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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.
Neighbouring Sounds
There couldn’t have been a better name for this film. The first film of director Kleber Mendonça Filho breathes sound: drilling machines, a barking dog, cars, music, neighbours talking, kids playing soccer. Recife, a big city in Brazil, is never quiet. In Neighbouring Sounds we meet a couple a inhabitants of a street, the actual street Mendonça Filho lives in. We meet João, a young rich guy who falls in love. We meet Bia, a stressed house wife and her kids. Also we get to know Clodoaldo and his men, as he offers his services as a street guard. Or does he have a double agenda?
The film is full of this kind of uncertainties. There is a constant threat, like we’re only hours from disaster. Other than that, Neighbouring Sounds shows us a different side of Brazil. Not the favelas, but the middle class who’s getting more and more wealthy. That, and the continuous tension, is what makes this film so interesting. It’s totally worth the 130 minutes.
Watch this film in Cineville‘s Rialto.
Love Is All You Need
Americans really know how to fuck up a title. In Denmark this film is known as –freely tranlated– The Hairless Hairdresser, which is way more suitable for the tone of the film. Director Susanne Bier (In A Better World) didn’t tell a sugerly sweet love story. Maybe for a bit, but there is enough black humour to compensate. The super sympathetic Ida (Trine Dyrholm) had breast cancer and is looking forward to start her normal life again with her husband Leif (Kim Bodnia, known from the tv-series The Bridge). But as she comes home from the doctor she catches him having sex on the couch with his secretary. ‘I thought you had chemo’, is his first reaction.
Luckily, Ida has more fun stuff to focus on for a while. Her daughter is getting married in Italy. Nice detail: she’s getting married with James Bond’s son. (Well, no. But the guy’s father is played by Pierce Brosnan and Brosnan will always be my favorite Bond – so shoot me.) Anyway, Ida and Philip (Bond) meet in an unusual way. The start isn’t very good, but this wouldn’t be a romantic comedy if it didn’t all work out in the end. The wedding, the family issues, Italy, Ida and Philip, they all form the perfect ingredients for a night of Danish entertainment. I want to give some extra credits to the actress Paprika Steen, playing Philip’s sister in law. She’s rather hilarious.
Watch this film in Cineville‘s Cinecenter and The Movies. Also in Pathe (City and Tuschinski).
Ruby Sparks
I haven’t seen this film yet. My house mate saying that it is pretty boring also didn’t help. Still, I am curious. Ruby Sparks is about Calvin (Paul Dano, Little Miss Sunshine), a struggling writer. (Aren’t they all?) This psychiatrist says he should write about his dream girl, so Calvin creates Ruby. The shock is big when Ruby (Zoe Kazan, Dano’s real life girlfriend) appears one day, acting like nothing special is happening. Things become even weirder when Calvin finds out he can make Ruby do stuff by just writing about it. That’s the story in a nutshell. My house mate may think it’s boring, but I think it’s nice enough to check it out.
Watch this film in Cineville‘s The Movies.
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