La cité des enfants perdus (1995)

The City of Lost Children is one of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's (Amélie) early films (a collaboration with Marc Caro) and it certainly bears his marks of humour and fantasy. One of the lead actors, Dominique Pinon, appears in nearly all of Jeunet's films.

The story here revolves around the abduction of children from a port town by drones. The one having the children abducted can't dream, so he connects his brain to the kids' brains so that he can participate in their dreams. Ron Perlman's character is out looking for his lost little friend and eventually uncovers this massive plot. The film is saturated with rich villains, colourful children, and high contrast lighting. Oddly enough, Perlman delivers very few lines in barely understandable French.

It's a fun, rather humourous film despite its dark subject, but I found it a little difficult to follow.

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Deep Water (2006)

Deep Water is such a compassionate account of a cornered man who disgraces himself. This documentary follows a competitor in a solo yacht circumnavigation of the globe back in 1968. It is a gripping story told with passion and balance. Highly recommended.

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The Adventures of Tintin (2011)

What sheer pleasure this film was. Adventure in one of its purest forms. Tintin proves that he is as much a super hero as the American variations by his unwavering tenacity.

Peter Jackson (prod.) teamed up with Steven Spielberg (dir.) to make this animated feature and they complement each other very well. The camera placement/movement, animation and motion capture are so stunning that any childish aspects of the story are dwarfed (not that the screenplay is lacking, it's just a really simple story).

In one scene we see Captain Haddock and you can see the yarn that makes up the sweater and it looks so real. The advantage to digital animation is that the camera can be placed wherever you wish and so Spielberg kept it moving throughout the film. I don't think it was still for a moment.

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Finding Farley (2009)

This is a National Film Board produced documentary about a family retracing famed novelist Farley Mowat's journey's through much of Canada. A couple and their toddler leave Canmore Alberta in a canoe and head east switching up their modes of transportation several times to end up at Farley Mowat's home in Nova Scotia. Along the way they visit several remote settings for Mowat's books.

Finding Farley is a lovely and intimate look at Canada.

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Ce qu'il faut pour vivre (2008)

The Necessities of Life is a gorgeous film, deeply rooted in goodness. It tells the story of Tivii, an Inuit man who is taken from his family on Baffin Island to have his tuberculosis treated in Quebec City. His language and absent knowledge of this new world isolate him from everyone else in the sanitarium, but the kindness and attention from a nurse give him hope.

The depiction of aboriginal people is not overly romanticized. Instead they are treated as humans with dignity and gifts. Also of note is how the Quebecois are depicted: not perfect, but not as native hating villains either. A wonderfully balanced film making the story that much more beautiful and telling of the human condition.

The protagonist is extraordinarily played by Natar Ungalaaq of Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner fame.

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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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Pirate Radio (2009)

In order to avoid real character development, many comedies feature many main characters with various appeal - sex, charismatic, comic, etc. Pirate Radio (or as it was known everywhere else, The Boat that Rocked) does this with usual British flair.

The tale is derived from real events when advertisers saw the untapped market of radio, which was exclusively public owned in Britain (the BBC family), and set up stations in northern Europe or on flotillas in the sea. They were illegal and many of them were run by actual criminals out for quick cash. The film's version features people who just love music and would die for rock 'n roll.

Lots of laughs from crass humour and even nostalgia is evoked for the sixties in this flick. It's fun, but not too edifying.

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Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922)

This is the first silent film that I am reviewing on this blog. They have a hard time competing with speaking films I guess. As I saw Herzog's remake of this classic Nosferatu, I thought it would be cool to see how it built on this one. The stories are virtually identical - some divergence at the end.

The film is full of clues as the real estate agent travels to visit Count Orlok, a vampire and as he returns to find his town overcome by the plague.

A note if you do watch this, check out the various audio tracks at the beginning of the show. I found watching it in double speed helped with the super slow pacing and phrase panels.

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Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)

So, I've recently discovered the films of Werner Herzog, so I zipped all of the ones I hadn't seen and got this 1979 remake of the 1922 German silent film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror.

The film opens with a sequence of mummified bodies, certainly the most gripping part of the film and the most horrifying too. The tale is that of Count Dracula, a vampire of Transylvania who is visited by a real estate agent, Mr. Harker, played by a much younger Bruno Ganz. The Count is super creepy which begs the question: Why in the world would Mr. Harker enter his decaying castle with this really long fingered dude with two pointy teeth and after having been warned by countless locals about the evils there. Anyway, he gets the warm welcome and Dracula makes his way by ship to Germany to dwell in his new home (and bring some rats along).

Herzog shot each sequence twice, once in English and once in German, thus all of the lines are spoken with thick German accents. The film has a strong low budget quality to it and the story just has the viewer shaking his head in disbelief. It has its moments, like a long out of print book with a missing cover.

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The Perfect Storm (2000)

So, I get that the filmmakers wanted to eulogize and honour the dead at sea from Gloucester, Massachusetts, but why did they have to do it in such a melodramatic way?

When a fishing captain decides to return to sea during storm season and brings a ragtag group of money hungry down-and-outers who love to fish, they encounter the storm of the century. They meet it head on and go down in a blaze of glory while their moms and significant others languish at a fisherman's bar back in Gloucester.

While the fellowship between the boatmen is well noted and so is the hard life of a swordfish catcher. The movie makes a grave error by transforming the real men into comic book heros at sea with balls to big for their rainsuits. James Horner's sweeping orchestral soundtrack was way over the top leaving little room for any kind of real analysis or empathy towards the ocean's victims.

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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

David Fincher (dir. Zodiac, The Game, Fight Club) delivers a thoughtful meditation on age in this adaptation of an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story.

Benjamin Button is born with the physical ailments of an elderly man but with the innocent mind of a child. As time passes in his Louisiana home his body becomes younger and his mind matures. The film chronicles this mysterious occurrence over a span of 80 years or so in American history.

The pacing in the film is slow, but also needed as much of the film depends on steady progression and the sense that time is passing. The acting is also superb, giving tremendous strength to the characters. The soundtrack isn't overwhelming as it may have been in a similar film like Forrest Gump, but rather very much a supporting and subtle element.

Overall, the film is a fortress in filmmaking and a generous contribution to the art.

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Le Comte de Monte Cristo (1998)

It has been 3 years since I read Alexandre Dumas' massive classic and so I was excited to watch this 7 hour mini-series. I can't say I was excited to see a gigantic Edmond Dantes in the form of Gérard Dépardieu - he's a great actor, but there are some parts actors should not play.

Dantes is just promoted to captain of a ship and engaged to his true love when three men send him to prison motivated by self-interest. He wastes away in prison for nearly 2 decades when fortune presents itself and he manages to escape. Armed with virtually unlimited funds, the new Count of Monte Cristo meticulously plots his revenge on the three villains - now all very successful Parisians.

Some of the obscure subplots are omitted, but most are kept and this made it a joy to watch. I even squealed with delight a few times.

The film races through the first 1/4 of the book (pre-prison and prison time). This certainly allowed more time for the vengeance, but it failed to adequately show why and how the vengeance was taking place. There were a number of times when the film strayed far from the book. Fortunately, none were crushing for me; they even added depth at times.

All in all, it is apparent that Dépardieu is all too eager to play as many roles of classic French literature. I'm glad that he is such a tremendous actor in order to make up for not being the suitable body type for the role.

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Nóz w wodzie (1962)

Knife in the Water is one of Roman Polanski's early films before making his way Chinatown fame in the US. He takes his three characters onto a boat locking them into a unique paradigm of power and ego.

A couple pick up a hitchhiker on their way to their little sailboat and invite him to come along on an overnight excursion. On the boat, the captain asserts his power a little too much and the guest overdoes it trying to impress the mistress. Tension builds to climax - see title.

The outdoor camera work is fabulous considering it is shot on a boat. The acting is also very personal and natural.

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Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)

The cast returns to produce a second chapter in Elizabethan history. Earlier in the saga, a reluctant young Queen Elizabeth unites her kingdom with a bit of purging and it a bit of virginity.

This time around, the Catholics are her antagonists, from her cousin Mary Queen of Scots to the devout King of Spain and his massive fleet of ships. The story is well known and the tension the film tries to create with these players is weak. Most of the film's tension is supported by the queen's loneliness.

With a sensational cast, virtually unlimited budget and an epic piece of history, how could a film go wrong? The story is flat. There is more emphases on costume and set design than there is on generating pathos and changes in character. The queen and her subjects remain the same from beginning to end despite overcoming a possible assassination and an attack from the most powerful kingdom in Europe.

One thing that really stuck out for me was the condition in which the political prisoners were kept. Absolutely barbaric.

Truth: Sacrifices must be made, both personally and publicly, in order to be a leader.

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Miami Vice (2006)

This is a flashy view of undercover police work. I was sort of expecting the cops to be planning their stakeouts on the beach surrounded by girls in bikinis, but not so. Instead we get an emotionally charged story about work becoming personal.

Despite its intention, the film is an action movie at the core. There are gun fights, love scenes, and high speed boats. We are transported to the exotic sites of Columbia, Haiti, Cuba and Miami. The villains are ruthless and the stakes are very high. Michael Mann gives us great cinematography too.

On the level of predictability, the film does very well at keeping us guessing. Only on the issue of the fate of some characters can we fully predict the outcome. As I am not an undercover officer, I wasn't good at foretelling the next move.

Truth: It is easy to recognize the humanity in your nemesis if you get close enough.

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White Squall (1996)

Jeff Bridges plays a slightly arrogant captain of a school ship in this true story of a naval tragedy. The crew is made up of high school boys from rich families. Each of those crew descriptors should imply a hue and tone for the movie.

In the tradition of Dead Poets Society, we are called on to sympathize with these boys with shaky home lives and to agree with the unorthodox teaching and mentoring meted out by their captain. To skew things even more, the story occurs in 1960-61, so there are cultural aspects too (the kids smoke, it's a big deal to stand up to your parents, parents have a great deal to say about their sons' futures, liability issues are faint).

In the decades since, people and society have changed, but not much. The richness of the film lies in the journey and the relationships that are fostered by it. There is a realism and a vulnerability portrayed that really tugs at your heart and your sense of adventure.

Truth: Young men are drawn to adventure, close relationships and responsibility. It is best fostered by some rite of passage in community.

The "Truth" feature on this blog is a new one. As I watch films critically, I always seek to draw whatever truth I can from the story. For me it is one of the beautiful aspects of watching stories unfold and characters act. I tend to ignore the lies.

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Lord of War (2005)

I didn't expect this to be based on a real life, but I'm grateful that it was. From the little that I knew about gunrunning, I assumed that there would be enough true stuff out there to make a film about rather than going all XXX on the subject.

The protagonist is a naturalized American from Ukraine who comes into the business of trading arms somewhat by accident. We follow his rise to riches, concern for secrecy, and amoral transactions primarily in west Africa. There is little to suggest that he feels bad for what he does and we hear again and again his excuses for doing what he does: equipping warlords with effective killing tools.

The effects and locations were quite awe-inspiring, particularly the timelapse where a jet is taken completely apart over night. Though most of the film was certainly shot on sets, they did a great job of outside locations making us believe that we were in Lebanon, Ukraine, Liberia, or the Atlantic Ocean.

There is plenty of gratuitous nudity and violence, which I presume the film makers believed would bring more of an audience to this film (of such an important subject). I thought the nudity could have been tamed down substantially as it wasn't core to communicating the story.

I truly appreciated that there was no moralising. It is an obviously black and white issue (at least to me): we should stop manufacturing so many weapons and we should track the ones that exist. The film focuses more on the mechanics of the trade rather than telling us how bad it is. It's a smart film.

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Message in a Bottle (1999)

Typical of most for pleasure novels / films, these characters lead romantic and hard-to-come-by careers: sailboat maker and writer. Fortunately for the critical viewer, these characters do portray mostly human traits. Costner has a bit of a temper and Wright Penn is hesitant in stating both her feelings and some truths (though this is her only flaw . . .).

We are guided through a long distance romance involving a devastated widower and an incredulous divorcée. As unlikely as the plot unfolds, we again have some straws to grasp as we slide down what we believe to be an inevitable end. First off, neither are looking for a relationship and secondly, there is plenty of stumbling. Paul Newman has a great act as the recovering alcoholic dad to Costner.

The theme of releasing what we once held dear in order to embrace a new dear because either death or rejection makes it impossible to continue living in the past dominates this film. We come out enlightened to the fact that life can really not go on as long as we cling to impossibilities in our lives or let our lives depend on people that don't depend on us. There is a salvation question here: what ultimately can save us?

The film did make my eyes roll a few times, again because of some of the ridiculous plot turns. The ending just makes me shake my head in wonder and while I understand its purpose, I can not acknowledge its value.

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Cast Away (2000)

Having spent 10 months of my life living on Pacific Islands, I relate to this movie better than most I imagine. The night scenes especially take me back to my days in the Marshall Islands with the bright dark blue sky and the glistening ocean and the shadows on the beach. The coconuts and coral reef are so far removed from our lives in North America, but a part of life in the islands.

This has the scariest plane crash sequence I have ever seen. Even after watching this movie 4 or 5 times, I get very tense. This also has some of the most heartbreaking scenes I have ever seen. The characters' loss is so pronounced in their eyes and in the writing.

With Robinson Crusoe being the legend it is, this movie attempts to explore what a real life island survival would look like. I think it makes an honest effort, though some of the elements might be contrived (if only to propel the story ahead). It really makes you wonder what it would be like. I've wanted to be a competitor on Survivor just for the experience - forget the $1,000,000 prize.

The substance of the film is survival and what keeps a person alive. Is it Duty? Destiny? Love? Fear? Curiosity? Cast Away really captures the essence of all of these and is a poetic saga speaking to each of these. Without these forces, there really isn't much to live for.

The film is quite long, but just right for those who like to immerse themselves into a story. This one is told in 4 parts and it lingers for much longer than it takes to watch it.

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The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)

I am such a big fan of The Royal Tenenbaums (by the same writer/director, Wes Anderson), that it is difficult not to compare the two films. I was very disappointed the first time I watched Life Aquatic because many of the same themes were recycled, the characters weren't as sympathetic, and it wasn't as funny as The Royal Tenenbaums.

But then I watched it again the following summer and then a couple nights ago and I found that I really enjoyed it. Expectations do play an important role in watching movies.

Steve Zissou, portrayed enigmatically by the sharp Bill Murray, is a washed up Cousteau-esque documentarian. He's penniless, boring, bored, depressed, alone, and full or himself (sorry, can't help the comparison: just like Royal Tenenbaum). The film documents his multifaceted salvation which involves pirates, death, embracing fatherhood, being honest, rescue, forgiveness and acceptance.

For many, these steps toward salvation might go unseen as the film is a constant barrage of slick one-liners and Crayola cartoon fish.

Anderson chose to write with Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale) rather than his usual partner Owen Wilson. After seeing the film three times, I could appreciate more of the intricacies that these writers wove into the film. The different struggles that the members of the Belfonte's crew have are richly portrayed and the film is essentially a trial by fire where those who embrace the process come out stronger on the other side.

Anderson has been able to draw some incredible talent to his projects. This one also has an impressive roster. The best acting comes from Cate Blanchette as the pregnant reporter, Willem Dafoe as the needy German assistant to Zissou, and of course Murray whose deadpan humour and sadness shines brilliantly.

Finally, the music in the film is original and beautiful. Seu Jorge sings David Bowie songs on his guitar in Portuguese throughout the film and Mark Mothersbaugh adds quirky electronic music with bombastic horns to round out the film. I got the soundtrack.

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