Schultze Gets the Blues

Venue: BYU International Cinema 

I would recommend this movie to everyone. The non sequitors reminded me of Napoleon Dynamite but the rest of the film didn't. I liked how there was not much dialog nor special effects. Hollywood today needs one or the other and usually both. People are always talking or there is a bunch of action going on. A lot of people probably find this movie very boring but I really enjoyed it.

IMDb

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Venue: BYU Special Collections Motion Picture Archive Film Series

Release Year: 1938

Length: 77 minutes

Director: Norman Taurog

Medium: Original Technicolor Reel

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

Venue: BYU Special Collections Motion Picture Archive Film Series

Release Year: 1927

Length: 95 minutes

Director: F. W. Murnau
Medium: Original Silent B+W Reel

Live Organ Accompaniment: Blaine Gale, The Organ Loft

The Island

Venue: My room
Release Year: 2005
Length: 136 minutes
Director: Michael Bay
Language: English (plus a Latin word)
Rating: 5/5 (I would watch it again, I would love to discuss it, and I would possibly buy it)

It was a surprisingly good film. After seeing so many excellent international films my opinion of Blockbuster hits was not as high, but obviously Hollywood can still make the occasional awesome film. I found the plot to be very similar to a Robin Cook book I read a couple years ago. They found this species of monkey that was so similar to humans that they could transplant the organs. Unfortunately, humans are smart and so are their apish counterparts so the monkeys started killing the workers and eventually took over their island. But back to the film, it has a very good storyline, well thought out and planned. It was cool to see Mr. Laurent turn good. The cast was excellent; I like Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi, and Sean Bean. The cinematography and special effects were also amazing. Overall it did a good job of being a typical Hollywood Blockbuster, a thought provoking film, and it left me with the desire to live my life in a better way. I think the film displayed the innate human ability to think creatively and learn quickly. I can definitely see how it was meant as a politically charged film, extremely anti-cloning. Morally, I’m not exactly sure where I stand on the issue of cloning. I can see how it will have a great impact on medicine in the 21st century however I can also see that it will be misused. The way I see it, murder and adultery are the two worst sins because they play with God’s power of taking and giving life. However, in God’s eyes medicine is probably one of the best professions. Christ’s mortal ministry was full of healing the sick and that is a very good, Godly thing to do. Unfortunately I am not quite sure where the line is. I do not think we are able (or God will let us) cross the line to attempting to recreate His power. If we do cross that line I’m sure it will result in a similar situation to the tower of Babel. That is a scary thought that I haven’t heard anyone mention before. I wonder if it is original. I believe cloning to a limited extent is good, all the way up to actually cloning human organs. I also believe that actually cloning a whole human being is wrong. I cannot see any valid situations where it would be desirable, necessary, and moral. While cloning is a good idea, it should be kept in the hands of those who will use it responsibly otherwise something terrible will happen.

Not of This World

Venue: BYU International Cinema
Release Year: 1999
Director: Giuseppe Piccioni
Length: 100 Minutes
Language: Italian
Rating: 4/5 (definitely see it if you have the chance but don’t buy it without seeing it)
This was a wonderful film about a nun and a laundry owner who find an abandoned baby. They team up to care for it and it changes their lives. The whole film seemed to be a comparison between different types of relationships between a parent and child. Mother’s have a difficult time sending their children away, whether it is to a convent, a different couple, or someonen random. This felt like a real life story about real people with real feelings, emotions, and actions. With most movies, you can tell they are a piece of somebodies imagination. With this film, it is probably happening out there millions of times and nobody bats an eye, yet millions of lives are changed. The film was a little slow, there is a lot of walking/driving/thinking where there is no dialogue and only repetative action. The music is beautiful and gives you plenty of time to contemplate (or fall asleep). I enjoy taking naps in most films, but I stayed awake through this whole movie. I would highly recommend it. It is up there with My Father’s Glory, which puts it in the top 5 or 10.

IMdB, Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes

Light Keeps Me Company

Venue: BYU International Cinema
Release Year: 2000
Director: Carl-Gustaf Nykvist
Languages: Swedish and English
Length: 78 Minutes

This film documents the life of Sven Nykvist, arguably the best cameraman, cinematographer, and lighter of all time. If anyone is interested in filming, directing, lighting, or acting in movies I would recommend this. Also if anyone is interested in Swedish films or the work of Sven Nykvist.

He was a talented, educated man who won respect because he did not smoke, swear, or drink. His favorite book was Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha, because he could associate so well with Siddhartha, trying to find a meaning to his life and freedom. He was talented because no matter how well he did, he always thought he could do better. He was a friend to everyone and never rose his voice. He also opened up cinematography to talented people around the world by proving to Hollywood that non-Americans were also talented. In recent years he had a severe form of Dementia develop which prevents him from being able to speak.

IMdB, Rotten Tomatoes, Wikipedia (about Sven Nykvist)

A State of Mind

Venue: BYU International Cinema

Release Year: 2004
Director: Daniel Gordon
Languages: English and Korean
Length: 93 Minutes
I think I saw this movie two years ago. The only parts I remembered were when the power goes out and they say ‘bloody Americans. It’s all their fault.” And when the filmmakers say that North Korea has never given this level of access to anyone from the west before.

It followed a year in the life of a 11 year old girl who participated in the Mass Games to celebrate communism and North Korea. It was really interesting to see how much the North Korean system follows the Christian system. Kim, Jong Il is the General or the Father, just as Christian’s believe in God the Father. The family is the most important unit of society, behind one’s love for the General. He inspires goodness, truth, and the best in everyone. He is leading them onward and without him they would be nothing. Intelligence, fluency in foreign languages, and physical strength are developed in everyone. They will receive eternal happiness though their great leader. They want to be self-reliant and independent from the world. There are also plenty of similarities to 1984, with a state installed radio that cannot be turned off in every kitchen. The work and diligence of the citizens of North Korea defeats any competition we could attempt to muster in the western world, especially among children.

Going back to the power outages. When they blamed it on the Americans, the audience laughed as if saying. Haha, we don’t cause power outages, that is just your stupidity and simple-mindness in communism. In reality there is a lot of truth to their belief. We isolated them from the rest of the world, driving them into famine and still causing them problems even in getting enough food. It’s the stupid Americans who are to closed-minded, to egotistical, to superficial to realize that they have a valid point. If Kim, Jong Il died and North Korea was invaded by South Korea and the Americans, the North Koreans would be much less happy, not overjoyous to see us. I don’t think most Americans realize that. They’re too busy Americanizing the world using Chinese products. In 1993 the Pentagon released a statistic saying that if war broke out between North Korea and South Korea (with 37,000 American troops), there would be over 1 million casualties in the first 24 hours. That is a lot of dead people due to one misunderstanding. If people would sit down and try to figure things out and understand each other, the world would be a much safer, happier place.

IMdB, Rotten Tomatoes, Wikipedia

Knorosov: The Decipherment of the Mayan Script

Venue: BYU International Cinema

Release Year: 2000

Length: 57 Minutes

Directors: Tiahoga Ruge and Eduardo Herrera Fernandez

Languages: English, Spanish, and Russian (subtitled)

This was a wonderful movie. It is inspirational along the lines of Indiana Jones. After seeing it I did some research, and in 4 years I could double major in anthropology with an archeological focus and ancient and near eastern studies. There was also an article in the NYTimes about a dude on the history channel who hosts the digging up history show. The movie was about Knorosov and how he deciphered the Mayan language, despite being in Soviet Russia and never seeing real Mayan text and despite complete and utter expulsion and shunning from academia of the world. I thought it was great, most people couldn’t stand it.

IMdB

A Time For Drunken Horses

Venue: BYU International Cinema

Release Year: 2000

Length: 80 minutes

Director: Bahman Ghobadi

Languages: Kurdish and Farsi (I couldn’t tell the difference, it was subtitled)

This film is the story of Ayoub, a twelve year old boy, whose mother is dead and his father dies in an ambush during the movie. Ayoub must care for his younger sister, Rojine, and brother, Madi. Madi is mentally and physically handicapped. He requires an operation within the next month or he will die. After their father dies, the children cannot afford the operation. Ayoub goes to work, smuggling things across the Iraqi/Iranian border. He breaks his arm, but his uncle lets him borrow the mule. Ayoub just barely makes enough money to survive, so his sister decides to get married to someone in the neighboring village so her new family can pay for Madi’s operation. During the wedding, Rojine discovers her family will not accept Madi so Madi goes back with Ayoub. Ayoub got a mule for marrying of his sister so he decides to take Madi and the mule to Iraq, sell the mule, and get the operation done. Ayoub runs across multiple problems, including adults, a drunk horse, and an ambush. The last shot of the film shoes Ayoub standing on top of a mountain, immediately after crossing the Iranian border. Obviously his life cannot end too happily, but it is a wonderful movie.

IMdB, Rotten Tomatoes, Wikipedia 

Howl’s Moving Castle

Venue: BYU International Cinema

Release Year: 2004

Length: 119 Minutes

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Language: Japanese (dubbed in English)

Apparently this film is famous and has won awards because it was so good. It did not seem all that special. I think it was cool that they could make that book into a movie because most sci-fi books are hard to make into movies. I think it was a full house at almost all of its showings (definitely all of its weekend showings) at the International Cinema. I thought it was a quality film but did not deserve the hype. While it had all the elements of a great movie, it couldn’t keep my attention very well. In most films I get pulled in and am not aware of my surroundings, but in Howl’s Moving Castle I watched the clock and the other audience members as much as the film itself. I would recommend it if you are into anime or sci-fi, but if you’re just looking for a movie there are plenty of other much more engrossing films reviewed on this blog. So far I think the best movie I have seen is  My Father’s Glory. I actually want to watch it again. Most films once is definitely enough and commonly too much.

IMdB, RottenTomatoes, Wikipedia