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Reviews
Fei cheng wu rao (2008)
Another nauseating romantic comedy
Well known Chinese actor, Ge You, plays a kind of geeky middle-aged man, an inventor, who after becoming rich, wants to fulfill his next ambition and get a girlfriend. The comedy aspect of the film is more successful as Ge You's character tries personal ads and meets with several unsuitable candidates. One of the candidates (played by Qi Shu) is an air flight attendant who is unsuitable in many ways including still being in love with another man who has rejected her. Despite mutual animosity, they develop a kind of twisted friendship and agree to help each other. Predictably they become more attracted to each other but have to overcome difficult obstacles to find real love. The comedy is kind of goofy and slapstick but sometimes amusing with some humorous but pointed criticisms of modern Chinese life. However, the more romantic second half of the film is overwrought and increasingly unbearable to watch as Qi Shu's character struggles with herself and Ge You's character becomes increasingly tolerant of her self torment. bleeech.
National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)
Lame Disney, family-rated, archaeology mystery adventure film
Something like a cross between the Da Vinci Code and Raiders of the Lost Arc, although not too scary or anything. Nicholas Cage is Ben Gates, a rich guy who likes to give talks about his historical interests. After giving a lecture about the Lincoln assassination, a chiselled figure, Mitch Wilkinson, appears with a missing page from diary of John Wilkes Booth which appears to implicate Ben Gates' ancestors as a co-conspirator in the assassination. To prove his great great grandfather's innocence, Gates sets out on an adventure which follows a set of clues which ultimately lead to a search for the fabled "City of Gold". Fortunately Gates' best friend is an electronics wizard which enables them to bypass security measures and have convenient access to highly guarded areas such as Buckingham Palace and the Oval Office of the White House. Even more convenient, other family members know extinct languages and can read ancient runes. A Love interest tags along and Mitch Wilkinson reveals himself as a bad guy who is trailing Gates, hoping to grab any loot they may uncover. Geared toward an audience with a low attention span, the pace is fast and they don't get stuck on difficult clues for long. Ludicrous plot probably wouldn't prevent this film from succeeding as a Saturday morning TV adventure for preteens. Trevor Rabin soundtrack seems apt.
Mang shan (2007)
Well made real life drama
In the early 90s, a young woman, Bai Xuemei, a recent college graduate, travels to the countryside of rural Shaanxi province believing she is going to start a job selling medicine to rural peasants. After arriving at remote village, she is drugged and awakes to discover her identity papers have been taken and she is the prisoner of her new 'husband', a contemptuous, uneducated peasant who has bought her for 7000 yuan. Bai protests and tries to leave but is forcibly restrained by her new 'family'. In fact, her new husband's parents assist him in restraining her so that she can be raped. Eventually Bai manages to escape her confinement and flees to inform the local police and is brought to the village chief. He, however, won't help her without proof (identity papers) or a refund of the 7000 yuan and returns her to custody of her would-be-husband. Later Bai meets other prisoner wives who share her fate but have long given up their will to escape. Horrified, as the seriousness of her predicament sinks in, she makes more desperate attempts to escape.
Incredibly enough, the film is based on the real stories of women who were enslaved this way in rural China - the demand for wives brought about by the imbalance of male and female children in the countryside. For once an idyllic, isolated rural Chinese village is portrayed as a place of ignorance and malevolence and a place to escape from. Amazing acting from the cast of non-actors who play themselves very convincingly. The only disappointment might be Bai herself who, as a college graduate, doesn't seem to plan her escape attempts very well.
Gou-Gou datte neko de aru (2008)
Quirky Japanese comedy and warm-hearted cat film
Feel-good comedy/drama apparently based on a Japanese manga story. A female, middle-aged, successful writer of manga, Asoko, loses her inspiration after her long time companion, Saba, a cat, dies. Asoko is sad and alone. A quirky group of young all-female assistant writers who work with and adore Asoko, encourage her to get a new cat and try to set her up with a boyfriend. They are relieved when eventually she finds the perfect cat, "Gu Gu", whose antics and personality bring joy back to Asoko. Her love for Gu Gu and her friendships help her deal with new challenges. Takes place in the trendy Kichijoji area of Tokyo. This is a woman's movie with unique Japanese comedy elements. Fun but also sad. A goofy American English teacher at a local school is a sort of observer and commentator during the film has an unfortunate resemblance to Kenny G. A must see for cat lovers.
Ping guo (2007)
A brilliant characterization of life in contemporary Beijing
The story itself seems unlikely, starting when An Kun, a city migrant working as window cleaner, by chance witnesses Liu Pingguo, his wife, being raped by her boss, Lin Dong, the sleazy owner of a massage parlor. Seeing an opportunity, An Kun goes to Lin Dong for hush money. When he refuses, An Kun reveals everything to Lin Dong's wife, Wang Mei. Wang Mei is upset but not surprised at her husband's actions and tells An Kun he will never get the money. However, as a form of compensation, she offers to have sex with An Kun and they start an affair. These two couples are brought closer together when Pingguo becomes pregnant and there is uncertainty about who the father is. Since Lin Dong desperately wants a son, he now willingly offers compensation. An Kun accepts the money but becomes increasingly uncertain of his decision to give up the child.
As farcical as this plot may seem, everything is handled in a realistic way. Even the story in some way represents the common dilemmas faced by immigrants to the big city. Personalities are nuanced. Characters are neither wholly abusive and evil nor passive and innocent. Every detail in the environment is authentic, modern China. The acting, and cinematography are brilliant. Beijing is remorseless, cold and bleak. The city provides opportunity and wealth but not without cost. Broadly speaking, this film is a social commentary about greed and desire and elusive satisfaction of modern life.
Festival Express (2003)
Good documentary about a unique music tour in Canada
Documentary originally filmed in 1970 about a series of 3 Canadian music festivals (effectively a 3 stop tour) and the train trip taken by the performers (Janis Joplin, The Band, Flying Burrito Brothers, Grateful Dead, Delaney & Bonnie and many others) between Toronto, Winnipeg and Calgary. There are impromptu performances and dialog from the train journey, concert footage and short contemporary (present day) interview segments with musicians and promoters from the original festival. The disorganized informality of the the whole event seems to capture the atmosphere of the era. The musical performances are surprisingly good and the low tech, low budget film work is excellent.
Gone Baby Gone (2007)
Unexceptional abducted baby drama
In a tough inner city Boston neighborhood, the child of an arguably unfit mother goes missing. Contacted by the child's aunt to supplement the police investigation, young, pint-sized but tough Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) is asked to help with the search. Kenzie, along with his partner/girlfriend, Angie, demonstrates his mettle as he conducts his street level investigation in run down bars full of uncooperative misfits and scum-of-the-earth. Although striving to be dark and complex, the film is more memorable for its stupid plot twists and, in any case, still includes the expected abducted baby drama clichés. The audience is supposed to be caught up in the moral dilemmas faced by the hero, but the story is so unlikely, by the end of the film these situations cannot be regarded very seriously. Some credit for the portrayal of local people in this tough Boston neighborhood, many of whom seem genuinely frightening and contemptible.
O Homem Que Copiava (2003)
Clever, funny and innovative
Andre is a young photocopier operator in Porto Allegre. He dreams of becoming rich and moving to Rio. He is almost overwhelmed by the minutiae of everyday life. His dream seems impossible until he becomes attracted to Sylvia, a clothing store cashier. His adventure begins with an idea to photocopy the money he needs to make a purchase at her shop, to impress her. The pace, editing, some film techniques and the music give the film a very modern feel and add to its appeal. The story is fun and almost whimsical (in the good sense). Note, Andre narrates throughout the film and sometimes it is difficult to read the subtitles as fast as he can talk. Like I read in another person's comment, this film makes me want to look for other Brazilian films. Highly recommended.
Xiao cai feng (2002)
The cultural revolution was never like this
"Balzac and the little seamstress" is French made film which portrays the profound impact that illicit French literature has on a peasant Chinese village during the cultural revolution. Outsiders, two city boys sent from the big city for re-education, breezily deal with the hardship of peasant life and the disapproval of their bourgeois ways. Fortunately for them, they are saved by their discovery of the presence of a stash of cultured (mostly French) foreign literature. They then begin their own re-education project in an effort to bring civilization to object of their love, the cute little seamstress. Unfortunately the film becomes an unconvincing lesson in the enlightening impact of European and particularly French culture when presented to rural Sichuan peasants. The pretensions of this concept are bad enough. But even this half-baked concept becomes more laughable the hands of this ham-fisted director. Attempts at comedy fall flat and the character relationships are empty. Without this there is little of value in such a film except for the undeniably beautiful setting.
Mo gong (2006)
Philosophical war film flawed by gratuitous love interest
An epic Chinese, Warring States period war film staring Andy Lau as warrior/philosopher Ge Li who encourages the state of Liang to defend itself against a more powerful neighboring state. Ge Li as a third party interloper represents the Mozi sect and their non-violent philosophy and defends the state of Liang to prevent greater carnage from the aggressive nation of Zhao. Helping to defend Liang, Ge Li must reconcile his philosophical beliefs with the messy realpolitik ambitions of Kingdom's leadership and also deal with the petty jealousy of less courageous rivals. Although this film is well made and Ge Li's dilemma is compelling, an entire ludicrous segment involving a female love interest detracts from the central theme and, in fact, seems like a gratuitous concession to commercial interests.
Keulraesik (2003)
Contrived, sappy and cliché-ridden romance
Ji-hae likes her friend's boyfriend, but she maintains low expectations, not believing that he has any interest in her. At home she finds a diary and letters which belong to her mother. Ji-hae begins to read these, and discovers amazing similarities between her own situation and that of her mother. The film switches back and forth between her mother's past and the present day-the same very attractive actress playing both mother and daughter. The parallel stories are unfortunately undermined by unlikely events contrived to maintain inter-temporal coincidence and produce a unifying conclusion. Along the way, the viewer is subjected to increasingly sickly-sweet romance scenes. The best you can say about this film is that it has decent production values but that is insufficient compensation for sappy, cliché-ridden romance which goes way too far to set up its fairy tail-like ending.
Bu jian (2003)
A truly abysmal film
A woman uses a public toilet in a busy city park. She is evidently in great discomfort and must leave her young grandson alone for a few moments. When she returns, she discovers he is gone and for the rest of the film she is frantically looking for him. Ultra realism. The film realistically depicts the panic and then despair of her loss. But that is about the best thing you can say about this film. The super long takes and repetitive action as the woman searches for her grandson create a feeling of agitation, an agitation which soon overwhelms any feelings of empathy toward or even interest in the plight of the main character.
This is possibly the worst film I have ever sat through. Excruciatingly dull, watching this film ultimately became a pointless exercise in endurance. It is extraordinary that a movie like this, with a nearly non-existent plot and sub-amateur production values, could ever have been released.
Yeopgijeogin geunyeo (2001)
disappointing romantic comedy
A Korean romantic comedy which features some of the same type of inanity which can be found in any romantic comedy film. The film is broken into two parts with an added 'overtime' section at the end. The first part features the developing relationship between Gyeon-woo and the beautiful unnamed 'girl'. Gyeon first encounters her completely drunk in the subway and reluctantly saves her. She is suffering from the traumatic breakup of a previous relationship. He is a sensitive guy and through subsequent encounters in the first half of the film, he falls in love and ends up doing anything for her, despite her mistreatment of him. In the second half, things get more complex as the audience discovers some of the reasons for her bizarre and abusive (but in a funny way) behavior. The 'overtime' resolves the film in the romantic comedy tradition.
The relationship in the movie mocks and exaggerates the modern Korean love experience. The guy is hapless, sincere and lovestruck. The girl is smart and cruel yet her cruelty can be explained by personal tragedy and is excused by her pursuit of love and her desire to overcome her loss. Gyeon must suffer to prove his love. The resulting physical comedy is on a par with Hollywood (meaning terribly unfunny) but some Korean wackiness and legitimate poignancy salvages this film from total ignominy. Fortunately, the story is not as straight forward and is therefore not quite as conventionally sappy as the Hollywood equivalent. But do not expect this film to be good enough to transcend its shopworn genre.
A Passage to Ottawa (2001)
A pleasant but unremarkable family film.
"Passage to Ottawa" has appealing moments and some touching scenes which are effective, but ultimately the film is not compelling enough to warrant a recommendation. Characters seem real and well acted and dialog is mostly believable. But the plot itself is only mildly interesting and the pace is a little slow at times.
I went to the movie because of my familiarity with its improbable setting in very banal city of Ottawa. On one hand, I was sort of pleased at the number of local references and that the movie succeeded in presenting an honest portrayal of the city's (lack of) character. On the other hand, perhaps this setting in the world's center of boredom dragged the film down and a more interesting location could have provided impetus for diverting action.
Isabel (1968)
Isabel is a fairly boring, half-baked movie.
Isabel, the movie, is kind of boring. The female lead is gorgeous and a decent actress but that is not enough to compensate for the tedious pace and confusing plot. The depiction of the Gaspe part of Quebec is interesting but filmwork is amateur (filled with abrupt 'one-take' cuts and stilted acting) and actually disorienting in parts. Despite some moments of interest, I can not recommend this movie.