See The Sun

State of Mind

Monday, March 12th, 2007 | Film | No Comments

Although I love mainstream movies such as romcoms & teenage films etc (The Holiday, 13 Going on 30, Bend it like Beckham, Blue Crush, A Cinderella Story, The Cutting Edge, Freaky Friday, Legally Blonde, Miss Congeniality, The Princess Diaries, Save the Last Dance, She’s The Man, Step Up, Someone Like You, What a Girl Wants…) and even action films (Armageddon, The Island, Gattaca, Pirates of the Caribbean, Spider Man) or currently have an obsession with period dramas, I value the quality of independent film with strong characters and exceptional scripts. It’s just that I live in a place where they don’t get on the big screen and only rarely on DVD. And because they’re complex and hard to summarize I find it hard to pick out the ones I truly like. If a film is too vague, ambitious, or strange, I don’t like it, at least not enough to watch it more than once or not to regret the money I paid for it. So, after watching yet another film that promised to be a ‘film jewel’ I often feel very disappointed.

But now, I stumbled upon a really great film: ‘The United States of Leland’ (State of Mind). Of course, seeing that Ryan Gosling is attached made me want to rent it immediately! And although I found the film to be deeply disturbing I love it. Maybe love isn’t the right word, but I’m so impressed by the performances (not just Ryan but also Jena Malone, I always love watching her, Chris Klein, Michelle Williams, Don Cheadle and Kerry Washington) and the script. One could probably argue that the fact that the actual murder isn’t shown is kind of gloryfing, or at least trivializing the crime. However, the film is so much more, I feel it’s about the duality of good and evil, both being kind of part of everyone. And understanding Leland, coming to know and feel for him, doesn’t mean one approves of his actions. Really, as Pearl says no matter what we can’t undo something wrong, yet we have some power over what happens next, of what we do next. I feel Ryan-fever coming up once again…. Maybe I will try to get my hands on a Region 1 DVD ‘Half Nelson’ after all… I loved him in ‘Murder by Numbers’ and ‘The Notebook’. Another film I’ve yet to see is ‘Stay’, also with Ryan and directed by “our man in Hollyood” Marc Forster (local press titles him this).

Small character-driven films I’ve previously liked: 25th Hour, Deeply, Ghost World, In America, In My Father’s Den, Inside I’m Dancing, Lost in Translation, A Love Song For Bobby Long, Manny & Lo, Saved!, School Ties.

The Lake House

Thursday, March 8th, 2007 | Film | No Comments

I don’t really know why I never went to see ‘The Lake House’ on the big screen, nor why I’ve waited such a long time to see it on DVD. My expectations were not particularly high. Which is why I was so surprised to find that I absolutely adore this film. It is romantic, beautiful, clever. There’s one plot hole (if she saves him from the future then she changes her past, including probably the correspondance) but I am so willing to look over it. I love how the film is kind of quiet and slow, yet still full of energy. And isn’t it funny that just when I am full of thoughts about ‘Persuasion’ I watch a film that has a theme about running through it?!

I’ve re-discovered an online DVD shop that also has rare and international films for quite low prices - and it is located here in Switzerland and there are no extra charges for shipping! ‘A Dance to the Music of Time’, ‘Free Zone’ and ‘Il Mare’ (Korean original for ‘The Lake House’) are now in my possession! Yes! Unfortunately, I now know when ‘Becoming Jane’ is on our local big screen: October 4! W00T?!**%&

Becoming Jane

Wednesday, March 7th, 2007 | Film | No Comments

Do I have an opinion, or not? I’ve been eagerly awaiting a chance to se ‘Becoming Jane’ - I don’t think there’ll soon be one - for a long time now. Since the people at AustenBlog really know how to update regularly on every news on something concerning Jane Austen - also about the many new film productions - I’ve been visiting almost daily. However, they seem to update on everything totally subjectively. And I started to realize that my eagerness for any news on ‘Becoming Jane’ would be my downfall: reading the very critical, sometimes almost bordering on sarcastic, comments will probably ruin my chances to fully enjoy the film once I get to see it. Pretty much like reading all the reviews etc did it for Tristan & Isolde… At least the film review in Total Film magazine (saying it was without irony amongst other things, and praise for Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy) and the first viewer report on the “infamous” blog have certainly raised my spirits.

Also, my already high hopes for ‘Persuasion’ have risen even higher. I can’t wait to see this. The DVD cover looks awesome (view) looks awesome and I love Rupert Penry-Jones. Have just seen him as St. John in an older Jane Eyre version….