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Reviews
Tromper le silence (2010)
Worth seeing to the end
This could have been a very good film and fortunately it is entirely redeemed by a strong ending. It is a bit slow going for the first 3 quarters of the film but then things pick up when we learn more about Viviane's project and the secret behind Guillaume's past. The acting is quite good and plausible. My only complaint would be that Suzanne Clement is miscast. She is not a very appealing woman to look at and it is hard to understand what Guillaume would be attracted to. Guillaume is a complex character and he has the ability to make you feel ill at ease just watching his actions and movement.Claude Pregent is excellent as the father. Overall, nice filming, nice sets and as I mentioned earlier good acting.
I'm Not There (2007)
Pretentious mess
When it comes to film criticism you have to give a movie a year or two before giving it a just evaluation. The audience and media hype has a tendency to bias one's view. Such is the case with I'm not There. I think it unlikely that anyone would give this film a favourable review one year later, let alone a review at all. I cringe at the memory of Heath Ledger mumbling his lines (something he did in Brokeback as well) and Charlotte Gainsbourg sporting her new chin surgery. Also, Cate Blanchet (like baby pictures pulled out of a suitcase) will want to destroy those embarrassing images of her strutting around with a fake moustache. What's good to be said about this mess. Even the Dylan music chosen is pretty mediocre.
Ficció (2006)
Where passion and responsibility meet
Fiction is a deliberately slow-paced film about relationships. What is really honourable about the film is that it is not just about one-on-one type relationships but rather the larger picture encompassing family and friends. There is no doubt the Alex (?) (the protagonist, filmmaker) is passionately attracted to Monica (the violinist) as one learns much later on, however, that is not the point. There is a scene when the couple is hiking and she says to Alex, if your fictional characters were here (on this mountain top) right now what would they be doing? They would be lost in their own thoughts or world, he responds. And that is what this couple is about: they are attracted and feel extremely close, but their thoughts are preoccupied by their respective families. Alex and Monica are, and that is the central dialogue in the film, deeply invoked in their own relationships. Thus Gay makes it quite clear that life is multi-tiered and that there are consequences to unbridled passion. However, this reality does not preclude the possibility of desire and attraction. In other words the whole pace of the film is deliberate and reflects the inner feelings of the characters that are being worked out between themselves, through the other characters in the film and of course within the bucolic setting. Not a great film, but well worth the taking the time to watch and understand.
Der Lebensversicherer (2006)
An amazing tale
If you get a chance see this low budget film noir. It is very well acted and the story is bleak but charming. the main actor is amazing and I saw him playing the role of a priest in another German flick. I liked the humour as well. Very dark, but, oddly enough, uplifting as well, since there is a sense of redemption in the main character's loss and discovery of love. Anyone who has ever had a job selling will immediately identify with the plight of the protagonist. He despairs at the humiliation of the work he has to do, while trying to live on a hope sitting at the other end of a phone line in an apparently empty apartment. Really a striking and haunting movie that will stay with you for months to come.