Save the Date

Save The Date

Ok I love indie film romantic comedies.  However I do see a serous problem with them.  All the characters are always so self involved and narcissist.  The characters are always so unaware of this at all times until the time comes to give it up for another person.  It’s a cliché that works just about every time.  That’s why we route for the characters because they learn to change its just been weighing on me that they always start in the same place.  Does Save The Date fall into all the normal indie romantic comedy pitfalls?  Yes but I wont explain it until I’ve finished the synopsis.

Sarah begins to confront her shortcomings after she rejects her boyfriend’s hasty proposal and soon finds herself in a rebound romance. Meanwhile, her sister Beth is immersed in the details of her wedding.  That’s all you really need to know.

I hated this movie because of each characters’ self-glorification but I loved this movie because I believe it is a pretty accurate depiction of the prolonged adolescent youths of modern day.  This is another tale of a thirty-something struggling to figure things out … and this could become a brand new sub-genre of drama. Save the Date doesn’t really give an audience anything new to enjoy or appreciate cinematically … but it still does provide a decent fun experience.  What truly saves this movie is the acting.

Lizzy Caplan is the shining light here, as the non- committal heroine, Sarah. She’s joined by a number of actors with familiar faces, if not well- known names, ranging from Mark Webber as the new guy in her life, to her former “Freaks and Geeks” cast member, Martin Starr, who has graduated from playing Bill Haverchuck, perhaps the nerdiest character ever to hit television, to credible roles like this one, as Andrew, a rock drummer and future brother-in-law to Sarah. There’s also some fine work by Geoffrey Arend, as Kevin, Sarah’s fiancée at the story’s start.

It’s far from the traditional RomCom that pleases everyone, but for those who’ve been through their share of relationship hells and heavens, you’ll find a lot to relate to here, and the beauty of Save the Date is that it does it in a chillingly realistic, yet touching way.

We received a copy of this title for our book review. All opinions are our own

Save the Date [Blu-ray] is available on Amazon.com.

The Big Picture

The Big Picture

What a stupid title for a movie. 

The title reminds me of a sh!t sandwich served up by Adam Sandler.  Thankfully it’s not.  What drew me to this film is the presence of Catherin Deneuve.  Yes, again with Catherin Deneuve, she’s one of the best living actresses so, I don’t care what you think, I’ll watch anything with her in it.  However she is not the star of this one (but still gorgeous).  So did I understand the big picture?  Lets see?

But first a synopsis.

Paul Exben is a success story – partner in one of Paris’s most exclusive law firms, big salary, big house, glamorous wife and two sons straight out of a Gap catalog. But when he finds out that Sarah, his wife, is cheating on him with Greg Kremer, a local photographer, a rush of blood provokes Paul into a fatal error. Standing over the corpse of his wife’s lover, Paul knows that his perfect life has gone for good. But by assuming the dead man’s identity and fleeing for an isolated part of former Yugoslavia on the beautiful Adriatic coast, Paul gets another shot at being himself and, at last, seeing the big picture.

Eric Lartigau’s film, ‘The Big Picture, begins as a thriller, but ends more as an existential meditation on life. Eric Lartigau, the writer and the director did a fabulous job in both of his departments. Although a little more character development of the supporting roles in the second half would have been beneficial.

Romain Duris comes up with a startling performance, his character transitions from one mode to another and the actor just goes freely along with it. His performance is another reason why the movie haunts you after it ends. I was moved by the intensity of his approach towards the character. This one role should transcend his career as an actor to higher level.

The movie nearly missed a perfect note because of two elements. First, it starts too fast, we barely know the characters, what they do, and what are the relationships between them when Kremer gets killed. A more developed introduction could have helped. The second thing is the way the movie ends. The film still feels incomplete by the end, and while that lets room for your imagination to fill, it would have been nice if they ended the movie in a more decisive way.

Overall it’s a solid watch

But the Blu-ray really contains no special features, which kinda sucks but the audio and visuals hold up.  But this film has really turned me on to Roman Duris as a great up and coming actor.

We received a copy of this title for our book review. All opinions are our own

The Big Picture is available on Amazon.com.

Tristana

I can’t say I know Luis Bunuel’s style well (I’ve seen Un Chien), since I’ve not seen many of his works, and those that I’ve seen usually just struck me as blah. But then the other day I saw Tristana which starred Catherine Deneuve and was awe-struck by it.  This is by far one of the most interesting films I have seen in quite a while.

So what is Tristana (AKA Synopsis Time)

In the 30′s, in Spain, the teenager Tristana (Catherine Deneuve) becomes an orphan when her mother, who is the servant of Don Lope (Fernando Rey), dies. Don Lope is a decadent but respected aristocrat, anticlerical and liberal with socialist principles, and he becomes the guardian of Tristana. Don Lope sexually abuses of Tristana and develops a strange lover/father relationship with her.??When Tristana meets the painter Horacio (Franco Nero), they fall in love with each other and Tristana flees from Don Lope. However, years later, Horacio brings Tristana back to Don Lope with a terminal disease on her leg. She has a severed leg and survives, and Don Lope asks her hand in marriage. She accepts but now Tristana is a bitter and cynical woman and Don Lope feels the consequence of his acts in the past.

Tristana, played brilliantly by Catherine Denueve, is the central character that we see evolve from an innocent young girl with her many ideals about love and relationship, to a bitter and cynical woman at the film’s end who cannot believe in anything any longer.  Deneuve plays her amazingly. We witness, with heartbreak, every turn of her back on the things she love, and every rejection of all morality that she held before.

In spite of all its dramatic turns of events

Tristana is not an emotional and angsty film in its portrayal of its characters’ lives. Instead it is a soft and peaceful film that sympathetically accepts its characters’ flaws as much as it forgives them. It is a film that evokes the intricate feeling of looking back in our dark and troubled past and finding the exquisite moments of happiness amidst all the cynicism and grit.

The Blu-ray looks fantastic and I really enjoyed all aspects of the special features.  There are three really strong special features but the real treat here is the transfer, it looks glorious.

Overall

Film geeks and surrealist go wild, but in not sure how the rest of the movie going public will respond to this movie.  It says quite a bit and its very interesting but I could see that it would be boring for the normal Redboxer.

We received a copy of this title for our book review. All opinions are our own

Tristana [Blu-ray] is available on Amazon.com.