Han's Talk

Boy A

"Boy A" is based on a novel by Jonathan Trigell, possibly inspired by the real-life British case of two youths seen on a shopping mall's security video as they led away a child who was found dead. Such cases raise the question: Are children who murder indeed essentially evil, or can they heal and change over a period of years? Should society give them a second chance?

The film, directed by John Crowley and written by Mark O'Rowe, paints an accurate portrait of working-class life in the north of England, the grimness of the streets contrasting with the beauty of the countryside. It is spoken with accents, Mullen's Scottish the hardest to understand. He can speak standard English, but the accent is one of his tools. I've never had a problem with his speech, because he is such a great actor you can forget the words and listen to the music.

This a good script and well done film, on screens now and soon on DVD.

Vince
Vmedia UCB

XXY

With a quietly insinuating filmmaking style, Argentine writer director Puenzo invests this tricky story with real soul, bringing the characters and their situation to vivid life.

This vs any other coming of age film in 2008 is the best in the serious teen anxed scripts.

what makes the film so deeply important, mainly because Puenzo never preaches at us; she reveals the story gradually, knowing there's only one conclusion any fair minded person can possibly reach. And she assembles the film with an amazing DP and an earthy group of actors who let us see and feel their emotional responses to each other. The story is told by scenes of raw power that are short and very sharp, offering us startling insight and jarring us out of any simple-minded solutions we might be considering. This is bold, unflinching filmmaking that provokes a response.

Its still on screens this summer and soon to DVD since the box office this film wasn't good here in the states.

Vince
Vmedia UCB

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

I am a big fan of Cera - he plays his classic self that casting directors and directors hire him for..

The sound track to this film stands out the most. This story is almost a remake of American Graffiti .. It all happens one night in the NY indi scene .. and ends at sunrise - with the wolf still blaring in the morning - much like Lucas film about his teen years.

This version rocks way more and its not the best - But Cera wins us over as he does in most of this films ..

the director of RAISING VICTOR VARGAS Peter Sollett - wins at his sophomore film.

Vince
Vmedia Berkeley

Zack and Miri Make a Porno

I got to see some of Kevin Smiths "Zack and Miri" its set to hit screens on Oct 31 2008.

Seth Rogin is very funny - Story revolves around two lifelong platonic friends who are deep in debt and enlist the help of their friends to make a porn pic for some quick cash. But Zack and Miri realize that they may have more feelings for each other than they previously thought.

The Music is great, the script at this point is well done. But as it goes that could all change. Kevin seems to get green lighted for just about anything these days..

This might be his big mainstream comeback.

Vince
Vmedia Berkeley

The Band's Visit (Bikur Ha-Tizmoret)

This great film is now on DVD and was missed by most good film goers - so Rent this film:

The Band?s Visit is so satisfying that it might be better not to talk too much about its poetic cinematography and precisely calibrated palette - the Carolina blue uniforms of the titular band?s members, the hammering white of the Sinai, the industrial dun of the nowhere town where the hapless brigade winds up. While the colors are hardly the point of this droll fish-out-of-water comedy, they?re probably the strongest evidence of the film?s extraordinarily intelligent design. Its a portrait of perfect, kindness and respect.

See this film
Vince
Vmedia berkeley Ca

Burn After Reading

The Coens new film about the CIA - I saw an early screening and this is one of their best .. the good films are starting to show up right after the Olympics do their run

don't miss the CB classic
Its sure to be Oscar worthy


Brad Pitt, George Clooney and John Malkovich star.

get your John Malkovich mood ready as he mixes up the Coens.

Vmedia

Hancock

It's hard to make heads or tails of "Hancock." At times the movie seems like an overcooked cinematic concoction. At other times, it appears to be half-baked.

So, despite having a few "wow" moments, this is one of the more frustratingly inconsistent movies in recent memory.

Of course, that inconsistency might be more forgivable if the film were a low-budget "indie" instead of a big-budget summer spectacular. And it might not be so noticeable if the film didn't star Will Smith, a usually reliable performer.

His last really big commercial and critical dud was "Wild Wild West," nearly 10 years ago. Fortunately, this film isn't nearly that bad.

As played by Smith, the title character is super-strong, seems to be invulnerable and has the ability to fly.

And though he has used those powers to fight crime, he's also irresponsible and thoughtless, and his actions have caused considerable property damage. So he's very unpopular with the public.

So, it's no wonder the cast appears to be confused. Smith is a little tentative, as is Charlize Theron, who plays Ray's wife ? and is hiding a pretty big secret from him.
this won't be om screens long.. wait for DVD

Vince
Vmedia Berkeley Ca

The Dark Knight

I saw a screening this past weekend .. and this is sure to make some fans pleased.

Heath Ledger's final performance is one to remember him by. Los Angeles-area critics got an early press screening Thursday night (luckies), and the best-supporting-actor campaign has already begun.

Batman Begins told audiences and film critics it is possible to root a comic book generated superhero in reality. Earlier this year Iron Man set out to do the same but lost its balance in the final act. The Dark Knight manages to exceed expectation with a villain so maniacal, his desire for destruction begins to make sense to the point you understand his desire for all out anarchy while you are cheering for the opposition in a war that basically boils down to one side against individual terrorism.

The sound track alone stands on its own as an amazing score.
In terms of comic book film adaptations this is the pinnacle. The argument saying this is the Godfather Part II of comic book movies would insinuate that Batman Begins is on equal terms with the original Godfather, which is far from true. However, if we could call this The Godfather of comic book movies I wait anxiously for what may/will become the film that caps off the trilogy.

A MUST SEE
Vmedia
Berkeley Calif.

Aleksandra (Alexandra)

This is one of the best films of 2008 - foreign or domestic - its a great statement and Anti- war homage that vs the best in the area of war and home.

A matronly grandmother wanders around a Russian army base in sun scorched Chechnya, handing out meat pies, cradling soldiers faces and providing a welcome distraction from wearying routine in Alexander Sokurov's "Alexandra."
Sounds about as appealing as month old borscht, eh. Not when "Alexandra" comes from Sokurov ("Russian Ark"), a master of visual films, and stars Russian opera legend Galina Vishnevskaya.

Vishnevskaya never sings, but "Alexandra" sure does. Director Sokurov has made a stirring anti-war movie, delivering dreamy, alien landscapes devoid of color, raw images that match the soulful force of Vishnevskaya's performance. There's not a shot fired in the film, but it pierces the heart nonetheless.
His other films "The Russian Ark" and the celebration of the military man in "Father and Son".

This is as faultless a film as Ive seen in a long time. Sokurov's concept is brilliantly simple in just seeing Galina Vishnevskaya's aged body in the midst of these young soldiers and military hardware the meaning of the film is absolutely apparent. Then, the artistry at work here is breathtaking the dusty patina layered over the whole film, the finely worked soundtrack forever slipping back and forth between human voices and snatches of orchestral music, and single moments, the close ups on the young Chechen's face during his walk with Alexandra back to the camp, that are amazing in their beauty.

A must see - Try to see it on screen or for sure get the DVD.

Vince
UCB Vmedia

Mister Lonely

A better film to see this weekend vs Indi Jones and a topless Harrison ford and Red Aliens

a new film from Harmony Korine, opened this weekend - the mad man behind GUMMO - one of my all time favorite films.

Harmony Korine (writer of KIDS, director of GUMMO, JULIEN DONKEY-BOY) weaves Michael Jackson, Marilyn Monroe, her daughter Shirley Temple and flying nuns into a hypnotically funny and truly poignant tale of the instability behind fanaticism and the redemption we can hope to find in one another. In a parallel story line, the incomparable Werner Herzog plays a Latin American priest who learns his missionary of nuns can literally fly.

This was a hit at Tribeca Film Festival 2008, and I saw a screening finally this week.

not to reveal much about the script at one point, the story seems to strain toward one of those Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney romps where they put on a show in the barn for the whole town. But Judy and Mickey never turn up, and the commune's theatre piece is hilariously ramshackle. As is the film as a whole: worth the price of admission, but only if you leave your expectations at the door.

Harmony has been gone for almost 8 years.. including some year in Rehab this is his return to the line. I think is amazing work and most will dislike and not feel good about. But avoid IFC's cable cast and see this master on a screen.

Vince
Vmedia Berkeley ca.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

UPDATE - I SAW THIS A SECOND TIME WITH A BETTER ENDING AND I HAVE UPPED MY GAME FOR THIS NEW INDI 2008 SKULL Flick.

The Ending in the new cut i saw today uses a non Hollywood ending that I truly hope Steven keeps it the final cut you see next weekend.

and no he doesn't die? or um? Lets just say this new ending does not follow the reagan formula - and for that reason I have upped the star factor.



I saw Shia Labeouf last sat night at the dress for SNL - and he told us there would be this secret screening that night. Of course we all ran the screeing on 40th street and saw the bone.

With the franchise and Spielberg not shying away from the original subtext of the franchise (the Reagan conquest) - Indi and his boy make for a fun play on the same metaphor this time around.

Dr. Jack Wheeler is a legend. he was the inspiration for the famed movie character.

While Jack has often been called a "real life Indiana Jones" and is part of the mix of historical figures Stephen Spielberg used (along with his own imagination) to create his fictional hero -- "Jones" is cartoon fiction and Wheeler is real.

In the 1980s he conducted a series of extensive visits to anti-Soviet guerrilla insurgencies in Nicaragua, Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Cambodia, Laos, and Afghanistan, and to democracy movements in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, becoming an unofficial liaison between them and the Reagan White House. Based on his experiences with anti-Soviet insurgencies, he developed the strategy for dismantling the Soviet Empire adopted by the White House known as the "Reagan Doctrine. " It worked.

Dr. Jack Wheeler is virtually immeasurable as the architect of the Reagan Doctrine, he is one of the handful of men most responsible for the defeat of the Soviet Empire in the 1980s. He served his country as an "unofficial" liaison between the Reagan White House and anti-Soviet insurgents, pro-democracy activists and freedom fighters around the world, in Nicaragua, Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Cambodia, Laos, Afghanistan, throughout Eastern Europe and in the Soviet Union itself.

With this in mind this new romp with Indi and the kid sticks to that path.

'Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom and then lost it, have never known it again." says Ronald Reagan

This Reagan Romp is fun - thick with 2008 Republican pride and will take the box office for the next 3 weekends.

Bye George Bush -
hello Mr McCain

Vince
Vmedia UCB

The Violin (El Violin)

Indiana Jones does not compare to the character study of the same topics explores in the Spielberg epic, yet done so quietly prefect here in a real Indiana Jones film called THE VIOLIN.

Life-or-death matters are handled with compelling gravity in Francisco Vargas' "The Violin," one of the most powerful movies screened at last year's Seattle International Film Festival.

this Mexican drama takes the peasants' side in dramatizing a 1970s revolt. The script vividly explores the impact of government oppression on three generations of one rebellious family.

Plutarco, perfectly played by 81-year-old Don Ángel Tavira, is never the frail grandfather he appears to be. Managing to play the violin even though his right hand is a stump, he just gets by as a traveling musician, using his practiced performer's charm to smother guards' suspicions and get past checkpoints. (Tavira deservedly won an acting award at the 2006 Cannes festival for this performance.)

After raiding an ammunition dump in a cornfield, Plutarco supplies his son, Genaro, with handfuls of bullets. Distraught by the news that his wife has been captured, Genaro and his son, Lucio, seem increasingly helpless in a situation that only the old man can effectively manipulate.

At first, even Plutarco seems to be getting nowhere. When he discovers a guard captain who loves music and wants to take violin lessons, the ice begins to break ? just enough to allow each man's humanity to become briefly evident. But as the uncompromising finale makes clear, this film is not any kind of heart warmer.

Although it begins with a graphic torture scene that suggests more of the same is coming, "The Violin" becomes increasingly restrained in its use of violence. First-time writer-director Vargas makes a point about brutality, then refuses to dwell on it. The most shattering moment is one character's silent reading of a list of casualties; his changing expressions tell us all we need to know.

Working in black-and-white with a gifted cinematographer, Martin Boege, Vargas creates a darkened fairy-tale atmosphere, especially as campfires light up the faces of the actors and smoke drifts photogenically through forests. Glimpses of village life suggest a timeless quality, especially when the grandfather recites a legend about the origins of war.

Don't leave before the final credits of "The Violin," which briefly goes dark, apparently for emphasis, before it really ends with an expressive coda. The blank moment throws in a touch of mystery. Most likely it's meant as a tribute to Tavira, without whom the movie would be unimaginable.

Move over Indiana Jone THE VIOLIN is the read thing - look for it on DVD ,

Vince UCB
Berkeley Ca Vmedia

Redbelt

David Mamet's stage reputation is built on his glorious dialogue, pushed far beyond any sense of realism into a verbal symphony of intertwining solos built on staccato bursts of profane words elevated to terse poetry. But when it comes to Hollywood, his most interesting films are his genre pictures -- heist films, murder mysteries, con movies, all generally male-centric narratives that he reworks with his own brand of professional pride, machismo and male honor. It's a man's world and he revels in it.

"Redbelt" takes Mamet into territory no one otherwise would have predicted, the martial-arts thriller of honorable expert fighters, international competition and sinister organizers who corrupt the process. The sport here is Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, but Mamet hews to the samurai code, with Iraq vet and poor but proud Jiu-jitsu instructor Mike Terry (Chiwetel Ejiofor, all quiet dignity and modesty) as his honorable warrior in a dishonorable world.

The plot gets Mike involved with a self-loathing Hollywood action star (Tim Allen) and a big martial-arts bout promoted by the star's agent (Mamet favorite Joe Mantegna). Betrayed by those he trusted, Mike (of course) ends up defending his honor in a very public way.

It's glorious pulp fiction elevated to genre art, full of Mamet's cynicism about the corruption of big business (just substitute Hollywood for the martial-arts league) and his romantic ideals of men in military service and men dedicated to a higher purpose.

For all the physical sequences, the screenplay is pure Mamet: characters trading questions that never get answered, lines repeated like a mantra, dialogue jumping topics like the transcript of an ADD convention, but always landing back on topic A.

Mamet is more respectful than exciting as an action director, but his fascination with how things work, be it the mechanics of designing and promoting a big pay-per-view event or battling a world-class Jiu-jitsu master, makes it all quite mesmerizing.

Give this Mamet film a chance .. its better than his last 2 films.. but doesn't beat it current play on Broadway now called November ..

Vince
Vmedia Berkeley Ca

Iron Man

I had no plans to write about this film - I am not a huge comic book fan - But this picture did catch me off guard. Like Terrance Howard making reference to the sequel 20 min before the film ends, very entertaining.

Robert Downey and Jon Favreau, bring this cartoon hero to a new level.
Jon provides cartoon thrills for thinking people. It's the best movie of its kind since the second "Spider-Man" movie four years ago.

Getting the suit right is easy. Getting the man underneath the suit right - that was the challenge, and the filmmakers rose to it. Robert Downey Jr. - cynical, witty, blithe, covering up some underlying vulnerability with a smoke screen of banter - is an ideal Iron Man and an ideal actor to place at the center of this story. With Downey there, the whole movie is a blast. When the action is fast and furious, there's the fun of spectacle, and in the calmer moments, there's Downey, whose dialogue is essentially a series of deadpan one-liners. That the whole movie feels ad-libbed is in fact a tribute to Downey either way. To the extent it's ad-libbed, it's evidence of his wit. To the extent it isn't, is evidence of the place he has come to occupy in our movies, that his casting should automatically inspire the screenwriters (Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway) to come up with Robert Downey-type lines: "Give me a Scotch, I'm starving."

Director Jon Favreau is smart enough to let Downey puncture the pomposity of the sci-fi genre, but he's also smart enough to meet the genre's demands. The action is big, high-stakes and not played for laughs. The fact that the spectacle has its basis in character, and that Downey is such a likable presence, makes the action scenes all the more effective. This time, it's personal - for the audience, too.

There's an element of social commentary at work in this. You want to know how irrational the world is? It's so irrational that the most rational response a concerned genius can come up with is to perfect an iron suit and get into fantastic sky battles - and fantastic they are. For all of the movie's wit, "Iron Man" delivers on the spectacle, with Iron Man dodging jet fighters in one scene and going head-to-head against an even stronger Iron Man in another. Along the way, there's the kick of watching Stark develop the Iron Man suit in his basement laboratory - a funny, slapstick process of getting the bugs out.

No Bugs in the money this film made its first weekend out of the gate. Speed Racer is next..

Vince UCB

The Visitor

Oscar wake up - some of the spring films are starting to beg your name - The Visitor in one of them. Mike McCarthy (the station agent) second film is excellent.

Richard Jenkins, the balding, bespectacled character actor best known as the ghostly father on HBO's Six Feet Under, gets the role of a lifetime A middle-aged economics professor grappling with the death of his wife, Jenkins travels to New York to deliver a paper and arrives at the apartment they'd kept there for years and finds an immigrant African couple (Haaz Sleiman and Danai Gurira) have been conned into renting the place. The professor's growing friendship with the man, a Syrian-born percussionist, begins to pull him out of the shell, but then the musician's busted and sent to a deportation center in Queens. The irony is overwhelming and yet somehow muted, Jenkins's professor is learning to open himself up again in a country that's closing itself down.

The Visitor represents his first significant leading role. He runs with it, taking Walter on a journey from indifference to humanity to rebirth. Hes alternately funny, serious, angry, driven, emotional and compassionate. Its early in the year, but it?s hard to imagine come awards time there will be five better male performances. He's marvelous, and his own mastery of the Djemba is just one of the film?s many memorable moments. The rest of the cast will be unknown to most American audiences but are no less extraordinary. Sleiman and Gurira totally capture the loving relationship of this immigrant couple caught up trying to quietly live and work in a fear driven post 9/11 America. Special mention should go to Israeli Palestinian star Hiam Abbass, who breaks our hearts as Tareks fiercely determined, guilt-ridden mother. Her scenes with Jenkins are simply remarkable for their quiet power and honesty--two actors at the very top of their game.

The Director McCarthy,
is on the heels of his acclaimed debut film The Station Agent, Thomas McCarthy manages to avoid the sophomore curse and live up to and even exceed his initial promise as an all-purpose filmmaker (he also wrote the script). It should come as no surprise that McCarthy is also an actor since each performance he manages to get here is a gem. The characters are given plenty of time to develop and breathe and by the end none has worn out their welcome--in fact we don't want to leave them. His command of the camera is impressive, particularly since shooting a low-budget independent movie in the heart of New York City can be a pretty daunting task. What McCarthy really pulls off is balancing a sincere, expertly made character piece against some hot button political issues. Never once does he resort to preaching, but clearly, by putting a human face, on the wrenching subject matter, he has created not only a film that could potentially make a difference, but first and foremost, an unforgettable movie that will stir your soul. See it.

Vince Vmedia
UCB Berkeley Ca.

The Wackness

The Wackness - the 1st film about the 90 era.. wow so soon. but year the 90's are now set for screen writers to boast about in some upcoming film themes.

"The Wackness" inspired a packed Sundance house to forget their Saturday-night pains and stand up and cheer.

A rollicking performance by Ben Kingsley as a pothead psychiatrist would steal the show in lesser films, but "The Wackness' is not overpowered: It rips in all aspects, compliments of talented writer-director Jonathan Levin.

Generically, it's a rite-of-summer-passage yarn, but "The Wackness" bursts the form. It's hard to envision "The Wackness" not winning the Audience Award.

In this 1994-set piece, recent high-school grad Luke (Josh Peck) sells weed and yearns to get laid. He trades grass for therapy from a drug-fuddled shrink (Kingsley) who exhorts him to sew his wild oats, albeit in more colorful language.
The former-Deadhead doc doesn't realize that Luke's lust is for his nubile stepdaughter (Olivia Thirlby). A precocious classmate of Luke's, she's the kindof girl who, seemingly, has stepped out of his steamiest masturbatory fantasies.

Both a comedy of manners of the Upper East Side, as well as a raw romantic roundelay, "The Wackness" is a tightly packed entertainment. It explodes through familiar teen-transition territory with dark ironies, but, all the while, touches are sentiments.

Under filmmaker Levine's inspired hand, the performances erupt with precise energies. As the decadent doctor, Kingsley is marvelous as a randy old-goat, who anesthetizes his fears that life has passed him by. Peck as low-key Luke is a wonderful touchstone, exuding both decency and daring, while Thirlby is entrancing as the temptress teen, delicately revealing her wild-child's emotional wounds.

Technical contributions torque this splendid movie ride. Special praise to editor Josh Noyes for the well-calibrated pace, and composer David Torn for the ripe and torrid sounds. Great sound track.

If you were ever in New York City during the time this movie takes place, you'll probably appreciate its sense of humor, as Levine fills the movie chock-full of '90s nostalgia including a healthy amount of Guiliani-bashing, a favorite pastime of most New Yorkers. He also inserts lots of funny pop culture references from the world of music videos into Luke's fantasies, most of which will probably go over the head of anyone under 20.

Either way, this is a great script that allows Levine to prove his worth as an up 'n' coming filmmaker, even if his use of the same washed-out color scheme as "Mandy Lane" is somewhat distracting and the film sometimes gets bogged down in the amount of dialogue, and its overuse of the same jokes repeatedly to get laughs, whether it's Dr. Squires' quirky behavior or the thought of non-black teens trying to be hip by saying "yo" and "peace" to each other. Despite these minor hindrances, "The Wackness" certainly is one of the more innovative indie comedies in recent memory that's notable for giving Kingsley a chance to have fun in a better comedic role than "You Kill Me" and as a great addition to the resumes of Peck and Thirlby, clearly two young stars of tomorrow.

Vince
Vmedia Berk Ca

The Day the Earth Stood Still

Update of the 1951 version - the classic sauser film and klaatu the robot.

The original The Day the Earth Stood Still, released in 1951, reflected Cold War fears. Fittingly, this year's remake will address warmer concerns.

Keanu Reeves, who stars as the film's intergalatic messenger, Klaatu, tells MTV Movies that in Scott Derrickson's remake of the sci-fi classic, his voyage to Earth is prompted by more than just humanity's endless thirst for war:

"The first one was borne out of the cold war and nuclear détente. Klaatu came and was saying cease and desist with your violence. If you can't do it yourselves we're going to do it. That was the film of that day. The version I was just working on, instead of being man against man, it's more about man against nature. My Klaatu says that if the Earth dies, you die. If you die, the earth survives. I'm a friend to the earth."

That's right, gang -- Klaatu has gone from pacifist weenie to tree-hugging hippie. (Or, more precisely, pacifist weenie and tree-hugging hippie; as Reeves puts it, "We're trying to reach beyond the idea of [just] environmentalism.")

Good news for fans of the original, though: When he isn't battling global warming or watching An Inconvenient Truth on his spaceship, Klaatu will find time to utter the famous words "Klaatu barada nikto" -- and he'll still have his robot bodyguard Gort, although Gort won't have the same leotard-and-spraypaint charm he did in '51; Reeves promises "another version of [the robot]."

The Day the Earth Stood Still is scheduled for a December 12 release. - I will update you after I see the second screeing in may.

Vince
Vmedia UCB Berkeley

Son of Rambow

I have never been a Rambo fan, but these young actors have won me over big time.

Although hundreds upon hundreds of movies have been made about kids pre teen romps, only a select few manage to capture the spirit of youth on film. Pictures like Steven Spielberg's E.T., John Boorman's Hope and Glory and Giuseppe Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso (the first half anyway) have the power to make viewers of any age feel as if they're experiencing the story entirely through the eyes of a kid. In its best moments, Garth Jennings' Son of Rambow achieves a similar state of youthful grace. This wildly funny and unexpectedly moving coming-of-age story is an unabashed celebration of childhood and moviemaking. It's also a remarkably vivid portrait of a specific place and time, in this case the London suburbs circa the early 1980s. The production has done such a stellar job recreating that era, you can practically taste the Pop Rocks bubbling on your tongue and feel the weight of the heavy VHS tapes the film's heroes lug around while filming their homemade action epic called you guessed it, Son of Rambow.

Based loosely on Jennings own experiences growing up on the outskirts of London, Lee and Will decide to make, with the intention of submitting it to a local contest for amateur filmmakers. Trouble arises when a hipper than thou French exchange student named Didier (Jules Sitruk, whose scene-stealing turn may make him the McLovin of 2008) and his gang of worshipful cronies decide they want to be part of the production. While Will is happy to welcome more people into the Rambow fold, a jealous Lee becomes convinced that his film is going to be hijacked by these outsiders. And that's a problem that can't be solved by Rambo-style heroics.

On paper, Son of Rambow sounds an awful lot like a kid version of Michel Gondry's recent ode to DIY filmmaking Be Kind Rewind and seen together, the two films do complement each other very well. Both Gondry and Jennings come from a music video background and rocketed to hipster fame by helming inventive videos on shoestring budgets. Their respective films celebrate that outsider aesthetic, positing that any movie you make with your friends?whether it runs five minutes or 50 minutes and costs $10 or $10,000 is infinitely more rewarding than forking over your dough to see anything Hollywood might put into theatres.

What puts Rambow a notch above Rewind is that Jennings is able to hang this message on a compelling emotional hook, namely the friendship between Lee and Will. These characters aren't typical movie children who have had all their rough edges sanded away; Lee in particular can be a grade-A jerk, to the point where you wonder whether it's really wise for Will to be hanging out with him. Although Jennings' screenplay skirts the edges of cliché at times, the young actors (both of whom are making their feature film debut) make every moment ring true. As we enter a season where adults deal with their problems by dressing up as Batmen and Iron Men, it's amusing to think that the most mature characters we'll meet this summer may be two little kids from the London burbs.

Vince
Berkeley UCB
Vmedia