Category: Movies

I have finally re-vamped the pages on this blog: “Pyramid” is some kind of about page, you will see what I mean; “Links” is deleted now; “Places” is what originally was “Forums” since I barely are on forums anymore. Harr, I am so proud of myself XD Now onto my huge backlog of film reviews:

(By the way, have I ever mentioned what a pain backlogs are? My list of manga series I have to read exceeds two A4 pages. I won’t even talk about books…)

Stranger than Paradise

The great thing or the problem with “Stranger than Paradise” is that it is a typical Jim Jarmusch film. Actually I only realized that there are “typical” and “atypical” Jarmusch films while watching this film – Ghost Dog and Coffee & Cigarettes are rather atypical, I think that Night on Earth is too overtly funny to be a typical Jarmusch too; the others (Stranger than Paradise, Permanent Vacation, Dead Man, Broken Flowers) are the rather typical ones. So while watching “Stranger than Paradise”, I always had in mind that it is a Jarmusch film and can’t help but see it as a piece of a bigger work (Jarmusch’s oeuvre, so to say).

However, it’s those jarmuschesque elements that make the film so gorgeous: The slow pace creating a strong atmosphere, the nonsensensical talk about trivial matters, the beauty of triviality and of course the subtle humour (“Don’t speak hungarian with me!” Haha XD). It’s also the hilarious and smart ending that made the film so great: My favourite scene obviously was the Deus-ex-machina scene with the black drug dealer, ahaha, that was so good!

Now my expectations for “Down by Law” are even much higher ^^;;; But I have heard from many voices that it’s funny and good, so I’m quite positive.

2001: A Space Odyssey

This is another one of those great films. In my opinion, there currently are three great films in history (“currently” because I think Lord of the Rings or Titanic or whatever might get included as a fourth some day): Citizen Kane, 2001 and The Godfather. They appear on every big film list at the top places and it’s likely for some critic to say “This is the greatest movie of all times”.
I have not seen The Godfather, but I see some similarities between Citizen Kane and 2001. I agree with the listings saying that those are great films, but for some reason, both fail to stir up emotions in me O.o I would never put these films in my personal favourite film lists because the distance between myself and this films are too wide that their artistic, historical and intellectual merit could never compensate it. It is quite weird because Citizen Kane’s topic and story was actually interesting and touching (especially the end) and 2001 had immensely beautiful and well-chosen music which contributed perfectly to the slow-paced atmosphere of the film.

A propos the music of 2001, I read about how much time Kubrick took to decide on what music to choose… my god, he’s such a diva, but I am very pleased with the result so I will shut my mouth.
However, the slow pace of the film is something I really cannot overlook. I used to hate slow-paced films, but that was a long time ago and I feel like 2001 is the slowest film I have seen in years. Generally I also find that the pace contributed to the atmosphere of the film, but I don’t think it was necessary to drag is *so* long. Maybe that’s just me, but I haven’t seen so many critics complaining about the boredom of a film – not that I agree, but the complaint of boredom surely comes from the slow pace.

On all other aspects, I totally approve of 2001. Even though I knew what would happen to HAL, I have thoroughly enjoyed the development of his behaviour and… obviously he’s my favourite “character” because actually he’s the only one with any character and “Jupiter Mission: Eighteen Months Later” was my favourite part of the whole film. The german dub is interesting, but I wonder how HAL sounds like in the original. I think the way he (and the other) speak is quite important to the meaning of the whole film, in case one wants to get into all those symbolic allegories and deep analysis in the film.

Sakuran

I really have a problem with films I actually like and want to write a lot about, but then end up not knowing where to begin and pushing back blogging about it for the longest time. In this case, Sakuran is not some masterpiece, but extremely good. Quite a few months ago, I have seen this posting on the Manga Jouhou Blog and even though I really dislike Anna Tsuchiya, I immediately fell in love with the colourful backgrounds and the fact that Shiina Ringo provided the music. Look at the screenshots and see for yourself, because the beauty of the film cannot be described by words alone. I also have read that the director is a female (!) photographer who made her debut with this film. You can easily see that – every screenshot looks like a photographic composition.
Therefore, I expected am extremely good-looking film with even better soundtrack. I was right with my expectations, but Sakuran is more than that.

The whole story is chronological (unlike the manga, which starts with how Kiyoha became oiran and then becomes chronological) and it is more faithful to the manga than I have expected. A lot of scenes and dialogues are taken out of the manga, of course with an original ending (an end which Moyoco Anno herself would never have written, by the way – that is so NOT her). But since she stopped drawing the series, the film had to include a proper ending. (She is rather slow anyways, it seems. Hataraki Man seems to moving on rather slowly too, even for a monthly magazine.)

Because I was so amazed by the film, I ended up reading the manga again today: It’s rather difficult to compare the manga to the live-action, aside from the story, they have nothing in common. The atmosphere of the anime is marked by the director’s unusual background settings; the character and personality of Kiyoha is very well-portrayed by Anna Tsuchiya, but nevertheless, she looks totally different from the manga’s Kiyoha. Also, I don’t consider Moyoco Anno’s characters sexy in any way, and Anna Tsuchiya (even with her punch-me-face) does those ‘sexy” glares quite well in my opinion.
On a side note, I really, really dislike Anna Tsuchiya. It annoyed me how she got to do the first OP and second ED for Nana, I really dislike her face and voice, but I have to admit that she’s a good actress. Much much better than the lolita girl in Shimotsuma Monogatari (whatever her name was). The worst is her (natural?) smile though – she does much better as mean and ill-spirited Kiyoha *ehehe* That’s also why I think that this role suits her so much – I could not imagine any other japanese actress to play this kind of role so well. Unlike her, those all give off that “nice girl” feeling.
(And did you know that she’s half japanese, half caucasian? I totally have not expected that – I mean, she doesn’t even look half as good as Olivia *tehe*)

Oh, but there is a scene where Anna Tsuchiya actually looked good in! It was the point where she went to see her lover and her face was covered by rain, her cape and hair so much that you barely saw her face. So what was left was her desperate, glaring look without any make up which made her much more natural and beautiful than in any other scene of the film.
It’s not like I really disliked the make-up though. I love the outfit (cast aside the hairstyle which I whole-heartedly find ugly) and especially how there is a little bit of red eyeshadow applied on the outer corner of her lids.

Congratulations if you have kept up with my long ranting until now. There is even more what I want to say about it, but I have forgotten it… aaaah!
Oh, while searching for a movie poster, I recalled what I have forgotten: The german poster says something like Sakuran is just like “Memoirs of a Geisha” mixed with “Marie Antoinette”. Well, there are several voices comparing Sakuran with Marie Antoinette (unrealistic history film with modern soundtrack), but even though both films are directed by women and put an emphasis on looking good, Sakuran looks like thousand times better and the music, no matter how modern it is, matches the atmosphere perfectly unlike that pseudo-poprock crap in Marie Antoinette. All in all, Sakuran has a much higher re-watch value and didn’t bore me for even one second.

Monster

So I finally got myself to watch this film, after pushing it away endlessly because I feared it would depress me too much. After all, I knew that she’s going to be sentenced to death. But now… I don’t mind! Her character (even more in reality) was absolutely despicable in my eyes, I don’t see any reason for her to have done all that, except for the first and maybe the second guy. But when I saw her needlessly killing the policeman off, I ended up really disliking her; even more at the point where she tried to convince Selby how she’s innocent and did nothing wrong *heh* Obviously she does not understand anything about society. What I understood the best was how that lawyer person felt offended because she wanted something that other people work hard their whole life for. I can totally relate to that – I admit that she has worked hard in her life too, but “working hard” is not enough, you have work hard on the right thing.
Oh, and even though Christina Ricci looked cute – her character is even more despicable than Wuornos’. I mean, a little stupid girl who expects her girlfriend to continue prostituting herself and pay for her life? And then doesn’t have enough and wants to meet her “new friends”? And then end up accusing her of murder? My god, what a bitch.
But whatever, from what I can see from Wuornos’ biography, the happenings in the film are far, far away from reality, so bleh.

The most shocking experience was actually when I looked up the real Aileen Wuornos on Wikipedia: Look at her picture! Charlize Theron’s make-up, facial expression and hair in this film is so perfect, for one second I thought that the picture of Wuornos is actually taken out of the film O.o Pochi even said “if somebody is courageous enough to display so much ugliness, she fully deserves an Oscar” and I can’t help but agree. Charlize Theron is beautiful and graceful, but I never really see her as a good actress – of course, this film has totally changed my mind. She will probably never play such a role again, because playing it once proves how incredibly versatile she is.

Roman Holiday

Did you know that the german title for this film is “Ein Herz und eine Krone”? Pochi always says “Ein Herz und eine Knolle” and that is also how he came with the title of this post. Lucky! *hehe*

The reason why we have watched this film is very simple: The german issue of Vanity Fair is having a 1€ summer special with a free DVD included – and I just couldn’t resist at this price. Aside from the fact that the Vanity Fair is so pseudo-upper-class that it hurts my eyes, the DVD alone was worth the money. I have expected the version to only have german dubs, but in fact, it has the original version with english subtitles and the german dub AND the german subtitles! That’s quite incredible and proves once again that Vanity Fair is horribly rich. But I feel very lucky that it is like this *heh*
Who knows, if the magazine brings out some other good nice film, I might want to get them too.

Content-wise, this film was totally a winner for me too. I have watched it ages and ages ago – Roman Holiday is my father’s favourite film of all times and he showed it to me by saying that the ending scene is the most romantic he has ever seen. It isn’t surprising considering how sparkling and beautiful La Hepburn looks in it. Unfortunately, the ending scene was also the only one I really remembered well. And this time, I could finally enjoy it in its full length.

What I really liked was how Pochi pointed out that Paprika references to the film with the girl beating some of the ‘gangsters’ with a guitar. Oh, how much I love Paprika – but this isn’t the place to say it.
Back to Roman Holiday, I think I kind of understand why this is probably Audrey Hepburn’s most successful film (despite the slight lack of humour). Her chemistry with Gregory Peck is just much better than with every single of her other film partners. However, I don’t think that her performance is better or worthier of an Oscar – it also is nothing compared to “Wait Until Dark” which was so much better, imho. In my opinion, it is a role that makes it impossible to really stand out with your acting. Ah well…

This is a film I could continue to rant about for ages, and it is a worthy no. 3 in my list (with Wait Until Dark and Sabrina as only films that surpasses it).

Million Dollar Baby

I started watching this film with the strong conviction that it would be “overrated”. But then, the story became quite touching when she started to become successful. Before, it was merely an “american dream” Hollywood movie for me; afterwards, everything became more interesting. I didn’t care for the fights (I never liked boxing), but I cared about the characters, their relationship and the overall atmosphere of the film. In the end, the last scene surely was sad, especially because they left it quite open. I would have wished to know a little bit about what became of the others afterwards.

Aside from the slight sadness of the end, I have to admit that I was quite right to assume that the film wouldn’t do all that much for me. I think that Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman are great actors, however I don’t particularily like Hilary Swank (she always has this same face, my my), so there is nothing outstanding really. However, I do think that it was a nice experience to have watched this film and noticed that it met my expectations exactly – it’s not like I wasted my time.

Das Leben der Anderen

I have to admit that it’s a really bad habit not to watch films in their entirety, but stop here and there. Somehow it destroys the flow of the film and unfortunately I had to do this for this great film *_*

Honestly I have been a little bit surprised that Shii said he’s not interested in this, mainly because he doesn’t know anything about the DDR back then. But I don’t know much about the DDR either, however I’m kind of interested because I have lived in East-Berlin near the Karl-Marx-Allee after the downfall of the wall, and everything was still heavily influenced by that time. In my opinion, the atmosphere is still there.

Admittedly, I think this film has the weakness of being slightly unrealistic – it doesn’t really make clear why exactly the protagonist has changed. Listening to a piano sonata definitely is not enough to convince me really. The second thing that bugged me a little bit was the talk about ‘good people’. It’s probably a personal thing, but I simply do not like the talk about ‘good’ and ‘bad’, as most people who talk about that are horrible hypocrites.

Aside from that, the film is plain gorgeous: It has an exceptionary atmosphere thanks to the soundtrack and a marvelous Ulrich Mühe. At the beginning, I was seriously scared by that look of his and the way he talked. It makes the naive me to realize that the Stasi back then was really scary.

Another striking characteristic of this film is that I have not felt bored at all. Usually, german films have always had this kind of boring and sad atmosphere. This film, far from being lively, is suspenseful and at the same time touching and scary enough to keep me interest all the way. Especially the end of the film is rather slow-paced, I suppose, but I haven’t thought of it as slow at all. And despite the lack of realism I have already mentioned, I found it the end very moving.

L’auberge espagnole

I am so sold. This film came on TV by chance today and it’s been ages that I’ve heard about it. Actually I only watched this because I’m on a roll with films right now – these last months, I haven’t seen lots and lots of nice films because I didn’t feel like watching something.

Luckily, this choice was fabulous. I was actually at Pochi’s place and we wanted to record the film, instead we ended up watching the whole thing while it was recording *ahaha* The scene that clicked with us was obviously the one where Xavier ran from office to office to get all his Erasmus forms together. Also, I have heard that french people are even more bureaucratic than germans…

Even though it was just a few hours ago that I’ve watched this film, I’ve already forgotten what I wanted to say about it exactly. Actually it’s just way too much – the characters are great (in their way, even that annoying british brother), all the little episodes in the story are so utterly funny and the subject Erasmus exchange year fits me like a glove right now. I am wondering how my exchange year will be. Great of course, but how exactly? After all, the film is very positive and optimistic (hey, maybe I like this one and Volver so much because they were so utterly optimistic?): The people are chaotic but nice, the city is beautiful, parties are all fun and the fact that people usually get scammed really badly when they go away for an exchange year is totally forgotten… Also, everybody always has enough money. Well, but aside from that, the get-together of people of different nationalities is really nicely done. However, it struck me as interesting that the only two guys in the story who were not particularily likeable were british and american. I mean, it’s a french film *ggg*

The very best was the scene with Wendy’s boyfriend coming over, of course *ahaha* It was the most memorable scene, but there just were so many lines where we had to laugh so badly. However, I think that this film is somehow like American Pie – American Pie is only funny when you’re a stupid, virgin teenager. Just like that, L’auberge espagnole is only funny when you’re an college student about to do an exchange year.

In the end, I had lots of fun watching this film – except for the end, even though I actually loved how he fled from his first work day. And I also liked how he left his stupid girl friend (oh poor Audrey Tautou, why did you take this dumb role?), but the cheesiness of those flashbacks and his monologue really pushed me away. Nevertheless, this film is highly recommended despite, or because its quirky humour!

PS. Nowadays, it’s so easy to spot popular and better mainstream films: They always have sequels, just like this one.

Volver

Since the nearest videotheque is shit after all, we weren’t able to watch either Charade, Science of Sleep, Amores Perros or 2001. So in the end, we unwillingly decided for Volver, but oh, what a great surprise it was! I remember very well how Shii described the film as “woman-friendly” and not all that great, so I wasn’t really looking forward watching that film. Almodóvar is getting old and I feared that you can see it in the film (just like I didn’t really like “Broken Flowers” because it kind of lacked Jim Jarmusch’s freshness from his earlier films). However, I was totally wrong.

Sure, Volver is kind of different from his other films – we have a prostitute, but she’s not all that important, and especially we don’t have any transvestites at all (how unusual! XD). Basically all of Almodóvar’s typical aspects are missing except for Penélope Cruz, maybe. And even though I love his transvestites, this film has brought in other great and fresh elements, which are an optimistic end, humour and family relationships. Also, this film was just much more cliché-ish spanish than the others (all those neighbours *ahaha*)
The funniest scenes were still the ones with la russa… “Raimunda!” *HAHAHA* The humour was a very simple one, but oh so great! I don’t recall having ever laughed at Almodóvar’s films and I think he does well on this.

I also really like Penélope Cruz’ performance in this film; she seems much more mature and much more believable as independent and spirited woman than in her other roles, even though the little innocent girl matches her face perfectly. She also stayed very likeable through the whole story and I hope she will get together with that guy from the film crew. But then again, that would have distracted from the focus on her mother and it’s good that they left it like that :]
In the moment she suddenly started to sing, I really feared that it would kill the mood (on a sidenote, I usually hate singing in films, except for “Singin’ in the Rain”), but it didn’t! It was nice to include the title into the song and it actually had an emotional impact on me.

I guess I don’t need to mention how much I love the poster for Volver – it’s cliché and all, yeah, but so damn sexy. Also, I love the red which goes so well with Raimunda’s character that I’m wondering why we never see her in a dark red dress. To come back to the aspect of “woman-friendliness” – it didn’t bother me at all. It was not like “All women are good, all men are bad”, it was just that the whole story revolved around women. So it’s more “woman-centered” than “woman-friendly” in my eyes and I ended up liking all the characters (except for Agustina maybe). In the end, it seems like I’m having a totally other opinion about this film than everybody else *heh*

Now the next thing I should do is to watch this film with the commentaries by Almodóvar and Cruz. I did this for “Hable con ella” and it was really enlightening. I really thought that I’ve understood much more about the film by seeing the commentaries. Especially the dancing scene at the beginning gained meaning for me after his explanation.

The Hole

Yesterday, while watching “The Crimson Rivers”, I suddenly remembered that I have watched this movie without blogging about this. That’s rather weird because in fact, it had a similar emotional impact on me like Election. Both films are not supposed to be all that serious, but I could not help but taking them really serious. Maybe it’s the high school setting, who knows. In fact, I was the most emotional during my high school years, so a little bit more depth has a lot more impact on me than the greatest story in an office environment, such as Hataraki Man.

I was not really scared about the darkness of the film and I didn’t really take her love for serious, but I still had this feeling that I would have done the same thing in her place, and that’s scary. The whole film had this atmosphere of realism (same goes for Election) with these well-portrayed, strong characters. And I also liked how she ended up well in the end (even though I hated her), after actually confessing to that psychologist – somehow I think she has deserved it.

And now I wonder whether short- and dark-haired high school girls are all emo. Thora Birch is such a great actress though, much better than Keira Knightley (but then again, Keira Knightley was 15 at that time O.o).