El mal ajeno - Oskar Santos (2010)

If you take a look at this blog you can possibly guess I like French and Russian films. And British. But if there's one country you could say I have seen a lot from, that is Spain. I have since most of the ones released in the 90s, and many from the 80s and 00s.

Eduardo Noriega isn't just a handsome actor, he can be a very  good actor too. He can play characters that are different from each other. In this film... he's ok. He does the best he can with the script he's got. It bothers me a lot how they tried to aged him more and it just doesn't work. This doctor is about his age, but simply doesn't look as old and worn out as he should.

So what is this film? Is it a thriller? Is it a drama? Is it a tragedy? Is it a fantasy film?! It certainly has elements of everything. It begins as a drama and slowly develops to a thriller with fantasy elements... and you could say the ending is a bit in the Greek tragedy area: will he choose his life and the life of his patients OR the life of all of his loved ones? But it doesn't really choose a genre and develops it efficiently. It's not an author film either! Perhaps it's trying to copy an Amenábar sort of style.

All the technical aspects are very good. The photography is great, stylish, nice to watch. The art is clean and stylish...again (except for how bad it tries to make a young looking actor look old and how healthy most patients look!). The sound is correct, nothing espectacular in terms of design but still well done. The music is meassured, not overused.

Still. How can a film that has everything for one to like it a lot.. still  leaves you feeling so... unimpressed? I think the screenplay might have something to do with it. If only something had engaged us during most of the film we would have been more excited at the end. It's not a bad film, it just lacks a soul.

El mal ajeno

My afternoons with Margueritte - Jean Becker (2010)

What does this still say?

A big overweight Frenchman sits in a park with an adorable old lady, surrounded by pidgeons. We can already sense he's not very bright and she's very distinguished. They read and develop a friendship that would change them both.

That's it. That's the film.If you expect a small feel-good French film, that's what it is. Nicely acted - Depardieu is meassured, unlike the also not very bright Quentin from Tas-toi!, his character is likeable (to me he now seems a little dodgy after his plane incident). Correctly filmed. Nothing more than that.

Also, it isn't excessively sweetened or full of unrealistic hopes. Sometimes we need films like this to pass the time.

La tête en friche

Nochnoy dozor - Timur Bekmambetov (2004)

I can't be objective when it comes to Russian films. This films proves it.

I had seen it before and all I could remember was that I saw it in one go and ended up watching half of the second part the same night. I enjoyed it more.

This time I thought it was... well impressive for a Russian film. It really looks like a Hollywood film. The visual effects are rather impressive and the sound work is quite good too- sounded a lot better than many films I've heard lately. It's a real fantasy film, only spoken in Russian. Is there a better vampire than one that speaks Russian? I don't think so.

Not much to say about it. Good effects. Typical good vs evil story. A Russian LOTR (which makes it a little more interesting) but without the need to read the book, it works as a film on its own.  The trailer says it all, there's no more than that.

Night Watch

The King Speech - Interview with Sound Mixer John Midgley

I already wrote an entry about it, but this is a very interesting video, especially because he talks about the way he worked for the film. It seems to me that sound mixers always have the same role and problems: fighting unwanted noises and the crew that creates it. It's comforting that it happens to big budget important sound mixers too.

(I wish they had use less of that little music for the interview... it really gets on my nerves).

Taken from here 

SoundWorks Collection: The Sound of "The King's Speech" from Michael Coleman on Vimeo.