SBIFF '08
The 23rd annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival finished last weekend, but I claim it's not too late to post about the movies I saw.
Cream of the crop:
Beautiful Bitch - A story of a Romanian teenager trying to be a "normal" kid while meeting her quotas as a pickpocket for an organized crime ring. Extremely touching without being sappy.
Mongol - The epic love story of Genghis Khan. It was filled with gorgeous sweeping landscapes yet focused on personal interactions and stories. Not at all what I expected from an epic on Genghis Khan.
Recommended:
The Counterfeiters - The true story of a group of Jews in a Nazi concentration camp who were forced to print British pounds and American dollars to stock the Nazi war coffers. The movie did an excellent job of focusing on the interactions between the men (Jewish and Nazi) and looking at the choices they were making to survive.
The Pixar Story - A documentary about the history of Pixar. A well-told tale of the people who formed the initial core at Pixar and how they've been successful again and again.
Priceless - A French romantic comedy starring Audrey Tautou as a young woman trying to strike it rich by marrying any rich guy who'll take her. Amusing, cute, and occasionally sappy.
Vexille - An animated Japanese movie about what it means to be human. This is the weakest of my "Recommended" ones, but if you're interested in a sci-fi take on the definition of humanity, it's worth watching. And the film's depiction of US special forces can be pretty hysterical.
Don't bother:
Dasepo Naughty Girls - An absurd Korean musical about sex and high school kids. It was full of gags, but a lot of the plot didn't seem to hold together.
Freesia: Bullets over Tears - A Japanese movie about revenge and discovering long-hidden emotions. A hokey premise that was poorly executed; the movie creeps to a crawl at several points.
Triangle - A sort-of heist film with three famous Hong Kong directors felt like three movies grafted together. Once you finally got in to the flow of one director's portion, a new director would take over.
I also heard good things about Amal and Blind Mountain, but didn't get a chance to see either one.
Cream of the crop:
Beautiful Bitch - A story of a Romanian teenager trying to be a "normal" kid while meeting her quotas as a pickpocket for an organized crime ring. Extremely touching without being sappy.
Mongol - The epic love story of Genghis Khan. It was filled with gorgeous sweeping landscapes yet focused on personal interactions and stories. Not at all what I expected from an epic on Genghis Khan.
Recommended:
The Counterfeiters - The true story of a group of Jews in a Nazi concentration camp who were forced to print British pounds and American dollars to stock the Nazi war coffers. The movie did an excellent job of focusing on the interactions between the men (Jewish and Nazi) and looking at the choices they were making to survive.
The Pixar Story - A documentary about the history of Pixar. A well-told tale of the people who formed the initial core at Pixar and how they've been successful again and again.
Priceless - A French romantic comedy starring Audrey Tautou as a young woman trying to strike it rich by marrying any rich guy who'll take her. Amusing, cute, and occasionally sappy.
Vexille - An animated Japanese movie about what it means to be human. This is the weakest of my "Recommended" ones, but if you're interested in a sci-fi take on the definition of humanity, it's worth watching. And the film's depiction of US special forces can be pretty hysterical.
Don't bother:
Dasepo Naughty Girls - An absurd Korean musical about sex and high school kids. It was full of gags, but a lot of the plot didn't seem to hold together.
Freesia: Bullets over Tears - A Japanese movie about revenge and discovering long-hidden emotions. A hokey premise that was poorly executed; the movie creeps to a crawl at several points.
Triangle - A sort-of heist film with three famous Hong Kong directors felt like three movies grafted together. Once you finally got in to the flow of one director's portion, a new director would take over.
I also heard good things about Amal and Blind Mountain, but didn't get a chance to see either one.