elab49
Posts: 51631
Joined: 1/10/2005
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So I guess we do it this way till the edit button is back?
1. In the Electric Mist (Tavernier, 2008). Review on page 2.
2. Slumdog Millionnaire, Boyle, 2008
Includes spoilers.
Given the universal awareness of Who Wants to be a Millionnaire, it really is a brilliant conceit to construct a young boy's life round how he knows the answers to the questions. Even if we do know early on what the final question is going to be, certainly on this side of the world there is a questionmark over whether he will get it right (if I'm reading it right, the Bollywood side of the world have no such query, it always happens that way which, IMO, isn't a good thing).
Slumdog looks amazing, often reminiscent of City of God, with an equally impressive young cast that gives a short tour of recent Indian trouble, race structure and of the country itself. With the odd nod to Trainspotting (you may not be able to watch the screen at that part), this reminds me in mood, in many ways, more of Millions - a very underrated Boyle film from a couple of years back.
An amazing energy, it plays happily with the timeline and convincingly takes older brother Salim down the wrong path although I was never quite convinced about the relationship of either with Latika - there had to be a girl was the way it felt. I wondered if this was actually India's host for the show until his first snide comment - he plays the role as a cross between Chris Tarrant and, almost, Anne Robinson which works perfectly into his interference in one of the questions.
I thoroughly enjoyed the film - and although, in terms of film-making, it is far more accomplished and far superior to Millions, I still kind of prefer the latter.
3. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Hosoda, 2006 (snap, Gram!)
Hard not to comment on this without referring to Whisper of the Heart and Only Yesterday although I think the source material for this is far older, the book written in the 60s. The author also wrote the source material for Kon's not entirely successful Paprika.
I think the Ghibli's have led us to expect a higher standard of the quality of the story from these animations. The animation itself is generally run of the mill although some of the 'still' shots are wonderfully rendered, e.g., the lab.
I think, though, I have less tolerance for some of the cod profound stuff that OKishly written anime indulges in. Much of the story is slightly Dawson's Creek, which is disappointing, But when it gets to time travel, it either is confused in itself or isn't telling a whole other story. So you start wondering if the aunt is actually Makoto, or, if not, Chiaki messed with both of them selfishly for this one painting, whose importance is pretty much ignored, unless he is some kind of sociopath. His manipulation of Makoto with having to 'go away' - although how without any leaps or presumably much of a resource there - that made her use her 'new' final leap does seem to indicate that.
On one level, perfectly watchable - but then it does start to get rather annoying when you think about it.
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Lips Together and Blow - blogtasticness and Glasgow Film Festival GFF13!
Films watched 2012
Annual Poll 2012 Countdown Started.
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RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2009 - 
in under 3 days! 
I'll look out for it.
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