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Reviews
La maman et la putain (1973)
very rewarding. i fell happy. quite a post-punk movie even before the punk.
this movie is so complex that it can be given any description and still roll with it. you have a insecure, troubled and fascinating main character (played by Jean-Pierre Léaud) who is trapped between two (no, three) women. we listen to his social, philosophical and moral idiosyncrasies in interminable monologues, we see him working his magic around the three women that he loves. this could be the premise for a fowl movie, full of rigid, cold, uninteresting commentaries. yet director Jean Eustache manages to keep it fresh, ironic and witty. being such a long movie, one cannot but burst into laughing when, after 2 hours of speaking politely, Jean-Pierre Léaud all of a sudden screams on the phone while he remembers a cheesy line from a movie. this kind of situations are purely cinematographic and cannot be fully restored in a commentary. nor can someone restore the tragic and painfully beautiful monologue of Françoise Lebrun towards the end of the movie. 3 and 1/2 hours and worthing every minute.
Tôkyô goddofâzâzu (2003)
japan cheesiness, anime at the most
great humor and great ideas (especially using the haiku's). i laughed my head off. as some reviewer said, you either like it, or dislike it. i liked it, obviously. one small advice: don't expect a down-to-earth realism here; this is an anime and shouldn't be regarded as a film, but that's what makes it so tasty and delicate. the three main characters are pursuing a somewhat parodic, but nonetheless "serious" quest, trying to locate the mother of an abandoned baby they found in the street. it's a cheesy story, but it's a self-acknowledged (and highly laughable) cheesiness.
10 out of 10
House of Sand and Fog (2003)
first part OK, second part a mess
* spoilers here *
for the first hour i thought the story was OK. there were some flaws, but they looked minor. however, as the story developed, it turned into sensational and let the characters disoriented in a ludicrous plot. i can really say that the second half is a spoiler in itself. you can guess what's coming, you can guess the ending, you can even guess the last line! you just have to use a B-movie logic. more than that, Jennifer Connelly's character looked lifeless, dumb, and caught in a maze of situations no one could believe. in the end, when all that's tragic in the world finally came into the melting pot of an uninspired director, i saw birds, i heard an eagle cry, i saw water, fog, i listened to a cheesy monologue about "returning home"... and social commentary? you just need to tickle the public's instincts (drama over drama, the "pariah" situation of the immigrant etc) and here you go - the public finds it necessary to "socially comment". be smart, don't fall for that one. it's Ben Kingsley, on the other hand, that really stands out. the scene when he prays for the life of his son is quite unique. in the end, if not for anything else but Kingsley, House of Sand and Fog is worth watching.
Moartea domnului Lazarescu (2005)
really, it's strange how it grabs you
it's a tough bet that the director won. what seems to be odd for such a minimalistic movie is that, with each viewing, you can find a lot of mundane details that fit together and form a more complex picture. of course, that's the whole idea (using minimum means to maximize the effect). in this sense Moartea Domnului Lazarescu stands out as a real piece of work and can almost reach the status of a "cult" picture. i found it a bit too long at times, but you just need to give it a chance, and you'll be hooked. oh, and the actors' performances were outstanding. except for this one, i've never come across a Romanian movie that i could completely "believe" in terms of acting. see it.