The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker, directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark Boal, is a damn good film. In fact, I would have to say that it is the best film on the Iraq war that I have seen.

The film is not political. It doesn't take sides. It doesn't say whether or not we should have gone to war. The main focus of the film is about a three soldiers who find and dismantle bombs. Now that is one dirty and dangerous job.

William James (Jeremy Renner) is the new guy but he is also the leader of the group. He is an expert in his field but he is also a bit reckless. JT Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) is second in command and he resents James' recklessness. Young newcomer Owen Eldrigde (Brian Geraghty) is just scared out of his mind.

The film follows the threesome on their various missions and one is more suspenseful than the other. In fact, the film is at times nail biting, edge of your seat suspenseful. But during this time we come to see the real horror and dangers of war.
After the film someone commented that it was too real. But that is the point - it is a very realistic film.

Bigelow directs the film with brute force. She is a woman with cajones. No frilly dresses for this woman. Renner is terrific as a man who lives for danger. The more dangerous a situation is the more he gets an adrenaline rush. Mackie is wonderful as a more sensible soldier who butts heads with Renner's James. Geraghty is also very good as a petrified young soldier. Making cameo appearances are the likes of Guy Pearce, Ralph Fiennes and David Morse. The film is beautifully shot by veteran cinematographer Barry Ackroyd.

Is The Hurt Locker the best film of the year so far? Well, that is a subjective question. It is not my favorite film but it is certainly one of the best made ones and it keeps you on your toes. And although it may be apolitical it does explore a man's (James) addiction to war. At the beginning of the film a phrase - "war is a drug" - appears on the screen. And in The Hurt Locker you will understand why that is true for certain people.

Quiet Chaos (MOD)

Quiet Chaos is playing in a very limited release so I saw it on Movies on Demand. Well directed by Antonio Grimaldi the film is well worth seeing.

The film opens up with a rescue in the ocean. This will figure heavily on the rest of the film. But the really story starts in the section right after that. Television executive Pietro (Nanni Moretti, who also co-wrote the screenplay) and his brother Carlos (Allessandro Gassman) come back to their country home after the rescue to find that Pietro's wife Lara is dead. She is laying on the grass with melon all around her. In a true state of shock is Pietro's young daughter Claudia (Blu Yoshimi).

The rest of the film is filled with many moments in the lives of Pietro and Claudia. Ultimately, it is about how they handle grief and loss. And it all feels very real. Pietro's company is in the middle of a merger with an American company but his mind is on his daughter.

There is a scene in the film that may or may not be real. I thought that it was a dream or a fantasy (a very hot one!) and I would love to discuss it with people who saw the film. Edit: I rewatched the sequence and I think that it is real and not a dream.

Moretti is fantastic as the confused, sad Pietro. He is in almost every scene in the film. Young Yoshimi is great as is Gassman. Also doing some fine work is Valeria Golino as Pietro's bent out of shape sister-in-law Marta and Isabelle Ferrari as Eleanora, one of the women who was rescued in the first scene. Towards the end of the film a world famous director makes a cameo appearance. At first I wasn't sure it was him. I thought that my eyes were playing tricks on me. But when I looked on imdb I found out that I wasn't seeing things.

I highly recommend this film as a non-cloying look at grief and loss. It is very quiet and very moving. The film is a bit elliptical as not everything is spelled out for the viewer. But that makes it all the more intriguing. My only complaint is that at least on MOD the subtitles seem a bit smaller than usual, are sometimes hard to read (white on white) and go very fast. But don't let this put you off as it is easy to rewind the film and you can do it as many times as you need to.

Whatever Works

After making films in London and Barcelona Woody Allen's latest film Whatever Works is a return to his beloved NYC. And as a New Yorker it was great to see places that I have been to many times.

The protagonist of the film is Boris (Larry David), a cranky 60 something genius. He was almost nominated for a Nobel Prize. When we meet him his marriage is failing. He decides to teach chess to kids for a living. The only problem is that he doesn't like kids and believes that everyone is inferior to him. He doesn't like many things. One day he comes upon the uneducated Melodie (Evan Rachel Wood) from the South. She is his complete opposite but she eventually wins him over.

I won't say more about the plot but the film is very Woody Allen. I thoroughly enjoyed the film and laughed a lot. All of the performances are very good - including Patricia Clarkson as Melodie's mother Marietta, Ed Begley, Jr. as Melodie's father John and Conleth Hill as Boris's friend Leo.

Some of the critics didn't like this film. They must be jaded. In this day and age even minor Woody Allen is better than most of the films out there and this is especially true of the stupid comedies that Hollywood keeps churning out. So if you want to spend some time laughing at some eccentric characters take yourself to see Whatever Works. You will be happy that you did.

Public Enemies

What can I say about Public Enemies? Well, for one, I can say that it could have been a better film. But Michael Mann decided to make his film this way and it certainly does have its champions. But I am not one of them.

The story focuses on John Dillinger. And most of the film shows us bloody shoot em ups. Now, this is a gangster film so I knew that it would be violent. And I don't mind violence when it belongs in a film. But this film could have been more of a commentary on the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover. However, Mann chose a different path.

The film looks good and both Johnny Depp as Dillinger and Marion Cottilard as his love Billie Frachette are great. The shoot up scenes are well done. But the story just does not have any depth.

Some people are calling this film a work of art. I know that opinions are very subjective. But work of art. I guess I wanted to see a different film but I got this.

Tetro and Tokyo! (DVD)

Today has been a busy movie day for me. I saw one film in the theater and one on DVD.

I really liked Francis Ford Coppola's Tetro. In fact, I liked it better than I thought I would. The plot is very interesting and puts the pieces of the puzzle together in a unique way. Bennie (Alden Ehrenreich) works on a ship. When the ship docks in Buenos Aires he decides to look up his long lost brother formerly Angelo now Tetro (Vincent Gallo). Tetro is not too interested in seeing Bennie but Tetro's partner Miranda (Maribel Verdu) makes him feel welcome.

We gradually come to understand why Tetro is such a mess. A lot has to do with his famous father Carlos (Klaus Maria Brandauer) and also the fact that he is a failed writer.

Coppola shot most of the film in glorious black and white. Only the flashbacks are in color. The film looks terrific. I am not a big fan of Gallo but he was good as Tetro. He has just enough madness in him to pull off the role. Brandauer is very good and young Ehrenreich (who reminds me a bit of the young Leo Di Caprio) has a good future ahead of him. But best of all is Verdu who plays the put upon Miranda with great feeling. I also liked the wonderful Rodrigo De la Serna as Tetro and Miranda's friend Jose. Carmen Maura makes a cameo appearance as the very influential critic Alone - she is partly responsible for Tetro's downfall.

Coppola has created a wonderful saga about a family with plenty of problems. It is good that he has decided to make personal films as this stage in his life. I look forward to seeing what he does next.

I just finished watching Tokyo! on DVD. It was released earlier this year and contains three short films that take place in Tokyo.

The first film is directed by Michel Gondry. It is about a young couple who come to live in Tokyo. He is an aspiring filmmaker but she doesn't seem to do much of anything. As time goes on they drift apart. I liked this film but it becomes very Gondryan towards the end.

The second film is directed by Leos Carax. A mad creature who lives underground (Denis Lavant) terrorizes the people in the city. In fact, he is responsible for many deaths. When he is caught he is put on trial for murder. A lawyer from France comes to Tokyo to represent him. The lawyer is the only one who can communicate with the creature as he speaks a strange language. A very strange film but I liked it.

The last film is directed by Joon ho Bong. It is about a recluse who hasn't been out in the street in over ten years. One day his pizza is delivered by a young woman. While there the house begins to shake and he devlops feelings for her. Odd but intriguing.

As you can tell, I liked Tokyo! but I only recommend it is those of you who like very offbeat films.

Food, Inc.

Robert Kenner's Food, Inc. is one terrific documentary. It exposes the food business for what it is. And what is that may you ask? Well, it is an industry that is cruel to both animals and human workers. It is an industry that can make people very sick. It is an industry that is bad for the planet. And it is an industry that is controlled by a few corporations.

Due to lack of time I won't go into too much detail. But there are many lessons to be learned from this film. Basically, do you want to know where your food comes from? I sure do. And I hope that most people feel the same way.

Some parts of the film were hard to watch as they involved animal cruelty. I am a vegetarian and I had to close my eyes. But issues such as food safety are included as well. And there is a segment on how poorer folks have to chose between healthy vegetables and cheaper and unhealthy fast food. These things make my blood boil.

The film features authors Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser as well as Stonyfield president Gary Hirschberg. I was not happy to find out that many of the organic manufacturers were bought up by bigger companies. The smaller companies certainly are having a hard time.

But even Walmart is getting into the act. They now have organic products. And why? Because people wanted them. And they got rid of all milk that contained the bovine growth hormone. And, again, that was because people wanted it that way.

So go out and see this film (or rent it on DVD when it comes out) and then demand that we have pure, healthy and organic food for everyone.

DVD Mini Review - Cherry Blossoms

I want to say a few words about a wonderful film entitled Cherry Blossoms. Written and directed by Doris Dorrie, the film played in NYC in the winter. It got great reviews but because it played during Oscar season it did not do well at the box office. Therefore, it was pulled after only playing one week. I wanted to see it at the start of the second week but it didn't happen.

Happily, the film has just been released on DVD. I just loved it! Most of the critics gave away some big plot points. I will not do that. I will just tell you a bit about the story. Rudi (Elmar Wepper) and Trudi (Hannalore Elsner) are a couple in their 60s. They are married a long time and live in a small town in Germany. Rudi's doctors tell Trudi that he is very sick and may not have long to live. She is devastated but decides to keep the truth from her husband. She tells him that she thinks it is a good idea to visit their son and daughter. Both of them live in Berlin. They have another son who lives in Tokyo. The beginning of the film reminded me of Ozu's Tokyo Story. But then the film goes off in another direction. Things don't go as planned.

That is all I will say about the plot. The performances are splendid. There is a terrific turn by Aya Irizuki as Yu. You will see how she figures into the story if you see the film. And the film is emotional and spiritual - not to mention beautiful to look at. Cherry Blossoms hits you right in the heart. I cried after the film. I highly recommend this one.