OneSmallWindow

Musta Jaa (Berlinale review)

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 06:13:16 +0000

Essentially a tale of marital infidelity Mustaa Jaa (Black Ice) is the story of the betrayed woman taking it upon herself to find the other woman in her husband’s life. As with the first movie I watched at the Berlinale, this one begins with nudity. A mature couple, in bed, enjoying a pre-birthday party roll in the sack. We are made intimately familiar with Saara (Outi Mäenpää), the main character in the film, by watching her writhe in bed in the throes of passion. Moments later we are shown how she deals with learning that she has been cheated upon when she discovers a half-used pack of condoms in her husband’s guitar case. She makes a scene at the birthday party that follows, but because this is not Bollywood, the scene is remarkably free of accusatory screaming and tears.
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Tropa de Elite (Berlinale review)

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 18:53:03 +0000

Cidade de Deus is probably the most famous Brazilian film in recent memory. The frenetic-editing, the high-energy score, the camerawork that made the film look like it was always filmed on the (literal) run…and the high-peril lives of the people that lived in the notorious favela called Cidade de Deus (City of God), all added up to the reintroduction of Brazilian cinema in the world’s eyes.
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Grindhouse Presents, Death Proof

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 02:50:42 +0000

Yes, that’s what the separation of the supposed-to-be-glorious experiment that was Grindhouse is called on DVD. Which would make this the fifth film by Quentin Tarantino and his most resounding flop.

With good reason.

There are a few things a knowledgeable person expects out of a Tarantino movie other than talking (check), visuals of feet and references to foot massages (check), references to other movies (check), by the director and not (check), sex-laced conversation (check) and eye-popping visuals (check).

Seeing as I checked the entire list, what caused this movie to fail so badly? Or did it fail at all?

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Trailer Analysis: Rendition

Sun, 19 Aug 2007 02:43:42 +0000

So this is what you could do if your film wins an Academy Award…good to know.

I hadn’t heard of Rendition until the trailer turned up on Apple’s website. If it had popped up on the various movie gossip sites I frequent I’d probably not have paid any attention because there are certain people whose names cause me to block out the work they do. Reese Witherspoon is definitely one of those people. So going in, I had no clue about the plot or premise of this movie that also stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep, Alan Arkin, Peter Sarsgaard and J.K. Simmons.

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Trailer Analysis: Beowulf

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 14:28:52 +0000

So the big bad Beowulf trailer is online and apparently right on time to start a feeding frenzy around the San Diego Comic Con. Nicely played in terms of setup but not so nicely played in terms of execution.

Click here to view the trailer before reading my comments. Otherwise, proceed…

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Trailer Analysis: Death Sentence

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 05:08:28 +0000

So now it’s Kevin Bacon’s turn to play avenging angel when his oldest son is killed by gang members in what appears to be either a stick-up or some sort of gang initiation. The movie is called Death Sentence and it is the latest directorial effort of James Wan, one half of the creative duo responsible for originating the Saw franchise and helping squeamish critics develop the term ‘torture porn’.

Click here to watch the trailer, then come back to get my assessment of the trailer and what it says about the movie. Don’t read the rest of this post if you want to be surprised or just want to view the first promo for the movie with untainted eyes.

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New Movie Trailers

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 03:49:13 +0000

Apple has a few new trailers on their website and some of them are interesting.

Vantage Point
The movie’s got Ripley, Jack from Lost, Idi Amin and Meg Ryan’s ex-husband. It’s about the assassination of a fictional US President. Or is it? Interesting setup in the trailer and nice music but I suspect they gave more away than they should have.
What do you think?

Click Here for a hi-res Quicktime of the trailer and leave a comment. Does this look like something to look forward to or something to push to the bottom of the DVD pile?

This Is England
Several human dramas have been listed on the website’s main trailer page but this one actually looks interesting. I’ve never been one to find sympathy or meaning in most American indie family dramas but this take on England in 1983 is interesting and terrifying at the same time.

Watch it right through all the way up to the quoted reviews, connect it up to what’s happening in the world today and scenes presented in the trailer and see if you can’t find it in yourself to be terrified.

Dreaming of Wheelchair-bound Priests

Sat, 05 May 2007 04:41:19 +0000

I went to bed pretty late last night (the missus was working so I kept her company in wakefulness). I rarely dream but I guess it was the altered sleep cycle (or Catholic guilt) that led to my vision of a wheelchair-bound priest in the moments before I woke up.

He was bespectacled, with a severe haircut and a ready smile. He was an amalgam of a couple of priests I have encountered and a man who used to work in the same office as my mother.

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Finding Meaning

Fri, 04 May 2007 05:24:42 +0000

Richard Linklater’s 2001 cinematic experiment Waking Life had a profound impact on me, not so much because of the content of the film as for the style in which that content was delivered. Bob Sabiston’s superfreaky animation software that caused the characters to bob and weave while spouting dialogue I didn’t always understand left me mesmerized by what low grade miniDV footage had been transformed into.

The proof of a work’s impact upon me can be gauged best by how badly I end up wanting to make something like it of my own - to learn, to see if I can, to understand how it works. A lot of what I’ve learnt about design and filmmaking, I’ve learnt from practice.

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Visiting the Bar

Wed, 02 May 2007 06:12:18 +0000

Over the past few days I’ve struggled with my stories, wrestled with them like they were alligators or oily men in an akhada.

Which doesn’t mean I’m not proud of them, it’s just that the ‘flow’ became a trickle after the Nine Inch Nails (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) stories and so naturally, like any man who should simply knuckle down and work harder, I complained (a bit).

So L took on the onus of finding me some inspiration.

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