Saturday, January 29, 2005
Too many flix
Oh, yeah--this is the stuff. I'd intended to see this at The Charles last year but never did. It's rather good; Audrey Tautou (always Amelie to me) refuses to be typecast, and is able to speak English with a Turkish accent convincingly. The male lead Chiwetel Ejiofor completely overwhelms in an understated yet powerful performance. He's got the best line in the film:
Unidentified English Gangster: Why the fuck haven't I seen any of you people before?
Okwe: Because we're the people you never see. We drive your cabs, we clean your rooms, we suck your cocks.
Also great is Sergi Lopez, who plays a chilling villain a couple atrocities beyond redemption via his Tammany Hall "honest graft" pretentions. Sort of a standard caper/thriller flick, but the uniqueness of the characters and settings--illegal immigrants in London's rotten underbelly--was enough to make things interesting.
I've wanted to see this again because every day I see Mrs. Brisby on Emily's website, and I last saw Nimh in the theater whenever that was. We enjoyed it tonight with red wine and a fire in the fireplace. One caution--the DVD transfer is not spectacular, particularly during darker scenes there's a lot of noise on the screen.
Saw Million Dollar Baby today at a pretty packed Senator matinee. Not a dry eye in the house for this one, mine included. How did Clint Eastwood become a sophisticated filmmaker? When did he drop the tough guy stuff and turn all maudlin and dark and weepy? Watching him cry in despair in this film was like seeing Mt. Rushmore burst into tears. Swank and Freeman rock as well--like Mystic River this is not overly intellectual stuff, not the work of an auteur by any means, but Eastwood has developed into a craftsman behind the lens, and he understands how to coax great performances from his actors. Definitely better than
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2 comments:
Did you know that just down the street from the library lives the daughter of Robert O'brien who wrote the book Mrs. Frisby....??? Watched Robin Hood Sat. night w/ Roger Miller songs but haven't watched much else...
Anyway, I eventually want to see Million dollar baby--thanks for all the spoilers!!!!!
Maybe you should try Stranger in a strange land, I dunno just rubbed me the wrong way. Amber was allright, a fun read--and I've gotten through Riverworld twice and still like that OK. What might be better is Bester and Sturgeon and Simak but like you said it's no good to give a reccomendation (esp. Sturgeon!!). I would be curious as to what you would have to say about Moore's From Hell though. Also I might try again Cordwainer Smith.
Anyway--Right turn Clyde!!! http://www.museoleonardiano.it/automobile.htm
Tried not to spoil, sorry if I blew anything. MDB is a very good film. I thought MR was excellent, this is better. I might have to see other Eastwood directorial work I never checked out (Bridges of Madison County, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil) to see when and where he picked up this sparse, elegant style. There are films he'd directed that I thought were great, but also flawed, like Unforgiven and Outlaw Josey Wales; the former is thematically tied into his two latest.
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