Category Archives: Could Be Hard To Watch

2008, Could Be Hard To Watch, Drama, Not Feel Good, Nudity, Redemption, Revenge, Suspense, Unusual, Violent

Blindness (2008)

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From NetFlix:

After a plague of blindness overtakes the residents of a city, all sense of order breaks loose in the hospital where the victims are being quarantined. It’s up to a woman (Julianne Moore) who’s keeping her sight a secret to lead a group safely to the streets. Gael García Bernal, Mark Ruffalo, Sandra Oh and Danny Glover also star in this psychological thriller, an adaptation of José Saramago’s gripping masterpiece.

“Blindness” is one of the most unusual films I have ever seen. Read carefully because it will not be everyone’s taste. Julianne Moore is excellent as the only secretly sighted person in a population where eventually everyone becomes blind. Ask yourself what would happen if in fact everyone went blind. To give you a taste of the unpleasantness you can expect: In the beginning the government sequesters all the afflicted persons into a kind of stone penitentiary. Moore is married to a doctor Mark Ruffalo. She can see, he goes blind. Saramago is careful with the details of just how people would even be able to move about, get food, etc. The prisoners are divided into groups. The guards shoot upon sight any blind person attempting to leave. Food arrives and must be distributed to the various groups. That is where the trouble begins. One group, led by Gael García Bernal decides to bully the other groups by capturing the food and demanding to be paid first with jewelry and eventually women’s sexual services. It gets ugly. If you can survive this descent into non-civilization, this movie is for you.

Another unusual aspect is the manner of vocal delivery. There is no actor voice projection. People speak as is there is no camera.

If you are still reading this review, then I should be a bit more positive and say that there is an underlying philosophy that once people stop seeing the superficial in others, then they begin to appreciate the real internal personalities. Despite the horror, the film ends as much as is possible on a happy note.

I dare you!

2008, Could Be Hard To Watch, Drama, Not Feel Good, Revenge, Violent

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

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From NetFlix:

After coming within one question of winning 20 million rupees on the Indian version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” 18-year-old Mumbai “slumdog” Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) is arrested on suspicion of cheating. While in custody, Jamal regales a jaded police inspector (Irfan Khan) with remarkable tales of his life on the streets, as well as the story of Latika (Freida Pinto), the woman he loved and lost. Danny Boyle’s film won a Golden Globe and Oscar for Best Picture.

Hollywood has produced a technically excellent film that successfully exploits the misery of Indian slum dwellers by coating the film with a thin veneer of Spielberg-like good feelings. I just couldn’t buy it. During this film, which in my opinion is NOT FOR CHILDREN, you will be treated to the following spectacles:

  • The police inspector beats Jamal and subjects him to electric torture. This is perfectly acceptable because Jamal, after all, is merely a slum dweller.
  • Hindus set muslims on fire as living torches.
  • Of course Jamal will jump into the cesspool so he can get a Bollywood actor’s autograph.
  • During the day poor Indians search the garbage dump for edible food.
  • At night orphans sleep at this garbage dump
  • Predators entice these orphans from the dump with cold Coca-Cola. The orphans are taken to a camp and fed. These orphans then experience the following:
    • At the very best they are turned into beggar slaves for the predators
    • Those male orphans who can sing are then blinded by pouring hot liquid into their eyes and sent out as singing beggars.
    • Female orphans are trained as prostitutes.
  • In one scene Jamal’s beautiful sweetheart Latika has both sides of her face scarred in revenge for her disobience to her owner.

Why did not India sue the filmmakers for exposing the savage underbelly of India ? Of course every country has it shame. Do not forget that in the American South, after a negro was lynched, the spectators cut the body into parts and saved the pieces as souvenirs.

There is a large article on this film in wikipedia. Hopefully none of the children actors from slums were sent back to the slums. There is also this link to one of the many organizations that try to help.

2008, Could Be Hard To Watch, Could Be Sad, Drama, Not Feel Good

Revolutionary Road (2008)

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From NetFlix:

Based on the novel by Richard Yates and set in the mid-1950s, this story helmed by Sam Mendes follows the Wheelers (Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslett, in a Golden Globe-winning role), a young couple in suburban Connecticut who tries desperately to confront the problems in their relationship while raising two children. Despite their best intentions, the couple’s intense arguments send them into a downward spiral. Michael Shannon co-stars in an Oscar-nominated role.

DiCaprio and Winslett are superb, but of the two, Winslett expresses such pain that her performance just soars. Michael Shannon as the unbalanced mathematician is memorable. Kathy Bates as his mother is good as usual. David Harbour, playing a neighbor who has the hots for Winslett, does his role well.

Beware: this is a very unhappy film. I’ll play Devil’s Advocate here, go out on a limb and say the unhappy couple brought their problems on themselves. Is the film’s thesis that we should never settle down into a solid, hopefully financially secure lifestyle until we have found our true selves and are living out our most cherished dreams ? True, not everyone loves his job. So why not do what the majority probably do, work at something not completely horrible and get another life outside of work ? Granted that is a bit difficult if you are working 60 hours a week. No, I cannot commiserate with this sad couple. I can feel their pain even if I do not agree with that pain.

Note how slyly the film tries to get us to agree with the thesis: at the end other neighbors in their own way indicate how they really hate their dull lives.

Would anyone out there care to champion this neurotic pair of souls ?

2003, Could Be Hard To Watch, Not Feel Good, Suspense, Violent, War

Beyond Borders (2003)

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From NetFlix:

Nick (Clive Owen), a medical student turned international disaster relief worker, and Sarah (Angelina Jolie), a philanthropist socialite, gradually fall in love after meeting time and again against the backdrops of disasters and wars throughout the world. Teri Polo plays Sarah’s sister Charlotte, a globetrotting journalist.

It’s a Hollywood movie!

It’s also violent. Clive Owen is his usual f_____g forceful self (he certainly like to curse). Angelina Jolie is her usual beautiful self (but sometimes it seems to me that every now and then she delivers her lines like a high school sophomore).

One by one the story visits various disaster spots: Ethiopia, Cambodia, Chechnya in which our heroes for the most part overcome adversity. For this reason the film could be hard to watch: vultures wait for starving Ethiopian children to die, The Khmer Rouge arbitrarily shoot people and place a hand grenade in the hands of an infant, the Chechens shoot just about everybody.
But through it all our Angelina manages to be the well-manicured and well-dressed Hollywood startlet she deserves to be.

It’s a Hollywood movie!

2008, Could Be Hard To Watch, DO NOT MISS, Drama, TV Series

In Treatment (2008)

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From NetFlix:

Get inside psychoanalyst Paul Weston’s (Gabriel Byrne, in a Golden Globe-winning
role) head with this original series from HBO. After dealing with his patients’
traumas and issues, Weston caps off his week with a visit to therapist Dr. Gina
Toll (Dianne Wiest) to unload his own problems. Weston’s diverse patients include
an anesthesiologist (Melissa George) in a relationship crisis, a Navy pilot (Blair
Underwood) and a conflicted couple (Josh Charles and Embeth Davidtz).

We are hooked again on another TV Series. Season 1 of In Treatment” consists of 9 discs from NetFlix. When you open one of these discs you see photos of several people. Each person (or persons) is an episode. That person is in session with the psychiatrist. Each “talking heads” session is really involving.

Some warnings:

  • Each disc treats the same patients and then the psychiatrist visits his own psychiatrist. So from disc to disc you watch the progress in each case. But they all are interrelated
  • The very first session of disc 1 could be a turnoff. Laura, the attractive young anesthesiologist, describes explicitly a tawdry sexual encounter. I hope they did not begin the series with this episode just to attract an audience. Don’t let this session keep you from the other sessions. Moreover that patient is very important in the series.

In all cases the acting is superlative. The characters for the first season are:

Paul
Gabriel Byrne is the psychiatrist.
Laura
Besides being beautiful, Melissa George is an extraordinarily difficult patient. She is intelligent, seductive, and manipulative in the extreme.
Alex
Blair Underwood is the black fighter pilot. He has appeared in “Dirty Sexy Money” and “Law and Order SVU”.
Sophie
Mia Wasikowska is just plain brillant as a young gymnast.
Jake and Amy
Amy is played by Embeth Davidtz. She appeard in “Grey’s Anatomy”
Jake is played by Josh Charles. He has appeared in “Law and Order SVU”. This is one fighting couple and how!
Gina
Dianne Wiest plays Paul’s psychiatrist. Hers may well be the most familar face. She was a regular on “Law and Order” for many episodes.

Of all the TV series that Kathy and I have watched, this one so far is the most compelling and addictive adult presentation we have seen.

2003, Could Be Hard To Watch, Docudrama, Sports

Touching the Void (2003)

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From NetFlix:

Mixing interviews with dramatic re-enactments of the event, this gripping
docudrama retells the mountaineering trek gone awry of Simon Yates (Nicholas
Aaron) and Joe Simpson (Brendan Mackey). While climbing in the Andes,
Simpson falls and breaks his leg. Yates, who’s tethered to him, attempts
to lower him to safety but fails. He makes a pivotal decision that may or
may not save both of their lives. Was he right?

Mid-May 6 of us (wife Kathy, daugher Kate, her boyfriend Nigel, brother-in-law Jack, sister-in-law Nel, and I) had spent 2.5 hours walking up a mountain path in England’s Lake Discrict to the summit. Almost as soon as we started down, I stepped on what looked like firm soil only to have it collapse under me. My leg and ankle twisted, I heard a “pop” and felt pain. My first thought was “How will I ever get down this mountain ?” By putting my arms around the necks of Kate and Nigel I hopped down on one foot to an awaiting volunteer rescue team with ambulance. Upon returning to the U.S.A. I discovered I had broken my fibula. While helping me down Nigel tried to calm me by talking about the film “Touching the Void”.

So: contrast my minor inconvenience with the story in “Touching the Void”. It is a true and tensely scary story. In the filmed docudrama the three narrators are actors replacing the actual climbers. But it is not just talking heads. The horrors are re-enacted quite effectively. This is not a film for the squeamish. I was glued to my broken-bone sick-bed throughout. At the end you see photos of the real climbers as well as some printed notice of what happened later, including the controversy.

If you can stand it, don’t miss it!

2008, Could Be Hard To Watch, Drama, Independent, Not Feel Good

Frozen River (2008)

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From NetFlix:

On a Mohawk reservation on the Canadian border, Ray (Melissa Leo, in an Oscar-nominated role) teams with widowed tribe member Lila (Misty Upham) to smuggle illegal immigrants into the United States. Although the work provides the women with much-needed money, each trip puts them in danger. How long will their luck hold before the authorities close in? Charlie McDermott co-stars in this drama nominated for multiple Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Feature.

Talk about gritty! Ray has two boys and an irresponsible Mohawk husband who disappears to gamble (with sources such as a mortgage payment). Hers is a life of barely getting by. In fact life on the reservation isn’t any better for anyone else. Ray is a gutsy lady fighting to keep her 15-year-old in school when he really wants to get a job. The opening slow pan onto her worn, depressed expression tells you we are in for tough sledding: the 15-year-old tries to invent a scam to steal enough to pay for their rented TV, the kidnapping business might be a tad dangerous, and there’s more! Think of this film as engaging reality TV. If nothing else comes of your watching, at least be grateful for what you have.

For another review see the New York Times review.

1001BeforeDie, 2001, Could Be Hard To Watch, Documentary, Not Feel Good, Unusual

Kandahar (2001)

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From NetFlix:

Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf lenses this haunting drama that was shot during the Taliban era. The movie follows an Afghani-Canadian woman as she attempts to enter Afghanistan in search of her depressed sister. Since it’s illegal for a woman to travel alone in Afghanistan, she must rely on the kindness of strangers, including a scrappy boy and a mysterious American doctor.

I resisted seeing Kandahar (recommended in “1001 Films To See Before You Die”) for a long time because I felt it might be uncomfortable watching. I was correct. If you can just accept what you see as a cultural travelog and try not to grimace or squirm you might get through this remarkable film. I attached the category “Documentary” because among other things, that what this film can sometimes seem to be. For information on the city see Wikipedia. As that article explains there are several languages, especially Pashto and Persian. I have no idea which languages are being spoken, but there are subtitles for those non-English languages. For some reason, however, the principal language is English, probably because the female lead sister is coming from Canada to prevent her sister from committing suicide.

And what difficult things might there be to see in this film ? Remember that the Taliban were in power during the filming. Consider:

  • You watch young children rocking back and forth while chanting the Koran only to be interrupted by the teacher who asks a question such as “What is the use for a Kalashnikov rifle” and expects a word-perfect description of how to destroy the infidel (that’s us, folks!).
  • You see lines of men on crutches because their legs have been blown off by land mines. You see these men badgering or lying to the Red Cross to get more pairs of legs (i.e. feet on poles) for their wives who have also lost legs to land mines.
  • You wonder how the Canadian sister will ever find her way across a non-ending desert while being sometimes helped by not terribly honest men.
  • And the list goes on.

I do not regret seeing this independed film. Warning: it ends so abruptly it took my breath away. I almost cannot believe the ending. Comments are welcome if you ever get to the end of this fascinating adventure.

2008, Could Be Hard To Watch, Could Be Sad, Not Feel Good

Rachel Getting Married (2008)

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From NetFlix:

When drama queen Kym (Anne Hathaway, in her first Oscar-nominated role), a former model who’s been in and out of rehab for 10 years, returns to her parents’ home just before the wedding of her sister, Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt), long-standing family conflicts begin to resurface. Directed by Jonathan Demme, this touching and humorous drama co-stars Debra Winger and was nominated for a Best Feature Independent Spirit Award, among others.

Leon Tolstoy in “Anna Karenina” writes the familiar “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” If you like disfunctional family films, this film is a doozy. At first I thought this film was a chick flick featuring a spoiled, self-centered, drug addled bitch named Kym. By the end I was hoping for some kind of happiness for Kym. Stay with the film and I challenge you not to get really involved in this well-made film.

Without giving anything away, for me there was one defining moment which seemed to place some real blame on one of the characters. I would be interested in hearing if you found the same to be true.

As unusual and interesting as the actual wedding celebration was, for me it went on much too long. Granted that we were supposed to feel Kym’s pain in the midst of such happiness, but enough is enough!

2002, Could Be Hard To Watch, Detective, Redemption, Revenge, Suspense, Violent

The Salton Sea (2002)

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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.