My Summer at the cinema
Films I saw in July:
Jimmy's Hall
I really liked it. Not the best film by Ken Loach, but still lovely.
Blue Ruin
Interesting indie movie that defies any genre categorizing.
Under the Skin
I did not like it, at all!
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
The human characters don't really get to be fleshed out (Gary Oldman deserves better than roles like that!) but Ceasar rules!
Films I saw in August::
Boyhood cf my review.
Winter Sleep cf my review
Clouds of Sils Maria by Olivier Assayas
Probably my favourite film of this Summer! The movie is so clever, and both Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart are fantastic. Sils Maria is about movies, actresses and acting, about the difference between fantasy/acting and reality, about the passing of time. It is based on several mise-en-abîmes, for some storylines echo each others or work as counterpoints, but there's also echoes between storylines within the films and other movies (All About Eve for instance) or between the characters and the actresses' career (for instance nearly 30 years ago, Assayas co-wrote Binoche’s first starring role in Andre Techine’s Rendez-vous). It's meta-fiction at its best.
Cloud of Sils Maria tells the story of a mature actress, Maria (Juliette Binoche), whose career was launched about 20 years before when she was hired in a play called “Maloja Snake". The play then was adapted on screen and Maria became an international star. "Maloja Snake" is about a business woman, Helena, being seduced and manipulated by a much younger girl, Sigrid, who finally pushes her towards a probable suicide. At the times Maria played the young bitch. When Wilhelm Melchior, the playwright and her mentor, dies, she's asked by a trendy young stage director to star again in the play, but this time in the role of the older woman, Helena, while a young movie starlet, Jo-Ann Ellis (Chloe Grace Moretz) will play the part Maria used to identify to. At first Maria refuses, but she finally gives in, and goes to Sils Maria in the Swiss Alps, wherein Melchior wrote the play and died, to prepare the role with her young personal assistant, Val (Kristen Stewart).
Val is a hyper-reliable young woman who serves as Maria's minder, mother, therapist and rehearsal partner. The Maria/Val dynamic, of course, is the core of the film.
The setting is important too. It's sorta huis clos in the outside, and the place also echoes the plot as the real “Maloja Snake,” is a meteorological phenomenon that sends clouds winding serpent-like, from Italy through a valley lined by mountains on either side.
As the final credits rolled on I couldn't help noticing that the three actresses had a personal assistant, but Stewart also had a body guard...
Les Combattants
I guess that if the film should belong to a genre category it would be Romantic comedy, expect that it isn't like any rom comedies you have seen. I don't like romantic comedies and I really liked that film!
The young actors are all excellent, and the film is just so funny. The opening scene sets the tone, as two brothers are at a funeral parlour to pick a coffin for their dead father, but they start arguing with the seller (who can't believe it) about the prices because of the quality of the wood...turns out they are carpenters by trade.
The Salvation
Okay. I love westerns but this isn't Unforgiven. Mads Mikkelsen does his best in a film that mostly follows formula, borrowing from the classics (by John Ford) here and from Spaghetti Westerns there. The Danish director does not renew the genre.
All the cast is good, but Mikkelsen definitely stands out, and the camera often indulges in close-ups on his unique face, relying both on his acting skills and beauty. Besides, since Eva Green's mouth is scarred there, he easily wins the award of most kissable lips! :- )
The film got rather bad reviews when it was showed in Cannes festival (it did not compete though), and I have to agree with the critiques. It's a soon-to-forget movie, only worth watching if you like westerns and are a fan of Mads Mikkelsen.
Films I wanted to see but didn't
Enemy
I shall see it next week!
Jimmy's Hall
I really liked it. Not the best film by Ken Loach, but still lovely.
Blue Ruin
Interesting indie movie that defies any genre categorizing.
Under the Skin
I did not like it, at all!
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
The human characters don't really get to be fleshed out (Gary Oldman deserves better than roles like that!) but Ceasar rules!
Films I saw in August::
Boyhood cf my review.
Winter Sleep cf my review
Clouds of Sils Maria by Olivier Assayas
Probably my favourite film of this Summer! The movie is so clever, and both Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart are fantastic. Sils Maria is about movies, actresses and acting, about the difference between fantasy/acting and reality, about the passing of time. It is based on several mise-en-abîmes, for some storylines echo each others or work as counterpoints, but there's also echoes between storylines within the films and other movies (All About Eve for instance) or between the characters and the actresses' career (for instance nearly 30 years ago, Assayas co-wrote Binoche’s first starring role in Andre Techine’s Rendez-vous). It's meta-fiction at its best.
Cloud of Sils Maria tells the story of a mature actress, Maria (Juliette Binoche), whose career was launched about 20 years before when she was hired in a play called “Maloja Snake". The play then was adapted on screen and Maria became an international star. "Maloja Snake" is about a business woman, Helena, being seduced and manipulated by a much younger girl, Sigrid, who finally pushes her towards a probable suicide. At the times Maria played the young bitch. When Wilhelm Melchior, the playwright and her mentor, dies, she's asked by a trendy young stage director to star again in the play, but this time in the role of the older woman, Helena, while a young movie starlet, Jo-Ann Ellis (Chloe Grace Moretz) will play the part Maria used to identify to. At first Maria refuses, but she finally gives in, and goes to Sils Maria in the Swiss Alps, wherein Melchior wrote the play and died, to prepare the role with her young personal assistant, Val (Kristen Stewart).
Val is a hyper-reliable young woman who serves as Maria's minder, mother, therapist and rehearsal partner. The Maria/Val dynamic, of course, is the core of the film.
The setting is important too. It's sorta huis clos in the outside, and the place also echoes the plot as the real “Maloja Snake,” is a meteorological phenomenon that sends clouds winding serpent-like, from Italy through a valley lined by mountains on either side.
Click to viewAs the final credits rolled on I couldn't help noticing that the three actresses had a personal assistant, but Stewart also had a body guard...
Les Combattants
I guess that if the film should belong to a genre category it would be Romantic comedy, expect that it isn't like any rom comedies you have seen. I don't like romantic comedies and I really liked that film!
The young actors are all excellent, and the film is just so funny. The opening scene sets the tone, as two brothers are at a funeral parlour to pick a coffin for their dead father, but they start arguing with the seller (who can't believe it) about the prices because of the quality of the wood...turns out they are carpenters by trade.
The Salvation
Okay. I love westerns but this isn't Unforgiven. Mads Mikkelsen does his best in a film that mostly follows formula, borrowing from the classics (by John Ford) here and from Spaghetti Westerns there. The Danish director does not renew the genre.
All the cast is good, but Mikkelsen definitely stands out, and the camera often indulges in close-ups on his unique face, relying both on his acting skills and beauty. Besides, since Eva Green's mouth is scarred there, he easily wins the award of most kissable lips! :- )
The film got rather bad reviews when it was showed in Cannes festival (it did not compete though), and I have to agree with the critiques. It's a soon-to-forget movie, only worth watching if you like westerns and are a fan of Mads Mikkelsen.
Films I wanted to see but didn't
Enemy
I shall see it next week!