Reviews

When I was 4 or 5, I had a nightmare that my parents had gotten on a train at night and left me alone. I woke up crying and ran to my parents' room to make sure they were there. As an adult, this seems a bit silly, but as a child, it was terrifying. What could be worse than being abandoned by the people who were your protectors and your bridge to the rest of the world?

Skinamarink tries to capture that feeling -- to make you remember what it was like to need a caretaker and to feel helpless when alone. I can honestly say that I have never seen anything like this before. I have seen reviewers mention Lynch and Kafka. To me, it felt most like Tarkovsky - particularly Stalker. Clearly, this is a divisive film. As others have said, if you don't buy into the concept, it will be a slow 100 minutes. That said, my advice to help people connect with this film is twofold. First, watch this at home, preferably in the dark and alone. I think this is the only way to feel the sense of abandonment and lingering dread. You will not get the emotion of this movie if there are distractions. Second, if you can, watch it with subtitles. There are some hardcoded subs in the film to help the viewer understand the quiet voices, but the subs I used helped identify some of the random sounds and who is speaking. This is important because most of the action occurs off camera.

I don't want to be reductive, but let's face it, you're reading this review to decide if this movie is one you want to watch. I don't want to tell you what happens, because I wouldn't want to deprive you of seeing the story unfold for yourself. So no spoilers. I will say that the themes in this movie are universal, particularly the individual's struggle against injustice from those in power.

I suspect every culture has a noted hero who struggled against oppressive authority (e.g., William Wallace, Rob Roy, Pan Singh Tomar, Tadas Blinda, and Ned Kelly). Here, the hero and victim is humble Elen Skum, a simple rural woman who wished to worship in her own way and to protect her family from the scourge of alcohol. While not as exciting a tale as many of her fellow rebels', it is all the more poignant for its simplicity. Elen, a simple, rural mother and wife, stakes it all to save her family. She, and her family and friends, are too innocent to understand the forces arrayed against them, but they are a hard people tempered by an unforgiving climate. Each sides' refusal to give ground ultimately lead to tragic consequences.

Story aside, the acting is amazing. While there were a couple of editing hiccups early in the film, the sparse beauty of the country and the surprisingly good performances(particularly from Ms. Jusso) more than make up for any such quibbles. I really enjoyed the insight into this Nordic culture, and would encourage anyone looking for a thoughtful movie dealing with the theme of oppression to give it a shot.

Parts Per Billion follows the intertwined stories of three couples at different stages in their lives who are dealing with their relationships during a time of global crisis. Each couple is dealing with their own issues within the context of larger events. Those seeking scenes of mass hysteria and destruction will be disappointed. This is a relationship movie, through and through.

It's no surprise that the cast is terrific, and do the best with what they have to work with. Whatever faults may exist, the writers and cast create believable and interesting characters. The non-linear nature of the story -- the scenes jump from couple to couple and from time to time -- can be a tad confusing at times, but it was probably necessary to provide a feeling that something is happening. This is important, because nothing actually is happening. To use a cliché, it's like the characters are rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic without even acknowledging that its sinking. There is an unreal feel to how the looming external crisis is ignored by pretty much everyone until it is on top of them. For this reason, the film wastes the whole concept of impending doom and leaves us dealing with normal couples dealing with normal issues.

Perhaps it was the director's intent to show how we get so swept up in our own personal affairs that we can't see the big picture, but it just seems to me to be a waste of a good premise. I can't help but compare Parts Per Billion to Another Earth. Both are small-budget films that deal with tragic relationships in the shadow of bigger events, but the later film was able to tie the two things together. This, too, could have been a poignant film, but it comes up short.

As has been pointed out by other reviewers, this story is a new spin on "The Prince and the Pauper." It actually reminded me, however, of the American movie "Dave," in that the protagonist is a naive pawn whose empathy allows him to rise to the occasion, including finding love in the chaos.

Byung-hun Lee is simply an amazing actor. Having seen his "dark" side in movies like "A Bittersweet Life" and "I Saw the Devil," I was very pleased to see he could handle the role of Ha-Seon with such a light touch. It was a joy to see him effortlessly shift from hilarious toilet humor to inspiring leader. I was particularly struck with the scenes where he interacted with commoners, in which I really felt the empathy Ha-Seon felt for them.

This is the first of director Chang-min Choo's movies I've seen, and I was impressed at how he was able to seamlessly balance the light and serious scenes in the movies. To often, one or the other seems forced, but here Choo creates a character who grows and changes, but still remains, at heart, the same, good person he was at the beginning -- the kind of person who, by the end of the story, could be happy and believable as a king or a pauper. I think Choo also gave the movie a more intimate feel by focusing on one-on-one conversations and limiting the normal "cast of thousands" you often see in period pieces about kings.

Overall, the acting was top notch -- particularly from Hyo-ju Han as the Queen and Hyo-ju Han as Minister Do -- and the costumes and set design were beautiful.

Masquerade is an engaging and charming period piece with humor, action, and romance.

I enjoy a good flick, and am particularly pleased when it is a low-budget passion project. The Afflicted meets those marks. While the film has some elements that have been done before, such as bad things happening while traveling abroad and the "found footage" angle, Lee and Prowse did a good job adding new elements and keeping it somewhat fresh. Compared to many low (and high) budget horror films, the actors did a fine job and the special effects/stunts were actually believable. I also enjoyed the mystery element to the story that keeps you wondering throughout, but I think I would've preferred a little more explanation as to what happened at the beginning of the film.

All-in-all, a good, simple story that kept me engaged throughout. I look forward to seeing more from these guys.

I generally enjoy movies that tell the (somewhat) true stories of real-life rebels and "Robin Hoods," such as William Wallace, Paan Singh Tomar, and Ned Kelley. Tadas Blinda certainly fits the mold, but this movie did not do him justice.

For a "true story," Tadas Blinda, Pradzia seems pretty cliché. In fact, I was surprised at how many elements it shared with Braveheart. While the acting was not great, I am not sure if it was the fault of the actors or because some of the characters were so cartoonish, particularly Konstancija. I almost expected him to begin pulling on his mustache à la Snidely Whiplash.

Of course, I did not expect production quality on par with, say, an American or Japanese film, and I was not pleasantly surprised. The editing was pretty bad in some places and the "battle" scenes felt like a "cast of dozens," which made the battles feel like little skirmishes. I was particularly bothered by the tone of the film. Something tragic would happen, and then minutes later the characters would be acting light and almost slap-sticky, or a character would be being lynched, and when freed at the last second, would immediately bond with those who were just trying to string him up. The romance also seemed a little forced, particularly with so little backstory between the two supposed lovers, and the less said about the affair sidestory the better. It just seemed like the director could not decide on what tone to set and couldn't find a good balance between the tragedy that spurred Blinda's rise to rebel leader, with the desire to show some humor and charm.

That all said, the scenery was amazing -- Lithuania is a beautiful country. Agnia Ditkovskite is equally lovely and does what she can with what she had to work with. I did also enjoy the obvious conflict, not between rich and poor, but between Lithuanians, Poles, and Russians. It was an interesting view of the local politics of the time.

This was not a horrible film, and there were moments of light genius. I would recommend this film to anyone who has a particular attachment to Lithuania or history. For the rest, you might want to go re-watch Braveheart.

First, let me say that I am no expert in French animation, much less the works of Jean-François Laguionie, so I am reviewing this movie from the angle of the average film fan.

Gwen, the Book of the Sand, is a surreal journey in a would that appears created on the detritus of our own. In this world, the people eek out a living in a vast desert that they share with some birds and what appears to be the trash we'd find in any landfill -- old spectacles, rusty bikes, etc. Gwen, a newcomer to the tribe, forms a bond with a strange boy, who is soon taken by the mysterious entity that prowls the desert at night. Gwen journeys with the boy's grandmother into the unknown to find him.

The visuals are simple, yet serenely beautiful. The world is made strange by the juxtaposition of the desert nomadic motif to the common everyday items that, despite their normality, seem to physically dwarf the characters. Eventually, the movie begins delving into the question of religion and understanding the purpose and desire of "God." The pacing is necessarily slow to allow the journey. If you are the sort of person who likes clearly defined plots, this is not the movie for you, in that the world Laguioneie has created becomes confusing and undefined. However, fans of surreal animation will find this unique landscape something to think about.

First, let me say that I am not by nature a peacenik. That said, I was thoroughly charmed by this anti-war film. In the same vein as films like "Enemy Mine," this film explores the well-trod ground of war and how it affects individual civilians and combatants alike, but does so on a much smaller, more intimate stage than usual war films.

The story throws together men with different ages, nationalities, and religions, and asks whether there is something more basic or more important than these distinctions. What happens when the faceless enemy in the woods becomes a man with his own thoughts and problems? Kudos to the director and all of the actors for portraying realistic characters and for allowing us to believably grow with the characters. Lembit Ulfsak is particularly stellar as Ivo, the "moral man." I think that scriptwriters too often give their characters weight and authority by giving them some defining moment or backstory. Not here. Ivo is defined, instead, by what he does and says in the confines of the film, and it is his moral compass that lead the rest of the characters, and, by extension, us to question our own prejudices.

All in all, a beautiful story beautifully told.