Change Your Image
jandejonghe10
Reviews
Sayonara (1957)
"I'm going to walk through the part, and that's that."
This is a poor movie. It's melodramatic and it stereotypes Japan.
And what did Marlon Brando say about this film in his interview with The New Yorker? "Man, I rewrote the whole damn script. And now out of that they're going to use maybe eight lines. I give up. I'm going to walk through the part, and that's that. Sometimes I think nobody knows the difference anyway. For the first few days on the set, I tried to act. But then I made an experiment. In this scene, I tried to do everything wrong I could think of. Grimaced and rolled my eyes, put in all kind of gestures and expressions that had no relation to the part I'm supposed to be playing. What did Logan say? He just said, 'It's wonderful. Print it!'"
That about wraps it up for this stinker.
La possibilité d'une île (2008)
the established writer delivers poetry on screen
I have read all novels and poetry written by Mr. Houellebecq. No other contemporary 'oeuvre' is, in my humble opinion, as relevant as his.
If you have read 'la possibilité d'une île' and watch this movie, you might be disappointed that Mr. Houellebecq did not include the main character of the book, 'Daniel the comedian', in his film, but instead replaced him by the son of the prophet, also named Daniel. I, for one, think this was a wise choice, because the story of 'Daniel the comedian' is entirely irrelevant to the central message and theme of the movie.
The pace of and the photography and acting in this movie are close to perfection. No other director than Mr. Houellebecq himself could have filmed this marvelous book so beautifully: Mr. Houellebecq succeeded in transforming his poetic literature into poetic cinema. With 'la possibilité d'une île' he gave us poetry on screen.
I sincerely hope he himself films more of his books.