Saturday, November 27, 2010

Waking Life (Grade A)

Director: Richard Linklater
Any Awards? Nominated for Independent Spirit Awards
Cast: Wiley Wiggins; Peter Atherton; Steve Brudniak; John Christensen; Julie Delpy; Charles Gunning; Ethan Hawke; Nicky Katt; Kim Krizan; Richard Linklater; Steven Soderbergh
 PLOT: animated film follows a young man (Wiley Wiggins) as he floats in and out of philosophical discussions with a succession of eccentrics and passionate thinkers, all the while uncertain whether he's conscious or dreaming. Thanks to each character's oddball charm, the ethereal conversation is as dynamic as the animation, resulting in an innovative film that is by turns droll, disturbing and provocative.

sez says: great animation--every shifting perspectives and colors and wobbly reality. You find in the end our protagonist is dead and his brain is still function via a lucid dream during the last minutes before his consciousness evaporates into the either. At first he just listens to the conversations and ramblings of others, then he begins to interact with the ideas that are being espoused-- which are early 21st century thoughts about the meaning of existence, human capacity,  free will, evolution, the nexus of science and religion, and the like. Hopeful ideas and angry ideas, wild rants and profound thoughts all have their moment. Not for someone who is looking for a traditional storyline and linear thinking. But fun for those who enjoy a little brain exercise once in awhile.

mjc says: fascinating animation weave together stretches of cosmology and philosophy allowing the viewer to absorb the words more forcefully.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

The Secret Life Of Words, 2005 (Grade B+)

Director: Isabel Coixet
Any Awards?  None that we know of
Cast: Sarah Polley; Tim Robbins; Javier Camara; Julie Christie; Eddie Marsan; Steven Mackintosh; Leonard Watling; Daniel Mays; Dean Lennox Kelly; Danny Cunningham

PLOT: After physically surviving the war in Yugoslavia, the psychologically damaged  nurse Hanna (Sarah Polley) is forced to take time off her numbing factory job and is sent on vacation. She heads to Ireland and is lost and anxious until she hears about an oil-rig accident off the coast and she agrees to go to th rig and tend heroic burn victim Josef (Tim Robbins). She encounters various personalities on the derrick: Josef, a Russian soldier (Sverre Anker Ousdal), a lively Spanish chef (Javier Cámara), a caring and committed oceanographer and other oddballs who have found reasons to separate themselves from society.  Slowly people on the rig reveal their stories...Hannah's being the last, and most difficult.  And we, the audience are left to wonder about all of the 'forgotten' victims of war.

sez says: Bravo -- this is a great story, well told, brilliantly acted.  It is slow paced but even so it has a tension that builds, and a mystery to be solved.  Not 'who done it'  but 'what happened' and in the end, what is humanities responsibility in a case such as this--which is only one case in a million.   

MJC Says:  the depth and engagement that good actors can achieve even in roles with limited action is demonstrated brilliantly in this film of the range of humanity

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Five Minuites of Heaven, 2009 (Grade B)

Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Any Awards?  None we know if
Cast: Liam Neeson;  James Nesbitt;  Anamaria Marinca;  Luliet Crawford;  Niamh Cusack;  Mark David;  Gerry Doherty;  Richard Dormer;  Paul Garret; Katy Gledhill;  Jonathan Harden

plot summary:  a meditation on guilt, forgiveness and reconciliation, this drama presents two men on opposite sides of Northern Ireland's political struggle: one a killer, the other the brother of the man he killed.  We meet them at the point of their being brought together years after the killing, to see if they can find peace with the past.


sez says: good stuff here...a thriller without any bombs or car chases.  Neeson & Nesbitt both do fabulous jobs with their characters.  And, ultimately the story is about much more than The Troubles in N. Ireland.  It is about the how and why people can get recruited to an extremest  group and how and why they will do anything --including the most heinous types of violence-- for the sake of there group. 
And even more it is about the real price and consequences of violent acts, which, once committed, take on a life of their own..both for the one who commits the violence and for the victim.  And without reconciliation--however that may take place -- there is no end to the original act of violence itself -- it takes over the lives of perpetrators and victims alike and can not be escaped without forgiveness.

mjc says:  always like watching Liam Neeson. Took on a very big topic here--and didn't quite make it.

.