Frenchy’s Fracas

Movie: 881 (Royston Tan, Singapore, Japan, 2007, 105′)

Date: Feb 2, 2008

Rating:
(Great musical drama, just a bit too long)

Plot: Read imdb.com user samuelding85’s excellent commentary on the film for more background on the Singapore musical tradition called Getai.
Back to the plot: two young women dream of becoming Getai artists and are willing to sacrifice everything. We see their rise to fame and the inevitable rivalry, drama, fun and loss.

Cast: Strong performances allround.

Visuals: Loved me those performance scenes, over the top costumes and gimmicks. Also, the magic/fantasy special effects were great fun!

Conclusion: It’s been compared to Moulin Rouge and rightly so: a musical drama with entertaining songs, props and drama.
Problem was the duration, 105 minutes was way too long.
I did enjoy this movie for its strengths and didn’t have too much problems with its weaknesses. An excellent festival closer!

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Movie: Glory To The Filmmaker! (Kitano Takeshi, Japan, 2007, 104′)

Date: Feb 2, 2008

Rating:
(Proving a point, I guess.. Half a point added, because it’s Kitano.)

Plot: Actor/writer/director Takeshi Kitano is sharing his self-reflection with his audience. Tired of being pigeon-holed into gangster roles, the man vows never to make a gangster movie again. We’re taken on Takeshi’s wild and bizarre quest for something more meaningful.

Cast: Skippable.

Visuals: Meh, nothing special.

Conclusion: This guy’s made one of my all-time favorite movie, Hana-Bi, so he’s got a lot of credit with me. And while I do understand his need to find something different to do, I can’t understand why he would want to share this with his audience in this way.
The movie is mildly entertaining, but mostly uninteresting and way too self-indulgent.

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Movie: Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud, France, 2007, 95′)

Date: Feb 1, 2008

Rating:
(Beautiful story and artwork)

Plot: An autobiographical animation about the life of writer/director Marjane: her life growing up as a child in Iran after the fall of the Sjah and the rise of the current strictly religious government.

Cast: Skippable.

Visuals: Beautiful animation!! Before I saw the movie I reckoned the art would be secondary to the story and that the story would need to carry the movie. I was wrong.

Conclusion: A moving story, with lots of drama, but also with some great moments of fun and laughter. A nice description of Life in General.
The movie isn’t just a political statement against the current regime in Iran. You’d be a fool to miss the indictment against narrow-minded people in general.
This stuff is great entertainment and a powerful educational tool.

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Movie: 2KM2 - A Square View (Carel van Hees, André van der Hout, Netherlands, 2008, 78′)

Date: Jan 31, 2008

Rating:
(Rotterdam chauvinism)

Plot: Two square kilometers of Rotterdam are filmed for about a year. People, housing, industry, the harbour, culture, religion are all registered with care. It’s my town!!

Cast: Skippable.

Visuals: A lot of artsy shots, nice.

Conclusion: Hey, it’s my town! They’ve done a great job of showing its diverse activities, lives and problems. For people who don’t know Rotterdam it could still be an interesting movie, but I’m not sure.
Did I already tell you that it’s my town? Oh..

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Movie: Un Baiser, S’il Vous Plaît! (Emmanuel Mouret, France, 2007, 100′)

Date: Jan 31, 2008

Rating:
(Feelgood follies from France)

Plot: Two platonic friends get into deep trouble when one asks the other to help out with his quest: getting back that feeling of intimacy he misses so much. She can help him, but will her own relationship survive this test?

Cast: Solid, nothing remarkable.

Visuals: Solid, nothing remarkable.

Conclusion: This movie is an excellent chick flick and I do use the term in a non-derogatory way. I enjoyed the whole awkwardness between the main characters and the fact that it’s not a suave French romantic story: they are endearing in their silly and fumbling ways.

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