Month: September 2013

I was supposed to write (repeat 10,000x) but instead I sat my ass down this weekend and watched films.

Lincoln (2012)

I didn’t pay much attention to this Steven Spielberg film when it first came out, despite the buzz it generated. In my head, I described it derisively as “Oscar bait”. I thought it would be one of those biopics that would tell the story of the title character’s whole life, from his birth to his death, dripping with forced, completely unsubtle veneration. I hate that. If a storyteller wants me to admire someone, I’d like to come to this admiration on my own. I don’t need anyone shoving heroism down my throat. It’s a turn-off.

Lincoln astounded me. The film focused on the political maneuverings that led to the passing of the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery and ending the American Civil War, showing Lincoln’s brilliance as a statesman, and his decency as a human being (a decency apparently not shared by several of his colleagues). I was unsure about the tone the film would take before I started watching. Solemn? Somber? Rah-rah-USA-forever? The film opens with Lincoln telling a soldier (who remarked that the President had “fluffy hair for a white boy”) that his barber hanged himself and “He left me his scissors in his will.” I was hooked. This Lincoln, who loves to make a point by telling long anecdotes, parables and jokes, is funny. He loves telling stories so much that at one point, one of his  men shouts in frustration, “You’re going to tell one of your stories again! I have no time for your stories!” Though the film is set against the backdrop of the four-year Civil War, it is unbelievably hilarious. I enjoyed the insults hurled during the House debates for the amendment (“You unnatural noise!”), and Mrs. Lincoln’s long-ass, tear-himself-a-new-one speech to a visibly irked congressional leader Thaddeus Stevens.

Clocking in at 2 and a half hours, Lincoln has a lot of bright moments, touching moments. Daniel Day-Lewis deserves all the accolades he received for this brilliant performance.

Mientras Duermes/Sleep Tight (2011)

You live in a secure apartment building, with a concierge filtering visitors, but how safe are you, really? This Spanish psychological thriller should kick your paranoia into overdrive. It’s a nice, slow burn, though it got me thinking: why won’t people in this building invest in deadbolts?

Tell No One/Ne le dis à personne (2006)

This French thriller is based on the 2001 novel by American author, Harlan Coben. Alexandre Beck is a pediatrician who loses his wife to a brutal murder eight years ago. But is she really dead? He receives an email with a video link, showing his wife, Elizabeth, older and alive.

I read and loved the novel back in high school (it’s the kind of book I passed on to classmates for them to read), and was glad to revisit it in a new medium. The novel’s plot is pretty airtight, with twists and turns along the way, and the film adaptation does not disappoint.

Blackfish is a 2013 documentary about orca (killer whales) in captivity, which premiered in Sundance in January. An engaging, moving film, presented like a psychological thriller, which started production when a trainer was attacked and killed by an orca in 2010. A particularly harrowing sequence was an interview with a former orca catcher. They were in Puget Sound in 1970, and when the young whales were separated from their mothers, the killer whales started screeching and crying, communicating with each other and grieving. It was only then, he said, when he realized – really, truly realized – what they were doing. It was like kidnapping babies, he said, and though he didn’t stop working (the dead whales were cut open and weighed down with stones so they would sink – he was paid to do this monstrous thing, after all) he said that was when he started to cry.

Thank you to Dean for the tip. I’ve never liked those captive animal shows. They have always felt wrong to me.

Watch this film when you get the chance.

Cooped up in the house in Bulacan over the weekend, forced to stay indoors by the rain and the flood.

Who am I kidding. I would have stayed indoors anyway.

Here are movies, some of which I have seen a while back but have not reviewed. Consider them my recommendations, the next time you’re stuck at home because of the rain:

Volver (2006) – The film opens with a group of women, young and old, in their colorful outfits and beautiful hair, cleaning tombs in a windy little town. I think that very first scene encapsulates Almodovar’s thematic style in his films (or at least in the films I have seen so far): death and loss presented in the most colorful, most vibrant way.

I love the efficient way Volver‘s story is told. Raimunda and her daughter and sister clean their mother’s grave, then visit their aunt, who is suffering from dementia. They wonder how she is able to cook and clean the house with her poor eyesight and poor memory. They cross the street and visit a family friend, whose mother has been missing for three years. We get all this information through dialogue and an energetic flow of scenes, no voice-over or elaborate exposition needed.

And just look at the colors. It’s a feast for the eyes.

For a film that talks about death, Volver left me with feel-good feels. It’s the darnedest thing. Watch it.

The Great Gatsby (2013) – Speaking of eye feasts, great cinematography, costume and set design from this Baz Luhrmann film. It’s based on one of my favorite novels, starring excellent actors, so a win all around.

Luhrmann’s films feature over-the-top, highly stylized, extravagant scenes – a great fit for the high society excesses Fitzgerald writes about in the novel. The film is set to modern music (Jay-Z for the 20’s), a juxtaposition that works.

The film made me want to re-read the book! Now that’s successful storytelling.

World War Z (2013) – I hear it’s nothing like the book, but I have no idea because I haven’t read it yet. Still, a great watch, and it presents an elegant solution to the “Zeke” problem. And Peter Capaldi’s here, being decidedly non-Malcolm Tucker in his calmness and sadness. Aw.

Kick-Ass (2010) – Yes, it took me forever to get to watch this. Better than I expected. I enjoyed watching Mark Strong as the big baddie D’Amico.

Red (2010) – I wasn’t impressed the first time I saw it (the funny bits were in the trailers!), but I enjoyed the years-later re-watch. Ready for the sequel now, I suppose.