Paprika: Spicing up our Dreams

Genius Satoshi Kon directs yet another awesome anime movie, Paprika, based on Yasutaka Tsutsui's novel. And it is a feast to the eyes and the mind...

It is about Paprika, the alter ego of the psychiatist Chiba Atsuko and her adventures in the dream world while trying to find DC Mini, the dream recording machine that is stolen by evil forces. Atsuko, DC Mini's inventor Tokita and Atsuko's boss Shima team up to find who stole the DC Mini prototype. As the characters try to go into people's dreams to find the thieves, dream and reality start blurring and the quest to finding DC Mini becomes increasingly difficult.

It is a surreal journey of the mind that Paprika takes us on. While the eternal battle of the good and the evil is taking place in Atsuko's dreams, the movie also makes us think about the parallelisms between our dreams and the cyber world.

Deeply intertwined reality and dreams makes us question the boundary of reality of dreams and dreams of reality. Can we all share one big dream? A little existentialism won't hurt anyone.

I know a lot of people criticized this movie for being a little out there but I think it is not one of those movies that push you out there with no reason. The suspense, the pace, the layout are all very well timed/sequenced/laid out. I think it is a MUST SEE!!!

And the J-Pop is catchy, which is a plus.

Eastern Promises by Cronenberg

Cronenberg's Eastern Promises finally made it to DVD and I had a chance to watch it very recently.
Viggo Mortensen and Naomi Watts star in this thriller about russian mafia in London. An innocent nurse, Anna, crosses paths with the russian mafia when she delivers the baby of a Ukranian woman who dies during labor. Anna finds the woman's journal and attempts to get it translated to send the baby to her family instead of putting up for adoption.

Despite good reviews, I was not blown away by this movie. Cronenberg does a great job of making the characters real and personal. The story telling is extremely well paced and syncronized. However, excessive gore and violence in this movie made me keep my eyes closed for a good half of it.

I have to give Viggo Mortensen extra credit for being such an amazing actor. I do not speak Russian so I cannot judge how credible he was as a native Russian speaker but to me, he reflected the epitome of the Russian Mafia/secret past agent Nikolai. I almost felt like Viggo Mortensen knew Nikolai personally... It was amazing!

I think the reason I was not so impresed by this movie was that I felt like Cronenberg's History of Violence was a better thriller than Eastern Promises. Stylistically or otherwise, I did not feel like there was an improvement. I felt like Cronenberg found a safe zone and stayed there.

I guess it is unfair to judge a director for doing a good job as he has done before, but I really like how creative and bold Cronenberg is. And just because of that, I was expecting something completely different and mind blowing. This movie does not deliver that. It just gives you a predictably well done Cronenberg thriller.

Do you know Juno?

Unfortunately I have been having a lot of socially crippling work obligations... But Spirit of Time will come back with a vengeance after New Years...
This weekend I finally came out of my shell (a little) and watched Juno. Ever since I saw the trailer I have been dying to see this movie!!!

I had ridiculously high expectations going into it that have been building up for months, which 90% of the time when they reach that high, I end up disappointed. But this time despite the high expectations, the movie was everything I imagined it to be and then some. (Easy on exclamation marks tiger!)

Juno is directed by Jason Reitman, who also has done Thank you for Smoking (which I love!). It is about 16 year old Juno who gets pregnant and decides to have the baby and give it for adoption to a yuppy-family-who-can't-have-kids. During her pregnancy she experiences things "way beyond her maturity level" and Juno's story is cute, heart felt and funny.

Ellen Page (playing Juno) and Michael Cera (playing the boy who got her pregnant) are amazing actors. I think Michael Cera will easily be the next Will Ferrell.
The maturity level of the script is amazing because teen pregnancy is not an easy issue to handle. It is funny without being cheesy, emotional without being sappy...
This movie is life as we know it or as it is lived. So natural and affectionate...

Afflecks' Gone Baby Gone

The Brothers Affleck have done a mighty fine job with Gone Baby Gone as director (Ben Affleck) and the lead actor (Casey).

Gone Baby Gone is about two Boston area detectives (Casey Affleck and in movie girl friend Michelle Monaghan) looking for a kidnapped girl. As the investigation continues, the two characters unveil the emotional and chaotic story behind the kidnapping.

Casey Affleck shines with his performance. And Morgan Freeman does as well. Ben Affleck can really get great performance out of his actors. Emulating the best of Eastwood and Scorsese, Ben Affleck's directorial debut is very strong. The ethical issues at play are weaved into the movie very gently and the suspense of a child kidnap is not drenched in a saucy moral dilemma.

However, I cannot praise Ben Affleck's story telling/ script writing talent as much as his directing. Some cheesy and awkward lines, choppy scene transitions and unexplained story behind main characters make the story harder to relate to. I would have liked to know why Casey Affleck's character became a detective to understand his dedication to the case, his understanding of the neighborhoods and his relationship to his girlfriend. The girlfriend waivered between being a sidekick and a real detective but appeared in all scenes with equal unexplicable importance.

The narrow camera angles are sometimes suffocating and alienating. When Affleck gets broader shots, the results are beautiful. Affleck was able to capture the beauty of Boston extremely poetically.

Definitely a movie worth watching. I am looking forward to seeing Affleck brothers grow. With a better script writer, Affleck can easily become the next Scorsese.

Michael Bay's Transformers

On a flight to Los Angeles, I watched Transformers on a 10 inch screen with bad resolution. And apparently, when you take out the special effects, Transformers is the worst movie ever! As in, ever!

The biggest revelation of the movie was that my favorite childhood cartoon characters are actually GMC-made martians. I am baffled by the logic that connected Transformers to Dodge Martians. Do martians go dumpster diving in Earth's car graveyards? The movie also suggests that Transformers are the most evolved beings and humans have a long way to go in the evolution drive way.

The movie starts in Qatar with American special forces doing something secretive. What are they doing and why are they in Qatar completely escape me... Then a bunch of incoherent things happen through which I was snoozing. There was a half ass love story in there somewhere between two primitive characters with no depth. The main guy is supposed to be deep but in Mr. Bay's definition, deep is just nerdy and awkward. And shallow is I put on lip gloss and wear skanky clothes.

Anyways, the movie has a bad scenario, a half baked plot and very cheese lines. I can almost see Michael Bay chuckling to himself and saying "oh boy, that will be funny!" and the entire set looking at him in awe and suspicion.

Michael Bay has a candid fascination towards alien invasions. This movie proves to me that Michael Bay can do variations on one movie: Independence Day. Bay has no shame in rehashing the Martian attacker idea, souping up special effects with money borrowed from Spielberg and creating Transformers.

And did I mention the 90's music effects to create a pseudo suspension? Oh wow.
The ending was especially fascinating but I am not going to spoil it for you...

I just really love Bumblebee though... He was great.

Lars and the Real Girl

I am on a roll people. I have seen another movie this weekend! I can't I am actually listening to good music, making an effort to see a movie a week... Wow! This is crazy with a "k" (almost).

So less about me, more about how great an actor Ryan Gosling is....

Lars and the Real Girl, unlike my expectation is not a comedy. It is about a delusional young man who hopes to find love in a real doll that he orders on the internet.

It has multiple awkward scenes that push your moral and social boundaries at times but overall, the dosage of drama is well balanced and the acting as I would like to reiterate here, is exceptional.

The movie is not exploring the recently talked about real doll phenomenon but more exploring the psyche of a young man with broken family ties and emotionally absent father and lonely upbringing. It is a sweet story of love and support. The ties between Lars and his brother are well depicted.

It still made me question our social prejudices despite how Lars' situation was well compensated in his small town. I want to ask everyone, why is there no real man dolls? If there were real man dolls, would a small town like Lars' handle that the same way? I don't know.

But one thing I do know is that this movie had a huge potential to be just awkward and bad. Congrats to Gillespie for making this movie just right. This movie had a lot of mainstream buzz despite its unconventional plot.

The Darjeeling Limited: A Fun Train Ride

Darjeeling limited starts with three brothers going on a "spiritual" journey in India (but only in a Wes Anderson sort of way). Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman and Adrian Brody are three dysfunctional brothers who have not seen each other since their father's death a year ago. It is a fun ride with wonderful images of India and a lingering question: Will this trip make the brothers get close again?

Whether or not this trip helps the brothers turn back time and heal their wounds is a question you can ask yourself at the end of the movie. I will tell you why you should go see it.

I normally do not like Anderson's whimsical and bittersweet humor. I usually find it contrived. I think with Darjeeling Limited, he is able to make his characters a lot more comfortable and real, less dramatic, stiff and contrived (think Royal Tenenbaums). There are some genuinely hillarious black humor moments, well done and extremely unique. It still has the deliberately uncomfortable moments but that's Wes and I think we have to accept him for who he is.

The super trio (Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman and Adrian Brody) are well casted. The cinematography is also very impressive. You really feel like you are in India.

So if you like Wes Anderson's style, I think this is one of his best films, with the most mature style. He is so unique that I think it is unfair to compare him to other directors in this genre.

Overall, good laughs, beautiful scenes, interesting movie. I would recommend...

Knocked up - From a Gal's Perspective

Knocked up was one of this summer's most talked about movies and finally I saw it (Victory!!!)

The movie is about Ben (Seth Rogan) and Alison's (Katherine Heigl) one night stand where a drunken misunderstanding causes them to be parents together. Ben is an overweight, immature post college dude who lives with a post frat house kind of arrangement with the typical bong hitting roommates who are into porn. Alison is a determined, career driven E! News reporter. This seemingly unmatched duo try to see whether they can become a couple for the baby they are about to have.

Well, I have a lot to say about the movie. Unfortunately, I had ridiculously high expectations and I was not entirely let down but the movie did not fully meet my expectations either.

First the good things:
Trying to share the responsibilities of an unexpected pregnancy etc. was handled extremely sincerely, maturely and without slapstick comedy elements all-the-while catching the naturally funny aspects of the situation.

The cast was well chosen and everyone, literally everyone was relate-able and real. All actors fit their characters like a glove. One character that I especially loved was Ben's dad, despite his brief appearance. All characters were enriching the story line. They were so approachable. I felt like at the end of the movie, I could go to the set and hang out with these guys.
The film is also well balanced between the two main characters. Both Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogan are equally strong and carry the story line together. And it is not a male dominated comedy.

Having said that though, that leads me to the bad thing about the movie: I think it was written too much from a guy's perspective. It is exactly what I think guys think when we get mad at them. We freak out for no reason!!! The complexity of why Alison was frustrated with Ben is so overlooked. I think in part because the director, Apatow still cannot figure out why his wife freaks out on him. He just knows women do that and men probably did something to start it...

Overall though, Knocked up was very funny and delicate in analyzing a sensitive social issue. Not just a pointless comedy... I was not expecting such a mature point of view.

Fay Grim: To be funny or not to be...

...That is the question I have asked myself over and over while I was watching Fay Grim this weekend. Written and directed by Hal Hartley, I think this is a sequel to Henry Fool, or maybe not... That's what I have been told while trying to understand what on earth inspired this guy to write/direct this movie...

Fay Grim (Parkey Posey), a single nosey mom, gets coerced by the CIA to cooperate in finding her husband Henry's secret notebooks that supposedly have some governmental secrets. And the pseudo comedy/thriller that is the global(ish) quest of Fay Grim starts...

One review I read about this movie, nails my feelings for this movie right in the head...

"Overall, though, Fay Grim only occasionally connects with the viewer. It is a film so caught up in its own cleverness and cheekiness that -- despite the solid work by its cast -- it forgets to make you truly care about its characters." Stax, ign.com

It has its slightly funny moments - in a dark humorish way. Parker Posey and Jeff Goldblum's performances are very good. It is just that I constantly felt like Hartley was trying to impress me rather than engage me... Which is not a very pleasant feeling... You feel like you are in math camp with a smart ass 8th grader... who keeps on asking you stupid riddles... You just want the yapping to stop...

Hmmm, I would say don't watch it... alas it is not really worth your time

Borders of Canada: Toronto International Film Festival

Yup, something that I know you are jealous about... Rightfully so... It was awesome! It was probably one of the best things I have ever done in my life: Going to Toronto Film Festival

I have seen three amazing movies and one hyped movie (respectively)
Jar City by Baltasar Kormakur
Lust, Caution by Ang Lee
The Man from London by Bela Tarr
4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days by Cristian Mungiu

So first of all, I have to say that people in Toronto were amazing. Everyone so friendly and polite and helpful... It was as if every person went to school of manners and came out with perfect scores. What a great experience!

And I really really liked Toronto. Very hip and cosmo... Has a Berlin'ish european feel to it... Very modern and clean...

Anyways, back to the movies

Jar City is adapted from the Icelandic Thriller by Arnaldur Indriðason and seems like a very hard book to adapt. And can I say that Kormakur has done an amazing job... A must see for the year

Ang Lee's movie, Lust, Caution was a very good take on Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood for Love. Although lacking in plot and style originality, it is a very good attempt to be Wong Kar Wai and carrying his style to mainstream.

And Bela Tarr's movie was a cinematographic masterpiece. I have never seen such precision and beauty in a movie before. The entire movie felt like one photo after another... Every second of it beautiful.
And he was so nice and humble too... I actually got a photo with him which I am thinking of magnifying to poster size for my office and one wallet size for everyday staring... I love him!!!!

And finally, the most hyped up movie of all... 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days... This movie is about abortion and stylistically reminds me of 21 grams. I think it is tough to do a movie on such a sensitive subject but I think all the hype is about the subject rather than the actual directing job... Which was very disappointing...

No, I did not see George Clooney or Brad Pit... Yes they were there... And so were 2 million people who wanted to see them... Meanwhile, I was obsessing over Tarr and Kormakur...

On the Lookout

The Lookout, by Scott Frank, is an indie star studded crime thriller that I have been dying to see since it came out in April-ish. But for some reason, despite the hype its distribution was short and tight. So finally, it is on DVD and I got to see it.

A high school hockey star jockey boy gets himself and 3 other people in a serious car accident on the day of their prom where two of them instantly die and the hockey jockey gets physically and mentally injured. He resumes his life in guilt, going to a school for mentally disabled and working as a janitor of a bank until he gets enticed by a group of bank robbers to join their heist... The rest would be a spoiler...

My initial reaction is disappointment, unfortunately. Between three people watching the movie, we know what was going to happen next. It was too predictable and too cliche. It is really tough to keep the pace and mystery yet make it relate-able, which David Lynch has done such a good job with in Mulholland Drive.

The Lookout, to its credit is able to keep a very good pace and consistently deliver with amazing shots, great camera angles and solid character development. The cast is mind blowing (which was THE reason why I wanted to see this movie soo bad). Joseph Gordon Levitt from the Brick and Mysterious Skin, Jeff Daniels from The Squid and the Whale, and Matthew Goode from Match Point. And they definitely deliver to the point.

As I said, the biggest disappointment is the cliche ridden script where every 5 minutes you say "No you didn't!!!" or "Yeah, I haven't seen this in 20 other movies before or anything."

So your call... I can't give it thumbs up or down. I want to give it a solid 7.

Woody Allen's Last Big Scoop

I had a chance to Woody Allen's Scoop on DVD this weekend, starring Scarlett Johansson, Hugh Jackman and Woody Allen himself. Despite the bad reviews from Rotten Tomatoes, Village Voice and the like, I thought it was thoroughly enjoyable. I would highly recommend seeing it. It is a light-hearted romantic comedy/thriller.

Like Allen's previous hit Match Point, Scoop is taking place in London but like most of his movies, it carries a strong element of New York within. Scarlett Johansson is a curious, nerdy yet spacey aspiring journalist from Brooklyn, visiting her family friends' daughter in London. In a magic show, she gets on stage and as Woody Allen, the magician, makes her invisible, the ghost of a famous journalist appears to her saying that a famous London businessman is the long sought after Tarot Serial Killer. Determined to make a story out of this juicy scoop, she decides to meet the businessman (Hugh Jackman) and drags the meek geeky Woody Allen with her. One look at Scarlett and Hugh Jackman falls on her lap but will she be able to pull the trigger and write the most scandalous story of the year or fall in love with Hugh Jackman's trimmed Wolverine looks?

Scoop may not be Woody Allen's (or anybody else's for that matter) most original scenario. In fact it may even be too influenced by Jack the Ripper as well as Allen's previous movies and embellished by obvious cliches... However the pace of the movie is tremendously well done. It keeps you at the edge of your seat the entire time. Moreover, Allen's astute sense of humor shines throughout the entire movie both through the characters and the way the plot unfolds. It has the exaggeration and lightheartedness of a Shakespearean play. Compared to Allen's previous movies, Scoop may not be as woven with literary references (if at all) or observant satire however, compared to the types of light comedies out there, Allen's sense of humor and eye for cinematography is a head above the rest.

The only thing I would complain about is Scarlett Johansson playing the same role again: The seductive and naive blond bombshell. Ever since she developed boobs (after Ghost World) she just started playing this character over and over again... A bit of variety please..

A tribute to Ingmar Bergman

Today, one of the greatest directors of all times, Ingmar Bergman passed away. Today is the day to watch Persona, Wild Strawberries or his jubile movie Saraband, one more time and cherish his amazing talent.

His scripts are so powerful. His movies are so dense with emotion. His innocent meloncholy in his movies makes you see life in a different light. His characters, whether they are the lead role or appear for 5 seconds, demand a presence and develop a persona. And the cinematography in his movies are as minimal and impactful as a haiku.

New York Times today describes him as a "poet with a camera." Such a sad sad loss...

Image credit: Bonniers Hylen/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

What is happening to Lindsay Lohan?

I really do not care to write about whether Lindsay is innocent or guilty of the DUI charges, how long she should be sentenced or whether she should be sentenced. Neither do I want to talk about her bags, her outfits or boyfriends... For those matters, you can refer to Perez who does a comprehensive coverage of her mishaps.

I want to talk about how she went from being one of the most talented Hollywood actresses to being the ultimate bad movie making machine. She might very well be worse than Kevin Costner or maybe at par (As some of you may know, I equate bad movies with Kevin Costner. If he is in a movie, it is bound to suck). Is Lindsay becoming the next Kevin Costner?

Not that the movies she's been in are the types of movies I love but I have to give her credit that until recently, she has been an amazing actress and played in very good movies within the pop/hollywood/teen genre. Freaky Friday, Mean Girls and Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen are very distinguished within their genre, partially thanks to her outstanding talent in acting.

Lately however, the critics have been bombing her with mean reviews. I thought Georgia Rule was some unfortunate failure until I read the reviews for I know who killed me. I mean, seeing the trailer was already a good enough indication that the movie was not going to be good but I did not predict that the movie would suck this bad. The sad thing is that in most of these reviews, Lindsay's acting is not disparaged. It is the movie that is comically awful.

However, I have very little pity for talented actors who cannot read scripts. Part of the actor's talent should be evaluating the script of a movie and weighing financial vs. reputational gain from participating in the movie. I understand the obligation of being prolific but there is a tipping point. If you are repeatedly in sucky movies, audiences will realize the pattern and start not going to your movies. Then you will not get good movie offers and be doomed to produce sucky movies or nothing. I hope Lindsay does not become the next Kevin Costner because I think her acting is much better than that...

The Simpsons invade...

Simpsons the movie is hitting the theaters today and I have been counting down the days. And hopefully this weekend or sometime very soon I will go see it. It looks awesome.

Well, the thing I want to talk about is more the leading up to the week of the movie's release. I mean, Fox really made an effort to have every corporate tie in that the marketing department could think of. I thought Transformers marketing was bad!

First I saw Homer at Kwik Mart, formerly known as Seven Eleven. Then at Springfield Airline, formerly known as Jet Blue. And then I read about Ben & Jerry's new beer and honut ice cream called Duff & D'oh-Nuts. Just when I thought I felt maximally abused by Homer humor, the most unbelievable happened. Bazaar Magazine had a mock photo shoot with Marge and Homer. What the hell? I mean, I understand that they are trying to promote the movie but could you please stay within your target audience? Or do you really think that practically everyone is your target audience?

Well, maybe everyone does love the Simpsons but cool off the advertising will ya? I mean I have been watching the Simpsons since I was ten. I have determined over the past 20 years that I am into them and been waiting for this movie since South Park the movie came out... Now that Fox is trying soooo hard to push it down our throat, I can't help but speculate whether Simpsons have gone too Hollywood. Maybe this is why Matt Groening was hesitant to make this a movie, knew that the line between essential promotion and pimping out Homer is blurry...

Village Voice's commentary about the movie is encouraging. It is a well done Simpsons episode without pushing it too far. If only they had done the same thing with the marketing... I think we have entered a new era of Movie promotions. Corporate tie ins are becoming more and more acceptable. I would say watch out. If you do it too much, the audience will tune out the ads, like we do on TV.

Forget me not

This weekend, FINALLY, I got up my ass and saw Away from her. I am still a little depressed due to the lingering effects of the too-close-to-life, grave scenario.

It is about a couple who has been married for 44 years. And they are learning to cope with her Alzheimer as well as their past. As Fiona's condition deteriorates, she decides to check into a nursing home where she starts losing recollection of her husband and starts befriending Aubrey, another patient and showers him with her affection. Her husband, Grant, does not know how much of their relationship Fiona has really forgotten in comparison what she is leading Grant to believe. Does she really forget Grant or does she choose to free herself of the pain of his promiscuous past? Is she punishing him by not recognizing or is she trying to give herself peace?

It reminded me of another Canadian movie: Barbarian Invasions. Not simply because of the theme of how taxing it is to deal with a loved one's sickness or scenery but more because of cinematography and style of narration. It is chillingly sarcastic and caustic at times and deafeningly quite and scenic at others.

Overall, on my very scientific scale of 1-10, I would give this movie an 8.9. I feel like the sterile film shots were not always intended. Even if they were, some beautiful nature and portrait shots with more color would have made the movie richer.

oh oh... I really need to mention this. The killer line of the movie is "I just couldn't be away from her." Watch out for a few tear drops when Grant says this for the second time. I was like a Pavlov dog... Bawling... Gently...

Faithfully departing from the Oscar Phenomena

There is a reason why I do not watch the Oscars... And a reason why I resist watching movies associated with the Oscars... Because they piss me off... It upsets me to see these movies "buying" the limelight from real talent. Marketing and availability unfortunately makes some movies get popular and get rewarded. If I were a film director, I would be so discouraged...

The Departed was a pretty good Mafia movie... It was good fun. Scorsese is awesome, he really makes you engaged in his mafia stories but win an Oscar? Best Director? Really? Best Motion picture? Seriously? The acting was awesome. It was really amazing. I mean Scorsese had a budget to afford Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson and Mark Wahlberg. But what about that movie (aside from acting which actually won nothing) was such a talent display that it won two Oscars?

I think the Academy mentality is that he has a unique and good style. And he has done a series of really good movies. So at this point he has a cumulative credit/reputation to win him an Oscar. The Departed is not necessarily better than Gangs of New York or Goodfellas in my opinion. It is a really well done classic Scorsese. If The Departed wins 2 Oscars, then I think all of his movies deserve a couple. Scorsese won an Oscar for being nominated 10 times and producing good quality work consistently. Well, that's fair. I was actually happy to see him win. More appropriately, he should win "life time achievement" in a couple of years.

I am still frustrated that he did not really push himself. He is in his comfort zone and milking it.

Next year I expect Tarantino to win an Oscar for Grindhouse. Now that's an inspiration for the Academy. Because you never know what their criteria is...

Tsotsi and the Oscar

So not all my posts are going to be about the most recent releases. With some super hyped up movies (e.g. Little Miss Sunshine, The Departed), I just have a hard time making myself see them in the movie theater because I think I will be extremely disappointed. Then they win an Oscar, everyone is talking about them and I say "ok, I really do have to surrender and rent them." So Tsotsi was one of those movies. And finally after a year and a half after its release in the US, I decided to rent it from Netflix.

So the jist of the story is Tsotsi is a thug who mugs people for money and lives in the slums of South Africa. One day he shoots a woman and steals her car. As he drives off, he finds a baby in the back of the car. And for some reason decides not to be ruthless and take the baby with him after he leaves the car. And again for some mysterious reason he gets super attached to this baby.

Since I am not writing an official review about the movie, I don't feel like being objective like Roger Ebert and will not rank this on a one/two thumb(s) up/down scale. I am going to be even less scientific and will give it an arbitrary 7.9 out of 10. It is quite arbitrary but not completely random. I just feel that 7.9/10 is very fair for this movie.

Now, I don't remember that year's nominees for the Oscar but after having seen Das Leben der Anderen (Lives of Others), the winner of 2007 Oscar in Foreign movie, I really am not sure that I can say that Tsotsi was at the same caliber as Das Leben der Anderen.

The movie starts off very strong with an amazing view of the south african slums, booming ethnic music in the background(somewhere between rap and reggaeton) and Tsotsi and his gang of thugs walking into the scene. The vibe you get from the faces of the characters is wowing, they all seem very complex and interesting. It makes you really want to get to know all of them. Can't wait to see how they get in trouble and can't wait to see South African socioeconomical divide in action.

Unfortunately the plot does not follow the energetic feeling that you get at the beginning. The characters, despite their introductory premise, do not follow through. They remain shallow and stick to the obvious stereotypes. Especially Tsotsi... I still do not understand why he kept that baby that he accidentally stole. Then he kind of fell in love with a woman but the love encounter managed to have no influence on his character. As he is facing dilemmas, he manages to stay perfectly stoic and aloof, despite conflicting forces broiling in his mind, still vivid and painful. It is just sad to see all the interesting characters of the movie, at arms reach, still feel so foreign and undermined. It just needed a little more depth, in my humble opinion more flashbacks to Tsotsi's childhood, how he met his thug crew, more conversations about their dreams or lack there of.

I do have to say though the cinematography was out of this world beautiful. South Africa is of course a great canvas to work with. The soundtrack was so complimentary. Overall, 7.9: definitely worth watching.