Sunday, December 19, 2010

No Gummo

Winter's Bone (2010) - Granik
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Wow, not one false note: from its acting, script to HD cinematography. It's not the authenticity of what the people of the Ozarks are like that I loved, since I have only a blurry notion and won't pretend here that I know and understand, yet these poverty stricken, meth ravaged, unfathomably tough characters ring so true to me.

Jennifer Lawrence is Ree, a 17 year old girl who needs to take care of two younger siblings and sick mother in the absence of her unseen meths 'cooker' father. It turns out daddy's out of jail and a bail bondsman and other people are after him. If he doesn't make the court date, they will take the house. It is widely suspected that local bigwig family might have killed her dad for some old grudges. Unflinching against all the poverty and violence around her, resilient and resourceful Ree is a revelation. John Hawks shines (second best performance in the film) as Teardrop, Ree's scary uncle, and aging but well fitting Sheryl Lee also makes an appearance.

Debra Granik's depiction of the Ozarks is never patronizing nor sentimental. Winter's Bone is filled with the lives of the locals in great detail and presented with great care, nothing seems out of place. Definitely one of the year's better films for me if not the best.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Bird Flu

Black Swan (2010) - Aronofsky
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It's one of those 'it's all in her head' films. Relax. I haven't blown anything. If you've seen the trailer, you know what's coming. What's commendable here is that Aronofsky reached the comfortable point as a skilled filmmaker that his audience doesn't feel cheated watching his films. Since The Wrestler, he's smart enough to contextualize his actors to fit his projects. All the actors shine (Barbara Hersh as a protective mother, Vincent Cassel as a sleazy ballet instructor, Mila Kunis as seductive rival). Here, once again, Natalie Portman plays a young woman on the verge of going to pieces as she always does. But she doesn't come across as a cry baby. Like Polanski using Mia Farrow's waifish quality fully in Rosemary's Baby, Aronofsky takes advantage of Portman's girlish fragility to 11. Black Swan is way over the top (not that his films were ever subtle) in saint/whore dichotomy with bombastic Swan Lake score. But it fits with visceral visuals creating internal chaos in the character.

Matthew Libatique's dizzing, grainy 16mm/HD camerawork matches perfectly with woman losing her shit theme. Hugely entertaining, this is by far Aronofsky's best film.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Spoilt Milk

La Teta Asustada/The Milk of Sorrow (2009) - Llosa
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Sullen Fausta (luminous Magaly Solier) has the 'milk of sorrow' illness: offsprings of the rape victims during the civil war are said to be borne without souls. So afraid of being violated, she had shoved up a potato in her vagina. After her mother dies, she needs to come up with the money for the funeral (she lives in a shanty town on the hillside of Lima) and to take the body to her old village. She starts working as a maid for a rich pianist who wants her to sing with the promise of pearls.

It's really hard not to compare this to Claudia Llosa's previous effort, Madeinusa. Even though it's far better than most of the films I've seen this year, The Milk of Sorrow was underwhelming. Although it's beautifully photographed, it's not literal enough in that South American literary magical realism way. It boils down to a young girl getting over her fear of the world and finding wisdom in gardening- which isn't too interesting of a subject. For some reason, the 14 yr old heroine in Madeinusa seemed a lot more mature and interesting than Fausta in Sorrow. But don't get me wrong, Solier, with her trembling girlish voice and time-transcending face, is something of an enigma still. This will definitely end up on my top ten list of the year.

Llosa's Madeinusa review

Monday, December 6, 2010

Hong Kong, My Love

Chinese Box (1997) - Wang
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Wayne Wang's love letter to Hong Kong coincides with the 1997 handover of HK to China from the British rule. Jeremy Irons is John, a Brit journalist who never figured out the place where everyone speaks nothing but money. Gong Li is Vivian, a successful business woman who can't get out of the shadows of her past and Maggie Cheung is Jean, a young woman with a scarred face who can't get over her first love. Thanks to Jean-Claude Carrière's nuanced, mature script, the three are not merely stand-ins for the dying Empire/end of the era, old generation bound by tradition and bitter new generation. He captures the year of uncertainty in a specific place/specific political climate like a time capsule. Shot mostly hand-held by Vilko Filac, regular of Emir Kustrica's, HK has never been this intimate or beautiful. Ruben Blades steals the show as a serenading roommate of John. Jared Harris as a straight-faced, forgetful former high school sweetheart of Jean is also memorable. I like this a lot.

Too Goddamn Beautiful

La Piscine/Swimming Pool (1969) - Deray
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It's sunny French Riviera. Jean-Paul (Alain Delon) and Marie (Romy Schneider) are staying in a beautiful summer villa with a fancy swimming pool. They are stunning looking couple. In fact, everything in this movie is fucking beautiful. They have sex, fool around, everything is hunky dory until their friend Harry shows up with his 18 year old daughter, Penelope (Jane Birkin). Tension rises. The couple's fragile relationship is being tested. It's Harry's off hand remarks over dinner or snack near the pool that carries venom for both Jean-Paul and Marie. You see, Marie was Harry's mistress once.

Romy Schneider is radiant in this, much more compelling than lanky, flat chested Jane Birkin's non character whom she is supposed to be jealous of.

There are no real dangerous games or seductions playing out in Swimming Pool. Even though it resembles Delon's better known Plein soleil a little, with his darker side coming out, it's not really a simple morality play. The film is a little too simple on the character's psychology and its pacing is slow but the leads are so damn pretty.

Sour Grapes

Les Rasins de Mort/Grapes of Death (1978) - Rollin
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Soft focus, inept sound, snail's pace, horrendous continuity, bad make up...I should've hated this. But for some reason, I didn't. Jean Rollin might not be the cinema's most celebrated poet of death, but there is something very unsettling about his films. In Grapes of Death, female characters are only there to be naked, beheaded or impaled and only the beer guzzling, uni-browed peasants survive the vineyard pesticide induced zombie attacks (well, not really). I wouldn't call that exactly a social commentary. Still something very macabre about the whole thing. I'd like to see more of his stuff, maybe better ones than this though.