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rab211
Reviews
Committed (2000)
Cute indie film
I saw this film and liked it a lot. There's some great fodder for discussion here, about women and men, some offbeat angles that are cool that don't get discussed much. Heather Graham shines in a part that seems pretty much written for her - it's cool to see her in these parts. I liked her in Bowfinger, but I liked her more in this film. I hope she does some more films like this in the future. The supporting cast is nothing less than awesome, including Luke Wilson in another of his puppy-dog roles and Goran Visnjic as this mellow dude. I really liked the woman who plays Luke Wilson's girlfriend, even though I can't remember her name. Lisa Krueger's other film, Manny and Lo was pretty good too, and this is a nice follow-up effort. I hope she gets to do more stuff soon, I like her a lot.
Human Traffic (1999)
Must See this film!
All I can say is go see this film. Great acting, great directing and really cool music. This film really rocks along, and is really funny. What's with the talking heads at the beginning? Never mind, ignore that and watch this movie. It's definitely something different and interesting.
East Is East (1999)
Short Review
The following is a short review I wrote for school (minor spoilers) that I hope will be helpful to anyone interested in this film.
They say don't judge a book by its cover, and don't judge a movie by its trailer. It's especially true for the new Brit offering East is East, which just won major kudos at the BAFTAS over the weekend.
The trailer for this film made it out to be a raunchy comedy, complete with animal sex jokes and urinal humor. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but the movie is way more than that. This is essentially the story of a family, and a journey that it takes. It delves into areas such as family loyalty and honor with skill and depth, and brings out subtle shadings that keep it from merely stooping to play to the lowest common denominator of comedy.
This flick has some superb direction and the acting is great, especially Om Puri, who added a human dimension to a character who could have been difficult to portray onscreen as anything more than a traditionalist domestic abuser. In his turn as a traditional Pakistan father and man of the house, trying to keep his family together as they are seduced by English culture, he gets your sympathy by refusing to bow to any kind of stereotypes at all.
George Khan, who also wrote the stage play of the same name, based a large part of it on his own experiences. For this reason, the circumstances never seem forced or implausible.
That said, as I remarked I do have some problems with the juxtaposition of the abuse and the comedy in the film. This tension filled scene is put between two scenes of hilarious comedy, and while it often happens in real life that extreme comedy comes from extreme tragedy, I felt the filmmakers did not give the audience enough time to breathe and recover from the harsh physical violence that was portrayed. The father has some serious flaws that I felt were splendidly shown by Puri's acting skill, but were often glossed over in favor of advancement of the plot's comedic elements.