Good AgeEsteem Movies For May 2011
May 2011 AU CINEMA
Good **
Winter’s Bone **1/2 In the poverty-stricken Ozarks of Missouri, a young girl sets out to find her outlaw father who has put up their home as bail. This is an unendingly dismal portrait of the miserable reality of their lives. Well acted and true to the region, but did it deserve to be nominated among the best films of 2010?
November **1/2 (vo French) A luminous documentary about an old mother and her eccentric son in their remote ancestral home somewhere near Alsace. It may feel static, but the beauty of the images has a hypnotic effect.
Los Colores de la Montana **1/2 (vo Spanish) A touching and earnest foray into the tragedy of simple, innocent village people terrorized between the rebels and government troops in Columbia.
Unknown (Sans identité) ** With Liam Neeson and Diane Kruger, this is an intriguing tale of mistaken/lost identity and a chase to find the truth in a maze of spies and hit-men in Berlin. This formulaic thriller has too many holes in its script, but an interesting finale. Bruno Ganz is great.
Ma part du gâteau ** (vo French) Cédric Klapisch (L’Auberge espagnol) delves this time into two opposing worlds – that of a factory worker/maid and a rich trader who was instrumental in the downfall of her factory. Karin Viard is charming as the initially-clueless maid, wowed by her new lifestyle.
La Fille du puisatier ** (vo French) Based on a Marcel Pagnol classic and in the genre of Jean de Florette, Daniel Auteuil’s first endeavor at writing and directing is lovely to look at in the lush Provence, but too clichéd, sentimental and with some awkward acting from strong performers such as Darroussin and Azema. He should stick to being one of France’s great actors.
The Hunter ** (vo Farsi) A stark and unrelentingly bitter tale of a man who loses his family in Tehran and tries to hit back at random. As director and actor, Raffi Pitts can’t make up his mind if this is a political statement of despair, a family tragedy or a thriller.
I am Number 4 (Numéro 4) ** Like the vampire Twilight series, this looks like the beginning of a new franchise of good vs evil, aliens this time. The good guy alien is a dish of course, and his counter-part earth girl is sweet and trusting – what else? The evil aliens are really ghoulish….
