The White Diamond - Werner Herzog (2004)

I am not sure how he does it but Herzog does it over an over again. He's the master of documentaries.

If you analyse most of his documentaries he uses the same formula: find an interesting topic, find interesting characters, go to a unique location... oh and yes, you can't forget Herzog's madness and his Bavarian accent. You can say that's his secret and it works every single time.

The White Diamond begins with an engineer making a flying device. You find out early on that he has a haunting memory: it's not his first experiment, someone died trying to make a film and he is traumatised. But the story will unravel slowly, interestingly... only great story-telling can do that, and that is actually the secret Herzog has mastered.

The landscape is beautifully photographed and the sound is extremely well used. The sound of the canopy, the noise of the waterfall... when we finally hear the accident's story you can almost imagine it. The music is very well chosen and it's just go really well with the images.

I hope never stops making documentaries, I hope he never stops finding stories and characters that are as crazy as he is. ♥

La mujer sin piano - Javier Rebollo (2009)

There are films for everyone. There's an audience for everything. Those seems to be two of the most important laws in cinema.

There's a certain audience that likes the idea of "independent"* cinema.... meaning non-traditional, non-narrative, a bit pretentious too. This is a film for them.

We have a main character, she is very well played - the actress has a career as television comedian but here she manages to do very well in drama. It's not a performance problem. The film is about her.. the problem seems to be that we don't get to know a lot about her. Okay, she's fed up with her life, she wants something else... we don't know what or why. She just wanders around. She drinks cognac. There's nothing wrong with not telling everything. But you need to get the audience to empathise with her and really feel the way she is feeling and want to run away to. I think here is where it fails.

The photography/camera is very good. The lighting is very simple but very well done. Tidy. The movements are stylish, I'd call them meticulous to an immaculate level. 

Nice surprise** : the sound is also interesting. Lots of atmosphere sounds. Her character is mostly her heels. But she also comments she has a hearing problem... which isn't well used in the film. It could have been better. The music is well used... it represents her feelings, her drive, whatever it is that they are not telling us, the music gives us a hint. And it's used only for those moments. Good choice.

The ending... is the beginning of a new film, a more traditional film. Did I like La mujer sin piano? I didn't hate it but it isn't my kind of film. I like feeling together with the character, I wanted to cheer for her to do well. I didn't get involved in her story. You can do a non-narrative film an still convey emotions.


* I could start a rant about "independent" cinema, "independent" of what/whom... but I won't do it this time.
** Why should anyone be surprised to find good use of sound in a film?!

La mujer sin piano

The trailer. That's the film. That's all you get from it. 

Genova - Michael Winterbottom (2008)

Sometimes little stories in films are necessary. This is a small story, nothing pretentious. Purely human drama: how will a father with his two girls cope with the sudden death of their mother?

The film shows how scary everything becomes... that feeling of life being so volatile is very well expressed. I think that's good storytelling, it keeps you engaged throughout the film. The problem is that the characters aren't too deep. The exception is the little girl, who has secrets, has things troubling her... is alive. We don't get to know a lot about anyone else. I don't expect to know everything or have all questions answered, but it's nice to ask myself questions and be moved somewhere by a story.

The photography is very  nice, the camera is very well done. But Winterbottom always makes pretty films. They might be hit and miss, but their photography isn't. He's very good at expressing visually what he wants to say with the story. He doesn't present a touristy vision of Genova, more like how the newcomers see it... though it has to be said, it is Genova but it could be any city in the world (it could be their own city changed after the death of the mother!).

The music is okay.. not great. The sound is fair... nothing exciting (which is disappointing as such a capable director could make way better use of sound).

Colin Firth. He's a good actor. He's got a very strong presence. He's not someone you just see, he's someone you probably expect to take over the film. In Genova his perfomance is reasonable, I think he's too much of an important presence for such a small film. It makes it a larger story than it really is (nothing wrong with simple stories, but they usually require actors who aren't so obviously visible). The girls are quite unknown and seem better suited - the youngest one is an amazing actress.

Genova was written by Laurence Coriat, who also wrote Wonderland (1999), another of his film that I quite enjoyed. That is a small film, nicely performed, simple stories... I think having a big star and an 'exotic' location didn't help this time.

It's not a great film, but I found it entertaining.  I like Winterbottom, I'm tolerant with him and he's such a
prolific director that he's allowed to miss sometimes.

Genova

Cave of Forgotten Dreams - Werner Herzog (2010)

How does Herzog finds such interesting characters? I feel I have written this before. He does it again in this film. 

I was a little disturbed. I still can't imagine thousands and thousands of years... and how humans managed to have survived that long. It's mind-blowing how some paintings in this cave were done thousands of years apart and are still well preserved. It's also amazing how it took them so long to discover this cave (fortunately!)

The people Herzog meets are always fascinating, the former circus artist geologist? The perfumer sniffing the cave?! The playing the flute dressed in fur?! 

The sound could have been better... the eerie place needed eerier sounds, not so much music, the cave needed a voice and an ambience. 

Lots of links:

Details of production and reviews on Herzog's website

Very very interesting interview with Herzog's Bavarian accent talking about Science and Art

The article that made Herzog want to make this documentary

Cave of Forgotten Dreams

La piel que habito - Pedro Almodóvar (2011)

Somehow I was expecting a much better film, a thriller, something darker. 

I was also expecting Antonio Banderas to act better... he wasn't a bad actor in his Spanish era. English was a barrier for him so I thought maybe now after many years without working with Almodóvar he'd be better. No, he wasn't. He also has a sort of strange dubbing... to make his performance more serious? It doesn't work. Perhaps because everyone is outshone by Elena Anaya. She's just perfect in her role, not a hair out of place, the perfect main character... nobody else could have been better.

The film is very stylish. The art and photography are as good as Anaya. But aren't all Almodóvar films like that? 

The big problem is the story. It is an adaptation, but very much adapted to Almodóvar's world: transgender characters, crazy people, kidnapping, loving mothers... it's just not all the way weird as most of his films are (if someone is going to kill someone else, they use a gun, not a ham now...). It's also predictable. It's not a story telling problem, it's a plot one. You just know what it's going to happen.

The music. Alberto Iglesias is a good composer. The score isn't bad, it's just too overused. If the suspense isn't in the film, the music won't help a lot. Especially if you use music as a dramatic resource all the time. 

It isn't a terrible film but it's not a great film either... which isn't good. See the look on his face? That's how the film leaves you.

La piel que habito

Martha Marcy May Marlene - Sean Durkin (2011)

MMMM is a good film, it's simply made, it's engaging, the actors are good at their roles... I did find it a bit disturbing. 

The storytelling is very convincing, you end up thinking that the scary thing is that this can be a true story (and probably is).  I think it's got to do with how naturally everything is told. 

The photography is pretty (a bit too obvious having the dark memories darker than the brighter present?). It's very nice to watch. There are the odd zooms. Oddly enough they didn't bother me too much. 

One thing I like was the transitions from present to past. Often flashbacks have cross dissolves or a white flash.. or something. Here it's done by simple cuts, the continuity makes things become closer- the idea that she's constantly living with her traumas as if it was still happening to her. 

I liked the ending. I like the idea that not everything needs to be explained. This is her story, her confusing, her paranoia... it's something that will stay with her. Whatever happens next... is another film. 

Martha Marcy May Marlene

Taxi Driver - Martin Scorsese (1976)

There are certain films you always hear about and think "I should see that". Taxi Driver is one of those modern classics. But a disappointing one too.

All the actors are well cast, no problem with that. Robert De Niro is always good. Everyone else is alright. The problem isn't there.

The photography is beautiful, really nice to watch. The music is right for the film, it sets the story, it is really New York (I'm not a fan of it, but it's a personal taste). 

The problem is the script. The dialogues are very good, each character says the right thing. How it begins and the character of De Niro develops is good, you can see the progress. It's just... at some point it gets weaker. And the ending is just wrong. 

I don't believe in spoilers, but anybody who does should stop reading here. 

It is wrong because the man is a psycho and justifying his killings because he's trying to be a good citizen, would be wrong. If it's an ironic way of seeing society - who will make anybody a hero - it's not entirely clear. Saving the girl is just wrong, if she had returned to her parents surely she would have been traumatised (it would make more sense if she had ran away from them again). This weird creepy psycho driver even almost gets another date with the girl. Any girl would have never got in that taxi. I also thought the possibility that it's really his dream or his version of the story.. but that's not clear either. Is he a ticking bomb then, ready to go on another killing spree any time? It's not clear either. I agree with the people who think the film should have ending in the shooting, just him on the floor. That would have been a much better film.

Taxi Driver