Saturday, August 8, 2009

The Official 2009 in Film Post, Part 2

Greetings to the two of you that will ever read this pathetic little blogspot. Here's what I've already seen from 2009:

First of all, the spillover from 2008 that weren't available to be seen around here until 2009:

Ashes of Time Redux (Wong Kar Wai)
I missed the score from the original Ashes, as outdated as it sounds, and I wasn't a big fan of the added CG. However, seeing a restored 35mm print of Ashes was well worth the price I payed for it plus more, having seen nothing but terrible quality DVD's for years. The cinematography ranks among the best ever filmed.

The Wrestler (Darren Aranofsky)
Lots of pretty tracking shots and a surprising amount of color, not to mention an excellent performance from Mickey Rourke. I'm not going to say his was better than Sean Penn's in Milk, though it's a pretty close competition. This is a major change for director Aranofsky, who I've mostly associated with less conventional narratives. While it may have the feel of a typical indie flick, it's one of the best of its kind, and definitely top 5 of its year.

Che (Steven Soderbergh)
Part one is spectacular. The colors of the cinematography are full of vibrant greens, which make the film come to life. Soderbergh made an excellent choice not to film Antonio Banderas alone in shots, which captures the spirit and ideals of Guevara. (However, one of my socialist friends might disagree, as he is opposed to guerrilla warfare due to the fact that it isn't as inclusive as Marxist ideas are supposed to be). Overall, an excellent war film.

Part two is well made, but boring. The most amusing part is spotting Matt Damon hidden somewhere in the film. At best, it gives me hope for digital cinematography, as I was completely convinced that it had been filmed on blue-tinted film stock. Things do start to pick up toward the end. Overall, a bad war film.

Tokyo Sonata (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
Despite stiff competition, Tokyo Sonata emerged as my favorite movie of 2008. Although I'm not too familiar with Kurosawa's earlier work, I can safely say that this is a big departure from the conventional horror genre, at least. Sonata can, in fact, be seen as a horror film in its own right, due to the fact that the overall scenario could happen to pretty much anyone in today's economy. It takes some unrealistic turns, but I'm willing to suspend disbelief due to the fact that the film gets away with it so convincingly. The cinematography is steeped in Japanese tradition, and ranks as my unofficial favorite film of the year.

Departures (Yojiro Takita)
Speaking of Japanese cinematography, advertisements and screen shots of Departures mislead me into thinking it would be more Japanese-style than it actually is. While the visuals are a bit more westernized than I had hoped, it's still a thoughtful and winning experience. Perhaps it didn't deserve to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film, but considering only one film from Japan could even be eligible, I'm not too disappointed.

Cyborg She (Kwak Jae-Yong)
aka, My Sassy Girl Part 3. I'm considering writing more in depth about Kwak, who I have mixed feelings about as a writer/director. This is a better example of his work. Not as ridiculously uneven as say, Windstruck or Daisy, but it doesn't quite reach the highs of My Sassy Girl, either. Kwak has a very clear formula in his screenwriting, but for the most part, it works here.

The Films from 2009 that I've scrounged up enough money to see in theaters:

Watchmen (Zack Snyder)
I notoriously disliked 300 around my friends. Despite that, I decided to actually go with the hype for once and see Watchmen. Much like Snyder's previous film, the visuals are nowhere near as intriguing as they are purported to be. Despite the well-done CGI, most of the framings are rather boring, though a few excellent shots do stay in my mind to this day. Overall, a worthwhile experience, though there was no way it could've lived up to the monumental hype surrounding it.

Away We Go (Sam Mendes)
A very stylish and enjoyable indie comedy. Also contains a grossly inaccurate portrayal of my home town of Madison. At least we were post-Hippie crazies and instead of clueless farmers. Not actually shot in Madison, by the way.

(500) Days of Summer (Marc Webb)
Practically a love letter to having good taste in music, this might be the best rom com dram I've seen come out of America since High Fidelity. Speaking of which, the influence from Cameron Crowe (and a bit of Woody Allen) is very strong.

The Hurt Locker (Katheryn Bigelow)
Remind me not to have Sundance 608's lemonade while watching a movie with this much frantic camerawork. If I were not familiar with filmmaking techniques, I probably could've been tricked into thinking this was a documentary. Once I got used to the zooms (which were definitely not tracks), I enjoyed the film very much. The intensity of the bomb diffusing scenes is amazing. Perhaps not quite as good as Che Part One, but miles ahead of Part Two.

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