It's like a boat only the water's on fire

Ashes of Time by Wong Kar-wai

I Come with the Rain by Tran Anh Hung. Creepy, poetic, symbolical serial killer thriller with a huge messiah like story element to it. Very much enjoyed this one. Ahn Hung creates a very tense atmosphere that makes this movie worthwhile. Heavily emphasizing the colors green, yellow and black (using a variety of effects on them; muting, blurring, isolating, muffling, making it murky and then blowing them up completly). Solid acting (even pretty boy Hartnett is convincing) and hugely intriguing, this movie is a treat and one of the better “serial killer” movies I’ve seen since Zodiac.

Honestly, I have to say, my personal feelings towards “In The Bedroom” have changed. The more time passes, the more I like the movie, the more I appreciate the way it’s told and how it’s made. Please try to see it, it is a great film!

I mentioned in an earlier post (The Banquet) that I’d try to see one of Feng Xiaogang’ romantic comedies.  If You Are the One is a bittersweet romantic comedy. Don’t be fooled by the genre tags. It doesn’t try to be the funniest movie in the world, nor does it try to be the most romantic one. By attempting to create a natural flow of circumstances, it allows humor and romance to be incorporated within the story, which isn’t an easy task given the approach to the plot. On a base level this looks like a standard hollywood story, but the difference is that this movie tries to tell it’s story in a realistic way, with all the delicacy, patience and heartbreak involving falling in love and getting over someone. I enjoyed this movie, it does not compare to what we’re used to in the modern rom/com department, not even in it’s quality movies (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, e.g.). The pace and storytelling is so much slower and there doesn’t seem to be a certain focus. The direction is as subtle as the storytelling with some nice images and cuts thrown in here and there. Shu Qi shines in a very complex role as she’s being forced to play a character that would fit in a real drama but instead has to be in a comedy. I don’t think I’ll be watching this movie again, but it is worth seeing it at least once. 

P.S. the “ultimate peace machine” joke is actually quite funny

In the Bedroom by Todd Field. Seen by many critics as one of the best movies of the last ten years. Even though that is a little to much honor for this movie, it still is a very good movie that I’d personally recommend. Field’s direction is subtle, polished and style consistent, the shadow of Kubrick (his mentor) looms large over Field’s direction, but I wouldn’t call him his succesor yet -Field doesn’t possess Kubrick’s precision- It’s not all Kubrick though, the warm lighting, usage of reflections and setting made me think of Badlands (referencing Mallick and Kubrick whilst talking about the same movie can’t be that bad). The Badlands-vibe is of course enhanced by the presence of Sissy Spacek. Special mention goes out to Tom Wilkinson for a terrefic performance and some very good editing!

Paprika by the late Satoshi Kon. An astonishing movie. State of the art animation, an interesting engaging plot (very much like Inception). Satoshi Kon died this year at age 46 and could’ve grown to become one of the great anime directors of our time, instead we are left with the few gems he left us, such as Paprika. Call me a freak, but the sequence in which the camera axis is explained features a breaking the 180 degree rule (see pic). Not only do I love that scène, the image which states “The cut is awkward” is my favorite shot in the movie

Feng Xiaogang’s  The Banquet. A wuxia drama based on Hamlet. However Xiaogang is no Zhang Yimou but it does have some nice touches (most coming in the action scenes choreographed by the immer superb  Yuen Wo-ping) like the soldiers emerging from the water and snow. It even has a clean old Axial cut to boast (Check the pics where we’re in the room and the camera appears to be closer, it isn’t established by a zoom, but by a cut within the image). A good movie, but not as good as other modern wuxia classics, but a nice one to see nonetheless if you’re a wuxia-fan (such as myself) or a Zhang Ziyi fan (another queu from aforementioned Yimou). Xiaogang rose to fame with comedy movies and have already started looking for one of those, and might post about it later.

Gold Panda; Quitters Raga. An undercurrent of bass flecked with vinyl crackles pushes the track along, but it’s the voices, bits of guitar and sitar, all given the sonic Cuisinart treatment, that take things to another, more achingly beautiful realm. The fragmentation gets more intense as it goes, and you start to wonder if the track is going to shake itself apart, and then it ends suddenly, less than two minutes in, so short it breaks your heart.

The Thin Blue Line by Errol Morris. Some striking images, which elevate this already captivating documentary to a whole other level. The images might look simple, but they are very well constructed (The window shot) and very well composed (the top shot showing the police car). This is one of the best documentary’s I’ve ever seen and will render any viewer speechless

Bong Joon-ho’s Mother. Bong Joon-Ho isn’t a showy director, but a very effecient one that finds ways to naturally incorporate telling and nice images within his movies. Also notable is his editing (which I can’t really show here, but I am working on ways that will enable me to do so). I didn’t take a picture of any of his close-ups, but Bong Joon-ho is one of the few contemporary directors who knows how to work it. Usually he places his camera at a little bit of a distance. This is his third great movie in a row (Memories of Murder-The Host and now Mother) and he isn’t showing any signs of slowing down.