Day 129 - Colombiana

Columbiana (2011) directed by Oliver Megaton

As I was typing out the director's name I had to double check to make sure I was reading it right. Megaton. Really? Could he have picked a more obnoxious pseudonym than that? I suppose Megatron would be worse but if you're going to go that route you might as well go all the way, right? So what kind of film do I expect from a director named Megaton? Something with lots of action, big explosions, a silly pot to hold it all together and mindless fun and we sort of get that with Columbiana.

I'll admit that I am partial to the female revenge genre. I only wanted to watch this movie to see Zoe Saldana kick some ass while looking hot. Can delicately petite women actually take on much larger male professional killers in a fist fight? Probably not, but I don't really care. I am here to be entertained, so if you're going to do it, then do it big, do it loud and make it fun. For the most part Columbiana does what you expect, though it doesn't hit quite as hard as I would have hoped.

Young Cataleya watches her parents murdered in front of her by some bad guys in Columbia. She escapes to America where she meets up with her uncle who takes her in. She wants revenge, he will help her by training her. The problem is that the introduction is severely lacking. Young Cataleya, played by Amandla Sternberg, gets too much screen time. It's not that she's bad in her scenes, it's that her scenes are done all wrong and in the end don't really matter. The murdering of the parents that we know must happen takes too long to develop, as does her trek to America. It leaves no time for her training into a killer, often times the best part of these revenge films; these sequences are conspicuously missing from the film.

So fast forward fifteen years and we're ready to rumble. Older Cataleya (Saldana) devises an impossibly complex plot to kill one of her targets. I don't mind at all that the scheme is silly (and it is) but it sets an unfortunate pattern for the rest of the film, too much filler and not enough killing. I don't mind slower paced action flicks, but I do mind when a film tries to be something it is not. There is too much stuff going on that stalls the action because either it is poorly written or that I simply don't care, probably a combination of both. For instance, why is Michael Vartan in this film? The romance element in the film seems more like an excuse to get Zoe Saldana half naked than to add character. In the end, the romance feels like an afterthought but maybe we'll be too distracted by two good looking people making out to really notice how dumb it is.

Other bad moments? The CIA agent that is protecting the boss Cataleya is going after. As is typical, he looks and talks like a complete sleazeball and is unrealistically cold to the FBI agent going after Cataleya. As for the FBI agent himself, there is the obligatory meeting between him and his target where he has his guard down which is awkwardly written. It is almost cringe-worthy.

I just watched the movie and I can't even decide how much action there actually is in the film. It seems like there should be a lot but I wouldn't be at all surprised if there aren't actually that many action sequences. What does this mean? The film is too long and/or boring. Columbiana should be fifteen to twenty minutes shorter, or conversely those extra twenty minutes better be worth it and they are not. I will say though that the final showdown is everything that we hoped it would be, if only Megaton could transfer some of that energy to the rest of the film.

Yes, Zoe Saldana kicks ass and she looks good doing it, but she doesn't do quite enough of it in this film. She does have one intense fight sequence though that reminds me of the crazy bathroom brawl in Borune Ultimatum, which incidentally is also in a bathroom. Throughout the film we get to see her in various stages of undress showcasing her slender body. Speaking of which, I normally don't question the logistics of these matters, but she is rail thin and it seems impossible that she could have won that bathroom brawl in the way that she does. As long as she looks good doing it, maybe we'll forget how pedestrian the rest of the film is, right? I debated quite a bit whether or not to go C+ or C but decided to go for the higher score. Despite its short comings, it did enough to keep me generally entertained and the films that I have given C's to are definitely worse than this.

Grade: C+

Day 128 - Last Train Home

Last Train Home (2009) directed by Lixin Fan

A couple months ago I read a book called Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory, which touches upon the mass migration of people from the countryside into the big cities in China. It is a pretty interesting book that paints a picture of a changing society as China emerges into an economic superpower. Within this decade, China's urban population will outnumber its rural population for the first time ever, one of the telltale signs of economic growth. But this sudden societal shift often pays a heavy price, tragically displayed in Last Train Home, a remarkable and heartbreaking documentary film that follows one family's painful journey through modern China.

Every year, millions of young men and women leave China's countryside and migrate to the big cities in search of better paying jobs, often leaving behind their young children and elderly parents. They work insanely hard at low paying (for us) jobs and send home almost everything they make. It almost shames me to think about how frivolous I am with my money and how fortunate I am to be born in America when I read about people working 16 hour shifts in factories making less than a dollar an hour. And this is what they left family and home to travel thousands of miles for. They often only go home once a year, during New Years, in the largest human migration in the world. Over 130 million people make the journey back home. You can only watch in amazement at scenes of the train station where a sea of humanity nearly trample each other to death to find tickets and cram their way onto the train.

The film begins with Changhua and Suqin, who left their native village in the Sichuan province 15 years ago, leaving behind their newborn daughter Qin in the care of her grandmother. Suqin explains that "I hardened my heart and left with my husband. I had no choice. That's life." They send their money back home so that their two children can go to school in hopes that they will have a better life. But seeing your children just once a year has its effects. Changhua admits that he doesn't know what to say to his own children when he sees them other than to study hard at school. Qin is now a teenager and cannot relate to the parents she barely knows. "My parents barely raised me, so how can there be any feelings? All they care about is money." This "better life" has come at a steep price.

In a tragic turn of events, in the next year we see her, Qin has dropped out of school to work in a factory in the city which breaks her parents' hearts. Like the foreigners that she makes jeans for, she has grown independent and wants things for herself. In a scene where she and her friend go shopping, without any irony they wonder if they made the pair of jeans they are holding. Changhua constantly reminds her, "You don't want to end up like me," but Qin is just a teenager and cannot see the big picture. It is so sad to see someone trapped at such a young age. In this harsh environment, people rarely get second chances.

I am always fascinated with how documentaries are filmed. How do they get people to open up so honestly with them? How do they feel being followed around by cameras? Director Lixin Fan shoots with a fly on the wall presence and paints an intimate portrait of their life. In a scene that no one could have predicted, Qin's rebellious attitude causes a fight between her and her father in gut wrenching fashion. Qin yells at the camera, to us, "you want to film the real me - this is the real me!" The heart of the film lies in the turmoil between Qin and her parents, the generational split that any parent can relate to. After being disappointed by Qin's increasing callowness, her mother sullenly tells her, "You have yet to taste the bitterness of life."

The film focuses on the domestic life of the family but also spends a good amount of time on the New Years festival where people desperately try to make it back home in time to celebrate with their families. The scenes are pure chaos and almost suffocating to watch. In fact all the scenes of the city feel claustrophobic with the tight shots which I imagine had to be done out of necessity; there simply isn't room in these crowded spaces to set up long shots. The air looks foul and the streets are dirty, it is only until they finally get settled on the train are we allowed to breathe and the lush green and serenity of the countryside is a stark contrast to the fast pace life of the city. It really is great cinematography.

These two contrasting images of the country and the city show the divide in society that is taking place in the name of economic growth. Families have become fractured and cultural values are lost. Last Train Home shows the personal cost of trying to make it, if you can even call it that. The end credits roll leaving us wondering what will become of this particular family and I can only hope for the best, but the realist in me is doubtful.

A truly powerful film.

Grade: A

Day 127 - Nights of Caribia

Nights of Caribia (1957) directed by Federico Fellini

This is the second time that I've seen Fellini's wife Giulietta Massina in action and I cannot help but point out again how much she reminds me of Charlie Chaplin. In La Strada, the similarity is more pronounced as she plays a clown, but the resemblance sticks with her in Nights of Caribia as well. It is a combination of two things, her ability to make distinct facial expressions with her naturally round face and also the child-like innocence that she brings to her character.

Cabiria is a prostitute living in Rome, but this isn't quite the prostitute with a heart of gold story. She does have a good heart but she knows she is a sinner; she is waiting for a miracle to give meaning to her life. She does have a naivety and innocent charm, but is also fiery and full of spunk. (She's the embodiment of the stereotype that Italians are always yelling.) Cabiria's naivety will prove to be her downfall. In fact the film has one of the more bizarre opening scenes you'll ever see; her own boyfriend steals her purse and pushes her into a river causing her to almost drown. By the way, was I the only one who laughed at this scene? No, I don't condone robbing women, but come on, you got to admit the scene is pretty frigging absurd.

We follow Cabiria through a series of episodes that can almost be classified as misadventures that always seem to end up badly for her. It is almost a case study in how much crap one has to deal with before breaking, yet Cabiria always seems to rise back up. She may be a prostitute and a little loud, but we desperately want her to find what she's looking for. In the best scene of the film, she is hypnotized by a magician at a show where she allows her tough exterior to be peeled away revealing a woman of such love and innocence that it is almost too much too watch. It is one of the more endearing moments that I have seen on film.

Cabiria is an endearing character which makes her story all the more somber. You can see the ending coming even if she can't and you wonder how she will deal with her latest heartbreak. She comes across a marching parade and takes in its exuberance. Despite everything she has been through, she manages to crack her trademark smile behind her tears. Even though the entire film is basically about her disappointments, it feels like she's going to be alright in the end, somehow someway.

Grade: B+

Day 126 - Cronos

Cronos (1993) directed by Guillermo del Torro

Is it a gift or a curse to live forever? Would you even want to? What lengths would you go through to be immortal? These are several of the key questions regarding the vampire mythos and explored in detail in Guillermo del Torro's directorial debut Cronos.

For some reason I keep on returning to vampire movies; I've seen more in the past couple months than I've seen the past couple years combined. (OMG Twilight!) I have grown to appreciate them more for their deeper psychological and philosophical musings than for their actual horror elements. Cronos never once mentions the word vampire, it doesn't need to. This isn't really a vampire movie; it's a movie about a man who is transformed, afflicted, by becoming immortal. As he tells his enemy, "You have more to lose. For me it's just pain."

The film opens with a narration involving a medieval alchemist who creates the cronos device which grants its user longer life. Four centuries later we see the alchemist, transformed into a pale ghostlike man, lying dead in an accident with a stake through his heart. The whereabouts or even the existence of the cronos device is unknown until simple antique shop owner Jesus Gris discovers it hidden in one of his statues. He tinkers with the toy and is alarmed when it latches on to his hand and stabs him.

The transformation begins, although unknowingly, to Jesus who suddenly feels invigorated. He thinks he has stumbled upon something fantastic but cannot comprehend the consequences of the cronos device or what it has turned him into. If he fully understood what was happening he would not have wanted it, as opposed to Dieter de la Guardia, who has been searching for this device his whole life. De la Guardia is dying and seeks the device to live forever.

This is not a horror film in the traditional sense; there are very few true scares. It is the film's psychology, its theme and style that can be frightening. Take for instance, Jesus' realization that he is attracted to blood. He follows a man with a nosebleed to a bathroom. The blood is washed away in the sink save for a tiny puddle on the floor. He gets down on the ground and delicately licks the blood, savoring its gooey life giving force. It is a powerful image that reminds the viewer of Jesus's situation; he has been reduced to a groveling animal desperate to live.

Much of the film actually deals with Jesus's relationship with his granddaughter Aurora, who witnesses first hand what the device does to her grandfather. She mostly just observes throughout the film and is Jesus's silent partner and his only link to his fading humanity. Watching her on film reminded me a lot of Guillermo del Torro's future work Pan's Labyrinth where a young girl wanders through a fantasy world filled with monsters and magical creatures. Del Torro does a great job in capturing this dark magical quality in these two films. It is fitting to see these worlds through a child's eye and sense of wonder.

It is not a coincidence that Jesus is the character's name. Like the other Jesus, he rises from the dead and becomes this mythical figure. However, while the biblical Jesus rises to rule the kingdom of heaven, the Jesus of this film is resigned to roam the earth forever imprisoned by his curse.

Grade: B+

Day 125 - Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la bete)

Beauty and the Beast (1946) directed by Jean Cocteau

When I saw Orpheus several days ago, I noted Jean Cocteau's unique style. It isn't a coincidence that he was also an artist and poet because it shows in his films, particularly in Beauty and the Beast, which boasts an impressive look and feel. (They both use some of the same trick shots like playing it in reverse.) It comes pretty close to the ideal of what one means by enchanting or fantasy.

But this isn't the Disney version of the classic fairy tale. Cocteau's vision is haunting and moody. The Beast's castle takes on a life and presence of its own. Human arms hold candles hanging on the wall and rise from the middle of a table to pour wine. Statues come to life, their eyes moving back and forth following the characters on screen. It is large and mysterious, it is magical yet scary. It is like watching a dream painted onto film.

We are all familiar with the story; a virtuous woman is forced to live with a hideous beast and learns to see the good inside of him, eventually loving him. Its lesson is that beauty is only skin deep, true beauty lies on the inside, don't judge a book by its cover, etc etc. Many romance stories share Beauty and the Beast's primary plot, the power of a good woman to redeem a man or, figuratively, a beast.

However, a striking difference between this version and the Disney one is that the cartoon Beast begins ugly both inside and out and Belle brings out the good in him. The Beast of this film appears to already be good, but misunderstood as a beast. Belle is almost immediately taken by the Beast; she shows little if any fear of him and within ten minutes of film time, she has already softened up and accepted him. I found this to be a glaring weakness in the film's story telling. It didn't seem convincing to me as to why she is so easily moved by him. Exactly how does she determine the good inside of him? When he threatened to kill her father or when he forced her to take his place? She says she feels the good in him, but we are never really shown it other than his soft spoken tone and gentlemanly words. As magical and enchanting the film looks and feels, the story itself isn't entirely convincing, which was kind of disappointing.

I don't think you could argue too much with the assessment that this film is more style over substance. This film is all about style, how it creates and maintains this fairy tale world. The story is really just window dressing. All you need to know are the basics, the woman and the beast and that they fall in love. Knowing exactly how or why isn't necessary in the experience, though it probably wouldn't hurt either...

I did enjoy the film though. I'd say it was good, but not great. I always find it interesting to see people's interpretation on classic and well known stories. Everybody knows the story of Beauty and the Beast, but how can you make your version different than the next person's? Cocteau's version is very unique and I am impressed with the artistry in which he made this film.

Grade: B

Day 124 - The Music Room

The Music Room (1958) directed by Satyajit Ray

A couple months ago I had never even heard of Satyajit Ray or his highly regarded Apu Trilogy. Thanks to this little project I've been able to expose myself to a bunch of new and unfamiliar stuff (to me at least). Still, I wasn't willing to take a flier on a $80 set by a third party seller on Amazon, so I pretty much gave up on these films. As it turns out, Ray had another acclaimed film called Jalsaghar (The Music Room) and I was able to find the Criterion Collection Blu-ray for a pretty reasonable $20. I'm glad I took a chance on it because this movie is great!

The film is about Biswambhar Roy, a landlord of increasingly diminishing power. His lands are in decline, slowly being eaten away by the eroding river. He is becoming obsolete as he no longer collects money or has any work to do. He just sits there stubbornly, perhaps desperately, clinging on to his old way of life as the world changes around him. His one passion in life is music or, more specifically, holding lavish concerts in his beloved music room. These concerts are costly and he has been slowly bleeding his finances dry. It won't be long before he has nothing left, but he is too vain to stop behaving the way he does.

When one thinks of Indian films, they invariably imagine the extravagant song and dance routines and sweeping melodrama of Bollywood. The Music Room indeed has a lot of music (and one dance) but it never breaks from the reality of the story. Listening to the performances with Roy in the music room is an integral part of the story. The music room is used three times in the film and each concert has a different feel and meaning. The first performance is for a sacred initiation for his son Khoka which Roy reasons he must go all out. It is here where we realize just how precarious the family's finances are as he must mortgage his wife's jewels to pay for the concert.

If you could break down each act of the film by theme, I suppose the first would be decadence, the second would be pride. A moneylender's son, Mahim, invites Roy over to his house to attend a concert of his own. It is clear that Roy does not hold Mahim in high regard; he has a peasant's background and comes from new money, hard working and ambitious. Roy represents the old aristocracy and takes great pride in the blood that flows through his vains. He casually dismisses Mahim's invitation, claiming he is holding a concert of his own that very same day. In the background, you can see Roy's servant's concerned look at his master's frivolous attitude. While the first performance is celebratory in mood, this second one seems sad, almost foreboding. Roy looks down at his drink and sees a floating insect in it and is immediately struck by a sense of doom. I don't want to ruin the film, but something really bad happens.

That leads to the third act which can be described as grief. The film advances a couple of years and Roy looks like he has aged quite a bit. He looks disheveled, the palace has fallen to pieces, and all but two servants have been let go. The feeling is somewhat reminiscent of the end of Citizen Kane and other similarly themed films of men of power who really have nothing; all they have are their empty mansions. Roy has not used the music room in years; he has lost all interest in music and just sits alone all day smoking hookah, not even sure what month it is. Yet again it is a visit by Mahim that inspires him to hold another concert. He is determined to go down in a blaze of glory. He will reclaim his former status even if it may only be for one day. The last performance features a mesmerizing dance sequence and we can see at least for this moment, finding pleasure in life again.

The film reads as a Shakespearean tragedy mixed with The Great Gatsby but told from the side of the old money. In this way it can be viewed as a commentary on the decadence of bourgeois life; while Roy is the protagonist of the film he is also clearly on the wrong side of change. There is a telling shot where he overlooks his land and in the distance he can see his elephant grazing in the field, a moment of tranquil beauty. Then inexplicably a jeep drives straight through the composition blowing dust everywhere. Times are changing indeed. (I only point this scene out since it is mentioned in a special feature of the disc. I'm kind of bummed I didn't think of it myself.)

I really liked the film. It's filled with great imagery and symbolism. The music is fantastic and fascinating to watch. Roy is such an intriguing yet flawed figure. It is harsh to say, but he is somewhat deserving of the tragedy that befalls him, yet at the same time you hope desperately for him to recover from it. It's just a really great film. I'm now very interested in checking out his Apu Trilogy; hopefully Criterion is able to get a hold of it.

Grade: A

Day 123 - One Day

One Day (2011) directed by Lone Scherfig

One Day refers to the day that Emma and Dexter first meet each other, July 15th, 1988, and each subsequent July 15th afterwords, chronicling their on and off again friendship spanning to the present day. We check up on them every year on this date to see what they've been up to, how much they've grown or, in other cases, regressed. In this way we miss a lot of the important moments of their lives, like various relationships, the death of a parent, career moves and the like. The one constant in their lives is each other no matter where they are or how much they grow apart; they are always on each other's mind. We only catch brief snapshots but those are enough to fill us in. It is a pretty clever narrative device that allows us to fit twenty years in less than two hours. The joy, and perhaps the pain, in watching the film is in waiting for the two best friends to realize they were meant for each other all along, to allow themselves to finally give in to their true feelings.

Emma (Anne Hathaway) is a woman who struggles throughout the beginning of the film, aspiring to become a writer but ending up working at a Mexican restaurant for a couple years, often calling Dexter for support. She eventually becomes the woman she aspires to be and finds her way. Dexter (Jim Sturgess) is an upper class brat who lives the good life, brimming with confidence and charm. But beneath that exterior is a deeply wounded soul that desperately needs Emma for support. He works as the host of a shallow late night TV show that is akin to a trained monkey doing tricks. He is rich and famous, but miserable. As the years go by, their lives go in opposite directions and we begin to wonder how they will ever get together.

The story basically boils down to the good hearted woman saving the troubled man. Whenever this plot line comes up, this question must always be asked, "Is this man worthy of her love?" It is tricky because the troubled man is going to be portrayed as a bad guy who, as it turns out, probably isn't deserving to be loved, but the woman inevitably sees the good in him even when the audience can't. This has rubbed me in the wrong way before in movies, but to my surprise I wasn't really thinking about it while watching it, but now that I have had time to think about it, Dexter actually fails the test throughout much of the movie. This fact is forgotten by the end when we do realize he is a good man, what Emma sees all along.

The majority of the movie has a somber tone. The two characters spend most of the time ever contemplative of their places in life and love and apart from each other. But it is also potentially uplifting, the idea of two best friends being together. That they have been such important parts in each other's lives for over fifteen years makes you believe that this is the type of relationship sure to last rather than the one week romances found in so many other films.

The film has an obvious direction and even unexpected events can be expected; it's just that kind of movie. I did like the way the film passes time as it does a good job in capturing them at various points of their lives and draws out the feelings they have for each other. I thought it was a touching and (for the most part) believable story, something I have trouble saying with many romantic dramas.

Grade: B


Note: There is a scene in the film where Dexter's wife calls him right before she's about to have sex with her lover. I know since we are only allowed to see one day this is the best way to let us know she is having an affair, but in the context of the scene it seems awful. Why would you call the person you're cheating on right before you're going to cheat on them unless you're being super spiteful? Wouldn't it just kill the mood? What does her lover think of this phone call to her husband, or is foreplay to turn them on?

Note: Looking at rottentomatoes.com, One Day is sitting at 27%. LOL, this just goes to show I have horrible taste or more likely have no idea what I'm talking about.