Buffalo Boy (Nguyen, 2004)

Buffalo Boy (Nguyen-Vo Minh, 2004)

When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son and said to him, ‘My son’; and he answered, ‘Here I am.’ He said, ‘Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me, and prepare for me delicious food, such as I love, and bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.’  –Genesis 27: 1-4

A solid coming-of-age story. A quiet but confident teenage boy is sent, in essence, to take on the world as his parents request he take their two buffalos to dry land to feed during flood season. It’s a long journey which finds him doing whatever he can to survive and meet his parents’ requests. But in doing so, he has no choice to grow up quickly. As he returns home, the story has really just begun. From here his relationship with his father, with his mother, with his newfound friends and enemies all contribute to the continual molding of this boy as a person. The many different worldviews become blurry, and like any other teenager, he bounces back and forth between believing the world has the answers and his father has the answers. It becomes a great depiction of a father/son relationship and how growing up and going out, and eventually maturing reshapes that relationship. Overall, it’s not as cinematic an experience as I would have liked and tends to become unfocused at times, but it’s a good watch despite this.  7.5/10

Time of the Wolf (Haneke, 2003)

Time of the Wolf (Michael Haneke, 2003)

“Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”  –Genesis 22:12

Haneke’s post-apocalyptic vision – a subtle nightmare of corruption, fear, hopelessness. I say subtle, not because any of those three attributes are difficult to see, but because we never know why this world is in a post-apocalyptic state and we never venture outside of the small local setting. It’s a unique approach to the genre and reminded me a bit of Tarkovsky’s Stalker, which I liked. But it is so bleak and so drab with nothing but unhappiness at every turn. Even those trying to keep the peace seem to do so with such a forced will, like they can’t remember what the purpose of justice is besides being something they used to believe in. So while I can respect Haneke’s vision, which is most likely a very accurate representation of how this situation would look, and think this is an extremely well made film, it’s a very sad existence that brought nothing but dreariness to my view of humankind, and I don’t like that.  7.5/10

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (Montiel, 2006)

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (Dito Montiel, 2006)

Writing an auto-biography can’t be easy. Writing, then directing a film version of your auto-biography can’t be easy either. So let me get my minor quibble out of the way. The director making himself out to be a bad guy for making the central life decision seen in this film is sad. Realizing he needed to break the cycle of complacency towards violence, hatred, and failure was the right move.

Okay, with that being said, I felt my heart break watching his honest depiction of his youth in this impoverished, violent neighborhood. Entrapped in the most complicated of ways, he wasn’t in a situation where there was no good surrounding him; his friends and family, while all deeply flawed, still loved him as best they knew how. But at the same time they were still harming him without even knowing it. The complexities of his numerous relationships were incredible and presented with such ease to where no one felt pigeon-holed as a ‘point’, but instead all felt like actual people working through their own confusions and insecurities. But in the end this is about a young man who recognizes something about his situation that no one else can see, and when he’s pushed past his breaking point, doesn’t give in to apathy. Nothing about this is easy to view, but everything about it is important to see.  9/10

Best of… Series – 2003 – All the Real Girls

As a way to mix some of my old reviews in with my new reviews, I’m doing a Best of… Series. In this series, I will review my favorite movie of each year.

This review contains slight spoilers.

All the Real Girls (David Gordon Green, 2003)

Heartbreaking. Early David Gordon Green is a perfect representation of real life. Characters stutter, stop in mid-sentence, and say very strange things at times. I found myself recognizing some of the actions in this movie as some of my own. The film begins as a flirtatious romance is budding. The cute whispers of nothingness, shy but curious glances towards one another, and the feeling that happiness is the only emotion you’ll ever experience again. I’m not sure if new love has ever been as accurately portrayed, or as beautifully photographed and acted.

Then, the turning point came and I felt my world shatter along side them. Confusion, anger, sadness, confusion, confusion, and more confusion. Seriously, the ‘why’ aspect of the events that turn this film upside down are a mystery to everyone, even the perpetrator. It’s such an honest, frustrating, but somehow still poetic look at teenage years. It’s easy to be swept away and get your personal emotions tangled with those of the characters, and despite the pain, isn’t that when you know a film is on another level?  10/10

The Nativity Story (Hardwicke, 2006)

The Nativity Story (Catherine Hardwicke, 2006)

Last weekend at church they played a video using scenes from this film and it was poetic, moving, and visually striking enough to interest the wife and I to watch the whole movie. Sadly, in the end, I found my church’s video to be closer to what I like in film than the actual movie. Joseph and Mary’s travels to Bethlehem are the highlight of the film. It is here where the time period feels most authentic, and where their relationship develops at a real pace. But without fail, every time the poetic goosebumps started to kick in, the scene would cut to the three wise men’s tale who were, unfortunately, presented more like the three stooges. More of Mary, Joseph, and the circumstances in which Jesus Christ was born (with maybe a little less hokey spotlighting), and less sideplots please. It could have been a uniquely serene film if told purely from their perspective.  6/10