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Martyrs (2008)
A beautiful, melancholy sadness.
There is a lot of intelligent debate about whether this film is a masterwork or simply pretentious exploitation, but I'm leaning toward the former. What begins as an almost unwatchably bleak/brutal film slowly transforms into a sincere and deeply moving study on pain, and in so doing, it takes the viewer on a journey with the main character, slowly changing us as it changes her; leaving us as numb, exhausted, and possibly as transcended as she. As the violence intensifies over the run-time of the film, so too does our perspective and understanding.
I didn't take my eyes off the screen, but I almost don't remember the violence and torture of the third act. All I remember is....beauty....a melancholy sadness....and an almost paternal love for the main character.
It's almost as if I was subconsciously blocking out the experience of the torture and putting myself in the same brain-space as the lead female. The metaphysical questions posed by the film's ending are interesting yet unnecessary afterthoughts, because at that point in the journey you either will or won't have accepted the main impact of the film.
Overall, not an easily forgotten experience, and I might be a better person for it.
King Kong (2005)
An exercise in excess and overindulgence.
For reference I'm a big fan of Peter Jackson, I love the original King Kong film, and I haven't seen the 1976 version.
I was anticipating this film as much as anyone, and while there were some good points to it, I have three major problems with what ended up on screen.
1. It seems like 100% of their CGI budget went into rendering Kong, while the rest of the bugs and dinosaurs look like they were animated/rendered for free by interns. Kong looks fantastic, no doubt; like Cesar from the Planet of The Ape movies, he completely jumps the uncanny valley. But the rest of it.... we have a brontosaurus stampede in which the dinosaurs move like gummy worms, and a T-rex fight which looks barely better than a multi-player video game.
2. Stockholm Syndrome at it's worst. I can understand wanting Anne Darrow to eventually show a bit of empathy for Kong, but this movie makes the mistake of turning it into a full-blown love story. It didn't work for me. Part of the brilliance of the original film is that it never let you forget that Kong was a threat, and IN SPITE OF THAT, the audience STILL feels empathy for Kong on the Empire State Building. Kong's death has the emotional weight of a true Tragedy, because he never really wins the affections of his "prized possession". This emotional weight is completely removed in Peter Jackson's version. Kong needs to be a misunderstood (but still dangerous) monster, not a misunderstood leading-man.
3. And now, what I was referring to in the title of this review. The film was too long by at least an hour. The scenes on Skull Island dragged on...and on...and on. It's like the success of Lord of the Rings made the producers and editor too afraid to stand up to Peter Jackson and say "You know, maybe we should trim this back a bit?" The actions scenes were overambitious, overly-long, and overly-unbelievable. Campy, over-the-top action is fine when that's the kind of movie you're shooting, but it misses the mark and elicits the "wrong kind of laughter" when you cram it into what you're otherwise shooting as a slick epic. Also, watching Andy Serkis get eaten by uncircumcised penis-monsters wasn't remotely entertaining or funny in the context of the rest of the film. Peter Jackson is a brilliant and visionary director, but he definitely needs a producer capable of reigning him in when his child-like tendencies go a liiiiittle too far.
Overall, the acting was good and NYC was beautifully portrayed, but Peter's over-enthusiasm in the design of the actions scenes and lack of restraint in the editing room made this movie far too tedious to have lasting value.
This movie rates a 5/10, which means I'd grudgingly watch it on movie night if I couldn't convince my friends to pick something else. I'd enjoy the opening scenes in New York, but I'd try to fall asleep after they arrive on Skull Island.
Putoavia enkeleitä (2008)
A nice surprise
I found this film entirely by accident when I tried to download a torrent of another film with the same name.
A quick google search showed that the film is rather loosely based on the life of Finnish poet, Lauri Viita, whom I'd never heard of.
Plot is in the vein of Pollock and A Beautiful Mind, and the production values are on par with both of those films. Stunning cinematography and art direction. It took me a few minutes to realize that the lead actress was playing two roles - that of the poet's grown daughter, and that of his wife during the flashbacks. This is the first Finnish film I've seen and it's made me want to search for more.