Jamie passion and passionfruit!

Totally insipid, overlong, supposed comedy about uptight New York chef (Catherine Zeta Jones) who inherits a daughter when her sister is killed in an accident and her over-tidy life is turned upside down.  Not only that, but she is forced to share her kitchen with a bohemian type joker (Aaron Eckhart) who annoys her so much that he later becomes her love interest and teaches her a thing or two about life, just as the girl Zoe does.  Abigail Breslin in this role is the best thing about the film, followed perhaps by the sumptuous photography of Stuart Dryburgh when he’s filming the food.  The rest is so predictable that it is a pity such good actors, and I include Patricia Clarkson as the restaurant owner in this, are forced to put up with this drivel.  No chemistry, no spice.  It just doesn’t make the grade.

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Argentine comedy based on an incident in director Fito Páez’s life in Rosario in the 80’s.  Three girl friends get involved with the local mafia after one is seriously injured in a car crash and needs a heart transplant. Exotic characters, car chases, kidnapping, drunken binges and the like make up this slightly overlong collage of memories.  The movie is saved by a good soundtrack from the era, some very good performances – Julieta Cardinali, Romina Ricci, Dario Grandinetti and Cristina Banegas among others and the exuberance of it all.  Style wise, it may resemble bits of Almodovar but Páez really does not have the talent or discipline to make this anything more than a curiosity.

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This Korean film comes highly recommended although I have just got to it now.  A horror movie, which are not really my scene, it is more than that however and a most satisfying experience it proves to be.  The basic story is that a strange monster that has obviously mutated from the local river (as a result of the dumping of chemicals by order of the US military) and this half amphibian creature emerges from the water and starts to wreak havoc killing locals and kidnapping a young girl who ends up hiding in a sewer the beast uses as its deposit for corpses.  This is the horror part.  Meanwhile, the girl’s family who are fairly simple folk, start to look for her encouraged by a cellphone message she gets out to them.  To do this, they have to defy the local authorities who have decided to isolate that part of the city on the grounds that the monster has brought a virus and those who had contact with it may be infected.  The role of the state in the story is heavily criticised as one of fear and overkill and the illusions to the US post 9/11 are clear.  It wants to bring in its own mutating gas to ‘innoculate’ the people or to justify lobotomies all the time ignoring the voices of its own citizens.  The fact that it seems to be being advised by the US itself is referred to more than once.  This mixture of political comment and traditional horror make for a unique film and director Bong Joon Ho gives us some very moving scenes with genuine emotion that leave most of the American War of the Worlds like efforts awash in patriotic drivel and overly stated family values.  Here the values are super present but treated in a way that complements the story rather than overwhelming it.  Apart from that, there are subtleties in the camera work and the choice of what we see that are intelligent and help the story to move on.  Bong can produce both fast moving scenes and tightly filmed slow ones with equal aplomb.

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Michael Moore’s agit-prop on the American Health system.  With Moore, you know what you are getting.  Broad brush in your face stuff with plenty of Moore and his humour, some daring deeds like the taking of 9/11 sick heroes to Guantanamo Bay and then Havana for better care than they get in the US.  His jaunt through the other countries’ health schemes suggest a hunky dory situation but we know they are not so great or that some individual excellences do not mean a whole system that works.  The merit of this film is that it confronts us, or rather the American public, with an alternative and much more disturbing picture than they have been led to believe.  From it, the real discussion and sorting out of the mess can take place and if you visit his website, we see that Sicko has generated many community meetings and action committees.  

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In the spirit of the laugh out loud poignant Aussie films.  Clubland is a coming of age movie and for those who like the taste of poor but risqué British stand up comedy mixed with Australian suburban drama that is tinged with the absurd.  It is, of course, Brenda Blethyn’s movie as she dominates it with a presence that borders on the grotesque but fits with the character of the mum from hell.  Dinner lady by day, bitter divorcee and desperate comic by night. The supporting cast is excellent from Khan Chittenden as the awkward son trying to get a girlfriend, Emma Booth as the girl in question who doesn’t know what she has hit , the excellent Richard Wilson as the spastic brother and Frankie J Holden as the estranged country and western singing one hit wonder father.  A good script, witty performances and fine music make this an enjoyable experience which may not be everyone’s taste.  I liked it and appreciated this film and the chance to see the great Blethyn in action.

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Moving house and lots of work has meant I neglected the blog for a while.  The resolution for 2008 is to find a bit more time to dedicate to films and to this record of what I have seen. 2007 overviews will follow soon.

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