The Brothers Bloom

"Is this the bathroom? No, this is camels."

I love it when you go into a movie not knowing what to expect (or not expecting much) and you're pleasantly surprised, or in the case of The Brothers Bloom, completely blown away. This is absolutely my favorite movie that I've seen in a long long while.

Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) and Bloom (Adrian Brody) are two brothers who spent their childhoods in foster care and grew up to be con men. Stephen is the schemer who writes their cons as epic stories. Bloom is the romantic who yearns for "an unscripted life." Bloom quits the con game, until Stephen ropes him back in for one final con - bilking Penelope, a lonely eccentric heiress (Rachel Weisz), out of millions. Bloom falls for Penelope (or does he?) as the con takes several twists and turns, of which even he is ultimately unsure of what is real and what is the con.

The Brothers Bloom is completely charming. It's clever and funny, and just plain entertaining. Adrian Brody is wonderful as Bloom, and I've had mad respect for Mark Rufallo since You Can Count on Me. It has a bit of the feel of a Wes Anderson movie, but not quite as quirky and with more energy. If you get a chance you should absolutely see this movie. I will be looking to buy it when it comes out on dvd in a few weeks, and I can't think of the last movie I actually bought.

Sin Nombre

I went and saw Sin Nombre at the Bijou on Thursday. Sin Nombre is a tale of illegal immigration, interwoven with the story of a Central American gang member.

Sayra is a Honduran teen whose father returns to take her to New Jersey to live with family members. They walk to Mexico, where they have to sneak across the border and jump on top of a train with hundreds of other people also trying to make their ways north. Along the way they face delays, the border patrol, children throwing rocks at them (it's interesting as an American to watch the reaction of Mexicans to people illegally their country), and eventually a trio of gang members who try to rob them. Casper (or Willy) is a member of Mara 13, a violent Central American gang. He ends up on the same train as Sayra, trying to escape from his "homies" after being marked for death. Sayra decides she is going to help him, and the two form an unlikely (and mostly one-sided) bond.

I don't usually like movies that deal with a lot of violence, but I enjoyed Sin Nombre. There wasn't a lot of graphic violence (unlike in Gomorrah, which I disliked for other reasons as well), and I found the immigration angle of the plot fascinating. I ended up shaking my head a lot at Sayra and the decisions she makes, but her journey follows a kind of Sliding Doors path in that the decisions she makes may seem bad, but you never know how things would have turned out otherwise.

Right after I saw this movie I read an article on CNN about French filmmaker Christian Proveda who was killed in El Salvador on Wednesday by the Mara 18 gang, rivals of the MS-13 who were briefly portrayed in Sin Nombre. Proveda had been working on a documentary about street gangs. After I read about that, I did a little internet research on these gangs (like they're going to have an official website), and discovered that there are around 50,000 members estimated to be in the US, many is Los Angeles. It's scary to think about kids growing up in areas where gang life is the norm and membership may even seem necessary for survival (a young kid joining the gang was another important charachter in the movie).

Overall, I really enjoyed Sin Nombre's story, and I think it serves well to put a face to illegal immigration and how much some people will go through to try to get themselves a better life in the US.

Old Joy...new bore

I'm all for minimalism. Stories don't always need car chases, happenstance, or far-fetched plot twists to be intersting. Heck, they don't even always need any words (see: 3-Iron). But there's minimalism that allows for emotion to shine through, and minimalism to the point of nothing. Unfortunately, Old Joy falls into the latter category.

Old Joy tells the story of two friends played by Daniel London and Will Oldham (Bonnie Prince Billy) who have grown apart. One has settled down and is about to become a father, while the other is wandering wherever life takes him. They try to reconnect over a weekend camping trip to some hot springs in Oregon.

It doesn't take very long to figure out that these two have taken different paths in life and that their friendship has suffered because of it, but nothing really happens after that. They drive, they get lost, they talk some, they drive some more. The scenery was gorgeous and I think the acting and the dialogue rang fairly true, but that doesn't necessarily make for an interesting film. I could film 76 minutes out of my day and it would probably be pretty realistic, but no one would want to watch it.

There's not much more to say. I think I'm in the minority about this film as I've read a number of rather glowing reviews about it. Maybe I'm missing the subtlety or I'm just too involved in my capitalist existence to appreciate the extreme minimalism, but Old Joy mostly just left me with a void where a movie should have been.

salute your shorts

So... I haven't posted in quite a while, mostly because I haven't seen very many movies lately, but also because I'm lazy. But that's all going to change. Well, not the lazy part, but the not seeing movies part. The university's indie/art theater is about to reopen, and I plan to become a fixture there. I'm also about 98% sure I'm finally going to take the plunge and get Netflix, though I've been saying that for a good two years now.

Anyway, I've been meaning to write about the various rentals I've seen over the past few months, but I think I'll just condense them all into overviews.

The Edukators
I think this was my favorite thing I've rented lately. It's a German film starring Daniel Bruhl (Goodbye, Lenin!) about a group of activists that call themselves the Edukators who break into rich people's homes, rearrange their furniture, and leave messages like "Your days of prosperity are numbered." Things go terribly awry when they decide to break into the house of a man one of the Edukators is in debt to and he comes home. They end up kidnapping him and bringing him to a remote cabin in the woods. The rest of the movie is a conversation between the four about being rich and affecting change. It raised a lot of interesting issues, and the ending was left open to interpretation (though you can view the German version of the ending on line, which spells things out a lot more clearly).

Thank You for Smoking
Aaron Eckhart is Nick Naylor, a loveable spin doctor for big tobacco. That's right, we're rooting for tobacco! Ok, not really, but the satire is a welcome break from the standard "big tobacco is evil!" message. We get it. We've all seen the Truth ads. I probably would have enjoyed this movie more had that freaky kid from Running Scared not been in it. Seriously, that kid is creepy. Also, Running Scared is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Bad. Soooo bad.

Stevie
This is a documentary about the filmmaker reconnecting with a boy (Stevie) he was Big Brother to during college. Some time after he reconnects with Stevie, he is arrested for the sexual assault of a young girl. The filmmaker is the same one who did Hoop Dreams, which, while I haven't seen it, seems to be a pretty reputable documentary, which makes Stevie all the more disappointing. Besides the film being fairly boring, the filmmaker is also completely self-serving. He reconnects with Stevie, then promptly loses contact with him again (even after promising to be more involved in his life) until he gets word of Stevie's legal troubles. Hmm, this might make for a more interesting documentary... The rest of the film is him being superficially involved in Stevie's life until he ultimately ends up in jail. I'm surprised I made it to the end of this film, seeing as how mad I was at the filmmaker. I won't be watching anything else of his any time soon.

Little Miss Sunshine
Here's how it usually goes: the more excited I am about a movie, the more I'm disappointed in it. I definitely wasn't disappointed in LMS, though I'm slightly baffled by the Oscar buzz (especially considering how Oscar hates funny). I was most impressed by Steve Carell. He does understated very well, and it was a welcome break from wanting to reach through the screen and strangle him when he's Michael Scott. I wasn't as impressed with the whole young girl gets saucy and shocks the uptight audience at the beauty pageant thing, but overall it was a decent movie. I'm not expecting a Crash-style upset come Oscar night.

BRICK or Saved by the Bell Noir

I watched BRICK recently.
First off I am a big big big big big big big big big big fan of the Film Noir genre. I am studing it. I myself have tried to emulate it in some writing(usualley with a humorouse tone) I love it. Therefore I think I liked this film more than most people would. I first really love the concept. It's a concept film and it doesn't forget that. The idea of making a film noir and setting it in a high school is a great one and I am surprised that it hasn't happened sooner. It is also handled well. This movie could have been The Breakfast Club Detective story. Instead it's Maltese Falcon with High schoolers. I think the latter is far more interesting. That being said I think a lot of people are going to hate this movie. They are going to think it is dumb and the characters are ridiculouse and don't make any sense and that's fine. I love that about the movie. It doesn't try to be anything other than Noir and noir even at all its brooding and suspense can be a little ridiculouse and cheesy. I still love it though.
I think it's very funny.
Brendan the main character tells people "You know where I eat lunch" there is a seen with him and a principal that mirrors the scene in all noirs of the private investigator with the police chief. It is really clever.
If you love film noir, i think you will like this.
If you have never seen anything in the genre(which you probably have and don't realize it, Big Lebowski and Blade Runner are all forms of noir) See the movie anyway. You might enjoy. You might also think that it is ridiculouse and stupid but that is ok too.
Laters
Timmy

Catching a few Z's with the Science of Sleep.

I caught the science of sleep last night at the good old Angelika Theatre. My friend persuaded me to put off my homework duties and take advantage of the Angelikas Cheap Date night. (You get a free large coke and popcorn on Monday nights.)
We decided to check out the Science of Sleep.
I am a big fan of Michel Gondry. I always enjoyed his music videos, I think that Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a masterpiece and I even dig Human Nature to an extent even though it is one of his, and Charlie Kaufman's, weaker films. I kind of wish I hadn't know all that going in to the theater.
It is a good movie. It is very very good and I highly recommend it to everyone, not even just my artsy fartsy friends. It didn't blow my mind like I was expecting though. That is partly my fault. You shouldn't expect another Eternal Sunshine. Charlie Kaufman is an amazing screenwriter, I would even argue the best working right now in Hollywood. he can tackle some broad complex topics in a wonderful way. Just check out Adaptation and Being John Malkovich.
Gondry however has chosen to focus on a much more simpler story. It is a nice story and apparently according to what I have gathered from various interviews and the such is very autobiographical. But that's it it is just a simple story. If it didn't have Gondry's great artistic vision and amazing acting from the two leads then it would be your run of the mill romantic comedy.
That is what makes the movie stand out though. The device of having Stephan' not be able to separate his fantasy from reality is a great way to tell the story but that is not really what this movie is about. It happens and it happens a lot but it is mainly used to just move the story along between the relationship between the two leads.
The acting is awesome though. I really think that is what really made me love this film. Bernal is fantastic in this role. The character he has created captures you from the beginning and you believe every weird quirky thing he says. Charlotte Gainsbourg is also really great. This is the first time I had ever seen her and I was very impressed. She has a really great natural sense to her. All of the supporting characters are fantastic as well. If anything go see this film for the acting.
Bottom line. It's a good movie. Go see it. Don't expect the next Eternal Sunshine because that's not what it is. Expect a really great romantic quirky comedy from the crazy mind of Michel Gondry.

Also they are showing eight of Pedro Almodavor's films in theatres right now. If you are anywhere near a theatre showing them go and check them out. Talk to Her and Bad Education are really amazing film experiences. I am going to try and check some out that I haven't seen.
Until Then
I'm Out!

Mansquito: exactly what it sounds like

I rarely watch movies on tv, but sometimes that rare gem of a movie comes along that makes me give up two hours of a Saturday afternoon. Such is Mansquito, a Sci-Fi Channel original (red flag!) cautionary tale of experimenting with mutant mosquitos.

Sadly I missed the first part of the movie, but the gist of the movie is this: a man is bitten by a mutant mosquito in some sort of explosion, and thus mutates into a 7 foot mosquito. Or mansquito, if you will. He roams around the city sucking the blood out of anyone he comes across, including a group of homeless people and the entire SWAT team, while being chased around the city by cops who are trying to put an end to his reign of terror.

Did I mention that a sexy scientist (which is really more science fiction than a 7 foot mutant mosquito) who happens to be the girlfriend of one of the cops was also injured in the explosion and is slowly turning into a mosquito herself? Well, she is. And mansquito wants to mate with her! Hot. But before mansquito and womansquito (it just doesn't have the same ring to it) can get it on, boyfriend cop has to find a way to kill mansquito.

Highlights from the rest of the movie:

-We learn that mansquito is impervious to bullets. Just as all mosquitos are. Clearly the way to go was building a giant fly swatter, or luring him into a bug zapper.
-Mansquito is able to drink several times his own body weight in blood.
-Eventually mansquito tires of merely drinking blood, and resorts to ripping off limbs, crushing and/or slicing off heads, and throwing people out windows.

I won't give away the end of the movie, but let me just say that either I'm really smart, or sci-fi original movies are really dumb (and the odds are much better on the latter).

Monsoon Wedding...blame it on the rain

My other rental for the week (Blockbuster Rewards people, check it out) was Monsoon Wedding. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this movie. I was expecting it to be My Big Fat Punjabi Wedding with dancing, but it was really a very beautiful movie.

The movie follows a woman on the eve of her arranged marriage to a man who has been living in Texas. Their wedding is a traditional Punjabi wedding, which includes many ceremonies over four days. Wedding movies are often played for laughs, and rightly so, there's a wealth of material. Monsoon Wedding has some of that, but I was surprised that the movie dealt with a lot of deeper issues. The bride-to-be is struggling with feelings for her recent ex-boyfriend - a married television host - and trying to decide if marriage is what she really wants. There is another crisis of family that really surprised me (I won't spoil it here, though it's quite obvious once you start watching the movie) involving Ria (played by the gorgeous Shefali Shetty), an unmarried cousin of the bride.

The colors used in this film were amazing. Everything from the costumes to the wedding decorations (tons of marigolds, which apparently you can eat) was so bold and vibrant. One of the funniest moments of the movie for me, culturally speaking at least, was when the wedding planner starts decorating a tent in the "new fashion" of white, and the father of the bride comes out and yells at him "What do you think this is, a funeral? I want color!" The music was also pretty amazing, and even though there was a bit of dancing, this is definitely not a Bollywood movie.

Monsoon Wedding was just a very pleasant movie about the bonds of family, and a lucky first glimpse for me into Indian cinema.