movie review: dirty pretty things

last but not least, we did go out one night. it's a good well paced and acted thriller. it was interesting to watch a british film filmed in London where there was only one or two actual native "English" people playing a part.

the characters are all immigrants of one country or another trying to make their way in the big city. the two main characters, and african and a turkish woman, are illegals, and have to dodge the coppers on a couple of occassions.

The African, Okway (sp?) -- who we discover is a doctor originally from Nigeria -- works two different jobs, and sleeps little, pursuing chess in a morgue with a Chinese friend when he is not working.

One night at his hotel job he makes a discovery that is to change his life in london. As he uncovers the reasons behind his discovery, his hotel boss, Mr Juan, methodically traps him into doing something he really does not want to do.

The story isn't without it's flaws, but it is well told, and all the acting is great. Mr. Juan is particularly insidious. Okway though really carrys it all...

movie review: the personals

yes another movie! we saw a lot this weekend. liz was sick, and so we didn't do a whole lot of going out. it was nice.

this movie, I also really liked. it was made in Taiwan and is in mandarin ( sub-title haters beware ). It tells the story of a woman who is fed up with her career and aborted love life, and takes out an ad in a paper to find herself a husband.

the movie is mostly her interviewing perspective mates: who are at turns sad, disgusting, dull and or just plain old evil. The movie is shot with lots of closeups, holding in on a character for a long time, often at a slightly odd angle or not as the center focus of the screen. It was sometimes a little distracting and might be termed pretentious and unnecessary by some, but overall it added something I can't quite describe.

the woman's exasperation became palpable by the end of it. she obviously has her own issues, and they are slowly unraveled through the film, quite brilliantly I think.

while very comic, it is slow and does have a very sad and melancholy undertone -- not unlike lost in translation actually. overall, I think it was an excellent film.

movie review: haiku tunnel

a great little film from san francisco, partially due to a great little performance space around the corner from us, the Marsh. it's a comedy of errors that takes place in a law firm, and the hazards of going from temp to perm.

some scenes are painful along the same lines as the voice machine scene in Swingers, where the star keeps calling back over and over because he is getting cut off. you cringe as you watch the main character go into major self-destruct.

movie review: billy eliot

for some reason, I had for a long time resisted seeing this movie. i think i suffered from the same resistance to ballet that billy's father and brother had. you want to do what?

but it's a really great, fun movie, with some deeper undercurrents -- well in the tradition of musical, dancing irish and british islanders ( the committments, full monty, etc. ). And great accents as well -- but not too deep.

my wife pointed out that he was doing an awful lot of tap for someone studying ballet, but hey you have to have some liberties I suppose, and (he says somewhat hesitantly) it might be a little more interesting to watch.

I think if you were a big fan of fred astaire movies you might have seen more. fred astaire movies are pretty great the few I've seen courtesy of my younger dancing sister...