Sorry for the absence of bloggage but the interwebz have stopped at my place. Probably b/c we didn't pay for it for 6 months. So while we get that sorted out I have to find trendy cafes to blog in.... ahhhh the joys of hipster pretension. And while I'm being a wanker i'll run with it and give ya'll some movie recommendations or non-recommendations.
1) The Bubble (ha'buah)
Its an Israeli film - about 5 or 6 years old set in the gay community of Tel Aviv. Basically what happens when a gay Israeli falls in love with a gay Palestinian? It's a good movie most of the time. They do the sex scenes really well and its cute seeing well known places in Tel Aviv in a movie. It gets a bit over dramatic at some times and the ending is totally lame. But apart from that show it to your left-wing ambivalent about Israel friends to demonstrate that Zion is the San Fransisco of the middle east. 6/10
2) Lolita
Stanley Kubrick - need I say any more? It's from 1962 and the screenplay was written by the original author so its a pretty good adaption of the book apparently. The story rotates around a middle aged man's relationship with a 12/13 year old girl. Yes it's pedophilia. It's interesting because nobody really seems fully guilty for something thats so clearly wrong. The movie is good b/c it's entertaining and kinda makes u think. Its bad b/c it makes u rethink whether pedophilia really is that bad (don't be fooled - it is that bad). 7/10
3) Hard Candy
Similar theme. It stars the girl from Juno as a 14-year-old girl who's trying to seek revenge on a pedophile that she finds from the internet. More of a thriller than Lolita but also shows the grey sides of what we would assume is a black n while moral issue. 8/10
4) Before Sunrise
A 1995 movie set in Vienna (i think) about a French girl and an American boy who meet on a train and have only one night together. The film is basically just their pseudo-intellectual youthful musings in conversation about love, life and sex. It's ok. Like, the cinematography is very nice and occasionally the film hits really poignant notes. but for the most part it's a bit too mushy/emo for my liking. 5/10
5) Jeux D'enfants
A French film - in the style of Mic Macs and Amelie. Two kids start a game of dares that continues into their adulthood. They fall in love and mess it up. Will it ever work out? And then random descensions into cartoons and thinking bubbles. Cute, but you don't really understand the characters and why they are so hopeless at getting it together. Sometimes way toooooo mushy ( and I quote "theres a merry go round in your heart!") and way too many 'we're never going to see each other again - so i'll run after the bus saying I love you' scenes. Basically - very French. So good, if you're into that sorta thing. 6/10
6) Casablanca
Look - had I been born in 1950 I probably would have loved this film. But b/c I'm part of the mtv generation it's annoying when movies don't move fast enough and have slow dialogue and unnecessary scenes. Apart from that - great costumes and a beautiful love story. definitely better than any modern chick flick. 7/10
7) The Virgin Suicides
Sophia Coppola's debut film (I think). The direction and cinematography are beautiful. But I don't think that I really got the movie. It's about a household of girls. They are beautiful. Boys want them. Their parents want to keep them away from boys. Things don't go well. And then things go really badly. But why? I don't really understand. So it gets points for being pretty - but loses points for being incomprehensible. 7/10
8) Rana's wedding
Palestinian film about a girl who's given 24 hours to get married or her father is taking her away to Egypt. So she's trying to marry her boyfriend but things are difficult b/c of her father and bureaucracy and the occupation. Look, I really wanted this movie to be great. I wanted it to be beautiful and funny and poignant. But it was mainly just boring. Sorry Palestine - better luck next time. 5/10
9) Kids
Larry Clark directed it in 1995. It's set on the streets of New York in the summer. It follows a day in the life of a bunch of 15 year olds who are seriously into violence, petty crime, drugs and lots and lots of sex. It's brilliant. Great script. Really good direction. And a really powerful movie. Super recommended but don't see it with religious people or your parents. 9/10
10) The Lonely man of faith
A movie made about the life and theology of the Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik. So it's a bit of a general fan film made out of loving devotion and thats cute. But the best part of the otherwise slightly dull move (I mean its a movie about a rabbi - what more do u expect?) is seeing how orthodoxy functioned in Europe and America before the harediazation of the 80s and 90s. The Rav's wife didn't cover her hair. She had a phd. There were sleeveless dresses and mixed dancing everywhere. Things were kosher based on reading the ingredients on the back of the packet (ie: if it didn't list pig then go for it!). Ahh the joys of the innocent bygone time. But apart from that, it's a movie about a rabbi. That's about it. 6/10
That will do for now.
Cheers y'all.
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