Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (2009)

Directed by Jan Kounen
Written by Carlo de Boutiny and Jan Kounen
Cast Mads Mikkelsen, Anna Mouglalis, Yelena Morozova, Anatole Taubman
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1023441/




Reviewed by Paivi
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There are two Coco Chanel biographies released this year. Coco avant Chanel stars Audrey Tautou (Amelie) as the leading lady and the movie is released later this year. Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (starring Anna Mouglasis as Coco and Mads Mikkelsen as Igor) shows only a small part of Coco's life and focuses on her relationship with the Russian composer.

Coco Chanel was a very independent woman for her time. After her lover called Boy (Anatole Taubman) was killed in a car accident, she decided to live alone in her huge mansion, interiors designed by herself. The actual Chanel mansion is used in filming the scenes. Coco is a fan of music and an admirer of everything brave. When she witnesses the almost riot that follows the "scandalous" premiere of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, she wants to get to know the composer.

Stravinsky lives with his wife (Yelena Morozova) who is sufferfing of tuberculosis and children in a small flat and Coco invites them all to live in her mansion - allowing Igor a possibility to more space for his musical creativity. Coco and Igor are drawn to each other and finally end up having an affair.

Brilliantly filmed movie uses beautiful visuals. Every single frame is like a work of art. However, the story itself is missing the passion that should be present between the two artists. Coco even though very well presented as an independent woman feels calculating and cold without any emotions.

The Danish actor Mikkelsen makes Igor a vulnerable man, a man drawn to two directions - the wealth and love of Coco and on the other hand his loyalty to his wife and children. Also for a man and an artist it is difficult to accept the fact that the woman is also an artist and with her own will and self esteem.

Chéri (2009)

Directed by Stephen Frears

Written by Christopher Hampton, based on Colette's novels
Cast Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Friend, Kathy Bates

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179258/

Reviewed by Paivi

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Michelle Pfeiffer and Stephen Frears worked together in 1988, doing the romantic 3-Oscar-winning drama Dangerous Liaisons, which gained the first nomination also to Pfeiffer. Three years ago Frears made The Queen that gathered success around and brought its leading lady Helen Mirren an Oscar.

With Chéri Frears and Pfeiffer travel back to France and to the time before the World Wars, the time known as Belle Epoque, when courtisans were a visible part of the society. The most successful courtisans lived luxurious lives in beautiful houses, surrounded by beautiful dresses, jewelry and their own staff. The story is based on novels by Colette.

Pfeiffer is Lea, a luxury courtisan who is aging and planning on retiring. She has experienced all kinds of love, except the true love. One day when visiting her old colleague Madame Peloux, played by brilliant Kathy Bates, she is tempted to kiss Madame's 19-year-old son Fred, nick named Chéri (Rupert Friend). Unexpectedly the kiss turns their lives upside down and they find themselves living together for many years.

When Madame Peloux informs that she has arranged a good marriage with a wealthy young girl Edmee (Felicity Jones) for her son, both Lea's and Chéri's dreams come tumbling down and they realise their affection is something deeper than just lust and friendship.

Wonderful Pfeiffer is the heart of this movie. As an aging beauty, insecure and troubled at the inevitable fate of her body slowly losing its youth and glamour, Pfeiffer does a convincing job. Also as a woman so involved in all sort of love affairs in her life, finally finding true love and losing it to a younger woman she is a fragile work of art.

Rupert Friend as the young courtisan's son is at ease in a role many others might have been afraid of performing. He is a good looking angel face with a gorgerous body when naked, and considering he's working with such a big name as Pfeiffer, he pulls his role as her lover professionally.

Visually stunning surroundings, beautifully framed pictures give the drama an extra essense. Frears is at best in directing movies of interesting personas - Chéri shows this the similar way as The Queen did.

Final verdict: Beautifully shot Belle Epoque drama of the love affair of an older woman and a younger man. Strong and convincing characters played by brilliant actors, especially the lovely Michelle Pfeiffer. Watch for next year's Oscar nominations and especially costume design category.

The Soloist (2009)

Directed by Joe Wright
Written by Susannah Grant (screenplay), Steve Lopez (book)
Cast Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey Jr., Justin Martin, Nelsan Ellis, Lisa Gay Hamilton



IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0821642/

Reviewed by: Sari
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The Soloist is a true story inspired by a book written by journalist Steve Lopez.

The movie starts with a violin, a homeless guy and a journalist, who is in need to find a new subject for his column and ends up meeting a homeless guy called Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx). The journalist happens to be Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.), Los Angeles Times columnist who immediately sees something special in Nathaniel and starts to investigate his past. He discovers that Nathaniel was once a very talented cellist, who also studied in Juilliard School for gifted, but who dropped out after the second year due to mental health problems.

Steve is intriqued by Nathaniel and these two get closer. Steve finds himself wondering among homeless people in the streets of Los Angeles and gets a whole new picture of their situation. Steve now has a mission. He wants to get Nathaniel's life back on it's track and uses his contacts to try and help him out. Eventually he realizes that big concert halls and public events are not meant for Nathaniel but he is still there to help him and even gets him an apartment of his own. Eventually Nathaniel shows his darker side and Steve gets frightened and stays out of his life for a while, but at the end these two people from two different worlds are still able to remain friends.

This was yet again an unbeliavably strong performance by Jamie Foxx, which was not a big suprise after seeing him in the legendary role of Ray Charles in the movie Ray. Here the role is still so much more challenging. Playing a mentally unstable, musically gifted genius is not a role for everyone, but Jamie Foxx nailed it. Robert Downey Jr. as Steve Lopez was no less performance, and he once again proved to be one talented and strong actor, even though the main focus of this film is on Nathaniel.

This movie is an eye-opening experience and really gets you to think about the less fortunate homeless people who live among us. There are so many untold stories behind those faces and tired-looking eyes. So many chances, so many lost talents, like Nathaniel.

Considering this The Soloist was not just a story of Nathaniel. It also represented the situation of homeless people here in U.S. In a way it was a little reflection of our society and the sad fact that so much more should be done to help these people. In our society we have learned to turn our heads away from all the misery and sadness, concentrating on our own success and material needs. Hopefully this movie gets people to talk and even creates some kind of action to help all these people in need.

I was deeply touched by this story and the message it delivered. Beautiful, soulful story, that will for sure linger inside my mind for quite some time.

Observe and Report (2009)

Directed by Jody Hill
Written by Jody Hill
Cast Seth Rogen, Ray Liotta, Anna Faris, Michael Peña, Collette Wolfe

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1197628/

Reviewed by Paivi

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Observe and report is a strange comedy of a mall security guard Ronnie, played by Seth Rogen, who would like to be something more than just someone observing and reporting to the real police - he would himself love be allowed to carry a gun like a proper police officer. His prayers are answered in the form of a flasher who starts harassing the female customers and employees of the mall. Ronnie takes the "flasher case" as his own, and plans to solve it before the real police led by agent Harrison (Ray Liotta).

Apart from being the head of the mall security, Ronnie is in love with the beautiful Brandi (Anna Faris) from the cosmetics section, lives with his alcoholic mother (Celia Weston), has a bi-polar disorder for which he is taking medication and becomes friends with cute and friendly Nell (Collette Wolfe) from a coffee shop.

When Ronnie's dream of a career in the police force is wrecked because of his mental disorder and delusions, hell breaks loose in the mall.

Observe and report is a strange comedy, because it is not really a comedy at all and this is what makes it very difficult to review. The characters are not funny, but mostly sad and pathetic, and it is extremely difficult to actually like them in any level. None of them, except maybe Nell.

Security guard taking anti-depressants during lunch and with delusions of killing all the bad guys is just plain sad and not funny. Cosmetics sales girl allowing pretty much anyone to screw her and lying in her own puke is just plain sad and not funny. Alcoholic mother who blames her son for the fact that the father left the family is sad and not funny.


We are used to seeing the funnyman Rogen in roles that make you like his teddybear appearance, laughter and witty dialogue - like for example in Knocked up and Pineapple Express. This role brings us a different Rogen, dark Rogen who is ready to fire a gun and is not sympathetic at all. I personally prefer the other type of Rogen.

Taken (2009)

Directed by Pierre Morel

Written by Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen
Cast Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Leland Orser, Xander Berkeley, Katie Cassidy

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0936501/

Reviewed by Sari

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What if you are a retired CIA spy, a loving father and ready to help your child whenever possible? What if your child happens to be an adventurous 17-year old girl, ready to explore the world, all by herself? Well, it means that perhaps your help is needed sooner or later, especially Liam Neeson being in the leading role in this fast paced movie.

In Taken Bryan (Liam Neeson) is this ex-spy, living modest life close to his 17-year old daughter Kim (Maggie Grace), who herself lives with her mom Lenore (Famke Janssen) and stepdad Stuart (Xander Berkeley), getting everything she wants and having a very luxurious lifestyle. Bryan doesn't necesserily agree on her daughter's lavish lifestyle and all the freedom her daughter has, but tries to adjust as well as he can. As for him the most important thing is just to be close to his daughter, after all those years serving the country and not being able to spend a lot of time with his family.

Suddenly Kim decides to travel to Paris with her friend Amanda (Katie Cassidy) and Bryan gets very frustrated and even a little paranoid about this idea. He is afraid that she ends up getting in trouble travelling with no adult supervision, but reluctantly sings the papers that free her to go abroad, being under aged. He gives Kim a cell phone and asks her to keep in contact with him all the times, fearing for her safety. Girls have just arrived to Paris and Bryan is on the cell phone with Kim when the inevitable happens. Both girls are being kidnapped by Albanian human smugglers and Bryan is witnessing all this by the phone.

He contacts his friend Sam (Leland Orser) and finds out about the Albanian connection and is immediately on a a plane, on his way to Paris. This leads to a hunt where desperate father is after the criminals trying to figure out their next steps to find her daughter and he doesn't hesitate to use all his power and all the possible ways to rescue Kim.

This movie has all the parameters needed to work like a good action movie should. There is a lot of exciting moments, some pretty intense chasing scenes and the person who makes this film even more interesting is of course Liam Neeson and his character Bryan. Neeson is just wonderful to watch on screen. There is a man who is always so humble, yet extremely talented and can play any role, any time, making it his own thing.

The storyline is not perhaps the strongest possible and at some point it gets pretty obvious what is going to happen next and how the story is going to end. But Neeson keeps the audience in excitement and it is quite obvious to see, that the main responsibility for this movie to succeed lays on Neeson's hands.

Reminds me of those good, old 90s action films with a lot of chasing, excitement and a strong, charismatic person in a leading role. Sometimes that is all it takes to have a good movie experience. So enjoy! I sure did!

State of Play (2009)

State of Play is a movie based on a British television drama serial, broadcasted on BBC One in 2003. It captures a balanced combination of crime, drama and thriller ingredients. The story begins with an intense chase, where a young criminal runs for his life late in the evening, eventually finding a hiding place from a dark alley, but unfortunately meets his final destiny and gets shot by a mysterious briefcase man, along with a witness, who just happened to be at a wrong place at a wrong time.

The next day an investigative newspaper reporter Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe) from Washington Globe comes to the crime scene and is curious to know what has happened. He is a well-known reporter among all the cops and detectives and is always there where something's going on.

Later that morning there is a news flash on television about yet another death, this time the victim is a young woman called Sonia Baker (Maria Thayer), who also happens to be Congressman Stephen Collins' (Ben Affleck) assistant and even more, as speculated, his secret lover. Cal happens to see the news and seems to be in awe with all this. And there is also a good reason for his reaction. Stephen Collins happens to be his former college roommate and a close friend of his, but Cal didn't have any idea of his secret affair with this young woman. He now finds himself in a challenging position trying to solve the case and on the other hand trying to help his friend.

He starts to investigate these two crimes with a young reporter, Della Frye (Rachel McAdams), even though at first he is not that interested to work with a young college grad who is still a bit green and concentrates mainly on her political blog in the newspaper. They end up doing the story together after all and as they get deeper to the story, they find out that there is much more going on than just these random deaths. All the incidents are linked together and they soon discover that Congressman Collins is also much deeper into all this than they first thought.

State of Play is well implemented movie, the storyline is strong and keeps you alert till the very end. The cast is phenomenal, Russell Crowe once again showing the audience what an incredibly talented actor he is. Watching his acting as Cal, this old-style reporter was such a strong performance and he was so comfortable with this character it felt like he truly has been a reporter in his former life. His brown corduroy jacket, the long, curly hair and rough, unshaved beard were like the finishing touches to his spectacular role.

Ben Affleck as the congressman Collins was also solid and believable, as well as Rachel McAdams in the role of Della Frye. McAdams added some fresh female energy to this film, along with Helen Mirren in a role of Editor-in-Chief Cameron Lynne. Together these two ladies made a nice balance with the strong smell of testosterone in this reporter-detective story.

Probably one of the strongest movies of its kind this year making you want to see more films like this. Enjoyable movie, with not so much action or violence, but with more investigative and crime-solving perspective.

Directed by Kevin Macdonald

Written by Matthew Michael Carnahan, Tony Gilroy & Billy Ray (screenplay), Paul Abbott (television series)

Cast Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren, Robin Wright Penn, Jason Bateman, Viola Davis, Maria Thayer

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0473705/

Sunshine Cleaning (2008)

Sunshine Cleaning is a movie about a young mom Rose Lorkowski (Amy Adams), who raises her son Oscar (Jason Spevack) by herself and is living in a small town, close to her father Joe (Alan Arkin) and her younger sister Norah (Emily Blunt), who still lives with their dad.

Rose was once the head cheerleader and got all the attention of the boys back then. But now she is facing the fact that she is a single mom, still having affair with former football player Mac (Steve Zahn), now a husband to another woman. If this already makes her feel bad about herself, what about the fact that all the other girls from high school have families and careers and she is simply a maid in a small cleaning company, going from house to house and cleaning other people's (also her former school friends) homes.

Then suddenly she hears from Mac that there is a need for crime-scene cleaners and decides to try this thing out with her sister Norah. Norah is a bit rebellious young lady and first laughs out loud at the whole idea, but soon they both find themselves at the crime scenes, cleaning up after all those deadly crimes. Things start to get better for Rose and the business is growing, until Norah messes things up and Rose is facing a new challenge and tries to figure out how to sort things out again and how to forgive her sister.

Sunshine Cleaning is a comedy all right, but I would say that this film is a mixture of both comedy and drama. Okay, it sort of plays around the peculiar lifestyle Rose and her family has and gives you a grin every now and then, but there is also some deeper aspects into this film. It's also a story about sisterhood and motherhood, the family ties and the freedom and acceptance to be yourself amongst your family members. It's also a story about new opportunities and the fact that it really doesn't matter what you do for a living, as long as you enjoy it.

Cast is well-selected and believable. I myself especially enjoyed Emily Blunt as Rose's sister Norah. She really caught my attention and I'm very curious to see more roles from this young lady.

The storyline is bubbly and colorful, but does also have its melancholy moments. It keeps your interest alive till the very end. This is a good choice for a movie to see if you want to experience a mixture of comedy and drama combined with everyday humour and some very interesting career choices.

Directed by Christine Jeffs
Written by Megan Holley

Cast Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin, Steve Zahn, Mary Lynn Rajskub

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0862846/

Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)

Happy-Go-Lucky is a fresh and humorous movie written and directed by Mike Leigh. It's a movie about a 30-year old school teacher Poppy (Sally Hawkins), who is single, who lives in London and has a lot of friends and very positive and easy-going personality. She's all about happiness and can't really understand miserably behaving, unhappy people.

The story starts when Poppy visits a new bookstore and runs into this quiet bookseller (Elliot Cowan), who doesn't really care to share a word with her. But with her humorous attitude she turns that uncomfortable situation into a laughable matter and is soon out of the door and out of that weird situation. For her disappointment though, she finds out someone has stolen her bike, but hey, being the easy-spirited young lady she is, she doesn't really get too nervous, is just a bit disappointed she didn't have a chance to say goodbye to her bicycle.

The story continues when she gets home, to this nice townhome she shares with her friend for years Zoe (Alexis Zegerman) and starts to talk about the fact that after losing her bike she needs a driver's license. Zoe is okay with that idea as long as Poppy isn't planning to use her car from now on.

It doesn't take too long when Poppy is already taking her first driving lesson from a local driving instructor Scott (Eddie Marsan) who is a bit weird guy, has a pretty bad temper, some serious issues and takes his work as a driving instructor way too seriously. He's favorite saying is: Enraha! Enraha! And that becomes an inside joke between Poppy and her friend Zoe. Enraha! So it's a challenge for both Poppy and Scott, being miles apart with their attitude and personality, sitting in this tiny car for an hour every Saturday, trying to make it work. But for Poppy this doesn't seem to be a big problem and she keeps on coming back every Saturday, even though things are not going too well with Scott or the driving lessons.

The viewer can follow these hilarious driving lessons and the colorful conversations through the entire movie and eventually things go bad between these two, Scott totally loses it and gets violent towards Poppy. This is the final straw for Poppy and she tells him that she doesn't want him to teach her anymore.

Poppy also has some peculiar hobbies. She goes jumping on trampoline's after school and starts taking flamengo lessons with her co-worker. She also likes spending time with her friends and goes to pubs and clubs with them quite often, being a single woman she is. But she's not worried about her situation and doesn't stress about not having a family or a child at her age. She is simply happy like she is, enjoying every moment.

And it's no suprise that also love is about to find her. When she notices that one of her students Nick (Jack MacGeachin) is behaving violently at school, social worker Tim (Samuel Roukin) comes to her help to figure out what is going on with this young man. Poppy realizes that Tim is actually a nice guy and they set up a date. And that thing leads to another... So, you may guess the rest already.

This movie gave me some much needed positive energy. Poppy herself reminded me of a bright yellow balloon that has found it's way to get free from the balloon seller and is flying high in the blue summer sky, so free, so happy and so full of energetic yellow color. Saying this I have to give credit to Sally Hawkins who delivered Poppy's spirit with such an enthusiasm and talent I couldn't but admire her performance. No wonder she won a Golden Globe for her role.

The plot itself wasn't too deep or complicated. It was simple, straight forward and almost diary like. Just going through a period of time in Poppy's life. There were no hidden agendas, no twists and some things were predictable, but that didn't matter too much, since the whole movie was so easy-going and relaxed. And the dialogue in this movie, so bubbly and fascinating!

I think we all need a little bit of Poppy inside us! Darn good movie to watch when you want to lift up your spirits and have a good laugh!



Written by Mike Leigh
Directed by Mike Leigh
Cast Sally Hawkins, Eddie Marsan, Alexis Zegerman, Samuel Roukin
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1045670/

Rachel Getting Married - Movie Review (2008)

Rachel Getting Married is a story of Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt) who is obviously getting married, but rather than just consentrating on this special day and all the beauty of weddings and the consept of marriage, this is also a story of a bittersweet relationships between family members, struggling sisterhood and the importance of one basic fundamental in everyone's life, our families.

The setting is beautiful and peaceful. Rachel is back at her childhood home in Connecticut and is ready for her big day. She and her fiancée Sidney (Tunde Adebimpe) are expecting to have lot of friends and family members coming to the reception and there will be a lot of ethnic flavor, beautiful music and a lot of love in this house during this special weekend. So who could ask for anything more? It seems like this is going to be the perfect wedding.

Except for one little detail, which happens to be nothing less than Rachel's own sister Kym (Anne Hathaway), who is coming to the house the day before the wedding and is always a bit unpredictable, a sister who may either behave nicely or possibly ruin the whole thing. So Kym is obviously the Black sheep of the family and has had her share of struggles in life, living in rehabilitation facilities and now finally, and strongly trying to stay sober and stabile.

So here they are, those two sisters, the other one starting a new chapter in her life and the other one, still trying to find herself, still trying to fit into the picture (and into the family). When Kym arrives as this dark, self-ironic, self-centered herself, the mood in the house changes quickly. Rachel gets very upset and frustrated about her sisters theatrical acts especially after the rehearsal dinner and cannot stand how their father Paul (Bill Irwin) is always trying to protect Kym. Kym on the other hand, once again finds herself being accused of lot of things, defending all her acts. So the beautiful setting gets soon a different tone of color and things get more darker and more dramatic.

It was so bittersweet and so familiar to witness all the confrontations, jealously and arguments between these two sisters and especially Rachel's frustration and negative feelings towards Kym felt so real. On the other hand it was quite sad to see all the sorrow and the despair that Kym was facing and those thoughts that were running in her head all the time. Her thinking of being this not so wanted, unpredictable, sosiopathic, strange sister of Rachel's.

There is also some deep sadness still lingering in this family. Kym and Rachel lost their brother Ethan years ago accidentally and this loss seems to still hunt them all. Kym is torn apart because of the loss, blaming herself, and for a pretty good reason. She being the one driving the car (under the influence of drugs and alcohol) when she lost control and her brother ended up drowning. Even in the middle of all the wedding preparations they go back to this old memory which is so tough thing to swallow, especially for the dad, Paul.

But the most saddening thing was to see their mother Abby (Debra Winger) coming to the picture and realize she was a mother who didn't really seem to care about her daughters too deeply and who looked like she was trying to run away from all the situations quietly, without a scene. Which gave me the idea that maybe Kym's problems in the past were due to her mother's emotional unavailability for her children.

Still, in the end the importance of family breaks through all the drama and all the difficulties and the end was delivered quite beautifully and gave a nice finishing touch to this story.

This movie made a huge impression on me and really got me to think about my own motherhood and the fact that the role we give to our children is something to think about, seriously. This movie also got me to think about the importance of family and the relationships between family members. How many times I myself have witnessed family gatherings gone wrong, and for no important reason.

I also enjoyed the cinematography and the style of directing in this film. I think that the movie was visually so familiar and traditionally implemented that it almost felt like someone from the bride's or groom's family was filming some of the scenes. I think it brought the characters closer to the viewer and made the whole story more believable.

Even though some criticize this fact, I really liked the visual style and would enjoy to see more films like this. I feel strongly that stories don't have to have the Hollywood-Style visual shine to make a deep impression on viewers. The stories with a beautiful soul and strong, believable characters are the ones that touch us the most. And Rachel Getting Married is definitely one of those films.

I was very close to giving this movie five stars, but towards the end the movie got a little slower and I felt like some of the scenes at the end could've been left out, so that is why (only) four stars.



Directed by Jonathan Demme
Written by Jenny Lumet
Cast Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Mather Zickel, Bill Irwin, Anna Deavere Smith, Anisa George, Tunde Adebimpe, Debra Winger
IMDb:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1084950/

Mammoth (2009)

Swedish movie maker Lucas Moodysson (Fucking Åmål, Lilja 4-ever) has created a touching story of the world today, how families are separated and connected only with mobile phones and how important our families really are - this is Mammoth.

Leo (Gael Garcia Bernal) is a "game guy" who a few years ago started a community in the web, which then grew into one of the biggest gaming communities. He is no business man but more of a nerd and he has other guys to take care of the business. However, his signature is needed and he is forced to fly to Bangkok for singing a big deal.

His wife (Michelle Williams) is a surgeon who often works at nights. They have a 7-year-old daughter Jackie (Sophie Nyweide) who is taken care of by a Philipino nanny Gloria (Marife Necesito) most of the time. When mother is always working, she and her daughter start to drift apart, and Jackie gets more connected to her nanny. Gloria however has her own heart breaks: her two small sons are back home in the Philippines taken care by their grandmother when she is trying to earn the family money to build a new house by working in the US.

When the husband is facing the many worlds of Thailand, the wife must deal with dying kids in the hospital and the lack of time to spend with her own daughter, the nanny must cope with longing to be with her own kids especially in the time when they really need her...

Mammoth is strong with emotions: love of mothers and fathers to their children, love of husbands and wives, love for the world. It reminded me a lot of Alejando Gonzales Iñarritu's Babel (review of Babel in here) with the story happening at the same time in very different environments of New York, Thailand and in the Philippines.

The first half of the movie I was convinced on awarding the film five stars, but in its latter half things started repeating themselves a bit, and the story started losing its emotional grip. Somehow I believe that due to the strong emotions on children, Mammoth will affect more those people who have children on their own. After all the biggest idea behind the story is that children and parents need time together.

Mammoth is visually stunning, and just like Babel, it focuses on very different views in different parts of the world. It shows the children collecting garbage and selling themselves for tourists in the Philippines, it shows both the beauty and the ugliness of the tourism in Thailand, and it shows also how a seemingly normal life in New York can be so filled with emotions that are not getting fulfilled. And also it shows that in a world full of technology that should keep people more easily connected to other people, people still need each other in person and not just as a voice, sms or email.



Directed and written by Lucas Moodysson
Cast Gael Garcia Bernal, Michelle Williams, Marife Necesito, Sophie Nyweide
IMDb http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1038043/

Slumdog Millionaire - A movie review

I was finally able to go see the talked about movie, eight Oscar winner: Slumdog Millionaire.

I was so curious to find out what the story of this film was all about. What made it so extraordinary that it ended up winning all these Oscars? Best picture, best directing, best original score, best original song, best editing, best soundmixing, best cinematography and best adapted screenplay. The trailer itself didn't reveal too much and I wasn't sure what to expect other than a pretty boring thought of a young man participating in a Who Wants to be a Millionaire-competition in India. But I was so wrong, since the competition itself was just a tiny part of the story, like the top of an iceberg.

In truth this was a compelling story of a young man, a slumdog Jamal (Dev Patel), who ends up playing in a Who Wants To Be a Millionaire-game and suddenly and for everyone's suprise is just one question away from the Grand Prize! But it's not that easy to be in a position like this in India and just before the final broadcasting and the final answer, he finds himself in a local jail. In an intense questioning he tries to give the answers to all the questions made by the local Police Inspector (Irrfan Khan): How could you know all the answers? You are just a poor boy with no education and now knowledge of such things as poetry or our culture! You just cannot know the answers! Can you?

But you just watch and see...

As Jamal answers the questions in the competition (and to the Inspector in the questioning) the story rewinds back to his early childhood, to his brother Salim and the girl he so dearly loved, but then lost, called Latika (Freida Pinto). It shows the complex relationship between the brothers, but it also reveals the poverty and the despair of their childhood in the slums of Mumbai. This movie isn't just about the story of Jamal, but also a story of his culture and the slums of Mumbai. It was beautiful to watch how the story evolved with all the children turning into young adulthood and how those two, Jamal and Latika finally found each other again despite all the obstacles they had to go through. And last but not least, all the questions (both in the competition and in the jail) being answered one by one, just like it is written.

One of the Oscars of this film went to director Danny Boyle (The Beach). And no wonder. The directing in this film has its own, fresh point of view. And it sure was nice to see something a bit different from everyday Hollywood style movies, and I really enjoyed how Boyle brought all the cultural aspects to the screen, showing us not only the story of Jamal, but also the cultural side of the story, the despair of those little children of Mumbai and the overall differences between our world and the world of Jamal's.

But still, for me it's a bit hard to put this movie on its place. Was this an extraordinary experience, being the best movie of the year? Exceeding all the others I have seen this past year or all the other Oscar nominees? I really don't know. But I sure will remember this one and appreciate the fact that the Oscar Committee went for a fresh movie this year, and gave hope to all of those low-budget film makers.

This film sure wasn't just a movie along others, since the story was so different and up to date. All the cultural aspects made it more believable and more colorful than most of the films that I have seen in the past year. The cast itself was amazing, all the actors and actresses being locals and the youngest children being the real children of the city of Mumbai, some of them from the slums themselves. This had a very important role as making the story come alive and to be more realistic. The cast actually made it so real that at times I thought I was watching a real documentary film rather than a movie. For saying this I also want to mention the cinematography, which was unbelievably colorful, strong and well implemented and I personally still have a lot of those vivid images in my mind.

So, if you are looking for a movie with a colorful cultural aspects and a new, fresh point of view, go see this one! I am sure you will enjoy!



Directed by Danny Boyle and Loveleen Tandan (co-director in India)
Written by Simon Beaufoy (screenplay) and Vikas Swarub (novel)
Cast Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan
IMDb http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1010048/.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) - movie review

David Fincher came to my knowledge a few years ago with his terrific horror movie Se7en. With that he owed me a few nights of sleep. Then came Fight Club that solidified Fincher's skills in my books. Couple of years back came Zodiac which was also a nice piece of work.

This time Fincher has taken a totally different kind of story in his hands - a romantic drama of a man who is born old and gets young all his life. The story is loosely based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald in the 1920's.

Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt) is born in 1918 and his mother dies in childbirth. His father is devastated by her death - and even more when he sees his baby boy who looks more like a dying old man than a cute little newborn baby. He abandons him at the door of nursing home for old people, where he's taken care of by Queenie (Taraji P. Henson). Queenie believes all God's creatures deserve to live, and especially because she could not have children on her own, she takes Benjamin as her son.

Soon she realises that Benjamin is very special. He refuses to die as doctors predicted, and starts growing up, and at the same time getting young. When he meets a cute little blue eyed granddaughter of a lady living in the house, his life gets a new turn. Somehow the old young man and the girl get connected. The blue eyed girl grows up to be a stunning young lady called Daisy (Cate Blanchett) and eventually her and Benjamin's paths cross again.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a delicate romantic drama. The story holds up surprisingly well for its whole duration of 2 and a half hours. Surprisingly, because when I first heard about the movie, I thought the story sounds stupid. But it is far from stupid. It is a very sweet story, and even though you know exactly where events lead to, even just seeing other people get old and Benjamin get young is fascinating. The idea of being able to use all your old age wisdom and experience when young is interesting. But the idea has major downsides: the people around you just die of old age when you still continue to flourish. This will eventually lead to serious loneliness.

This is the third time Fincher and Pitt work together, and every time they do brilliant job together. It is beautiful to notice how Pitt has grown into a great actor after his "cute boy" years, and him working with one of without doubt the greatest actresses of our time, Blanchett, is fantastic to watch. Blanchett's variability is just amazing, how she can do pretty much any role she's given, and always in such a passion that captures the viewer deep into the story she's telling with her presence.

Benjamin Button was nominated for 13 Oscars which made it the most nominated film this year.



Directed by David Fincher
Written by Eric Roth
Cast Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Julia Ormond, Taraji P. Henson, Tilda Swinton
IMDb http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421715/

The Reader (2008) - Movie Review

This is a story of Post-WWII Germany. This is a story of two people that meet and have true passion despite the age difference. This is also a story of pride, pride that can in the end lead to some sacrifices. And a story of new connection, new beginning and new hope, even there is not always so much to look for.

The movie begins on one rainy day. A young Michael Berg (David Kross) is walking in the rain and is weakened by a worsening scarlet fever. He gets a helping hand from a lady called Hanna (Kate Winslett), who offers to guide him back to his home. When Michael gets better and is able to leave his house again, he wants to go to her and thank for her kindness. Hanna lets him in her tiny apartment and in her lonely life. It doesn't take long for them to find themselves being passionate lovers. There is quite an age difference and the affair keeps secret, but there is still something unforgettable about all the moments these two share together.

Hanna also seems to have some peculiar habits. She loves to be read and Michael sure enjoys reading to her, every single time that they meet. He doesn't ask any questions, but just keeps on reading. No matter how passionate they seem to be, there is always room for a new chapter, a new book and a new story.

Until one day, when Hanna mysteriously disappears, leaving Michael heartbroken.

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Years go by and Michael is a law student observing trials in court halls. One day when going to the court there is a Nazi war trial, where several S.S. guards are defendants and believed to have sent children and women to their deaths in Nazi camps. When at the courtroom he suddenly realizes that Hanna is one of the accused S. S. guards. He is stunned to see her again in these kind of circumstances. There is also a tiny secret, just a little detail Hanna won't reveal in the court, but which Michael knows about and is torn between helping her or just letting it go.

Time goes by and Hanna is now in prison. She is serving a life time sentence for her actions during the war. Michael (Ralph Fiennes) on the other hand has a family, but eventually gets divorced and when going through his old things, he finds all the books he used to read to Hanna and decides to record those books into tapes and send them to her. He sends them year after year, until finally Hanna starts to use these tapes to teach herself how to read.

In the end Michael is the only contact Hanna has in her life outside the prison and when it's time for her release, he is the one to take care of her and her new life, being a free woman. But things don't always go the way they're supposed to as is the case in this one too.

The end of the film was quite slow paced and even a bit boring I would say, but overall this was an interesting story of two strangers that meet, fall in love, have true passion, drift apart and then meet again in the strangest circumstances.

Kate Winslett's role as Hanna was very strong, believable and real. Like Kate herself is. There is just something about this woman that makes her so alive and real on the screen. She is perhaps one of the most down to earth actresses that I know of and maybe that's one of the reasons she outshines the others. And remember, Kate is nominated for an Oscar for her role as Hanna.

But this film is not only about love and the little affair, nor about Kate or her skills, even though she is nominated for Oscar for her role in this film. But we need to remember that this is also a story about war and about all the horrible memories of the Holocaust, the dark side in German history. It was very moving and confusing to see young Michael walking in the old prison camp, all those empty halls and those empty gas chambers. You could almost sense the presence of all those poor people that were walking their last steps to their deaths, closing one chapter in German History.



Directed by Stephen Daldry
Written by David Hare (screenplay) and Bernhard Schlink (book)
Cast Kate Winslett, Ralph Fiennes, David Kross
IMDb http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0976051/

Revolutionary Road (2008) - movie review

Life and relationships are full of ups and downs, everyone knows that. Some people are better at enjoying life's little treasures than others, some are never satisfied with what they have and always want more, and for those life is sometimes very hard. They think they should deserve something better, but are paralysed from acting and making the change themselves, they end up miserably on the comfort zone.

April (Kate Winslet) and Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) are a young adorable couple with two beautiful kids. They live in a cute white house with some space for everyone to play and enjoy life. Frank works in the city and is forced to take a train to cover the long distance, when April has lived years at home taking care of the kids, house, food and garden.

She's a bright young lady who suffers of her situation, and the difference between the couple's lifes starts to tear them apart. April gets depressed, Frank gets an affair. Suddenly April remembers their long lost dream of moving to Paris, and their relationship starts sparkling again. But when things have gone already bad, not even Paris helps...

Revolutionary Road is extremely intense drama. It is intense especially because of the realism - this can happen to anyone, and I'm sure this kind of couples are out there - many of them. All the terrible pain of relationship gone bad, being together but alone, and that performed with the skill and intensity of Winslet and DiCaprio, ones of the most brilliant actors of their generation, just makes your heart ache for two hours.

This movie is one of the best I've seen in describing how a relationship can go bad without a clear reason. For outsiders everything looks perfect, but under the cover everything is burning and ready to explode and destroy.

The movie wakes you up. It makes you think about your own life. And if your own life is going downwards, it hopefully wakes you up to act before its too late.



Directed by Sam Mendes
Written by Justin Haythe, based on the novel by Richard Yates
Cast Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kathy Bates, Kathryn Hahn, David Harbour, Michael Shannon
IMDb http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0959337/

Australia (2008) - movie review

Australia is an old-fashioned love story of a Lady and the Tramp, set in the beautiful surroundings of Australia, with a drop of politics in the form of Aboriginal rights.

Nicole Kidman is Lady Sarah Ashley, an English aristocrat whose husband is doing business in Australia. Once Lady Ashley feels that her husband is getting nothing done, she decides to travel to the other side of the world by herself to make things happen.

Once she gets Down Under, all she finds is her husband gotten killed and no-one taking care of the farm. She is forced to spend time with a rough local man, Drover (Hugh Jackman), who works on freelance basis to the Ashleys, driving their cattle.

Devastated of the situation Lady Ashley plans on selling the farm to the local cattle king, King Carney (Bryan Brown), but suddenly his actions among the Aboriginal people change her mind and she's determined on winning the battle against Carney. She befriends with a mixed breed boy Nullah (Brandon Walters), whom the government wants to take away to be educated away from the Aboriginal traditions.

As if the battle with the local farmers and the unpredictable Australian environment was not enough, the WW2 begins with the Japanese bombing Australia...

All this is just background to the love story, the love between the Lady and Drover. First they seemingly hate each other, but soon the relationship changes to something else, and finally deep friendship and love, which has to get over all the obstacles mentioned above.

The movie is visually stunning, the environment looks wonderful and the story of the mixed breed little boy is very touching. Director Baz Luhrman has clearly wanted to show his homeland as a beautiful mixture of magic and natural wonders. The cinematography is very interesting: colours ranging from the faded colours of the war and city to the extremely powerful colours of the Australian nature. The land Down Under is definitely one of the key players in this game.

Kidman and Jackman are a bit of lacking mutual chemistry - the only time you could actually feel their passion was during their first kiss in the outback, but after that it's mostly gone.



Directed by Baz Luhrman
Written by Stuart Beattie and Baz Luhrman
Cast Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Bryan Brown, David Wenham, Brandon Walters
IMDb http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0455824/

Låt den rätte komma in (Let the right one in) (2008) - movie review

The funny thing how two movies of the same subject - love story between a human and a vampire - are released at about the same time. And even funnier thing is, how different these two movies are from each other!

Let the right one in is nothing like Twilight. It is a Swedish film based on a Swedish novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, who also wrote the screenplay and it has been directed by Tomas Alfredson. It tells a story of a lonely, bullied 12-year-old school boy Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) who lives with her mother in a suburb of a small Swedish town and visits his father occasionally at his cabin outside the town.

Suddenly a strange, dark haired girl (Lina Leandersson) moves to the neighbour with her father. She introduces herself as Eli, and becomes an odd friend of Oskar - always meeting him outside after dark.


Strange deaths start to happen in the previously peaceful neighbourhood, but Eli's and Oskar's friendship gets deeper even though she tells him they should not be friends. For a little boy without friends a powerful vampire as an ally is a nice asset against the other boys.

Let the right one in is such a different vampire movie. It focuses on a perfectly traditional Swedish neighbourhood with perfectly traditional people - drunks, loners, working moms, lonely kids and gangs. And then there comes the vampire that changes the balance, dramatically.

The movie is dark and very grim, but it is not horror in the very sense. And it sees the world via the eyes of a pre-teenager. It is not a movie for children even though it's central characters are young in age. It is a story of loneliness and what loneliness can make you do. Desperate things.

Directed by Tomas Alfredson
Written by John Ajvide Lindqvist, based on his own novel
Cast Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson
IMDb http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1139797/