Change Your Image
jtanzer
Reviews
Road Scholar (1993)
Making sense of "Road Scholar"
To the user named "nochturne" -- maybe you didn't understand the theme of the movie. Codrescu is not seeking out oddballs across America and mocking them. He is looking for signs of the originality and self-invention that he thinks define our country (in contrast to the moribund Romania of his childhood) and celebrating them. He's looking for the spirit of Whitman and Ginsberg, and he feels that he's found it in many overlooked corners of the country. I thought it was wonderful.
Jenseits der Stille (1996)
Unusual subject, beautiful movie
One person asked whether German Sign Language is the same as American Sign Language, and, knowing just a bit of ASL, I can tell you that it appears to be the same. (French SL is almost identical, and I presume it's similar throughout the western countries.)
As for the movie, it's one of the best I've seen. Two things I especially liked about it: 1. The story is totally individual, and it isn't part of any genre -- it's just a real-people story. (I remember thinking this about "Fearless" as well.) 2. The story is so well written around the main character, Lara -- she herself has many facets to her personality, but no other character sees all of them. Each person understands and evokes only one side of her. This creates conflicts within the character, which the actresses do a great job of expressing.
What a terrific movie.
Wandafuru raifu (1998)
thoughtful - best movie I've seen this year
I think many of the people posting here have missed the point of the movie. "After Life" is not a movie about death at all - it's a movie about life. The clever set-up - that after you die, you go to a government-type office where you choose the one memory you wish to keep with you for eternity - is really a device to get people (the characters and the audience) thinking and talking about the essence of their lives, what gives their lives the most meaning, what's real life and what's artificial, what is the source of their truest contentment.
See it with a friend and share memories afterwards. You'll see what I mean.