kieran's Talk

Mamma Mia!

Director:Phyllida Lloyd
Released: 2008
Stars: Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan,Colin Firth and Julie Walters
Genre: Musical/Comedy
Country: UK/USA









20 year old Sophie (Seyfried) is preparing to marry her boyfriend Sky (Cooper) at her mother's hotel on an island in Greece. She seemingly has it all; a carefree life, loving boyfriend and happy friends but one thing has been missing all her life; a father.

I have to admit that when we deciided to see Mama Mia!, my family and I, I wasn't sure what I would make of it at all. I know Abba songs like the back of my hand, never saw the musical but was sure I might dance a long at some stage. For sure I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. Mama Mia has a certain charm to it that you can't ignore and I'm sure it will be one of the biggest hits of the summer.

The appeal of Mama Mia! is set in the songs and the brilliant cast. All the songs tell sophie's story well and you begin to like the characters a lot, but most likely Meryl Streep's character Donna. Donna is unaware of her daughter's actual father, any of the 3 leading men we see in the film; Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan and Stellan Skarsgård. All three do sing in the film and at times it can be quite funny. I'm sure not everyone wants to see the last James Bond actor sing his heart out to SOS or Stellen Skarsgard sing Take a Chance on Me, but really folks forget all that and just enjoy a fabulous film. I know Brosnan took a year of singing lessons and doesn't sound bad at all. Not so sure about the paring of Streep and Brosnan but that was only a minor flaw.

The set for Mama Mia, that being in the Greek Islands looks lovly on screen and some great shots of the actual island on helicopter which really gives you that "summer feeling" and actually made me forgets seriously analysing this film, if you see what I mean. Naturally the cheography is brilliant, most notably with Dancing Queen which, If I had the chance, I would have danced near my seat. Meryl streep can certianlydance around, as can Julie Walters both in their late 50's.

Now for the acting. To be honest I think the acting fitted well to the story. I felt most of the actors played a more laid back approach, as indeed this is not a serious film and shouldn't be taken as to be. JUlie Walters was brilliant to watch and lights up every scene she's in, including her hilarious rendition of "Take a Chance on Me." Colin Firth doesn't really do an awful lot but does sing, which wasn't that bad. Stellen Skarsgard, as most of the cast aren't that bad either.

The script is a plain and simple story but very funny and very well done indeed. I;, sure a lot of it was sidreted at die hard Abba fans but I certainly enjoyed it a lot. What's great is that the film is very funny and can divert your attention away from any pretenious bits that might annoy you, as not everything is going to break into song.

I can't recomend this enough. If there's one film that you should see it's Mama Mia! Can't tell you how much fun I had watching this.

Highly recomended

8/10

Lust, Caution (Se jie)

Director:Ang Lee
Released: 2008
Stars: Joan Chen, Tony Leung Chi Wai, Tang Wei
Genre:Drama, Romance, War
Country:China/Taiwan/Hong Kong/USA









Frustrated in his attempts to assassinate Yee, who is an important official in Japanese-ruled Shanghai, Old Wu, who has lost his wife and two sons as well as two women who had attempted to seduce Yee, now recruits Kuang, Mai Tai Tai, and their troupe of drama students from Hong Kong University in yet another attempt to do away with Yee. Mai Tai Tai is chosen to befriend Yee, which she does by posing as the wife of Mak, befriending Yee's wife and her female friends, and then eventually befriending Yee himself

Well I waited a gone long while to see Ang Lee's latest film after being albeit slightly disappointed with Brockback Mountain. Lust,Caution however blew me away. My expectations were slightly shortened because of the many dissapointing reviews I read both in newspapers her ein the UK and reviews on here. To be honest I don't quite know what film they were watching. Utterly compelling and kept me on tender hooks throughout.

As most of my friends on here know I tend to watch a lot of Asian cinema and that Tony Leung is one of my top 5 favourite actors, so I just had to see this. The narrative of the film is incredibly orginal and also because it deals with the subject of Japanese occupied Shanghai, something not familiar to Western audiences. I must admit that I wasn't 100% clear about the background to the story but as time went on it didn't seem to matter as it was inevitably about one character. The film is long but for a reason. It's depicting a story which is incredibly complex and just isn't going to be told in 1 and a bit hours. There are so many sides to the story that you don't envisidge at the first part of the film.

I love the way Lee switches narrative as we see the end of the story at the beginning. This means that we are able to see the full backdrop of the characters and understand their motives, feelings and of course the realtionship with one another. By this I mean Wong and her Dram clas friends who are part of the Resistance. This is an example of superb storytelling, which to be honest I haven't seen for a good few months. What is great is that the 2 and a bit hours just flew by and suddenly I realised the film is almost over. As I've said before just utterly mangnificent.

Oddly, this being a part USA film, this received no Oscar nominations but luckily us Brits awarded some BAFTA nominations. Believe me it so deserves it and it just depicts the story so so well. Being an art house film lover aswell, the story was paced so so well. This is partly due to the superb script writen by American James Schamus who brilliantly writes quick, informative dialogue that imeadialty gets you hooked from the start. Again....utterly amazing. Still can't get over the snobbery at the Oscars these days. As many of Lee's films, Lust caution is ipeccably photographed throughout it's length time. From the gorgeous sceney to the lush lanscapes of Shaghai.

The acting in Lee's film is fantastic. Tony Leung, who I will never say a bad word about, brilliantly plays two sides of Yee; charming and albeit slightly callous. This meant that as a viewer you liked him one minute and hated him the next. Leung is utterly amazing and deserves more credit by Western audiences. I hope he gains some sort of way into Western cinema soon. Tang Wei, who gained a BAFTA rising Star nomination was equally brilliant playing the naive yet incredibly strong Wong who eventually completely turns Mak(chi-Wai) around from this cold hearted man to a man who is left helpless at the end of the film. Their relationship is depicted strongly in the conterversial sex scenes, which were heavy publisied in the USA and that it was awards an NC-17 rating. Which is ridiculous. The sex scenes look so real and depict this up and down relationship betwen the two charactersl for instance the several sexual posistions and the more "harder" scene and a more emotive one. This I think is a reason why a lot of people didn;t get this film. I think because it's very "arty" and not exactly your more mainstream film.

Overall a stunning masterpiece which might very well be one of my favourite films as I could watch this again. Lust,Caution is seriously UNDERATED and deserved far more credit. It's offical Ang lee is on of the great story tellers our there.

Highly recomend and one of Lee's very best films.

10/10