MOVIE REVIEW
Inspector Bellamy (2009)
The Film Society of Lincoln Center/Unifrance
Gérard Depardieu looks terrible these days. He’s always packed a few extra pounds, but right now he’s just obese. No doubt, the death of his son Guillaume last October has taken a toll on him, but who knows if that’s a factor in his letting himself go? He has made some lousy choices through the years, as have De Niro, Pacino and other fine, only-last-name-necessary actors of his generation. Even though time really hasn’t been kind to him, Mr. Depardieu can still generate some movie-star wattage and pull off the larger-than-life presence of a leading man. He has done it so expertly in “Inspector Bellamy” – a star vehicle made-to-measure by none other than Claude Chabrol – that one sometimes forgets he is lugging around some 200 extra pounds.
Continue reading “Like a Fine Bordeaux, Getting More Robust With Age” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Fados (2007)
New Yorker Films
In the annals of film history, “Fados” will be most remembered for serving as the swansong release of New Yorker Films. The legendary, hugely influential label announced its closing last month, and “Fados,” which the New York Times reports company founder Dan Talbot bought with his own money, brings down the curtain on a remarkable era in cinematic history.
Continue reading “Staging Musical Tradition as Theater” »
MOVIE REVIEW
The Informers (2009)
2009 Sundance Film Festival
“The Informers,” Bret Easton Ellis’s adaptation of his own series of short stories about the greed and decadence of 1980s' Los Angeles, plays like a rote museum piece evocation of the era. Director Gregor Jordan brings a sense of verisimilitude to his depiction, with pitch perfect hairstyles, wardrobes and me-first, cocaine-snorting snob attitudes on display. But he can’t compensate for a ludicrously concocted, thoroughly unconvincing narrative and the pervading sense of style supplanting substance.
Continue reading “City of Demons” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Everlasting Moments (2008)
Nille Leander/IFC Films
Sweden apparently hasn’t always been the expedient society in which particleboard furniture and fast fashion are ubiquitous. It’s unfathomable that a century ago – before widespread electricity and the enlightenment by such luminaries as Ingmar Bergman and ABBA – the country was a white-trash wasteland inhabited by deadbeat, wife-beating drunkards who treated their impoverished households as baby farms and kept themselves busy during workers’ strikes by planting bombs and shacking up with mistresses. At the very least this was the case for Sigfrid (Mikael Persbrandt), the greasy, mustachioed husband of protagonist Maria Larsson (Maria Heiskanen) in Jan Troell’s Bergmanesque “Everlasting Moments.”
Continue reading “Restoring a Tarnished Life” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Fifty Dead Men Walking (2009)
Whistler Film Festival
I’m an American who lived in Belfast for a year, and in that year met my husband. The whole of his family lives in Northern Ireland, and our circle of friends in London includes several from Northern Ireland. None of them are "political" – i.e., with direct involvement to paramilitary activity – although some do have family relationships or unwise connections from their youth, which they prefer not to discuss. Most of them recoil in horror at the thought of perpetuating the traditional nationalist-unionist struggle or indeed prejudice of any kind, although some are less enlightened. But regardless of their political outlook, religious belief, class, or personal experience of the Troubles, every last one of them I know from Northern Ireland adheres to the code: “Whatever you say, say nothing.” Everyone, but everyone, hates a grass.
Continue reading “Getting into a World of Troubles” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Tokyo! (2008)
Liberation Entertainment
“Tokyo!” presents its viewers with a unique opportunity: the chance to see three filmmakers given full creative license to interpret a theme without restriction. Michel Gondry, Léos Carax and Bong Joon-ho have been brought together to work on three separate projects directly tied to the common motif of the sprawling megalopolis. Master stylists all, the men go about their work with demonstrable exuberance, clearly enthused by the artistic freedom granted them and the chance to work in a city that’s very much at the cultural fore of the 21st century.
Continue reading “Found in Translation” »
MOVIE REVIEW
An American Affair (2009)
Screen Media Films
In "An American Affair," director William Olssen has chosen a story that seems ripe for cinema: the Cuban missile crisis, a young boy coming of age, a stranger next door and all that great imagery of America during the Cold War. The film starts out strongly enough, with photographs and footage of President John F. Kennedy and Fidel Castro as the opening credits roll. With these two charismatic leaders pitted against each other, the stage is set for action. But the writing, acting and directing all suffer from major weaknesses that threaten the foundation of the story.
Continue reading “Peeking Into the Presidential Suite” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Crossing Over (2009)
Dale Robinette/The Weinstein Company
“Crossing Over” tosses into one convenient grab bag all the political rhetoric and literary clichés from the recent public debate on immigration. Interspersed with sprawling aerial shots of Los Angeles, the film’s episodic narrative and interconnected characters weave together something akin to a mash-up of recent entries such as “Crash” by Paul Haggis, “The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada,” “Under the Same Moon” and “Gran Torino.”
Continue reading “Angelenos Struggle Through Crash Course on Immigration” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Flame & Citron (2008)
The Times BFI 52nd London Film Festival
The eponymous anti-heroes of this stylish and exciting thriller from Ole Christian Madsen were never mentioned in any history lesson that I ever took. Otto Von Bismarck, Winston Churchill and even the Venerable Bede were all present and correct during my studies but not "Flame & Citron." The latter might console themselves from beyond the grave with at least being well known in their native Denmark.
Continue reading “Keeping a Friend Close as Enemies Get Closer” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Genova/A Summer in Genoa (2009)
The Times BFI 52nd London Film Festival
Michael Winterbottom has certainly enjoyed an eclectic directorial career. And while his subjects have been as diverse as the Bosnian War in “Welcome to Sarajevo,” the Manchester music scene in “24 Hour Party People” and the plight of Gitmo inmates in “The Road to Guantanamo,” his work has always paid particular attention to the human aspect of the story. Family relationships form the crux of his latest picture, “Genova,” as he delivers an intimate portrait of the dynamics of a family dealing with loss, youthful rebellion, guilt and cultural change.
Continue reading “In an Italian Ghost Town, Forging a New Life” »