Cinemexperience: part deux., Some more filums you saw. Options

[angle]

in the mood for love - our glorious years have passed like flowers...

hong kong, the early sixties. mrs su (maggie cheung) and her husband move into the spare room in mrs suen's (rebecca pan) apartment. mr chow (tony leung) and his wife move into a spare room in the next-door apartment. mrs su works long hours, she's a secretary for a shipping company, and her husband frequently makes long trips to japan on business. mr chow works similarly late hours' as an editor for a newspaper, whilst his wife works even later into the night.

with lives such as these, mrs su and mr chow find themselves bumping into each other at late night eateries, as well as when they're making their way in and out of their building, and a neighbourly friendship begins to develop, spurred on by their shared interest in martial arts serials. it isn't long, however, before the frequent absences of both mr su and mrs chow are revealed as more than coincidental: they're having an affair.

mrs su and mr chow's friendship continues to develop as they play out likely scenarios of their spouses burgeoning to infidelity and how they may choose to confront them. all the while, their own relationship develops; but, always in their thoughts, is a conviction that they will not pursue an illicit entanglement of their own...

this is a film that i've loved since i first saw it a long while ago. so, when i found out that it was screening in the newly restored howard assembly room (at opera north / leeds grand theatre), i was there in a flash. the venue is rather lovely and definitely a nice place to watch something. the film, as always, was great.

the film is a real gem: a minimalistic portrait of the moments that occur between two people who are falling in love. it is said that a more defined narrative was sliced from the film during editing; but, regardless of whether this is true, the intensity and intimacy created by having almost every frame focussed on the interaction between its two central characters, either together or apart and thinking about each other, is incredibly powerful.

wong's pacing is excellent: despite the film garnering criticism for its (perceived) languid nature, last night, the ninety-eight minutes simply flew by. as performers, and an on screen pairing, maggie cheung and tony leung are completely engaging. even though this film was made after maggie cheung had already begun to take on fewer and fewer roles, her talent, grace and beauty are as evident as they ever have been. coiffured and wearing a stunning selection of dresses, she seems to almost glide through the film, managing to convey internal dialogues and thoughts through small movements and looks. tony leung, too, suits the role perfectly; looking great in a haze of smoke and managing to convey a sensitivity and vulnerability, with a presence which makes him a believable object of desire, in the eyes of mr su.

so much credit needs giving to wong and michael galasso for the selection (and composition) of the music to which cheung and leung's movement is, seemingly, choreographed to. it is one of my favourite soundtracks and still gets frequent airtime in my house. much praise should also go william chang who, as artistic director, costume designer and editor (no less...), plays a huge part in creating the visual beauty which christopher doyle and mark lee capture on film with aplomb. by 'in the mood for love' doyle seems to have managed to reign in a lot of his jauntier camera trickery and, along with lee, gives more emphasis to the lighting and composition, which, for me, makes this one of his strongest works.

great stuff. maybe it's time to go and watch '2046' again...



i await zoe's "beautiful paint drying" critique...

...

[sweetbutinsane]

Shrek 2

I grabbed a lot of films in a last minute rush on Tuesday and then only ended up watching this while we were away.

[fatseff1234]

I am regularly given review copies of movies to watch. Traditionally, I have scribbled down notes during the movie for me to type up later. I won a spiffy new phone recently and I have started to use the voice recorder function to dictate notes whilst the movie is in progress.

Last weekend, I happened to watch the Lucio Fulci classic House by the Cemetery, but I made the mistake of drinking copious quantities of red wine during the thing and towards the end, my observations become more "irreverent".

As a way of trying to prevent me from undertaking such drink-driven reviews again, I have posted some of the "highlights" on youtube. I know I sound a bit fey in places, but this is due to the booze...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pA8EeAGIDs

You have been warned!

Kev W

Do more, please.

It could be a new thread. Aural drunken reviews. It'd be pure win.

[KevinandNick]

Glad you liked it - OK, I know I posted it as a way of trying to inject a sense of professionalism into my journalistic work, but I am tempted to do more.

I am currently ploughing through a review disc of one of the worst episodes of Doctor Who ever made - I am tempted to record some notes for the final episode...

Kev W

[Hobbes]

Watched Be Kind Rewind and Tropic Thunder the last two days, and enjoyed them both loads. BKR is a terrific film with a genius central concept which was superbly executed (the ways they re-create famous scenes in some places are ingenious) and a wicked comedy pairing in Mos Def and Jack Black. ONe of the best films I've seen in ages. Tropic Thunder was also really good, but not quite what I was expecting. The line between the film's 'reality' and artificial 'film' was really blurry at times so I wasn't really sure what the fuck was going on in a few bits. However, very wryly observed humour in it and some excellent setpieces anchored by the awesome Danny McBride's batshit-crazy SFX guy. It took its idea from Three Amigos! (actors think they're in a movie but aren't) but I love that movie too so I wasn't that fussed really, and this had some brilliant lines and the excellent Tom Cruise appearance: "he's a dying star. A white dwarf heading into a black hole. It's physics, it's inevitable." The fake trailers they added to the beginning were also a very big win.

Both excellent, but slightly preferred Be Kind Rewind because it was wonderfully original.

[sleeping_pirate]

Happy-Go-Lucky

Really, really enjoyed this.

[Sean of the Dead]

Red Eye
Two people with impeccable cheek bones square off for 75 minutes. Expertly paced and great fun.

[logger]

I like Red Eye.

[Zoe]

I like that review of Red Eye.

I think I'd quite enjoy getting nutted by Cillian.

My business is all about you...

[Shack]

Taken

Liam Neeson tracks down his daughter after she's taken by Albanian gangsters in Paris. Luckily he's a government operative with a shady past.

Reasonably entertaining, Famke Janssen as the now divroced wife smoulders rather sexily throughout and Liam Neeson is pretty good as a tough guy.

The main annoying thing was the "Who's driving the boat?" remark by Mark Kermode. It's about the ending but it's safe to assume that there is a man driving the boat who must man his station even when there is gunfire. I'm sure Liam Nesson killed him later on.

[sweetbutinsane]

Moulin Rouge

I forgot how good this was.

[logger]

Dead Snow

Pretty good, knockabout, Raimi-esque horror with some genuine laugh out loud moments. Not exactly scary, it's more thrill ride than anything (although not quite up to [Rec] standards) and is maybe one for those who complained about the lack of horror in SOTD (with the comedy/horror ratio being reversed here). Definitely not as slick as Shaun it is the best of this type of film since then.

[Sostie]

NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM
As undemanding family entertainment goes it's undemanding and entertaining. I really enjoyed it second time round. Steve Coogan and Owen Wilson are pretty much the stars of the show.

[Serafina_Pekkala]

Steve Googan

Haha.

Red Eye is good cos Cillian is looking beautiful.

[melzilla]

Drag Me To Hell

Fun, fun, fun! Plenty of scares, plenty of gross and a whole heap of laughs. Brilliant stuff.