Real Movie Review-Movie Reviews, Movie Quotes, Movie Trivia

Director: Stefan Ruzowitsky

Starring: Karl Markovics, August Diehl, Devid Striesow, Martin Brambach, August Zirner, Veit Stubner, Sebastien Urzendowsky, Andreas Schmidt,

The true story of the largest counterfeiting ring ever is subject of this Austrian sub-titled feature and believe if or not, it wasn’t the mob, the KGB or Danny Ocean and his pack of cool conmen. Nope, it was Adolph and his Berlin boys. Based on the book of Adolf Burger who was one of the participants in this grand scale double cross. Wonderful performances, haunting sets and an absorbing story help director Stefan Ruzowitsky, create a magnificent motion picture that took the Oscar for Best Foreign Language film in 2008.

Karl Markovics is Sally Sorowitsch, a tough and successful Jewish criminal in 1930s Berlin, who makes his money as the premiere counterfeiter in Europe and doesn’t care about the Nazis, until he is arrested by them and sent to a concentration camp. Soon, he is using his artistic talent to please them and stay alive. Soon, however a Nazi officer named Herzog (Devid Striesow) takes Sally to be leader of a squad of specially skilled prisoners whose task it is to successfully counterfeit the British pound for the Nazi’s benefit. At first, things go smoothly, but in time, one of the workers, Adolf Burger (August Diehl) begins to think that they should not aid the Nazi cause.

The Counterfeiters is a strong drama and WWII period piece. The subtitles are worth it to enjoy this film, particularly if you like true stories of people in the most difficult of situations. Imagine Schlinder’s List, if it was set inside a German concentration camp and you will have an idea of what to expect here, although it lacks the emotional impact of the stronger earlier holocaust film.

Director: Marc Forster

Starring: Khalid Abdalla, Atossa Leoni, Zekeria Ebrahimi, Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada, Homayoun Marshadi, Shaun Toub

German director, Marc Forster (Finding Neverland, Monster’s Ball) has done an outstanding job turning David Benioff’s screen treatment of Khalad Hosseini’s best-selling novel into one of the pre-eminent films of 2007. The story is strong, and though it does get intermittently slow, it is still engaging and moving, throughout. The acting is nothing short of flawless and enhances the film, immeasurably. The direction is stellar, particularly in the creation of settings from Kabul in the late 70s, and then the stark contrast two decades later. Subtitles are used for much of the dialog, but the added viewer effort is worth it.

The story here is that of Amir, and is split into a period when he is a child (played by Zekeria Ebrahimi) in Afghanistan just before the Soviet invasion, which forces his father (Homayoun Marshadi) to take him and leave the country. Left behind is their servant, Rahim (Shaun Toob) and his son, Hassan (Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada) who was Amir’s closest friend, until the shame and guilt of an unfortunate event came between them. Amir and his father end up in America, where an adult Amir (Khalid Abdalla), has put Afghanistan behind him, taken a wife and written a novel, when his past suddenly comes rushing back to him with one phone call.

The Kite Runner is an excellent drama about human relations and how they are impacted by events of the world around them. For those who are comfortable with subtitled films, this is a must see, with the same kind of appeal, and greater impact than Namesake from 2006. For those of you, who never watch subtitled motion pictures, why not?

Director: Ang Lee

Starring: Tony Leung Chui Wai, Wei Tang, Joan Chen, Lee-Hom Wang,

Lust, Caution is a darkly, beautiful Ang Lee period piece set in China during the Japanese WWII occupation. The plodding story and the sub-titles can make it difficult to get into, and to follow at first, but there are wonderful performances and a good story that will eventually draw in most viewers.

Lust, Caution is about a young Chinese woman, Wong Chia Chi, who joins with a group of students to go undercover to bring down a powerful Japanese collaborator named Mr. Yee (Tony Leung Chui Wai), whose socialite wife she befriends. This is only the beginning as she is pulled deeper and deeper into the deception. This is a Taiwanese film, and the unedited version has sex scenes that are longer and more graphic than we are used to with North American features, so you probably don’t want to sit down and watch it with your parents, in-laws, grandmother, etc., unless your family dynamic is fundamentally different from mine.

Lust, Caution is an enjoyable, and well-made, foreign feature that should please patient viewers who are comfortable with sub-titled features. It is reminiscent of a similar Dutch feature, Zwartboek (Black Book).

Director: Mira Nair

Starring: Irfan Khan, Tabu, Kal Penn, Sahira Nair, Jagganath Guha, Jacinda Barrett, Zuleikha Robinson

Director Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding) took on Sooni Taraporevala’s screen treatment of Jhumpa Lahir’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel to make a patient and wonderfully detailed drama about an immigrant couple and their American-born children. The story is authentic and believable, though it is slow and quite mundane. The dialog flows naturally and the performances feel as though no one is acting.

Irfan Kane is Ashoke Ganguli, an Indian professor living in the US, who returns to India to find a bride. He finds the beautiful Ashima (Tabu) and the two quickly decide to marry, after which both return to the US to start a family. They soon have a baby boy, followed by a girl. At this point, we are mostly done with the subtitles and the story stops briefly while the kids are teenagers, before moving on another ten years or so. The son, Gogol, played by Kal Penn, becomes the main character in the story now, though his parents still figure prominently. Gogol finds his way through life as a frustrated American-born visual minority and tries to find a balance with happiness and his parent’s wishes, as well as comfort and acceptance of who he is.

There is no doubt that Namesake is top flight filmmaking. There is some doubt, however, whether many viewers will care. The story is slow and is really less engaging than many life stories that I been told by friends from different cultural backgrounds. I can’t deny that the story did draw me in and make me care, though, so it is a solid drama that flows as naturally as watching a friend live it. Not for everyone, but those who like it, will love it.

Director: Guillermo DelTorro

Starring: Ariadna Gil, Ivana Baquero, Sergi Lopez, Maribel Verdu, Doug Jones, Alex Angula

This is a relentlessly dark, but wonderful fairy tale, as well as an example of truly fine filmmaking as evidenced by its three academy awards in this area. The story is very good and the actors are all excellent. I see few foreign language films and recommend fewer still, but this is one gets my highest rating. Even if you usually don’t care for foreign language features, this one is worth a look.

The movie is set in Fascist Spain in 1944 and Ivana Baquero is a young girl named Ofelia who travels with her mother (Ariadna Gil) to join her new husband (Lopez) at a mountain army camp where he is the evil Captain of a unit chasing rebels. Once there Ofelia soon finds herself in contact with strange, mysterious beings, including the Faun, who claims that she is a long lost princess of a subterranean world, but can he be trusted?

So often we forget that quality movies are not found only on our side of the pond. This is a dark, beautiful story and an old-fashioned fairy tale in the traditional of the original Grimm’s stories. Unless you are fluent in Spanish, you will need the subtitles. This is a pain in the ass, I know, but this one is worth it.

Director: Rachid Bouchareb

Starring: Jamel Debbouze, Samy Naceri, Roschdy Zern, Sami Bouajila, Bernard Blancan, Mathieu Simonet, Aurelie Eltvedt, Asaad Bouab

This Algerian war film is billed as a North African “Saving Private Ryan” and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film of 2006. The characters are good, the acting is authentic and the overall quality of the camera work is impressive. The story lags at times and could have used more action, but it is still a powerful film.

It’s World War II and a North African Unit is fighting to liberate France from Nazi occupation. Director Rachid Bouchareb does a fantastic job of capturing the period and creating gripping scenes, both of battles and of the men moving through WWII France. The story primarily follows four Algerian soldiers who fight for their lives and for respect from a nation that colonized their land and now wants them to fight the Germans in return for second-class citizenship.

Well, it’s nowhere near as entertaining as “Saving Private Ryan”. It is too slow and dark to measure up to that instant classic, but this is still a taut and engaging war movie with significant social commentary to share that all of us could learn from. There is no society, that I aware of, in which all members are treated equally. Yet when times of war come, these underprivileged citizens are asked to risk their lives for the very group that oppresses them.

“I got nothing against no Viet Cong. No Vietnamese ever called me a n*****.”

Muhammad Ali: when asked why he would refuse to fight in the Vietnam War.

Director: Clint Eastwood

Starring: Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryo Kase,

I reluctantly watched this film, feeling obligated to do a review. Like so many movie fans, I am strangely resistant to foreign language movies (this one is almost all in Japanese), even though I usually enjoy them far more than I expect. Letters From Iwo Jima is a spectacular film about one of WWII’s bloodiest Pacific battles in which over 20,000 Japanese soldiers died and less than 1,000 were taken prisoner. This is a terrible, but amazing war story told from the perspective of the Japanese defenders. Eastwood artfully directs this masterpiece and the muted colors camera work, so popular these days, is beautiful, and chillingly effective here. The performers are so natural that there doesn’t seem to be any acting going on. It is significantly better than its sister film, Flags of Our Fathers. It has greater focus on the battle, keeping the tension up, throughout. As well, having fewer characters allows the viewer more connection to them. This is the trickiest part of any war movie, where there are so many similarly dressed characters on screen.

Ken Watanabe is General Kuribayashi, who is given the impossible task of holding the island of Iwo Jima, which is vital to holding off an American invasion of Japan. He chooses an unconventional, resistance defense that, while effective, conflicts with many established ideas. With dwindling resources, and soldiers, the situation becomes more and more desperate. The story also follows a young, reluctant Japanese soldier named Saigo (Ninomiya), who is doing what he feels he must, though he, and others, feel more and more uncertain about their duty.

The story brilliantly contrasts brutality and humanity, and contrasts the deeply ingrained Japanese concept of honor with individual motivation. These themes are striking and memorable. Letters From Iwo Jima is emotionally charged, riveting and a must-see for those with any interest in historical films, war movies or fine cinematic efforts…and to think that I didn’t want to watch it.

Black Book (Zwartboek) (2006) ****1/2

Director: Paul Verhoeven

Starring: Carice van Houten, Sebastian Koch, Thom Hoffman, Halina Reijn, Waldemar Kolbus, Derek de Lint,

Dutch director, Paul Verhoeven (Total Recall, Basic Instinct, Hollow Man) shot this gripping, WWII spy drama in his native language and it was first released as Zwartboek in The Netherlands. The screenplay, written by Verhoeven and Gerard Soeteman, is inspired by the true stories of Dutch resistance fighters, and the resulting project was the most expensive Dutch movie ever made. The expense is justified, and the subtitles are worth putting up with because this is a compelling feature with strong characters, impressive acting and an ever-growing story that picks up from a slow (or was just my usual resistance to a foreign-language film?), confusing start to quickly pull us in.

Carice van Houten is Rachel, a beautiful, fleeing Dutch Jew, whose family is betrayed and murdered. Numb with pain, she soon finds herself involved with the underground resistance and is asked to establish a romance with a German SS officer, Ludwig Muntz (Sebastian Koch). She is successful and soon finds herself running into Gunther Franken (Kobus), the leader of the unit that murdered her family, as well. The story is well-paced and has plenty of twists along the way to an excellent ending.

History buffs will love this movie, and film fans will agree. There may not be enough action to hold all the ADD viewers, but the excellent story and quality performances and directing make this a little-known renter’s gem.

Director: Mel Gibson

Starring: Rudy Youngblood, Dalia Hernandez, Jonathan Brewer, Morris Birdyellowhead

This fantastic action/adventure movie confirms once again that whatever his personal issues, Mel Gibson sure can make movies. There are subtitles here, but I doubt you will mind five minutes into the feature. The acting is natural and convincing, the story is simple but taut, and realistic, while the direction and action sequences are first rate.

A small tribe of Central American natives, lead by Flint Sky (Morris Birdyellowhead) and his son, Jaguar’s Paw (Rudy Youngblood) are suddenly set upon by a Mayan hunting party seeking slaves. Most are captured. The balance of the movie deals with events after the capture and destruction of their village, as Jaguar’s Paw and others fight for survival. The brutality of the Mayans is striking, as is their desperation to survive, at this, the sunset of their empire.

A great action movie that kinda combines Last of the Mohicans with the Emerald Forest (anyone remember that one?) except there are no white people around in this one. The box cover may not convince you, subtitles, aboriginals, weird title, but trust me, this one is worth it.