Insomnia | The ALASKAthon

I've decided to finish the left-up work and continue the ALASKAthon as a final installment on this blog. Maybe it's because I cut my toe and am thus excluded from most fun summer activities or maybe it's because I just don't want to leave my blog as a half-baked mess. Better to end things neatly if you really have to end them. 

Blind Spot Fixed: Rear Window

With the recent release of Grace of Monaco (2014), there has been more talk than usually of the immortal ghost of the fabulous Grace Kelly. I knew about Grace before I ventured into the art of film for my leisure time, since my favorite topic used to be fashion once. She's your go-to choice for random photo collages that are supposed to express 'glamour', 'timelessness' or simply 'the 50s'. Much like Marilyn Monroe, she's a confusing persona and most people would find it hard to determine what kind of celebrity she was. Apparently, she started a promising career in acting before venturing into princesshood by marrying the Prince of Monaco. When you type her name into the IMDB, it says 'Actress, Rear Window (1954)' in a smaller font below an attempt to capture her breathtaking beauty - it was shortly before she met the prince that my blindspot for this month, which is the film she is best known for, was filmed.

Despite James Stewart's charm, Grace Kelly is the dominating star in this light-hearted murder mystery: She plays Lisa, a New York socialite who is in an on-off, love-hate relationship with adventurous photographer Jeff (Stewart). Due to an accident, Jeff is bound to a wheelchair for a few weeks in the hottest time of summer, a time he fills by regarding the goings-on in the backyard of his apartment complex. Most of the evenings, Lisa goes to visit Jeff and tries to talk him into considering a more serious relationship with her. When Jeff thinks he has overseen dangerous happenings from his rear window, Lisa tries to help him figure out the mystery.

Blind Spot Fixed: Memento

Memento was easily one of my blind spot films that I was most excited to watch. It's Stevee Taylor's favorite movie of all time, which in itself is worth a thousand reasons I should watch it, and in the top 10 of countless lists floating around the internet - including many an IMDB Top list. In contrary to many other of my blind spots, I actually knew about Memento a long time before I moved to the island of film lovers (as Ryan McNeil - sort of - puts it: the more movies you watch, the more blind spots you never even knew you had, you discover). I owe this knowledge to one of the sides of Indian cinema that I've always been critical of: it's affection for remaking films from other corners of the world (primarily Hollywood blockbusters). So Ghajini, a 2008 Bollywood hit remake of Memento, marked my first encounter with the Memento Mori story. Ironically enough, this movie was also a Hindi-language remake of the 2005 Kollywood (Tamil-language) film of the same name by the same director. At any rate, Ghajini was fairly enjoyable, mainly because of its cinematography and the man who turns iron into gold, Indian superstar Aamir Khan. However, it didn't ignite a burning desire to watch the original Memento in me.

WRITING ELSEWHERE #2

IS SHERLOCK STILL READABLE?

In the age of Johnlock, slow-mo boxing scenes and a female Watson, why should we actually read Sherlock Holmes?

@ THE ARTIFICE

Obstruction 1/5: A Positive Review of a Movie I Dislike

Bored by the unchallenging everyday (or for me rather every week) task of blog writing, Nostra from myfilmviews.com has created his perhaps most ambitious blogathon yet. Over the span of 5 months, the 5 Obstructions Blogathon is going to challenge film bloggers by presenting them with a different obstruction each month - hence the title. If you face the obstruction and succeed, you'll move on to the next round, otherwise you will be punished, simple as that.

Obstruction #1: Write a positive review of a movie you don't like OR write a negative review of a movie you like.

To me, the latter one was too easy. Ripping a movie - anything - apart, is much easier than praising something or explaining things that you like about it. So I'm going with the former possibility and I'm writing about one of the (luckily) few movies that I've seen in the past few months that I've disliked a lot. Here goes my positive review of 'HowFarObsessionsWithActorsWillMakeYouGo' aka Afterschool, the 2008 directorial debut of Antonio Campos.

Let Me Tell You a Story: Kahaani

IMDB | TRAILER

Another movie that dares to center its story around a strong female character, Kahaani was a surprise hit that Indian audiences loved even more than similarly "daring" English Vinglish. 

The female hero, Vidya Bagchi, is played by one of India's most talented actresses of our times, Vidya Balan. The London-based NRI (non-residant-Indian) computer programmer is searching for her husband, who has been missing ever since he went to Kolkata/ Calcutta for an assignment. Advanced in pregnancy, Vidya roams the streets of the crowded city that is busy with preparations for the yearly celebration of the goddess Kaali. Even though she finds a helpful companion in police inspector Rana, - who soon falls for the stubborn beauty - Vidya finds that it's not going to be easy to find her husband: there is no trace of him in the city whatsoever.

 

Surely, Kahaani wouldn't have been the same movie without the strong performance of Vidya Balan, just like English Vinglish couldn't have worked as well as it does with any other actress than Sridevi in the lead. Vidya brings just the right amounts of strength and vulnerability to her character, who seems both lost and determined in the narrow streets of Kolkata. No supporting character or actor stands a proper chance beside her, although Parambrata Chatterjee is sweet in the role of the innocent police inspector. The brilliant character actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui also has a small role that manages to capture the viewer in his short screen time. But what really makes Kahaani stand out, especially among other Indian films of the thriller/ mystery genre, is the well-told story. We don't know more than Vidya does, and the short flashback clip rather confuses than helps solve any of the mysteries. There's also a twist that I dare say nobody ever saw coming, which makes the female hero even more special - but no spoilers at this point. People have praised Kahaani for delivering a surprisingly exact and realistic portrayal of the city of Kolkata itself, which is often depicted in a less coaxing way. The movie doesn't conceal the flaws and the dirt of the city, but it gives a more multisided impression of the city and thus is very far from the so-called "poverty-porn". Indian mythology is cleverly woven into the plot yet there's no patriotism - a welcome exception. This way, Kahaani finds a balance between many extremes that Indian movies like to use and finds a good balance between a suspenseful plot with western inspirations and an Indian "soul". The only drawback is the still rather long running time of two hours - I felt that some parts could've been edited out in order to keep up the pace.

STRAWBERRY

Kahaani is a must-watch for fans of Indian cinema, since it delivers a felicitous mixture of many currently trending elements of the industry. The lack of song-and-dance and the Hollywood-inspired narration may also please an audience outside the Indian film scene. 

This post is part of the "2012 Bollywood Essentials".

Unglamorous Indie Rock 'n' Roll of 2012: Wild Girl Waltz and Gut

It's been a while since my last proper review and I thought I'd use the occasion to write about two films that I've been meaning to write about for a while. They've both been sent to me by two different indie film makers, who funnily asked me to review them almost the same time. That was one of the first times I felt that blogging actually has some material advantages, something you can touch. Like a free DVD. That's pretty cool for a poor student.

Wild Girl Waltz

Written and directed by MARK LEWIS

www.wildgirlwaltz.com

    

WILD GIRL WALTZ is a light-hearted comedy set in the middle of nowhere, centering around three friends who have an exceptionally messy time together. It also strikes some more profound notes in the middle of all the madness and despite some technical "flaws" I thoroughly enjoyed this movie.

3 Questions about LIFE OF PI

Enviable viewers in Paris

Many people have been looking forward to Life of Pi in 2012, and there were several reasons for them to do so. It's the filmatization of a famous novel that was called "unfilmable" (as was the case with A Clockwork Orange and many others), it marked the return of one of the most acclaimed contemporary film-makers, Ang Lee, whose last success of Brokeback Mountain happened 7 years ago (although I did like Taking Woodstock). And, not to forget, it seemed to fit into one of the most popular genres of the time - that philosophic, "deep" one - while promising to revive a technology-gimmick that has been discussed much lately. 

My primary reason to be excited about Life of Pi was none of these though; it was the Indian factor. Indian background, Indian actors and, as I hoped, Indian soul. All of this despite the fact that Irrfan Khan was again typecast - he's a magnificent actor (although he's offered much more challenging roles in India than in Hollywood), but I'd also like to see someone else for a change. 

Anyhow; I can't say I was disappointed by Life of Pi. After all, what I was hoping for was what I got. Still, I've been asking myself some questions after having watched the film, and this is where I'd like to try and answer them as well as I can.

Shabd: To Cherish an Illusion or Not To

India, 2005

Shabd

Directed by Leena Yadav

Written by Leena Yadav, Sutapa Sikdar

★ Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Zayed Khan

         

2005, Northern Germany: a little girl lies on her bed, looking through her collection of fashion magazines and listening to her currently favourite song, Khoya Khoya from the movie Shabd. She has been listening to this song for at least the past four weeks, watching the trailers of the movie in an infinite loop, and she can't get any of this out of her head. How perfect this movie seems to her! If only she had the chance to see it somehow, but it's hard for a little girl in Northern Germany to get her hands on a copy of a newly released Indian movie. Especially one that flopped.

Blood. Music. Robert.

Also read: Blood. Music. Ryan.

France/ Canada/ Portugal/ Italy, 2012

Cosmopolis

Directed and written by David Cronenberg

Based on a novel by Don DeLillo

★ Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, Sarah Gadon

                    

Obviously, Cosmopolis is a film that causes opinions to differ. It is theatric and filled with complex dialogue and ambiguities, and there was a moment where I could have chosen to think, "This is it. I'm out". But I decided not to. Mainly because the introduction sequence was so classy.

Classy is the right word. It describes this film very well. I read that some people found it stylish but in its content too self-indulgent and pretentious, but I don't agree. While watching the movie I considered this opinion, but was immediately captured by the story itself again, deciding I wouldn't jump on either side of the fence before finishing the movie. It's like certain books that you find hard to get through; the dialogue is tiring and confusing, and you just don't "get" what it's supposed to tell you. Then the revelation when you're finished and can't get this work of art out of your mind, you keep dwelling on it, certain scenes and underlying thoughts keep popping up in your head. You realize the works value.

Dystopian City Lights

USA, 2008

City of Ember

Directed by Gil Kenan

Written by Caroline Thompson

★ Saoirse Ronan, Toby Jones, Bill Murray

            

What is it we movie buffs are searching for? I often thought it was the perfect film. But City of Ember makes me think differently. Maybe it's the perfect viewing experience we're searching for instead. The right film at the right time. And in contrary to the perfect film, it is possible to find the perfect viewing experience.

I wanted something new, fantasy-esque, that's easy to get into and understand, but still challenging enough for my mind. Something with good, young actors and beautiful cinematography. And art direction, an interesting art direction with many small details and other perks. A mixture of Harry Potter and The Hunger Games. Kind of. And guess what? I got this!

The Cate Blanchett Essentials, #4 / 5

Read more about The Cate Blanchett Essentials

The Gift (2000) Sam Raimi

IMDB: 6.7 - RT: 56% / 56%

Why I selected this film as one of the Cate Blanchett Essentials

„Many people have recommended it for Cate's great performance (though this probably counts for all of these films), and... that's it, I think. I also like the title. My only fear is Katie Holmes, whom I've never liked in anything.“

Wiggling big toes. Samurai swords. Awesomeness.

USA, 2003

Kill Bill: Vol. 1

Directed by Quentin Tarantino

Written by Quentin Tarantino, Uma Thurman

★ Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, David Carradine

    

There was a time when I thought Quentin Tarantino must be a good director since he is admired by so many film-loving people. By that time I had only seen Inglorious Basterds, a film that is surely unique and entertaining - maybe close to awesome - but not completely awesome to me.
Then I watched Kill Bill, and I finally understood.

Innocence. Desire. Suicide.

USA, 1999

Directed and written by Sofia Coppola

★ Kirsten Dunst, A.J. Cook, Hanna Hall, Leslie Hayman, Chelse Swain

      

Much has been said about Sofia Coppola's directorial debut, and what I have heard has in particular been full of praise - even love - for The Virgin Suicides. If you want to read some more of that, stay tuned.

The IMDB Tops: 5 Thoughts on... Rebecca

For my second post in the series, I share my thoughts on a so-called classic that didn't make it easy for me to like it. Only 5 thoughts instead of the usual 10, therefore. 

USA, 1940

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Written by Robert E. Sherwood, Joan Harrison

★ Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders

    

Current IMDB rank - rating - votes

 1. It's so hard to find a genre for this film. I like it when films can't be genre-rized genuinely, but this is something else; I don't really know what it was truly about. There was some love and some drama... mystery... sometimes a dash of horror... but nothing really made a huge impression, which is a problem in my opinion. You don't know what the message or the essence of all this is supposed to be. But maybe one of you has the answer?

2. Though Joan Fontaine was a beauty, most of the time I found her acting to be quite strange and stiff. Might be her character is supposed to be shy, but to me it seemed very much over-the-top. The same can be said about Laurence Olivier, though the script is part of what went wrong here - his character, Maxim, never explains himself. Actually, it doesn't seem like the couple talks about profound things at all, except maybe grandchildren. They even live in separate bedrooms - was that really normal back then? And as for that one kiss in front of the fire-place - you can't fool me, I've seen Casablanca. I know that Hollywood films didn't have to be that prude and un-realistic in the 40s. Come on, who on earth would kiss like that and simultaneously turn their heads towards the fire place, dreaming. It was just too much.

3. My favourite character of the whole film was Mrs. Danvers, played by Judith Anderson. I think she delivered the best performance of the whole film, her character was truly scaring and though she was over-the-top as well, she didn't pretend to be "normal". My favourite scene therefore also happens to be with her - the one where Mrs. Danvers shows the new Mrs. De Winter Rebecca's old room. I think with a few more horror or thriller elements, the film might've worked better.

4. There was some great suspense in some of the scenes, especially when Mrs. De Winter is starting to find out (or thinks she does) about Rebecca and everything just seems so mysterious and strange. The mansion of Manderlay is the perfect scene for all of this, and I love films that take place in a restricted but grand environment, like a mansion.

5. It is surprising that Rebecca happens to be one of Hitchcock's most famous works, for in my opinion it wasn't much more than average. I've just seen Shadow of a Doubt, which isn't included in the IMDB Top 250 (it's famous too though), and I think this is a little unfair.
While Rebecca did have its moments, most of which I've mentioned, I failed to see its greatness.

More men who hate women

But still just one cyber-punk who hates men. Fincher is bringing Lisbeth back.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Directed by David Fincher | USA

Written by Steven Zaillian & Stieg Larsson (novel)

★ Rooney Mara, Daniel Craig

          

When I first heard that Hollywood had plans about producing its own version of the Swedish surprise hit, like many people my only thought was: "Why?". Is this about money, do they want to exploit the fame of the books and previous books? There is nothing you can improve, is there?
Moreover, I could not in the slightest imagine an other actress playing Lisbeth Salander than Noomi Rapace.

I then found out that it was Fincher, the creator of some of my favorite films of the past few years, who was going to direct the remake. Not fully convinced, I watched the leaked trailer some weeks later - and at that point I was finally hooked. Hooked by an unexpected amount of style, cool music and most surprisingly (seeming) originality. I was sure then, that I was going to love the film.