A Short Film About Killing (Krótki film o zabijaniu) (1988)

Director: Krysztof Kieslowski. Cast: Miraslaw Baka, Krysztof Globisz, Jan Tesarz. 84 min. Poland. Crime/Drama.

The fifth film in Kieslowki's Decalogue based on the Ten Commandments; obviously, this one aiming for "Thou shalt not kill". A 20-year old low-life murders a taxicab driver for no reason, and a young lawyer fails to save him from capital punishment. Kieslowski maintains his depressing coloring of Warsaw's cold streets, and dissects an execution sequence that will make one cringe, forcing one to think twice about the death penalty. No offense to Kieslowski fans, but even though he did it later, Lars von Trier nails the same message much stronger in his 2000 film, Dancer in the Dark.

PS: Nevertheless, I'll be looking forward to A Short Film About Love.

Mo says:

A Woman Under the Influence (1974)

Director: John Cassavetes. Cast: Gena Rowlands, Peter Falk, Fred Draper. 155 min. Rated R. Drama.
This is a devastating film. An insane mother, and some insane contributing camerawork, give a very convincing portrayal of how one's environment (including the husband, the mother-in-law, even the doctor) can easily push one over the limit and into insanity, with no relief in sight. Dizzying performances by Rowlands and the late Peter Falk, making you think their dialogue must have been improvised to create such an impact, as writing such back-and-forth dialogue would be nearly impossible. Forget the production date; this movie is as good as new.

PS: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was made one year after this. Something must have been in the air those years.

Mo says:

Don't Look Back (Ne te retourne pas) (2009)

Director: Marina de Van. Cast: Monica Bellucci, Sophie Marceau, Andrea Di Stefano. 111 min. France/Italy/Luxembourg/Belgium. Drama/Mystery.

A psychological drama with a significant twist at the end. Sophie Marceau is happily married with two kids, but interested in delving into her shadowy childhood. This sets into motion strange events: slowly she metamorphoses into Monica Bellucci - family and facial features and all. Imagine a person whose face is literally half-Marceau and half-Bellucci ... and realize that this is a creepy movie. Intriguing, and the ending connects the dots quite well, but Christian Bale's 2004 Machinist does it better.

Mo says:

The Tree of Life (2011)

Director: Terrence Malick. Cast: Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain, Hunter McCracken. 139 min. Rated PG-13. Drama.

Is it OK to call a movie "good" ... even if you're lost after watching it? Tree of Life leaves you with a sense of having watched something magnificent, without knowing why. This beautiful tapestry of images, almost devoid of a story, has a timeline spanning from the pre-historic era to the 50's Texas of a patriarchal Brad Pitt - all centered on the death of his 19-year old son. So the best comparison would be Kubrick's 2001, accompanied by Malick's own hypnotic style. As a definite discussion-maker, this should be watched with friends, and only in a theater.

PS #1: You may curse me for saying this, but I believe this movie deserved its Palm d'Or at the this year's Cannes Film Festival, just for being so audaciously different.

PS #2: Maybe you can start your discussion with this NPR review by Bob Mondello.

Mo says:

Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster (2010)

Director: Wilson Yip. Cast: Donnie Yen, Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, Simon Yam. 108 min. Rated R. Hong Kong. Action.

Despite the better Tomatometer score compared to the original, this is a disappointment. The formulas of the original have been repeated verbatim, but the strong-willed wife is now a whiner, the old villains are now the hero's lame buddies, and the new villains are now British instead of Japanese, recently graduated from the Actors-That-Suck school of drama. They even repeat the Bruce Lee mentorship fact at the end! The only element that keeps this going, is Donnie Yen as Ip Man, repeating his wise and reassuring presence, making the climactic Western boxing vs. Chinese Kung-Fu match still an exhilarating experience.

Mo says:

X-Men: First Class (2011)

Director: Mathew Vaughn. Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon, Rose Byrne, Oliver Platt, January Jones. 132 min. Rated PG-13. Action/Adventure.

No doubt, the fifth X-Men episode (this time a prequel, describing the rise of Professor X and Magneto), is a highly-entertaining action-packed ride, with great chemistry between its two main characters. But I was expecting something more. More than waiting 2 hours plus to finally discover why Prof. X was paraplegic, where Magneto's helmet came from, or how Mystique ended up with the baddies. I wasn't curious about these elements in the first place. Still, nice to see Kevin Beacon in a good movie after awhile - and Hugh Jackman has one helluva 10-second screen time as the future Wolverine.

(Disclaimer, or huge bummer: Even though this was a Marvel superhero movie, there's no 2-minute sequence at the end of the end credits. Don't embarrass yourself by waiting.)

Mo says:

The Hidden Fortress (1958)

Director: Akira Kurosawa. Cast: Toshiro Mifune, Misa Uehara, Minoru Chiaki, Kamatari Fujiwara.137 min. Japan. Action/Adventure.

Obviously, the reason I watched this Kurosawa classic, was because George Lucas admits he based R2-D2 and C-3PO on a concept first established here: an entire story narrated through the eyes of its two lowest characters. But then, Hidden Fortress is far beyond that. Forget the attractive B&W cinematography. Forget the beautiful performances from the entire ensemble of actors. Stick to the simple but engaging story of a wise Samurai and two idiot peasants, who search for and relocate a large stock of gold, to ascend a princess back to her throne. You don't hear such great stories nowadays.

Mo says:

Super 8 (2011)

Director: J.J. Abrams. Cast: Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning, Kyle Chandler, Ron Eldard, Noah Emmerich. 112 min. Rated PG-13. Sci-fi.

A government alien conspiracy from Close Encounters, the American suburbia from E.T., a Goonies group of kids, and the small-town sheriff from Jaws, prove that Abrams nurtured and grew up in the Spielberg school of filmmaking. But again, which of us didn't love the Spielberg of the 70s and 80s? And why don't they make heartwarming blends of sci-fi and melodrama anymore? Somehow it seems you can't create such beautiful spectacles in a 21st century story setting. The question is: Were those long-gone years innately uplifting, or was it Spielberg's powerful filmmaking that defined the era for us as such?

PS: Elle's acting is much more believable than Dakota's.

Mo says:

Mo Magic!

Ip Man (2008)

Director: Wilson Yip. Cast: Donnie Yen, Simon Yam. 106 min. Rated R. Hong Kong. Action/Biography.

Not a martial arts fan, but this is a martial arts film with a heart. Ip Man is not some idiotic gang-busting superhero, but based on a real Kung-Fu master with a wife and child, in a real historical pretext, humbly fighting for national honor against an invading entity. In other words, it's the story of a true hero; and as soon as a critical moment evolves in the story, you wish for the hero to show up and perform another beautifully choreographed fight. Learning that Ip Man was Bruce Lee's mentor might entice you to watch this.

PS: This is available for Instant Viewing on Netflix. Planning to watch the sequel soon.


Mo says:

Next (2007)

Director: Lee Tamahori. Cast: Nicolas Cage, Julianne Moore, Jessica Biel. 96 min. Rated PG-13. Sci-fi/Action.

The relationship between Philip K. Dick's stories and cinema are similar to Stephen King's: some works become masterpieces (BladeRunner, Minority Report), some become disasters (Paycheck) - all depending on the director. Next is a disaster. Cage plays a psychic who can see two minutes into the future, and the FBI is persuading him to prevent a nuke from going off in LA (Why limit him to that? Why not find every local 7-Eleven thief?). But the main crime committed at the end, is that in Atonement-style, we realize half the movie was a hoax. Yes, I just spoiled the ending.

PS: Please don't blame me for watching this. I was on a 6-hour flight back home, trying to be in time for the birth of my first child, and had no other movie choice on the plane.


Mo says:

Never Let Me Go (2010)

Director: Mark Romanek. Cast: Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, Keira Knightley, Charlotte Rampling, Sally Hawkins. 103 min. Rated R. UK/USA. Drama/Romance.

This story, written by Kazuo Ishiguro (Remains of the Day), is actually a sci-fi, but the writer and director solely keep the melodramatic/romantic aftermath of the sci-fi in the forefront for a very wise reason: the science of the story has so many logical holes, if the three-way love story was not used as a strong distraction, the movie would fall apart. I'd rather not give away the sci-fi elements (other than it involves organ transplant), but in general, despite the seamless directing, at the end I felt somewhat betrayed. For a better movie on the same themes, watch Moon.

Mo says:

The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle) (1974)

Director: Werner Herzog. Cast: Bruno S., Walter Ladengast, Brigitte Mira. 110 min. West Germany. History/Drama.

My Herzog obssession continues. Young Kaspar Hauser suddenly appeared in the Nuremberg town square in 1828, with a letter in hand and barely able to speak. Wikipedia's account of the mystery is incongruous with that of Herzog's, as Hauser was described as a "pathological swindler". But Herzog doesn't care. He uses the mystery to show when a virginal mind is confronted with the hardcore beliefs of a society, it can offer completely different theories for the same observations, and not be too far off. Makes you think: is there any concept ingrained in our brains not derived from the environment?

PS: The movie's original title translates Every Man for Himself and God Against All.

Mo says: