Change Your Image
Script2Screen
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Lists
An error has ocurred. Please try again
Time Out London’s Top 100 Horror Films (2019 Update)
Reviews
Design (2002)
A stunning debut from an incredible new Writer-Director
Easily the best film I've seen at Sundance 2002.
I could go on at some length about this incredible debut from Writer-Director-Actor Davidson Cole, but I'll attempt to be brief by summing up the main strengths of the film.
Everything is brilliant.
Okay, okay, I'll be a little more specific.
From the thematically powerful and narratively complex script that works on so many levels, to the darkly atmospheric look of the film captured in its cinematography and production design, to the ultra-effective score and sound design, to the innovative editing style, to the absolutely strong, compelling performances by the entire cast (made up mostly of newcomers, but filled out by the seasoned Daniel J. Travanti, who turns in an incredible performance)... well, in short - like I said - everything is brilliant.
Watching this film reminded me of watching Darren Aronofsky for the first time. Not so much in Davidson Cole's filmmaking style as in the sense of feeling that I was witnessing the work of a powerful artist who has a unique voice and distinct vision that truly permeate his work.
Watch for Davidson Cole to develop into an important Writer-Director, and remember that you heard it from me first! As Dan Travanti told me at my second screening of the film earlier tonight, someday I'll be able to reminisce and say, "I remember when I saw Davidson Cole's first film way back at Sundance 2002."
Os Carvoeiros (2000)
A poignant, deeply human documentary
A beautiful film which examines the subject matter from two distinct angles. Basically, it's about the production of charcoal in Brazil. On title cards interspersed throughout the film it delineates the economic and political pressures affecting charcoal production in Brazil, as well as the effects of the industry on the environment - particularly the Amazon forest. The main body of the film focuses on the people who live as migrant workers producing charcoal. The film spends time with them at work and at home. We are able to gain glimpses of their lives and the struggles they face. OS CARVOEIROS (aka THE CHARCOAL PEOPLE) is a poignant and simple film which works effectively on both the socio-political and personal levels.
Xi yang jing (2000)
Gorgeous & Moving
A beautiful film about the coming of early silent cinema to China. SHADOW MAGIC deftly combines a love story with the drama of the cultural clash between China's ancient traditions and modern Western culture in the form of film. An amazing first film by Chinese director Ann Hu. If I correctly understood Ms. Hu's comments at the 2000 Sundance festival, this film was produced as an American film with co-funding by the Chinese government, and shot in China. SHADOW MAGIC reminds me of films like IL POSTINO and CINEMA PARADISO - not necessarily in theme or plot, but it has a similar feel.
Compensation (1999)
A rich & complex modern silent film.
This was one of the more interesting and thought-provoking (if not completely successful) films that I saw at Sundance 2000. A (mostly) silent film wherein two stories are told simultaneously (a la _Intolerance_): one at the turn of the century and the other in the present day. The parallel stories examine relationships of young black couples where the female is deaf and the male is hearing. _Compensation_ thus explores relatively uncharted territory: cultural differences between the hearing and the hearing impaired. But not only does the wife/husband team of director Zeinabu Davis & writer Marc Chéry examine deaf/hearing socio-cultural issues, they further enrich (and complicate) the discussion by including issues of race and the AIDS epidemic (paralleled by consumption in the story set at the turn of the century) in the conversation. It's a wonderfully rich and complex film.
The only criticism I would aim at _Compensation_ is the _Intolerance_-like narrative structure. It didn't really work for D.W. Griffith to tell multiple stories in completely unrelated time periods and locations connected primarily by thematic material. While the technique works better here (partly because it's only two stories instead of four), it still feels a little forced. The two stories SO closely parallel each other that at times I felt like saying (as I did with _Intolerance_): "Okay, already! I get the point! You don't have to pound it into my head twice!" (Perhaps if you really liked _Intolerance_ you will like this aspect of the film more than I did.)
Aside from the narrative and thematic aspects of _Compensation_ the filmmaking is quite experimental, although not in any avant-garde sense of the word. Davis has created a (mostly) silent film for the deaf and hearing alike. In the few scenes where sync sound is used the film's dialogue is subtitled. It is probably one of the first modern films (since the advent of sync-sound) whose implicit design is intended to communicate equally with both deaf and hearing audiences.
Davis and Chéry are to be commended for creating a beautiful film. Ironically, _Compensation_ makes an important step forward in the development of the film medium by taking a step backward into film history and re-examining the nature of the medium and the many ways in which it can be used to communicate.
Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (1992)
One of the most important documentaries ever made.
Noam Chomsky has been called "arguably the most important intellectuals alive" by the New York Times and has been at the forefront of dissenting intellectual thought and activism for several decades now. This film takes a witty and intelligent look at Chomsky's well-documented theories on how the media serves the agendas of the corporate/government power structure - not as a conspiracy theory, but simply as an analysis of the way things necessarily operate.
This film is bound to polarize audiences. The ideas which are put forward and the facts which are revealed will shake some people's world. Many will disagree and argue against Chomsky and his ideas. Good. I think that's much of why this film was made. The disclaimer at the end of the credits states that the film was made with the intent to promote discussion about the media. If you aren't aroused one way or another by what is put forward in this film then either you must have been sleeping through it or else you are just plain apathetic.
The film is long. It has to be. Chomsky points out that part of the way in which the mass media manufactures consent is through concision. Sound-bytes. They don't take a lot of time to look at the facts or to thoroughly examine both sides of most issues. In order to think outside the paradigm of the mass media and to adequately discuss and defend views which go against mainstream thought, then you have to take some time. That's exactly what "Manufacturing Consent" does. However, the filmmakers, Mark Achbar and Peter Wintonick, keep it interesting. They keep it from turning into three hours of talking heads.
To do this the filmmakers use some of the very techniques which Chomsky identifies the mass media as using in order to influence their audiences. It's wonderful and humorous to see how they speak the very language which they (and Chomsky) are exposing and criticizing. Don't be fooled, this is a propagandist film in favor of Chomsky and in favor of thinking about the world around you and then getting off your butt and doing something about it! Keep in mind when I use the term 'propaganda', that propaganda isn't always necessarily bad (the USA used propaganda to muster support for World War II and consequently Hitler's genocide was stopped). 'Propaganda' it just basically means that it pretty blatantly favors one view over another. Don't get me wrong, "Manufacturing Consent" is not completely one sided. Both sides of the argument are given screen time, but Chomsky's views come out on top.
Watch this film. Even if you don't agree with it, the discussion of the issues presented is important. It will raise your consciousness of what is happening to you every day whenever you turn on the TV or the radio, or pick up a newspaper, or even when you go to a football game. It will change your perspective and maybe even your life. And how many films really do that? That's why I say it's one of the most important documentaries ever made.