Film review: Not one less (1999) by Zhang Yimou, *****

Testo italiano di seguito

Wei Minzhi

Synopsis

Not One Less, Zhang Yimou's (Raise the Red Lantern) tale of an adolescent substitute teacher in a rural Chinese village, cast entirely with non-actors and shot on location, is an astute example of censorship politics. It can be difficult to bypass political censor in China, especially when education is concerned.

Taking on touchy issues with a veneer of can-do spirit and happy-ending fantasy, his film is at once rousing and eye-opening.


Review

A great film about the transformation of China since the 1990s, when money becomes more important than ideology. A small village can't afford to build a good school or hire a good teacher, or even buy enough chalk for that matter. A teenage substitute teacher displays much more economic drive than professional responsibility or political enthusiasm. Wei Minzhi is a stubborn young woman takes the initiative in working hard for her salary of 50 yuan, which she is to receive if she can fulfill one important condition...

She persuades her class to work in a brick factory to raise funds so she can go to town and search for a missing child. The kids show much more propensity to work for money than to perform in flag raising and goose stepping ideological ceremonies.

See my selection og movies on China here on this blog.




Sinossi

In un lontano villaggio della campagna cinese, dove le strutture sono modeste e il livello di vita è molto povero, il maestro Gao deve assentarsi per un mese per andare ad assistere la madre gravemente malata. Per sostituirlo il sindaco sceglie Wei, una ragazzina tredicenne senza alcuna esperienza d'insegnamento. Prima di partire, Gao raccomanda a Wei di fare in modo che nessun allievo si ritiri da scuola durante la sua assenza. Con la promessa di un compenso di cui ha molto bisogno, Wei si appresta ad affrontare un compito che però si rivela molto difficile: i bambini sono irrequieti e spesso preoccupati per le molte difficoltà che vivono in famiglia. Quasi inevitabilmente dunque una mattina il piccolo Zhang, i cui genitori sono fortemente indebitati, lascia la classe, scappa dal villaggio e va in città a cercare un lavoro. Wei non ha esitazione e decide di andare alla sua ricerca. Nel panorama urbano confuso e disordinato, Wei affronta situazioni del tutto sconosciute. Alla fine una rete televisiva viene a conoscenza della sua storia e ne fa oggetto di un servizio specifico. Zhang allora ricompare. Quando tornano al villaggio, la troupe li segue e insieme porta una serie di oggetti raccolti grazie alle donazioni. Per la scuola si aprono nuove prospettive. Intanto i bambini scrivono sulla lavagna con tanti gessetti colorati.

Recensione

Un eccellente film sulle trasformazioni della Cina a partire dagli anni novanta del XX secolo. Il denaro diventa più importante dell'ideologia. Quando il maestro della scuola di un piccolo villaggio parte per andare a trovare la madre morente, il sindaco non ha i soldi per pagare un supplente. Non ci sono soldi neanche per i gessetti per la lavagna. Con la promessa di 50 yuan viene assunta una giovanissima supplente tredicenne, motivata più dalla somma di denaro che dalla vocazione di insegnante. Ma per guadagnare i 50 yuan c'è una condizione importante che la piccola Wei deve soddisfare...

Lei ci si dedica con tutte le sue forze. Quando un alunno scappa, lei convince gli altri a lavorare qualche giorno in una fabbrica di mattoni per guadagnare il denaro necessario alla ricerca del disperso. I ragazzi sembrano più propensi a lavorare per guadagnare che a cimentarsi in marcette e cerimonie a carattere ideologico. La Cina cambia rapidamente...

Film review: Mahler on the couch (2010), by Percy Adlon, ****

Synopsis

Devastated and confused by the discovery that his beloved wife Alma is having a passionate affair with architect Walter Gropius, controversial composer Gustav Mahler travels to Holland to consult with Sigmund Freud, who is on vacation in Leiden. Feeling humiliated and betrayed, Mahler initially refuses the couch, but when Freud wheels a camp bed into the room, he has no choice.

Fiery yet full of humor, their encounter stretches into the night as Mahler vividly recounts his seduction of Alma Schindler, 19 years his junior, the beautiful darling of Vienna's arts scene. Alma and Mahler fall madly in love and marry, but he frustrates her ambitions to be a composer in her own right. When one of their daughters dies, their marriage begins to fall apart...



Review

The subject matter of this film is most interesting: a musical genius married to a stunning socialite who lives in Vienna at the time of the Belle Epoque. Their life is studded with money, fame and intellectually rich encounters. Especially gifted is Alma, who is at first subjugated by Gustav but later ends up calling all the shots. Gustav Klimt and Walter Gropius are only the most immediately recognizable giants with whom the mahlers cross their path.

It has been correctly pointed out that the film does not do justice to Mahler, whose immense artistic stature only gets short shrift here. I tend to agree.

Acting is good and so is the choice of costumes from the time.

The film is in German only, with English subtitles.

Film review: Namesake (2006), by Mira Nair, ****

Synopsis

Namesake is a Bollywood drama by Mira Nair, based on the best-selling novel by Jhumpa Lahiri. Ashoke (Irfan Khan) and Ashima (Tabu) are a young couple who are brought together in an arranged marriage and soon leave Calcutta to seek their fortune in America. Before long, Ashima gives birth to a baby boy, and pressed to choose a name, they dub the infant Nikhil (Kal Penn), though he soon picks up the nickname Gogol, after Ashoke's favourite author. By the time the child is old enough to attend school, he insists upon being called Gogol at all times, and he displays little interest in his Indian heritage.

Several years on, Gogol has decided he wants to be called Nick (and is now played by Kal Penn) and has become a thoroughly Americanised teenager, openly rebelling against his parents, smoking marijuana in his room, and dating Maxine (Jacinda Barrett), a preppy blonde from a wealthy family. Ashoke and Ashima are uncertain about how to deal with their son's attempts to cut himself off from their culture, but Nick begins expressing some uncertainty himself when he meets Moushumi (Zuleikha Robinson), a beautiful girl who also comes from a family of Indian expatriates.


Review

Multiple stories in this film. Indian immigration in the 1970s, with a bright young engineering student who finds opportunities at M.I.T., the dream university for many scientists around the world. What a coincidence, I went to M.I.T. in the seventies, same university and same decade! Some of my classmates and best friends were just like Ashoke!

Also a touching family love story, with the problems faced by parents of adolescent kids in every country.

The strong role of the family bonds in Indian culture is a message not to be missed, and from which we in the West have much to learn.

I found the puzzlement of the American born kids when they go back to visit India the most entertaining and amusing part of the film.

Everything rotates around the quirky name that Ashoke has chosen for his son, and the meaning of this name which only becomes clear to the son after his father's death.

See more of my reviews of films about India in this blog.

Buy your European Region 2 DVD here



For the US buy or download here




Buy the book here

Film review: The Proposal (2009), by Anne Fletcher, *****

Synopsis

When high-powered book editor Margaret faces deportation to her native Canada, the quick-thinking exec declares that she's actually engaged to her unsuspecting put-upon assistant Andrew, who she's tormented for years. He agrees to participate in the charade, but with a few conditions of his own. The unlikely couple heads to Alaska to meet his quirky family and the always-in-control city girl finds herself in one comedic fish-out-of-water situation after another. Stars Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Malin Akerman, Betty White, Craig T. Nelson, Mary Steenburgen et al.


Review

This is funny, fast, even moving. While the ending is predictable (what else could it be after all?) the way it's worked up is not. A feel good movie for sure, but there is also a moral of the story. I don't know if the author of the director Anne Fletcher of The Proposal meant it, but for me it is: always keep an open mind on what life might bring to you from the most unexpected corners, and be ready to catch it on the fly.


European version DVD



US version

Film review: Casablanca (1942), by Michael Curtiz, *****

Buy the poster by clicking here

Synopsis

Casablanca: a French colonial city during WW II: still governed by unoccupied Vichy France, with a daily flight to neutral Portugal, from where ships sailed regularly to America. A city easy to enter, but much harder to leave, especially if you're wanted by the Nazis. Such a man is Resistance leader Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), whose only hope is Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), a cynical American in love with Victor's wife Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), the ex-lover who broke his heart. Ilsa offers herself in exchange for Laszlo's transport out of the country and bitter Rick must decide what counts more...

The film is bursting with memorable quotes!


Review

So much has been said about this film that it would be presumptuous of me to add anything. I will try to sum it all up in one question, however. Casablanca is about a fundamental choice some people have to make at some crucial point in their lives. The question this film leaves us with is a difficult one. What is more important: finding love or fighting for freedom? 

Rick, the eternal cynic who did not stick his neck out for anyone, chose to fight for freedom. I am not sure what I would have done. Perhaps I would have chosen love. Maybe I am a wimp, or maybe I take freedom too much for granted, as I never had to fight a war for it.

Film review: Escape from Alcatraz (1979), by Don Siegel, *****

Synopsis

One of Clint Eastwood's two most important filmmaking mentors was Don Siegel (the other was Sergio Leone), who directed Eastwood in Dirty Harry, Coogan's Bluff, Two Mules for Sister Sara and this enigmatic, 1979 drama based on a true story about an escape from the island prison of Alcatraz. Eastwood plays a new convict who enters into a kind of mind game with the chilly warden (Patrick McGoohan) and organises a break leading into the treacherous waters off San Francisco. As jailbird movies go, this isn't just a grotty, unpleasant experience but a character-driven work with some haunting twists. --Tom Keogh for Amazon



Review

This is a great movie that entertains with lots of suspense while telling the real story of three inmates who pulled off the only successful escape from the notorious Alcatraz prison.

Eastwood is his usual self: cool, smart and cynical to the extreme, but also human. Highly recommended. Other supporting actors contribute to a great film.


Buy your European disc here



Buy your American disc or instant video here (PAY ATTENTION NOT TO BUY REGION 2 DVD FOR US)

Film review: The Burmese Harp (1956), by Kon Ichikawa, *****

Synopsis

A rhapsodic celebration of song, a brutal condemnation of wartime mentality, and a lyrical statement of hope within darkness; even amongst the riches of 1950s' Japanese cinema, The Burmese Harp, directed by Kon Ichikawa (Alone Across the Pacific, Tokyo Olympiad), stands as one of the finest achievements of its era.

Mizushima taught a Burmese boy to play his harp

At the close of World War II, a Japanese army regiment in Burma surrenders to the British. Private Mizushima is sent on a lone mission to persuade a trapped Japanese battalion to surrender also. When the outcome is a failure, he disguises himself in the robes of a Buddhist monk in hope of temporary anonymity as he journeys across the landscape but he underestimates the power of his assumed role.

A visually extraordinary and deeply moving vision of horror, necessity, and redemption in the aftermath of war, Ichikawa's breakthrough film is one of the great humanitarian affirmations of the cinema.

Nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar and honoured at the Venice Film Festival. You can watch a trailer here.

Film review: Outsourced (2010) by John Jeffcoat, ****

Time magazine cover, 2006

Synopsis

Todd Anderson (Josh Hamilton) spends his days managing a call centre in Seattle until he gets the bad news from his boss his job has been outsourced to India. Adding insult to injury, Todd must travel to India to train his new replacement. He expects the worst experience of his life, and it certainly begins that way! As he navigates through the chaos of Bombay and an office paralyzed by constant cultural misunderstandings, Todd yearns to return to the comforts of home. But it is through his team of quirky yet likable Indian call centre workers, including his friendly and motivated replacement, Puro (Asif Basra), and the charming, opinionated Asha (Ayesha Dharker), that Todd realizes that he too has a lot to learn - not only about India and America, but about himself. He soon discovers that being outsourced may be the best thing that ever happened to him.

Film review: Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) by Rob Marshall, *****

Synopsis

An adaptation of Arthur Golden's best-selling novel by the director of Chicago, Rob Marshall, transports us into a mysterious and exotic world that casts a potent spell. A Cinderella story like no other, Memoirs of a Geisha stars Ziyi Zhang, Ken Watanabe, Michelle Yeoh and Gong Li.

The director of Chicago, Rob Marshall, transports us into a mysterious and exotic world that casts a potent spell. A Cinderella story like no other, this film takes the viewer to Japan in the late 1930s to discover what role geishas played in high society. We can follow the life of a young girl whose family sells to be a maiko (apprentice geisha) in an okiya, a geisha house. She has to put up with a lot (jealousy, competition, envy) before finally becoming a full geisha.


Review

Wonderful photography in this film, not hard to guess it won Dion Beebe a cinematography Oscar. Ditto for the costumes by Colleen Atwood. It is a long film, but it flows fast and you are left at the end wanting for more.

The film has been banned in China as too sensitive, probably because of Chinese actresses being employed in the role of geishas, seen as degrading in China.

Memorable quote, the Chairman to Sayuri: «We must not expect happiness, Sayuri. It is not something we deserve. When life goes well, it is a sudden gift; it cannot last forever!»

Bonus contents are also very well made and add a lot of value to this BD:
-Geisha Bootcamp (See how the actresses became geishas),
-Building the Hanamachi (Behind-the-scene documentary),
-The Look of a Geisha (Inside the wardrobe and make-up),
-The music (composer John Williams take you through his approach to the score),
-and other background material on Japan and "making of" the film.

Buy your European BD here.




Buy your US BD here


You can buy the book on which this film is based here

Film review: Born into Brothels (2004) by Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman, ****

"Running" by Gour, 13 years old

Synopsis

The most stigmatized people in Calcutta's red light district are not the prostitutes, but their children. In the face of abject poverty, abuse, and despair, these kids have little possibility of escaping their mother's fate or for creating another type of life. Directors Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman chronicle the amazing transformation of the children they come to know in the red light district. Briski, a professional photographer, gives them lessons and cameras, igniting latent sparks of artistic genius that reside in these children who live in the most sordid and seemingly hopeless world. The photographs taken by the children are not merely examples of remarkable observation and talent; they reflect something much larger, morally encouraging, and even politically volatile: art as an immensely liberating and empowering force.

The winner of the 77th annual Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, Born into Brothels offers a tribute to the resiliency of childhood and the restorative power of art. Devoid of sentimentality, Born into Brothels defies the typical tear-stained tourist snapshot of the global underbelly. Briski spends years with these kids and becomes part of their lives. Their photographs are prisms into their souls, rather than anthropological curiosities or primitive imagery, and a true testimony of the power of the indelible creative spirit.

Film Review: Confucius (2010) by Hu Mei, ****

Synopsis

From the acclaimed producer of John Woos Red Cliff and Jet Lis Warlords, comes this powerhouse biopic of the legendary Chinese philosopher, Confucius.

In 500 B.C., during China's Spring and Autumn Period, Kong Ze (Confucius), a commoner reverred for his outstanding wisdom, is made Minister of Law in the ancient Kingdom of Lu. Under his inspired leadership, Lu ascends to new heights but becomes a target of conquest for the warlike nation of Qi. Threatened with annihilation by their powerful neighbour, a desperate people turn to their greatest teacher to lead their most powerful army. When Confucius delivers a stunning victory against all odds, a jealous aristocracy sets out to destroy him, but they under-estimated a remarkable man whose wisdom is more powerful than the sword.

With breathtaking cinematography from Oscar-winning director of photography, Peter Pau (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Confucius is a compelling invitation to discover the remarkable story of one of history's greatest heroes.

Review

An impressive big budget movie that will teach you a lot about Confucius and China in the VI-V centuries B.C. Huge sets have been build to replicate imperial palaces and other scenery. Acting is excellent, with Chow Yun-fat at his best.

The script is a bit confusing however, maybe it needs to be watched a few times. Too many intrigues and intertwined stories make it hard to follow.


For travelers, the most famous of innumerable quotes by Confucius is «A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.»

You can watch the theatrical trailer here.

You can see a selection of movies on China I have reviewed on this blog here.

Film review: The Thin Red Line (1998), by Terrence Malick, ****

Synopsis

After directing two of the most extraordinary movies of the 1970s, Badlands and Days of Heaven, American artist Terrence Malick disappeared from the film world for twenty years, only to resurface in 1998 with this visionary adaptation of James Jones’s 1962 novel about the World War II battle for Guadalcanal. A big-budget, spectacularly mounted epic, The Thin Red Line is also one of the most deeply philosophical films ever released by a major Hollywood studio, a thought-provoking meditation on man, nature, and violence. Featuring a cast of contemporary cinema’s finest actors—Sean Penn (Dead Man Walking, Milk), Nick Nolte (The Prince of Tides, Affliction), Elias Koteas (Zodiac, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), and Woody Harrelson (Natural Born Killers, The People vs. Larry Flynt) among them—The Thin Red Line is a kaleidoscopic evocation of the experience of combat that ranks as one of cinema’s greatest war films.

Film Review: September (1987), by Woody Allen, ***

Synopsis

It is late summer, and Lane (Mia Farrow), still fragile after a nervous breakdown, is staying at her childhood home in Vermont. She has been having an affair with Peter (Sam Waterston), a writer who lives nearby, but now relations between them seem to have inexplicably cooled. When Lane's mother (Elaine Stritch) arrives with unexpected news, and the fate of her relationship with Peter becomes clear, Lane's emotional world is thrown into turmoil once again. Written and directed by Woody Allen.


Review

Another Allen movie about the volatility and relative meaninglessness of it all, September is not as rich of dry humor and effective punch lines as some of his other films. He investigates jealousy, bitterness, betrayal, love, but it is all not as deep as seen elsewhere in Allen's prolific filmography.

My favorite quote: "Universe is haphazard, morally neutral and unimaginably violent." I tend to agree. Watch the clip below.




I got this movie in this box set

Films about India

Eternal work in progress, these are the best film about India I have seen...



Born into Brothels (2004) by Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman. Some children of prostitutes find a new life in photography.

Earth (1998) by Deepa Mehta. Harrowing story about the 1947 partition.

Fire (1996), by Deepa Mehta. Two women find freedom and love in traditional India.

Himalaya: the Forgotten Valleys by Guy Costieux. Life in the Buddhist mountains of Northern India.

Kama Sutra, a Tale of Love (1997) by Mira Nair. Love, mysticism and tradition in classical India.

Like Stars on Earth (2007) by Aamir Khan. Success of a child one considered a problem.

Mississippi Masala (1991) by Mira Nair. Romance between races and the American melting pot.

Namesake (2006) by Mira Nair. Family values and Indian immigration to the US in the 1970s.

Outsourced (2010) by John Jeffcoat. Losing your job because the company is outsourciing to India might be the best thing that ever happened to you!

Salaam Bombay (1988) by Mira Nair. Drugs and prostitution in the glittering economic capital of India.

Water (2006) by Deepa Mehta. The desperate plight of widows in traditional India.

Film review: Dikkenek (2006) by Olivier Van Hoofstadt, ****

Synopsis

JC et Stef sont des amis d'enfance. Inséparables. JC est LE dikkenek belge, un donneur de leçon à cinq balles, un moralisateur, un tombeur de minettes, bref une grande gueule intégrale, coiffé comme un peigne. Stef est tout le contraire. Il cherche le Grand Amour, mais vu qu'il ne bouge pas de son lit, il va avoir du mal à trouver. JC lui explique donc la méthode : faire un sans-faute du point A jusqu'au point G.

Film review: The Gods must be crazy (1988), by Jamie Uys, ****

Synopsis

Both instalments of the 'epic comedy of absurd proportions' about the dubious benefits of Western civilisation. In 'The Gods Must Be Crazy', a Coke bottle drops out of the sky to the amazement of the Kalahari Bushmen who find it: they believe it to be a gift from the Gods. The bottle initially seems to the bushpeople to be a miraculous blessing, and they use it for all sorts of different purposes - but before long it becomes a source of conflict as they start to squabble over it. Eventually, one of the men, Xixo (played by real-life Bushman N!xau) sets out to return the bottle to the gods from whom he thinks it must have come, and so begins his first ever foray into 'civilisation'.

In the sequel, 'The Gods Must Be Crazy 2', Xixo loses his children when they accidentally stow away on the back of an elephant poacher's truck while on a hunting expedition in the desert. Once again, Xixo must venture into civilisation to retrieve them. The only problem is, he is continually distracted by so-called 'civilised' people who seem be in greater need of rescuing than his children are.

Film review: Water (2006), by Deepa Mehta, *****

Synopsis

Set against the epic backdrop of the River Ganges in 1938 during Mahatma Gandhi's rise to power, this is the inspiring tale of an eight year old Hindu girl named Chuyia. Chuyia's life is suddenly changed when she is widowed and sent to a home where Hindu widows must live in penitence. She refuses to accept her fate and her feisty presence begins to affect the lives of other residents, including a beautiful young widow, Kalyani (Lisa Ray of Bollywood/Hollywood) who has fallen in love with Ghandian idealist, Narayan (Bollywood star John Abraham).

Extremist groups waged a campaign of death threats, arson and riots to stop the production of this controversial film, but director Deepa Mehta would not be silenced. Set against Gandhi's rise to power, Water tells the profoundly moving story of Chuyia, an Indian girl married and widowed at eight years old, who is sent away to a home where Hindu widows must live in penitence. Chuyia's feisty presence deeply affects the other residents, forcing each to confront their faith and society's prejudices.

Film review: Winds of Sand, Women of Rock (2010), by Nathalie Borgers, *****

Synopsis

Amina is preparing to leave with the date caravan. Every year, she and many other Toubou women make this 1500 km journey from Agadez to Bilma, across Niger's Sahara, despite the danger, the heat (50°C) and the sandstorms.

For these nomadic women, the journey is the key to their economic independence: they sell their goats and bring back dates, and with the income from the sale of the dates, a family can live for a year. But Amina, a rebellious 26-year old, has had enough of this long trip. En route, she finds a friend in Mariama and, far from the men, the two young girls share their dreams of a modern, independent life. When they reach their destination, they try to put their plans into action. But Domagali is weary of joining them, and longs to go back to the Sahara, where the grass is free.

Film review: Friends with benefits (2011) by Will Gluck, ****

Description

Dylan (Justin Timberlake) is done with relationships. Jamie (Mila Kunis) decides to stop buying into the Hollywood clichés of true love. When the two become friends they decide to try something new and take advantage of their mutual attraction – but without any emotional attachment. Physical pleasure without the entanglements. Sounds easy enough for two logical adults, right? Not so much. They soon realize romantic comedy stereotypes might exist for a reason.

Review

This is not as good as "No Strings Attached" but "Friends with Benefits" is nonetheless fun and worth the affordable price of this DVD on Amazon. The film has its well designed twists and turns and it is never completely predictable. One just wonders how many real "friends with benefits" are there in the world, but certainly this choice of partnership is becoming more acceptable and common in the early XXI century. There are even websites devoted to it. It sounds perfect does it not? Free fun without the burden of either commitment or involvement. Not so fast...

Film review: While you were sleeping (1995) by John Turteltaub, ****

Lucy gets a gift from her new family

Synopsis

Lucy (Bullock) dreams of a man, and when she happens to be engaged to him through the most unusual chain of coincidences she realizes he is actually not for her. Someone else is. Despite the social pressure that builds up through the film, she eventually does what is necessary!


Review

This is certainly among the best rom/com I have ever seen, and I am looking forward to letting a few months go by and then I will watch the DVD again. Bullock is great is her natural simplicity. But it is Pullman who is perhaps the real star with his understated but deep personality. Most supporting actors are great as well, which is a real plus.

I also find a message in this film, not sure whether it was intended by either its author or the director but here it is: be ready to change your life, because what you really wanted for a long time, and thought was impossible, might actually happen. When it does, it might not be what you expected, so again: be ready to change your target, fast.

It seems to be a recurring theme is Bullock's movies. I got a very similar message out of "The Proposal" (which I also review in this blog). I treasure it in my own life.