Category Archives: 4.0

4.0, Europe, United States/Canada

Casino Royale

2006 / Martin Campbell > Casino Royale is the best Bond film since 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. It has style, grit, heart and a story that actually works. All too often, I’ve found my attention fading by the 7th inning stretch. Chases and shootouts mean considerably less if there’s no plausible reason behind them. And by plausible, it’s not just how it affects the global power paradigm, of the good versus the bad, but rather how humane and reasonable the motivations are. And while I’m not a fan of Paul Haggis, maybe it was his screenwriting touch that made this happen. (One could probably argue that the subject matter kept his heavy-handedness in check, and if that’s true, I do look forward to him working on the next Bond film.)

As for Daniel Craig, the man is not Sean Connery. And that is exactly why he works. While Clive Owen would have been my first choice for Brosnan’s replacement, Craig has shown that he fits the bill, much like the tailored suit that Vesper Lynd prepares for him. His youth reflects appropriately in what is the beginning of 007. The screenplay supports him throughout, offering us more insight into his character than ever before. Eva Green is nearly perfect as Vesper Lynd, and arguably the best and most complex Bond girl since Jane Seymour’s Solitaire in Live and Let Die. Her onscreen chemistry with Craig is one of the key reasons the film works so well.

Casino Royale has me more excited about the future of James Bond than I’ve ever been. The style seems to be going the right direction, Daniel Craig is an excellent fit and they’ve finally taken to writing a properly thought-out script. It would be wonderful to see an arch-nemesis of sorts, similar to Blofeld, as well as further background on Bond himself. Either way, the next Bond, rumored to be a loose continuation of Casino Royale, is now on my calendar for 2008.

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4.0, Europe

The Last King of Scotland

2006 / Kevin Macdonald > Let’s get the 800-pound gorilla out of the way: Forest Whitaker is masterful, true and full of credible passion as megalomaniac dictator Idi Amin. And yes, it’s absolutely worthy of an Oscar nomination if not the Best Actor trophy itself. From the twitch in his bloodshot eyes to the insane, instantaneous smile, Whitaker arguably does more for Amin than Hoffman did for Capote. It’s considerably less gimmick-based; we don’t have a lisp or some sort of disability. It’s just simple brilliance.

What Macdonald has done is also quite a wonder, fusing every type of emotion into an incredibly balanced and well-paced two hours. In portraying the Uganda of the 1970s through the eyes of James McAvoy’s young, naive eyes, Macdonald somehow remains objective. In contrast to films such as Terry George’s overly apologist Hotel Rwanda, there is little preaching or glorification. The deep emotional palette of the film is further enhanced by a deeply engrossing story, part truth, part fiction, that breaches genre expectations for a typical political biopic. It’s not hard to find yourself smiling, laughing, shocked or becoming filled with lust for sex and power. It has the essence of a small but necessary epic.

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4.0, Europe, United States/Canada

Marie Antoinette

2006 / Sofia Coppola > After everything, there’s just something, however minute, missing from Marie Antoinette for it to become the rich and evocative biopic that Coppola must have intended. It could have been a different ending, better pacing or simply the addition or deletion of a storyline. But as it stands, the film is far more memorable for its dresses of grandeur, the decadence of the Rococo and Kirsten Dunst’s performance in a role that very much becomes her. (Which, effectively, makes up for her being atrociously cast in Elizabethtown.)

There is a scene early on in the film where Dunst first wakes up at Versailles only to find a troupe of women and men at her servitude. In the following minutes where she is dressed, Coppola somehow manages to define the reasoning behind the French Revolution. For me, it stands as the defining moment in the film where she so subtly argues for and justifies the revolution. But what if one asks, “What is this film trying to say?” Coppola’s intention is unclear: Are we to understand the aristocratic idiocy of the period, or focus on the girl in the center and try to empathize with her as a person, not as the Queen of France?

But letting such lack of clarity slide, it’s hard to imagine not enjoying the anachronistic usage of modern music (particularly Aphex Twin’s “Jynweythek Ylow” and Bow Wow Wow’s “Candy”) and the sheer jubilance Dunst’s smile evokes. Using all that is style, Coppola did succeed in making me feel for Marie-Antoinette’s predicament. The fusion of style and substance is a little skewed toward the former, but this is ultimately a film for the heart, not the mind. It is as imperfect and naive as Marie-Antoinette herself.

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4.0, Southeast Asia

Invisible Waves

2006 / Pen-Ek Ratanaruang > It’s hard to gauge if those who liked Last Life in the Universe will also like Invisible Waves. But those who have the patience for Pen-Ek’s multinational opus—with Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Thai stars represented and much of the dialogue in English—will be rewarded by the film’s ability to slowly but surely question the value of loyalty, self-worth and happiness.

Not surprisingly, the film is also absolutely gorgeous thanks to the hands and eyes of cinematographer Christopher Doyle. Its pacing is a little skewed, with each third of the film speeding up at twice the pace of the previous. And while this causes the film to start slowly, it successfully mimics the protagonist’s mindset so that we feel the similar type of rush in the latter third as he does. The dialogue in Invisible Waves is seemingly simple, but always struck certain chords, however small. Similar to its predecessor, it’s somewhat hard to explain exactly why I enjoyed it so much. But I did, and for that I can do little but to recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone who’s willing and able.

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4.0, United States/Canada

Little Miss Sunshine

2006 / Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris > The primary complaint about Little Miss Sunshine has been how contrived its characters are, how they so easily fit into sitcom slots. It’s true, but I found it to be a positive attribute of the film. Each family member is exploited to create a ranged satire of the American dysfunctional household. It’s not meant to be cheap and actually comes out surprisingly clever.

At times, I found myself genuinely laughing, the way only a few films have (such as this year’s Family Ties and last year’s The Upside of Anger). We end up empathizing with much of the silliness, sometimes directly and other times in a metaphorical sense. Much of this is due to the superb acting: Virtually everyone shines, including a heartbreaking sequence by The Girl Next Door’s Paul Dano.

The writing is crisp, but one could make an argument that the plot is a little too connect-the-dots. It ends up working, however, mostly because of the “road movie” nature of the film. Indeed, it’s a wonderful ride from beginning to end, even if one finds the return home a little muted in direction. The final revelations aren’t holistic, and that may be enough to keep it from reaching higher ground.

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4.0, Japan

Sorry

2002 / Shin Togashi > In short, Sorry’s portrayal of “first love” may be the finest of its kind ever put on celluloid. And no, this can’t be compared with Romeo or Juliet or something equally as melodramatic. What we have here is a simple, beautiful but strong as ever tale of a boy who’s just hit puberty falling head over heels for a girl who he randomly comes across at a pickle store. The film’s comic and often childish, but that’s fitting for our 12-year-old protagonist. Sorry matures as he does, step by step, by unwinding the mystery that is love.

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4.0, Korea

Family Ties

2006 / Kim Tae-yong > It’s probably quite sad that only 200,000 or so Koreans saw this film when it was released in May. But one has to wonder if the horrendous marketing (the posters depict a gleeful, silly family that scream slapstick and cheesy) is to blame. What the populace missed out on, sadly, is a meticulously crafted take on the nuances of family life, generations and how time helps us heal and grow.

The primary reason for its success as a film is its freshness: While there are typical melodrama storylines present, Kim does an excellent job in making sure to not continuously delve into cliches. The dialogue is very true to life, often genuinely comedic and timed just right. It’s rare to find a film nowadays where one minute you’re in a pit of sadness, and then suddenly you find yourself laughing uncontrollably.

The cast is superb as well. Moon So-ri, the woman who can do no wrong in my book, bounces back from the muddy script in Bewitching Attraction to score an incredible yet subtle performance. Kong Hyo-jin shines as an enigmatic daughter of a dying woman, though the the solidity of the script makes almost every character and actor look good.

It’s hard to recall if any film in recent memory has approached the subject matter of family relationships in as intelligently a fashion as this. Kim’s portrayal is delicate, fair and realistic. Even the very end, which for a minute or two seems incredibly nonsensical, is surprisingly fitting—That, to me, was proof positive of a great two hours.

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4.0, United States/Canada

Metropolitan

1990 / Whit Stillman > Having the vibes of an upper class, Manhattan Pretty in Pink, Stillman’s directorial debut tackles ideas of social mobility and structure through the eyes of college students on Christmas vacation. Heavily conversation-based, it’s funny, sardonic and Chris Eigeman’s Nick Smith defines both the film and much of his generation. The writing is incredibly sharp and witty, with intelligent one-liners that drive home each respectable point. It’s surprising that this has been off the radar of indie cultists for so long, but that should change with the recent remastered release of the film by Criterion.

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4.0, Hong Kong/China

Isabella

2006 / Edmond Pang > Recoginized with the Silver Bear for Best Film Music at this year’s Berlinale, Pang Ho-Cheung’s story is of a pre-handover Macau cop and the discovery of the daughter he never knew he had. The cop, played by a suddenly mature Chapman To is often outshined by the daughter, played by Canto-pop start-turned serious actress Isabella Leung. Her performance is surprising, if only because she pins down the mercurial behavior of the daughter so well.
Unlike most films, Peter Kam’s score refuses to take a backseat to the actors, and often pads idyllic sequences so they end up having as much breadth as those with blatant meaning. The story turns conventional halfway through, but luckily changes back into something a little more special at the end. There is strength in how it culminates, and any sort of seesaw Pang went through in revealing plot details are ironed out. Of special note is the elegant beauty of the sets, taking advantage of the Portuguese-influenced architecture and a bounty of colors reminiscent of Wong Kar-Wai’s In the Mood for Love. Isabella is a simple, wondrous pleasure.

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4.0, Hong Kong/China

Millennium Mambo

2001 / Hou Hsiao-Hsien > Millennium Mambo is the first time I’ve taken the time to actually sit through a film made by one of the Taiwanese New Wave directors. While it tested my patience at several instances, I also felt strangely drawn to it. There isn’t much of a plot in the contentional sense; people do mundane things, but ironically we identify with these events considerably more than a car chase. Turn of the century techno/house permeates the soundtrack, and glowing, neon colors end up being strangely soothing to the eye.

I’m unsure why I like this film. It felt a bit like the old Wong Kar-Wai on acid, and must have been a considerable influence on Coppola’s Lost in Translation. Shu Qi is heartbreaking and gorgeous, evoking a sentimentalist innocence not often felt in films nowadays. In this process, Hou has successfully challenged me to revisit his other films as well as those of his compatriot Tsai Ming-Liang.

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