Category: movies

Geisha is an artist of the floating world. She dances.
She sings. She entertains you, whatever you want.
The rest is shadows. The rest is secret.

Supposedly Geishas are not prostitutes, but how do you call selling your virginity for 15,000 Yen? I’d say it’s prostitution in one of its purest forms. But, apparently, there is a difference between the two. It’s subtle, sometimes blurred, but it would be a grave insult to call Geisha a prostitute. Are they or are they not? That is the question you have to answer for yourself. Maybe watching this movie will help. Maybe.

Geisha are not courtesans, and we’re not wives.
We sell our skills, not our bodies. We create another
secret world, a place only of beauty. The very word
Geisha means artist, and to be a Geisha is
to be judged as a moving work of art.

Sad truth is, American movies about Japan are much better than the Japanese ones. Such was the case with The Last Samurai, and so it is with Memoirs of a Geisha. Hollywood has mastered to perfection the art of entertainment. This one is a perfect example to support this thesis. Easy to follow story with lots of twist and turns, stunning visuals, memorable music, sweet ending and the most fitted cast you could imagine. Divinely gorgeous Zhang Ziyi, devilishly beautiful Gong Li and deadly handsome Ken Watanabe. What more could one ask for? It’s not me complaining that the movie is sometimes far off from the historical truth (The Last Samurai, once again). I mean, it’s entertainment. The sole meaning of this word is to have a good time and I, personally, had a really great time.

The only flaw I could name in Memoirs of a Geisha is the use of English as a main movie language with occasional Japanese terms here and there. Other than that, it is, yes, breathtaking from the very first scene till the end.

Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)

Rating: 9/10

I must admit that my jaw dropped after spotting Sophie Marceau in Anthony Zimmer. Her first entrance is simply stunning. Only then I have realized she was basically the sole reason I was watching this movie in the first place. It’s been so long since I’ve seen her on the big screen… Not like she stopped acting, quite the opposite, when you look at her filmography, you’ll see many titles, year after year. The problem is, most of them are of doubtful quality, so I just skipped them. Anthony Zimmer is a single exception since Fidelity (by Andrzej Żuławski), that has caught my interest. I was heading for a big treat and thankfully I wasn’t disappointed.

Anthony Zimmer is not in any way exceptional. You might even go as far as saying it’s just your typical French thriller. And you’ll be mostly right. Mostly, because it is so much more at the same time… First of all it’s not just a thriller, it’s a psychological thriller and there’s a certain distinction between the two. In practice it usually means less shooting and action replaced with more acting and talking. Actually, French cinema is quite good at psychological thrillers, maybe even the best? Red Lights, which comes to my mind, is the closest offspring from that genre – both movies share similar atmosphere and tension.

Second thing, which make Anthony Zimmer exceptional is the perfect cast of three main players. Aforementioned and always exceptionally beautiful Sophie Marceau as Chiara, Yvan Attal as Francois Taillandier and Sami Frey as Akerman, overshadowing the two. We get a glimpse of Daniel Olbrychski too, which was a treat on its own as he is a well known actor in Poland.

The movie starts and the game begins…

I would love to say that Anthony Zimmer left me speechless, but it is not so. Quite the contrary, it gave me a lot to write about.

Anthony Zimmer (2005)

Rating: 9/10

Some movies are made purely for entertainment purposes. Others are made for us to learn something or to remind us about the past times. Der Tunnel definitely belongs to the latter category. Directed by Roland Suso Richter this German film tells the story about a struggle against the communist government in East Germany.

Although I did live and vaguely remember communist times in Poland, I have certainly not experienced them in the way this movie’s characters did. I was eleven when Solidarity freed Poland from the communist oppression. The only thing that I can remember clearly were the endless queues at the shopping malls. Nowadays they may seem funny, but back at the day they were not quite so. Not to mention, that this was one of the lightest indication of the communism. Der Tunnel shows us much darker side of those times. One thing, which is not that surprising, is the fact that Communist Germany was not much different from Communist Poland.

Most of the action takes place in East Germany, during the early sixties. It was 1961 when The Berlin Wall construction started. As you might have already guessed, the title of the movie is the actual tunnel which was built underneath it. The movie tells a story of East Berliners trying to escape to the West.

At moments Der Tunnel is very touching, other times melodramatic, but almost all the time it is very tense, which is quite surprising for a 167 minutes long feature. There were moments when my adrenaline level jumped like crazy. At other times I cried like a little baby…

I have no words to describe the feelings that shattered my heart while watching Der Tunnel. I can recommend it heartily. The thing that makes watching it even more worthwhile is that it is based on facts. This story (together with many other similar ones) has really happened in Berlin.

Der Tunnel/The Tunnel (2001)

Rating: 10/10

You could definitely call it the Danish version of Traffic. Only with less cops and more drugs and their affect on people. Mostly bad, as you might have guessed. It presents a rough and very real look into the Danish drug underworld.

Three interconnected stories, that begin as completely separate, while ending mixed up. Maria, small-time pusher delivering drugs, Allan, returning to his hometown after an accident on his boat and Steso, a bright young man, who says that drugs open his mind.

While being mostly dramatic and tragic, it has its funny moments too. One of the most memorable quotes goes like this:

– Did you screw me while I slept?
– Yes.
– You can’t do that!
– I didn’t wake you up, did I?
– You’re sick!
– You always say we don’t fuck enough. And when we fuck, you sleep!
– I hate you. (…) Was it good?
– Better than ever.

It reminded me of Requiem for a Dream. When you think about it, those movies have very much in common. While you may easily accuse it of being Requiem’s rip-off, you may also say that Requiem was a Trainspotting rip-off. Actually it was, but that’s a different story. The point is, that while all of those movies center around drugs, presenting similar problems, the stories themselves are quite different.

All in all, very disturbing movie. Highly recommended.

Nordkraft/Angels in Fast Motion (2005)

Rating: 10/10

Right after seeing this movie I have realized that I’ve been mixing up Richard Linklater with Hal Hartley. In fact, I thought they were both the same person as their movies are so much alike. You may characterize their work as being a philosophical suburban grotesque as one IMDb reviewer has said. And he is so right. Almost all of the work done by both directors falls into this category and Simple Men is no different.

The story is actually quite absurd, as it follows two brothers travelling from New York to Long Island. One in search of their father, other trying to escape from the police. While absurd may it not sound, absurd in fact it is. Other thing to mention are the quotes from the movie. Here’s the one I like the most:

– You shouldn’t do that [kiss me].
– Why not?
– Because I’m your father’s girlfriend.
– My father is a womanizer. He’s a married man and he stood you up.
– You have no respect for your father.
– I don’t know him, but I respect his taste in women.
– So then go and make love to your mother.

Simple Men is filled with similar dialogs from top to bottom. The movie is a very enjoyable ride. As they say Long Island is a state of mind. Or was it New York?

Simple Men (1992)

Rating: 8/10