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4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile (2007)
Difficult to watch, but impossible to ignore
"Unflinching" is the best word I can use to described 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, one of the most disturbing movies in recent memory - and one of the best of 2007. I can only recommend it, however, with the disclaimer that it belongs in the small (but growing) group of recent films with scenes that sear your memory - and not in a good way. The Passion of the Christ, Cache, and Eastern Promises come to mind as well. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is not pro-choice or pro-life, it's just there - raw, real, and right in your face. We intimately experience the horrific measures that women go through when seeking illegal abortions, and we intimately witness the horrors of abortion itself. I haven't seen any of Cristian Mungiu's other movies, but I was very, very impressed with this. It's been a few days and I still don't know if I can call it "good" or say that I "liked" it - that would send a strange message. It's masterfully done and has given me some new insights about stirring subjects - certainly abortion, but also communism, friendship, and Romanian culture. And new insights, I should emphasize, are why I go to the movies in the first place.
Taxi to the Dark Side (2007)
Sickening, but not shocking
In addition to objectively painting a portrait of a given subject matter, a documentary is usually expected to be an exposé of said subject matter; a story you've never heard, or a story you've heard before, but not in "this way." Though engrossing and often gross, the real weakness of Taxi to the Dark Side is the fact that it's the same story told in pretty much the same way we've always heard: poor leadership within the U.S. administration led to poor decision-making on the ground, which led to poor detainees being treated poorly. Everyone's guilty but no one is to blame. This circuitous chaos is the subject matter and not the fault of Alex Gibney, but I hold him accountable for not telling me anything I didn't already know about it (and for thoroughly confusing me with years and locations). If there was ever an instance of preaching to the choir, this was it. Why did I expect more? Because Gibney's Enron was a triumph - as much as you knew about that scandal (which was probably not much), he laid out a linear, exacting argument that left no room for debate. As ironic as it seems to say so, Taxi to the Dark Side is not going to convince anyone of anything. You either think torture is bad, or you think torture is good. I really don't see a middle ground, and if you're in the second group you won't change your mind from what Gibney presents, you'll just shrug your shoulders. For a brief moment he actually starts to get creative as we hear from a former FBI interrogator whose interrogation techniques were effective and peaceful (as much as he exaggerated). That started to be convincing, so why did it end? And what about the 30 second insight into how torture has been embraced by the American public thanks to the likes of 24? That's an interesting place to go, but we're left with more polarizing soundbites from Bush. How about the flash-quick glimpse into the future repercussions from torture survivors? Gibney even pushes his own personal connection to torture to the credits. Where was that the whole time? The short of it is, by focusing on the same old details and using some pretty tired arguments, Gibney prevents his merely good work from achieving real excellence. Though it's a good excuse to get angry for a few hours, Taxi to the Dark Side can really only be recommended for anyone who has had their head in the sand for the last five years.
Cloverfield (2008)
Just Doesn't Reach Its Potential
Background: Though it was a successful online/social networking campaign for the mysterious Cloverfield (named after an L.A. freeway exit), the secret came out early enough that it's simply a monster movie. Directed by Matt Reeves (writer of TV's "Felicity" and Under Siege 2: Dark Territory) and written by Drew Goddard (TV's "Lost" & "Alias"), Cloverfield stars a diverse bunch of good-looking young people who you've never seen before. The gimmick is that the whole film is supposed to be confidential government footage recovered from a camcorder recovered at the area "formerly known as Central Park." Ooooh...
Synopsis: The movie has no music, starting from the beginning. Seriously, it's "government property," with a confidential stamp and all kinds of "official" A/V garble. Anyway, we meet Rob and Beth, hot best friends who have recently become a couple (they had a one night stand?). Rob, all of maybe 22 years old, is the Vice President (why?) of some unnamed company that is relocating him to Japan. Footage of Rob and Beth on their dreamy date is cut off by a live recording of Rob's going away party three weeks later, which is where the story starts. Beth shows up with "Travis," Rob is crushed, Beth storms off, blah blah blah. After watching what feels like about 20 minutes of MTV's "Real World," a rumble shakes through Manhattan, followed by explosions and, shortly, the head of the Statue of Liberty rolling through the streets. Our narrator and videographer is Rob's friend Hud, the kind of idiot sidekick that would be ridiculous (and strong) enough to hold a camera up in front of his face for 7 hours - all while dodging monsters, little monsters, bullets, mortar fire, collapsing buildings, and a helicopter crash. Anyway, we're with Hud, Rob, Rob's brother's girlfriend, and Rob's friend's friend, who Hud has a major crush on. While the ENTIRE population of Manhattan evacuates over the Brooklyn Bridge, our foursome heads to Midtown to heroically rescue Beth. Here and there tragedy strikes, and more than once we see the plodding monster stomp through the streets, impervious to all military weaponry. By the end, our lovers have reunited in Central Park, which is of course where the camcorder was recovered...ooooh...
I Loved: + Some of the visual effects - buildings leaning against each other, explosion from the rooftop, monster shots.
I Liked: + That some significant plot pieces were unresolved (where did the monster come from, what happened afterwards, etc.). + The ending, in a way. A little cheesy, but ultimately satisfying.
I Disliked: - The predictability of the Brooklyn Bridge and post-monster-bite scenes. - When the video would obnoxiously cut back to Beth and Rob's happy date.
I Hated: - The cringe-inducing acting. Really bad. Really. Bad. - Not being able to suspend my disbelief about some things (the little monsters would have hunted them through the city, no?), while totally accepting other things (a monster existing). - Hud's unceasing sense of humor.
Grade: Writing - 7 Acting - 5 Production - 10 Emotional Impact - 8 Music - 5 Significance - 3
Total: 38/50= 76% = C
Last Word: Cloverfield is a movie with an identity crisis - bad enough to doom it, but unbearable when combined with terrible acting. It's easy enough to say it's Blair Witch meets Godzilla meets Jurassic Park meets 9/11 meets King Kong meets Alien. But that's not what I mean. What I mean is Cloverfield doesn't know what it wants to be. You can't have have some realistic elements (panic in Manhattan, accurate geography, real time, human weakness) and some ridiculous elements (ability to hold a working camera that long, nobody in the subway stations, functioning electricity, no cars on the subway line, etc.). Either go way over the top and make it funny, or take a subtle, scary approach (don't even show the monster, for starters). I'll give Cloverfield credit for at least trying a new style, but all it really showed was that that style doesn't work without a better story. This is where I desperately suggest seeing The Host, which has all of the elements of Cloverfield yet somehow manages a balance between comedy, fright, amazing visuals and characters you can care about. This is also where I'll mention J.J. Abrams - as only a producer, this is where his mention belongs. Had he written and/or directed, it might have been a better movie...