benl-4 Reviews

More Than a Game (2008)

Documentary serendipity!

[8/10 · 9 September 2008]

What a stroke of luck to undertake a basketball documentary about a grade school team that includes the undiscovered future NBA star LeBron James!

Using film and game video footage interspersed with computer effect enhanced photographs, excellent editing and well-mixed music we get a compelling revealed story about four boys turning into men under increasingly intense public scrutiny.

I particularly liked the way the director "animated' photographs by extracting layers and changing the focus. This was probably a necessary technique to extend limited early footage, but it brought in a dimension that many documentaries are lacking

Manufactured Landscapes (2006)

A Mind-Expanding Film, but not a Pulse-Quickening One

[6/10 · 16 December 2006]

This film follows Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky to China where he documented the grim scale of Chinese industry and it's impact on the... landscape, obviously! Burtynsky's fascinating photos of industrial activity and waste have been exhibited widely, I saw the local exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario two years ago and came home with both the exhibition book of the same name and one of his framed 'quarry' prints. Now I've seen Jennifer Baichwal's film on the same topic. I think they've covered the media bases. Perhaps a role-playing game for PS3? So, thumbs up or down? Well, a thumb in each direction I think. The film gave visual context to Burtynsky's photos, which was helpful because sometimes you just can't believe that his images come from the real world. It also expanded them by capturing more of the human presence, which is often incidental in his photos. The film opened with a five minute tracking shot (shades of Robert Altman) along rows of bustling manual assembly lines. The scene showed both the monumental scale of China's industries and the massive and repetitive human activity that makes it possible. Watching a worker assemble a small electrical component at lightning speed and then later watching peasants tapping the metal off of computer chips for recycling reminded me that industry grinds down people as well as landscapes.

There were some clever juxtapositions that highlighted the economic divide in China. The remark "this is an open kitchen", for example, started while we watched a peasant's medieval outdoor stove in use but concluded while we watched the speaker, a Shanghai Realtor, show off her open-concept luxury kitchen.

The down side? Well, the film kind of dragged on (how many slow tracking shots can we sit through in a night?) and the sound track was excessively "industrial" and often grating.

Still, Manufactured Landscapes is a mind-expanding film that illuminates and expands on Edward Burtynsky vision and trusts the viewer to interpret it.

The Journals of Knud Rasmussen (2006)

A "slow" film but with powerful effect

[8/10 · 8 September 2006]

As I expected, The Journals of Knud Rasmussen was a "slow" film but I found it to be very powerful. I saw it at the Toronto International Film Festival at a Press and Industry screening.

The Journals of Knud Rasmussen is a true story of first contact with Europeans and the family and historical tensions that arise. It gave a powerful sense of the old Inuit life of tradition and superstition. The first scene was an evocative camera's-eye view of an Inuit family preparing themselves to be photographed which faded into a black and white still. As the end credits rolled photographs of the historical characters were shown.

Throughout the film I had a real sense of being in the place and in the time. The plot mixed the real and supernatural worlds intermixed frequently, which required a fair amount of concentration on the viewer's part.

Palimpsest (2006)

A Police thriller that does a 180

[7/10 · 8 September 2006]

Palimpsest is a Polish psychological study that starts as a police detective story and ends up being something very different. That's all I'm going to say, except the script was intriguing and the cast gave a great performance. Palimpsest is the kind of film that many people will want to see again to look for clues and details.

I wish the sound mix had been a bit lower though as it was a bit jarring at times, especially since I almost dozed off because I'd had a long day. I saw Palimpsest at the Toronto International Film Festival, and the director's comments after the screening about how the screenplay changed during development and how he hates unnecessary dialog were interesting.

Borat (2006)

The whole audience laughed in horror

[7/10 · 8 September 2006]

What to say about Borat? It is a hilarious expose of racial, religious and social prejudices that had the whole audience laughing in horror... I saw Borat at a Toronto International Film Festival Press and Industry screening, I gather that at the premier the previous night Sasha Baron Cohen arrived on a cart with a donkey beside him and "peasant women" pulling it. My God!

I had to sit in the very front row for this film which was made scanning the occasional subtitles a bit tough. This isn't giving much away, but there were some scenes that you didn't want to be that close to the screen...

Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Provocative and Beautiful

[9/10 · 25 January 2006]

Ang Lee has created some amazing films, and this is another. A covert gay relationship between taciturn cowboys is a provocative subject, but I felt that the film handled it well and gave an illuminating look at the subject of homophobia. Brokeback Mountain was filmed in Alberta's Rocky Mountains and I spend part of my career as a geologist in that region. It gave me chills seeing an approximation of my old life in the outdoors up on the big screen.

Brokeback Mountain was beautifully filmed with powerful performances by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as ranch hands Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist. I noticed that the sets of actors playing Ennis' growing daughters were particularly well cast too. To me the tale boiled down to Ennis and Jack being caught by a desire they couldn't acknowledge and a choice they couldn't make. The film captures the tragic consequences; Ennis pushing away everyone that loves him and Jack's unfulfilled but agonizing need.

King Kong (2005)

The best value, on a dollars-per-minute basis, in a long time

[7/10 · 19 December 2005]

King Kong is the best value, on a dollars-per-minute basis, I've had from a film in a long time.

Great effects throughout, solid performances by the cast, including the big guy, and a romping script that refreshes the original and adds depth. Three hours long, but never a dull moment. Kong's battle with the dinosaurs in particular was simultaneously exhilarating and hilarious. Naomi Watt gave a sensitive performance that meshed well with her co-stars (digital and real) and provided an emotional core to the tale.

Of course it all ends in tragedy. Who are the savages really?

The Myth (2005)

An odd combination of great physical stunts and heavy Chinese mythology

[6/10 · 15 September 2005]

I saw The Myth's world premier at the Toronto Film Festival. It seemed like an odd combination, with Jackie Chan's entertaining choreography and the writer from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

That's the way it played out too, great physical stunts and gags interspersed with heavy Chinese mythology, centering around the tomb of Emperor Qin. Unfortunately the two didn't meld together particularly well, and Jackie doesn't have the range to carry off the more emotional scenes.

A fun outing though, because Jackie's stunts are inspired (the glue factory fight alone is worth the price of admission). Some great locations too. Just leave as Jackie arrives at the mausoleum to spare yourself the lousy computer graphics and incomprehensible cultural references.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)

Excellent effects, lousy film

[3/10 · 6 June 2005]

There's no question Lucasfilms has the technical smarts to create any special effect imaginable. Too bad all they could do was cobble together the most idiotic vehicles and improbable landscapes ever assembled. The plot was predictable and unsophisticated, which made the storm of visual effects even more annoying.

Not all is lost though. The actors performed their roles well, and the plot managed to make the necessary connection to the "first" film.

The overall feeling I got from Revenge of the Sith was of watching money being spent as quickly as possible. As an exercise in graphic art Revenge of the Sith is entertaining, but as a film it is a waste of rendering time.