An autobiographical film of a girl growing up in Iran.
This film is superb, animated brilliantly and contains the right balance of humour and drama. Persepolis is also the final showing at my local art cinema until summer time as it's in the process of relocation. Being the last for a while, the screening (which i believe is also an advance showing) was free, with free drink and a small free raffle.
Wednesday, 26 March 2008
Monday, 24 March 2008
Cinema: Bikur Ha-Tizmoret (2007)
AKA The Bands Visit
An Egyptian police band become stranded for the night in Israel when they go to the wrong town.
I thought this film was absolutely wonderful. A light charming comedy with some outstanding music, I can't wait to see this film again.
The only qualm i had about the showing however was the that subtitles were provided throughout the films and a lot of it was in English (though a fair amount in Arabic and Hebrew). How sometimes subtitles are required even for English dialogue in cases of heavy accents or a jumbled interpretation of a language but not in this case. The subtitles became a bit of a distraction and I found myself at times reading them when i could understand perfectly.
An Egyptian police band become stranded for the night in Israel when they go to the wrong town.
I thought this film was absolutely wonderful. A light charming comedy with some outstanding music, I can't wait to see this film again.
The only qualm i had about the showing however was the that subtitles were provided throughout the films and a lot of it was in English (though a fair amount in Arabic and Hebrew). How sometimes subtitles are required even for English dialogue in cases of heavy accents or a jumbled interpretation of a language but not in this case. The subtitles became a bit of a distraction and I found myself at times reading them when i could understand perfectly.
Sunday, 23 March 2008
Cinema: Sanxia haoren (2006)
AKA Still Life
In a small village which is being prepared to be flooded two people come searching for those they've lost contact with. The first a man looks for his wife and child who he hasn't seen in 16 years. He must wait whilst there before her brother allows him to speak to her, he takes a temporary job demolishing the evacuated buildings.
The second tale follows a woman who searches for her husband after two years of lost contact. Whilst the two protagonists never cross paths they are connected through several sub characters.
Advertised to me as a documentary, this is anything but. Still I thought it was a wonderful movie which continues to feed my interest in Chinese cinema.
Saturday, 15 March 2008
Film: Various
Matango (1963)
A group of friends out sailing become shipwrecked on an island inhabited by strange mushroom creatures.
A classic and practically unknown horror from the director of Gojira.
The Savages (2007)
Two siblings have to deal with putting their father into a care home when he starts suffering from dementia.
Excellent comedy/drama
Before the Devil Knows Your Dead (2007)
Like The Savages, this stars Philip Seymour Hoffman and is about two siblings and their relationship with their parents.
Two brothers both desperate for money decide to rob a jewelery store which it turns out to be owned by their parents. Things go wrong when the mother is shot.
Told in a non linear manner, the film is split into segments focusing on either one of the brothers or the father at different time periods often jumping back. I thought this film was ok but but the transition between these segments was a bit much.
A group of friends out sailing become shipwrecked on an island inhabited by strange mushroom creatures.
A classic and practically unknown horror from the director of Gojira.
The Savages (2007)
Two siblings have to deal with putting their father into a care home when he starts suffering from dementia.
Excellent comedy/drama
Before the Devil Knows Your Dead (2007)
Like The Savages, this stars Philip Seymour Hoffman and is about two siblings and their relationship with their parents.
Two brothers both desperate for money decide to rob a jewelery store which it turns out to be owned by their parents. Things go wrong when the mother is shot.
Told in a non linear manner, the film is split into segments focusing on either one of the brothers or the father at different time periods often jumping back. I thought this film was ok but but the transition between these segments was a bit much.
Monday, 10 March 2008
Film: Mr Baseball (1992)
Tom Selleck stars as a washed up Baseball player for the Yankees who reluctantly gets transfered to a Japanese team.
Playing like a 90s more mainstream version of Lost in Translation Selleck wanders through Japan taking in all blinded westerners find surprising about modern Tokyo, a woman reading erotic manga on the train, torture game shows and TV commercials starring western celebrities, and also along the way breaking Japanese customs such as not washing before entering a bath and placing chopsticks erect in a bowl of rice.
Likewise with Lost in Translation a lot can be debated whether this film is offensive, a few cheap jokes are made about height and I personally think the reactions to Sellecks blunders are a bit over the top (he mistakenly doesn't take off his shoes before entering the changing rooms, does this rule really apply here?). However this is not enough to cause too much of a problem, the bigger stereotype I found was in fact Sellecks character, he is a obnoxious, arrogant and ignorant American who represents all Westerners misplaced perceptions of the rest of the world. Unwilling to adapt to the new surroundings he must as we expect find his way to doing so by the end of the film not only to succeed professionally but personally. It is a film about a foreigner in a foreign and so the focus is directly placed on the American and doesn't truly bring out the rest characters until towards the latter half, which is a shame as the film could of had a lot more depth then the simple cultural window.
As a comedy the film is not that funny, it does have a few moments placed near the end when most of the culture clash hurdles have passed.
Playing like a 90s more mainstream version of Lost in Translation Selleck wanders through Japan taking in all blinded westerners find surprising about modern Tokyo, a woman reading erotic manga on the train, torture game shows and TV commercials starring western celebrities, and also along the way breaking Japanese customs such as not washing before entering a bath and placing chopsticks erect in a bowl of rice.
Likewise with Lost in Translation a lot can be debated whether this film is offensive, a few cheap jokes are made about height and I personally think the reactions to Sellecks blunders are a bit over the top (he mistakenly doesn't take off his shoes before entering the changing rooms, does this rule really apply here?). However this is not enough to cause too much of a problem, the bigger stereotype I found was in fact Sellecks character, he is a obnoxious, arrogant and ignorant American who represents all Westerners misplaced perceptions of the rest of the world. Unwilling to adapt to the new surroundings he must as we expect find his way to doing so by the end of the film not only to succeed professionally but personally. It is a film about a foreigner in a foreign and so the focus is directly placed on the American and doesn't truly bring out the rest characters until towards the latter half, which is a shame as the film could of had a lot more depth then the simple cultural window.
As a comedy the film is not that funny, it does have a few moments placed near the end when most of the culture clash hurdles have passed.
Sunday, 9 March 2008
Film: Freaks (1932)
A woman pays the price for making a midget think she loves him at a circus' sideshow.
Tod Brownings controversial film brings together a unique array of characters from the popular sideshows or 'freak shows' of the time. We have women born without arms, a man born with no limbs at all, a human skeleton, a chicken woman and many more. Freaks is a compelling drama and a fine example as both exploitation cinema and sideshows of the early 20th century.
The DVD comes with commentary, a in depth documentary that equals the film in length (60 minutes) and a featurette on the alternative endings. The featurette shows the ending we see in the film plus two shortened versions which make little sense. A third longer ending is talked about both unfortunately looks to be lost like almost 30 minutes worth of footage cut from the original print.
Saturday, 8 March 2008
Film: Casino Royale (2006)
For the 21st film in the series the makers not only go back to the original novel but also the beginnings of 007.
A financier commits acts of terrorism in order to control the stock market to make money for his clients, the currently headstrong and recently promoted Bond races against time to stop his latest act of blowing up a plane. They end up head to head in a multi million dollar poker game, a game that could ruin the corrupt financier as he misuses this clients money.
Firstly i didn't now that the story of James Bond was going so far back for this film, I imagined it would be treated as another follow up like the rest. Casino Royale is an exciting and enjoyable film throughout and certainly a lot less confusing then the 60s 'adaption' starring Peter Sellers.
A financier commits acts of terrorism in order to control the stock market to make money for his clients, the currently headstrong and recently promoted Bond races against time to stop his latest act of blowing up a plane. They end up head to head in a multi million dollar poker game, a game that could ruin the corrupt financier as he misuses this clients money.
Firstly i didn't now that the story of James Bond was going so far back for this film, I imagined it would be treated as another follow up like the rest. Casino Royale is an exciting and enjoyable film throughout and certainly a lot less confusing then the 60s 'adaption' starring Peter Sellers.
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