velianne-87204 Reviews

The Incredibles (2004)

Fun and quircky superheroe movie

[9/10 · 11 July 2018]

Two formerly highly idolized superheroes, Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl, are now forced to stay undercover along with their three children and live a life as normal as can be to not raise suspicion towards them. However, the task is not that easy for Mr. Incredible and the wish to regain his previous fame is high. Hiding it from his family, he starts to accept new missions from an unknown source. The Incredibles was one of the very first movies I went to see in the cinema and that I remember well. Though I was only six years old, I still enjoyed it very much. But the most striking aspect for me is that rewatching it fourteen years later still sparks in me the same joy and interest I had the first time, and I think that is one of the movie's main strength. Indeed, it has "aged" very well and remains up to date, funny and endearing regardless of time passing. The plot is simple and resembles that of a Marvel comic, but it differentiates itself through its characters and its animation. Indeed, first, the characters are very relatable (parents can relate to the "mid-life" crisis of Mr. Incredible, children can relate to Violet's insecurities or Dash's hyperactivity) and endearing, and they all have very clear personalities which makes the viewer want to care for them. Second, the animation for a 2004 is amazing and it is easy to actually forget that it is an animated movie thanks to the smoothness of the images. Overall, The Incredibles is therefore a very enjoyable animated movie, be it for children, teens, or adults, and you will definitely smile a lot when it ends. I am very excited to see how the second one will turn out.

Call Me by Your Name (2017)

Purity and innocence of love

[10/10 · 11 July 2018]

17-year-old Elio lives in the Italian countryside with his parents. One day, his parents decide to host 24-year-olf graduate student Oliver during the summer in order for him to help Elio's father with his research. Elio and Oliver's personality are drastically different, with the former being quite an introvert and solitary youngster, while the latter is a carefree and extroverted mature man. Elio will not find much interest in Oliver at first, but he will soon find himself attracted to him, much to his own confusion. Begins here a game of seduction which will bring more to both men then imagined at first. Call Me By Your Name is love between two individuals at its purest form and leaves viewers with tissues to cry with when the credits start rolling at the end. It is relatable in so many ways, tackling the subjects of first love, first sexual relations, separation, heartbreak and does so while beautifully and adequately representing the LGBT community. While the story can seem slow at first with very few dialogue, this brings the movie its realistic aspect and helps the viewers truly get to know Elio and Oliver's personalities and identify with their individual experiences. The cinematography, with many shots within Elio's house's garden or in the woods, is beautiful and fits very well with the simplicity and naturality of Elio and Oliver's relationship. Finally, the soundtrack is a blessing to one's ears and resonates Elio and Oliver's personal feelings in each scene, notably in the very last and heart wrenching scene with Elio. Call Me By Your Name therefore successfully transports its viewers to their first teen summers, but also helps younger viewers see the beautiful yet harsh reality of love in a poetic and aesthetically pleasing way and how to handle it. I therefore greatly encourage everyone to watch it and enter the world of Elio and Oliver.

Atonement (2007)

Beautiful characterization and narration

[10/10 · 11 July 2018]

In the 1930s English countryside, young Briony, an aspired writer with great imagination, just added the final touches to her first ever play. She waits for her cousins' arrival to stage it with them and show it to her family, including her older sister Cecilia, and house employees. However, she is mostly exited to show it to Robbie, the house gardener, for whom she has developed a crush on. Briony is unaware that Robbie's heart is already taken by Cecilia, who reciprocates the feelings. Their relationship successfully remains a secret to everyone until one day a particular incident crashes the peaceful days of the Tallis household and triggers a series of events that will leave consequent scars on the characters.

The movie is a two-hour long flashback seen at most times from the point of view of Briony, that we see growing from a young, naïve and selfish 13-year-old girl, to a more mature young women, and finally to a wise but regretful old lady. Everything within the plot revolves around the mistakes Briony has committed when she was younger and how she needs to understand them and to cope with their consequences as an adult, taking her on a journey towards personal development. The purity of Robbie and Cecilia's love is also very touching. Moreover, the way the movie is filmed is esthetically breathtaking, with a lot of beautiful and complex shots such as the Dunkirk beach one take scene. If the original soundtrack of Atonement won an Oscar it is also for a reason. Indeed, the music fits extremely well with each scenes of the movie and truly brings it to life. Some very well composed tracks include one of the first of the film which is made using the noises of Robbie's typing machine, and the long track which accompanies him during the Dunkirk scene and manages to this scene all its power. Finally, what also truly makes this movie worthwhile is the final twist, along with the very emotionally packed final scene. Atonement is therefore a very well executed movie whose beauty and uniqueness rests on its narration, its twist and turns, its complex characters and their development, its breathtaking cinematography and its original soundtrack. I highly recommend this movie to everyone but beware of some hard topics that are evoked in it.

Born with It (2015)

A realistic take on discrimination among Japanese youth

[10/10 · 11 July 2018]

A young Japanese black skinned boy named Keisuke moves to the countryside with his mother and enters a new school as a transfer student. Due to his skin color and "non-typical Japanese" features, he starts getting bullied by his young classmates. Having difficulties coping with his classmates' remarks, he will however find comfort in his mother's words but also in a new and unexpected friendship.

I can say without a doubt that I really enjoyed this short Japanese film. Discrimination against "half" children in Japan has been a real social problem for years, and even with Japan opening its borders and mindset more and more as years pass, hurtful remarks and stereotyping remains a problem, particularly in the Japanese countryside, where diversity is scarce. Not a lot of films shine the light on this problem, but "Born with It" does and does it in a very realistic and touching manner. Indeed, Keisuke's daily life in the school seems relatable for any other half children that have been through the same kind of bullying. But the main aspect that touched me was the fact that the story doesn't take the simple way out for its ending and remains very realistic. Finally, the cinematography of the film was in my opinion really aesthetic, with colors more in the darker tones, fitting the seriousness of the issue touched upon. In the same way I also found the light music heard throughout the film to be really fitting.

Otousan no tabako (2007)

The great adventure of one little girl!

[9/10 · 9 July 2018]

The short film tells the story of a young Japanese girl whose father is gravely sick and cannot come out of bed. For this reason, he gives money to his daughter in order for her to go and buy him packs of cigarettes. But the girl's mother refuses this scheme and checks every time her daughter's bag for new packs, removing them and scolding her. Eventually, under her father's insistence, the daughter waits for her mother to leave and goes out on a mission to buy a new pack for her father.

The Errand was quite an enjoyable short film for me. I appreciated first of all the originality of the story. Indeed, what struck me is the fact that this story, where a little girl is allowed to buy packs of cigarettes just at a vending machine, would never have been possible to take place in my own country. In that way, the very first scene actually shocked me, before I understood for whom she was actually buying them. What I also really enjoyed is that we really feel for the little girl. For example, when she fails continuously to get a pack, I felt really sad for her thinking back on the reason why she was doing this to begin with, to make her father happy, even if she perfectly knows that it is not helping his health at all. Finally, I also like the "journey" aspect of the little girl's quest for a pack. She travels her neighborhood, meets various people and faces obstacles. Even if it might be just a small scaled journey, for such a young girl like her it is probably the biggest she's ever had to go on to.

Embers (2006)

Confusing at first but somewhat enjoyable

[6/10 · 9 July 2018]

This short film tells the story of a young woman living alone during the Second World War as she waits for her husband to come back. She then starts having traumatizing hallucinations in which a Japanese soldier appears in front of her and tries to kill her husband. They become more and more real and she ends up even hurting herself because of them. Then one day her husband come back from the battle field but she soon discovers that he has kept a human ear of a Japanese soldier he has killed. The wife then realizes that the man that has returned is no longer the sane man she knew before the war.

What I enjoyed about this short film was the atmosphere it gave off which was quite a dark one with very few dialogues but also a very nice setting, which also helps to mirror the decreasing sanity of the main character. I liked the fact that the husband she finds after his return has actually become the same as the one she was scared of in her hallucinations. I have to say however that what I enjoyed less was that I thought it was a bit difficult to understand where the film was going in the beginning.

Terry Tate, Office Linebacker (2002)

Crazily funny!

[8/10 · 9 July 2018]

When an American CEO wishes to actively enforce rules in his company and mutual respect between his coworkers, he decides to hire an American football player called Terry Tate. Whenever someone is caught breaking the law, Terry Tate literally tackles them to the ground and lectures them by shouting at them and telling them how they should have behaved and that they should never adapt this kind of behavior ever again.

What I really liked about this short is first its "TV reality" aspect. Indeed, we see shots of the main characters explaining their point of view directly to the camera. Furthermore, I enjoyed the deep contrast between the great violence of Terry Tate's actions and how it is actually turned into comedy, as his actions are so unreal within the context of the office. I also liked the fact that he actually starts being considered as an employee by the others, regardless of him slightly traumatizing the others, and that he really starts enjoying being an office worker. For anyone wanting to relax and have a good laugh I would therefore really recommend this short!

J'attendrai le suivant... (2002)

A touching story with a surprising plot twist

[4 July 2018]

This short French film entitled « J'attendrai le suivant » (I will wait for the next one) follows a middle aged women as she boards the subway. While she thinks her ride is going to be one of silence, a man in the same coach begins telling a personal story out loud for all the passengers to hear. He explains he is tired of being single and wishes to experience true love with a woman. He then addresses himself to all the women of the coach, asking them if they would be willing to give him a chance and if yes, if they could come off at the next station. Our main character smiles shyly, starting to consider taking the man's offer. When the train finally arrives at the next station, she gathers her courage and runs out; only to find out too late that it was all a sketch.

What I enjoy the most about this short film is the rapidity with which the viewer gets attached to the main character, in just four minutes. We feel really pitiful for her in the very end, wishing that she wouldn't get too affected afterwards by what has just happened. We are able to think of what kind of past this woman has had in her love life, and why she is so naively blinded by this man's words, and so easily convinced to run out of the carriage to follow him, even though he never comes out with her. But I also liked this dark plot twist, as I personally did not see it coming at all. Finally, I think the music is very appropriate, and I like the fact that it is only heard in the beginning of the film and at the end, after she is back on the platform, echoing for me her own frustrated state of mind.

Lifted (2006)

Funny and relatable short

[10/10 · 4 July 2018]

This short animation by Pixar Studios recounts the training of an alien in abducting humans on earth. The young inexperienced alien is having quite a hard time figuring out all the tricks of the job. He indeed needs to figure out how to use a machine with more than a thousand buttons that look exactly the same in order to successfully lift the human target out from his window and into the spaceship. Though the trainee alien seems quite confident on his capacities to succeed his examination, it will not be without a couple of hardships along the way.

I saw this short animation for the first time in the cinema when I was a child before the screening of a Pixar movie. I remember enjoying it then and my feelings have not changed a bit, I still laughed at every twists and turns. The film therefore does an amazing job in catching the attention of every age groups and making them laugh just the same, and doing so only through visual representations, as there are no dialogues. Even if the context is that of an alien passing a training exam, it is so easy to project oneself through him. The stress, the unflinching gaze of the examiner watching and judging every one of your move, the loss of confidence and failing every new attempt: all these characteristics are so relatable, and reminded me so much of my own traumatizing experience of the driving license exam. We therefore easily get attached to the trainee alien, but also to the examiner when we realize his "humanity" at the very end of the animation. Overall, a sweet and funny short animation which brightened my day.

Whacked (II) (1998)

An unexpected twist

[8/10 · 4 July 2018]

The beginning of this 1996 short film could confuse more then one watcher. Indeed, the first scene opens to a busy street in New York City. Suddenly, passersby start to collapse one after the other due to some unknown reason. The scene then changes to a completely different set up, more specifically to a closeup of a man. From that point the story will unfold so that the viewer is able to understand the meaning behind the first scene.

What is most enjoyable about this short film is its original scenario as well as how the story unfolds. Indeed, the fact that the opening scene is such a big question mark for the viewer renders him eager to watch the film until the very end, until he is faced with the opening scene once more, but with all the necessary information to now be able to understand it.

Furthermore, as the story develops, one realizes the absurdity behind the opening scene. While one could think of it as quite dramatic, with so many people fainting in the middle of the streets, the reason for it is very unexpected, which I found quite amusing.

All in all, these different points have left me with a good impression of Whacked!, even if I have to say that the acting talents of the different victims were slightly questionable.

The Crush (I) (2010)

Unrealistic story filled with clichés

[5/10 · 4 July 2018]

This short film tells the story of a young primary school boy who has developed a crush for his teacher. He sets his mind on being with her, bringing her a ring. Amused by the child's naivety, his teacher accepts the present and tells him she will think about the proposal. However, the next day while walking in the street, the boy encounters his teacher with another man, who she introduces as her fiancé. Hurt by his teacher's betrayal, the boy takes extreme measures to show his teacher that she shouldn't stay with her soon to be husband.

For several reasons I did not enjoy this short film, finding it too unrealistic to my taste. I was also triggered by the fact that it took quite lightly the issue of gun possession by children but also the position of women. Even though he is only a child and has yet to experience anything in life, the little boy is portrayed as the teacher's hero, knowing better what is good for her then herself, and saving her from her "horrible" fiancé. Some very clichéd stereotypes are also uttered, such as the fact that he can't be with her unless he can support her financially. I just really did not like the image relayed by the teacher, one of a damsel in distress, that needs to be taught how to make better choices in her life by an eight year old child. The boy is also portrayed in quite a disturbing matter. First in his way of speaking but also of course in his actions as he is threatening another man with a gun only to "get a woman". Overall, this short film did not initiate any feelings of enjoyment in me, just frustration over the characters portrayal and over the turn of events.

Three Days in Kamakura (2012)

The struggling of a mixed couple in Kamakura

[7/10 · 4 July 2018]

This twenty-minute short film is centered around the life of David and Keiko, a mixed British-Japanese couple. David works as a childrearer in an English school in Kamakura. Among the children he takes care of is Jay, a young American "hafu" teacher. His mother brings him and picks him up from school every day, but she seems to be slightly careless, and is often late. One day, she doesn't show up in the evening and David ends up taking Jay back home with him, where his wife awaits.

"Three Days in Kamakura" is more complex then this short summary suggests, and what I liked the best about it would indeed be that certain key points are not directly expressed in the dialogues of the characters but implied in the images, and expressions of the actors. They give some freedom to the watcher, enables us to make our own assumptions. Just like the scene where we are hinted at Keiko's personal struggling, or the very last scene when Jay's father comes to pick up his son and we are left to imagine the whereabouts of his mother.

If I should point out a certain aspect I disliked however, it would be the unreasonable logic of the main couple. Indeed, I found it disturbing that David would envision so quickly the idea of adopting Jay as his and Keiko's son, without knowing anything about his parent's situation, only assuming from several quick encounters with the mother. The fact that he refused at first to call the police was also to my thinking a bit off. I feel like the drama around which the plot was centered could therefore have been less extreme. Regardless of these doubts I have with the character's behavior I do think this short film is worth a watch, as one also gets to see very beautiful shots of the Japanese seaside.

Fish Out of Water (2005)

When patience reaches its limits

[7/10 · 1 May 2018]

An office worker escapes the daily stress of traffic jam by rowing his boat to work every morning. His peaceful routine is however soon disrupted when his smart tactic is discovered by an office lady, followed by three other envious workers, all of whom he accepts on board his boat.

From being very quiet and clean, his commute to work is now filled with cigarette smoke, munching noises, electric engine vibrations and cell phones ringing, with no signs of gratefulness from the people he has taken in. "Will the worker continue to bear with the people taking advantage of his kindness?" is a question you will find answered at the end of this quite enjoyable short film.

Though no dialogue is heard at all, the sudden disruptions in the daily life of the worker and his growing annoyance are successfully conveyed through the images and music. For example, through the change of his posture and his physical condition when going to work, as well as though his interactions with his environment, namely his neighbors and the fisherwoman, who waits everyday for him to arrive and whose expression clearly changes as she discovers what is happening.

I also enjoyed the gradual change of the music's atmosphere as the story evolves. Indeed, it becomes heavier and slower, mirroring the growing annoyance of the worker.

The final resolution brings a nice comic touch to this light story, where one understands that patience has its limits when dealing with the selfishness of individuals.

Father and Daughter (2000)

A surprising discovery

[9/10 · 22 April 2018]

A young girl accompanies her father on a bike trip to a lake before he parts away from her on a boat following one last hug. Unable to accept his departure, we see her returning there at every stage of her life in hopes of seeing him again. In just two lines this would be the summary of the rightfully entitled short film "Father and Daughter".

However, as simple and short as it may seem, the underlying message and means of storytelling are unexpectedly very powerful. The film successfully represents the passing of time and the inability to ever completely forget and come to term with the death of a close one.

But the strongest aspect of "Father and Daughter" for me is that all these points are expressed solely with the help of image, sound, and music. For instance, how the turning wheels of the bicycle are used as a metaphor for the years going by. I was particularly touched when the daughter, now a grandmother, finally gets off her bike to go back one last time to the lake. She just cannot seem to be able to make it stay up and it keeps on falling, announcing the bittersweet ending. The wheels cannot turn anymore because her own time has come now too, and she is able to meet her father again. Lastly, I also enjoyed the nostalgic feeling of the music used, which really helped to set the mood.

If you have eight minutes to spare, I highly recommend this short and touching film!