caseyjwolf Reviews

No Surrender (1985)

I loved it

[9/10 · 1 January 2021]

I loved it.

I saw this movie in 1985, so the details are a little hazy. However, I loved it. It is in turns hilarious, frightening, bizarre. It goes after subjects that even now are very sensitive, not to mention thirty-five years ago. But No Surrender goes in all guns blazing and does an amazing job. If I recall correctly, and I'm pretty sure I do, that was Elvis Costello up on stage there.

If you can get ahold of this film, do.

Almost Heaven (2005)

A good antidote for ennui.

[9/10 · 29 December 2007]

How many times have we seen movies about someone whose dreams are frustrated, fighting for the chance to realize those dreams? Often. And often, too, an element of urgency is added by making this person one who is terminally ill.

In this version of that theme, a German woman has no wish but to sing in Nashville once before she dies. She is diverted to Jamaica and forced by circumstances to stay there long enough to notice that there is more happening right here and now than either her dream or her death. Her antagonist and co-protagonist is a Jamaican woman who is struggling with her own circumstances in a less than effective way.

The setting is colourful and provocative. The performances of the main characters and the struggles they face are convincing and affecting.

A couple of minor plot elements are indicated enough to be understood but not developed fully enough to be completely effective--no doubt the details can be found on a cutting room floor. The only addition I would have wished for would be a slight filling out of the characters' pasts, to increase the impact of their current circumstances. However, this is a minor criticism of a generally excellent film.

In total, an engaging, entertaining, and uplifting film; a good antidote for ennui.

Eve and the Fire Horse (2005)

young Chinese Canadian girls explore death, superstition & religion (with lots of laughs, too)

[10/10 · 5 February 2006]

what a wonderful show! it's just opened in vancouver, b.c. (the city in which it was filmed) and what a treat to see it.

eve and the fire horse is beautiful, funny, touching, and thoughtful. julie kwan gently and poetically illuminates difficult truths.

affection, death, racism, camaraderie, longing, evangelism across cultural lines and religious fervour are all touched on.

a very enjoyable film whether you are ten or 90. behind me in the theatre sat a family ranging almost that far and the laughter was spread equally across the row.

three thumbs up!

The Way Home (2002)

a young korean city boy spends two months with his grandmother in the country

[10/10 · 10 March 2005]

i am not an easy sell on movies. many things can strike a sour note and put me off a little bit. but i rate this movie 10 on every count. it is excellent in story, characterization, cinematography--but all of those words pull me away from what i truly want to say about The Way Home. it is beautiful on a level that few movies are. most movies that attempt the type of emotional beauty that this one does end up a bit cheesy, a bit cliché, and i am not able to take them seriously.

The Way Home simply lays out the struggle of a young boy and the quiet resilience of his grandmother, and here weeks later when i think of it i feel joy.

Love, Sex and Eating the Bones (2003)

love in spite of it all

[8/10 · 21 January 2005]

i liked this movie a lot.

it takes a young man who has been maybe overly steeped in the porn view of sex, and can't get off without it...but is still a real person who loves a real person and is pretty conflicted about this.

real person number two is gradually turned right off that person one isn't really making love to _her_...

and this is how they work it out.

a lovely look at young men and women and some of the obstacles they face in finding real intimacy. but wait! it's pretty funny, too.

two thumbs up!

Da Vinci's Inquest (1998–2006)

a realistic look at the many layers of life, death, and community in Vancouver, Canada--from the streets up

[4 January 2005]

not to be confused with the book, The DaVinci Code.

this is an amazing television series and i feel privileged to get to see it. i wish everyone who likes dramatic series had the chance to see it because it is far and away the best i have ever seen, though you have to watch it for awhile before the full magic works itself on you.

DVI is in a class all by itself. it evolves slowly and intelligently in many ways over many episodes. the characters seem so much more real, with their peculiarities and particular views on the world which weave a feeling of humaness and familiarity. even walk-on parts have more depth than is normal.

a couple of plots at least are usually being pursued at the same time, and where many things do eventually wrap up, other don't. somethings you just never know, some are implied, some just lead you to think. issues that affect the poor and disenfranchised in the city come up on a regular basis, and prostitutes look more like street people than glamour girls, have actual personalities, live lives you care about. i could go on and on.

i just love this show, and it is great to have such a quality series made in and made about (no pretending to be Kansas or l.a. here) a city in Canada. even the cafés are real ones. a neat tidbit is that the series is based on the former city coroner, Larry Campbell, who is now Vancouver's mayor. kinda cool.