Movie Uno. Battle Royale. A Japanese film that is kind of steeped in a Lord of the Flies mythology, but not nearly as good as the book. Sadly this movie is quite the inauspicious debut for my summer viewing.
The premise is good, but the execution is poor. The idea goes like this: Every year one school class is selected by a lottery to be sent to a remote island. The class selected this year is a group of 44 ninth graders. They are shown a short video that tells them that they have to kill their classmates. In three days time if there is more than one student alive they will all be killed. If one student lives, they will be freed from their island imprisonment. From here it falls apart with bad acting, clumsy editing, and startlingly bad subtitles. Not quite in the league of "All your base are belong to us" but pretty bad regardless. The Captain gives it a generous C-.
Movie Number Two. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I have an irrational reaction when seemingly everyone I know loves the same thing: I avoid it. I think it falls into what Public Enemy calls "Don't belive the hype!" I usually wait for a while, let my expectations lower a bit, then watch it for myself. This explains why I, a self proclaimed movie lover, hadn't seen this much lauded movie before now.
Usually I don't mind putting off viewing a particular movie, but in this case I've been beating myself up for not getting to it sooner. It was a great movie. I should have known it would be well worth fighting through the hype machine and exaggerated expectaions to see it. I've always been a fan of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, and this film has an excellent cast.
Kaufman tells the tale all backwards-like, similar to another favorite of mine, Chris Nolan's Memento, and messes with our minds the entire way. I loved it.
I feel that I could foam at the mouth about this movie for hours, but if you've seen it you know what I'm talking about, and if you haven't, go find out what I'm talking about. I give this film an A-.
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6 comments:
"Eternal Sunshine..." really is a fine film. The scene where the beach house is crumbling around them really gets me in a profound way.
The editing is excellent, and it is a testament to what one can do with simple digital video.
Jim Carrey is just such a damn fine actor--really. I just purchased a pirated version of 23 in Mexico, and I can't wait to see how Jim does in it.
I agree that Jim Carrey is a fine actor, but he does have one flaw in my opinion. His personality is so strong that at times I am watching a film of his and am painfully reminded that it's him onscreen. His character disappears and JIM CARREY is there instead. Always a distraction.
I guess my early assertion of "damn fine" should have read "versatile".
And I know what you mean, although I have to admit that Ace Venture came at a time when I was actually digging films of that ilk, so I don't mind when I see the JC shining through.
I watched Batoru Rowaiaru a few months back and I must say that I agree with your analysis. Overly sentimental & not very cohesive. My favorite character was the perky little japanese woman on the classroom video who warbled the rules of killing and being killed as though she was pitching the latest japanese-techno-bubblegum. I found it pretty much forgettable.
In the asian genre, I would recommend Old Boy to rinse the bad taste of Battle Royale away.
Intriguing, beatifully shot, a gem of Korean cinema.
I've seen Old Boy and you're right, it was very good. Loved the tracking, one shot of the hammer fight. Also the cutting-my-tongue-out-with-scissors scene was so well done, it didn't show the cutting, but I turned away regardless.
Old Boy thirded.
I am a sucker for the long track.
This Blog Entry had excellent long track examples (including the Old Boy hammer scene). I have never seen Wells' "Touch of Evil," but I was thrilled, absolutely thrilled by that opening track. The bomb is planted in your forehead.
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