Happy 1st of February!

...'am I late to this game?'

Duplicity [2009]

When I first started to watch this last night, I knew it all seemed familiar somehow, but couldn't really put my finger on it until some time after the first 15 minutes. Obviously, Duplicity reminded me of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, 4 years later, only without any weaponry and with plenty of dialogues and interrupted time frames for compensation, i.e. keeping the rhythm up. Which was not a bad thing.

The screenplay’s the thing in Duplicity, Tony Gilroy’s bleak but breezy exercise in storytelling sophistication. About corporate espionage and the globe-hopping escapades of high-class sexgod megastars (Clive Owen and Julia Roberts), the film, unlike Gilroy’s previous Michael Clayton, is less concerned with exposing a moralistic portrait of a corrupted culture than with testing how complexly constructed a narrative can be before the center cannot hold and things fall apart. Gilroy cross-cuts between incongruous temporal planes, he leaks essential information gradually, he upends what we think we know with flashbacks, and he persistently realigns the character’s loyalties. The story’s joints creak under that kind of pressure, those gutsy narrative demands, but Gilroy’s serviceable direction manages to keep together the precision-crafted machine—his scriptopuzzle. And the film’s pleasures derive from watching him get away with it, from watching it unfold successfully.

Curious? Keep reading the Cinepinion review here. Or just take a look at the trailer:

Coraline [2009]

This is the second feat I explore in the recently acclaimed Cool New Way of selecting films, as I first got fascinated with Coraline's soundtrack and then decided to watch it. And sorry I feel not, as this is exactly the sort of tale that I am currently open to ingesting:

The mescaline-trip-tinged Coraline is like Pan’s Labyrinth without the self-serious pretense to prestige. Director Henry Selick’s first return to stop motion animation in 13 years (and his first full non-Monkeybone movie without Tim Burton’s guiding hand) centers on the title character, a little girl bored both by her relocation to a baroque, off-the-map manor and her inattentive parents, who won’t indulge her adventurous spirit. Serendipitously, she discovers a small, wallpapered-over door in her gray, unfurnished living room; though bricked-up by day, by night it leads to an other-dimensional Wonderland, opening onto a rabbit-hole-ish portal, a fleshy touch-tunnel reminiscent of the birth canal. It’s as though she’s crawling back into the womb...

Keep tuning in to the Cinepinion review on top, or taste a different take here.

Angels and Demons [2009]

I'm ill. Really, I am.
This should be enough of an explanation.
Now, for the practical details:

Angels & Demons is a 2009 American film adaptation of Dan Brown's novel by the same name. It is the sequel to The Da Vinci Code, even though the novel Angels & Demons was published first and takes place before the novel The Da Vinci Code. Filming took place in Rome, Italy, and the Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California. Tom Hanks reprises the lead role of Robert Langdon, while director Ron Howard, producer Brian Grazer, composer Hans Zimmer and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman also return.

Read about it on the IMDb here or, should you prefer it, on Wiki here.

A Serious Man [2009]

Here's a film where

[...] the Coens compare humanity’s relationship-to-God to a rooftop antenna: just as the Gopniks can’t get F Troop to come through clearly, so too is humanity receiving a garbled signal they can’t decipher. Why does God supply us with the potential to ask questions when he won’t give us any answers? Why is he penalizing us when we haven’t done anything wrong? (The Coens find a brilliant symbol for this in the Columbia Record Club, which keeps charging you for albums precisely because you haven’t done anything.) The brothers cloak their bleak theology in the cover of comedy, but the pain and injustice of a world in which God only takes and does not give—in which he punishes the seemingly unoffending—is clear and deep.

Or at least that's the Cinepinion review, here.
It's been a film to keep me eyes wide open despite the Friday night tiredness, and that in itself is a mighty important merit.

Hold On, There's More to Say!

After a week loaded with films of various genres [from documentaries and the Fantastic Mr. Fox to Bronson and well, yes, Avatar], it was time to recall a different Universe, for a change. We've been at the theatre.

[lyrical break, here, suspense is growing...]

[... still growing...]

[Is this the right level of suspense, now? OK, I'll take that as a Yes!]

Prior to last Sunday's play, I couldn't for the love of me [still can't, for that matter] recall when, where, or what was the last time I've seen something enacted on a stage. But never-mind such details. Sunday it was the right time for Ivan Turbinca, at the TNB [the National Theatre Bucharest]. And a good call it was: Had the fun I didn't have in ages, enjoyed the acting, the directing, and the accompanying music, came out a different person than the one who went in. In sum, it was a transformational experience. One which I definitely recommend you try for yourself.
As for the storyline, here's the plot directly from the Wikipedia entry [amazing, ain't it?!]

1 train trip, 2 documentaries, [nearly] 3 hours each

1. Sex Traffic [2004]: recommended by my Refugee course coordinator, it's been one of the toughest films I've seen in the recent past.
The plot outline -although well and comprehensively written- couldn't possibly reveal all there is to this story:

Boston based Kernwell Industries is an American defense contractor. One of those contracts is to deploy 3,000 peacekeepers to the International Peacekeeping Coalition's work in the Balkans. Because of the near epidemic problem of sex trafficking of young Balkan women, Kernwell has decided to support the charity, Worldwide Federation Against Forced Migration. Kernwell's head of charities is Madeleine Harlsburg, the wife of the company's CEO, Tom Harlsburg. Although it does not have a pristine reputation as a good social corporate citizen, Kernwell hits a bigger public relations problem when it is learned that one of those 3,000 peacekeepers was caught trying to buy the services of a teen-aged prostitute in Sarajevo. Although not named to the media, that person is Sergeant Callum Tate, who swears he was trying to save that woman. In reality, Tate has evidence of a larger conspiracy of sex trafficking. Regardless of the truth or falsehood of accusations, some within Kernwell will do whatever they require to protect their organization's brand. Meanwhile, the Moldovan Visinescu sisters - Lena and Vara - believe they are moving to London with Vara's boyfriend Alexi to lead a better life to be able to send money back to support their mother and Lena's infant son. However, they soon learn that Alexi has instead sold them into a white slavery ring. Speak For Freedom, a London-based non-profit organization, works in many areas including monitoring sex trafficking in order to assist authorities in stopping it. Daniel Appleton, one of its employees, gets involved in trying to save the Visinescus.

[Taken from the IMDb, here.]

2. When the Road Bends: Tales of a Gypsy Caravan [2006]: a very different story, which I've nevertheless appreciated quite a bit. Though not certain who exactly recommended it to me, I recall having planned to watch it for a while now, and well, today was the day. And I was glad that it managed to [at least slightly] counterbalance the previous documentary's heavy effects.

Shot by legendary cinematographer Albert Maysles, this dynamic musical documentary follows five Gypsy bands from four countries who unite for the Gypsy Caravan as they take their show around North America for a six-week tour, astounding every audience they meet. Their musical styles range from flamenco to brass band, Romanian violin to Indian folk. And with humor and soul in their voices, they celebrate the best in Gypsy culture and the diversity of the Romani people in an explosion of song and dance.
As the film follows the amazing performances and behind-the-scenes action from the tour created by World Music Institute, we discover the real lives of these musicians. We visit Macedonia, Romania, India and Spain, meet their families and see what music brings to their lives. The tales of these characters are woven between their performances - allowing us to understand and celebrate Romani culture and the prejudice of their shared ancestry.
The "Gypsy Caravan" tour extravaganza features performances by Macedonian diva and "Queen of the Gypsies" Esma Redzepova, traditional Indian folk troupe Maharaja, Romanian Fanfare Ciocarlia, the violin wizardry of Romanian group Taraf de Haidouks and the Antonio El Pipa Flamenco Ensemble.

[as described on the IMDb, here]

[a] Cool New Way

This is not a review of Mr. Satriani's tune going by the same title, but the sharing of a funny new find of my own: it's on the intricately delicate film-choosing matter.
So now that the Disclaimer's all set, here's the how: I've now chosen whether or not to see a particular film based on the said film's soundtrack. Possibly a funny way to do it and perhaps not the most reasonable but definitely new and how about cool?!
I've made the decision after Watchmen's impressive [sound] record, and that led me to seeing.. Bronson. And, well, did I like Bronson!

Bronson is based on the life of Charles Bronson—not the (popular) movie star, but the famous English inmate, who took the actor’s moniker as his nom de combat: he’s the most violent prisoner in Britain, who has spent decades behind bars thanks to the years added to his sentences for his bloody outbursts. Bronson, in a manic performance by Tom Hardy that exudes a Jack Napier-level of playful insanity, narrates the film from a dark stage, often in costume, chronicling his childhood and young manhood—marked by robbery and disproportionate violence—through his stays in various jails, psych wards, and disco-era England. [...]
The director posits violence as art, as performance, as a talent, as a calling, as a cause for fame; think of [...] the brutishness placed back into the real world, which asks the audience to confront the cultural fetishization of barbarity. That is, Refn avoids the pitfall of adapting a real life story—getting mired in conforming the complexities of a life into the blueprint of a familiar narrative—by artfully addressing a larger, compelling theme. [...]

Highly recommended, imho. Above review may be fully read on the Cinepinion blog. And this is just this saga's start.

Mes amis Mes amours

Though I couldn't really put my finger on it, I think that -prior to this one- the last time anyone offered me a book as a present without my prior confirmation or request of the respective book was some time back in junior high.
But then came 2009, and with it a world of unexpected events. [Really.]
.. and this is how "Mes Amis Mes Amours" got to me. Most likely, the only way in which it could have, for that matter.

I won't comment this book much because there's absolutely no reason in the world why I should. But I can give you a couple of succinct sentences on the matter.
It was meant to be a script: upon writing, this influenced Mr. Marc Levy's style quite a bit as far as I could tell and it's the element of funk which I think I appreciated in it.
It was meant to be a script for a romantic comedy: those who know me are aware that it's a style I don't treasure much, and this is an understatement.
It benefited mitigating circumstances: it was my companion whilst waiting at the dentist's for the fixing of a broken tooth, a context in which I seem to be able to enjoy [maybe my mind was too numb with the events and painkillers?] literature of the lighter variety.

If you're interested, check out the plot outline here, which is incidentally the website from which I've taken the book's cover.

P.S. No, I haven't seen the film. Nor am I planning to.

Down with the Sickness

No, not the Disturbed tune.
Nor the Richard Cheese and the Lounge against the Machine remake.
I'm the one who's been ill, unable to leave the house or manage any of my plans for that matter. Frustrating. Seriously.
Instead, I did the only thing I was able to do: watching films. So here are some overviews - in chronological order [where chronological refers to the order in which I've seen them, fyi]:

1. Be Kind Rewind [2008]:

In his previous two fiction films, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Science of Sleep, Michel Gondry indulged his taste for whimsy and invention by setting his films inside the imaginarium that is the human mind; Be Kind Rewind, on the other hand, is set in the idealistic world of the cinema, on strips of magnetic tape, where a person can be made to disappear with just a little bit of creative on-camera editing and day turns to night with just the flip of a switch.
As with the other two films, Be Kind Rewind is also set, sometimes, in the real world, in the urban blight of Passaic, NJ; Gondry finds his pathos in the tragic disconnect between life and invention.

Keep reading this very well written appraisal on the Cinepinion blog.

2. Dirty Pretty Things [2002]:

Tagline: Some things are too dangerous to keep secret.
Plot: An illegal Nigerian immigrant discovers the unpalatable side of London life.

[from the IMDb film's page above]
This was a film recommended by our e-course coordinator on the week themed 'Smuggling and trafficking in human beings' - to give you an idea of how it reached me. I did however get most impressed with Sophie Okonedo's performance - whose contrasting part in Hotel Rwanda I had only seen weeks before.

3. Transsiberian [2008]:

Tagline: Arrive on time.
Plot: A Trans-Siberian train journey from China to Moscow becomes a thrilling chase of deception and murder when an American couple encounters a mysterious pair of fellow travelers.

[from the IMDb film's page above]
Titling this review ''Transsiberian' a thrill ride' is certainly most appropriate for defining the film's pace in simple words. That adrenaline surely did get pumped up!

4. Million Dollar Baby [2004]: this one doesn't really require any further introduction, does it?! Yes, it's only now that I've seen it.

aaand.. 5. The Secret Life of Words [2005]:

Plot: A hearing impaired factory worker gives up her first holiday in years and instead travels out to an oil rig, where she cares for a man suffering from severe burns.

[from the IMDb film's page above]
There's been a tight competition between this film and the one preceding it as to which one is more of a drama, and -though possibly with a margin of error- this one could be the winner. But then, I wasn't really in the mood to see 2 dramas in only one day - bummer!

And this sums it up for the day.

Article of the Day: Jesus in England

Church of Scotland minister Dr Gordon Strachan makes the claim in a new film entitled And Did Those Feet.
The film examines the story of Jesus' supposed visit, which survives in the popular hymn Jerusalem.
Dr Strachan believes it is "plausible" Jesus came to England for his studies, as it was the forefront of learning 2,000 years ago.
"Coming this far wasn't in fact that far in the olden days," Dr Strachan told BBC Radio 4's The World At One. "The Romans came here at the same time and they found it quite easy."
Dr Strachan added that Jesus had "plenty of time" to do the journey, as little was known about his life before the age of 30. ...
Dr Strachan claimed Jesus Christ could have come to England to further his education.
"He needed to go around to learn to learn bits and pieces about ancient wisdom, and the druids in Britain went back hundreds if not thousands of years. He probably came here to meet the druids, to share his wisdom and gain theirs."

Full article on the BBC news: here.

Tagline: "They Changed The Way Campaigns Are Won." [1993]

Finally seen it! Yesterday night was the dedicated night - and here I am, sharing it with the world:
It was The War Room, and here's its IMDb entry and here the Wiki one.

At the start of the 1992 Democratic primaries, D.A. Pennebaker, a revered documentary filmmaker, pitched the idea to the Clinton Campaign to allow for access into the campaign strategy sessions [...]. The Clinton campaign agreed, and allowed Pennebaker to focus on Communications Director George Stephanopoulos as well as Lead Strategist James Carville. [...]
There was a media revolution during the 1992 presidential campaign. The Clinton camp embraced the new news phenomenon while the rest of the country was being flooded with character, competence, and image press rather than platform and political information. The 1992 campaign exemplified the shift of United States political coverage from platform information and traditional press to what it is today: a character and celebrity focused popularity contest. Voters were getting their information from outlets such as late night talk shows, Donahue and MTV. Citizens were gaining perceived knowledge from these outlets and feeling satisfied that they had the information they needed to vote. Many argue that voters were not receiving important information about candidates’ platforms but because of their perceived knowledge, voters were not seeking additional information.
The historical context surrounding this film is important to note because the film is intertwined with history: the access granted to the filmmakers was unprecedented and the type of campaign the Clintons were running was entirely new, especially by focusing on the new news. The War Room not only documents the campaign history as it unfolds but it makes history in its access to the campaign.

To me, both James Carville and George Stephanopoulos are simply brilliant after having watched this: Just take a look at the Quotations section on Carville's page :)

Here's a taste:

Plot: "Chaos ensues when a man tries to expose a dark secret regarding a recently deceased patriarch of a dysfunctional British family." [2007]

Director Frank Oz won the Audience Award at both the US Comedy Arts Festival and the Locarno International Film Festival.

Read about Oz's "Death at a Funeral" experience on the IMDb here or, should you prefer it, on Wiki here.

Plot: "An adaptation of James Redfield's novel about the search for a sacred manuscript in the Peruvian rain forest." [2006]

Due to the fact that The Celestine Prophecy novel sold over 23 million copies since its publication in 1993 and has thus become one of the best-selling books of all time, Redfield had expected the film to be a success. However, the film was almost universally panned by critics and was a box office failure with a total worldwide gross of less than $1 million.

Read about Armand Mastroianni's "Celestine Prophecy" experience on the IMDb here or, should you prefer it, on Wiki here.

Tagline: "A comedy of biblical proportions" [2007]

Read about "Evan Almighty" [otherwise known as the "Bruce Almighty" sequel] on the IMDb here or, should you prefer it, on Wiki here.

Funky details spotted on the Wiki page:

Construction of the ark began in January 2006 and the scenes involving the ark were shot in a Crozet, Virginia subdivision called Old Trail.^[3] The ark was designed to meet the actual measurements of the biblical ark, measuring 450 feet (140 m) long, 80 feet (24 m) wide, and 51 feet (16 m) high.^[8] The ark's layout was also based on pictures in several children's books that crew members had read in their childhoods.^[3] When the characters were filmed during the day building the ark or were on location elsewhere, crew members would further construct the ark at night.^[3] A concrete base was built to support the weight of the large ark; after filming was completed, the ark was taken down in a week, and the base in another week.^[3]

In disassembling the set, everything that was salvageable from the ark was donated to Habitat for Humanity. "Leave no trace" was the slogan used by the director as part of the DVD's bonus features, "The Almighty Green Set".

Coming Clean 4 Congo:

Plot: "Seven warriors come together to protect a village from a diabolical General." [2005]

In the mid-1600s, the Manchurians have taken over sovereignty of China and established the Qing Dynasty. While nationalistic sentiments start brewing within the martial artists' community (Jianghu), the Qing government immediately imposes a Martial Arts Ban (禁武令), forbidding the common people to practice martial arts. This is a means of maintaining law and order, as well as provide the Qing government with sufficient reason to put down any potential rebellion by nationalist martial artists. Fire-Wind, a military officer who formerly served the fallen Ming Dynasty, sees the new law as an opportunity for himself to make fortune by assisting the government in executing the law. Greedy, cruel and immoral, Fire-Wind ravages northwest China, killing thousands of martial artists as well as innocent civilians with his army. His next goal is to attack the final frontier Martial Village (武莊), which, as its name suggests, is a home to a number of martial artists.

Taken from the "Seven Swords" Wiki entry: here.

Where Europe Ends

About the movie
“Where Europe Ends” is a 50 minutes documentary produced by Romanian Academic Society and Mrakonia Film, with the support of Black Sea Trust and Friederich Ebert Stiftung, on the consequences of EU enlargement on the border areas of EU adjoining countries Moldova and Ukraine.
The DVD comes together with a policy report. You can contact us for a promotional copy.

From here.

More of the same:

Simon still very much rocked in last night's Big Nothing [2006]:

Big Nothing is a black comedy/neo-noir film directed by Jean-Baptiste Andrea starring David Schwimmer and Simon Pegg. It was released in December 2006, and had its premiere at Cardiff Film Festival in November 2006.
Big Nothing was filmed on the Isle of Man and in Wales at Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan and at Caerwent and other areas of Monmouthshire. Other scenes were at Squamish, British Columbia, Canada.

Tagline: "A comedy that gets away with murder."
And so it is.
A preview here:

Simon said... many lines, and I decided to write his name down here :)

Simon Pegg, that is.
True, it was only a reference to Hot Fuzz when I first saw Simon on the screen, but given the lack of time constraints, I had decided to deepen my understanding of his work :)
So these have been the week's choices:

Tagline: "Love. Commitment. Responsibility. There's nothing he can't run away from." [2007]
Run Fatboy Run's IMDb entry might not do the film enough justice, so I'd recommend the Wiki entry instead.

Tagline: "Brace yourselves, America." [2008]
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People didn't get a very high IMDb score either, but Simon's performance was quite good and the Brits got it.

Any final words? - Well,.. go Simon!