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dcannon
Reviews
Zui hao de shi guang (2005)
Agony to watch
It's so amusing to read the adoring, slavishly reverent attitudes of viewers who, I can only surmise, can not bring themselves to poo-poo an art film that so many critics have championed. This film is a disaster. There is no narrative to speak of in any of the three stories. The characters act as if embalmed. Scenes unfold at a glacial pace and sequences are repeated ad nauseam, e.g., the pool playing in the first story. The second segment should be laughed off the screen. How pretentious to watch the characters lips moving and then be shown in titles what they just said. This is film-making at the college sophomore level. And the third part is just one giant cliché about alienated youth. Just imagine!!! They have sex, they sing about being different, and they look at the Internet and find kinky Web sites. Shocking!! Don't believe the hype on this one. There is NOTHING there.
Lilies - Les feluettes (1996)
Pretentious and embarrassing
I have a high tolerance for "serious" gay films, but this one is unforgivable. The story is preposterous; are we really expected to believe that a bishop could be held captive in a prison confessional and forced to watch a play that re-enacts a crucial event in his boyhood? The decision to have the women's roles played by men is just plain ridiculous. And the way it milks the cliché that love between men must always end in death and betrayal does nothing to advance gay cinema. The two boys, however, are quite pretty. But the actor playing the adult Simon bears no resemblance to the young Simon. As a boy, Simon has a peachy, creamy complexion; as an adult, he bears the obvious signs of severe acne. This is just one of many implausibilities in this deeply silly film.
Find Me Guilty (2006)
A big disappointment
I can't understand the praise for Vin Diesel in this role. He is wooden, without any nuance, and totally lacking in the charm that Lumet wants us to appreciate. The verdict in this case was a travesty of justice. Why don't we see any of the jury deliberations, or at least hear some of their thoughts after they deliver their verdict? The lovable goomba routine did not work for me; these guys are killers, drug dealers, and thieves. Why should we be rooting for their acquittal? The editing is sloppy and the point of view is not complex, just confusing. There are a few scenes which bring life to the movie -- the meeting with his ex-wife in prison, and the testimony of his weasly cousin. But these are way too few to rate this movie any higher.
The Pledge (2001)
Superb, complex, and riveting
WARNING: SPOILERS CONTAINED I am dismayed, but not surprised to read how many viewers found this movie tedious, pretentious, and unsatisfying. It is none of these things. The characters, especially Nicholson's, are morally and psychologically complex. He is neither hero nor villain. He has made a promise, which he keeps, to find the girl's killer. That search culminates in his own destruction; the irony in the very sad ending is that he NEVER KNEW that the real killer was destroyed. The artfulness in Penn's direction comes from his many suggestions that Nicholson himself may in fact be the real killer. The suspense in the final stake-out scene is almost unbearable. If Nicholson is in fact a psycho-killer, HOW will this scene play out?
There is no ambiguity in the ending. We know who the killer is, even though we never actually see this character. It's very clear who it is.
This is a tough movie to watch because it insists that the world is evil and bestial. If you hated this, you'll certainly hate the movie which Penn used as a model for this one: last year's French film Humanite. It's even more uncompromising. If you hated The Pledge, you'll loathe Humanite. It's a masterpiece.