Turtle's Talk

The Last of the Mohicans

Michael Mann's The Last of the Mohicans is a third-generation fiction: a film adapted from a film that was adapted from a novel.

Chingachgook (Russell Means), his son Uncas (Eric Schweig), and Hawkeye (Daniel Day-Lewis), his adopted white son; Cora Munro (Madeleine Stowe) and her sister Alice (Jodhi May), their father, Colonel Edmund Munro (Maurice Roëves), and a native guide named Magua (Wes Studi) are all creations of James Fenimore Cooper and his novel of the same title. What everybody read about in the Last of the Mohicans was a romance of the forest, of Indians and Natty Bumppo (the white man who learned from them), of a society barely gone.

The 1992 movie, however, is a romance, with a mixture of period setting and fictional characters, and a dose of twentieth-century spirituality to bring the noble savages up-to-date. It's a film with history as vivid and real and immediate as if it were being lived right now.

Mann's new plot now explains, for instance why it needed a revolution: to protect the democratic, freedom-loving, interracial society from supercilious twits. Nathaniel (Day-Lewis), the white raised by Indians, is the emblem of this egalitarian society. Cora symbolizes the rejection of her dead (quite literally, by the end) European past. In its place, she embraces Nathaniel and America.

Bedtime Stories

Monday, you're a knight in shining armour. Tuesday, you're a gun-toting outlaw of the Wild West, and Wednesday--well, you could be just about anything, even an alien. Anything is possible when you're telling a bedtime story.

Skeeter Bronson (Sandler) is a hard-done-by hotel janitor who dreams of one day becoming the manager of the hotel his father once owned. Unfortunately, Skeeter is up against some tough competition in the form of sleazy suit Kendall (Pearce). But when Skeeter has to babysit his young niece and nephew, he discovers some magic that might solve his problems and protect the interests of his family. In this flick, fairytales do come true. Indeed!

I am a quasi conservative when it comes to family entertainment. And in a time when so much emphasis is placed on super-duper effects and loud action noises, it's kind of "cute" and "nice" to see something that is literally about the oldest form of entertainment--storytelling!

The 'little guy versus the big meanies' plot is worked to the end and in true Disney style, all baddies receive their comeuppance. The Actors, especially the kids, are super cute and the animated guinea pig will surely be a big hit.

This is a Disney kids' movie through and through--but still enjoyable for the adults too. Just don't expect the extremely outrageous Adam Sandler of days gone by.

Lust for Life

Who hasn't heard of the (supposedly) crazy Dutchman who cut off his ear, and then shot himself in a wheat field while painting his last work?

This film spans the last seven years of Vincent Van Gogh's life (c1883-90), the period of his almost unbearably intense development as an artist. Much of it was filmed at the actual locations, as well as many of his original paintings are shown and the film faithfully recreates many of the scenes in some of his most famous works.

The performances by Douglas and Quinn (as Gaugin) and the supporting actors reflect the level of commitment of all those who were involved in the production. Gauguin, another eccentric, was far more famous at the time than Van Gogh, and his approach to art was diametrically opposed to Van Gogh's. He painted what was in his mind, not the glories of nature that absorbed Van Gogh.

Touching and tragic, this is a glorious, brilliant film that memorializes the world's greatest painter.

Entre les Murs (The Class)

For those who have recently been high school students, Entre les Murs (The Class) is almost humurous in its familiarity. For those in education, it offers a complex picture of the problems that need to be overcome, without putting forward any simple solution. For all others, this is a rich classroom drama to remedy the simplicity of 'Dangerous Minds' and 'Freedom Writers.'

It would be quite easy to mistake this film for a documentary. Its story of classroom challenges comes straight from a teacher who has experienced this all first-hand. The performances of teachers and students alike are pitch-perfect, genuine and rich, and the 'fly-on-the-wall' style of filmmaking is perfectly appropriate for capturing the tedium of modern teaching. Essentially, the film simply charts one teacher's futile attempts to reach a class of mixed-race 14-year-olds in inner city Paris.

Francois Begaudeau, the teacher who wrote the book on which this film is based, plays Mr. Marin. His sincere attempts to educate this class ( and to reach the smarter students amongst the group) are continuously thwarted, mainly by student insolence, and those many, mind-numbing, endlessly cyclical conversations that consume classroom time and teacher attention. For most part, the film is simply a document of these struggles, though it reaches a sort of climax after tempers flare in the classroom and one student's future education is put on the line.

At times, the film does drag a little, but this only contributes to its slowly-building impact. In the end the film's effect will take audience by suprise...

Balibo

This truly is inspired filmmaking!

Australian writer/director Robert Connoly's political thriller Balibo sheds light on war crimes that have been covered up for more than 30 years. Boldly political and unashamedly provocative, it tells the true story of 1975 and the murder of five Australian journalists in East Timor in the lead-up to the invasion by Indonesia.

In November 1975, four weeks after five journalists are reported missing in East Timor, veteran Australian foreign correspondent Roger East (La Paglia) is approached by 25 year old Jose Ramos-Horta (Isaac) and offered a job as head of East Timor's news agency. Refusing to accept the official reports that his colleagues were killed in crossfire, East sees the job as an opportunity to uncover the truth and travels with Ramos-Horta to East Timor.

Intercut with their journey is the story of how the five Australian journalists, four weeks earlier, made their way to Balibo determined to film the impending Indonesian invasion.

The Indonesian assault is particularly compelling and marks one of the most shattering finales in Australian film history. This film engages a new audience who knows nothing of this extraordinary piece of history. Regardless of historical knowledge, more powerful is the feeling of pride for the Balibo Five who rushed to East Timor's side when the world turned its back.

The Young Victoria

This film examines Queen Victoria's early years as queen when she's barely broken free of her mother's overprotection that had confined her to living a sheltered existence until her teen-age years.

Perceived as an inexperienced and naive, Victoria (Emily Blunt) is subject to being manipulated by those around her. Her mother and her advisor seek to be installed as regents on account of Victoria's youth, and after her ascendancy, there was competition to pair Victoria with a husband. Realising that a pairing with Prince Albert (Rupert Friend) amounted to an arranged marriage by her uncle, Ernest III, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Victoria is resistant of the match but finds herself surrounded by few trustworthy people and is increasingly drawn to Albert.

The Young Victoria is a lush period film. It's a sumptuous-looking film. Blunt's performance is stellar and is likely the reason the camera lingers in close up on her face for a good portion of the film. Though his dialogue is minimal, Friend does handy work with a German accent, and Jim Broadbent does a brief yet memorable turn as King George III. The flick seems to simplify the political flurry around her ascendancy but is a good depiction of the type of young woman Victoria may have been.

Up

This film is sweet, subtle, melancholic and memorable.

It might be a kid's film, yet it's central themes are dense, layered and poignant--like most of the Pixar's stable: WALLE's message was to save the planet; Cars told us to slow down and enjoy the scenery, and this latest UP, is about that adult adage that marriage is the greatest adventure of one's life.

Widower, and 78 years old Carl Fredericksen (Asner) lives in an old house under threat of redevelopment, surrounded by high-rises. But his loving memories of his wife mean he isn't keen to leave the marital home. When he's forced out, he decides to take it all with him, attaching thousands of helium balloons to his chimney and soaring up, up and away in search of Paradise Falls in the company of cheery boyscout Russell (Nagai).

As we've come to expect from the film, the animation in Up is top-class, and Pixar should be applauded for making an old fella the hero of an animated flick. It has a genuine, honest emotional beats and wonderful symbolism (like the house-as-manifestation-of-relationship metaphor) and it's so moving, and those magical first ten minutes (such concepts as infertility, infirmity and death) set up Fredericksen as a central character with whom we can truly emote and identify.

My Sister's Keeper

First there was the book, now the movie.

My Sister's Keeper-- the film version-- looks at the moral decision of a family torn by grief. I reckon it's one of the most tear-inducing films of the year tugging at our heartstrings, in such an excruciatingly painful tug-of-war.

Talented young actress Abigail Breslin brings one of the most impassioned literary charactes, as the child who was 'engineered' to provide the foetal cells and bone marrow that might give older sister Kate (Sofia Vassilieva) a chance. Mum (Cameron Diaz) is maniacally focused. Dad (Jason Patric) is a loving breadwinner with a ready smile. But the leukaemia sister Kate is sucking up all the attention. Brother Jesse (Evan Ellingson) is lost in the vortex of Kate's treatments and relapses. And Anna (Breslin), has had enough. She may love her sister, but she's willing to hire a lawyer she's seen on TV (Alec Baldwin) to sue to get out of the procedures that have dominated her life.

Working from the original novel by Jodi Picoult, Director Cassavetes balances the ethical debate with teenage rites of passage, as well as the grim pallor of death with moments of humour. The story's structure--many of the characters narrate their points of view-- moves the film along and leaves room for acting. Diaz gives one of the best performances of her career as the 'villain' of the piece. Baldwin is on the money, as always, but so is Breslin.

Whale Rider

An aura of enchanting beauty, this film is as poignant and as powerful as the Maori Legend. This is the story of 12-year-old Paikea "Pai" Apirana who, although a girl, is the spiritual heir to her Ngati Porou tribe.

Yet her grandfather Koro, the local custodian of his people's centuries and-old- culture, cannot see the truth that dances magically infront of him. He can't see how blessed he is to have such an extraordinary granddaughter. He, instead bequeaths his leadership to the son of another.

Pai however, finds the strength to challenge her family and embraces a thousand years of tradition in order to fulfill her destiny--her calling for her Ngati Porou tribe--and hence, trains herself in the ways and customs of her people.

Filmed quite naturally in and around the seaside village of Whangara, Whale Rider captures the very essence of the clash between traditional values and the modern world without ever using a heavy hand. Keisha Castle-Hughes as Pai is mesmerizing. Rawiri Paratene as Koro seems to personify the film's entire conflict in his weathered face.

One of the most touching scene is when tears stream down Pai cheeks as she chokes trying to get all the words out correctly of the ancient Maori songs to impress her grandfather, as well as her songs of encouragement to the whales. She was so sure that he would be there, that he would come, but he hasn't...

This is a brilliant film through and through.

Yentl

This is La Streisand's show from opening to end credits. If you love Barbara, you'll love this flick, especially when she sings 'Papa, Can You Hear Me?' with full emotive expression. This film is her long-cherished adaptation of Isaac Basheviis Singer's short story, 'Yentl, The Yeshiva Boy.' As well as directing and starring, she produced, and she is the only person who gets to sing, despite the presence of renowned musical star Patinkin.

Yentl (Streisand) is a young woman who wants nothing more than to study the Talmud, something forbidden to women. When her father dies, she cuts off her hair and convinces a Jewish school that she is a man so she can satisfy her hunger for knowledge. Things get complicated, however, when she becomes close to fellow student Avigdor (Mandy Patinkin), eventually falling in love with him, although she can not reveal her true self as she would then be expelled. Avigdor is in love with Hadass (Amy Irving), but religious law forbids him from marrying her.

Granted, this flick is not everyone's cup of tea, and many of my Flixster friends have avoided to watch it. Yet, looking at the other side of a coin, this story of a woman who yearns to study, who lives in a culture that says study is only for men then disguises herself as a man in order to get that education is a story of a strong woman who breaks the gender roles of her time, and a tangled love story. What was typically the male role has been blurred and practically obliterated as well as captures the essence of the Jewish woman's eternal struggle. It describes a woman's search for freedom and her discovery not only of love but of herself. My dear Barbra captures the character beautifully, the songs and the expression in her eyes and voice displaying clearly the feelings of a woman struggling for knowledge and love but torn between her desire to learn and the tradition of her religion.

As expected, the music and songs in Yentl received four Academy Award nominations, including two Best Songs. While David Watkin's photography is evocatively poetic, the film's pacing is overly reverential. Still, Streisand's voice very much remains her trademark.

Cheri

Cheri is set in pre World War 1 France and aging courtesan Lea (Michelle Pfeiffer) and pampered dandy Cheri (Rupert Friend) form an unlikely romance. What begins as a fascination soon develops into a passionate, yet clandestine love affair that lasts six years.

Charlotte (Kathy Bates) plays Cheri's mother, who surmises to Lea that there is only one thing missing from her life of luxurious hotels, dutiful servants and opulent surrounding -- grandchildren. Charlotte plans a wedding for Cheri and a lovely 18-year-old daughter of another courtesan rival, tearing Cheri and Lea apart.

Cheri is a beautiful, lavish film that is touching, yet understated. Lea is a woman in the throes of a once-in-a-lifetime passion - but underlying all that is the sense of someone who really knows herself. It's a virtue of maturity wholly lacking in Cheri, as a young man in no position to know his own heart, because he doesn't know himself.

There's something in this film--anyone who has ever fallen in love with someone they just could not have is something poignant and deeply moving, and even a sign of perhaps defeat?

I read the book many years ago, and I appreciate both the film and the book but there were some distinct differences and I found merit in those differences. The film is more lyrical and emotional while the book was a lot more restrained, subtle and made you consider the issues more. My theory is that when you read the book and watch the film you get everything you can out of that story, the intellectual part and the human emotional part.

Also if you have read the book first it is sometimes hard not to be disappointed by the film. Sometimes it is hard to break that down. But books and films are different artforms and you have to expect different things to happen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCUdEXqiNZ0