This is probably the most detailed and matter of fact courtroom drama I've ever seen. A young man is accused by a 15 year old school girl of groping her on a crowded train. The police, the other guys he is locked up with and public defender all advise him to admit the crime, pay a fine and get on with life.
But he insists that he didn't do it. So he remains locked up while his friend and his bewildered mother look for a lawyer willing to defend him. The case is followed through all its dozen or so public hearings plus the strategy meetings of the defence team.
Why show such a trivial case in such minute detail? Well, as gets pointed out repeatedly, Japanese judges have a 99.9% conviction rate. While officially the system has the same basis as ours, that you are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt, but in practise in Japan you are expected to be found guilty unless you can prove you are innocent. Judges are promoted on their throughput of cases and apparently can be demoted or dismissed for acquittals. The police also operate under similar pressures. This means that once the system starts to roll the verdict is almost inevitable. The decision about guilt is not made by the courts but by the police (or perhaps earlier, with those making complaints to the police).
So this film is aimed at shedding light on the injustice of Japan's justice system. It tries to educate its Japanese audience about their justice system, and mostly does it very well with a riveting courtroom drama. The area where the aim is most clear is a number of conversations that seem staged only to explain facts and procedure to the audience.
Perhaps this film has relevance here in NZ, where we recently have had a lot of outcry against acquittals, to show us where we don't want to end up.
FYI: only 3% of people taken to court plead "not guilty", of those who plead "not guilty" only 3% get found "not guilty". Judges handle up to 200 cases simultaneously, and cases can move from one judge to another part way through. Of course there are no juries.
Ian's rating 3.5/5
Sunday, July 27, 2008
The Band's Visit
This is a very gentle situation comedy - the situation being that an Egyptian Police Band (the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra, actually) which has come to Israel to perform at the Arab Cultural Centre in Petah Tiqva ends up in Beit Hatikva. Beit Hatikva (which Wikipedia says is a fictional town) is in the Negev Desert and not only doesn't have an Arab cultural centre, it doesn't have a hotel either, and having arrived on the last bus of the day, the band has a big problem.
Fortunately the cafe owner takes pity on them and allows three of the band members to sleep at the cafe, sends another three home with one of her perpetual customers and takes the last two home with her. These two are the somewhat uptight band leader Tawfiq and the simply gorgeous Khaled, who probably makes the ticket price worth it just on his own.The film is basically the story of how the band members pass the evening in a town with essentially nothing to do. The band members don't speak Hebrew and the locals don't speak Arabic so the dialogue is a little stilted (mostly in English) and the story proceeds at a leisurely pace.
I was expecting a bit more than I got from this film - perhaps some more Israeli/Arab tension, perhaps the exploring of some prejudice, perhaps an impromptu concert. The theory of the band members situation was more comic and thought-provoking than the actuality. The Band's Visit was a perfectly pleasant film, but nothing amazing.
Anne's rating 3/5
The premise for this film sounded excellent and I thought it would give plenty of fodder for comedy, but I was disappointed, the film makers missed so much. Yes there is comedy but it is gentle comedy, in small doses. Though I did like the very understated "don't mention the war" scene when a band member notices that he is sitting next to a picture of an Israeli tank, he says nothing but hangs his hat over the picture. The opposite of Basil Fawlty.
Ian's rating 2/5
Fortunately the cafe owner takes pity on them and allows three of the band members to sleep at the cafe, sends another three home with one of her perpetual customers and takes the last two home with her. These two are the somewhat uptight band leader Tawfiq and the simply gorgeous Khaled, who probably makes the ticket price worth it just on his own.The film is basically the story of how the band members pass the evening in a town with essentially nothing to do. The band members don't speak Hebrew and the locals don't speak Arabic so the dialogue is a little stilted (mostly in English) and the story proceeds at a leisurely pace.
I was expecting a bit more than I got from this film - perhaps some more Israeli/Arab tension, perhaps the exploring of some prejudice, perhaps an impromptu concert. The theory of the band members situation was more comic and thought-provoking than the actuality. The Band's Visit was a perfectly pleasant film, but nothing amazing.
Anne's rating 3/5
The premise for this film sounded excellent and I thought it would give plenty of fodder for comedy, but I was disappointed, the film makers missed so much. Yes there is comedy but it is gentle comedy, in small doses. Though I did like the very understated "don't mention the war" scene when a band member notices that he is sitting next to a picture of an Israeli tank, he says nothing but hangs his hat over the picture. The opposite of Basil Fawlty.
Ian's rating 2/5
Empties
Why would a 65 year old High School teacher resign, then instead of retiring goes out and gets a job as a cycle courier in hilly Prague? Failing that switches to checking in bottles for recycling at the local supermarket. Part of the reason is that he dreads the thought of being at home with his wife. The rejected wife believes her husband is having an affair and gets increasingly jealous, which has always been good fodder for comedy.
Zdenek Sverák the writer/star of Kolya also wrote and starred in this film about getting old without dropping out of life. It also has the message that a sex life and sexual fantasies are not the preserve of the young (even if being a sex object is the preserve of the young and beautiful). This unashamedly a male view of the world could be retitled "Old man behaving badly in Prague".
Ian's rating 4/5
Anne's rating 3.5/5
Zdenek Sverák the writer/star of Kolya also wrote and starred in this film about getting old without dropping out of life. It also has the message that a sex life and sexual fantasies are not the preserve of the young (even if being a sex object is the preserve of the young and beautiful). This unashamedly a male view of the world could be retitled "Old man behaving badly in Prague".
Ian's rating 4/5
Anne's rating 3.5/5
Taxi to the Dark Side
A young Afghan who drives his village's taxi, goes on a trip to the local town to look for fares and earn a living. He takes 3 men on a trip on which he is captured by some Afghan fighters who hand him over to the American forces with the story that he is the get away driver for some people who have been firing rockets at a small American base. He is taken to Bagram where he is tortured for information he doesn't have, when he moaned and screamed with pain he was beaten until his legs were so pulped that doctors say that had he lived the legs would have had to have been amputated. A blood clot killed him. The US Army pathologist ticked the homicide box on the death certificate. The US commander stated that "we" have no knowledge of possible homicides at the Bagram base. No-one was prosecuted until media reports on the US use of torture and subsequent deaths become too loud to ignore and there is a search for a scapegoat. Like the subsequent Abu Ghraib courts martial, it is the military police rather than the military intelligence, the other ranks rather than the officers who get found guilty. The interrogation team from Bagram was transferred to Abu Ghraib.
It turns out that the people who kidnapped Dilawar were the same people who fired the rockets at the US base. In fact, most of the men held by the Americans in the "war on terror" were turned over or sold to the US rather than directly captured by them. The "worst of the worst" are transferred to Guantanamo Bay. But even there only 7% were picked up by the American on the battle fields or elsewhere. Despite the lack of supporting evidence the assumption prevails that they must be guilty, dangerous and have useful secrets that they are withholding.
This documentary is constructed as a series chapters on different aspects detention and torture and goes beyond the initial focus on the killing on Dilawar at Bagram to the holding and torturing of men the US government is loath to classify as prisoners of war at Guantanamo Bay, the changing definitions of torture in the US administration and the history of CIA research into torture techniques. Many of the most illuminating interviews are with military policemen and interrogators who were prosecuted for what they did at Bagram. Of current interest is Senator John McCain's flip-flop from being a strong opponent of torture to voting for a law that prevents any members of the current administration being prosecuted for war crimes, when the Administration threatens to derail his presidential campaign.
This straight forward and fact filled documentary is a must see.
Ian's rating 5/5
It turns out that the people who kidnapped Dilawar were the same people who fired the rockets at the US base. In fact, most of the men held by the Americans in the "war on terror" were turned over or sold to the US rather than directly captured by them. The "worst of the worst" are transferred to Guantanamo Bay. But even there only 7% were picked up by the American on the battle fields or elsewhere. Despite the lack of supporting evidence the assumption prevails that they must be guilty, dangerous and have useful secrets that they are withholding.
This documentary is constructed as a series chapters on different aspects detention and torture and goes beyond the initial focus on the killing on Dilawar at Bagram to the holding and torturing of men the US government is loath to classify as prisoners of war at Guantanamo Bay, the changing definitions of torture in the US administration and the history of CIA research into torture techniques. Many of the most illuminating interviews are with military policemen and interrogators who were prosecuted for what they did at Bagram. Of current interest is Senator John McCain's flip-flop from being a strong opponent of torture to voting for a law that prevents any members of the current administration being prosecuted for war crimes, when the Administration threatens to derail his presidential campaign.
This straight forward and fact filled documentary is a must see.
Ian's rating 5/5
Lorna's Silence
The premise was used more humorously in Green Card (and probably in real life often enough) so is nothing new. Here the would be immigrant is an young Albanian woman who wants to become a Belgium citizen and earn enough money to open a snack bar and the other party is a drug addict who is happy to earn a bit of cash through a fake marriage to Lorna. The bit of the plan that Claudy is unaware of is that he is due for a drug overdose to conveniently make Lorna a Belgian widow so that she can marry a Russian man to earn more money for both herself and the taxi driving broker, Fabio, before divorcing him so she can marry her real boyfriend, Sokol, and get him a Belgian citizenship too. Claudy thinks the plan is for a divorce, and as he struggles to get clean it becomes Lorna's preferred plan too. But Fabio is implacable and insists on the original plan.
The camera never strays far from Lorna with her elfin good looks, soulful eyes and red pants, as it follows her around a dull urban landscape as she juggles her job, her dreams, her conscience and the men in her life.
I am still debating with myself whether what Lorna does at the end was out of character or whether I had misread Lorna's character all along.
Ian's rating 3.5/5
The camera never strays far from Lorna with her elfin good looks, soulful eyes and red pants, as it follows her around a dull urban landscape as she juggles her job, her dreams, her conscience and the men in her life.
I am still debating with myself whether what Lorna does at the end was out of character or whether I had misread Lorna's character all along.
Ian's rating 3.5/5
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Welcome to the Sticks
We saw this after Ben X and it was probably the ideal follow-up - something completely silly to take your mind off darker things. If you've never been to a French farce, it's time to rectify the situation, whether you need distracting or not.
Welcome to the Sticks is a comedy that celebrates life in the Pas de Calais Region of Northern France where its a little cool and the natives speak funny. I suppose most countries have a north/south or an east/west divide and generally the warmer option is considered the place to be and so the people who are churlish enough to dwell in the cooler less populous region are considered foolish, eccentric and backward. And so it is in this film - a post-office manager from Provence is transferred north for bad behaviour and of course is completely dismayed by the prospect, as is his wife who refuses to join him. The actuality proves far more congenial than he imagined - his co-workers (around whom the film centres) are welcoming, charming and hospitable. The manager's wife seems unable to believe this, so he strings her along in thinking he is suffering in his new environment - and this is one of the films long-running gags, which culminates when his wife decides that she'll come and keep him company.
The other long-running gag is that the natives in the Pas de Calais region pronounce "s" as "ch" - and say "ti" and "mi" rather than "toi" and "moi" hence their nickname "Ch'ti" and use a bunch of quaint slang, so lots of the comedy is poking fun at this and exploiting the potential for misunderstanding. You'd think that for a non french- speaking audience that these jokes would fall flat, but the sub-titling is absolutely brilliant and the gags are well-sustained.There's physical comedy too - the manager and the postie cycling through Bergues visiting customers while trying not to accept alcoholic refreshment is wonderful, as is the "kidnapping" of the manager's wife in a post-office van.
Just to add another level to the story there's a dual love affair going on - that of the postman with one of the counter staff, and that of the manager for his new home so its a completely satisfying film.
Anne's rating 4/5
Ian's rating 4/5
Welcome to the Sticks is a comedy that celebrates life in the Pas de Calais Region of Northern France where its a little cool and the natives speak funny. I suppose most countries have a north/south or an east/west divide and generally the warmer option is considered the place to be and so the people who are churlish enough to dwell in the cooler less populous region are considered foolish, eccentric and backward. And so it is in this film - a post-office manager from Provence is transferred north for bad behaviour and of course is completely dismayed by the prospect, as is his wife who refuses to join him. The actuality proves far more congenial than he imagined - his co-workers (around whom the film centres) are welcoming, charming and hospitable. The manager's wife seems unable to believe this, so he strings her along in thinking he is suffering in his new environment - and this is one of the films long-running gags, which culminates when his wife decides that she'll come and keep him company.
The other long-running gag is that the natives in the Pas de Calais region pronounce "s" as "ch" - and say "ti" and "mi" rather than "toi" and "moi" hence their nickname "Ch'ti" and use a bunch of quaint slang, so lots of the comedy is poking fun at this and exploiting the potential for misunderstanding. You'd think that for a non french- speaking audience that these jokes would fall flat, but the sub-titling is absolutely brilliant and the gags are well-sustained.There's physical comedy too - the manager and the postie cycling through Bergues visiting customers while trying not to accept alcoholic refreshment is wonderful, as is the "kidnapping" of the manager's wife in a post-office van.
Just to add another level to the story there's a dual love affair going on - that of the postman with one of the counter staff, and that of the manager for his new home so its a completely satisfying film.
Anne's rating 4/5
Ian's rating 4/5
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Noise Control
Before Welcome to the Sticks we had a short film and before the short we had a couple of speeches. A long gushing thank-you speech from the producer (during which I wondered if the speeches would take longer than the film) and a shorter and far more interesting one from the director on the relationship between the late cockerel and his son's band practises.
Those of you who have longer memories than I have might remember that a noisy cock was shot by an animal control officer in Raumati in 2001, it died the next day at the kindergarten where it had been a pet. The incident apparently made the TV news in NZ and the papers overseas.
The film is quirky mix of interviews with the Mayor, the animal control man, a kindergarten teacher etc merging into animation of same, plus an animation interview with the rooster himself as a guy with a band whose practise sessions annoy the neighbours.
Said band (a guy with 3 girls doing backing vocals -- which seems strangely appropriate) featured in the film and also in the Blondie cafe afterwards.
It is a pity that some of these short films don't get more time at the mainstream cinema or on mainstream TV, after all this one is only 11 minutes long and was very funny. Though a certain ex-Mayor might not think so!
Ian's rating 4/5
Those of you who have longer memories than I have might remember that a noisy cock was shot by an animal control officer in Raumati in 2001, it died the next day at the kindergarten where it had been a pet. The incident apparently made the TV news in NZ and the papers overseas.
The film is quirky mix of interviews with the Mayor, the animal control man, a kindergarten teacher etc merging into animation of same, plus an animation interview with the rooster himself as a guy with a band whose practise sessions annoy the neighbours.
Said band (a guy with 3 girls doing backing vocals -- which seems strangely appropriate) featured in the film and also in the Blondie cafe afterwards.
It is a pity that some of these short films don't get more time at the mainstream cinema or on mainstream TV, after all this one is only 11 minutes long and was very funny. Though a certain ex-Mayor might not think so!
Ian's rating 4/5
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Ben X
Ben X is the story of a Belgian high school student with Asperger's syndrome who is persecuted mercilessly at school for being different. Outside school he plays a fantasy computer game called Archlord at which he excels. There's a lot I can't tell you about the film without ruining it for you, but I guess its really about what happens when Ben X the superhero meets Ben "the jerk I see in the mirror".
Bullying is big in the media right now and Ben X can give you an idea about how comprehensive the misery created by physical, text and internet bullying can be. It was traumatic to watch but was beautifully crafted and superbly acted. The school bullies are particularly good as is Ben's Mum who pulls off the harried but endlessly supportive parent role so well.
This film has a great plot and if you think you've got it sussed by halfway through, you're wrong.
Anne's rating 4/5
Ian's rating 4/5
Cargo 200
If you are too young to remember what it was like in the USSR when Russians thought that Ladas were flash cars, or if you think you do remember what it was like, perhaps you need to see Cargo 200 to disabuse you of any idea that 1984 was a golden year back in the USSR.
A Colonel's daughter's boyfriend earns more than he does. No-one respects the Professor of Atheism from Leningrad University. Rock bands are playing at ad hoc clubs. An illegal vodka still and bottling plant operates alongside a major road. The army has to try to co-opt the local police to bury a "Cargo 200" due to a man-power shortage. "Cargo 200" is a code word for dead soldiers flown back from Afghanistan. Society seems to be on the verge of crumbling.
But wait there's more. A local police chief, who lives with his senile mother is a violent psychopath with extremely perverted sexual tastes and, according to his mother, performance issues.
The humour here is as dry and black, as the police chief is vile and perverted. What else would you expect from a film chosen by Ant Timpson?
Ian's rating 3/5
A Colonel's daughter's boyfriend earns more than he does. No-one respects the Professor of Atheism from Leningrad University. Rock bands are playing at ad hoc clubs. An illegal vodka still and bottling plant operates alongside a major road. The army has to try to co-opt the local police to bury a "Cargo 200" due to a man-power shortage. "Cargo 200" is a code word for dead soldiers flown back from Afghanistan. Society seems to be on the verge of crumbling.
But wait there's more. A local police chief, who lives with his senile mother is a violent psychopath with extremely perverted sexual tastes and, according to his mother, performance issues.
The humour here is as dry and black, as the police chief is vile and perverted. What else would you expect from a film chosen by Ant Timpson?
Ian's rating 3/5
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
In Bruges
The short story is I'm sure that In Bruges will come back on general release and be quite popular with people who like slightly quirky movies (e.g. Coen Brothers fans).
The longer story is that two Irish hit men from London have unexpectedly been sent to Bruges to wait for instructions. To make matters worse the young jumpy Ray (Colin Farrell) has to share a hotel room with older, laid back Ken (Brendan Gleeson). It initially the pair try to kill time in their new surrounds, mostly by arguing about things.
No-one is quite what they seem, something that gets Ray into a lot of trouble. Gradually the film moves from funny conversation spurred by boredom into action and finishes with a bang. The violence and body count should leave you in no doubt that this is a gangster movie. The gangster boss is played by Ralph Fiennes in best psychopathic form.
Like classic gangster movies both the baddies and goodies have strong moral codes. Which are not necessarily the same moral codes that you and I have.
Ian's rating 4/5
The longer story is that two Irish hit men from London have unexpectedly been sent to Bruges to wait for instructions. To make matters worse the young jumpy Ray (Colin Farrell) has to share a hotel room with older, laid back Ken (Brendan Gleeson). It initially the pair try to kill time in their new surrounds, mostly by arguing about things.
No-one is quite what they seem, something that gets Ray into a lot of trouble. Gradually the film moves from funny conversation spurred by boredom into action and finishes with a bang. The violence and body count should leave you in no doubt that this is a gangster movie. The gangster boss is played by Ralph Fiennes in best psychopathic form.
Like classic gangster movies both the baddies and goodies have strong moral codes. Which are not necessarily the same moral codes that you and I have.
Ian's rating 4/5
Jar City
A bad tempered detective investigates a murder of an old man with an interest in porn and a young genetics researcher and his wife sit by the bedside of their dying 5 year old. You get an initial feeling that this is going no-where nice. You'd be right, murder, rape, dead children, drug addicts and grungy houses this is not the view of Iceland that the tourist bureau would like you to see. Couple this with the Icelandic films I saw last year and I'm left with the opinion that Icelandic film makers don't care too much for their country's image. But on the plus side there are some great aerial shots of the countryside.
While the film is a serious crime drama there are some moments of humour, such as the young detective knocking on doors of old women and asking if they had been raped 30 years earlier. The one that got best audience reaction was when the detective in charge eats his take-home dinner of sheep's head starting with the eye-ball.
All in all, a good solid, well acted, crime drama with a couple of feel-good moments.
Ian's rating 3/5
While the film is a serious crime drama there are some moments of humour, such as the young detective knocking on doors of old women and asking if they had been raped 30 years earlier. The one that got best audience reaction was when the detective in charge eats his take-home dinner of sheep's head starting with the eye-ball.
All in all, a good solid, well acted, crime drama with a couple of feel-good moments.
Ian's rating 3/5
Monday, July 21, 2008
The Counterfeiters
You could say concentration camp movies have been done to death and although it would be a pun in extremely bad taste, it would be at least partly true. And you would hope that The Counterfeiters, having won this year's Oscar for best foreign language film, would have something rewarding or refreshing to contribute to the genre and that hope is more than partly realised.
This movie is the story of how counterfeit pounds and dollars and other documents were produced by skilled Jewish labour in concentration camps for their Nazi oppressors. History buffs may know about this already, but I didn't so I learned something. The skilled workers in the story enjoyed vastly improved conditions relative to the average prisoner, partly due to the value of their skills and partly due to the management philosophy of the officer in charge of the operation. The the telling of the story was both factually and dramatically interesting. It was interesting to see a part of concentration camp life where suffering wasn't absolute and also to see how each worker coped with that. It was also interesting to see how the workers balanced the desire to stay alive with the desire not to aid the Nazi regime too much. Some characters were very open about their attitudes and other were more guarded - you had to make inferences from they way they acted.
The protagonist is a professional counterfeiter and it was fun to have a criminal not very jewish-looking character being the centre of the story. The officer in charge is a relatively jovial character who claims he was once a member of the communist party and again it was fun to have a not-quite-so-bad baddie. In echo of Black Book, the lines between the good guys and the bad guys were blurred just a little.
These fun aspects were counter-balanced by moments of absolute pathos - most notably when the new recruits are shown their bunks and touch their sheets in wonder and also when one worker finds his own children's passports in a pile of documents they are using to make replicas.
This movie kept my attention and I would recommend it unless you're too sensitive to watch any depiction of human suffering.
Anne's rating 4/5
Ian's rating 4/5
This movie is the story of how counterfeit pounds and dollars and other documents were produced by skilled Jewish labour in concentration camps for their Nazi oppressors. History buffs may know about this already, but I didn't so I learned something. The skilled workers in the story enjoyed vastly improved conditions relative to the average prisoner, partly due to the value of their skills and partly due to the management philosophy of the officer in charge of the operation. The the telling of the story was both factually and dramatically interesting. It was interesting to see a part of concentration camp life where suffering wasn't absolute and also to see how each worker coped with that. It was also interesting to see how the workers balanced the desire to stay alive with the desire not to aid the Nazi regime too much. Some characters were very open about their attitudes and other were more guarded - you had to make inferences from they way they acted.
The protagonist is a professional counterfeiter and it was fun to have a criminal not very jewish-looking character being the centre of the story. The officer in charge is a relatively jovial character who claims he was once a member of the communist party and again it was fun to have a not-quite-so-bad baddie. In echo of Black Book, the lines between the good guys and the bad guys were blurred just a little.
These fun aspects were counter-balanced by moments of absolute pathos - most notably when the new recruits are shown their bunks and touch their sheets in wonder and also when one worker finds his own children's passports in a pile of documents they are using to make replicas.
This movie kept my attention and I would recommend it unless you're too sensitive to watch any depiction of human suffering.
Anne's rating 4/5
Ian's rating 4/5
The Duchess of Langeais
The Film Festival programme says that this is a "tale of drawing room passion is superbly by two strikingly odd actors, Jeanne Balibar and Guillaume Depardieu. She's the aristocratic Antoinette, a seasoned coquette who mocks the awkward courtship of her socially clumsy suitor, a Napoleonic General and war hero. Pushing him too far, she finds herself becoming the pursuer." The general and the duchess are almost sadistic and masochistic in the way they treat each other and themselves. It is an old fashioned story about social mores that are completely foreign to us today, but the two main actors do a great job of bring them alive and making them believable.
The film is in three acts and I think the middle act was way too long and bored the audience. Even though I know the length added to the tension, but even the endless parade of empire line dresses got repetitive.
I think this film would suit those want to see a costume drama that feels historic rather than being a modern style story set in beautiful old clothes and buildings. Or else it would suit someone looking for a tortured love story played out with 18th/19th century civility and length. In which case it would be 4/5, but for the rest of us it has difficulty scraping past 1/5.
Ian's rating 1.5/5
Anne's rating 2/5
The film is in three acts and I think the middle act was way too long and bored the audience. Even though I know the length added to the tension, but even the endless parade of empire line dresses got repetitive.
I think this film would suit those want to see a costume drama that feels historic rather than being a modern style story set in beautiful old clothes and buildings. Or else it would suit someone looking for a tortured love story played out with 18th/19th century civility and length. In which case it would be 4/5, but for the rest of us it has difficulty scraping past 1/5.
Ian's rating 1.5/5
Anne's rating 2/5
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Ashes of Time Redux
This is a review by our guest reviewer, John.
Magnificent, a wonderful experience. The programme quotes someone as having said of this movie "Memories should be made of this" and that is a good description.
Although not easy to follow the movie spans a year in the life of an agent providing mercenary/assassin services, and delves into the past lives and experiences of the agent, the agents customers (there are two, and these are the same person, who presumably is psychotic) the past lover of one these personalities who is the agent's brother (and a swordsman), his brother's wife, whom the agent also loved in his younger days when he too was a swordsman, and whom the agent asked to elope with him - on her wedding night.
A young poor woman (ie without the money to pay for mercenary services) whose brother has been murdered by local militia, another swordsman & his wife also feature, as does a sizable gang of bandits & said local militia.
There are a couple of fight scenes in the movie, when first the bandits then the militia are eliminated, but these scenes aren't really action, but rather are simply part of the story, and furthermore are shown as a graphic mish-mash of shots & short scenes (with perfect (for the lack of it) lighting) and feels much as it might for a participant rather than being shown to the viewer as an evidently
choreographed hollywood blockbuster might be.
However the strengths of the movie are its insights - a couple of episodes focussing of the thoughts / admissions of its participants about their lives and reactions to other happenings, combined with the richness of the movie's tapestry - music, camera, effects and acting are all profound. Direction is pretty good as well and overall the movie is fantastic.
4 1/2 *'s (+). Unmissable. I would happily pay to see this movie again and would recommend it to anyone mature.
Ian's view in the comment
Magnificent, a wonderful experience. The programme quotes someone as having said of this movie "Memories should be made of this" and that is a good description.
Although not easy to follow the movie spans a year in the life of an agent providing mercenary/assassin services, and delves into the past lives and experiences of the agent, the agents customers (there are two, and these are the same person, who presumably is psychotic) the past lover of one these personalities who is the agent's brother (and a swordsman), his brother's wife, whom the agent also loved in his younger days when he too was a swordsman, and whom the agent asked to elope with him - on her wedding night.
A young poor woman (ie without the money to pay for mercenary services) whose brother has been murdered by local militia, another swordsman & his wife also feature, as does a sizable gang of bandits & said local militia.
There are a couple of fight scenes in the movie, when first the bandits then the militia are eliminated, but these scenes aren't really action, but rather are simply part of the story, and furthermore are shown as a graphic mish-mash of shots & short scenes (with perfect (for the lack of it) lighting) and feels much as it might for a participant rather than being shown to the viewer as an evidently
choreographed hollywood blockbuster might be.
However the strengths of the movie are its insights - a couple of episodes focussing of the thoughts / admissions of its participants about their lives and reactions to other happenings, combined with the richness of the movie's tapestry - music, camera, effects and acting are all profound. Direction is pretty good as well and overall the movie is fantastic.
4 1/2 *'s (+). Unmissable. I would happily pay to see this movie again and would recommend it to anyone mature.
Ian's view in the comment
Married Life
Married Life is loosely based on John Bingham's novel "Five Roundabouts to Heaven". The premise is that Harry (Chris Cooper), a middle-aged businessman looked upon as staid and boring, falls in love with Kay, a sexy young widow, and wants to leave Pat (his wife) without hurting her. The film is narrated by womaniser and Harry's best friend, Richard (Pierce Brosnan -- who else?). Chris Cooper plays Harry more diffidently than he played the extremely confident Robert Hanssen in Breach, but otherwise the slightly old-fashioned, serious, slow-speaking middle-aged man is the same, and Harry, like Hanssen comes up with a plan to do the unthinkable (in this case to kill his wife to save her from the pain of leaving her). Things are complicated by Richard's lust for Kay.
This film walks a fine line between thriller and comedy in a meticulous and lush late 1940s setting. The two male leads really run away with this film as the screen play puts the women into unfortunately passive roles. This is not the fault of the actresses as the film is told entirely from the male perspective. The main theme running through the film is that appearances matter even between husband and wife. This theme covers everything from Kay's always meticulous make-up and hairdo to those uncomfortable moments while everyone is pretending something didn't just happen. The final scene feels like a slightly drawn punch that only half worked for me as Richard's conversion is unconvincing (otherwise this would be a 4/5).
In the director's Q&A after the film I learnt that the original novel was written by John le Carré's mentor at MI5, who was also the inspiration for George Smiley.
Ian's rating 3.5/5
This film walks a fine line between thriller and comedy in a meticulous and lush late 1940s setting. The two male leads really run away with this film as the screen play puts the women into unfortunately passive roles. This is not the fault of the actresses as the film is told entirely from the male perspective. The main theme running through the film is that appearances matter even between husband and wife. This theme covers everything from Kay's always meticulous make-up and hairdo to those uncomfortable moments while everyone is pretending something didn't just happen. The final scene feels like a slightly drawn punch that only half worked for me as Richard's conversion is unconvincing (otherwise this would be a 4/5).
In the director's Q&A after the film I learnt that the original novel was written by John le Carré's mentor at MI5, who was also the inspiration for George Smiley.
Ian's rating 3.5/5
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