Never Let Me Go (2010)

This terribly moving film begins at the edge of sanity where children are raised in an idyllic setting and then harvested for their organs once they reach adulthood. The organ donors live out their purpose without questioning why or without really believing that they have any other purpose. Aside from the heavy sentimental reaction I got from watching their young lives get snuffed out, I was pushed to consider the idea of free will as it was presented in the film - and I always appreciate that opportunity!

As I often do, I really appreciated the gentleness in the film and the easy pace as it massaged the fate of the characters into our minds.

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All the Little Animals (1998)

This film brought to mind the quote at the beginning of my film:

Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace. - Albert Schweitzer

Surely, one can see that cruelty towards animals is a sure indicator of the perpetrator's character. This film brings the idea that love of the lowliest of creatures is an indicator of real humanity, but it also presses the idea that man is the cruelest of animals deserving the least respect. I disagree with this posit, but it made for an interesting contemplation.

The film is driven by a young Christian Bale who plays Bobby, a simpleton whose trust fund is controlled by a cruel stepfather. He runs away and finds an off-grid kindred spirit whose mission it is to give proper burials to road kill.

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The Corpse Bride (2005)

Brilliant animated feature! What could have been a very dark film is light, refreshing and full of hope - especially if those who are quite put off by the murky depths of the grave simply look at it as a parable (I could include myself in this category sometimes).

Tim Burton leads a troop of puppeteers and stop-motion animators to tell the tale of a Victorian fella named Victor who is betrothed to Victoria (I love it!) only to accidentally wed a corpse as he rehearses his lines in a cemetery. All of the characters - living and dead - give stellar performances and some of the puns are gut splitting hilarious (like when the maggot in the corpse bride's head pops an eye out and says "I'll keep an eye out for him.").

Fighting my dislike of celebrating death and all things spooky, I realized the amazing parallel that we have in Christianity: Christ, the bridegroom, will one day wed his church who's many parts will have been dead and so his bride could be considered a corpse. I think there is some valid parallel here. Some great resurrection images too (the young boy who approaches a walking skeleton, pauses, and then leaps into it's arms shouting "grandpa!").

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The Adjustment Bureau (2011)

This is another adaptation of a Philip K. Dick story (Minority Report, Blade Runner, Total Recall) - written as usual to challenge people's ideas about free will.

David Norris has a promising political career that suddenly goes awry, but he manages to fall in love on the night of his election defeat. What happens next though is far more outrageous: agents prevent him from meeting the girl again. What agents? Well from the Adjustment Bureau of course - a sci-fi organization who makes sure everything is staying on track, God's agents, angels with hats if you please.

The film really can't be taken seriously since the story is full of holes and is actually quite ridiculous, but as a parable about free will, it can't be ignored. I was quite disturbed by it's conclusion actually.

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Black Swan (2010)

Darren Aronofsky gives us another psychological thriller, more in the genre of Requiem for a Dream and Pi than The Wrestler. This time rather than the drug underworld, the academic underworld, and the wrestling underworld, he brings us to the flashy ballet underworld.

Natalie Portman plays a dedicated dancer who longs to be featured as the solo dancer in the upcoming performance of Swan Lake. The choreographer is doubtful of her possibility for passion, but she strives to prove her ability - to the point of turning herself quite literally into character.

I think the thrill of this movie overshadows the apparent profundity. I'll have to give it another watch sometime and give it the study it deserves.

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Youth in Revolt (2009)

Michael Cera plays a dual role - perhaps for the first time in his film career. The first character is an awkward, far too self-aware teen who falls in love with a temptress while on holidays. The second character is a caricature of what he believes his girlfriend wants him to be: French, risqué, and very bold.

It turns out to be a hilarious film with just a couple moments of real tenderness and a couple too many explicit sexual references.

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Le Temps du Loup (2003)

This is perhaps my favourite of director Michael Haneke's films. The persistent darkness surrounding the good family lifts for such brief moments that the light is dazzling when we see it.

A family on holidays finds itself trapped in a lawless part of France where no one is allowed in or out, food and water are scarce and shelter is negotiated. We see the fallen associate with the image bearers.

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Heaven on Earth (2008)

This Canadian film explores the dark side of long distance arranged marriage.

Chand leaves her family in India to join her new future husband in a suburb of Toronto. She is quickly resented by her mother-in-law and is viewed as a liability in her new family. Chand copes with the abuse she suffers through fantasy and finds the strength to rise against her oppressors.

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How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

Terrific, engaging writing gives this little story some super characters, even though some are 2-D. It's also a great demonstration of the phenomenal things they can do with animation these days.

A lad in a viking outpost acts contrary to conventional wisdom and befriends a dragon. A moral tale on prejudice.

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The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)

Again, Disney surprises me with a compelling, though made for children, retelling of a Narnia book.

The two youngest Pevensie kids, a bit older than before, and their "better than everyone else" cousin Eustace are magically transported to Narnia. They become part of an expedition with King Caspian and Reepicheep seeking seven lost lords. Their adventures build their character by testing them with temptations which they must resist.

The most impressive line in the film came towards the end when Aslan is speaking with Lucy. She asks him if she will ever see him again and he replies that the reason she was brought to Narnia was so that she might know him and know him in her world where he is known by another name.

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Cold Souls (2009)

This film begins with the assumption that the soul is a small, physical gland at the base of the skull. It then takes the viewer on a wild ride about what it means to be alive.

A fictional version of Paul Giamatti (played by Paul Giamatti) feels stiffled in his performances as an actor and jumps at the chance of having a new operation done that unburdens the patient of their cumbersome soul. His life becomes devoid of passion when his soul is removed and it becomes even more odder when he has a different soul implanted.

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Stories of Lost Souls (2005)

This DVD compilation of short stories feebly attempts to tie them together with the universal theme of being. The problem is that any story that has a character of any kind has this theme. What I'm trying to say is that the stories don't work together at all.

From a gruesome crime of passion to a swindler, to a mimed comedy, to a barely cognizant drama, to a brilliant commentary on fame, to a moral tale, to a short sighted romance - some are gems and others are clear throwaways. What is remarkable is that every flick carries remarkable star power.

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Ciao maschio (1978)

This weirdo movie was a big hit at Cannes back in the late 70's. Bye Bye Monkey is an art film contemplation of gender roles, aging and history.

An immigrant man in New York (a very young Gerard Dépardieu) finds work at a historical wax museum and as a tech at a tiny art theatre house. He is seduced/attacked by the actresses there, one of whom he develops a more lasting relationship with. With more friends they find the carcass of King Kong on the beach and then adopt a baby chimpanzee. Things just get stranger and stranger as the story drifts into more and more surrealism.

I found very little about the film to be appealing and even less to be meaningful.

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Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Lewis Carroll wrote this story to be made into a film by Tim Burton.

A victorian young woman named Alice is faced with duty when a rabbit distracts her for an instant. Next thing she knows, she is hurdling downwards into Wonderland and speaking with flowers, a dodo and a caterpillar named Absalom. She charms nearly everyone she meets and faces execution before ultimately being the champion.

This is not a children's movie. Burton brings an edginess to the story through darker artistic inspiration - the Queen of Hearts is beheading her subjects after all. The design is jaw dropping. All of the actors (voice and live action) draw you into their madness and desperation.

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Jésus de Montréal (1989)

This is an early film of Québecois film icon Denys Arcand (The Barbarian Invasions). Arcand offers a modern take on who contemporary, secular culture says that Jesus is.

A brilliant actor is offered a role as Jesus Christ in a yearly passion drama at a Catholic diocese and as a producer of the play. He is given license to modernize it's wooden lines and so he begins to fill the cast with derelicts and sidelined actors. He also spends time researching facts about Jesus, crucifixion, and the beginnings of the Christian church. While his play, infused with doubt, is a hit among the viewers, it is not well received by the hypocritical supervising priest.

Some Christians could easily take offence to this take on Jesus, but I was refreshed by the message of the film: Jesus was compassionate and just.

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Up in the Air (2009)

Jason Reitman follows up his acclaimed film Juno with another smart drama about individuality and independence.

Ryan Bingham argues for a continued personal touch to his company's business: firing people. So, Ryan flies from one city to another to do employers' dirty work. He lives the high life, collecting travel points and enjoying member privileges. His life intersects with two women who give him a different perspective on independence.

The film is remarkable in its unassuming protagonist who is essentially living the American Dream which is piece by piece deconstructed and ultimately put to death by other unassuming people.

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Underground (1995)

Also known as Once Upon a Time there was a Country, this artsy and comedic biopic of the 20th Century life of Yugoslavia touches on both the pathos of its history and the resilience of the population.

Two scheming brothers in Belgrade end up fighting German invaders when the Nazis attack in the early 1940's. Leading them is the fearless and legendary Tito (shown in archive footage between eras) and surrounding them are people from every ethnic group in Yugoslavia who have joined together for a common cause. One brother is badly injured and is kept in a bomb shelter with other resistance fighters where they produce weapons while the other brother profits from their work long after the war is over as their only point of contact on the outside.

The film becomes much more surreal and it crosses path with a film crew producing an epic battle (which was in reality more humourous than heroic) before entering into the early 1990's when the two brothers end up on opposite sides of the civil war.

Rather than rendering a clear synopsis of Yugoslavia, Underground speaks of humanity and inhumanity between brothers. The film deserves the accolades it received.

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Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

Wes Anderson matches his quirky and sentimental take on life with Roald Dahl's children's book to create this beautifully animated film. He again discusses fatherhood (see The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, etc.). One should note that Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale) helped write the screenplay too.

Mr. Fox has given up robbing farmers Bean, Boggis and Bunce in order to pursue a less dangerous career as a writer and please his wife. His discontent leads him back into the chicken stealing business and now the entire burrowing animal population is under mortal threat from the evil farmers. Mr. Fox now has to use his cunning to save them all. This is the external story, but on the inside it's about identity, fatherhood, sonship, and living well.

Anderson manages once again to generate plenty of laughs as well as tension and sentiment into this film. He also plugs more British 70's rock into the soundtrack and produces a very satisfying film.

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L'âge des ténèbres (2007)

This is another brilliant film from Québec's pre-eminent director Denys Arcand. This time he explores fantasy life as opposed to how we pursue career and materialism.

Jean-Marc is a provincial employee in a semi-futuristic and very humdrum, big brotherish Montreal. He pushes paper while his wife cheats on him and his daughters ignore him. Fortunately for him, he fantasizes most of the day of sexual interludes with imaginary women. When his life continues to disintegrate, he starts to take steps towards real fulfillment.

The first real quality of this film is the very clever writing. Arcand doesn't leave a viewer in a very serious mood for long, though some very somber matters surface frequently. The depth of the story and Jean-Marc's character do affect you and cause for reflection.

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Human Nature (2001)

Multimedia director Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Be Kind Rewind) teams up with the one of the only original hollywood writers Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich and Adaptation) for this zany take on the artificiality of societal norms.

A man raised as a monkey is taken in by a psychologist obsessed with manners. A nature writing woman with a severe full body hair growth issue undergoes extreme electrolysis to try and reintegrate herself into mainstream life. Of course nature vs. nurture is tackled in a variety of hilarious ways.

Rhys Ifans steals the show as monkey man. So funny.

Other bits of the show aren't as successful - like the lack of empathy we feel for most characters (especially Tim Robbins' scientist).

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