Reviewer Reviews... Before Sunrise/Before Sunset... A Film Review

Before Sunrise/ Before Sunset

   Richard Linklater remains to be one of the most thought provoking and fascinating directors out there. His masterpiece Waking Life, and his other brilliant films, particularly Slacker, are all reminiscent of his mind blowingly well scripted Before... series. Though the topics raised in both films are horrendously dated only 9 and 18 years on, they still have some relevance nowadays, mainly due to the brilliant performances and dialogue.
   The proposition is that through a sheer coincidence, the French student Celine (Julie Delpy), and the American student Jesse (Ethan Hawke), both meet on a train in Vienna. Both speak English and both are of the same intelligence. Jesse is headed for Vienna to go back home, while Celine is headed back to Paris. They strike a connection. Suddenly, at Vienna, in an act of impulse, Jesse convinces Celine to get off at Paris, and spend the day talking. She wildly agrees, and for the next hour and a half we are treated to some of the best dialogue in modern cinema, just pure conversation on existentialism, sex, eternity and life. There's really little I can say on it because it already talks itself.
   The performances are brilliant; Ethan Hawke stays on the right side of douche bag and Julie Delpy is charming and bouncy as Celine. And while the painful nineties disaffected youth quarter life crisis stereotypes can be annoying, they are very toned down, much more than the awful other quarter life crisis fable Reality Bites.
   Fast-forward 9 years and Celine has a chance encounter with Jesse in Shakespeare and Company in Paris. Again, they do the same thing; walk around Paris and talk, this one being much more about relationships. Both have shed the pretense and become much more honest with each other: Jesse has a kid but is stuck in an unfulfilling  relationship, and Celine cannot latch onto a man, having used up all her romance on that perfect night. It is interesting to see how Jesse, the hardened cynic in the previous film has traded personalities with Celine in the last film. Now Celine, bitter at not having had a proper relationship because of Jesse, is now the hardened cynic. The film ends on an infuriatingly blunt, rushed ambiguous note but considering there is the final film coming out this year, make of it what you will.
   These are some of the greatest romance films of all time, as well as some of the best writing in film, period. Please watch them.

Before Sunrise 10/10
Before Sunset 9/10

Reviewer Reviews...The Best Films of 2012

My Favourite Films Of The Year

I'm not going to be that bastard who says 2012 was the best or worst year for film, because, let's face it, 2012 was neither of these. It was however, a very slow start especially in the first half of the year, which was followed up baby a huge array of brilliant films. So here it is, my favourite films of 2012.

10. The Muppets
I know this is kind of an odd choice, but when as film is this damn happy, it is quite simply irresistible. Directed by Flight Of The Conchords veteran James Bobin, and featuring three writing of Bret McKenzie, whose ebullient songs are perfect for the source material, this joy of a film features all the gang in a tongue in cheek 'the theatre's going to close, let's do a fundraiser!'. And while the film itself is smart enough to overcome this dumb proposal, it is funny, self referential and takes itself seriously in places it needs to.

9. The Descendants
George Clooney has never been better than in his tour de force as a man thrown in a situation he doesn't know how to handle, being burdened with an unfaithful, terminally ill wife, and two sharp as nails daughters. And while it sometimes wobbles on the tightrope of schmaltz, it almost always succeeds in its intended goal, making you laugh and cry simultaneously.

8. Beasts Of The Southern Wild
I think most of us can agree that one of the best feelings is surprise, and I was truly surprised, in a good way. Having gone into this film having known very little about it, then to be blown away by a sudden rush of wonderful filmmaking and acting, especially from the wonderful Quenzhane Williams. I doubt if she will win Best Actress at the Oscars, but I think she is really the one who deserves it most. I can't really describe it, just see it.

7. Skyfall
I had originally disowned the whole Bond franchise, after a few mediocre Pierce Brosnan vehicles, but that opinion was quickly dropped after the Daniel Craig movies, all of which I liked a lot (including Quantum of Solace, thank you very much), and Skyfall does not disappoint. Javier Bardem and Judi Dench are particularly good here, and it kicks ass to see London and Scotland being used, instead of the more foreign locations, making this feel close to home. Sam Mendes deserves a cookie for his stunning direction too. All stand for that stunning song, the best since You Only Live Twice.

6. Life Of Pi
With the visually stunning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon under Ang Lee's belt, he is a perfect choice for that supposedly unfilmable book. And by God, does it deliver. These are some of the most stunning visuals I have ever seen, and though the acting can be weak at times, and the symbolism is annoying, that is all forgiven for the sheer scope of some of the scenes. But for the love of God, see this on a huge screen.

5. Moonrise Kingdom
If Ang Lee is a HD tv, impressing you with it's huge scope, Moonrise Kingdom is a Polaroid camera, with lower quality image, and a faded view, but with bucket loads of charm, sardonic wit, and tender poignancy. Telling the fable of two kids who run away from home and their small town's attempts to find them, it is typical Anderson fare, delivering wonderful performances, occasionally dark humour, and the viewpoint from the beyond his years little boy protagonist. Whimsy at its classiest.

4. The Dark Knight Rises
I am putting it out there, Christopher Nolan is one of the best directors of our generation. He has never done a bad film. Even Following, his weakest picture is a masterpiece in its own right. And his brain conclusion to his perfect Batman series is just what we hoped for, clever, disturbing, funny and surprisingly heavy for a superhero film. Marion Cotillard gives an enjoyable nuanced performance, where Joseph Gordon Levitt is surprisingly intense and focused. The central focus is Bane, who may be my favourite Batman villain.

3. Samsara
All of the other films on this list are plot driven, heavily based on the characters and what they do. Samsara has no plot, no focus or really any characters. It is a swaying visual masterpiece, taking us on an adventure of all cultures, the wide eyed beauty of Indian dancing, the surprising melancholy of the transgender Thai prostitutes, or even the terrifying performance art scene. Like the equally masterful Baraka, we get those stunning time lapse shots of the sky, the Chinese factories, everything. It all ends on the Buddhist monks creating those lovely sand paintings, admiring them for a moment, than scooping up the sand. Interpret that what you will.

2. Tie-Amour/Shame
I am tying these two films together because they are very similar in my eye. The direction is static, smooth, the plot about getting over an illness and failing, or even the twinning of both films being set in an isolating universe. Michael Fassbender gives a heartbreaking performance that sheds new light of the so often mocked sex addiction condition. Is he homosexual? Straight? He may even be asexual for all we know. He is simply addicted to the orgasm, nothing else. In Amour, Georges has a similarly tortuous job caring for his ill wife, who starts well, slowly receding through time, with only the audience and Georges understanding the pain of old age, and the gradual loss of a loved one. So brilliant.

1. The Master
Yeah, you all saw this coming. I can't help it, this film really changed my views on cults, their leaders and how they work. Both Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix give unbelievable performances as two very broken, disturbed people who find solace in each other, but in a horrible way, and the way they work off each other is quite scary, but representing such a dark truth that lingers inside us. Anderson's direction is very astute, and it looks fantastic. They just didn't fuck up in any way.  See it for an interesting night out.

Reviewer Reviews...Babel-A Film Review

One of the most maddening and frustrating excuses for refusing to watch a film is those evil 3 words 'It's too depressing'. So what? We see films with drama, action romance. Why is depression, one of the most universal traits in all of us, singled out and used against us? This film, despite how much it is associated with the dreaded d-word, is one of the most breathtaking films ever made, all centred around a simple act of foolishness committed by a little boy. Like most of Innaritu's work, it as mentioned tells the story of about 4 different people affected by a little incident.

Two young boys of a goat herder have a bit of an ego competition where they try to test a shotgun sold to them, accidentally and painfully wounding an American woman. The husband is sharp and somewhat rude, but justifiably so. The husband's children are being looked after by a Mexican woman whose son's wedding is the same time of the shooting. He tells her that she cannot go, as there is no one to look after the kids. The man who sold the kids the gun is a Japanese man whose wife has died, and has a rebellious deaf-mute daughter called Chieko. The story weaves between the 3 stories.

The thing is, everyone acts reasonably. The nanny probably shouldn't have taken the kids to the wedding, but it is her son's wedding. The husband shouldn't have been so rude to those around him, but his wife is in pain. The loud mouthed man who convinces the husband's tour bus to leave without him shouldn't have been so malicious, but the others on the bus were also suffering. Chieko should not be so rude to her father and those around her, but she is alienated by her condition and her sexual frustration. The boys shouldn't have shot the gun, but boys that age are naturally ego-centric. No one acts bizarrely or rudely and that is one of the best things about the film. The character feel real. Even those who seem cruel or unpleasant, but all of them are justifiably so.

Another reason this film is fascinating is that all the perspectives are different. We see Tokyo through the hazy eyes of Chieko, Morocco through the adolescent eyes of teenagers, as well as the tourist eyes, and vibrant Mexico through the worn eyes of a nanny who has seen her way through many children and a long, hard-working life. Every single actor and actress is brilliant, Brad Pitt is superb in some of the quieter scenes, Rinko Kikuchi is heartbreaking in a very demanding role, and the nuanced tone of the hell Adriana Barraza goes through is gut wrenchingly sad. Still, I do not care if this is depressing, it is as much a part of human emotion as happiness or sadness, why not just watch it for once?

MT