Movie Review - The Secret Life of Words aka "La vida secreta de las palabras"
This is such an odd movie. I don't quite know how to describe it.
Sarah Polley plays Hannah a typical factory worker (rote, repetitive tasks) completely cut off from the world around her.
Having been forced to take her first holiday in several years, she "offers" to care for a burned man on an oil rig (played by the incomparable Tim Robbins). This begins a series of improbable events: 1) an uncertified nurse caring for a burned oil-rig worker, 2) said care taking place on an oil rig in the sea, and 3) the oil rig being nearly devoid of entities following a major accident on the rig (in which one worker has died and one worker got burned).
IRL: the company would not have taken the liability of 1, nor left the patient on the rig for 2. And safety officials, inspectors, and miscellaneous other individuals would have been swarming that rig for 3.
I think I could have overlooked any one misstep, but all three really stretched my ability to "suspend disbelief and immerse myself" in the story. Yes, I am sure these decisions were made to create the "mood," but I can think of more believable/plausible directions.
In any event, the skeleton rig crew and irascible patient eventually cajole Hannah into revealing some secrets to her past.
(hint ... thanks to snippets in the beginning, middle, and ending, we know that Hannah shares the same diagnosis as the famous "Sybil" - aka Shirley Ardell Mason and "Eve" - Chris Costner Sizemore ... still lost? How about The Hulk, Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, or the biblical "Legion.")
It is a sad story with a "fairly" happy ending. You hear about torture and genocide. You hear the typical butchering of a foreign accent. You hear "silence."
This is a slow, deliberate movie. It does not plod along, but it should not be watched by a restless mind.
Do I recommend it? Hm, if only for the atmosphere created by the director, actors, and budget.
Actors:
Sarah Polley, last seen in "Beowulf & Grendel"
Tim Robbins, last seen in "The War of the Worlds"
Julie Christie, last seen in "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" and "Troy" (I can't remember which one was more recent)
Eddie Marsan, last seen in "Beowulf & Grendel"
Steven Mackinstosh, last seen in "Underworld: Evolution"
Reg Wilson, last seen in "The Machinist"
Yes, I really do spend a percentage of each movie saying, "Where have I seen that actor before?" Sometimes it's days before I figure the part out.
Showing posts with label movie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movie. Show all posts
12 March 2008
04 March 2008
MR - pt1 Jean de Florette and pt2 Manon of the Spring
Movie Review(s) -
The duology "Jean de Florette" and "Manon of the Spring"
A French tragedy in the best Greek tradition ...
The first part follows Gerard Depardieu's "Jean de Florette" as he attempts to farm the land at his newly inherited property outside a little French town. He automatically has two strikes against him: he is a hunchback and a city boy.
Unbeknownst to him and his family, unscrupulous neighbors (an uncle and nephew team) have blocked a spring on the farm in an effort to force the sale of the land. (As revealed in part 2, all the townsfolk know of the spring's existence.)
The farm has struggled along for several years when a long drought ruins the crop, almost certainly the final nail in Jean's dreams of country living.
Part 1 closes with a death in the family, the farm sold off to the unscrupulous neighbors, and Jean's little daughter Manon witnessing the neighbors uncorking the spring.
Admittedly, I fell asleep during a couple of parts of this movie ... I don't feel that I missed much.
- My one little pet peeve, you just don't block springs with a piece of wood and concrete. The water will find its way around, or the spring will change course. (Having lived through various exclamations from the significant other during my movie career, "Gasoline does not do that", "Helicopters don't do that", "Planes don't do that", and so on and so forth, I felt it necessary to return the comments in kind.)
Part 2
Manon, having run away to live in the country while her remaining family moves back to the city, has grown into a beautiful young woman. She attracts the attention of the unscrupulous neighbors, who decide she will be a good marriage candidate to the nephew (a rather charmless and disurbingly amoral creature). Understandably, Manon disagrees with the nephew's alarmingly declared love and marriage request.
In a fit of pique, having followed one of her goats into a cave and finding the head of the water supply for the whole town, she blocks said water source and makes her way into the town to enjoy the fruits of her labor.
Fingers point, confessions begin, and for a short while, town life comes to a screeching halt. Yes, the townsfolk knew of the spring, but said nothing because the new owner was a hunchback. Outsider snobbery at its best.
Part 2 closes with a suicide, the desperate procession of the townspeople, an additional death, a wedding, and life returning to much the same as before.
I found the reactions off at several points in the movie, and, once again, disagree with "a little bit of stone and mud can block this spring upwelling for several days." Jawohl, fraulein ... oops, wrong language.
I found part 2 more engaging than part 1, though I enjoyed them both to some extent.
*** There is a bit of "wholesome" female nekkid-ness in part 2: neither disturbing nor disgusting, but rather carefree and light-hearted.***
Known actors - Gerard Depardieu, last seen in "The Man in the Iron Mask," he and Jeremy saved that movie, while Leonardo and John tried to sink it.
No other familiar faces were glimpsed in these movies.
Considering its English subtitled, French speaking language (and that I neither speak, nor understand French), the action and storyline kept me present and accounted for ... disregarding a few nod-offs during part 1.
The duology "Jean de Florette" and "Manon of the Spring"
A French tragedy in the best Greek tradition ...
The first part follows Gerard Depardieu's "Jean de Florette" as he attempts to farm the land at his newly inherited property outside a little French town. He automatically has two strikes against him: he is a hunchback and a city boy.
Unbeknownst to him and his family, unscrupulous neighbors (an uncle and nephew team) have blocked a spring on the farm in an effort to force the sale of the land. (As revealed in part 2, all the townsfolk know of the spring's existence.)
The farm has struggled along for several years when a long drought ruins the crop, almost certainly the final nail in Jean's dreams of country living.
Part 1 closes with a death in the family, the farm sold off to the unscrupulous neighbors, and Jean's little daughter Manon witnessing the neighbors uncorking the spring.
Admittedly, I fell asleep during a couple of parts of this movie ... I don't feel that I missed much.
- My one little pet peeve, you just don't block springs with a piece of wood and concrete. The water will find its way around, or the spring will change course. (Having lived through various exclamations from the significant other during my movie career, "Gasoline does not do that", "Helicopters don't do that", "Planes don't do that", and so on and so forth, I felt it necessary to return the comments in kind.)
Part 2
Manon, having run away to live in the country while her remaining family moves back to the city, has grown into a beautiful young woman. She attracts the attention of the unscrupulous neighbors, who decide she will be a good marriage candidate to the nephew (a rather charmless and disurbingly amoral creature). Understandably, Manon disagrees with the nephew's alarmingly declared love and marriage request.
In a fit of pique, having followed one of her goats into a cave and finding the head of the water supply for the whole town, she blocks said water source and makes her way into the town to enjoy the fruits of her labor.
Fingers point, confessions begin, and for a short while, town life comes to a screeching halt. Yes, the townsfolk knew of the spring, but said nothing because the new owner was a hunchback. Outsider snobbery at its best.
Part 2 closes with a suicide, the desperate procession of the townspeople, an additional death, a wedding, and life returning to much the same as before.
I found the reactions off at several points in the movie, and, once again, disagree with "a little bit of stone and mud can block this spring upwelling for several days." Jawohl, fraulein ... oops, wrong language.
I found part 2 more engaging than part 1, though I enjoyed them both to some extent.
*** There is a bit of "wholesome" female nekkid-ness in part 2: neither disturbing nor disgusting, but rather carefree and light-hearted.***
Known actors - Gerard Depardieu, last seen in "The Man in the Iron Mask," he and Jeremy saved that movie, while Leonardo and John tried to sink it.
No other familiar faces were glimpsed in these movies.
Considering its English subtitled, French speaking language (and that I neither speak, nor understand French), the action and storyline kept me present and accounted for ... disregarding a few nod-offs during part 1.
03 February 2008
MR - Beowulf & Grendel
Beowulf & Grendel
Beowulf - Gerard Butler ... my previous exposure was LCTR: Cradle of Life
Hrothgar - Stellan Skarsgard ... POTC: Dead Man's Chest
Grendel - Ingvar Sigursson ... new actor
Selma - Sarah Polley ... also new actor to me
Hondscioh - Tony Curran ... I last saw him in Blade II
Music by Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson
The film looks beautiful, which makes sense since a lot of it was filmed in Iceland.
The acting was, for the most part, good. My only complaints in this category are:
- no subtitles and the accents and muttering could run together making the speaker all but incomprehensible. I think I caught 3/4 of the speeches.
- Sarah Polley, half the time she was awesome, half the time it was like she was only reading the script ... I can only assume direction failure for these moments.
I'm a big Sci-Fi/Fantasy fan, and agreed to watch this mostly because Gerard Butler and Tony Curran were in the film. I enjoyed the film and don't feel that my time was wasted. Admittedly, it won't be going on my keeper shelf (which houses Blade I-III, LCTR: I and II, and POTC: I and II). It is not something I would watch over again, though I'd listen to a commentary.
I've never read the Beowulf story, and don't know how faithfully the film was adapted. However, I suspect, from the storyline of Selma, that the screenwriters took a lot of artistic license with the original.
Finally, the language in the film is a bit crude, perhaps locker room lite. It didn't bother me, though it probably would have bothered a younger me (I've since read and thoroughly enjoyed Selina Rosen's Queen of Denial and Recycled ... that's one mouthy Barion Queen).
Beowulf - Gerard Butler ... my previous exposure was LCTR: Cradle of Life
Hrothgar - Stellan Skarsgard ... POTC: Dead Man's Chest
Grendel - Ingvar Sigursson ... new actor
Selma - Sarah Polley ... also new actor to me
Hondscioh - Tony Curran ... I last saw him in Blade II
Music by Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson
The film looks beautiful, which makes sense since a lot of it was filmed in Iceland.
The acting was, for the most part, good. My only complaints in this category are:
- no subtitles and the accents and muttering could run together making the speaker all but incomprehensible. I think I caught 3/4 of the speeches.
- Sarah Polley, half the time she was awesome, half the time it was like she was only reading the script ... I can only assume direction failure for these moments.
I'm a big Sci-Fi/Fantasy fan, and agreed to watch this mostly because Gerard Butler and Tony Curran were in the film. I enjoyed the film and don't feel that my time was wasted. Admittedly, it won't be going on my keeper shelf (which houses Blade I-III, LCTR: I and II, and POTC: I and II). It is not something I would watch over again, though I'd listen to a commentary.
I've never read the Beowulf story, and don't know how faithfully the film was adapted. However, I suspect, from the storyline of Selma, that the screenwriters took a lot of artistic license with the original.
Finally, the language in the film is a bit crude, perhaps locker room lite. It didn't bother me, though it probably would have bothered a younger me (I've since read and thoroughly enjoyed Selina Rosen's Queen of Denial and Recycled ... that's one mouthy Barion Queen).
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