Admit One

Girlfight

Miguel — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 06:53:18 +0000

Karyn Kusama’s film about a girl boxer is simple yet very effective. Diana Guzman is an unhappy and violent teenager with an abusive single father who forces her brother Tiny to take box lessons even though he hates it, and denies the same privilege to Diana because she is a woman. But the two siblings decide to trade places without telling their dad, and with this

Once Diana starts training she finds that boxing gives her an outlet for her anger and helps her define the kind of person she wants to be as a young woman entering adulthood. After a rough start with her trainer the two will form a strong bond. She will also find love in one of the aspiring boxers that trains with her. And when the time comes to begin to fight she will discover the feeling of being good at something.

Girlfight is a low budget independent film with a cast of mostly unknown actors (not counting the appearance of legendary independent writer/director John Sayles as Diana’s school teacher). Michelle Rodriguez is fantastic as Diana in her first acting job. With the exception of some plot devices that are a bit difficult to swallow (like all the “gender blind” stuff, which is just an excuse to make Diana have to fight her boyfriend) the film is entertaining and really well done.

Hotel Rwanda

Miguel — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 05:02:36 +0000

The Milles Collines hotel in Kigali, Rwanda played an important role during the Rwandan genocide in 1994. This film is based on the true story of Paul Rusesabagina, the hotel manager at that time who provided housing to over a thousand refugees and kept them safe while outside extremists of the Hutu ethnical group were committed to eliminate all the Tutsis, often giving them a horrible death by machete.

The film does a very good job presenting how the conflict played out, including the positions taken by the United Nations, the Rwandan military, the rebels, the victims and the media, and like other films about this subject (see Beyond The Gates and Sometimes In April) it highlights the nonsense of it all.

Don Cheadly is at his very best in this film playing Mr. Rusesabagina, and also worth mentioning is Nick Nolte as the United Nations officer who sees all the atrocities but has his hands tied with orders to not intervene. If you are going to watch just one movie about the Rwandan genocide this is your best choice.

Yesterday

Miguel — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 06:41:22 +0000

In this beautiful South African film a young mother named Yesterday lives in an isolated village with her little daughter while her husband works in the far away city. After being sick for a long time she decides to make the long trip to a clinic, where she is found to have AIDS, a disease unknown to her.

The news of her disease is not taken well by the people in her village who out of ignorance stay away from her and her daughter. Things get even worse when her husband shows up home with the disease in an advanced stage. In spite of her worsening health, Yesterday will care for her husband and daughter, and set her mind to survive long enough to see her daughter begin school.

This is an excellent film that is likely to draw tears from most viewers, and while it is a work of fiction, it can be considered an educational tool as well, as stories like this one still occur in real life in the poorest regions of the planet.

The Diving Bell And The Butterfly

Miguel — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 05:29:16 +0000

This film is based on the memoirs of the same title written by Jean-Dominique Beauby after he suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed and only able to move one eyelid, but with no cerebral damage. Beauby dictated the book to an assistant who read the letters of the alphabet aloud until he blinked.

The first section of the film is narrated in first person, giving the viewer a devastating glimpse into the mind of Beauby trapped in a paralyzed body. When his family and friends visit him he recalls past episodes of his life, the relationship with his father (Max Von Sydow) being the most emotional. And when one of his therapists conceives a method by which he can communicate using eye blinks he decides to write his memoirs dictating it to an assistant.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a beautiful film from every aspect. In addition to telling an inspiring story it is well acted and technically impeccable.

Whisky Romeo Zulu

Miguel — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 03:49:35 +0000

Whisky Romeo Zulu is the code name of the LAPA Airlines passenger plane that caught fire during take off from Buenos Aires in 1999, becoming one of the worst aviation catastrophes in Argentina. This film provides a look at how LAPA airlines operated in those days from the point of view of one of their pilots.

The story tells of a corrupt airline management who tries to cut expenses by skipping necessary repair work on the planes, with the silent complicity of the maintenance crew and most of the pilots. One of the pilots becomes increasingly concerned about the state of the planes he flies, but his complains are ignored by his superiors. He will later go to the media with his story, and eventually resign to his job, tired of receiving unfair treatment from management and his peers due to being considered a whistle blower. It was just a few weeks after his resignation that the accident of the plane that gives title to this movie occurred, finally triggering an official investigation of the airline operating practices.

What is interesting about this film is that director and lead actor Enrique Piñeyro plays himself in it, as he is the real life former LAPA pilot who tried to alert the airline management and the media of the poor maintenance practices of the company. The film also includes a romantic sub-story of the encounter of this pilot with his school girlfriend, now an airline security business woman. Acting is very good, and the story is told in a way that keeps the viewer interested in what will happen next.

In Bruges

Miguel — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 07:21:52 +0000

When inexperienced hit man Ray (Colin Farrel) accidentally kills an innocent boy, his boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes) sends him and his partner Ken (Brendan Gleeson) to hide in Bruges, Belgium until things cool down in London. While Ken is charmed by this small touristic town Ray, who is consumed by guilt over the boy he killed, does not find the place interesting and can’t wait to return to London.

But why did Harry send them there and not somewhere else? They suspect there is a job for them in Bruges and impatiently await Harry’s phone call. In the meantime, while Ken visits all the touristic attractions the town has to offer, Ray becomes involved with a local girl that works on a film shoot, and also with the American dwarf actor that stars in the movie.

With these elements writer/director Martin McDonagh created a funny and at times brutal dark comedy that features excellent performances and the fairytale background of the town of Bruges. Very recommended.

The War Zone

Miguel — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 06:16:54 +0000

In this disturbing family drama teenager Tom (Freddie Cunliffe) has trouble adapting to the rural life in Devon after moving from London with the family. He keeps to himself and mostly observes the comings and goings of the members of his seemingly normal household. He does not get along with his dad (Ray Winstone), and he does not get a lot of attention from his mom (Tilda Swinton), who is in the last stages of a pregnancy. His uninhibited sister Jessie (Lara Belmont) is an object of fascination to him, and when he accidentally finds out that she is having sexual relationships with dad he will become even more obsessed with her.

The War Zone is Tim Roth’s directorial debut. It deals with the subjects of incest and abuse with crudeness and has scenes (one in particular) that will make many viewers want to close their eyes. Overall it is an extremely difficult film to watch, exclusively for an adult audience. While the acting is very good, the movie lacks in technical qualities, featuring a slow paced editing, an almost nonexistent sound track and a not very polished plot.

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

Miguel — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 07:30:02 +0000

In this film we share a day in the life of Otilia in Communist Romania. But this is not an ordinary day for her; in this day she is helping her friend Gabita to arrange for an abortion, illegal under the oppressive regime of Nicolae Ceauşescu. In this day she will do things she never imagined to help her friend.

Without giving away too much, I will say that this captivating story is told in long, dramatically charged scenes captured by a handheld camera. The raw aesthetic quality gives the film a realistic feel. As Otilia goes on a few errands for Gabita we get a glimpse of what life was in the Romania of the 80s. Then in the second part of the film Otilia and Gabita face Dr. Bebe, the supposed physician that will carry out the abortion.

This film has many scenes that are extremely difficult to watch and will upset sensible viewers and maybe even some who don’t consider themselves sensible. But for foreign film lovers this movie cannot be missed.

Head-On

Miguel — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 04:20:41 +0000

Head-On tells the troubled love story of Cahit and Sibel, two German immigrants of Turkish descent. Cahit can’t overcome the grief over his wife’s death, he works a dead end job collecting empty bottles at a music club and spends his days drinking and doing drugs. Sibel lives with the constant pressure from her conservative Turkish family that don’t let her be who she wants to be. Both attempt suicide without success, Cahit by crashing his car into a wall, Sibel by slitting her wrists. When they meet at the psychiatric clinic where they receive counseling Sibel sees in Cahit the ticket to escape her oppressive family. She convinces him to marry her, knowing that her family will only give her to a Turkish man.

In spite of now being married, Cahit and Sibel continue living their own lives, he with his occasional visits to his hairdresser girlfriend, and she with her excessive dating habits, a lifestyle much easier to carry now that she is away from her family. But as it usually happens, eventually they will become interested in each other. Without giving much of the plot away, let’s just say that this complicated love story takes a few tragic turns and by the second half of the movie Sibel relocated to Turkey and Cahit arrives in Istanbul to find her.

The film paints a desperate picture of immigrant life, Cahit and Sibel are neither Turkish nor Germans, they do not find their place in the world. Birol Ünel and Sibel Kekilli are excellent in the leading roles, supported by a well chosen German and Turkish cast. Many of the themes presented in this movie are not appropriate for children, this film is for adults only.

Red Lights

Miguel — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 19:28:42 +0000

In this promising but ultimately disappointing French thriller married couple Antoine and Hélène set off on a long car trip to pick up their children from summer camp, and their differences emerge as they move through traffic. While Antoine resents his wife for being more successful than him, she can’t tolerate the man’s drinking habits. The fighting increases Antoine’s need for alcohol, so he starts making stops on roadside bars. After one of this stops Antoine returns to the car to find that Hélène is gone, and a note tells him that she has decided to take the train instead. After some more drinks a now very drunk Antoine resumes the trip with a suspicious looking hitchhiker as company.

Red Lights is a slow paced psychological thriller that builds tension as Antoine gets deeper and deeper into a drunken state. There are several plot details that could have made for a very interesting film, like the disappearance of Hélène, or the strange hitchhiker that shows up right after the announcement on the radio that a killer is on the lose. In spite of very good performances, the conclusion of the film lacks dramatic intensity, the viewer is left wanting to have a more detailed account of what happened.