It is December, and as we are in the US, there were films that we had been expecting for a long time that were released this week. I won’t write lines and lines about them all – this time, the critics were right most of the time - but the surprise we had it worth a short article.
The first one we saw was “The tourist”. Of course, we did not expect a Desplechin script or some Prévert dialogue, but we thought that with Angelina (Jolie) and Johnny (Depp), it could be a pretty decent action film. What I didn’t know but realized after only a few minutes was that it was a remake of a French movie called “Anthony Zimmer”, starring Yvan Attal and Sophie Marceau, that was released more than five years ago. Too bad for me, because I watched it a few months ago, and so, I knew exactly what was going to happen. The script was the same and the dialogues were almost identical. However, I thought that as the director was a pretty good one - Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck previously did « The lives of others » - and as it was an American production (meaning: a lot of money), it could be impressive. Seriously? The longest 1 hour and 43 minutes of the month! Heavy and slow, not even funny or impressive. Simply… a terrible terrible TERRIBLE film.
Black Swan – starring Nathalie Portman and Vincent Cassel - was a better surprise. Great acting/ editing/actors’ direction/ suspense/ tension. I didn’t find it extraordinary, maybe because the whole “Swan Lake”/ ballet ambiance isn’t really my thing, but still, it is a thriller that works well and that makes you extremely uncomfortable.
Last, but not least. We had the chance to see the Pulitzer price adaptation “Rabbit Hole” this Tuesday, as a Seattle premiere. Starring Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart, it is the story of a couple trying to move on after they’ve lost their four-year-old son – even if it’s painful and uneasy -. Both of the actors are stunning. The realism of the script, of the dialogue, of the pain, is impressive. I could feel their panic, their grief and their sadness. But the strange, disturbing and very shocking thing what not into the film but into the audience. The entire room kept on laughing again and again when there was absolutely nothing to laugh about. After the screening, we went to talk to the person in charge to ask why people would laugh, and even if she said that it might have been because people felt uncomfortable, I am guessing that it is actually a good representation of an average US crowd, which is pretty distressing. People here need to laugh.
MJ.
