron giants making young friends on our planet.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS
****
USA/New Zealand/Germany
The remnants of the fellowship continue to fight
evil.
The dark and majestic middle chapter of a landmark trilogy. Though for
a long time it struggles with multiple loose storylines, this second instalment
eventually comes together for a far more impressive climax than its
predecessor, a far more
satisfying temporary resolution and a far more effective cliffhanger.
dir:
Peter Jackson
ph:
Andrew Lesnie
ed:
Michael Horton
cast: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Andy
Serkis, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, John Rhys-Davies,
Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Miranda Otto, Liv Tyler, Bernard Hill,
Brad Dourif, David Wenham, Karl Urban, Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett
LOST IN LA MANCHA
***
UK/USA
Basically just the never-getting-made of Terry Gilliam's "The Man
from La Mancha". Certainly fascinating but not particularly skilful
in its own right. Brief clips from Orson Welles' abandoned adaptation of
"Don Quixote" are the depressing highlight.
dir:
Keith Fulton, Louis Pepe
LOVELY AND AMAZING
***½
USA
The insecurities of an aging mother and her
three self-conscious daughters.
Warm, witty, observant drama of women's image insecurities
and women in general, with impressive ensemble acting.
dir:
Nicole Holofcener
cast: Catherine Keener, Brenda Blethyn, Emily Mortimer, Raven
Goodwin, Jake Gyllenhaal, James LeGros, Dermot Mulroney
THE MAGDALENE SISTERS
***½
UK
Three girls deemed immoral are incarcerated by
the Catholic church under the strict supervision of sadistic nuns.
An angry, searing adaptation of true events. In the hands of a
more experienced filmmaker however, the treatment would have possibly been
more reflective.
dir: Peter Mullan
cast: Geraldine McEwan, Anne-Marie Duff, Nora-Jane Noone,
Dorothy Duffy, Eileen Walsh
THE MAN WITHOUT A PAST
****
Finland/Germany/France
An amnesiac starts life over in Helsinki.
A dryly amusing, yet warm and humanist fable, beautifully
composed and executed.
wr/dir:
Aki Kaurismäki
cast: Markku Peltola, Kati Outinen, Annikki Tähti, Juhani
Niemelä, Kaija Pakarinen, Tähti
MAROONED IN IRAQ
***½
Iran
An energetic, tragicomic road-trip across the Iranian-Iraqi border.
wr/dir: Bahman Gobadi
MAY
**
USA
Slasher horror that takes on the familiar brand of
perfection-fixated psychopath at a more deliberate pace than is the
standard, for no evident reason other than to
delay much of the gore till the closing reels.
dir:
Lucky McKee
cast: Angela Bettis, Jeremy Sisto, Anna Faris, James Duval,
Nichole M. Hiltz
MEN IN BLACK 2
*½
USA
Will Smith & Co. are once again amused by their own jokes as they
battle to unearth undercover terrorist aliens and a plot.
MINORITY REPORT
****½
USA
50 years into the future, when the police is
able to arrest people before they commit crimes, a cop gets on the wanted
list.
Marred towards the end by Spielberg's lack of subtlety, but for the
most part this is a dark,
intense and brilliant sci-fi noir, with stylish visuals and several exciting set-pieces.
dir: Steven Spielberg
cast: Tom Cruise, Max von Sydow, Colin Farrell, Samantha
Morton
MORVERN
CALLAR
***½
UK
The trouble with this moody, artsy plunge into an emotionally detached
young woman's mind is that director Lynne Ramsay is determined to paint
her heroine as a romantic-maladjusted cipher and is above pausing to
really consider her increasingly unpalatable behaviour. Ramsay is very
skilled at building atmosphere and investing potentially very silly scenes
with intrigue and an engaging, off-kilter perspective - so much so that
it's very tempting to watch the oddities and incongruities pile up and
project some kind of coherence onto them. But then too often you notice
her slipping in bits of preciousness or hipster mysticism of the kind that
signals an unsteady hand trying to give off the impression of having a
handle on things.
dir: Lynne Ramsay
ph: Alwin H. Kuchler
cast: Samantha Morton, Kathleen McDermott, Linda McGuire, Ruby
Milton, Dolly Wells, Dan Cadan, Carolyn Calder, Raife Patrick Burchell
MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING
*½
USA
An unmarried woman of Greek descent falls in
love with an American, much to her family's distress.
Crude, ragged, poorly produced, poorly acted and not quite directed.
Vardalos crudely exploits racial stereotypes and piles on further
exaggerating caricatures, completely trivializing issues of family,
heritage, culture and tradition along the way. A cheap, shameless,
offensive sell-out. And the public loved it.
dir: Joel Zwick
cast: Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Michael Constantine,
Lainie Kazan
ONE HOUR PHOTO
***
USA
The tale of the friendly neighbourhood psychopath needs far more
courage than comes with mainstream distribution. Visual flourishes,
including a profoundly shocking and relatively inexplicable nightmare, are wasted by the time the
maker gets about to making his protagonist huggable in a pathetic finale.
OPEN HEARTS
***
Denmark
A Dogme study of relationships, which although intelligent, really
brings nothing new to the subject.
PANIC ROOM
****
USA
A troubled divorcee and her teenage daughter are
trapped in a high security room in their New York mansion when criminals
break into their apartment in search of money.
A tight, engaging and shamelessly, openly manipulative thriller. Resemblances to
Hitchcock are many and welcome.
dir: David Fincher
cast: Jodie Foster, Forest Whitaker, Kristen Stewart, Dwight
Yoakam, Jared Leto
THE PIANIST
***
France/Germany/UK.Poland
Brilliant pianist Wladislaw Szpilman's plights
to survive WWII in Warsaw.
You cannot doubt the humanity and integrity of this piece,
aside from the unfortunate decision to make the Polish characters speak in
awkwardly pronounced English. This latter choice though, adds a sense of
artifice to the storytelling. It particularly undermines the first hour's proceedings,
where the picture awkwardly struggles to cram in the maximum of heavy-impact Holocaust horror
stories. As dialogue subsides and the picture gains focus in later stages
however, it
also gains a devastating emotional impact.
dir:
Roman Polanski
cast: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Emilia Fox, Frank
Finlay, Maureen Lipman, Michael Zebrowski, Ed Stoppard, Jessica Kate Meyer
PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE
****
USA
An anti-social small-business owner falls in
love.
An edgy, restless, austere yet gloriously romantic comedy. Impeccably
crafted, with a captivating - and shocking - lead turn.
wr/dir:
Paul Thomas Anderson
ph:
Robert Elswit
m:
Jon Brion
cast: Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, Philip Seymour
Hoffman, Luis Guzmán, Mary Lynn Rajkoub
THE QUIET AMERICAN
***
USA/Germany/Australia
A British journalist in 50s Vietnam carries on
an affair with a young local beauty but finds competition in a cheerful
American.
The dramatic pull of the narrative - which carries great potential - is undermined by the director's
uninventive treatment.
There is no sense of setting established - the production detail is there
but not the atmosphere that should accompany it, the love interest is
beautiful but bland, the attempt at political study muddled - and
ultimately the story holds no sweep or power.
dir:
Philip Noyce
cast: Michael Caine, Brendan Fraser, Do Thi Hai Yen, Rade
Sherbedgia
RAISING VICTOR VARGAS
***
USA
A wanna-be teen lothario pursues a local ice
queen.
An authentic, if slight, rites-of-passage tale with ethnic
flavouring.
dir: Peter Sollett
cast: Victor Rasuk, Altagracia Guzman, Judy Marte, Meloni
Diaz, Silvestre Rasuk, Krystal Rodriguez, Kevin Rivera
ROAD TO PERDITION
***½
USA
During the Depression Era, a young boy discovers
his father is a hitman.
A haunting, gorgeously crafted gangster drama, which continually
struggles to overcome its central miscasting and an unnecessary flashback
structure. However, the visuals and the supporting performances are mesmerizing.
dir:
Sam Mendes
ph:
Conrad L. Hall
cast: Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law, Stanley Tucci,
Jennifer Jason Leigh
RUSSIAN ARK
****
Russia
An unseen modern filmmaker journeys through the
Hermitage museum, where historical figures come alive.
An innovative, experimental history essay, consisting of a single,
unbroken 96-minute shot. An impossibly fluid epic meditation on matters of time, culture and humanity in
general.
wr/dir: Alexander Sokurov
ph: Tilman Büttner
cast: Sergey Dreiden
voice of: Alexander Sokurov
SECRETARY
***½
USA
A recently institutionalized young woman is
employed as a secretary by a lawyer with a penchant for S&M.
A wholly original romantic comedy. Kinky, wry and startlingly affecting.
dir: Steven Shainberg
cast: Maggie Gyllenhaal, James Spader, Jeremy Davies,
Lesley Ann Warren
THE SON
***
Belgium/France
The Dardennes seem uncomfortable about treading on a rigidly contrived
plot so they crank it up on the mundane. The approach works to a limit -
that limit is whenever Isabella Soupart (in a small but crucial supporting
role) speaks; it isn't her fault - she's lovely and unaffected - it's the
kind of dialogue she's given. It makes you reconsider whether Olivier
Gourmet's silent, reserved brooding - which takes up the greater chunk of
the screentime - isn't quite as pregnant with poignancy as you were led to
believe.
All the same, the tension builds up by the closing stretch,
in large part because you - the kind of person that makes up the
viewership for spare, slow-burning French-language allegories - have far
less faith in the characters than the Dardennes do.
wr/dir: Jean-Pirre & Luc Dardenne
cast: Olivier Gourmet, Morgan Marinne, Isabella Soupart
SPIDER
***
Canada/UK
A man previously institutionalized for acute
schizophrenia arrives at a London halfway house.
A dark and austere descent into a disturbed mind. Heavy-going, overlong and alienating.
dir: David Cronenberg
cast: Ralph Fiennes, Miranda Richardson, Gabriel
Byrne
SPIDER-MAN
***
USA
Nerdy high-school student Peter Parker is
transformed into a super-hero through a radioactive spider bite.
A wildly successful comic book adaptation,
remaining true to its source without sinking to self-parody. Its
chief appeal lies in the likable central performance.
dir:
Sam Raimi
cast: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Willem Dafoe, James
Franco
SUNSHINE STATE
***½
USA
John Sayles' discourse on capitalism suffocating tradition in an
increasingly kitschified South hits points of astounding sensitivity and
resonance, but it's predictably cluttered by thin and thoroughly redundant
subplots and character arcs. The strongest sections have Edie Falco
playing a reluctant, conflicted heiress to an ailing small-town motel with
a family legacy.
wr/dir: John Sayles
cast: Edie Falco, Angela Bassett, Jane Alexander, Ralph Wait, James
McDaniel, Timothy Hutton, Mary Steenburgen, Alex Lewis, Gordon Clapp,
Richard Edson, Tom Wright, Perry Lang, Miguel Ferrer
SWEET SIXTEEN
***½
UK
A Glasgow youth turns to drug dealing to ensure
a brighter future for his mother - once she gets out of prison, his sister
and her child.
A squalid and subversive take on the coming of age tale, both amusing and
unsettling, often simultaneously.
dir:
Ken Loach
cast: Martin Compston, William Ruane, Annmarie Fulton,
Michelle Abercomby, Michelle Coulter, Gary McCormack, Tommy McKee
TALK TO HER
*****
Spain
Two men are brought together through their
infatuations with two comatose women.
An eccentric yet soulful celebration of the mystery of women -
Almodóvar's second in a row, confirming a late-career flowering. His
plots are as charged with melodrama as they were in his early, maverick
days. But his attitude has grown more meditative, more mature. His
characters' emotions are no longer heightened in order to be laughed at,
but subtly revealed and intensely affecting. His freedom and generosity of
spirit have evolved into - or, at least, have exposed - a profound
humanism. He has learned to mix his signature bawdy humour with feeling,
and to structure his films with a mastery that feels effortless.
wr/dir:
Pedro Almodóvar
ph: Javier Aguirresarobe
m: Alberto Iglesias
cast: Javier Cámara, Darío Grandinetti, Leonor
Watling,
Rosario Flores, Geraldine Chaplin
TO BE AND TWO HAVE
***
France
An internationally celebrated documentary about a primary school
teacher in a small, desolate French town. Predictably sweet and charming,
it's well-crafted but it has too many cute kids and their parents to
keep track of.
dir:
Nicolas Philibert
25TH HOUR
*½
USA
A drug dealer re-evaluates his life on his final
day before he goes to prison.
An uneven study of a doomed, conscience-stricken
criminal, with bits of a grieving NYC and unnerving characterizations
carelessly interspersed. It gradually devolves into a beguiling
schmaltzfest - culminating in a pathetic, exhausting finale.
dir: Spike Lee
cast: Edward Norton, Rosario Dawson, Barry Pepper, Philip
Seymour Hoffman, Anna Paquin, Brian Cox, Levani
24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE
***
UK
The story of the rise and fall of Manchester's
Factory Records.
A loving (maybe too loving) recreation of an era. Smart, original and quite funny, when
engaging.
wr/dir: Michael Winterbottom
cast: Steve Coogan, Paddy Considine, Danny Cunningham, Sean
Harris, Shirley Henderson, Lennie James, Andy Serkis, John Simm
UNFAITHFUL
***
USA
A happily-married woman has an extramarital
affair.
A moody, heavy-handed but surprisingly compelling remake of Claude Chabrol's
"La Femme infidèle" (1968).
dir:
Adrian Lyne
cast: Diane Lane, Richard Gere, Olivier Martinez,
Erik Per Sullivan
UZAK
***
Turkey
A young man from a rural town moves into an
uncle photographer's apartment in Istanbul.
A cold, austere, elegantly composed meditation on loneliness and
disconnectedness. For all its patience and intelligence, it offers
nothing along the way of dramatic interest.
wr/dir:
Nuri Bilge Ceylan
ph: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
cast: Muzaffer Özdemir, Emin Toprak
THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND
***½
USA
The titular revolutionary movement started off around 1968 with
commendable ideals, battling a political administration distressingly
similar to our contemporary one. This documentary tracks how extreme
conditions and a grad student naivety led the group to devolve into
something far less admirable. It’s a disheartening film, as much for
depicting the Weathermen’s ugly deterioration, as it is for pointing out
the lack of this type of justice-seeking conviction at a time when it’s
urgently needed.
dir: Sam Green, Bill Siegel
WELCOME TO COLLINWOOD
***
USA
Harmless, mildly amusing comedy revolving
around a bunch of inept oddballs (played by excellent actors) devising a
caper plot.
dir:
Anthony Russo, Joseph Russo
cast: San Rockwell, William H. Macy, Luis Guzmán, Patricia
Clarkson, Michael Jeter, Isaiah Washington, George Clooney, Jennifer
Esposito, Gabrielle Union
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