Susan Hated Literature

Dir: Marc Forster
Writ: David Benioff based on book by Khaled Hosseini

• Khalid Abdalla … Amir
• Atossa Leoni … Soraya
• Shaun Toub … Rahim Kahn
• Sayed Jafar Masihullah Gharibzada … Omar
• Zekeria Ebrahimi … Young Amir
• Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada … Young Hassan
• Homayoun Ershadi … Baba

I haven’t read the book this film is based on so I can’t comment on how well the story makes the translation from one medium to the other. The film tells the story of a young boy growing up in Afghanistan before the Soviet invasion, and so before the Taliban came to power. He is best friends with a younger boy who is the family’s servant’s son, Hassan. We first meet Amir and Hassan when they are flying kites above Kabul. Hassan is the best kite runner in the city; he chases, or runs, down the kites that have had their strings cut. But Hassan is of a different tribe to Amir and so both have to put up with a lot of bullying. As Amir’s Baba laments, Amir rarely stands up for himself, it is always the younger Hassan who fights back.

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aka Dnevnoy dozor sequel to Nightwatch
Dir: Timur Bekmambetov
Writ: Timur Bekmambetov, Alexander Talal, Vladimir Vasiliev based on the book by Sergei Lukyanenko

• Konstantin Khabensky … Anton
• Mariya Poroshina … Svetlana
• Vladimir Menshov … Geser
• Galina Tyunina … Olga
• Viktor Verzhbitsky … Zavulon
• Valeri Zolotukhin … Kostya’s Father
• Aleksei Chadov … Kostya

This film starts off pretty much exactly where Nightwatch finished up, there is a quick voice over recap and then we are into the action, with Anton having just lost his son to the Dark Others, Zavulon in particular. Svetlana is now in training with Anton; he spends much of his time hiding how he feels about her while she tries to show him how she feels. Of course dating the trainee is a big no-no according to Geser, especially one that will probably be such a Great Light Other.

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or Man cheng jin dai huang jin jia
Dir: Yimou Zhang Writ: Yimou Zhang & Yu Cao

• Yun-Fat Chow - Emperor Ping
• Li Gong - Empress Phoenix
• Jay Chou - Prince Jai
• Ye Liu - Crown Prince Wan
• Junjie Qin - Prince Yu

Set in the Tang dynasty in the 10th Century, this film tells the tale of the Emperor Ping and his cold war with his wife, Empress Phoenix, as well as both of their attempts to influence the three princes. The eldest, Crown Prince Wan’s mother was the Emperor’s first wife, has been raised by Phoenix as well as her two sons. But the emperor is not happy with his wife. As her father is an important neighbouring king he cannot do away with her in the open and instead decides that as she is “sick” she needs to take her medicine. Medicine that he has formulated, and which includes a poison that will slowly cause damage and leave her nothing but a vegetable. Obviously she doesn’t want this to happen and so makes other plans.

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or Das Leben der Anderen
Dir & Writ: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

• Martina Gedeck - Christa-Maria Sieland
• Ulrich Mühe - Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler
• Sebastian Koch - Georg Dreyman
• Ulrich Tukur - Oberstleutnant Anton Grubitz
• Thomas Thieme - Minister Bruno Hempf

In 1984 in East Germany the secret police, or Stasi were everywhere, watching everything. This film details the activities of one officer, Wiesler, as he monitored a popular playwright. Wiesler doesn’t believe that Dreyman could possibly be as pro the party as he makes out. Too arrogant. So he suggests keeping him under surveillance, just in case. His superior officer doesn’t agree, at first, but then Minister Bruno Hempf mentions that perhaps he isn’t such a fan, and that perhaps Dreyman isn’t a favourite. It turns out that Hempf is more than interested in Dreyman’s girlfriend, the actress Christa-Maria Sieland, and so would like nothing better than to remove his rival by having him arrested and taken away.

But Dreyman writes plays that are acceptable and even in favour of the Party. Of course he is the “artistic” sort, and so is suspect, but he has received state honours and has found much favour with the government.

Not all his friends and colleagues are so lucky. And a close friend, the director Jerska, is driven to suicide after being “blackballed” for several years. This prompts Dreyman into action. He begins to research the suicide rates in East Germany and discovers that statistics about suicides are no longer collected by the state, presumably because the figures are so high. So he decides to write an article for publication in the West. By this stage however his every move is being watched, and listened to. Weisler has more than enough evidence to have him brought in, yet he doesn’t.

This really is a fantastic film. I wasn’t too sure at first. I had heard of it before I went to see it, but didn’t really know what it was about. I’m so glad that it was on at just the right time though. It is perfectly written, perfectly acted and just an all round great film.

I don’t want to say too much and risk ruining anything, but if you get a chance I would highly recommend you go see this film. It is both depressing and uplifting at the same time. A much grimmer depiction of spying than anything you’ll see Bond get up to, this works as both a political commentary on what East Germany must have been like, but also as a look at a man who suddenly seems to discover his humanity and emotion. A beautiful film.

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Dir: Clint Eastwood
Writ: Iris Yamashita, Paul Haggis, based on the book Picture Letters from Commander in Chief by Tadamichi Kuribayashi, Tsuyoko Yoshido

• Ken Watanabe - General Tadamichi Kuribayashi
• Kazunari Ninomiya - Saigo
• Tsuyoshi Ihara - Baron Nishi
• Ryo Kase - Shimizu
• Shido Nakamura - Lieutenant Ito
• Hiroshi Watanabe - Lieutenant Fujita
• Takumi Bando - Captain Tanida

I’m not sure what I was really expecting from this film; but I know I didn’t get it. The companion film to Eastwood’s Flag’s of our Fathers, this tells the story of the battle for Iwo Jima from the Japanese perspective. The story begins with the arrival of Kuribayashi who is taking command of the island’s defences, sometimes without the support of his officers. He does however seem to be well liked by the “ordinary” soldiers, as he stops the endless digging of the beach defences, and instead concentrates on higher up in the island.

Told through a number of different points of views, and with flashbacks, this isn’t as confusing time-wise as I found Flags of our Fathers. However, it still isn’t a great film. If I had to, I’d label it as a worthy film, but not really one that works as a film. Still, it deserved to be made, and the story is one that should be told, so the film makers deserve credit for that. It is simply that as a whole I didn’t care one way or the other about the characters, and never felt myself drawn into their story.

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Dir: Mel Gibson
Writ: Mel Gibson, Farhad Safina

• Rudy Youngblood - Jaguar Paw
• Dalia Hernandez - Seven
• Jonathan Brewer - Blunted

I’m not really too sure what to say about this film, because I came out of it thinking “what was the point?”
The story is a fairly simple one; Jaguar Paw is captured by an evil tribe who want to rip his heart out in sacrifice to the gods. He on the other hand doesn’t want this to happen, especially as he has left his heavily pregnant wife and young son hiding, and now trapped, back near his village.

Yes it looks great, and yes it keeps you interested, but it really isn’t anything more than that. If this had been shot in English I’m guessing that it would have had no more comment than any other action flick. Instead, because it of its setting and the language used it has had all this media hype. But in the end, it is nothing more than an action/adventure film with plenty of blood splattered about the shop. There are no real characters to the film. Jaguar Paw is the hero; okay so at the beginning his father warns him not to have fear, but that is essentially his character, to be the hero. Other characters are similarly lacking in depth. There is the evil sadistic bad-guy, the evil just-doing-his-job bad guy. The comic relief guy, blah, blah, blah.

There are good things about the film, the actors do well in the roles they are given, but they are never overly stretched. The action is gripping, and you’ll be entertained. But in the end I was left with a sense of “and your point is?”

And as for this whole notion that the film is about the downfall of the Mayan empire, it isn’t. Yes, it shows the Mayan’s and their great city, and their cutting the still beating hearts out of their enemies’ bodies, but that is just to provide something for Jaguar Paw to fear and run from. The Mayans here are simply the generic bad guys of any action film.

R.e.y.m.o.v.i.e.s | Is Apocalypto Pornography? [archaeology.org] | Critic After Dark | Confessions of a Film Critic
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El Laberinto del Fauno
Dir & Writ: Guillermo del Toro

• Ivana Baquero - Ofelia
• Sergi López - Capitán Vidal
• Maribel Verdú - Mercedes
• Ariadna Gil - Carmen
• Doug Jones - Fauno

I really wanted to go see this film ever since I heard about it, and yer wan at the desk who tried to put me off by saying “you know it is in Spanish with subtitles” didn’t succeed. The story revolves around Ofelia, an 11 year old girl whose mother has married Captain Vidal and is expecting his child. It is 1944, and Vidal is an officer in Franco’s army, hunting down guerillas in the mountains. Vidal is about as far from a nice chap as you can get, and throughout the film his actions are among the most violent and gruesome on screen. He has no humanity, only caring about ridding the world of the guerillas and cleansing Spain so his son can grow up in a new world. Franco has won the war and he intends to show those still fighting what that means, even if he has to kill every last one of them and their sympathisers.

But on the journey to the Captain’s stronghold Ofelia stumbles across a carved stone statue, and crawling out of it, some sort of an insect. She, however, doesn’t see an insect, instead she calls it a fairy, and later when she shows this insect a picture in one of her books the creature transforms in front of her to take on the more usual appearance of a small person with wings.

Ofelia follows this fairy into the nearby ruin of a labyrinth where she meets with Pan, although he never calls himself by that name, merely stating that he is a faun. He tells her that she isn’t really human, but instead is a Princess in an otherworldly kingdom, where her father is waiting for her return. However, in order to prove that she hasn’t become too mortal she must perform 3 tasks and prove herself worthy to return.

Visually this film is just lovely too watch, but there are also plenty of scenes that’ll make you want to look away. It may be a fantasy film but it is for adults, not children. There is plenty of evidence of the darker side of life; death and torture are everywhere. And the plot is just as good as the images on screen. The characters are believable, even the Captain who is irredeemable and totally evil.

The actor playing Ofelia is a real find, totally believable in her role and never even verging towards “annoying kid in film”.

If you get the chance you really should catch this film. It is dark and sinister, full of cruelty and yet strangely whimsical and charming. The music is also great. You can listen to quite a bit of it on the official site.

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