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Take a romance story (something I love), make it written by Margrette Duras (someone who I hate and am confused by, but Len Berkman loves her) and then make it directed by Alain Renais (major loving) and you get a movie that really I just flat out love. The movie tells the story of a french actress who is in Japan on a film shoot and meets a Japanese architect. They have a brief affair, and some beautiful moments and pretty much that is the movie. When you sit down to watch this movie you aren't sitting down for an epic War & Peace type story (though this is one of the first movies to encorporate flashback sequences), but just a few beautiful moments and in that way the movie delivers ten fold. While not a movie for everyone, it certainly retains its importance to film history after almost 50 years. I give this movie a 9/10, if for only the first fifteen minutes of the film and it's poetic beauty.
9/10
A collection of 18 short stories about love and paris and of course vampires staring an impresive array of actors (Natalie Portman, Elijiah Wood, Steve Buschemi, Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe, etc.) and an equally impressive lineup of driectors (Wes Craven, Gus Van Sant, Alexander Payne, Alfonso Cuaron, Coen Brother, etc.). The film runs the gamut of types of characters, forms of love and places in Paris which are explored. My only really complaint would be that there was a lot of brilliance in the film that I feel I personally missed out on due to the fact that I have never been to Paris and don't know any French. For example the story of the nanny and the baby didn't make much sense to me because I didn't know any french, but according to Jessi the nanny sings a different song to her own child then to the child she is nannying, which makes a drastic difference in how i interpreted the story. I give this film a an 6/10, for showing some beautiful moments.
6/10
This is a very British take on Psycho and fittingly came out rigth aroudn the same time. The film tracks a filmaker who can always be found with his camera, and can always be found killing young, attractive girls. I really don't have much to say about the film. I think it was a good film, but I think its one of those things that has had a difficult time surviving the test of time, unlike Psycho which I still believe is horrifying and wonderful. This on the other hand was amusing and well done, but just is missing something I feel. Don't get me wrong the movie does have some very disturbing moments and is a good film. I give this film a 5/10, for being what at one time was probably a great film and now is just a good film.
5/10
(Spoiler Alert, though I don't know why you would want to see this movie)I came into this film with very high expectations. Zhang Yimou's two previous efforts, Hero and House of Flying Daggers were both spectacular films, leaving my mouth watering for this film, especially since the trailer to the movie made it look quite exceptional. Wow was I wrong. Everything that had been done perfect in the other two films, somehow was butchered in this film. The music sucked, the characters were uninteresting, the story felt like I was watching the Spark Notes to the actual story, the color pallette, while probably the only mildly redeeming factor, nauseated me at certain times. And oh lets not forget the CGI in this film which appeared to be out of a poor PS2 game, or the fight scences which didn't come close to the grace and beauty of the two previous films that I have mentioned by Yimou.While watching this film my brother walked in and asked why I was still watching the movie if I hated it so much and I told him because good endings can often save a movie. This film's ending hurt an already horrible film. Did anyone who saw this not laugh when Prince Jai's body is tossed by the enemy soldiers and they say "Throw" and then the golden soldiers but their spears together and say "Catch". Also the very last scene and then the immediate transition to a horendous song. The only glimmer I have after watching this film is that Yimou has always been critized for being a Chinese director that appeals to American's, but not to Chinese people. I can only hope that perhaps this movie hit on some note that is understood in Chinese culture, but that doesn't translate to my Western thinking mind. I give this movie a generous 1/10, one point for the ok fight scenes and occasional good color pallete and one for all the female character's breasts who are almost popping out.
1/10
Before anything else is said I should mention this film was beautiful, since there is no getting around praising Gondry for the astounding visuals in this film. The film also has above average acting, good music, Gael Garcia Bernal (which is always a plus) and an interesting romantic storyline. The storyline itself still has me somewhat transfixed, though transfixed may not be the best word. It was an interesting storyline, it kept me interested and didn't really fall into cliches, so I'm not sure what problems I had with it. Simply put there were just parts in this movie that didn't flow well and confused me. While I liked all the characters...I simply was confused by certain aspects of what I thought was the real world, but perhaps I wasn't supposed to view the real world in this movie as a real world and more of a more realistic dream world. Overall I give this movie an 6/10, for taking risks and capturing my dreams.
6/10
This movie was everything that I expected Closer to be, a dark depressing movie about characters we really shouldn't like cheating on each other, yet unlike Closer this one succeeds in almost everyway. Not only do you relate and sympathize with these characters, but almost all there charcters in this movie aren't the characters you normally are rooting for in pictures. I won't say there aren't any redeamable characters in this film, but none that truly shine. Besides a few issues with some plot choices, this was a great movie with quality acting, and great directing by Todd Fields who hasn't done anything since In the Bedroom. I give this movie a 8/10, though it was close to getting a ten.
8/10
