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bipin-anand
Reviews
An American Crime (2007)
The film has failed on a few fundamental levels
Ellen Page holds this film really well. I think the writer/ director Tommy O'Haver poorly directed the actors. But even before this, the story (read up about it on Wikipedia and other sites) was really poorly told. There were really bad cuts in the edit and so the story didn't flow well. So many parts of the film were rushed, or just added in because it happened in real life. Such as the "take me with you and I'll tell you everything" statement Jenny makes near the end of the movie.
I was quite disappointed with the film whilst watching it anyway. Once I read up about how the events actually occurred, it is a further disappointing film.
Sometimes you can say that was poorly acted, but in the case for this film, it was like the characters weren't directed well. And some of them had a very bad character development. This was a true story and these characters are real people. The development had already been done, but this didn't transpire in the film.
This review is a bit of a rant, yes - but the film has failed on a few fundamental levels - the story, pacing, directing (of actors, the story and the edit) and the execution of remaining true to the actual events.
Still, worth a watch to see a depiction of the horrific story that happened. I am a film maker, so my critique is very harsh. Many people have reviewed this film as a good movie. And if you don't watch it the way I did, then that's fine and you may just like the film.
Deux jours, une nuit (2014)
Very necessary slow paced film, held by great acting
This is my first Dardenne Bros film and at the end of this film I was like "I need to explore more of their films". This is a hard hitting slow story. It could be described as monotonous, but I would describe it as very very real. Following Marion's character, Sandra (la performance c'est très magnifique), we see the hardship of how a series of simple tasks turns into the hardest thing she has to do over the Two days and one night.
The Dardenne Bros and the Cinematographer Alain Marcoen used long shots, with very little cuts in certain scenes. At times whole scenes were just one shot. This left Sandra and Manu (Fabrizio Rongione) to hold the screen and make us believe what is going on and they did a great job with this. It allowed me to get into their emotions and into their lives of what they were going through. The lack of soundtrack also added that extra realism into the story.
I found this a heart wrenching and at times victorious film - a very good balance. The flow was great. It is slow, but just like Sofia Coppolo's Lost in Translation the slow-moving pace is necessary to tell the story.
I was able to get a ticket to this film at Festival de Cannes and it was received very well by the audience around us.
I'm off, now, to watch some more Dardenne Bros films!