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fais84
Reviews
As If I Am Not There (2010)
Tragic and haunting
A poignant haunting look at the Bosnian War and the atrocities committed. The film focuses on a young Bosniak girl who winds up at a Serbian War Camp. From here a story of the worst of humanity and the strength that lies within people to endure unspeakable hardship unfolds. The actress who plays the lead character Samira gives one of the best performances I have ever seen on film and says more with her eyes than other actress can say with pages of dialogue. The director does a phenomenal job of capturing the horror or war and more importantly does not use sensationalist tactics to solicit emotional responses from the audience. The story itself and the performances from the actors are powerful enough where they can stand alone.
A film that will likely fly under the radar - but an important one to see; as it acknowledges one of the saddest moments in recent history.
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)
review
Rather then long dance sequences and close ups of the characters which made the film drag on - the movie would have been better served explaining the story and motivations of the characters.
The marginalisation of Nubo, the minister, auntie, mother - and the dumbing down of the dynamic and IMPORTANT rivalry between hatsumo and mameha and hatsumo and sayuri made the movie lack any real depth. If you hadn't read the book you would not really understand why Sayuri loved the Chairman and why Mameha became her mentor at all.
Visually the film was stunning - and the actors all did the best with the C rate script they were given, but that was all that was good about this movie.