Movie Review: Once (Irish musical film)

It is uncommon for me to fall in love with a romantic flick.

I've waited a long time for my next favorite romantic flick after Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. Nothing really had suited my taste lately.

I had the song "Falling Slowly" of Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova in my iPod for a long time since I just copy songs from my sister, Ja.
I knew that it was from a movie but I didn't know it was a good one.

Last last Sunday, after having a nice Mexican meal at Soho in Central, I saw the poster of "Once". I got attracted to it because it won an award in the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.

From experience, movies nominated in this awarding body are really unforgettable and good. So I asked Allan to download it.

The next day, he told me that he likes this particular song from the movie. It was "Falling Slowly" and I listened to it again. I promised myself to watch it as soon as I find some time to do so. And so I did.

I fell in love with the movie, the characters and the songs.

Its rapport is Before Sunrise-esque but boasts a less talk, more music style.

The movie trusts the audience enough to leave the best parts of the movie unstated.
It was a short 90 minute flick where the characters uttered few words but expressed full emotion to let the audience understand what is going on.

It's not the typical Hollywood film where the storyline is explicitly stated making it over the top and common.

I cried not because somebody died or anything.
I cried because I was so touched. There were things left unsaid in the movie that made me fall in love with it more than I expected.
I cried because after so many years, I fell in love again with a wonderful, non-Hollywood flick.
I cried because there was no instance in the movie that you'd hear the word "LOVE" but you knew that it was there.
I cried because I could relate.
I cried because I felt it. Enough said.






Watch it.

Movie Review: After the Wedding (Denmark: Efter brylluppet)

"But we can't control everything in the world"

After the Wedding (Efter brylluppet) is a Danish movie released in 2006. The film is directed by Susanne Bier and stars Mads Mikkelsen and Sidse Babett Knudsen. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

The film premiered in Danmark on 24 February 2006. The film had its North American premiere as a gala at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival on September 15, 2006.

This was the 2nd film I watched during the Cine Europa weeks ago.

Plot:

Jacob Pederson manages an Indian orphanage. He and his staff struggles to keep up with the demands of the humble orphanage. A young Indian boy named Pramod considers Jacob as his dad and bestfriend and Jacob took care of him since he was born.

The orphanage has been in danger of collapse and faces bankruptcy. A Danish corporation, owned by Jørgen Hannson offers a substantial donation to maintain the orphanage, but Jacob must return to Denmark to sign the contract and receive the funds personally. Jacob was invited in Jorgen's daughter's wedding and an unexpected twist of events changed his life after.

Review:

It is a story of human weaknesses: infidelity, money, power, fate, nobility, love and hate. All of these intertwined in the movie so well that you will be touched in the best way you know how. The characters knew what they were doing at the exact time and at the exact moment.

This is the first Danish film I've watched and I am so impressed.

Here is the trailer.


We should see more of this type of films here in the 3rd brown world.
Cinemalaya lately has been catering more on documentary flicks. I dunno...

Later,

B

Movie Review: And When Did You Last See Your Father? (United Kingdom)

"Between every father and his son there is a story to be told."

And When Did You Last See Your Father? (2007) is an English film based on Blake Morrison's 1993 autobiography of the same name. The film was directed by Anand Tucker and stars Jim Broadbent, Colin Firth, Juliet Stevenson, Matthew Beard and Carey Mulligan.

This was the first film I saw at this year's Cine Europa.

Plot:

"A parent and a child. The past and the present. Memories and secrets. Can you know someone for a lifetime.... and not know them at all? The life of a father. Through the journey of a son."

The plot essentially revolves around a series of memories Blake has about his father when he was younger while seeing him die in present. Blake showed how hurt he was knowing that his father philanders with another woman.

Review:

Some may find this movie dragging. If you're looking for visual entertainment, then this movie is not for you. This is not the type that Masa Filipinos would love watching. But I really did enjoy the movie.

It was artistic, simple and deep. I could somehow relate to this film as I experienced the same thing when my dad was dying 5 years ago. I was quiet the whole time because I was so touched as to how Firth put life into the character. Blake's character was the same person I was 5 years ago.

Each scene was artistically shot and each character was professionaly played. I loved how Broadbent played his role as a very annoying father to his teenage son, Blake. I loved how Broadbent characterized my dad.

My last recollection of my father was him smiling at me and telling me how proud he was of me. That was the last time he looked at my eyes and felt that I was his eldest and his most important kid.

Like in the movie, My father was authoritative. He did things his way not minding how people will react. He was smart and he really knew what he was talking about. He's arrogant and scary. and I love him for that.

I could put myself in Blake's situation because I know how hard it was to see your dad dying. What's more painful is that you felt that you knew him but it was still not enough.

After watching the movie, I was just quiet and rekindled all the good memories of my father. It was that heartwarming.

Here's the trailer.

Later,
B

Mood: Sleepy!

Movie Review: Summer Storm (German: Sommersturm)

Mike told me that I should and must watch Summer Storm (German: Sommersturm). He blogged about it and I know that he has very good taste in movies. So he sent me the imeem link where I could watch it.

Summer Storm (German: Sommersturm) is a multi award-winning, German coming-of-age film directed by Marco Kreuzpainter. It was released in 2004.

Plot:

Rowing Teams from all over Germany stayed in a camping ground for one week of training before the final rowing competition.

The RSC rowing team camped out with a gay rowing team called "Queerstrokes" (Queerschlag). Supposedly the RSC team will be camping out with the girls team from Berlin but they backed out and they had no choice. The members of Queerstrokes were so proud of their strengths and abilities in the sport, so there were inevitable tense interactions with the RSC team.
Because of unexpected circumstances, RSC's Tobi was forced to confront his long-time feelings for his close friend and team-mate Achim, who was already romantically involved with a girl named Sandra.

As the movie progresses, there were deeper issues the Tobi had to face.

Of course, I won't spill...



Review:

The movie is artistic, sexy and young yet mature. It successfully showcased the process of how the youth of today discover the real essence of sexuality. The characters were very natural with their roles. The movie shows homosexuality in a deeper sense where those who have biases and prejudices towards homosexuals will treat this movie as an eye-opener. It will serve as a learning experience for those who are judgmental about the people who have different sexual orientations.


The soundtrack is equally good and I have yet to download it.

Here's the trailer.




Click this to watch it.

P.S
Got the pictures from Mike.

Me, Update

(i) I got wasted last Friday. Chiqui, Allan and I attended Le Club Francaise' event at Avenue in Timog. We were supposed to pick up my sister Ja from her org's event but Chiqui ended up tipsy, I got drunk and Allan got sooooooooooooo wasted. As in!

With our friends from Nigeria and Rwanda. They are both students here in Manila.

(ii) I watched 3 entries to Cine Europa last Saturday. I was at Shang the WHOLE day. Ate breakfast, lunch and dinner there because we had to fall in line to get the tickets. Will post a different entry on my reviews for the different movies.

We should stop celebrating American films too much. I think it's time to really support other international films. I missed to watch any Cinemalaya flicks the last time because I was so busy with work. I should and must watch next year. We must support Filipino films except for the mainstream ones such as I.T.A.L.Y.. Joke lang.. hehe..

Ja has been borrowing French dvds at Alliance Française de Manille, and I must say that their movies are really really nice. You should try to watch some French flicks.

(iii) I am officially a Tea Latte fan. Thanks to Chiqui for being too INFLUENTIAL! Last night, Fred and I stayed at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf at Makati A.Venue. I tried their new tea latte called "African Sunrise". It was good. I totally forgot Matcha. You should try it. It will make you happy the same way it did last night.

photo above from tikoygirl

Starbucks' Green Tea Latte is love

The Dark Knight Review

Just when I thought everybody is exaggerating that The Dark Knight is superb, I was wrong.

You see, I am not a fan of superhero movies. I haven't read any comic cartoon like boyfriend. But since he is a fan, I had to tag along if he wanted to watch one. E.G. spiderman and the like.

I haven't seen Batman Returns, Batman Forever and whatever Batman there is. The goodie thing when watching this kind of flicks is that it can stand alone on its own. Never mind not watching the previous movies, you can still understand the present one.

The Dark Knight was very good. The anticipation and excitement paid off. But I have to be honest, more than half of the movie I was concentrating and really observing the Joker. Ledger's performance was superb. His demeanor, body language and delivery creeped the heck out of me. Not that he stole the movie from Bale. Bale was good. But Ledger was unbelievable.

According to Adam Fendelman of Rotten Tomatoes, The Dark Knight boasts three things:

• the role of a lifetime for the late Heath Ledger,
• one of the best films of 2008 and
• one of the greatest superhero films of all time.

It is indeed "The Godfather of superhero movies".

The death of Ledger was a big loss in the movie industry. Have you thought who will be the Joker in the next Batman film? Who will be brave enough to take the challenge?

I do hope Ledger will grab an Oscar for his performance. He deserves it.