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mungomcleod
Reviews
Jarhead (2005)
A strange one
I don't think its a very good film. I think my main problem was that outside of the oil fires, there wasn't anything visually to keep me interested. Conrad Hall was a real genius and because of him Sam Mendes' other two films look incredibly beautiful. This just looks like every other war film from the last ten years 'war is really bad so we should make it look grim by messing around with the colour'. I hate to be that simplistic about it but that's the impression i got. I suppose also in my opinion there are problems with the script which is really good when taken in its component parts but seem to add up to very little.
On the plus side, the acting is excellent all the way through, particularly Peter Sarsgaard, and like i said there are really good parts in the story and neat lines of dialogue.
Definitely not the worst film i've seen lately but failed to make a lasting impression on me.
Lou-Lou Lives Here (2005)
Its Filmshop 101
This film is more like a poem than the narratively fixated majority. Lou Lou lives here has broken free of the strictures of the film grammar cookie cutter and as a consequence creates a unique visual style and feel It contains some disturbing visuals and creates an unsettling tone using the digital technology to good effect. Very uncomfortable to watch. I'd recommend seeing this film if you have the chance. Its a good film and you can learn something yourself about what makes a good short film with very little expense. Judging from the page on IMDb its not very well known. I checked it out of my university library with a bunch of other digital shorts but this was better than the others by some distance. The girl puts in a subtle performance, a real feather in the cap for 'Lou Lou' which i was a little surprised by because often major studio productions struggle to produce credible performances from children. Perhaps most importantly and setting itself apart from many short films(or the ones i seem to see anyway) it is not smug or self satisfied or tries to overwhelm you with its own cleverness.