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I really loved the quirky and oddness of David Gordon Green's hit film, Lars and the Real Girls but his latest indie film, Prince Avalanche is not one that I would recommend. Sure, it has a lot of laughs from its goofy lead Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch but it was just not my cup of tea. Granted, it is understandable that a lot of people will go watch this film just because of its leads and I'm sure they will love it. As for me, you know how I feel about stories about trivial things.
Year: 2012
Director: Abbas Kiarostami
Cast: Tadashi Okuno, Rin Takanashi, Ryo Kase
Country of Origin: France/Japan
Rating: NR
Time: 109 min
Like Someone in Love is quite a simple story about Akiko, a sociology student who moonlights as a high-end prostitute (Takanashi) one night and is assigned to Takashi (Okuno), a reserved and elderly former university professor, who is more interested in her company than than having sex. The premise is refreshingly straightforward which can also be irritating as the audience might patiently wait for the story to fully come around but doesn't even till the last second. But that is what is so appealing about the quaint story. Not that it is so uninvolved but because most of the story is taking place either out of the frame or through its composition.
Right from the beginning of the film, all we can see is the cafe and hear Akiko's incessant pleading conversation with her over-bearing boyfriend off-frame, who is apparently unaware of her after school job. There is a romanticism that takes place even through what appears to be a bar for the prostitutes. The story glides into the darkness of the night and into the early mornings where most of the action takes place in a car. And as banal and colorless as that sounds, it is the most exquisitely shot car ride to ever be seen on the film screen that tells the story of isolation, mystery, and boundaries all through the composition. Never before has the frame of a shot been able to speak more volumes about the characters and story than the dialogue itself that truly makes one realize the power of filmmaking. There is a disquieting tenderness that streamlines the entirety of the film that elevates this strangely whimsical story to be more what is seen on the surface.
Right from the beginning of the film, all we can see is the cafe and hear Akiko's incessant pleading conversation with her over-bearing boyfriend off-frame, who is apparently unaware of her after school job. There is a romanticism that takes place even through what appears to be a bar for the prostitutes. The story glides into the darkness of the night and into the early mornings where most of the action takes place in a car. And as banal and colorless as that sounds, it is the most exquisitely shot car ride to ever be seen on the film screen that tells the story of isolation, mystery, and boundaries all through the composition. Never before has the frame of a shot been able to speak more volumes about the characters and story than the dialogue itself that truly makes one realize the power of filmmaking. There is a disquieting tenderness that streamlines the entirety of the film that elevates this strangely whimsical story to be more what is seen on the surface.
Truth be told, I had not heard of Abbas Kiarostami before this film. Kiarostami is a prolific Iranian filmmaker whose been part of the Iranian New Wave and making headlines across the globe with his documentaries for many years. It wasn't until AFI FEST last year when I heard about Like Someone in Love that piqued my interest in him. An Iranian filmmaker making a Japanese film? Awesome! Like Someone in Love also competed for the Palme d'Or at last year's Cannes Film Festival. And it is a fact that Kiarostami is someone whose unrelenting talent will keep him in the film circuit for many years to come. Now, all I gotta do is play catch up. A
Hard Candy (2005, David Slade)
Jeff Kohlver: Look. I'm not the monster you think I am. But, okay, I crossed a line. Just call the cops. I'll turn myself in.
Hayley Stark: [as if narrating a headline] Cute Pedophile Pleads Guilty.
[speaking as a defense attorney]
Hayley Stark: "Aww, it's not his fault. He's sick. He has an addiction."
Jeff Kohlver: I'll do jail. Isn't that what should happen?
Hayley Stark: Yeah. You might. You might get jail time. I dunno: therapy, drugs, group discussions, notifying people when you move into a new house. How bad is that, really?
Jeff Kohlber: It'll ruin my career, ruin my life.
Hayley Stark: Well, didn't Roman Polanski just win an Oscar?
The Spectacular Now is out now and I can honestly say that it is one of the best coming-of-age stories out there. There is such a raw and sincerity to the story that I haven't seen in recent films that even at first, I was taken aback by the film and didn't like it very much. After some contemplation, I realized that this film taps into the lives of high schoolers that really hasn't been highlighted before especially the negative side. This film is from the same writers as 500 Days of Summer so the vibe is very much the same. A MUST WATCH!
The Act of Killing premiered at the LA Film Fest and if you have talked to me in the last two months, I've been raving about Joshua Oppenheimer's jaw-droppingly chilling documentary about the former Indonesian death squad leaders making a film about their killings. If there is one film you need to watch this summer, it's this film!
I've been making more vlogs than I can update sadly, so here is all my first reaction of the films I've watched in the month of July! Please subscribe to my youtube channel to see all my reviews first!
Pacific Rim (2013, Guillermo del Toro)
Girl Most Likely (2013, Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini)
Red 2 (2013, Dean Parisot)
The Wolverine (2013, James Mangold)
The To Do List (2013, Maggie Carey)
Ashes of Time (1994, Wong Kar-wai)
Huang Yao-shi: Someone I met recently gave me this gave me this bottle of wine. She said this wine is magic. One cup and you'll forget your past. I thought it was nonsense. How could such a wine exist? She said the root of man's problem is memory. Without a past, everyday would be a new beginning. Wouldn't that be great?
My review of the films that were shown at LA Film Fest are all coming together very slowly. Slowly but surely, they are all getting done! I have a couple of more and then I am done! That is depending when all the film are getting released! But here are some of the rest!
Fruitvale Station (2013, Ryan Coogler)
The Conjuring (2013, James Wan)
Only God Forgives (2013, Nichols Winding Refn)
If you loved The Cove, you're definitely going to love Blackfish. The content is just as harrowing if not more because you literally witness someone almost dying in front of you. If a video of someone being drowned by a killer whale is not petrifying enough, I don't know what is!
