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Reviews
Holy Smoke (1999)
Good film
Does this film only have 5.8/10 from your viewers ? That's not very much. I found it an original, well-acted picture, with lots of wisdom and humour in it. Kate Winslet and Harvey Keitel prove they're real actors. The description of the family was very good. The film always hit the right atmosphere. There wasn't any scene in it that should not be there. It was an original love-story, the one that you don't see too often in most pictures. Really, I've enjoyed this film.
Journal d'un curé de campagne (1951)
Religious movie
This is certainly a remarkable movie. The acting is superb and the black/white photography is impressing. I'm not too sure that I've really understood all the spiritual movements the young priest has made and I think the hard treatment the villagers and the count and his family give him is exaggerated. But to watch a movie like this 50 years on is in itself a moving experience.
Random Hearts (1999)
Old-fashioned Sidney Pollack movie
This is a disappointing movie. A cast with Harrison Ford and Kristin Scott Thomas should offer the spectator much more than this.
Director Sidney Pollack sticks to his old style: (1) a description of the relationship (tensions, care) of a man and a woman who get to know each other. (2) Playing a part in his own movie. It reminded me strongly of his 70ies and 80ies movies. Harrison Ford makes the same sorrowful faces he has already used in 'Frantic'. Moreover, the film clearly lasts too long. Superfluous scenes in airports, parks, hotel lobbies, etc. make the central theme of the film (the discovery of the hidden past of their partners) less interesting.
This kind of slow cinema may have worked well in the 1970ies but now it seems dated and uninspired.
The Green Mile (1999)
A Stephen King fairy tale
If you love Stephen King film the Shawshank Redemption, you will even like this film more. If you're some kind of philosopher, this film can be seen as a modern version of the story of Jesus Christ's crucifixion.
When you leave the cinema, you may think differently about death penalty, although the film is more than just an anti-death penalty statement. If you don't believe in magic and if you don't like the cast of 'good'(Coffey, Des, ...) and 'bad' people (Percy, ...), then this 3-hour-movie will be hard to swallow. I, for my part, tend to be in the 2nd group.
White Lies (1998)
Finally disappointing Canadian film on racism and extreme-right
The beginning of the film 'White Lies' was surprising to me, because you don't often watch North-American films with political racism as the theme. The psychology of the shy main character was described well, the rhythm of the film was good, and original with a sound-track that seemed to come from a 1970's film.
But, then, the second half was disappointing, as the film came into the domain of "Hollywood Nazism" and, like some others comments said, cartoon characters. The sentimental and pathetic ending of the film doesn't do much good to it.
A study on how intellectual people, e.g. at college and university, can be attracted by extreme-right ideology, as it was at the beginning of the film, could have been more interesting
Tatort: Freund Gregor (1979)
A story of an East German spy in West Germany
Because I'm a fan of the German tv-police thriller series "Tatort" (meaning: place of the crime), I'd like to comment on it: this episode remains one of my favourites, although nothing pretty exciting happens in it and the development of the plot is not very detailed. But it is the human touch that turns it into a worthwhile film: the growing confidence that a highly-paid but frustrated academic, who works for the West German army, has in an East German spy. He goes as far as (unknowingly) handing out designs of top secret military equipment to the communist East. He realizes he's been naive and the end of the film is touching. The tatort-films of the 1970ies were often of high quality. They had a good mixture of psychology, suspense and good acting.
Good Will Hunting (1997)
A very good film
This is a very good film. You can clearly see that it is an inspired piece of work. It doesn't look like it in the beginning but it mostly holds your attention. The acting (esp. R. Williams and M. Damon) is strong. The script is witty and it avoids all the stereotypes. What I certainly enjoyed in it, was the picture of the city of Boston: the university but also the outskirts of town. The city plays an important part in this film. It surprises me that 2 protagonists wrote the script of this film. I hope they'll follow this path. So, we'll enjoy more quality American main-stream films. The film makes you think about what it means to grow up in a certain social class and how you watch your intellectual capacities. It is an optimistic film which makes you smile (and cry maybe). And it isn't difficult to swallow. But at the same time, you don't get an easy message. As I said, this film isn't stereotypical. And, although it has an "happy ending", you never think this is just your next corny American Hollywood film. A surprisingly good film !!
Dries Van Dongen, Belgium
Terug naar Oosterdonk (1997)
Great tv-series about ordinary people in Belgium from 1958 to 1995
I'm Flemish-Belgian and the tv-series is situated after the war in Antwerp. The port is developing and old villages like Oosterdonk (see title: meaning Back to Oosterdonk) have to be torn down because more space is needed for the industry. The film shows life around 1960 before the village disappeared and at the same time is about life 35 years on at the funeral of one of the protagonists, long after the village is gone. Gradually, we learn the truth about a mystery that occurred in the past and at the same time, we realize that life in Flanders, Belgium changed for good in the post-war period.