I am happy that Frears has shown once again that he is one of the most versatile film directors of his generation. He is also a lucky director because he always has a great script to work with. The scene where the Nigerian doctor hands over the "fresh kidney" to the pick-up guy who says that it was the first time he met him is brilliant as it sums up the whole immigrant experience: " we are the invisible guys who drive your cabs, clean your toilets, suck your c...s" The great script is also accompanied by a great group of actors, especially Sergi Lopez who was already superb in Une Relation Pornoqrafique proves here that he is an actor to follow. I seriously think that this overlooked and underrated film will slowly acquire a cult status.
Reviews
3 Reviews
Don't Move
(2004)
Brilliantly crafted, superbly acted
22 April 2004
Here is a movie which is better than the book it is adapted from. Not unlike film version of "the Hours", the film version of "Non Ti Muovere - Don't Move" surpasses the quality of the book. Castellito proves that not only is he one of the best actors in Italy but he is also a first-rate movie director. His directing puts in an amazing load of emotions into a story which was depicted rather coldly in the book. The scene where Castellito-Timeteo has a fight with Cruz-Italia after she announces that she underwent an abortion is worthy of movie anthologies. One of the best surprises of the film is undoubtedly Penelope Cruz that emerges from the castrating roles in Hollywood and proves herself as an emotionally intense actress. I hope the film receives the acclaim it deserves in its showing at the Cannes Festival in May.
Dogville
(2003)
Overrated, presumptuous, anachronistic
22 April 2004
Despite all the hype about Dogville, viewers beware that this movie is the sum of the hallucinatory ramblings of a director who thinks he is God. I seriously think that it adds nothing new to cinematographic vision (See Straub-Huillet's America adapted from Kafka), it is presumptuous in its rendering of the so-called American society in the 30s, it reduced filmmaking to a cheap theatrical version of a play (If anyone wants to see real film/theater, should see some of the far superior French nouvelle vague films). I do not know what made Kidman, though acting brilliantly, chose the role. I hope to think that she was ill-advised by her europhile friends. Anyhow the fact that she decline to do the two other films in the trilogy is a sign of her sanity.
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