HBO Documentary Film Manhunt Review

My next review over at The Stairs is of former war correspondent Greg Barker's HBO Documentary Film Manhunt about the search for Osama bin Laden.  Good film, must see, airs tomorrow (Wed., May 1, 2013) on HBO.

See the full review: http://thestairscwe.wordpress.com/2013/04/30/review-manhunt/

The Invisible War Review

Check out my review of the film The Invisible War over at The Stairs.  Shortlisted for an Oscar, this is a powerful film and an excellent example of film and media forcing political change. 

Read more here: http://thestairscwe.wordpress.com/2013/03/27/the-invisible-war/

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet

 While I have not yet read Cloud Atlas or seen the film, I definitely want to do both (in that order), because I have read David Mitchell’s novel The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet a while ago and it was excellent.  It’s the story of Jacob, a young Dutch clerk who, engaged to be married and in search of fortune to support his future bride, sets sail in the year 1799 with the Dutch East India Company for the trading outpost in Dejima, Japan.  During the Edo Period, in an effort to avoid the incursion of Western culture into Japan, as was occurring in neighboring China, the Japanese government refused to allow any Europeans to actually set foot on the empire’s soil.  As a concession to trade, a man-made island in Nagasaki Bay, connected to the city by a bridge, served as the Dutch trading outpost.  It was the only European trading outpost in all of Japan and the Dutch were fortunate enough to be the only Europeans allowed access.  It is against this backdrop of rigid restrictions that Jacob finds himself falling in love with a Japanese midwife, Orito, one of the few Japanese allowed on the island of Dejima.  Mitchell’s novel is intricate and detailed historical fiction, but it’s far from dry; the details enliven the story and transplant you to a time and place little explored.  I think one of my favorite aspects of the book was that I knew so little about this encounter between the Dutch and the Japanese and everything about the relationship is so constrained, it’s like you are waiting for something to explode.  The plot weaves forbidden romance, ninjas, sieges, humor, prophecy, secret mountain monasteries...  Enough I feel like the Peter Falk in “The Princess Bride” trying to persuade Fred Savage to listen to the the story.  Just read it already!  You will not be able to put it down.

A Thanksgiving Book Review: The Memory Palace by Mira Bartok

The Memory Palace: A Memoir

One summer evening on my drive home, I was tuned into Fresh Air and I heard Terry Gross interview the writer and artist Mira Bartok about her memoir called The Memory Palace. Mira’s mother had schizophrenia and eventually became homeless as Mira and her sister were unable to help her or care for her.  I promptly ordered the book and threw it into my beach bag for a nice day of laying out in the sun.  Sooo the wrong choice.  I mean it’s definitely not odd for me grab a book about mental illness or homelessness and think, “oh yeah, beach reading, that’ll be perfect.”  So it wasn’t really the topic, except that it was.  The Memory Palace is a really moving and personal account of Mira and her sister’s struggle to grow up with a mother with debilitating mental illness and the equally difficult process of dealing with the fact that they simply could not take care of her at risk of their own safety and sanity.  I was laying on my beach towel, tears streaming down my face reading this book.  It’s very well written and engaging, and while it is moving, it’s not saccharine or sentimental because it is Mira’s real experiences, not some imagined version of the story.  The memoir also delves into memory and how memories are formed, reconstructed and preserved as Mira experienced a traumatic brain injury in a car accident that severely damaged her short term memory.

I highly recommend it as an interesting read, and for another perspective on homelessness.  The travesty that is our mental health care system lets people slip through the cracks all the time.  The current presiding policy: Better to let ten mentally ill people became homeless (or worse, think Jared Lee Loughner or James Eagan Holmes) than take away the civil liberties of one person who is mentally competent.  The stigma that still overshadows all mental health care doesn’t help either.  However, all of this is somewhat besides the point this Thanksgiving Day. 

I know Thanksgiving is almost over and we (myself included) are about to go gorge ourselves again, this time our consumerist tendencies, but let's try to hang onto some of that Thanksgiving spirit as we arm wrestle over the last Tickle Me Elmo - oh wait that was 1996. Well, over whatever toy kids "have" to have this year.

Here's the parting thought from The Memory Palace to see you through Black Friday and through the holidays.  One thing Mira talks about in the book is that knowing her mother was out there on the street, but not knowing where she was, changed the way she viewed homeless people.  She found that she began to give some of the homeless people she encountered food or water, thinking, “I hope someone is doing this for my mother right now.”  That experience humanized the homeless for her.  A thought I have since tried to hang onto when I pass by a huddled figure on the sidewalk or in the park, though it is not easy and I still mostly fail.

The Skin I Live In (La piel que habito)

Antonio Banderas and co-star Elena Anaya

Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar's 2011 film has been in my dvd queue for a while and we finally got a chance to watch it this weekend.  It's often described as psychological thriller, but I'm not sure I would agree.  It doesn't have a lot of the pace psychological thrillers often have, so I would almost call it a psychologically probing but relatively bloodless horror film.  I'm not particularly a fan of the horror genre, and I wasn't particularly a fan of the the movie experience of The Skin I Live In, but it does offer good food for thought.

The film is the story of famous and tortured Spanish plastic surgeon Dr. Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas).  After his wife is burned to death in a car accident, he develops a replacement for human skin that is resistant to burns, insect bites, and injuries.  He conducts his experiments on a mysterious female patient that he holds prisoner in his private mansion/clinic with the help of his faithful servant Marilia.  The prisoner practices yoga, reads, and tears her clothing to shreds, but she does not seem likely to escape.  One day Marilia receives an unexpected visitor and events are set into motion that change the status quo.

I found this film highly repellent and the horror of it is still bouncing around in my brain.  My complaint is entirely with the content and not with Almodóvar's filmmaking, I think he delivered a good film for the most part.  There was one what I would call "convenient" moment towards the end that felt artificial, but for the most part, the script flows, the acting is excellent, the shots are beautiful and there is great attention to detail and visuals, from wardrobe to the paintings on the walls of the Dr. Ledgard's mansion.

As I was searching for photographs to illustrate my review, I was thinking how many strange and suggestive images I could include that might give hints as to the content of the film or entirely color someone's opinion about it.  The following things occur in the film and there are film stills of these moments floating around the internet: murder, rape, torture, plastic surgery, consentual sex, self-mutilation, and Carnivale.  While it includes all of these horrific things, it's not a flashy, gritty,  excessively violent, or highly experiential film.  There's not a lot of pounding music, it's a quiet, very well paced, and carefully plotted film.  The fact that Almodóvar really takes his time is probably what allows the horror of things to sneak up on and completely shock the viewer the most.

As I mentioned before, I do not like horror films particularly.  I think because this one succeeds very well at delicately exploring a horrifying subject matter, I simply did not enjoy watching it.  That does not mean that others should not watch it and it doesn't mean I'm not recommending you do.  If you enjoy psychological horror films, even without all the blood and guts, I think you would enjoy this film.  At the same time, if you want to be scared, this isn't really the film for you.  It's not frightening, things don't jump out at you.  It's just highly disturbing.  So proceed with caution is my advice.

Shutter Island: Boston-related Film Review #2

Found this review in my drafts folder of my iPad and thought I'd add it to the collection.

It might be kind of a stretch, but I'm classing Shutter Island in my Boston film category because it takes place supposedly on an island in the Boston Harbor and because we recently received it on blu-ray from Netflix.  Location is the only thing it will have in common with the others which are mostly Affleck brothers creations.

Martin Scorsese's attempt to create a Kubrick-esque piece of mind-bending film fell a little flat for me.  In general, it was an entertaining film and I like the concept, but something wasn't quite right, despite an wonderful cast including Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Kingsley.

The film begins with US Marshall Edward "Teddy" Daniels (DiCaprio) arriving on Shutter Island, a secure facility for the criminally insane, via ferry. His ostensible purpose, the investigation of the disappearance of a dangerous and delusional patient, but as he admits to his partner, he is really searching for his wife's killer, a man he believes to be interned on the island.  Even this mission begins to give way to a deeper search for the truth as reality begins to become a moving target.  He knows something is not right, but he can't quite figure out what it is.

If dead wife, Leo, and shifting reality ring bells for you, you are not alone.  The themes bear a strange similarity to those in Inception, though the two films are vastly different. Still if you only want to see one, I would highly recommend Inception; I found it far superior (I reviewed it here).

Shutter Island just didn't quite transcend the ordinary. Shutter Island wasn't a bad film, but you hope for better with a combination like Scorsese and DiCaprio.

Beasts of the Southern Wild

 

I saw Beasts of the Southern Wild the other night at The Landmark with some friends from work.  Feeling very "filmy" I have to say I really enjoyed the surrealist Sundance hit.  It's what I would call an intuitive movie; to verbalize much of what goes on in the world of young Hush Puppy, a six-year-old girl who lives with her father in the fictional New Orleans adjacent bayou called The Bathtub, is to trivialize much of what you experience through her eyes.  

The wide-eyed wonder blended with fierce determination and strength of will of young Quvenzhané Wallis is riveting as Hush Puppy and her father played by Dwight Henry, is more three dimensional than the standard tough-love daddy.  The story of the people of The Bathtub is told through the adventures of young Hush Puppy and her daddy, trying to weather a storm that submerges their world in brackish water.  

As we follow their desperate attempt to restore their home and the community of The Bathtub, we feel the obvious Katrina undertones, but nothing feels forced, the story remains foremost in our minds and any political commentary is achieved through the emotional reactions the story elicits.  I don't want to discuss too much of the plot as I feel this is simply a film to be experienced, not analyzed.  I will merely add that in addition to being an entertaining and well written film, it is well cast with unknowns who absolutely look the part, and some of the fanciful, surrealist moments boast beautiful cinematography.  All in all, a good film.  Check out their site for where to catch the film: http://www.beastsofthesouthernwild.com/screenings or wait to catch it on Netflix.

 

Hugo: "Love letter to..."

For some reason, I find the phrase "love letter to..." (fill in the blank) highly annoying.  Perhaps because it has become overused.  In any case, I have heard Hugo described as Martin Scorsese's love letter to film.  Gag.  Just writing "love letter to film" sounds so pretentious.  However, I don't want to let that prejudice my opinion of the film, which I finally watched this week.  Despite Scorsese's obsession with Asa Butterfield's blue but not particularly magnetic eyes, and a propensity to shoot him peeking from behind clockwork machinery, I thoroughly enjoyed the film.  I thought it was beautiful and I found the story interesting and engaging, though somewhat hacky at moments.  To me it seemed Scorsese's aim was to convey the imagination and creativity that is poured into making films and to revere the audience who is filled with wonder and delight at their magic.  

Hugo (Asa Butterfield) is the story of a young orphan, who lives in a Paris train station, taking care of and winding all the clocks.  He observes the interactions of the shopkeepers and regulars in the train station, while stealing food and mechanical parts from them, to feed himself and to repair his precious automaton, a mechanical man who draws pictures, discovered by his late father in a museum basement.

He meets Isobelle (Chloë Mauretz) the god-daughter of a shopkeeper in the station who quickly becomes his friend an ally in his quest to repair the automaton.  Hoping to find a last message from his father, Hugo will stop at nothing to repair the automaton, even when he begins to butt heads with Isobelle's god-father Georges Méliès (Ben Kingsley), who sells and repairs toys in his shop.  When Hugo and Isobelle discover an incredible secret about Georges' past, they decide to try to help him, to "fix" him as well as the automaton.

Hugo is certainly easily described by that also overused term "a visual feast."  Gorgeous set extension and visual effects add do the romantic and automatically beautiful location of a Paris train station.  Asa Butterfield's performance was satisfactory and Chloë Mauretz, who I usually like, was good as well, though her British accent was a bit annoying.  While it seems like much of the story might be over the heads of most children, I think there is enough slapstick comedy and spirit of adventure for the average 8-12 year old.  Adults may find parts of it cheesy, but some of the film history is very interesting and I found myself laughing out loud at some of the old silent films from very early days of moving pictures.  Overall, a fun family flick.  Not one of the best movies I've ever seen, but definitely above average.

SXSW Review: Monsieur Lazhar

I have been delinquent in my SXSW reviews but I have to excuse myself by begging Waiting for Lightning whirlwind.  We just finished the DC LA Screening at the Arclight Cinerama Dome this week and it was fantastic.  Now I'm ready to go back and write some reviews about the films I saw in Austin.

I want to start with Philippe Falardeau's Monsieur Lazhar because I think I enjoyed it the most.  A French Canadian film, it felt very French to me in several ways.  First of all, the film seemed to be content to exist in the moment presented, without trying to explain too much of the past (some was necessary) or resolve too much of the future.  It just existed.  I was reading an article on Camus and Sartre the other day and I realized how much this simple approach to storytelling, almost a matter of fact fatalism which is simultaneously oddly optimistic, which I have recognized in so many French films, is in fact the cultural inheritance of the existentialists, whose philosophy pervaded modern French culture in the 1940's and 50's seeping into it's very core.  It was this that I enjoyed about the film, the simple sweetness of the story of a substitute teacher trying to bring a sense of normalcy and eventually happiness to class of middle school students mourning their much beloved teacher.

Monsieur Lazhar (Mohamed Fellag) is a good man, trying to make the situation better for the children in the class and trying to find employment and distraction for himself in his adoptive country as he seeks political asylum, fearing to return to his native Algeria.  Fellag does an excellent job in this role and we completely sympathize with Monsieur Lazhar as a man trying to make a new life while he struggles with a different culture and the shadows of his past.

Monsieur Lazhar's teaching methods are fairly old-fashioned, which causes conflict in this upper middle class, modern Canadian middle school.  As he attempts to connect to the children, he does succeed in reaching Alice (Sophie Nélisse), a direct and perceptive young girl, angered and troubled by their teacher's suicide.  Nélisse is excellent as Alice.  Her pensive, saucer-like eyes and Falardeau's use of simple framing suck you into the character's mind and feelings effortlessly.  Falardeau has done an excellent job of creating a natural, simple, and beautiful story of love, loss, forgiveness, and acceptance.

More FIlms at SXSW

Thursday I checked out Ernst Lubitsch's classic silent comedy The Oyster Princess with a live score composed and performed by Bee vs. Moth at the Alamo Ritz downtown.  While I liked the idea of live music accompaniment, I didn't really like the music that much.  The film was funny, but I much prefer "talkies" I suppose.  I hustled my dad and brother to the airport and headed back up towards town in time to grab a sub from Thunderclouds before catching Martha Stephens' Pilgrim Song at the Alamo Lamar.  Thunderclouds wasn't as good as I had remembered, I think in large part due to the bread.  Bread makes a sandwich and if the bread is only so-so...  On a positive note, I enjoyed film and thought it was well done.  Finally, I met up with the rest of the family for the Narrative Feature jury prize winner Gimme the Loot at the Stateside Theater.  Thus concludes my film watching at SXSW and I was really happy to get to see all the films I saw, even though a lot of them were films I would never have sought out on my own.  All in all, I had a great experience at the festival and I would love another opportunity to mix work, play, and family in good ole Austin, TX.

The Last Fall and La Condesa

Photo from Austin lifestyle blog Austin ModHouse

Wednesday morning I went to the Stateside Theatre to check out The Last Fall, the directorial debut of former NFL wide receiver turned filmmaker Matt Cherry.  It's a semi-autobiographical story of an NFL player who is dropped from his team and facing retirement at 25. From there, on to La Condesa on 2nd and Guadalupe for some lunch.  It was decent, liked their take on the margarita.

Senna

I had hoped to watch Asif Kapadia's Senna in the theaters in support of theatrical releases for documentary films, but it's hard enough to find time to go to the theater in the first place to watch epic action films that should be viewed on a big screen, much less docs that will probably be making their way to Netflix fairly soon as Senna did.  I ended up watching it on Netflix streaming on my blu-ray player and I probably enjoyed it more that way.

Senna is the story Ayrton Senna, a Brazilian Formula One racer whose intensity and brilliance catapulted him to stardom shortly after joining F1.  Handsome and charming, the endless archival footage of Senna is captivating, and its discovery must have inspired the filmmakers to craft this beautiful and poetic story.  The film primarily focuses on Senna's racing career and the intense rivalry between him and French racer Alain Prost.  This is a great documentary and I would recommend it to anyone, doc lover or no.

I think it was the right moment for me to watch it as well, as we are currently wrapping up editorial on our documentary, Waiting for Lightning, another film about an amazing individual who also happens to be an athlete risking his life in pursuit of his passion.  But more about that in later posts.  As I was watching Senna with my fairly critical eye, I felt myself questioning some of the choices made about not showing interviewees, about the way this looked or that, and I kept thinking, I don't agree with this, but at the end of the film, I found myself deeply emotionally connected to Ayrton Senna, and I think I probably reacted just the way the filmmakers were hoping.  

I think as viewers we often second guess the creators, saying, why didn't they do this, or why didn't they do that?  Well, the truth is, sometimes they did try this or that, but it actually didn't work as well, or accomplish what they were trying to do.  I think Kapadia et al gave the archival a fairly light hand, and let it lead the story, or rather appear to, since they combed through 5,000 hours of footage to put together just the right combination, to wonderful effect.  Ayrton Senna crackles with star power on screen, so why mess with a good thing?

Film Review: The Tree of Life

Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life sat on our dining room table in it’s Netflix sleeve for a week and a half before we finally committed the two and a half hours necessary to watch this behemoth.  I have seen Malick’s A New World and the director’s cut at that, so I was prepared for a ponderously long film with lots of whispering, but not for two and a half hours of nature footage intercut with a cold man in a cold glass tower, who I hardly cared two straws about, intercut with an intimate, well-acted, if impressionistic childhood story.  I found this film extremely frustrating to watch, at times infuriating.  I am extremely busy with lots of films in my queue and to feel I’m wasting an hour on a ridiculous grandiose vision of life and the cosmos and evolution and being etc. etc. does not sit well.  Mostly, I was frustrated because it felt like a missed opportunity.  The childhood story was great and the performances delivered, particularly by the children were phenomenal, so to ruin it by going so over the top with all the other stuff just seemed a shame. 

Ostensibly, the story is about Jack, a man who has found commercial success in his life, but is still unhappy.  He is remembering his childhood and feeling the struggle within himself of the two opposite world views of his dominant, "take what you want in life" father (Brad Pitt) and his mother pious, selfless, and loving mother (Jessica Chastain).  Really, we hardly even meet adult Jack or care about him at all.  This element to the story, seems completely unnecessary really.  I don’t even understand we bother meeting adult Jack at all.

Malick’s other motive for creating this film, besides telling the story of Jack, a baby-boomer who grows up in Waco, TX, with his two brothers, is conveying some sort of (possibly deist) concept of the origins and meaning of life.  To do this, he feels it necessary to take us from the big bang through dinosaurs to their extinction, all scored with huge orchestral and choral pieces from the annals of classical music history.  For a moment I thought I was watching Fantasia.  One piece he uses, Smetana’s "The Moldau", is used for the trailer as well, and is actually a wonderful piece, that I’ve always liked.

Overall, I felt like there was so much subtlety and nuance in the performances of the actors, but in the storytelling I felt I was being bludgeoned over the head with symbolism that didn’t feel subtle at all.  Every time I felt myself being drawn into the film and the story of young Jack, Malick would do something to jerk me out of the story again.  Very frustrating to watch, especially when everything is so beautiful and he was able to elicit such amazing performances from such young children.  Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this film unless you are a solid Malick fan or a serious film buff and need to make sure you’ve seen it.

Great Films You Might Have Missed on Netflix Instant: WTF Netflix

Okay, I know this is kind of late to be complaining about this because we heard about Netflix changing their prices a couple of months ago, but WTF!!  I went from thinking this was a great deal and a great company with good customer service, to wondering whether I should cancel all or part of my subscription.  When it cost around $11 or $12 for one-at-a-time blu-rays or dvds AND streaming, I was happy to subscribe to both.  I used the streaming to explore different films and make my list of cool stuff you might have missed because it was foreign, or indie, or just not marketed well.  Now it's just ridiculous.  The same services costs $18 and I'm sitting here trying to figure out if I should cancel the streaming or the dvd/blu-ray service and I can't decide.  If I cancel dvd/blu-ray, I can't watch most of the movies I actually WANT to watch.  If I cancel the streaming, I won't "waste" dvds on movies that might not be good, thus limiting my exploring and taking chances on indie flicks.  Basically, it really sucks for those indie filmmakers that depended on this tacked-on streaming service to get people to watch their stuff.  I can see people cancelling the streaming service now, simply because most people are convinced the selection was not very good.  I guess they weren't making money, but I'm looking for other options now.  Maybe Amazon or maybe some other purely on-demand service.  It will be more expensive per viewing, but it might be worth it.  I doubt I'm getting my money's worth from Netflix now.

Great Films You Might Have Missed on Netflix Instant: The List

Here is my list of great films on Netflix that often get overlooked.  Most of them are recent films that probably only played in indie theaters or had a limited release. I will be adding to this list and adding more reviews as time goes on. (Note: film availability on Netflix streaming is always subject to change.)

Exit Through the Gift Shop
Kick Ass
Man on Wire
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Fall
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
The Killing
The Secret in their Eyes (El Secreto de sus ojos)
Precious

Here's a quick list of great films you've probably seen (and if you haven't you should), but might want to watch again on instant:
Being John Malkovich
Big
Gangs of New York
Raging Bull
The Big Lebowski
The Graduate
This is Spinal Tap

Improving Your Score on the Facebook BBC Book List Challenge

Okay, so if you are competitive about nerdy stuff like me, then the Facebook BBC Book List Challenge thing is really bugging you right now and you probably hate those smug assholes who have read all 100.  Then you pause for a minute and think, but I can live with myself if I never read Bridget Jones Diary (yeah, I can) and what normal person reads the entire Bible cover to cover? (Yeah, yeah literature references, blah, blah Western culture).  

However, after browsing the list once again most of the rest of the books look pretty good.  Obviously you could head to the library and start checking out stacks of classics, but if you are busy, and endowed with multiple digital devices that can act as readers (i.e. iPhone, iPad, Kindle) it's very easy and FREE to download many of the classic books on this list using the free apps and downloading from numerous free libraries, particularly Project Gutenberg.  It has a number of different ebook formats available for many classic works including: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; most of Charles Dickens work, which is always entertaining, such as Bleak House or A Christmas Carol; Bram Stoker's Dracula; Pride and Prejudice and most of Jane Austen's work; the Bible; The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, a childhood favorite of mine; Shakespeare, Zola, Fitzgerald, Hardy, Tolstoy, Twain, Melville, Flaubert, Joyce, all the Brontës, etc.  

I find that the free iPhone/iPad app Stanza works well for me and even includes a "night" profile with dark background and light text for reading in bed next to someone who is sleeping.  Downloading books with Stanza is the work of a moment, and it saves your place for you in the book, so when you come back the next time you don't have to thumb through it.

If you don't have a digital reading device and don't like reading on your computer, there's really only on thing you can do: go through your parents' attic and look for the boxes of books you were assigned in your high school English class but that you didn't read.  That should cover at least 10 of the books right away.  After that, just hit the library.

P.S. If you are looking for a less arduous and more entertaining way of consuming Genesis from the Bible, read The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb.  It is so entertaining.  Check it out: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Genesis-Illustrated-R-Crumb/dp/0393061027.

Great Films You Might Have Missed on Netflix Instant: #2 The Secret in their Eyes (El Secreto de sus ojos)

Argentine director Juan José Campanella’s The Secret in their Eyes (El secreto de sus ojos) had a limited release in the United States this year.  I wanted to see it in the theater, but I never got the chance.  I was happy to find it was available on Netflix Instant.  I am happy to add it to my list of gems available for streaming via Netflix.  This is a great film.  I am a lover of mysteries and crime stories, but while this was a story of an investigation, as all good detective stories do, it transcended the genre.

Set in Buenos Aires partly in the 1970’s and partly in the modern day, The Secret in their Eyes is the story of Benjamín Esposito (Ricardo Darín), a retired investigator for the criminal court, who is attempting to write a novel about one of his old cases in an attempt to gain closure for himself in regards to the case as well as in regards to his unexpressed feelings for his superior in social class as well as in the judicial hierarchy, the straight-laced Irene Menéndez Hastings (Soledad Villamil).  As he attempts to piece together the past, Benjamin brings his novel to Irene, now a judge in the courts, not only to seek her opinion on his work, but to probe the waters. 

The case that he could never forget was the investigation of the rape and murder of a young newly-wed school teacher, Liliana Coloto (Carla Quevedo).  As Benjamin begins to investigate the case, he is struck most by the deep love demonstrated by her grieving husband, Ricardo Morales (Pablo Rago).  Spurred by Ricardo’s determination to find his wife’s killer, Benjamin digs deeper in the case finding new leads and what he suspects to negligence on the part of his colleagues.  Benjamin’s efforts to give Ricardo his simple justice is set against a backdrop of corruption in Peronist Argentina.

Beautifully shot with simple and honest framing,  the film is a joy to watch.  Argentinian Spanish is a very expressive and beautiful language, so even if you don’t like subtitles you should make an exception.  The acting was excellent as well, so despite the fact that minor subtleties of language or word play might be missed,  I really did not feel that I lost a great deal by having to read subtitles and not understanding the language.

I must confess that my idea of Argentina in the 1970’s was some nebulous combination of the Wild West and a police state.  I never imagined there would be courts and murders would be investigated, and people would dare to have dreams and ambitions.  I never imagined it would seem so “normal.”  It could have been New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, any number of U.S. cities with a history of corruption and violence in the 1970’s.  It is a universal story with universal themes: love and justice.  If a man can but gain one of these two things in life, it is possible that his soul can be at peace.

Previous Posts in Great Films You Might Have Missed on Netflix Instant:
 Great Films You Might Have Missed on Netflix Instant: #1 "The Fall"

"Life in a Day" Reaction

 As I had hoped I was able to watch "Life in a Day" on my computer at work and was relatively undisturbed for the duration.  I wish I could have watched it at home on my TV (even though the highest quality available was 480p) with my blu-ray player streaming YouTube, but there was no way I was going to get home by 5pm (although the film actually started at 5:30pm).  

 I really enjoyed the film, I thought it was really beautiful and joyful and sad and funny and dark.  It really did a good job of evoking the human condition in a beautiful and interesting way.  It is chronological, proceeding throughout the day starting with early morning, continuing to breakfast, etc, and it's thematic, dealing with different issues that affect us in our everyday lives as human beings.  A few of the participants are threaded throughout the film, but the film does not really follow any particular story lines.  It's just a constant discovery of beauty, humor, pathos, and fear in the world.  While some of the footage is obviously not very high quality, some of it is very well shot.  One of my favorite visual images is the glowing, floating lanterns near the end.

 My lasting reaction to the film is that it was a really cool concept and well executed.  I really felt like I was participating in an event, merely by watching the film.  So kudos to the director and producer as well as Sundance for supporting it.  I want to say good job to YouTube too.  I didn't experience any interruptions throughout the whole film and I'm sure they must have prepared for the insanity of streaming a film live to millions of people.

Great Films You Might Have Missed on Netflix Instant: #1 "The Fall"

Tarsem Singh’s The Fall (2006),  presented by David Fincher and Spike Jonze, tells the story of eternally curious and unabashed explorer Alexandria (Catinca Untaru) an immigrant child laborer recovering from a fall in a citrus grove.  In her reconnaissance of the invalid hospital, where she is being treated for a broken arm, she discovers Roy Walker (Lee Pace), a young stuntman, convalescing after a devastating accident that leaves him paralyzed.    To pass the time and entertain her, Roy begins to tell her a fantastic story of adventure, but he soon realizes Alexandria's ability to pass unnoticed throughout the hospital corridors and attempts to manipulate her to aid him in his desperate ploy to secure morphine.  The story is completely engaging even as it shifts between fantasy and reality, blending the two.

The costume design is extravagant yet calculating.  The imagery of the film is a tapestry interweaving the earthy hues of early 20th century California and the jeweled tones of exotic locales such as India and Spain.   It’s a visual feast.  The opening scene is a particularly beautiful high speed sequence scored with one of my favorite pieces of music of all time:  Beethoven's 7th Symphony, 2nd Movement, the Allegretto (incidentally the same piece chosen to score the climatic moment of The King's Speech).  This is one of the most dramatic, emotional, and beautiful compositions ever.

This film is very engrossing and it has a strong emotional core.  Untaru gives one of the best performances by a child actor I have ever seen and the interactions between Untaru and Pace are amazing.  This is certainly a film to go back and watch.  Watch The Fall on Netflix Instant. Stay tuned for more films you might have missed that are available on from Netflix Instant.

Great Films You Might Have Missed on Netflix Instant

I love Netflix.  It is the best.  I do have one or two complaints, as I often do.  One is because of their deals with the studios or whatever it is, they will frequently take down movies that are offered for instant play.  I guess this is to keep DVD sales up?  Not sure.  Two is sometimes the instant streaming quality is not good, not because of the internet connection, which of course can affect it too, but because full HD quality is not available for whatever reason, again I think it has to do with the studios.  The final complaint, that I've heard some people make is that there are no good movies available via instant.  While I agree that lots of good recent film and television shows are only available via DVD or blu-ray (like how else can I catch up on Breaking Bad?), there are actually a ton of great films on Netflix available for streaming.  There is a wealth of documentaries, foreign films, and classics, enough to keep me occupied for years, but there are also all kinds of great films waiting to be found.  As I stumble upon awesome instant films, I will post reviews.  Don't wait too long to check them out, though.  You never know when they might get pulled down.