Chasseurs des dragons 3.5*
a first class beauty in 3D computer graphics. Characters are soooooo cute. There is an under lying Asian tint to it. Knitting needle, the strong man is a mother figure? A big woman warrior? Everything is all mixed into one poetic, cute - but maybe just a little too cute - this is an animation film that i will watch at least anther time. It is precious, like "Dark Cristal" a previous animation film using models - is precious. I noticed a name Arthur Qwark - is the screen writer - Qwark, what a name. Will check it up and write more about this after a second viewing.
Brick-lane 2.5*
Authentic dialogue, story is told in a gentle bitter sweet way. Story of a Bangledash immigrant family who has stayed for 17 years in London, in the tenement housing of Brickland. We see repeatedly an elderly white woman who also live in the same tenement, with a little undershirt and a full back tattoes a la yakusa, and the Bangelash immigrant father, finally, from office worker, to car chauffeur, to soap salesman, and finally going home to be University Professor. That is the familiar inner tears of any immigrant. The young daughters talking back to the father is really funny. But i could relate to that completely. The two types of love experienced by the mother is also correct in tone, human, courage, understated but very measured. Its a docu-drama of a sort - somewhat in the same genre as John John, and I see a slew of films coming. All about bitter sweetness never before told from the inside of the minorities. These stories will not be the unique right of "anthropologist", finally, each minor group can tell their own story without un due outside analysis or drama, or "milk of human kindness - the all too Catholic mist..." maybe it has changed for a while now, its only me, I only see it in cinema! And when its in cinemas, we are in mainstream.
Le Cahier 3.5*
A simple story of Afghan country, the Buddha falls apart out of shame - it opens with the monument collapsing and ends with the same image. A little girl from the moutain cave tries to go to school, with many difficulties that is proper to her situation, she finally got herself a notebook but no money for the pencil - so she took her moms lipstick for use of a pen. On the way, she was kidnapped by children playing war. She does not want to play war. In the end, she could only stop being hassled if she played dead. Then the game ends. Her friend tells her, play dead, if you play dead, they will let you go!
Such a beautiful film, with very primitive means, but what a profound message! Everything in the right place, and the little girl is magnificent. Her predicament, her desire to overcome, bravery. Go see it.
The Savage Family 3*
a fine movie with authentic details, and real life representation. How a dog is sympathetic to a woman making love - without much passion - to a married man boyfriend - a father who is "damaged" and sibling squabbling, jealousy, blocking each other... life is not joli-joli... there are no superbly aesthetic scenes, no dramatic music... but everything is right... the father watches his favorite movie, those old white actors putting on black paint to play black folks - thus antagonizing the whole care taking staff of the retirement home - subtly, we see how things have moved on, and everyone is important - we risk stepping on toes here and there, nobody gets it easy. I wouldnt want to live like the woman in the movie, so hard. But maybe this is very common... so I must thank my lucky stars after seeing this movie. (Not much of a critic today, am I? Dont feel like analysing today. Swann jies day off, I am replacing her - this is Swannjie jie)
Redacted 1.5* (Brian de Palma)
there is a strange after taste of why such a film was made? aside from entertainment business...
La Fabrique des sentiments 2.0*
There is something tight about the performance of the very pretty Elsa Zlyberstein - the character she plays is elegant, good taste, well brought up, but something full of self control that makes you not want to have to go to her house, for fear of disturbing her orderly bcbg apt, and you might get blamed for whatever that comes afterwards... like a muffled sound inside a well formed vase... a display of restrictive emotions - who could undo all this? it took a life time of upbringing to form such a person, how can you undo this, and whats left afterwards? Her happiness would lie in getting someone in her milieu and they share the same context, understand each others vocabulary... but thats no good! She is trying to get out of her world... hmmm.
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