Aira's Movie Diary of 2011: a Cinematic Journey
Movies I watched for the first time in 2011 (with my somewhat-serious notes)
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- DirectorMichael RadfordStarsAl PacinoJoseph FiennesLynn CollinsIn 16th century Venice, when a merchant must default on a large loan from an abused Jewish moneylender for a friend with romantic ambitions, the bitterly vengeful creditor demands a gruesome payment instead.
► JANUARY
It's a great story, with powerful characters, good dialogues, strong scenes. Blood and violence: Shakespeare confirms to be more "pulp" than modern pulp. But a great story is not enough, you have to be good at telling, and the story is too slow to do justice to the words, because getting bored takes away your attention. Some scenes are visually beautiful, but that's all. What really remains is Al Pacino, a perfect Shylock ready to eat the world and the neighbor, fierce even when accepts defeat. Actually, Pacino is the only true value of the film, the only reason to watch it. - DirectorFlorian Henckel von DonnersmarckStarsJohnny DeppAngelina JoliePaul BettanyRevolves around Frank, an American tourist visiting Italy to mend a broken heart. Elise is an extraordinary woman who deliberately crosses his path.A movie that looks like a perfume commercial, beautiful and well-dressed people but nothing more. Almost plastic. Even actors look like mannequin. I think it's the worst performance for both Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. Scenes are absurd and the whole story doesn't work. I really screamed at the ending.
- DirectorSabina GuzzantiStarsSilvio BerlusconiSabina GuzzantiAn investigation on the management of 2009 L'Aquila earthquake by Berlusconi government and his staff.With a good mix of journalism and comedy, Sabina Guzzanti offers us a different point of view of the earthquake that shocked Italy in 2009, letting us see everything that the news have not shown: interesting and funny.
*****
Con un buon mix di giornalismo e commedia, Sabina Guzzanti ci offre un differente punto di vista sul terremoto che ha scioccato l'Italia nel 2009, e ci fa vedere tutto quello che i telegiornali non hanno mostrato: interessante e divertente - DirectorNoah BaumbachStarsBen StillerGreta GerwigJennifer Jason LeighA man from Los Angeles, who moved to New York years ago, returns to L.A. to figure out his life while he house-sits for his brother. He soon sparks with his brother's assistant.Pretending to be philosophical but it doesn't go deep enough. Characters can only express boredom and depression.
The main mistake Noah Baumbach made is the key to the storytelling: I guess he decided to talk about emptiness with emptiness. Bad idea. If you talk about a vicious circle you're supposed to be able to break it, letting "light" come in and see things better. That's what analyzing should be. Greenberg stays in the semidarkness without a solution, and every day feels depressed because his life is empty and his life end up getting more and more empty because he's too depressed to do something about it. Baumbach puts some characters to enliven the world Greenberg lives in, but they're not strong enough either to lash him or to highlight differences between him and them. His best friend is useless and the girl he starts “to-date-not-to-date-maybe-he’s-dating-her” is as weak as he is. Though I appreciated some scenes (especially the funny ones) and Ben Stiller acting, in the end it’s a film that leaves nothing, no special feeling. - DirectorDavid FincherStarsJesse EisenbergAndrew GarfieldJustin TimberlakeAs Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg creates the social networking site that would become known as Facebook, he is sued by the twins who claimed he stole their idea and by the co-founder who was later squeezed out of the business.
- DirectorJames MangoldStarsRussell CroweChristian BaleBen FosterA small-time rancher agrees to hold a captured outlaw who's awaiting a train to go to court in Yuma. A battle of wills ensues as the outlaw tries to psych out the rancher.
- DirectorMathieu KassovitzStarsHalle BerryPenélope CruzRobert Downey Jr.A psychiatrist awakens as a patient in a mental institution, with no memory of the murder she's accused of committing. As she tries to regain her memory, a vengeful spirit manipulates her.A movie unable to catch, with a script that never surprises and a direction that has nothing new but seems to want to copy some Asian horror. Actors underplay, especially Halle Berry
- DirectorMark RomanekStarsKeira KnightleyCarey MulliganAndrew GarfieldThe lives of three friends, from their early school days into young adulthood, when the reality of the world they live in comes knocking.
- DirectorGennaro NunzianteStarsChecco ZaloneNabiha AkkariIvano MarescottiChecco is an immigrant from Southern Italy living in Milan, in the North. After failing his exam to join the Italian gendarmerie, he's hired as a security guard at Milan's Cathedral, but is spotted by Muslim extremists.Very stupid. A movie that tries to make you laugh and think, dealing with the problem of prejudice against foreigners, but that cannot reach neither one nor the other goal. And not to be hilarious, for a comedy, is not a small thing. I still can't understand why it has been a box-office hit, that in Italy it has beaten "Life is beautiful" by Roberto Benigni. Even the first work by Checco Zalone, "Cado dalle nubi", at least offered a few laughs, although the heap of old jokes about homosexuality and gags already seen on TV.
*****
Molto stupido. Un film che cerca di far ridere ma anche pensare, affrontando il problema dei pregiudizi nei confronti degli stranieri, ma che non riesce né in uno né nell'altro intento. E per un film comico, non essere davvero divertente non è cosa da poco. Non riesco ancora a capire come può essere stato un campione d'incassi, tanto da superare anche "La vita è bella" di Roberto Benigni. Persino la prima opera di Checco Zalone, "Cado dalle nubi", offriva almeno qualche risata, nonostante l'ammasso di vecchie battute sull'omosessualità e gag già viste in tv - DirectorAndy BichlbaumMike BonannoKurt EngfehrStarsReggie WattsMike BonannoAndy BichlbaumTroublemaking duo Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno, posing as their industrious alter-egos, expose the people profiting from Hurricane Katrina, the faces behind the environmental disaster in Bhopal, and other shocking events.
- DirectorYimou ZhangStarsZiyi ZhangTakeshi KaneshiroAndy LauA romantic police captain breaks a beautiful member of a rebel group out of prison to help her rejoin her fellows, but things are not what they seem.
- DirectorDarren AronofskyStarsNatalie PortmanMila KunisVincent CasselNina is a talented but unstable ballerina on the verge of stardom. Pushed to the breaking point by her artistic director and a seductive rival, Nina's grip on reality slips, plunging her into a waking nightmare.The same lame old story, but beautifully told. Great filmmaking and great acting by Natalie Portman.
- DirectorFrank TashlinStarsJerry LewisMarie McDonaldSessue HayakawaGilbert Wooley is a second-rate magician who is sent to entertain the troops in the pacific. During his time in Japan he becomes attached to a little orphan boy.
- DirectorMichael BayStarsScarlett JohanssonEwan McGregorDjimon HounsouA man living in a futuristic sterile colony begins to question his circumscribed existence when his friend is chosen to go to the Island, the last uncontaminated place on earth.
- DirectorMichele PlacidoStarsKim Rossi StuartFilippo TimiValeria SolarinoA biography of Milanese bank robber Renato Vallanzasca.
- DirectorTakeshi KitanoStarsTakeshi KitanoKippei ShînaRyô KaseThe boss of a major crime syndicate orders his lieutenant to bring a rogue gang of drug traffickers in line, a job that gets passed on to his long-suffering subordinate.Outrage is a war movie, for better or worse. It's a good journey into yakuza strategies, culture and pecking order, and tells about a world that is too little known in western countries. It shows a strict society always careful to follow the rules but ready to play dirty to have a little more bit of power. Without romanticize it shows the meanness and even the fun for harming. Extremely violent, but maybe just realist, this aseptic eye is its very own fault. Excepting those scenes of nice black humor, the impression I had was almost like I watched a documentary. Even if I know Outrage is a coming back to Kitano's roots, I still missed so much that human warmth I found in other movies of him.
A final note could be that trying to follow too many foreign names and the way they're linked may turn out a little confusing - DirectorBilly WilderStarsWilliam HoldenGloria SwansonErich von StroheimA screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return.
► FEBRUARY - DirectorMark HermanStarsAsa ButterfieldDavid ThewlisRupert FriendThrough the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp, a forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences.
- DirectorSofia CoppolaStarsKirsten DunstJason SchwartzmanRip TornThe retelling of France's iconic but ill-fated queen, Marie Antoinette. From her betrothal and marriage to Louis XVI at 14 to her reign as queen at 19 and to the end of her reign as queen, and ultimately the fall of Versailles.
- DirectorRenato De MariaStarsRiccardo ScamarcioGiovanna MezzogiornoFabrizio RongioneAn Italian man looks back from his jail cell on his youthful exploits as a political extremist with understanding, candour and remorse.Monotonous, like the voice and the expression of the lead actor. Even Giovanna Mezzogiorno gave her worst performance I've seen till now.
- DirectorCarlo MazzacuratiStarsSilvio OrlandoGiuseppe BattistonKasia SmutniakTo avoid being sued, a film director reluctantly agrees to set up and direct the Good Friday celebrations in a small Tuscan town.
- DirectorJames MangoldStarsWinona RyderAngelina JolieClea DuVallA directionless teenager, Susanna, is rushed to Claymoore, a mental institution, after a supposed suicide attempt. There, she befriends a group of troubled women who deeply influence her life.
- DirectorGiulio ManfredoniaStarsAntonio AlbaneseSergio RubiniLorenza IndovinaCetto La Qualunque comes back to Italy after having spent some years in another country. He decides to run for mayor in his little city.It's almost a documentary about the Italian modern politics :D
The unbelievable thing is that in Italy we have some politicians able to make Cetto La Qualunque look like a boy scout - DirectorAndrew LauAlan MakStarsAndy LauTony Leung Chiu-waiAnthony Chau-Sang WongA story between a mole in the police department and an undercover cop. Their objectives are the same: to find out who is the mole, and who is the cop.A great script and an energetic direction for a movie that caught me and kept me holding my breath all the way to the end. A well-constructed story with dialogues that measure words and silences printing them in an amazing cinematography. Especially if you watch it after "The Departed", you'll understand that a movie can be strong and powerful without swearing every 15 seconds. I mean, "The Departed" is a good movie, Martin Scorsese is a master in telling crime stories, but comparing to "Infernal Affairs", it may look a little redundant of explicit sentences and with an unnecessary love triangle. Because in this film the suspense is all in the story itself and in the eyes of the lead actors, Tony Leung and Andy Lau: cool but nervous, trying to smile while they're conscious to be trapped in their own lives. And this work so accurate and non-excessive makes me think that "Infernal Affairs" has something special. It's like a machine that works perfectly with its gears and makes no more noise than is required
- DirectorTodd PhillipsStarsRobert Downey Jr.Zach GalifianakisMichelle MonaghanHigh-strung father-to-be Peter Highman is forced to hitch a ride with aspiring actor Ethan Tremblay on a road trip in order to make it to his child's birth on time.