The Secrets & I've Loved You So Long

Today I saw two good movies in which women were the central characters.

The first film is entitled The Secrets. It takes place (mostly) in the ancient city of Zfat in Israel. Noemi (Aria Bukstein) loves to learn Torah and Talmud with her father. That is unusual in the very Orthodox circles. After her mother dies she decides to postpone her marriage and attend a seminary in Zfat.

Once there she meets the rebellious Michal (Michal Shtamler). At first they don't get along. But they are asked to bring food to a sick woman named Anouk (Fanny Ardant) who lives hear the seminary. During this time they become closer. Fanny has her own demons and wants the two younger women to help her cleanse her soul.

The Secrets is a most interesting film. I was engrossed all of the time. The acting by the three women is very strong. And the film makes a case against the strictness of the Orthodox teaching against women. The only thing I was disappointed in was the film's ending. I would have preferred that it ended differently. But I realize that Nesher's ending was the more realistic one. Perhaps I am just a dreamer to think that things just might end the other way.

I've Loved You So Long is a marvelous film about redemption and second chances. Kristen Scott Thomas is outstanding as Juliette. Juliette has just been released from prison after serving fifteen years for killing her young son. Her younger sister Lea (Elsa Zylberstein) comes to pick her up. Juliette will be living with Lea and her family until she gets her life straightened out.

Juliette feels awkward staying there and Lea's husband isn't thrilled with the idea. But Lea's daughters are happy to find a long lost aunt. It is hard for Juliette to adjust to life on the outside. She tries to find a job and also gets to meet Lea's friends. All this time Juliette's secret is kept mostly on the inside. We don't find out what really happens until the end of the film. But when we do the pieces of the puzzle fit.

Claudel is to be commended on his directorial debut. He is primarily a writer. He created a true to life portrait of a woman trying to piece her life together. Thomas's emotions are totally etched on her face. You not only know how she feels you can actually fell it. And Zylberstein is also terrific as the kind but puzzled sister. For me this was a tale of sisterly love and just how powerful and important that love is. Yes, this is a very real story (even if the film is fiction).

I recommend both films and I will say that Thomas and maybe even Zylberstein should be looking at Oscar nominations come January.

Australia

Baz Luhrman's Australia is an epic romantic adventure. Sure it is too long and it gets a little schmaltzy but I must say that I liked it.

The story takes place around the time of World War II in Darwin - which is in the outback of Australia. Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) leaves her comfortable English home to see what her husband Lord Ashley is up to. Well, let's just say he is not around (in a sense) when she gets there. But she decides that this land belongs to her and she is going to fight for it. King Carney (Bryan Brown) wants to own all of the cattle land and he aims to get Sarah's too.

Helping Sarah with her quest is Driver (Hugh Jackman), a rough gem of a man. Sarah gets quite attached to a young half breed boy named Nullah (Brandon Walters) who has a mystical grandfather called King George (David Gulpilil of Walkabout fame).

Yes, we know that Sarah and Drover fall for each other. But it is still nice to see some old fashioned romance up there on the screen. I won't tell you more about the story but I will give you an idea of its awards chances. It has a good shot of being nominated in the technical categories. It is beautiful to look at. Kidman is good but not as good as she was in The Hours. And the best actress race looks very crowded. Jackman is charismatic but has no chance of a nomination. I also doubt it for best picture and director.

The supporting players are all good. But the real stand out in the film is young Walters. He is really amazing and I hope to see more of him in the future.

The film also sends a message to us as to the plight of the Aborigines. As with the Maoris in New Zealand and Native Americans right here in the US, white Europeans felt that it was there duty to make these indigenous people conform to their ways. Ah, what a mistake that is. I just saw the DVD of River Queen last night and that takes place in New Zealand. I recommend both films and I think that they are good companion films.

DVD Mini Review - River Queen

This film is from 2005 and it is first getting a DVD release now! And it was never released in theaters in the US. I just don't get it. Vincent Ward has created a wonderful adventure/romance with beautiful cinematography by Alun Bollinger. It makes me want to hop on a plane to New Zealand right now!!

The story takes place in the 1860s. The British are trying to clear out the Maori's land and create roads. An Irish doctor (Stephen Rea) lives there with his two daughters. One of them, Sarah (Samantha Morton) falls in love with a young Maori man. She gets pregnant by him but he dies. She raises her child on the island but he is eventually kidnapped by his grandfather.

Sarah spends many years trying to find her son. She talks to her friend, a soldier named Doyle (Keifer Sutherland) the only one she can pour her heart out to. When the chief of the tribe gets sick Sarah is taken to heal him by her dead lover's brother Wiremu (Cliff Curtis). He promises her that she will soon see her son.

And that is all I will tell you about the film. For me the film is finding your true identity and finding the place that you belong. It also reminds us how much we white Europeans have pillaged the land of indigenous peoples around the world. And we are still doing it.

Moron and Curtis are terrific. I really like Rea in his small role and I wish that he was in the film more (he is the reason that I even found out about this film). Sutherland is billed as a lead but he isn't in the film all that much. He is okay but his accent sometimes falters. And Karl Jenkin's score is great.

I am pleased to recommend this film and all I can say is that I am thankful that we have DVDs and cable so that we can see films that are never released in theaters or only have very short runs.

The Boy With the Striped Pajamas

The Boy With the Striped Pajamas, from a novel by John Boyne, is a controversial film. It takes place during the Holocaust and something like this could not have happened. But it is not a documentary and I feel that the film is more symbolic than historically true.

Young Bruno (Asa Butterfield) is very proud of his soldier father (David Thewlis). When his father gets a promotion the family has to move from Berlin to the country. What is not known then is that their new home is very close to a concentration camp.

Bruno and his sister Gretel (Amber Beattie) get a tutor who fills their heads with pro-Nazi propaganda. Gretel seems to be very gung ho but not so Bruno. During his explorations of the area he finds the concentration camp and befriends a young prisoner named Shmuel (Jack Scanlon). They are both the same age. At this point Bruno gets some sense of the agony that the Jews have been going through.

When Bruno's mother (Vera Farmiga) finds out what is actully going on she is revolted. This puts a strain on her marriage.

That is really all I will tell you. All of the child actors are terrific. Thewlis is very good and Farmiga is outstanding.

This film is about the loss of innocence. But it is also about the horrors of what happened back then. And it is something that rings very true today. Evil is alive and well and it affects all of us - not just one group of people. See this film but prepared to come out of the theater heartbroken.

Nothing But the Truth

Nothing But the Truth is a good film and should be released in March or April when we are longing to see some good films. But the Yari Group is releasing it next month in hopes of Oscar glory. Big mistake. This film is not an Oscar film - at least not to me.

The film is loosely based on the Valerie Plame/Judith Miller incident. Kate Beckinsale plays Rachel Armstrong, a journalist who has written a story incriminating the President of some bad goings on. In the article she exposes a CIA agent named Erica van Doren (Very Famiga). As you can imagine, this creates quite a scandal. But Rachel will absolutely not reveal her source. Because of this she goes to jail and stays there for quite some time. All of this causes her marriage to unravel.

The film is suspenseful and I was never bored. Beckinsale is pretty good in her role but not great. Matt Dillon and Alan Aldabot give good performances as the prosectur Dubois (Dillon) and Bob Dylan's problem. The wonderful Angela Bassett is wasted. But Vera Farmiga steals the show in her smallish role. Her acting is on a leval different

There were a few things that I didn't like about the film but I can't tell you what they were. I found the ending a cop out. But all in all it is a good film that deserves a decent audience.

DVD Mini Review - Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul

Ever since I saw Head-On I have been interested in writer/director Fatih Akin. His film The Edge of Heaven is still my number one of 2008 despite the fact that it came out in May and this is already November.

In between those two feature films Akin directed a wonderful documentary entitled Crossing the Bridge. It is about the music scene in Istanbul.

The film is guided by German bassist Alexander Hacke (who was involved with Head-On).
The music includes punk, noise, hip hop, rap, gypsey music and much more. Along the way we meet many interesting people. Some of the music reminds me of Jewish Klezmer music. The young rapper in the film said that in America rap focuses on violence. But in Turkey it focuses on social issues.

All I can say is that if you want a wonderful, exhilerating, lively film rent Crossing the Bridge. You will be very happy that you did.

Synecdoche, New York and A Christmas Tale (MOD)

Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York is a self indulgent mess. I spoke to a number of people after the screening and not one of them liked it. In fact, the manager of the theater where I saw it said that not one person who saw it liked it. And yet, I have read some raves on certain film boards and there are a few critics who are gushing over it and saying that it is a masterpiece. It sounds like some people just want to be hip and cool.

Philip Seymour Hoffman plays playwright/director Caden Cotard. Cotard wants to direct a play that touches on the meaning of life (or whatever). In the meantime his artist wife Adele (Catherine Keener) takes off with their daughter to Germany and never returns. Caden turns to others for love. He also thinks that he is dying.
We even get to see his poop in the toilet bowl. What more can I say?

Hoffman, Keener and other wonderful actors such as Tom Noonan, Michelle Williams,
Hope Davis, Samantha Morton, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Emily Watson and Diane Wiest are wasted on this film. Yes, there are a few touching scenes and some scenes that were funny. But overall this film is incoherent. See it at your own risk.

A Christmas Tale will start playing at my local art house next week. But because of time constraints and so many movies coming out I decided to see in on Movies on Demand. It was a good choice because it works well on the small screen.

The film is well directed by Arnaud Desplechin. It focuses on a family who gets together for Christmas. Some of them have not spoken to each other in years. But they are getting together because the matriarch Junon (a luminous Catherine Denueuve) is dying of cancer. The only thing that can save her is a bone marrow transplant. Her affable husband Abel (Jean-Paul Roussilion) has hope that they can find a donor.

The rest of main cast is Anne Consigny (as daughter Elizabeth), Mathieu Amalric (as son Henri), Melvil Poupaud (as son Ivan), Hippolyte Giradot (Elizabeth's husband Claude), Emannuelle Devos (Henri's lover Faunia), Chiara Mastroianni (Ivan's wife Sylvia), and Laurent Cappelluto (cousin Simon). There are also a few child actors playing various children.

I won't tell you much about the plot. I don't want to spoil anything. As I mentioned before, the film is well directed and the writing is good. All of the acting is spot on with. Deneuve is particularly impressive but the real standout here is Amalric. What an interesting face he has.

I liked this film - I think it is quite good. But I wanted to love it but I didn't (I liked Desplechin's last film Kings and Queen better. From all the reviews I had read it would seem like a film that I would love. I think that part of the problem is that the film is two hours and 32 minutes. It should have been cut and tightened up to about two hours. But in any case, it is a good film and I do recommend it.

DVD Mini Review - Knife in the Water

Roman Polanski's film debut Knife in the Water is quite an interesting film. And the fact that it was his debut film makes it even better.

This is a three character story. Andzrej (Leon Miemczyk) and his younger partner Krystyna (Jolanta Omecka) are going on their boat for the weekend. While driving towards their destination they nearly hit a hitchhiker (Zygmunt Malanowicz). They wind up asking him to come along on their boat.

Once on the boat the two men become very competitive. I suppose the film is, in part, a take on masculine competitiveness. All along I was wondering why Andzrej picked up the hitchhiker. I think that he wanted to show off.

I don't want to say much more about the film. Check it out. It is classic.

One Day You'll Understand

I was quite excited when I found out that Amos Gitai's One Day You'll Understand was coming to my neighborhood. I like some (but not all) of his films. The theme was about coming to terms with the past (in this case The Holocaust). And the legendery Jeanne Moreau was in it. So how could it miss, right? Well, it did.

The film starts out in Paris in the late 80s. The trial of Klaus Barbie is being telecast. Barbie was responsible for the deaths of so many French Jews during World War II. Rivka (Moreau) is watching and her son Victor (Hippolyte Giradot) is listening in his office. Victor has become obsessed with some documents that he recently found. His father signed papers saying that he and his family were Aryans. But Rivka's parents were killed in the camps. However, she never speaks about it and when Victor asks her about she goes to another subject.

Victor's sister Rivka (Dominique Blanc) says that their father did what everyone else did in order to save his family. She feels that you have to let the past go. But Victor cannot. Victor's wife Francoise (Emannuelle Devos) is worried about him and is trying to cope.

I found the film distant and a bit dry. I wanted more emotion from it. Every scene with Moreau is great but she is in the film for about only 20 minutes (it is 90 minutes long). There is a very good part of the film where Victor and his family go to the hotel where his grandparents hid. In his mind he imagines what happened to them back then.

Giradot did not impress me that much. I found his performance somewhat chilly. And the wonderful Devos didn't have much to do. Gitai was too heavy handed in the telling of the story. I really wanted to like this film and was disappointed. But this is not one of the better films on the Holocaust and memory. But still and all I am glad that I saw it for the wonderful Moreau.

DVD Mini Review - Tuya's Marriage

Tuya's Marriage, which takes place in Mongolia, is a simple but beautiful film. Lovingly directed by Quanan Wang, the film takes us to a part of the world that we know little about.

Tuya (Yu Nan) is the breadwinner of the family. She has to support her disabled husband and two children. But one day she has an accident of her own is told by the doctor that she cannot do this heavy type of work anymore. Tuya's husband Batar suggests that they get a divorce so that she can remarry a man who can help her. Tuya agrees with this after giving it some thought. But she wants the man she marries to take care of not only her and the children but Batar as well. She has many suitors but none who will take on Batar. I really felt sorry for Tuya and her plight.

I love the way the story plays out. And Tuya's friend and neighbor Sen'ge plays a big part in the film. The cinematography is marvelous. Yu Nan is terrific as Tuya. I highly recommend this to anyone who loves world cinema as well as a good story.

Changeling

You have to hand it to Clint Eastwood. At 78 he is still directing films and doesn't seem to have any plans to slow down.

His latest effort, Changeling, had gotten some good ink at Cannes but many critics in the US didn't like it. But I wanted to see it anyway and was pleasantly surprised to find that it is quite a good film.

Based on a true story with a screenplay written by J. Michael Straczynski, Changeling is the tale of Chrstine Collins and her fight to find her son Walter. Christine (Angelina Jolie) is a single mother who works very hard at the phone company to provide for her and her son Walter (Gattlin Griffith). One Saturday she has to unexpectedly go into work because someone didn't show up. She leaves her son at home and tells him that she will be back the late afternoon. However, when she gets back Walter is gone. She calls the police but they tell her she has to wait until the morning. What is a frantic mother to do?

After a few months the police tell Christine that they found her son. But when she sees the boy she knows that he is not Walter. I don't want to say much more about the plot because that would spoil things. In fact, there were a few surprises for me and I liked it like that.

Eastwood does a good job of directing and the period details are terrific. Jolie is wonderful and there are other great performances as well - John Malkovich as Rev. Gustav Briegleb, Jason Butler Harner as Gordon Northcott and Amy Ryan as Carol Dexter. I won't say what their part in the story is. See for yourself.

So all in all, don't listen to the negative critics. Check out Changeling for yourself.

Happy-Go-Lucky

I always look forward to a new Mike Leigh film and Happy-Go-Lucky was no acception. Now mind you, this is not his best work (Naked, Secrets and Lies and Vera Drake would be in that category. But even a lesser Leigh work is better than the majority of films that come out these days.

The film focuses on school teacher Poppy (Sally Hawkins). Poppy is always upbeat. Even after someone steals her bike she looks on the bright side of things. She lives with her long time roommate and friend Zoe (Alexis Zegerman) who is a bit more tart than Poppy. After the bike theft Poppy decides that she wants to take driving lessons. Her driving instructor is the bitter, angry Scott (Eddie Marsan).

At the beginning of the film I thought that Poppy was a bit much but she soon won me over. And that is because of Hawkins' wonderful performance. Poppy is a nice person but she is sometimes too nice and that lead to trouble. And she is also nieve. There is a scene with a homeless man that made me say to myself "what is she thinking?" I liked Zegerman's performance and also thought that Karina Fernandez as the flamenco teacher was very good. But, for me, Marsan was best of all. He was just amazing as the unhappy Scott. Poppy and Scott's scene towards the end of the film was the best. It was well worth waiting for.

And that brings me to why I don't think that this is one of Leigh's best works. The plot is lacking. It doesn't have a real direction. I wanted to see a better developed story. I guess we will have to wait for Leigh's next film for that.

However, I still very much recommend this film for its fine performances and its life lesson (you should be able to figure it out). And I also want people to see it because Leigh is such a great writer/director. So please check out Happy-Go-Lucky as soon as you can.