three movies.

August 31, 2008

I’ve seen three interesting movies lately, thanks to Blockbuster mailings and paying attention to the previews on indie films. We’ll go in reverse chronological order.

Tonight we watched Across the Universe. It’s a musical, set in the 60s (1963-1969 compressed into two years according to director Julie Taymor). Although the trailer made it look a little too trippy for my taste, that first scene where he’s singing moodily on the beach (a la Moulin Rouge) sold me instantly. The detail work in Across the Universe is really what made it work, right down to the fact that most of the songs were filmed live on-location. There are seven main characters, and a whole load of peripheral hilarious moments with passerby. Two things I found the most amusing: the guy in crazy outfit twirling by for no reason when they first arrive in NYC, and in one of the final scenes, Jude’s mom singing a few lines. The most moving scenes were the brilliant parallels between England and the US; the couples dancing in the beginning, the pub scene toward the end, and also the funeral in Detroit of a black boy after the race riots next to the one in Brookline MA for white soldier who died in the fray. The music was done well, if self-proclaimedly cheesy. The lighting and film processing superb. The choreography of the crowds and leads went from erratic and eccentric to natural and beautiful. The device with a main character walking through lines of choreographed activity worked really well.

persepolis

On Thursday, Ali and I saw Persepolis. It is brilliant. It’s funny, deep-thinking, and really human. Watching Irani girl Marji grow up in the revolution and then grow up away from her family, finally to go back home and then leave again… it wrenches your heart. The animation is gorgeous, and my jaw pretty much dropped when we saw in the commentary that all of the cells were traced by hand to give it a real, handcrafted feel. It’s an autobiographical animated film that took 2 years to complete.

Before I left for England, I watched Saawariya and laughed a lot. Many scenes blindsided me – much like Across the Universe, the lighting and framing; colors and angles were so, so good. Everything was beautiful and intentional. Of course the entire movie was ridiculous, as the first Bollywood-Hollywood production is wont to be. We watch innocent, earnest Raj try his best to woo mysterious Sakina who basically toys with him the entire time. (Saawariya is Hindi for beloved /overpowering consumption by love.)
I absolutely love well-designed magazines and well-produced films. I delight to experience the storylines and drama; colors and imagination of all of the artists who work hard to bring the masses entertainment and inspiration.