Hey folks, Harry here, and that ol Cannes connection... Smooth Stanley is back on the putting green taking a few shots and calling em how he feels.. This time he takes a look at a film with a great deal of talent... Let's see what he thought....
Hello Everyone!
Stanley is back. I haven't written in since Cannes which was when I did not make much friends when I said that I didn't like the Coen Bros. film. I still don't, but anyway, I saw a couple of new movies last week and I am going to review some of them. Let's start of with what I think is the most current and most interesting one, Sally Potters latest piece "The man who cried" starring Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci and Cate Blanchet.
Firstly the bad thing. Cate Blanchet plays a Russian and her accent is ridiculous. I have met Russians. They do not talk like that. At all.
But now for the good things and I must say there are quite a few. Do not be afraid - I will not include spoilers. Firstly let me say that the movie looks b e a u t i f u l . Johnny Depp and Christina just have the special something. There are some sequences that are visually almost going into fantasy because there is so much happening...
The plot, briefly, is that Ricci's character is a russish jewish girl whos father leaves for the US, "the land of opportunity" thing. However she has to flee herself and tries to make her way to the same country, but she only gets to England where she is assigned to Foster parents. We then have a big time jump (at which point Ricci takes on the part) and we see her as a young woman, following a singing career. These ambitions take her to Paris, just shortly before Germany occupies it (WW2).
Her best friend in Paris is this Russian girl, a dancer that performs with her, played by Cate Blanchet. She helps her find jobs outside the one they are both doing and at one of these jobs she meets the character played by Johnny Depp (he's on a horse and there are fireworks in the background - Gilliamesque shot).
Anyway, it is a nice piece which I enjoyed very much. Unfortunatelly Potter does not seem to have a life outside the film world and again she has a very postmodern sequence in it which I find rather stupid. (Orlando - Video sequence, Tango Lesson - Directing Comment)
I will review a few more movies shortly including "The weight of water" starring Sean Penn and a beautiful (strikebreaking bastard) Liz Hurley. Other movies will be "2000 and None" starring John Torturro and MEMENTO starring Guy Pearce which I had a chance to see at the Raindance Film Festival in London. The London International Film Festival is coming up as well, so when something leaves an impression with me I will get you informed on it.
See you at the movies!
Stanley
