In Movies: Casse-tête chinois / The Chinese Puzzle

It's been a while that I wrote on this blog. I'm in the process of writing a story, which is keeping me busy. Of course, I'm still watching movies, tv-shows, and eating good food, so more reviews will trickle in...

La Casse-Tête Chinois, which followed Les Poupées Russes,  and L'Auberge Espagnole, is a journey from being an international student in Barcelona, to the frustration of early adulthood (Les poupées was a very frustrating movie), to 'the liberation' of letting go of all the stress you built up in your thirties and becoming the man or woman you wanted to be.

The movie or movies are built up as a narrative of someone telling the story of their life and those connected to him. It could easily be a weblog that's being written, instead it's a series of books that our protagonist is working on during the story taking place in each respective movie.

La Casse-Tête Chinois is the conclusion to this trilogy. It's not a happy, nor an unhappy ending, but the completion of a stage in life. If you want to describe living as being most exciting in your early twenties and getting progressively more stable and less dynamic, then you are probably describing the movies quite well. The last movie is less dynamic but incredibly satisfying over the mess that was Les Poupées Russes, which was just a depressing movie.

Overall probably my favourite trilogy ever, even though there are other contenders in other genres that I'll write about at some point.

In Movies: L'attaque / The Attack

I know that amongst The Hobbit, Pacific Rim, and Thor 2, The Attack is perhaps not really the right fit. Nevertheless, it is added to this list of 'favouritEs' because of the way that it tells the story and profoundly affected my thoughts. Throughout the movie, there was only one moment where I detected a jump in the story that felt like a short-cut, a phone call that didn't make sense. The rest was the story of a man thoroughly impacted by the violent passing of his wife, labeled a terrorist by his resident country, Israel, and a martyr by his country of origin, Palestine. This movie was entirely spoken in Hebrew and Arabic, so in all likelihood will not be seen by the masses, many of which will also avoid it because of its subject matter. To the latter, I say that it is presented mostly in a human way, rather than through the lens of a bloody massacre. We see the aftermath mostly and there was only one scene where I turned away, even though even there it was shown in a mostly tasteful way.

It's a very difficult story to tell, because of the contrarian emotions felt by both sides. It appears to paint the Palestinian sentiment in a more favourable light, however the only sign we see of the violence that Israel inflicted on Palestine is in the way Palestinians react to the tragedy and a dust-covered piece of ruble, called 'Ground Zero.' Perhaps, I am not up to date on my history of that part of the world, and Ground Zero should mean more than it did to me.

We are introduced to familiar, human situations on both sides. Jewish and Palestinian friends and family sharing their pain over a meal, all seen through the eyes of the protagonist, who is forced to see his personal tragedy through the eyes of the victims, that of the perpetrators, and that of opinionated bystanders. On the Israeli side, we see the reactions in the aftermath, most of which are angry and hurt, directed at the protagonist and his terrorist deceased wife. On the Palestinian side, we see her elevated to martyrdom, posters of her hanging on every street. We also see friends and colleagues remaining loyal to him, even through 17 Israelis died, some of which he attempted to save on the operating table. And we see his family pushing him out in order to escape prosecution from the Israelis, as they suspect he is being followed as their only lead to understanding this crime.

The worst part is to hear her, his beloved wife, being referred to as a tool of war, or a weapon. As someone that helped her country, but otherwise was not important. Equally so, the unbearable idea that his acceptance into Israeli society as a prominent surgeon, was in fact a betrayal to all the Palestinians living in poverty and suppression, and that this betrayal may have been the cause of it all.

There are books and movies that I am grateful to have been exposed to. They increased my appreciation of the complexities of a situation; they painted it in a nuanced way, the way that most things really are. The White Band (Das Weisse Band) showed the roots of evil that lead to the rise of Hitler. The Road to Freedom showed the harshness of South African life in the early 20th century that lead to the new wave that was Nelson Mandela (I will miss him). The Attack shows, to a degree, that there is a price to pay for the mess that surrounds that area of the world, a price paid by not only both sides, but by bystanders as well. It shows us perhaps that in the end, perhaps not taking a side is the worst crime of all.

In Movies: High Definition 3D in The Hobbit

Let me start by saying that this will not be a review of The Hobbit 2, Desolation of Smaug. I didn't like the first one, nor the second one, and while I wasn't able to pinpoint why at first, HD 3D made it possible for me to tell you why: the script kind of sucks. I never understood how they could make 3 relatively good movies out of 3 fat books of The Lord of the Rings and now expect to do the same out of a tiny little book.

Anyway, this is about HD 3D, which is worth mentioning because it felt like seeing color for the very 1st time. I was glued to the screen because it felt like I wasn't watching a movie, but instead saw a live play.

Now there's a problem with that, because acting for a play is different from acting for a movie. In a movie, action flows and it's not just about human interaction (depending on the movie). In a play, the humans carry the plot and subsequently their acting is, how should I say, exaggerated.

The Hobbit features many "meetings" of characters, the dwarves mostly, and it looked so real that it was easy to spot bad acting. I know that's a strange comment to give on better than HD technology, but it was immediately apparent. Now, I can see plenty of positive things: the detail of the computer generated surroundings was tremendous, the dragon looked awesome, as did any orc or monster, and I really felt like I was there (the screen was not IMAX size though, sadly). But I just didn't like that movie and while I'll watch the third, because I am a huge Tolkien fan, I'll be glad when this trilogy is complete. 

In Movies: 'Cool Runnings' and the celebration of Failure

AVClub.com, one of my regular reads for mostly TV reviews, has an interesting article on 'Cool Running,' which was, incidentally, John Candy's last movie and one of Disney's most successful at that time (1993). From the article, what makes the movie so unique:

Cool Runnings employs failure not as a plot device, but as an ethos. The main character is Derice Bannock (Leon), a sprinter whose dreams of Olympic gold are shattered during the qualifying race when another competitor, Junior Bevil (Rawle D. Lewis), falls off the starting block, tripping Bannock and a third runner, the inexplicably named Yul Brenner (Malik Yoba). That’s right: Cool Runnings literally opens with the protagonist falling on his face. And the moment is played completely straight, not for laughs.

I imagine that most people have seen this by now, but if you want a feelgood movie that doesn't feel empty in point either, check out Cool Runnings! 

In Movies: Thor 2 - The Dark World, light-weight fantasy scifi 3D bashfest

Prior to continuing, I should mention that I "typed" the first draft of this using the dictation feature on my new iPhone 5s. Very, very impressed!

Movies are funny, because when you're in the moment or perhaps just out of it, you can feel drastically different to after a few hours later or after a rewatch. Thor 2 - The Dark World is that kind of movie. I loved watching it and was excited after watching it too. But after reflection, I don't actually like it because I felt cheated somewhat.

What are the basic observations? The action flow does really well. The script felt quite light. The acting was okay in parts. It was an interesting mix between Science Fiction (space ships and lasers) and Fantasy (Lord of the Rings elves and magic), which didn't really work, but isn't advanced technology like a kind of magic? There were also plenty of humorous parts, which carries a lot of the Marvel franchise.

So how did it cheat? Primarily, by making impossible or hard to explain things just work. Thor has impossible feelings for an earthling, but that pain is not really explored (thank god, millions of comic book movies sigh). Thor fights on a planet that looks like Dune and falls into a wormhole that allows him to continue the fight on Earth, with more stakes. Those kind of 'short-cuts' allow for the action to move fast and for the viewer to feel like they're on the Thor-ride.

The whole movie was a trade-off between depth and flow, constantly balancing on the edge of story logic. It was logical only to the extent needed to make us believe that up was up and down was down, and in many cases why down was up and vice versa. I know that sounds annoyingly cryptic, but the laws of physics are constantly defied in this movie and I just don't want to say how.

Bottom line: if you want non-stop action this movie is for you. And I imagine that's why most people went. If you want more mythology and depth, you'll be disappointed, though the movie compensates for that plenty with comedy.

In Movies: Elysium

What I liked about this movie:
It was reminiscent of Neill Blomkamp's earlier movie, District 9, which was one of my favourite movies in 2009. Elements that were shared were the look of the technology, the darkness & chaos, which Blomkamp seems to be attracted to or inspired by. I also loved the character of Sharlto Copley, South African actor that has a Mad Max vibe to him in this movie. Well, the whole movie has a strong Mad Max vibe to it... Visually, another good note were the contrasts between Earth and Elysium, albeit it felt very 2-dimensional, there was not much subtlety to these differences.

I liked both the action, the comedy, and the flow of the story, which kept me engaged throughout, more so than Pacific Rim did for instance.

What I disliked (SPOILERS):
As noted, the 2-dimensionality was a bit problem, I thought. This was prevalent both for the characters and their motivations, and the overarching issues and reasons for why they existed. Unanswered questions include:

• Why did Elysium exist and why were they segregated from Earth?
• What were the reasons for Jodie Foster's character to stage the coup? There was some indication about her wanting to protect her family/way of life, but also just a psycho attitude to things.
• Just the general origin part of things was lacking.

Regarding origin, you can perhaps argue that this is just Neill Blomkamp's style; he didn't present much of an origin for the aliens in District 9, it felt more like a slice out of life / the madness. I remember feeling like I really wanted a sequel out of District 9, and for this one I could use a prequel or director's cut with more insight. 

Overall:

I like Science Fiction and consider this one B+ category in this genre. SciFi is about presenting a future scenario, an alternative scenario, or a logic to it. Arguably that last part is optional; if all things were easy, we'd behaving flying cars and reporting ourselves into space stations left and right...

In Movies: Pacific Rim

This movie is a slightly lesser guilty pleasure than watching the Fast & Furious series (I'm only watching it for the cars...). There are so many fun, visual elements to it, accompanied by a plot that feels quite light, maybe purposefully to let the story flow more freely.

Visually, there are so many influences that shine through. From whatever inspired the monsters--a combination of Godzilla and Alien perhaps--to the remote controlled robots--power rangers, very Japanese in any case :) ?--to the scenery--very Blade Runnerish, which is one of my favourite movies of all time.

I did not find the plot particularly captivating, but I loved the visuals, seeing scenes that looked straight out of Blade Runner, and found the characters somewhat deeper than they could've been. There is some corniness there--it sometimes felt like he had to make situations and people complex just to perhaps make us feel more connected to the characters.

I think that it's particularly challenging to have the human element compete with giant robots and monsters. But the movie achieved just that. I felt connected to the characters, I felt the romance, the pain, the competition throughout. While I can't stress enough that the plot was my least favourite element, as a whole this movie flowed just right and kept me engaged.

Well worth a watch, for Guillermo Del Toro fans, lovers of Blade Runner, lovers of oversized robots fighting oversized beasts from hell, for those that like dystopian science fiction, etc..

In Movies: Blue Jasmine

I can't say that I loved this movie, but I certainly appreciate the skill of the director and the actors. I especially liked the moral of the story, which is a mix of.... HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MOVIE? IF SO, READ ON, IF NOT, DON'T. 

... A mix centered around webs of lies and how different people survive by them. Jasmine, clinging onto her past. Baldwin's character, to take advantage of others and Jasmine. Jasmine's sister, because of her self-confidence. Baldwin, aka M. (I can't spoil that), tells the greatest lies of them all, measured by their impact. Jasmine's sister is the opposite, hers are white lies to make her reality work for her. Jasmine makes me wonder if lies are a type of disease.

So, perhaps no wonder that I didn't love this movie. It is, like many good movies, something to watch only once and perhaps take a lesson from it. It had a strong impact, that's why it's here.

In Film: Kings of Summer

This movie could best be described as a mix of Stand By Me and The Goonies. But with a strong comedic undercurrent, made possible by both the script and some very comical actors, in particular Moises Arias.

Laugh factor 8/10. Drama factor 6/10 (while there were dramatic moments, they didn't penetrate skin deep).

Definitely on my top 10 movies for this year. 

In Films: The Country Road movie: Whispers of the Heart (1995)

This is one of the few Studio Ghibli Films I haven't seen yet and you can see elements of many of their other films in it, from 'Porco Rosso' (on the clock), to 'Castle in the Sky,' to, I'm sure, plenty more.

At the same time, it shows life in Japan in an entirely unglamorous way, a family living in cramped quarters, the school system, teenage life, etc. It reminded me of 'the Girl that leapt through time' in that respect, another anime film that is definitely worth watching.

Rating: Good

Ah yes, and expect to hear the song Country Road over and over again, except in sung Japanese. It grows on you…

In Film: 'Cinema Paradiso'

Strange, how time flies. I've had this film lying around since 2006, and somehow put off watching it until today, a day spent lying in bed, slightly feverish, and watching film after film. This method appears quite effective, together with eating a lot, I'm sure I'll be well tomorrow.



So 'Cinema Paradiso' is several things, but most of all the story of a boy called Salvatore, growing up in a village. He falls in love with cinema and becomes one of those person's in the back, rolling the film for everyone. It's the kind of job, if you ever worked in a cinema, that everyone there dreams of doing. His father is lost in the war, but he is semi-adopted by Alfredo, the original projectionist, who teaches him the craft. And things ensue from there.

Some great conversations in the film, such as when Alfredo tells him about how places change after you come back from a break.

Living here day after day...
you think it's the center of the world.
You believe nothing will ever change.
Then you leave for a year or two.
When you come back, everything's changed.
The thread's broken.
What you came to find isn't there.
What was yours is gone.
You have to go away for a long time...
many years...
before you can come back and find your people.
The land where you were born.
But not now. It's not possible.

And a great romance, with a moment which is definitely inspired by all the classic romances in the world. But, I'll leave you to find out about it…

In Film: Why "Frost / Nixon" was made at this time

Why? Read this article.

About 31 min. into the film.

Frost: Well what is it that you want to achieve
Reston: I'd like to give Richard Nixon the trial he never had.
Frost: Of course, we'll be asking difficult questions.
Reston: Difficult questions… the man lost 21 thousand Americans and a million Indochinese during his administration. He only escaped jail because of Ford's pardon.
Frost: Yes, but equally going after him in some knee-jerk way, assuming he's a terrible guy, wouldn't that only create more sympathy for him, than anything else?
Reston: You know, uhm, right now I submit it's impossible to feel anything close to sympathy for Richard Nixon. He devalued the presidency (emphasis mine) and he left the country that elected him in trauma. The American people need a conviction, pure and simple. The integrity of our political system, of democracy as an idea entirely depends on it. And if in years to come, people look back and say it was in this interview that Richard Nixon exhounorated himself, that would be the worst crime of all.
… (actual silence)

You see a little bit of that conversation in the trailer as well.

To me, this film was one of the best of 2008, and yet Nixon was never convicted, so was it a victory for democracy?

In Film: Appaloosa

I've never been into Westerns, and this film isn't changing my mind about it. Growing up with John Wayne, aka the most boring actor in the world to me, there's just something about this genre that puts me off. I'm not sure if it is the idea of crossing long dusty environments, the rather too formal women's clothing, or the accent. I just don't know.

That's not to say that there haven't been great Westerns! "The good, the bad, and the ugly" for one, or any other Sergio Leone flick for that matter. But looking at the IMDB top 50, those are pretty much the ones that stand out, quality wise, with as an honourable mention "Tombstone," for Val Kilmer's performance as Doc Holiday alone.

Therefore, I can't speak as highly of "Appaloosa" as I would like, though I do think that had some interesting angles to it, such as the legal aspects of society, which did play a strong part, the power-play between men and men and men and women and how both dealt with it, as well as the finding of meaning in a career, a personal struggle that I observed in several characters.

Most memorable moment for me was a conversation that Ed Harris, as Virgil Cole, has with Viggo Mortensen, as Everett Hitch:

Cole: Everett, we've been together now a while, can't exactly say how long, but long. Ain't anybody I'd rather do this work with. As good as anybody I've seen, except maybe the Shelton boys, I mean. The reason you ain't as good as the Sheltons or me, ain't got nothing to with steady, with fast, or fortuitous. The reason the above named folks are better than you is because you got feelings.
Hitch: Well hell Virgil, everybody's got feelings.
Cole: Feelings get you killed.
Hitch: You got feelings about Ally don't you?
Cole: I care about Ally in town and I care when I get her back. But right now there's something running, and we're trying to catch it.

In retrospect, it's a strange movie, this one, one that I'll have to see again in a few years and reform my opinion about. Ed Harris is incidentally also the co-screenwriter and director of this film.

In Film: The King of Kong

Continuing my documentary trail, The King of Kong is either the saddest or the coolest movie, you ever did see. Cool, if you like games / the 80s and 90s scene / games / mullets. Sad, if your world is just that or you realise that their world is just that.

I think that this film had very little to do with the game of Donkey Kong, which may have been for the better, but more to do with ego. There's nothing wrong with ego, it can bring you to great heights but it can also turn you blind / make you proud / make you high. I didn't have sympathy with any of the characters in the film, not Billy Mitchell, who reveals himself quite boorishly here, not Steve Wiebe, who is made out to be the martyr, until you realise that we are talking about Donkey Kong.

That said, it was a good laugh, all the way through.

In Film: Pop culture documentaries

In anticipation of Objectified, a brief thought-piece on pop culture documentaries. Not being an avid watcher of documentaries, I can list the ones I've seen on one hand:

Good Copy, Bad Copy
You can watch this one for free online. It's all about mashup culture and how the way we perceive copyright is really a western, capitalist notion (duh!). I don't remember the exact details, except I think that it goes through Brazil, India, some mashup-artists in the US, and interviews a whole bunch of (critical and non-critical) authorities in this field. Check it:


Hayao Miyazaki and the Ghibli Museum (Google video link)
A really obscure flick, and you'll be lucky to find it (with English subtitles!), I think. I remember watching this some time ago and being quite excited about it too. I'm a big fan of Studio Ghibli films and consider myself lucky to have had the opportunity to watch "Howl's Moving Castle" in the cinema, on the big screen. To me, anime has been part of pop-culture for some time, which is why I include it. In this flick, you can see some of the creatures in the Ghibli films come to real life.

Check out a full review here.



24 hour party people
I have to confess that I would've probably never watched this, if I wasn't forced to. This was, ironically, the first video shown for my entrepreneurship master at the Rotterdam school of management. Is it entrepreneurial? It's about a movement and, if I remember correctly, looking at the part of one man in it. Having lived in Manchester for some time, and having an unnatural fascination with things that no longer exist, I like the idea of looking at the city through the lens of the 70s and 80s. If you dig the Sex Pistols, Joy Division / New Order, and the Happy Mondays, chances are you'll like this too. Ah yeah, and the main character is Steve Coogan, who rocks.



That's it from me! I'd love to hear some more suggestions!

In Films: "Slumdog Millionaire"

This film is very alien, dealing with a culture, a world that many of us don't understand. I remember, as a kid, reading "In 80 days around the world," and being scared when I read about the travels through India, where someone got burned alive (if I remember correctly). There's several parts in this film too, with a type of cruelty that doesn't quite fit the Christian morale, perhaps any morale.

Seeing the first part mostly through the eyes of a young child, adds to the adventure-like nature of the film, very similar to "The boy in the striped pyjama's," which I reviewed before. That kind of perspective makes it both more ok, I would guess, and induces a respect in the viewer for how brave kids can truly be. This is not a comedic film, though it has its moments!

A nice transformation from young boys to teen after the train-scene! Also, M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" is kind of the theme-song to this film.



End-conclusion: it wasn't really my taste of film. There were some elements of "City of God" in it, the scary parts, and elements of very-very romantic movies—nothing comes to mind right now. Still, since it has by some been called the film of 2008, it should be watched and mentioned.

In 2008: a year of media

My media memory only goes back so far, but the great thing about the human brain is that it's self-selecting, automatically dismissing that which isn't noteworthy.

Memorable this year were a few things in tv-shows, films, and music.

The year in TV-Shows:
My highlight this year is definitely finishing "The Wire", which I managed to do over the period of several months. A genius piece of writing and it made me a big fan of HBO, which, as I recently found out, stands for Home Box Office. A great name!

Another gem that stood out was "Damages," with Glenn Close, which never let up in the tension. I've only seen the first season and can't wait for the rest.

Comedy-wise, I've been left pretty disappointed since Seinfeld and the early Friends, but I can warmly recommend "How not to live your life." It only aired a few episodes this year, but it was laugh-out-loud funny British comedy.

The year in Films
Last Christmas, I actually made it my resolution to focus on the classics in 2008 and beyond, and can't really recall any brilliant films coming out (of course, I'm wrong, but my brain only holds that much space).

Classics that stood out were:

• The Public Enemy, which I liked because it's the oldest thing I've ever seen and I'm fascinated at the idea of looking through a window into life when my grandparents lived.
• Rebecca, which was also tension non-stop.
• A few Jean Arthur movies, whom I've developed a mini-crush on.
• Lawrence of Arabia, which just seems like the optimal adventure movie to me.
• And Casablanca, which is just a classy flick.

I'm trying to strain my brain for some more recent films, perhaps you can suggest some. Did Juno come out this year (no), in which case, that's worth a watch, as well as Mongol (the life of Genghis Kahn).

The year in Music
Similarly, I think it is hard to form a valid opinion as to an album is great, when it has only recently been released. Thinking back at 2008, only two albums stood out:

• 88 Keys - Death of Adam, which is the story of Adam, told in bits and pieces.
• M83 - Saturdays = Youth, which is a trip down the 80s.

Everything else, I still have to think about.

In Film: Hamlet 2 is a piece of ridiculous genius

Man, I'm glad I watched this movie. You know, the type of film that's really painful to watch, until at some point, it all makes genius sense. Hamlet 2 is very similar to Napoleon Dynamite, in the way that you don't understand what the movie is all about, until you witness the end-result.

Until you get there though, you have to see Steve Coogan do some pretty embarrassing shit, prove to everyone that he is an artist, even though he's been pretty much "raped in the face" since he was a kid… or something. In any case, if you like South Park, same writer as that movie and the show, chances are you'll dig this too (a lot of gay jokes).

In films: "I'm not there"

"The smile is contagious, I was born to love her"—a random lyric from the end-titles of "I'm not there."

I felt like blasting this picture up there and writing no words at all.

Detachment is the word that most comes to mind to describe the film. 6 actors, of which Kate Blanchett was the biggest surprise, because I just couldn't place her, each of them apparently portraying a stage in Dylan's life.

But he's never there and you get this real guessing game going about what's going on.

I like the film, it felt like it went through some important questions about the meaning of life. Do we have a responsibility to change things or just report them? Why don't people revolt more? Is there ever a point to revolting? I also had an good discussion about the phrase "Plus ca change" during the film, essentially meaning: the more we change, the more we all become the same. And vice versa.

And I realised that when we truly listen to ourselves, we all become aliens to everyone else. And when we try to be different, we end up listening too much to others and become like them. It's sort of related to the film, but not really.

"I'm not there" cannot be described as anything less than a piece of art. Which makes it, by nature, difficult to digest. You never know whether you're being taken for a ride or whether there is a great lesson there. But, the acting, the music, I had a good time for 2 hours.

Oh, and I think it's probably best to read some kind of summary, before watching the film.

In Film: Mickybo and Me

"Mickybo and Me" is a feel-good film in the setting of Angela's Ashes. It plays in Belfast, 1970, through the eyes of two young boys, Mickybo and Jonjo. 90% of the film is an adventure, inspired by the classic "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," and leading to some pretty mad situations.

It was a pick by my brother, who chose it in the spirit of "Purely Belter" and "About a Boy." Chances are that if you like those two (the books are even better), you'll like this one as well.