Code Inconnu: Recit incomplet de divers voyages

English Title: Code Unknown: Incomplete Tales of Several Journeys

Michael Haneke, France+others, 2000, imdb

Review: 3.0 Uchuvas

Comment:

Anohter Haneke film this week.... and Mmm... no, I didn't like it... and I now openly confess that I don't like Juliette Binoche either.  I feel that Binoche is just too over acted. I did love her performance in Chocolate but other than that I can't remember any other film that I like her... maybe "Blue". Anyway, she's not the only one there and well... the film was much more than her performance. It's not a boring film as the stories are nice but as an overall i think it's a film you can live without watching it.  

La Pianiste

English Title: The Piano Teacher

Michael Haneke, France+others, 2001, imdb

Review: 4.0 Uchuvas

Comment:

I saw it last night and if I had reviewed it by then, I would have put much less Uchuvas as I don't like films with gross scenes but with Haneke you just need to be prepared for anything! The teacher is just incredible! the character couldn't have been more well performed! The scenarios where just perfect selected... the music, the color, the costumes were just perfect to create a stressful and dramatic film.  However, from Haneke, The white ribbon is the best one so far (by far!)

Joyeux Noel

English Title: Happy Christmas

Christian Carion, France+others, 2005, imdb

Review: 2.5 Uchuvas

Comment:

It's just too long! and the last hour difficult to digest peacefully. It's a pity that a nice true event film became a totally "chick flick".

Le Pere de mes Enfants

English Title: The Father of my Children

Mia Hansen-Love, France, 2009, imdb

Review: 2.0 Uchuvas

Comment: After the first 1.5 hour of this film I thought: How much longer is going to be before something happens in this film!!! Now that I know this film last 1 hour 50 minutes I realized that the first 1.5 hour must has been only 50 min!! That being said, it's obvious how boring this film was!! I guess the director or screen player (or who knows who!!) wanted to defined the main character very well, which in fact they did!!! but in the first 10-15 minutes!!!.... The rest of the film is as boring as the first half and again... nothing happen at all!.... Nothing special to recall about the film... n o t h i n g

MicMacs a Tire-Larigot

English Title: Micmacs

Jean-Pierre Jeunet, France, 2009, imdb

Review: 4.0 Uchuvas

Comment: I guess as a follower of Jeunet's films (Delicatessen, the city of Lost Children, Amelie, A very long Engament), I can't give less that 4 Uchuvas to this film. I would have given less than four but I just can't with this director. His films (including this one) are cleaver, "light" and beautifully made! I liked better the other films (except Delicatessen that I didn't like that much) but his style is there, his magic is there and the colors (the same beloved green and red colors) are there!! I think this guy has a great style that he has been able to keep during his films without loosing originality in each one of them.

Stellec Licht

English Title: Silent Light

Carlos Reygadas, Mexico, Netherlands+others, 2007, imdb

Review: 4.0 Uchuvas
Comment: I'm still trying to digest every long part of this film. The first "scene" is so long, so slow and so quiet than you soon realized that this film is for you to seat back, relax and enjoy a cinematography experience. Every single shot it's a masterpiece! With a few mistakes here and there but beautifully shown every scene on this film is worthwhile. What killed the film was the actors! I know some times nonprofessional actors makes a difference in a film (like The Class... those kids were amazing) but in this case they make such a terrible job that it's really annoying. Be aware that if you want to see this film, put your mind in blank, seat comfortable and be ready to enjoy everlastings silent beautiful scenes.

Un Prophete

English Title: A Prophet

Jacques Audiard, France-Italy, 2009, imdb

Review: 5.0 Uchuvas
Comment: ........ jeez...................

Cache

English Title: Cache

Michael Haneke, France, 2005, imdb

Review: 3.5 Uchuvas
Comment: I saw this film few years ago but I fell asleep. I liked the parts I remember so I rent it again but I fell asleep again! So, I decided to have a third go and try not to fall sleep. I finally managed and saw until the last scene! I liked it but it wasn't my cup of tea. Now I understand why I fall sleep every time! some scenes, where nothing happens, are endless! I feel that the film is a bit too long! They should put a note that reads: "Not recommended for tired people"

Un long dimanche de fiancailles

English Title: A Very Long Engagement

Jean-Pierre Jeunet, France, 2004, imdb

Review: 4.5 Uchuvas
Comment: I was avoiding this film for so long that I can't believed I finally gave it a chance. In general, I try to avoid "love stories" with happy cheap endings; that's why I didn't want to see this film which in any case has a "cheap ending". I was happily surprise for a lot of reasons. The first one is that I should have seen it considering that it was a Jeunet film. Second the photography was amazing!! really really amazing! it's a pleasure just to see the film for this reason; and third, the actors, all of them, are just great! Have a go! don't put it aside as I did!!!

Cold Souls

English Title: Cold Souls

Sophie Barthes, France-US, 2009, imdb

Review: 4.5 Uchuvas
Comment: This film it's just great! I totally totally totally TOTALLY loved how the director converts such a subject in something totally credible! The film is so powerful (great acting btw) that it's difficult to keep remembering that, in fact, it just can't happen!

Paris

English Title: Paris

Cedric Klapisch, France, 2008, imdb

Review: 2.0 Uchuvas
Comment: What a super boring film!  (Can I leave this comment up to here? ok, thanks)

Seraphine

English Title: Seraphine

Martin Provost, France-Belgium, 2008, imdb

Review: 4.0 Uchuvas
Comment: This is an amazing biography of this French painter that tbh I didn't know until yesterday.  The film, some how, reminds me the the softness of the Scandinavian's films. It has a kind of cold cinematography giving all the power to the landscape and paintings (especially the ones in big format which after watching them in the big screen, makes you fell in love with her art!) The acting is superb! The sound, perfect! The photography very beautiful.

Le Scaphandre et le Papillon

English Title: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Julian Schnabel, France, 2007, imdb

Review: 3.5 Uchuvas
Comment: I remember that when I went to the theatre to watch this film I had so many expectations! so many that I end up totally disappointed.  I guess the story itself is so bloody sad that when you go to watch a film that you know it's deeply sad it doesn't make you feel that sad anymore unless it's a super great production which I think it's not the case here.  Maybe I'm wrong but from my point of view this film it's no much that a general sad film with no much of interesting factors on it. The only thing that it was really good and I still remember after these years, was the sound when the main character is "talking" or thinking. Plus the eyes scenes are deadly strong!

Bila Jednom Jedna Zemlja

English Title: Underground

Emir Kusturica, Yugoslavia+others, 1995, imdb

Review: 5.0 Uchuvas
Comment: I wanted to finish my today's post with a happier film! If you like Kusturica films, this movie is a MUST in your list! It's, from my end, the funniest I've seen from him. Do not miss it!

Etz Limon

English Title: Lemon Tree

Eran Riklis, Israel+France+Germany, 2008, imdb

Review: 4.0 Uchuvas
Comment: It's been a while since my last post and I'm glad I'm back with this beautiful film.  I passed by a theater and saw a poster of an Israel film with an actress I knew so I just decided to have a go and see what was about.  After I saw the film I realized that it's the same director of the other film I liked a lot: The Syrian Bride.  What I like the most is the softness of the film with such a tough subject. It's very nice how the director mixed the complex political subject with complex relationships. 

The Pianist

English Title: The Pianist

Roman Polanski, France, Poland+others, 2002, imdb

Review: 4.0 Uchuvas
Comment: I think I have seen just too much holocaust films plus too much times this film to feel as much sympathetic as when I first saw it. Without any doubt it's a great production. The acting of  Adrien Brody  is really remarkable!; I was super impressed by the way he looses weight towards the end of the film!! (ask for his diet!!)  However I think the screen play is a bit too much. I just didn't buy much the part where he is hidden all alone under that circumstances and for that period of time. It's very sad watching Holocaust films and this one is not the exception. 

Offret

English Title: The Sacrifice

Andrei Tarkovsky, Sweden-UK-France, 1986, imdb

Review: 4.0 Uchuvas
Comment: It's not an easy film for the only fact that it's extremely slow; I was about to collapse half way of the film but manage to forget about the story and just enjoy the amazing cinematography.  Most of the shoots of the film (if not all) were so beautiful! The use of color emphasis so beautifully the photo. There were million of scenes where it looks like a portrait! I remember especially one of them that reminds me Johannes Vermeer's paintings. It really amuse me how a film could make that!  The other great point of the film is the movements of the camera... it moves horizontally several times during the film but soooooo slowly that lulls you!!! As I said, it's a beautiful film but be aware of the slowness of it! My sister will get sleep in the first minute of the film for sure!

Entre Les Murs

English Title: The Class

Laurent Cantet, France, 2008, imdb

Review: 4.0 Uchuvas
Comment: Finally I made it! After waiting for such a long time I watched The Class today! To talk about this film you have to name Francois Begaudeau; he wrote the book (which won a French prize), did the screenplay (with the director an another guy) and played the main character. He did a great job everywhere. What I liked the most was the outstanding acting. All the students were nonprofessional actors and what a job they did!!! The whole film looks very real... That is the best of the film, the sense of reality. I'll have to say that, for me, this type of films are tough to digest, for me it has been tough to get into films that don't tell an specific story but it shows a fact. I'd love to know French... the dialogues are kind of quick and if you have to read you miss a bit of the moment. It's a great film, I wouldn't say that it's for a Palm D'or (as it is) but...

Una Pura Formalita

English Title: A Pure Formality

Giuseppe Tornatore, Italy-France, 1994, imdb

Review: 4.0 Uchuvas
Comment: I feel that this movie is a dark film... literally dark. The set is very wet, dark, unorganized, confused.  All this "darkness" only makes sense IF and only IF you manage to have a SUPER BIG imagination to understand what was the film about! TBH I only liked the film after I was given an hypothesis about what was the film about... so if you watch this film PLEASE let me know your hypothesis. Gerard Depardieu is really good here so is Polanski.

La Doble vie de Veronique

English Title: The double life of Veronique

Krzysztof Kieslowski, France, 2001, imdb

Review: 4.0 Uchuvas
Comment: I wanted to take my time to comment this film as I just loved every single part of it!!!!! I only have seen the trilogy from Kieslowski before (Blue, Red and White) but after watching The double life of Veronique I think this Polish director is just great! They are such a beautiful films! They are soooo delicate and powerful. I think not only the story, the actors, the photography was good; one VERY important component was the AAAAAMAZING music!!! I just felt in love with the singer (Elzbieta Towarnicka) and the composer (Zbigniew Preisner) !!! I just love these two tracks from the movie: Veronique singing (I won't put the real scene as I would spoil the film if you haven't seen it) and The puppets scene.  I love love love the puppet sequence... just looooove it! I also loooove when a director don't tell you the story in black and white... he just give you some ideas of what happen but he never tells you what in fact happen! I love when a director knows that we are cleaver enough to imagine things, or even better, to invent things!!! I spent a lot of hours trying to find who is the real puppeteer!? Any idea anyone?