Chocolat

Well, this is not the Chocolat I was thinking of watching, with Juliet Binoche et al, this one was, found here on IMDb was an earlier war time drama set in French controlled Africa.  It's a typical coming of age movie with looks across cultures and social norms.  It has much the same flavour as "Walkabout", but a very different story line.

It's been a few months since I saw it, and remember little of the film apart from broad desolate landscapes, people getting caught on differing sides of social gaps, with several relationships falling afoul of this situation.

Worth seeing, but a bit ponderous and lethargic at times.  Photography was okay.

The Bed Sitting Room

"The Bed Sitting Room" has to be one of the most bizarre post apocalyptic films of the 60's, but that is not surprising since it was written by Spike Milligan.  The cast is just an amazing list of big names from British film, radio and TV.  Spike is not the only Goon present, Harry Seacombe also makes an appearance, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore appear together,  the most surprising to me is Ralph Richardson taking the title role.

The film is set in the shambles that was once London.  The few head of state has been identified, Mrs. Ethyl Shroake, as she is closest living relation to the pre-war monarchy.  All we encounter either totally lost their marbles in the war (which only lasted 2 minute 28 seconds) or are acting very British about everything.  The atmosphere is one of optimism, that Bulldog Spirit will see us through.

I think Goons fans will get more out of this than the rest of us.  Check in your sense of reality before you tune in to this surreal, but ultimately human film.

Apologies for my absence

New work, new worries, and joining the project when it's late just takes from my time.  I've still been watching, but not blogging of late.  I really need to remember what I saw, luckily Netflix does that for me.

Chocolat
Panic
Requiem For a Dream
True Grit (both versions)
Animal Kingdom
The Assasination of Jesse James
Dead Man
The Petrified Forest
Inspector Bellamy
Luck
Dial M for Murder
Mrs Brown
The Bed Sitting Room
Happenstance
The Big Lebowski
The Asphalt Jungle

I'll get the reviews here some day, I promise.

A Woman, A Gun And A Noodle Shop

Well, the Coen Bros. are making remakes of classics, so why not someone remake their movies.

Taking the same story line and transposing it to China of old, this tale of betrayal, use and abuse is faithfully retold.  The whole film is packed with fascinating visuals, with interesting set dressing, locations, great colours and wonderful compositions.  The very look of the actors is excellent too.  I am now interested in seeing other films by Zhang Yimou, who also directed "House of the Flying Daggers" and "The Road Home".

I know, a short review, but all I can say is watch this great film, relax and enjoy.

I guess I should mention the original was "Blood Simple", the very first Coen Bros. movie.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Somehow I managed to skip part two and ended up seeing this one first, c'est la vie.

I guess I don't remember the book well enough to know if the opening sequence was faithful or not, but with any film version of a book one is looking to see it is faithful to the feel of the book, and this one is.

This is definitely a sword and sorcery film, with all the swashbuckling and epic battle scenes you would expect.  The FX are typical contemporary, state of the art, the CG characters seamlessly blended.

As with all these long saga's about a group of teenagers who defeat evil the cast age faster than the series can be filmed.  In this case however it should work out for the good as the Pevensies should have aged in Narnia for their later appearances in the books, though I seem to remember most of their battles happening in their youth.

Keep cranking them out, I'd like to see the full series now, even the bits where Liam Neeson shows up to be preachy at the end.

Housewife, 49

At first the idea of seeing Victoria Wood in a drama seems wrong, but looking at her biography, she was a playwright before she started writing comedy shows and performing stand up.
The drama follows the life of an ordinary housewife in a shipbuilding town during WWII, and how she is coping with a depression ("nerves").  We encounter much that we expect with a wartime drama, a look at the mechanics of the home front blackouts, blitzes, Andersons versus Morrisons, potential gas attacks and sons going to war.
The drama also shows how a woman comes to terms with her oppression under her husband and her emancipation through volunteer work, and the incumbent committee politics and class strata therein.
David Threlfall should be admired for his soft voiced father figure.  I'm more used to seeing his comic roles, but he does drama well (and action in "The Marksman").

Diary of a Lost Girl

I must admit I have developed a bit of a soft spot for Louise Brooks, a very talented American performer, who walked out on the Hollywood system and went to make films in Europe.  Her dancers physique and youthful face are very pleasing, but add on to that her ability to sell her character to you credibly without the overstatement we usually see in silent movies.

This time around she is another fallen woman.  The film addresses how badly rape victims are treated, as if they are culpable, and it follows a now stereotypical decent into "wantonness" and "depravity", after all an impoverished beauty with a tarnished reputation can only take on one career.

The story finds salvation for her and a moralistic and modern conclusion is arrived at.

Some rather hammy comic relief characters, but overall a great film.