4.0, Europe

The Last King of Scotland

2006 / Kevin Macdonald > Let’s get the 800-pound gorilla out of the way: Forest Whitaker is masterful, true and full of credible passion as megalomaniac dictator Idi Amin. And yes, it’s absolutely worthy of an Oscar nomination if not the Best Actor trophy itself. From the twitch in his bloodshot eyes to the insane, instantaneous smile, Whitaker arguably does more for Amin than Hoffman did for Capote. It’s considerably less gimmick-based; we don’t have a lisp or some sort of disability. It’s just simple brilliance.

What Macdonald has done is also quite a wonder, fusing every type of emotion into an incredibly balanced and well-paced two hours. In portraying the Uganda of the 1970s through the eyes of James McAvoy’s young, naive eyes, Macdonald somehow remains objective. In contrast to films such as Terry George’s overly apologist Hotel Rwanda, there is little preaching or glorification. The deep emotional palette of the film is further enhanced by a deeply engrossing story, part truth, part fiction, that breaches genre expectations for a typical political biopic. It’s not hard to find yourself smiling, laughing, shocked or becoming filled with lust for sex and power. It has the essence of a small but necessary epic.

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2.0, United States/Canada

Miami Vice

2006 / Michael Mann > Dreadful, monotonous and an underwhelming disappointment. Having expectations for a Michael Mann film is a bad idea, since living up to the standards he set with Heat and The Insider are a little unfair. But I was hoping the re-imagination of Miami Vice and the mainstream debut of Gong Li would be reason enough to keep me interested. But unfortunately the music, cinematography and the presence of Ms. Li is not enough to save the disjointed, unnecessarily contrived plot line from caving into its own back.

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4.0, Europe, United States/Canada

Marie Antoinette

2006 / Sofia Coppola > After everything, there’s just something, however minute, missing from Marie Antoinette for it to become the rich and evocative biopic that Coppola must have intended. It could have been a different ending, better pacing or simply the addition or deletion of a storyline. But as it stands, the film is far more memorable for its dresses of grandeur, the decadence of the Rococo and Kirsten Dunst’s performance in a role that very much becomes her. (Which, effectively, makes up for her being atrociously cast in Elizabethtown.)

There is a scene early on in the film where Dunst first wakes up at Versailles only to find a troupe of women and men at her servitude. In the following minutes where she is dressed, Coppola somehow manages to define the reasoning behind the French Revolution. For me, it stands as the defining moment in the film where she so subtly argues for and justifies the revolution. But what if one asks, “What is this film trying to say?” Coppola’s intention is unclear: Are we to understand the aristocratic idiocy of the period, or focus on the girl in the center and try to empathize with her as a person, not as the Queen of France?

But letting such lack of clarity slide, it’s hard to imagine not enjoying the anachronistic usage of modern music (particularly Aphex Twin’s “Jynweythek Ylow” and Bow Wow Wow’s “Candy”) and the sheer jubilance Dunst’s smile evokes. Using all that is style, Coppola did succeed in making me feel for Marie-Antoinette’s predicament. The fusion of style and substance is a little skewed toward the former, but this is ultimately a film for the heart, not the mind. It is as imperfect and naive as Marie-Antoinette herself.

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3.5, United States/Canada

Thank You For Smoking

2006 / Jason Reitman > Even though his father hasn’t done anything respectable in a decade, Jason Reitman certainly has—on his first try, no less. Reitman’s sobering yet insanely objective view of a tobacco lobbyist (played superbly by Aaron Eckhart) is a much needed breath of fresh air from Hollywood. Recently, there’s been a barrage of weak, simply blasphemous liberal propaganda films that preach in a contrived, heavy-handed way (and while some of you may not include Crash in this, I certainly do). Thank You For Smoking takes a step back and billows out a smokescreen through which we identify with the human side of the tobacco industry while being repulsed at the same time.

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4.5, Korea

A Good Lawyer’s Wife

2003 / Im Sang-soo > There are so many layers to Im’s A Good Lawyer’s Wife that a minimum of two viewings are a must. But even on the first viewing, it’s fairly evident that he’s created a fine work exploring the status of the modern Korean family, analyzing issues with aging, infidelity, class distinction, adoption and love/loneliness. It’s easy to imagine a sophomore film class dissecting the ground beneath the film for a week, pondering exactly what Im intended to say, and what is just a natural consequence of the world he’s trying to represent.

Much of this, undoubtedly, is driven by the incredible cast. Of note, as always, is the sheer blistering performance, subtle and true, of Moon So-ri in her portrayal of the title character (for which she won Best Actress at the 2004 Grand Bell Awards). Moreover, I found the film to have some of the most successfully interesting use of music I’ve ever witnessed: A mixture of upbeat orchestration and mismatched visuals often bringing forth feelings that would generally be hidden away.

I could go on, but it’s probably better to just watch it. The combination of Im Sang-soo and Moon So-ri yields a result that ranks atop the ten best Korean films produced this decade, and establishes Im as a cornerstone director of contemporary Korean cinema.

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2.0, United States/Canada

American Dreamz

2006 / Paul Weitz > I expected more from the director of About a Boy: After all, Weitz should have been capable of a well-done, imaginative satire on the state of today’s media. But American Dreamz basically ends up engulfing itself in several layers of useless satire that render it cliche’d and predictable. The irony here is that the message of the film—a mockery of American Idol and our government—gets lost in the silliness that ensues. The subtlety of Weitz’ previous films (including American Pie) is completely lost here, as is the film’s potential charm.

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4.0, Southeast Asia

Invisible Waves

2006 / Pen-Ek Ratanaruang > It’s hard to gauge if those who liked Last Life in the Universe will also like Invisible Waves. But those who have the patience for Pen-Ek’s multinational opus—with Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Thai stars represented and much of the dialogue in English—will be rewarded by the film’s ability to slowly but surely question the value of loyalty, self-worth and happiness.

Not surprisingly, the film is also absolutely gorgeous thanks to the hands and eyes of cinematographer Christopher Doyle. Its pacing is a little skewed, with each third of the film speeding up at twice the pace of the previous. And while this causes the film to start slowly, it successfully mimics the protagonist’s mindset so that we feel the similar type of rush in the latter third as he does. The dialogue in Invisible Waves is seemingly simple, but always struck certain chords, however small. Similar to its predecessor, it’s somewhat hard to explain exactly why I enjoyed it so much. But I did, and for that I can do little but to recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone who’s willing and able.

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2.5, Korea

A Dirty Carnival

2006 / Yu Ha > Arguably a casualty of high expectations, Yu Ha’s follow up to Once Upon a Time in High School and Marriage is a Crazy Thing ultimately fails to deliver. The first half runs very much like a Scorsese-inspired gangster drama, unfolding with a mixture of monetary issues, family camaraderie and dealings within the hierarchy of a mafia-esquence organization. However, the primary underlying conflict that Yu develops as the film goes on feels a little silly. In progression, problems are created out of thin air even before existing problems are resolved. While succeeding in remaining poetic and refined, A Dirty Carnival is undoubtedly his weakest entry of the decade.

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1.5, United States/Canada

Flags of Our Fathers

2006 / Clint Eastwood > What can I say? Paul Haggis is one of the most skillful writers in Hollywood when it comes to manipulative, contrived scripts that base their sole existence on every cliche in the book. I don’t mean to sound harsh, but I did find myself having a tough time not walking out of this unnecessarily melodramatic drivel that just about drove me to laughter at many of its most “critical” points.

Flags of Our Fathers has a story behind it that could have been brilliantly approached with a level of subtlely and intelligence that would have made it a surefire Oscar candidate. Similar to Saving Private Ryan, it had the capability of being a poignant war allegory. However, Haggis (and arguably Eastwood) filled the film with enough sewage to destroy any message it could have represented.

This is the worst film I have seen in theatres this year. The war sequences, while beautifully done, were pointless and, amazingly, just boring. I cared about none of the characters, and there was only one good sequence of dialogue and two scenes where I felt any real emotion—which, coincidentally, where both contrived beyond belief. This is disappointment that I cannot explain. A great story mistold. One can only hope Letters From Iwo Jima does not suffer the same fate.

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2.5, Hong Kong/China

Dog Bite Dog

New York Asian Film Festival2006 / Cheang Soi > Violence for the sake of violence has become a bit of a bore lately. So, once in a while, we get a film that tries to justify its grotesque level of blood and gore as if there’s a greater meaning to it all. Sometimes it succeeds (see Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance). But as is the case with Dog Bite Dog, chances of a failure is more probable. The glue for the film are the acting feats pulled off by one of the pretty boys of Hong Kong here: Edison Chen, and the immaculate conception of dramatic skills by the usually effervescent Sam Lee in his role as a misunderstood cop hot on the trail of the aforementioned Mr. Chen.

The film is not completely without merit. The violence is gruesome, but at times you can’t help but feel for both sides of the law. The line between good and bad is not often clear, and some of the situations the characters face are surreal enough that it’s hard to put one’s self in such a position. Unfortunately, the film is plagued by an elongated ending that stretches beyond a reasonable conclusion and holds the viewer at a standstill for what is, essentially, a filler finale.

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