Before I even get to this movie, I need to talk about the awesome short that preceded it. You know what? I can't even do it justice. Just take ten minutes of your time to go here, click on "Short Film", then "Nash Edgerton", and then "Spider". Okay, the main event was a solid film about a gang of kids that run into a creepy guy in the woods. Lots of tension and uncomfortable situations follow. Also, a lot of unnecessary religious business. Two of the main characters are named Peter and Paul; and one of them is looking for a dog named Jesus, who doesn't exist (at least, not anymore). None of this appears to be particularly relevant to the themes of the film.
This film reeled me in from the very beginning with it's darkly comedy sensibilities. But the problem with black comedies is that they're extremely dry and require an awful lot of attention from the audience to pick up on those elements. So, when this movie got bogged down with a bunch of extraneous action mid-way through I just got bored and stopped paying so much attention. Near the end I thought I was going to fall asleep.
Acrassicauda is Iraq's only heavy metal band. They take their name from the black scorpion, which is known to be way more badass than regular scorpions. This documentary follows their story as the band attempts to play shows outside the green zone in Baghdad where mortars and gunfights are a daily occurrence (much of it was filmed in 2006). Eventually, the guys decide that it's too dangerous to remain in their hometown and, one by one, move to Syria where Iraqis are not allowed to work legally. Yeah, things are going great in that part of the world.
Some movies you just know are going to get a theatrical release. I mean, this one's got Felicity Huffman, Bill Pullman, Patricia Clarkson, Campbell Scott, and it stars the littlest Fanning. The movie gets off to a dishonest start by pretending that it's a story about a girl finding herself through theatre but it's really about parents coming to terms with their daughter's mental condition. In that way, it's a very powerful film that deals with issues that we as a society are just now coming to grips with. So, this one's worth checking out.
Okay, you know The Departed? Well, that was a remake of a film from Hong Kong called Infernal Affairs and this is made by the same people. It's a movie with an odd structure. It's a murder mystery where you learn who the killer is very early on but you have to wait until the very end to find out why (Answer: It was all part of an elaborate revenge plot). Honestly, the whole thing felt like a really long episode of [insert network detective show here]. I'm sorry, but shit like this should be wrapped up in 45 minutes, sans commercials. But hey, I wasn't a huge fan of Infernal Affairs to begin with.
1 comment:
And I was not a huge fan of The Departed.
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