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Reviews
Stay the Night (2022)
Couldn't take my eyes off the screen, a must watch for all romantics
I stumbled across this movie late one night and was thoroughly obsessed until it ended at 3am. I recognized Andrea Bang from Kim's Convenience, but Joe Scarpellino is new to me. Both were perfectly natural and comfortably uncomfortable in their roles as two lonely young souls facing the daunting uncertainty of existence in our modern world. The sparks fly as they find an unlikely friendship in each other.
Stay The Night is sweet without being sappy. You feel the very genuine chemistry and affection between the leads despite the story maintaining a realistic take on dating and hook-up culture. The plot is largely driven by dialogue and we slowly learn about and warm up to the characters as they do with each other. Some might find this type of film a bore, but this is the kind of romance that I live for. Their feelings develop out of their mutual curiosity to know each other as people, rather than the usual trope where characters form a bond due to being thrown at each other as a result of implausible circumstances and crazy escapades.
As an Asian woman, it's always heartening to see another Asian woman represented as a main character. The director, Renuka Jeyapalan, is also a South Asian Canadian woman, and her love for the city of Toronto absolutely shines throughout the film. And as a Canadian girly who loves hockey, thank God they cast an actor who actually plays hockey for the role of Carter. At one point they show a little glimpse of what Joe Scarpellino can do on the ice and it's clear to anyone who plays that the dude can skate.
I will be watching this on repeat as it has replaced all other romcoms in my roster as my number one comfort movie. Thank you to all involved in this film for this absolute gift.
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Devastatingly beautiful and true, a must-see for all mankind
Jack and Ennis... two young ranch hands, used to hard living and going nowhere fast, take jobs tending sheep on Brokeback Mountain one summer. What results of their partnership is not something that either of them expected, but their fall into lust and then love changes the course of their lives irrevocably. Their story has the power to change your life too.
It's easy to label this film as "the gay cowboy movie." Though the fact of their sexuality is what drives the plot, creating obstacles and heartbreak throughout Jack and Ennis's lives, it is not the central theme here. To box this story up as a tearjerker about marginalized minorities is a frustrating oversimplification, and more importantly, it is a serious misapprehension of the sheer scope of this film.
No, this film is about love, longing, and bitter regret. It is a universal affirmation that no matter how hard it is, love is the only thing that life is worth living for. It is both a plea and a warning to those who may realize this truth too late. This is a film that absolutely shattered me, but I came out of it with the knowledge that the only way to live is to love fearlessly and without hesitation. Years later, I still count this as one of the greatest lessons I've ever learned.
How some people could completely miss the point of the story is something that really bothered me for a long time, until I watched it with a certain friend of mine. She is, to put it bluntly, childishly naive and had never known romantic love. When the movie ended, she remarked rather lightly, "Oh it's so sad that they couldn't be together because they were gay." So perhaps it's necessary to have some life experience as a context for this story... and no movie, no matter how amazing, can teach you what true love feels like (however, anyone who has ever been in love already knows the pain of heartbreak, even if their hearts have yet to be broken).
Ang Lee is an artist, a maestro, a wizard in the way he creates this world for his characters. It is a world that is simultaneously intimate and desolately vast, and Lee doesn't miss a single detail. You don't just see the landscape, you feel the wind howling through your bones. This is all the more remarkable considering how foreign the ranch life in 1970's Wyoming must be to a man who grew up in a big city in Taiwan. Somehow he knows this place as if he'd lived there all along.
I suppose it helps that he had utter faith in his actors. I firmly believe that no two others could have done it - the chemistry between the two leads is electric. Jake Gyllenhaal is perfectly lovable as the boisterous yet sensitive Jack, buoyant and optimistic despite the many harsh blows that life has dealt him, and he deserves utmost praise. However, critics couldn't help but overlook him in the face of Heath Ledger's tour de force performance as Ennis Del Mar, a man whose emotions are so repressed that the weight of them is evident in every motion. The difference between the two performances is that Ledger's Ennis becomes a real person. He so completely submerges himself in the role that you no longer see Heath Ledger acting as Ennis, but Ennis come to life.
The supporting cast is no less impressive than the leads. Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway play the wives of Ennis and Jack respectively, whose own lives become lies through the deceit of their husbands. The story doesn't gloss over their anger and grief, and these very young actresses give performances that are far beyond their years. The actress who plays Jack's mother also stands out to me. In a pivotal scene near the end where so many questions are answered, and all these answers are conveyed between the lines, it's as if she and Ledger are speaking directly to your heart.
Finally, I highly recommend that you read the short story by Annie Proulx after seeing the film. You will be all the more impressed by how well Proulx's spare, honest prose was adapted to the big screen.
Kung Fu Panda (2008)
I can't wait to see it again!
Kung Fu Panda is the story of Po (an overweight, underachieving panda) who spends his days serving noodles at his father's restaurant and his nights dreaming of kung fu greatness. When the wise Master Oogwei (a tortoise) foretells the return of a deadly warrior who is bent on exacting revenge on their village, he and Master Shifu (a red panda) must find the fabled Dragon Warrior who is destined to save them all. Much to everyone's surprise, and seemingly by accident, Master Oogwei chooses Po. With entire village's fate in his hands, Po must face the countless doubters all around him as well as the doubt in his own heart.
Though I was excited to go see this movie, I had some reservations. Jack Black's bumbling-yet-lovable shtick can be too much at times, and as a starring actor he can be rather polarizing. I'm happy to say that he blew me away in his role as Po. The part was clearly written for Jack Black and is very much in keeping with his personality, but rather than bringing out that annoying side of his, here he was nothing short of absolutely endearing. I suppose it doesn't hurt that Po is a roly poly panda bear, but Jack Black injected the character with so much heart and soul that you couldn't help rooting for him from the very start, no matter how hopeless it seemed. Indeed, he had the audience laughing out loud by the end of the very first line.
Dustin Hoffman shines equally in his role as Master Shifu, the kung fu master charged with training Po in the art. While Po is clearly flawed, Shifu is just as insecure and uncertain due to past tragedy, and he too must learn to trust that destiny will right things in the end. A number of other well-known talents voiced the roles of the Furious Five, a team of warriors trained under Shifu. The Furious Five are all Dragon Warrior hopefuls (as well as Po's idols), until Po is picked over them. It was fun to recognize their voices (Angelina Jolie as Tigress, Lucy Liu as Viper, Seth Rogen as Mantis, Jackie Chan as Monkey, and David Cross as Crane), but their roles were largely unexplored. That's okay, I was so entertained by the developing relationship between Po and Shifu that I wasn't much interested in the rest of them. Other memorable supporting parts were the roles of Po's noodle chef father (who is, inexplicably, a goose), the prison warden (an imposing rhinoceros voiced by Michael Clarke Duncan), and Master Oogwei who was reminiscent of a softer, gentler Master Yoda and is brought to life so beautifully by Randall Duk Kim.
The story itself is simple and predictable (and, as some critics have been quick to point out, clichéd), but it is told so well that I can't think of anything I would have changed. Obviously there is an element of the fantastic, but the plot is woven together so seamlessly that it is easy for small children to keep track of and yet interesting enough to keep adults on the edge of their seats. Speaking for myself, there were several scenes that had me biting my nails with anxiety, and others that brought tears to my eyes.
Many of the laughs involved classic references to the martial arts movie genre. Having grown up in a household where martial arts movies were a big part of family movie nights, I can tell you that the writers definitely did their homework. Once again, critics will complain that they just recycled old clichés, but that's the point. Anyone who is a fan of old kung fu movies will appreciate how well researched this is. Honestly, anyone who complains of this as being "unoriginal" is probably the same kind of movie critic who will complain about there being too much singing and dancing in a musical. It's part of the genre, so love it or leave it.
Lastly, the animation was absolutely incredible. Dreamworks really outdid themselves here. The characters' movements were graceful and fluid... well, maybe not Po's so much, but you get what I'm saying. This was absolutely vital in a movie that features so much movement, and the animators did a wonderful job. There was also such incredible attention to detail. I'd like to watch the movie several times over just to take it all in. And the way they captured the treacherous beauty of the Chinese mountain ranges was breathtaking. Several scenes looked just like Chinese watercolor paintings.
In closing, I'd definitely recommend this movie to viewers of all ages looking for a movie that is hilarious yet moving, and visually stunning. The whole audience laughed and cried together, and the experience reminded me of why some movies have to be seen in theaters.