Code Unknown (2000) Grade B

German director Michael Haneke's  drama carefully interweaves the stories of a promising actress, her photojournalist boyfriend, a young teacher of African descent and a Romanian illegal immigrant.

 

Starring:  Juliette Binoche, Thierry Neuvic

Director: Michael Haneke 

sez says -- interesting structure for story telling-- small snip-its of action --maybe 2 to 3 minutes each-- some scenes seem entirely inconsequential, until they are added up. They eventually are tied together -- but often you watch them wondering what is this?  but then the appearance of a character previously seen makes the connection.  This has the effect of feeling more like life than a traditional liner storyline--where everything is connected, and all the pieces must be resolved by the end.  Rather there are tings that are floating in and out of our lives--and around us, that may never get resolved, and that can be in or out of our consciousness without our bidding. In the midst we make decisions that alter our lives and have no idea how they will boomerang..or how they will touch and effect a multitude of others.  Fascinating structure..so well done.. that you can forgive the fact that the story (what story?) is a bit obtuse   

After the Wedding, 2006 (Grade B)

Director Susanne Bier

Cast Mads Mikkelsen, Rolf Lassgard, Sidse Babett, Knudsen Stein, Fischer Christensen, Mona Malm, Christian Tafdrup, Niels Anders-Thorn, Rita Angela, Erni Arneson

Plot: to save an orphanage in India, Jacob Petersen (Mads Mikkelsen) reluctantly returns to his homeland (Denmark) to meet a self indulgent businessman / philanthropist --who wants Jacob in Denmark for his own, personal reasons.   What those reasons are is the power behind this very unlikly plot--but it works anyway as an entertainment

sez says: great acting, hard to believe story, but diverting.

mjc says: good movie, good acting, interesting story about What Is A Family.

Goodbye Solo, 2008 (Grade A-)

Director: Ramin Bahrani
Awards? Independent Spirit Best Make Lead nominee -- well deserved
Starring: Souleymane Sy Sayane; Red West; Diana Franco Galindo; Lane Williams; Mamadou Lam; Carmen Leyfa; Viktor Hernandez; Nayanj Reyes; Virgilio Tix

plot outline: cab driver Solo (Souleman Sy Sayane) lives with his Mexican girlfriend and her bright young daughter and they are about to have a child together.  She wants him to be steady in his work to support his family and he dreams of being an airline attendant and is studying hard to fulfill his dream. One night he picks up Walter who offers Solo $1000 to drive him to a famous mountain overlook in a date in the near future.  Solo is an accommodating and caring man--he knows there is something fishy about the request and tries to befriend Walter and to dissuade him from moving forward in what appears to be a plan for suicide.

sez says: Solo is one of the most appealing characters I've meet in the movies for a long while.  I recommend him to you. This is not a fast paced Hollywood mainstream movie-- rather it is a nicely paced mystery of sorts, populated with people who do not tell all. It is about real people--not superheros--and the world as it is lived--and not just the presentation of a fantasy

Red Road, 2006 (Grade B)

Director: Andrea Arnold

any awards? recognized at  Toronto Film Festival; Sundance and won 2006 Cannes Jury Prize

Cast: Kate Dickie; Tony Curran; Martin Compston; Natalie Press; Paul Higgins; Andrew Armour

sez says:  In this slow moving thriller Jackie (Kate Dickie) uses her job as a security surveillance monitor to zoom in on her little corner of Glasgow, Scotland, via cameras placed throughout the city. Her narrow and depressed life is swamped by obsession when one evening she sees a familiar face: Clyde (Tony Curran), a man who figures prominently in a dark episode of Jackie's past. We watch as she circles round him and the pain he is associated with, until in the end she faces a decision: will she remain captive to the desire for revenge or find release in some kind of forgiveness...all of which is done while her libido simmers.

I like this movie and I liked its ending but be warned:  It doesn't have any 'fast action' and could be hard on folks who want to see a story unfold a fast pace.--and I do have one complaint: the ascents are too hard to understand by us American-English speaking folks-- it needs subtitles.

Starting Out In the Evening, 2007 (Grade D)

Director: Andrew Wagner

Any Awards -- none I know of and would not think it is a candidate for any

Cast: Frank Langella; Lauren Ambrose; Lili Taylor; Joel West; Jessica Hecht; Adrian Lester; Sean T Krishnan

plot:   Leonard Schiller (Frank Langella) is an aging writer, with all his books out of print, he continues to write; he knows no other way to live.   An enterprising graduate student Heather Wolfe (Lauren Ambrose) wants to makes his novels the topic of her master's thesis and raises his hopes for a literary comeback...and revives his libido.  Meanwhile, Leonard's middle-aged daughter (Lili Taylor) faces challenges regarding her own prospects for long-term happiness.  Will she have a child on her own--or stay with the man she loves who is determined to not have children.

sez says: with the exception of Langella this was pretty poorly acted. The story might have been able to make it if there was a different cast.

mjc says: good story, Langella did a fine job, the women didn't seem up to the task especially Lili Taylor

LES SAIGNANTES / THE BLOODETTES, 2005 Cameroon Film, (Grade C-)

Directed by Jean-Pierre Békolo 
Cameroon, 2005 , 97 min.
Shown at the 21st Annual African Film Festival, 2011 in Portland Oregon


Per the Film Festival Notes:  Jean-Pierre Békolo is unique in African filmmaking. Like his previous films, Quartier Mozart and Aristotle’s Plot (CFAF 1999), Les Saignantes is a post-modern, non-realistic, genre-bending film that blends social satire with a longing for change. It is set in 2025, and today’s corruption, cronyism, and sexual exploitation have only gotten worse. Two young women decide to seize the power of their own sexuality to combat those in power. The film won the second-place Silver Stallion award at FESPACO in 2007.

In French with English subtitles.

sez says: some wonderful images -- surreal, smokey, using lots of contrasting colors, blue light with bright yellow clothing etc.  and creative sets..this is a weird story of two young women who try and dispose of a body of a government official (who died in the bed of one of the young women) --they have his body chopped up to dispose of it, then decide to get a new body attached to the remaining head, so they can throw a wake and get access to the rich and powerful who will show up at the W.I.P. (ie Wake of Important Person).  They are very sexy and they know their sexual attractiveness is power.   It is a little choppy --and certainly off-beat--but it is creative and weirdly compelling.


mjc says: this film has style and verve but not as much of a glimpse into he culture and society of Cameroon as other film have given us of their countries of origin.

Arugna, 2008 Nigerian Film (grade D)

Directed by Tunde Kelani
Nigeria, 2008 , 97 min.

Per the festival notes:  Serving as an allegory for contemporary Nigeria, Arugba is the latest film by Nigerian filmmaker Tunde Kelani, know for his entertaining blend of social commentary, romantic comedy, and traditional moral tales:  Arugba continues in this vein. Add singing and dancing, some health lessons, a little Barack Obama, and even a bit of kung fu, and you’ve got what Kelani calls a “Nollywood” production.  

PLOT: Adetutu, a university student and the niece of a provincial king, has been chosen to be the “ceremonial virgin” in the traditional masquerade festival. She is beautiful, intelligent, courteous, talented, and courageous. But will she be able to save her people from the pervasive corruption and intrigues in the king’s palaces?  In Yoruba and English with English subtitles.

sez says--this film has weak production values, poorly shot scenes, and very hard to follow story.  Yet, you can't help but realize that we know very little about African Culture and this IS an opportunity to discover, if by osmosis, something about Nigeria.  Some of the best materail was in the song lyrics, and the fascination with Obama.  I am glad I saw it --but would be hard pressed to recommend it to anyone as entertainment.  

mjc says: more information that I could absorb about the cultural setting of the film but hard to watch because it was so poorly crafted.

The Shape of Things, 2003 (Grade D)

Director: Neil LaBute

Awards? None I know of

Cast: Paul Rudd; Rachel Weisz; Gretchen Mol; Fred Weller

plot summary:  When shy, insecure English student Adam (Paul Rudd) begins a relationship with radical art student Evelyn (Rachel Weisz), she takes charge of his life and brings about extreme  changes in him. Evelyn's motivations finally are revealed and they are shocking in this adaptation of a play by writer-director Neil LaBute about the lengths to which people go for acceptance and for love

sez says:  We saw this play and felt if didn't do a good job getting to the real points that the story held--so we rented the movie to see if the playwright (LaBute) did sometime different with the story on film than we had seen done on stage.  To our disappointment, we found the movie to be weak. The acting was off; the story barley came through at all. Why?? It is an interesting, challenging story,,,but you'd have to work hard to find the serious questions it is asking in the movie. Maybe LaBute should stick to writing and back off from directing. 

mjc says: it is hard to evaluate the movie having seen the play and thus already knowing the plot.  But the transformation of Adam is better executed in the movie than it was in the play --but the art student actress in the movie was no where as good as the actress we say in the play.

Heaven, 2002 (grade D)

 Director: Tom Tykwer

Awards: None I know of

Cast: Cate Blanchett; Giovanni Ribisi; Remo Girone; Stefania Rocca; Alwssandro Sperduti; Mattia Sbragia; Stefano Santospago; Alberto Di Stasio; Giovanni Vettorazzo; Gianfranco Bara; Mauro Marion

plot summary: outraged by law enforcement's non-investigation following her husband's drug-related death, Philippa Paccard (Cate Blanchett) takes the law into her own hands--and kills innocent people by mistake.  She ends up imprisoned and accused of terrorism by police who are in cahoots with the drug dealers.. Filippo (Giovanni Ribisi), a police officer involved with Philippa's questioning, falls in love with her and helps her escape. Then the story turns down some strange roads --and all the things that it might have been about disappear into the sky.

sez says: I really like Cate Blanchett so I will watch most anything that she is is--but this...well, what was she thinking. At first it seemed like it might be a typical cop drama--but it went off on some spree about love at first sight, and bed wetting, and romantic surrealism. Not my cup of tea.  And it is rather annoying all of this acting talent got used up in such a farce.

mjc: stupid movie --inane plot leads nowhere leaving one to wonder what Blanchett was thinking when she agreed to participate.