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Maos Last Dancer [ 2009 ] [ Hits:47 ]
Review: Mao's Last Dancer, finally - a dance film where the story line is just as fantastic as the dancing - and true! The extraordinary biography of Li Cunxin makes a graceful leap from autobiography to film under the watchful eye of Australian-born director, Bruce Beresford (Paradise Road, Driving Miss Daisy) and screenwriter, Jan Sardi (Shine). The tag line for Mao's Last Dancer is 'Before You Can Fly, You Have To Be Free', an underlying theme throughout the drama with sharp contrasts between America...
Please Give [ Hits:52 ]
Review: Please Give starts with a series of boobs... breasts, jugs, chesticles etc. It's quite an introduction for a coming-of-age comedy drama with Catherine Keener, Oliver Platt, Rebecca Hall and Amanda Peet. Now this isn't a flattering set of shots, but more of a flattening one as ordinary breasts are compressed for mammograms. Is it justified exposure... the jury is still out and this intro ranks alongside A Touch of Spice, that spicy Greek film that starts with a baby breastfeeding on a full-screen...
Themba: A Boy Called Hope [ 2010 ] [ Hits:73 ]
Review: Themba: A Boy Called Hope is an inspirational coming-of-age drama about a young South African boy's escape from poverty and the pursuit of a dream. The film couldn't have come at a better time, releasing in the aftermath of the hugely successful 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. However, this isn't any ordinary South African film and if you're expecting Hollywood formula in this sports drama, you'll be disappointed. While football forms the backdrop to this emotional journey, it's simply a th...
Broken Embraces [ 2009 ] [ Hits:66 ]
Review: Penelope Cruz starred in Pedro Almodovar's Volver and the two have collaborated once again in Broken Embraces, a drama about infidelity and redemption. This Spanish film is told from the perspective of Harry Caine, a blind writer, who is forced to deal with past pains 14 years earlier when he was directing what was to be his last film.Broken Embraces is a character-driven drama starring Lluís Homar, Blanco Portilla, José Luis Gómez, Rubén Ochandiano and Penélope Cruz. The film's narrativ...
The Boys Are Back [ 2009 ] [ Hits:75 ]
Review: Scott Hicks has directed such soul-stirring classics as Shine and Billy Elliot, and it's been quite some time since he ventured into romantic comedy terrain with No Reservations. The Boys Are Back falls somewhere between the majestic emotional journey of films like Shine and the quiet reserved power of Hearts in Atlantis, once again focusing on a central parent-child relationship. The Boys Are Back is no different - based on a true story, written as a novel by Simon Carr and lovingly adapted to ...
The Maid [ 2009 ] [ Hits:75 ]
Review: The Maid aka La Nana, is a Chilean domestic drama about a lonely woman trying to hold onto her household position after more than 20 years of service to an upper middle class family in Chile. Kids, teenagers and even parents need looking after... especially in this day and age when work and play don't seem to leave much time for chores. The housework and even the daycare is now considered to be part of a full-time maid's job. Their job title may not extend beyond a clean kitchen and tidy house, ...
A Serious Man [ 2009 ] [ Hits:118 ]
Review: The Coen brothers have made some pretty crazy films over the years... focusing on dark comedy, adventure and more recently delving into the uncharacteristic domain of drama and thriller in their Oscar-winning, No Country for Old Men. Now as accurate as that Oscar contender adaptation was, I felt the Ethan and Joel Coen were on an Oscar mission rather than delving into a passion project. After all, how often do dark comedy crime adventures win Oscars? A Serious Man is another departure from their...
Taking Woodstock [ 2010 ] [ Hits:79 ]
Review: Taking Woodstock is an account of how one Elliot Teichberg (Martin) inadvertently set the wheels in motion for Woodstock, the generation-defining concert of 1969. However, this is not a docudrama about the festival, it's an emotional journey and coming-of-age drama as young Elliot matures into a man. Oscar-winning Brokeback Mountain director Ang Lee, composes a textured drama about the prolific 3-day music festival taken from the perspective of one "square" young man. Elliot's Russian immigrant ...
The Last Station [ 2009 ] [ Hits:114 ]
Review: The Last Station is a period piece drama aligning itself with the last days of Leo Tolstoy. Writer-director, Michael Hoffman, repeats history with another biographical history drama after Restoration, which also managed to catch the attention of the Academy. However, The Last Station was acknowledged for its performances rather than its art direction and costumes, which are simply beautiful, rather than lavish. The Last Station initially primed Oscar veterans Anthony Hopkins and Meryl Streep to...
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire [ 2009 ] [ Hits:69 ]
Review: Precious is the story of an overweight, illiterate 16-year-old girl who, pregnant with her second child enrolls at an alternate school to point her life in a new direction. The title character, Precious, played by Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe in her debut role, leads a troubled life as a teen shackled by sexual, physical and verbal abuse. Her size, teen pregnancy and abusive mother, played to perfection by Mo'Nique, hold her back from reaching her dreams. However, she pushes on... fighting for a bett...
Crazy Heart [ 2009 ] [ Hits:67 ]
Review: Bridges delivers a powerful performance in Crazy Heart as the story follows ‘Bad’ Blake, a whiskey-swigging legend of a musician, who would trade horses for a guitar. His music has inspired a generation of country and western performers, yet his high regard hasn’t translated into the high life the way he’d want it to be. His alcoholism and loneliness are crunch factors that keep Bad, well… bad. He’s bad to the bone and destined to be that way until he meets Jean Craddock, a young jou...
An Education [ 2009 ] [ Hits:106 ]
Review: An Education is the story of Jenny, a precocious teenage girl living in suburban London in the 1960s. This coming-of-age drama deals with her transition from school girl to refined woman, as a well-to-do suitor nearly twice her age sweeps her off her feet. The education she receives is one on morality, ethics and coping in the big bad world. While the premise does open itself to teen exploitation in the same league of The Babysitters, it's mild in comparison with Lolita and is as prim and proper...
Up in the Air [ 2009 ] [ Hits:103 ]
Review: Have you ever been fired or had to fire someone? It's never nice. In fact, the experience is generally terrible and is considered to have gone well if there's no incident. It's the reason bosses let people go on a Friday. We think we're defined by our jobs. It's the first thing anyone ever asks upon introduction, "So what do you do for a living?". I guess that's why it's so painful... taking the very thing that defines or establishes us in society and whipping it right out from under us. There's...
Brothers [ 2009 ] [ Hits:90 ]
Review: Brothers is a Jim Sheridan film, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire and Natalie Portman. Sheridan's film career highlights include: My Left Foot and In The Name of the Father, in which he received Oscar nominations for writing and directing. Two films in which prolifiic Oscar-winning actor, Daniel Day-Lewis stars. However, Brothers is not a Day-Lewis Oscar vehicle and the screenplay is adapted by acclaimed screenwriter, David Benioff. Brothers was inspired by Brødre, a 2004 film by award-w...
Invictus [ 2009 ] [ Hits:235 ]
Review: Invictus is a film that attempts to capture the Zeitgeist of the New South Africa in its infancy. It's based on the book, Playing the Enemy by John Carlin and stars Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as Francois Pienaar, with Clint Eastwood behind the camera. Eastwood has delivered some beauties in his time... from tough guy spaghetti Western performances to directing stirring war epics like Letters from Iwo Jima to movies about an exciting time in South African history. Having work...
Last Exit to Brooklyn [ 1989 ] [ Hits:97 ]
Review: Last Exit to Brooklyn has just been released to DVD in South Africa. Was it to commemorate its 30th anniversary, did Stephen Lang's performance in Avatar renew interest in it or was it a mistake? Whatever the case, it gave me a chance to watch this controversial cult movie based on the book by Hubert Selby Jr. The film was going to cause scandal one way or another, with Uli Edel (Der Baader Meinhof Komplex) at the helm as director, after gaining recognition for one of his first films, Christiane...
Departures [ 2008 ] [ Hits:85 ]
Review: Departures is a masterpiece by Yôjirô Takita (Onmyogi), transcending Japanese culture and breaking into the very essence of humanity. The story follows Daigo, a cellist who returns to his home town after the disbanding of his city orchestra and the crashing sound of his dream to become a professional musician. From the age of 6, his cello was his source of inspiration and channel for emotional turmoil as a result of his father's abandonment. Now after purchasing an expensive cello, his destiny...
The Visitor [ 2007 ] [ Hits:135 ]
Review: The Visitor is written and directed by Tom McCarthy (The Station Agent). McCarthy's beautiful film carries a relatively simple story about enlightenment in post 9/11 Amercia, which is embodied by an invigorating Oscar-nominated performance from character actor, Richard Jenkins. This is a career best for the veteran actor after more than 33 years of acting experience, who is instantly recognisable, but difficult to place in any particular movie or performance. Recently, he's been the doting gym m...
Looking for Eric [ Hits:114 ]
Review: Looking for Eric is an underdog movie from Ken Loach about football, Manchester, the post office and French football legend Eric Cantona. A post office worker named Eric Bishop, played by Steve Evets, suffers a nervous breakdown and tries to reclaim his sense of self with the help of philosophical football hero, Eric Cantona. Eric attempts to reconnect with an old flame, get his boys on the straight-and-narrow and win back his self-esteem with the guidance of Cantona, who appears to him after pa...
Izulu Lami [ 2008 ] [ Hits:99 ]
Review: Izulu Lami is a South African film with a focus on street kids in Durban. The film encounters several themes surrounding children in South Africa including: a local fallacy that Aids can be cured by sleeping with a virgin, the problems with glue-sniffing street kids and petty crime. These contentious issues could easily recreate another City of God scenario in the slums of Durban, however the film's approach has been compared with Slumdog Millionaire. Although, it's unfair to even contrast Izulu...
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