Category Archives: Reviews

REVIEW: The Headless Woman

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The Headless Woman
Directed by: Lucrecia Martel
Written by: Lucrecia Martel (screenplay)
Starring: María Onetto, Claudia Cantero, César Bordón, and Daniel Genoud

I glanced at Film Comment’s top films of 2009 expecting to see the usual: The Hurt Locker, Precious, Avatar, and Up in the Air.  Other than the first one, I saw none of them in the top twenty.  Occupying the number two slot on that list, which polls many of the countries most prominent film critics, was this unassuming low budget picture from Argentinean director Lucrecia Martel.

The Headless Woman follows Veronica (María Onetto), a wealthy dentist who hits something- maybe a dog, maybe a child- with her car.  She stops for a moment on the dusty road, but does not get out.  The guilt plagues her, destroying her image of herself and making her an alien in her own life.  The premise doesn’t allow for much in the way of story, but this is an excellent character study.

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ARCHIVE REVIEW: Let the Right One In

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Let the Right One In
Directed by: Tomas Alfredson
Written by: John Ajvide Lindvist (novel & screenplay)
Starring: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragner, and Henrik Dahl.

In the age of Twilight, the once mythical mythology of the vampire has been demystified and defanged in order to appeal to tweens and easily-offended soccer moms.  Thankfully Tomas Alfredson sticks it to Bella and Edward in this bloody tale of a tween boy and the vampire he befriends.

Let the Right One In is a meticulously crafted work of art.  Each camera angle is deliberate in its haunting beauty, and each sentence  delves deeper into the characters or the story.   Nothing is wasted, a sign of a great independent filmmaker at work.

The story is kept simple, though it is filled with allegory relating to Swedish socialism.  Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) is a young boy who gets picked on at school because he is weak and timid.  He has no friends until a girl named Eli (Lina Leandersson) moves in next door and starts showing up after dark to help him solve his Rubik’s Cube.  The charm of these early scenes  resonate because of their simplicity and also because of the darkness that follows.

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ARCHIVE REVIEW: Lars and the Real Girl

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Lars and the Real Girl
Directed by: Craig Gillespie
Written by: Nancy Oliver
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Paul Schneider, Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson

Pretty much your standard indie-love-dramedy. Boy meets girl. Boy suppresses feelings for girl. Boy orders an anatomically correct mannequin off the internet in replacement.

Okay, so not quite the standard love story arc we’re used to, but it’s definitely something quirky and cool enough for to get excited about, since it is the premise is really what drives the interest throughout movie. Lars Lindstrom (Gosling) lives in the garage/apartment adjacent to the home his brother (Schneider) and him inherited from their dead parents. For the most part Lars seems like a normal guy, driving his own car, attending church, dressing in a range of gaudy sweaters and working in a small desk job where he has many co-worker friends who attempt to reach out to Lars. The problem is, is that Lars rejects their affection and often seems irritated by their company and kindness. Continue reading →

REVIEW: Ponyo

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Ponyo
Directed by: Hayo Miyazaki
Written by: Hayo Miyazaki (screenplay)
Starring: Noah Cyrus, Frankie Jonas, Tina Fey, Cate Blanchett, and Liam Neeson

For those who love the art of Japanese anime, Hayo Miyazaki is widely considered the God.  The man behind such works as Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke delivers his latest, Ponyo, with a wide color palette and unique take on Hans Christian Anderson’s “Little Mermaid.”

It starts off underwater.  The young fish we will soon know as Ponyo (Noah Cyrus) makes her way to the surface in an elaborate, beautiful opening sequence.  When she arrives, she meets Sosuke (Frankie Jonas), a vibrant and happy five year old boy who rescues her from a glass jar.  The fish licks the wound, healing it and binding her DNA with that of a human.  She begins to take on human characteristics, learning to speak and sprouting limbs.  All the while, her father (Liam Neeson) is keen on keeping her the way she is, and takes her back into the underwater realm.  She breaks free, and once liberated, unleashes the sea and makes her way back to Sosuke.

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ARCHIVE REVIEW: Drag Me to Hell

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Drag Me to Hell
Directed by: Sam Raimi
Written by: Sam Raimi & Ivan Raimi (screenplay)
Starring: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver, and Adriana Barraza

Horror comedy may be the most difficult genres to mix together successfully.  You wouldn’t think that, as these days horror movies like the Saw series are laughable and the endlessly cliched comedies become more horrendous.  Sam Raimi, however, has proven himself a master of the genre.

Before he “sold out” (brought life) to the first two Spider Man movies, he was nothing more than a low-budget director of horror comedies that collected a cult following that included some unashamed critics.  With Drag Me to Hell marking his return to that genre, consider me one of the recently unashamed.

Not only is this one of the funniest films of 2009, it’s also one of the grossest and even scariest.  With most directors, you either lean on the horror or the comedy, but Mr. Raimi walks the tight rope of both and succeeds admirably.  His film is relentlessly entertaining.

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ARCHIVE REVIEW: A History of Violence

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A History of Violence
Directed by: David Cronenberg
Written by: Josh Olson (screenplay), John Wagner & Vince Locke (graphic novel)
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris, and William Hurt

When David Cronenberg decided to direct this brutal, idealistic masterpiece in 2005, it was snubbed royally by both the Academy Awards and general public.  As time wore on, though, and the end of the decade lists needed to be made, A History of Violence rightfully appeared on them.

Once you see the movie, the title will evoke Howard Zinn’s People’s History of the United States.  That’s how definitive it is on the subject.  Cronenberg knows that violence is a part of human DNA, whether we want to acknowledge it or not.  He uses this to create a visually stunning, relentlessly violent assault on the typical American family.

The Stahls are that family.  Once the film moves past it’s brutal introduction, we see that almost too perfectly.  They banter carelessly, the children are obedient stereotypes, and the couple are hopelessly in love.  Thankfully, Croneneberg doesn’t stay there for long.  We see Tom (Viggo Mortensen) and Edie (Maria Bello) engage in wildly erotic, kinky sex after the kids are gone.  We see their son Jack (Ashton Holmes) do well in gym class and then almost get pummeled.

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REVIEW: Big Fan

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Big Fan
Directed by: Robert D. Siegel
Written by: Robert D. Siegel (screenplay)
Starring: Patton Oswalt, Kevin Corrigan, Michael Rapaport, and Marcia Jean Kurtz

We all have our obsessions.  Whether it be a sport, a hobby, a person or all three, each of us has something in our lives that we couldn’t get out of it if we wanted to.

This is the subject of Robert D. Siegel’s excellent, truthful, and unflinching Big Fan.  You may know Siegel’s previous writing work from 2008’s The Wrestler.  He doesn’t let the sympathy that partially diluted his character in that film interfere with his work here.  By keeping the camera low-key and the subject front-and-center, Mr. Siegel creates a portrait of obsession that is hilarious, sad, and disturbing.

Patton Oswalt, a comedian further showcasing his acting talent, plays Paul Aufiero, a die-hard New York Giants fan.  He and his friend Sal (Kevin Corrigan) go to Giants Stadium for every home game, not to go inside and watch but to sit outside their clunker car and listen to it on the radio.

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REVIEW: Green Zone

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Green Zone
Directed by: Paul Greengrass
Written by: Brian Helgeland (screenplay), Rajiv Chandrasekaran (book)
Starring: Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear, Amy Ryan, and Brendan Gleeson

It’s too bad The Hurt Locker just cleaned up at the Academy Awards a week ago.  This film’s glaring conformity to the “Political war film” genre would be less obvious, and the suspense it does generate wouldn’t look so pathetic in comparison to Kathryn Bigelow’s mastery.

That being said, what is here isn’t terrible.  Paul Greengrass is one of the good action directors we have, and he films this with the breakneck pacing he did in the last two Bourne movies.  If that turned you off, stay clear of Green Zone.

Another thing aiding this conformist military drama is the ensemble cast.  Headed by Matt Damon as the soldier looking for answers and backed up by the excellent Greg Kinnear as a slimy government official, both actors score knockouts.  Brendan Gleeson also excels as the CIA agent butting heads with Kinnear.  It’s too bad the great Amy Ryan is reduced to the background in a role that is covered up the same way the Iraq invasion is in the film.

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REVIEW: A Single Man

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A Single Man
Directed by: Tom Ford
Written by: Tom Ford & David Scearce (screenplay), Chris Isherwood (novel)
Starring: Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Nicholas Hoult, and Matthew Goode

Looking for that depressing British movie about interesting broken people?  In A Single Man, director Tom Ford’s impressive debut, you’ve found it and then some.

After his lover (Matthew Goode) dies, George Falconer (Colin Firth), an English professor in early 60’s L.A., falls into a deep sadness.  Much of the film revolves around his plan to kill himself and the different things distracting him from it or holding him back.  He goes over to his best friend Charley’s (Julianne Moore) house to get boozed up and talk, has an encounter with a gay James Dean-wannabe outside a liquor store, and has an interesting chat with the neighbor’s daughter at a bank.

All of these events, combined with a prospect at a rebound lover in a young student (Nicholas Hoult), prevent George from pulling the trigger.  I went into this film expecting an Oscar-worthy performance from Firth, mostly just because he was nominated for one.  Though he delivers a quietly devastating portrait, I’m not sure he would’ve been nominated on a year with more memorable lead performances.

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ARCHIVE REVIEW: Y tu mamá también

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Y tu mamá también
Directed by: Alfonso Cuarón
Written by: Alfonso Cuarón & Carlos Cuarón
Starring: Diego Luna, Gael García Bernal and Maribel Verdú

Alfonso Cuarón’s sexed-up road movie had every critic buzzing back in 2001 when it was originally released.  Not in outrage over it’s sleazy, over-sexed characters, but its expert handling of mature themes in a vibrant, entertaining way.  It’s hard to see how the producers of the Harry Potter franchise looked at this film and said “There’s our guy.”

The film begins with teenage sex.  Tenoch (Diego Luna) is saying farewell to his girlfriend as she prepares to depart for Italy with the girlfriend of the other main character, Julio (Gael García Bernal).  It’s an erotic start to a movie that has the highest sex scene to run-time ratio (more than five in 105 minutes) I’ve ever seen.

Once the girlfriends are out of the picture, the two horny best friends let loose.  From partying and getting high at a friend’s bungalow to getting smashed at a relative’s wedding, the two boys admire the notion that time you enjoy wasting is not wasted.

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