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The Girlfriend Experience (2009)
How to make a sophisticated movie with no money
A brilliant little film, economic in its resources and smart in its complex editing. However, this is not destined to be a box office hit. It is the kind of film that Soderbergh does once in a while in-between pop flicks to avoid getting bored.
Sasha Grey delivers some good acting as an ambiguously shallow and ambitious prostitute who tries to survive the post-Obama post-Crisis world of depressed clients and worried boyfriend. Her relationship with her costumers and other professionals who are part of the escort world is built little by little in several out-of-order scenes. Most people will find the movie's timeline confusing, but all you have to do is pay attention to her wardrobe and everything will be fine.
I must also note the soundtrack, that makes use of very interesting unknown music. I specially liked the street drummer.
The images are beautiful enough to make one think "well, not bad for a movie shot on digital". Besides the old-school narrative (in the sense that it belongs more to the Bergman era than to the "Wolverine III" era) this movie looks and feels like the new kind of cinema that cheap digital shooting offers. And I like the way it feels.
IN A NUTSHELL: For Sasha Grey and Soderbergh fans and people who actually care about cinema language. If you like Soderbergh because of "Ocean's Eleven", stay away.
Danny the Dog (2005)
Martial arts or drama? WHO CARES!!
"Danny the Dog" is an odd movie. That's quite a compliment in these times of ready-made scripts and recycling clichés.
Danny, who looks and acts like a Chinese Kaspar Hauser, is used by his "uncle", a dangerous mobster, as a living breathing killing machine. When the leash on his neck is released, and an order is given, he might quickly and effectively kill or beat up anyone his owner tells him to.
However, an accident frees Danny from this dreadful life, and he finds an odd family who might help him get away from this life of killing and violence.
Could Mozart's music turn a kung fu killing machine into a human being? Maybe. Maybe not.
I'm not dying to see this movie again so soon, but I'm sure glad I saw it at least once. Very refreshing. The mains actors are all great in their roles, making the whole thing more believable. Great fighting choreography, nice soundtrack by Massive Attack, and fine cinematography. Sure fun for all the family!
2 Filhos de Francisco: A História de Zezé di Camargo & Luciano (2005)
Excellent story, very well told!
Any Brazilian who manage to get past the gigantic wall that divides the two world of Brazil - the real world and the shopping mall world - would have the opportunity to see a very nice piece of movie making. The story is extremely complex and long, and even so director Breno Silveira manages to tell it in a very clear way, with lots of details and beautiful interpretations and cinematography.
One of the main points that made people overlook the movie was that they focused too much on Zezé di Camargo and Luciano. The movie is not about them, but their father, a very poor and illiterate man who simply decided that his sons would have a better life than his. Francisco's stubbornness is amazing, and his unbeatable faith should be more imitated than laughed at.
An excellent movie for all ages, very entertaining and moving, and a lovely soundtrack, built mostly with old classics of Brazilian country music.
Nijûshi no hitomi (1954)
If you like Japanese horror movies...
Whenever I tell someone about a Japanese movie called "24 Eyes", everyone asks me if it's a horror movie, because of the title and because of the recent boom of Japanese horror movie Hollywood remakes.
I always tell them that yes, it is a horror movie. It is a movie about a woman who is dissed by an entire town because she dared to ride in a bicycle. A movie about people who actually believe that fishing is more important than music. A movie about little children who prefer to die in a war than being poor like their parents.
What else could be more horrorific than all that? Black water dripping from a ceiling? A little girl walking backwards with hair covering her face?
I don't think so.
Vykrutasy (1988)
Short Animation Masterpiece
Garri Bardin presents us with another animation classic in this creative movie about a man made out of wire.
The movie begins in a metalinguistic fashion, with a roll of wire slowly uncoiling itself until becoming a man. He then begins to build things with the wire he has left. But soon his peace is broken by several kinds of invaders, and he needs to balance the wire he has left with his needs for privacy and protection of his private property.
I had never seen wire animated like this. Bardin creates very interesting shapes, and the appearance of the characters and scenarios keep changing from 3d to 2d without being neither of them. The man, the dog and the woman are all very expressive, and he also makes great use of light - which is hard, considering that most things in the movie are transparent and cast no shadows! A must see!
Le Mans (1971)
After "Bride of the Monster", here comes... "Son of 'Grand Prix'"!
It is impossible do dissociate this movie from John Frankenheimer's "Grand Prix", not only because of the similar storyline - if we can call it so - but also because Steve McQueen was supposed to be the star of that movie, and got really angry because he missed the role to James Garner.
But, after watching it, I can't call it a mere spin-off or something. "Le Mans" has its own merits. The nearly mute storytelling is very interesting and is much more valid than 99,999% of so-called "avant-gard" movies.
It takes more than half an hour for any of the characters to actually speak something - the only voices we hear most of the time come from the sound speakers at the racing track. Most of the movie is composed by racing scenes, and a very simple parallel plot is developed in a very interesting way, with hardly any words at all.
Very worth watching at least once, specially if you like 60's cars and racing. The cars were all real, not mock-ups. One of the stunt drivers lost one leg in a real accident.
My only turn-down of this movie is that my favorite thing about Le Mans races is not featured in it. The movie was made in 1971, and depicted the first time ever that the race did not feature its most remarkable characteristic of yester days: back in the day, the 24 Hourse of Le Mans race started with all racers out of their cars, in bare feet. When the race started, they had to run towards their shoes, put them on, run into their cars, activate the engines, and finally leave. I remember seeing this in an old french comic book and loving it.
Well, so what? Watch it anyway. Great Sunday afternoon fun.
La veritaaaà (1982)
Zavattini's last work
In this movie, Zavattini finally took the director's place, solving his dilemma of being always stuck on the role of a cinema writer. He always felt that the writer was the most important person on the movie-making, and was always neglected his deserved credit and money, which is very likely to be true... In this movie he finally takes a step and directs himself, writing and acting as the main character. The movie is very autobiographical, and may be considered a very decent last work, summing up Zavattini's beliefs.