Coppola, Almadovar, and other tales from VIFF
So here I am again, writing about Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF). For me, VIFF is a big part of fall in Vancouver... I look forward to it every year and although I only manage to watch five or six movies, it still lightens up my October.
anyway, I have watched five movies so far, and have got two more to go. Here's what I thought about them:
Pandora's box: erhhhh... that's all I can say about it. I watch a Turkish movies every year and this year it didn't pay off at all! The film is about an old woman who gets Alzheimer and her dysfunctional family will have to face this among all their other issues. It mainly played with the viewers' sentiments and basically just made me cry without leaving any feeling behind.
Tetro: Francis Ford Coppola's latest movie was definitely a treat to watch. The story turned a bit Bollywood towards the end, but the images were absolutely amazing and except maybe for the last 15 minutes, I really enjoyed the movie. The whole movie is shot in black and white, except for flashbacks which are in color! cool, isn't it? anyway, I definitely recommend this movie, but beware of the length.
A prophet: OH MY GOD! Could this movie be any better?! I don't think so... the movie tells the story of a young French/Arab man (movie is French by the way) who goes to jail for six years and during this time goes up the ladders of prison mafia. I can't say how great the lead actor was! and the story was interesting on so many levels and nothing was done half-ass, and I can go on like this for hours. Apparently this was one of the main competitors for White Ribbon in this year's Cannes festival, although it didn't win in the end.anyway, watch it, watch it, watch it... you won't even notice it's 2.5 hours long!
My Tehran for sale : another errhhhh... why do Iranian directors insist on showing the "underground" life in Tehran when they are so limited by regulations that the end result is a mess of a movie that's got no taste of reality (or artistic value, for that matter) to it. The first half of the movie was so artificial and below average that I thought about leaving the theater, however it got better towards the end and in the end it was good if you missed Tehran and wanted to watch images of the city while listening to Namjou! not recommending it though.
Broken Embraces: last night I watched the latest movie from Pedro Almadovar, and although it wasn't a masterpiece like some of his older films, I liked the movie. It was light and funny and sometimes romantic. It had some "dark" elements but even they seemed comic somehow. Penelope Cruz was hot as usual, and some of the familiar faces from Almadovar's previous films were in it as well. This is a movie to watch as light entertainment or if you like to follow Almadovar's work, otherwise you won't miss much if you pass on it.
On a side note: I watched "Roman Holiday" again since it was on TV and enjoyed it as much as the first time. Honestly, how great is the last 5 minutes of this movie?!
