uberreiniger | (no subject)

Seen some good movies recently

Mirrormask: Rented this one a few nights ago. Written by wildy popular and talented novelist Neil Gaiman, directed by stunning Surrealist artist Dave McKean, and animated by the talent at Jim Henson Co. this is one incredibly gorgeous, fun film which deserved a much wider theatrical release. A reviewer on IMDB described it as a Labyrinth for the 21st century and I can't think of a better way to put it. The story goes like this: a teenage girl embittered with her life as part of her parents' travelling circus has a bitter argument with her mother one night before a performance. Her mother falls gravely ill that same night, leaving the girl wracked with guilt, the circus's future in jeopardy, and her relationship with her father cracking under the strain. These problems get pushed aside, however, when she wakes up one night to find herself in a deteriorating fantasyland which she must set out on a quest to rescue. Yet in her absence, someone or something seems determined to further undermine her life back home.

This movie is one of the biggest treats for the eyes you'll ever see. Words can't do it justice. The Henson folks have outdone themselves, taking McKean's physiologically impossible creatures which could never exist and turning them into believeable human beings. Gaiman's writing takes the tattered old "young heroine and her scruffy companions on a quest to save the world" fairy tale formula and gives it new breath. Frankly, it took me back to the era of films like Labyrinth and The Neverending Story where fantasy films were done right and directors knew that children's films didn't need to be dumbed down for the kids or filled with low-key blue humor for the adults.

The one big complaint I see people make about Mirrormask is it's rather straightforward Alice In Wonderland-style story. And the story is that. But if that's a story you can actually get tired of, well, all I can say is I feel sorry for you. That's like being able to get tired of Star Wars, an unforgiveable crime.

Night Watch: Blockbuster action/fantasy/horror film from Russia, the first of a trilogy which is apparently revitalizing Russia's domestic film industry as we speak. Night Watch has a storyline made very familiar in recent years by franchises such as The Matrix, Blade, and Underworld: Super-powered forces of Good and Evil wage a nightly battle for the fate of mankind in a dystopic urban setting, only us mere humans must never, ever know about it. However, Night Watch is praiseworthy and worth seeing for taking quite a few conventions of the genre and setting them on their ear. For starters, unlike its forerunners, the setting is dirty. It's the genre's grubby, lived-in Star Wars to the Matrix's clean, pristine Star Trek. The filmmakers pull no punches regarding the run-down state of 21st century Moscow. This extends to the characters too. All characters receive sexy Matrix-issue sunglasses, but beyond that there's not a leather trench coat or black catsuit in sight. The heroic Night Watch tactical team go monster-hunting in dingy grey jumpsuits. Meanwhile, the supreme ruler of the Armies of Darkness dresses like a homeless person and likes to while away the hours leading up to the imminent Apocalypse playing games on his Playstation 2.

For another thing, you won't see a lot of wirework kung-fu here. Instead, they opt for cut scenes and fast pans to get the sense of hyperkinetic violence across. And it works better, I think. Wirework kung-fu is gorgeous to look at, but the camera tricks employed here are definately the right choice for Night Watch's grim, dreary setting. That's not to say the film lacks in the special effects department. It doesn't. But it chooses to employ them in very inventive ways. (Who would have thought that a shot of a metal rivet falling through the air could be so... riveting?) Even the subtitles get swept up in the action from time to time.

Night Watch is definately a film for the big screen, but you'll probably need access to an art house theatre to see it. It's worth the effort though for an inventive film where heroes vomit blood on unsuspecting cops and vampires obtain permits to hunt humans the safe, legal way.