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pjfarley
Reviews
Serbuan maut (2011)
Review
The movie takes place in the slums of Jakarta Indonesia. There is a drug overlord who is named Tama Riyadi. In the film, a swat team begins their mission to take down this drug lord. He lives in his apartment with all of his minions and associates. The swat team attempts their invasion of the building but are caught in a dangerous situation when their cover is blown. They are now trapped within the building and are lead by Lieutenant Wahyu in a deadly and action packed fight to survive. There is no backup coming to save them. There is no escape as the swat team would be killed if caught outside without cover. Their only option is to fight their way through Tama's men and kill the drug lord. I really enjoyed watching this film. One of my favorite scenes in the movie was when Rama and Dagu create a makeshift bomb to survive one of the many battles. This to me showed the extensive military training these men had. Another part that I enjoyed was when Mad Dog challenged Jaka to a fair fight with hand to hand combat. This was really cool as I love the hand to hand combat fight scenes and the choreography that it requires to make it look realistic. I really enjoyed the ending as it seemed relatively happy which, although I was always hoping for, I wasn't sure it would actually happen because it is not always guaranteed in foreign films which is exciting.
Wadjda (2012)
Review
Wadjda is the story of a little girl living in Saudi Arabia. One day, a boy rides by her on his bike and she chases after him only for him to tease her and say "Catch me if you can." After this, all she wants is a brand new green bicycle that she sees for sale on her way home. The main reason she wants the bike is so she can race the boy that teased her, Abdullah, and beat him. When she asked her mom about buying a bike, she says no and that women don't ride bikes. Wadjda does not care what other people think and begins trying to save up money to purchase the bike. Eventually, Wadjda enters into a school Koran recitation contest to win the prize money and buy a bike. She spends a lot of time preparing for this competition and eventually wins the prize money. When she tells everyone she is going to buy a bike, the school then donates the money instead of giving it to Wadjda. At the very end of the film Wadjda is very sad that she can't purchase her bike. For the happy ending, Wadjda's mom buys her a bike and she beats Abdullah in a race. Overall I really enjoyed this film and thought that the simple story about a girl wanting a bike used to express women's rights is really well thought out and beautiful.
Sufat Chol (2016)
My Review
This film takes place in a Bedouin Village in Israel. Suliman has just come home with his second wife. Jalila is not happy about this and is happy to inconvenience the two of them. This is all happening while Jalila's daughter, Layla, is off falling in love with Anuar. This secret love affair is forbidden as Anuar is from a different tribe. Suliman gets in a heated debate with Jalila when he tries to make Layla marry Munir. This leads to Jalila getting very upset and telling Suliman to "Be a man for once!" Suliman becomes very upset and banishes Jalila from their village. I really didn't like this film because it had such a slow pace that I had a very hard time focusing. This may just have been because of the much slower pace of life over in Israel compared to the U.S. One thing that I did like about this film was the message that it delivered about the importance of tradition in this culture. Even though I would've left that village in an instant, Layla stays because it is tradition and she still, even through all of this, does not want to shame her family. I find that very interesting because it is something that is not prevalent in the U.S.
Chennai Express (2013)
Chennai Express
One of my favorite movies. After watching this magnificent film, I immediately went over to my friend's house just to show him the brilliance that is Chennai Express. I love how what could have been a very sad plot line of a man spreading his grandfather's ashes, was transformed into an entertaining, comedic, action-filled, love story. This movie has everything that a movie should have. Just when you are thinking that the movie is getting a bit slow, something drastic happens to re-engage you in the film. One of my favorite scenes is the final fight scene. I really enjoyed how there was tons of slow motion action that made the punches and kicks way more dramatic. In the final fight, Rahul defeats a ton of weaker guys in order to gain the ability to fight what I perceived to be the "final boss." This final fight is divided up into two different fights one before Rahul is knocked out and the one after he regains consciousness and begin to fight again with his second wind. His love for Meenamma is what pushes him through to eventually defeat Tangaballi and win Meenamma as his wife.
Okuribito (2008)
Review
Although the start of the film is a bit slow paced for my taste, I really love the comedic aspects that were incorporated into this film. When I realized what the movie was about, I originally thought that it was going to be a very slow movie about a very serious topic. I was wrong, I loved how the director found some way to add comedy into such a serious topic such as funerals. One of my favorite scenes was when Daigo was forced to wear a diaper and act as the corpse that the man was performing the ceremony on. His facial expressions where quite amusing and really lightened the mood of what could have been a very sad topic.
Merantau (2009)
Merantau Review
I really enjoyed this film because of the intense fight scenes with very good choreography. I really started rooting for Yuda as he fought to save Astri and Adit. One thing that I found really interesting about this movie was how Yuda fought so hard to save Astri and Adit even though he never even knew them before the start of the movie. Some elements of the play that really stood out to me that the movie was't American was how the big main hero died at the end which is very different from what happens in Americans films where everyone ends up alive and well. If I were to put myself in Yuda's shoes, at the very end of the final fight scene I would have killed the European leader when he was down on the ground because due to the fact that Yuda showed him mercy, he ended up dying because of it. I think that in life threatening situations like that there isn't much room for being merciful. If I could I would change the ending by making it more American where everyone gets out happy and alive.
Metro Manila (2013)
Metro Manila
I really enjoyed this film because although majority of the film wasn't action, which is something I usually prefer, there was still this weight that you could feel sitting on Oscars shoulders throughout the entire film as he battled to support and care for his family. I really enjoyed how the constant feeling of desperation forces Oscar's hand in many decisions and eventually ends with his demise.