No: while the choice to make this film look like a video from the period (and very ugly in the process) is a bit mind-boggling, there is little else in here that is a mistake. It’s an interesting story that enables the director to display a particular place and time, including the tension and the uglyness that exists in a military dictatorship. Maybe the choice of making the footage ugly was not so misplaced after all. (As a side note: […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama

The Impossible: in the best way possible, this is a horrible experience. With great earnestness from the whole cast and terrific recreation of the tsunami, there is a great sense of the reality of the account (at least the broad strokes; details are definitely expected to be changed.) The music could have been less bombastic, the images are already strong enough. (One note on the marketing: No matter it’s a “true story”, heavily spoiling the film on the trailers is […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama

Amour: a great acting duet with Emmanuelle Riva and Jean-Louis Trintignant, both marvelous. There is something to be said about not slipping into melodrama, but Michael Haneke, not surprisingly, veered too much in the other direction: the sad, delicate story is told from a great distance, emotionally. Visually, the film is consistent with the emotional distance with the camera mostly quiet, observing the action as if not to interfere. (No complaints in that regard, as long takes are a long-standing […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama

Promised Land: there is a certain dishonesty in play, when a character is introduced in a certain light and everything that follows that shows something diametrically opposite. Such disrespect for storytelling suggest this is, indeed, little more than a propaganda piece. While Matt Damon is one of the most earnest faces around, he got thrown (or threw himself, given his other roles in this) into a very thankless position.

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama