After bringing the world films such as Matador and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Pedro Almodóvar and Antonio Banderas reunite for this film about a plastic surgeon on the hunt for the men who raped his daughter. If Almodóvar is attached to a film then you know it will be an automatic must see for me.
Our Idiot Brother
Hollywood’s obsession with grown men acting like children continues. I do like the casting choices in the film though.
This was a rather tough year for me. Four days into the festival an uncle, whom I was very close to, passed away. This obviously made the festival less exciting for me as the fiction on screen could not mask the pain of real life. However, one of the bright spots of the festival was being able to see, what would become one of my favourite movies in recent years, Oldboy.
Total Number of Films Watched: 23
My Top 5:
Oldboy The Sea Inside 5 X 2 – Five Times Two Palindromes Kontroll
Honourable Mention: Enduring Love, Primer, Siblings, Sucker Free City, Cronicas, Breaking News (mainly for the wonderful opening tracking shot)
The Disappointments: Phil the Alien, Seven Times Lucky, Arsene Lupin, Steamboy, Trauma
The Whale Riders (aka. I regret passing on these films): Sideways, Hotel Rwanda, Kung Fu Hustle, Nobody Knows, Millions, Tarnation, Kinsey, Double Dare
Memorable Moment: While seeing Javier Bardem, Todd Solondz, and Alejandro Amenábar was one of the highlights, the most memorable moment was watching The Machinist. I had the unfortunate luck of having to watch the film the morning after my uncle passed away. It was excruciating watching Christian Bale wither away on screen. I could not help but think of my uncles last days while watching the film. To this day I am still unable to watch The Machinist again due to the memories it evokes.
Random Star Sightings: Javier Bardem, Daniel Craig, Colin Firth, Todd Solondz, Alejandro Amenábar, Anthony Mackie, Ken Leung, Rhys Ifans, Don McKellar, François Ozon, Emily Mortimer
Last month I did a top 5 post on the best and worst Martin Scorsese films. Needless to say the post received a lot of passionate feedback. Andrew at Encore’s World of Film and TV even labelled me a heretic, a badge I wear proudly mind you, for even suggesting that Scorsese has ever made a bad film. Having stirred the pot once already, the sensible thing would be ease off Scorsese for a while; luckily common sense was never one of my strong points.
The year is 1954, U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) are sent to the notorious Shutter Island institution to investigate the disappearance of a patient. Stranded on the island, due to a terrible storm, Teddy begins to get headaches as he drifts in and out of hallucinations. As Teddy struggles with his sanity, he begins to question what type of experiments Dr. Cawley (Ben Kingsley) and Dr. Naehring (Max von Sydow) are conducting on the Shutter Island.
Let me just get this out of the way first, the last act of this film is ridiculous. Actually, it is more the aspects of the “reveal” rather than the cause it. I do not want to give away any spoilers so I will try to keep my annoyances brief. I will merely say that I found it highly unlikely that a facility like Shutter Island, which is home to some of the most dangerous and damaged patients, would allow such a free roaming environment. This is especially preposterous when you factor in the violent nature of certain patients.
The “reveal” aside, I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by the majority of Shutter Island. Martin Scorsese did a great job of maintaining the atmosphere, the best part of the film, and the overall suspense for the first 2/3 of the picture. The eeriness of the art direction kept me hooked the entire way through. The film could have used a little tighter editing, as it does run a bit long, but this is a minor quibble. Especially when you look at how wonderful the performances are during the course of the film.
The standout performances for me are those of Leonardo DiCaprio and Michelle Williams. There scenes together were fantastic, only Dicaprio’s scene during the war came close to rivalling their husband and wife moments. I also thought the large supporting cast, which included Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson, Jackie Earle Haley, and Elias Koteas, did a terrific job of maintaining the level of tension. Normally I find it a bit distracting when I film such as this has so many high profile cameos. Yet none of the cameos felt out of place. Again, if it was not for the silly explanation that Martin Scorsese offers up in the last act, Shutter Island could have been a great movie. Still, the film is worth seeing for the first two acts alone.
