jinka3 Reviews

Paris, I Love You (2006)

More hits than misses

[8/10 · 2 October 2006]

Wasn't sure what to expect from this movie considering its amazing collection of stars and directors but in the end it didn't disappoint.

For me one of the highlights was the final episode with the American tourist speaking with a dreadful French accent (which made me feel better about mine) which was actually quite touching and a great way to wrap up the movie.

The story of the paramedic and the stabbing victim was also very moving and for pure comedy the Coen Brothers and Steve Buscemi take the award. The Tom Tykwer clip was also impressive although rather ambitious in its scope.

However, the Bob Hoskins segment was totally cringeworthy and the vampire story was completely farcical. The dialogue in Wes Craven's section also felt very forced and the Chinatown story was completely incomprehensible.

On the whole this film is worth watching for the good bits and has a strong finish. It's not too painful to sit through the bad sections - they only last 5 minutes anyway.

Ca vaut la peine!!!

Dogville (2003)

The Best Movie Ever Made On The Human Condition

[10/10 · 7 February 2006]

With this film Lars Von Trier surpasses and exceeds the standards in independent film-making which he set with his Trilogy of "Breaking The Waves", "The Idiots" and "Dancer in the Dark".

It is, quite simply, like no other movie which you have ever seen. The sparse scenery of the studio where it was filmed not only fill you with wonder and awe originally but also emphasise the latent talent of the acting on display. Having not been a huge Nicole Kidman fan before the movie, I no longer need any convincing that she knows how to act.

The film has so many allegorical references and such a tight, succinct script that on each viewing you can discover new possible meanings or discover a new telling facial expression on one of the characters.

The beginning of the film is, admittedly, fairly slow moving, but the way the film is shot to near perfection creates the perfect rose-tinted view of life in a rural mountain village before the picture is gradually distorted and ultimately ruined.

Although the movie is set in America and plays with some American values the messages within the movie definitely have universal rather than specific meaning. The power politics within relationships and the temptation of abusing accepted human ethics when the chance arises, especially when living in a despairing town without hope could strike a chord with any country.

After seeing the movie for the first time everyone in the cinema looked stunned. And so was I. I couldn't sleep for about a week or so because the issues and questions it raised about the human condition were so poignant and probing.

Without question you must watch this movie. But don't think that you won't see the world in a very different light afterwards.

Munich (2005)

An Unqualified Disaster Of A Movie

[1/10 · 7 February 2006]

The movie can really be summed up in one line that the wife of the main protagonist, Azner, says after just one of the movies excruciatingly painful clichés.

"You're my home", says Azner.

"Stop it, that's corny" she replies and the whole movie is a cliché-ridden, corny abomination. After struggling to prevent myself leaving the cinema within the first ten minutes I found myself repeating just that line in my head as I struggled through the unwieldy and overblown three hours that make up the "Munich" "epic".

The length is pretty incomprehensible and completely unjustifiable as Spielberg goes in for innumerate lengthy pans on the characters faces which reveal precisely nothing (the worst scene being a completely comical flashback scene as Azner has sex with his wife whilst being "haunted" by the events in Munich he didn't actually see) and includes gratuitous panoramic views of nearly every city in the world.

With a terrible script to work from (speaking other languages I wasn't spared from the awfulness of the dialogue in German or French) the actors managed to match it with their delivery. Identification with any of the characters was completely impossible as Spielberg regularly and cringe-worthily tried to dip into the "buddy movie" genre with dialogues between the "crack team" of Israeli operators (about as crack as a WI reunion).

The dinner they enjoyed together with awful banter flowing across the table about being toy-makers or furniture dealers sat very awkwardly with feeble jokes about receipts and the role of the South African (I don't look forward to the next James Bond film if that performance is anything to go by) was a mystery to everyone including the actor himself.

Well, I can't even begin to emphasise how boring, how much of a waste of time and how completely unengaging this film was, but if you liked Troy (also starring Azner as Hector) and other abominations of movies of a similar ilk then run to the cinemas, throw over your money and take in yet another slice of Hollywood tripe masquerading as an artistic and thought provoking work.