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Bummm! (2006)
OK, but not great
What was I missing? The plot was quite interesting although I've seen a lot of similar stories. The popular cast did a good job. The soundtrack was OK. But sometimes I felt like I was watching a television movie instead of a cinema movie. Almost all characters are stereotypes: The husband who lost his highly paid job. This causes a personal crisis and he tries to gain back his family but fails. The bored, cold wife who tries to find the meaning of life in art. The two teenage children. One is gay and joined the army. The other is shy and blows things up by self-made bombs. So, what's up? Is the film a statement against neo-liberalism? It's not clear enough. In this regard "Le couperet" by Costa-Gavras is a far better example. I guess it's a film about all these little and big lies which we live with day in, day out and which will destroy us at a certain point. The pull down of the wall is an obvious symbol (a bit too obvious!). If you like to see a masterpiece about lies within a family, you should see "The ice storm" by Ang Lee. Actually, the relation ship between the shy son and the neighbor's daughter is almost a copy of Adam Hann-Byrd's relation ship with Christina Ricci in "The ice storm". But while I was very touched by Ang Lee's film, "Bummm!" never managed to touch me in any way, though it's not an intellectual film in all respects.
Jeremy (1973)
Loved it by the second time
Well, I own the soundtrack by Lee Holdridge for some years now, so I ordered the DVD to see "Jeremy". When I first saw the movie a few months ago, I thought to myself: Gee, what a jerk Jeremy is! When I saw the film again a few days ago, I saw a completely different movie. A movie made by a director who really cares about the young couple. You will probably rarely find a film which describes the discovery of love and understanding in such subtle, empathetic and unspectacular pictures. The ending of the film is very brave but also heartbreaking! But at no time - and that is a great quality of this movie - it becomes gooey or cheap. Once or twice I thought to discover a certain failing in the acting of Robby Benson, but all in all the actors did a very good job! Later on I told to myself: What a lucky guy Jeremy was to meet a girl like Susan. I would have given all to meet anyone like her when I was that age, but hey, it's an invented character and not a real person. By the way it's hard to believe that the director Arthur Barron only made few other films after "Jeremy" and nearly only for television.