MOVIE REVIEW
Elite Squad (2007)
David John Prichard/The Weinstein Company
The Brazilian crime drama “Elite Squad” – winner of the Golden Bear at the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival – has generated plenty of controversy thanks to its supposed fascist leanings. While it does in some fashion celebrate the brutal, repressive tactics of BOPE – Rio de Janeiro’s elite police squad – José Padilha’s work just as openly questions the personal and psychological destruction brought on by membership in the unit. The problem with the movie is not its ideology, but the fact that it never breaks free from the most clichéd mold in Brazilian cinema: a story focused on cops, guns, drug runners and Rio’s favelas.
Continue reading “Patrolling City of God” »
MOVIE REVIEW
My Winnipeg (2008)
Jody Shapiro/IFC Films
The official story is that “My Winnipeg”
is Guy Maddin’s first documentary, commissioned by the Documentary Channel as a
portrait of the director’s hometown and a memoir of his childhood roots.
Straight-faced press releases describe Mr. Maddin’s qualms that the exacting
demands of discipline and patience in the documentary form had put him off
tackling one until now. Not for the first time, Mr. Maddin is having you on.
Continue reading “Dispatches From the Capital of Sorrow” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)
Simon Mein/Miramax Films
It will be interesting to gauge the reaction of American audiences to “Happy-Go-Lucky,” Mike Leigh’s latest film and winner of the Silver Bear at the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival. The film is Leigh’s riposte to perceptions that he’s a purveyor of grim kitchen-sink realism, as he presents us with a main character, Poppy (Sally Hawkins), who is an eternal optimist who strives to see the good in everyone and every situation. Such a disposition is not an alien one to Americans, with their culture that highly prizes optimism and friendliness; but the film and its central character Poppy haven’t gone down too well in Mr. Leigh’s native Britain, where cynicism and pessimism are virtually national traits.
Continue reading “For Sprightly Teacher, Life Is Sweet Indeed” »
