What movies have you seen recently?

Post Reply New Topic

The remake of the movie the house of usher is the one critics like the nost.

And I had my fourth day of Cinemasia today, saw three movies: 'Arrietty' (Japan), 'Rent-a-Cat' (Japan), and 'Secrets, Objects' (South Korea).

'The Secret World Of Arrietty' is an anime film by Studio Ghibli, which first came out in 2010. It was yet again Hayao Miyazaki who was behind the screenplay on this one, aided by Keiko Niwa. As with 'V For Vendetta', I was unfamiliar with the source work it was based on (the book 'The Borrowers' by Mary Norton), so I watched the movie as a fresh story. I was quite impressed by this one, the animation was superb, and I loved the sense of detail that was brought into the design of the Borrowers' world. The Borrowers are miniature people who secretly live underneath the house and behind the woordworks, and who sneak around the house at night in search of little items they can 'borrow' so they can get on with their lives. Main character in this movie is Arrietty, a teenage Borrower girl, who goes on her first trip of 'borrowing' by tagging along with her father, and meets the young human boy Sho in the process. Sho develops a fascination and sympathy for Arrietty; in the meantime he suffers from a severe heart condition. Main antagonist is Haru, the maid of the house, who wishes to capture the Borrowers for reasons that aren't entirely clear.
All-in-all another classic from Studio Ghibli; I'm glad to have seen it.

Now 'Rent-a-cat'... Hmmm... When I read the premise, I expected something different. The movie's about the girl Sayoko, who lives in a house full of cats. She makes money by travelling around the street with a cart full of cats, offering to 'rent' a cat to a person feeling lonely. Before renting the cat, Sayoko subjects the client to an inspection of their house to see if they're suited to take care of the cat. Now the movie's main strength is probably in Sayoko's interaction with all the different clients who come to her for the company of a cat, as each of them is a bit quirky in their own way. But at the same time, I think more could have been made out of the cats themselves, and now they mostly feel like they're being used as a plot device.
I did enjoy the movie, as it was an unconventional comedy, a bit minimalistic, a bit surreal, but I guess I expected I would relate mnore to the movie given that it's about a social hermit cat-lover.

'Secrets, Objects' is a Korean film, a story about romance/attraction between a professor and her student. 40-year-old Professor Yee Hye-jung's marriage is all but finished. She starts a sociological project researching how infidelity has affected women. To this end she conducts some interviews. Her assistent in this project is the charming, intelligent 21-year-old student Usang, to whom Hye-Jung grows increasingly attractive. Usang doesn't act upon the subtle hints Hye-jung drops however, and Hye-jung tries to drown her sorrows with a couple of friends, who decide to cheer her up by taking her to a sex club for women; and by stupid coincidence, Usang is working there at night.
Interesting part in this movie is that the first part is narrated by Hye-jung's photocopier, while the second part is narrated by Usang's digital camera.
It was quite an intense movie, though I normally don't care about romance movies or erotic movies. Not reall my cup of tea, but certainly not bad, either.

Tomorrow the last day of Cinemasia.

I just got back from seeing American Reunion.

Very funny, some irony close to the end, and fun comedy.

I really wana watch the movie Big Bad Wolf again it was awesome

Final day of Cinemasia, and it was a pretty good one.

First movie I saw was 'Catatan Harian Si Boy' (The Diary Of Boy), an Indonesian film, directed by Putrama Tuta and starring Ario Bayu and Carissa Putri. It's about a group of youngsters who work at an auto repair shop, led by the charismatic Satrio, who enjoys drag racing during off hours. One day, while Satrio is taken into the police office after having been caught during a nightly race, he meets Tasha, a girl whose boyfriend has just been arrested, and who finds herself without money as her car and purse have been taken by some shady crooks. Satrio offers to drive her home. The two grow closer, and Tasha starts hanging out with Satrio and his friends. As her mother is gravely ill, Tasha has taken the task upon herself to seek out Boy, her mother's old boyfriend, who might turn the tide in her condition. But Tasha's fiancé Nico, having quickly been released from prison, doesn't take very kindly to the blooming friendship between Tasha and Satrio.

This movie started out pretty strong, but about halfway through I started to realise that it was a film in the teen romance genre that is so very popular in Indonesia, and of which there are a dime a dozen. The type of movie that's pretty tame, and where nothing is really at stake. However, in the last half hour or so, it really redeems itself by throwing in some heavier scenes. It also helped that all the actors in the starring roles were fine portraying their characters. So in the end, it was still a good watch for me, not the most amazing movie ever, but I'dn't mind re-watching it. I do think the motivation of Nico and his thugs were poorly described, as was the precise role Boy played in the story.

'Planet Of Snail' (South Korea) (Dalpaengi-ui Byeol) by Yi Seung-Jun is a semi-dramatic documentary about deafblind people. It follows Youngchan, a man of about 30 years of age, who cannot see, and who perceives his world mainly through touch. He lives together with his girlfriend, who also aids and abets him in all his endeavours. Youngchan is a bright young man who enjoys writing poetry, studying Hebrew, reading novels by use of a braille device, and sending in short stories for literary contests. Every so often, he gets together with other deafblind people, in casual settings, but also to raise awareness by staging plays and assisting in acting workshops to give actors an insight into the world of the blind.
Honestly, I don't have the words to properly describe this film, but I can honestly recommend it to all of you. If I could recommend one film out of all films I've seen at Cinemasia, 'Planet Of Snail' would be it. Mostly because it doesn't patronise the deafblind.

The final movie I saw, the closing movie of the Film Festival, was Arisan 2, from Indonesia yet again. It was directed by Nia Dinata, and it stars Cut Mini and Tora Sudiro among others. It is a sequel to 'Arisan', a 2004 movie that followed the Jakartan jet-set fashionista friends Meimei, Andien, Lita, Nino, and Sakti. In this film, the main storylines follow the illness of Meimei, who tries to recover on the Gili Islands under the care of Dr. Tom, but who must learn to accept her Hodgkin's lymphoma; and the cooled relationship between Nino and Sakti, who have both found new lovers who are quite mismatched with them- one a 21-year old airhead, the other 65-year old married man. All this happens to the backdrop of fashion shoots and gala parties.
While I thought there were a lot of great jokes in this movie, I should also say that the subject isn't really my cup of tea, so there was a lot that went over my head. But I also realise that I'm not the intended audience for this movie.

Wow! What a great film festival. I saw 12 movies in total, and it was a fantastic experience without exaggerating. I think it was just what the doctor ordered, too. Lately I had been focusing on Indonesia too much, at the cost of my previous interest in all of East Asia. For example, my Mandarin classes have been suffering because I haven't felt quite as involved with China as I have with Indonesia in the past year. Now that I've seen more Chinese, Japanese, and Korean movies, I think this may be a stepping stone toward learning more about these countries/cultures.
At any rate, even aside from the aspect that Cinemasia has given me a peek at the Far East, they were simply great movies, by great directors, starring great actors. And I'll remember the names of my favourites, so that I can look up more films by those directors and starring those actors I enjoyed the most. Again, it was a great experience, and I'll gladly visit Cinemasia again in 2014.

The Borrowers. Not the one with Stephen Fry in. That version was far too odd.

Coming To America

Celia(1988) it was about a girl living in the 1950s in victoria and there are 2 storylines- her dealing with wanting a rabbit during plague times and her new neighbours, who are communists and her friendship with them and parents attitudes towards them. it sounds like a kids film but the kid goes a little nuts in the end and kills a guy. i think my favourite character in the film was the grandmother who never actually makes an appearance and is dead but she was a radical and involved in antiwar stuff. im assuming the room full of radical literature was hers. after her it would be Alice, the woman next door.