oscarfbi Reviews

Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Quiet Power

[10/10 · 23 December 2005]

The reason westerns have had such appeal all these years is the best of them transport you to a world where power is silent rather than shouted. Few words can display as much pain, agony, anguish and love when placed in the right hands as a 100 pages of straight dialogue. And that's what happens in BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN. The quiet is both the hiding and the comfort. Two young cowboys take a job shepherding sheep along the mountain and in the course find each other. Over the next twenty years that relationship affects every aspect of their lives as they continually have to make the choice between true love and marriages that were formed not of convenience but of true affection. Ang Lee has created a world that sucks you in viscerally from the first gorgeous shot and you would love to thank Avy Kaufman personally for the casting choices. Jake Gyllenhall's outwarded passion is undeniably appealing, Michelle Williams is absolutely heart-wrenching to watch (and her growth in films such as STATION AGENT has been noted), and Anne Hathaway as a spirited, wealthy Texas gal breaks any mold that PRINCESS DIARIES might have placed on her. But the movie is Heath Ledger's, who has been sadly underrated for many years, and whose intense and yet kind performance is riveting. You can feel his entire being just underneath the skin with only the skin holding him in. He would make John Wayne proud. It is not a gay cowboy movie, it is a deeply layered love story that any person is lucky to have been given a chance to watch. In life we don't always fall in love with who we are expected to. Why should that differ on film?

The Monster and the Peanut (2004)

Monster vs. the Peanut

[20 March 2005]

While movies are filled with comic book monsters & villains, as adults we realize that scariest things in our world are obstacles to what we need to fulfill our life, or at least monsters that point out the fragility of life. In this case, the monster is traffic, something everybody can relate to. What happens when a father is haunted by the death of his daughter because of traffic? The story is exposed beautifully with a gritty performance by Bo Foxworthy, distinctive cinematography, and a truly gorgeous directing job by Franklin Rho. I was lucky enough to see this film at the Academy screening where it had won the Emmy. I look forward to seeing Mr. Rho's work continue.

Yesterday (I) (2004)

Gorgeous

[9/10 · 19 February 2005]

An achingly beautiful film that is truly sublime in its simplicity. Leleti Khumalo, who plays "Yesterday", is utter enveloping to watch as she juggles her relationship with her daughter Beauty, her chores that are a matter of survival in the Zulu village, and her secret of a virus that will "stop her from living." Her strength and warmth in her vision of people even clouds her judgement when it comes to her relationship with her husband who works far away in Johannesburg. When the doctor at the clinic asks her how she got named "Yesterday," she answers: "It was my father. He always thought yesterday was better than today or tomorrow. But that was a long time ago."

Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002)

Exquisite simplicity

[10 March 2003]

There are three things that resonate with you long after you have seen the film: 1) the strength of those children, 2) the panoramic cinematography and 3) the fact that the vile practice of kidnapping "half-castes" was acceptable until 1970. The performances of the children, especially Everlyn Sampi, are mindstaggering in their sheer genuineness. Neither had ever acted before, and Sampi had never even seen a film. Philip Noyce draws a powerful picture with a government executor, Mr. Neville (played wonderfully by Kenneth Branagh) who truly believes that the removal of the children is a necessity in order to dissolve the race. But is is the children's journey that draws you in, the beauy of who they are and what they undertook a 2000+ mile walk just to get back to Mom. It is worth the admission alone to see young Daisy (Tianna Sansbury) crumple at one point after walking for days and just say, "I'm tired" and have Molly (Sampi) pick her up and continue going.

Strays (1997)

Sometimes strays find what is missing in other strays

[12 April 2000]

Sometimes the combination of good writing, good direction and good casting collides into a great movie. Writer/Director Vin Diesel stars as Rick, the emotional center to a very strong ensemble of acquired family. The older brother who is finally facing the future, Rick tries to develop a new life while still taking care of his circle of strays. He rebels from his sex-filled nights against Salvatore, a womanizing freeloader and his drug-providing past with Fred, his not so bright cousin. Their unending loyalty keeps the "family" strong, even when he falls in love with a midwestern outsider, Heather. Perceptive and extremely witty writing keeps the pace throughout the film, and his chemistry with Fred, played beautifully by Joey Dedio, is worth the price of the ticket alone.

You Can Count on Me (2000)

Siblings never change, even if your life circumstances do

[13 February 2000]

For those of us blessed with the opportunity to see this film at Sundance 2000, no viewer was shocked when it tied for the Grand Jury prize. An exemplary combination of fantastic writing, directing and acting for the virgin directing effort of Kenneth Lonergan. "You Can Count on Me" centers on an area not usually focused on, an adult brother-sister relationship. You get to see Sammy (Laura Linney) as a single mother, as a friend, as a girlfriend, a mistress and an employee. When her younger, unfocused brother Terry (a wonderful Mark Ruffalo)wanders back in her life, their relationship is the one that draws your attention. The chemistry of the writing permits you to see the manner that remains constant in any sibling relationship: an immaturity and familiarity that exists with no one else but someone you grew up with.