To watch or not to watch? I will tour around Amsterdam’s cinemas and answer this crucial question every Friday. Without mercy, of course. Sucky films will be slaughtered, cinematographic pearls will be appreciated as such. Or the other way around. After all, good taste is in the eye of the beholder.
Oops, sorry. Yesterday was film day, but instead of writing my ‘FFF’ I was doing something completely different. I’ll try to make it up to you. Luckily there’s enough to see this week!
Take This Waltz
I had never heard of Luke Kirby before, but now I want to see everything he’s been in. If you don’t find this Canadian actor charming than you probably don’t get the definition of ‘charming’. In Take This Waltz, a film by director/actrice Sarah Polley, Kirby plays Daniel. He and Margot (Michelle Williams) meet while working on a travelling report and appear to be neighbours. It’s obvious that there is something going on between them, but shoot: Margot is married to Lou (a subtle part for Seth Rogen). It has to go wrong, eventually.
Take This Waltz is a very warm film. Everything about it seems thought through. Margot and Lou come across as a real couple, with all kinds of rituals, jokes and annoyances oftheir own. Their house looks great, just as the city they live in (Toronto). Life seems perfect, yet has it’s gaps, as Lou’s sister (played by Sarah Silverman, one of my favorite comedians) tells Margot. True, ’cause let’s not forget that Margot is slowly destroying her marriage. Maybe the most telling sentense is said by an older, naked woman in the swimming pool showers: ‘Even new things get old.’
Watch this film in Cineville’s Cinecenter. Also in Pathe (City and Tuschinski).
Trishna
Michael Winterbottom makes one film a year, just like Woody Allen. This year he brings us Trishna, a love story set in India. It’s in fact a Thomas Hardy-novel made into a film, with a story relocated from England to India. Long story short: poor countrygirl Trishna (Freida Pinto) falls in love with rich guy Jay (Riz Ahmed, also in Ill Manors). Everything goes great, but that changes when Trishna wants to be a Bollywood dancer. Her Jay turns into a jealous, possesive, unpleasant dude. A bit unrealistic. Oh well, the film relies more on the beautiful, dynamic shots than on the story anyway. Michael Winterbottom knows how to entertain, just don’t expect a mind blowing love story.
Watch this film in Cineville’s Cinecenter and and The Movies. Also in Pathe (Tuschinski).
Ill Manors
Saw a bit of the Olympic Games? Saw a bit of London? Nice, right? Well, the UK capital has a totally different side as well. Ben Drew, known as rapper Plan B, made a film about his Londen and the tough neighberhoud Ill Manors. His film reminds me a bit of Pulp Fiction and the (better) works of Guy Ritchie. It’s fast, it’s slick, it’s in your face. Drew shows us six characters, each with a very different place in society. Every character is introduced by a rap. The words say what we see, which is a little annoying. We get it, we’re not dumb. The fresh director not only focuses on the lower class, the (white) upper middle class also has a role in the film. Drew blames them for most of the problems of his old neighbourhood. Yeah, sure. All the crack junks, drug dealers and small criminals are made by their environment. Whatever. Inspite of this blunt way of thinking, Drew’s story definitely has some sort of urgency. I can’t say that about most films.
Watch this film in Cineville’s Kriterion. Also in Pathe (Arena, De Munt).
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