Film Reviews by CW

I hadn’t heard of Gertrude Bell. It seems as though her story is not often remembered today. She traveled alone to Mesopotamia, Saudi Arabia and what is now Iraq. She worked alongside Percy, Lawrence and many government officials. She explored much of the country on camels but also later traveled by car. She founded the Museum of Iraq. The documentary was painstakingly made using archival photos and film. All of the dialogue and interviews (with actors) are based on letters to and from her as well as her own journals. Seeing the lands and people in the early 1900’s is truly amazing. You travel along with her, wander through cities, float on small canal boats, see gatherings of tribes. Glimpses of rude behaviour by British towards the Iraqi people is very disheartening. I recommend this documentary as a history lesson as well as to see the past in the Middle East.

This of course is just my opinion but I am still surprised that the collective genius of Henson, Lucas and Bowie made such a lame movie. I ended up watching on fast forward stopping at times thing that maybe it would get better but it didn’t.

Leaving Las Vegas provided Nicolas Cage and Elizabeth Shue with the best roles of their careers. The acting is astonishingly good. Cage won best actor for his role but unfortunately though Shue was nominated for an Oscar, she did not win. This is a sad, depressing, heartbreaking tale while at the same time a strange and lovely story of two people who fall in love, clinging to each other for friendship and security. Cage as Ben is doomed having moved to Las Vegas to drink himself to death. The opening shows him merrily pushing a shopping cart laden with bottles through a liquor store as he dances to music in his head. There are scenes when Ben and Sera (Shue) look at each other with total acceptance and mad love. It is a difficult movie to watch but well worth it. This is not a glamorous happy ending. It is a tragedy that has the power of an opera.

This is an award winning Polish movie. Our hero is a young man who wants to find truth in life, to find meaning. He chooses physics and is an intense student. He looks for truth through physics, love, prayer, having a child, long conversations, becoming a mystic, mountain climbing, living rough, returning to his family. His doctor advises him to slow down for he has a weak heart. Later, when he is almost 30, he returns to the doctor after having pain in his chest. The doctor tells him that he must slow down, he only has about 5 more years to live. He paces and smokes constantly. He tells the doctor that he doesn't want to slow down, he wants to live with intensity. He would rather die on the run than take it easy. This isn't the most interesting movie but I think that the them of looking for truth and meaning is important and made it therefore worth watching.

I cannot really understand why this movie was made. Surely it was expensive. The plot is lame, the actors are just marking time. Kristen Stewart seems to have come from the Nicole Kidman School of Acting, the emotional range of a porcelain sink. I think of absolutely brilliant movies made on a tiny budget in other countries and wonder why anyone thought that this was worth filming and releasing.

This is a very quiet movie about a few Japanese men and their relationships with their daughters. The main story is about a family where the father is definitely the boss. He is in a typical arranged marriage. There are excruciating scenes, by western standards, watching him come home from the office when he changes out of his business suit and just hands his clothes to his subservient wife or merely drops each item on the floor while she picks them up and puts them neatly away for him. Their older daughter does not want an arranged marriage. When she reveals that she wants to marry a man she is in love with, the father is furious and makes her stay away from work and remain in the house for days. Another father reveals that his daughter has left home to be with the man she chose to marry. The fathers see that their control is being taken away from them. If they do not accept the men their daughters have chosen, they will not see their daughters anymore. The story shows a change in society where young women were gently demanding their rights. I love most Japanese movies so I recommend this.

I wanted to watch this movie just because it stars Sofia Heliin and I had really loved her performance in the TV series The Bridge. (I can hardly wait for the next series). This movie was surprisingly good. There are three grown daughters. One lives in the village and helps care for their parents and micromanages the lives of everyone. Another daughter is a carer. The youngest daughter (Sofia Helin) has a good job in the city and rarely has time to come home. The family gathers for the father's birthday which is going to be a big celebration. The story reveals the complicated relationship of the sisters. The acting is excellent. It made me think about pointless movies such as Personal Shopper when this sweet movie really is an excellent character study.

This was my first Mikio Naruse movie. I liked that the DVD includes an interview describing his films, approach, actors, style, content. I would say that he is a woman’s director focusing on lives of ordinary people. This story is about a woman who works at a bar catering to businessmen. They come for drinks and attention and are treated as special guests. The women are instructed to be charming and attentive. They flirt, listen and charm. They sell their souls each night. Our heroine supports herself, her mother, ungrateful brother and his crippled son. Hers is a joyous life. The beauty of the film is just watching the characters and their small lives. Great contrast to other Japanese directors. I still prefer Kurosawa but hope to see more of Naruse’s studies of women.

The plot of movie Stormy Weather is a bit of fun fluff to string together one marvelos song and dance routine after another. This is a great chance to watch Lena Horne, Cab Calloway, Fats Waller and Bill Robinson. The best scene is the fabulous tap dance number by the Nicholas Brothers. Their dance has them leaping up and down tables, stairs and drums often landing in splits. Their routine is done in one long take, none of the cut away shots to mask the fact that most music videos today feature stars who can barely dance. The Nicholas Brothers can also be found on Youtube for a glimpse at this scene. I loved that it is an all black cast. I would watch it for the Nicholas Brothers alone though I was laughing with delight seeing Cab Calloway and Fats Waller.

I love a good story, a drama based on real events. David Irving, the Nazi sympathiser “historian” took the American university lecturer and author Deborah Lipstadt to court because of comments she had made in her book about Holocaust deniers. She called him a liar. The movie is a co production of US and UK and because much of the law and trial procedure are so different, time was devoted to explain the law to US viewers. The movie takes you to Auschwitz so that the barrister played by Tom Wilkinson can do research to build the defense. Rachel Weisz does an excellent job playing against type to capture the brilliant but abrupt and feisty NY author. Timothy Spall as David Irving creates the vile hateful self righteous Holocaust denier who delights in speaking to rabid neo Nazi crowds. In a time when sadly and bewilderingly there are still fascists, , Holocaust deniers and anti Semites, this is an important movie. I gave it 5 stars because it is a movie that made me think and is educational plus I loved that the true story is that the judge found in favour of Deborah Lipstadt.

When a friend of mine in the US found out that I hadn’t seen nor even heard of Grace and Frankie she said that I must watch it. Okay so I watched a trailer and hmmm thought it would be a yawn. I did get Series 1 as promised. Well the first episode was such a delight, I raced through watching, just one more, just one more. Really enjoyed it. Jane Fonda is gorgeous and such a good comedian as is Lily Tomlin. Great cast, good writing and directing. Looking forward to seeing the other series. Perfect choice for lighter fare between heavy thought provoking movies.

I thought this would be marvelous considering the cast and the original movie. I wanted to like it but after about 20 minutes I gave up. I wouldn’t want to dissuade someone from seeing it, just that it didn’t interst me.

This excellent documentary was conceived, filmed and produced by Laura Poitras. Edward Snowden had contacted her letting her know that he was going to be leaking secret information about NSA spying on American citizens as well as othe countries. Watching it, I wished it were just a scary sci fi and not a true story. At the beginning, Edward Snowden and the NSA whistleblower William Binney look fresh, energetic and hopeful. It is heartbreaking to see their transformation by the end of the documentary. Both are now pale, flabby, have dark circles beneath their eyes and havea haunted almost dead look. Glenn Greenwald and The Guardian broke the story. Before seeing the documentary I didn’t know what to think, now I see Snowden, Binney, Poitras and Grrenwald as heroes. I cannot see that Snowden will ever be a free man. He gave his life to inform and educate the American public.

The special features are well worth seeing.

Small quiet movie, a character study. All focus is on the young rock star wanna be played to perfection by Paul Dano. He is the kind of actor who after seeing him in one movie you think I want to see everyone he has beein in. He is in every scene. Two moments stood out for me. The first was is lip syncing dance to a song on the jute box that reveals all his hopes and dreams to be the star he will never be. He’s got all the right moves but will never make it. Next there is a touching scene with his daughter - he is allowed two hours alone with her. She asks, “why didn’t you ever come to see me.”. He struggles to find a real answer. She is already more mature than he will ever be. He is a sad loser. The most beautiful moments in his life seem to be the brief time with his daughter he never contacted before, never thought about until it was too late.

This drama is Shakespearen in depth. Arguably the best role of Richard Harris’ career. I was barely able to recognize the chameleon John Hurd in his role as town fool. As story unfolds you know that it cannot have a happy ending. In this land of barren rocky ground, Richard Harris “the Bull” started working in a rented field with his parents. Now an old but extremely strong man, he hopes to pass the field on to his son. The widow who owns the field decides to sell it at auction. An outsider, an American, comes to the village to buy the land. Everyone loses. The ending is as dramatic as it gets. Not a happy story but one well worth seeing.