A list for sleepykiss

The weight of this film rests almost entirely on the shoulders of two twelve year old actors ... and they deliver the goods. There's nothing groundbreaking about the story but even in a story we've seen before it's a joy to spend it with these two characters, a testament to how delicately the film is directed. The cinematography is ice cold beautiful and adds to the isolation we feel from the teenage outcasts. This is a masterful production.

This a great film about sadness and friendship. Outstanding performances.

About a girl whose father discovers she is prostituting herself ... OR ... a movie about a guy who discovers his daughter is prostituting herself. Either way, this is a very touching film ... from Kim Ki-Duk. There are two different worlds going on trying to find bridge through pain or kindness. For those who think it starts off like an after school special, yep, that's the point. I think this is KKD in top form. Sex, Violence, Misunderstanding, Love comingling in bizarro-land.

You have to like films about crazy, beautiful, young, lovable, destructive women and the men who become poetically addicted to them. And you have to see this film as surrealism or it doesn't work. Or, you have to enjoy watching a couple of very attractive people get naked, make love, fight, kiss and make up. Either way.

Watching this I started out thinking Bill Nighy's act would wear thin. Wrong. Then I kept wanting to give him a hug. Beyond the sheer joy of Nighy's performance is a pretty solid slap in the G8 summit's face. The politics are solid in this film, the emotions are fragile. "I fear you'd think less of her if she were with me." Ouch! Very touching.

Lost in Beijing is banned in China and its filmmakers are banned for two years from making films in China. What kind of nonsensical time-out is that? I want more of them to fall through the cracks and make films like Lost in Beijing--which is nothing like Farewell My Hero's Kingdom of Flying Yellow Flowers.

sitenoise at the movies: Lost In Beijing

This film stars two of my favorite Korean actors, Do-yeon Jeon and Kang-ho Song, and is written and directed by Chang-dong Lee, of OASIS fame.

The plot in a nutshell: Jeon's character moves with her son Jun to Miryang, the town where her recently killed husband was born. As she tries to start her new life another tragic event turns her world upside down. She looks for comfort in god and religiousness, and then turns a critical towards that.

The scene where Jeon's character goes to the prison to forgive the man who committed the most heinous of crimes against her is one of the strongest and smartest statements on religious belief I've seen.

It's a long, slow paced film, but the performances are extraordinary. Do-yeon Jeon won best actress at Cannes for her performance.

One of my favorite actresses gets naked and has lots of sex with a 19 year old boy. What's not to like? Well ... maybe the ending but who's counting?

Do-yeon Jeon is excellent in this film as the cheating wife. She reels you into her life to the point where you stop judging her. That's good actin'. There were a few inexplicable plot wonders, but who cares? The ending is abrupt and ambiguous, seems to happen a lot in Korean films, but not too frustrating. I was pleased to discover that this actress, Do-yeon Jeon, went on to receive best actress honors at the 2007 Cannes for her performance in SECRET SUNSHINE. She's very engaging.

Post modern disgust at its finest and most endearing. Hal Hartley at his best. Nobody acts in this film, they just deliver lines. Lead character carries around a hand grenade at all times ... "just in case."

Simply Beautiful. This is Brokeback Babbling Brook. Incredibly insightful story about one-sided young gay love that transcends itself. The woman who made this film is the daughter of a famous film director and I'd say its given hera wonderful head start. She's young and destined for greatness if the gentle and mature way she put this film together is any indication.

The problem with this movie is it could have been written better. The hyper-expository monologues Claudia dishes out were so unrealistic I laughed. It's a sign of a director in trouble when he has to give lines to a character that can't be delivered organically for the sake of the audience. Those plot-getting-in-the-way-of-the-story lines polluted an otherwise poetic, dream like, and metaphorical film. I would never call this film "Lynchy" ... which is just shorthand for "I don't get it but I liked it anyway ... I think. Didn't I? Did you?"

Hence, the sudden remake. El Habitante incierto was a brilliantly conceived film that could have been executed better so the director takes a mulligan. That's cool. I look forward to it and hope he does a better job explaining Vera's sudden muteness upon being shot in the plot hole we all saw coming like an eighteen wheeler.

OK. She was shot in the mouth/vocal chords and it just took a couple days without food or water to get her voice back at film's end.

I give the first half a 9, the second half a 5. Let's call it a 7 and anxiously await the do-over.

Fans of ERASERHEAD should like this. It's gross and disturbing beyond the call of duty, yet ultimately very amusing. The funniest scene in the film involves necrophilia gone bad. Not for the lactose intolerant!

Very well executed noir thriller with one of many people's favorite on screen sex scenes. Gina Gershon is dripping.

A sweet tragedy and tragic love story. Joy division will never be the same. They're human now. Was Ian Curtis really such a nice guy? I mean, the woman he f***ed over wrote this and he still comes off as a decent guy.

OK I'll say it. Natallie Portman is pretty hot in this film. Clive Owen is always good. I think Julia Roberts was perfectly cast here. This is a smart and daring film that sizzles with razor sharp dialog.

If you like the new Brittany, you'll like this, but it's not really her film. She just happens to be the dead girl. This is almost Inarritu-esque in it's "same event touching unrelated people in different ways." Nice pace, good atmosphere.

I don't think I have a Natalie Portman obsession because I usually think of her as someone I don't like, but she is adorable in this movie as a . That guy from MTV or something is also quite charming.

Loved the pace, acting, direction, but the story seemed inadequate to justify all the tension leading up to its revelation. I'll watch it again just for Kate Dickie's tough performance and ignore the story.

Interesting direction to this semi-arty French film. Loved the frustrating ending and all the scenes in the rehearsal studio. Keep your eyes out for tough, natural beauty Catherine de Léan. Wears Boots.

sitenoise at the movies: La Capture

Absolutely beautiful! Brilliantly assembled simple story of a writer in search of his muse, told with rich colors and lots of black, dream logic, humor, inspired editing, and a soundtrack that matches it beat for beat. I wanted to applaud almost every scene. Arty without pretension and a poet's attention to detail.

sitenoise at the movies: M (2007)

If you like a good mind-fuck ... and who doesn't? ... a little kinky sex and a lot of tension, go here. Trying to figure out the layout of this apartment was mind boggling. It was supposed to be.

sitenoise at the movies: Next Door (Naboer)

Best American indie flick I've seen in a long time--not "shot on a cell phone" indie, it's got good production values and one of the best "guitar riffing with effects" soundtracks EVAR. When the boy and girl sit down to watch an Annie Sprinkle video together: Priceless. Good Dick is edgy, smart, and very funny. Written and directed by and starring Marianna Palka, it's one of those first babies by an obvious talent.

Maybe a little too complex for its own good, needing the cliché 15 minute monologue over flashbacks at the end to unravel and explain everything. It also contains about a dozen strong characters that aren't given their due resolution but it is a compelling, if at times difficult, two hour ride whose main focus is a man who longs to explain the mystery surrounding his presumed dead wife and why he isn't her murderer.

The dialog in this film is so quick-witted I could barely keep up with the subtitles. It's very funny, and very punk. It's dark and violent and nihilistic and truly bizarre. Each member of the band must have a handicap. One has a really bad lisp and lives on the ceiling (see poster)-(only in his own home, tho), another has a debilitating mother complex and a stiff right arm, another is deaf and addicted to crack, and the drummer's handicap is that he can't play drums ... but he's writing the story. The soundtrack is magnificent and the acting is all spot on. If you like punk, you gotta see this.

sitenoise at the movies: Ex Drummer