A disease breaks out that causes mass blindness in an unnamed city. The blind are quarantined, left to fend for themselves in a hospital that’s surrounded by guards who shoot anyone who tries to get away. I kept expecting more from the story than Lord of the Flies in a mental institution for the blind. Written by Don McKellar, Blindness is based on the novel of the same name by José Saramago. If you’ve read the novel, you might get more out of the movie than I did because you’ll know more about each character’s motivation than what’s presented in the movie. But from what I saw on the screen, I couldn’t get into it. It fell just a little too short for me.
Last Night is written and directed by Don McKellar. It’s about the end of the world and how various people in Toronto decide to live out their last night on earth. Some people want to have sex, or pray, or be with family, or commit suicide before the sun explodes (though we’re never told why the earth is coming to an end). Others want to be alone. The film moves along at a calm, quiet, reflective pace that allows the audience to feel for these people who are facing not just the end of their own lives, but the extinction of all life on the planet. Although the main character is too intellectual to engender much sympathy, the final scene makes up for it. Last Night is an usual but memorable end-of-the-world movie, one that might leave you thinking.
The Stone Angel is based on the novel by Margaret Lawrence, another sad and depressing Canadian novel where nothing good happens to anyone or anyone’s children, and then they die. (That’s an accurate summary of more than a few Canadian classics.) The film adaptation isn’t much more uplifting or hopeful. The movie tries to encompass too much of the novel instead of taking its time to develop the characters. It has its moments, but I lost interest well before the closing credits.
David Cronenberg gets off on showing close-up shots of gruesome things like people getting their faces blown off with a shot-gun (re: A History of Violence). In a world where beheadings make the news at least every other month (and can be viewed online if you know where to look — which I have no intention of ever doing — and photos of which are sometimes published in national newspapers), showing two separate scenes of people getting their throats slit is unnecessary. That’s one aspect of Cronenberg’s style I could do without. If you don’t like that kind of thing, just close your eyes for the few seconds when it happens, because the rest of the movie is excellent and well-worth watching. Eastern Promises tells the story of a doctor, Naomi Watts, who delivers a baby from a woman who works in a brothel. The mother dies and the doctor tries to track down the baby’s family and subsequently gets tangled up with the Russian Mafia — and those guys don’t fool around. Viggo Mortensen, as one of the Russian henchmen, has sympathy for her and tells her to go home and forget about it. But she doesn’t. And from there on in it’s, Oh, jesus, what the hell’s going to happen now? I was surprised at the emotional and moral complexity of the film. I guess you could say it’s a thriller with a conscience, and the best I’ve seen from Cronenberg.
The Triplets of Bellleville is full of crazy animation, definitely on the bizarre side, surreal, sad and poignant at times, grotesque, yet elegant and perhaps profound, and highly satirical. I just took a peek at Ebert’s review and I notice he tries to describe it like I just did: “It is creepy, eccentric, eerie, flaky, freaky, funky, grotesque, inscrutable, kinky, kooky, magical, oddball, spooky, uncanny, uncouth and unearthly. Especially uncouth. What I did was, I typed the word “weird” and when that wholly failed to evoke the feelings the film stirred in me, I turned to the thesaurus and it suggested the above substitutes — and none of them do the trick, either.” Read the linked reviews to get an idea of what we’re talking about.
I like the vibrant look and the often surreal quality of The Hanging Garden. It accurately captures the rural culture of Nova Scotia and the difficulty of being different in that environment, especially when what makes you different is considered a sin (ya gotta love Catholicism). It’s more dream-like than emotionally-engaging, but it’s a good story and one of the best Canadian films of the past 10 years.
A History of Violence may be David Cronenberg’s most conventional film to date, but, like most of his films, it fails to touch me on an emotional level. It’s interesting and compelling and a bit violent and bloody at times. And that’s it. The moral of the story is…?
Nothing is a comedic science-fantasy story of two losers who, after having the worst day of their lives, manage to make the whole world disappear except for the house they’re living in. And that’s only the first 15 minutes. You have to be a little warped to appreciate this one. I watch it every couple years. It’s a hoot.
Away From Her is a quiet film about a couple dealing with Alzheimer’s disease — and it’s not depressing or melodramatic. The understated but perfectly nuanced performances from Gordon Pinsent and Julie Christie, together with Sarah Polley’s subtle direction, deliver an emotional punch without being overtly manipulative or insulting to the audience’s intelligence.
The look and feel of Bon Cop, Bad Cop reminded me of every CBC-TV crime drama I’ve seen in the past 15 years: too clean and brightly lit to be gritty. I wanted to like it (it’s not all bad), but it did nothing for me.
Never Cry Wolf is the tundra’s less-epic version of Dances with Wolves. Kinda slow, but recommended for those who like the idea of living in the north. The main character (or Farley Mowat) eats mice (yup), and they look like real mice to me.
Saint Ralph is an excellent Canadian film that — like most Canadian films — didn’t have a chance to be seen because of all the Hollywood crap that controls the market in North America. It’s a cliched, by-the-numbers underdog story, but it’s still the most enjoyable family movie I saw this year. (I enjoyed it much more than Millions.)
A disease breaks out that causes mass blindness in an unnamed city. The blind are quarantined, left to fend for themselves in a hospital that’s surrounded by guards who shoot anyone who tries to get away. I kept expecting more from the story than Lord of the Flies in a mental institution for the blind. Written by Don McKellar, Blindness is based on the novel of the same name by José Saramago. If you’ve read the novel, you might get more out of the movie than I did because you’ll know more about each character’s motivation than what’s presented in the movie. But from what I saw on the screen, I couldn’t get into it. It fell just a little too short for me.
That’s one aspect of Cronenberg’s style I could do without. If you don’t like that kind of thing, just close your eyes for the few seconds when it happens, because the rest of the movie is excellent and well-worth watching. 