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john-zeigler
Reviews
Chop Shop (2007)
Chop Shop Stunning and Majestic
The majesty of Ramin Bahrani's second feature is that, like the work of a poet, he portrays the very soul of humanity and lets it flourish on the screen. Beyond the scope of most other indie films out there, CHOP SHOP is wise, exuding the very best of the great cinema of the ages; we can look back at the works of Bresson and Pasolini and compare Bahrani's work to theirs, and yet CHOP SHOP is fresh and urgent to modern society. We can see the workings of a master here a certain sense of beauty, style, and content all merge together in a film that reminds us what it means to be alive. Instead of focusing on the side of NYC we so often see, we live and breathe with our young hero, Alejandro, in the destitute Willits Point a fascinating quasi-sub-world of our culture and yet it's a very, very real place. Trying to stay afloat, Alejandro has to support himself and his older sister. Watch this film and feel the sense of raw spiritual understanding that Bahrani leads us toward all with profound and concise realism.
12 Angry Men (1957)
12 Angry Men Great Drama
A beautifully told story. It all takes place inside a single room and yet so much happens that it is never dull and never slow. The intensity is constantly tight, and it gets tighter and tighter as the film progresses, leading it toward its climatic ending that reveals so much about humanity and how we become stunted by our prejudices. Lumet, who is of course one of our brilliant filmmakers, is great in that he never let's the drama (which often is very intense) or the acting go overboard. Furthermore, the film is very unpretentious. This frank approach to the material is exactly what makes it so believable. Instead of being weighed down with the philosophical, good 'ole drama takes the lead, and the philosophical undertones instead allow each moment to soar.
Goodbye Solo (2008)
Solo Must-See!!
I saw CHOP SHOP at the film forum and loved it, so when a friend told me to go see GOODBYE SOLO, I took the recommendation. SOLO was different from what I expected. It was a lot funnier than CHOP SHOP. I laughed so hard, especially in the beginning. Toward the end, things start to get a lot more emotional. It's a life-affirming film with such a subtly of power that it's haunting. Once the film was over and everything sunk in, it stayed with me, even after leaving the theater and into the night. This is proof enough that Ramin Bahrani has made something original and vital. Like in CHOP SHOP, you can feel the soul of these characters. I can't wait to see what he will be working on next. I hope these actors go up for huge awards or make great careers for themselves, and I hope that Bahrani keeps making movies as good and as sublime as this one.
Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
Iwo Jima Stunning Simplicity
Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers had ambition, and I admire it for that. Unfortunately, the script ended up becoming too tangential and muddled for its own good while it was trying to zero in on a message, it ended up loosing itself and searching for that message in the wrong places. Letters, however, hits the right marks. The result is an extremely well put together film, with deep humanistic and spiritual significance. It ponders the very nature of life itself and (like most unforgettable war movies ever made) it reaches a beautiful conclusion about life's "big questions" without beating us over the head. The film is so sensitive toward human life, yet it is not over the top. It dismisses dramatic grandeur for pure, undecorated truth. This very candid and frank approach pulls at the heartstrings not overtly, but like other films by Eastwood, possesses a more subtle quality. I've come to realize that the poetry and the drama in this movie are carefully disguised in the simplicity of the narrative. For these reasons, the film is affecting on an inner level, and sticks in the mind even after watching it just once.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Eternal Sunshine Superb Love Story
This is such a brilliant and beautiful film. Michel Gondry takes Charlie Kaufman's excellent script (I've read it) to the next level using a unique visual and stylistic approach to carry out the story. The performances are spot-on, and the chemistry between Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey (who plays a very different role than he usually does) crackles. At its heart, Eternal Sunshine is a very insightful love story that pulls at the heartstrings; there is a certain lyricism and sensitivity to the story that is hard to find in movies these days and it is that sensitivity that makes the film so alluring. When most other love stories are a matter of life and death, this one is a matter of memory, which relates to the question the film asks: how far will we go to forget the relationships that, upon coming to an end, have hurt us the most? It also happens to be very funny.
The Constant Gardener (2005)
Spellbinding
Fernando Meirelles' beautiful and perceptive film is unforgettable. Such a talented filmmaker! I saw Blindness recently (which, unfortunately, was not as strong as his other work) and I had to revisit THE CONSTANT GARDENER. There is something very humanistic about this film, which makes it very believable. Dreamlike and compelling, the performances are dead-on. Rachel Weisz deserves every inch of her Oscar for her role in this -- a strong character with strong convictions. The mystery and intrigue keep the pace moving; it's a thriller that says something about what it means to be alive, not only in this modern age, but in general.
Babel (2006)
Moments of Truth
Certain aspects of BABEL are intriguing, but overall, I did not like it. Many of the technical aspects of the film are undeniably great -- a talented director who managed to get a variety of good performances, from trained actors and non-actors alike. The main issue I have with the film is the story. It is difficult to really buy the connection between all the different characters (which I will not go into -- watch the film and find out). It is clear that Inarritu is trying to say something about humanity and what brings us together as well as what tears us apart. But the manner in which he does it with the four seemingly unrelated stories does not have a huge payoff. In the end, each story has it's own climax, and it's just too much -- too over the top. I love 21 GRAMS and like Amores perros, but those films seemed to hone in more on the characters, whereas this one tries to do the same but the themes and narrative are so broad that they spread everything else thin.
The Duchess (2008)
Dutches Not Bad
I went to see this movie with my friends not knowing what to expect (I hadn't seen any previews). I enjoyed it, however. It was well put together, and the costumes and cinematography were top-notch. Keira Knightley delivers a wonderful performance; not over-the-top. She is clearly a smart actress and makes many great decisions about her character -- there's a certain sensibility to the way she interprets the duchess. The story itself is not as interesting as I would have liked -- not too original, and nothing that I haven't seen before. But the production value and performances are good enough to carry the film.