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February 23, 2007
The Lives of Others
(out of four)
Some foreign films don't feel foreign at all. In The Lives of Others, German newcomer Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck directs with an elegance that will seem instantly familiar to American audiences. But more than that, his Oscar-nominated debut presents a picture of East Germany that echoes our current concerns with privacy and paranoia. Set in 1984, five years before the Berlin Wall came down, this drab Orwellian stage hosts a truly universal parable.
For its intended audience, the movie serves as a conscience-cleanser of sorts, a way of coming to terms with East Germany's past at a time when ordinary citizens were arrested, interrogated and harassed by the Stasi, or secret police. But we needn't evaluate The Lives of Others in German terms. In crossing the Atlantic, the movie gains in layers and relevance, anchored always by the intelligence — and grim humor — of Henckel von Donnersmarck's script. He makes a risky decision, choosing for his protagonist someone who might easily serve as the villain of another film, an obedient middle-aged Stasi captain named Gerd Weisler (Ulrich Muhe).
Continue reading "The Lives of Others"
Posted by Peter Debruge at 10:03 AM | Comments (0)
February 16, 2007
Bridge to Terabithia
(out of four)
To reach Narnia, you must first locate the portal at the back of a magic wardrobe. But to visit Terabithia, you need only daydream a place where anything can happen.
For Jess Aarons (Josh Hutcherson) and Leslie Burke (AnnaSophia Robb), that parallel universe exists in the overgrown woods behind Jess' house. And if you buy the premise that a 10-year-old boy wouldn't think to explore his own backyard until a girl (of all things!) suggests the idea, it's relatively easy to accept the magical kingdom that comes to life there.
Continue reading "Bridge to Terabithia"
Posted by Peter Debruge at 11:08 AM | Comments (0)
Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts
(out of four)
Tired of losing the annual Oscar pool over short film category titles you haven't even heard of, much less seen? Carve out 1 1/2 hours to catch all five live-action nominees, or take our word for it: This year, as usual, there's one entry that towers above the crowd.
All the way from Senegal, Binta and the Great Idea tells the story of a 7-year-old village girl who makes a case not only for everyone's right to attend school (her old-world uncle insists on keeping his daughter at home) but also for educating ourselves by considering the world through another's eyes. It's a lively, colorful piece of filmmaking, capped by a stunning sequence in which palm trees prove that an all-natural fireworks show doesn't require rockets.
The other nominees simply aspire to set up a single punch line. In the Australian-made The Saviour, a Mormon evangelist woos a married woman. Spain's Eramos Pocos (One Too Many) features an amusing twist on an age-old rivalry, in which a man makes up with his mother-in-law after his wife walks out. And the Danish Helmer & Son gives an impatient man an awkward opportunity to better understand his father. The American selection, West Bank Story, is a corny musical comedy spoofing West Side Story by imagining a romance between rival falafel stands.
[as featured in The Fort Worth Star-Telegram]
Posted by Peter Debruge at 10:08 AM | Comments (0)
Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts
(out of four)
Oscar prediction gets a little trickier in the animated shorts category, but then, the program is a lot more fun, so check out all 10 shorts (the five nominees, plus five more culled from the Academy's short list).
There's something for everyone here. Fans of The Little Mermaid can see Disney's hand-drawn take on another Hans Christian Andersen story in The Little Matchgirl, while Pixar aficionados can enjoy Lifted, in which an alien student takes his abduction exam, before the studio releases it with Ratatouille this summer.
Ice Age's Gollum-like Scrat character chases his precious acorn through history in No Time for Nuts. Maestro features an operatic CG bird prepping for his hourly performance. And the intensely personal The Danish Poet most resembles last year's winner, Moon and the Son.
[as featured in The Fort Worth Star-Telegram]
Posted by Peter Debruge at 10:03 AM | Comments (0)
Oscar Nominated Documentary Shorts
(out of four)
There’s no question, of all the Oscar shorts categories, the year’s best is also the batch that will be hardest to see: the documentaries. The 2006 crop represented earnest stories about big issues — recovering from genocide in Rwanda, life after nuclear devastation in Hiroshima, the ethics of photojournalism in African hotspots — but were, by and large, clumsy and unpolished treatments of those subjects. The Oscar went to the most professional of the bunch, a snoozy PBS-style profile on golden-age radio host Norman Corwin.
Even the worst of this year’s noms is better than last year’s best. And three of the four are simply outstanding.
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Posted by Peter Debruge at 10:01 AM | Comments (0)
February 14, 2007
Daddy's Little Girls
(out of four)
The three young ladies referenced in the title of Daddy's Little Girls don't get much screen time, as writer-director Tyler Perry's story is really all about daddy, a hardworking blue-collar mechanic who falls in love with his lawyer while fighting for custody of his daughters. But their limited presence isn't nearly as conspicuous as Perry's total absence, and the real question here is whether fans will turn out to watch a film in which the Madea comic remains strictly behind the camera. On its merits, pic is certainly solid enough to match Lionsgate's first two Perry projects commercially.
Continue reading "Daddy's Little Girls" at Variety.com
Posted by Peter Debruge at 05:00 PM | Comments (0)