Jakob the Liar (1999)

Synopsis: Poland, 1944. Jakob lives in Jewish ghetto and, after he hears some war news on a German radio, people start believing he owns a radio; this causes a great uproar in the ghetto and complications for Jakob.
Appraisal: This is based on a 1969 novel by Jurek Becker, previously filmed in 1975. It is an interesting story about the revolutionary power of mass communication, and the ethical quandary opposing truth vs. pragmatic lies. It can be thought of as complementary to such works as Moonlighting (1982) and Depuis qu'Otar est parti... (2003); while in those films the news are used as an 'official' vehicle for the appeasement of the 'people', here news are an instrument for the oppressed. The film has a beautiful cinematography, which gives a good sense of the ghetto ambiance. The average level of the acting, however, is far from good, and the fact that the dialogue is spoken in English with an artificial accent makes comprehension difficult at times.
Rating: 53

Confidences trop intimes (2004)

English title: Intimate Strangers.
Synopsis: A woman on her way to her first appointment with a psychoanalyst enters by mistake in a tax advisor's office and tells her secrets to him.
Appraisal: An absurd premise followed by a trite and unconvincing development results in a silly film, whose only purpose is to evoke some sexual tension between the two leads; it partially succeeds at that, thanks largely to the great ability of the performers.
Rating: 40

Dog Soldiers (2002)

Synopsis: A group of soldiers gets stuck in a cabin surrounded by werewolves.
Appraisal: Although it has original elements in its premise, the overall development of this film is basically cliché, and not very well written at that. There is little suspense build-up; hardly any distinction between the secondary characters; dialogue that will make you cringe; plot that doesn't always make sense; editing that is far from perfect, some scenes being, at times, difficult to follow. Shortly put, it is watchable, but I didn't enjoy it much.
Rating: 36

The Queen (2006)

Synopsis: After the death of the ex-princess, there is a general outcry for some manifestation of sorrow from the Royal Family.
Appraisal: A magnificent stag ('an Imperial', someone describes it) stands on a hill while some kids who just lost their mother are nearby, eager to take his life. The Queen takes the side of the beast, and shoos it. There is a metaphor in that, the kids standing for the English people, childish and voluble; the stag is the Monarchy. The stag is finally killed by an investment banker - the Monarchy finally defeated by capitalism? - but it doesn't die at once, running for a long time after being injured. The Prime Minister rises to power promising many reforms, but who doesn't these days? The queen warns him his turn will come; in our time frame, it has already, and different actors are playing some of these same roles. So, if you wish to make the correspondence, the Royalty stands for the U.S. empire, England for the flunkeys ('groveling on all fours'), and the ex-princess's death for 9/11.
Rating: 65

Ça commence aujourd'hui (1999)

English title: It All Starts Today.
Synopsis: This film tells the typical everyday problems faced by a kindergarten teacher in an economically troubled town in France; it also has some subplots relating to his private life.
Appraisal: This film's dramatic merits are not abundant; it tries to be all over the place, diluting considerably its strength. That being said, it is not devoid of interest. It is instructive, in a sort of encyclopedic way, about the problems that affect some economically depleted regions in France. I don't think it tells lies; probably all that goes on in the film is based on reality. But it is hard to see it as detached and objective; beginning with its title, stating that the future 'starts today', therefore the children of today are the men of tomorrow, there is a clear catechetical agenda in the movie; it also comes with a distinct ideological coloring: for example, an unbelievable amount of children has Anglo-Saxon names, and one of the characters notices that fact in amazement; thus, the film seems to imply that American films and TV are responsible for the problems afflicting these French families, which, according to it, range from alcoholism to child abuse. It is quite professionally done; the acting is on a satisfactory level, and the staging of the school scenes is convincing enough.
Rating: 46

By the Sun's Rays (1914)

Synopsis: A gold mine has its shipments constantly being stolen because its clerk is an accomplice of the bandits; he signals to them with a mirror whenever a shipment goes out; the mine owner sends for a detective, who solves the case and romances the owner's daughter.

The Skulls (2000)

Synopsis: Lucas, a college student of modest background, is invited to join a college secret society, and meets with the disapproval of his closest friend. The latter starts an investigation and ends up dead, which gives Lucas second thoughts about belonging to the secret society.
Appraisal: I wanted to see this film because it has, broadly speaking, a very interesting subject matter, one that hasn't been explored very often in films. And I did find it interesting, up to a certain point. Sadly, when it comes to the film's dramatic merits, I can't say it has enough of them to make for a rewarding viewing experience. The film's plot suffers from very poor choices in the second half, defying common sense in the most blatant manner. Anyway, a much more interesting approach would be to skip the whole murder investigation angle and really dwell on the Society life, baring to our eyes its inner working in its everyday aspects, and, if possible, extending to post-school activities. But that is not box-office material, so...
Rating: 40

Vampire's Kiss (1989)

Synopsis: A literary agent in New York begins to think he has turned into a vampire.
Appraisal: Brilliant. And funny. And more than a little disturbing, once one realizes what it is ultimately about, hints of which can be perceived in various instances throughout the film, for example in the taxi driver's speech, which clarifies the 'misfiling' theme: love is love, work is work, sex is sex. "How can someone misfile something?", Peter shouts to his therapist, but can human emotions really be isolated from one another? It also signals, right from the opening shots of building tops evoking huge fangs pointing upwards, that it can also be taken as a dissection of New York at its most businesslike - probably one of the few places where someone can go completely crazy in a bathroom and all an unnoticed witness will assume is that he is practicing for his acting classes. Like American Psycho did a decade later, it establishes a relation between the big city's dehumanization and mental illness. The leading performance is intelligently attentive to the role's needs; kudos also for the actress playing the secretary.
Rating: 77
Ranking: 17th in my favorites for 1989.

Larger Than Life (1996)

Synopsis: A man inherits an elephant from his father (whom he never knew).
Appraisal: A very clever premise, that brings to the fore the problematic life that the main character has been living, and gives it a solution, in an ingenious, or simply serendipitous, posthumous action from the abandoned father. It is also a humorous response to motivational programs, a plague of our days. The development did not satisfy me as much, but is far from boring, and the main actor illuminates everything he is in.
Rating: 51

Flushed Away (2006)

Synopsis: A pet mouse is alone in the house while its owners are away on a trip; a sewer mouse invades the house and when the pet mouse tries to flush the sewer mouse down the toilet the former ends up being flushed himself. He finds an underground city, and meets a pretty lady mouse and foils an evil plan concocted by a toad.
Appraisal: Visually interesting, frantic and loud, with nice characters, but has a weak plot (e.g. the association of sewer creatures with precious stones is pretty uninspired and arbitrary). Saw it dubbed in Portuguese.
Rating: 53

Masques (1987)

English title: Masks.
Synopsis: A writer approaches a TV host and proposes to write his biography; the TV host accepts and invites the writer over to his country estate. The TV host keeps his orphaned godchild there, and she and the writer make friends. The real agenda of the writer is gradually revealed, and some hidden facts about the TV host also come to fore.
Appraisal: This plot is rather devoid of surprises, with a taste of déjà vu. The mise-en-scène is rather conventional too. The dialogue is reasonably well written and the acting is excellent. Overall, a forgettable film, that has its highlight in the final TV speech delivered by the protagonist.
Rating: 37

Le confessionnal (1995)

English title: The Confessional.
Synopsis: In 1989, a man returns to Québec City for his father's funeral, and, along with his adopted brother, pursues an investigation about the latter's real father. This story is interweaved with that of his parents, set in 1952, and his mother's sister who lived in the same house with them; the film also shows Hitchcock in Québec during the production of I Confess, of whose plot this film's is a variation.
Appraisal: Moderately interesting but too dispersive and ice cold; full of symbolism (the red paint that keeps coming back, the bathtub that is colored red, etc.); I didn't totally connect.
Rating: 48

Far from Heaven (2002)

Synopsis: U.S.A., 1957. A woman finds out that her husband has homosexual inclinations. Meanwhile, she develops a friendship with her African-American gardener.
Appraisal: Intelligent drama, conceived and shot with clockwork precision, and a powerful reminder of how wrong and senseless certain social conventions can be. I am not sure about the verisimilitude of certain details; for instance, the conversation about art in the exposition seemed unlike anything I have come across among non-intellectuals, but perhaps I should give it the benefit of the doubt; another example is the sequence of the persecution of the little girl which did seem a little simplistically staged. On a bitchier note, maybe I am a tiny little bit suspicious of a film that looks so organized and methodical, and everyone seems to behave so according to expectations. Anyway, its achievements are still great, and its poignant story is probably akin to many real life ones. The acting in this film is top notch.
Rating: 75
Ranking: 11th position in my favorites list for 2002

A Night in the Show (1915)

Second viewing of this short. Nothing to add to the review I wrote on June 21, 2006, except that this time I watched the restored version. Aside from the general better state of the copy and the corrected frame speed, the only difference I perceived in this version was that in the line to buy tickets there is an additional couple (and Charlie flirts with the woman).

Bocage - O Triunfo do Amor (1997)

English title: Bocage, the Triumph of Love.
Synopsis: The film's first and third acts are an account of some incidents in the life of Manuel Maria Barbosa du Bocage (1765-1805), a Portuguese poet, illustrated by his poems; the middle section is a story written by him, involving two women who are seduced by the same man.
Appraisal: Doubtless interesting and probably successful in giving a picture (albeit a partial one) of a free-spirited libertine; it is however impossible to contextualize some of the events depicted if one hasn't read anything about the poet (my case); the visuals are elaborate and reminded me of films like Medea (1969) and Satyricon (1969). A pleasant film, but perhaps too loose in form and incomplete in contents to qualify as a major work.
Rating: 54

Manderlay (2005)

Synopsis: A woman happens upon a rural community where slavery is still existent, even after its abolition. She decides to overthrow the archaic rules by which it has lived and adapt it to modern, more liberal times.
Appraisal: Perhaps it would be interesting to note that, while in Dogville we had a community nearly destroy an individual, here it is the other way around. This film is on approximately the same high-school-drama level as that other film, and has the same anti-American agenda, which I find most inappropriate, since it is neither an accurate depiction of a historic event, nor a hypothetical situation envisioned as a warning about some impending development. This kind of anti-Americanism just for the sake of it is pointless and mean-spirited, in my opinion; of course, I am in favor of exposés (of any kind), and of deep, well substantiated political analysis; I am also for liberal ideas, and against wars that will bring more harm than good; should I also add that I like sets and elaborated camerawork, or would that be considered reactionary?
Rating: 38

Johnny Handsome (1989)

Synopsis: A facially deformed ex-con agrees to participate in a robbery to help an old friend, but things don't come out as he expected.
Appraisal: This is an OK crime drama in the noir style, not very memorable and with a script that perhaps would need some additional work, but enjoyable all the same and featuring an impressive lead performance and some good supporting ones too.
Rating: 51

The Family Stone (2005)

Synopsis: A woman spends Christmas with her boyfriend's family, but she doesn't get along too well with them.
Appraisal: A nearly perfect first act that sadly goes mostly downhill from there, at its worst resorting to bad slapstick to make up for its lack of inspiration; it also gets progressively more dramatic (and romantic) towards the end, but it fails to fully convince as such.
Rating: 59

Universal Soldier: The Return (1999)

Synopsis: A computer runs out of control, programming the Universal Soldiers - androids made from dead soldiers - to stage a rebellion.
Appraisal: Althoug it was better than my very low expectations predicted, it is still marred by an indistinctive and derivative plot. Why it is better: it has some sense of humor, which makes it watchable; some fight scenes are not bad either.
Rating: 34

Roberto Succo (2001)

Synopsis: This film tells the real exploits of an Italian man who went to France and there lived as a burglar and a robber, murdering several people along the way.
Appraisal: I don't have exactly any negative comments to make about this film; what it sets itself to do, it does, namely, tell this person's bizarre story, avoiding speculations and keeping it to what was witnessed. Oddly, I found it simultaneously exciting and boring, perhaps not in the same degree, excitement winning by a small margin. But it's not much more than an extended version of one of those TV shows that depict "astounding crimes" and the like. Except here it is lifted by a uniformly stupendous cast, a compliment that inevitably extends to the director.
Rating: 60

Babel (2006)

Synopsis: Several interconnected stories are told simultaneously. A moroccan peasant buys a rifle to kill the jackals that are eating his goats; a woman on tour in Morocco with her husband is shot; a Mexican housekeeper working in America needs to go to Mexico for her brother's wedding during her bosses' absence; a deaf Japanese adolescent girl is facing an emotional crisis due to lack of affection.
Appraisal: The inherent intensity in these stories are translated into strong images, making for an emotional cliffhanger of sorts; special mentions should be made for the actresses playing 'Amelia' and 'Chieko'. The film has a good thematic cohesion too, being about incommunicability and isolation in a so-called globalized and interconnected society. The fact is, barriers exist, and are getting higher, it seems to imply; some of them are inside us, in our prejudices, and others, which may be reflections of the inner ones, are embedded in the laws that regulate our world. Whatever its degree of success in making that point, it is an ingenious and mostly enjoyable piece of cinematic storytelling. If I don't rate it higher, it is because I think the individual short stories lack depth, although they sure have strong moments in them. Of the characters presented, the only one that made a consistent impression on me was Amelia.
Rating: 67

The Champion (1915)

I had seen this film previously on January 29, 2006, and its synopsis and some comments were posted on this blog at that date. However, the version I'd seen then was incomplete, and the one I've seen today is a restored one. The initial scene with the dog was completely absent from the earlier version; aside from that, I haven't compared the two versions.

A Night Out (1915/I)

I had already seen this film on January 29, 2006, and you can find a synopsis and one line of review for it on this blog at that date. However, the version I have seen today is a restored one, with many differences in editing; many scenes that are featured in this restored version are not present in the one I previously saw. Conversely, and oddly, the reverse is also true, albeit in a much minor scale; some very short, and generally of little importance, scenes that are in the non-restored version are not in the restored one, most notable of which are Ben drinking the water Charlie gives him and Charlie trying to hang his trousers by the window and not letting them drop on the floor.
Some of the scenes that were not in the non-restored version (and are in the restored one) are:
- after Ben gives a friendly slap on Charlie's chest, all of a sudden he is seen lying inside the fountain, then Charlie also falls in the eating area, then the waiter slips and falls by the fountain, then he pulls Ben by the arm to his table;
- Chaplin makes his ablutions at the fountain;
- at the first hotel, Charlie peeks through the keyhole and is caught by the bellboy;
- at the second hotel, Charlie places his jacket and hat on the telephone set and shakes hands with his jacket;
- Charlie puts his trousers under the blanket;
- he falls on the floor;
- some intercalated scenes of Edna and her dog;
- Edna playing with dog (with shoe);
- Charlies tries to hang trousers on several places;
- in the bathroom, Charlie spreads a product on his hair and combs it.

City of Fear (2001)

Synopsis: A journalist is invited to do a story in Sofia on a scientist who is his childhood friend, but arriving there he hears of his friend's death. He decides to investigate what is behind it.
Appraisal: Poorly scripted and acted, this is hardly worth one's time, despite all the references to Citizen Kane and The Third Man, and a few valuable remarks about the situation in post-communism Bulgaria. Most ludicrous moment: a medical research center featuring an employee-of-the-month photo on the wall.
Rating: 12

Life as a House (2001)

Synopsis: A divorced architectural model builder is terminally ill and decides to spend his last summer with his rebellious teenage son, and to build with his help a mortise-and-tenon house which he has been dreaming of for long.
Appraisal: (*SPOILERS AHEAD*) Lamely written drama about relationships, whose ending is totally predictable from its start in both its sad and happy aspects. Its development is also not very full of surprises, except sometimes it surprises us in the artificial set-ups it contrives so that things turn up well for its protagonists (example: see how they arrange it for Alyssa to find out that her boyfriend is a scumbag just so that she can break up with him and be Sam's girlfriend). It's not touching, precisely because there is so little in it that feels real.
Rating: 40

The Massacre (1913)

Synopsis (with spoilers): A woman has two suitors; one of them is a scout for the army, the other is a more urban character; she chooses the urban one. The scout rejoins the army and on a certain day decides to go with some friends and massacre a Native American village. Meanwhile, Mr. and Mrs. Urbanite decide to go West, and when they must go through dangerous territory they go with a military escort; guess who is with the escort as a scout? You guessed it, it's the rejected suitor. Well, things are going fine until some survivors of the earlier massacre decide to take revenge upon the white men and attack the caravan. During the attack, Mr. Urbanite is away, as he had to attend to some business on a military base nearby. Another scout (or is it the same one?) goes to him and warns him that his wife and child (did I mention they have a lovely baby?) are in terrible danger, so he rushes back to join them. The gunfight at the site of the attack is non-stop, and everybody dies, except the woman and her baby, who were shielded by the brave men, and the husband, because he was away. So, I guess it was a happy ending, right?
P.S.: this is my second viewing of this film; my first viewing was on January 19, 2006.

Monsoon Wedding (2001)

Synopsis: An arranged wedding in India. The film tells several micro-stories involving the many characters: the bride, the bride's stepsister, the bride's younger brother, the wedding contractor, the housemaid, etc. One subplot deals with child molesting; there are also some romance-oriented subplots; and some parenting issues involving the younger son.
Appraisal: It's very well directed, but I think that the film suffers from being too trivial at times; also, the dramatic conflicts are kept at a superficial level, probably because there are so many subplots that there would be no way to devote a lot of time to each of them without making the film overlong.
Rating: 61

Enoch Arden (1911)

Synopsis (with spoilers): Annie Lee has two suitors, Philip Ray and Enoch Arden. She ends up choosing Enoch as a husband. He is poor, and soon, with three children to support, he finds himself in dire need of money, so he decides to enlist as a sailor on a long trip. There is a shipwreck and he ends up on a deserted island. Meanwhile, at home, Philip Ray resumes his courtship of Annie Lee and finally convinces her to marry him. One day, a passing ship discovers Enoch in his island and rescues him back home. Getting there, he finds out his wife has remarried and dies of sadness. Based on a 1864 poem by Alfred Tennyson.

The Lesser Evil (1912)

Synopsis (spoilers herein): A young woman lives near the seaside and has a sweetheart that works as a fisherman. One day, she meets him and sets to meet him again later at a set time. When the meeting time arrives she goes to the place where she was supposed to meet him, but he is not there, because his watch broke and he missed the meeting hour. The meeting place is right beside a shed and she figures that he might be inside. She opens the door and comes upon a gang of smugglers doing their shady business. They capture the woman and decide to kidnap her to their boat (why exactly, it is not explained; I figure it is to prevent her from denouncing them). The boyfriend arrives on the beach just in time to see her off to the smugglers' boat. He runs to call the police to rescue her. Aboard the boat, the captain puts the woman in his cabin. The crew is planning to rape the woman, but, as the captain decides to protect her, they organize a mutiny. The captain sets guard at his cabin's door, shooting anyone who will come near. As he runs short on ammunition, however, he decides to get in the cabin. There, he tells the woman that there is only one bullet left in his revolver and, if she agrees to it, he will shoot her so that she escapes being raped ("the lesser evil" that the title refers to). She agrees to it. Before he pulls the trigger, however, the rescue party arrives. The captain intents to shoot himself but is talked out of it by the woman. He then hides from the rescue team, jumps to the water and swims to the shore. The woman doesn't tell on him and after a while she looks through a binocular to see if he has made it safely to the shore.

Friends (1912)

Synopsis (spoilers): In a gold mining town lives Dora, a beautiful young woman ("an orphan") who is the sweetheart of Dandy Jack, presumably a gold miner. He is described as a "gambolier". Anyway, he decides to leave town because he has better chances of making money up North. He says goodbye to his sweetheart, who is devastated. But soon Grizzley Fallon, another prospector, comes into town and begins to court Mary. She is reluctant at first, but finally reciprocates. Then, one day, Dandy Jack returns to town and finds his old sweetheart engaged to Grizzley, who happens to be a friend of his. Mary still has feelings for Dandy Jack, but he chooses to forsake his love in favor of his old friend.

The Miser's Heart (1911)

Synopsis (complete with spoilers): A little girl whose mother is very ill is told to go play in the common area of the tenement where she lives. There she encounters the miser who lives upstairs. He is coming from the bakery and the little girl takes a loaf of bread from him. The miser initially protests, then comiserates with her, finally deciding on a fraction of a loaf, taking back the remaining portion of it. He then climbs to his apartment where he holds a vault with his savings. Meanwhile on the street a thief is released from jail; once in the street he steals a sack of bread from the bakery's employee, runs away and arrives at the building where the little girl lives; they meet, he gives her some bread and starts to eat. She goes up to the miser's house to offer him the bread (in retribution for the one he had given her?). Meanwhile a pair of house thieves is planning to rob the miser's money. When they enter through a window they encounter the miser and the little girl. They tie the old man up and ask him for the vault's combination. He won't give it, so they threaten the girl. Only after they hang her outside the window threatening to drop her to the floor (remember the apartment is upstairs) he agrees to give them the combination. Meanwhile the other thief (the one who had stolen the bread) sees the girl hanging outside the window and calls the police. They arrive in the building, save the miser and the little girl and arrest the bad burglars. The miser then goes down to the little girl's apartment and offers her mother some money, to buy medicine for her and perhaps a doll for her daughter.

The Last Drop of Water (1911)

Synopsis (complete with spoilers): A woman has two suitors; one is shy and the other is overly imposing. The woman ends up marrying the latter, who turns out to be a drunkard. Then the three of them are in a caravan heading west. They are attacked by Natives. They run out of water. The two men volunteer to go get more of it. The shy one is passing out due to thirst, but is saved by the other one, who offers him what is left of his supply of water and shortly dies. The cavalry arrives and saves the caravan.

Two Family House (2000)

Synopsis: In the early 50's a man buys a house in Staten Island whose tenants - a middle-aged drunkard and his much younger wife, who is pregnant - won't vacate the place. He urges them to leave because he intends to use the place for residence and also for the bar he plans to open (but to which his wife opposes). An unexpected - for all but one of them - fact, however, changes the course of events.
Appraisal: Moderately interesting story in a competent rendition. It's marginally about racism but ultimately about how the environment one lives in may annihilate one's individuality.
Rating: 55

Bee Season (2005)

Synopsis: When his 11 year old daughter enters a spelling competition, Saul becomes more and more focused on her. Meanwhile, his wife and elder son become more and more detached.
Appraisal: There is a skeleton of reason in this film, which is surrounded by annoying elements that definitely spoiled it for me. Thus, there is one character that has psychic powers, there is another character who has a completely implausible mental illness which is disclosed for the viewer only near the ending, and there is also a professor that believes in the magical powers of the cabala. All that is very phony, in my opinion. The reasonable part has to do with a family falling apart because of reasons very hard to put one's finger at, but having to do apparently with the domineering personality of the father. It is not well developed precisely because almost all the time of the movie is wasted, as I said, with mystical or supernatural garbage. Also, I confess there were some sequences with a toppled car whose meaning I couldn't figure out.
Rating: 37

Miss Congeniality (2000)

Synopsis: A female FBI agent has to go undercover as a Miss USA contestant to investigate and prevent a possible terrorist attack.
Appraisal: Not very rich in laughs; actually, the best bits are the ones that are in the trailer. But it is watchable and the lead actress is a pretty competent comedian.
Rating: 38

Nochnoy Dozor (2004)

English title: Night Watch.
Synopsis: There are "others" among us. They are divided in "light-others" and "darkness-others". The latter are vampires. There is also an extremely jinxed woman that is about to cause a catastrophe. And the dark ones are after a child that will decide the fate of the Earth.
Appraisal: What is this? The result of too much vodka, perhaps? "Anything goes" seems to be the motto.
Rating: 14

Stay (2005/I)

Synopsis: A psychiatrist takes a patient who has stated his intention of committing suicide on a precise date and time. As he tries to prevent that extreme act he begins to witness strange occurrences that seem to defy reason.
Appraisal, with spoilers: Yet another film in the continuing trend of supernatural thrillers the idea for which appeared for the first time in 1891 when Ambrose Bierce published a short story named "An Occurrence at Owl Bridge Creek" in the collection Tales of Soldiers and Civilians. Then in 1962 an atmospheric little film called Carnival of Souls used a similar idea. In 1990, came Jacob's Ladder, which I don't remember well but apparently dealt with similar motifs. In 1999, there was The Sixth Sense whose plot idea had a certain similarity to Carnival of Souls. Then came The Others, in 2001, with the same basic idea. Mulholland Dr., also in 2001, was related, although it had no supernatural connotations. In 2003, there was The I Inside, another variation. And in 2005, this film called Stay, which is a reworking of The I Inside's basic idea, combined with an idea from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass (the one that was used in the epigraphe of Borges's short story The Circular Ruins). Thus this is the 6th (at least) variation on a theme that is beginning to feel very tired. I didn't see anything particularly remarkable about this one. It is well acted and shot, but there is not much else to it.
Rating: 35

True Colors (1991)

Synopsis: Two friends from Law School have different characters and backgrounds. One is lower-middle class, ambitious and unscrupulous; the other is upper-middle-class and an idealist. They pursue different careers: the unscrupulous one goes into politics, joining a senator's staff, and the idealistic one becomes a public attorney.
Appraisal: This is a drama about friendship that also has interesting insights into the American political system, in particular the issue of private financing of political campaigns, a terrible plague which affects also my country, Brazil. While possibly this story is not one that will affect one in a deep way, it is well worth one's attention: it is well written and well directed and, while some situations are clearly exaggerated for dramatic purposes, there are many points of contact with real life that I could recognize.
Rating: 55

Przypadek (1987)

English title: Blind Chance.
Synopsis: Three stories show how a character's life would unfold depending on one banal event: the catching of a train. In the first one, he quits his studies to become a Party member in 1980's Poland; in the second one, he joins an opposition group; in the third one, he decides to pursue a medical career and not get involved in politics.
Appraisal: Tedious study on chance and fate in the Communist world. This film was finished in 1981 and shelved for 6 years.
Rating: 37

The Illusionist (2006)

Synopsis: A magician competes with a prince for the love of a duchess.
Appraisal: I really feel cheated for having payed to see this movie. It is one of the few films that I feel incapable of reviewing. It's just so bad in so many different aspects that it is just hard to conceptualize my objections. To put it shortly, it doesn't make sense however you look at it. There is nothing in it that would justify the time (and, in my case, the money) spent seeing it. To be completely fair, there was the seed of a good film in one line said by the Prince: "How come he deceives people and is loved and I expose the truth and am hated?" (not an accurate quotation, I'm afraid). Had this line of reasoning been pursued, we would have a serious, non-manicheistic film instead of the preposterous nonsense that was delivered.
Rating: 10

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)

Synopsis: Five friends are on a van, on their way to a concert, when they almost run over a young woman walking aimlessly on the road. They stop to help her, and this is the beginning of a series of ghastly occurrences wherein they will meet a family of freaks and murderers.
Appraisal: While not completely bad as a horror and suspense film, still there are several things that don't seem to be right in this remake of a 1974 horror classic. The approach here is less extreme than in the other film, and the dark humor is largely absent. This is bad because the film verges into obnoxiousness in more than one occasion, and it seems misplaced because there isn't a context of caricature like there was in the first film. It doesn't always fare too well in the suspense department either, with many set-pieces that operate in a somewhat disjointed way. I guess the film will work better for those who haven't seen the earlier version.
Rating: 40

Redentor (2004)

English title: Redeemer.
Synopsis: A journalist does a story on a bankrupt real-estate entrepreneur who was his childhood friend; he gets caught in a web of corruption whilst being assaulted by religious visions.
Appraisal: While it has a premise that is rooted on some Brazilian real events and addresses some of Brazil's chronic problems, it sadly opts for a silly approach instead of delving deeper into the interesting issues it deals with. It doesn't manage to be funny -- to be honest, I'm not sure it even strives for comicity -- and in fact I don't know what it accomplishes if anything. But here and there one stumbles upon an interesting idea, so I guess it's not a total waste.
Rating: 35

Il cuore altrove (2003)

English titles: Incantato; The Heart Is Elsewhere.
Synopsis: A sexually inexperienced schoolteacher, at his father's advice, moves to another city where it would be easier for him to find a woman to marry and thus provide an heir who would continue the family business -- making clothes for the clergy. He meets a recently blinded woman for whom he falls.
Appraisal: Interesting film, with a subtle sense of humor and a clever script; the only problem -- that is, if we can call that a problem -- is that the development is a little predictable, and the premise has been explored in many films already, with slight variations. But it is a worthwhile film, that throughout its duration remains faithful to its approach of keeping a distance from its characters and pursuing a slightly melancholy mood.
Rating: 62

El maquinista (2004)

English title: The Machinist.
Synopsis: A blue-collar worker has had insomnia for a year now. Strange things start happening to him, such as seeing a person whose existence everyone else denies.
Appraisal: This is ultimately silly as a construction, building up mystery that it never intended to solve in the first place, a characteristic that appears to be very fashionable at the moment in films. Directorially the film is an achievement, with a visual style that matches exactly what the story is asking. Taken individually, there are several sequences that are interesting and strong. It is too bad that, as I said, the approach is misguided, leading the audience to expect a complex explanation that never comes -- the one that is provided is perhaps an explanation for the protagonist's mental state, but places much of what happened earlier under the label 'hallucination', which is a very easy thing to do. Furthermore, I don't understand how the alleged solution to the protagonist's problem is a solution at all.
Rating: 45

Striptease (1996)

Synopsis: A woman loses custody of her daughter to her ex-husband and tries to improve her financial situation working as a dancer at a strip-club. By way of her work - and of her attempts to recover custody of her child - she gets involved with a corrupt congressman.
Appraisal: Shabbily done mix of drama and satire (an unusual mix, for sure) that nevertheless has enough going to keep one slightly amused.
Rating: 37

Random Hearts (1999)

Synopsis: An Internal Affairs sergeant whose wife dies in a plane crash discovers she was having an affair with the man who was sitting next to her on the plane; he then seeks out that man's wife, who is running for Congress.
Appraisal: This film transpires elaboration in every shot and line; the one thing I'm not sure of though is whether such a turn-off of a story deserves the amount of professionalism and skill put to it. Based on a 1984 novel by Warren Adler.
Rating: 41

In Her Shoes (2005)

Synopsis: Two sisters, one a workaholic lawyer, the other a jobless bimbo. They fight and the bimbo sister goes to Florida to meet her estranged grandmother. The lawyer sister decides to quit her job after a love affair with a colleague goes awry.
Appraisal: Although the first, say, 20 minutes of this film establishes a potentially interesting situation, it is clear from then on that nothing will come of it; it then just adds more and more story bits that become more and more tedious and perfunctory. Some of it makes little sense, such as the lawyer sister's decision to switch to a supposedly less demanding and less stressing occupation (note: echoes of American Beauty (1999), only there it made sense, or so I thought); the inevitable resolution is forced upon us in the usual unconvincing manner.
Rating: 33

Undercover Blues (1993)

Synopsis: A couple of retired spies with a baby is enjoying their vacation in New Orleans and are convinced back into their jobs with the task of foiling the smuggling of some weapons to Europe.
Appraisal: Very tame comedy that bases its humor on the effortless skill of the two central characters.
Rating: 35

Evelyn (2002)

Synopsis: After his wife abandons him and his three children, an Irish unemployed house painter has trouble supporting his family, and the state sends them to institutions run by the church. The battle to have them back is a tough one and involves some legal issues.
Appraisal: Although the main character and his daughter are surely worthy of our sympathy, and the exposition and development of the story are clear and easy to follow, I couldn't help an overall impression of laziness and perhaps compromise. For example, I honestly didn't exactly buy the all-sisters-were-nice-except-one angle, but who knows. Anyway, it is definitely on the watchable side, but don't expect much.
Rating: 43

Shadow Conspiracy (1997)

Synopsis: A presidential aide is contacted by an independent researcher about an ongoing conspiracy involving members of the White House inner circle. The researcher and his colleagues are murdered and the aide is relentlessly hunted down, along with a woman journalist.
Appraisal: This film has been bashed by viewers and critics alike, mainly, it seems, for its lack of realism and some ludicrous methods used by the villain. They are probably right but I couldn't help being somewhat entertained by the film; even the most preposterously absurd sequences kept me watching with interest; as an action film it could have done a lot worse.
Rating: 41

When a Man Loves a Woman (1994)

Synopsis: A pilot is married to a schoolteacher. When she develops an alcohol addiction, her family life starts to deteriorate.
Appraisal: This drama deals with heavy issues that hardly any film dares to tackle, and, although it does it mostly with intelligence, it can't help embellishing it, the way Hollywood usually does. The ending seemed especially forced. That being said, it is still an overall rewarding experience. The players deserve compliments for their convincing performances and the director, for eliciting them.
Rating: 60

Gothika (2003)

Synopsis: A psychiatrist who works at a detention facility for the insane suffers, on her way home, an accident after which she loses conscience; when she comes to she is being accused of having murdered her husband.
Appraisal: The big unsolved puzzle here is why the dead must place themselves in front of moving vehicles -- thus provoking nasty accidents -- in order to communicate with the living. I must say that due to a state of extreme exhaustion I didn't understand one of the key sequences of the movie -- namely, the flashback to the murder -- and at first my assessment was compromised; I then read the whole plot at The Movie Spoiler and things fit in. This is a well acted and tautly directed supernatural mystery thriller that nevertheless has an unsatisfactory script.
Rating: 35

Runaway Daughters (1994) (TV)

Synopsis: Three girls go after the boy who impregnated one of them and left to join the Navy.
Appraisal: It begins promisingly, with some good dialogue and period satire; sadly, it every so often strays into pure nonsense, e.g. the meeting with the communist hunters in the woods; anyway the type of humor it aims for is too lightweight to deserve much consideration. Remake of the 1956 film of the same name.
Rating: 41

Happy Gilmore (1996)

Synopsis: A failed hockey player finds out he has a talent for golf and decides to play for the money he needs to buy back his grandmother's confiscated house.
Appraisal: Sports comedy that has some funny bits in the first half hour but then turns into a boring succession of uninspired golf-related gags and not much else.
Rating: 30