samedi 11 octobre 2008

"Das Leben der Anderen/ The lives of others", directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck



The horrifying, sometimes unintentionally funny system of observation in the former East Germany. In the early 1980s, the successful dramatist Georg Dreyman and his longtime companion Christa-Maria Sieland, a popular actress, are big intellectual stars in the socialist state, although they secretly don't always think loyal to the party line. One day, the Minister of Culture becomes interested in Christa, so the secret service agent Wiesler is instructed to observe and sound out the couple, but their life fascinates him more and more... Written by fippi2000
Source: imdb.com

My opinion: wow... what can I say ? ... I mean... that's a fantastic legacy of some dark period of Germany. It is really a great movie.


mercredi 8 octobre 2008

"Amen.", directed by Costa Gavras




In World War II, the sanitation engineer and family man Kurt Gerstein is assigned by SS to be the Head of the Institute for Hygiene to purify the water for the German Army in the front. Later, he is invited to participate in termination of plagues in the concentration camps and he develops the lethal gas Zyklon-B. When he witnesses that the SS is killing Jews instead, he decides to denounce the genocide to the Pope to expose to the world and save the Jewish families. The idealist Jesuit priest Riccardo Fontana from an influent Italian family gives his best efforts being the liaison of Gerstein and the leaders of the Vatican. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Source: imdb.com

My opinion: fantastic movie and terrible legacy about the "wait and see" attitude.


vendredi 3 octobre 2008

GO VOTE

"Michael Clayton", directed by Tony Gilroy (2007)




In New York, the divorced attorney Michael Clayton has been working for many years fixing messy situations for the law firm Kenner, Back and Odeen. He has never been invited to become a partner due to his conflictive personality of poker gambler and alcoholic that left him completely broken. Michael's addicted brother owes a high amount to a dangerous loan shark and Michael is trying to find a means to cover the debts. When the brilliant attorney Arthur Edens that has been ahead of the U-North case, a complicated three billion dollars lawsuit, for six years has a nervous breakdown and is arrested naked in a parking area in Milwaukee, Michael tries to help his friend, and is involved in an evil scheme plotted by Karen Crowder, the legal counsel of U-North. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Source: imdb.com

My opinion: It's really a good movie. I was a bit skeptical to see Clooney in... his own role... but actually he was very good and credible. Beyond the major story scandal, seeing all characters through their personal life is really keeping the audience close to them and to their questioning.

mercredi 1 octobre 2008

"A Streetcar Named Desire", directed by Elia Kazan (1951)




Set in the French Quarter of New Orleans during the restless years following World War Two, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE is the story of Blanche DuBois, a fragile and neurotic woman on a desperate prowl for someplace in the world to call her own. After being exiled from her hometown of Laurel, Mississippi, for seducing a seventeen-year-old boy at the school where she taught English, Blanche explains her unexpected appearance on Stanley and Stella's (Blanche's sister) doorstep as nervous exhaustion. This, she claims, is the result of a series of financial calamities which have recently claimed the family plantation, Belle Reve. Suspicious, Stanley points out that "under Louisiana's Napoleonic code what belongs to the wife belongs to the husband." Stanley, a sinewy and brutish man, is as territorial as a panther. He tells Blanche he doesn't like to be swindled and demands to see the bill of sale. This encounter defines Stanley and Blanche's relationship. They are opposing camps and Stella is caught in no-man's-land. But Stanley and Stella are deeply in love. Blanche's efforts to impose herself between them only enrages the animal inside Stanley. When Mitch -- a card-playing buddy of Stanley's -- arrives on the scene, Blanche begins to see a way out of her predicament. Mitch, himself alone in the world, reveres Blanche as a beautiful and refined woman. Yet, as rumors of Blanche's past in Auriol begin to catch up to her, her circumstances become unbearable. Written by Mark Fleetwood {mfleetwo@mail.coin.missouri.edu}
Source: imdb.com

My opinion: Yes... he is... Marlon Brando is the best of the best! Besides, the overall story is very good and the leading actress turns crazy and the end... and becomes kind of freaky!