Jonas Ferry’s blog

Lady in the Water (M. Night Shyamalan, 2006). Shyamalan plays a visionary writer with an important message to mankind. There’s also a water woman that needs help to return to her fictional world, but her story doesn’t overshadow the obviously more important Shyamalan story. This is a self-indulgent, self-absorbed and self-centered film written, directed and acted by Shyamalan. [4/10]

All About Eve (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950). The fan of a famous actress starts to take over her life. I love Mankiewicz’s scriptwriting, both the characters and the story are interesting. [9/10]

A Streetcar Named Desire (Elia Kazan, 1951). A woman moves to her sister to recuperate, but is troubled by her sister’s husband. I like Marlon Brando, and he carries the picture together with Vivien Leigh. [7/10]

Viskningar och rop (English title: Cries and Whispers) (Ingmar Bergman, 1972). Three women watch over a fourth dying woman in a dreamlike 19th century mansion. While this isn’t my favorite Bergman film, excellent acting and harrowing scenes at the death bed still make this worth watching. [7/10]

The Scent of Green Papaya (original title: Mùi du du xanh - L’odeur de la papaye verte) (Anh Hung Tran, 1993). A young Vietnamese woman works for, and falls in love with, a pianist. Beautifully shot, simply and effectively told. [8/10]

Taxidermia (György Pálfi, 2006). Three generations of Hungarian men are all intimately involved in bodily functions in their own ways. A grotesque and disturbing film that portrays disgusting events in visually beautiful ways. [8/10]

Travellers and Magicians (Khyentse Norbu, 2003). A young man is tired of his small village in Bhutan and decides to go to New York. On the way he gets to know some fellow travellers. This is the first film produced in Bhutan, and a nice little story of strangers and casual friends. [9/10]

Possessed (Curtis Bernhardt, 1947). A woman with no memory reveals to her psychiatrist that she may have killed someone. The story is presented in flashbacks and gives an interesting portrait of a disturbed woman. [8/10]

Save the Green Planet (original title: Jigureul jikyeora!) (Joon-Hwan Jang, 2003). A young man convinced that aliens have infiltrated human society kidnaps a businessman and tortures him to reveal the aliens’ plans. For a long time you don’t know if the young man is correct or merely insane in this strange mix of horror, thriller, splatter, science fiction and comedy. [7/10]

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (Clint Eastwood, 1997). A local millionaire in Savannah, Georgia, is arrested for killing his young male lover. Kevin Spacey plays the millionaire and is good as usual. The story is good, but predictable. [7/10]

The Laramie Project (Moisés Kaufman, 2002). Based on the true story of the death-beating of a homosexual man in a small American town, and the media interest that followed. It feels like a sober look at what happened, but it’s a film that shouldn’t be needed. [8/10]

Faust (Jan Svankmajer, 1994). The usual Svankmajer mix of real people and animated dolls, this time of a man that gets caught in a stage play and more and more becomes one of the characters. Not as good as Alice, but still very enjoyable. [8/10]

Hets (English title: Torment) (Alf Sjöberg, 1944). A Latin teacher terrorizes his class, and a young man in the class falls in love with a woman below his social standing. Of course the teacher fancies the same woman, and and tale of abuse and jealousy gets told. I was impressed by the script by Ingmar Bergman, it’s honest and funny, and the noir-like (or Expressionist) use of shadows and camera angles. [8/10]

An abusive teacher and an amorous young man in Torment (1944).

Smultronstället (English title: Wild Strawberries) (Ingmar Bergman, 1957). The aging professor Isak Borg (Victor Sjöström) takes a trip by car to an academic ceremony with his son’s wife Marianne (Ingrid Thulin) and picks up hitchhikers along the way. The old man has recurring nightmares and places he visits throw him into memories of the past and his own youth. What has happened to him, that he has become cold and uncaring, is happening to his son as well. The son Evald (Gunnar Björnstrand) is a nihilist, he says there’s no right or wrong in the world, only human needs, and this puts a strain on his marriage.

The film is filled with symbolism; the hitchhikers are a girl and two young men, a soon-to-be musician/priest (multiclass!) and a scientist/doctor. The men argue over the existence of God and seem to present two approaches to relating to women. One is hard and analytical and the other soft and emotional, and the girl of course likes them both. Helena noted that it’s not often you see a film about an old person as the main character, but it works well as his problems in life can be appreciated by any age. [9/10]

Evald and Marianne Borg discussing children in Wild Strawberries (1957).

When I started writing stuff here I used all five categories. Since my two main interests are RPGs and film, that’s what I’ve mainly written about, but lately I’ve neglected the films. So, here’s a whole bunch of them, presented in a two-sentence review format. The first sentence is a summary of the characters and plot, and the second is my opinion of the film. I mainly write this as a film diary, but please ask if you’re interested in any of them.

Howl’s Moving Castle (original title: Hauru no ugoku shiro) (Hayao Miyazaki, 2004). A young girl is cursed to get the body of an old woman, and must seek the help of a wizard in a moving castle to break the spell. It’s Another Miyazaki a film with cute creatures, a ton of stuff happening and a plot that’s more linear than a ruler.

Audition (original title: Ôdishon) (Takashi Miike, 1999). A middle-aged man seeks a new wife, but a friend’s suggestion that he should arrange an audition for one attracts a really scary applicant. The main strength of the film, that I’m about to spoil, is that it starts out as a romantic comedy and ends up with torture and horror, which makes the horror much more revolting.

Toolbox Murders (Tobe Hooper, 2004). A young couple moves to a building that’s haunted by a serial-killer, and the woman has to fight to survive. A remake that follows the Friday the 13th formula of killing of characters one by one, that is enjoyable if you like that kind of films.

Resurrection of the Little Match Girl (original title: Sungnyangpali sonyeoui jaerim (Sun-Woo Jang, 2002). A modern Korean version of the H.C. Andersen tale of the matchstick girl with a computer game that blends with reality. I was pretty drunk when I watched this, but it’s a nice real-life anime with some interesting ideas.

The Last Castle (Rod Lurie, 2001). Robert Redford, a decorated military, is sent to prison and stages a revolt against an oppressing prison chief. An ok action movie without any real surprises.

The Manson Family (Jim Van Bebber, 2003). A present-day documentary team tries to figure out what made the Mansons do what they did, and is attacked by their modern spiritual ancestors. It’s an ok film, but the present-day Mansons are unnecessary and the film should’ve focused entirely on the sixties.

Gacy (Clive Saunders, 2003). Serial-killer John Wayne Gacy, the original killer clown, picks up boys and buries them under his house. A disturbing film, more so if you know that his neighbours actually did smell something from under his house but didn’t alert the police.

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (Brad Silberling, 2004). Based on a series of books I haven’t read, this is the story of three children and their fight against an evil foster-father who’s trying to kill them. Fascinating characters, a great performance by Jim Carrey and the best animated credit sequence I’ve seen in a very long time.

Festen (English title: The Celebration) (Thomas Vinterberg (uncredited), 1998). A man takes the opportunity on a family reunion to reveal a dark family secret. A very, very good film that would make a great LARP if someone would like to produce it.

May (Lucky McKee, 2002). May is a socially inept woman who decides to build a friend from body parts. Together they give you a creepy movie that’s a very nice example of post-modern magic.

Birth (Jonathan Glazer, 2004). A ten-year old boy claims to be a woman’s reincarnated husband. The problem with this movie, as with most ghost stories, is that the boy’s way of communicating his dilemma is so absurd that it’s not very believable.

For a Few Dollars More (original title: Per qualche dollaro in più) (Sergio Leone, 1965). A bounty hunter gangs up with another one to hunt a notorious criminal, with one of them infiltrating the gang of outlaws. A prime example of Leone’s spaghetti westerns, complete with acting by Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef and music by Ennio Morricone.

Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis, 1993). A cynical news anchor travels to a small town to cover the Groundhog Day, but is caught in a time loop and has to relive the same day. Bill Murray is great, and this is one of the best time travel films of all time.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Garth Jennings, 2005). Arthur Dent is saved from being destroyed when Earth is, and is dragged along an adventure throughout the galaxy. I was pleasantly surprised, but I didn’t expect much either.

8½ (Federico Fellini, 1963). The film takes us on a journey through reality and fantasy in the life of a film director. Very confusing, but it’s obvious that it’s supposed to be.

Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944). An insurance man falls in love with a woman who wants to kill her husband, and he decides to help her set up an insurance scam. This is one of the best noir films out there, using the tropes before they turned cliché, so if you’re the least interested in the genre this is a must.

Batman Begins (Christopher Nolan, 2005). The story of a young boy who gets his parents killed decides to put on a bat costume and fight crime. I really liked the down-to-earth realistic take on superheroes, but they could’ve spent less time in training-flashback mode and should’ve introduced more wacky supervillains.

Jungfrukällan (English title: The Virgin Spring) (Ingmar Bergman, 1960). In 14th century Sweden, a young maid is murdered and raped on her way to the church and afterwards the perpetrators seek shelter at her parents’ house. This is currently on my Benny & Joon (Jeremiah S. Chechik, 1993). Benny and Joon are both “weird” people, misunderstood by others, that find each other and fall in love. I really liked the fact that there was no easy way for them to be together; when everything was going to be ok you find out that Joon’s overprotective big brother has a good reason for acting that way.

Dial M for Murder (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954). A man hires another man for the perfect murder: to kill his unfaithful wife. A very cool application of the kind of film where you first get the action spelled out, then the characters perform it and then one tiny detail ruins the whole planning.

North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959). A man is mistaken for a spy and is chased across the USA. A real classic; the Mount Rushmore scene is really cool and the attacking airplane is hilarious if you’ve seen Vincent Gallo’s re-enactment in Spellbound (Alfred Hitchcock, 1945). A man who has lost his memory impersonates a famous psychologist, but falls in love with a colleague who decides to help him. This film is kind of silly, especially the popular psychology that the audience is expected to believe.

Lady in the Lake (Robert Montgomery, 1945). Raymond Chandler’s private detective Marlowe tries to figure out who has killed a woman, with everyone having a motive. This is filmed entirely from a first-person perspective; who would’ve thought that they’d do that in a film from the forties?

Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958). A police chief who runs his border town like his personal kingdom is confronted by an idealistic man, responds by kidnapping the man’s wife and end up being betrayed by his own men. Another noir classic; totally dark and disturbing, but very special.

Love Actually (Richard Curtis, 2003). A bunch of love stories in contemporary London, with Hugh Grant. Unfortunately Hugh Grant is in it, but otherwise the film’s generally quite nice, especially the story about the guy who’s in love with his best friend’s girlfriend.

Fantastic Four (Tim Story, 2005). Five people are on a space station that gets bombarded by radiation, turn into four superheroes and a villain and fight some. I was admittedly a bit drunk at the moment, but it felt like a bunch of unrelated scenes put together, and I really like the comic.

The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949). An American man reaches Vienna to meet his old friend, who has recently died under suspicious circumstances. Orson Welles is in this one, but we have to wait to meet his character, which is a great way to keep the audience on the edge of their seats.

The Eye 2 (original title: Jian gui 2) (Oxide Pang Chun and Danny Pang, 2004). A young pregnant woman starts to see dead people, and realizes that her unborn child is in danger. This is strangely enough not at all related to The Eye, but still a nice horror movie with a great idea of why childbirth could be interesting to ghosts.

Maria Full of Grace (Joshua Marston, 2004). To escape Colombian working conditions, her demanding family and create a future for herself and the child she’s pregnant with, Maria smuggles swallowed heroin containers. It was nice that the main character wasn’t turned into a saint or a martyr, but a human that did both good and bad things.

What Dreams May Come (Vincent Ward, 1998). A children’s doctor dies and has to fetch his wife and kid from hell and bring them to the family’s personal paradise. The main part is perfect for Robin Williams, and luckily he’s the main actor in this movie.

One Missed Call (original title: Chakushin ari) (Takashi Miike, 2003). Japanese teenagers start receiving voice messages from the future, from their own violent deaths. A fairly good Japanese horror, but it didn’t leave a very lasting impression.

The Postman Always Rings Twice (Tay Garnett, 1946). A drifter starts working at a countryside hamburger place, falls in love with the owner’s wife and together they try to kill him to get his insurance money. A noir film with a very obvious femme fatale, especially interesting since she’s not only glamorous, but also down-to-earth and practical.

Scarlet Street (Fritz Lang, 1945). A dissatisfied cashier and hobby painter meets a girl that tricks him into a messy situation. I really like the actor The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, 1946). The private detective Malowe is hired to clear a rich guy’s daughter’s name from involvement in a murder. Another Chandler story, this time with Humphrey Bogart as Marlowe.

Tokyo Godfathers (Satoshi Kon, 2003). Three homeless people in Tokyo with their own stories of how they ended up on the street find an abandoned baby and try to find the mother. This was really good, and managed to mix seriousness and silliness to produce a touching story of the characters’ situation.

Riget (English title: The Kingdom) (Morten Arnfred and Lars von Trier, 1994). In a hospital ghost awaken and haunt the patients, while the doctors are locked in power struggles and scheming. This Danish miniseries is a must, all the characters are great and I especially enjoy the acting of Ernst-Hugo Järegård and that von Trier made screaming “Danish scum” his character’s trademark.

Land of the Dead (George A. Romero, 2005). The zombie catastrophe is a fact and people try to survive hidden in a sealed-off city, but the zombies will find a way to get in. The movie was so-so, I really like zombies, but there was a lot of pointless stuff you’ve already seen too many times before.

Riget II (English title: The Kingdom II) (Morten Arnfred and Lars von Trier, 1997). The second season of the series starts where the first one ended, but unfortunately ends with a whole lot of cliffhangers with no real answers. If you’ve seen Riket you have to see this, and can look forward to seeing Ernst-Hugo’s character look for “floaters” and “sinkers” when he visits the toilet.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Tim Burton, 2005). The young Charlie wins a ticket to a guided tour of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory and has to watch a billion Oompa-Loompas dance and sing. I liked the cloned Oompa-Loompa, but I thought the end of the film dragged a bit.

A Tale of Two Sisters (original title: Janghwa, Hongryeon) (Ji-woon Kim, 2003). Two sisters go to live with their father and their evil stepmother, but soon reality and fantasy are blurred and you don’t even know which of the characters really exist. A very nice psychological thriller that starts with cheap horror scare-tactics, but turns darker, more disturbing and more complex story-wise towards the end.

Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1943). An old newspaper mogul dies with the last word “Rosebud,” and a reporter tries to uncover what it means. This film is a monument over the state of cinema when it was made, but is also, with its use of camera techniques, plot twists and the ambiguous ending, something that can still be relevant today.

The Happiness of the Katakuris (orginal title: Katakuri-ke no kôfuku (Takashi Miike, 2001). The story of a family who runs a guest house, but has the bad luck of several customers dying and has to get rid of the bodies. This is a horror-musical-comedy, and parts of the plot are told through the characters singing it.

Frenzy (Alfred Hitchcock, 1972). A serial-killer who strangles woman with his tie is loose, and the main character is innocently accused. It was fun to watch a late Hitchcock, and I feel that the disturbing subject matter was just his way of continuing to shock audiences the same way he had done in his black-and-whites.

Onibaba (Kaneto Shindô, 1964). It’s fourteen century Japan and a civil war forces an old woman and her daughter-in-law to attack wounded samurai who has strayed from the battles and steal their valuables. This is a very nice film that starts out as a realistic piece of desperation and forbidden love, but takes a turn into the supernatural.

Battlestar Galactica, season 1 (TV-series, 2004-2005). Human-created robots called Cylons revolt and humanity has to flee through hyperspace with the ships they have left, defended by the military vessel Galactica and her fighter pilots. So far I’ve seen season 1, and very much like the moral dilemmas posed and the situations people have to face.

House of Flying Daggers (original title: Shi mian mai fu) (Yimou Zhang, 2004). Two men of justice decide to expose a hidden group of rebel assassins with one of them going undercover, but he falls in love with one of the members. Very beautiful, but too melodramatic and too many almost-dead-but-can-deliver-his/her-last-words scenes.

Bring It On (Peyton Reed, 2000). Two rival cheerleader groups compete to find out who’s the best. A couple of funny moments, but overall just something to watch if there’s nothing else on.

The Sky-Colored Seed (original title: Sora Iro no Tane) (Hayao Miyazaki, 1992). A boy trades his toy plane with a fox for a seed, but when it grows into a house the fox wants it back. An incredibly funny 90-second short with the best greedy fox in history.

Vägen till Gyllenblå (1985) is a Swedish science fiction tv-series from the eighties. The plot revolves around a boy and a girl that travel to the distant planet Gyllenblå where laughter has been outlawed. The rulers of Gyllenblå try to incorporate the children into society, but their ability to laugh upsets the system and starts a revolution. The planets Earth and Gyllenblå are each others opposites, but also have similarities. This is nicely shown by using the same actors in two parallel roles on Earth and Gyllenblå, to make it clear that there exist people on Earth that also view laughter as something to fear.

Kiss the Girls (1997) is a serial-killer thriller with Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman. Someone kidnaps young women and keeps them locked up, only to murder some of them when they break his rules. It’s not until Dr. Kate McTiernan (Judd) manages to escape and talk to police psychiatrist Dr. Alex Cross (Freeman) that they get a lead to the location. After an outdrawn chase with gunfights and car chases the criminal is defeated. This movie is not good. There are huge plot holes that one has to ignore, like bringing a witness when trying to apprehend a criminal and things like that, and the identity of the perpetrator is really obvious but only after the movie tells you who it is. The audience is not given any chance to guess, but the characters should be able to. You really don’t have to see this.

The Ice Storm (1997) by Ang Lee is one of my top-ten films, and I watched it again to show it to Helena. It’s a story of two families with problems of fidelity and teenagers who are discovering sex, set in America of 1973. The list of actors (Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci and Elijah Wood among others) is very impressive, and everyone delivers. It’s shock-full of drama and beautiful shots and the story of two-timing parents and teenagers experiencing the emotional roller-coaster of falling in love keeps you hooked. If you haven’t, see it.

The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb (1993) is a strange stop-motion filmed blend of actors and animated characters. The setting is a dark and filthy city, filled with dirty and disgusting people. The story starts when Tom Thumb, a couple-of-centimetre long boy, is born. He’s promptly kidnapped from his parents by scientists from a genetic lab, only to escape and try to find his way back to his parents. He meet other people his size and is drawn into a conflict between the Lilliputians and the “giants”. I didn’t really like the movie that much, the most it did was to disgust, but if you get a chance you could still see it and judge for yourself. It feels like a movie you either love or hate, and I honestly haven’t decided yet.

When I described Pi (1998) to Helena I said that it looked like Requiem for a Dream with music like Fight Club, a fairly accurate description since it’s made by the same people. The brilliant mathematician Maximillian Cohen tries to find a pattern in the number sequence of pi and trough that be able to predict the activity of the stock market. He’s approached by a Jewish kabbalist and members of a shadowy company or organization, with their own agendas for Max’s future. He becomes more and more paranoid and suffers violent migraine attacks, but struggles to find the answer only to find the answer to a bigger question. The movie makes good use of music and innovative filming techniques to convey the obsessive work of the protagonist, and manages to mix mathematics and religion in an entertaining way.

Såsom i en spegel (English title: Through a Glass Darkly) (1961) is an Ingmar Bergman film on a young woman struggling with a mental disorder. It’s a dark tale with very few moments of relief for either the characters or the audience. As usual in Bergman’s films the acting and dialogue is a bit theatrical and old-fashioned, but also very clear and thought provoking. The fact that the woman’s hallucinations are never shown but only described makes it easier to see what’s going on through the eyes of the rest of the characters. You still understand that they are very real to the woman and there’s especially one scene where she’s describing what she’s seeing in real-time that is very disturbing. Of course I recommend this film.

Oldboy (2003) is a violent incestuous South-Korean revenge-movie. Dae-su Oh is a man who for no apparent reason gets locked up by someone for 15 years. He’s then let free, and of course he tries to track down the people responsible. He gangs up with the young woman Mi-do and starts brutalizing lots of underlings to get to the boss. At the end you get an explanation as to what and why, but I’m not convinced that I like this film. Ok, it’s visually beautiful with some really creative scenes, but it still kind of cheap that the villain needs to explain the whole plot for it to make sense. If you like violence and forbidden sex, this film is for you.