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Reviews
The Tango Lesson (1997)
Spellbinding...
I have read a lot of commentary on this film. Then I went to the director's website (Sally Potter) and I read her comments.
I was so into this movie. It started out slowly and I wasn't sure if I was going to stick with it. But as it went on, I was totally drawn in. I love the fact that the director chose to film it in black and white which only added to the artistry of it. I loved the fact that she as the director, and making it autobiographical, allowed us (the audience) a peek into her creative process. I also love the fact that she courageously placed herself into the hands of another artist to learn the tango. I was impressed when I read that Sally Potter had a background as a dancer so it came naturally to her to appreciate and learn the tango.
This movie impressed me on many levels because as a creative talent it takes courage to cross over into the world of another artistic discipline (how easily could a dancer cross over into the world of a film director? you see my point). Or maybe that's not a fair comparison. But to me its literally a case of walking a mile in another man's shoes. Perhaps we find it easy to stand on the sidelines and criticize the work of an artist (be it an actor, director, dancer, writer, etc.) but is it hard to come up with creative visions? Not bloody likely.
I viewed this film as a metaphor for life, relationships, artistry, etc. all of which had parallels in the film. If this sounds too deep, it is, believe me! I saw all of this and more in this film.
It also felt as if Sally Potter is going through an autobiographical and artistic midlife crisis in this film which has given me courage to put myself on the line autobiographically and artistically. There was some criticism that she should have cast someone else in the title role, but when you can't see anyone playing yourself, but yourself, how can you answer even this kind of criticism?
Bravo Sally! I appreciated the peek you gave the audience into your creative process.
Eve's Bayou (1997)
After Casablanca, my absolutely favorite movie.
....for the life of me, the beginning sentence of this movie escapes me. I don't know why because its the most profound, moving beginning I've ever heard in cinema or fiction. But just like in Jerry McGuire, Tom Cruise's character had Renee Zellweger's character from "Hello" Eve, the narrator of this movie had me with the words, "the summer I killed my father I was 10 years old". From that sentence, I wanted to know EVERYTHING there was to know about this family and that character.
This movie won accolades at the Toronto film festival. Why it didn't win similar accolades at the Oscars escapes me. I've heard it said that there were some who were disturbed by the voodoo undertones in the movie which to me was absurd. The theme of this movie was universal. On a basic level its about family. The beauty of this movie is that you could have changed the colour of the family and it wouldn't have mattered a damn.
Everything about this movie had me...from the rich backdrop of the scenes in the Louisiana bayou; the beautiful and appropriate soundtrack which I went out and bought (the Terrance Blanchard instrumental at the end of the movie and the Erykah Badu theme were worth the price of the CD) and the chemistry between the characters.
I'm a huge Samuel L. Jackson fan and even though the women featured prominently in the movie (Eve, her sister, the mother, the aunt), Sam held his own.
This was an outstanding directorial debut from Kasi Lemmons. All new directors should have a debut this outstanding.