Random Movie Reviews
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The life of David Gale (USA 2003)
Ok, now this is the epitome of the classical hidden gem. Why didn’t anybody tell me? What the hell was I doing back in ‘03 not to notice this?. We are talking here of a heavy, complex, paced, stuctured old style of a screenplay turned into one of those movies you pause not because you are bored but because you actually don’t want it to end!. Alan Parker thinks about his movies, he seems to live them through until everything makes sense, until everything falls into place. And everything falls into place indeed as David Gale (Kevin Spacey), an anti death penalty advocate is sucked into a chasm of darkness as he awaits his sentence in a Texas death row accused of having raped and murdered his fellow activist and friend. Follow the script from the very first line!
(7.8/10)
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Maria full of grace (USA 2004)
Maria is a Colombian girl who quits her job at a flower factory and becomes a drug mule. No, that’s not really it. Joshua Marston , the director, has a much better definition of his movie: ”About a year into the process, I realized that aside from making the film about a girl who lived very far away, I was making a film about a girl who was doing something universal in trying to figure out the meaning of her life.” I’d like to add that this is a movie about a lonely young woman, her uniquely efficient, brave way of handling a few pivotal days of her existence. It’s a homage to a certain, exclusively feminine, technique of doing that. (7.5/10)
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Chop Shop (USA 2007) Man Push Cart (USA 2005)
These two go together. Both by young director Ramin Bahrani who received more rewards and honors than he can possibly handle, ‘chop shop’ and ‘cart’ are examples of where american movie making could go with a little more courage. The themes of hardship and survival in modern urban environments are skillfully and carefully explored. There is however nothing particularly new going on on the screen that we haven’t already seen in neo-realism or chinese movies such as ‘Not one less’. One would want to see a reformulation of such themes into american cultural terms and not just a mere translation. This being said ‘chop’ and ‘cart’ are one of the best recent attemps by far.
(6.7/10)
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District 9 (USA/New Zealand)
The immediate feeling is that of walking out of an 1980’s anti apartheid movie like ‘Biko’ or ‘The power of one’. Then you realize you’ve just been put through two hours of shrimp-like creatures living in townships. It takes courage, if not complete recklessness, to venture into a project that must have made some executive chuckle at the turn of the very first page of the script. Then again this movie uses a completely visual language and, unlikely as it may seem, it somehow works. The shrimps really blend in. So much so that they eventually dissappear, blur into the backdrop of a structured hyperrealist South African apartheid story. When this happens in a movie, as it does in District 9, the metaphore is twice as powerful as the faithful hystorical reconstruction. Free the prawns! Neill Blomkamp director. (7.3/10)
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Whisky Romeo Zulu (2004, Argentina)
This movie is described as a docudrama but it’s more than that. It’s a fully structured movie, and a very good one indeed. It covers the complexities of the aviation industry as much as it explores the ample contradictions of men and their long forgotten childhood dreams. I don’t know where this movie came from but I can guess it had a lot to do with Pineyro’s passion, stubborness and talent.
Enrique Piñeyro director.
(6.8/10)
IMDB page
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The Visitor (2007, USA)
An underacted, softly flowing, jewel of a movie. And a very “unamerican” one indeed. For anyone out there feeling misplaced or abused, this will be a very friendly hour and a half. A delightful foreign couple, played by two extremely well chosen actors, meet a university professor leading the most unproductive, self destructive life. Everything changes and yet everything stays the same as the good will of some gracious people is faced with the stubborness of the ‘State’. Yet, something bigger than It and its laws does exist afer all, our planet, Earth, that is, with its blinding colors and its myriads of stories to be told. Less is more at its fullest!
Thomas McCarthy director (also: The Station Agent)
(7.5/10)
IMDB page
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Shuttle (2008, USA)
Good writing makes this an unexpectedly solid movie. Moments of good, at times even excellent cinema, gives “shuttle” the aura it needs to stand out amongst the myriads of horribly manufactured, lifeless thrillers out there. The shuttle takes us deep, and deeper still, where light gives in to complete darkness. It came to no surprise the writing is by Edward Anderson, author of “flawless”, another pleasent recent surprise. On Netflix watch instantly.
Edward Anderson director (also: Flawless)
(6/10)
IMDB page