Reviews

From what I had heard and seen, I was expecting a good idea wrapped in low production values ruined by poor acting and realisation. I was more than pleasantly surprised. The film was so well told and the story so engaging that the low production values didn't matter. The acting was good enough to not distract me from the story. I wasn't bored once, it was a compelling and entertaining experience.

People here complain the discussions were tiring. Ever been to a grass-roots democratic plenum where a bunch of people tried to come to a decision by talking about it? Those real-life discussions are tiring, really tiring. Compared to them, the discussions in the movie are breezy while still very true to what grass-roots democracy can sound and feel like.

Yes, certain elements of the story may seem naive or simplistic. And yes, it's a very talkative movie. If you are easily annoyed or bored by lots of talking, than this is probably not the movie for you.

I would really recommend it to everyone else though for its unique idea and storytelling.

i was looking forward to seeing this movie as i had travelled in cambodia last year and visited bokor hill station where some of the movie was shot. also i was curious about an actor´s directorial debut and the cast sounded promising. finally watching the movie wasn´t a totally disappointing experience but i wasn´t too happy with it either.

well, what did i like about it? it was obvious to me that this movie was made by someone who had spent some time in cambodia. the country wasn´t just used as a pretty backdrop. there were quite a few little details that the movie got right, that rang true and matched my experience in cambodia. the relationship between matt dillon´s jimmy and his driver sok was one of the movie´s strongest points.

but other than that, everything was a little off balance. for instance, apart from sok, the cambodians in city of ghosts were mostly shown as immoral criminals not to be trusted. as other reviewers have pointed out, plot and characters were far from well developed. the love interest was definitely the movie´s weakest point, it was thrown in without paying attention to actually making it work. after watching the movie, i really had the impression that matt dillon just terribly wanted to make a movie in cambodia cause he was somehow fascinated with the place (who wouldn´t be?) and then just scrambled a story together, taking obvious bits and pieces from here and there, including the completely superfluous love interest part just cause that´s what movies do not because it made sense for the story.

there´s some reflection going on here about the role of foreigners in a country like cambodia, which i think is a worthy and extremely interesting subject. but unfortunately, this reflection as well as the attention to the details of cambodian life didn´t dive deep enough.

to me, it was a highly enjoyable experience to reconnect with my travel-memories, to find myself watching a movie and knowing the places in it. bokor hill was just as foggy (even more so) and spooky when we went there last year. it was a great idea to shoot there. i guess the movie can be enjoyed on various levels, for some of the scenery, some of the acting, most of the details, the mood that is conjured up by sounds and images, but to me the story isn´t one of them. i would recommend this to anyone who´s interested in it for any reason whatsoever but not to those who are looking for a strong or original story or those who are too afraid to waste some money or time.

i loved lili taylor in this movie. and although there were some scenes that were truly well done, engaging and enjoyable, i have to agree with the other comments so far: something was missing, something just wasn´t right. it seems to me that someone wasn´t totally sure what the movie was to be about, what its main focus should be. julie´s suddenly discovered academic talents somehow ring false, there is nothing here that would explain them or make them believable. i was expecting an upbeat movie, and although the direction the story took in the end made sense, it wasn´t exactly satisfying. for anyone who wants to see rebelling housewives or who just wants to see lili taylor and courtney love ACT (or kiss each other), i would recommend this one though.

an amazing film by asian cinematographer guru chris doyle, almost permanent partner of wong-kar-wai. which means: amazing pictures. fuzzy around the edges, confused at times but shockingly clear at others (not just the pictures, i mean). which also means: people talking in different languages, at the same time, to each other. which in itself is worth watching if you fall for that kind of thing. another way to put it: creative, instinctive way of using words (and images etc) while on a certain level the whole thing makes SENSE. its just that doyle likes his beer often instead of cold which makes some scenes tiring.... but still. you critics out there, you´re much too "critical"..... away with words indeed.