Drinking Buddies (2013)

Directed by: Joe Swanberg
Country: USA

Review: “Drinking Buddies” is a low-key rom-com directed by Joe Swanberg. The 32-year-old helmer from Detroit also appears as screenwriter, producer, actor, and editor. The story is about two co-workers, Kate (Olivia Wilde) and Luke (Jake Johnson), who really get along and whose physical attraction grows day by day. Both are already committed, but that should not be a problem because (guess what?) their partners, Jill (Anna Kendrick) and Chris (Ron Livingston), also showed to be attracted for each other. This slow-burning drama came labeled as comedy, yet I found very few real funny situations along the way. Furthermore, the story was totally predictable since its first moments, presenting minor surprises that weren’t sufficient to make me absorbed in what was going on into those couples’ lives. Sometimes it got close to those TV series, in which we can guess immediately the conclusions. The performances, not so inspired or compelling, had its share of responsibility in making the film uneventful. My advise here is: if you are an enthusiast of romantic films, go for it; otherwise don’t bother because “Drinking Buddies” is just another film that doesn’t stand out in any particular aspect.

Museum Hours (2012)

Directed by: Jem Cohen
Country: Austria / USA

Review: “Museum Hours” mixes fictional story and documentary in a stupendous way. It tells the story of a beautiful friendship between Johann (Bobby Sommer), a guard of Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, and Anne (Mary Margaret O’Hara), a Canadian visitor who seemed lost among those immense works of art, and whose main purpose was to reach the local hospital where a childhood friend was hospitalized in a state of coma. Johann, as an inveterate observer (both inside and outside the museum), sensed her despair and offered help. Since that day, both became good friends, spending their free time having agreeable conversations about their lives, discussing art, and strolling around the city, which was depicted almost like a painting. So, you can expect a very artistic and didactic film, in which is almost possible to get acquainted to Vienna, at the same time that we learn detailed aspects and different visions about the Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel’s works. Jem Cohen presents us his unique vision through a distinguished screenwriting and remarkable direction, aided by the strong performances of the leading couple. The art contemplation, café conversations, and historical information, ended up establishing a regular, relaxed pace, which can be a setback for many viewers. But don’t be discouraged, since “Museum Hours” has so much to offer in an unpretentious way, that this trip to Vienna comes very much recommended.

Key Of Life (2012)

Directed by: Kenji Ushida
Country: Japan

Review: “Key Of Life” blends humor, crime, and romance in the right proportions, guaranteeing pure entertainment for more than two hours. The story follows three characters who met one another in peculiar circumstances, leading to several misunderstandings and imbroglios. Sakurai (Masato Sakai) is a 35-year-old failed actor who lives in debt and is planning to kill himself. When in a bathhouse, he witnessed an accident involving Kondo (Teruyuki Kagawa), a professional assassin who lost his conscience after hit with his head. Sakurai takes advantage of the situation to swap their locker keys and assume the victim’s identity. In turn, Kondo gets temporarily amnesiac and will have to adapt himself to Sakurai’s life of poverty, a fact that will not prevent him to get to know a beautiful magazine editor who is desperately looking for a good man to marry. The humor was not hilarious, or nothing like that, but its jokes were subtly clever without being strained. The actors seemed to enjoy playing their parts and I felt an eagerness to know what would happen to them next. All the twists and turns concerning this acting/gangstering combination were well thought, leading to prizes for best screenplay attributed by the Japanese Academy and Shanghai Film Fest. Kenji Ushida's third feature film may bring him back the deserved international attention that he once had in 2005 with “A Stranger Of Mine”.

Prince Avalanche (2013)

Directed by: David Gordon Green
Country: USA

Review: “Prince Avalanche” is David Gordon Green’s adaptation of “Either Way” (already reviewed in this blog), which was written and directed two years ago by the Icelander Hafstein Gunnar Sigurdsson. The story is almost a copy of the original version, denoting minimum modifications and being inserted in the thematic of the wildfires that devastated the Texas fields. It tells the adventure of Alvin (Paul Rudd) and his girlfriend’s brother Lance (Emile Hirsch), who are working together in an isolated place during another season, where they are responsible for the reconstruction of the country road. Despite their age gaps and personality differences, the duo will get along and help each other to overcome some issues involving women. As Alvin says in a letter to his beloved, this place sometimes is heaven and sometimes is hell, and that is exactly the sensation that we get by looking to its landscapes, which aren’t so appealing as the Iceland depicted on Sigurdsson’s version. As a matter of fact, it didn’t do any better than its predecessor, becoming even a bit boring along the way, especially for me who have watched the other film recently. With consistent performances and a competent direction, “Prince Avalanche” will probably work fine for those who are watching this simple story for the first time. Green was considered best director at Berlin for this low-key indie film, which accomplished its goals but didn't enchant.

National Security (2012)

Directed by: Jeong Ji-yeong
Country: South Korea

Review: “National Security” uncovers a very dark side in South Korea’s history, addressing the tortures that were inflicted to innocent people when they became suspects of conspiring against their country in favor of North Korea’s communism. The film was based on the memoir by Kim Geun-tae, a democratic activist who was kidnapped and tortured for 23 days under the orders of the gruesome police inspector Lee Geun-an. The film basically consists in showing meticulously the techniques of torture and the sufferings and traumas caused on a human being. This is extremely uncomfortable; so if you don’t have stomach for strong content, don’t watch it because it may disturb you. The tortures involve beatings, sleep/food deprivation, water torture, and electric shocks. I believe that the film would have benefited if the interviews with the real victims of torture presented in the end, were intercalated along the story. Increasing Kim’s life scenes from the past, and dreams involving his family, were other possibilities to make “National Security” a somewhat lighter experience. In one side, we have to praise the courage to denounce these harrowing practices, but on the other side, we have a film that, in 90% of its content, only shows us pain, agony, and fear, in a repetitive way. I wonder if all these explicit images were truly necessary. Lying or not lying, the result was always cruelty, and in the end, even I felt ready to confess anything in order to stop witnessing those distressing and fatiguing atrocities.

The Son Of The Olive Merchant (2011)

Directed by: Mathieu Zeitindjioglou
Country: Turkey / France

Review: ‘I know that the truth carries the misfortune. Yet, I am not ready to renounce it.’ This is how Mathieu Zeitindjioglou and his wife, Anna, start “The Son Of The Olive Merchant”, a homemade documentary about the Armenian genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman army in 1915. During their honeymoon, the couple decided to make a trip to Turkey and visit several cities including Mathieu’s ancestors’ land, Ani, now a bunch of ruins. The film features a tale and some personal conclusions in animated form, impressive historical footage from the massacre, several Turkish citizens being interviewed, and images from the couple’s trip that includes friends (and their opinion on the matter) and visited places. “The Son Of The Olive Merchant” places the Turkish revisionism in the center of the debate, creating some awkward and sometimes funny situations. I’m thinking of a museum director who tries to explain his point of view, or even the simultaneously sad and risible comments that we can hear in the street interviews. These people grew up with the lies taught by their political leaders and there is very little we can do at this point. Technically, I didn’t find the film very appealing; the camera work is far from being perfect and the way the interviews were carried out leaves much to be desired. Nonetheless, these aspects didn't remove its effectiveness in denouncing the extreme nationalism in Turkey and the cynicism involved in one of the most barbarian genocides in the history of mankind.

The Spectacular Now (2013)

Directed by: James Ponsoldt
Country: USA

Review: I really enjoyed this inspired coming-of-age tale, based on Tim Tharpe’s novel and directed by James Ponsoldt (“Smashed”). The film’s success has much to do with the brilliant performances by Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley, who were capable of involving us in their illuminated romance, and intense life of dramas and dilemmas. Setten (Teller) is a 18-year-old rollicking young boy whose appetence for parties and girls are letting him more and more afar from succeeding in the studies. Completely lost in his little schemes, addicted on alcohol, and dumped by his girlfriend, Setten’s life will take an unexpected turn after his encounter with Aimee (Woodley), an ‘invisible’ High School colleague who seemed to have very little in common with him. She will help him to abandon the spectacular life of now, and take a deep look into his own feelings, and most of all, into the future. The ability of letting everything happen in a logical sequence and natural manner, without forcing the situations, was what I appreciated more in this bittersweet drama. It also doesn’t give the common illusions that everything can be solved in one’s life. In turn, it describes perfectly how to keep the life going with hope, without pretending that problems don’t exist. If “Smashed” showed some signs of Ponsoldt’s cleverness and accuracy behind the cameras, “The Spectacular Now” stepped up one level, foreseeing a bright future for this young talented filmmaker.

In The Family (2011)

Directed by: Patrick Wang
Country: USA

Review: “In The Family” is the first feature film from actor/writer/director Patrick Wang, whose simplicity and modesty bring sufficient motives to keep an eye on future materials from his authorship. The film depicts the story of Joey Williams (Wang) and his battle, without the law on his side, to keep the custody of Chip (Sebastian Banes), the 6-year-old biological son of his deceased partner Cody (Trevor St. John) whose sister, Eileen (Kelly McAndrew), became the legal guardian of the child. 169 minutes filled with long static shots, never seemed too much to depict this story about gay rights, in which the powerful silences can speak volumes and the emptiness of a shattered life feels real. In truth, the film gained much more with its introverted side, since it goes better with Joey’s personality, than if a vivid portrayal had been made. Detailed and unhurried, “In The Family” never reached my emotions deeply, but on the other hand, presented some other virtues, including enough surprising factors that were determinant for its success. Friendship, love, family relations, and prejudice, were addressed with both straightforwardness and sincerity. Its beautiful ending, along with natural and convincing performances, helped “In The Family” to stand out as a humanist, realistic, and unaggressive tale about a good man that was forced to go against a family that he considered his own.

Byzantium (2012)

Directed by: Neil Jordan
Country: UK / USA / others

Review: With “Byzantium”, Irish filmmaker Neil Jordan returns to the vampire tales, almost a decade after the popular “Interview With A Vampire”. The script was written by Moira Buffini for a teleplay, and tells the story of reserved Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan) and her sociable mother Clara (Gemma Arterton), two vampires whose secret lasts for 200 years. In contemporary world they are hiding in a coastal hotel of England named Byzantium, but we are constantly traveling in time through flashbacks to understand how they were condemned to eternal solitude and got dependent of human blood to keep on living. When their life seemed to become stable again, Eleanor broke a fundamental rule when she fell in love with a waiter who was dying with leukemia. When she wrote to him, revealing her story and secret, Clara had to intervene with all her determination to protect her daughter. Occasionally violent and visually attractive, “Byzantium” failed to fascinate as a story. Not so dark or vibrant as I would like it to have been, the plot showed lack of cohesion in some scenes, which led to a sort of narrative discrepancy. Its disenchantment along with tensionless resolutions proved that Neil Jordan and his vampires already had better days.

Jug Face (2013)

Directed by: Chad Crawford Kinkle
Country: USA

Review: Chad Crawford Kinkle’s first feature film, “Jug Face”, is a limited exercise on horror/thriller. The story centers on Ada (Lauren Ashley Carter), the younger child of a weird, southern couple, who got pregnant from her brother. To complicate the things even more, her family belongs to a backwoods community that made a strange pact with an evil spirit that dwells in a pit. From time to time, The Pit demands the sacrifice of a chosen inhabitant whose head is sculpted in a jug. Unfortunately, the next victim would be Ada and her unborn son, if she didn’t have stolen the jug face. From that moment on, she became haunted by the visions of their god-creature who they called The Pit, having frequent seizures in which she could see several killings. At the start, the weird ambiance was catchy, provoking distressing sensations, but as the killings were occurring, the film loses some consistency, especially after we realize that the story won’t take us anywhere, considering the few community members that remained to be sacrificed. Kinkle gave good indications on direction, showing that in a near future, he might be capable of impress us in a good way. For now, “Jug Face” was simply a somewhat bizarre film, which was not so gripping after all.

Our Children (2012)

Directed by: Joachim Lafosse
Country: Belgium / France / others

Review: “Our Children” is the most compelling Belgian drama since Dardenne brothers’ “The Kid With A Bike”. In its first moments we get to know that something terrible had happened to Murielle (Émilie Dequenne) and her family. To find out exactly what, we just have to follow her life from the moment that passionate Mounier (Tahar Rahim) asks her to marry him. Mounier is a Maroccan descendent whose adoptive father, Dr. Andre Pinget (Niels Arestrup), always supported and protected since childhood. After the couple’s third child has born, they started to struggle with lack of space and money, so they decided to move into Andre’s place. This increasing dependence on him will bring tragic consequences to their relationship, with Andre constantly trying to control the couple’s wills and ideas in an overwhelming way. Another parallel subject, though secondary, that is compellingly depicted in the film has to do with immigration and marriages of convenience. With a finale that gave me the creeps, “Our Children” was able to create such intensity, sadness, and tension around the story, that I felt suffocated just by watching Murielle’s expressions. The performances were simply superb, leading Dequenne to win the Un Certain Regard Award for best actress at Cannes, while Lafosse showed to be a filmmaker with exceptional maturity, presenting us another extraordinary accomplishment in his career.

Shell (2012)

Directed by: Scott Graham
Country: UK

Review: Scott Graham’s first feature film “Shell” was based on his 2007’s short with the same name, being a compelling drama set in a remote place of Scottish Highlands, and centered on a father-daughter relationship. Shell (Chloe Pirri) doesn’t have a very stimulating life for a 17-year-old girl. She lives in the middle of nowhere with her epileptic father, Pete (Joseph Mawie), who owns a garage and a gas station, where she works daily as attendant. At night she cooks their meal, and watches her father washing himself. She has to keep an eye on him whenever she can due to recurrent epileptic crisis. Sometimes the chilling cold that sweeps the region in the middle of the night, makes her jump from her bed to her father’s, creating a visible discomfort. It was very clear that Shell’s dream was to leave the place, and so, the only contact she have with the outside world was when somebody arrived to fuel or ask for help. This kind of situations created a tense jealousy in them that made me suspicious about this familiar, yet strange dependence. Using a minimalist concept, Graham knew how to cook thoroughly this story, increasing my curiosity about what the characters feel and think. The grave silences and revelatory looks speak for themselves, and the film runs patiently towards its freeing ending. Penetrating and uncomfortable, “Shell” is an outstanding film that shall not be ignored.

Apparition (2012)

Directed by: Vincent Sandoval
Country: Philippines

Review: Faith is put to the test in the small Adoration Monastery, located in the middle of the woods in Rizal, Philippines, where a group of devoted nuns dedicate themselves to simple daily tasks and prayers. Set in 1971, when president Marcos declared Martial Law, the film tries to make a parallelism between religious and political ‘silences’, addressing the guilt and remorse that accrue from behaving impassively when facing certain reproachable happenings. The story follows Sister Lourdes, a young nun who happily joins the isolated Monastery, becoming close of Sister Remy whose inclination for political action is in her blood. After the Mother Superior has pointed them as external nuns, they will take advantage of the little freedom granted to attend political meetings in town. Certain day, when they were coming back to Monastery, Sister Lourdes was caught and brutally raped by three rebels in the woods. Since that moment, a diabolical curse falls in the Monastery and peace will no longer be part of the nuns’ daily life. Even if some long shots, especially those with prolonged crying and agony, could have been slightly improved, Vincent Sandoval’s sophomore feature was quite creative, exploring the heaviness in each scene to convey the oppressive sadness of its characters. In soft pale colors, and frequent close-ups, here is another perspective of Philippines’ tough reality, leaving us with the essential question posed by the nuns: why God wants us to go through all this?

The Wolverine (2013)

Directed by: James Mangold
Country: USA

Review: More than ever, super-heroes movies are a trend in cinema. Sadly, the last experiences revealed that, the more the technology advances, the worst is the film, which usually tries to emphasize the visual aspect in detriment of anything else. Helmer James Mangold (“Walk The Line”, “3:10 To Yuma”), along with the pair of screenwriters, Mark Bomback and Scott Frank, seems to have understood this aspect because “The Wolverine” stands slightly above its’ recent competitors, “Man Of Steel” and “Iron man 3”. At least I could follow a minimally interesting story without seeing action on top of action at every three minutes. Logan (Hugh Jackman), living as a hermit and haunted by his past, is suddenly taken into Japan to meet with Yashida, a long-time acquaintance. In his deathbed, Yashida thanks him for having saved his life in the war, but also proposes to transfer Logan’s powers to his own body in order to become immortal. In this Japanese adventure, Logan falls in love with Yashida’s granddaughter Mariko, who became a Yakuza target; he will have to defeat the malevolent Viper, ninjas, and samurais, with the help of clairvoyant Yukio. With some drawbacks and lack of funny moments (that’s not what I would expect from this super-hero), “The Wolverine” provided us with decent action scenes and didn’t leave a bad impression of the most prominent X-Men's mutant hero.

Post Tenebras Lux (2012)

Directed by: Carlos Reygadas
Country: Mexico / others

Review: Carlos Reygadas’ particular way of filmmaking always caused me mixed sensations; he really knows how to create bewildering experiences but at the same time, there are always some setbacks that make me move away from his complex visions. “Post Tenebras Lux”, which means ‘light after darkness’, is a semi-autobiographical film that was made purposely to baffle us, being presented as a sort of a bizarre dream. The film, shot with rigor, presents a peculiar effect that consists in blurring the screen around the edges to enhance the dreamlike idea. The story follows a Mexican middle-class family that decided to move to the countryside, but the isolation will bring negative consequences to their relationship. The only thing that we have sure is that the early visit of the devil (in an animated form) certainly represents a bad omen, but after that, the film starts an odyssey through the inexplicable by presenting us apparently unrelated situations that I often find myself asking what the hell Reygadas was trying to say. “Post Tenebras Lux” is as much intriguing and captivating, as it is despicable and frustrating. Pretentious or not in its disjointed structure, I cannot deny that I was immerse in the story till the end, but can only recommend it for those who don’t mind to have something to decode in practically every scene. It just aims to our senses without worrying with any particular message or logic.

Blue Jasmine (2013)

Directed by: Woody Allen
Country: USA

Review: Woody Allen did great in “Blue Jasmine”, after the last year’s fiasco “To Rome With Love”. The script didn’t show anything groundbreaking, but Allen was able to reinvent himself by giving it the proper touches to triumph, both as drama and comedy. Jasmine (Cate Blanchett) is a high-society New Yorker who is passing through a nervous breakdown and serious financial crisis after her cheating husband, Hal (Alec Baldwin), has been condemned for fraud. In a desperate attempt to recover, she moves into her sister’s small apartment in San Francisco where everything seems too modest and too imperfect for her aspirations. While Jasmine’s sister, Ginger (Sally Hawkins), revealed to be understanding and supportive in every way, Jasmine was completely lost in thoughts from the past, which stubbornly persisted in her unconscious. The performances were close to perfection and none of the characters were there by chance or mistake. Their constant changing moods bestowed such agitation, which at no time allowed the story to slip into monotony. At the sound of a swinging jazz, a staple in his films, Allen offers a genuine character study, showing that there are people who aren’t capable of changing, even when they find themselves in the worst situations. By creating a consistent and funny portrait that confronts insane ambition with cheerful modesty, Allen made of “Blue Jasmine” his best work since “Match Point”.

The Time Being (2012)

Directed by: Nenad Cicin-Sain
Country: USA

Review: Nenad Cicin-Sain has here his debut on direction and screenwriting, but if the former was very well accomplished, the latter evinced some faults that blurred the final painting. Daniel (Wes Bentley) is a painter who is struggling with his own frustration and financial problems. In one of his exhibitions he meets a sinister character named Warren Dax (Frank Langella) who buys one of his paintings and hires him in exchange of several strange assignments. The bitter Warren, despite terminally ill, assumes a challenging behavior with authoritative tones, always avoiding Daniel’s questions about his personal life. Maybe too soon, Warren’s secret is revealed and the film leaves the mysterious mood to enter in a sort of tragic melodrama. We can claim that the concept of selfishness and loneliness of the artist is a bit pushed to the limit here, but I know a lot of people who gave up a normal family life to dedicate themselves to work. Bentley’s performance never matched the level presented by Langella, while in visual terms, the cinematographer Mihai Malaimare Jr. (“Tetro”, “The Master”) revealed a great sensibility for image composition and use of light. “The Time Being”, with its last third of imperfections and hasty solutions, left unclear what were Daniel’s choices, and if he really achieved a wholesome equilibrium. One thing was obvious here: style had a lot more expression than substance.

Wasteland (2012)

Directed by: Rowan Athale
Country: UK

Review: Rowan Athale’s directorial debut “Wasteland” is a heist film, in which I could not identify myself with any character or find anything that stands above the standard patterns of the genre. Its main issue was exactly the lack of something new, aggravated by the unnoticeable performances, bad taste in soundtrack, and an overcooked and sluggish description of a robbery that got me bored all along. The plot starts with a police interrogation and ends in a confession, after Harvey (Luke Treadaway), released from prison six weeks before, has decided to take revenge on Steven Roper (Neil Maskell), the drug dealer responsible for his undeserved arrest. In order to perpetrate his plan, he will count with three friends and will try to calm down his girlfriend who strictly opposes to it. The arguing among the characters seemed too schemed to work properly, which made Mr. Athale's difficulties in terms of script even more visible. The formulaic approach and lack of energy in the scenes and characters, caused “Wasteland” to be even more trapped in its borrowed ideas and contrived plot. A too discouraging ride to be recommended.

What Maisie Knew (2012)

Directed by: Scott McGehee, David Siegel
Country: USA

Review: Set in contemporary New York City, “What Maisie Knew” is an American drama about childhood. Based on Henry James’ novel, the plot is centered on 7-year-old Maisie (Onata Aprile) who was caught in the separation process of her parents. Both want to win her custody, but this seems to be more of a whim than really a sincere intention. Her mother, Susanna (Julianne Moore), is an unstable rock singer who recently married Lincoln (Alexander Skarsgard), a mere puppet in her hands, just to have a chance to keep Maisie around. Beale (Steve Coogan), the father, is an art dealer who is absent most of the time and started a relationship with Maisie’s nanny, Margo (Joanna Vanderham). The film consists basically in showing all these different people taking care of Maisie, who suffers in silence while she observes attentively their behaviors. Becoming a victim of her parents’ selfishness, Maisie will make her own choices to gain the stability she needs in her age. Filmmakers McGehee and Siegel adopted the same unagitated tone along the way, presenting a false sweetness that in some moments were hard to swallow. Sometimes the depth they intended didn’t quite work, hampered mostly due to encounters and relationships that seemed a bit strained along with its expected conclusions. Amongst all this mess involving parents and stepparents, “What Maisie Knew” shows some sensitivity and worth essentially due to the solid performances.

Shun Li And The Poet (2011)

Directed by: Andrea Segre
Country: Italy / France

Review: Italian documentarian Andrea Segre has here a sweet-n-sour debut on fiction, with “Shun Li And The Poet”, a pensive drama that depicts immigration in its modern forms of slavery. Shun Li (Tao Zhao), is a Chinese woman who has been working for eight years in a textile factory in the suburbs of Rome, where she patiently expects the arrival of her son. Under the orders of a doubtful employment agency, she is suddenly moved to Chioggia, a small fishing town that they call Little Venice, to work temporarily in a bar. There, she will become friends with Bepi aka The Poet (Rade Serbedzija), a retired fisherman whose loneliness seems to be relieved with Shun Li’s presence. Their closeness will provoke rumors of all kinds in the town, and soon Bepi starts to realize that to be with her, might not be possible at all. With a keen cinematography, Segre creates a serene portrayal of the situation, almost without any tension. The only scene in which he explores tension had to do with the fishermen’s disagreements. This introspection and subtleness worked well in most of the situations, but there were times that the addition of some guts would have been advantageous. Awarded in Venice, “Shun Li And The Poet” is not a bad film; yet, it could have explored other ways to better denounce this sad reality, perhaps in a grittier manner rather than timid.