Sunday 21 October 2007

My Own Private Idaho

Taking us into the world of male prostitution, Gus Van Sant's My Own Private Idaho tells the story of a teenage boy searching for his mother driven by daydreams and memories of the woman who has left him behind. Clouds drifting by fast in a bright blue sky, an open road that looks like the face of an ugly man, a house falling down from the sky and into pieces, all the usual dreamy aspects which make up a real Van Sant seem to be there. Experimenting with shots that can be seen as daring, like the one in the diner the two main characters and their friends like to hang out, which show the two main protagonist conversating inside, but from outside or the way some of their friends speak about their experiences separtely, but all at the same time, moving from one character to another, not waiting for one person's story to be finished before moving on to the next. My Own Private Idaho is amazing when looking at it from a visual perspective. It's what is most interesting about the film and what makes you keep watching. It keeps you engaged and make you look even closer waiting anxiously for what's more to come. Narratively, the film isn't as good. Inspired and based on parts of Henry VI and V by William Shakespeare, the movie's dialogue sometimes copies exact lines from the play, an aspect that can be added to the wonderful amount of interesting little things that My Own Private Idaho has to offer. It's style which overpowers the film's story and characters. However, who is able to grab your full attention is River Phoenix. The actor who died at a very young age gives a very strong and fresh performance. His talent really shows through. Stating to be 'a connoisseur of roads' Phoenix makes you care for the boy he presents, searching for his mother's love and longing for more than friendship from his best friend. Phoenix engages you to stick with him and try to figure out what to do with his life. Someone who unfortunately never really seems to convince is Keanu Reeves. Always making it hard for a viewer what to make out of his performance, he again is seen speaking with the same static voice he always speaks with. An actor as Reeves makes you question what it is that makes for a good performance and how much it has to relate to our conventions of reality. Vividly bringing to life a dreamlike and somewhat imaginary world, My Own Private Idaho sometimes seem to resemble paintings, with Van Sant always knowing brilliantly to put together the right colours.

What Is It About?

Loosly based on parts of the plays Henry IV and V by William Shakespeare, My Own Private Idaho tells the story of Mike Waters, a somewhat lost teenager who suffers from narcolepsy, which can suddenly make him fall asleep in the middle of the day, and his friend and fellow male prostitute Scott Favor, who, like the character from the plays by Shakespeare, tries to avoid falling into his father footsteps. In doing so, Scott, a very privileged son with a wealthy father, has left home and joined the group of kids living on the streets who sell their body for money. In search for Mike's mother the two boys head off onto a road trip on Scott's motorcycle. After getting information from Mike's older brother in Idaho, who might even be Mike's real father, of where is mother could possibly be by now, they leave to Rome, Italy, where Scott finds love with an Italian beauty, marking the end of his anarchic days. With his friend's choice to move back to the social class he was born in, Mike's now left on his own to figure out his life which he spends falling asleep randomnly, daydreaming, and lost in melancholic thoughts.

Final Verdict: ****

Though not perfectly realized , My Own Private Idaho is a beautiful depiction of youth, touching upon the ambiguity of sexuality and desires. A visual feast and very thoughtful choices, make of Gus Van Sant's film a great portrait of the life of a teenage boy trying to find out life and himself. The film's made up out of sections, taking the characters and the viewer to different places in this part of the US and eventually Rome. Great is the use of colour, not only in the diegetic world portrayed, but also during the intertitles and credits. The bright colourful splashes make of the film a compact whole. With lines coming straight out of Shakespeare's play, the film is one made up out of many layers, giving more meaning to its story than the eye can see during a first view. My Own Private Idaho asks to be watched again, which is one of the qualities of a good film, which is interesting beyond its narrative. Having seen Van Sant's latest films, one can only hope for him to once again go back to a work like this. It doesn't mean his more recent films aren't good, but based on details and multiple meanings this one is more interesting and feels to have a bit more substance than some of his more recent work.

Sunday 14 October 2007

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

As the names of everyone involved slide down the screen and singer Beck can be heard performing a version of Everybody Got To Learn Sometimes, which was especially recorded for the film, you slowly try to recover from the stream of images that flashed by your eyes and that make up the wonderful weirdness of what is Eternal Sunshine Of the Spotless Mind. Directed by Michael Gondry and featuring another original and very inventive screenplay by the genius that is Charlie Kaufman, Eternal Sunshine starts off by showing us two characters who meet at a train. One of them is the blue-haired Clementine Kruzcynski, a young feisty woman, the other, Joel Barish, a slightly neurotic thirtysomething. Marvelously played by both Jim Carrey, who can be seen in one of his what can be called more 'serious' roles, and Kate Winslet, with a spot-on American accent, the two characters seem attracted to one another, not at all aware of the history they already share together. With fast paced cutting, a perfect use of colour, beautiful unsteady documentary-like camera shots and a superb story with some great twists at the end that make your mouth water and leave you hungry for more, Eternal Sunshine is a celebration of love and the many secrets of the mind. Director Michel Gondry, who takes on the difficult task to bring the story to the big screen, manages to tell the complex story of the two lovers very clearly, keeping it also very entertaining and visually captivating. Like the other adapted screenplays written by Kaufman, Eternal Sunshine too is a complete and very detailed depiction of the imagined world in which the story takes place. Everything seems to be there. Nothing is missing. From crazy hair colours to flashbacks of a young Joel hiding from the rain and strange looking machines that wipe out all of your memory, Eternal Sunshine is a brilliant take on the beauty of our mind and the what if's questions of forgettifg d wanting to forget. Erasing everything you've been through seems so easy, but once you made that decsision there's no way back, or is there? Joel Barish takes on the challenge in a film that makes you think twice about the decisisons you make in life, even the smalles ones or the ones that seem smost easy to make. Eternal Sunshine questions the mind and gives you a wonderful take on what would happen if you just woke up one day deciding to forget everything you've lived through for the last couple of years. It's smart, funny, beautiful cinema that exceeds everything you've seen before.

What is it about?

Joel Barish wakes up to start his day and go to work like he always does. Then at the train station a young woman catches his attention. This young woman is Clementine, a spunky all positive type of girl that likes to chat away. Sitting in the same train, Clementine who has taken notice of Joel's gaze resting upon her, decides to start a conversation. Not knowing each other they feel attrackted and in them both they have sparked an interest. He ends up in her house and a love starts to bloom. Everything seems okay, and there seems to be nothing strange about this love encounter. However, the two of them turn out to have have met before. Or actually, not just met, but spend a whole section of their life together, once they were deeply in love. This scene with which the movie opens turns out to be a flashforward. Both of them have no memory of each other which is caused by Clemetine who decided to erase Joel from her memory and once he found out what she had done, Joel decided to do exactly the same. But as he's going to the process of forgetting Clementine he changes his mind and realizes he don't want to have her erased but hold on to their memories the good ones and the bad. Attached to this big machine that has to wipe out all of Clementine from his mind, Joel has to find a way to save Clementine from dissapearing or he won't ever get hold of their memories again.

Final Verdict: *****

Kaufman again has written a great screenplay to an immensily entertaining and original love story. Eternal Sunshine is about the beauty of memory and the importance to cherish our memories whether good or bad. It makes you realize what a beautiful thing our mind is and how great it is we are able to remember. Brilliant, therefore, is the opening sequence where the two main protagonists meet. Joel doesn't seem to know the famous Hucklebery Hound song which features the name Clementine and when asked for his opinion he doesn't seem to know any other adjectives than 'nice'. It's only until the end that it becomes clear that he does actually know the song and knows lots of interesting words to describe the beauty that is Clemetine, but because of erasing his memories he too erased his knowledge of the songs and the wonderful ways to describe this girl who once was his girlfriend. Great locations that are fully used, beautiful and interesting shots that go hand in hand with the perfect fit of Jon Brion's music, Eternal Sunshine itself feels to be made out of flashes of the mind. It's pace is just right, never becoming too complicated to grasp the beauty of the plot. Featuring a stellar cast, Michel Gondry succeeds to create this world in which almost everything seems to be possible. It's this great mix of fantasy and science-fiction about these two characters who once were madly in love but ended up hating each other. Raising questions about whether you are ever able to erase your soulmate and what you would do if you decided you want to remember instead of forget, it prickles its audience's curiosity until the very end. With wonderful twists that are filled with a certain kind of sadness, Eternal Sunshine is a beautiful mix of images and emotions in which you will find more great things every time you'll watch it and new meaning you didn't find before. It are only the really exceptional films that are able to make its viewers discover new things in a piece of work they've already encountered before.

Sunday 7 October 2007

A Mighty Heart

After In This World and The Road To Guantanamo, both films that feel like a documentary depicting real events, but which are actually fictionalized dramas, director Michael Winterbottom brings A Mighty Heart, a film based on the book written by Mariane Pearl with the same title. Paid full attention to in the news, especially in the US, the story about the kidnapping of Mariane's husband, Daniel Pearl, a journalist, is one of many that have taken place after the events of 9/11. Putting the focus mostly on Mariane and the search for Daniel, Winterbottom's movie tries to capture the chaos and the doubt Mariane's living in, afraid of never seeing her husband again. With fast cutting, A Mighty Heart speeds up the pace, but not always for the better. Throughout the film you can feel the tension and the fear, but the film just shows too much to be fully captured by it. Especially the middle feels too long. There's too much repetition and after a while the search becomes tiring. There are some breakthroughs which are supposed to lure you into the belief of an actual happy ending. But because the outcome of the events is already clear the attempts of creating excitement, doesn't fully grasp you. What's left are a very solid beginning and a beautiful emotion filled ending, which feels like a real closure and leaves you with the faith of Mariane and her son living a happy life nomatter the events concerning Daniel's death. Winterbottom and Jolie succeed in making Mariane a strong woman who is in full control of her emotions, with only one real breakdown, a scene that cuts right through your soul, due to the horrifying screams of grief let out by Jolie. It's one of the strongest scenes, and the one that has the most impact. In what could have easily turned into an overdramatic performance, Jolie manages to stay authentic and subtle, with glances that show the pain felt inside. Never overshadowed by the rest of the cast, Jolie reigns supreme and becomes the heart of the movie, giving a very strong and solid performance. Especially towards the end as a viewer you feel scared for her knowing of the outcome of the events and the pain she will have to endure once she gets hold of this knowledge. The supporting cast, however, is very strong, with standout performances by both Archie Panjabi and Irfan Khan. Overall A Mighty Heart feels a bit as a letdown, especially compared to other films by Winterbottom like the wonderful and intriguing Code 46. On the one hand A Mighty Heart tries to show too much, becoming nothing more than a showing of the events, but on the other, the story feels to small for a motion picture. The strange thing is that the film feels way longer than it actually is. It only has a runtime of 100 minutes, which isn't all that long, but overall the film feels to show more than 2 hours. A large part of this has to do with the length of the middle of the film, which includes parts that doesn't show Mariane at all. This short departure doesn't feel right, as the focus of the film until then, has been most on Mariane, even though a large part of the focus is also on the search for Daniel and the people involved. It's hard what exactly to think of A Mighty Heart. It's a good film which succeeds in showing how those days after Daniel's dissappearance must have been like. The atmosphere and the state Mariane lives in are translated to the screen perfectly. Still the film doesn't really seem to lead towards anything, at least not to anything you as a viewer don't already know. There isn't much to think about, there isn't much to assume. All Winterbottom does is show what happened to Mariane and Daniel without giving his audience an insight on other experiences or giving a real critique on the way the search and the communication between investigators and kidnappers is handled. Winterbottom briefly touches upon the way the news depicts rumours as facts, when a body is found of a man who is thought to be Daniel. In what could have been a very powerful and interesting scene, is turned into nothing more than a sidenote. There are brief reactions about this not verifying of information, but these don't hold the intenseness of what you would have expected from the journalists. The most clear example of Winterbottom trying to take sides is when Mariane is told that her involvement isn't the job of a journalist and she states that it actually is.

What is it about?

Daniel Pearl, a Wall Street journalist, is happily married to his wife Mariane, who is pregnant with their first child, when he suddenly dissapears after having attended a meeting which was set up for him through correspondances via e-mail. Mariane is left without almost any trace of where here husband could be. Supported by, Asra Q. Nomani, a close friend and colleague of Danny, she begins her journey to get Daniel back. Helped by a team of investigators they try to find as much information as they can get, searching for the people who set up the meeting and whom Daniel has last spoken to. Not knowing if she will ever see her husband again, she keeps faith of a safe return home, though her gut tells her that chance is a very small one. Still during everything that happens Mariane stays strong, never falling victim to her inner emotions which scream to get out.

Final Verdict: ***

A Mighty Heart definitely is not a bad movie. It's just that it could have been done so much better. There's a good structure, but the middle is just too filled with events that aren't all that interesting. As a viewer you expect to see Mariane's story, what she went through and how it must be to live in doubt for days. The film succeeds in showing those feelings, but the differences between beginning, end and middle are just too big. A Mighty Heart isn't an action film. It wants to be as truthful to the events, without being too much a product of entertainment. It's what makes the adaptation of this story so hard. The film shows the search, an aspect which in, for example, the Jason Bourne series, could have taken into full use. An event like this could have fitted in perfectly in that kind of film. And that's exactly where the problem lies. The middle of the film isn't exciting enough to keep the viewer's full interest, which has to do with that urge to show the real events, meaning you can't change too many things if you want to stay faithful to what really happened. Therefore the search becomes somewhat tiring and at times though to sit through. The scenes involving Mariane, because of that, are in this way, the most interesting. The search is very well depicted, though. The scenes taking place outside feel very energetic. Karachi is an energetic city and Winterbottom succeeds in capturing its spirit. The constant movement of the camera enhances the documentary feel also felt in Winterbottom's earlier, In This World. Bleak images, without many colours fit the story very well and add to the realness and rawness of the film. A Mighty Heart, even though it's not the best film, is definitely worth to check out and features a very strong performance by Angelina Jolie who finally grabs onto a challenging role again after winning her Academy Award for her role in Girl Interrupted.

Monday 1 October 2007

Atonement

Atonement is only the second feature film by director Joe Wright, and moves on where his first one, Pride & Prejudice left off. Atonement is a visual feast, just like its predecessor but even more stunning and with more bravoure. It tells the larger than life love story of a young man and woman filled with passion and who are send to doom by the young woman's younger sister. The story itself, adapted from the novel of the same title by highly acclaimed writer Ian McEwan, of which his works The Comfort Of Strangers and Enduring Love also got translated to the big screen, is already great and provides for great material, but the way Wright tells it, is absolutely amazing. It's full of enchanting moments and poetic images, that are edged deeply onto your mind. Both visually as musically Atonement is a pure rush of delight. It has some of the most interesting scenes all combined in just one movie. A scene between lovers Cecilia and Robbie against a bookcase where they make passionate love is filmed in a way that makes it both dreamy and delicate. Smoke coming from cigarettes float through the air as little clouds of mystique, giving the images a feel of the black and white movie era. At times Keira Knightley seems to be coming straight out of a silent movie. She has this classic beauty reminiscent of actresses from that period of time. There isn't much dialogue and when there is, it's of little importance. Atonement mostly depends on visual storytelling. The editing is remarkable, easily moving between close-ups to long shots speeding up the pace. The film features a long take that takes your breath away with ease. It's like a dance the way the camera tracks around the scene and actors walk into the frame at the right moment. Making extensive use of the setting, it's one of the best scenes from the movie giving a great feel and depiction of what the war must have been like. It's both sad as well as triumphant, filled with glory and pride. Also the film features a beautful shot showing James McAvoy standing in an open field. The lighting is amazing as is the moving forward of the camera opening up this great space that soon comes to fill the frame. Atonement is drenched in pure beauty and elegance. Every image presented seems to be staged with much care. It's full with metaphors and symbols that could be analyzed for months. Like the book, which I have ready only partly, the film is full of references to writing. Sounds of a type writer are added to the film's soundtrack and have become part of the music that carries the film and letters and postcards are of great importance to the film's narrative. Atonement seems to be a great adaptation of the novel of the same title and has a lot to offer and adds to the novel's complexity and beauty. Briony, the most important character, is also the most interesting and is played wonderfully by all three actresses, but mostly Saoirse Ronan exceeds as Briony at the age of 13. She manages to carry the movie and sets the base for her character who is later on played by Ramola Garai. Completely stealing away the spotlight from fellow actress Keira Knightley, who plays Briony's older sister Cecilia, and who was nominated for an Academy Awards for her role in Wright's Pride & Prejudice, Ronan grabs your full attention and lures you into the story with the power of a magnet. It's a great performance for such a young actress. Knightley only convinces at times, but is never able to take over the wheel. The person who is, however, is the very talented James McAvoy, who after The Last King Of Scotland, gives another great performance as Robbie Turner. In his scenes with Knightley it is he who you care for the most and who draws you in into his character's emotions. Ramola Garai, who plays the 18 year old version of Briony, and who steadily, like McAvoy, begins to gain attention, playing more and more in movies of great importance and surrounded with lots of buzz, perfectly moves on from where Ronan left off. Her part however, is very small. But already in the scenes she can be watched, she is very strong. Her expressions greatly give way to the many faces of Briony Tallis, the most complex of all. It's a tough part to play, but both young actresses succeed. Atonement is at times a bit overdramatic, but it's brilliance prevails. It's far out one of the most interesting film of the year and one that feels the most complete and is filled with many meanings that are to be found under its thick surface.

What is it about?

Briony Tallis, a 13 year old girl with a passion for writing and ready to explore the world causes big trouble when she starts spying on her older sister Cecilia. Watching her together with Robbie Turner, the son of one of the women working for the girls' parents, Briony starts to notice their romantic relationship. Stung as by a bee, her mind goes blurry and she starts to see things of which, as a viewer, you never quite sure if real or not. When one night a niece of the sisters is abused during a search for her two younger brothers, Briony, who besides the niece herself, is the only witness at the scene, convinces everyone Robbie is the man who attacked the girl. For this reason Robbie is send off to prison, causing hurt inside Cecilia who's last whisper is a plee for him to come back to her. Time passes by and both Cecilia and Robbie as well as Briony grow up towards adolescence. The two lovers are now living separate lives. Cecilia is a nurse, while Robbie is in the army doing his time he normally would have been sitting out in jail. The two write each other and Cecilia sends him a postcard of a cottage the two of them could run off to when the time is right. Meanwhile Briony's feelings towards Robbie become clear and the motifs for her actions are brought into light. Working as a nurse in a way to find redemption and still writing stories secretly late at night, she knew exactly what she was doing, causing harm to innocent people. Now 18 years old it's time for her to come clean and leave behind the past. But in order to do so she needs to face the two people she broke apart or else live her life with guilt and shame for the rest of her years.

Final Verdict: *****

The line between fiction and fact in Atonement is one that is very thin and that is crossed multiple times. After seeing the film, you start to realize the film's complexity. It never becomes clear what is real and what is not. From the moment Briony watches Cecilia and Robbie at the fountain the story that is presented to us viewers can all be part of her imagination. It's no coincidence that the story she later on writes as a nurse is titled Two Figures By A Fountain. Throughout the story the sound of the type writer keeps waving its way through as a red line. It can be seen as a sign of the fiction that the movie presents. Lights flickering on and off on, the sound of a type writer, camera's easily moving to the large sets and beautifully lit images, make of Atonement a cinematic masterpiece. Set in different times, each part has a distinct look. As the film jumps from present to past, showing events in flashbacks to give understanding of the proceeding scenes, characters evolve and their relationship becomes more clear. The ending of the film makes you doubt everything you've seen before and makes you wonder who to trust. Knowing Briony's character, and at the same time not knowing her character, you come to realize everything might not have been what it seemed like. The film is full of clues and signs that could be interpreted in different ways. Looking in mirrors, coming out of the bathtub, the touch of hands, the smoke of cigarettes, use of flashbacks. They're all references to a bigger meaning. Atonement can make for a great case study. It's an astonishing piece of work that tells the devastating story of two lovers and which gets you thrilled for the novel, if you haven't read it already. It's a work of art and exceeds all expectations. Go see it before it's too late.