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A Separation. Iranian film, this year's foreign-language Oscar winner, and very deservedly so. A simple story; a marriage is about to end because the wife wants to move abroad, and the husband is determined to stay in Tehran and care for his sick father. When he hires a woman to tend to the old man, the conflict escalates. I thought the more critical aspects of it - the divide between the worldly "Western" couple and the more traditional one, neither of which were demonised, the differences in how women and men are treated, the weight given to words like "insult", "honour", etc - worked very nicely, as subtle as they were. But the heart of it really is a really well-done, engrossing, low-key family/crime drama where pride and love take turns dragging each other towards open conflict. :star5:
 
beer good said:
A Separation. Iranian film, this year's foreign-language Oscar winner, and very deservedly so. A simple story; a marriage is about to end because the wife wants to move abroad, and the husband is determined to stay in Tehran and care for his sick father. When he hires a woman to tend to the old man, the conflict escalates. I thought the more critical aspects of it - the divide between the worldly "Western" couple and the more traditional one, neither of which were demonised, the differences in how women and men are treated, the weight given to words like "insult", "honour", etc - worked very nicely, as subtle as they were. But the heart of it really is a really well-done, engrossing, low-key family/crime drama where pride and love take turns dragging each other towards open conflict. :star5:
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Your mini-review is reassuring, because I thought this might be one of those films the critics over-praise out of a misguided sense of deference for niche foreign cinema.

I'm really in the mood for some Iranian movies this week, and I hope to start with This is Not a Film, followed by A Separation and perhaps Offside. Kandahar's also ridiculously over-due for a viewing...
 
Warrigal said:
Your mini-review is reassuring, because I thought this might be one of those films the critics over-praise out of a misguided sense of deference for niche foreign cinema.
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Yeah, this definitely isn't some Incomprehensible Art Film; it's a very straightforward drama. And speaking as someone to whom both Iranian and American movies are "foreign", it seems a lot of the social issues it tackles are by no means only relevant to Iranians...

I'm curious about This Is Not A Film.
 
The Woman In Black. Period horror starring Daniel "stop making jokes about my wand" Radcliffe as a lawyer who comes to a creepy little northern English town to draw up papers about the Mysterious Death of an old woman in a Haunted House. Slow, uneventful, by-the-numbers, dull; could have been Local Hero meets Drag Me To Hell, but ends up a step back for the Hammer Films revival. :star2:
 
Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy :star4: +

A great, thoroughly well acted movie. Ending was wrapped up a hair too quickly. Other than that probably the best spy movie I can remember seeing.
 
Spartacus Anyone?

Has anyone else been watching Spartacus on Starz? This season's finale aired Friday and was fantastic! If you like violence, heroism and sex, this show is a MUST SEE. :star5:
 
I have been watching the new season on and off. I really have to say I do not like the new lead as much as the poor guy that died. It sort of ruined the series for me. Plus I really liked the gladiatorial scenes from the first season and those are pretty much absent from the new series. I still watch them if there isn't anything else on that I like.
 
As much as I hate to say it...

As much as I hate to say it, at least one actor has made a string of big-ticket flicks that I've enjoyed over the past 5yrs -- Leonardo DiCaprio. In addition to having a most excellent first name :cool:, Shutter Island andJ. Edgar are both great films with superb acting. I saw Shutter Island last night and J. Edgar last week and both were easily five-stars.
 
This is Not a Film warns you from the outset about its limitations, but funnily enough if you persist with it you'll be rewarded with the simulacrum of a movie(and a really good one at that) just as it's ending. There might not be a more comfortably domesticated depiction of political oppression in the canon of world cinema, but nevertheless there is an undercurrent here of grave dispiritidness which emanates from the soul of an artist whose creative outlets have been closed off to him. In a sense, the more inadequate this improvised documentary is, the more profound its subject's plight becomes.

You have to bring a lot of compassion to Jafar Panahi's persecuted status to get anything from the first hour, and ideally you'd already be familiar with his work so you can more readily identify with his musings on projects past and present. Other people who might be disposed to enjoying this testing day-in-the-life could include those fascinated by behind the scenes insights into the artistic process, and anyone who's especially preoccupied with the current climate of censorship in Iran.

Fastidious bibliophiles need not apply, however, because there's a sequence in which a sharp-clawed iguana scales a bookcase.
 
Sleeping Beauty(2011) ~ college girl needing some cash takes a job at a high class bordello where she takes sleeping meds and then rich old men come in and feel her up while she sleeps. A bit pretentious and the protag is pretty much a detached cipher. :star3:
 
Yes! Hitchcock is awesome. The wife bought a box set of his and we've been ploughing through it over the months. Frenzy is great isn't it, and Rear Window awesome too. All of his stuff is just great. I really enjoyed Rope and Vertigo is near perfection.
 
The Cabin in the Woods : 8.5/10.

Really enjoyed. Good on many levels. Not just the obvious ones. Recommend to anyone who likes horror films, political satire, life, comedy, drama, and horror films. Possibly if you enjoyed Buffy you might enjoy this too...
 
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Lovecraftian said:
RENT.

Not half as bad as I thought it was going to be. Actually, I rather enjoyed it. :)
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Just FYI I haven't forgotten you've posted this. I have screen-grabbed for future prosperity also... I was to busy mopping coffee out of my keyboard to answer the other day.

p.s. You owe me a new keyboard.
 
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