La Vie en Rose (2007)

La Vie en Rose. Film review. Hollywood or i should say, the Academy loves a famous singer biopic. Myself, given the ridiculous amount of love i had toward musical films, never really complains about these musician biopic. Although of course, not all of them wound up its way into my personal liking. La Vie en Rose depicted the life of Edith Piaf, a supposedly international famous French singer whose of course, name i've never heard before. Her careers spans the period between 1935 until her death in 1963.

La Vie en Rose tried to capture the hard life of Edith Piaf, her abandoned childhood in Paris, growing up in a filthy brothel, edging on the harsh street life, doing a street singing to keep him from doing prostitution, her eventual discovery, her fame, and her final show.

The film, which runs for more than two hours, was slow and its contents were mostly depressing enough that the weigh of it all could made your back stooped just like Marion Cotillard's in this film. The film was told in a non-linear way as it was jumped back and forth in Edith's life without seemingly had some uniformity or frame. Despite that, rather than leaving me confused, i found that the approach was effective. I felt like i was playing a puzzle, where another pieces is another revealing surprise. The fact that i didn't know anything about Edith Piaf helped.

However, the one true shining star, the one that helped me through the otherwise slow and excruaciating experience is of course, Marion Cotillard. She portrays most of Edith's life from her scraping in the streets, her golden moments, to her waning years. The makeup was awesome, Marion Cotillard is actually a very beautiful actress but she was convincing portraying a woman that looks like she was at least 60 years of age and had her health already deteriorating away. That, and the fact that Academy Awards loves biopic landed her a deserving golden statue for Best Actress. You know, this should put Gwyneth Paltrow to shame for winning the Best Actress in 1999. She should returns her golden statue.

The makeup helps, but it would be a meaningless feat without Marion Cotillard's performance. She fits into Edith Piaf, she becomes Edith Piaf herself, as if her own personal life wasn't that much different from Edith's as portrayed in the film. You (well at least i) would gave her your sympathies, would gave your pity, would hate her, and love her, i was appreciated to see that despite of her flaws (aren't we all, human, had our own flaws?), and her cockiness, in the end, she was a lovable person and i could see why everyone around her stays with her until the end and why was when the curtain is up is her single favorite moment. This film won't exist, won't even be remembered had there wasn't for Marion Cotillard.

Sure, the film was long. Sure, the film was slow. For some of you, keeping yourself awake was might be too hard a task, but, for myself, the film builds up its own suspense. My favorite scene was where Edith knitting beside a beach doing what probably was very her last interview.

Random Shorts (7)

Random TV ramblings.

Ever seen TV series lately? I'm not really a fan of a TV serie. I believe that i had pointed it out quite often that i can't really commit to stick to any TV episodes for more than several episodes let alone several seasons. So yup, Lost, Heroes, or whatever TV series that people had said that they were good, and would give nothing to missed its single episode hadn't really caught my attention. Heck, i'm not even finished with Lost season 1 and Heroes season 1. Alas, i had my share of TV series. Deadwood, for instance. Awesome Western, awesome cast, an R-rated series that doesn't think highly of itself (see: Heroes). But i just only seen the first season and never really stepped further than that. Dexter, is another. Another R-rated series about murder, another one that doesn't think highly of itself. And i've been planning to sit through for another season (season three). Pushing Daisies, is another, but probably won't go further than season one. Given if, the writers after three months strike decided to back to work on its next episodes.

The problem with TV series is that they tend to relies on its viewer that often they retained the previous seasons' experience. That irked me. Whenever, say, i stumbled upon a twelfth episode of Lost season three, having only seen several first episodes of season one, i would completely lost. Literally. In order to really enjoyed the experience, i would have to look for the previous seasons. A complete waste of time if you asked me. That's why i prefer independent TV series, a comedic ones that in order to enjoy a single episode, you won't have to attain a knowledge beyond its basic set-up. Friends, for instance, you'd only need to know all of its six characters. The Simpsons, is another, where you'd only need to know each of the member of The Simpsons family. And reality shows. To merely commit to single season for a reality show? I could really afford that.

I've been eye-ing for two reality shows these days. Survivor season sixteen, Fans vs Favorites, and American Idol season seven.

Survivor is always my favorite reality show. I mean, better than average host (Jeff Probst), engaging games, tribal councils, and girls in skimpy bikinis? What's there not to like? But, for sixteen seasons, i could count only two seasons where i follow through its episodes for the whole season. Survivor sixteen has recently sent its third contestant home and for three episodes, it gets better. In my book, an episode of Survivor is at its best when you don't know who is the name of the contestant that pulled out from the votes. And for the last two episodes, it did just that.

American Idol claimed to had its best season so far. Previously, i never really get into American Idol before its best six, or seven. And for the previous six seasons, Kelly Clarkson is the only Idol winner that i really did genuinely like. I had her first album, by the way, to show how much i liked her. For the seventh season, i had my ears on since the first episode. Alas, there's only four contestants so far that were my favorite so far. Brooke White. Her pale-complexion, framed by a pale yellow curly hair, her casual sense of style (not too skimpy, not too sexy, just ordinary), and her clear blue eyes won me over right since the day one. My girlfriend had this question mark above her head when i said that she was my favorite. Apparently, she didn't quite like her as much as i do. Or she's simply jealous. Carly Smithson. Flatly, the consistently best voice of the herd (well, probably because that she has a considerably more camera-time than any other contestants. Only time would tell wether she was a really the best voice of the herd. But, this far, i would said and let it be that way). Ramiele Malubay and finally, Michael Johns. Anyone who could sing Bohemian Rhapsody, or any other song sung by Freddie Mercury, and didn't prompt me to frown my eyebrow would get my vote. By default.

Eastern Promises (2007)

Eastern Promises. Film review. Sometimes, when I say a film is a great, i would go an extra mile to actually elaborate how much is it about the film that made me liked it greatly on a first place. Often too many, i would paraphrase it by saying that the film had great actors (which is relative, my good doesn't necessarily be your good), or that it had great directing or great cinematoghrapy (which is given my education background, a very vague description at best). But once in a while, i would certain that the film was great because of its one distinct quality that i felt so real that pointing it out really means that the feel of greatness of the film really does touched yours truly here. When i saw Eastern Promises yesterday, i found myself very easily said, "Whoa! Great script!" during its length and that was what the film does me great. Another entry into my best film of 2007.

In London, an unnamed woman died while giving birth. Anna Ivanova (Naomi Watts) a Russian by descendant, a Londoners by birth, was the duty nurse when she died. She found the woman's diary which was written in Russian and in order to find the woman's relative so the baby could had a better life she started to made inquiries. This brought her to a Russian mafia family. Semyon (Armin Muller-Stahl) was the father, Kirill (Vincent Cassel) was the almost good-for-nothing son, and Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen) was the driver. Among others. To tell you more about it would waste mine and yours time. Because had i done so, i would merely tried to re-capture the script. And it would be a futile attempt to do so. Even though that the film was a bit dragging toward the end (this was after the "twist" was revealed), i could enjoy it much of the time. And i love the final shot so much that today i had tried my best to re-enacted the shot when i had a chance. A complete waste of effort, if you asked me.

If i could named Jeff Bridges as my favorite yet and underrated working actor today, i would named Naomi Watts as my favorite and an underrated working actress today. Both of them had their own unique charms and capabilities that found a lot love inside me. But given that they were so underrated that you're hardly saw their names on the mainstream screen, i could found an excuse be it legitimate or not that more often than not i would forget their presence entirely. Jeff Bridges' next gig would be as a villain on Iron Man film this March. Naomi Watts, as far as i know, besides Eastern Promises was was in that David Lynch's Inland Empire, and no clue whatsoever on her next project. But, i hadn't able to recall any Naomi Watts' presence in the past (21 Grams, Mulholland Dr.) that hadn't able to capture my heart. This film was another further prove of her showmanship.

As per almost every David Cronenberg's films that i've seen, Eastern Promises doesn't shy away from its Restricted rating. It doesn't tried to obscure the violence palpable in almost every Cronenberg's film right at the very first minute when a man slitted his throat by a barber's razor sharp. However, given a very good year in a film and everybody was talking about No Country for Old Men, or Juno, Eastern Promises despite its promises, never really shines beyond Cronenberg's fan-base. I'm not considered myself as a fan, having only seen Cronenberg's The Fly, and the awesome A History of Violence prior to this film. That would be an insult to a true fan of Cronenberg out there. Alas, it's not without its own merit if i said that David Cronenberg is one director working out there whose works were worthy of waiting and won't disappoint.

Viggo Mortensen was nominated for an Academy Award for the Best Actor category. A fit recognition, but as i've pointed earlier with so many spotlights in the Award and with so many great films in 2007, a dark and violent tale about Russian mafias that doesn't really shy away of showing blood and gore like this won't get much attention. And so does Viggo Mortensen who was easily paled away in comparison with other nominees in the category. But i could tell you this, Viggo Mortensen traveled to Russia and Ukraine and met actual Russian mafias, spent some time there, learning their customs, the meaning of their tattoos, their gestures, their body languages, and their languages up to a point where should you see him for the very first time in this film, you would convinced that he was somehow related to Dolph Lundgren and actually a man that was born and raised in Eastern Europe and just recently crossed the Atlantic to tried his luck in the U.S. Ow, yeah, he was THAT good. I guaranteed that you won't remembered Aragorn a bit.

If dark and violent tale-slash-drama is your cup of tea, then it would be worth your time to check out this film. And oh yeah, that infamous bath-house scene does live up to its name.

Academy Awards 2008

Is currently live as we're speaking right now. Will be posted the result in this post once it's available.

The result is up. And for the second year in a row, my favorite film of the year wins Best Picture. Yep. No Country for Old Men wins Best Picture, Best Director (for the Coens), Best Supporting Actor (for Javier Bardem. I've read a local tabloid that complained about his act in No Country for Old Men as cold and detached. Stupid tabloid. Anton Chigurh is THE villain of the year, probably even THE villain of the ages, one that each of his presence on the scene stole the audience's breath. Heck, after seeing him, i would think twice over if somebody asked me to call a coin-toss) and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Tilda Swinton wins Best Supporting Actress. If you read my couple entry about Michael Clayton previously, you know how much i loved her in that film. Hm, as a light thought, i might qualified as an Academy Awards' jury.

Ratatouille wins Best Animated.

The Bourne Ultimatum scores three! Best Editing, Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing. The Golden Compass wins Best Visual Effect over Transformers, and Pirates of the Caribbean.

Marion Cotillard unsurprisingly wins Best Actress. As well as Daniel-Day Lewis.

All in all, the award was an okay one. No surprises, and i figured that not very many will be disappointed with the Academy selection for the winner (selection for the winner, and not for the nominations)

Stardust (2007)

Stardust. Film review. Based on a Neil Gaiman's book (my review to the book, here) about a fairy tale that wasn't really fit to read to your son (or daughter) on his (or her) bedtime, Stardust, despite its difference with the book (and terrible poster) was surprisingly a good experience. Not one i would even considered as one of the great films in 2007, but it was good enough, and better than most experiences i had following the year of 2007.

In a certain village, there was this wall running across the plain. The wall had a crack, and it was never left without a guard. The guard wasn't meant to prevent anything coming into but rather anyone trying to pass through. He looks into part of the wall called England, as we know it. The other side of the wall which this guard trying to prevent anyone to go into, was Stormhold, a fairy kingdom where mystical creatures, witches, a dying king and his seven sons, a flying ship harvesting on lightnings instead of fishes and a star that walks the Earth as a fair lady.

One day, Dunstan Thorn (Ben Barnes/Nathaniel Parker) went across the wall. Nine months later, a baby boy was delivered to his house from the Wall. The baby boy was named Tristan (Charlie Cox), and eighteen years later he made a foolish promise to a girl he loved, Victoria (but of course, she never really looked at him more than just a joke) that he's going to retrieve a fallen star that they saw in one evening as a token of his love. The star was Yvaine (Claire Danes) and she happened to be a beautiful woman and she fell beyond the Wall. And thus, once again, after his father, Tristan crossed the Wall to retrieve the fallen star. Little does he know that the star was a woman, that the prince of Stormhold was also look for the star to prove their inheritance to Stormhold throne, that the witches were also hunt for the star to attained an eternal youth.

The film was based on an illustrated novel. This way, there wasn't any surprises regarding the set design and costumes. It's one way or another, an identical or slight alteration to the illustratios found in the novel. Although of course, given the length of the novel, some elements were eliminated or altered. But mostly, it is all there. The feel of a fantasy (remember it was a fantasy meant for the grown-up, so better be cautious when taking your children) was prominent. Not on a level of The Lord of the Rings, but effective nonetheless. The only missing pieces in me was the role of Captain Shakespeare (Robert de Niro) who even wasn't in the book. His over the top, flowery performance even made me cringe and sparked no laugh whatsoever from yours truly, even if i had suspected that his role was made to be a comedic relief. Other than that, though, the cast was impressive. Claire Danes surprises me yet again with her British accent - i guess i still remembered her from that Romeo & Julient stint she was in several long years ago, the seven brothers were effective in their comedy roles, and somebody should really hand a best performance for Supporting Actress to Michelle Pfeiffer who portrays Lamia, an evil witch with no good in her agenda whatsoever - i don't quite remember when was the last time Michelle Pfeiffer played in the opposite of good. Hm, probably she wasn't ever.

Overall, although Stardust fall into a fantasy category, it doesn't tried to recapture the epic of a fantasy with sequels in mind (see: Golden Compass, Narnia Chronicles). It just a simple tale with right ingredients, no surprises involving the plot, no hidden clues that suffered from being desperately tried to get covered up, and the plot managed to flow through the hours. Although, maybe given my personal indictment with Captain Shakespeare, i found a little excruaciating trouble getting through the scene where he was in.

The last couple of posts had been all about Neil Gaiman. Now, for another thought related to him, his next film adapted from his another book, Caroline was due to hit sometime this year. That means, yours truly here had to find the book and read it. Well, after he finishes with Chuck Palahniuk's Choke (which has been a very disturbing experience during the first few chapters) before the film hit this part of the world.

Beowulf (2007)

Beowulf. Film review. One immediate disturbing feeling i had when i saw this film is the shouting of the word, "I!.Am!.Beowulf!" which was rather too often pronounced in a clear and strong syllable by the main male and title character, Beowulf (Ray Winstone) in a manner that reminds me too much of Leonidas in 300 whenever he felt that we need some convincing pounded into our thick skull that he (or we) was (or were) in fact, in Sparta. Other that, probably because i had seen the film in a small screen, i felt a little bit bored and impatience throughout the film.

With script penned by one of my favorite writer, Neil Gaiman, i was a little bit surprised and disappointed that i found myself hadn't really liked the film. The film was animated in its entirety with the characters modeled after the real actor/actresses that voiced each characters. This approach made it easy to render the character in doing something that they wouldn't normally do otherwise, such as Anthony Hopkins's bare buttock, or Angelina Jolie's gasp-oh-my-god-she's-almost-nude, or prominently, the fighting scenes where these characters choreographed for doing stunts that rather hard to imagined otherwise. Considering the animation, i haven't seen anything relatively new nor breathtaking in this film.

Loosely (or not, i couldn't really tell actually) adapted from an ancient poem, Beowulf is a story of a man - with a penchant to say his name out loud, "I!.Am!.Beowulf!" - with his crew of warriors in one of their journey for a quest to made sure the world has one less monster to worry. This journey brought them to the shore of Denmark where a nasty monster, Grendel, salvaging and terrorizing the nearby towns. But it is of course, more than just meet the eye that even though at first Beowulf was able to rid Grendel, something kept him in the land, and indebted to it. Years later, wether he liked it or not, he himself must paid his debt. I would prefer to read the story rather than watching it. An interesting approach at first, but it was quickly grow old. In my case, it was most likely because of the lukewarm, half-baked animation in which this film presented itself. As i've said earlier, it doesn't offer something entirely new. I had seen similar action sequences and animation, probably better in various game i had played in my PS2 (see: God of War, God of War II) months, maybe even years ago. In short, the animation is smooth but it somehow still needs few polishing.

Overall, the film's main selling was undoubtedly its animated sequences. The fact that the animated characters' eyes doesn't talk very much is what had probably made this film doesn't work for me. Despite the palpable likeness to the real actors they modeled from, there's almost no spark of liveliness if you look into their eyes and made the overall film, once the minutes grow old, look more and more cartoony. Half way into the film, i was running this film on background while i fired up TextEdit.app to wrote this.

Random Shorts (6)

I spent almost an entire evening reading Hanung's blog regading his next film, Ayat-Ayat Cinta. The film has seen and missed many deadlines. I'm not entirely keen on any Indonesian film schedule so i had really assumed that the Valentine's day's slot at February 14th - which rather unappropriate really, considering the breath of this film wasn't exactly inlined with Valentine's day - but then, it was slated for February 28th, 2008 instead. Further look into the various forums informed me that this wasn't the first time the film had seen a pushed date. Anyway, that is what led me to Hanung's blog. A versatile director, if you asked me, and the only director who had the distinction of being the only Indonesian director whose one of his film i legally owned the DVD.

Ayat-Ayat Cinta was adapted from a book with a same title, this book is supposedly a highly popular book and effectively translated into 'hip', 'pop' and 'you-are-not-cool-if-you-had-not-read-it-yet' nowadays. Especially with a film coming up. This is not a review of either, anyway, because i had no interest in the film whatsoever. Somehow, the film's promotional poster irked me, rubbed me in a wrong way, and i had simply decided that i won't lose or missed anything by not seeing this film. Call me a simple, but i think that in a way, for me, film is like a food. You need to fall in love with it at a first sight before you decided to take a bite.

I was mostly oblivious and ignorant when it comes to Indonesian author. I had tried, several times actually, to read some works that were deemed prominent by many and meet a certain standard to get acknowledged by the public (Dee, Ayu Utami, and Andrea Hirata, for example). None impressed me. The only author that i was rather interested in was Eka Kurniawan. And he doesn't even get mentioned by many. His works were rather surreal and slap-in-your-face that almost, ALMOST remind me of Seno Gumira Ajidarma. I'm not a critic, by the way, i just read a lot, and knows what i like and don'ts. So probably, some of you won't entirely agreed to the comparison i just made. But, let it just be like that, okay? Let just agreed to disagree.

Anyway, as i was saying, the book was a highly popular. The comments on its sleeve pompously making a statement that the book simply outsell Harry Potter, among others. And if you knew me at all, the more things get popular, the less i was interested. My girlfriend, out of her curiosity that everybody she knows were talked about it and highly anticipated the film, took a book from one of her co-worker and, an avid reader she is, she read the first chapters, randomly picked the middle chapters, and read the end chapters. That's how she read books, anyway, to actually decide wether it is worthy to spend her time to actually read the book. She mocked the book, stripped it by its spine and literally laughed at it. And of course, since you know that the book was supposedly to made you cried, to get laughed at wasn't exactly be a good sign. Maybe it's just my girlfriend's taste. She doesn't really liked a story that was too descriptive, nor was she really into a sort of drama that tried too hard to conceal and prolonged the inevitable and supposedly twisted-ending. But, hey, it's your words against hers. Should be easy to see whence my allegiance lies. After all, it further confirms my suspicions that the book wasn't really up to its hype.

Finally, as much as i respected Hanung and sympathized with the ... challenges he faced during the shooting of this film, i think that it is safe to say that i won't be in any line waiting to see this film. Because from what i had read from his blog, this film faced many obstacles that i believed has marred Hanung's original envision of the project. Granted, his passions were palpable, and that should count on something. But of course, it'd still a long shot to convince yours truy here. Unless, i really had nothing else better to do when the film hit the theater widely.

Anyways, the recent trend of Indonesian films were seemingly heading into the right direction. Sure, we'd still too many teenage screamers or 'tear-jerkers-wannabe'. At least too many to my liking, but it would seems that we should see some improvements along the way. Ayat-Ayat Cinta probably, probably one of the first of these improvements. Some friends of mine who had seen the film was really satisfied (though, i'm still not interested). And surprisingly, Love (a film, titled 'Love', released recently, appropriately at the Valentine's Day), based from what i heard from my friends at the office who had seen the film was a surprisingly a felt-good film that features some memorable performances. Well, of course, since my friends at the office were mostly female at the age of 25-ish, that shouldn't be counted. Then there's this film called "Babi Buta Yang Ingin Terbang" (The Blind Pig that Wishes to Fly), and then further back, there's a film called "Fiksi" (Fiction) which credited as written by Joko Anwar. If anything, i would keep an eye on the Indonesian films, though not necessarily excited about them. Yet.

Michael Clayton (2007)

Michael Clayton. Film review. Who ever said that you won't learn anything from a film? I was clueless at best when it comes to anything to do with laws and its court processes. Michael Clayton at least gave me some kind of an insight to this strange world which i previously didn't know of. Michael Clayton is also a slow thriller that relies on its audience's patience rather in the story itself. Tony Gilroy unwraps his tale in a non-hurrying pace, slowly unfolding the entangled story by using a wrap-around frame which guaranteed to lose some impatience audiences along the way.

The first thirty minutes of the film, gave me (and quite probably, most audiences alike) very little understandings about what was going on, and who is who except that there's this law firm which in a process of settling its class-action suit (whatever that means is) against one of its biggest client, ae chemical company (or i had assumed it was a chemical company) U/North in a case that has been going on for six years. I had little understandings during the first thirty minutes of the film except that i had quickly taken interest in Tilda Swinton, the U/North's corporate attorney, i recognized Tom Wilkinson's thick accent with utter clarity doing some narration, and George Clooney, tired and detached, that even though he was a decent actor, i wouldn't keen on putting his name on last year's Best Actor in a Leading Role performance.

Both Michael Clayton (George Clooney) and Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson) is a 'fixer', a term that i heard for the first time through this film. And as a 'fixer', they often found themselves knee deep on dirty things. In a U/North case, where Arthur is the head (of investigation, of the plaintiffs, of the defender, of whatever, i really don't have any idea) that knows all ins and outs of the U/North case. He generates a 30,000 billable hours in the U/North case. But when he seemingly has suffered a mental breackdown, or rather, has found his good conscience, he was a threat both to U/North and to the law firm he worked at. Marty Bach (Sydney Pollack) as the head of this firm knows that the U/North case was f*cked up in a first place though of course, in order to keep the firm running, he has to oftenly needs to turn a blind eye on things. After all, quite too often, a law firm (and its attorneys) was always on the side of the highest bidder and not the truth. Marty told Michael to as usual, fix things with Arthur. Meanwhile, Michael's well paid, but hates his job, and on a brink of bankruptcy for a business that has gone wrong and for his penchant on a card game. On the other side of the table, there's Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton), the U/North's corporate attorney who just realized she made a big mistake and willing to go at any length to clean the mess.

In a sense, this film was about all about choices made by men and women whose nature of their jobs required them to stood in a 'grey' territory where nothing was completely right nor completely wrong. After all, these are lawyers we're talking about. You probably had heard jokes about lawyers being a predator, blood-sucking parasite and all those terrible things almost as often as you heard jokes about blondes being a stupid. It's stereotypes.

The film was ended in a manner that not unexpected at all. But, fortunately, it doesn't try very hard to conceal the end. Almost the problem with any intelligent thriller is that the more you tried to hide something, the more obvious it would be. Michael Clayton, in my opinion, just flows. It doesn't even try to explain things for you so you often have to figure things out by yourself. This is, as i've told you earlier, especially hard during the first thirty minutes. Some might loathe this approach, but some might exhilarated with this. It's your choice, really.

The film was well acted, i've seen almost no flaw in the acting department of its characters. And my vote for the best performance of this film goes to Tilda Swinton who shown herself that she was indeed a shark in a troubled sea. Her final scene was the best. But the most important thing is that the film requires a full attention from its audiences that even a brief toilet break would cost dearly. I was watching the film on a DVD and i had to rewind at least on two occassions. One, where i paused to look for the word 'plaintiff' on a Thesaurus. Two, when Arthur reads the memorandum. This is not a thriller that would appeals to those who prefers film as a brief entertainment, nor to those who prefers everything printed out to them in a big yellow friendly letters. If you feels like you're one who can't spare a two hours full attention to a film, then don't go see this film. You'd ended up hating it although that the film was actually nominated in a Best Picture category on this year's Academy Awards, and even if i had said that the film was among my short-list of the best film in the year 2007.

Surprisingly, this film was also screened at our local theater last Saturday midnight in a few selected theater. Well, good luck in finding this film on a daily screening anytime soon. This film is not a kind that would lure many audiences and our local theater really hates this kind of film. So i figured, two or three days tops in a few selected theater (try those places where they had at least four cineplexes, forget Djakarta Theater. With only two cineplexes, and Cloverfied, Ayat-Ayat Cinta looming closer, and Jumper was still on its fresh run, they wouldn't bother to even try).

Cloverfield (2008)

Cloverfield. Film review. In a brief sentence, Cloverfield is what would you probably got when you decided to introduce Blair Witch Project to Godzilla. A professional amateur video that instead of documenting ghost sightings, documented the very night when a certain monster, codenamed "Cloverfield" invades New York.

A video tape was found amidst an un-shown site that used to be Central Park, New York. This video tape was a home-made tape initially used to document a farewell party to Robert Hawkins, who was about to leave for Japan. The contents of the video-tape spans the events that happened for about seven hours on Friday night - Saturday morning. Cloverfield is a film that in its entirety, played the contents of this video, (seemingly) played as is and unedited.

I heard some people complained about dizziness after they seen this film. For me, it was a great film. Probably the first film in 2008 that i really really liked. But, there's nothing wrong with the dizziness. The nature of the film is supposedly taken from a simple video-camera, and the one holding it was almost always on a run. Therefore, shaky pictures, not focus pictures, are expected. Dizziness, motion sicknesses are due to most. I even heard that someone actually puked in the theater. The approach felt like a documenter, and in my case, once things start happening, there's no slowing down. It grips me in its tension, and personally involve me on its scenes, on the ground-zero so to speak. And most importantly, it made me care about the characters. I want them to survive. I was gripping my armrest when danger approaches them, i even almost felt the adrenaline, the fear, the loss, and the fatigueness that the characters felt throughout the film. And that what made this film a great experience, and best enjoyed on large screens. The film effectively uses an approach that less is more. We never really see the monster save for glimpses and its destruction path except that there was a pretty clear close-up shot of the monster at the end of the film. It's a big and ugly thing. Further, probably the first in a long time, i hadn't really paid any mind to anyone in the theater. I don't really cared when a guy in two rows before me flashed his handphone, nor to a guy behind me who tried to explain things to his girl-friend. I was really absorbed into the experience to paid any heed to these distractions. And finally, for the first time in a long long time as well, i heard some applause when the film had ended. The film was certainly deserved it.

The film doesn't featured any recognizable big-stars. United 93 also uses this approach. And i was quite confident that the reasons behind the approach doesn't differ by much. The exclusion of any recognizable big-stars made the characters more believable as your everyday man and woman. Just like United 93, they had more genuinity than any big-stars could ever provide for these kind of films.

Cloverfiled is essentially, a monster film. But, i guarantee, as you went further into the film, you won't really care about the monster anymore. I don't care about whence the monster came, is it from outer space? I don't care. Is it from the deepest ocean? I don't care. Is it annihilated in the end? I don't care. Why New York? I don't know, and i don't care. You'd care more about Rob, Jason, Hud, Lily, Marlene and Beth as they tried to run to somewhere safe as the monster tore New York in pieces. It's their tale, and one of them had a camera rolling to shared their tale of survival, and of their quest and power of love, and of their last grasp to a strand of humanity.

My first great film in 2008. I caught the film on last Saturday's midnight show. If you're living in Jakarta, expect the film to screened on a daily schedule this Wednesday.

Jumper (2008)

Jumper. Film review. Usually, when i had some knowledge about what to expect in a film, prior seeing it, i usually had the review to it outlined inside my head. Doesn't always hit the spot, of course. But you know, for me, writing, even if it was simply some whine or some attempted review on something i've seen or read is a hard thing to do. And having an outline is always helpful to at least get me started.

In Jumper case, i had prepared for the worst. But it turns out that it's an okay experience. Not nearly good in my book, but better than what i had expected in a first place. Hence, the outline was slightly changed.

Comparing the film with the book was not an option as the film took a very very different direction from the book. The film had been prepped with - perhaps - a sequel in mind, pitching a grand design which doesn't really had a chance to get explained save for two sentences from Griffin (Jamie Bell) about an ensuing war between Jumpers - those guys who could teleported, that even though they kill, they rob the banks, had an honour of being the good guys - and Paladins - those guys who hunt the Jumpers as they believed that they're abomination to what they had believed. It would seems that these Paladins were those same factions that in the Middle Ages hunted and burned the suspected witches in Europe. Thus, they are the bad guys. This war has been raging on since Middle Ages, or so Griffin had said. The book doesn't mention about any Paladins nor any other Jumpers beside David Rice. It was simply deals with David Rice's (Hayden Christensen) personal life and the consequences for having a convenient ability.

Further, the role of David's mother (Diane Lane) was totally different than in the book. By i mean with totally is a night and day difference. But what hurt me the most, is the role of Millie. In the film, Millie is David's school crush. They lived on a same neighborhood. In the book, David was 18 and Millie is three and a half years older when they're met, and their relationship is a bitter-sweet one, with a breakup scene that i rememberd swelled my heart when read about it. In the film, they were just, well, by-the-book pair in love. Bland. And David said that he was in love with her since he was 5. Pffttt, surely, if one believed that when he said so, he was simply not there. In short, i liked the book way better than the film, but, given the circumstances (some reviews i read was saying that the film was too crowded, too many left unsaid, and one even said that the film had twelve side stories that thrown into one feature length film) the film wasn't all that bad. It was mean to be a 'hip' action starred by a young attractive male (though not necessarily great in his acting department, at least he was enough a reason for my female office-mates to rush into theater. Ah, poor young souls), and meant as an entertainment that could passed for 90 minutes of your time. In that sense the film worked. Just don't look further into it.

One of my friend had joked that most of the budget of the film was spent to shoot the Sphinx's head and Colosseum scenes. Ironically, he's probably right. David Rice could jump, teleported to any point on a three-dimensional plane given that he had seen the point of his destination with his own eyes, but quite too often, he choses Sphinx's head and Colosseum as his destination. Sure, these places were maybe Dave's favorite places on Earth. But, if the first scene could worked, second? third? not quite. And Samuel L. Jackson was meant to be a formidable villain, but i feel that he was just passing by. Not enough to give me a lasting impressions. In fact, nothing in this film could give me a lasting impressions. Except of course, Diane Lane who had only two short scenes in the overall film. Man, she's georgeous. David personal life was also left mostly unsaid. His relationship with his father wasn't really compelled nor convinced me that he could at one point simply decided to leave. His relationship with Millie who supposedly his love of his life weren't convincing either. I guess i don't really have to tell you who i held responsible for it.

Doug Liman was supposedly good at directing action films (see: The Bourne Identity and Mr & Mrs. Smith) but somehow i don't see much in this film. Probably because most of the action scenes were CGI-laden scenes that could be awesome for some, but nothing really spectacular according to your loyal reviewer here. He probably confused about whence the film should go. Too many materials to exclusively concentrate with total-actions, yet too few secrets and drama to made it worth while.

All in all, for only 88 minutes, if you really had nothing else to do, you could try this film. Probably you ended up liking it better than i do. Me? I think i'm going to read the second book of the Jumper series.

Random Shorts (5)

It's Friday! And believe it or not, i luuve Fridays. I mean, how can you not love Fridays? We had two consecutive holidays immediately ahead and the fun starts almost immediately after you check-out from the office. That is, of course, applied if you're one of the white-collar worker with a very much pre-deterministic daily working hours, just like me. Further, i was epsecially enthusiastic with Friday beause my daily-work activities were dull, numbing, and sucks. Well, it still is the easiest job i've ever did, and since i just recently had a 'promotion' (my monthly-stipend prior to the 'promotion' was already far than enough to get me through the month with sufficient savings), it wasn't exactly a good conscience in my soul had i complained.

Anyway, my Friday nights were usually a caffeine-induced gaming sessions or film sessions. This week, i had planned to screened - you see how pretentious, and self-important i was? Using the word screened - several Oscar-esque films, Michael Clayton - whoah! Finally! I had seen the first thirty minutes of the film, and i decided that i would need to rewind the film. Tilda Swinton is great, by the way. And George Clooney was in his tired and detached look which i adored more, way more than his usual flamboyant look -, Away From Her, La Vie en Rose, and Eastern Promises. And i still had several books to finish, several projects hobbies to shape-up. Whoa! No sleep for the wicked.

On Saturday, there's a new film arrived in our local theater. Jumper. It's a film about "that guy who could teleported". I've read the book, review here, and liked its character, and in various parts, could found a small attachment to him. I've read the synopsis of the film, read several reviews, and rather pessimistic with the overall outcome of the film. First off, the film was action-oriented. I had pointed out in my review that in the book, the third and final act of the book was action-oriented and i don't like it. I never liked Hayden Christensen anyway, Sam L. Jackson was a bit overused if you asked me, his film choices of late weren't among my favorites. But of course, comparing to the alternatives, (P.S I Love You, insert -any-recent-Indonesian-films-here) we obviously had the clear winner over which film i should seen tomorrow.

Sunday, of course, Sunday is a sleep day. Have a nice weekend.

I Am Legend (2007)

I Am Legend. Film review. If i was asked about a particular sub-genre in science fiction that i would easily fall into, i would immediately came up with an answer, "space-exploration" or "post-appocalypse". The very best of these sub-genres (or rather, the ones that fits into these sub-genres and found love in me) were mostly, em, actually all of them, deals with the a feeling of being alone, trapped, or more interestingly, both.

Some might made a comparison between I Am Legend and Cast Away. Alright, both deal with a lone man very much secluded place with nothing but a volley-ball named Wilson (or a dog named Samantha) as a company. But, whereas Cast Away merely put Tom Hanks several thousand miles out of nowhere, still has a fairly huge chance to meet another person, I Am Legend excels in putting Will Smith devoid from any social contact in an completely abandoned New York. His chance to meet another person? Fairly high, actually, albeit that there's another secondary chance, pretty certain as well, that he won't be left alive should he met one. From that respect alone, it is easy to see where my allegiance laid regarding of these two films. Further, in my opinion, the first acts of the film is vastly superior than the latter half.

Robert Neville (Will Smith), an Army Colonel is alone in New York, circa 2012. His only companion is his loyal dog, Samantha. It was three years after Emma Thompson as a cameo revealed that she has found a cure for cancer. But the cure turns out to be a lethal disease that turns living being (humans are definitely affected, as well as dogs, but i see normal lions, deers, and birds) into an ultra-aggressive beings whose exposer to sunlight proved lethal. Call them Vampires if you will, though with less elegance and even far less intelligence. This desease effectively depopulated the city. Everyone who is not dead, AND immune to the disease to Robert Neville's best of knowledge has fled the city. I'm not quite understands his reasons for staying put in New York although that in more than one occassions he gave a hint of why he had chose to stay in New York. As he goes doing his daily routine, hunting with his dog, renting DVDs in a store where he puts these mannequins and pretending that they're real people, broadcasting a distress message, went into his private lab where he relentlessly pursue for a cure of the disease, and finally bolted himself shut in his apartment when the sun sets to avoid the Vampires who went out for a hunt, we treated with a flashback upon Robert's previous life up until the disease broke out.

As i've said earlier, the first two-thirds of the film is superior to the action-oriented final 35 minutes. Though, inarguably, the decision to went into an action-oriented path had its own merit and i'd say, an appropriate way to end the film which would surely be accepted in satisfaction among most casual viewers. I just loved to see the physcological torment that Robert has gone through to attain some part of his humanity amidst his complete devoid of any social contact. There's a heart-breaking scene at the end of this part which of course, for not wanting to spoil your fun, i won't be going to reveal any further. And as far as i'm concerned, Will Smith nails the portrayal and the guilt albeit his performance won't went into my book as one of the best perofrmance in the year.

Kudos to the special effect teams who successfully rendered New York from a Big Apple megapolitan city into a devastated and deserted city. It's quite a shame actually that i didn't see it on a big screen. On a lighter note, there's a huge billboard poster of Superman/Batman in the city. Further research to the interenet, the poster was indeed a poster of a Superman/Batman film slated for release in 2010. Hm, should it really happened, that would be a great treat. All in all, I Am Legend doesn't disappoint. It was what you'd expect from a big-budgeted film with a big star that even though some part of the film may seems tedious, and ridiculously simple, it could be well forgiven.

CJ7 (2007)

CJ7. Film review. I'm in a opinion that for any movie stars, versatility is a luxury few could afford. Every once in a while (and even probably quite too often), we see an actor/actress that eternally trapped into a certain role that trying to changing lane in a way would sometimes because an almost impossible task. Example, Jennifer Aniston would be forever known as Rachel Green, Matt LeBlanc as Joey, Gillian Anderson as Dana Scully, and so on.

On a certain extent, Stephen Chow suffers from this entrapment as well. Throughout his careers, he was mostly known as an pathetic excellent slapstick, no-brainer comedy film star, up to a point where we would expect something ridiculous and non-sensing comedy style he was famous for, everytime we see his name on screen.

In CJ7, his next combo (starred and directed) film in the wake of Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle, he was barely appears on screen and left more portion to his co-stars (notably, in this film, they were mostly children). Thus, those who expected to see a no-brainer Stephen Chow in his usual self, could well be disappointed. In a brief sentence, CJ7 is essentially E.T retold. Not that it was a complete total rip-off or remade or anything, but the key ingredients that prompted us to made a comparison between the two were prominently presents and un-ignorable.

Stephen Chow was a poor father, working hard at a construction site in order to provide his son (Xu Jiao, who was actually a girl, and did a great job shouldering the responsibility of being the real lead of this film) with a lavish education in a private school where everyone of his schoolmates brought a personal notebook computers to school. He was a rag among the rich. I felt sorry for the son right away because he's completely out of place with his surroundings. Had the son has a less strong spirit than what he was shown in the film, it wouldn't be a good education at all for the young mind. Anyway, one day, the child's ego in the son awakens. He wants a robot toy (an Aibo look-a-like), CJ1, that has recently become the standard, must-have toy among his classmates. And for an almost touching moment, the son doesn't care about his father's financial condition. Then, the father picked up an odd green ball from a site-dump instead. But little does he knew that the ball was an Alien egg and shortly after, hatched (or rather, transformed) into a cute Chicken Little sans the glasses thingy that would later the son would named CJ7. From here on, it's easy to see whence the film goes and it's actually nothing spectacular nor even noteworthy. In a nutshell, it was entirely a family film most suitable for children.

Stephen Chow stood in the background in this film. He was rarely seen on screen. And whenever he does, more often than not he would repeat his speech to his son about "Although we being poor, but we don't steal, we don't talk trash, et cetera, et cetera". The real lead in this film was the son. Almost all the noteworthy scenes where the audience's emotions required the most, were his responsibilities. He (or she, as she was actually a girl playing a boy) needs to be convincing in order to made the forementioned scenes worked. And as far as i'm concerned, he (or she) is convincing enough.

Stephen Chow's films were always a guilty pleasure for me. I love to just wasting my time watching his films when i've got absolutely nothing else to do. Especially when he was paired with "Uncle Tat" who is regrettably, had been absent in his last two films (this and Kung Fu Hustle). In CJ7, he tried to depart into something rather more serious than his previous films. I'm not going to say that it's worked, but it was an okay start. It would seems to me that he couldn't really departed from what he was known best. A ridiculous one-liner dialog (evident in the last minutes in this film), a beautiful young female star that appears merely to pleased an eye. Really, Kitty Zhang was hot as hell, but eliminate her scenes from this film, and you won't miss a thing, and of course, an over-the-top martial-art stuffs which given the overall nature of the film, felt a little bit too forced. All in all, i felt that the film had one foot in a boat and another foot in an another boat. These boats were afloat on a water surface, and somebody had thrown a large boulder into the surface and soon or later (entirely depends on your personality as a movie-goers) its generated wave would rock the boats threatening them into an inevitable sinking. In my case, the sinking happens rather early.

American Gods (Neil Gaiman)

American Gods. Book Review.

"I just keep thinking about Thor. You never knew him. Big guy, like you. Good hearted. Not bright, but he'd give you the goddamned shirt off his back if you asked him. And he killed himself. He put a gun in his mouth and blew his head off in Philadelphia in 1932. What kind of a way is that for a god to die?"

In American Gods. Neil Gaiman takes various myths, Norse, African, Welsh, Egypt, Indian (or Native Americans) stirred them together into a tale that once you get passed the first few pages of it, sucked you in a war between the Old Gods and the New Gods upon the American soil. It's philosopic, an ambitious tale to tell, something that in a much much much lesser degree of it, a story that i'd been trying to write myself - a realization that quickly dampen my spirit as sure as a terrible rain storm did to a cellar rat with no means of shelter whatsoever. But of course, Neil Gaiman is one of the few gifted writers that i've known nowadays and who am i to kid and pretend that i could fit in his shoes? Or any writer's shoes in that matter. It takes a talent to write, and it sucks when you wishes to write and realized that you simply had not the talent.

Anyway, what i liked the most about "American Gods" - and i had liked every little bit of it - is that almost in every transition between chapters, Neil Gaiman wrote a small intermezzo pieces that takes various culture and their respective beliefs, often sets in a time long forgotten - or in a time not very much far away from where we're at. These small intermezzo pieces were in itself, a complete short-story that should it be collected into a published copy, it would sell. These stories sometimes terrifying and disturbing (such as the tale of a twin Haitian slave separated at child), sometimes taken on a personal level (such as the tale of an Arabian NY cab driver), and sometimes taken on a mythical level (such as the tale of a northern Tribe in the year 14,000 B.C). All these tales, in my opinion point out to a same general theme that i believed was what Neil Gaiman's wishes to point in this epic, that various cultures went to America and there, their Gods, once believed and enshrined within each of their hearts, were forgotten.

I had taken a liberty to quote the late Douglas Adams from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy that "without faith, God couldn't exist". In "American Gods", these Gods, Old Gods, excluded and forgotten for the lost of faith of their believers had turn into a sentient beings, had plotted a risky and probably last effort vying for domminance in a mortal world with the New Gods - which includes a most unlikely and amusing 'Gods', such as God of Media, and God of Internet - through the eye of a seemingly mortal man, Shadow, who as oblivious to the ordeal behind the war brewing as us the audience of this epic tale. But, as Shadow progresses into the story, gaining understandings, so does the readers. It's a convenient means to tell a story, if you asked me. Had i tried to write something that generally hard to imagine, i would put one main character who doesn't know anything about this something and gradually unveiled the shroud of mystery that surrounds it. Therefore, as my character understands and probably triggered events that would ended the story, my readers would gained the same understanding as well. This was the manner or should i say, the role of Shadow in this book. Besides, Shadow is a likeable character, it was easy to like him, to share his griefs, and to celebrate his glories.

All in all, "American Gods" is an epic tale gracefully touching various almost-religious subjects, contemplating in Gods - i'm a believer, therefore, i pluralized the word "Gods" to denotes that by no means, the "Gods" in this book were the same entity with the God i believed in - and their respective waning as the faith from their followers subdued. Despite the "Gods" subject however, the book was unmistakenly fiction and it shouldn't be resulted in any feeling above the fun feeling when one's read a good book.

The King of Kong - A Fistful of Quarters (2007)

The King of Kong - A Fistful of Quarters. Film review. I'm quite certain that i could very much justified to say that in recent years where documentary films involved, they usually revolves around Iraq, and various kinds of misfits in society. Mostly, these films were fueled by anger, or dissatisfactions, and to actually see some documentary film that merely told us something instead of SHOVING the filmmaker's version of truth about something, is enlightening. The King of Kong did just that, and it is by far, the only documentary film of 2007 release that i really wish to see.

For a slight around eighty minutes running time, a first-time filmmaker, Seth Gordon could deliver a documentary that is equivalent to any feel-good film about sport, about an exhilarating feeling to struggle and be victorious, about one's relentless fight to win, sweat and tears, an ultimate underdog tale.

In 1980s, when a coin-op Arcade machine game is still around, there's an opinion that one of the hardest game, the one that eats up your coins (quarters) in an alerting manner, is a Donkey Kong. The plot of the game is a thin simple, a then still un-named Mario must climb up a series of moving platform, while avoiding various obstacles thrown by Donkey Kong to save a certain Princess (probably then still un-named Princess Toadstool). Even if these arcade machines were considerably short-lived, even until now, after twenty-odd years, these games still had their own closed community.

Billy Mitchell is a unique character, not necessarily likeable, and moreso for the reason to this film, but unique. He hold the world record for the highest-score in Donkey Kong for twenty-three-years. He clearly enjoyed it, excercising his celebrity quality even though really, nobody really cares about it. And then came Steve Weibe. An ordinary man, deemed by his relatives to had many qualities, wether in athlete or intelligence but never really won anything. He attempted to beat the Donkey Kong world record. His many efforts would often thwarted throughout the film by Billy Mitchell either directly or indirectly via a so-called Gaming Referee who decides wether the score was valid or not, which clearly was Billy's long extended arms.

It's easy to see whence the film's aligned its side. Steve Wiebe was described as a modest, likeable man. He had what it takes to beat Billy Mitchell's record and was rightly so. And the fact that Billy consistently refuses to acknowledge the new record, and refused to stage an open duel in a public made him a certain nemesis. Overall, the film is lighthearted and really fun to watch. However, it should be noted that the film didn't waste time to straightly went to the duel, that for those unfamiliar with the world of gaming may had little trouble catching up. But for me, a kid who grown up with Nintendo 16-Bit and a devoted RPG players, the decisions to exclude the background drop even made the experience more fun.

This film was merely a single chapter (or more rightly, several earlier chapters) between Billy Mitchell and Steve Wiebe in their quest to determine who was the best in Donkey Kong that even though the film ends in a high note, a simple research further into Wikipedia reveals that even now, Billy Mitchell vs Steve Wiebe had yet to meet its decisive end.

From the Top of My Head - Best Films of 2007

From the top of my head, this is my version of Best Films of 2007, and it should be noted that most likely, i would forgot to include several titles.

1. No Country for Old Men (my review)
2. Lust, Caution (my review)
3. Gone Baby Gone (my review)
4. The Bourne Ultimatum (my review)
5. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (my review)
6. Into the Wild (my review)
7. Knocked Up (my review)
8. Zodiac
9. American Gangster (my review)
10. The Orphanage (my review)

Still unseen and probably goes up there fairly high: There Will Be Blood, Michael Clayton, The Savages, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Away From Her, In the Name of the Rose, - what the ****? i haven't seen that many? - and many many foreign films i hadn't had clue of its mere existence.

In the Valley of Elah (2007)

In the Valley of Elah. Film review. Some said that it was the best film that takes the recent Iraq crisis as a subject to date. I had a considerable hard time to believe that it was so. But, it's not that i could easily came up with another film about Iraq that superior to this film. As hard as i might to look for the superior quality of this film (i've got a decent an hour and a half - while waiting for the rain to subdue - to thought about it), the easiest i came up with, was Tommy Lee Jones (it's either him or Daniel Day Lewis to win this year's Academy Awards as a Best Actor).

When Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones) was asked to read "The Witch, The Lion, and the Wardrobe" to Emily Sanders (Charlize Theron)'s child as a bedtime story, he opted instead to told a story about David and Goliath in the valley of Elah. There must be a reason why Paul Haggis had chosen the hame of this valley as a title. If he does, who was the film's David? Who was the film's Goliath? And who had won?

One morning, David woke up to a telephone from an army base asked for his son, Mike to report back immediately to the base for he has been AWOL since he's coming back from Iraq. This puzzled David as for a soldier to get AWOLed, he must've been already back from Iraq for a quite some time, and he, who had thought that he is fairly close to his son, had never received any calls or emails from his son saying that he was already home. As Hankwent to the base (and the city that's in the proximity) to look for his son, soon, he was discovered that his son was found dead. His remain chopped to pieces and burned. With the help of a detective, Emily, he tries to uncover the nature of his son's death.

At best, this film doesn't exclusively deal with the investigation of the murder with a conclusion of who did the killing and why was the ultimate answers that the film tries to presents. Instead, the film spend an almost two hours of its running time to lure us into believe that war dehumanized human beings. As simple as that. It is probably my lack of knowledge, but as i dwelve further into the film afterwards, i found that the association with "The Valley of Elah" was making more less sense than it should. It was something pretentious from Paul Haggis. That, and the fact that the final shot of the film was at its ultimate cheesiness it made me cringe, further stained the experience. This is the film, when you asked me, which stories doesn't really matters, shadowed by great performance of its actors and saved by it. Tommy Lee Jones looks so old in here, he's showing some vigor and strength even amidst the realization of the loss of his son. However, between his spoken words, you certainly feel the faint tremble of his strength, and the scene where he was home, where he was no longer channeled his grief into investigations is totally heartbreaking. Charlize Theron is a beautiful actress, really beautiful. But her best performances so far was when she looks simple and natural. Here, she portrays a normal working woman, and her natural beauty was just a faint idea faded behind a serious average working person who did her best at her job. Everything else is just well... rather shallow.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Film review. I can't remember the exact where, but i had remembered that London was best associated with the color grey (probably it's from one of those Sherlock Holmes book, but can't be sure). Bleak, and grim. Sweeney Todd (the film) kept true to its mood. And for the better part of the film, i never seen Jhonny Depp (Sweeney Todd) sans the grim look and frowned eyebrow. The color was almost black and white, except for one occassion where Sacha Baron Cohen made an appearance on screen with his blue colored cape. This mood and color was of course, Tim Burton's specialty. His best works (i was thinking of Batman) so far, in my opinion, had smelled and looked black.

I'm a sucker for musical films. I believe i had many many times asserted the fact. Therefore, it should've been came as no surprise that (for the most part) i said i liked Sweeney Todd (the film). Although i would rather hesitated if i was given a chance to see this film again in a near future.

In London (i'm no historian, so i don't really had a clue about the time frame, but i guess, in this film, it is more believable and easier to look for a Baker Street and inquired for Sherlock Holmes and Dr.Watson than in any other era), lived a notorious Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) who had eyes for lovely ladies. One day, he sees Benjamin Pratt (Jhonny Depp), a barber and his wive. He wants her. And by treacherous (not shown on screen) process he sent Benjamin away in estrangement for a crime he never did. Fifteen years later, he is back in London, his name is now Sweeney Todd, his face grim, his frowned eyebrow eternal, and with help from Mrs.Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), the worst pie maker in London, he plans to take revenge.

If i was told that there's more men accidentally bled during his morning shave routine, i would believe it immediately. I tend to avoid barbershop as long as possible. Because really, having some complete stranger put a razor-sharp blade on my neck, wasn't really my favorite activity to pass the evening. This film, as its title suggest involved numerous barbershop scenery and activity which sometimes made me cringed. But of course, the main course of this film is its musical scores.

Actually, it would've been nicer if there's a dancing scene (there IS actually a dancing scene). But of course, why you'd put a dancing scene in a film with mood like this? It would've felt wrong. Not that putting a singing scene in every other scenes in a film with mood like this was 'right', but to put a dancing scene as well would stretching it a bit too far, not too mention riskier. The songs were sometimes repeated with different lyrics and slightly different arrangement. The songs were also rarely sung alone. More often, they act more like a substitute to a dialog, where an ensemble of casts singing together or answering each other. Sometimes, this is hard for me as a non-English speaker to comprehend the meaning. But thankfully, none was too hard.

My favorite piece of the film was "Johanna (act III)" performed by Jhonny Depp and Jamie Campbell Bower and Jayne Wisener in a scene that was (in somekind of a twisted way) hillarious, yet horrifying, and hinted at something really really discomforting as well. If you had seen the film, you'll know why. I don't want to spoil the fun, but i guarantee, it was something you've never seen on a musical film before. And i never prepared myself for the ending.

Jhonny Depp is an okay choice for Sweeney Todd and he was almost believeable as a singer. Helena Bonham Carter was okay for a singer (Jhonny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter sings their part by themselves). Alan Rickman only sings twice. He can't sing, not as good as the other cast anyway, but his accent is enough to steal the scene he's in.

Overall, this is not what i would said as the best musical film. Nor was it one of the best film in 2007 (i have all the spots in the top 10 or top 15 easily occupied before even considering this film. It was, after all, a very good year in film). This film is all Tim Burton's. The only decent performance, the one that stood out as a character and not merely a silent figure stamped on the screen is surprisingly, Helena Bonham Carter. Surprising, because i never really liked the girl. Jhonny Depp looks so distant in this film. It was as if his mind was still on the set of other film while trying to soak into his role as Benjamin Pratt/Sweeney Todd. I was surprised to see him won the Golden Globe Awards. The other casts, even Alan Rickman himself, were largely forgettable and ignorable.

And finally, remember, this film has been rated "R". Even if the violence was rather exaggerated, it was still qualified as an rated "R" film.

Gone Baby Gone (2007)

Gone Baby Gone. Film review. Casey Affleck has a very good year. He was noticed in his low-key performance in The Assassination of Jesse James (review of it just below this pots), and he leads the pack of great performances (though not necessarily be the best of them) in this yet another of my personal gem of film in the year 2007, which surprisingly came from the first time director, Ben Affleck, who i could say that he does a great job in directing, probably more than he ever was as an actor.

Gone Baby Gone is an mystery/thriller film with a twist, and a question of moral thrown out for good measure at the end of the film. Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck), a private investigator with his better-half partner/girlfriend, Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan) were asked by Lionel and Beatrice McCready to investigate the wherabouts of their niece, Amanda who has been kidnapped. They were reluctant at first to take the case, but of course, who would say no when they (especially Angie) saw the picture of the missing little girl. The girl's mother Helene (Amy Ryan) was seemingly an irresponsible mother, is a drug-addict, whose bitterness and the company she keeps weren't exactly the trait of a good-mother nor a parent figure that a child needed to grow. The police chief, Jack Doyle (Morgan Freeman) doesn't recommend the private investigators, but provides the couple with a close assistance by Remy Bressant (Ed Harris) and Nick Poole (John Ashton), the two senior police officers working in the case.

The Amanda investigation ends halfway of the film. But when the film takes on another child missing, it's inevitably back to the Amanda case. I was on a fear that i would reveal too much if i was about to pointed out the film's strengths. The film goes progressively better, with the first half follows the couple's investigation as they conduct interviews, piecing clues and finally confront with the conclusion of the investigation, the second half (which naturally, a better half), in addition of slicing the facts to reveal another truth behind the kidnapping, also the dilemmas that Patrick and Angie would faced and ultimately changed their fates (in a manner that literally broke my heart), and on top of it, a moral question of what is 'right'. Really, i can't tell you much about the film because i was afraid that it would reveals too many to the plot. But believe me when i say that this film is one of my best film in 2007. Probably ended up very high too.

I see this film back-to-back with The Assassination of Jesse James. And honestly, i was indifferent with Casey Affleck. He still had that melancholy look on his face, a facial gesture so familiar, that made me vehemently couldn't vouch wether it was what really his character demands for or he's a naturally melancholy man from the beginning. Michelle Monaghan is just doing her routine, never outshone her partner, but merely as a sidekick, noticed but safe for the end scene, ignorable. Morgan Freeman plays someone noble but the moral question of what is 'right' made him rather tarnished but still a noble nonetheless, this dualism of character was something that he's known to excel at. But, the best performances of this film came from Ed Harris and Amy Ryan. Ed Harris went to various range of traits from deceit, cowardice, proud, and noble. Amy Ryan portrays a mother whose self-centeredness and neglection won't get any sympathy, but also shown that she was after all, a mother who has just lost her child.

In the end, by deciding (for a good cause!) to not reveal anymore than i had to, i may not be able to point out the film's strengths. But, this film is a powerful film, and since it came from the same writer who wrote Mystic River, i would say that it was safe to compare the film with it. Though i must say that i liked this film a bit better. And i have said that the year 2007 has been a really good year in film, and this film was easily among the best of the year.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Film review. How's that for a film title eh? I was quite sure, as sure as my name is Rhama Arya Wibawa that this film is at least had to be one of the film which had the longest title length. And for 2:40 running time, it has to be one of the longest running length film of the year (2007) as well.

For myself, the hardest part to deal with a long film is to keep my attention from a slacking-off during the course. It's a rarity for a film which runs for more than 2:30 that could keep me NOT to divert my attention during its length. Jesse James had a strong start and a strong finish which i liked very much. But in between, some of the scenes varied from brilliant to a must-fight-yawn and these things were probably turned-off many people and prevented them with a rewarding experience which what i had felt when the film ends.

Jesse James (as judged by the title, you know how he's going to be at the end of the film) was famed as a member of James Gang, whose act is mostly involved in train robberies. The film begins with James Gang's last act. It was a great stuff. We were granted a chance to peek into the characters that made up the title of this film (Jesse James, who was depicted as a thief and a killer, and Robert Ford, who would later donned the title 'coward' for his act against Jesse James). However, as the film shy away from the last train robbery by James Gang to where Robert Ford for fear and greed had shot an arm-less Jessie from behind, the film also shy away from the track. Instead of concentrating on Jesse James and Robert Ford, and how Robert Ford who at the beginning of the film seems to admire and idolize Jesse James only to grow with envy later on, the film took the far lesser characters that made up the crumbled and defunct James Gang. I was struggling to keep the yawns at bay (i had seen the film well past ten p.m on a working day), but right at the moment before the notorious act begins, and well into the extended epilogue, the film backs on track and it delivers a strong grit that made me feel at least rewarded for my patience with the film.

The scene where Robert Ford shot Jesse James is a great shot. I loved the characters. Brad Pitt as Jesse James, calm, confident, but yet too weary with the way world is moved. He should pick more of roles that emphasizes his ability as a character actor rather than a spot-lighted star studded roles that merely exists to exploit his star status. And for the fact that he himself also produced this film, i think he had an idea to actually did just that. Casey Affleck, with his melancholy eyes, and a naive boyish attitude, is having a blast of his career so far. He portrays Robert Ford, a 19-year old boy who wish for a quick shortcut to fame and wealth by killing Jesse James, wishing to get a recognizition and applaud only to learn that - in a hard way - instead, he was given a notorious title as "The Coward". This particular realization, that he hadn't received an applaud he wishes, was in my opinion, a pinnacle of the film. He soaks the role, neck-deep in it, that you believed that he was actually 19 and not 32 as he actually is.

The Assassination of Jesse James is a long film, and it is admittably, a less engaging than the other Western film, 3:10 to Yuma (my review) but it also granted a reward for the patient viewer. And oh, by the way, 3:10 to Yuma was recently screened on our local theater (finally), and for my money, it is the best film to spend you hard earned money if you wish to spend it on a film tonight (that is, if you lived in Jakarta).

Can't Write

I was summoned this morning to Ritz-Charlton at Senayan City Business District, Jakarta to help with the company's minutes meeting 2008. I was annoyed at first. It was raining since morning, and since every managers and supervisors are at the Ritz-Charlton to attend the minutes meeting, i had figured out that nobody would cared if i went to the office with no shoes. So i went, no shoes. Just when i sat in my cubicle, my phone rang and that i had to go to Ritz-Charlton to help with the meeting. I was like, 'shit!'. Hastily, i went about to look for an extra pair of shoes from my coworkers for me to borrow, and went to Ritz-Charlton. Oh! How i hate meetings, aside from it gave a pretty useful insight from the company's targets and achievements, i was barely able to keep myself awake during the morning sessions. And with plenty of tasty food to chew upon, a cup of espresso wasn't nearly enough to keep me awake. Time flies, though, and suddenly, it was lunch. I had a plate full of chickens, shrimps, lambs, a tenderloin steak, and beef-jerkies. Not to mention a slew of cheesecakes, a mocca-something-with-strawberry-on-top, fresh fruits, and great great salad. One thing i knew from my company for certain is that they really know how to treat its employees. I don't really cared about how much money does it went, and how many more of it went to the individual pockets, but as long as i'm full, i'd be more than happy.

I was back at the office around three, and saw that the rain has soaked Jakarta since morning, and flood threatening, and my taxi was barely moved. You could see Ritz-Charlton from my office but it took me the better part of the hour to get me back.