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Directly after the visual 'excesses' of "Curse Of The Golden Flower", comes a film that couldn't be any more different... Set in 1984 East Germany, "The Lives Of Others" is full of muted browns and greys.This critically acclaimed political thriller (meaning I won't be able to add anything about the film that you won't already have read), written and directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, beat "Pan's Labyrinth" - one of the films that made my 2006 Top Ten - to the 2007 Best Foreign Film Academy Award. It comments on the extent and methodology of surveillance that the Stasi employed to keep tabs on East Germany's populace during the height of the Communist era. Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) is loyal Stasi agent who starts doubting his work when he is ordered to monitor a playwright and actress couple (Sebastian Koch & Martina Gedeck) who are suspected of having Western leanings, but then learns that they are under surveillance because a member of the Party elite is attracted to the actress and wants the playwright out of the way.I watched this film on a Sunday afternoon, which is usually a disastrous time for me to watch films as I have a tendency to snooze through them. It's testament to the power of "The Lives Of Others" that I was engaged from the start to the end of its over 2 hour long running time, not once did I feel like 'closing my eyes for bit'. The film starts with a chilling classroom scene, where the tutor explains the tricks that can be used to prove a suspect's guilt during interrogation, from that moment I was hooked. I found the film both gripping and moving, this is largely down to Mühe's performance as Wiesler; a man who desperately tries to protect the couple that he is under pressure from his superiors to dig up dirt about.
"Curse Of The Golden Flower" is the last 'segment' in director Zhang Yimou's wuxia trilogy, the previous two films "Hero" and "House Of Flying Daggers" were films big in spectacle and this is no different.Set in 10th Century China, the film follows the political machinations of various members of the royal family and household as they vie against each other in a power struggle in the lead up to the Festival Of The Chrysanthemum; the Emperor (Chow Yun Fat) is slowly poisoning the Empress (Gong Li), she's having an affair with her stepson, he in turn is sleeping with one of the servants, meanwhile his brothers are being sucked in, to varying degrees, to a number of plots to overthrow the Emperor."Curse Of The Golden Flower" is one of the most colourful films I've seen for some time. The palace interiors are a riot of colour - vivid colours 'tastefully' contrasted with gold... The word 'garish' springs to mind! One of my big problems with "House Of Flying Daggers" was that it was slowly building towards a giant battle at the end of the film, but this disappointingly never materialised. "Curse Of The Golden Flower" goes some way towards redressing the balance by staging battles that wouldn't have looked out of place in Peter Jackson's "Lord Of The Rings" trilogy. There is a fight between soldiers and ninjas, which is quickly followed up by a battle between two armies - one in gold armour, the other in silver. Throw in some blood and chrysanthemums and you have another colourful feast for the eyes on the screen.While the screen is bright, the film itself is dark. It feels very Shakespearean, while watching it I was constantly reminded of such tragedies as 'Macbeth', 'King Lear' and 'Hamlet' - this link is strengthened through comparisons with Kurosawa's takes on Shakespeare: "Throne Of Blood" and "Ran". As the film plays out you can foresee the bloody mess that will be left at the end. No character is truly innocent, each of them plays a part in their own downfall.It's the strength of the lead performances that stops the film from feeling like a shallow melodramatic spectacle. Chow Yun Fat is an actor who I've liked ever since I saw John Woo's "The Killer" on video during the early 90s*, here he is utterly convincing as the ultra-cool but ultra-brutal Emperor - in fact he's so cool in this film that even his hair gets its own 'billow whoosh' moment. I've never been too sure about Gong Li as an actor before, but I've been prepared to give her the benefit of the doubt and put it down to the material rather than her; she seemed like the weakest link in "Miami Vice" as Colin Farrell's love interest - however female characters tend to be poorly served by Michael Mann - and she wasn't great in "Hannibal Rising", but then, little was... In "Curse Of The Golden Flower" she proves why Zhang has chosen her as his leading lady before, she gives a suitably understated performance as the Empress who wants to overthrow the Emperor and install her son on the throne before she succumbs to the poison slowly destroying her mind, while at the same time unable to act overtly.If you're looking for a piece of ripe melodrama to 'brighten up' an afternoon, especially if you've enjoyed Zhang's earlier films, you'll enjoy "Curse Of The Golden Flower". You may want to take some sunglasses for the interior scenes though...*Thanks HJ!
I had really hoped to see "The Messengers", being a fan of The Pang Brothers' earlier work (they wrote and directed the Hong Kong horror film "The Eye" - and its sequels - and Danny Pang worked on the "Infernal Affairs" series). However, time constraints got in the way of me getting around to see it.Upon reflection this may have been a lucky break, as I received the following review from a friend, who didn't mind me posting it:"Word to the wise…. caveat emptor!!
IMHO even using your ‘free’ unlimited card you will regret the loss of 1¾ hours of your life with this incredibly poor film. I appreciate that many ‘horror’ films follow well worn genre templates but you would expect the writers/directors to at least attempt a new angle on familiar plot themes or some clever visuals etc. This film didn’t have anything to lift it out of soul destroying mediocrity. It wasn’t even remotely scary, mainly relying on occasional shock tactics (sudden edits with pumped up sound etc) to wake you out of your stupor. And the lame ‘plot twist’ could be spotted a mile off!"
A squad of National Guard trainees are dispatched to deliver supplies to a group scientists working on a top secret mission in the New Mexico desert. They arrive to find the scientists missing...Over the next 90 minutes, the soldiers are slowly picked off one by one in a series of gruesome ways by the mutants that live in the desert.There isn't any depth to this sequel of a remake, despite the script being co-written by Wes Craven (the writer and director of the 1977 original). The direction is pretty bland, in fact the teaser trailer has more directive creativity than the film. The majority of the enjoyment comes from guessing who's going to die next and who is going to survive.[SPOILER] It came as no surprise to find that the cute blonde and the 'anti-war' soldier made it through the film, while the sergeant was one of the first to die. [END SPOILER]
"Our Sun is dying; mankind faces extinction. Sixteen months ago I, Robert Capa, and a crew of seven left Earth frozen in a solar winter. Our mission: Reignite the Sun before it's too late."That's the basic premise and introduction of 'Sunshine', the new film from Danny Boyle ('Shallow Grave', 'Trainspotting' and 'The Beach') and Alex Garland; the team who previously brought "28 Days Later" to the screen. The crew of the Icarus II are on a mission to create a new star by detonating a stellar bomb in the heart of our dying Sun. Once outside of radio contact with the Earth, the crew pick up a distress signal from the Icarus I, the craft sent out to carry out the very same mission seven years earlier but which mysteriously disappeared. After some discussion, the crew decides to divert from their mission and dock with the Icarus I - two bombs are better than one - with disastrous consequences...'Sunshine' has similar tropes to 'Alien' and 'Event Horizon' (sci-fi horror) but with the emphasis on sci-fi rather than horror, while at the same time it bears similarities with sci-fi disaster films such as 'Armageddon' and 'The Core' (a team of people out to save the planet). There are many things you can point at from other films - computer with soothing female voice, abandoned spaceships, mysterious distress signals - the influence of 'Alien' is writ large throughout this film. However, what rescues 'Sunshine' from being utterly derivative is its execution. In the same way that '28 Days Later' wasn't 'just another zombie movie', 'Sunshine' isn't 'just another sci-fi horror/disaster movie'. The Icarus II is beautifully realised both internally and externally; the film often cuts from exterior shots of the craft in the darkness of space to the bright but claustrophobic interiors. The sound of the film is great from both the sound design (which generated some great rumbles from the cinema's sub-woofers) to John Murphy & Underworld's score. The performances are uniformly strong, with honours going to Chris Evans, proving he can do more than his brash Johnny Storm in 'The Fantastic Four' (in fact I didn't recognise him initially behind a beard and long hair), Rose Byrne, who provides the film's 'heart', and Michelle Yeoh in a nicely understated performance as the biologist in charge of the ship's 'oxygen garden'.I found 'Sunshine' a really enjoyable and tense film, from the point where the Icarus I's distress signal is picked up the tension in the film keeps building; I had high expectations going into the film and the filmmakers delivered on them. It may lose its way a little at the end (going into any more detail here would spoil the film), but the journey there by far makes up for its final reel failings.
I stumbled upon a trailer (and teaser poster) for a film called "War, Inc."Starring John Cusack this looks like it might be the much vaunted 'unofficial sequel' to "Grosse Pointe Blank". I'm hoping "War, Inc." will be as enjoyable as "GPB", only time will tell...See what you think.
After last month, where I was spoiled for choice for 'Film Of The Month', March has proven a little easier in that I didn't see much that really inspired me...However, despite its flaws - most notably a Spartan politics subplot that didn't appear in the original comic - I enjoyed the visual and aural spectacle that was '300', so I'm making it March's 'Film Of The Month'.(If it were 'Trailer Of The Month' things would be a lot tougher with 'Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End', '28 Weeks Later' and 'Sunshine' all looking really good!)
Directly after the visual 'excesses' of "Curse Of The Golden Flower", comes a film that couldn't be any more different... Set in 1984 East Germany, "The Lives Of Others" is full of muted browns and greys.
