A Good Woman

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This film is a sweet adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s “Lady Windermere’s Fan”.

Scarlett Johansson is the naive Meg, newly married to Robert Windermere (Mark Umbers). They are spending the summer season at the Amalfi Coast in Italy and having a swell time until Mrs. Erlynne (Helen Hunt) shows up.

Driven away from New York City by jealous wives, she is now mingling with the upper class in Amalfi and forms a close relationship with Robert.

The whole town is talking about the alleged affair but sweet Meg doesn’t notice until her admirer, Lord Darlington, points it out to her. Of course it all turns out well in the end.It is a lovely film for a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Beautiful pictures of Italy and a fun plot. The background characters (mostly elderly men) are especially enjoyable to watch.

Moulin Rouge!

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One of my favourite films. This is a story about Truth, Beauty, Freedom and above all things, Love.Christian is a young writer come from London to Paris to live a penniless existence and write about love. The only problem is, he has never been in love. This changes radically when he lays eyes on the “sparkling diamond” Satine, a can-can dancer at the Moulin Rouge.

He convinces her that they should be together, but what neither of them knows is that she is suffering from a fatal disease. The other problem for their love is that the rich, insanely jealous Duke wants to have Satine to himself and is spending a fortune to turn the Moulin Rouge into a theatre.

The first twenty minutes are a dazzling mixture of colour, light, music, singing and dance. Everything is going so fast that the audience is swept up in this strange and wonderful world. It slows down after a while when the actual story begins. The camera angles and cutting techniques are quite unusual. It is a bit like watching a very long music video.

“Come What May” is the only song written specially for the movie. All the other songs were taken from popular music, such as “Roxanne” (Sting), “Your Song” (Elton John) and “Like a Virgin” (Madonna).

Moulin Rouge! is the third film in Baz Luhrmann’s “Red Curtain Trilogy”, which includes Strictly Ballroom and William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (another one of my favourites). It is a spectacle of costumes, lights and great songs. Not to be missed!

 

The Darjeeling Limited

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The Darjeeling Limited was written (together with Jason Schwartzman and Roman Coppola), directed and produced by Wes Anderson. Therefore it is not a normal Hollywood film. Not quite as funky as his previous films The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and The Royal Tenenbaums (they are both great). Nevertheless it is quirky, funny and charming.The beautiful cast consists of Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman. They play three brothers travelling on the Orient Express.

For me, the story was secondary. It’s a road movie (on a train) with several stops at different towns, a lot of quarrels and strange encounters with the locals. The three brothers don’t really know one another and this trip is a way of bonding. What really makes the film are the actors and the scenery. The landscapes and towns are wonderfully exotic.

I greatly enjoyed the little details of this film. For example, the suitcases (made especially by Louis Vuitton) have the initials of the three brothers (F.L.W., P.L.W., J.L.W) embossed on them along with little animals. The train was built especially for the movie, with detailed drawings everywhere and beautiful colours, and it’s exactly the way I would imagine the Orient Express to look like.

 

2 Days in Paris

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This is a sweet little comedy about two lovers in Paris. It is quite different from the normal love stories. Very straightforward, a lot of dialogue and two main characters who are absolutely believable. Not too cheesy or overly romantic. Genuine people in a real setting.The American Jack (Adam Goldberg) and the originally Parisian Marion (Julie Delpy) have been together for two years. After a lovely trip to Venice they stay at her parents’ house in Paris for two days. Sounds romantic?! Well, Marion has a lot of ex-lovers, and to Jack’s annoyance, they all seem to be in Paris.

The dialogue is absolutely hilarious. Marion is constantly talking, while Jack is moaning non-stop. Although very annoying, Adam Goldberg is truly wonderful and awkwardly funny.

Written, directed, produced and acted by Julie Delpy. What an accomplishment! It is definitely a film worth watching. It is so refreshing to see a film about a couple who are already going out together. I am so tired of falling-in-love stories.

 

99 Francs (39,90)

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Very French, very hip, very snappy. This film is a cynical criticism of the world of advertising.

Octave Parango (Jean Dujardin) has it all: good looks, women, drugs and his dream job. He has a top position at an important advertising emporium in Paris.

Probably on purpose there is not much of a story. The plot and the characters are very superficial. There is never a deeper bond between the characters and the audience. Octave is flat, dislikable, and his character doesn’t develop much during the course of the film. I think it must be intentional to demonstrate the shallowness of this industry. I like the idea behind it, but I would rather watch a film with a bit more depth.

The film is unbelievably well-made (directed by Jan Kounen). I am sure the filmmakers must have worked in advertising before making this film.The transitions between the scenes are exciting and different. Every shot is perfect and well planned. Basically it is like watching one long advert.

99 Francs is entertaining and fun but I believe that it is mostly of interest to people who are interested in film. On the whole I think it is a film that every film student should watch. There are a lot of great ideas to steal from it ;).

Ganz Weit Tief

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Last week I participated in a video journalism seminar. This is the film that my group made (I am not going to write a review on it…):

This film is in German, sorry…;)

O/T Radioshow about Film

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Two of my friends (Juliane Preiß and Jan David Sutthoff) have broadcast a radio show about film. Unfortunately it is in German, but for those who can understand the language, the link is:

http://www.radio-skyline.com/

(Radio Skyline vom 24. Juli 2008.)

There are a few fun interviews: A projectionist, a film-music composer, the headmaster of an animation school, and others.

Enjoy!

Happy Go Lucky

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Poppy (Sally Hawkins) is a crazy primary school teacher, living in London. She and her housemate Zoe (Alexis Zegerman) are always out for a drink, whistling after some guys, and are definitely, at all times, up for a laugh.

The film doesn’t really have a story; it’s more a random period in Poppy’s life. She takes driving lessons with a very grumpy and possibly mentally unbalanced driving instructor (Eddie Marsan) who ends up falling in love (or lust?) with her. She goes on a little road trip with one of her sisters and Zoe to visit her other sister in Brighton. This sister is expecting a baby and living a life completely different from Poppy’s – with a nice husband in an ordinary house with a garden. Another little episode is about a social worker who comes to talk to a violent little boy at Poppy’s school.

It is a beautiful film even though there is not a whole lot going on. Poppy, though rather exhausting to watch, is charming and entertaining. It is definitely a feel-good film.

Almost Famous

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Sex, drugs and rock’n’roll. This is one of the films I used to love as a teenager.

It is a coming-of-age story in which fifteen-year-old William is given, by chance, the opportunity to write the cover story for the Rolling Stone Magazine. He tours along with one of his favourite bands, Stillwater. His self-declared mentor Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman) advises him under no circumstances to make friends with the rock stars.

But, of course, William is swept away by the situation and loses focus on his work. He falls in love with one of the “Band Aids”, adores the band leader Russell Hammond and on top of it all ends up getting “deflowered” by a group of girls. When the article is due, he has only a few notes written down…

The cast includes Kate Hudson as Penny Lane, Patrick Fugit as William and Billy Crudup as the band leader Russell Hammond. One of the most entertaining characters is William’s mother (Frances McDormand), who is extremely possessive of her children and only allows William to go on the trip if he doesn’t miss a single test in school (obviously he ends up missing quite a few).

Groovy entertainment with a great soundtrack. Filled with subtle humour, a beautiful first love and crazy rock musicians. It is definitely a film worth watching!

Mamma Mia!

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To my surprise, this film is a very enjoyable adaptation of the musical with ABBA songs. It doesn’t really matter that none of the actors are actually singers: it makes it even more fun to sing along with them.

The story is sweet but secondary. It is merely a framework to present the music. 20-year-old Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is living on a Greek island with her mom Donna (Meryl Streep). They are running a shabby hotel together. Sophie wants to get married to her boyfriend but there’s one thing missing in her life: a father. She discovers from her mom’s old diary that there are three possible candidates (Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgård), so she invites all of them to her wedding to find out which one it is to be. The unexpected arrival of her ex-lovers stresses Donna greatly.

Also part of the wedding party are Donna’s old girlfriends (played by Julie Walters and Christine Baranski); the three of them used to be a girl band in their younger days. They are absolutely hilarious.

Of course there is a happy end, even with a bit of a twist.

Meryl Streep, more beautiful then ever, brings a sort of dignity to this rather silly film. It is astounding how she manages to light up the screen.

The filmmakers (as well as the actors, I suppose) must have had a lot of fun with the costumes, the beautiful scenery and dance choreographies.

All in all it is a purely entertaining film for a fun evening!