El Orfanato / The Orphanage

YK’s 2-Cents:  



Spookiness Warning:  1 really creepy scene from 1 character,  another shocking scene with the same character, 1 really spooky scene with several characters (the audience sure spoiled this last one for me as they were shrieking so much in anticipation of the thrill, the whole auditorium turned rowdy)

  

Once upon a time in an orphanage somewhere in Spain, six orphans were playing the Children's game of "Un, dos, tres, toca la pared ..." (translated to "1, 2, 3, Knock-On-Wall").  It's a game I too grew up playing, but we called it "1-2-3 Freeze!" (as we don't speak Spanish).


One of the orphan girls, Laura, soon got adopted.  She grew up, got married to a doctor Carlos, and adopted a son Simón.  They returned to the orphanage that Laura grew up in so as to convert it into a facility for disabled children.  


Simón enjoyed his mother's story-telling - he would give Laura 3 words and she'll have to make up a story using those 3 words.  In this movie, I guess the screen writer Sergio G. Sánchez must be given these words:

Children's Games  ,  Peter Pan  ,  Saint Anthony Medal

Simón was able to see friends that others can't see.  He taught Laura to play a treasure hunt game, a game he learnt from his invisible friend Tomás.  He also got really upset when he found out that he was adopted and was very sick (he is HIV-positive).  He went missing after Laura refused to play the treasure hunt game during a children's party at the orphanage.   Carlos, who was the first to accept that Simón was gone, gave Laura his Saint Anthony medal, as she was determined to continue searching for Simón. 


For the benefit of non-Catholics like me, a typical Saint Anthony medal looks like this.
Saint Anthony also happens to be the patron saint of lost articles, and even lost souls.  


As with most European movies of award winning caliber, you can't afford to miss any detail in order to piece together the puzzle, even when it got a bit slow moving at times.  


Also watch with a good deal of imagination to fully appreciate the surprise ending.  But somehow it's just not as great as the ending of another Guillermo del Toro masterpiece "El laberinto del fauno/Pan's Labyrinth" - though they are both dark and beautiful endings.
In terms of shock factor, this movie - directed by Juan Antonio Bayona - is somehow not as thrilling as other horror/thriller genre movies such as "The Others" (by another Spanish director Alejandro Amenábar), and "The Sixth Sense" (M. Night Shyamalan).  
To me, the surprising fact is how this movie outgrossed "El laberinto del fauno" in Spain and also received a 10 minute standing ovation when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.  I assume it's for the great acting by Belén Rueda's as Laura, and Geraldine Chaplin as Aurora the medium.  Perhaps just like Aurora's advice to Laura, 

Seeing is not believing. Believe and you will see.

Incendies

YK’s 2-Cents: 
Gore/Violence warning: 

PLEASE DO NOT WATCH ANY TRAILER OR READ THE SYNOPSIS FROM ANYWHERE BEFORE WATCHING THIS MOVIE.  AS LONG AS YOU CARE ENOUGH ABOUT THIS WORLD AND HUMANITY, THEN YOU MUST WATCH THIS MOVIE - IN THE CINEMA OR ON DVD.  


The problem with an aging population is: The elderly talks, and talks, and talks 
... like a known-it-seen-it-all ...    This is particularly annoying in this movie, due to the major - MAJOR - twist at the end, 
that should be better left to the individual audience to appreciate
Instead of letting our own pennies drop at our own time, the most annoying old woman in the world has to sit next to me and jammed the audience with incessant droppings of her pennies!!


Despite all the strong reviews, it was only shown for 7 days - exclusively at a cinema not the nearest to me.   I barely made it to the last afternoon screening where senior citizens pay half price of SGD 4, so the cinema was 90% full of elderly.  4 old ladies happened to arrive late and sat to my right.  Though the movie is in French/Quebecois/Arabic, there are English and Chinese subtitles - to the relief of the 4 Chinese educated old ladies, and to the misery of the audience sitting around them!  


They started discussing the story line non-stop from the get-go, especially the one right next to me - ignoring all my hints for her to shut the f**k up! 
She would repeat key points of the movie : "怨怨相报何时了, 一加一等于一".

... and this is even while the camera was just panning the beautiful hill slopes of an unspecified middle eastern country.  

I later read that it was filmed in Jordan, but with undeniable reference to the Lebanese Civil War that lasted between 1975-1990 as the background.  It's adapted from a stage play by Lebanon born-Quebec-resident Wajdi Mouawad.  WOW, it's almost inconceivable that such powerful twists and intersperse of story lines actually originated from a stage play!  I would love to see the play someday!

  

As a movie, it is 130min long (try to imagine the stamina of the old lady!), but there's enough twists and turns, gory scenes and shocks from the strong violence to keep one at the edge of the seat. 


Without giving the plot away, the main story line is about the journey taken by a sister Jeanne Marwan (Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin), later joined by her brother Simon Marwan (Maxim Gaudette), from Quebec to middle east - to retrace the footsteps of their late mother Nawal Marwan (Lubna Azabal).   According to the instructions in Nawal's will, executed by the notary and Nawal's former boss (Rémy Girard), they have to hand 2 envelopes:
  1 to their father, whom they presumed dead, 
  1 to their brother, whom they never knew existed.
... and that's how the puzzle begins, as the audience joins them in collecting and fitting the jigsaw pieces, getting scorched in the process - that all the water in the swimming pool could not calm and sooth.


Repeat warning: Don't watch the trailer as they condensed way too much into those 2 minute.  You have to watch the movie to get the full impact of the ending!


I have to share just 2 scenes with Lubna Azabal - her portrayal of all the pent-up complex emotions - is what makes this movie even more powerful and intense ...

... and her suffering more tragic.

Some countries (Germany, Italy, Mexico, Greece, etc) used a title that translates into "The Woman Who Sings" , while Sweden, Denmark and Norway used a title that means "Nawal's Secret", and in Hong Kong, the title translates to "A Mother's Confession". 


None of them was as powerful in scope and depth as the original title in French "Incendies", which means "Scorched".  Anybody can scorch and be scorched, in any way.  It is the most befitting title of such an unforgettable movie.

There was supposedly strong language, but that was lost in translation.  There were also a lot of complaints about the inconsistency of the Arabic accents used in the movie.  For that, I appreciate the subtitles for filtering out these 'noises' (not that I don't have enough noise pollution right next to me ALREADY!), just like how the director had blurred the lines - territorial, political, historical - so that the pure emotions (and NOT cheap emotions) gets directly to the audience.

Despite being deprived of a pleasant cinema experience after paying for a FULL PRICE ticket, this movie was still powerful enough that we audience decide to bare with the bad etiquette of the old lady.  You HAVE to watch this movie to understand the immense suffering of Nawal - so much so that it makes our suffering () seemed so much more trivial, changing us into more forgiving and loving (ok, that's pushing it) human beings.


Without giving the ending away, every character did get 'some sort' of closure, but not in the way anyone would've guessed.  Just as most audience would've guessed that this movie will take away the Best Foreign Language Film for Canada at the 2011 Oscar's, but it lost to Denmark's much more 'politically correct' entry "In A Better World".  By using his artistic license to push the envelop in this movie, Denis Villeneuve has also pushed away the Academy Award winner's envelop, with powerful scenes such as:

But in his own words (http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Showbiz/Story/A1Story20110824-295926.html)

"The film is neutral. There's no religion with a monopoly on horror."

And that's the price of true freedom of expression.

Despicable Me

YK’s 2-Cents: 

It's so cute, I'm gonna die! (in the tone of Agnes, the cutest little orphan girl).

It begins with how a despicably mean guy Gru (voiced by the always hilarious Steve Carell in a inimitable accent) - assisted by Dr. Nefario and an army of minions (adorable little yellow upright capsule looking creatures that speak their own language 'minionese') - is always up to no good.
That's until he gets to know 3 orphaned girls Margo, Edith, and Agnes - who help him to make up for a deprived childhood and fill his heart with their innocence and 'oh-so-cute'-ness.
As expected, there is no lack of 'aww' moments the minute the 3 girls appear.  The bedtime story is sure to bring out the fatherly and motherly instincts in us, just like what happened to Gru ... awww 

The kids among the audience were giggling a lot, so much so, that I can't even tell if the laughter was from the movie or the audience.  Definitely a must-watch for kids.

Some adults might find it a tad too kiddish.  But hey, if  you watch out for them, you do find some hilarious moments meant for adults too, like the most appropriate 'Lehman Brothers' joke .   And it helps if you know some Spanish, like, what is "como un burro"?


This is the perfect animation feature that makes you wanna cuddle the fluffiest soft toy you can get hold of, as you drift away into the sweet, sweet, dreamland at the end of the movie.

SWEET!

Dancer In The Dark

YK’s 2-Cents: 

This movie is Lars von Trier's attempt to add musical to his repertoire and Björk's attempt to add acting to hers.  It was a success for both at Cannes in 2000.


Violence warning: not much by today's standard, unless you count the shock at the end 


Weepie Warning:?  depends on how crazy you are about Björk 



Well, I only get to watch it as a re-screening of von Trier movies in Copenhagen's Cinemateket. Almost every Dane I knew had already watched it.  Most warned about how touching and heart-breaking it was (coming mostly from females) and how they bet I will cry (coming from males).  While I liked how the ending was 'imperfect' in the eyes of most people (btw keep your eye peeled for the shock factor) - my eyes stayed dry.   Come on, must all movie endings be uplifting?  Perhaps an inspiring or thought-provoking ending will be better.


In fact I do suspect that dark humor was deliberately scattered in the movie, like in the scene with Selma trying to get back her money from Bill.  I will just mention that I couldn't resist chuckling slightly during that scene.  Don't forget, most people think like Selma 

- 'In a musical, nothing dreadful ever happens' - OH REALLY?

Casting of Catherine Deneuve seemed to be just to lend star power.  Despite her good acting, I just find her way too elegant for a migrant factory worker.  While the casting of Björk as 'the dancer in the dark' was brilliant, and her acting befit this movie, I am after all not a fan of Björk and will never be.  I really don't care about her Best Actress Awards at Cannes and other Film Festivals,  nor the Oscar nomination for best song  "I've Seen It All", nor her famous/notorious swan dress.  Her out-of-breath shrills in some scene can get quite irritating and patience-testing at times, here's a small sampling of what I mean: 

Lars Von Trier likes to do trilogies and this musical (2000) - together with 'Breaking the Waves' (1996) and 'The Idiots' (1998) form the 'Golden Heart Trilogy', about naive heroines who maintain their 'golden hearts' despite the tragedies they experience.  I think it's just typical Von Trier's idea of making it as grueling as possible to test his lead actresses limits, as can be seen in movies outside the 'Golden Heart Trilogy', like 'Dogville', 'Mandalay', 'Antichrist'.


Much as I wanted to complete this trilogy, there was no re-screening of 'The Idiots'.  I was also told by the locals that it is even more 'experimental' than the experimental musical 'Dancer in the Dark'; and even though the movie is in their mother tongue Danish, hardly any Dane recommended it.


But I will most definitely recommend 'Breaking the Waves'.
And I completed my own 'Von Trier in Copenhagen Trilogy' with 'Antichrist'

Breaking The Waves

YK’s 2-Cents:    

Violence warning: 

Sexuality, Nudity warning: Yes, oh, YES

Weepie warning: 

Let's first fast forward to what happened to me at the end of the movie.  When I left the cinema, I had to stagger across the road on wimpy knees to Kongens Have (The King's Garden), and quickly sat on the grass by the lavender bushes (Thanks to the king's gardeners for the lovely lavenders in the summer of 2009!), trying to recover from the exhaustion of crying too much.  

I simply couldn't understand the effect this film had on me, so I text-messaged a male friend who had watched it back in late 90s - if he remembered crying at all.  He replied that he did felt tears on his face.  This movie will not even rank in my top 10 favorites, but like him, I will never forget the tears I shed.

'God give everyone something they can be good at. 

I've always been stupid, but I'm good at this ... ... I can believe.'

Yes, I must stress it's the female protagonist's infinite capacity at believing and trusting, in God, that is.  At the onslaught of hard hitting waves, is there still something within your control to break the waves?

This is the first movie in Lars Von Trier's 'Golden Heart Trilogy', about naive heroines who maintain their 'golden hearts' despite the tragedies they experience.  

This story is too complex for a synopsis.  But I'll try anyway.  

Emily Watson plays the ultimate naive Bess McNeil, who lives in a Scottish coastal town ruled by the religious doctrine of its council of elders.  She marries the out-of-towner oil-rig worker Jan (played by Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård) who can't wait to give her a lot of crash courses in sex.  When Jan has to leave for work on the oil rig, she prayed to God to bring him back immediately.  Sure enough, God answered her prayer!  Jan was soon home - but paralyzed from the neck down after a freak oil-rig accident.  Just as she has read God's will for her choice of husband, she believed it was her fault that God answered her prayer.

Here's where it gets a bit like 'The Gift of the Magi’ - the best of intentions, the worst of sacrifices - just a lot more brutal.  Unable to fulfill his new wife sexually, Jan told Bess to have sex with other men.  To ensure that his wife gets back to a 'normal' sex life, she has to recount the sexual experience to him.  This gives Bess an idea of what she can use to convince her most trusted God for a miracle for Jan to recover – something she’s good at, so she believes.  

I love the way the camera's angle was taken such that the audience shares God's view: 

• Admiring his own creations

Note how every chapter-breaks resembled Christian scenery portraits, accompanied by 70s music.  It's a good break from today's CGI effects.  

• Looking down from above, judging

God's last judgment can be seen in one of the most inspiring endings – the part where I burst into uncontrollable tears.  It was a complex feeling of hope from the closure after all the brutal bleakness, all because a simple girl simply believes.  

I stayed in my seat to cry my heart out over the ending.  When I had to leave the cinema, I continued crying in the toilet.  It was a good crying session because at that point in my life, I was working in a place with no God, and as punishment for my attempts to break the waves, the organization's management see to it that I receive no closure.  Unlike Bess, I wasn't very good at believing or make-believing.  Alas, the real life is very different from the one where Lars Von Trier plays God.

In my opinion, Emily Watson remains Lars Von Trier's best find in a female lead - and not that the rest his female leads are shabby.  But I can hardly think of a more memorable performance from another actress than Watson as Bess.  

If you don't mind some violence and nudity, and you are not the most die-hard atheist, and you haven't had a good cry for a long while, and you still want to feel hope at the end of all the crying, then definitely watch his movie.  

Btw, my all time most heart wrenching tear jerking movie is still 'Hachikô monogatar'