El Hombre Invisible (DrBenway)

A Danish film about a muslim girl and a christian guy studying kung-fu with a little bit of a generation conflict thrown in. What could've been a unique approach to the "world against her" story actually leaves no cliche unturned in this martial arts version of Bend It Like Beckham. Melodramatic and contrived, it's a bit difficult to really feel anything for the characters since this story has been told a countless number of times. However, there's a really decent performance from lead actress Semra Turan and I look forward to seeing her in future films.

Some of the fight scenes are done rather well, while other fights seem to be concerned with complimenting a flashy soundtrack (and a bad one at that) and come off as silly. Although Turan makes fights scenes that much more engaging, the story could've benefited by being darker, moodier, and less extravagant given its' subject matter.

A personal favorite of mine. It's dark, earthy, erotic, claustrophobic, eerie, but mostly a grim tale of a trio with little but the basics of human nature to keep them going. It's a harsh film shot with a minimalist set with survival as a key theme to the story, the look being the primary attraction. Dialogue is minimal, as is the percussive jazz soundtrack creating a Bushido-noir.

To judge the women in the film would be hypocritical since the impoverished world they live in has been created by the hierarchy of man and the aftermath of war. Then there's the sexual jealousy between mother and daughter stemmed from self-preservation; the mother may not survive without her and being reminded of her own unfulfilled sexual desires while only growing older. The pace is slow but time is never wasted. More psychological than spiritual horror, Onibaba is like no other film and has proven the test of time with other greats from Kurosawa, Ozu and Mizoguchi.

Jeff Bridges is The Dude, and it's hard to imagine anyone in the role. Someone else would've come off as just a pot-smoking hippie with some funny lines. Roger Deakins, the cinematographer, is a craftsman of unsurpassed skill and an artist with an amazing capacity to transform the mundane (like um, bowling) into something truly beautiful to behold. The plot is an afterthought and is more about the journey than the destination.

Even if you don't know what it all means, even if it's ultimately puzzling and unexplainable, there is a feeling, an emotional response that persists. There is a strange logic to this film. A logic of death, of evolution, of birth. This is the strangest kind of logic that must be felt and seen, instead of pondered.