Goodbye Lenin!

Upon awaking from a coma in the East Germany of the 1990s, doctors advise that Alex (Daniel Bruhl)'s mother must not be subjected to any unwelcome surprises. This extends to the breaking down of the boundaries of the country she holds politically and personally dear...

Whilst 2003's Goodbye Lenin shares a degree of the whimsicality - not to mention sections of the Yann Tiersen score - of its French counterpart Amelie, it is in a number of ways the darker film. Whilst Amelie concerns itself with notions of love and romantic destiny, Goodbye Lenin!'s subject matter is nothing less than what shapes a range of identities: individual, familial, and - most importantly - national.

That's not to say the light touches that characterised Jeunet's work are absent here. On the contrary, they're what the film is instantly memorable for: in the direction and camerawork (particularly endearing among which being the way non-essential arrivals and departures are sped up) as well as in the more farcical elements of the plot. Crucially, this isn't farce in the stead of plot, or being used to cover over gaping holes in the narrative. Here's it's very much to drive Alex's increasingly desperate attempts to hide the truth from his mother. eventually extending further and further around him.

It's often a very funny film but also, as mentioned earlier, one not afraid to remark upon the political and social climate of the period it details. It's by no means perfect - it descends a little far into sentimentality towards the end, and it's arguably overlong - but as an alternative to what some saw as the rather-too-frothy Amelie, it's superb.

"oh, that's so stella dallas!"

Seldo and I sometimes still manage fairly impressive feats of synchronicity, especially when it comes to a/ internet community-type things and b/ Camp. He got it on DVD this morning: I finally managed to, um, 'obtain' it by rather less legal means last night. It's being burned to DVD later and, be sure, I'm gonna pimp it around those friends who've not seen it already the best I humanly can.

On audio: The Divine Comedy, Come Home Billy Bird (5*) (the most addictive new song currently in my playlist - it's the audio equivalent of crack.)

movie goodness

In the past few days, thanks to friendly TV scheduling and our flat having a good video collection, I've managed to see, for the first time, the original Night of the Living Dead, Wilde and, for about the zillionth, Good Will Hunting and American Beauty (I love it so). All good films in their own way, and all deserving of a more full write-up than I'm going to get round to giving them, I think...

Today's [excess] of good linkage:

Nifty map of world news coverage, particularly for James [and via Plasticbag]
Guardian article on the discussion we had tonight on whether women really want to see two guys messing around in the same way as straight men fantasise about 'lesbians'
Kinja web aggregator thingy
Want to see Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind so so so so much...

"along came polly"

D'ya know what? Personally, I reckon this may well be one of my top three worst films of All Time. So let's talk about it!

Movies that label themselves "romantic comedies" have to fulfil two main objectives - they have to involve some kind of romance, and they have to be funny. Not asking a lot, you would've thought. However, Along Came Polly manages to mess up nearly every time it makes an attempt to reach each of these goals.

Take a set-piece example: Jennifer Aniston (I don't know what her character's name was, I never cared enough) has a ferret. A blind pet ferret. And it runs into things.

And that's the joke. Not once, not twice, but four (at least) times. The problem is, it could be funny - other films would have made me laugh - but it just misfires. It doesn't lead up to any escalating comedy set-piece; it doesn't go anywhere other than a throwaway joke that gets about two seconds of laugh each time (unless you're Will, who for some reason found it hilarious. I think he may have concussion).

I think that's the problem; it's just a series of jokes that don't lead into each other, don't relate to each other and - worse - don't string together in any coherent way at all. Scenes just end, apparently halfway through. All of the characters are stereotypes, and not in a knowing way either (there's a risk-taking Australian, an uptight straight white man, a fat ma...oh, I can't be bothered. I don't think the scriptwriter really could).

As a movie-going experience? Pretty good, because of good friends to laugh at the rubbishness of it all with. As a movie? Gah, lazy writing like this just makes me cry.

media i've eaten this week #1

Elephant

So yeah, it took a couple of days to get round to finishing my review of it - because it took me a couple of days to get around to actually finishing it. And it was every bit as disturbing as I imagined, a slightly soft ending excepted. The fact that the film's narrative was gradually revealed as showing the same timeframe over and over again, from different character's points of view, was nifty - going a long way to exploring the idea that school's a very different place depending on who you are - and did a lot to heighten the tension. So it was just a shame that, after the (invariably upsetting) gunfire, the film stopped in a place I'm not sure was the best point to end it. I'm not saying I was looking in any way for resolution or closure or anything like that, because that's not what the film was about. I just don't think it was a memorable enough image after what'd gone before.

Air, "Talkie Walkie"

Every critic in the lead-up to this album being released was going on about how disappointing its predecessor, 10,000Hz Legend, was, and about how this new album represented a return to form for the band. I was apparently alone in going "Hey! I really liked 10,000Hz Legend!" and worrying that I would find anything that wasn't as complicated, as hard to get to used to, boring in some way.

And I think those worries carried over into the first time I listened to the new album. Hell yeah, I liked it a /lot/ - all floaty and tuneful like we've come to expect - but wasn't it a bit thin somehow? A bit two-dimensional? As it turns out, yes and no. It's certainly more simple than the last album - there's no bizarre jokes for little reason at all, and certainly no female robots singing in Japanese (which is always a disappointment). But it's also more complicated than Moon Safari, and as such is a midpoint between the two. So, after five or six times through, I like it a lot. Standout tracks are Universal Traveler, Surfing on a Rocket, and Biological.

Angel, "You're Welcome"

I'm getting to like Angel a lot, which disturbs me because I said I'd never watch a show that was all complicated back-story that'd never really interested me. But despite the fact that I've never watched the show consistently for any of its previous four seasons, this episode did affect me - mainly because I think I remember half of the characters from back when they were on that other show I'm not allowed to mention. And so the death of one of them's still going to have some impact, even if I haven't watched half the backstory episodes from this series itself.

I also like Lindsey's hair.

On audio: They Might Be Giants, Birdhouse in Your Soul (5*)

elephant

I just started watching Gus Van Sant's Elephant - about the first twenty minutes. (It's about the Columbine shootings.) I know it's unusual to comment on a film or something like that before you've finished watching it, but I really ought to go to bed and, besides, I'm not really sure it's something I want to carry on watching before I sleep. It's too affecting.

Somehow the clearness of the directing reminds me of those 1960s/1970s infant school text books you get - all clean colours and bright tones. And it's so peaceful. And some time in the next hour or so these kids are going to get shot.

I'll finish watching it tomorrow night, I think.

interview with the zzzzz

Is Interview with the Vampire the dullest, most annoying film of all time? It may well be close. I wouldn't have watched it unless my Feminist Media Studies class made me (it's like we're doing a course in how not to make bad films or something). I don't think even the satisfaction of pulling it to pieces in "gender terms" will be enough to replace the two hours of my life I can never get back.

On video: Interview with the Vampire (2*) (natch)

very, very gay

It's okay, I've cheered up a bit now. I've got some resolutions that I thought of just now that I'm gonna post later. Four posts in one day might be some kind of lame record or something.

Remembered about this site from about six months back the other day, and as it's the Single Most Funny Thing On The Internet Ever, I thought I better post it. It's about Elijah Wood being a bit gay, and some good quotes include:

"and i know elijah is pretty gay looking, but he can't help it if he looks 12 and has prettier eyelashes than most girls."

and

"Elijah Wood is very short...Therefore he must be gay."

To be honest, I don't stand a lot of chance, do I?

cube

So. I finally got round to seeing Cube. (Two years after everyone else on campus went to see it, and six years since it's original release.) Following Matt's request to let me know what I thought of it, here goes... (probably best to not read on if you've not seen it...)

I liked it. A couple things need to be said at the start here - due to everyone else already seeing it, like I said, I went into it already knowing the general concept as well as who made it through to the end. And whilst it's still the concept that compels me more than anything else about the film - its inherent hook, after all, is the creepiness of random people being plucked against their will into what is essentially a "death-trap" - there were some other bits about it that surprised me more than I was expecting.

The design was very cool, but not at all what I was expecting, and I'm not sure that the futuristicness (that's soo not a word) of the whole cube itself and the evilness of the traps fitted in with the almost arcane nature of the designs on the walls. Still, that hardly matters, because it became very clear that the cube itself was more or less a motivation for the characters placed within it to do the things that they did.

And it was the characters that creeped me out more than I was expecting. Man, wasn't that cop just /sinister?/ Yep, I guess they were a little formluaic, and some of the dialogue clunked. But what I didn't anticipate was so many of the characters dying by their own hands, and I guess this was kinda the point of the film (and, anyway, they could hardly think up enough gruesome ways to kill them off after the initial cheesewire/flamethrower/acid-in-yo-face! salvo).

As for that ending, I also heard - I forget now where, probably those annoying little gremlins who inhabit the boards over at imdb - that some people thought it fell down in the last twenty minutes. I don't really agree with that: true, it did feel rushed, I guess, but it managed to get in the whole obligatory Christ metaphor/salvation for the innocent vs. getting what you deserve overtones in there before it all came rushing to a halt.

As for the final frame, well, what else could they do? I always like open endings because, whilst they may be annoying as hell, at least they make you itch and think about that itch. So yeah, all in all, hurray!

Can't believe there's two more sequels though. *sigh*...

igby goes down

loved this movie. i realised, despite getting frustrated with them in the past, i now like slow-burning, subtle, character-based movies a /lot/ - and this is up there with the best i've seen.

it's also made me resolve to be a lot more arty in future. no, but really.