Category Archives: 3.5

3.5, Japan

Howl’s Moving Castle

2004 / Hayao Miyazaki > I had high expectations for the next Miyazaki project after Spirited Away, which ranks as my favorite animated film of all time, and fortunately Howl’s Moving Castle does not disappoint. Unfortunately, however, it fails to surpass the near perfection of its predecessor.

The strengths are all understandable: A decently complex, unpredictable storyline dealing with fastastic elements that get your inner child all worked up while wooing and pleasing your ADD-exceling, older self. The characters are imaginative, and the animation is vivid.

But the flaws, in the end, pull it back and make it ultimately less memorable than most of his other work. Much of the last third of the film felt rushed, the storyline often felt unclear and confusing, and it seems mostly that unless you know the story it’s based on, there is too much left for interpretation that really shouldn’t be. In theory, the only qualifying statement here is that Disney did an incredibly subpar job in coherently doing the English subs, and if that is true, it’s a pity.

Standard
3.5, Middle East/Africa

Paradise Now

2005 / Hany Abu-Assad > Paradise Now’s strength is its ability to examine the psyche of a suicide bomber without relying on any violence. Abu-Assad chooses, interestingly, not to deal with the background of the conflict, but to create circumstances in which Said, the protagonist, finds himself questioning or amplifying his motives. Most of those around him act as fodder, but not until later in the film do we see Said personally account his reasons for becoming a suicide bomber.

The film is well paced and has a few great moments (e.g., after Said videotapes his goodbye speech to his family, the cameraman tells him that it didn’t record properly). The ending is well done and left for interpretation. One could make a good argument that if the movie was any longer or more in-depth, it would lose a lot of the simple flair that it exhibits. Most importantly, Abu-Assad doesn’t choose sides and doesn’t stereotype, thereby enhancing the credibility and universality of the film.

Standard
3.5, Europe

Lilya 4-Ever

2002 / Lukas Moodysson > Although the film kept my attention throughout, it’s hard to say how much was that because I actually enjoyed the story vs. how much I wanted to see what bad thing would next happen to our protagonist, a 16 year-old girl from Estonia whose mother leaves her for greener pastures in America. The whole film has the “whatever can go wrong, will go wrong” feel to it, which is fine and dandy as long as it’s realistic. Unfortunately, in Lilya 4-Ever, it is realistic, and thus ends up creating a rather dark and depressing atmosphere for nearly two hours.

This is my first Moodysson film, and it delivers on quality. The storytelling isn’t amazing, but by the end of the film we definitely feel for Lilya in her struggles, but at the same time wonder if she tried hard enough to make her life better. That questioning of the protagonist is the strongest point of the film, as usually we are quick to say that those who surround our protagonist are the culprits. Here, we are viewing a naive girl who lacks proper judgment, a flaw that is necessary for the poignancy the film tries to deliver.

Standard