Frida

I didn't really know much about Frida before watching this movie, or at least I didn't think I did. Actually, I've apparently been to her house, and I've seen a lot of her and Rivera's paintings.

The movie is surprisingly good. I had heard that it was boring, but to the contrary, I think the story is well told, with many interesting twists. To start, the characters are diverse and flavourful. Frida, Rivera, Leo, and others .... all intermingled with art, politics, philosophy, and sex. Second, the film took an artsy twist - there are some great animated sections that are decently surrealistic. Frida's self portraits make reoccuring appearances, which was a good idea. The symbolism was good too.

The montages, likes the characters, are full of character. Though the film is obviously not mexican, it captures the color. I love the scenes of Mexico - xoximilco, the dresses, the bars ...

Salma Hayek does an excellent job. She gets to play a seductive, yet not-cute girl who is full of pain and frustration. I'm sure it's hard.



7/10

Cruel Intentions

Lacros' Les Liaisons Dangereuses comes to modern NYC aristocracy in the film Cruel Intentions. Though I can't say I recommend the film because of the content, there is something about it that is likable. Jetset romance and vengeance ...

Sarah Michelle Gellar's role as the villain was pretty good. I love how by the end Sebastian is turned into a hero. That made me laugh. Is the moral of the story that penitence reverses everything? I like the idea of it being a journal, but I think it would have been excellent to tell it from a journal, a sort of epistolary film - like the book. But ... dommage


6/10

L'auberge espagnole

I watched L'auberge espagnole again last night. I was struck by the difference between American plot-drive movies and more european (or even Mexican?) movies that are built around a situation.

good film... I laughed a lot, and I love the part at the end where he goes on about who he is. 'I'm spanish, I am belgian ... I'm him, I'm him, I'm her, I'm her....' There's this moment where you realize he's changed forever. Transformation.



7/10

Babel

Alejandro González Iñárritu's Babel has looked interesting since I first saw previews and posters for Cannes in Paris last May. I was going to dl it, but I'm glad I didn't, and saw it in theatre.

I saw it with Ben and Tgirl who said it was a 'typical foreign film' ... I don't know what that means, and I'm not even sure Babel qualifies as a foreign film. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The acting was good, the setting was transnational yet super rooted culturally, and the soundtrack was excellent. The plot wasn't strong - compared with a typical american plot driven movie, but that wasn't the point.

Rinko Kikuchi was definitely the star of the film, though I may have seen her in a film or two before, she was excellent in this film. She was the character we got to know best, and yet big name actors like Pitt, Blanchette, and Gael García Bernal seemed to have more minor roles. Odd.

I'm not quite sure what Iñárritu is trying to get at. I would have thought that it was mostly about how we are all connected to one another around the globe, but apparently he himself says that it's about the modern family. Anyway ...

It seems like Amores Perros, 21 Grams, Babel, and Crash all share similar story lines ... Crash and 21 grams were weaker. Crash seemed too comercial. 21 grams was decent, and it did feature Charlotte Gainsbourg, but I'm not sure it was as clear. Amores Perros is classic, but Babel was cool because it seemed to connect the whole world and leave it so open for interpretation.


8/10

Mission Impossible 3

I saw mi3 a few nights ago. I was pleasantly surprised and actually enjoyed it. I'm not a big fan of Tom Cruise, but he does a decent job. He's always the same character in every movie. I had the impression that the movie would have been a big hit in the 1990's, but now it feels a bit overused. The plot is predictable and has been done dozens of times.



6/10

Scoop

Scoop ... Funny movie. In some odd way, it seemed like an odd mix of old and new film. Some of the acting - especially that by Woody Allen - seemed to a bit old-school, but it worked and made me laugh. Scarlett Johansson was very good ... I think she's become one of my favourite actors.

The plot was decent, if not a little thin. It seemed a bit english in general, but it was made by americans. odd


6/10