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amir_h
Reviews
Dust (2001)
Jaw-droppingly bad
Before the Rain was one of my favorite films from the 90s, so I didn't think twice about seeing Dust at the HK Film Festival. As the film opened and the flashback structure was being established, I got a little turned off, what with the canned dialogue and questionable acting. Unfortunately, the movie only got worse - a lot worse. The old lady and the burglar in the present-day story were total cliches. I didn't even understand why the police were extorting him or why on earth he decided to go for this particular lady's apartment.
The flashback story was equally dull and made even less sense. The acting was simply appalling. Joseph Fiennes in particular really disgraced himself - his accent was so far off I thought for the first half of the movie, his character was supposed to be Macedonian. Most of his dialogue was completely incomprehensible and the conflict between his character and Luke was unconvincing. Who was "the Teacher" anyway, and what was the intrigue with the hussy-wife all about? I certainly couldn't figure it out, which is not to say that I cared enough to really analyze it.
Dust was clearly an ambitious effort, but it is an utter commercial, artistic & intellectual disaster. "A" for effort, "F" for outcome. How can Manchevski go from writing/directing a mini-masterpiece to authoring one of the least watchable films in recent memory?
Sue (1997)
downward spiral
This film was made with sincere intentions, but I feel that characters in similar predicaments have been portrayed more eloquently and more realistically in other films. Sue is obviously influenced by the films of John Cassavettes, but fails to achieve the same poignancy.
The film is a hodgepodge of scenes where the title character, a severely depressed woman, finds herself having quirky interactions with the people she encounters. Sometimes she initiates these interactions, sometimes others are drawn to her and sometimes they just seem contrived to keep things going. The pacing of her decline seems a bit off and just when something develops for the better, the story takes another dip to ensure its procession towards tragedy. We are never clued in on the origin of this woman's condition or given other details of her background, as though it's sufficient to witness her daily trials and shake our heads at how unfortunate things are. I would have liked more profundity in some of her relationships in place of the forgettable scenes with the ditzy so-called writer (from Minnesota, but with a NY accent) and the cliché street-tough girl.
Gladiator (2000)
Discontented
I'd been looking forward to seeing Gladiator, since reviewers have hailed it as a revival of the Roman epic. Frankly, I don't see what the fuss is about. The story failed to engage me and was altogether silly with its blend of historical figures and obviously fictional events. What's more, the screenwriters seemed intent on having the characters attempt to solve their problems and dilemmas through the most convoluted means imaginable. Russell Crowe's character was distant and broody for much of the film, but suddenly and inexplicably developed a sense of humor midway. Nevertheless, the movie could have been enjoyable as pure spectacle, but I found it disappointing even in this regard. Unlike other viewers, I felt that much of the scenery had an obvious computer-generated quality (crowds out of focus, blurry backgrounds). When I imagine gladiators in combat, I picture them in the coliseum under a blistering sun. Most of the photography however, had a dull, murky quality to it. My biggest complaint concerns the hyper-editing & camera style used for most of the fight sequences. Indeed, it was so hyper that half the time I couldn't tell who was killing who (perhaps it didn't matter?). The Gladiator isn't awful, but it's not particularly memorable either. You may want to see it to satisfy your curiosity, but not if you're concerned with getting value for your money.
East Is East (1999)
East is what?
I must say, I wasn't too eager to see this film and expected it to be much like the other recent Om Puri film, My Son the Fanatic which I found myself utterly apathetic towards. As it turned out, East is East was rather engaging, often humorous and had some truths about the immigrant's experience although it wasn't especially profound. In the last act, I was dismayed when the domestic violence aspect was introduced and from there the movie began to disappoint. The issue of domestic violence was no more relevant to this situation as it is to any other and nothing in the disposition of Puri's character to that point indicated that he would cross the line and nothing in his wife's disposition suggested that she would stand for it. The imposition of a person's will on their children or spouse in such situations is usually through guilt and manipulation and the film would have been more interesting and intelligent had it stayed in that realm. Even when the domestic violence occurs, the film doesn't commit to exploring the issue to the extent deserved and begins to inject a variety of comic relief instead. To be honest, I didn't even realize that it was set in 1971. I thought the disco, clothing, hair and whatnot were part of some comedic retro styling. Certainly the xenophobia is largely as true now as it was then.
The Siege (1998)
A big mess
I found the movie poorly written, and miscast and generally dull and mind-numbing viewing. In response to claims that those who suggest the movie is racist are misguided, I wouldn't say that the movie is racist but certainly that it is insensitive. In the simplest sense, the juxtaposition of scenes showing (often inaccurately) muslims praying or performing ablutions with scenes of terrorism is in poor taste. The movie is most offensive, however, in its portrayal of American sentiments towards Arab-Americans. To suggest that a large constituent of the American government and population would readily villify Arab-Americans or buy into stereotypes to the point of reviving detention camps in this day and age, is really only hurtful for Arab-Americans, but offensive to the general population - who are shown splitting predictably into xenophobes and the "open-minded," each engaging in their own protest marches. To then argue that "we should not make stereotypes against an entire group" as though this were great moral reasoning is trite, if nothing else. I can certainly see how many Arab-Americans fail to be flattered or grateful to a movie that says "Americans have stereotypes about Arabs and could end up persecuting them all, but this would be wrong."
The Hurricane (1999)
Complete work of fiction
To those who found The Hurricane informative and inspirational, you may be interested to know that virtually every source of conflict and intensity in the movie was made up by the filmmakers, for "dramatic expediency" they say. Among these are the villainous sheriff (who never existed, and certainly didn't track Rubin Carter from childhood and later threaten the Canadians), the white child molester, the rigged boxing match, the all white jury, etc. etc... Every shady element of Rubin Carter's past was either overlooked or chalked up to racist conspiracy by characters created by the screenwriters. It would be awful if this movie is to be a source of inspiration for black history month. It would be a better candidate for historical revision and simplification by self-righteous white filmmakers. You may think this is nit-picking, but when I see a movie supposedly based on a true story, I expect at the very least that the key plot elements are true. I certainly don't appreciate this dumbed-down morality play, no matter how great Denzel Washington's performance is.