drama | Fifth about The Seventh

Wild

January 26, 2015 by Felipe Rosa

Wild: when portraying a journey, as Jean-Marc Vallée is doing in this film, it helps if the landscape is spectacular (and it is, as well as beautifully captured by the cinematography of Yves Bélanger). However, even more important than the outer journey is the inner journey, and it’s merely serviceable here; the most interesting aspects of the story are not in the journey at all. Reese Witherspoon is solid, but unspectacular; the rest of the cast (including Laura Dern) aren’t given much screen […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: biopic / historic, drama

Timbuktu (2014)

January 25, 2015 by Felipe Rosa

Timbuktu: the tale weaven by Abderrahmane Sissako is a sad one, but the light touch used makes this film really attractive to watch. The story is not real, but it could well be; the characters, all played beautifully, are realistic and relatable. Amin Bouhafa’s music is used sparingly, but all the tracks are beautiful, flavorful. The film is shot simply, but Sofian El Fani’s images are wonderful to look at. What truly stays, however, is the absurdity, and the humanity, of it all.

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama

Unbroken (2014)

January 24, 2015 by Felipe Rosa

Unbroken: Angelina Jolie’s film portrays a journey that is very interesting on paper; however, the many different parts don’t match well (and the arbitrary structure doesn’t add much) and are not particularly engaging or exciting. There’s not much sense of the characters, which is further aggravated by the generally indifferent acting. The film is, however, very well crafted, even if somewhat squarely so; Roger Deakins’s cinematography is, as usually is the case, beautiful and classical.

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: biopic / historic, drama, war

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Clouds of Sils Maria

January 19, 2015 by Felipe Rosa

Clouds of Sils Maria: while Olivier Assayas’ film doesn’t tell a particularly engaging story, it’s nevertheless an engaging film because of the strong acting and interesting dialogue (very revealing about the craft of acting, among other things). Juliette Binoche is particularly good, and her interaction with Kristen Stewart (a pleasant surprise) is what raises the film. The beautiful locations add to a sense of elegance that this film has.

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama

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Leviathan

January 18, 2015 by Felipe Rosa

Leviathan: Andrey Zvyagintsev tells a great story, which has many themes that are universal, but also mingled with specific elements that give the film a particular flavor; it all results in a powerful drama. Acting is very solid and Aleksey Serebryakov, as the main character, stands out. The locations are great-looking, and well used by the no-frills camerawork of Mikhail Krichman (who also makes great use of natural light). The spare, moody music of Phillip Glass matches the landscape beautifully.

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama

Exodus: Gods and Kings

January 17, 2015 by Felipe Rosa

Exodus: Gods and Kings: Ridley Scott presents a sumptuous spectacle; the use of locations, the set design (including visual effects), costume design, all create a great-looking physical world. That, however, does not a good movie make; the storytelling is stale and stiff and it carries no beauty or subtlety whatsoever. The characters are all unappealing, uninteresting; the overblown, over-the-top acting further complicates matters, wasting the strong names in the cast. (In fact, the interesting choice of using a child as a major player […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: action, drama

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Whiplash

January 4, 2015 by Felipe Rosa

Whiplash: Damien Chazelle presents a film that is a great joy to watch, from beginning to end; a crowdpleaser, in the best sense. It’s thematically intriguing, equally cruel and sound. Acting by the central pair is superb; J.K. Simmons gets more attention for having the lion share of the great lines (and reading them beautifully), but he also displays nuanced, quiet moments; Miles Teller is pitch-perfect as well, mixing all of his character’s traits with great energy. Great camerawork by Sharone Meir […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama

Locke

January 2, 2015 by Felipe Rosa

Locke: minimalist experience that it is, Steven Knight’s film is also a very engaging one, thanks to the strong acting of Tom Hardy. It is a simple, no-frills human drama, easy to relate to. Given the single (of sorts) location, Justine Wright’s editing make great use of Haris Zambarloukos’s varied images. However, there’s no denying that Hardy is the main reason to see this; he has limited instruments to use (his voice’s modulations, his posture and his eyes, mostly) but even so […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama

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Ida (2013)

December 31, 2014 by Felipe Rosa

Ida: Pawel Pawlikowski tells a simple (but far from simplistic) story; it also tells it rigorously, ponderously. Agata Trzebuchowska and Agata Kulesza, as the central characters, interact beautifully, even if only the bare minimum is known about the characters. What truly sets this film apart, however, is the amazing cinematography of Ryszard Lenczewski and Lukasz Zal; every image is nicely (and expressively) framed, and the lighting is always beautiful.

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama

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