4 films: The Pier to Tell Me Something
La Jétee (English title: The Pier) (Chris Marker, 1962). A black-and-white film in French on the aftermath of World War III, time travel and what’s needed for people to trust each other. This short film (28 minutes) is light years ahead of its time, and I wonder how many times the creators of Twelve Monkeys (Terry Gilliam, 1995) watched it. Very suggestive, using stills to focus the viewer’s attention on time as a sequence of instants. [9/10]
United 93 (Paul Greengrass, 2006). The story of one of the hijacked planes of 9/11, told without any special characters or story. They could’ve destroyed this kind of film by adding a romantic subplot or something equally outrageous, but instead the story is told matter of factly and everyone feels real, which makes it even harder to watch. [8/10]
Beyond the Sea (Kevin Spacey, 2004). Bobby Darin was a famous nightclub singer in the late 50s and onwards. The film itself is too long, but what lifts it is Spacey’s singing and acting. [7/10]
Tell Me Something (original title: Telmisseomding) (Yoon-Hyun Chang, 1999). The South Korean police investigates multiple murders and finds that they’re all former boyfriends of the same woman. We’re thrown right into the story, which is ok if the movie later fills the gaps. This one didn’t, but instead continues to add random stuff and far-fetched acts seemingly plucked from the air, like how they need to find the murderer’s room and asks a random kid who knows it. Maybe it’s lack of attention, but I don’t think so, I think it’s just poorly explained. The one highlight was the peanut-eating and balding police boss who, because of his flaws, seemed like the only real person. The music was good, though, and used both Nick Cave’s “Red Right Hand” and Enya’s “Boadicea” to provide the right mood. It was fun to see a StartCraft poster in the background of a music store as StarCraft is huge in South Korea with professional players and TV broadcasts of games. [6/10]
0 Comments »
No comments yet.