Crossing Europe 2010

As I’m sitting here on the train on my way back to Vienna I can’t help but think: “Wow, what an amazing festival it’s been!”. The festival in question was the 7th edition of what is undoubtedly the cultural highlight of my calendar: the Crossing Europe film-festival taking place in Linz, Upper Austria.

Even though I didn’t manage to see quite as many films as in previous years – I think that record is still 18 or 19 – I’ve never before been so satisfied with the program. Out of the 15 films which I saw since Thursday afternoon only 3 were absolutely disasters and the rest ranged between really good and absolutely amazing. In fact it’s never been harder for me to try and pick my favorite(s).

Having said that I think it’s safe to say that Zvonimir Jurić and Goran Dević definitely deserved winning the jury’s award for Crnci / The Blacks (Croatia). The movie is an excellent and thought-provoking account of a small Croatian special forces unit and its members’ emotional states during the last hours of the war in Yugoslavia.

Other films that I particularly liked were

• Iki dil bir bavul / On the Way to School (Turkey) which is centered around a young Turk’s experiences in his first year of being a teacher in a remote Kurdish part of the country.
• Kak ya provyol etim letom / How I ended this Summer (Russia) which focuses on an unlikely 2-man team living in a weather station in the Arctic.

Three other movies that deserve a special mention are:

• South (Austria) for the filmmakers dedicating 12 years of their life to making it happen.
• Kynodontas / Dogtooth (Greece) for being seriously, I mean very seriously disturbing (in that regard it’s right up there with Twentynine Palms which I saw at the first Crossing Europe).
• Hadewijch (France) for simply being the most pointless and boring movie I have seen in my entire life.

(Incidentally I just found out that Twentynine Palms and Hadewijch are from the same writer/director…)

Apart from the movies itself the overall atmosphere at Crossing Europe is always awesome. I met a lot of people which I hadn’t since last year’s festival and a number of interesting folks from all around Europe.

All in all I thoroughly enjoyed Crossing Europe 2010 and would like to thank all the people who made it happen!

You can find more information about Crossing Europe on the festival’s Web site, its blog and via @crossingeurope on Twitter.

P.S. Oh, and don’t forget about Crossing Europe 2011 taking place from April 12 through 17, 2011;-)

“Ethical living”

I’m currently reading A Life Stripped Bare: My Year Trying to Live Ethically by The Guardian journalist Leo Hickman. The title basically says what it’s all about and while I’m only on page 60 or so I’m certainly finding it an interesting read.

Similarly an upcoming documentary will focus on the efforts of Colin Beavan aka No Impact Man to live in New York City with his wife and daughter without having any net impact on the environment. Having seen the trailer I’ll definitely try and see the film (if it even hits the Austrian cinemas that is).

Both efforts are quite obviously insane on oh-so-many levels but I do think they provide some good food-for-thought and inspiration to start thinking about your own way of life and impact on the environment.

Watchmen

Last summer I somehow stumbled across the Watchmen trailer and was immediately fascinated even though at the time I had no idea what this whole Watchmen thing was all about (Wikipedia to the rescue).

Anyway, after watching Slumdog Millionaire on Tuesday I again went to the cinema on Wednesday evening, this time to see Watchmen. Just like on the day before I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Even though to my disgrace I have to admit to actually owning the printed graphic novel yet never having gotten further than the first 30 pages or so.

The movie is off to a great start, the intro sequence alone is breathtaking, never mind the initial struggle depicted after it. Then we’re slowly introduced to the different characters and the setting the story takes place in. It’s hard if not impossible not to be fascinated by the depth and intensity of the scenario and the various (former) superheros in it.

While there’s no single main character in the movie it’s not hard for me to pick my personal favorite: Rorschach.

Which directly leads to my main criticism: there are simply too many characters and too little screen time for all of them to be sufficiently well introduced. Of course this is the inherent challenge of turning a complex written original into a motion-picture and there’ll never be perfect solution.

It’s this point that I feel really breaks the movie because a bit more than a half into the 162 minute runtime I was starting to get a little confused due to a feeling of having lost sight of the original story. Don’t get me wrong, the second half is still an enjoyable experience, however with the novelty of the story and the visual (and acoustic - Leonard Cohen had probably never envisioned Hallelujah to be the background for such a scene) representation wearing off I became less enthusiastic overall.

Walking out of the cinema at the end of the night I couldn’t help but feel that things could have gone better. While admittedly realizing in the same moment that it’s probably impossible to get a better interpretation of such a complex universe on the big screen. On some level it feels like the film is really just an appetizer to convince me to finally dive into the original comic.

And you know what, it seems to work. While writing this entry I dusted off of my copy and now have the best intentions to read it within the next 2 weeks or so.

At the end of the day the question of whether I liked the movie or not is kind of hard to answer. For the major part it was definitely enjoyable and worth seeing, yet it left somewhat of a bitter aftertaste in my mouth. Overall however it was definitely an interesting experience.

P.S. Wired Magazine published an interesting behind the scenes article on the Watchmen movie and its history. Definitely well worth reading even though it might contain some spoilers for people who haven’t seen the film so be aware of that.

Slumdog Millionaire

Last Tuesday I had a chance to go to the Austrian premiere of Slumdog Millionaire. With all the excitement surrounding the movie’s 8 Oscars I had certainly read quite a bit about it but still wasn’t really sure what to expect.

As it turns out the film can probably be best described as an exotic fairy tale. And a very well crafted, thoughtful and enjoyable fairy tale at that. Plus it’s got a sort of feel-good air around it which is something that I normally don’t necessarily enjoy too much (happy endings are for wimps, right?;-) however in this case it works really well. It’s certainly been a while since I last left a cinema with such a warm and fuzzy feeling in my stomach…

Anyway, the first third of the film which gives some insights into the childhood of Jamal, the main character, very much reminded me of City of God (a real must-see by the way). In terms of the locations (slum in India vs. favela in Brazil), the main characters’ stories and the intensity of the footage both movies strike me as remarkably similar. However Slumdog Millionaire has a slight edge thanks to the great soundtrack which is nicely used all throughout the movie.

Towards the middle of the 2 hour film as Jamal swiftly proceeds in the Who wants to be a millionaire? show and the cutbacks go to more recent events the pace starts to slow down. At this point it becomes quite clear how the story will end, yet a lot of craftsmanship has gone into making sure that it’s an enjoyable experience all along. And it really works, I literally enjoyed every single minute and scene even though I was aware of the fact that if executed differently this part of the movie could have turned into a real letdown.

I really don’t want to go into more details as it would spoil a lot of the pleasure of seeing the movie yourself (which you really should!!). The one last thing I want to say is that the actors portraying the main characters, both as children and young adults, are doing an amazing job which goes a long way in giving Slumdog Millionaire (what I assume to be) an authentic touch. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see Freida Pinto (who plays Latika) in several mainstream productions over the coming years. Rumor has it that she might be the next Bond girl and apparently Woody Allen is also interested in working with her for his next movie.

To cut a long story short: Go to your nearest cinema and watch Slumdog Millionaire as soon as possible, you’ll definitely enjoy it!

I’ve embedded the trailer below just in case my comments aren’t convincing enough.

P.S. Yes, I admit it, the movie makes me want to travel to India… :-)

Movies, movies, movies…

As you can see from the last couple of entries I’ve been quite good with keeping up with the insane amount of great movies these days. Unfortunately I often find myself lacking the time to really write anything up about them so here’s just a quick overview of films I saw in the more recent past and what I thought of them:

Milk

It’s hard to write anything about Milk since everything seems to have been said already... In my mind just watching it to see Sean Penn’s outstanding performance is totally worth it, never mind that the “rest” of the movie is great as well. Plus I really like the notion of movies bringing historic characters and events to a broader audience. A great movie indeed.

Revanche

What can I say, this is probably one of the best Austrian movies ever and it certainly deserved to be nominated for the Foreign Feature Oscar (which it unfortunately didn’t win). The story is very well written, the actors are amazing, the difference between urban and rural areas / people / life is nicely portrayed, etc. Austrian film-making at its best and a definite must-see in my opinion!

The Beach

As somewhat of a travel aficionado who hasn’t quite given up the dream of managing to get off the beaten track at one point or another I can’t help but find The Beach’s basic storyline to be appealing. Seriously, who wouldn’t want to visit the island described in the movie? So the first half of it was really entertaining and good, the second half however was somehow bland and predictable. Still, overall it’s an entertaining flick as long as you don’t expect too much substance.

Valkyrie

I’m certainly not a big Tom Cruise fan but found Valkyrie to be quite a good movie, though admittedly I had had quite low expectations. Definitely one of the better World War II related films in the recent years.

Frost/Nixon

Initially I wasn’t quite sure what to expect here but ended up being really drawn into the movie. It obviously wouldn’t work without the great performances by Michael Sheen (David Frost) Frank Langella (Richard Nixon) who both convey an amazing intensity and on-screen presence. Undoubtedly seeing them perform the play at West End and on Broadway in 2006/2007 must have been an unforgettable experience.

Next up on my to-be-watched list are:

Slumdog Millionaire (I won two tickets for Tuesday’s Austria premiere of the movie:-), The Wrestler and Knochenmann…

In Bruges

After a friend’s recommendation I watched In Bruges the other night and I really liked the movie a lot. The story starts with two hitmen arriving in the Belgian city of Bruges where they’re supposed to await further instructions. It subsequently turns out that Ray, the younger one of them (played by Colin Farrell), had accidently killed a young boy during his previous job. After a couple of days his older colleague Ken (Brendan Gleeson) receives orders by their boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes) to kill Ray. Amidst the unfolding story Ray meets two very interesting characters: Chloë, a Belgian girl and Jimmy, a dwarf actor.

The film works incredibly well due to the interesting combination of very unique people, the excellent acting, the quiet backdrop of Bruges and the three unique main characters portrayed by Farrell, Gleeson and Fiennes. Definitely a well recommended movie, though some viewer discretion is advised as the f-word is used quite extensively (126 times according to IMDB) and there’s one scene towards the end that might be hard to stomach for some people.

The International

I went to see The International tonight after reading quite a lot about the film’s opening during the Berlin International Film Festival in early February. Plus being a big fan of director Tom Tykwer’s Run Lola Run and actor Clive Owen helped in the decision to watch this movie during a time when the list of interesting movies currently in the cinemas is ridiculously long.

Anyway, while the story is off to somewhat of a slow start the pace picks up after about 35 minutes and goes on to include some truly great action scenes and very nice locations for the unfolding plot. The highlight is undoubtedly an extensive shootout in New York’s Guggenheim Museum. The film also makes great use of the locations such as Berlin, NYC and Istanbul the characters visit. Plus there are two relatively slow on-foot chases which are a nice change from the insanely-fast-cut action sequences one sees way too often.

Apart from the slow start the only slight downside of The International are some of the dialogues. Often they look like the actors / characters are trying too hard which makes things look overly artificial.

All in all this was a very enjoyable movie and definitely among the better action flicks I’ve seen in the past year or so.

It's a Free World...

Boy, do I hate it when I go to the cinema and see a movie that really disappoints me…

I went to see It’s a Free World… and I can’t for the love of God understand why that film has an IMDB rating of 7.1. At best I would give it 5-something. I’ve seen a bunch of not-so-great movies over the past 12 months or so but I’ve hardly ever been as disappointed as when I walked out of the cinema tonight.

Seriously, on how many levels can you mess up a movie? The main character was simply appalling and superficial, the acting was less than impressive and even if those two things had worked the core of the story remains utterly questionable.

The basic story is quite simple and does have potential (IMHO): a young woman called Angie losses her job working for a British employment agency hiring Polish men and women to work in the U.K. Then she decides to start a similar business together with a flat mate, subsequently turning into a real a**hole on oh-so-many levels. She neglects her son, doesn’t take meaningful advice from her parents and, worst of all, treats the workers she hooks up to job like s***. The consequence of her actions is a serious mess of a life to say the least.

Oddly enough the movie is somehow based on the premise of the viewer connecting with the young women, yet I can’t remember ever seeing a character in a movie that was so unsympathetic. As one of my friends with who I watched the movie put it: Vito Corleone from The Godfather was a nice fellow compared to her. I’d go as far as saying that Nicky Santoro from Casino was portrayed  as a more likable character.

The thing is that even if “Angie” had been a character to connect with  the focus of the movie would have been questionable to say the least. Foreign workers (both legal and illegal) being abused by European individuals, companies and the (often informal) structure set up to support said abuse in itself is a very interesting and important topic. But why-oh-why focus on a small fish in the sea and her shallow excuses for profiting of other people’s misery? Should that be some sort of grand excuse or justification? Why not tell the story of one of these workers and their families instead? Or look at what the life of Karol, a Polish guy Angie grows quite fond of, is like instead of merely using him as a support-character of some sort.

At the end of the day I can’t help but feel that at least part of the description on the movie’s German Web site is accurate in that It’s a Free World demonstrates some of the worst kind of the Old Europe way of thinking that’s unfortunately still prevalent and therefore a “current yet timeless story.”

*sigh*

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

I watched Woody Allen’s latest movie Vicky Cristina Barcelona tonight and have to say that I liked it quite a lot. While it’s not nearly as good as Match Point, which I absolutely loved, in many ways it’s a classic Woody Allen movie and very entertaining at that.

Much has been written about Penélope Cruz in the role of the ex-wife Maria Elena and there’s little that can be added aside from saying that it’s an absolutely breathtaking performance. It’s been suggested that Cruz should be nominated for an Oscar and I certainly think that her performance would merit one of the little golden statues.

Javier Bardem performance as the irresistible artist Juan Antonio is also top-notch. All throughout the movie I tried to remember where I had previously seen him but it took a visit to IMDB to see that it was Mar adentro. In that movie, one of the secret gems which I saw in 2005 and on some level one of the most touching films I’ve ever seen,  he plays a quadriplegic fighting for euthanasia and the right to end his own life. Both times he brings an amazing energy and astounding depth of character representation to the big screen.

Rebecca Hall, a very young actress, plays the role of Vicky and does a  very good job at it. (Looking at her IMDB profile I discovered that she’s going to on the screen again in late 2009 as part of Dorian Gray. Having liked the book when I read it some years ago I’ll try and see the movie when it hits the cinemas.)

Scarlett Johansson, who I absolutely loved in Lost in Translation, as Cristina on the other hand is somewhat of a disappointment. Her performance remains shallow and I can’t help myself feeling that it’s the 4th time that I’m seeing Johansson play the same character on a different set. I can’t quite pinpoint it but it seems to be that she’s always being cast for portraying a young woman who’s somehow not really quite sure what to do with herself and has a feeling of not fitting in with her environment.

At the end of the day it’s really simple: If you liked previous Woody Allen movies you should go and see Vicky Cristina Barcelona as it’s a good fun and one of the best movies that is currently in the cinemas (here in Austria that is). If you’ve never liked Woody Allen then you’ll probably also don’t like this one…

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

I just got back from seeing Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson and the documentary was everything I expected. And then some more.

As the title suggests it's a film about Hunter S. Thompson, the inventor of Gonzo journalism and the author of many articles and books, most famously Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas which was later turned into a movie with Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro. Having been originally fascinated by the movie I later decided to read the book and then subsequently also read Rum Island and Hell's Angels. It's hard to put it in words but there's something unique about how Thompson describes whatever story he's telling. And boy, the stories he tells! The great thing about them is that they are this perfect mixture of fact and fiction, combined by the genius that is Hunter S. Thompson. I really recommend reading at least one of his books, they're great reads and it's no surprise that I always ended up reading them while on the road myself.

With regard to the documentary it sheds light on Thompson's life, both through original footage and comments by people who accompanied him in his life-time. One of my favorite episodes, and a part of his life that I had never heard about, was his campaign for sheriff in Aspen, Colorado. The whole thing is just plain hilarious!

In the end the film also shows how Thompson got caught by his own fame and therefore turned into somewhat of a tragic figure himself. However both his suicide and funeral come off as being part of a larger plan and also the logic result of his previous life.

What remains is the realization that Hunter S. Thompson was a great and unique personality with a strong spirit and remarkable writing skills. Definitely the kind of person that the world could have more of...

Ein Augenblick Freiheit / For A Moment Freedom

I just got home from what might just turn out to be the best movie at this year's Viennale film-festival: Ein Augenblick Freiheit (For A Moment Freedom).

The movie, which had previously been praised at other film-festivals, tells three stories of people fleeing from Iran, hoping to get to Europe, but who all get stuck in Ankara. In a very touching (more than one person in the audience mentioned that the story went under their skin) yet at times also amusing manner the viewer gets an insight into the backgrounds, struggles, hopes and difficulties of the various characters.

To say that after watching Ein Augenblick Freiheit you know what people who flee their country are going through would be an overstatement. But I dare say it's as close as you'll ever get by watching a movie. In that context a comment by one of the lead actors struck me as memorable as he said that "this experience made me realize what my parents were going through when we fleed Iran in my childhood because obviously I was too young to understand it at the time".

Speaking of the actors, their performances were simply breathtaking, I can't describe it in any other way. Kudos also to the director Arash T. Riahi who obviously did an amazing job during the 7 years it took to make this movie. His previous work Exile Family Movie (which I had the pleasure of seeing during my internship in Washington, DC) is also an amazing film.

In the end I'd definitely recommend you to watch this movie, it's definitely one of the best ones I've seen this year. There's one more showing at the Viennale, on Tuesday, 28.10.2008 11 a.m. at Künstlerhaus Kino, and the general launch is set for January 09, 2009.

Into The Wild - Review

On Saturday evening I finally managed to see Into The Wild which has been sitting on top of my "to-be-watched"-list for quite some time. I originally wanted to see it at the beginning of the year when it hit the Austrian cinemas but due to all the madness back then I didn't manage to go. Now it's been sitting around waiting for me to watch it for the better part of the past 6 months...

Anyway, I have to say this is probably one of the most beautiful motion pictures (yes, I'm actually using that expression!) I've seen in quite some time. Some of the images are simply stunning, the soundtrack is a class of its own, the acting is top-notch and the story, well, it's so captivating that you know only life itself could have written it. Which, since it is based on a true story, it did.

The journey of Christopher McCandless is definitely something that many people dream about at least once in their life. To really get away from it all, to be on the road, meeting new people, free from the rules and limitations imposed upon us by regular life, living by your own schedule and desires, etc. I guess it's not hard to see that yours truly thinks (or rather dreams?) about doing something similar every now and then himself...

I really can't say much more about this movie except that it is an inspiring piece, definitely well recommended!

Gomorra - Review

As mentioned before I saw the movie Gomorra tonight and while I liked it quite a lot I still left the cinema somewhat underwhelmed. I initially couldn't pinpoint exactly why but for some reason I had expected more.

Maybe because the book by Roberto Saviano that the movie is based on was hyped  a bit in the recent past. Also I had read a very interesting articles about Naples and the influence of the Camorra on life there in the excellent German magazine Geo the other week. So in terms of the actual situation nothing was really new to me even though the portrayal of the various characters influenced by the Camorra and their urban-slum environment was really well done.

But then I found the perfect comment about this movie and this one sentence really manages to hit the nail on the head:

With everything into consideration, film is too well choreographed that it becomes as intimidating as the organization that it exposes.

I really got nothing to add to that!

"Waltz with Bashir" trailer

Just got home from the cinema where I saw Gomorra (more on that movie in an upcoming post) but before the film started I saw the amazing Waltz with Bashir trailer. I've embedded it below:

I'll definitely have to see that one once it hits the cinemas in mid-November...

Cold: 1 Christoph: 0

So turns out the reason why I slept so much over the weekend wasn't just to relax but mainly because my body was going for a narrow escape from a cold. Looking at the score board above you can see who won...

I didn't feel too well on Saturday evening and worse on Sunday morning. Not bad enough to cancel my coffee-meeting but I did skip the Michael Clayton show. Today when getting up I felt quite crappy but since that's my default mood every morning I didn't really realize how exhausted I was until I got to work. After half-a-day's work (which was surprinsingly productive I might add) I decided to call it a day since I was getting worse by the minute.

Now, after an afternoon spent sleeping, I don't feel any better, actually a tad worse. So now I'm off to watch a movie or, God forbid, some actual TV before I head back to bed... Ah, and yes, the title of today's to-do post-it will have to be renamed from Monday to Tuesday.

The Dark Knight - Review

It's 3:18 a.m., I just got home from the cinema where I saw The Dark Knight and well, what can I say. In my opinion this is one of the best movies of this decade. Even an hour after the movie ended I'm still completely mesmerized.

In terms of the visual qualities The Dark Knight is on-par with Miami Vice and I strongly believe that both movies have set the bar for all future action-movies very high indeed, similar to what Heat did in 1995 (according to IMDB's trivia section on the movie director/writer Christopher Nolan cites Micheal Mann's masterpiece as a major influence). Some of the scenes are simply breathtaking, and while some of that might be based on the fact that I saw the movie in an IMAX cinema, I think that even in a regular cinema people are going to be impressed. Especially some of the close-ups of Joker or scenes set in cities are simply outstanding and offer a seldomely-seen visual immersion.

When it comes to the actors Heath Ledger's performance was absolutely stellar and certainly lived up to the hype created in the last couple of days. I also think that he is a good candidate when it comes to winning an oscar, posthumous that is. It is a sad realization to see his acting on this movie and realize how many more great roles he could have played if he was still alive. Christine Bale, Michael Caine and especially Gary Oldman also delivered rock-solid performances, as it is to be expected, however I felt that Ledger always had somewhat of an edge. And not just because of the unique character he was portraying. The only slightly disappointing performance came from Aaron Eckhart who had previously demonstrated in Thank You for Smoking what an excellent actor he is. However this time, as the character of Harvey Dent, the white knight, he seemed to shallow and not always quite convincing, especially towards the end of the movie.

To cut a long story short: this is an absolute must-see movie and it will certainly be remembered for many years to come.

P.S. I just saw that The Dark Knight will only be released in Austria on August, 21. Something tells me that I'll go and see it a second time in the cinema...

Off to see "The Dark Knight". In IMAX!

It's not often that I get so excited about a movie that I purchase the ticket one day in advance. But guess what, The Dark Knight did that to me! Especially since I'm going to see it on the really big screen, in IMAX. I actually wanted to watch it on Saturday evening but by the time I went to the cinema all the IMAX shows until Monday morning (yes, even the Saturday/Sunday 3 a.m. shows!) had already been sold out. So now I'm going this evening, at midnight to be precise, and I'm really looking to the 152 minutes of Christopher Nolan's latest movie.

By the way, while looking at the IMDB entry of the movie I saw that it's current rating is 9.6 which makes it the best rated movie ever and puts it a solid 0.5 points ahead of The Godfather!

In related news, I couldn't resist the temptation to buy the poster when I saw it in a store today... $9.99 well spent I'd say!

Watchmen trailer

Sweet!

Plus the Smashing Pumpkins song in the background is just perfect...

WANTED: A better movie

On Thursday evening we went to see Wanted in the cinema and what can I say, we left thinking that what we really wanted was a better movie. Luckily we all had had some cold ones before seeing it. Combined with the fact that the film was at times so incredible ridiculous we still ended up having a good time and quite some laughs. Somehow the whole thing reminded us of a bad mixture of a wanna-be Office Space, wanna-be Fight Club and any run-of-the-mill assassin movie. In conclusion: Don't watch it unless you are really bored and have been drinking or are suffering from a hangover. And even then there are better things you could do!

Max Payne - Movie Trailer

I was quite surprised when I stumbled across this earlier today as I hadn't been aware of the fact that someone was doing a Max Payne movie. Being a huge fan of both games - they're still among my favourite video games of all times - I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Especially given the fact that most movies based on video games plainly suck (not in small part thanks to the work of Uwe Boll).


But having watched the trailer (extra kudos for the Marilyn Manson track!) I have to say that it looks pretty sweet and I'm pretty sure I'm going to see it once it hits the cinemas.