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mcw1139
Reviews
Bomnaleun ganda (2001)
Beautiful haunting love story
I saw this film at the San Francisco film festival several years ago. I had a ten film pass and this ONE film made sitting through some of the other very boring, tedious films worth the price of the ten pass ticket (note: I am an avid foreign and independent film person). The cinematography, film score, editing and acting are superb. I still have the one of the films amazing images - a bamboo forest waving in the winds engraved in my memory.
I hoped to see it on the independent and film circuit after the film festival, so that I could let others know to go see it .... but it never showed up. I have found it for sale online but not with and English subtitle. I hope, that eventually, the films distributors, either release it for a US theatrical run or put out an English dubbed version so that I can but it.
Happy Accidents (2000)
Excellent little film
About 4 months ago I started using my local public library as a poor man's Netflix. I would think up a film that my wife (and maybe I) would like to see and look it up in their catalog and, if they had it, reserve it for delivery to my local branch. There wasn't much they didn't have. At first I got ideas for films from titles I could remember. Then I consulted IMDb and did searches by actor of director, etc. to get titles.
About a month ago, after I ran out of my remembrances and IMDb's cross-references, I searched the public library's catalog by year and media type (DVDs). Browsing through the results, in one recent year, I came across a title that seemed familiar and I right clicked it to find out more. The lead male was Vincent D'Onofrio, an actor I had seen in bit parts in film and TV, but who also was featured in a episode of one of my favorite TV series of all time 'Homicide: Life on the Streets'. Yeah, I know. Stupid title. But I swear that show was one of the finest I'd ever seen on TV (bear in mind, I've never had cable). The best cinematography, best editing, best screenplays with the best dialog delivered in the best performances on TV I had ever seen. The episode I saw D'Onofrio in was an episode that was also featured in a two hour PBS documentary 'Anatomy of a 'Homicide: Life on the Street', which was also excellent. D'Onofrio did a marvelous job in that episode. So good, I thought I'd like to see him in another lead role. When I came across it in the library catalog search, I decided to order the film even though the library catalog blurb read "A single girl with an obsession for fixing the emotional problems of oddball men finally meets a guy who seems normal. The only snag is that he says he came from the future to save her life". Sounded kinda a smaltzy romantic comedy we recently viewed - Kate & Leopold. It even had Marisa Tomei in it.
Unfortunately, it arrived with another movie I wanted to see more and so I just saw the first two minutes before I returned it to the library. But that first two minutes was so hypnotic and enticing that I added the D'Onofrio film to the another batch of library requests.
Tonight I viewed it. I reran the first two minutes twice and it really wasn't as good as I kinda thought it was a month ago in it's first aborted viewing - it was better. About ten minutes in, I was beginning to think this might turn out to be my favorite film of the last year. About twenty minutes in, I was beginning to think this might turn out to be my favorite film in the last 5 years. About one hour in, I was beginning to think this might turn out to be my favorite film in the last 10 years. By the end of the film, I was beginning to think this might turn out to be my favorite film.
This film has some of the best cinematography, best editing, best soundtrack, best sound editing (since The Conversation), best screen writing with the best dialog delivered in the best performances I had ever seen.
Off the Wall (1977)
Excellent little film
I saw this movie in my film school days and still remember it as one of the best films I saw that decade (70s)....and I saw many many very good films. I have hoped to see it again, but it never reappeared, not even on video. The Cinema Verite style of the film's plot - where the post 60s hippie subject of a documentary, hijacks the camera as he robs turns this film into something very special. This is one of several films I saw I my film school days that I saw once, when it made its rep house circuit, and then disappeared forever....that I wish would be resurrected on video or DVD. The other films are "The Night of the Counting of the Years" and "Rubber Gun" (which was the other film I saw on the double bill with Off the Wall).
The Rubber Gun (1977)
Excellent little film
I saw this movie in my film school days and still remember it as one of the best films I saw that decade (70s)....and I saw many many very good films. I have hoped to see it again, but it never reappeared, not even on video. It has an interesting sorta dual plot line and very good realistic acting and dialog. Actually - the most realistic dialog of any film I have ever seen. I think I read that most of the actors were non-actors and much of the acting was improvised, which makes their performance even more amazing. This is one of several films I saw I my film school days that I saw once, when it made its rep house circuit, and then disappeared forever....that I wish would be resurrected on video or DVD.