Jane: I... I used to make long speeches to you after you left. I used to talk to you all the time, even though I was alone. I walked around for months talking to you. Now I don't know what to say. It was easier when I just imagined you. I even imagined you talking back to me. We'd have long conversations, the two of us. It was almost like you were there. I could hear you, I could see you, smell you. I could hear your voice. Sometimes your voice would wake me up. It would wake me up in the middle of the night, just like you were in the room with me. Then... it slowly faded. I couldn't picture you anymore. I tried to talk our loud to you like I used to, but there was nothing there. I couldn't hear you. Then... I just gave it up. Everything stopped. You just... disappeared. And now I'm working here. I hear your voice all the time. Every man has your voice.
Adapted from Leo Tolstoy's epic love story novel of the same name, comes another Joe Wright period piece film, Anna Karenina. What is tongue twister! Amazingly, NO ONE in the film ever said Anna Karenina's whole name (or i dont think) so I hope I pronounced it right. Enjoy!
Dirk: What can you expect when you're on top? You know? It's like Napoleon. When he was the king, you know, people were just constantly trying to conquer him, you know, in the Roman Empire. So, it's history repeating itself all over again.
When I first stumbled upon the trailer of Oasis, I knew immediately that this fearless film about two social outcast who fall in love had the capacity to marinate deep within one's soul and shake the foundation of one's existence. Lee Chang-dong (Secret Sunshine, Poetry) who has been consistent and passionate to the stories of outcasts, tells Oasis with unflinching bravery that with every passing frame, your heart will painfully break, piece by piece. It is at the end of the film when your emotions are beaten to a pulp and left with the substance of mush that the beauty of the story is felt.
The film opens with Jong-du (Sol), a socially unaware, arrogant, obnoxious man who just got out of prison for manslaughter after he accidentally hit a man on the road. Out of sheer "politeness" he decides to visit the family of the victim to deliver a fruit basket when Jong-du lays eyes on his daughter, Gong-ju (Moon), a woman severely disabled by cerebral palsy. Both abandoned by their families and shunned in society, two outcasts fall in love despite their handicaps to complement and strengthen each other's weaknesses. He is mentally handicapped while she is physically inept and together they make a pair who defies society norms and lives life whimsically oblivious. Lee Chang-dong continue to tell narratives of the marginalized outcast of Korea, who is residing in a country populated with citizens that evade and reject anyone out of the norm especially the handicapped and socially unfit.
So-ri Moon gives the performance of a lifetime as Gong-ju which translates to princess in Korean. The unbearable struggle of everyday life is shown as she is imprisoned in her body without the freedom of speech and movement. Then suddenly, with such lucid beauty, the film extends into her imagination, her only outlet to liberty. In her mind, she acts out scenarios of herself as a healthy normal woman whether she is teasing Jong-du or dancing with elephants. Their love is thwarted by the interference of their family, where they are eventually held captive whether it is in jail or in their body but they allow themselves to reunite with such untainted virtue in an oasis state of mind. A
Silver Lining Playbook is definitely not a holiday kind of film but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy it with your very liberal friends and family! See Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper along with Robert De Niro, Jackie Weaver, Chris Tucker, and even Julia Stiles give a unique performance that defies their typecast careers.
The Invisible War is an engrossingly potent film about America's most shameful and best kept secret about the widespread of rape within the military. Kirby Dick, the prolific documentarian behind This Film is Not Yet Rated (2006) and Outrage (2009) strings the pieces of this cryptic puzzle with sherlock holmes keenness to reveal the gruesomely fractured military system when dealing with rapes cases. With sickening nonchalance, the military dismisses raped victims by stating that in agreeing to be part of the military, rape is simply an "occupational hazard" of the job and cannot be used against them in court. Dick shows testimonies from women and men from all ages and ethnicities from the military who entered the army with the mentality that as citizens they would be honored to give back to their country, only to be mentally, physically, emotionally brutalized. Rape in the military is twice as common than in civilian life which appalingly suggest that almost every woman who has ever been in the military has been raped.
The act of rape in civilian life is traumatizing enough but changing the scenario to an military base that promotes nationalism, group bonding, and protection of their soldiers, that idealism of the "army" is broken when an incident of betrayal such as rape is taken place. The recruitment motto of the army has been "army strong" that radiates the perception of an honorary breed of soliders that serves and protect it's citizens and with that in mind, reporting a rape is considered to show weakness or worse, deem the victim as a traitor which jeopardizes their position in the company. Most of the occurrences go unreported due to the backlash and to the fact that 25 percent of women do not report the incident because their commander was their rapist. The first half of the film will leave the audience in harrowing grief that soon ignites into uninhibited rage by the second half. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta saw this film in April and two days later, he quickly changed the reporting policy in hopes of saving face. But will that really help change the military culture? I doubt it.
A plethora of new posters of Killing Them Softly came out a while back and as we inch closer to it's premiere, here they are! I wonder why they thought they decided to even make this many posters of a BRAD PITT movie. His first name alone would've suffice to guarantee a number one spot at the opening weekend box office. But nonetheless, I always enjoy the creations of Mondo. And I must say, the conceptualization of each poster is thoroughly cleaver incorporating the prominent symbolism of America. I can't wait to see the film! Killing Them Softly comes out this week, November 30th!
