Review: Westworld (1973)

Sometime in the future, people can act out their fantasies in resorts populated by human-like robots. Two vacationers, Peter Martin (Richard Benjamin) and his friend John Blane (James Brolin) holiday in the 'West World' theme park, where they get involved in wild west set pieces, including shoot-outs with a particular robot called the Gunslinger (Yul Brynner). Other vacationers go to other parts of the resort, 'Rome World' and 'Medieval World'. Of course, the robots go awry and decide to do away with the guests.

Writer-director Michael Crichton's cautionary tale about technology going bad is surprisingly clumsy at the start, given his prior experience as a film writer and director. There are slabs of dialogue between the vacationers explaining how the theme park and the robots work, followed by even more exposition between engineers as they try to figure out what is going wrong with the robots. One feels that Crichton strayed too far from the technology that he was familiar with because the technobabble is very vague and does not stand up to mild scrutiny.

Where he does well is to create a believable tone and setting on a very tight budget, with parts of the film reminiscent of 'The Andromeda Strain'. The blurred line between humans and robots is illustrated in one striking sequence, the night-time collection of the 'dead' robots by emotionless human technicians. The film also features some of the first CGI effects, showing the Gunslinger's point of view.

Yul Brynner, who has virtually no lines of dialogue, is the most memorable is the implacable Gunsligner. Dressed in a similar costume as his character Chris in 'The Magnificent Seven', Brynner simply dominates all his scenes. The chase through the deserted resort complex is one of the best ever made.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review: 龙虎门 / Lung fu moon / Dragon Tiger Gate (2006)

In a seemingly lawless world, the Dragon Tiger Gate martial arts academy, run by Master Wong (Wah Yuen), trains its students to uphold justice and resist the triads, and provides a home for orphans. One of its students, Tiger Wong (Nicholas Tse) runs foul of the triads when he and his friends get hold of the Luocha Plaque, which signifies that the holder is second only to Loucha Gate's boss, Shibumi (Yu Kang). Tiger meets his half-brother, Dragon (Donnie Yen), when the triads try to regain the plaque. Meanwhile, a new student, Turbo (Shawn Yue), who tries to join the Dragon Tiger Gate, becomes embroiled in the fight.

Adapted by Edmond Wong from the manhua comic series by Yuk Long Wong, 'Dragon Tiger Gate' is somewhat confusing at the start and you may have to be familiar with the comic books to understand the setting and the main characters. It doesn't help that the CGI establishing shots of a grim lawless environment are at odds with the brighter live-action shots. A fair bit of explanation in the opening credits is repeated in a flashback, which distracted me because I tried to match them up. The film's pacing is choppy, with many dead patches, especially those featuring camera arcs, that don't progress the story or develop any of the characters.

Action, though, is the name of the game, and director Wilson Yip puts a lot of effort into the fight sequences. The fight in a Chinese restaurant is energetic and the fight in a Japanese restaurant is a nod to film's manhua origins. However, it's as if all the ammunition was expended at the start, because succeeding fight scenes feel a bit tired and the climactic fight between the heroes and Shibumi is a tedious CGI-filled affair.

Cantonese with English subtitles.

2 out of 5 stars.

Review: 放逐 / Fong Juk / Exiled (2006)

In Macau 1998, before the colony's handover to China, five professional hitman, led by Blaze (Anthony Wong), decide to do a last job for one of their own, Wo (Nick Cheung). Their plans go awry when triad boss Fay (Simon Yam) enters the picture, and they spend some time lost in the wilderness before rediscovering their purpose.

Action fans might be a little disappointed by plain nature of the firefights; there aren't any distinctive weapons or manoeuvres, and the after effects are often messy. The characters are lightly but sufficiently sketched in and the camaraderie between members of the gang is unforced. I especially like how all the scenes are allowed to play out and the denouement is pleasantly ironic.

Director Johnnie To's elegant and slightly melancholy actioner is about endings, honour and brotherhood, and brings to mind Sam Peckinpah's 'The Wild Bunch', which dealt with similar themes in the wild west. From the first scene, we have a good idea of how things will pan out, but the script by Kam-Yuen Szeto and Tin-Shing Yip has plenty of surprises and wry humour as the gang get into one gunfight after another.

Cantonese with English subtitles.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review: Dune (1984)

Adapting Frank Herbert's complex galaxy spanning novel to the big screen was never easy. Since the novel's publication, various film makers, including Ridley Scott, have had a go. This version, adapted and directed by David Lynch, charts Paul Atreides' rise to power as the foretold super human 'Kwisatz Haderach' and leader of the Fremen, the natives of the desert planet Arrakis. Arrayed against him are the traditional enemies of his family, the Harkonnens, the scheming Emperor Shaddam IV, the Guild Navigators who control interstellar flight, and the Bene Gesserit who seek to control Paul. All the parties have a common interest in the spice 'melange', which provide the power to fold space and time, and is only found on Arrakis.

The production is lavish and detailed, with huge sets and elaborate costumes. In this universe, humans are cogs in the machine of empire, genetically modified for computation (mentats), space travel (the whale-like Guild Navigators and their attendants with brain drips) or war (the Imperial Sardaukar soldiers encased in environment suits). Characters are often dwarfed by huge steam-belching machines or starships, giving the film a hellish Victorian industrial atmosphere.

A lot of the casting in the film is spot-on: Kyle MacLachlan's Paul believably matures from the son of a noble to a leader; Francesca Annis is radiant and elegant as Jessica; Siân Phillips is a domineering Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother; José Ferrer is the scheming but weak Emperor Shaddam IV; and Patrick Stewart, who has hardly any lines, is effective as Paul's mentor, Gurney Halleck. Most memorable is Kenneth McMillan as the repulsive and cruel Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, with his pustule-ravaged face and flying suit.

The film is overburdened by the sheer number of ideas in the novel and by the filmmakers, to the detriment of the story. There is an excess of explanation, from the initial voiceover by Princess Irulan (Virginia Madsen), to scenes where the characters discuss some background or detail which are followed by internal monologues from each character explaining what was just shown on screen! Perhaps, as a product of the early 80s, there was a concern that audiences wouldn't understand SF ideas unless it was explained to them two or three times (the initial release of 'Blade Runner' also had a voiceover). There is so much exposition that it isn't until halfway through the film that anything actually happens, following which, there is a sense of inevitability about the ending that drains the rest of the film of any surprise or suspense.

Maybe the initial cuts of the film, much longer, are better structured. There is no way of knowing since they were just work prints, nor is a director's cut available. After the film's initial release, a longer version was made for TV without David Lynch's involvement; that version is just unwatchable.

1 out of 5 stars.

Review: Waltz with Bashir (2008)

In 1982, the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) invades southern Lebanon to remove the PLO. During their occupation of Lebanon, Bashir (or Bachir) Gemayel, the leader of the Lebanese Forces (an Israeli ally), is assassinated. Subsequently, militiamen from the Lebanese Forces were allowed by the IDF to enter the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, where they massacre Palestinian civilians. The title of the documentary comes from an incident where a Israeli soldier, caught in a cross fire between high rise buildings in Beirut, finds himself doing a crazy jig surrounded by giant posters of Bashir on the buildings' walls.

Ari Folman, an infantryman in the war, takes us through the events in that war from the viewpoint of ordinary Israeli soldiers that he interviews. On the ground, the war is terrifying and shocking, and Folman uses animation to recreate the experience. The use of animation is an effective technique that draws us in and makes us witness the horror and atrocities, when live footage would have caused us to turn away.

Hebrew with English subtitles.

4 out of 5 stars.

Review: Ashes to Ashes, Series 1 (2008)

'Ashes to Ashes' follows-on from its predecessor 'Life on Mars', this time with DI Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes) transported back in to 1981, after a possibly fatal incident, where she finds she is part of DCI Gene Hunt's (Philip Glenister) team. Alex quickly works out that she is having the same experience as Sam Tyler from LoM (conveniently, she read his case file) and decides that the way back to the present day is to save her parents, Caroline Drake (Amelia Bullmore) and Tim Price (Andrew Clover) from dying in a car bomb.

I wonder why the creators, Ashley Pharoah and Matthew Graham, chose to set the series in 1981, a period when there hadn't been any remarkable police procedurals other than 'Hill Street Blues' (and at a stretch, 'The Professionals'), unlike LoM, which was set in the early 70s and could reference many more series. Series 1 also seems to live in a vacuum; the fact that the UK economy was in a deep recession is hardly mentioned, and significant local events in the early 80s, such as the Brixton race riots, aren't used much in the series.

The dynamics between the Alex and Gene in the first few episodes in the new series were a bit wobbly, as if the creators were writing a female Sam Tyler instead of a totally new character, and it isn't until episode 4 that Alex steps out of Sam's shadow. Also, from that episode onwards, other members of Gene's team start filling out the series: macho Ray's (Dean Andrews) masculinity is tested, mop-haired Chris (Marshall Lancaster) and newcomer WPC Sharon 'Shaz' Granger (Montserrat Lombard) start making eyes at each other, and even desk sergeant Viv (Geff Francis) plays a part in the investigations.

More of a conventional cop series compared to 'Life on Mars' but still inventive and sometimes surprising.

4 out of 5 stars.

Review: Mensonges et trahisons et plus si affinités... / The Story of My Life (2004)

Raphaël (Edouard Baer) is an anonymous ghost writer of celebrity autobiographies who pretends to be satisfied with his lot. He dates architect Muriel (Marie-Josée Croze), whose forthright manner starts to make him confront his unfulfilled dreams. When he is commissioned to write the autobiography of boorish footballer Kevin (Clovis Cornillac), he discovers that the woman he fancied in university, Claire (Alice Taglioni), is Kevin's girlfriend, and he decides to worm his way into her heart.

Writer-director Laurent Tirard and co-writer Grégoire Vigneron stay well within the path well-travelled by many other urban romantic comedies: boy meets girl, they break up, then they make up. What's entertaining is the journey and the sights along the way. The good and funny bits comes from establishing the characters, and Raphaël and Muriel's courtship; Edouard Baer's makes Raphaël an amiable, slightly repressed introvert who is easy to relate to, while Marie-Josée Croze is great as the more direct and perky Muriel. The main plot where Raphaël (ineptly) tries to seduce Claire is a little offputting and underdeveloped, and the side plots involving Raphaël's mates, journalist Jeff (Eric Berger) and banker Max (Jean-Michel Lahmi), don't go very far and are resolved a bit abruptly.

Crowd pleasing, uncluttered romantic comedy.

French with English subtitles.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review: Impostor (2001)

In 2079, Earth has been losing a war with aliens from Alpha Centauri for 10 years. The success of the Centaurians and their ability to create human-like robots create a climate of fear and paranoia on Earth, leading to the establishment of a totalitarian regime headed by a Chancellor.

The film starts with physicist Dr. Spencer Oldham (Gary Sinise), a high-ranking scientist in a government weapons organisation, putting the final touches on a new weapon against the Centaurians, and the Chancellor due to pay a visit to the facility. Unexpectedly, Oldham is arrested by Major Hathaway (Vincent D'Onofrio), who accuses him of being a Centaurian robot created to assassinate the Chancellor. Oldham escapes from Hathaway, but cannot turn to either his wife Maya (Madeline Stowe) or his best friend Nelson (Tony Shalhoub) for help. Instead, he flees to a devastated part of the city, where he meets Cale (Mekhi Phifer), a drug dealer, who he convinces to help him find evidence to prove that he is not a Centaurian. Meanwhile, Hathaway has organised a massive manhunt for Oldham in the city.

A surprisingly high-powered team of writers, Scott Rosenberg, Ehren Kruger, David Twohy and Caroline Case, adapted the 1953 short story, 'Imposter' by Philip K. Dick, for the screen. Gary Sinise (who was also a producer) gives Olham's character more depth than a typical hero in an actioner. Maybe they are fans of PKD, because they have kept many elements of the short story, the back story and the themes of identity and paranoia, while embellishing it with just enough flash to appeal to mainstream audiences.

This is not an out-and-out great film, though. The back story is revealed clumsily and you have to tolerate the obligatory sex scene before the action starts. It also seems to suffer from a limited budget and bland production design that makes it look like a TV feature rather than a cinema release.

A solid SF thriller.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review: Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith

Tears of the Giraffe
Alexander McCall Smith
2000
Abacus, London

In the second in a series of novels that features Botswana female detective, Precious Ramotswe, she searches for an American student who was last seen near the desert 10 years ago. While she solves that mystery, her friend, Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni, proposes to her and also makes an unexpected commitment, and her efficient secretary, Mma Makutsi, gets a case and an ethical problem to solve.

Smith, who was born and lived in southern Africa, shows his strong affinity with the Botswana landscape and people in his work. He writes his characters with kind humour, and even the 'villains' are treated sympathetically. Like his other novels, his protagonists have a idealistic and old-world view, where people are generous within their means, as the giraffe in the title, and treat each other well.

A pleasant read, like a nice afternoon picnic.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review: Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios / Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)

The life of TV actress Pepa (Carmen Maura) is turned upside down when her lover, Iván (Fernando Guillén), leaves and avoids speaking to her. Before Pepa can sort out her life, she visited by a frantic Candela (María Barranco), who has found out that the men she has been staying with have been arrested as terrorists. Pepa also has to deal with a young couple, Carlos (Antonio Banderas) and Marisa (Rossy de Palma), who arrive at her apartment to rent it. What she doesn't know is that Carlos is Iván's son, and that his mother, Lucía (Julieta Serrano), has just been released from a mental hospital and plans to kill Iván for infidelity. When Marisa is knocked out by Pepa's spiked gazpacho, Carlos, unfaithful like his dad, starts to make out with Candela. Meanwhile, we discover that the absent Iván is leaving the country with his lawyer, Paulina (Kiti Manver).

In Pedro Almodóvar's breakthrough comedy, all the female characters share the same situation: they have been, are being (and will be?) betrayed by their men and are suspect to a nervous breakdown. Some, like Lucia, go mad, others, like Candela, have no idea what to do, while Pepa (a typical Almodóvar heroine) finds the inner strength to overcome her setback and to help others in the process.

The film's later scenes are foreshadowed by funny short clips near the beginning, such as in the condom advertisement that Candela acts in, and which Pepa dubs, and in the detergent advertisement where Pepa plays the mother of a gangster who washes her son's blood stained shirt just before the police barge into her house.

A lively riot of colour and movement, vivacious and warm-hearted in the end.

Spanish with English subtitles.

4 out of 5 stars.

Review: Torchwood Series 1 (2006)

'Torchwood' is an adult-oriented SF spin-off from 'Dr Who', featuring Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), previously a recurring character in 'Dr Who', as the leader of a secret government organization of the title. In episode 1.1 'Everything Changes', we are introduced to Torchwood via Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles), a Cardiff police constable who tails the Torchwood team back to their base after an incident with an alien. She finds out that Cardiff is the centre of a rift in space and time, and the Torchwood unit in the city is assigned to monitor and deal with incidents related to that rift.

In line with the edgier premise of the series, there's a lot of violence, coarse language and sex scenes. Unfortunately, many of the early episodes seem to be little more than an excuse to draw a reaction from the audience. For instance, episode 1.2 'Day One' has the team tracking a sex alien and 1.7 'Greeks Bearing Gifts' has geek girl Toshiko Sato (Naoko Mori) in a girl-on-girl relationship with an alien. In addition, the team's doctor, Owen Harper (Burn Gorman), is bisexual, and Harkness is bedding Ianto Jones (Gareth David-Lloyd), the team's administrator. It is not until episode 1.9 'Random Shoes' that the series leaves behind its adolescent focus on sexuality and starts to, um, actually tell stories.

During the course of the series, various events foreshadow the arrival of something extra nasty out of the rift. These threads are played out in the final back-to-back episodes 1.12 'Captain Jack Harkness' and 1.13 'End of Days', where a spooky time-traveller Bilis Manger (Murray Melvin) is introduced. The climatic fight between Torchwood and the Big Bad, though, is underwhelming.

Not a good start to a new series, too much effort on adolescent sexuality and angst, and not enough on telling stories.

2 out of 5 stars.

Review: La Chambre des Morts / Melody's Smile (2007)

In the port city of Dunkirk, a young blind girl is kidnapped. When her father tries to pay the ransom, he is accidentally killed and two retrenched workers end up with the ransom money. Then another girl, a diabetic, is abducted. Without insulin, she would die within a few days.

Among the police assigned to the case is a junior profiler, Lucie Hennebelle (Mélanie Laurent). Her investigation leads her to an earlier crime scene in the local zoo, where animals have been stolen and mutilated by someone related to the kidnappings. As she constructs a profile of the kidnappers, we see a possible link between the current case and an earlier traumatic event in her life.

This French thriller is very similar in look to Jonathan Demme's 'The Silence of the Lambs' (trivia: a copy of the book is visible briefly in Lucie's apartment), with a lot of shots of dark corridors in run-down mansions and some slightly nauseating scenes involving taxidermy and decomposing bodies. For most of its running time, the film maintains a realistic tone but as the bodies pile up near the end, the conclusion becomes rather predictable.

French with English subtitles.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review: These are the Damned (1963)

Simon Wells (Macdonald Carey), a retired American executive holidaying in the tourist town of Weymouth, meets and becomes attracted to a young local girl, Joan (Shirley Anne Field), much to the displeasure of her older brother, King (Oliver Reed). King, the leader of a gang of punks, beats up Wells and tries to imprison his sister, but the couple escape in Well's boat. With the gang trailing them, the two lovers end up in a secret government installation and discover a terrible secret.

Made in 1961 but only released in 1963, this film quite blatantly exploits the public fear of nuclear war in that period (the Cuban missile crisis occurs in October 1962) and the collapse of the law and order, signified by King's gang openly roaming the streets of Weymouth with impunity, to justify the extreme actions of the government. Viewed away from that period, it's really a rather plodding film that takes a very, very long time to set the scene, overplays a very irritating song for the gang's call sign, includes an obligatory but unlikely romance between the leads, and casts Carey inappropriately as a middle-aged romantic lead. On the other hand, Oliver Reed makes a substantial presence as the well-dressed gang leader with a cane, quite possibly a precursor to Malcolm McDowell's Alex in 'A Clockwork Orange', and there are some fearful and gloomy scenes in the end.

1 out of 5 stars.

Review: La gran aventura de Mortadelo y Filemón / Mortadelo & Filemon: The Big Adventure (2003)

Filemón (Benito Pocino) and Mortadelo (Pepe Viyuela) are two agents of the TIA (Técnicos de Investigación Aeroterráquea), a secret government organization. They are assigned to retrieve a stolen device from Tirania, whose dictator has declared war on England by dropping a giant ball of dung on the Queen's palace. Complicating their mission is that their boss, El Super (Mariano Venancio), has sent super agent Fredy Mazas (Dominique Pinon) on the same task earlier, and Fredy has turned rogue and is trying to kill them.

Based on a long-running Spanish comic book series 'Mortadelo y Filemón' by Francisco Ibáñez, writer-director Javier Fesser and co-writer Guillermo Fesser have created a colourful and surreal world of secret agents, crazy gadgets and violent cartoon slapstick humour (people are squashed into pancakes, survive explosions with no ill effect other than a black face, leave man-shaped indentations when they run into doors, etc.). The plot takes a while to get into gear and oddly enough, the two principals don't cause as much mayhem as expected.

A lot of the jokes are rather ponderous and are slow to set up, and not having read the comic books, I suspect I missed many of the sight gags. My kids found parts of the film hilarious, rather like Lisa and Bart Simpson when they watch 'Itchy and Scratchy'.

Spanish with English subtitles.

2 out of 5 stars.

Review: Cave of the Yellow Dog (2006)

This film follows Urjindorjyn Batchuluun and his family, who are nomadic herders in the Mongolian steppe (or grassland). Their life revolves around tending their herd of goats, sheep and cattle, and seems little different, aside from a wind generator and an ancient motorcycle, from that of their ancestors. One night, two sheep are killed by wolves, and the next day, their eldest daughter, Nansal, while collecting dung to smoke meat, finds a pup in a cave. When she brings the pup home, her father refuses to keep it because it may have run with wolves and could attract a pack to his herd.

'Cave of the Yellow Dog' works best as an observational documentary, such as when it follows the mother on her farm chores, Nansal minding the sheep on her pony or when the family move to a better pasture by disassembling their yurt and loading all their possessions on carts. The film that suggests that this rural way of life may not be around for much longer; the family may have to give up herding to settle in a town and send their children to school, and when Urjindorjyn meets some hunters, he finds that they can't find anyone to take over their role. In contrast, the story of Nansal and the dog seem awkward, and the climax a bit forced.

Mongolian with English subtitles.

3 out of 5 stars.

Phoenix Thai Takeaway

On nights when the kids decide on junk food, we found that the Phoenix Thai Takeaway has the right sort of Thai food for dinner in front of the TV: spicy enough to be interesting but not so hot as to kill your taste buds, sauces with some body and a reasonable price.

Details: Phoenix Thai Takeaway, 186 Huntingdale Road, Oakleigh East 3166. +613 9543 6550

Review: La tourneuse de pages / The Page Turner (2006)

One summer, a young work experience student, Mélanie (Déborah François), becomes a live-in baby sitter for Tristan, son of wealthy lawyer Jean (Pascal Greggory). Jean's wife, Ariane (Catherine Frot), a pianist for a small ensemble, takes a liking to Mélanie. When Ariane discovers that Mélanie has music training, she employs Mélanie to be her page turner during her performances. What the family doesn't know is that the innocent-looking Mélanie has revenge on her mind.

This drama from writer-director Denis Dercourt and co-writer Jacques Sotty is about revenge as a dish best served cold. For a while, it is somewhat fascinating to watch Mélanie exploiting Ariane's and Tristan's weaknesses to wreak her revenge on an event that happened many years ago. However, the premise is very far-fetched, and without any elaboration on Mélanie's character, it is hard to accept that anyone, let alone a teenager, could conceive or execute such an elaborate and complete plan.

French with English subtitles.

2 out of 5 stars.

Review: Blue Collar (1978)

Zeke (Richard Pryor), Jerry (Harvey Keitel) and Smokey (Yaphet Kotto) are three friends who work in the assembly floor of a Detroit car company. The work is hard, and Zeke, the youngest of the three, is frustrated with the unwillingness of the auto workers union to help their members, while his older friends are more equanimous. When Zeke runs into money problems, he convinces his friends to help him burgle the local union office, an act which starts a chain of violent events.

This film has a surprising and effective performance by comic Richard Pryor, sans moustache, in the dramatic role as the voluble and vocal Zeke, who uses colourful language to get his point across. His co-stars don't have such flashy roles: Yaphett Kotto's Smokey is a quiet ex-con while Harvey Keitel's Jerry is an established family man.

The beginning of the film is interesting because it sets the scene to explore some of the social issues of the working class in America, a topic that seems to be completely ignored by mainstream American films. However, once writer-director Paul Shrader and co-writer Leonard Schrader introduce an FBI investigation into union corruption, the premise is effectively forgotten and the film turns into an OK low-key thriller.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review: Between the folds (2008)

Origami, the art of paper folding, is often considered a minor craft to keep kids occupied. Vanessa Gould's documentary Between The Folds shows us what dedicated practitioners can really do with origami. This film takes a broad perspective, showing you models can require hundreds of folds and computer software to design, models that represent the real and the abstract, and linking origami with computational geometry.

Having dabbled with origami all my life, I found the models and demonstrations fascinating, and I am amazed at the possibilities stemming from a single sheet of paper and the act of folding it. Film maker Gould narrates her documentary, and unlike the images and interviewees, her text is rather prosaic and uninspiring, and there are occasions that the narration is redundant and just describes what is on screen.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review: Identity (2003)

On a stormy night, on the eve of a convicted killer's execution, the killer's defence team tries to persuade a judge that the killer is insane and should be committed to an asylum instead of being executed. The case for the defence rests on the judge examining the killer, so he is being transported from prison to the court house. At the same time, ten travellers find that the highway is flooded, so they shelter from the rain in a motel. Among the travellers are Ed (John Cusack), an ex-cop driving a limousine, Paris (Amanda Peet), a call-girl and Rhodes (Ray Liotta), a police officer transporting a prisoner named Robert (Jake Busey). While they wait for the storm to abate, they find themselves being picked off, one by one, by a savage killer.

The start of the film is intriguing, with each person having a secret and a reason to distrust the others. However, after the first murder, things start to go downhill as the film veers between a slasher flick and an episode from 'The Twlight Zone'. Director James Mangold, who goes on to better things, doesn't handle the material well, relying too heavily on clichéd tricks to scare or horrify the audience. Even so, it could have been a passable popcorn flick ...

... Except that writer Michael Cooney adds one twist which invalidates the entire set up. We expect thrillers to use plot twists to keep you interested and a good twist (some so good that no one else could use it) would delightfully rearrange your perception of earlier scenes. In this film, the twist just made me feel cheated and after that point, I simply didn't care about what happens.

1 out of 5 stars.

Review: Tony Takitani (2004)

Tony Takitani (Issei Ogata) is a quiet and introverted technical illustrator. He lives a solitary life, his mother (Rie Miyazawa) having died soon after childbirth, and him only meeting his father Shozaburo (also Issei Ogata) every couple of years. Tony falls in love with a much younger woman, Eiko (also Rie Miyazama) who attracts him because she perfectly wears her clothes. In addition to having found a companion, Tony also realises that he no longer wants to live alone. They have a blissful married life, except that Eiko's insatiable need to buy designer clothes makes Tony request that she moderate her desire, with tragic results.

Tony lives in a hushed world of muted colours. Everyone, except Eiko and Shozaburo, is kept at arms' length. His home is a sterile tidy apartment. Tony sees the details in his world, such as the veins in a leaf or the fabric of Eiko's clothes, but never the whole picture. Based on a short story by popular Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami, writer-director Jun Ichikawa's film perfectly captures the idea of loneliness.

Japanese with English subtitles.

4 out of 5 stars.

Review: Skyland / Skyland, Le Nouveau Monde (2006)

Sometimes, a TV series can have a lot of potential but be lumbered with poor execution, so poor in fact that you can't help but start noticing its flaws. The kids' SF series, 'Skyland', is one of these series.

Set in the future, when Earth has been blown up into lots of small floating islands, the plot revolves around two teenagers, Mahad and Lena, who have special powers. After their mother, Mila, is captured by an oppressive organization called The Sphere, the kids flee and become the crew of a flying rebel or pirate ship (it's not quite clear to me) captained by Aran. Their subsequent adventures revolve around flying to different islands to get support against the Sphere or escaping the Sphere's robot minions.

At first glance, the animation, using motion capture, is fluid, the backgrounds are detailed and gorgeous, and I have a soft spot for sky pirates, so it should have been easy to enjoy the series. What started to spoil it for me is the inane introductory voice-over at the start of each episode, which plainly contradicts what is on screen. Things that I usually overlook begin to grate. Why is there still air if there's no gravity? Why are all the islands oriented the same way? Why is there night if there's no body to block the sun? Argh! By the third episode, I got so annoyed that I just stopped watching.

0 out of 5 stars.

Review: SPL: 殺破狼 / Sha Po Lang (2005)

Hong Kong Detective Inspector Chan (Simon Yam) has had a bad run. After his witness against triad boss Wong Po (Sammo Hung) has been assassinated, he become the guardian for the witness' child and finds out that he has inoperable brain cancer. On the eve of Chan's retirement, his replacement, D.I. Ma (Donnie Yen), arrives to find that Chan and his team are framing Wong Po for a murder.

The plot for this modern crime thriller is a bit wobbly (the attempt to frame Wong Po is ludicrous) and cliched. However, two factors that make up for the clumsy plot. The first are the strong performances by the three leads: Donnie Yen as a very charismatic young inspector; Simon Yam as the grim vengeful officer; and Sammo Hung, who normally plays the comic roles with Jackie Chan, as the frightening triad boss. The second are the fight scenes, done by the actors without any wire work and minimal special effects. For martial arts fans, the encounter between Ma and triad assassin Jack (Jing Wu) in a back street is a highlight.

Cantonese with English subtitles.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review: The Prestige (2006)

In the beginning of the 20th century in London, two magicians vie to create the most spectacular illusions. Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) comes from an aristocratic family, and he feigns an American accent and background to avoid embarrassing his family with his stage ambitions. His rival is Alfred Borden (Christian Bale), who comes from more humble beginnings. After the death of Angier's wife, the two magicians become enemies because Angier suspects Borden's role in her death. Over the years, the two men create more and more spectacular illusions, culminating in 'The Transported Man'.

The story, based on a novel of the same title by Christopher Priest, is told in two parallel threads. In one thread, Borden is facing the gallows for murder of Angier, is told from the perspective of Borden and Angier's illusion engineer, Cutter (Michael Caine). The other stream traces the careers of the two magicians and their escalating rivalry.

Writer-director Christopher Nolan and writer Jonathan Nolan structure their film like a magic trick, where the audience is drawn into the trick (the promise), the expected happens (the turn) and a surprise is revealed at the end (the prestige). However, they have provided only sketchy information about the two protagonists, which makes it hard to understand the origin and depth of their animosity, and also reduces the impact of the climax. For science fiction fans, one unexpected delight is the appearance of electrical engineer Nikolai Tesla (David Bowie) who provides Angier with a device for the ultimate illusion.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review: Palabras encadenadas / Killing Words (2003)

Laura (Goya Toledo), a child psychiatrist, is abducted and imprisoned in an underground room by Ramón (Darío Grandinetti), a serial killer. In return for her life and freedom, he forces her to play word games. In a parallel narrative, police detectives, lead by Comisario Espinosa (Fernando Guillén) and Inspector Sánchez (Eric Bonicatto) question Ramón regarding Laura's disappearance.
As the title suggests (and unlike the lurid disk cover), this psychological thriller creates a lot of suspense using suggestion and judicious editing; there is very little violence or gore. The events in the two parallel narratives track each other and lead you to believe you have kept up with the story until the twist at very end.
Spanish with English sub-titles.
3 out of 5 stars.

Review: 头文字D / Tau man ji D / Initial D (2005)

After street racers hear that a nondescript young tofu delivery man, Takumi (Jay Chou), can drive his father's (Anthony Wong) old Toyota AE86 at incredible speeds down Mount Akina, they challenge him for the honour of the fastest time. Like any young man, Takumi has more pressing issues to resolve first: his girl friend Natsuki (Anne Suzuki) is going away for the school holidays and his father is a drunk.
Adapted from the Japanese manga and anime series of the same name, this Hong Kong - Japan co-production avoids the usual issues that bedevil manga adaptations (stilted acting and a lot of exposition) and presents a workable coming-of-age story for Takumi. It is leaven with some humour (mainly from Takumi's best friend, Itsuki (Chapman To)) and spiced with a lot of drift races. The racing scenes down the narrow mountain road, a combination of live action and CGI (what isn't, these days?), are varied and well-directed, and the climatic race is quite exciting.
Cantonese with English sub-titles.
3 out of 5 stars.

Review: À la folie... pas du tout / He loves me ... he loves me not (2002)

A young art student, Angélique (Audrey Tautou) becomes infatuated with the Loïc (Samuel Le Bihan), a respected cardiologist, who is married to Rachel (Isabelle Carré). When Loïc does not reciprocate (he is barely aware of her), Angélique plots increasingly desperate and violent ways to separate him from his wife.
From watching recent French films, you might think that erotomania, a delusional belief that another person is in love with you, is a common disease. Coincidentally, one of the stars of this film, Isabelle Carré, goes on to play the main role in a 2007 film, Anna M. about a woman who becomes infatuated with a doctor. Doctors can be so lucky!
What's interesting about this film is casting the wide-eyed Audrey Tautou as the delusional Angélique; she looks so innocent and trusting that you can imagine people believing her point of view. The other interesting aspect is to tell the story from both Angélique's and Loïc's points of view, allowing the viewer to fill in the gaps, left deliberately by writers Laetitia Colombani and Caroline Thivelin, in each other's story. Other than that, the story follows a predictable arc.
French with English sub-titles.
3 out of 5 stars.

(Re)Learning Chinese and reading 米菲在雪中 / Miffy in the Snow

I didn't care about learning Chinese when I was a kid because it was tedious to copy Chinese characters from the blackboard or textbooks. Another difficulty for me, more familiar with English, was that I couldn't map sounds to characters. As a kid, I simply got bored and tuned out.

Fast forward to the 21st century and I'm having another go at learning Chinese. This time around, I've found out the stroke order, which enables me to count strokes correctly and find characters in a dictionary on paper or online (e.g. MDBG allows you to find a character by radical and stroke count or by drawing the character). Mandarin pronunciation has been standardised using pinyin romanisation, so I can (sort of) associate a sound with a character via pinyin.

(Knowing the representation of a sound in pinyin lets me type Chinese characters using Windows' East Asian Input Method Editor (IME). Here are instructions for enabling this feature in Microsoft Vista).

Equipped with a little more knowledge, I challenged myself to read '米菲在雪中 / Miffy in the Snow', which I borrowed from the local library. It's a 32-page bilingual picture book, where Miffy the girl rabbit plays in the snow and kindly makes a house for a bird. It took me a long time (three weeks!) to read it and in the process, I learnt or recalled some things about Chinese:

• Chinese uses classifiers or measure words for different types of objects in a sentence. For example, the phrase 'a little bird' is '一只小鸟' / 'yi1 zhi1 xiao3niao3' / 'a (classifier for bird) little bird'. It's akin to but not exactly like measure words in English (e.g. 'a mob of sheep').
• Some sequences of Chinese characters represent common phrases and only make sense when written together. For instance, 'carrot' is '胡萝卜' / 'hu2​luo2​bo5' but if you translated each character separately, you'd get a weird expression like 'reckless turnip prophesy'.
• Stroke order is critical for finding characters. I couldn't find '还' / hai2 / also, not realising that 辶 was written after 不.

I borrowed another Chinese picture book from the library; I hope I'll get through this one faster!

SF on Nine's Digital Go! channel

Channel Nine launched its second digital channel, Go! last Sunday (9 Aug 2009). It is pitched as an entertainment channel which I hope means that it will be possible to watch a series without it being rescheduled or interrupted by sport or other events.

Wednesday's schedule (named GO BEYOND) has three SF-themed series back-to-back: [the laboriously named] Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Fringe (Rea G. should be pleased!) and Eleventh Hour. Nine screened the first episode of each series yesterday, so I guess it is repeating each of the series.

Review: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)

After the end of the first film, good Transformers led by Optimus Prime join forces with locals to fight off more bad Transformers, who are looking for a power source called 'The Cube' hidden somewhere on Earth.

It's a Michael Bay film, so there's lots of action and flashy camera work but forget plot and characters. The action scenes are really disappointing because they are so grossly over-edited and a lot of shots are prematurely cut before they are finished, and you never feel the impact of any action.

The leads from the first film reprise their roles: Shia Le Beouf does what he can with his limited role while Megan Fox appears in a lot of embarrassing shots draped over motorbikes while wearing lip gloss and hot pants. John Turturro seems to have a lot of fun as the paranoid ex-government agent.

A struggle, even for popcorn effects and action flick.

1 out of 5 stars

Holiday in Singapore and Malaysia

We took ourselves on a three week holiday in July '09 to visit my relatives in Singapore and Malaysia. Planning started in December '08 and initially I wanted to go over Easter but I couldn't get leave until the July school holidays. As it turned out, the company I worked for decided to close its engineering group in Melbourne by the end of June, so my leave in July was permanent.

Singapore city was pretty much as I remembered it from my last visit in '04, when I attended Yung's wedding. If anything, it's greener than it was before and crowds seem less hurried. We took it easy and took the kids to the Science Centre and Wild Wild Wet water park, and wandered around Orchard Road. As book lovers, we had to visit the local Kinokuniya. Yung and Li-Yah spent a day with us around town, and we also visited them and my in-laws in their very nice condo.

Then we took a bus to visit my parents in Kuala Kangsar, a town in the state of Perak. The town now has a very nice Olympic-length swimming pool but the rest of the town is still pretty quiet, much as I remember it. We lazed in my parents' home for a week while mum busied herself keeping us fed.

We wanted to take Dad with us to Alor Setar in Kedah, where Lung lives, but found out that there weren't any direct buses (they stop in Butterworth and we'd have to change buses for the next leg) and taxies weren't big enough. In the end, Mum hired a minivan and driver, and Lung kindly paid the cost of the journey.

Lung and his family showed us around town. Kedah is rice growing state, and we visited the quite interesting Paddy Museum with its detailed full sized diorama near Gunung Keriang (I think).

While based in Alor Setar, we spent a couple of nights in Langkawi island. We took the ferry from Kuala Kedah to Kuah, and rented a basic room next to Cenang Beach. The kids really liked the idea of walking out from the room onto the beach and spent hours in the sand and waves. The water was mild and smooth, and the beach didn't have many visitors since it was the middle of the week, so it was very pleasant.

Our stay in Langkawi was short but we managed to visit Underwater World, Durian Perangin waterfall and the Wildlife Park.

We returned to Alor Setar and took a bus from there to Kuala Lumpur to visit my cousins. Kooi Sim organized an unexpectedly large dinner with her family and the kids got to sample even more Chinese and Malaysian food.

We left Malaysia from KLIA, transited Singapore, and took the overnight flight back to Melbourne. The kids stayed up all night with the onboard computer games and fell asleep in the taxi ride home.

Many thanks to everyone for hosting us in Singapore and Malaysia! It has been a great experience and holiday, and I definitely plan to make a return visit with the family.

Caffé Corso

While our car was out of action, we walked to Clayton and found that Caffé Corso was one café that was open on a windy Sunday afternoon.

Details: Caffé Corso, 298 Clayton Road, Clayton. +613 9544 7750

Review: Gin gwai 2 / The Eye 2 (2004)

After the success of their previous film, The Eye (2002), the Hong Kong based Pang brothers, Oxide and Danny, provide not a continuation, but another aspect to the idea of seeing ghosts. This time, another young woman, Joey Cheng (Qi Shu), gains the ability to see ghosts after an unsuccessful suicide attempt in Thailand. Returning to Hong Kong, she finds out that she is pregnant and her lover is unwilling to meet her. Single and with no close family, she becomes more and more distressed as her pregnancy progresses and she continues to see a particular ghost haunting her.

The Pang brothers' restrained use of special effects and shock make the ghosts' appearance more scary than they would otherwise have been, and provides some room to speculate if Joey is just hallucinating and depressed. They're also provided some surprises in the plot that neatly links the events at the start of the film with the appearance of the ghosts. The climax in the hospital is reminiscent of Rosemary's Baby, though more sticky and bloody for modern audiences, and not as intense as expected.

The Eye 2 is a competent supernatural thriller, with enough surprises to maintain viewer interest.

Cantonese with English subtitles.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review: Ils se marièrent et eurent beaucoup d'enfants / ...And They Lived Happily Ever After (2004)

Does romance end with marriage and children? Three friends, Vincent (Yvan Attal), Georges (Alain Chabat) and Fred (Alain Cohen) ponder the issues. Fred is single and has no problems picking up women, much to the envy of his friends, who are both married. Georges and Nathalie (Emmanuelle Seigner) bicker constantly, while Vincent and Gabrielle (Charlotte Gainsbourg) are drifting apart.

In Yvan Attal's second film about relationships, the characters are recognizably middle-class and a mid-life stage, and it is easy to let yourself get carried away with their ups and downs. There's an unexpected funny and passionate scene when Vincent and Gabrielle rediscover romance, and Johnny Depp makes a long cameo appearance as an attractive stranger.

French with English subtitles

3 out of 5 stars.

Review: Mystic River (2003)

Three Boston boyhood friends, who have drifted apart over the years, meet again in unfortunate circumstances. Jimmy Markum (Sean Penn), a shopkeeper with a criminal past, and David Boyle (Tim Robbins) still live in the same neighbourhood, while Sean Devine (Kevin Bacon) has become a police detective. Their lives intersect when Sean and his partner, Whitey Powers (Laurence Fishburne), investigate a murder in the neighbourhood.

I found Sean Penn's acting a rather irritating set of twitches (he won the Best Actor Academy Award for this role, so what do I know?), Tim Robbins is great as the damaged David, while Kevin Bacon, who is given some dramatic space in a subplot with his estranged wife, does an acceptable job. Marcia Gay Hayden is incredible as David's frightened wife, Celeste, and Laura Linney has a curiously underwritten but critical role as Jimmy's wife, Annabeth.

With such an A-list of stars, and Clint Eastwood as director, it's not surprising that 'Mystic River', is for the most part, an engrossing drama and mystery. Shot in a prosaic style by Tom Stern, the gloomy inner suburbs of Boston, its surrounding parklands and the titular river, captures the sad mood of characters. All the overwhelming gloom and sadness, with no relief, becomes a bit wearing and the climax is rather inevitable.

4 out of 5 stars.

Review: Million Dollar Traders (2008)

In a another twist to the reality series format, hedge fund investor Lex Van Dam fronts up a million dollars to set up a hedge fund in London, run by 8 novice traders. The idea is that novices would do as well as experts. The series was filmed in July and August of 2008, which coincidentally, is also the period of the current financial crisis.

You won't find out much about the mechanics of trading in this series; the focus and the drama in this series is about how people deal with the mental stress of making decisions in a very uncertain environment. Intelligent, analytical personalities over-think the effects of their decisions and freeze (analysis paralysis), people used to acting on intuition do better, and those who can combine both and remain calm in the heated environment do best.

This series also captures the current reality of high-powered white collar work (albeit on a compressed time scale) where the traders are treated no better than battery chickens. In one telling scene, after one trader resigns, the team leader requests that there be no farewell drinks because he wants his team regain their focus by the next day instead of still thinking about their ex-colleague.

Both Van Dam and his team leader, Anton Kreill, come across as confident hard-headed fund managers who see their role as making the most effective trading team. You might not like to socialize with them but you probably want them to manage your money.

In the midst of all this drama, the results of the experiment is inevitable: people who keep their cool make money.

Screened on SBS-TV on 2, 9 and 16 June 2009.

4 out of 5 stars.

Review: Nos miran / They're Watching (2002)

When detective inspector Juan Garcia (Carmelo Gómez) is assigned to a cold case involving a missing businessman, he comes upon evidence to suggest that something supernatural may have occurred.

Made after a slew of other supernatural thrillers such as 'The Others' by compatriot Alejandro Amenábar, director Norberto López Amado's film is only slightly creepy and intriguing. There's some suspense and doubt in the first half of the film but after a crazy ex-cop and a convenient knowledgeable priest fill in the blanks, the trajectory of the story is obvious. It doesn't help that some now-cliché devices, such as a subway train, are used to signal to the audience that something spooky will happen.

Spanish with English subtitles.

2 out of 5 stars.

Review: Crónicas / Chronicles (2004)

Reporter Manolo Bonilla (John Leguizamo), his producer Marisa (Leonor Watling) and cameraman Ivan (José Maria Yazpik) follow the trail of a serial killer who preys on children in the Ecuadorian countryside. They unexpectedly encounter a travelling salesman, Vinicio (Damián Alcázar), who may know something about the killer. But Vinicio demands a price for a once in a lifetime interview that may cost Manolo more than he expects.

Starting from the horrific opening scenes, this is a taut thriller that maintains the suspense until the last minutes. Much of the story is about Manolo balancing his ambitions against his conscience, as he convinces his crew to stick with him and keep the police away while pursuing his story. Ecuadorian writer-director Sebastián Cordero doesn't romanticize the miserable condition of the countryside and its poor inhabitants, which lends veracity to the drama.

Spanish with English subtitles.

4 out of 5 stars.

Review: Anna M. (2007)

A lonely book restorer, Anna M. (Isabelle Carré), becomes infatuated with her doctor, Dr André Zenevsky (Gilbert Melki), and begins to stalk him.

Writer-director Michael Spinosa chronicles dispassionately Anna's increasingly psychotic and violent behaviour as she tries to attract Zanevsky's attention. The tone of the film is realistic and avoids the over-the-top murderous obsession of 'Fatal Attraction', though dog lovers and parents of young children may feel a little uneasy with some of the scenes. Isabelle Carré gives a believable performance as the troubled Anna.

A rather frustrating film because we are not given any clues as to the cause of Anna's condition (there is a hint that it is not the first time) and Spinosa seems content to just show us the consequences of her actions.

French with English subtitles.

3 out of 5 stars.

Welcome!

Welcome to Vibogafi! This is a blog of impressions about media that interest me, namely video, books, games and films.

Review: Konsento / Concent (2001)

Yuki Asakura's (Miwako Ichikawa) life is thrown into turmoil when her older brother Taka (Houka Kinoshita) commits suicide. Seeking to understand why her brother died, she consults her former psychology lecturer, Dr. Kunisada (Masahiko Akuta), as a patient. She also meets a former classmate, Ritsuko (Miho Tsumiki), who seems to have an ulterior reason for helping her.

I couldn't take seriously Masahiko Akuta's eye-rolling performance and Miwako Ichikawa appears in a lot of nude scenes, some of which seem unwarranted. There's also some pseudo-scientific mystical explanation (a staple of Japanese screenwriting for the supernatural?) for what is happening, which doesn't have any impact on the plot.

The supernatural elements seem very gimmicky and don't mesh well with the realistic tone of the film. If you ignore them, this film turns out to be a competently made drama about a woman coming to terms with the death of her brother and her troubled past.

Japanese with English subtitles.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review: Life on Mars (American) (2008)

Started well enough with stories based on the original British version, but went downhill quickly. The writers couldn't decide how Tyler's hallucinations should manifest, so they chose whatever prop was convenient, which diminished his fear and made him almost look forward to them. They also made it a device to move the plot forward once too often, like 'Medium', instead of keeping it mysterious and leaving us to wonder if Tyler was really in a coma or just mad.

Another big difference with the original series is the power dynamic between Sam Tyler and his boss, Lieutenant Gene Hunt. In the original series, Tyler was second-in-command, so Hunt had to tolerate him and the other detectives had to at least follow his orders. In this series, Tyler is just another detective, so why doesn't tough-guy Hunt just side-line or transfer him?

Other problem: Harvey Keitel, a great actor, is badly miscast Gene Hunt; he's simply too old to be running around bashing heads in.

2 out of 5 stars.

Review: The Pumpkin Eater (1964)

Follows the breakdown of housewife Jo (Anne Bancroft) and writer Jake Armitage's (Peter Finch) marriage, told from Jo's perspective.

Harold Pinter adapted Penelope Mortimer's novel for the film, and the dialogue has his style of using repetitive phrases, which calls attention to itself and becomes distracting after a while. On the other hand, director Jack Clayton and DoP Oswald Morris set up some visually rich shots to support the point or emotions in each scene.

Anne Bancroft inhabits her character so well that we are drawn along with her as Jo becomes increasingly distressed and suspicious of her husband's activities. Peter Finch as Jake supports her well, though we necessarily don't see as much of him. Character actor James Mason has a small but critical role as a nasty and oily acquaintance.

4 out of 5 stars.

Review: The Thin Blue Line (1988)

In 1976, Dallas police officer Robert Wood is shot to death by the driver of a car that he had pulled over. A month later, the police receive a tip off from teenager David Harris and charge Randall Adams with the murder. Adams is subsequently convicted of the crime.

Film maker Errol Morris retells the events using his now-famous style of interviews, re-enactments, montages, and Philip Glass' minimalist music. The impact of the documentary comes from the participants telling their story and letting the viewer decide on the truth or falsity of the matter, so when Morris interjects editorially, for example, when he intercuts one witness' interview with a movie clip to demonstrate their self-delusion, it weakens the strength of his presentation.

The documentary starts strongly with the murder and investigation but drifts after the end of the trial, as Adams appeals his sentence through various courts but there is no one to guide us through the process or explain the significance of each court decision.

4 out of 5 stars.

Review: Rasen / The Ring 2 (1998)

A sequel to 'The Ring', where people who watched a cursed video tape die a horrible death within a week. This time around, pathologist Dr Mitsou Andou (Koichi Sato) and medical student Mai Takano (Miki Nakatani) unravel the mystery behind the death of Dr Ryuji Takayama (Hiroyuki Sanada), who was one of the last victims in the previous film.

It's a lifeless effort, made worse by some cheap production values and grainy film. Apparently, a second sequel to 'Ring' was made later, which ignores all the events in this film.

Japanese with English subtitles.

1 out of 5 stars.

Review: The Take (2004)

Two Canadian activists and film makers, Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis, document the struggle by unemployed workers in Argentina to repossess their workplaces.

They focus on workers in the Forja vehicle parts plant in Buenos Aires, who learn from other groups how to prevent administrators from stripping the factory and how to petition the court and city for the right to run the factory. In the background is the 2003 presidential election, where one of the candidates is Carlos Menem, whose government introduced globalization policies that allowed companies to strip Argentina of its finances.

Secondary threads are the seamstresses who have taken over the Brukman clothing factory and then expelled by the police, workers who manufacture tiles from a repossessed factory and an activist whose mother is a supporter of the Peronists in the presidential election. The industrialists come out of this film looking very smug and unconcerned for their workers.

It's clear that the heart of this film lies with the workers and their quest to regain their dignity and livelihood in the face of incredible resistance from the government. There's a inspiring and frightening scene when the seamstresses, middle-aged or elderly women, and their supporters, face riot police over the closure of their factory, and the mayhem that ensues when the police decide to disperse the crowd.

As a film, it tries to tackle too much in one go (the non-interview with an IMF official doesn't lead anywhere), and there isn't a single strong thread to follow.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review: House of Sand and Fog (2003)

What happens when your memories and dreams are worth more than anything else in the world.

Ben Kingsley is just wonderful as the proud but inflexible Iranian exile Colonel Bahrani, while Jennifer Connelly looks appropriately depressed as the divorced Kathy. Weakest of the trio is Ron Eldard's deputy Lester, whose motivations aren't made clear until too late in the film.

Camerawork and editing are a bit hum-drum, and James Horner's score is over the top.

Superior tear-jerker.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review: La Demoiselle d'honneur / The Bridesmaid (2004)

During Sophie Tardieu's (Solène Bouton) wedding, her brother Philippe (Benoît Magimel) becomes besotted with one of her bridesmaids, the exotic Senta (Laura Smet). The two could not be more different: Phillipe is a salesman for a builder and lives in small house with his mother and sisters, while Senta is an unemployed actor who slums in the basement of her aunt's dilapidated mansion. As Phillipe and Senta fall deeper and deeper in love, she proposes that they each murder a person to prove their love to each other.

Writer-director Claude Chabrol and writer Pierre Leccia have adapted a Ruth Rendell novel of the same title. One theme they focus on is how different people perceive and use lies; Phillipe does not hesitate to lie to avoid awkward situations and to get what he wants. When he is confronted by Senta's seemingly far-fetched stories, he assumes that she is making them up until, of course, it is too late. The writers flesh out Phillipe's family, his mother (Aurore Clement) who has been quietly dumped by her wealthy boyfriend and his younger sister Patricia (Anna Mihalcea) who is on the verge of being a delinquent, to reinforce his view of the world.

The film has a cool, slightly detached feeling, which suits the material. I found the climax somewhat awkward and rushed, and the denouement cut short. The soundtrack by Matthieu Chabrol is also sometimes annoying.

French with English subtitles.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review originally published in Morva House.

Review: The King of Marvin Gardens (1972)

After David Staebler (Jack Nicholson), a late-night radio host, receives an urgent call from his older brother, Jason (Bruce Dern), he rushes to Atlantic City to find Jason in jail. Jason has been living with Sally (Ellen Burstyn) and Jessica (Julia Anne Robinson) in a hotel room while wrangling a deal to build a casino in Hawaii. However, Jason's employer, Lewis (Scatman Crothers), a shady developer, feels he's been left out of the deal, and has contrived a felony against Jason.

Nicholson has a atypical subdued role, being the shy uptight sibling who tries to keep his brother grounded, while Dern is the impulsive and manic Jason who drags his initially reluctant brother deeper and deeper into his schemes, all the while keeping one step ahead of creditors and holding his entourage together.

This film is a series of loosely connected, noisy, and sometimes pointless scenes. Why does Jason need David to accompany him? Why does David go along with his brother? Why doesn't Lewis simply shut down the whole deal?

Not my cup of tea.

1 out of 5 stars.

Review: Casino Royale (2006)

New Zealand-born director Martin Campbell gets a second call (his first was 'Goldeneye' in 1995) to direct a reinvented James Bond, this time with Daniel Craig as Bond. The villain this time is Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), a banker for terrorists' funds. When MI5 learn that Le Chiffre is going to the Casino Royale in Montenegro to raise funds, Bond is sent to thwart him at the poker table. Accompanying him is Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), who's more intriguing than the usual Bond Girl and provides this film's love interest.

Writers Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Paul Haggis restart Bond's career, though it's not clear why. Early scenes establish that Bond is already a government-appointment assassin, so giving him a double-O license to kill seems superfluous. They also drop the terrorism and tinpot dictator premise, rendering the plot rather twee and removed from our post-9/11 reality.

Where the film excels are the high-impact and innovative action scenes, especially the parkour chase through a construction site and the bombing in an airport. Daniel Craig certainly has the right physique to suggest a much more athletic Bond in future films of the series.

A so-so outing for a new Bond.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review originally published in Morva House.

Review: L'Idole / The Idol (2002)

Two residents in an apartment block, Mr. Zao (James Hong), an aged Chinese gentleman, and Sarah Silver (Leelee Sobieski), a young aspiring actress, strike up an unlikely daughter-grandfather relationship. Mr. Zao lives alone with the memories of his sister, Mai Mai, who was killed in the Second World War. Sarah is an understudy for the star of a play, Sylvia, and is having liaisons with Sylvia's husband, Philippe (Jalil Lespert), also an actor in the same play. However, Sarah is becoming frustrated with the state of affairs because Philippe refuses to divorce his wife and she is not given any opportunities to perform Sylvia's role. When Sarah starts to meet Mr. Zao, it causes tensions with their two neighbours, Roger Castellac (Jean-Paul Roussillon), a retired conductor, and Caroline (Marie Loboda), a young girl.

The premise and the first part of the film are the most intriguing. James Hong, who is often limited to secondary ethnic roles in American productions, finally gets the opportunity to be the leading man. His Mr. Zao, who is initially considering going to a retirement home, visibly comes back to life when he begins his relationship with Sarah. It's not hard to see why: Leelee Sobieski is very appealing as the nymph-like young women who is barely out of her teens and living overseas away from her parents in Australia. Another Australian connection is Samantha Lang, who has directed films in Australia.

Unfortunately, in the second part of the film, the relationship between Mr. Zao and Sarch stops progressing, and Hong's hesitant French begins to interrupt the flow of the film. Lang and co-writer Gerard Brach also focus on Sarah's histrionics, which is rather contrived and not interesting.

Interesting start, but the story peters out half-way.

French with English subtitles.

2 out of 5 stars.

Review originally published in Morva House.

Review: Children Of Men (2006)

In 2027, mankind is on the path to extinction because no children have been born in 18 years. While the world descends into chaos, Great Britain remains relatively calm but has become a police state. The government regularly extradite refugees (nicknamed 'Fugies'), though some citizens, the 'Fishes', are opposed to it. Some protestors take it a step further and become terrorists.

Theo (Clive Owen), a public servant, is contacted by members of the Fishes, his ex-wife Julian (Julianne Moore) and Luke (Chewetel Ejiofor) to obtain some exit papers for a refugee, Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey). When the Fishes' initial plan to steal Kee out of the country fails, Theo, his mentor Jasper (Michael Caine) and Kee's companion Miriam (Pam Ferris), find an alternative route.

After previously directing possibly the best Harry Potter film, 'The Prisoner of Azkaban', I expected Alfonso Cuaron would make 'Children of Men' another exceptional film. The production and technical aspects of the film are fantastic; London feels like city under seige from within and there's some tour de force single-shot camera work by DoP Emmanuel Lubezki.

However, other than one scene in a refugee camp, the film lacks emotional punch. Ironically, while the single-shot scenes are impressive, they removed instead of involved me because I spent more time admiring the technique rather than getting swept away by the story. Characters have rather predictable roles (Theo is the everyman hero, Kee the package, Miriam provides some exposition) or are discarded too quickly. The most annoying issue is that Luke's motivations, which drives most of the plot, are unclear.

Good film, lots of technical aspects to admire, but too studied for me to fully enjoy.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review originally published in Morva House.

Review: All That Jazz (1979)

In this semi-autobiographical musical, written and directed by Bob Fosse, his alter-ego, Joe Gideon (Rob Scheider) is a chain-smoking, hard-drinking, workaholic choreographer, simultaneously directing a new Broadway musical 'NY/LA' and re-editing his over-budget and overdue film 'The Standup'. Fosse is also pretty harsh on Joe (and perhaps himself) by making Joe a serial womanizer. Joe's wife Audrey (Leland Palmer) had left him because of his repeated infidelity, and his present girlfriend Kate (Anne Reinking) soon discovers that he is bedding one of his dancers, Victoria (Deborah Geffner). The story starts realistically, but fantasy scenes where Joe chats with an angel (Jessica Lange) are used to fill in his background. As Joe's health deteriorates, the fantastic comes to the fore, culminating in rock opera-style performance of 'Bye Bye Love' by Scheider and Ben Vereen.

The film is like an hyperactive and edgy vaudeville show, entertaining, surprising and shocking us at the same time. Wonderful stuff.

5 out of 5 stars.

Review: Va Savoir / Who Knows (2001)

After three years' absence, stage actress Camille Renard (Jeanne Balibar) returns to Paris to perform in an Italian play. The company's director and her lover, Ugo Bassini (Sergio Castellitto) frets that the season would be a failure. Between performances, the two drift apart. Camille visits her ex-lover, Pierre (Jacques Bonnaffé), a philosophy lecturer who is still working on his thesis on Heidegger. She finds him rather cold towards her, and he is now married to Sonia (Marianne Basler), a ballet teacher. Meanwhile Ugo spends his time visiting libraries looking for a missing manuscript by an 19th century playwright, where he meets Dominque (Hélène de Fougerolles), a delectable graduate student. Ugo later discovers that Dominque's family may have a copy of the manuscript he is looking for. The circle of relationships between the characters closes when we find that Dominique's half-brother, Arthur (Bruno Todeschini), a gambler, is seducing Sonia with the intention of stealing her ring.

Director and co-writer Jacques Rivette constructs a refined farce where the characters search for something that is right under their noses, and their story is reflected in the (uncredited) Pirandello play that Camille and Ugo are staging. It's a slow-paced film (the version I watched is 154 minutes long, and there's an even longer version!) and while I was not bored, this film is probably aimed at viewers more literate in theatre and literature than me.

French and Italian with English subtitles.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review was originally published in Morva House.

Review: Bitter Medicine by Sara Paretsky (1987)

During a hot August month in Chicago, private detective V. I. Warshawski investigates a murder which may have been triggered by a tragic event. In the course of her work, she runs into street gangs, pro-lifers, her ex-husband and the shady side of private medical care.

In this novel, the fourth featuring VIW, Paretsky has an accomplished, no-nonsense style befitting her tough-as-nails protagonist. Paretsky's style does make VIW seem a little cold blooded and sometimes a bit petty. It also makes VIW appear to be inordinately concerned about dressing correctly, which probably makes sense given that she usually relies on other characters' preconceptions to gain evidence.

One weakness is that the villain hardly features in the novel and, given what we are told, it makes the motivation for the crime a little far-fetched. Still, the pages turn quickly, there's some suspenseful moments and all loose ends are tied up in the end.

Stars: 3 out of 5

Review was original published in Morva House

Review: Cowboy Bebop – The Movie (2001)

The crew of the spaceship Bebop, cowboys (bounty hunters) Spike Spiegel, Jet Black and Faye Valentine, and their companions computer hacker Edward and enhanced dog Ein, who previously appeared in a TV series that ran from 1998 to 1999, return for another adventure in this animated film. This time, an ex-soldier, Vincent Volajo, threatens to unleash a biological weapon to wipe out the people of Alpha, a Martian city. As the police and Spike hunt down Vincent, Spike meets Electra, an army investigator and Vincent's ex-lover.

The film takes place somewhere mid-series but the back story doesn't matter much, though newcomers might wonder why the future looks like a mashup of high-tech metropolises and the wild west. Director Shinichirô Watanabe has a bigger budget for this film than in the TV series, and the higher art, animation and production values are obvious. The fight sequences between Spike and Vincent are quite amazing without the motion capture technology available for later anime films. The series is well known for its strong jazz soundtrack, and in this film, the jazz-pop music by Yôko Kanno doesn't disappoint.

Too bad that the screenplay by Keiko Nobumoto, based on a story by Hajime Yatate, doesn't actually make sense. The film also suffers, just a little though, from the dreaded anime mid-film sag when characters ruminate on life in the most boring way possible for minutes.

For fans of the series, it's fun to watch the characters in action again.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review was originally published in Morva House.

Review: Kongekabale / King's Game (2004)

Eleven days before a Danish general election, the opposition Centre Party is riding high in the polls. Then, the unexpected happens: their leader is hospitalized due to an accident. Deputy leader, Lone Kjeldsen (Nastja Arcel) makes a tilt for the leadership. When journalist Ulrik Torp (Anders W. Berthelsen), recently appointed to the parliamentary news desk, starts getting wind of a possible fraud committed by Lone's husband, Mads (Lars Brygmann), he wonders he's a pawn in a party coup. Could it be organized by the shadow finance minister Erik Dreier Jenssen (Søren Pilmark) and his press secretary Peter Schou (Lars Mikkelsen)?

This film criticizes the media's cosy relationship with political parties and government, where the press is all too willing to participate in spin rather than to discover the truth. However, it's not subtle in presenting this point of view: Ulrik seems much too idealistic and naïve to have lasted long in journalism, Lone is too ineffectual to be the deputy of a political party and Dreier just radiates animosity. Also, Nicolas Bro, as free-lance journalist Henrik Moll, gives Ulrik an unexpected lecture on the problems of the modern media.

After getting that message off their chests, writer Rasmus Heisterberg and co-writer and director Nikolaj Arcel pick up the pace, making the second half of the film a more involving thriller.

Moderately good thriller, though a little too contrived and earnest at the start.

Danish with English subtitles.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review was originally published in Morva House.

Review: A/R andata+ritorno / Round Trip (2004)

Just before Christmas, Dante (Libero De Rienzo), a bicycle courier, decides to leave Turin to escape his dingy flat and the 20 000 Euros he owes to local gangster Skorpio (Michele Di Maurio). At the same time, flight stewardess Nina's (Vanessa Incontrada) relationship with her boyfriend is on shaky ground. When she becomes stranded in Turin due to a general strike and is unable to find a hotel room, Dante's mentor, the kindly Tolstoj (Kabir Bedi), offers her Dante's vacant room. As she pieces together Dante through his notes and books, she falls in love with him.

This film teases the audience by keeping the potential lovers apart for as long as possible. Then having brought them together, poses the question of how will they stay together given, in this case, Dante's immediate and fatal debt problem? Writer-director Marco Ponti solves it by introducing a heist element into the final third of the film.

A genial and light-hearted film. Remember to stay around for the scenes inserted in the trailing credits.

Italian with English subtitles

3 out of 5 stars.

Review was originally published in Morva House.

Review: Nicotina (2003)

Characters whose paths intersect in one busy night in a Mexican city: Nene (Lucas Crespi) and his partner, Tomson (Jesús Ochoa) hire computer cracker Nolo (Diego Luna) to get bank passwords for Russian gangster Svoboda (Norman Sotolongo). While on the job, Nolo spys on his pretty neighbour Andrea (Marta Beláustegui), a concert musician who is having an affair with her conductor and also her upstairs neighbour. We also meet two bickering couples, barber Goyo (Rafael Inclan) and his wife Carmen (Rosa María Bianchi), and chemist Carlos (Eugenio Montessoro) and his wife Clara (Carmen Madrid).

The story plays out roughly in real time as we watch the characters lurch from one crisis to another. The initial scenes of Nolo and his neighbour run too long and don't go anywhere other than to set up the rest of the story. Oddly enough, while everyone argues about smoking or discuss life and smoking, nicotine has very little impact on the story.

The digital cinematography is plain and realistic but rather hard on the eye. Split screen and computer graphics are used in some scenes for additional effect.

Middling black crime-comedy.

Mexican with English subtitles.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review was originally published in Morva House.

Review: Byzantium - The Early Centuries (1988) by John Julius Norwich

In the 330, after Constantine (272-337) had established his rule over the Roman Empire, he estalished a new capital in Byzantium (now Istanbul), and named the new city Constantinople. The move was due to the need to face threats to the empire from the Sassanid Persians (based in Iraq and Iran) and Constantine's dislike of Rome and its politics. Constantine also adopted the then-new Christian religion.

This book, the first of three on the Byzantine Empire by John Julius Norwich, takes us on a lively tour of the early history of the late Roman / Byzantine Empire. It covers the founding of Constantinople, the empire's loss of Italy and north Africa in the fifth century, Justinian's (482–565), and his famous general, Belisarius' (500-565), unsuccessful efforts to permanently reoccupy old imperial territories, the heroic Heraclius (575-641) defeating the Sassanid Persians in the seventh century, only to face the new threat from Arab caliphates, and finally the crowning of the Frank Charlemagne in 800 as emperor, which marks the end of Byzantium rule in western Europe. In the meantime, the Byzantine Empire suffered constant attacks from various tribes and nations from Europe and Asia, and the threat of schism between Christian churches in the east and west was never far away.

In a relatively short book covering 470 years (averaging less than a page a year), Norwich organizes chapters along the major events in the empire and provides some background and depth to the characters involved. The book also includes some good basic maps so that the reader can follow the action across two continents, and imperial family trees to help the reader trace the sometimes tangled imperial successions.

A fast paced historical narrative on a grand scale.

Review was originally published in Morva House.

Review: Invisible Waves (2005)

After Kyoji (Tadanobu Asano), a young Japanese cook, murders his lover Seiko (Tomono Kuga), he flees Macau on a cruise ship, where he meets Noi (Hye-jeong Kang), a Korean mother with a toddler, on vacation. When he arrives in Phuket, he finds he is being hunted by some gangsters, possibly hired by Seiko's husband (and his Thai boss), Wiwat (Toon Hiranyasap).

This is a languorous film made by Thai director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang and writer Prabda Yoon. It is filled with dreamlike scenes set in strangely deserted streets of Macau and Hong Kong, or aboard the near-empty cruise ship. Kyoji's journey is punctuated with minor mishaps and annoyances, perhaps reflecting his punishment for his crime. Christopher Doyle's lovely fluid and off-centre cinematography and the hesitant use of English between the characters from different cultures (obviously everyone's second language) further add to the dreamlike feeling. Most of the action occurs off screen and it's only near the end that the horror of Kyoji's crime is revealed.

While accepting that this is a slow-moving mood piece and admiring the writing and technical achievements, I found this film to be a challenge to watch. The scenes on the cruise ship go on and on interminably, and Kyoji is annoyingly dim (why go to Thailand to evade the law when your dead lover's husband may be connected to Thai gangsters?) and passive.

Thai, Japanese with English subtitles.

2 out of 5 stars.

Review was originally published in Morva House.

Review: Human Nature (2001)

An especially hirsute woman, Lila Jute (Patricia Arquette), falls in love with uptight scientist Dr Nathan Bronfman (Tim Robbins). One day in a forest, they come upon a man (Rhys Ifans) who had been living as an ape in the forest since he was a child. Nathan believes he can make animals more intelligent by teaching them table manners, and the ape-man becomes an ideal subject for his research. His laboratory assistant, Gabrielle (Mirando Otto), sensing an opportunity for fame and fortune, seduces Nathan.

This fantasy, written by Charlie Kaufman, has a dismal view of human nature. The main characters, other than Lila, are little more than selfish chauvinistic hairless apes, ready succumb to their base desires, or to torture or betray their fellows at the drop of a hat. Director Michel Gondry, who also directs music clips, delivers some imaginative set ups and montages.

Somewhat interesting and amusing but slightly underdone.

2 out of 5 stars.

Review was originally published in Morva House.

Review: Entre Ses Mains / In His Hands (2005)

In the city of Lille, Clair Gautier (Isabelle Carré) lives an ideal modern life: she likes her job as an insurance assessor, is happily married to Fabrice (Jonathan Zaccai) and has a young daughter. One day, she processes a claim by a middle-aged vetinarian, Laurent Kessler (Benoit Poelvoorde). Kessler is self-effacing, charming but slightly creepy, so it is unexpected when she allows him into her life and dates him.

Meanwhile, a serial killer is on the loose in the city. After hearing about the killer's modus operandi, Claire suspects Kessler might the killer. Despite this suspicion, she continues to meet him; perhaps her life is not as ideal as it seems and that she's entertaining a harmless fantasy as an escape from it.

The pair's encounters through Lille are tracked by Denis Lenoir's excellent cinematography, which shows an exciting and romantic night life in contrast to the stark office interiors and wintry days. Director and co-writer, Anne Fontaine, herself an actor, gives the cast space and time to perform.

For most of its running time, I was left guessing whether Claire's suspicions are valid or not, so it is rather disappointing when that ambiguity is neatly resolved in the conclusion.

French with English subtitles.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review was original published in Morva House.

Review: How to Read Novels Like a Professor: A Jaunty Exploration of the World's Favorite Literary Form (2008) by Thomas C. Foster

If you read novels for leisure, can you find a more enjoyment from reading? Thomas C. Foster thinks so. His book takes you through the elements of a novel, a brief history, narrators or voices, style and authors.

I oriented myself using the early chapter on a potted history of novels. Novels, as we recognise them, started from 'Robinson Crusoe' and 'Pamela' (and the first parody, 'Shamela'), became voluminous in the Victorian era due to serialization, took on stream of consciousness ideas in the early 20th century, were declared 'dead' in the late 60s, and were reborn soon after. While the history of the novel is incidental to the subject of reading, it often gives the reader some economic or social reason for the subsequent discussion about the stucture, subject and style of novel.

Foster's tone, as indicated by the blurb, is disarmingly light and chatty, but it continuously informs you of the benefits of analysing text as you read. There's some criticism that Foster overuses the same examples, such as 'Huckleberry Finn' and 'Ulysses', it is obvious that he loves those books and it is hard to imagine writing as enthusiastically about novels that you don't care as much about.

I found this a delightful book about the pleasures of reading.

5 out of 5 stars.

Review: Coraline, The Graphic Novel Adaptation (2008) by P. Craig Russell and Neil Gaiman

Coraline, The Graphic Novel Adaptation
by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by P. Craig Russell
2008
HarperCollins

Coraline, a young girl, and her parents share an old house with two retired dancers and an man who trains rats. Bored, Coraline explores the unused rooms in the house and stumbles into a slightly warped version of our world, occupied by ghosts, talking animals and a malevolent entity.

Not having read Neil Gaiman's original book (with David McKean's art) and having avoided viewing clips of Henry Sellick's film adaption, I read this novel cold.

The story is aimed at younger readers and is pretty direct, with none of the digressions and allusions found in Gaiman's 'Sandman' series. Likewise, P. Craig Russell's art is simple and realistic, his composition uncluttered, and the pacing gentle.

Suitable for young independent readers but don't be surprised if they start looking at you strangely after reading it!

Review was originally published in Morva House.

Review: Pour le plaisir / Everybody is a killer (2004)

In a small country town, psychiatrist Vincent (Samuel Le Bihan) treats mechanic Francois (Francois Berleand) in exchange for servicing his car. One day, Francois tells Vincent that his wife, Julie (Nadia Fares), is only aroused by killers, so Vincent suggests that Francois play along with his wife's fantasy. The next day, a man is found murdered near Francois' garage.

In this light murder mystery, most of the violence happens off-stage and the cops are self-assured but dim (you certainly don't these guys investigating your murder). Suspicion falls on one person, then another and another as more facts are revealed. The townsfolk's reaction to the murder and the subsequent revelations is represented by a Greek chorus of drinkers in the pub.

It's a slight film, but the story is efficiently told and it doesn't overstay its welcome.

French with English sub-titles.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review was originally published in Morva House.

Review: Un homme un vrai / A Real Man (2003)

Boris (Mathieu Amalric), an aspiring film maker, and Marilyne (Helene Fillieres), an upcoming business executive, fall in love. Their affair is told in three chapters, each five years apart.

The English title, 'A Real Man', is ironic because this film seems to be about the reversal of expected male and female roles. Marilyne is assertive and often makes the first move, whether it'd be throwing a party or trying to seduce Boris from working on his script. Boris, on the other hand, is more passive and reactive, and feels put upon. He's like the protagonist in his scripts (watch for the blonde he meets on the beach). It's only in the last chapter, when he leaves behind his failed attempts at film making and finds his true calling, that their roles become more equal, and we see a chance for a lasting relationship between him and Marilyne.

French with English sub-titles.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review was originally published in Morva House.

Review: Ma vie en l'air / Love is in the Air (2005)

Yann (Vincent Elbaz) is airline safety inspector who falls in love with Charlotte (Elsa Kikoine). When Charlotte travels to Australia for a year, Yann's phobia about flying stops him from visiting her and she dumps him. Years later, after many failed dates, Yann becomes attracted to radio presenter Alice (Marion Cotillard), but also finds out that Charlotte in back in France.

Marion Cotillard, who takes on the role of Edith Piaf in 'La Vie En Rose' later, is strangely mesmerizing, while Vincent Elbaz is just a little too confident for the slightly introverted and dreamy Yann. The attractive leads play it straight, leaving most of the humour to Yann's indolent best friend, Ludo (Gilles Lellouche) and a distracted airline pilot Castelot (Didier Bezace).

If you accept the improbable premise, the preponderance of good looking women in Paris and coincidences, then you could just sit back and enjoy this light romantic comedy.

French with English subtitles.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review was originally published in Morva House.

Review: Turing's Delirium (2007) by Edmundo Paz Soldan

Turing's Delirium
Edmundo Paz Soldan
2007

West of today, Bolivia is in turmoil caused by zealous privatization and inequality. The government of ex-dictator and president Montenegro struggles to hold on to power against a coalition of unionists and indigenous people. The government's secretive Black Chamber department is called into action to track down crackers who attack their systems. Expatriate Ramirez-Graham is the recent head of this department, after the previous head, Albert, suffers a breakdown. Miguel Saenz was Albert's favorite cryptologist, but Ramirez-Graham has moved him to manage the archives. Deprived of his purpose and his mentor, Miguel drifts through life, unaware that his wife Ruth has been collecting evidence of his activities with the former regime, and that his daughter Flavia is flirting with danger. Unknown to them, former judge Cardano is looking to avenge the murder of his friend by government agents.

This is a carefully written novel, transplanting the recent history of Bolivia to a plausible and not too distant future, where the effects of the privatization of public assets on poorer citizens are played out. However, the cyber elements are minimal and conventional, and Albert's recitation of the history of cyptography is tedious. Once you read past the introductory chapters and know which parts to overlook, the novel is reasonably engrossing as each character finds their goal.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review: Sur mes lèvres / Read My Lips (2001)

Carla Behm (Emmanuelle Devos) is a secretary in a busy construction company. She is somewhat resentful of her deafness, not accepting it but unwilling to open up to others. She longs for a more glamorous life and lives vicariously on the relationships of others, reading glossy magazines during lunch or eavesdropping on lovers' conversations by lip-reading.

Her manager allows her to hire an assistant and she chooses young parolee Paul Angeli (Vincent Casell). She and Paul start an uncomfortable relationship, two disadvantaged people who are constantly jostling for an edge over the other. Later, circumstances force them to forget their games and rely on each other.

What fascinates me is how the story is told mostly from Carla's perspective, which is well captured by the very tight, claustrophobic framing by cinematographer Mathieu Vadepied and (like the more recent Australian film, 'Noise') the pops and squeals of her hearing aid.

Although billed as a thriller, I found that element somewhat incidental and relying on one too many coincidences to move the story along or tie up loose ends. The sub-plot involving Paul's probation officer Masson doesn't do anywhere. However, these petty issues don't materially impact on a very involving and sometimes tense film.

French with English subtitles.

4 out of 5 stars.

Review: The Front Page (1974)

On the eve of the biggest story in Chicago in the 1920s, star journalist Hildy Johnson (Jack Lemmon) tells his editor, Walter Burns (Walter Matthau), that he's quitting his job to get married to Peggy (Susan Sarandon). Burns is as determined to keep his best journalist as Johnson is to leave, and tries various schemes to get him to write the story and keep him in the paper.

This is one of the many film remakes of a Broadway comedy by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, and unfortunately, the stage origins of this film are rather obvious in this version. The acting is exaggerated and is uncomfortably shrill in moments, and the staging is obvious. It's only in the frantic climax does the film go beyond its origins.

Still, it's always fun to watch Lemmon and Matthau bounce off each other like the old pros that they are. Credit should also go to Jordan Cronenweth's luminous cinematography which brightens what would have otherwise been a dingy setting.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)

Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) - modelled on explorer Jacques Cousteau - is having a bad day: his friend has been eaten by a giant shark, his latest documentary is a yawn, his agent Oseary (Michael Gambon) is deserting him and he is estranged from his wife Eleanor (Anjelica Huston). All he has left is his ship and crew, and even they are in the dumps. When pilot Ned Plimpton (Owen Wilson), who may or may not be his son from an affair, and journalist Jane Winslett-Richardson (Cate Blanchett) enter his life, he decides to satisfy his thirst for revenge by hunting down the shark and maybe revive his fortune.

TLAWSZ, like earlier Wes Anderson films 'The Royal Tanenbaums' and 'Rushmore', takes a lot of time establishing the off-centred setting and quirky characters, and we're halfway through the film before the film moves beyond its introduction.

Nothing much happens after that.

2 out of 5 stars.

Review: What is History? (1990) by Edward Hallett Carr

This book is a collection of the author's speeches on history delivered in 1961. The speeches address ...

1. the current feeling of pessimism felt by a once-powerful elite that sees the end of the British Empire,
2. why history is not merely a recitation of statistics and facts and that historians should try to understand what has happened,
3. that we should be cautious when using our values to judge the past,
4. how we reinterpret history using different views as our knowledge increases.

Throughout the book, there are constant reminders of how the past, present and future form a continuous narrative of human society. References to other past and contemporary historians make some parts of the book hard to understand. Carr is rather disparaging of the 'big man' and 'chance' interpretation of history, preferring a more sociological view.

Carr died before he wrote a planned second edition to his book, and R. W. Davies presents his notes in an afterword.

4 out of 5 stars.