Nanjing! Nanjing! (a.k.a.
City of Life and Death) (Chuan Lu, 2009) -- The movie is based on the little known and infamous atrocity known as the rape of Nanking, where during the Japanese takeover of China's then capital city that led to the deaths of an estimated 300,000 civilians as well as sexual assaults said to number in the tens of thousands, in December of 1937.
Still, the numbers, like words, are weak things, incapable of conveying the brutal horror of that situation or the ability of this movie to capture its dehumanizing essence, and make us feel, as one of "City's" agonized protagonists. The portrait of the unspeakable things that can happen when soldiers are let loose on a civilian population, the movie captures the sense of mind-warping chaos and pure bedlam that emerge when panic and terror rule the day. The result is a movie that is botth epic and intimate, thanks to its very convincing acting and large scale scenery. Emotions are intensified thanks to the use of hand-held cameras, making it almost seem as a documentary, and impossible to overstate how crushing the actual reality of the occurence actually was.
As hard as it was to watch, it's a necessary reminder of what we've allowed to happen in times of war, but also what we shouldn't be allowed to forget. Perhaps if we all had experiences like this one, we would work harder to see that they're never repeated. 9/10
Gummo (Harmony Korinne, 1997) -- Set in a town called Xenia, in Ohio, the movie depicts a small, poor and boring town that never fully recovered after a tornado in the 1970s, where kids have nothing to do but kill time, buying glue to sniff and get high. The movie takes us through several different characters as they wander through their lives, being poor, filthy and some even demented.
Make no mistake,
Gummo is a very bizarre movie, a mix of "home footage", live action and people talking directly to the camera. There really is no plot, but you just get to witness these people's miserable existence. In addition to that, there is a fair amount of depravity and disturbing behavior that I couldn't enjoy. I think the "point" of the movie is to show a side of America that is quite uncomfortable, or at least attempts to create that discomfort, though after a while, it just ended up bothering me. For example, these multiple shooting methods got on my nerves, as did some character's inability to act, whereas some scenes were clearly improvised, but the improv had died and then some awkwardness ensued.
Harmony Korine also wrote
Kids, and that was a fine film and quite shocking in its glimpse at the actual world teens live in. I think
Gummo could've worked better if it adhered to the same formula as
Kids. I have no problem with directors doing what they did here, I just think it didn't work out for this movie; the story is very relevant, but it was boring in some odd scene transitions and some sloppy work (which I think was the actual point of it). It's a decent attempt to tell an interesting story, but it falls just short of the mark. 5.5/10
Immortals (Tarsem Singh, 2011) -- Theseus is a mortal man chosen by Zeus to lead the fight against the ruthless King Hyperion, who is on a rampage across Greece to obtain a weapon that can destroy humanity. One of the bigger issues when putting onthe poster that it's "from the producers of
300", is that because of its gladiatorial, ultra-violent nature, it'll inevitably get compared ot it. Yet, this is a more expansive movie that embraces mythology while abandoning historical fidelity, replacing it instead with blood, grotesque and slow motion.
Although it may be Tarsem's most coherent (and commercial) movie, the tale of Theseus fighting an amazingly evil Mickey Rourke makes sense (as oppose to
The Cell, which doesn't). The movie also is visually stunning, despite having been made with so much CGI that it seemed unreal, yet believable, also thanks to the nicely designed costumes. Unfortunately, the plot feels scissored up and patched back together, in a sense that will leave you wanting a bit more of information, but will also bore you due to the slowness of the non-action scenes.
While it certainly is a departure from Tarsem's usual style, it probably won't fare well with his fans, but it has enough guts, blood and glamour to satisfy the average pop-corn dosed movie goer. 5/10
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