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janetoid
Reviews
Twisted Desire (1996)
Twisted idea....
Some films are so bad that they're good. This is clearly not one of them. Based on a true story, this film was about as true to the story as Pinocchio's chances of becoming a real boy. The acting was terrible, the direction was poor, and it travelled way too fast. It was as if the director just wanted to get it over and done with and go home.
Nor did Melissa Joan Hart ever strike me as a talented actress, but then every film she made was pretty low-budget anyway. Like most of her other films, she lets down her characters by hamming them up too much, talking too quickly as if speeding up her words is going to make her more dramatic. She really brings out the sense that there is a crew in front of her and she's talking to a camera, when she should be engaging the viewer in her character. It pretty much lets down the whole film, and any leg that it may have had left to stand on, is ruined.
Probably the only good thing about the film is when she got nailed in the end. But even that wasn't satisfying enough to subdue my loathing for such a bad film.
Watch it if your taste in film is blander than a piece of dry toast.
La marche de l'empereur (2005)
Rewarding to watch
I saw this on the plane over to London and despite the small screens it still managed to blow me away. This beautifully crafted film was engaging to watch, enticing the mind into deep thought. It's both educational and entertaining and its in-depth look into the life of the emperor penguin leaves you in awe of just how impressive and noble these creatures are. It takes us into a remote part of the world that is so abstract and foreign, and so harsh and inhospitable, that the will to exist is a constant battle.
Technically the film was impressive, including the score, earning creative points for its different approach. But perhaps the vocals could have been re-worked, or subdued, or abandoned altogether. The technique of narration (French version with English subtitles)was original but not altogether completely effective. Although it made it easier to depict which was which sex, I learnt later that there is another version with Morgan Freeman narrating, which I think will probably be better for me personally, firstly because I think he's great, and secondly because I don't think there needs to be a voice over of a child to make a penguin chick cuter than it already is. Overall on a technical scale, I was most impressed by the visual imagery of sweeping landscapes of vast whiteness disappearing into eternity, never-ending expanses of glistening walls of ice, underwater shots of hungry penguins feeding on shoals of fish, and wide angle shots of masses upon masses of penguins huddled or migrating single file.
The film definitely had an endearing quality and an unspoken power of being able to engage the viewer (perhaps through the use of humour). But sometimes it proved quite difficult to watch, for various reasons, but mostly through the blatant message that those who aren't strong enough, don't just die, but are forgotten. The long arduous wait for their final peril, can be a hard blow, and it can leave one with a sense of quiet sadness and mourning for something that was so honourable and deserving. But as life goes on, so does the film and we get to see that it was all worth it in the end. The film teaches us that despite all odds in this remote part of the world, with its harsh and inhospitable climate, its ever-changing face, and lack of congeniality, life can still exist.