Category Archives: 2002

Intimate Stories (2002)

From NetFlix:

A charming and affecting tale charting the fortunes of three small town heroes pursuing their dreams, Carlos Sorin’s “Historias Minimas” offers further evidence of the current riches to be found in Argentine cinema. Awarded a special jury prize at the San Sebastian International Film Festival, it’s a deceptively simple yet delightful road movie concerned with three disparate characters heading for the Argentine city of San Julian.

Very much like an independent film. Quiet, unassuming, full of kind people being friendly to one another, the farthest thing from a car-chase film you could ever imagine. I could never live in so desolate a country where reaching the next important city could mean driving 200 miles. The highway (without Massachusetts potholes) stretches on forever in the midst of nothing. An elderly man makes that journey in the hopes of finding his former dog Badface. There is sadness associated with this search and I can say no more.

Soothing, but nothing special. It made me feel good that there are such nice, simple people (even if it just a movie). Subtitles in English are available.

Talk to Her (2002)

From NetFlix:

Pedro Almodóvar’s Oscar-winning drama explores the bond forged between two men under tragic circumstances. When a bullfighting accident sends his girlfriend, Lydia (Rosario Flores), into a coma, Marco (Darío Grandinetti) visits her in a clinic where he befriends nurse Benigno (Javier Cámara). Shy and a bit strange, Benigno tirelessly tends to another patient, Alicia (Leonor Watling), a comatose ballet dancer and the object of his obsession.

Recommended in both “1001 Films To See Before You Die” and “NY Times 1000 Best”, for me this film is about loneliness and the difficulty of finding a warm connection with another person.

Almodóvar is an acquired taste and not to everyone’s liking. You have to sit back and accept the film as a “happening”. For example, there is a silent film within the film in which a woman keeps her constantly shrinking lover in her purse until one day he walks into her vagina and lives there forever. This is what I mean by “acquired taste”.

If nothing else the movie is tender, with some surprises, and for me not boring.

Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002)

From NetFlix:

Australia’s aboriginal integration program of the 1930s broke countless hearts — among them, those of young Molly (Evelyn Sampi), Gracie (Laura Monaghan) and Daisy (Tianna Sansbury), who were torn from their families and placed in an abusive orphanage. Without food or water, the girls resolve to make the 1,500-mile trek home. Meanwhile, a well-intentioned tracker is trying to return the girls to the authorities.

Do not expect a happy ending for this film recommended in “1001 Films To See Before You Die”. For historical background see the Wikipedia article. This is a film that tells a story, nothing more. But I could not take my eyes off these determined (and, in the case of the oldest, clever) aboriginal young girls as they struggled for nine weeks and 1,500 miles across a desert in order to reach their mother from whom they had been taken by the misguided British “Protector of Aborigines” because of their unpardonable crime of being half-caste.

The Salton Sea (2002)

From NetFlix:

Punk-rocking speed freak Danny Parker (Val Kilmer) freelances as an informant for brutal narcotics cops Al Garcetti (Anthony LaPaglia) and Gus Morgan (Doug Hutchison). But when he’s not assisting the cops on drug busts, Danny gets high and leads a double life as a talented, mild-mannered trumpeter named Tom Van Allen. One personality is in search of his wife’s killer, but reality is evasive in director D.J. Caruso’s neo-noir crime thriller.

Welcome to the first of a two-film festival featuring Vincent D’Onofrio who has been called an “actor’s actor”. In this violentissimo!!!!! film, D’Onofrio steals the show as the incredibly psychotic Pooh-Bear. Tell me, did this character lose his nose due to sniffing entertaining substances ?

In theory this is Val Kilmer’s film and he broods well throughout. But low and behold there are small parts for the young Anthony LaPaglia and even younger B.D. Wong. For me, however, the best and most moving supporting actor was Peter Saarsgard as a slow-witted but faithful friend.

We cannot fail to note that “Law and Order” counts D’Onofrio, B.D. Wong, and Saarsgard among its cast. LaPaglia instead appears in “CSI” and of course “Without a Trace”.

Warning: This is an especially brutal film with some disturbing sequences.

28 Days Later (2002)

From NetFlix:

A killer virus (it turns those it infects into homicidal maniacs) is accidentally released from a British research facility. Carried by animals and humans, the virus is impossible to contain and spreads across the entire planet. Twenty-eight days later, a small group of London survivors are caught in a desperate struggle to protect themselves from the infected.

Thanks to Brian St. Pierre (my personal trainer at Cressey Performance) for suggesting this film directed by Danny Boyle. Since this film got an R rating for violence, nudity, language, and gore , it sounds like a winner.

You’ve seen this theme before in several guises: Charlton Heston in “The Omega Man” and Will Smith in “I Am Legend”. The prototypical plot is that most of the world population has disappeared or is fatally inflicted with some dread malady except for one or several protagonists who must reach some safe refuge where there is still hope. And so far this describes “28 Days Later”. But wait … there’s more! Usually reaching that safe refuge is the end of movie. But in this case that safe refuge is only the half-way point. Plot is important and I will say no more.

On the down side there is an awful lot of running and fighting in dark passages with enraged mutants. These scuffles are part of the plot but could be tiresome.

So tell me, if your loved one suddenly becomes infected with this rage and will therefore bite you so that you too beome infected, would you immediately kill that loved one ? Now are you interested ?

In America (2002)

From NetFlix:

Academy Award-winning director Jim Sheridan brings authenticity and grit to this heartwarming drama about an Irish family starting life anew in early-1980s America. With their two daughters in tow, Johnny (Paddy Considine) and Sarah (Samantha Morton) leave Ireland and head to New York so Johnny can pursue an acting career. What follows is a series of adventures, both comical and terrifying, as they struggle to make the most of their new life.

Usually I am fairly hard-hearted about sentimental films (“been there, seen that”), but this film, I have to admit, got a few weeps out of yours truly. The interplay of the family characters was almost inspiring to see. How those parents loved those kids! What NetFlix fails to tell you is that the theme of the entire movie is that before coming to America (illegally), they had lost a young boy Frankie of 3 years. This is a story of loss and deferred mourning. The African artist Mateo is played by Djimon Hounsou who played the lead African “slave” in “Amistad”. I could have watched the two little daughters forever. Despite certain details too good to be true at the end, the ending really got to me.

I hate to say “not for children” but there was one wonderful (and tastefully played) sex scene. Also at one point Mateo puts his blood on a canvas.

I try not to rave (especially since our mood at the time determines how we receive a film), but don’t miss this one!

About a Boy (2002)

From NetFlix:

Will Lightman (Hugh Grant) is a rich, hip, irresponsible
Londoner who, in search of available women, invents an
imaginary son and starts attending single-parent meetings —
confident in both parties’ inability to make a commitment.
But when Will meets Marcus, the troubled 12-year-old son of
Fiona (Toni Collette), a quirky and unexpected friendship
develops as both Will and Marcus help each other grow up.

Another suggestion from Kate and Nigel, “About A Boy” is a feel-good lightweight
film that avoids being maudlin. Hugh Grant does a nice job, as do the kids in the
movie. Possibly not for children due to its explicit sexual references. Just a bit of fun.

Blood Work (2002)

From NetFlix:

Retired FBI director Terry McCaleb (Clint Eastwood), feeble from a
recent heart transplant, is hired by Graciela Rivers (Wanda De Jesus)
to investigate the death of her sister, Gloria — coincidentally, the
donor of McCaleb’s new heart. McCaleb soon deducts that Gloria was
murdered by a serial killer he was trailing for years while in the
FBI but can the elderly agent muster the strength to hunt down the
killer and stop him for good?

This film could have been an hour-long TV detective show. Clint should not have made this one
because it is definitely ersatz Eastwood. Choose an episode of “Law and Order” instead.
So why did I watch it ? The plot is acceptable. Some of the supporting characters aren’t
bad (although the villain is not a great actor). And I feel good because I guessed who the killer was.
Besides, I have something like the flu and there was nothing on television.

Only for die-hard Eastwood fans.

The Mother (2003)

From NetFlix:

Anne Reid plays May, a suburban grandmother whose husband
dies unexpectedly while visiting their children in London.
When May goes there to tend to the tragic matter, she
begins to lose her grip on her identity, stripped of her
wifely duties and lost in the bustle of a world so foreign
to her. But then she meets Darren, a young man who’s
bedding her daughter, and her life takes a turn for the
complicated and the unexpected.

The New York Times magazine ran an article on Hanif Kureishi a London Indian who was awarded the Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his writing. The article suggested some of his films of which “The Mother” is the first.

I felt I had to rate this movie “Unusual and definitely not for everyone” and DEFINITELY not for children. The movie is sexually explicit. The widow loses her grip and does some embarrassing things (definite “cringe” value). I would be interested to see how severely you judge this woman if you watch the film. Wife Kathy watched the film and thought it was disturbing. I consider it a real find.

Caution!

Dirty Pretty Things (2002)

From NetFlix:

Okwe (Chiwetel Ejiofor), an illegal immigrant working as
a night porter at a posh London hotel, stumbles across
evidence of a bizarre murder. He and Senay (Audrey Tautou),
a Turkish chambermaid — and fellow undocumented worker —
venture into the city’s seedy underworld to find out what
happened. Stephen Frears directs this gritty urban thriller.

This film is not for the squeamish. But if you are into revenge, the ending is very satisfying. Such a great villain! Not feel-good and not for children.