Death at a Funeral

Frank Oz, 2007 (8.3*)
It’s not every day that you laugh all through a film about a funeral. Writer Dean Craig has managed to do just that in this black comedy. It’s also not in any other cinema funerals that you see hallucinagenic drugs ingested (accidentally), a naked man threatening to jump off a roof, and a blackmailing dwarf giving everyone a thrill with an unexpected appearance.

These are just a few of the bizarre images and ideas that should at least have everyone chuckling. The film starts a bit slow, as at first you just have people on their way to the funeral of a well-to-do British family patriarch, father of a pair of brothers, played by Matthew Macfadyen, who lives at the house of his parents, and Rupert Graves, a famous novelist who lives in New York, flying in after years away from home. You see the normal rushing of people late, the grumbling by the elderly uncle in a wheelchair, “you’re late!” (wonderfully played by veteran actor Peter Vaughn, who was the head man in  Terry Gilliam's Brazil – “Ere I am JH”) and other family members in slight turmoil. However, this funeral has no one weeping or appearing that distressed, so in that regard it’s a realistic one.

However, once the funeral service begins at the house, one event after another delays the proceedings to the delight of the audience. One of my favorite side stories is the boyfriend of a relative who is accidently given some LSD instead of valium, as a pill bottle for the latter was used by a hippie brother for transporting the acid without notice. Alan Tudyk is perhaps a little over the top, but I have seen people on psychedelics act just this way at pop festivals; many inevitably end up naked, as does his character Simon.

Tiny actor Peter Dinklage (best known for The Station Agent) plays the dwarf who sets the brothers and the funeral on its ears with some startling photos, adding his own bizarre flavor to the unexpected plot turns. Jane Asher, former gf of Paul McCartney, plays the grieving widow, who is the only one shedding any tears for the deceased.

Remade by Neil LaBute as a black version (of course with Martin Lawrence, who gets to star in every film that Eddie Murphy is not in - and also Chris Rock), a unappealing version that got a 5.4 rating at IMDB vs. 7.3 for the original, and a 51 from Metacritics vs. 67 for the original. Not big numbers for the original either, but I think it’s a little better than that – it’s certainly an original comedy, and the best comedy about the way we treat death since The Loved One (1965), Tony Richardson’s b&w comedy of the Evelyn Waugh novel.

This won two audience awards, at the Locarno Int’l Film Festival and the U.S. Comedy Arts festival.

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Captain Abu Raed

Amin Matalqa, Jordan, 2007 (8.8*)
A lonely widower who works as a janitor at a metropolitan airport finds a discarded pilot’s cap in a trashcan at the terminal. He’s often dreamed of being a pilot himself, fantasizing about travelling around the globe, yet, like many, he’s been basically trapped in his own hometown for most of his life.

He spends a lot of time reading, and is quite literate, so stories come naturally to him. When some local kids see him in the captain’s hat, they start calling him Captain, and begs him for stories of his travels. Rather than disappoint the children, Abu starts telling them wondrous tales of countries he’s never visited.

At the same time, he is befriended by a beautiful young stewardess, played by Rana Sultan, and the two start a platonic friendship that allows each to share personal confidences. Abu is becomes particularly attached to one young boy, whose home life is marred by domestic violence, as his dad gets drunk then beats his mother.

This is a story that is beautifully gentle at times, and brutally honest at others, as the life that we envision for ourselves is not always concident with reality, which can be quite harsh for some. Nadim Sawalha turns in a subtle and moving peformance in the title role, photo below, whose face seems to reflect hopes lost during a lengthy life of toil. I’ll have to admit, this is my favorite film from Jordan (the only one I've seen).

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Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

Yves Simoneau, 2007 (8.6*)
Memorial Day War-a-thon Film #18
Tells the true story of the U.S. war against the Lakota Souix tribe, from the book by Dee Brown. We see a lead up of escalating events until there is the banning of the harmless "Snake Dance", and an eventual historical event the U.S. would rather forget - I won't spoil it here for those who don't know or haven't seen the film.

This intermingles the stories of three historical characters: Charles Eastman, aka Ohiyesa, a college-educated Sioux doctor, 'living proof of the success of assimilation'; the proud Sitting Bull, the Lakota chief who refuses to submit to U.S. policies designed to strip his people of their identity, dignity and their sacred land - the gold-laden Black Hills of the Dakotas, promised to them in a treaty, to 'remain untouched'; and Senator Henry Dawes, who was one of the architects of the government policy on Indian affairs.

This film goes even further by showing how we indoctrinated Native American children into our society - by forcing them to drop their Indian names and choose a "Christian" one out of a big book of approved biblical names. They were forced to denounce their heritage and change names and learn Christianity or they were not given an education.

Stars Aiden Quinn, Anna Paquin, Fred D. Thompson, Chevez Ezaneh, and August Schellenberg as Sitting Bull.
won 22 awards out of 42 nominations, including 6 Emmys out of 17 nominations, including best tv movie.

Note: What most historical records won't say it that it was really just a matter of gold, which was discovered on sacred Souix grounds in the Black Hills, home of their sacred ancestors. The U.S. was in one of its regular bankruptcies or depressions, the government having just borrowed 500 million from J.P. Morgan in 1875 - suddenly there was easy gold in land they could just take back from the Souix, conveniently ignoring any prior treaties.

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La Vie En Rose

Olivier Dahan, 2007, France (8.8*)
Marion Cotillard as Edith Piaf in this biopic was jaw-dropping, beyond acting into art. I'd have to say best all-time top 3, maybe the best. The only other two that even come close for me are Liz Taylor in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and Daniel-Day Lewis in My Left Foot, as far as actors being so immersed in the roles that they weren't recognizable as themselves after about 5 minutes.

The difference in the two is that Marion made me cry in happy scenes (when Marlene Dietrich came to her table after a song and told her she had "taken her back to Paris") and cry in sad scenes, something no one else has done.

Marion plays Piaf (a name given by a nightclub manager who found her on the street, Louis Leplée, played here by Gerard Depardieu, it means "sparrow") from about age 16 to her death at 47 of liver failure, after a lifetime of booze and heroin. At one point she was shooting up 10 times a day - she told the doctor "so my body will stop screaming" or something like that. This film also shows her childhood, which had a lot to do with developing her character, her singing, and her outlook on life.

Director Olivier Dahan (a young-looking 40 when he made this), read every published book on Piaf, and some unpublished manuscripts in the Paris Biblioteque as well. He said that he didn't want any one version to become the story.

Marion watched every interview and film of Edith, and didn't want to imitate her (her voice is much deeper but she made it work right away). Director Dahan said after 2 weeks they never spoke, Marion got it all intuitively.

The Oscar®-winning makeup, headed by Didier Lavergne after several others dropped out, saying "it can't be done", was about the best ever. She looked 65-70 in her 40's (and Dahan shot lots of closeups in the old face), bent over, shaking, half bald - this was very tough to watch but definitely worth it.

It's amazing to me that she only won 17 acting awards for this, and the Oscar® of course, when they give out about 30-35 (Helen Mirren won 30 for The Queen, that's the most for a lead role I've found, this has far more depth and real acting than that). I can't believe 13 others beat her that year. It had to be awards from people who hadn't seen it, that's all that makes sense.

It took me awhile (3 years) to get up the courage to watch this, as I already knew Piaf's life story; it's a tough, dreary one with little sunshine. (Personally, I would have given up about age 25)

The film won 2 Oscars®, 4 BAFTAs, 5 French academy awards (Césars). Overall it won 31 awards out of 64 nominations.

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Eastern Promises

David Cronenberg, 2007 (8.5*)
Director David Cronenberg is usually noted for more experimental films that can sometimes expose the brutal underbelly of mankind in ways almost too gruesome to bear, such as J.G. Ballard's Crash (the one with James Spader bedding a number of crash victims, such as Holly Hunter and Roseanna Arquette), or Dead Ringers, in which Jeremy Irons turned in a career performance as twin gynecologist brothers who play with the lives of lovers and patients.

In this film, he gives a more straightforward narrative of the Russian mafia. A pregnant teen in London dies giving childbirth, but leaves behind a revealing journal in Russian, which details a rape at 14 and other crimes. Naomi Watts (excellent as usual) as Anna is determined to keep the baby out of the system and find the girl's relatives. She meets a mafia driver with a long criminal past tattoed on his body, played by Viggo Mortensen in his best dramatic performance. Though hardened by life, Nicolai still has enough compassion to give his character depth and complexity, and Mortensen was rewarded with an Oscar® nomination for best actor.

Mortensen and Cronenberg pull off a gut-wrenching and unique fight sequence that will haunt viewers long after the film's more subtle fine points wear off; this is more what we expect from Cronenberg, but the more straightforward narrative perhaps surprised some of his fans, as this is a more mainstream story, with an excellent screenplay from Steven Knight, than perhaps any of his films, including the excellent A History of Violence, also starring Mortensen. There are also fine supporting performance from Vincent Cassel and veteran actor Armin Mueller-Stahl as Russian mobsters.

As a result, this film won 24 awards out of 59 nominations overall. Mortensen won 5 awards out of 13 nominations, but his performance was the only Oscar® nomination for this overlooked crime gem. Cronenberg himself was nominated for 10 awards, but was once again overlooked by the academy.

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The Company

Mikhael Salomon, 2007 (8.6*)
A rare miniseries from TNT, and one almost well done enough to be from the BBC. The title of course refers to the CIA, and attempts to weave some fictional characters within the framework of about 40 years of CIA history and a few real life characters as well. That's the backdrop anyway, the actual story is about the search for an elusive double agent, codenamed Sasha, an American version of Britisher Adrian Kim Philby, also a character here and portrayed by Tom Hollander.

The period covered is from the start of the Cold War to the fall of the Soviet Union primarily follows three fictional Yale graduates from out of college (class of '54), to their recruitment and years within the CIA. Jack McCauliffe (Chris O'Donnell) and Leo Kritzky (Alessandro Nivola) are rowing partners, and their Russian friend is Yevgeny Tsipin (Rory Cochrane).

This is a very absorbing miniseries, with unfortunately uneven acting. Michael Keaton steals the kudos here (with some of his best dramatic work ever) as real life humanoind James Angleton, the chief of the CIA's counterintelligence unit, and was awarded with an acting nomination from the Screen Actors Guild. Usually excellent Alfred Molina is a little over the top here (as operations mgr Harvey Torriti), Chris O'Donnell is his traditionally bland self (and is in nearly every scene), while Alessandro Nivola as his rowing partner and friend Leo came off a little better. Rory Cochrane is pretty believable, thanks to excellent accent work, as the Russian emigre Yevgeny Tsipin. I always like Natascha McElhone (she's a beauty), but she's not as riveting here as in John Frankenheimer's Ronin (1998), where she was mysterious, intriguing, and militaristic as a possible IRA terrorist.

Those who like this should definitely watch Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd (2006), starring Matt Damon, based on true CIA events. It's realistic and riveting and proves that De Niro can direct also. And, of course, the excellent mini-series Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983) from the BBC, starring Sam Neill as the real life model for James Bond, Sydney Reilly, a Russian defector to Ireland who created his name and his persona.

This series, even though on TNT, did not go unnoticed - it won 6 awards out of 19 nominations, many for it's excellent cinematography by Ben Nott. Director Mikael Salomon was also given a directing nomination from the Directors Guild of America, while Jeff Beal's music won an Emmy.

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Gone Baby Gone

Ben Affleck, 2007 (8.4*)
Well, he may not be much of an actor, but dang if Ben Affleck didn't turn out to be a pretty good director. This is a mystery thriller in the Hitchcockian film noir tradition, and pretty well directed for a debut effort.

This story is about a missing girl, a lack of progress by law enforcement, and the dogged determination of Ben's private detective brother Casey Affleck, who doesn't really act much (which may be a good thing), stars as a man determined to use detection and knowledge of the streets to find the truth. The pace is pretty well maintained, the cast is competent, not exceptional, but does include Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris.

It's apparent that Ben's talent lies behind the camera, and hopefully he makes more tightly crafted crime mysteries, there are so few that are well done these days. A more recently directed effort is The Town, from 2010, another crime film.
Winner of 19 awards overall..

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Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy

Gore Verbinski, 2003-2007
The first pirate films in history to actually make money are based on the tame kid's ride at Disneyland, another first. The three films grossed over 2 billion dollars, and actually cost over 600 million to make. They succeeded by being unabashed mindless adventure films with plenty of violence, special effects, and no sex, the perfect PG combination allowing them to provide daycare for parents hoping to raise kids typically immune to violence to prepare them for the adult world, where, as Tarentino said, "if you kiss a breast, it's a R rating, but if you slice it off, it's only PG."

(1) The Curse of the Black Pearl, 2003 (7.7*)
[#233 in the IMDB top 250, rated 8.0 by 244k viewers]
The first film is named for the ship that is skippered by Johnny Depp in a drunken performance as Capt. Jack Sparrow, an engaging ne'er do well pirate with more makeup than an aging Keith Richards, who looks more like Cher than Depp. Ironically, he received a baffling Oscar® nomination for best actor. How cutthroat pirates are willing to follow a fairly effeminate buffoon of a pirate is never explained.

Olivier Bloom is only slightly more hetero as Will Turner, in love with Elizabeth Swann, played with vigorous anger by Keira Knightly, who somehow manages to keep from being mauled by shiploads of men as all battle the evil Dutch East India Trading Co, the first stock-based corporation in the world, which later went bankrupt in 1800. Here it replaces the British Empire, though seemingly run by British sailors, as the resident evil that has people cheering for the pirates. Geoffrey Rush shines as the former Black Pearl captain, intent on getting his ship back from Sparrow; to me, he actually steals the acting kudos for all three films.

26 awards, 73 nominations

(2) Dead Man's Chest, 2006 (8.2*)
[rated 7.3 by 155k viewers at IMDB]
Since these are really nothing but CGI based adventures for kids, I prefer the 2nd film due to two eye-popping sequences. Best in all the films is a swordfight with Depp and a company rep that begins on a water wheel, which rolls down the island hills and to the sea, while the two battle the entire time. Another involves the pirates being caught and bound in a giant net cage handing off a mountain cliff. The pirates rock it back and forth in order to grab land and pull themselves up. This also introduces us to Bill Nighy as Davy Jones, complete with a live beard of moving octopus tentacles, and a barnacle-encrusted crew.

30 awards (66 noms), 13 for special effects, including a special effects Oscar®. Two awards were for best film from MTV and People's Choice


(3) At Worlds End, 2007 (6.7*)
[rated 7.0 by 138k viewers]
The last film is the most disappointing, in spite of an eye-popping sequence at world's end where the ocean spills over into space, and two ships swirl downward into a giant vortex. This was a disappointing 'conclusion' to a story that had a promising beginning, a dreary slow-moving voyage to nowhere.
16 awards, 29 nominations

The three films totaled 72 awards out of 168 nominations, the lion's share for special effects and popular fan awards. In a hilarious dig at the series, on Family Guy, Peter Griffin wakes up and tells his family "I had the weirdest dream that I was on a pirate ship and the only one who wasn't gay was Oliver Bloom."

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Into the Wild

Sean Penn, 2007 (8.6*)
This is the true story of recent college graduate Christopher McCandless, who, after graduating from Emory U. in Atlanta, did not want to continue on to graduate school or join the work force hoping to achieve his own suburban dream like his parents. Instead he embarked on a spiritual quest of self-discovery like many others before him. Little-known actor Emile Hirsch turned in a subtle yet moving performance, and won some acting awards as a result, and made himself known around the world.

We get to see his story in bits and pieces, as he first leaves Georgia in a car, which is later found deserted after a flash flood in southern California, with no sign of Christopher, to the dismay of parents, former Oscar®-winners William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden. He then hitchikes to the Alaskan wilderness, within sight of Mt. McKinley, trying to survive in nature without any help whatsoever, armed with a book on edible wild plants, the optimism of youth, and an abandoned school bus as a home.

Two-time Oscar®-winning actor Sean Penn proved he could direct with this picture, making a seemingly simple travel story into a life changing voyage into the unknown, and a film not easily forgotten. Overseas, the film won some awards for best foreign film. The awards page at IMDB

Into the Wild moved enough people to be currently ranked #145 on the IMDB top 250.

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No Country For Old Men

Ethan and Joel Coen, 2007 (9.0*)
Best Picture (AA)
Many consider this riveting crime drama to be the best film yet from the Coen Brothers, Ethan and Joel. It certainly won the most awards, most going to the supporting performance of Javier Bardem, who created the 'bounty hunter from hell' in this, who leaves a trail of bodies in his wake. He is such a callous character, often making victims call a coin toss for their lives, that he became an immediate cult icon.

The film begins with Josh Brolin out hunting, and stumbling onto a group of trucks, bodies, and an apparent drug deal gone horribly wrong. This sets a chain of events in motion that baffles veteran sheriff Tommy Lee Jones, a worthy Oscar®-nominee for this himself.

It's almost as if an ill wind is blowing out of the prairie that no one can control; they can only follow it around but they can't stop it from blowing on everyone in its path. A hard film to pigeon-hole, it seems to be the perfect Texas crime story, and neo-noir for the new millenium.

Winner of Oscars® for picture, director, adapted screenplay (taken from the novel by Cormac McCarthy) as well as Bardem's (photo rt) supporting Oscar®. Accepting the award, Bardem said "worst haircut ever on film". Overall it won 94 awards, 20 of those for Bardem, out of 140 nominations, making it perhaps the most critically successful film of the decade.

Currently #119 on the IMDB Top 250

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Youth Without Youth

Francis Ford Coppola, 2007 (8.3*)
Francis Coppola's first directorial effort in ten years is a complex, science fiction edged story based on the novel of Romanian author Mircea Eliade. Underused veteran actor Tim Roth, who is always interesting, plays an elderly linguistics expert, Dominic, whose true love has died, and his own research is at a standstill, when he's struck by lightning while crossing the street one night in Austria in the 30's.

He emerges from the burns a much younger man, and apparently oblivious to aging. His first task is to avoid Nazis and scientists, for he realizes his freedom and life would effectively be over. Dominic eventually meets a woman whose own catharsis is born of lightning, so he finds a new purpose in his research.

Much of the film uses the science of linguistics - languages used in the film include English, Romanian, French, Italian, Mandarin, German, Russian, Latin, Armenian, and ancient (and authentic) Sanskrit, Egyptian, and Babylonian.

This film is another that is not straightforward chronologically, and therefore will anger many viewers who need a nice neat storyline. Here the effort will be rewarding to the more diligent viewer, as the haunting and original story will linger for days afterward.

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Blood of My Blood

aka Sangre de Mi Sangre
(originally titled Padre Nuestro)
Christopher Zalla, Mexico, 2007 (8.2*)
Grand Jury Prize, Sundance

This is a gripping suspense story of a illegal teenaged immigrant to the U.S., Pedro (Jorge Adrián Espíndola), who heads to New York in a semi-trailer with other illegals to find his father (Jesús Ochoa), armed with a letter sent to his mother and a locket with their picture as proof that he is his father's son. Unfortunately, he befriends a criminal in the trailer, Juan (Armando Hernández) who steals these at the end of the trip, and who begins to pose as the son himself, finding the father through the address on the letter.

The illiterate Pedro ends up lost on the streets, and enlists the help of a drug addicted prostitute, Magda (Paola Mendoza), who helps him, but of course for money, which Pedro doesn't have, as that was stolen also. The film follows the stories of all four, which are eventually interconnected through the father.

This gritty streetwise story, perhaps a bit overlong, has an excellent screenplay, realistic cinematography, a unique music score, and the acting is right on target - one feels that the actors are pulled from real life and not film auditions. This is unlike most U.S. films, since small realistic endeavors like this won't make enough money to get filmed here, yet it's similar in style to early Scorsese, notably Mean Streets and Taxi Driver.

A nominee of several awards at film festivals, and winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival.

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Molière

Laurent Tirard, 2007, France (8.5*)
This is not the story of the French playright Molière, but rather a fiction to explain his possible disappearance for two years just after being released from debtor's prison. The story surmises that Molière, played by Romain Duris, had his debt paid by a wealthy merchant, Monsieur Jordain (Fabrice Luchini), in exchange for the playright becoming his private acting tutor in order that he may woo a young widow and courtesan, Célimène (played by vivacious Ludivine Sagnier), by performing a one-act play of his own.

As Jourdain is married, with a marriable daughter he's trying to find a title for, Molière's true identity must be kept a secret, so he is brought to Jourdain's estate as an austere young priest named Tartuffe. He is immediately attracted to Jourdain's neglected wife Elmire, wonderfully played with passion by the beautiful Italian actress Laura Morante.

The entire story is told as a flashback by Molière upon his arrival in Paris some 13 years later, after touring the provinces performing comedies, finally being given a playhouse in the city by the king himself. It's mostly a comedy, yet is also a touching romance with the perfect look of a period costume drama, this one taking place in the mid 1600's. The French aristocracy is shown to be largely materialistic idlers, con artists who'd rather marry or borrow money rather than do anything productive; this is pre-revolution of course, and even though it's been done before, this is one of the better productions and stories in this genre.

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I'm Not There

Todd Haynes, 2007 (8.8*)
Done in the rambling style of a 60's Fellini film (notably 8 1/2) by director Todd Haynes and given the name of an unreleased song from Dylan's "Basement Tapes", this is an inventive and non-formulaic fantasy, not a docudrama, but an inventive art film that improvises on the various mythic personae (7 here, played by 6 different actors) of Bob Dylan, some self-created, such as an 11 yr old black "Woody Guthrie" based on Dylan's own tale give to NY journalists, and character "Billy" from the Pat Garrett/Billy the Kidd songs.

Cate Blanchett deservedly won 9 int'l acting awards (but curiously not the Oscar® or BAFTA) for her dead-on portrayal of the 'electric era' Dylan often at odds with his folk-purist fans, capturing his personality without trying to impersonate him; as always, she is simply brilliant. Christian Bale is also effective as the early folk singer making his mark in Greenwich Village, and as the later 'newborn evangelist'. Heath Ledger plays an actor made famous by playing Dylan in a mid-60s biopic, while Charlotte Gainsbourg is subtle and stunning as his troubled artist wife. Along with Ledger's, perhaps the most incongruous story line is the western "Billy", played by Richard Gere, seeking solitude in a mythic 1800's town and location (Riddle County); this storyline is not about Dylan but his musical characters, and his own occasional retreat into reclusivity to escape the media and fan limelight.

Often shot in 60's style black and white, often jumping from one character/story to another, sometimes feeling improvised, these variations in style actually help the film stay lively and interesting, as well as constantly surprising the most jaded of film fans. Only those expecting a straight narrative will be disappointed, and this should interest both Dylan fans and those who simply respect his amazing achievements, of giving a voice to the most important era of the postwar generations: the emerging movements for both civil rights and ending the Vietnam war. In fact, Dylan gave voice to both 'beatnik' and 'hippie' generations, when non-conformity and exercise of freedom became the battle cries of youth disenfranchised with the military-industrial war machine controlling the world's governments.

This deservedly WON a Rolling Stone magazine poll for non-documentary music biopics (over Ray and The Doors); even had Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" not given the name to both the magazine and the rock group, it still would likely have won this poll as it's the most ambitious and inventive rock film since Richard Lester's A Hard Day's Night, which is itself parodied in one scene with Cate's "Jude" character cavorting in the grass with the Beatles on the set of that film. This is a film that almost immediately begs for a re-watch, and will certainly be on every list of must see rock movies.

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The Kite Runner

Marc Forster, China-US, 2007 (8.4*)Khaled Housseini's award-winning novel is brought to life in a near-epic film by Swiss director Marc Forster (Finding Neverland, Monster's Ball), who seems to have a delicate touch in bringing out the humanity in the stories that he films. The story begins with the childhood friendship of two Afghani boys in the peace before the Soviet invasion of their country, which turns many into refugees. The most exhilirating and joyful scenes in the film are of kite flying in Kabul (filmed in western China), which usually involves trying to attack other kites and cut their strings.

The central part of the story involves a dramatic turn of events that changes the boys' lives forever, while the latter part shows the new lives of Afghani immigrants in the U.S., forced to flee to avoid Soviet reprisals against anti-Communists during the occupation of Afghanistan. The acting is superb, even the amateur child actors (one was a Broadcast Film Critics award-winner), and especially Khalid Abdalla, who was a terrorist in United 93. However, like most films of novels, it seems a bit of a synopsis of a longer novel. This is a tough story to bear, showing guilt, shame, violence, fear, hope and redemption - but one that should definitely be experienced by those of us in the west who have never had to endure an invasion of our homeland. Golden Globe and BAFTA nominee for best foreign film - why no Oscar® nomination, which it deserved? (the music was nominated)

Be sure to see Forster's Finding Neverland, which is Kate Winslet's favorite film of hers (and perhaps Johnny Depp's best performance), and also Jack Gold's Goodnight, Mister Tom (1998), which features John Thaw (of Inspector Morse fame) in his finest dramatic performance as an embittered widower in the British countryside forced to take in a London child evacuee during the WW2 bombings of England, one of the highest rated films at Netflix among viewers.

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Rendition

Gavin Hood, 2007 (8.1*)
This is not a very pleasant movie to witness, but it is both a timely one and make some important political statements regarding terrorism and national security. The story begins with Reese Witherspoon on the phone with her husband, played by Omar Metwally, now a petro-engineer attending a conference in So. Africa, about picking him up at the D.C. airport. He boards the plane but upon arrival is whisked away by U.S. security agents, apparently because his cell phone was called by a suspected terrorist, and he's an Egyptian national living in the U.S. on a green card, which makes him a third class citizen with few rights. We are then shown a suicide bombing in a public plaza in Cairo, witnessed by CIA field operative Jake Gyllenhaal (whose name is "Freeman", perhaps too obvious) to visually illustrate what real worldwide terrorism is about. Over the course of the film, British director Gavin Hood brings these stories slowly together in what is both a scary and a realistic scenario.

This film exposes some important dilemnas, voiced by Meryl Streep in a small but very effective role as the CIA op who can have certain suspicious individuals whisked away, under "extraordinary rendition", a polite way of saying that individual rights and due process under law are waived in times of martial law, which certainly now exists to combat militant extremists. Veteran Alan Arkin is also perfect as a politically-minded U.S. Senator, balancing the thin line of what's right vs. staying electable. Gyllenhaal is effective as someone relatively new to the game of information extraction from prisoners, witnessing the best acting in the film for me by Yigal Naor, totally believable as the ruthless Egyptian security head who will stop at nothing to gain information from suspected terrorists, and to protect his beautiful daughter, played by Zineb Oukach.

If you can stomach it, watch the documentary on the dvd, called "Outlawed" for a brutal look at eyewitness accounts of torture under U.S. supervision, which inspired director Hood in making this movie. It also helps explain why much of the terrorism is directed at the U.S. This is a scary subject, one that likely won't go away anytime soon, as each side refuses to budge and insists on it's own self-righteous political stand.

Quote (from Alan Arkin as the Senator, to a lawyer on his staff): "If you don't want to compromise, join Amnesty International"

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My Blueberry Nights

Wong Kar-Wai, 2007, in English (8.2*)
Wong is a Hong Kong director, and one of the most visual filmmakers in history, which makes him one of my favorites. He frames shots like still photographers, yet always keeps the camera moving so nothing is static. He also likes to slow the speed down sometimes (such a slow motion kiss), or speed it up a little (street crimes become blurred and fast), creating alterations of time only possible with cinema. His films all involve passage of time and relationships, and some even show the date or time as segment headings. This film shows its "chapters" as date and distance from New York City for the main character played by singer Norah Jones in a subtle, finely nuanced performance.

This is about relationships, close and long distance. The film starts in New York city, where Jude Law runs a diner frequented by Jones, hunting for a missing lover. She later hits the road, and the film moves to Memphis, where she meets David Straithorn, an alcoholic cop, while tending bar, and his estranged wife, Oscar winner Rachel Weisz. She later moves on to Nevada and runs into Natalie Portman as a poker playing babe with a hot Jaguar.

Wong tells simple stories where the art is in the cinematography. He has some of the richest color you'll ever see in modern films, and some of the most striking images of mundane subjects. In this one he shows almost abstract images of pie, elevated trains, cars, landscapes rolling by. His films have won numerous international awards, but this is his first one in English, and will be a nice introduction to his work for westerners not familiar with him. Chungking Express and its sequel Fallen Angels were the inspiration for Tarentino's Pulp Fiction.

This film also features a terrific soundtrack, with original music by Ry Cooder, and some pop songs, with "The Story" sung by Norah Jones at the film's close.

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Atonement

Dir: Joe Wright, 2007 (8.9*)
Best Picture (British AA)
Best Drama Picture (GG)
[Updated 12/01/09 with the awards link]
This British war romance, based on an Ian McEwan novel, is one of the best recent films in the classic romantic novel tradition, and reminds me of Jane Austen and Edith Wharton. Keira Knightly and James McAvoy star as the lovers, who grew up together on the same estate, but from different social classes. There's also a bit of sibling rivalry going on with Keira's little sister, brilliantly played by young Saiorse Ronan, who was rewarded with an Oscar® nomination for supporting actress. However, it's Vanessa Redgrave who takes your breath away with a five minute scene; this was short but worthy of award nominations, she was so incredible (she was nominated by one critics group). The long tracking scene at Dunkirk that follows three soldiers for about a mile is one of the most unforgettable war images on film. Also received Oscar® nominations for picture, director, art direction, costume design, screenplay, and won an Oscar® for music.

Update: Atonement went on to win 23 awards with another 67 nominations worldwide. Young Saiorse Ronan (Briony at 13) was terrific, and got several nominations for supporting or actress or newcomer. The awards page at IMDB

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Jodhaa Akbar

Ashutosh Gowariker, India, 2007 (8.1*)

Update: this just won 11 International Indian Film Awards, 2nd most ever, including picture, director, music, costumes, editing; it's now won 39 awards worldwide (link to its page at Wikipedia)

This has to be India’s Gone with the Wind (only better), an epic 16th century historical tale with beautifully ornate palaces, jewels, costumes – it even effectively mixes in some haunting and entrancing musical numbers (but not many). My favorites were a wedding night song and dance performed by whirling dervishes of the Sufi sect (trance inspiring!), and a beautiful romantic ballad from the second half when the lovers are alone (sensual yet very understated). Some of the dances have camera shots from overhead like a Busby Berkeley musical (only with 300 dancers instead of 30), performing ornate moving mandalas in bright colored costumes.

The stars are both very beautiful, the role of the Muslim Mughal Emperor is Hrithik Roshan (a strong, muscled warrior-king and swordsman), and his reluctant (and Hindu) Rajput Queen named Jodhaa is the breath-taking beauty Aishwarya Rai, in her finest here as a well-jeweled queen; this cements the argument that she is the most beautiful woman in the world (see photo), and she can also sing and dance (see Bride and Prejudice)

The story is multi-cultural and about the religious freedom and unification attempted by Akbar (a title of honor), who allows his Queen to build a Hindu shrine to Kali and maintain her religion. The story is fictionalized regarding the romance, turning it into a fairy tale love story, but the history is generally accurate about the unification of Hindustan. About an hour too long at 3.5 hours (Netflix inaccurately shows 450 minutes, or 7.5 hrs, yikes), with the better drama all in the second half (the first seems rushed and sketchy), and some of the martial arts are a bit slow and clumsy, rated down for these criticisms.

Note: Indian history buffs say that Jodhaa eventually converted to Islam to be totally acceptable to Akbar’s subjects.

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The Assassination of Jesse James

By the Coward Robert Ford
Andrew Dominik, 2007 (7.8*)
This is a fictitious account of the last days of Jesse James, from a novel by Ron Hansen. A bit slow, the film nevertheless has a leisurely grace and almost epic length, and with some stunning cinematography by Roger Deakins, becomes another in the line of elegaic westerns (The Claim, Open Range).

Casey Affleck shines as the Ford brother who ultimatey shot Jesse James, and this film is really all about his life, as it continues after the incident. Brad Pitt is good as James, but Affleck is really the better actor in this, and garnered an Oscar® nomination, and several smaller awards as best supporting actor.

Director Dominik, in only his second film, evokes Terence Malick's Days of Heaven for style and pace. For me, down a star for length, 2 hrs would have been enough, and since his first film was Chopper, maybe next time he can find the middle ground with the title's length.

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