TOUT VA BIEN

Up till this point most of the Godard films I have watched have been his early film which while experimental in nature are a lot easier to "get into" then his later politically experimental films. Tout Va Bien is one of those such politically experimental films and one which I had a great deal of difficulty getting into. The movie follows an American woman and French man during the turbulent May 68 Student Revolution and how the revolution impacted a meat factory. The movie moves from moments of sponatneous signing to long drawn out monologues the characters seem to be having either directly with the audience or with the camera itself. At the time this movie was made the audience would have far more background information about the current situation in france then I myself did. Due to this lack of information I immediately fell behind in this movie and quickly lost my way. I give this film a 5/10, since it doesn't reward the viewer enough for all the difficuly.

4/10

THE ILLUSIONIST

Coming out at the same time as The Prestige, the movie theatres last fall were crammed with magicial movies. The Illusionist tells the tale of an ill-fated childhood romance that is rekindled between E. Norton and J. Biel in their adulthood. The film has fair acting and does a very good job of setting the mood for the Viennese culture which uses magic as an escape from their problems. That is unfortunately about all it does well. The story jumps way too quickly when Norton and Biel meet again turning their innocent childhood love, in no time into akward sex. From here the movies builds too its far too predictable ending, in which they explain everything you could've guessed, but none of the things which you were confused about. Like how does he make those dead boys appear? The movie should have either left all the magic unexplained or explained everything. I give this movie a generous 4/10 for Norton's Giamatti's and Sewell's performances.

4/10