Reviews

Another unique outing by Takeshi Miike. Way off the wall. A yakuza soldier finds himself searching for his brother (possibly dead) in a town full of lunatics and cow-headed demons. Weird Buddhist and Freudian symbols abound. One can't help but draw comparisons to David Lynch's work -- in particular Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive. I think Miike has admitted as much himself. Highly imaginative filmmmaking. My only complaint is the pacing. It's way slow for like the first hour. I had the same problem with Audition. I can appreciate the patient construction of a creepy mood, but I think Miike could step on the gas every now and then. Still, I recommend this one. It's quite a trip. There's also a fair dose of tongue-and-cheek humor in this film. (I guess it depends on one's sense of humor.)

Dog-lovers will delight in the opening scene.

I just screened this film at LGF last night. I was quite intrigued for the first forty minutes. Then it all kind of fell apart for me. In it's best moments this film explores the complexities of vengeance and psychology. It tries to be clever by pulling a role reversal -- but this eventually wears thin and the dialog becomes didactic and contrived. I still think it is worth seeing for the strength of the leads alone. Patrick Wilson does a fine job as a "suspected" pedophile. He elicits both sympathy and disgust. Ellen Page as the young girl is absolutely fantastic. Her performance is brilliant and even frightening at times. She's good even when the script can't match her talent. I look forward to seeing her in many films to come. Finally a young actress who is more than just a pretty face -- I'm so tired of the Natalie Portmans, the Hillary Duffs, and the Jessica Albas of the world. Good luck with your career Ms. Page.

All in all, Hard Candy is worth seeing. Maybe I'm just a sucker for movies with tiny casts and realtime pacing. But there are some genuinely suspenseful moments in the film, although in the hands of lesser actors these scenes would disintegrate. And though I was annoyed by the contrivances and implausibilities of the script, I found myself the next day thinking about some of the issues raised therein.

At times Hard Candy reminded me of Polanski's Death and the Maiden, though H.C. is nowhere near as good. Ellen Page's Haley character is similar to Sigourney Weaver's character in the Polanski film. Both women are terrifying through the cold precision of their revenge. The problem with the Haley character is that she would have to be supernatural to accomplish the things she does in this film. And of course if she was supernatural, we'd have a completely different film on our hands -- High Plains Drifter.

Not a terribly deep plot here, but what do you expect? -- Citizen Kane?

Tim Burton's animated vision has reached new heights in this film. The character movement, color palette, and attention to detail are unsurpassed. Burton manages, as always, to tell a simple and touching story set in his own original universe of cheeky macabre.

The voices are excellent. Depp as Victor mumbles along in likable ineptitude. Bonham-Carter is charming as the love-lorn corpse bride. The rest of the cast is great as well. In particular, Christopher Lee and Albert Finney stood out to me. There are some genuinely funny moments in this film. Some cute inside jokes as well (HARRYHAUSEN).

Wonderful soundtrack. Danny Elfman has become a truly masterful composer. As an arrogant musician myself, I used to hold an uneasy and begrudging respect for some of Elfman's earlier work, i.e. Batman, etc. It was memorable but I always criticized his originality. Not anymore. He's grown into a fantastic scorer.

Damn those puppets are cool. Recommended.

I went to see this film on opening weekend because I didn't really have anything else to do. I had seen the trailers and was expecting an Exorcist rip-off (as if we don't have enough of those already). Anyway I was surprised to realize that The Exorcism of Emily Rose is a courtroom drama. I know several reviewers on this site have complained about this fact. They thought they were going to a horror film as it had been advertised.

I actually enjoyed this movie. I guess I went into it with little or no expectations. I was impressed by both the writer and director's ability to explore different sides of the argument. A priest is on trial for the "negligent homicide" of Emily Rose as a possible result of an exorcism he performed on her. The prosecution's arguments are based on science and medical testimony -- whereas the defense has to find some way to validate the priest's faith-driven actions. It is a complicated web of epilepsy, schizophrenia, pharmaceuticals, arcane Roman rites, and extreme Cathoilicism. The resulting courtroom dialogs I found engrossing on both a mental and emotional level. Well written and thorough. There is an open mindedness here that I find refreshing.

As for the possession scenes -- I have to admit I found them pretty damn scary. I'm fairly jaded from a childhood of watching intense horror movies so it takes something special to give me a chill. I think the reason these scenes are so frightening lies in the duality of possibilities: Emily Rose is either possessed by a supernatural being, or she is so mentally and physically ill that she is able to destroy herself from within. I find the latter just as chilling as the former.