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A simple film that consists of a director, writer and team of actors who I don't know at all. Simple shouldn't be thought of a negative though and in fact is what really won me over. All the film does is tell the story of two friends who haven't seen each other in many years, perhaps almost a decade, who reconnect for a short camping journey. There really is no more plot then that. They don't get into the woods and have a homosexual romance or even get attacked by some weird forest monster. The story is so simple that it is something that one day down the line all of us will run into if we haven't yet, which is why the film is so perfect. Everyone knows they have friends who they have fallen out of contact with and this film documents what happens when people reconnect with those individuals. Perhaps one of you has succeeded and one has failed, one has followed their dreams and one has sold out to the man. Whatever the case is it is an experience each one of us will likely face one day and while nothing dramatic is happening on the exterior, most of the time the interior drama is endless. What to say? What you remember? I give Old Joy a 9/10, for documenting life and nothing else, but coming a little short in some departments. At only 90 minutes the film leaves too many areas unexplored.
9/10
Wong Kar Wai's first english language film has superb acting, cintematography (though it may not be as good as when he had Christopher Doyle who has done nearly all his prior films) and directing. The color palette is staggering. The story, chracters and dialogue though is sadly only average at best and cliche very often, but somehow Wai approaches these cliche topics of alcoholism, heartbreak, and family drama from a back door that the makes the cliche topics seem somehow new. Overall though the dialogue and story is weak and is a downfall in the story. David Strathain and Rachel Weisz story is probably one of the weakest yet seems the strongest thanks to the power acting team. Jude Law, Natalie Portman and the decent Norah Jones really make this film though and are aided by the always unique style of Wai. I give this film an 9/10, since it isn't Wai's best venture, but is perhaps his most accessible to a wide audience that has yet to see his brilliance.
9/10
I rarely watch documentaries, yet this has been the 3rd or maybe even 4th (I'll have to check your wall) documentary that I have watched so far this summer and each one has been great. This has been probably my favorite and most balanced documentary so far this summer. Entering the film I knew I agreed with a lot of Nader's politics, yet at the same time also knew that he was a very polorized figures in American politics, though I didn't really know much about this. What makes this film so good is that it really does portray both the pro and anti-Nader's in a positive light. I think Nader would be happy about the documentary if for no other reason that it allowed everyone to equally speak about the issues (which in this case is him). I give this film a 9/10, for portraying an unreasonable man in a reasonable light.
9/10
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
