rev-ewe 37: Les Contes de la Nuit

Les Contes de la Nuit (English: Tales of the Night)

Michel Ocelot

France

If I had to think of three words to describe this movie (which was really just a series of episodes, similar to A Town Called Panic), they would be ... Beautiful, clever, racist.  But, more than anything, I always love me a good animated film.  If animation style captures me, it's pretty much a wrap.

The premise of the episodes are three people -- an elderly man, a young boy and a young girl who all love to create plays, but are in the wrong age range for the industry.. so they meet in an empty theatre to make their own plays up.  Okay, I can get behind that.  If that really did happen, it'd probably be pretty interesting.  Each episode is a new play that they think up.

1. Beautiful -- the animation style is interesting because it's mostly inspired by Thai shadow puppets, where the main characters are more or less just shadows in front of absolutely gorgeous backdrops.  Wonderful colors, patterns, styles, everything.  Every episode has a distinct flavor and color palette to it which makes it completely unique from the last.  I was blown away by just how stunning the animation was!  The expressions, movements, character designs (for limited shapes such as.. just outlines)... Truly top notch, I appreciate the approach.

2.  Clever -- each story was fun, had a great plot twist at the end, and held true to old style tall tales, where everything was exaggerated, ridiculous and farfetched.  Much like Twilight Zone, you think you know how it's going to end, and suddenly there's something completely different in there.  They follow crazy plots from princesses chasing werewolves, magic drums that no one can resist dancing to, to winning the heart of the daughter of the King of the Dead.  Each one was worth watching.

Aaaaand.. 3.  Racist -- The stereotypes the French flippantly throw around are.. tough to stomach at first, but the stories themselves somehow make up for it.  I don't know why they try to venture into culturally Black scenarios and then use ridiculous stereotypes to portray them, but I guess if anything it's an interesting insight into the French's complete disregard for the term 'politically correct'.  Whatever.  

I would recommend watching it for the stories and the beautiful animation. Also, I would try to avoid the British dub version because the voice actors are kindof annoying.. but it's on Netflix that way so... enjoy it!

rev-ewe 36: Lagaan

Lagaan
Ashutosh Gowarikar

India

I LOVE THIS MOVIE!  Ever since I was probably.. 13, I remember seeing this movie on that random film channel we used to have and I'd love committing my Saturday afternoons to this nearly 4 hour movie. 

That's right - 4 hours.

Worth it?  Absolutely.

Talk about feel-good, well-done, beautiful Bollywood.  Great storyline, developed characters, fun songs.  The colors are all stunning, choreography is on point, and.. well.. it's just a great movie.

The story is basically about this small village that has to pay increased taxes to the British (takes place in the late 1800s) and when no rains come, a challenge is presented by one man - increased taxes or none at all... over a cricket match.  

Simple, sweet, gets the job done.  Sports, romance, singing, dancing, this thing has got it all.

I highly recommend watching this if you have the time (Even if you don't, watch it in installments.. so much fun!) and want a really entertaining feel-good movie.

PLUS it's on Netflix right now!  So get on it!

rev-ewe 31: Tears of the Black Tiger

Tears of the Black Tiger (ฟ้าทะลายโจร)
Wisit Sasanatieng
Thailand

I have two things to say about this movie:
LOL. wtf?

So, there's actually a whole lot more to say about it.  It was hilariously exaggerated, beautifully put together, and strongly stylistic.  While the storyline was a bit mundane, it was presented in such a way that I could never have imagined a Thai movie would be like.
I guess I'd give it  8.5 out of 10?  Really, really well-done, though the story is pretty bland.  Beautiful to watch, the supporting roles MORE than make up for anything it lacks.  The first 15 minutes I could not stop laughing.  Watch it for Thai cowboys!!


The plot is basically that of a love between a poor boy and a rich girl, per usual, and of course their love is restricted.  Womp womp.  Truly, though, the best part is that it's presented like an old Western.  At first I thought the color scheme was just because those were the colors of old TECHNICOLOR! But, the whole movie uses mostly just two colors- fuscia and teal.  Beautiful!  The Western feel of it is hilariously done as the supporting actors are over-the-top and the sets are intensely designed.  Plus.. I mean, c'mon.  Thai cowboys?  Yes, please!  Why hasn't this been done before!  I could go into a whole analytical bit about the aesthetics of the film, but really all I wanna say is the fact that it was a Thai Western that was so beyond anything I could have expected!

*Fun Fact: the lead actress isn't actually Thai.  She's an Italian model who... happens to be fluent in Thai.  lol?

rev-ewe 28: Tulpan

"Tulpan"

Sergei Dvortsevoy

Kazakhstan

Real life Borat! No, not really at all. This movie was probably created as a response to that movie's poor representation of a truly interesting culture. It was obvious how much of the movie was intended to show Kazakhstan's political importance, cultural uniqueness, and physical beauty.

Plot? Nah. This movie is just about a guy who needs to get married and has trouble since, on the steppes of Kazakhstan, there is slim pickings. Plus, he's kindof an awkward character.

The pace is incredibly slow, which I've found I'm quite a fan of.  Movies that can keep me interested while having little to nothing happen for five minutes are my fave.  The analysis of family dynamics is equally as satisfying as the wife (protagonist's sister) has to struggle between two stubborn men in her life that she loves equally.  In the end, it is more of a film of realizing the important things in life than it is about seeking love. There are funny moments (which at first I wasn't sure were meant to be funny), but it is indeed mostly a cool insight into a country I'm sure almost everyone thought was what Borat presented it as.  If you love seeing a culture you didn't know about, this is a really great one.  Also, this is another one of those films that gets better each time you watch it.

Noooot to mention, it's super interesting because when I first saw the characters, my mind thought - Chinese?  Then when they didn't speak any Asian language I knew of...  Mind blown.  

rev-ewe 25: Temporada de Patos

Temporada de Patos (Duck Season)

Mexico

Fernando Eimbcke

Well, I have to say at first I really thought it was SUPER slow and not interesting. But, I didn't turn it off. Characters started to come in, and I didn't like any of them, but still I couldn't turn it off. Before I knew it, I was totally into it and loving where it was going (if it was indeed going anywhere). It takes a lot of cliches I felt uncomfortable about and turned it around so that it made it totally cool with me.

Filmed in black and white and set pretty much entirely in a single apartment, the viewer dives into the lives of four seemingly unrelated characters. 2 best friends, Moko and Flama, have a day to themselves, but eventually end up spending the day with their female neighbor and a mid-life-crisis pizza delivery guy.

The direction is very interesting, I liked the overt metaphors and I particularly liked how non-American the ending is. It touches on topics of homosexuality, life direction, family life, and typical friendships. Nothing and everything happens in the film, and I guess overall I really liked it. Though I think back on it and sometimes think the characters were too annoying, I think it works in the end. 7 stars! (I still don't know what scale I rate these movies on..)

rev-ewe 24: Bagdad Cafe

Bagdad Cafe

Germany

Percy Adlon

Okay, first of all.. don't let the image fool you. I chose this screen cap because it's hilarious, but completely unrelated to the film. Second of all, while the film is German, it takes place in California and is entirely in English. However, because it is foreign, the direction of it is veeeery unique. I used to watch this movie all the time on that weird cable movie channel I used to have, but hadn't seen it in a good decade or so. To find it on Netflix instant (go watch it!) was so exciting, and I knew I had to blog it once I'd seen it again.

This movie is cute, fun, weird, funny, exaggerated, quirky, etc. No particular plot, but again a development of characters and character relationships. It has a great pay-off in the end and I'm pretty sure almost anyone can enjoy it. Its humor is not particularly focused, but I would imagine the direction of it can be a bit off-putting at first.

Basically, this German couple are travelling through CA, but have an argument and the woman walks off (in the middle of the desert) while her husband drives off. She comes across a lone cafe/motel and checks in. After realizing she might be there for a while, she settles in and gets involved in the little group of people that share the residence at the Bagdad Cafe.

Again, the plot sounds mundane because the movie is totally not about the plot. It's the beautiful relationships and humor and direction! Each and every character is interesting and unique, and you pretty much know who they are straight away. Not to mention one of the beeest closing lines ever! so perfect.

Love it! Great, great movie.

rev-ewe 23: To Be or Not To Be

To Be or Not To Be

Ernst Lubitsch

America

this is one clever motha-ucka. Riddled with extended jokes, witty lines, and great acting, this movie takes a bold punch at Nazism. Released in 1942, still 3 years before the end of the war, the story makes many statements about Nazis, but not in a typical 'Daffy Duck Under Nazism' kinda way. The humor is so good, it's goofy and smart and well-written all at once. Probably my favorite line is when the main character (a stage actor) frets to his (actress) wife that someone walked out during his soliloquy, she says to him..
Maria Tura: Maybe he didn't feel well. Maybe he had to leave. Maybe he had a sudden heart attack.
Josef Tura: I hope so.
Maria Tura: If he stayed he might have died.
Josef Tura: Maybe he's dead already! Oh, darling, you're so comforting.

Love it! The story's pretty basic, but I don't want to give too much of it away because it's really quite fun to watch without knowing what's going to happen. Takes place in Poland, WW2 erupts, anddddd you'll have to watch it! Reeeeally fun, it's on netflix. If you're keen for a mostly-lightweight comedy, watch it for sure.

rev-ewe 21: I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK

I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK

South Korea

Park Chan-Wook

I don't remember where I first saw this film, but I came in the middle of it where two characters were talking to each other by looking at each other only through a compact mirror. They were seated in front of a large wallpaper image of the Alps. A large woman comes into the middle of their conversation and informs them she has learned how to levitate by using wool socks. She says she does this by creating enough static electricity from rubbing them together that it actually lifts her off her bed.

GENIUS.

This movie is about a mental institute and the patients within it. The main character, Young-goon (I still wonder if the Korean names are also a pun in English terms.. maybe not), believes she is a cyborg designed to kill the doctors which keep her (and once took her grandmother long ago). She meets another patient named Il-sun who claims he can steal people's characteristics, and promises her to take her sympathy so that she may go through with killing the doctors.

That's about all I want to say for the plot. I watched most of it again recently and it was very, very funny. In its over-the-top absurdity, it makes complete sense and is extremely entertaining. I can remember one scene where the patients are made to talk about something in their childhood that upset them, and one character nervously starts with 'mother..' and then quickly hocks a loogie and finishes with '..fucker.' and that was it. LOL. If you can find this film somewhere, DEFINITELY watch it. It's not on Netflix, so go out and find it. Worth it fo sho!!

rev-ewe 15: A Town Called Panic

Pannique au Village (French: A Town Called Panic)
France
Stéphane Aubier


WOW. I loved this movie. It is as out there as possible, but absolutely hilarious at almost every moment of the film. I was absolutely blown away! I turned it on and thought 'gee this is cheesy animation' then right away I was laughing hysterically! The animation fits perfectly for the type of film and humor and everything that it is. While nothing in it makes sense, within its own world, it makes perfect sense. The voice acting was exceptional and beyond entertaining. The characters were so cute, the situations outrageously bizarre, the movie...awesome. Very funny and totally and absolutely worth watching.

All I can say about the plot is it is about a Horse, an Indian, and a Cowboy. And their adventures.

An absolute masterpiece. If you like strange, out there animated films, this is the one. The Mecca of WTF-dome. The Holy Grail of WHY-ianity. The third coming of LOL-esus! 102091 thumbs up!!

rev-ewe 14: He Died With a Felafel in His Hand

He Died With a Felafel in His Hand
Australia
Richard Lowenstein


Another film I'm not so sure about. Its good points were its sense of humor, aesthetics, and character development. Its low points were (for me) a meaningless story line, and a bit too slow. I know pace is not usually something I would complain about, but its lack of a story or even character conflict in addition to the slow pace makes it hard to watch without doing something else at the same time (I was doing laundry while watching, so I was able to keep going). Though, it does have quite a few points that are funny and interesting. The film felt influenced by Guy Ritchie style Snatch or Lock, Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels. The humor was quite unconventional but just the way I like it. The small story lines that exist are quite strange, but I can dig it.

It sortof follows one man named Danny and the various shared houses he lives in throughout Australia. There are 3 consistent characters beside him; Flip, an endearing drug addict.. Sam, his best female friend.. and another girl whose name I can't remember, but is some sort of ethnic European "chaos-freak". That's about as much as needs to be said about the plot.

While I enjoyed the humor and visual story-telling, I still don't know how I feel at the end of it all and it seemed a bit too unfulfilled to make me feel like it was worth watching. But, for the sake of seeing something visually interesting and having a film to laugh at, this film does the job. I recommend watching while having something else to do, and it will keep you going.

rev-ewe 12: The Maid

The Maid (Spanish: La Nana)
Spain
Sebastian Silva


Well this film was much more than what I was expecting! I'm pretty sure Netflix categorized it as a comedy, so when I started watching it I thought it would be funny.. Either the Spanish have no sense of humor, or Netflix never actually watched the film. I may just need to watch it again.. I guess looking back on it, it's sortof silly.. but at the time, it feels super intense. There's no exact plot line, but there is tension that builds and is sometimes released but at the end you feel good and fulfilled. It kept me really interested and it offered interesting little perspectives into power and family relationships.

There is only one setting, the house of a family where a maid works and has worked for 23 years. When she starts suffering major headaches and fainting, the family decides it's time to hire help -- but when the maid misinterprets this as an attempt to get rid of her, she pulls all sorts of antics to get rid of whoever is hired.

While talking about it with my dad, I realized this film is the complete parallel but opposite of the film Happy-Go-Lucky (incase you've seen it). More of a climactic understanding of the character rather than the plot. While I suppose the film can be looked at in a humorous way, for me it felt really psychological and intense.. but still really interesting! I'm going to tag it as a comedy incase other people get the humor, but it's not exactly the type of humor that is outrageously funny. Just in-your-head funny.

Oh, and plenty of boobs.

rev-ewe 9: Sione's Wedding

Sione's Wedding (US title: Samoan Wedding)
New Zealand
Chris Graham


My friends from New Zealand probably will not agree with this review, but I actually loved this movie. Yes, it is typical boy humor -- but it was the right kind of boy humor that I could appreciate. While I did not spend much time with Samoans or Pacific Islanders, I can imagine this was a fairly accurate depiction. There was absolutely nothing to be taken seriously in the film and it was neither original nor thought-provoking, but for a light film it was more than just entertaining. If you are interested in watching something about New Zealand (and since Boy is still unavailable in the US) and/or Samoan culture, I'd suggest watching this movie. I found that a decent amount of people in NZ were not too fond of this film, but I think enough people liked it... and I like it.

Four friends -- Albert, Stanley, Sefa and Michael, are extremely immature adults who still love to party.. a bit too much. When one of their younger brother's is about to be married, the four are banned because of the amount of weddings they have already ruined from being too drunk. In order to attend, they must each bring a date to keep them in line, and the movie follows their attempts at wooing women.

Predictable, silly, but still totally worth watching. Not to mention 'Albert' totally looks like my grandfather did. And 'Michael' is played by the same actor as 'Maxwell' from Shortland Street! (a NZ tv show that is absolutely horrible, but I LOVE it.) It was hard getting used to seeing him be serious Maxwell after watching Sione's Wedding, but hey sometimes you just got to let things go.

Rating? 4 bottles of beer! Try and figure that one out..

rev-ewe 8: The Birdcage

La Cage Aux Folles (The Birdcage)
France
Edouard Molinaro



Another film well ahead of its time. This film is pure humor. Outrageous characters, exaggerated plot, fantastic movie. It's rare to come across movies that have such developed and interesting characters, my favorite being Albin, a drag queen diva, who shrieks whenever something even mildly surprises him. This film was adapted to an American version called 'the Birdcage' starring Robin Williams and Nathan Lane, but I have not seen it and probably won't because I'm sure it does not compare to this masterpiece.

The story is simple, a man (Renato) runs a club where his partner (Albin) is the star performer. Renato has a son, Laurent, who has just told them he is to be married -- to a girl from a very conservative family. When the two families are meant to meet, Renato chooses to act straight in order to help his son get approval from his fiance's family... but what actually happens is much more interesting.

I definitely have trends in the types of movies I like... gay foreign comedies seem to be my schtick. But, I'm sure once I continue to review films, there will be a wider variety.. hopefully.

5 thumbs up for this film!

rev-ewe 5: Boy

Boy
New Zealand
Taika Waititi


This movie offers such a great glimpse into New Zealand (specifically Māori) culture. It would be hard to get a hold of in USA, but if you can find it somewhere, watch it and love it. It is really slow (another glimpse into NZ culture... who needs to rush?) but has a great, quirky sense of humor and a great touch of human-ness to it. The characters are very real, and they are consistent throughout the film. If you've seen Flight of the Conchords, Taika has directed a few episodes of it (specifically "Drive By," "New Fans," "NewZealandTown," and "Evicted,") so that should give you an idea of what kind of humor or feel to get from it. While the film tackles social issues and can be quite serious, it is mostly light-hearted and fun to watch.
Boy is an 11-year-old living in rural New Zealand and when his grandmother, who takes care of him, his brother and his cousins, leaves to attend a funeral, he is in charge of the household. We find out his mother has passed, and his father has been in jail for roughly 6 years. One night, his father shows up and takes over the house with his two friends from jail. The film follows their getting to know each other and dealing with what being an adult means.
Very touching, beautifully done, very funny, and I can't help but be biased because I love New Zealand!
Rating: 8.5 out of 10