Posted in IFFR, movies | Thursday, February 3rd, 2005 | No Comments » Trackback
2005 Edition
“Beautiful City“
A nice movie from Iran about loyalty, love and the many struggles in life (pompous, who me?). Anyway, the story’s about a young guy who’s trying to save his friend from execution. The law of the land is that if someone’s committed murder, he’s to be executed, unless the blood relative of the victim gives consent to let the murderer live. The boy destined for execution killed a man’s daughter out of love and was ready to commit suicide afterwards, but things went awry. We start the movie with the boy reaching legal age for execution so the hangman’s noose is ready to be tightened around his neck. His friend tries to help the murderer’s sister to change the mind of the victim’s father and there’s a mutual attraction.
So.. Enough crappy description of the plot. I liked the way we see the pain, sorrow and frustration of all the parties concerned, especially the father, not understanding why everyone’s trying to deny him is legal and religious right to retaliation. For the Islam-bashers this simply shows the things they don’t like about the religion and the culture. To me, this movies more about the fight against incredible odds and not knowing if the end result has any real rewards. There’s a very, very large open ending to the movie (or maybe I wasn’t paying attention), which I kinda like very much.
So? My conclusion: Lovely movie, hope everybody lived happily ever after (or maybe not).
DISCLAIMER: Dunno if this is necessary, but to keep all parties stress-free: International Film Festival (c)(tm)(r) and images belong to their respective owners. Nothing in this publication is in any way connected to the official site(s) and organisation(s). It’s just a friggin’ blog so back the frag off.. (mail me, if anything bugs you regarding this section of the blog)
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Posted in IFFR, movies | Thursday, February 3rd, 2005 | 1 Comment » Trackback
2005 Edition
“Baghdad Blogger/Salam Pax - Video Reports from Iraq“
A video diary by the famous Bagdad Blogger. With you get to see is a local and personal view of an Iraqi man in Bagdad during these turbulent times. It’s also a view that neither American nor European media show and when it is shown on these media, not a lot of people take time to comprehend or appreciate it. It’s also a very funny and witty view, where the questions raised aren’t just the usual complaints against the Americans, but are more than that: how does a person, a culture or a religious group cope with such turmoil? I enjoyed that movie quite a lot for showing me that view.
So? My conclusion: Insightful and entertaining, serious and funny.
DISCLAIMER: Dunno if this is necessary, but to keep all parties stress-free: International Film Festival (c)(tm)(r) and images belong to their respective owners. Nothing in this publication is in any way connected to the official site(s) and organisation(s). It’s just a friggin’ blog so back the frag off.. (mail me, if anything bugs you regarding this section of the blog)
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Posted in IFFR, movies | Thursday, February 3rd, 2005 | No Comments » Trackback
2005 Edition
“Un Dia Sin Mexicanos“
A Day Without Mexicans is a great idea developed for film: what would happen if all the Hispanics (Mexicans, Middle and Southe Americans) in the state of California would mysteriously disappear? A nice piece of fiction supported by interesting statistical facts and it all shows the audience the strange double standards that’s been used in a society in general and the American west coast specifically.
It’s a funny movie with nice dramatic undertones, you keep thinking you’re watching a TV soap with a little comedy and quite some social commentary added in the mix.
So? My conclusion: Great movie, possibly a bit too preachy.
DISCLAIMER: Dunno if this is necessary, but to keep all parties stress-free: International Film Festival (c)(tm)(r) and images belong to their respective owners. Nothing in this publication is in any way connected to the official site(s) and organisation(s). It’s just a friggin’ blog so back the frag off.. (mail me, if anything bugs you regarding this section of the blog)
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Posted in IFFR, movies | Thursday, February 3rd, 2005 | No Comments » Trackback
2005 Edition
“Mirror“
Short film. Great lighting techniques being used to create a very weird visual environment. I liked it!
“Woman Is The Future Of Men“
Korean movies are getting more interesting for me, maybe that’s because I wasn’t paying a lot of attention before ;o). This film’s a bit weird, telling us the story of two thirty/fortysomething guys, who were friends at university and meet up for the first time since. They start talking about the past of course and about the woman who played a central role in their lives: one having had a relationship with her and the other an affair without the first knowing about it. They decide to look her up and from that point on a lot of little things happen. I liked the pacing and some little scenes that were quite funny. The casual way of treating intercourse was somewhat suprising if not awkward. The movie is not great in any way, but it had some good moments with cast and plot development working nicely together. Abrupt ending.
So? My conclusion: Interesting.
DISCLAIMER: Dunno if this is necessary, but to keep all parties stress-free: International Film Festival (c)(tm)(r) and images belong to their respective owners. Nothing in this publication is in any way connected to the official site(s) and organisation(s). It’s just a friggin’ blog so back the frag off.. (mail me, if anything bugs you regarding this section of the blog)
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Posted in IFFR, movies | Wednesday, February 2nd, 2005 | No Comments » Trackback
2005 Edition
“Team America: World Police“
Disappointment can come from high expectations. I enjoy the wit, vision and general grossness of the South Park TV series so I thought that this movie by the same creators would work for me in a major way! Some jokes are great, Kim Jung Il sicced a death squad on the films creators, producers and anyone watching the movie. Hollywood do-gooder society gets the sharp end of the parody stick which is something that should be done on a daily basis. Team America is also a nice tribute to the Thunderbirds TV series. But all this works for just the usual television episode length. It gets boring very quickly, never really annoying, but not worth its total time.
So? My conclusion: Didn’t like it.
DISCLAIMER: Dunno if this is necessary, but to keep all parties stress-free: International Film Festival (c)(tm)(r) and images belong to their respective owners. Nothing in this publication is in any way connected to the official site(s) and organisation(s). It’s just a friggin’ blog so back the frag off.. (mail me, if anything bugs you regarding this section of the blog)
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