Change Your Image
vampirock_x
Top 100:
1.Heaven (Germany/Italy/USA/France/UK,2002)
2.Otets i syn (Father & Son, Russia,2003)
3.Beauty and the Beast (USA, 1991)
4.Donnie Darko (USA,2001)
5. Dekalog (The Decalogue, Poland, 1989)
6. Spiritual Voices / Confession / Soldier�s Dream (Russia, 1995, 1998)
7. Dead Poets Society (USA, 1989)
8. 2001:A Space Odyssey (1968)
9. Nostalghia (Italy/Soviet Union, 1983)
10. Finding Neverland (2004)
11. Happy Together (China, 1997)
12. Novecento (1900, 1976)
13. Big Fish (USA, 2003)
14. Double vie de V�ronique, La (France/ Poland/Norway, 1991)
15. Barber of Siberia, the (Russia/France/Italy/Czech Republic, 1998)
16. Sound of Music (1965)
17. Querelle (West Germany/France, 1982)
18. Life is Beautiful (Vita � bella, La, Italy, 1997)
19. Grido, Il (The Cry, Italy, 1957)
20. Dancer in the Dark (Denmark, 2000)
(the rest 80 in Alphabetical order)
21.Aladdin (1992)
22.All About Lily Chou-Chou (Japan, 2001)
23.All About My Mother (Todo sobre mi madre, Spain/France, 1999)
24.All the Mornings of the World (Tous les matins du monde, France, 1991)
25.Almost Famous (2000)
26.Am�lie (2001)
27.American Beauty (1999)
28.Amores Perros (2000)
29.A Room with a View (1985)
30.Barton Fink (1991)
31.Before Night Falls (2000)
32.Ben-Hur (1959)
33.Best of Youth, the (Meglio giovent�, La, Italy, 2003)
34.Billy Elliot (2000)
35.Birdy (1984)
36.Boys Don't Cry (1999)
37.Brokeback Mountain (2005)
38.Casablanca (1942)
39.C.R.A.Z.Y. (Canada, 2005)
40.Elizabeth (UK, 1998)
41.East of Eden (1955)
42.Edi (Poland, 2002)
43.English Patient, the (1996)
44.Everybody�s Famous (Belgium/Netherlands/France 2000)
45.Every Man for Himself and God Against All (West Germany, 1974)
46.Facing Window (Finestra di fronte, La, Italy, 2003)
47.Farewell My Concubine (Ba Wang Bie Ji, China, 1993)
48.Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
49.Fight Club (1999)
50.For a Lost Soldier (Netherlands, 1992)*
51.400 Blows, the (Quatre cents coups, Les, France, 1959)
52.French Lieutenant's Woman, the (1981)
53.From Behind (Derri�re, Le, France, 1999)
54.Grave of the Fireflies (Hotaru no Haka, Japan, 1988)
55.Half Nelson (2006)
56.History Boys, the (UK, 2006)
57.Hole, the (Trou, Le, France/Italy,1960)
58.Howl's Moving Castle (Japan, 2004)
59.Idiots, the (Denmark, 1998)
60.If.... (1968)
61.Jules and Jim (France, 1962)
62.Moutain Patrol : Kekexili (China, 2004)
63.Law of Desire (Ley del deseo, La, 1987)
64.Lion King, the (1994)
65.Little Miss Sunshine (USA,2006)
66.Longtime Companion (1990)
67.Mary Poppins (1964)
68.Million Dollar Hotel (2000)
69.Motorcycle Diaries, the (Diarios de motocicleta, Argentina, 2004)
70.Mulholland Dr. (2001)
71.Nightmare Before Christmas, the (1993)
72.N�i alb�n�i (Iceland, 2003)
73.Northfork (USA,2003)
74.Nuan (暖, China, 2003)
75.Mozart and the Whale (2005)
76.October Sky (1999)
77.Oscar & Lucinda (USA/Australia/UK,1997)
78.Paragraph 175 (2000)
79.Passion of the Christ, the (USA, 2004)
80.Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)
81.Philadelphia (1993)
82.Pier, the (Jet�e, La, France, 1962, short)
83.Plata quemada (Burnt Money, Spain/France/Argentina/Uruguay, 2000)
84.Remains of the Day, the (1993)
85.Requiem for a Dream (USA,2000)
86.Return, the (Vozvrashcheniye, Russia, 2003)
87.Road, the (Strada, La, Italy, 1954)
88.Road Home, the (Wo DE FU QIN MU QIN, China, 1999)
89.Russian Ark (Russia/Germany, 2002)
90.Skazka Skazok (Tale of tales, short, Russia, 1979)
91.Stand by me (1986)
92.Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (South Korea, 2004)
93.Tin Drum (Die Blechtrommel, 1979)
94.To kill a mockingbird (1962)
95.Twin Falls Idaho (USA, 1999)
96.Uzak (The Distance, Turkey, 2002)
97.Weeping Meadow, the (To Livadi pou dakryzei, Germany/France/Greece/Italy, 2004)
98.West Side Story (1961)
99.Wild at Heart (1990)
100.Yuen Ling-yuk (RUAN LING YU, China, 1992)
Top five directors:
1. Alexander Sokurov
2. Krzysztof Kieslowski
3. Andrei Tarkovsky
4. Werner Herzog
5. Tom Tykwer
Favorite actors: Jeremy Irons & Ralph Fiennes
Favorite actress: Cate Blanchett
Favorite composer: Gustavo Santaolalla
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Curious George (2006)
What a surprise in a 3-D-stuffed world!
With no knowledge about this film in mind, I bought it as a bet for this incredibly cute monkey on the cover.
I know it's very dangerous to bet on a anime movie nowadays as so many not-so-good ones coming up --- like "Doogal", "The Wild". However, it turned out to be a surprisingly entertaining journey about bravery, honesty and companionship. With plain but exquisite drawing, a well-developed plot and terribly funny dialogues, it really stands out in a world full of 3-D, flaring anime nowadays.
Also, Jack Johnson's melodious songs are also a big surprise to me. Not like most anime films in which various artists and songs were introduced to add to the attraction of the film, Jack Johnson's guitar and undertone voice were played wherever it's suitable throughout the film, adding so much pleasure to the film.
George is this cute monkey who inspires us to befriend animals while Ted has so many good qualities for us to learn. I'm sure it is a very light and educative little film for a family to watch and improve their love for each other.
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)
the most twisted and grande journey to humanity!
First, I never read the novel, thus approached this film from nothingness. Though I was bewildered by sharply different comments from friends around, I reset my mind and gave it a try --- after all, it's Tom Tykwer, whose "Heaven" is my all-time favorite.
Grenouille, who was born and raised in such chaotic and inhuman time and place but bestowed with a miraculous sense of smell, is one of the most tragic characters I've ever known. From the very beginning of this film, I got myself identified with him and was dragged deeper and deeper into this lost cause. Already offended by Grenouille's undesirable childhood, I found myself no longer so as the murders unfolded, instead, it was more and more bitterness and desperation for a world like that.
It's just as tragic for all the dead girls as for him who explore everything by the dominating means of smell but cannot smell his own existence. We depend on sights and sounds, and we have cameras and recorders, by which it's very easy to understand why he went great length to try to capture smell. For him, it's the only way to record his knowledge and memories, especially the most precious ones. As for the loquat girl who triggered his pursuit, she symbolize both the motherhood and love which Grenouille desire but extremely lack.
*spoiler*Many people feel good until the ending where he avoided the death penalty and sent all people present into a big love-making party with his ultimate perfume. However, that's when I was completely lifted by the film and felt the ultimate humanity the writer and filmmaker tried to express. Yes, that's love and humanity I felt rather than sex orgy. You can see from the very start when the people shouted to kill Grenouille their own ways that they have nothing left inside except hatred and desperation covered by a dark, damp, clouded world. It was almost worthy to me at the time to pay those girls' lives for people's inner freedom to feel peace and love. And Grenouille, standing above the ground in the center, was almost like a god who crucified his own existence and all his human desires for them. It turned out Grenouille was the only one who could not love and be loved and doomed to be an outcast. And then he disappeared where he was born, after leaving the remaining perfume and his hollow body to the wretched.
Once again, Tom showed his talent of intense story-telling and rhythmic shooting in this title. With his own participation, the score, alternate between strings and chants, perfectly illuminated the cruelty and sublime. As for the well-performing cast in all, I personally think Ben Whishaw did a very great job to portray this smell-obsessed young man, who is sensitive and indifferent at the same time. Some say it's not as cruel and raw as the novel, which is just enough to prepare ourselves for the final grander in my opinion.
This is the ultimate concern for humanity in disguise of a heart-breaking contrast, metaphor and irony. Highly recommend it to all who are obsessed with the 19th-century-around Europe and ready for a great cinematic experience! As for those who don't like it, they may try a second time with a more open heart and readiness to feel deeper.
Ye ben (2000)
a masterpiece of forbidden love and unconditional friendship
It is a story about two men and a woman --- more likely two boys and a girl as they were innocent and confused in their own way.
There may be no more complicated things than three kinds of love twisted between three close friends constantly influenced by surroundings. There are other films about this triangle, but set in the unsettling historic period before the country's new foundation and mixed with the fascinating Chinese verbal culture of Kun drama, this film offers one of the deepest and most overwhelming cinematic experiences I've ever had. Lei Huang and Rene Liu, as usual, brought forward nostalgically exquisite acting and Chris Babida's music was just as graceful as his any other works. Chao-te Yin was a surprising found, handsome with both manly fortitude and feminine delicacy.
It's original, subtle and very literarily poetic. The dialogues are sometimes so neotericly literary that it almost reminds me of Lu Xun, Lao She and all those great writers once in the junior Chinese books. Thus, some pieces were very unnatural as being said by the characters, but I think there is no problem alike when you only get their meanings from the subtitles, but also that's when some of its unique charm lost. I guess that's a universal problem when it comes to foreign language films.
It may not be perfect due to some factitious parts here and there, which in no way harm the beauty and depth on the whole. Most importantly, it manages to tell us: love is multifarious, but the universal truth about it is it comes from the heart. Be it tortured by circumstances, it will always find a way to last.
Strongly recommend it to Chinese viewers who need a nostalgic introspection and foreign film lovers who want something totally different from other foreign language cinematic experiences (Chinese ones of exclusive lower-class depiction included).
Uzak (2002)
a spiritual landscape
The first time I saw the poster, I was stunned by its tranquility and beauty. Then the city of Istanbul has been haunting in my mind ever since.
Not much dialogue, not much music, the whole film was shot as elaborately and aesthetically like a sculpture. It itself is a landscape.
Actually there are a lot of things going on in the film, but the director deliberately omitted most dramatic parts and leave them to our imagination, thus creating a really flat life. **(mild spoiler)One can see Mahmut's ladylove crying in the toilet and then going out without a word but not their fight; one can see Mahmut accompanying his mother in the hospital but not her struggle from illness. The most dramatic scene in the film to me is Yusuf laughing out loud for the toy soldier he bought for his niece,** and that's when it almost broke my heart to see this boring, lonely life bursting out in such a way.
With all the trivialities in life weeded, the story presents us with pure inner world of all the characters, their sadness, anxiety, loneliness, regrets...And as the story unfolded, I sort of finally grasped their desperate situation where their emotions were really no way out if no outer things intervened, which is exactly every loner tries to keep at all cost, especially for an irresponsible artist like Mahmut.
I've just finished my second watching. Last night, I crouched into my quilt, had some Vodka beside my bed and went through the whole film in a trance. I felt two real lives going on, one outside the screen, one inside the screen. I felt free from all those loneliness and anxiety 'cause the people inside were experiencing it. I just had myself removed from all those things.
We cannot deny the universal problem of communication, and loneliness even puts us far towards it, and it becomes a vicious spiral. I bet Mahmut still didn't figure out a way of living in the end. That's why he stepped out of his room to try to find the answers from the outer world, the coldness and landscape.
Les diables (2002)
could have gone deeper...
Usually, when I'm overwhelmed by a film, I'll give it 10; when I'm offended, I'll give it 1. As for this one, I was neither, so I rather gave it a mediocre mark.
While the users with excellent comments are overwhelmed by the tight plot, beautiful cinematography and incredible acting, others are offended by its cruel and controversial scenes. I'm sure both side are understood here. I did appreciate all the efforts from filmmakers and actors, but I had to say I didn't receive much from this film.
I don't think those two kids are feral at all. At least, behind every negative things they did, there are reasons we are capable of making out. I mean...yes, these two kids lived in the dark side of the society since their births, and it's the world who's responsible for all their abnormality and destructive behaviours, and then what? In the film, some others tried to retrieve this situation, but the two kids just didn't buy it and even went further under the pressure, which was understandable. And when I expected the real changes, the film cut out. **(mild spoiler)In the end, the society failed to accept them back while the two kids went on living in their own world. Now that's what disappointed and upset me. And I don't think the adult couple willingly accepted Chloe's hug was strong enough to put an end to the society's effort and also to this film.** In that case, the film's effort on me went halfway...
Also, in my opinion any art work should be careful of handling controversial issues. They have to be worthy in a film to achieve the effects, otherwise it could be offending. "Hard Candy" seems to me the best negative example. Fortunately, this one was just OK for me. After all, they were kids. Though doubting the realistic possibility of their extreme behaviours, I can always understand them.
However, I believe the filmmakers agree with me on that understanding is not enough for those kids living on the edge of society. We don't want them to end up lost causes.
Then there should have been more to this film.
Nói albinói (2003)
a unique depict of isolation and freedom
The first time I watched this film was two years ago, when I was still stuck in the disagreeable, privacy-losing university life. I read every travel magazine I could get. I threw myself into some faraway lands and leave the body in torture.
That's when this film came to me.
It's not the first film about isolation and freedom struggle, but this one is from Iceland, a country long adored by me for three things: snow, distance and music. With its beautiful scenes, sparse guitar playing in the background and loosely haunting performance by all the actors, this one is different. It's unique and more powerful, with magic to drown you inside its world.
One cannot imagine how isolated a youth can be when there are no other peers to understand him. Nói was a genius in term of his over-sensitive insight to the surroundings. He saw what others didn't see, and he felt differently. **(spoiler) The girl's appearance was once crucial for his only hope to get out of here, but finally it turned out to have only slowed down his road to destruction. What made the film so different is that at last it's the world coming to destruction while he happened to live and thus was given a new life.** Is it necessary that the problem of the incompatibility between oneself and the world has to be solved by either side being destroyed --- either the essentiality of the former or the form of the latter. I don't think the filmmakers were kind enough to give us an ending like that. It's not positive at all. It's merely fate that controls everything and we have to bow down before it.
**(spoiler) Sitting on the remains after the avalanche, Nói once again looked into those tropical landscape flicker.** Was he at last aware of his connection with the surroundings? Did he feel regretful or simply free? Was he finally determined to leave? The ending didn't reveal much, but suggested a lot.
It doesn't necessarily take a disease like Albino for so many kids nowadays to feel like Nói. It happens everywhere, but this film gives us a perfect universal and essential depict of it.
I'm lucky enough to have overcome that period, although still feeling isolated from time to time. Those who haven't should take some comforts from this film; those who have may as well have a nostalgic retrospection.
Stranger Than Fiction (2006)
incredibly gripping!
It's easy to get disappointed when one has too much expectation. Fortunately, the trailer didn't give me false hope. I was far beyond not disappointed. I was happy and thrilled after watching it.
It's really easy-watching because the main character, an ordinary single man who lived a routine life, is just as easy for most of us to relate to. Though the plot is a little bit tight and weird, the film itself was shot in a simple, comfy and inspiring way. The witty narration and conversations were very exciting and informative. As Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Emma Thompson were all bring forward amazing performances, the college professor role played by Dustin Hoffman was the most surprising. Contrary to his always serious facial expression, his method to help Harold figure out the voice was just so ridiculously funny, but I had to admit it was reasonable...Their performances to me were all award-worthy. Anyway, who cares the awards --- as long as they are worthy.
It's a film about choice, fate, and most of all, loving your life for every subtle thing, which is especially good for a tired heart. Who doesn't get tired? So go and watch it. Highly recommend!
If there was something not quite right about this film, **(spoiler)it had to be the accident in the ending. I thought his death could have been more dramatic. At least I didn't think a bus which was stopping along a stop could hurt Harold as hard as that.** Anyway, it was probably their intention to give us an ordinary ending, thus more convincing and inspiring.
Lassie (2005)
a nearly perfect family film
I've never seen any previous version of "Lassie". I only judged by my feelings for this one, and it's good enough.
With beautiful cinematography and gorgeous symphonic music, this film is very easy to get yourself involved inside and wander by the plot. The little boy is not classically handsome, but he's very specially cute, like some character coming to life from a fairytale. And surely the collie Lassie is gorgeous enough to catch everyone's eyes, intelligent enough to deal with humans (both the good and the evil) and fortitudinous enough to run across the island to unite with her families. And many supporting roles were played by great actors and actresses and were played greatly.
It's a hilarious masterpiece, though occasionally mixed with bitter and sadness. But isn't it what life should be? In this case, it's a good material to teach children with. They will know all the necessary elements of emotions and respect life and people from of all classes.
**(spoiler) However, I just don't get it why the dwarf's little dog had to be dead.** I still think death is too cruel a thing to be shown to the target viewers of such early ages. And some scenes were considered too sentimental, thus may possibly prevent some adult viewers.
So overall I'll say it's a masterpiece with flaws. Still it may give many families a great time to enjoy.
Machuca (2004)
a great film in every possible way
This is almost the first Chilean film I've seen, and I was totally blown away by it.
Seeing the three children rejoicing in a parade, one may already know that it's a serious historical film --- at least I did, especially when I related it to "Turtles can fly", another historical epic from children's view in the same year. However, you don't need to know very much about Chilean history to enter this story --- as long as you are familiar with the universal phrase of civil war.
The three children brought forward incredibly amazing acting, which is quite different from the way American young stars do. They are rawer, looser and more original. Also it's obvious that the makers put a lot of efforts in cinematography to show us surprisingly poetic and childish views of the period. The story, though full of twists and turns, is as natural and convincing as one can be. It doesn't force your tears. They'll just come unaffectedly.
After all, the pain of war is universal, and so is the darkness of society. Those issues may be far beyond our concerns, but the way people dealt with it is still worth thinking twice.
Sibirskiy tsiryulnik (1998)
As good as a movie can get!
It's one of the most bumpy emotional roller coaster that I've ever ridden in a movie.
If it's fictitious, why don't we make it dramatic to the utmost? Most likely Nikita Mikhalkov shares this view with me. This is a story of fate. The film didn't bother to conceal the cruelty of fate, instead it planted seeds on the most barren soil and nourished leaves and flowers, even though they are only ironies or self-satisfying jokes on war, hierarchy and fusty disciplines, which at least managed to inspire people, if not causing a revolution.
It takes too much to fall into an innocent youth. For a love of a Russian boy as innocent as Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray, an ill-fated American widow had even more to pay, which I admire so much. **(spoiler) It's really ironic while the reason for their acquaintanceship was the soulless machine with a poetic name of "The Barber of Siberia", André Tolstoi actually became one at last.** It's not only his tribute to his first love, but also his revenge on his fate by instilling meanings into a shallow notion called faith.
It's funny. It even seems too hilarious for a theme of sad love. I occasionally laughed from the utmost of my heart, which I never did during watching "Borat" several days ago, and I knew perfectly that I would have to pay for that as the story unfolded. I did. It's easy to resist the temptation of either happiness or sadness, but it's quite another thing to deal with both at the same time.
Judging from my own cinematic experience, "slippery floor" and "proposal" are two of the most dramatic scenes I've ever seen and the fat ignorant American officer who didn't give a damn about Mozart is among the most comedic characters. I found it surprisingly funny because they're not sheer jokes. They are actions which involved courage, optimism and reasons. And that's why even more tears were shed **(spoiler) when the mask boy played Mozart for our ignorant officer in an incredible harmony and the officer was finally convinced and shouted, "Mozart is a great composer".** The very idea of understanding and believing overwhelmed me.
Need I bring forward the attractive acting, artistic cinematography and gorgeous score? I mean...it's Russian. It features beautiful landscape, American beauty, Russian cute guys and, of course, a bittersweet story of love and friendship, changes and fate.
As the movie told, in the day of forgiveness, strangers beat each other black and blue and then begged for forgiveness, and they were serious. Relating to that, I recalled the friendship between André and Polievsky. **(spoiler) They fought a fencing duel and hurt each other**, but Polievsky was the most devoted one through the whole film that went great length to help and protect André.
When the boy eventually took off the mask and kept on running along the coast, I'm convinced that life can be ill-fated sometimes, but it will be worth it if you took it on with courage and sincerity.
The last time I've heard Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 23 was in Alexander Sokurov's "Spiritual Voices", in which Mozart was also specially mentioned. And then this one came. Now to me Mozart seems to become a tag for Russian films --- though the two of them are excellent in its own way.
Thanks to my friend's recommendation, this film adds an extraordinary color to my complex of Russian cinema.
Paragraph 175 (2000)
What do we own, if not humanity?
Although there have been other homosexual films involving this issue, they had them broken down and rebuilt to fit a film. This one is different in that it presents the thing as a whole. The story-telling is direct, yet it's different from the heaviness and cruelty of "Night & Fog". Instead of focusing on the holocaust, this one is humanity-oriented. It's touching, but it's no less strong when I dwelled on the contrasts.
All the interviewees of as old as around ninety are survivors from the concentration camp during WWII. Each old man or woman who went through all the twisted time has a heartbreakingly romantic memory to tell. Some were indifferent. Some were tearful. Some were furious. It was incredibly amazing that even after all those years they managed to keep the subtlest details of the forbidden love and the dark holocaust.
Since the first time I laid my eyes on the cover of Penguin version's "Maurice", I grew obsessed with those nostalgic black & white and autochrome photographs, which this documentary contains a lot. When the inadequacy of photographic technology left us these photos of brotherly love, it's even more bittersweetly touching. Each weather-beaten photo has a iridescent moment behind it. The everlasting intimacy and beauty in these photos already suggested love is universal.
Their lives go on. They may not last long. They may just bury the memories, but they shouldn't regret --- judging from their facial expression while they were recalling their love at first sights and my imagination of a certain hilarious party in a certain club on a certain street in the night of the 1920's Berlin of chaos and liberation.
They are unique. They were, are and shall be envied by all, for which they've paid their price. How could they not be proud of themselves and at the same time torturous? As for all those who deny the history, they lost the last piece of emotion. And I'm sorry, if not furious anymore, for that.
I'm grateful to these film makers for attending to this precious, lost part of human history. I'm grateful that we're told. We're told to be open-minded and, if possible, to feel humanity.
Otets i syn (2003)
Sokurov's daring myth of sensation
Among all the films I've ever seen, Sokurov's go deepest into my heart.
One has to prepare some motivation, not expectation, for his films since very often his works offer you things much more abstract than expectations. While willingly sacrificing dialogue as the most important means of information, he guides you into the circumstances by recreating the interactive association with camera, letting you feel his neverland of eternal humanity.
Abstruse as it is, "Father and Son" is a rare curiosa out of simplicity and aesthetics, exquisite yet resplendent.
With the early death of the mother, the father and the son supported each other in a way so intimate and absolute that they were sometimes like brothers or even lovers. The son was a symbol of his mother to the father. The father was the whole world to the son. Life for them was tranquil in a isolated world full of love. Poverty, romance, friendship, truth, communication...all the outside forces were reduced to setoffs when touching the edge of their territory.
The plot is simple. The furnishings are as sparse as in a stage play. All aspects are deliberately limited by Sokurov. Obviously he wanted no distraction for the magic visual expression I already got obsessed with in "Mother and Son".
The scenes at home are mostly still while the outdoor images are distorted. The dimly twilights through out the film hardly suggest any time but drown me in a illusion. The ancient dressing style of the son's girlfriend even tear up time and space much wider. There is no alternation of days and nights. There are only words and emotions. It's fairytale. It's fantasized. And Sokurov never wanted to convince us otherwise.
Though having watched it twice, I still cannot make out certain words are said by which one of them. The father and the son had so similar voices especially in impatient dialogues. That didn't really matter since most lines could actually be exchanged at all.
The father smiled constantly in the film. While his smile disturbed some people who referred it to awkward acting, it carried me into a trance where I thought: "provided with a son to whom I gave so much love suddenly realized the two of us had to be parted, how many substantial reactions would I give in front of his frustration?" The father's smile was the best compromise between his overwhelming love and his son's realistic future. Fortunately, the smile got more and more natural and confident. In the end, they still achieved an fairytale ending.
Putting things to a certain extreme is to look better into their realistic forms. The love between the father and son was far beyond our mundane definition for this word. That's why we feel they were like brothers or lovers at one time or another. We can't even generalize it.
I don't know what's the big idea of others who hate this film. Is it just because it's boring and recondite or is it because they cannot accept a kind of love which is so complicated, heavenly and absolute? I rather believe the answer is the former one, otherwise it's just so disappointing.
As Sokurov said, "In a cruel world, nothing can be accepted but a homo-erotic view." He said it in an interview when someone related this film to a homo-erotic interpretation. I don't think he has any problem with homosexuality and I don't think he particularly meant "this view" in a universal way. I think he was just doubting people's imagination and courage.
In an uninspiring world, nothing extreme or heavenly can be accepted but a self-satisfying view. Those who don't like this film just don't dare to.
Half Nelson (2006)
Emotionally drowned in it
OK, I don't want to argue with anyone who is impersonal enough to hardly be moved by this film and to think it's overrated and to analyse why this indie film triumphs so much. It's always an individual thing when it comes to art. While the film didn't strike the chords in some hearts, it really did in mine.
It shows the beauty and power of indie film --- so subtle, so real, so comfy, so touching. It's the story good enough to show the best of every actor's performance; it's the music apt enough to carry me through this emotional trip; it's the cinematography earthy enough to be my eyes; it's the editing ringing enough to leave me in thoughts.
I admitted a big shock when I found out Ryan Gosling was exactly the anti-Semitic Jewish who once convulsed my mind in "The Believer" years ago. I couldn't even relate it during the whole watching. And that's when I was really convinced by his acting. What's more...he was so cute while dancing stiffly to "Wanted" in the party.
Quoting Dan's theory on history evolution, teacher and student are also in a kind of opposite relationship. It's always soul-stirring and daring to overcome this opposite and develop a winning friendship.
I always regard my childhood a little bit peculiarly precious since almost all my really good friends were teachers around twenty-five and the most precious one of them is as much a "big asshole baby" as Dan. I mean, I really shared my feelings and problems with them and they with me. OK, I was never a happy-to-think-of-nothing-else boy in a perfect family. It's been getting better now, but the damage was done...
Teaching is always a great work for me. I adore all the good teachers who inspire students. There are "Dead Poets Society", "Hard Ball", "Dangerous Minds", but rarely have I seen a film in which a particular relationship between a teacher and a student was portrayed. This time it got me mesmerized and took me back to those reverberant old days.
I was a student living inside the world of a teacher; I am a 23-year-old man willing to be a teacher. I altered my consciousness between the two characters and felt for them. I'm just as happy to see their readiness to change as I was once sorry to be changed by force.
Some might say this film supports some real "baseheads" to continue living in pain with no backbone to change, but...let's see the fact: in this harsh society, it takes so much courage and determinations to live in agony. We overlook it. We abuse our patience. We pretend to be fine. I tell myself maybe I should respect my own feelings more by delaying my responses while others are waiting for them. I'm sometimes as polite as a freak...I'm just seriously joking.
I wonder what my Dan Dunne is doing right now. He's got no girlfriend at the moment. He sleeps on a cushion on the ground. He's a loser to all the school staff but a hero to all his students.
He inspired my life to the greatest extent. He and all those alike deserve a movie to portray their chickenshit life --- like "Half Nelson".
Der siebente Kontinent (1989)
They were motioning, not living...
"The Seventh Continent" is as disturbing as any Haneke's film can get, and being confined to a family with almost no other outside interactions makes this story even more upsetting.
Living a routine life of deathly stillness, the family portrayed in this film is unsurprisingly typical in our modern society where people hardly pay attention to fundamental things and senses. They got up at 6 a.m.; they had milk and oats for breakfast; they wore and polished their shoes; they had their car washed...Haneke was "considerate" enough to show us their daily actions with so incredibly rich details that you almost felt like a member of the family.
As Haneke said, they are actually not living --- they just simply went through motions.
It's horrible how you got so used to the things always around you that you just ignore them --- even they're your families.
I thought they finally realized the problem...Well they did actually. However, it was just so late that they figured out a crazy way to achieve liberation.
Shocked to the core as I was, I thanked this story to hold me up by the violent actions as soon as I was about to relate this family to mine --- No surprises or inspirations but routines and trivialities is all the similarity we can afford to share with this extreme family.
It's always more comfortable to be unmoral among disputes than be perceptive surrounded by flaws. **(spoiler)I wonder if at that night they didn't drive by the accident thus didn't see the bodies, would the wife trigger their self-consciousness...** Either way is a tragedy anyway.
Let this real story be a lesson to all of us who forgot how to live.
Andrey Rublyov (1966)
a genuine epic of Tarkovsky's faith for art
Russians must be really proud to own one of the greatest director, Andrei Tarkovsky and Alexander Sokurov, his unique successor. Well, I'm proud for them.
Knowing nothing about this film but its director, I bought this DVD and set out watching it. Its vigour and beauty really overwhelmed me to the core. Even in black and white, Tarkovsky's cinematic language is surprisingly daring and comprehensive. Getting used to the tranquility in his later works, now I'm convinced he's capable of dealing with other uproarious themes like violence and comedy.
As Tarkovsky showed me this grandiose historic event, I unconsciously related it to Sokurov's "Russian Ark". I found that living in a country of great amplitude really endows people with special talents. Russia becomes a magic country since the first time the two directors captured my heart.
This film contains many subtle, symbolic elements both in dialogues and camera, keeping you observing and thinking. It's a panorama of the medieval Russia in a episodic style. Each story directly or indirectly affects the life of Rublyov. With all the characters not associated in a classical way, its cinematic style is itself a memorable attempt to portray a helpless individual in a historical fate.
I wonder whether it is just a coincidence that the great painter in the film and the great director out of the film share the name Andrei. Maybe like what Tarkovsky said in an interview, all the artists share the same fate to go through the unpleasant darkness of the world to create genuine artworks.
He told us to learn to enjoy loneliness. I did for long. He loves horses. I'd occasionally stop my footstep, trying to hear a horse running by.
I'm not superstitiously worshiping him. I'm just trying to dig some of his feelings --- the inspirations that have enlightened a great director.
Babel (2006)
how did our world end up like this?
This film held my expectation even since last year in Cannes and the very idea of various problems of individuals in a global connection background simply impressed me.
People like to compare it to "Crash" as both films are multi-plot, but...C'mon guys, this is not the only two films telling more than one story, and it's so unreasonable for me since the two of them are so different in all other aspects. Let's just take it easy not to make unnecessary connection.
It is a work of special directing, great acting, intelligent editing, superb cinematography and lifelike music.
While the Morroco part was shot in a rather intense and unsteady form like a documentary and the America part was no more than a family drama, the Japan part was more artistic and full of meaningful stills and close-ups.
Cate and Gael were both good, but Adriana Barraza's and Rinko Kikuchi's parts were so outshining. As all the actors' performances were so incredibly accurate and vivid, Iñárritu's frequent adoption of close-ups really achieved great effects.
Gustavo's score is indescribably beautiful. It's not much, but every time appearing at the right place and the right time. He's been playing the chords of my heart even since the first time I saw "21 Grams".
Some friends argued in the message boards that the story is not reasonable enough and it's a drawback. I'd rather say this is what the director and writers want us to see --- the baffling action and reaction of individuals under modern pressures, unnecessary precautions and between mental and cultural barriers. Yes, there must be a reason for every happening, and for this one, it's individual. I think you must be a deaf-mute, lack-of-love, defensive, Japanese girl to really understand why she lied to the policeman about her mother's death and more...It's just not the point.
Undoubtedly this is a disturbing and exhausting film, and I don't even think the heart-warming hand-in-hand ending scene was enough to cover my upset and disappointment. And this is it, the world we live in. It's just that the writers link many unpleasant realities together and dramatized them --- I'm pretty sure many real happenings are even more dramatized than this story.
It's rather vigilantly interesting to see the circle in which humans pile up difficulties for themselves and solve them and then pile up more...Will there be one day we cannot deal with them anymore? Will it be terrorists, robots or environment? It's amazing how we went so far; it's even more how we end up like this.
Heaven (2002)
an epic love of moral paradoxes and redemptive crucifixion
At first watching I immediately knew that it'd be one of my all-time favorites. I sat and meditated in the darkness all through the night with Arvo Pärt's starlike notes repeating (I finished the film at 2:00 a.m.).
Heaven, a word too simple and widely used to impress, receives its most unusual meaning in this film.
She was reduced to distrusting in sense, justice and life, but was given the sole choice to lean on him. He forsook the bright future lying ahead, craving for the only chance to be her Adam. They had nothing in common except determination. One cannot keep flying higher and higher, but they did.
Cate was one of my favorite actresses until this film drew her out of the squad and made her the one and only beyond all my favorites, which is due to her excellent acting plus Tom Tykwer's directing and Kieslowski's script.
She cannot be categorized as a typical beauty, but her appearance is so gorgeously formed that every part of her face and every inch of her skin is so expressive and informative. She's got all the emotions and powers inside her body, and she never failed to overwhelm me by her role in any movie I've seen.
This is not the first time I heard Arvo Pärt's "Für Alina" and "Spiegel im Spiegel" in a movie, but this is the first time I felt the trinity of the film, the music and me.
When the notes from "Für Alina" sparsely stroke like the stars twinkling in the night sky and the space cam floating above the crowded city, I gave away all the trivial feelings and thoughts and as if told to go through a storm following this tranquility.
However, I was still over-thrilled by the ending. **(spoiler)Watching their helicopter ascending and hearing Arvo Pärt again**, my chest shivered and my tears silently flowed into rivers.
We don't bother to think about what comes after the ending. I bet everyone knows at a certain height the helicopter would finally malfunction and collapse and they would fall down to the ground. There'd be remains and blood, and those policemen would clear the scene and joke on this crazy criminal couple.
They just didn't care anymore. They've done their parts to fight reality and they knew they were doomed to lose, but they demonstrated their ultimate sarcasm and despise by crucifying themselves to a world understood but not trying to understand.
Sky and earth; hope and desperation; romance and reality; intelligence and ignorance; doubts and determination; justice and morality...All these contrasts in this film are too sharp to bear. My tears vaporized; my body stiffened; my mind was in a trance. I felt grateful and shamed as if they were crucifying themselves for the sake of all of us who have so limited capacity of action in this disappointing world.
I was lucky enough not to have a lover by my side when watching it because after the film I'd possibly dump him anyway for the shames and compromises we will suffer and a heaven we can never strive for --- like some Andre Gide's character.
We don't dare to do what Philippa and Filippo did, and this is the truth with which the film penetrated right through my heart.
Really, it is the kind of romance of moral paradoxes and redemption that requires too much of an individual to enjoy. I was overwhelmed and exploited. As for Krzysztof Kieslowski, it must've taken him one dream or more of all human beings to die. And it's worth it.
Apocalypto (2006)
Lest we forget...
Among all the stars in the moviedom, Mel Gibson is a special one. I can hardly do a summary for his cinematic career 'cause his works are really hard to categorize and may I say --- "in a mess". However, he always managed to surprise me. However controversial his films may be, they have reasons which I'm willing to accept.
This film is a milestone to be recorded in cinematic history for its ancient theme, unprecedented language, insufferable contents and all other pleasant enough aspects of film-making.
Living in this modern world, we hardly bother to ask what we are and where we're from. We know Darwin's theory. We know life changes and is not easy. But we never know in detail what happened to our ancestors as individuals. We just sum them up into a few paragraphs on some history book.
This film is about Maya, yet it also applies to every other ancient civilization. It threw me into the ancient jungle and carried me on this incredible journey of knives and arrows, ignorance and intelligence, death and birth, love and hatred...
Despite all the blood and tension, I have to admit the primitive did a good job to carry on the human evolution --- at least, we are here with flesh and blood.
I had this imagery that if the whole evolution thing is a huge army and all humans are just allocated at random by God into some squads categorized by eras, and I ask myself, "If my soul happened to be allocated into the Mayan 'Squad', would I survive and had a life in peace and love?"It's a rather frustrating question since I'll never know the answer. Well, most possibly the answer is negative...
Anyway, we don't necessarily need the answer, but we do need the consciousness and introspection because when we project ourselves against the primitive background, we can always discover new things in our body and soul.
In that case, this film itself is an apocalypto lest we forget how different yet common we are compared to our ancestors.
Thank You for Smoking (2005)
I just couldn't laugh anymore for this one...
First, let's see...***(spoiler) A study academy which was reduced to the defender of its subject; a cancer boy who seemingly didn't know what he died for if he did; a journalist who got on her interviewee's bed to get top-line story for other private use; a senator who tried every possible filthy means to serve a good purpose; a boy who was greatly influenced by his father's talent and possibly immorality as well; and finally, a spokesman, the father who consciously covered secrets and spinned truth for salary....*** For all those highly ironically "funny" characters and matters squeezed together, this film gave us a rather lame ending ***(spoiler) as the spokesman finally realized his guilty consciousness by his not allowing his boy to smoke and continued "spinning his tongue" in other businesses.*** It just doesn't make sense to me. If it does, it's the ultimate effect of self-indulgence.
At first, I thought their dialogues were very witty and could not help laughing even though I'm not an American and I'm sure I missed several funny points where it requires American culture background. But as the story unfolded, my lips got stiffer and stiffer...
Soon I realized this American comedy was a narcissistic one. It did poke fun at today's upper-class society fulled of so-called elite, but it was more like showing off to me as it did nothing more than exaggerated all the seamy sides in our society and threw them at me.
Incidentally, Gus Van Sant's "Elephant" appeared in my mind during watching since these two are slightly common in that they both present us directly with the dark sides of the planet, but the former one triumphs in that it described one story from different perspectives and made us think "it's really bad" while this one seems to be a hilarious show whatever the makers want us to think of.
I was rather offended instead of interested as China, Russia, Arab countries were involved in this big joke, and even more irritated by the scene in which***(spoiler) the Mod Squad argued on whose business kills more people in a year.*** As for our talented Nick Taylor, his career success lied not only in his work but also in that people nowadays in this media-controlling world were too happy to be led by others and too stupid to think otherwise.
It's horrible and dangerous...
I wonder what the original novel is like. I bet it was much more careful than this film --- smoking, death, and other political issues are not supposed to be laughed at at will.
Forgot one thing: Aaron Eckhart's smile begins to freak me out...
Buena Vista Social Club (1999)
Wenders' ultimate alliance with music
Wenders' films always have a very delicate attachment to music.
In his possibly most-known masterpieces, "Paris, Texas" and "The Million Dollar Hotel", we have the most melodious cinematic journey. Even in Antonioni's "Beyond the Clouds", he didn't forget to conclude the ending with Bono and Brian Eno's hauntingly beautiful theme, "Your Blue Room", which is one of my all-time favorite songs from movies.
Yet all those music played the supporting role until this one came. (I haven't watched many works of his, so if there were other music documentaries done by him before, never mind my words.) And that's when his film seems more alive and inspiring.
I never write reviews for music 'cause I will never manage to transform all those musical feelings perfectly into words. The music of Buena Vista Social Club is even far more beyond words. All those passions, hopes and optimistic views of life it conveys simply overwhelmed me. All I can do is keep smiling and swinging to the music. It brings sunshine into even the gloomiest days.
All those aged musicians are just ordinary Cuban people who wear bright color clothes, but as soon as they begin to sing or play their instruments, their power and devotion outshine even the greatest young athletes.
That is not only a musical wonder, but a human miracle. And Wim Wenders was kind and intelligent enough to show it to us.
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Let's live up to this story!
I know it doesn't need another positive comment to add to its already incredible success among audiences. I just feel this strong desire to express my liking to it anyway after the second watching last night with my friend.
Although the film is already famous in other parts of the world, but in China still many people---even movie lovers---didn't happen to know it. And I voluntarily take on the "missionary" role to tell all my friends around about this inspiringly heart-warming masterpiece after I was completely overwhelmed by the hopes and inspirations it conveys.
It's a timeless masterpiece as long as the triviality of life lasts.
The story triumphs in its possibility. I mean, while other comedies fabricate some never-could-have-existed funny scenes to make us laugh and moved, it only takes us some inspirations and courage to fulfil this story in real life --- to cope with difficulties, to pull ourselves together from desperation and to enjoy the love, hope and change of life.
From this aspect, LMS is much more powerful and effective than all those best-selling books on life philosophy and quality education in schools.
Hope all those who love this film can live a cinematically inspiring and courageous life out of an ordinary one!
Professione: reporter (1975)
Antonioni's or my dilemma for entertainment
This is definitely a good film which is beautifully shot like any other Antonioni's work. However, getting used to this style of his, I kind of include it no more to the praise for his work and long for more from the content.
As a "catch and run" triller, this film is not tight and surprising enough; as an eloping love story, it's not romantic and convincing enough. And when all those elements are combined together, it just doesn't go very far to me.
I'm myself going to be journalist very soon, and I cannot help expecting more about this career from this film, but to my dissatisfaction, it doesn't say much about why Locke felt his career burnt-out. Also, Maria Schneider's character's appearance is, to me, a little bit unintelligible. With very limited detailed descriptions for her, this role doesn't make much sense to me.
As a result, the film didn't provide me with a big and nature enough entry to this story. I felt myself kind of left alone by it when it was gradually unfolded. From this very own experience of mine, it is the same case with "Blow-up".
God, I'm scared...Am I such a dull freak who is never easily surprised or taken away while other commenters for this title appreciate it almost in one voice? I don't think so...
However, I still give this title 8 points --- for its very astonishing montage at the start ***(possible spoiler) when Locke's recorder was playing their previous conversation and he was exchanging the photos on the visas*** and also the beautifully meaningful long-take at the end. With these two parts, Antonioni still managed to overwhelm me.
It's possibly the start and ending that made me so much want the whole film to be beyond perfect. And all the above complaints against the middle part were hopefully because of my being over-demanding.
As a fan of especially his earlier works like Il Grido, I'm very allergic to all those commercial elements in his later works like this one. Maybe I just didn't get used to it.
It's surprisingly interesting that individuals should make such differences.
Le chiavi di casa (2004)
Too subtly touching to put into words...
This intimately beautiful DVD cover impressed me among the disc sea two years ago, which made me buy it when my cinematic experience just shifted from blockbusters to other quality films.
At that time, I hadn't the slightest idea of Michelangelo Antonioni and Charlotte Rampling, but I was rewarded by my intuition.
Following the story of an once cold-hearted, immature father united with his handicapped son whom he left at his birth, this film depicts how the father and son got along with each other during the son's treatment.
The two of them lived all by each other in a paternal tranquility during the therapy days when Nicole, Rampling's character played as a mother of a handicapped daughter, walked into their life and shared with Gianni her feelings for her daughter.
That maternal relationship, as paralleled and yet quite different from Gianni's paternal one, is crucial for the self-realization of him.
As for the title, I'm more willing to interpret it as "The keys to the Houses"---to the house of Paolo's uncle, Gianni's guilty past; to the house of the hotel, the father and son's intimate present; to the house of Gianni's, the heart-warming and happy future; most essentially, to the hearts of the father and son. It was the son's choice. It was the father's effort. They wondered between all those doors, striving for a end-result.
As soon as Kim appeared first on the screen, I knew, "right now I'm watching the (not one of) most handsome man on the earth..." (Well, that's long before Brandon Routh came up with his superman. however, they are of different categories in which they reign respectively in my opinion.) Let alone the height, Kim's face is, judging from every angle, perfectly shaped and it has the magic to draw you instantly into the picture wherever your mind is wondering. That's been proved when years later I watched Antonioni's Beyond the Clouds in which a younger Kim with long hair was already capable of imprisoning my attention.
I think one can easily understand the awkwardness you get when confronting with a handicapped child who always wears the same seeming smile whenever he's angry or sad, not to mention he's your once abandoned son.
He's immature, not knowing where his hand should put to support a handicapped child or even a healthy one; he's delicate, bursting to tears when Paolo angrily wished to be sent to his uncle; he's withdrawn, never showing too many expressions on his face except Paolo did to him something quite silly...He gave this paternal character life.
The film is elaborately made in every possible aspect. However, without obvious climax and twists and turns, this story took me floating on the calm development of the plot and yet kept me consciously touched.
Surely this is not the first film about father and son or handicapped children, but the difference this film makes is that, instead of forcing you into the emotion with dramatic acting and moving episodes, it unfolds the feelings and daily interaction of characters as subtly as possible, making the story real and exquisite, like a documentary.
That's why no tear of mine drops during watching. However, I was overwhelmed and introduced into living in the story.
Usually I will write a review of exactly the same feeling as the movie conveys, but this time I didn't. I know, as for this one, it's too subtle to put into words. I didn't want to fail.
Novecento (1976)
Humanity beyond freedom and justice
Books teach us knowledge; films give us senses. As for this aspect, this film filled with realities and sensations is as much inspiring as any everlasting masterpieces.
If it's rare, it's expected to last. Focusing on the one-of-a-kind friendship between two boys of surprisingly different classes, the film really got me sitting up and constantly wondering which turn their emotional collapse would take among many possible ones.
Fortunately, Bertolucci carried out an artful development of the plot and suggested various possible layers of both tragic and comedy, thus lifted the film to a higher state. Laughing, crying, hating and smiling, I experienced almost every sense to a great extent for watching it.
The optimism consisting of happiness, humor, simplicity, hope and courage is, much more than the opposite of darkness and cruelties, the heart of the film. It provides us with a panorama of individual life under great pressures and shows us where the power lies for freedom and justice.
Also it's ideally aesthetic and heartbreakingly rewarding, which makes this long epic stand out.
Many inspiring details and elaborate expressions in this work are far beyond first watching and "spoiling", so I ensure this film is worthy of repetitively scrutinous watchings.
Another uniqueness of this film is that, compared with other "so-called" historical epics, in the end it not only goes back to the start but also goes right back to the hearts of the individuals. Suffering so many realistic cruelties in the film, finally my nerves got compensated by the very reverberant time-vertical montage in the closing scene which is completely unprecedented in my cinematic experiences.
At that moment, I was overwhelmed by the humanity Bertolucci filled in this film and eager to share this feeling with everyone. But I'm not supposed to spoil, so you have to experience it first.
Hard Candy (2005)
pathetic attempt to make it stand out
I hate this film. It's all deliberately messed up to be pretentiously controversial. The makers are not responsible enough to even think out the questions but play with various answers some innocently responsible audiences were reduced to coming up. It's not about gender; It's not about sex justice; It's not about crime & punishment. It's merely a mess the makers made to force the film stand out among so many indie films in a so pathetic way. I always regard myself a thinker when it comes to a good film. But this time I don't want to think about the plot itself -- It's neither entertaining or inspiring but sickly raw. Although I don't share the common guilty with Jeff (at least not now...), but I'm not quite sure in the days coming I won't hate or be afraid of teenage girls with short hairs and smooth tongue--not because the film successfully portrays the character, but for as obviously enough a reason as that you get sick, for the rest of your life, of somebody violently sweared to you without a cause.
However, one point to its visual style, that's all. And even for this, I'd rather watch some Rob Zombie's videos instead of spending nearly 2 hours being cornered in a nonsense of dilemma and threats and guilty...