My Favorite Movies

I probably will never forget the first time I saw this film. And quite possibly, I won't forget the feeling I had after watching it. "Y Tu Mama Tambien" seems to be like a by the numbers sex comedy but here lies the twist: brilliantly directed by Alfonso Cuaron, it becomes a sociopolitical presentation that is not at all judgmental while depicting an unusual sort of sexual awakening catalyzed by the seductive Maribel Verdu. Accompanied by an amazing soundtrack, the audience was allowed to hop into a road trip like no other: where inhibitions are stripped bare, the finality of death is acknowledged and a friendship tested in more ways than one. Possibly my favorite aspect of the film would be its voice over narrative, as it effectively adds character to every single individual in the film. It prevents itself from being a commentary by simply sticking to the facts, enough to increase gravitas even to characters we only meet for fifteen minutes. I credit this film as the one that woke me up from my affinity towards mainstream films. This is a movie that plays with the idea of sex, death and politics in a seductive, effective, clever package. This is a must see.

"It's time". "United 93" is possibly the closest thing we'll ever get to having a film remember September 11 without being blemished by the commercial and the sentinemtal. A movie that redefines omnipresence, the audience is allowed to hover these brave individuals as they do what they thought was best, faced with the certainty of death and the affect of terror. Paul Greengrass directs a brilliant cast of actors and real-life people, delivering a film driven by facts and some approximate recreation of what happened in that plane based from phone calls made to their families. In cinema verite, it is stripped of politics, opinions, agenda and prejudice. In contrast with other terror driven movies, it doesn't demonize its antagonists but portrays them more as people who were manipulated to think that what they were about to do was for the greater good. "United 93" is a tremendous film. A movie that could have easily been skewed towards the plastic and being contemptous, it is at the end a story of hope and bravery. And it did actually happen.

"The Diving Bell and The Butterfly" is nothing like any movie I have seen before: it is tender, unindulgent, raw and considering the circumstances, it's a movie that makes you want to live. The audience practically inhabit the being of Jean Dominique Bauby, a survivor of locked-in syndrome as he live day by day and persevere through writing an extremely personal memoir with the blink of his eyelash. With the help of his best selling book, Julian Schnabel took artistic liberty without being disrespectful. The effect was remarkable: he was able to break the glass and allow the audience full empathy to the protagonist right from the very first shot. I vividly remember reading this book and I knew there were chapters that would truly shine and Schnabel did not disappoint as even if they were predictable for me, the gravity of the situation was never tarnished. This movie at it's core is a celebration of life. It can't get any more liminal than this. An absolutely perfect film.

"Sei felice?". This movie gets richer every time I watch it. Divided into three chapters, the audience is practically presented the life of Salvatore de Vita: growing up as a little kid enchanted with cinema, in his teens allured by a blue-eyed goddess and as a successful professional forced to face a past that he's running away from. The scope of this film is epic, as it tries to condense a whole life into a three hour film but Tornatore does it with ease. The first two chapters were presented as if it was pulled out from a Fellini film, full of caricatures that the audience will eventually fall in love with. I particularly liked that long prologue before Tornatore casts his darker, more sinister purpose on the last chapter. A movie that starts off as romantic, it elevates itself as it focuses on the more complicated aspects of life and certain what-ifs we eventually carry with us as we grow older. Accompanied by the mesmerisingly magnificent score of Ennio Moriconne, Tornatore has created a film that every film lover will love. It is a love story of a boy and his movies. Bellissimo.

"Night and Fog" is undeniably the most important movie ever to be produced about WWII. Free from the pretention of character development conjuring false empathy, it is dead serious as it switches back and forth from footage shot 10 years after the war when concentration camps were abandond and with archaic footage taken during that grim section of history. Lasting only 20 minutes, Resnais' film is free from blemish of commercial aspirations, focusing on facts that finds horror in reality while leaving enough space for imagination to translate the nausiating details. It is curious how some people deny the Holocaust ever existed, as in this film alone, the viewer will definitely be flooded with facts, unaltered to intentionally pull any emotional punches, but presented as they are. Film scholars avoid themselves from labeling this film as a documentary, as they do have a point, the archaic footage weren't recorded to film reality as such, but film the concentration camps as they see them. Just imagine, if it was already *that* grim from theirs, what about the inmates' perspective? This is a film that will be as poignant now, tomorrow and eternity.

Haneke is a cinematic terrorist. Able to find terror from the simplest of situations, he brilliantly derives it from reality, politics and the threat of the home. We follow a well-to-do Parisian family, as they recieve anonymous cassette tapes, initially featuring a 2-hour surveillance of their house which later develops into something more sinister. Here's the dilemma: we never really do find out who films them. It acts as a MacGuffin to unravel Paris' unsavoury political past (as of course, they do prefer to get naked behind the curtains). With the effect of the tapes though, Haneke was able to involve the audience: one is that the people watching the film become the stalkers themselves, effectively breaking the fourth wall. The other effect was that the entire film sort of becomes a version of that mysterious videotape, especially highlighted by the intriguing last scene, where the devoted would be tempted to hit rewind just in case they missed something, like the movie's protagonists. That's basically why this film grabs you by the neck and never lets go... it's because you feel involved in a situation as disturbing as this. A perfectly calculated thriller, Haneke never disappoints.

I simply had to re-review this. Okay, here's a statement: you know that a film is so good that it trickles on down to the Ipod generation and that it becomes so goddamn popular that it creates its own backlash. I think "Juno" is it. It's amazingness is on the same size as "Titanic" that I believe, every single damn film Ellen Page will be in where she'll be playing a quick witted teen, critics will be pulling the "she's doing the Juno". And I'm not surpised. Full of heart and a pleasant twist at the end that doesn't pave the way to a pedestrian ending, "Juno" pulls all the stops to be liked.

"La Mome" might just be the best musician based biopic released, as it doesn't even conjure up the idea of miming or impersonation... this is acting, full stop. This is Marion Cotillard's movie, as she portrays the tragic life of Edith Piaf with gusto, rising from the slums of Montmartre to the glittering lights of the stage with a full orchestra. Just from the synopsis itself, it may come off as a generic biopic but Dahan tries to take risks here: he knows that he is limited by the story so he compensates for it through his screenplay, cinematography and amazing long takes. Who could forget that scene when Piaf breaks down upon discovery that her true love is lost? Or that inspiring interview with a writer from Elle magazine? Or when we find out she died on an early age of 40-something? This film doesn't insult its audiences' intelligence, as it dares to jump in chronology, adding to the emphasis of Piaf's unstable reference for reality. A movie that lasts for about 2 hours, filled with heartache, tragedy and misery, the final scene elevates it all into a liminal moment one will be hard pressed to forget. Cotillard definitely deserved her Oscar, and everyone deserves to be treated with a movie like this that is not short of brilliance.

By far, this has got to be one of the more uncomfortable and intense movie experiences I have had in a long time. The movie feels so real as if it was a documentary, and the emotions are so raw and realistic that one cannot help but be carried away and fascinated on how brave this film is. The title of the movie basically refers to the pregnancy bound to be terminated (it's the anti-Juno in more ways than one). Set in 1980's Romania, one cannot help but be eeriely transported to a place so rancid and unpleasant, that one can't help but squirm in one's seat. I was kind of unhappy about the characterization of Laura Vasiliu's character as this uber-naive pregnant girl that I felt that she's giving pregnant women bound for abortion injustice (then again, maybe that was the whole point so that the auds would project sympathy to the protagonist instead). This is a well acted film, focus on every scene Vlad Ivanov is in and that dreadful dinner scene. Brilliant.

This brilliantly executed comedy shines a light on an accountant who reignites his desire in his marriage, work and himself through ballroom dancing. A definite crowd pleaser, the audience easily roots for the brilliant casting of Koji Yakusho as your ultimate everyman, as he struggles though his midlife crisis and the basic steps to cha cha cha. Supported by a cast that may be caricature at times (although grabbing their own well developed backstory as the film progresses), this is a simple entertaining yarn that plays on the complicated aspects of life. The casting here makes this movie above your average comedy, as depicted by the American remake, it could have been a soulless enterprise. To further contrast it to the Lopez-Gere header (which clearly got lost in translation), Japanese customs also played a major part here as depicted by the prologue, highlighting how intimacy should be kept to a minimum. And here they are, ballroom dancing... brilliant. One of my late night television discoveries, it is guaranteed to make your heart make a quick step.

This is damn good. A movie that unravels like a detective novel, Affleck proves himself as a director able to balance intelligence with grade A thrills. If I was nitpicking, I would say Freeman is horribly cast (for some reason, he doesn't have the same gravitas as he used to have... I mean, how many movies has he played as God?) and that the movie had a lot of false endings (am I complaining of too much of a good thing here?). I will definitely be rewatching this one. Kudos to Amy Ryan, however, I think she didn't really have enough screen time to acquire that much awards buzz.