comeau Reviews

Mumbai Diaries (2010)

slight but enjoyable

[7/10 · 22 January 2011]

'Dhobi Ghat' is rather thinly stretched, reminiscent of a travelogue at times, and it seems to want to pack in a thousand glimpses of a city that is far bigger and multifaceted than this canvas... but it does show some unusual (for movies) places and sides of the city, and has a quiet rhythm that stays with the viewer.

One less main character would have made this a far more coherent film, but it is nonetheless undoubtedly one of the better movies to come out of Bombay in recent years (though on that score it must be said pickings have been slim).

While probably too slight and ambivalent to garner many awards -- which I have no doubt was a primary objective in making this film, clearly focused on the foreign festival and art house crowd rather than Indians -- Kiran Rao has made a very good debut feature. One too many coincidences erode its authenticity, but it always feels very much like Bombay, which is no mean feat.

John Rabe (2009)

not very interesting without being boring

[4/10 · 17 November 2009]

JOHN RABE is a well-enough-made war movie set in Nanking at the time of the Japanese siege.

*minor spoilers ahead*

The story is fairly cookie-cutter (though "true"). In fact, the 'hero' John Rabe does not really seem to be much of one, though nor is he an anti-hero. He is more or less a corporate (Siemens) functionary with a solid German character. He is also as it happens a Nazi party member (as were many) and a firm believer in Hitler (as were many), who does not find much reason to question these beliefs during the span of the film. Fine. At the end, when throngs of Chinese chant his name as the Japanese expel him from Nanking, it is both jarring and perplexing, since he doesn't really appear to have much to do with the people of Nanking during the movie. We can therefore only assume his legend preceded him... although nothing up till this point had suggested this Rabe might be the stuff of legend.

*spoilers end*

As usual, a ragtag band of white people (led by two "principled Germans", proving "they weren't all bad" a la Schindler and von Stauffenberg) set the moral tone and fight courageously to protect the hapless and defenseless "native" population. That may in fact have been the case, though I really tend to doubt it. And, even if it was exactly thus, it is a scarcely defensible narrative for such a movie in 2009.

In the final analysis JOHN RABE seems to have been made as crowd-pleasing award-bait, and judging by the German Film Awards it has racked up it can already be judged as success in those terms. Although the film industry in Germany being what it is, that could also mean simply that there wasn't much in the way of competition this year...

Gallenbarter, a 'blue-blood' who won a short film Oscar several year's ago, and who specializes in cultural appropriation (though at least there were a couple of Europeans in this one, not just poor/wretched people of colour), will have wanted to be sure that the fate of his little-watched first feature would not be replicated here. Thus the broadest of broad strokes, sweeping orchestral movements to let us know when we should be feeling something, nothing remotely controversial or 'interesting'... again, in terms of its apparent objectives JOHN RABE can only be termed a success.

Juergen Juerges' cinematography as always provides a bright stop in the otherwise unremarkable proceedings.

Living Goddess (2008)

very interesting subject matter, but needn't have been a feature

[28 May 2008]

I found LIVING GODDESS to be an interesting documentary, worth watching because the subject matter is very unusual and a useful glimpse into Nepali & South Asian religious culture.

On the downside it is fairly amateurishly made and needlessly stretched to feature length when a 30- or at most 45-minute treatment would have been more appropriate for the story.

Nitin Sawney's music was, as always, fantastic.

Seen at the BRITDOC festival in Oxford, July 2007.

Let me see, what else can I say? The end credits were very nice.

(This 10-line rule is really a pain.)

Loins of Punjab Presents (2007)

sweet desi story, amateurish but good-hearted fun

[7/10 · 2 October 2007]

LOINS OF PUNJABS PRESENTS... gives the viewer some nice characters trying their best to realize their dreams in a New Jersey-based "Desi Idol" contest.

The Gujarati family (Patels, naturally) is mined for much hilarity... the writer-director obviously knows the scene well, and most of the laughs come out of their bumpkin hi-jinx. Several other characters (especially Ajay Naidu's) are nicely drawn, while some (including, surprisingly, Shabana Azmi's) fall very flat.

Production values are well below what one would expect from a Tisch/NYU film school product, but obviously funds were at a premium.

That having been said, ensemble comedy movies are among the toughest to pull off, and Manish has redeemed himself well in making the various story lines work. The audience I saw it with in Bombay was definitely appreciative of his efforts.

All in all, nothing great or earthshaking, but a creditable and unassuming first feature which leaves 95% of Bollywood movies with 20 times the budget well in the dust...

Vacancy (2007)

not too good really...

[4/10 · 8 July 2007]

I saw this movie in London recently. Wouldn't normally pay to go see this kind of show, to be frank (not that I don't like horror movies/thrillers as much as the next guy, but the plot line seemed pretty unpromising, as did the trailer)... alas, I was a big fan of KONTROLL, so willing to give Nimrod the benefit of the doubt on his H-wood debut.

I would have expected a hell of a lot more from a director (and movie-lover) of his caliber... to say the least! This was a definite B movie, and a pretty unimaginative one at that. Strictly by the numbers. Everyone seems to praise the fact there was (virtually) no blood on display, but I'm not really sure that's such a great accomplishment, unless you're worried sick about (your) teenaged kids seeing too much blood in movies -- and something tells me this one, not particularly high profile or successful movie isn't going to make a huge amount of difference there...

Kate B was considerably better than usual, it must be said. Would have expected a bit more from Frank Whaley. Luke Wilson's character has a look of permanent irritation -- which, I suspect, almost everyone in the audience did as well, and thus he was able to get your sympathy (also for not slapping the annoying character played by Kate). Otherwise he played with the same gestures, emotions and of course voice that he always does.

Hopefully Nimrod was just "paying his dues" with this one and will come up with a decent film next time around -- though he probably stands a better chance of that happening if he makes it back in Europe.

Conversations with Other Women (2005)

far more tedious than it needed to be

[5/10 · 31 May 2007]

this film is overly obsessed with the "innovation" of using split-screen throughout. the story seems to be more or less an afterthought.

currently the IMDb user rating is 7.0 ... i'm guessing the director has a lot of friends who support him, which is... nice.

two excellent actors have to do a fair amount of scenery-munching to get a little life into this affair. the split-screen is not as annoying as it might have been, and actually doesn't irritate the viewer very often at all, but a more capable director would have done exponentially more with it.

all in all, this would have worked far better as a short not more than 30 minutes in length. the obvious retort will be that there is no market for such films, and therefore it's very tough to attract investment, but unfortunately all too often boring, high-concept films by more or less promising young directors trying to make a mark are the inevitable result of this very rationale. this film was shot on HD and edited on a mac using final cut. had they used less famous actors, i can't imagine the 30-minute version would have required too big an investment (locations were absolutely nondescript, and there were only a couple of extras... probably the same friends who 'voted up' the rating...). it would unquestionably have made a much better calling card for the director, who from the DVD features seems like a fairly nice guy...

Schatten der Zeit (2004)

Shallow "orientalism"

[4/10 · 25 February 2007]

this is pretty much what one would expect of a German film shot in India... especially one made by a German director as his first feature.

filled with "third world pathos", bathed in earth tones and warm colours, saturated with patronizing 'noble savage' ideas, the best thing one can say about "schatten der zeit" is that it is often picturesque. at the end of the day, calcutta is a very visually interesting place and juergen juerges a very fine cinematographer. all this is far from enough to save this movie, which is ultimately very offensive...

florian gallenberger is a very wealthy young German "aristocrat" (at least he claims to be) who achieved 'oscar' success with his short film "quiero ser", again set in a poor country and centered on the 'milieu of the miserable' to be found there. he has obviously decided this formula works for him, and decided to write a 'truly Indian' story set in calcutta (a city and country to which he had no connection beforehand). ultimately, people can and should do whatever they want, but I hope audiences don't choose to support such parasitical works with their money or attention... this film was deservedly a critical and commercial failure...

Hard Candy (2005)

dire and dull, in a word: excruciating

[3/10 · 5 May 2006]

HARD CANDY is a movie with a couple of excellent actors in the two lead roles and some nice photography...

it goes without saying the script was all about exploitation, but it is utterly without nuance or cleverness of any kind.

as is all too often the case with poorly developed and underfunded indie movies, this story (and the audience) would have been better served with a 20- to 30-minute short, rather than a feature-length mess. unfortunately, the director wanted to add a 'feature' to his credits, so the dialogue revolves around woefully tedious mechanisms to s-t-r-e-t-c-h the narrative to 85+ minutes...

if ellen page weren't such a brilliant actor, the entire audience probably would have left. as it is, we just felt her heroic efforts were wasted on a singularly unworthy enterprise.

hopefully there won't be any more 'features' from this director in the future.

Midnight Express (1978)

Without a doubt Mr. Parker's best movie

[8/10 · 16 January 2006]

This is a truly masterful film, must viewing for any aspiring filmmaker or fans of the political thriller genre.

Far too much talk has been wasted on the accuracy of details portrayed in the movie. Obviously, this is part and parcel of basing one's script on real events, but it's a shame that it all takes away from the public's appreciation of a milestone work in film art.

Turkish elites fond of turning a blind eye to much that is feudal and thuggish in their (wonderful) country will never accept any single aspect of this story as having any basis whatsoever in fact. Nonetheless, they, along with the vast majority of their countrymen who deal with harsh authoritarianism and humiliation day in and day out, can at least be thankful that this film played an undeniably enormous role in keeping Turkey from becoming a major destination for druggie tourism a la Holland, Goa, Nepal, etc. Alan Parker did them no small favour in this respect... They should build at least one statute of him for that, if nothing else.

Water (I) (2005)

On the misplaced criticism of Kalyani and Narayan's romance...

[9/10 · 26 December 2005]

A number of critics have complained about finding the romantic relationship between the Kalyani and Narayan characters "naive" or lacking build-up or complexity. Such critiques unquestionably betray a very misplaced 'Western' bias, or perhaps more pertinently, an utter lack of cultural understanding when it comes to India/Pan-Asian mores where relationships between men and women of marrying age are concerned.

Deepa Mehta is certainly not pushing a value system in which young men and women rarely have the opportunity to spend a few unchaperoned moments alone together, where parents ultimately decide who and who is not appropriate for marriage, where 'true love' is an ideal found in literature and song, one which most will never have a chance to experience... but to deny that this is a reality with which the vast majority of young people in India live (in 2005, to say nothing of how it would have been in the 1930s) would be to make absolutely everything else in this movie's storyline false.

Even allowing for cinematic convection in terms of chance and circumstance, Kalyani and Narayan's relationship could have happened in no other way. Only Western critics with no familiarity of South Asian cultures seem determined to apply Hollywood-style 'Rom-Com' pacing to their romance, where it most assuredly has no place...

Control (2003)

climb aboard

[8/10 · 24 January 2004]

"Kontroll" is not without its flaws by any means -- the lack of a truly strong storyline or concern with engendering anything more than superficial empathy for the protagonist(s) on the part of the audience being chief among them -- yet this is without a doubt a fine film, characterized by excellent casting, performances, interesting and original situations and flair in direction.

The music (by NEO) and cinematography are genuinely outstanding.

If a bit more work had been done on the script (never one of Nimrod Antal's strengths) beforehand, "Kontroll" might have had a very real chance of becoming an international cult film on the scale of something like "Lola rennt"/"Run Lola Run."

As it is, the film is the best feature to come out of Hungary in several years, rivaled only by György Pálffy's debut, "Hukkle."

Interesting to note that "Kontroll" was shot almost entirely in the Budapest metro (subway) system, to which cast and crew only had access for a maximum of four hours per day. Given the atmospheric lighting and ambitious mise-en-scene in evidence throughout the film, this fact makes Nimrod Antal's first feature an even more impressive accomplishment.

PS - The only truly poor thing in this movie was the SFX make-up (blood, wounds, etc.), which was just embarrassingly amateur, and would have been even in a first-year student film. Any good make-up artists interested in getting plenty of movie work should move to Hungary immediately, since sadly there doesn't seem to be a single decent one anywhere nearby (Prague is seven hours by train).

Mona Lisa Smile (2003)

turkey

[3/10 · 21 January 2004]

"Mona Lisa Smile" is a shockingly weak effort from Mike Newell. There is almost nothing good to be said about it, other than that the costumes seemed authentic and that Julia Stiles was in so-far-unseen fine form.

The script negotiated a line between the illogical, manipulative and insipid. Direction and cinematography strictly by the numbers. One would have thought the man who made "Donnie Brasco" could at least have unearthed some interesting moments and ideas among the schlock. Very disappointing all around. May it soon be forgotten.

As a side note, I remember being at Wellesley College a few times in the early 1990s. The place depicted in "MLS" was not, at least on the surface of things, appreciably different in attitude to the Wellesley I visited, so maybe the choice to set this movie in the 1950s was little more than a desperate attempt to make the entire effort seem more "serious" by lending historical weight to it. On the other hand, who really cares?

3/10

Boldog születésnapot! (2003)

a nice surprise...

[8/10 · 4 February 2003]

If it's true that good Hungarian movies are a rarity these days (and it is), then good Hungarian comedies are about as common as snowmen in hell. BOLDOG SZÜLETÉSNAPOT! (Happy Birthday!) is a terrific little movie... a fresh script, great casting, excellent performances, production values, etc. A top-flight debut for director Csaba Fazekas. Worthy of special mention are Tamás Sas' cinematography and Eszter Ónodi's show-stealing work as Vera/Gyöngyi. See this one if you get the chance. (Seen at Magyar Filmszemle/National Film Festival, Budapest)

Schluss mit lustig! (2001 TV Movie)

title essentially means "no more fun", and, well...

[2/10 · 17 January 2003]

while above average by the anemic standards of pro7 tv movies, this "romantic comedy" is hampered by being neither romantic nor funny. furthermore the characters are annoying (especially maja, who is never likeable or interesting, only grins fakely ad nauseum and does not develop whatsoever) and it is utterly impossible to believe they would ever get together, other than perhaps for an ill-considered one-night stand.

the "hero", felix's, appeal is mainly derived from being an infantile loser who seems to do nothing at all except mope around feeling sorry for himself. his milieu, supposedly cool, is wan and dull in every respect, and left me feeling a bit depressed. the end sequence featuring synchronized swimming was a mild secretion of an all-too-lacking imaginative spirit, albeit one ruined by the two annoying kids screaming at each other to wrap up the movie. best thing about this one was the guy who played moritz, otherwise it was a fairly lazy effort.

Little Angel (1996)

A German movie with interesting characters (no joke...)

[8/10 · 17 January 2003]

This is a small, uneven movie, but the characters are well drawn, something so rare in German movies. Ramona, Andrzej and Lucy were all fascinating in very different ways. Susanne Lothar was truly excellent, and played Ramona with truth and sensitivity when few other actresses could have resisted the temptation to froth at the mouth and make a big show of gnawing the wallpaper. I'd seen her the day before in "Funny Games" and that finely drawn performance made this one even more special. The direction here is full of heart, with a real understanding of loneliness throughout. Occasionally it drifts into the realm of the "deliberately lyrical" to the detriment of its essential story, but one comes away remembering the things I sense the director would have wanted the audience to take away from it.