Change Your Image
Tai Fang
Reviews
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)
Still beautiful after 7 years
The title rang a bell - isn't there a video game...? I don't know games, but I do know graphics. Back in 2001 Aki's hair was something new, well - they still look pretty good. Compare the way it bends in 1g and 0g: nicely done. The faces are a bit bland, but all the other motion (capture) is just great. Like the fleeing spacecraft when a phantom travels through it, ripping life from all in it. The way it slightly jerks, slows down, tilts, glides back and crashes.
Things I didn't care for: Why the board wouldn't believe in Gaia - and meanwhile there are these amazing creatures upon them. That the aliens, however extra terrestial, were still humanoid.
Things I liked particularly: The (hand painted) backgrounds The guts to try and CGI real humans. The great (voice) cast The gradual way in which the story unfolds. The lighting (it even looks like the Huygens principle was taken into account when imaging back-lit hair.) The (virtual) camera-work That scale correctly and consistently influences movement That the love interest dies That the bird doesn't sound like in every other movie. That the Gaia theme made my girl friend watch this SF with me.
A beautiful combination of accuracy and fantasy.
Undercover Brother (2002)
No "issues" here, just great fun
Had me laugh out loud! I didn't understand the mayonnaise thing but the scene('s sound) was hilarious.
It's a delight to see the characters and their actors taking part in a story about racial/cultural issues - without the issues. All are smooth and stylish, energetic and confident. The puns are delivered lighthearted and at a perfect pace (thanks editor!). The only part where there is a danger of awkwardness is the cheesy scene at the end, on the beach, but this scene too contains the exact right amount of relaxed self humor. A perfect sense of how to put it, by the whole cast and the director. O and the suits are spectacular...
HannaHannaH (2007)
Bring your one night stand to a family reunion.
Hannah has a great evening (and night) with Victor. The next morning she tries a quick getaway but can't find her car. Victor offers her a ride to her appointment and accompanies her to the family reunion. She appears to be the third of seven brothers and sisters, and the most "difficult" one. Being amongst the fairly colorfull family Victor gets to know Hannah better very fast. Fate has it that he joins the anniversary party - and all kinds of difficulties that 40 years of marriage can harbor.
The TV-film contains little of the for Dutch cinema typical vulgarity, and a lot of funny little twitches, preciously bland humor and a satisfying (even cliché) ending.
Fine script, great acting. Nice work by Barry Atsma playing Wim who has a mental disorder. Good camera work, with details like the home video of the anniversary couple that's just not centered.
Thoroughly enjoyable!
Max Q (1998)
Things that were or weren't
Though advertised as a 'film' (i.e. theater movie) in the TV guide, IMDb confirmed the obvious signs of a TV movie. Things I thought were cheap: the use of the solo e.guitar to emphasize heroism (this effect is so cheap that refer to it as 'the p*rn guitar') and a man's choir to emphasize determination, or something. The wobbly camera in the a-drift (but stable) spaceship. I don't mean the shots done by the astronaut, those looked believable by its light-weight camera jerkyness. Things that needed a little imagination: The blowtorch, not only to imagine where the oxygen came from, but also how a soldering device can cut through metal (and give off sparks doing so). And why astronauts shift their weight from one leg to the other, moving around in a shuttle in orbit. Things that could have been worse: The animation of the tolling spacecraft, and how the crew experienced and handled it. The dialog - a lot of it sounded quite natural. There's no obligatory heat or animosity in discussions, no improbable loads of wit. Some cheesy stuff like the grinning bum in the end, or the surprise of the motorists on the improvised runway. Good for a chuckle though. Containing a lot of standard ingredients, but also showing skill (camera, lighting... no artwork however). Errors (out of laziness, time pressure?) and fair accuracy.
At Play in the Fields of the Lord (1991)
Quality cast (and performance), convincing storytelling
I fell into this movie, broadcast by Belgian 2, in the scene where the evangelists travel up the river. The cast immediately caught the attention: what are all these actors, who usually don't play adventure type characters, doing in the Amazon?! Then Berenger is shown in a kind of nudity I thought US/Hollywood culture forbade. This absence of hypocrisy combined with quality actors made me sit straight. I had already missed a lot, but there was plenty of great and convincing story telling left. People struggle, try over and over to keep on going when things go wrong. Cultures try to interact but fail in different ways. Several of the main characters die of unexpected but reasonable events. And everything is so well set, framed and timed that it keeps watchable. The scene where Bates, dressed as a native exorcist, dances on her grief over a horrible loss was beautiful. There's MAYBE one scene just a bit artificial, where Hannah has pulled up a leg to hide some of her nudity for The Camera: it contrasts with her subsequent confrontation with Moon where she doesn't show any embarrassment.
The supporting acting by natives (mostly people who had only just adapted 'civilization' and who could still remember village life) is surprisingly good. The native language that was created sounds really well, not like any language I've ever heard, and it is spoken consistently as far as I can hear. The final shot is impressive, and the accompanying music sublimely subtle. I really must see the first 30 minutes some time!
Head käed (2001)
No love or life for Margita
I'm not very familiar with Estonian or Latvian culture but I think this film gave some insight in how the Ests and Lats see each other. I even couldn't tell the different languages from each other, so when the dentist discovers that the girl couldn't have understood a word of what he was telling her the past couple of minutes (because she is Latvian and he's speaking Estonian, but she didn't tell him) it was as big a surprise for me as it must have been for him.
The Plot Summary is not completely correct: As far as I could tell, Margita doesn't just seduce the policeman for her safety, she is really attracted to him. And even before they start their relationship the policeman has found out about her recent criminal past - but he is already too much in love (understandably) to bother. The other two men she's started caring for/about also seem to be happy to live with the fact that things have started disappearing since her arrival.
The end is not a happy one (which makes this movie just that stronger) The pieces of the cruel puzzle of here life come together and we see what, or rather who, is 'driving' her.
Naqoyqatsi (2002)
Field work replaced by computer
What I hoped for (or even expected) was the well known "stop motion" imagery and extreme slow motions, extreme zooms and all embracing fish eye takes. In short: The art of a) finding interesting Visual Events and b) capturing them in a way the human eye is not capable of, to be replayed so that the human eye can see. The stuff that made the other Qatsi's hits.
I just wondered how the creation of the whole would fit the title.
Having watched the movie I got the feeling that the focus in this third part was on the message and not on the wrapping. That's fine, especially since the message is so valid. But I already knew the message, and it appeared there was nothing else left for me. More then half the film was solarized or colorized or posterized or transformed through some other filter. It looked a lot like the effects your video camera does but you never use. A lot of the images would have been prettier without the filters, like the giraffe and zebra chase. You could say that 'technology or whatever human based malicious source disfigured our beautiful nature' but why use these seventies effects to symbolize that? At the point that there had been more than 10 minutes in a row of this cheap looking effect I was ready to leave. The hope that the rest just couldn't BE that bad made me stay. But then there was the slow motion: slow motion is good because it gives you time to analyze the moving picture. But if there are no more than 24 or maybe 50 or 60 frames a second, then there's just not enough motion to slow down. Please, record the motion-to-be-slowed faster, like was done with the beautiful shots of the foaming and splashing water (some of) the laughing people and the drill song singing soldiers. I acknowledge that archive pictures can't be redone, but I had already seen a lot of that footage anyway, it could have done without it. It must have been a lot of work to search through the archive footage, and the effects can't have been that easy to apply and arrange as well. On top of that, a lot of the work was mixed with each other. It shows that the creator wasn't out to lengthen the movie or to spare himself. But I didn't like the mixed stuff one bit... The idea behind it was sometimes nice or even clever, but the implementation was insufficient. The computer generated images didn't bother me that much, however out of date. The 'bits' streaming along circuits (in the first part of the film) looked more recent and were nice. Mandelbrot is always fun, the fractal-mountain was less. I was pleased to hear a cello playing a major role in the music. A little less vibrato at certain moments would have been appropriate with Glass' music, but that's a matter of taste. As is all of the above, of course. I do hope that there will be another Qatsi story to tell soon, where computer imagery will have a less significant role and that will inspire somebody to get into the field again.
Gattaca (1997)
A man tries to trick a prejudiced society - and has help
** spoiler ridden **
Four years after having been recommended this movie by a friend, I came across it at the video store. I watched it, and I thought it was great. The most moving part was that of the physician surprise-testing Vincent (alias Jerome)'s blood for genetical identification, only seconds before his long awaited launch, discovering his true genetically unimproved identity and revealing that all the time he suspected such - and apparently supported the young man's struggle against the unfair (to say the least) system. Vincent meanwhile is so preoccupied with this discovery that he doesn't hear the man telling about his son who seams to be in the same position.
The moment the viewer is sure that Irene is sympathetic with Vincent's fate is when she barely audible gasps: "so your a God's child?". And finally his brother, who is investigating a murder of which Vincent is wrongly suspected, comes to terms with Vincent when they test each others stamina (swimming) and Vincent's diamond hard will saves his brother life again, after which the brother understands Vincent deserves what he has fought for (and that the discriminating rules and laws are therefor void). I liked the story, the sympathetic way all characters (in the story's society) interact and the visual form in which the story was cast. There was a slight feeling of repetition caused by the otherwise well belonging and always very, very subtle background music. This sparse use of music was perhaps the biggest virtue of this picture.
** end of spoiler ridden part **
Iedereen beroemd! (2000)
Fun & moving, exciting till the end.
My wife wanted to see this movie on a Belgian channel, but I was already watching "The Shadow" on a Dutch commercial channel. During a commercial we switched and watched the beginning of "Iedereen Beroemd"... and stayed with it. No commercials, no subtitles, no (actual) violence, and no regrets. Victor Löw fits his role less well than the others: his natural sudden rawness somewhat conflicts with his dialog, however cruel his character's intentions appear to be at first. The mother (Gert Portael) is very convincing: she expresses her love for and fondness of her daughter and husband in a calm and very moving way. Since no Hollywood-end was to be expected our attention was kept till the end. A lot of fun.
Double Team (1997)
great camerawork
I'm not very fond of violence, and also not of television movies. But, though the closeups in this 'action' movie are typical for a film made for TV, the camerawork is great. Much effort seems to have been put into positioning and moving the camera, using filters and carefull framing. Reminded me of "Crouching tiger...". Couldn't see all because Star Wars IV was on another net.
Starship Troopers (1997)
A parody on a society and movie genre, or just complete and flawless action?
I went to see this one with a brother and a nephew of mine who were doing a "bad movie" tour and had started of well with the Spice Girls. I was prepared to see the worst after the adds I saw for the movie, showing the "Join Now" TV adds FROM the movie, which had a cheap atmosphere.
What I got was... I'm still not sure, but I definitely liked it a very big lot. Ultra rapid, fluent drama & action, hardly a moments rest. The radiant smiles the beautiful but simple young people wear while enlisting for incredible terror, the hilariously understating "administrative punishment" or the impressive (CAD)animation, I don't know which I liked best. I'm equally unsure about where (if) Verhoeven is ridiculing. A television interview with the director didn't clear things up for me. The coat the class mate who joined intelligence is wearing is so familiar, the presentation of the gruesome news reels is so cheerful... brilliant.
Felice... Felice... (1998)
End of the 19th century: A photographer returns to Japan to find out his wife has vanished
The people he used to take pictures of call the photographer Felice Felice. O-Kiku has disappeared from the village they used to live in, and Felice starts searching for her. On his search he meets a retired fisherman who tells him of the birth of his only child. The next morning his empty boat is found: the man's niece tells Felice he was disappointed not to have been recognised as O-kiku's father. His former apprentice Ueno's story -- about the early days and his encounter with O-Kiku in Yokohama -- makes understanding modern Japan even harder. Felice decides to stay at the brothel in Nagasaki where O-Koma lives, one of his former models. She's the only one he can stand, as long as she stays off the sake. He finally tells her what triggered his departure from Japan: their deep mutual respect and stubbornness withheld them from living up to their feelings. Shortly before she dies of syphilis, O-Koma tells O-Kiku is to be found in the huge city of Tokyo.
What I like most about this movie is the fact that all dialogue is in Japanese. I wonder how the Dutch accent in the main character's Japanese must sound to native speakers, though I thought it sounded rather fluent. It made the sometimes awkward situations the gajin put himself into quite convincing.