No. Anywhoo, here is a blurb: a film revolving around corrupt cops, hired killers, betrayal, revenge, and the drug trade with a bit of South American witchcraft thrown in for good measure…

OK, talk to [...]]]> Ah, at last a Colombian film for the Oscar. Of course it falls within the violent archetype, but at least…

No. Anywhoo, here is a blurb:

a film revolving around corrupt cops, hired killers, betrayal, revenge, and the drug trade with a bit of South American witchcraft thrown in for good measure…

OK, talk to me on this one: how’s withcraft different from the hexes in USA? How is typical from South America?

I like better this review, that, although scathing, makes me even more curious:

The movie emphasize the gritty and nasty with its over the top violence that seems to glamorize gross brutality for the sake of violence, as though it’s the cinematic love letter to violence that only the death-row prisoners would admire for depicting absolute nihilism. Maybe that’s the actual point of the title.

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Yet Benigni manages to pull it off in The Tiger and the Snow, which starts with a comedy, but follows with a detour through the love and devotion and an exploration of what is [...]]]> War is a painful subject, so any artist that uses it as backdrop for a comedy is threading on weak ground.

Yet Benigni manages to pull it off in The Tiger and the Snow, which starts with a comedy, but follows with a detour through the love and devotion and an exploration of what is it to be human. Most significantly, he manages to show that Iraq at the beginning of the war as full of humans, full of people.

The reviews were cruel with this movie, accusing it of being a vehicle for Benigni and his wife, Braschi, so after a little googling I found some enthusiast reviewers. Craver talks about the beauty of the film, and another one writes on poetry, as OTM says, and one of their commenters writes back about their marvel at the discovery process when explaining the world. Yes, the film centers on poetry, but it is not the poetry alone what marks so much the love that Attilio feels for this woman.

There is the love, of course, but what shows up at the beginning is a desperate stalker that somehow seems to be funny. The film is much more than funny, so you might be disappointed if you were looking for something comical in nature.

This movie unfolds at its own pace, starting as light romantic comedy, a buffoon that clowns around in his underwear engaged in pretty stereotypical situations.

And then it turns serious.

Bad news reach this comic professor, and off he goes into Iraq, the film weaving the despair and sadness of the war into the desperate love of a man full of words and lacking on deeds. Only that, under the war and the urgency, that professed love becomes real, while the painful backdrop of a civilization slowly collapsing shows the human side of those Iraqi looters, the adroitness of the professor and the words of the charmer disappearing in front of the life or death situation of all of those he loves. The Iraqis are human, and suffer and pray and die; the American soldiers are human as well, and are scared and tense and compassionate. The Iraqis care, and suffer, and feel as well that pain.

It is telling that, in the last scene, he remains calm, mute, silent, the caged birds recalling that impossibility to tell stories that he once had, as a kid, when words were simply unfit to tell that amazing story. And thus, he remains eloquently silent.

This is a gorgeous movie.

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There is even a quiz:

Which Princess Bride Character are You?this quiz was made by mysti

I am feeling like [...]]]> Just finished watching The Princess Bride. After all the analysis and the ironicallyintellectual perception of the movie, it is just a good story,one that tells about morals, hope, and values. And a happy ending.

There is even a quiz:

Which Princess Bride Character are You?
this quiz was made by mysti

I am feeling like a fossil, trying to explain why is it that this movie is worth watching! Although campy, and almost painful in its simplicity, it is also powerful – the themes, the emotional load, the idealistic setting: it teaches just as an old grandpa would, teasingly, patiently, honestly, lovingly.

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The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly [...]]]> Again, due to popular request, from the imdb:

The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.

But I like this one:

Fabienne: Whose motorcycle is this?
Butch: It’s a chopper, baby.
Fabienne: Whose chopper is this?
Butch: It’s Zed’s.
Fabienne: Who’s Zed?
Butch: Zed’s dead, baby. Zed’s dead.

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But it was FUN!

The whole thing about this movie is that [...]]]> I saw yesterday snakes on plane! This movie gets a resounding applause for its kitchness, its complete unabashed and relentless pursuit of immediate gratification, for pandering to our basic, reptilian brains, and for its facile use of cliches and overheated and adimensional characters.

But it was FUN!

The whole thing about this movie is that it was the studios answer to the fans: more sex? you have it; gruesome scenes? there you go; accurate rendition of foaming eyeballs due to venom? here, for your viewing pleasure; juvenile and immature jokes at the expense of somebody’s pain? look, a snake in the toilet!

Actually, they were vipers, but for the anaconda. But I digress.

The movie, improved, as it were, by the efforts of the collective that the fanbase became, is redolent of the smell of the blogosphere: an occasional hint of genius, surrounded by an almost unbearable stench of mediocrity and base ideas; also, it drives us toward it with an irresistible appeal, an animalistic urge to belong and participate – a mind virus of amazing potency.

I do have a question, though: since this was obviously marketed and presented through the blogosphere, and its main attractive was that it was expected because of the discussion, instead of its merits, I expect it to fade into oblivion pretty soon, to be revived at drunken parties and high school pizza nights, but otherwise completely forgotten.

Which might be a shame, because these kind of movies present the Zeitgeist in a unique, pure and raw form.

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