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The Fabelmans (2022)
Wow that was unexpected...
I am writing this from my home screen in Istanbul. This film is yet to come to our cinemas here. I couldn't wait to watch this masterpiece from a digital copy. Sorry producers.
I now know why Spielberg so much liked late Truffaut! And his films and his character. There was a deep connection between the two. For Truffaut it was his first film, for Spielberg (so far) his last. My god, just how personal this story is! This was an enigma for me before I watched The Fabelmans; the enigma why the American respected his French counterpart so much. Just watch Close Encounters and you will see what I am talking about.
Sorry reader, this is between me and Mr. Spielberg as it was between me and Mr. Truffaut, when I first watched his 400 Blows when I was 12, exactly the same age as the main character. I can now see his later films like Private Ryan, Jaws, E. T., Close Encounters etc., & how deep they are rooted in his youth memory.
I like this film to the tune of 10/10. Maybe in order to enjoy this film you must also have an uncle Boris, like I had. Maybe you must have such close and weird family... whatever.
I hope you too can see the beauty in this magnum opus. Just pass the big name and watch this as the first movie of a 26 year old American boy.
Anna (2019)
Nikita revisited after 29 years by its prodigy author/director
I have watched Anna on the first day of screening in a cool Istanbul cinema. I am a big fan of Luc Besson, knowing full well his great as well as some disastrous works. However, Nikita, Leon also Subway, Big Blue, Fifth Element are among my all time favorite films. Also "Taken" character is a creation of Besson! He is very original, a real European prodigy.
Anna is a kind of 2019 remake of La Femme Nikita-(1990) with a new and original face (Sasha Luss) who does a decent job of fooling the viewer into different roads during the film. She has a female poker face and smile. I think Besson noticed her ability to deceive viewers earlier in her motion capture role during Valerian (2017) shooting and decided to remake Nikita with her. (Did he also fall in love with her as happened before with Anne Parillaud and Milla Jovovich? I am curious.)
Some younger viewers may have a problem with the action scenes: A female lead doing fast action scenes is not so original they would say: Atomic Blonde and Kill Bill for example, had them. However, my younger viewer friends should know that these films owe big time to Nikita and Leon. Maybe for that reason, in Anna, Besson makes fun of both Atomic Blonde and Kill Bill! Her black leather fight costume is a salute to Atomic Blonde and tens of black suited body guards that she kills in a restaurant is a smile to Tarantino. The earliest female hitman, sorry, hitperson was Nikita! She was a very big shock to viewers in 1990 (I had watched it also on the first day). So was Leon. Americans almost couldn't watch that great film due to censorship.
Anna the character is: 60% Nikita, 20% Leeloo of Fifth Element and 20% Leon's girl. Character Alex is = 100% Bob (of Nikita).
I recommend everyone to go and see Luc Besson's latest ideas and without giving away spoilers it is impossible to write more about this film. I liked it and enjoyed it. 9/10.
Poirot: The Chocolate Box (1993)
A very beautiful episode of the series
This is probably one of the best episodes of the Poirot series in my judgment. Several observations: 1)The beautiful widow, Virginie is smitten by young Poirot. She helps him find the murderer but also presents him a diamond embroidered silver pin (with a variety of dried flowers of different colors inserted into the pin) to show her affection to the young officer.
2) She later marries Poirot's best friend, the chemist who helped Poirot solve the case. Their elder boy is named Hercules, further indication that her love to Poirot was present even as she wed his best friend.
3) Does the episode imply that the boy named Hercules is Poirot's own son? I think not. All over the episodes Poirot is depicted as a singularly private man if not in the closet gay. I think, Hercules Poirot, even if he was gay, never actually got over his love for this woman, since he always kept her present, the silver pin, on his heart until his own death in the last episode of the series. Except for a single episode, the one that takes part in Rhodes.
9 out of 10.
Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)
A good follow-up for the Saga and a nice bridging job for the future
Writer and director made a good job of undertaking the enormous job of shooting a decent sequel to the Saga created piece by piece in the last 40 years. It is not easy for a 135 minute movie, 1) to introduce a new future, 2) introduce a new generation of heroes and villains, 3) while making a believable follow-up connecting past and present.
Kudos to Kasdan, J.J. Abrams (and Arndt) for a successful entry into a new chapter of this great Saga. As anyone will agree, Star Wars is almost a new-age religion, with its own deep symbols, history, special logic and mythology. Upon very high expectation of hundreds of millions of people around the world, the movie is a success by every measure.
As a gen-Xer, with two kids, we enjoyed all 135 minutes of it. Rey is a gem, Finn and Poe are doing their jobs fine. Old guard (Leia and Luke) is so-so but Ford is a better than expected Han Solo after so many years.
My kids (13 and 9) know the whole Saga, I mean every bit of it and they did not find any character or fact misplaced. Some interesting notes:
1- Abrams made clever use of old and well known memes from the earlier films. Like the bar full of weird characters, a planet similar to Death Star destroyed similarly, (this time pilot Poe leading the Red Team), Kylo Ren in a similar role to Darth Vader, a new character called Snoke instead of Palpatin as the baddest bad etc. Adam Driver as the new villain Kylo is a fine casting choice but not yet mature. He needs more evil ingredient inserted in him before the next movie. (He could spend some time with Dr. Kissinger while he is alive!)
2- The viewer immediately understands that Rey has Jedi powers unknown to her. We know that she has the Force in her, but she is ignorant of all this, so that adds to the story flow immensely.
3- Finn represents all the new viewers who do not know anything about the past history. Rey represent kids like mine who know everything about Star Wars but do not yet feel part of it. Very clever use of new characters.
4- Han Solo and the old guard like Chewie, R2-D2, C-3PO, Leia etc connect with the old generation of Star Wars fans and act like a bridge to the next generation.
I congratulate the team who made this movie happen.
Takva (2006)
An inner look at an Islamic faction
This is a rare example of an inner look at the Islamic sects and their organizations. Although the movie is a fiction, at times you may think you are watching a documentary of a Turkish Islamic sect and its rituals.
Tha main character, Muharrem is a devout and simple believer and a follower of the sect. He gets selected by his Efendi (sheikh of the sect) for collecting the rent money of the sect. This purely financial act affects Muharrem morally and psychologically.
Erkan Can plays an excellent Muharrem. Guven Kirac (Rauf the vice sheikh) and Meray Ulgen (the sheikh) are very very believable in their roles.
This probably one of the finest examples of the new Turkish cinema.