Jamie passion and passionfruit!

In her shoes is one of those films that it is probably not very fashionable to like.  Labelled a chick flick, it does deal with life issues from the context of two sisters and their long absent grandmother, but the film is rich with lessons and insights for us all.  My feeling is that Curtis Hanson has done a great job.  Whether you like this sort of romantic comedy cum family drama or not, he does the work effortlessly and draws out  great natural and subtle performances from his cast.  Toni Collette (great as ever), Cameron Diaz and Shirley Maclaine all shine.  Forget the majority of the critics and go see it. It will delight you.

Read the rest of this entry ... (4 words left)

  Everything is illuminated is a whimsical and sadly moving film at the same time.  Debut by actor Liev Schreiber, it tells the story of Jonathan, a young Jewrish man who is an inveterate collectorof family items.  Upon the death of his grandmother, he decides to trace his roots back to Ukraine and the bulk of the film is a road movie of returning to the past in post-Soviet run down Ukraine with his slightly smart-Alec guide Alex, Alex`s grandfather and the temperamental dog Sammy Davis Junior Junior ( a great canine performance).  As the humour of the translations and the Ukrainian deprivations wear off the film takes on a serious note with Jonathan`s discovery of what really happened there in 1942.  It ends up being a poignant story of the power of our past and our links.  Good music especially and effective performances from Elijah Wood and Eugene Hutz.  Different and very watchable.

Read the rest of this entry ... (5 words left)

Stevie Wonder has been around on the music scene for over 40 years and yet he is only in his mid-50’s.  Beneath follows a biography taken from the encarta encyclopedia.  The reason he appears in this blog is not only because I love his music and have been a fan since way back but because he has a new album (A Time to Love) which is very respectable indeed and has been nominated for several Grammys.  I am still getting into the songs but already there are some that I love and hope that others will discover so that they can realise the talent that he has.

Read the rest of this entry ... (254 words left)

  It is not often that you go into a record store, try out a Cd by an unknown artist and consider that the majority of the songs are classics.  This is the case with James Blunt whose "Back to Bedlam" I bought the other day.  A great voice, poignant melodies, aching lyrics and a fine production -I love it.  This guy who was a soldier in the Bosnian war and wrote a fantastic anti-war song in "No Bravery" which ends this album is a real find.  Somehow he has more than Damien Rice and other new artists that I've heard this year.  An unexpected treat for the end of 2005.

Vanity Fair is a classic English novel by Thackeray about social climber Becky Sharp and her fortunes and falls as she tries to carve out a life in English high society of the 19^th century despite her lack of pedigree.  It has been filmed for both TV and cinema various times and this long novel now gets the treatment from Indian director Mira Nair.  She does a fair job – the film is entertaining enough and coherent but that is it.    Reese Witherspoon does a fair job in the lead role – she is a natural trangressor but I couldn’t help feeling that there could have been other actresses better suited to the part.   We get the array of character actors like Bob Hoskins, Jim Broadbent. Gabriel Byrne and Geraldine Newman in parts of greater or lesses importance – some do well, others just perform the lines.  Rhys Ifans as Captain Dobbin adds some pathos while James Purefoy as Becky’s husband is pretty and pretty dull.  The star is Eileen Atkins as Aunt Matilda.  She lights up her various scenes and lifts the film above the hundrum.  All in all a only a very fair effort.

Read the rest of this entry ... (4 words left)

I have some problems with Spielberg.  Undeniably, he has great talent and vision and has produced some excellent films, some of which I have liked a lot.  I do find however that his ‘messages’ can overwhelm his films and become responsible for altering his perspective and for being opportunities to tug at the heartstrings of people.    Having said that it is certain that at least he does construct a perspective rather than just show the basics as other directors may do.

Read the rest of this entry ... (179 words left)

Otra pelicula argentina con buenos resultados en festivales por el mundo.  Para mí, una película independiente hecha por números.  Muy correcta con todos los elementos – adolescente que quiere saber quien realmente era su madre, papá medio ausente con nueva esposa y beba, novia mentirosa, viaje a un pueblo en búsqueda de la verdad, peleas, abrazos y largas charlas.  Nahuel Pérez Biscayarte un actor joven que es un revelación este año (ver El aura) es el adolescente – tiene una cara interesante, actúa bien pero no se entiende muy bien lo que dice.  El papá, Luis Z…. , un tipo de Cavallo hecho padre fracasado, es mas interesante una vez que deja de tocar la frente con las manos.  Música del “sodero” Meleno y fotografìa bastante ‘self-conscious’.  Nada fuera de este mundo.  Y  fue rodado en San Antonio de Areco, pero no el lado más bonito.

Read the rest of this entry ... (3 words left)

This German film has been hailed as excellent in some quarters for its direct handling of a moral dilemma.  The situation is that of a Catholic priest freed from Dachau for 9 days in order to convince the Luxembourg church hierarchy to sign a document supporting the Nazi regime.  If he manages it, he and his comrades in the concentration camp go free, if he doesn’t its back to Dachau and possible harm to his family and the church.  It makes for a good story and plenty of built in suspense, but I can`t say I was gripped by this film by Volker Schlondorff.  The best parts are the dialogues between priest and Nazi officer and the latter’s arguments to justify the extermination of the Jews and other minorities.  The rest is many long looks from the unusual skull-like face of Ulrich Mattes and plenty of hand wringing.  It is a neatly-made movie and all credit to another film tackling these topics but I preferred Costa Gavras’s “Amen” which was a bit more melodramatic and other works planting similar situations in different contexts.

Read the rest of this entry ... (4 words left)