Tickets (2005)

Three master directors give us a collection of short films all set on the same train. The stories are all very unique and give us a flavour of humanity and Europe that we don't often get in film - or as isolated passengers on a train. Very lovely!

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The King (2005)

When an illegitimate son suddenly breaks onto the scene of a pastor's family, it is less about him and more about the family's reaction to him that is interesting. The unwelcomed visitor subversively destroys the family, but their initial unwelcome juxtaposed with their zealous southern faith makes for an interesting watch. All in all though, it's pretty tough to make any sense of the fierce violence and the young man's lack of remorse.

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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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Breakfast on Pluto (2005)

The Crying Game still haunts me even though I saw it nearly 2 decades ago. Its director delivers this true tale of an Irish transvestite's coming of age in a time of political, familial and religious turmoil. Cillian Murphy convincingly plays Kitty who is in search of his mother in London and meaning in his life.

Quite a beautiful film.

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Into Great Silence (2005)

This really long documentary isn't entirely silent. For a few minutes the monks are sitting on a patio and chatting, but yeah, aside from that, pretty quiet...

I enjoyed it, but it was more experiential than expository. I like the notion of work in the film.

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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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The Ballad of Jack and Rose (2005)

While Daniel Day Lewis is a great actor (as are many of the characters in Ballad), he can't redeem a film that is just a bit too preachy and over the top. He plays a rich hippy on an abandoned commune who tries to revitalize it before he dies so his daughter will have a place to continue living. He has to fight an encroaching developer and keep everything together though. It's a moral tale about living close to the land and the important things in life.

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Fierce People (2005)

This is a fascinating film that attempts to present modern society as no less savage than primitive South American tribal culture.

Finn gets to spend his summer holidays with his drug addicted mother on the estate of a billionaire rather than going to see his sociologist father in South America. While there, he witnesses the perils and excesses of riches and brutality that is too often swept under the rug.

A pronouncement is made that out of great evil, a greater good can arise. This is no doubt true, but in this narrative sometimes it is understood as the end justifying the means and we see that what was once thought of as a good end is not. A beautiful thread of goodness follows Finn and this is a remarkable example of civilization in our midst.

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Grizzly Man (2005)

Werner Herzog makes an unromantic and yet very personal film about someone he never met without any melodrama.

An actor turned extreme environmentalist named Timothy Treadwell spends his summers living among grizzly bears. He films his dangerously close encounters and then travels the United States promoting the conservation and protection of these animals. After 13 summers, he is attacked and eaten by a bear.

The director narrates between interview scenes and stunning footage that Treadwell produced. I was thoroughly moved not so much by treadwell's dedication/insanity, but by how sensitively and rationally Werner Herzog presented this troubled man.

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No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (2005)

Martin Scorsese put together this 3 1/2 hour documentary of legendary Bob Dylan's first 6 years of his musical career by compiling archive concert footage, clips from other films, photos, current interviews and older interviews. The result is a portrait of an era that was defined by the bard.

Working towards Dylan's apostate, electric tours of the "Highway 61" and "Bringing it All Back Home" albums, we begin in Minnesota and travel through the beat poets and folk roots in New York City. Dylan's rise to stardom is continually juxtaposed with 1966 footage of people shouting disapproval during the early electric era.

The film is tremendously satisfying and the music is amazing - especially the live performances which have surprisingly great sound.

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Oliver Twist (2005)

This most recent adaptation of Charles Dickens famous novel is an exceptional portrayal of the tenderness of young Oliver. Roman Polanski is a suitable director as his early life carried with it many hardships as well.

Oliver is orphaned and is either passed from one owner to another or escapes and joins another ending up in the hands of a ruthless ringleader of pickpockets in the streets of Victorian London. His life is in the balance when an opportunity for love presents itself.

I was thoroughly impressed by the acting in the film. It did almost border on caricature at some points, but managed to avoid the lightness of the musical. Full of grace and the dire need of it, Oliver Twist will remain a classic for these virtues alone, let alone all of the colourful characters.

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Last Days (2005)

Gus Van Sant's take on the last couple days of grunge icon Kurt Cobain, except that it's all made up and the lead character is some Blake guy.

Blake walks around a semi-abandoned estate that is very rundown. A few junkie friends lurk around the mansion. That's pretty much the movie.

This could be one of the most boring films I have ever watched. No character depth. Virtually no dialogue (except for when some Mormons come to the house - a highlight). No story arc. Nothing. We don't even get to see Blake kill himself.

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I Am A Sex Addict (2005)

I Am a Sex Addict is an autobiographical film accounting for the struggle the protagonist, Caveh Zahedi, has with sex with prostitutes. Entering adulthood with ideas of free and open relationships, Caveh meets every temptation with full honesty giving way to multiple sexual partners. His marriages and dating relationships fall apart even though he is completely open with them about his desire for other women.

This is an exploration of addiction: the innocence, the temptation, the encounters, the pain, the weakness, the cycle. Fortunately, Caveh doesn't leave us defeated with him, he presents hope in the least likely (for him) of places: a traditional marriage and a counseling group.

The film was shot on digital film, but it is very well done and is fine on TV. The filmmaker is honest to his viewers so much so that the budget for the film nearly becomes a character in the story.

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Junebug (2005)

I was blown away by Junebug. I'm so glad it didn't pass into film archives without my seeing it first (it came out when I first moved to Guatemala, so I hadn't really heard of it until recently).

Madeleine, a cultured art dealer, quickly marries charming George in Chicago. A few months later they visit George's family in North Carolina. The culture shock is unbelievable for it to be in the same country. George's brother and parents are suspicious of Madeleine, but his sister-in-law, a high school drop out and a mouth that won't stop, is completely infatuated with Madeleine's refinedness. As the family interacts, we discover what is most important to each one.

The editing and photography are core to the style of Junebug. The racy couple from Chicago is contrasted with the slow and simple Southern folk. The traditional taboos that keep people from talking in the conservative family both keep the family together and apart as we see the secret lives of each one and the relatively superficial interactions on both sides.

The film is glorious.

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Winter Passing (2005)

Think Garden State, but with a girl and less romance. Really, the similarities are many.

Zooey Deschanel acts her heart out as a depressed actress who faces her upbringing and her parents. Upon returning home for the first time in years, she finds her father has gone a bit loopy and has let a couple people move into the house. During her search for letters that her author father and author mother had written to each other, she begins to accept her lot and begins to live a little.

The supporting cast is terrific and the tone of the film (soundtrack, editing, and photography) really keeps it from going sideways. At some points the film slows, but the tension builds ever so slightly throughout making Winter Passing an enjoyable experience - and meaningful too. How often to we really think about the mental state of our parents when we were children?

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Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005)

I saw this in an arthouse theatre four years ago and remember it as a striking film about community. It still is.

We see lives intertwine in an American northwestern town. Divorcees, their two sons, neighbour girls, a gallery manager, a coworker, an elderly man and his quirky elder cab driver. The conclusion is that people just need to be loved.

The writing, directing was done by one of the actors. She did a terrific job - a great film! (if you can handle some rather squeamish scenes)

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Joyeux Noël (2005)

This is a war film with more than a dash of irony. 

On Christmas Eve at one of the trenches in World War I, three platoons (French, Scottish and German) on opposing sides agree to an overnight truce in honour of the season and in order to collect the dead. As they emerge from their trenches, they begin to fraternize, play football and exchange addresses in order to meet after the war. When the truce is over, they have little heart to continue the fighting.

The story is a conglomeration of several instances where this happened during the war and it demonstratively reveals the insanity of war. It is a great film with great anecdotes and a powerful message.

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Factotum (2005)

Based on various writings and also some biographical information of author Charles Bukowski, Factotum gives us an insight into both the genius and tragedy of an author without any connection to real life.

Hank can't hold a job for more than a few days, sometimes just a few hours. As he bounces between different jobs, apartments, and hotel rooms he writes short stories and mails them to magazines hoping that one will get published. His life is coloured with odd characters and fueled by alcohol.

The film captures the essence of Hank's aimless life by being quite aimless itself. There is little redemption and little hope in the film, though a spark of life, driven mainly by the writing and an attitude of disconnect with earthly possessions and relationships, is maintained throughout.

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Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School (2005)

Life is infused in the quiet, shy, broken, and outsider at Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing and Charm School.

A tragic event guides widow Frank to the evening classes where he is drawn immediately into dancing and courting the women there. The story goes back and forth between the present, the accident scene that leads Frank to the school, and childhood memories of the school. Everyone involved is blessed by its involvement with Hotchkiss's very formal classes.

The acting in this film is superb and the sentiment is palpable. The characters may be a tad bit eccentric, but it makes the film that much more magical.

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The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)

This horror/trial movie is based on true events, though heavily rewritten to suite an American movie audience and to pose the questions the filmmakers wanted to ask. I'm still torn as to whether it should have steered closer to the true story (in Germany of a woman named Anneliese Michel) or whether it should have become more of its own story (which in my mind would have become even more contrived).

Emily Rose breaks down at university either from epileptic seizures and psychotic delusions or from demonic possession. While doctors prescribed medication, a priest, Emily and her parents decide an exorcism is the best option. Neither seem to help and Emily dies tragically from malnutrition. The priest is arrested and put on trial for negligence causing death. What is really on trial is the belief in the notion of demons and possessions.

The acting in the film is dead on and the horror scenes are plenty horrific. The film doesn't come close to touching The Exorcist and I'm curious to see the German film Requiem (another film based on the same character). Everyone is caricatured from the never doubting priest to the ever doubtful defense attorney to the ignorant parents to the stoic prosecutor to the frazzled neurosurgeon who witnessed the exorcism.

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