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Reviews
Ca-bau-kan (2002)
A work of art that represents the beauty of Indonesian's past
I am an Indonesian that has been living abroad all over the world for years. I've heard about this movie but haven't been able to find a copy of it until today.
I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of work everyone has put into this movie. Though the story is very simple the final work left me feeling somewhat attached to this movie (some aspects from the book has been left behind to make it even more simple for the flow of the movie). Without giving spoilers, I can say that though the main theme of this movie is family and love, there are so much more plots inside such as intrigues, mystery, business rivalry, politics, etc.
The sets were beautiful and realistic. Being an avid collector of old 'Batavia' photographs of buildings and people, I can really feel that the movie was taken in those places that I have seen in old photographs... in reality, some sets have to be created from scratch because the original site, though still have intact buildings, are now full of neon signs, electricity poles and advertising posters, etc.
Some 600 pieces of costumes had been created for this movie - giving it a very accurate historical view. Some items used in the movie are real antiques (I knew a guy who owns one of the beds used in the movie!) One of the most interesting aspects is that the movie starts when the main character, Tinung is only a late teen - it ends much later through different period of Indonesian history (Dutch Colonialization, Japanese Invasion, Independence, and through flash back methods: Present times)
Both the main actor and actress (F. Salim and L. Amalia) are perfect for the character, though I think their acting still can be improved with training and experience. R. Tumewu actually shines pretty much as a very believe-able antagonist (he's not even Chinese!) If I'm not mistaken, neither the director, nor the two main actors, have experience in colossal movies such as this, therefore, I have to say that I'm really happy with the result...
I have longed to see a movie that can show the interesting aspect of Chinese heritage in our economy, culture and even some heredity background 'without reserve' (due to our political reasons in the past) and I am happy that this movie could be a start of a new generation of Indonesian-made movie! Thumbs up to Nia Danata (director) and Remy Sylado (author)!
Queen of the Damned (2002)
All right, fans of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, hold on tight, take a deep breath, because it may be your last. and come out come out where ever you are.
THE DAMNED
Honestly, this movie is really more about the Vampire Lestat, portrayed in an enticingly dark delight by Stuart Townsend. Lestat has been lonely too long; he decided to roam the earth in light among mortals. Against all other vampires consent, he became a rock star and exposed himself as a vampire, not to mention sharing deep vampire secrets to the mortal world. If you have read the book, Lestat has exposed himself before by becoming an actor in a theatre.
In the movie, Lestat was made by Marius, who left him in despair and loneliness, but not after he taught Lestat enough lessons to live in shadows amongst mortals. You might understand Lestat's loneliness and his delicious pompous b**tard attitude more if you read the book and realize that he was in fact made by Magnus, who killed himself just after he transform Lestat into a vampire. Lestat was probably one of the only vampires forced to roam the mortal world without proper introduction to vampirism.
So, what is the movie got to do with the Queen of the Damned? Basically, Lestat awakens Akasha who wants to rule the earth with demonic powers again as she did in the old days. Akasha, or She Who must be Kept is well portrayed by Aaliyah, although I must say, she does not have to be in this movie. I mean, she's only appearing in probably 15 minutes of the whole movie! I think they should just call this movie The Vampire Lestat and dedicate another separate movie to Queen of the Damned. Anyway, salute to Aaliyah who is very beautiful and graceful as well as demonic as Akasha. even though she could try a more Egyptian accent instead of the usual Vlad Dracul's Romanian/Hungarian accent...
And finally, the rest of the characters. hmm. what can I say about the rest? Why oh why do you have to portray Marius to be so gay? I thought that Vincent Perez would be a good choice to play Marius, but Marius is not gay. I don't have any problems with gay community, but again Marius is not gay. And please tell me that the blond Leonardo DiCaprio look alike is not Armand, he who has been perfectly portrayed by Antonio Banderas in 'Interview'.
THE FORSAKEN
A tribute to Goths all over the world, this movie is more of a Goth MTV celebration than an adaptation of Anne Rice's Queen of the Damned. First of all, this movie, which is far too short than its predecessor, Interview with the Vampire, is trying to capture both essence from The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned. I mean, if it takes more than two hours to describe one book in 'Interview' how could they thought to achieve 2 books in a less than two hours movie.
Nevertheless, it is, like I said, a tribute to Goths and as a Goth, I truly appreciate the music, the depiction of the band, Davis' cool voice and Stuart's wonderful stage performance. Stuart, you should really try forming a Goth band!!
I truly despised the depiction of Lestat's tenderness towards Jesse by the end of the movie. This is not the Lestat I know, this is not the Lestat that was portrayed earlier in the movie. The Lestat that was afraid to bite when he sees blood. hello? What's going on here? And the Lestat that fly with too many sequences, especially the scene where he took Jesse for a flight. it made me think of Superman!
Oh, and the ending, where he walks hand in hand with Jesse, saying hello to David Talbot. what can I say. this movie is really just worth to watch to hear great music and see beautiful people like Stuart and Aaliyah. Think of it as a video clip with a story...
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Clearly Depicts the Imagination
I just wanted to say that I have a really clear depiction of what the Middle Earth should look like, and how all the characters should look like since the first time I read these books (including the Hobbit) when I was about 10 to 12 years old. And this movie has been very successful in depicting that imagination.
Thumbs up for the interpretation of the Golumn!! The casting was really done with extra care so that each actor/ actress really represents each character well.
I also would like to express some little (very little) disappointment on how very "Hollywood" is the scene of the wizards' battle (reminded me much of the Matrix!) and how much it made me think that the wizard are old kung fu masters instead of, well, wizards! The death scene of Boromir was probably slightly over dramatized as well.
Besides that, I don't think I can complain about the movie at all. In fact, I love way Middle Earth is portrayed in such colossal scale, and they special effects are just magical (check out Bilbo's dark induced rage in an attempt to get the ring back).
I can't wait for the second... and third production!!