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Reviews
Northfork (2003)
What we have here is a failure to communicate
Spiritual epiphany is a deeply personal experience. Where some clear glasses wearing posers from Islington may consider Northfork to be a profound and artistic revelation, I on the other hand see it as a soporific test of self indulgence.
Occasionally my girlfriend tricks me into watching films that are so pretentious you just want to scream; this is one of them, although if I did snuggle up enough with gentle petting so she would let me hear her scream later on:>, which I like a whole lot more than films about angels, my second this month.'Northfolk' is one of those movies that is so deliberately over the top and annoying because it wants to shout out-look at me-look what we have done with this script!-we are real ac-tors!!!No you're not, your showing off; it really is like watching four Alan Rickman's at once; if you can possibly imagine that.
Set in 1950s Middle America, residents of the small town of Northolk have to evacuate their valley because a dam construction project will soon flood it. But some won't budge so the government has sent the men in black, headed by James Woods, to evict them, including the last of the dead who are being dug up from the old cemetery where a scary fire and brimstone priest in Nick Nolte is also holding out against the hydro electric company. You don't see the dam or any water but the tension and resentment is rising like the creeping unseen torrents that will soon envelope their lives and homes.
OK, so far so good, bit of intrigue, bit of tension, and bit of mystery. Then the Polish directing team of brothers, Mark and David, the hit the vodka and introduce some angles, seemingly straight from the scissor sisters judging by their attire. Enter Daryl Hannah as 'Flower Hercules' and four more cherubs with equally silly names. Their mission we are unsure off although the suggestion of the departed talking to people that are seemingly still alive then suggests all is not as it seems.
With four householders and their homes still holding out, one shaped like Noah's Ark, a likewise number of men-in-black, headed by agent Walter O'Brien, (Woods), are ready to evict as the slues gates begin to turn. The stragglers on the other hand are waiting for a sign from God to tell them when to leave as their families have been living in the valley since 1776.
The key to the yarn is a five year old kid (Dual Fernes), near to death, slipping in and out of conscious in Father Horton's crumbling church. The angels in question are here to see the little boy as he may be some sort of chosen won as he flits between life and death. This is also Kyle MacLachlan territory, he of Twin Peaks, fame, of which this film really reeks of; his casting as the reluctant hero who's the family man behind the rebellion. But what does this all mean as far as a film goes?
The Thinking on this…
It's a mess of a posturing movie and in truth makes no real sense. Has the valley already been flooded and these people are now dead or are the angels here to redeem them. There are plenty of clues for the later and I'm sure the bodies being dug up are a hint, but I was no the wiser at the end, all two hours of it.
It's clearly a pet project by the brothers Polish, who write, produce and edit here, and the clout of previous success like the spooky' Twin Falls Idaho' gave them too much free reign. It is beautifully filmed and superbly lit, with every frame a surreal masterpiece, but where's the constructive narrative and meaning to this guys? I really didn't get it and there are only so many surreal metaphors I can handle.
Its arty-farty stuff and will only really appeal to Bohemian types who can see 'inner meaning' and the spiritual message man. To me its looks like something that no one reigned in and trusted the direction to little effect. As the big fat prison guard in 'Cool Hand Luke' said to Paul Newman:" What we have here is a failure to communicate".
The extra bits on DVD.
The making off segment is equally pretentious as Nick Nolte-in his half moon glasses- tries to explain the 'deep meaning's' to the film and why he took this project and gave it everything he had. Bo**ocks, your too old for action flicks and they paid you cash up front here.
Trailers. Galleries. Film biographies.
Embrassez qui vous voudrez (2002)
Reflections and refraction
Carry on Conking!
Summer things of course is a naughty metaphor for what people get up to on their annual holidays; in France it's a sport so it seems as just about every sexual mix and coupling is explored in this enjoyable and 'Carry On' style French farce, although they have neatly exchanged the nudity for suggestion.
A thought
One in four couples apparently spilt up on Valentines Day ever year and it's a similar ratio for first time young lovers on their summer vacation because the pressure to perform romantically is often the final straw of not living up to those passionate expectations.
It's the turn of five French couples, interconnected by three Parisian families, escaping the traditional august exodus from the capital, to see how their relationships fair on their annual summer holiday. Right from the opening snazzy credits and quirky French pop tune you know this is not going to be a predictable and serious French relationship, mood drama, but something much more fun and frivolous with a premier French cast to boot.
The story
Affluent middle aged couple, Bernard (Jacques Dutronc) and Marianna (Charlotte Rampling) have booked a week in the exclusive Westminster hotel on the South of France for their escape from the bustle of tourist riddled Paris. Bernard's star employee at the family estate agency is Kevin (Sammy Bouajilla) who is secretly screwing the bosses bitchy, unlikeable, but sexy tear away daughter in Emily (Lula Dubois) with the two furtively meeting up together on Emily's Chicago break.
At the last minute Bernard decides not to go away with his wife under the excuse of urgent business at home as the couples meet to decide the travel plans. Best friends to Bernard and Marianna are Jerome (Denis Podayudos) and Vera Salois (Kerina Viard) who are also coming to the same resort.
Vera is a bit of a jealous snob and has made her husband book a week at the Westminster, way above her embattled husbands salary and current career prospects. He has had to sell the family car to pay for it and hasn't done what his wife has asked him and instead has seriously compromised their social standing as the couple and their cute young son Loic (Gerrald Ullier) pull up at a caravan park in a battered replacement jalopy.
On arrival at the resort we meet the third couple in the obsessive hair dresser in Jean Pier and his beautiful lawyer wife in Julie (Claudette Cloran).He cant bare being apart from her and suspicious of every man that even talks to Julie, with hotel romeo in Romaine (Mathieu Bodynae) being this weeks number one suspect. Completing the line up is attractive single mom, Lulu (Carla Banquet), the niece of the Salois family who off-loads her baby on the gleeful Vera who is quickly tiring of caravan life. In return for looking after the kid for the week, Loic goes to stay with the ever calculating Marianna for his coming of age experience with Lulu free to explore the remaining male population.
For Bernard, the cats away and the mice will play, be it with his hermaphrodite home help or the younger woman close to them that we assume Marianna doesn't know about. At the hotel its bed hoping galore with Lothario Romaine filling the vacuum and vacant holes, providing the gumption for the frolics and the momentum to the complex relationships as we slowly discover the skeletons in the closet that hold this fragile group of promiscuous friends and family together.
The quote;Jean Piere:"It's not easy living with a nymph"
Jerome;"You should try living with the opposite".
The thinking on it...
It's a refreshing change to see a French film on the subjects of love and romance not taking themselves too seriously for once. This is positively swimming with joi de vive and jealousy with the superb super tolerant and soothe saying Charlotte Rampling and her immaculate French at the heart of it.
It a story about those scheming women that leach of men and eventually bring them down when their accrued social status is threatened; better not to expose your husbands affair until you are guaranteed the house and the car. This can usually be identified when the husband's hairline has receded more than his salary.
This is excellent stuff as the subtitles for once dissolve into an insignificant distraction for once as we are enveloped into the frolics and comedy with some cracking writing in this brisk and talky 90 minutes. OK there's some dodgy dubbing and sizable chunks of continuity missing that appear in the deleted scenes but on the whole this is quality stuff and you stay with the flow. Its also the first DVD I've had where you can rewind and still see the subtitles so you know where to stop when you missed a bit.
Additionals
There's a directors making off with a different slant on it as he gives you a video diary on his experiences on set and with the actors(very French).Some trailers and film biographies complete the minimal extras to an enjoyable foreign film DVD.
Billabong Odyssey (2003)
'Dude-my passport got wiped out man'
There are many surf- special interest movies- out there but they are very hard to rent or buy in mainstream joints. When you are interested in the sport/pastime like me you tend to rent any one that comes along in Blockbusters. What attracted me to this effort was it wasn't just a Green Day soundtrack to bleached blonde guys, surfing; it had some narrative as well as big waves and babes.
The documentary follows seven big wave surfers on their quest 'The Billabong Odyssey' to ride the worlds biggest waves with the help of the latest technology to find the boiling, angry breakers where ever they are on the planet at anyone time. It's a fast response project-led by Shawn Baron- where the guys-typical flashy American souls surfers- are on call where ever they are in the world and assemble to take on a big storm of reef when the conditions are right, where ever that may be, in search of the mythical 100ft monster.
The ambitious project has restrictions as all the guys are big names in the sport and have other things going on and you do feel that the odyssey is really about making a spectacular big screen documentary from minimal time and footage than actually seeking out the biggest waves in the most romantic and obscure places.
Off we go… The boys use a method called Toe-surfing, a recent innovation in the sport during the nineties where big wave surfers can get on top of a wave that's too big and powerful to paddle into by normal means so use the toe of a jet ski. The powerful motor bikes on water also allow the guys to be rescued just as quick during a dramatic wipe-out.
The film opens in the most spectacular style and if you saw this in the movie house then I bet it was something. The water based camera has a surfer and a jet ski in shot, and then as it pans away the surfer breaks free from the toe and the board grips the water that's strangely sloped. The camera pans further out as the wave wall grows and he shrinks. The camera keeps panning out as he keeps shrinking on this enormous, cresting wave of deep blue-green with surfer, Mike Bradshaw ,a mere ant on the side of a mountain when the camera stops. It really is a quite extraordinary thing to see and worth renting just for that.
The guys set out on their three year adventure by taking on a local break they know well that produces 50 footers called 'Todos'. This sets us up for what's to come as the guys tackle the South Californian coastal island break to you're a-typical, rock soundtrack. It's of to a Mexican reef break called Cortex Bank next that's 45 miles out in the ocean where beautiful ,big waves break majestically like dancing mermaids in the middle of nowhere, which again is mesmerising to see.
After a few trips to Europe after big storms the boys are ironically back at Hawaii and the legendary 'Jaws' in Maui, known as the biggest, consistent break in the world. After all the great plans, advanced weather reports and technology use its here that they will find that mythical wave. Not only is it 'stoked' out there but the island and pro-tour is holding its first ever toe-surf event on the mighty wave and the boys have entered.
Other aspects to the film are the guys back stories and how their time in the game has seen the sport evolve and become the commercial pose it is today. Now you can surf with wind boards or even aerofoil now the feet can be strapped to the board and with guys pushing it to the limit with wings on the kit it won't be long until you can fly over the waves.
Should you rent it… After the tragic tsunami events that seemed to have some sort of biblical significance considering the Boxing day impact and Easter after shocks it was the surfers in those exotic locations who stayed on to help organise the clean up. Surfing is a religion to and the waves are the Gods and if you still haven't a real perspective on how big the tidal wave was that slapped into Indonesia then watch this.
If you want to see attractive, bleached surfers having a great time out there while we slave away at the desk then it's achieved its objective. This is the unattainable dream, the big dream, the ultimate freedom if you like from your armchair and these guys are living it for you. When ever you see surfers doing their thing and living the life with all the girls and stuff you do wonder how they pay for it though. The truth is that 300 days a year they are making a buck and in a suit or a warehouse to fund it and only a handful earn a livable wage from it. But its nice to dream….
My Life Without Me (2003)
Trailer park trash with brains...
"Always remember that life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away" My life without me is different and I like that. Its subject matter of a young woman terminally ill should mean sadness and not light, but it seems to emanate hope when all is lost. There's some great writing around Sarah Polleys lead actress role here to as she documents the remaining weeks of her life with an intelligent and thoughtful narration that has real pathos.
The film is a co-production from the Pedro Almodovar film group and directed by one of their hot, young Barcelona female directors in Isabel Coixet. Its simple story about a young mum living in the back of her mum's garden in a trailer. The narrative is not about the sadness of death but the living that has not yet been done.
An overview of the narrative Ann, a blue collar, but attractive 23 year old young mum is at Vancouver University, but not as a student but a cleaner. She has an adorable but unemployed husband (for once) and two likewise young girls, all living in mums (Debby Harry) back yard in a trailer park, relatively happily with Ann expecting her third. But the stomach cramps she's been having are not more babies but cancerous ovaries, giving her just two months to live according to the doc and her vibrant, death infested cells have no sympathy. Her man (Scott Speedman) is also expecting it to be another kid, and not the big 'C', and so she doesn't have the heart to tell anyone when things are going so well as a family unit.
The plan is to write down thoughts for the remaining days of her life and record audio messages for each of the children's birthdays until their 18. Not only that but to have some fun doing the 10 things she never did because of her domestic circumstance now its all about to run out, which includes latté coffee, a flirtation with a stranger, too many Marlboros and having those talks she kept putting off with her imprisoned dad and world weary mom.
With the people around her oblivious to the terminal illness and remaining days on the planet she tries to close the deal on all her relationships so she will go to the grave in peace, and maybe leave anew family behind to look after the people she loves.
My Overview I really enjoyed this and was surprised that the person who told me it was good was right. The films message is without dreams you can't live and when you can't live then live out those dreams-instead of leaving it until retirement when you're too tired to! The slate grey skies and the rain lashed urban landscapes on the location here keep you concentrated on Polleys engaging,intuitive performance as the dying swan, the good and flawed people around her, her legs working overtime under the water to make them happy.
Wobbly cameras emphasise the fragility of her life and the music the impending ending. But this is no lugubrious tale but a movie to rejoice in as Anne excepts her fate with no argument and allows the narration to express all our concerns and angst over living a boring and bracingly real life and not being the person we really are that society so relishes in denying us.
The cast Sarah Polley was in the twenty something urban flick, Go (1999) Extras Play Movie! that's it, two words, how refreshing is that.
Zatôichi (2003)
Crouching Tiger, Bollywood ending?
With 'Hero' and the 'House of flying Daggers' getting all the plaudits and doing all the business in Asian Extreme rental I thought you should know about this cracking little Samurai tear up also out this year. Japans favourite son, come comedian, turned actor/director in 'Beat' Tikashi is the man behind the camera and if any of you have seen any of his previous work will know it's certainly entertaining. As much as John Woo and the likes of Zang Yimho get the gong nominations it's 'Beat' that has the cool Tarrantino following.
Tikano Tikashi is always the star in his own movies although is always a minimalist when it comes to dialect, yet again preferring to play the strong silent type, this time using blindness as his reason. This is not like his previous, deliberately violent pieces like 'Brother' and the disappointing 'Violent Cop' but more in the mould of 'Boiling Point', where weak characters draw strength and comedy from the all seeing sage.
'Zatoichi' is a Japanese character made famous by actor Shikano Koutso from a series of cult Asian films stretching over 25 years. Kitano gives his own twist on the famous swordsman with the bleached blonde crew cut and loss of vision.
The Plot
It's ancient Japan where a local village is being terrorised by local gangsters who have just upped the protection money and intimidation. Then blind man 'Zatoichi' (Tikashi) comes to town with blonde bleached hair and razor sharp reflexes like his hidden Samurai blade, only shown to those who challenge. With no work and not in a hurry he befriends a local girl where he cuts wood and does odd jobs for a roof over his head and enough money for the odd wager.
Meanwhile a local and mighty Ronin blade, Hattori (Tadanoubu Asano) is looking for work and offers his services as body guard to the local crime boss, who's now facing a rival cartel looking to movie in on his action. But the gang fights are upsetting the villagers and when they interrupt Zotoichi's gambling they just picked a fight with the wrong guy.
When two girls come into town pretending to be Geishas but armed with exceptional fighting skills and vengeance, also against the marauding 'Gingzo Gang', so team up with the blind man to kick their ass out of town.
THE DIRECTOR Tikano Tikashi is a legend in Japan and therefore pretty much gets free range to express himself in his work. His venture into US cross over cinema with 'Brother' after a string of Samurai themed domestic movies didn't really break the States and so he's once again reverted to hat he knows best.
After hearing good things about Beat I watched three of his films so far and had been slightly disappointed in truth. But when 'Brother' and this came along my opinion changed and now I'm hooked into his next project with anticipation.
His Ronin movies always follow the same themes of pulling gaggle of unoffensive oppressed people together to fight back against the bad guys with Beat doing all the killing. What I like with Zotoichi is that he adds unexpected up to date western elements in a surreal way like twentieth century pistols and a bizarre 'Bollywood'/tap dancing sequence ending. If you want something different from the usual Asian Extreme then this is it.
THE RESULT
This is great fun and not just a sword slashing slice em up as just about anything could happen when you least expect it.There's some dancing farmers, real Laurel & Hardy and some subtle dry humour that's as sharp as any Samurai sword if your not just here for the blood sperting chaos.
The special effects and C.GI are surprisingly poor here, although I suspect that's part of the joke some how in Beats homage to Tarrantino at times.There's defiantly a bit of that wacky Monkey Magic seventies series going on here as well, which brings back great memories.
DVD EXTRAS The 'Making off' is subtitled like the film of course and features an in depth interview with this surprisingly charismatic director, of which the cast here are clearly in awe. There's a press conference and questions piece and lots of trailers and galleries to complete the package.
Blood Work (2002)
Blood Simple more like.
There are dumbed down films and there are just plain dumb films which this really shouldn't have been, especially with Clint Eastwood on board. The fundamental problem is that you twig the twist way too early and then your left with 40 minutes of dead movie to wade through until the mystery serial killer is unearthed, and by then you don't care anyway.
If we are honest Mr Eastwod is too old to be in front of the camera in action dramas like this and I thought his decision to be a world class director would have swayed him from not running around with a shotgun and beautiful young women. That barrel chest is wheezing a lot more these days and I just don't think 35 year old smouldering Latinas would fall at his feet anymore.
PLOT
Eastwood is retired F.B.I man 'Terry Macaleb', now living on a boat in Long Beach, California doing a bit of serious fishing and relaxing as his crime busting days as the number one profiler in the Bureau have long since gone. The main reason he's called it a day was because the serial killer known as the 'Codekiller', the man Eastwood couldn't catch, made him have a heart attack when he was chasing the hooded man down an alley, so serious attack that he had to have a transplant.
The beautiful sister (Wanda de Jesus) of a dead girl, gunned down at a cash machine, has approached Eastwood to come out of retirement as a freelance and track down the killer, the clincher being that he owes her a debt because the deceased sister was the person who posthumously donated the heart so Macaleb could live.
Macalebs doctor in the seriously underused Angelica Houston is not best impressed with his need to get back in the game, although fairplay to Terry as he's not just doing it to get in the smouldering Mexicans girls pants. Any over exertion of any kind could kill Clint while his new heart is still taking to the claret which is hard to find because of his rare blood group.
Eastwood uses his old Police and F.B.I buddies to start digging deep into the case and he quickly finds out he hasn't lost his touch. But he can't do it on his own and hires a driver and back up man in the out of place Jeff Daniels who's staying on the boat next door on the jetty, a kind of comedy detective sidekick if you will.
Macaleb is quickly on the trail of the killer and soon makes connections to other unexplained robberies, which lead to some startling conclusions, but has he the heart for it this time(excuse the pun), although by now he's the last to know as the audience has already put the kettle on and gone for a snack in the comfort cupboard as the plot has come undone like Clint's corset.
THE RESULT
It's a shame this script has been messed around so much because the screenplay was done by the guy who did L.A Confidential. I'm afraid American audiences are far dumber than Europeans (hence Bush' re-election) and need big clues and red herrings spelt out for them.
The gravel voice is still there but the physical Eastwood,like in his last action film 'Under Suspicion' looks rather sad running around in that corset with on set respirator and you just wana tell the big man to call it a day. But he's a macho man of screen and the staunch member of the 'National Rifle Association', when asked what he thought of Michael Moore's excellent 'Fahrenheight 911'in a recent press conference for 'Billion Dollar Baby', he announced that he was going to kill Michael Moore - for real -if he tried coming anywhere near his house, obviously in relation to Bowling for Columbine and the N.R.A's other celebrated he man in Charlton Heston being shown up.
There's one or two interesting ideas here and now doubt a good movie on the cutting room floor. I quite like the idea of a body turning up on the state line and there being a kind of jurisdiction conflict where the detectives argue over the case. In the end though this is a bit remedial and insults your intelligence as it tries to borrow too much from the excellent '21 Grams' and the equally silly' Return to Me'. What we have here is a guy that needs to be told to hang up the gun belt, take appropriate roles, its On Golden Pond Time.
DVD EXTRAS
The obligatory 'Making Off' tells you all about the film you have just seen with appropriate clips and a chance for the lesser actors like Jesus to pitch for work. A short on the cast and crew gives Paul Rodriguez, the eternal Mexican side kick in every movie going, also a chance to grovel for more serious roles.
'A Conversation in Spanish' sees the actor's talking heads in Spanish with English subtitles with in keeping with the films Mexican cross over themes. Trailers and stills complete the pointless ad-on's.