Movies of the Month, February 2012
Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2012 2:08 am
Alright, so since the admins were [strike]short sighted[/strike] gracious enough to offer me the position of the moderator of this here "Movies" forum, I should probably try to do something with it. So here is the most obvious feature I can come up with: Movies of the Month!
Why two? Well, some of you may have noticed I tend to like a lot of obscure and/or foreign movies, and if I only post about those, no one will give a ****. However, I also like the idea that perhaps one of you will find yourself in a video store and be like, "HEY THAT BOMBY GUY SAID IT WAS GOOD" and give it a try. So anyway, since it's February, I thought I would start with some vaguely "romantic" movies.
Movie #1:
High Fidelity
Directed by Stephen Frears
Starring John Cusack, Iben Hjejle, Jack Black
Trailer
John Cusack stars as Rob Gordon, a record store owner who has just broken up with his girlfriend Laura (Iben Hjejle). Obsessed with making lists of his favorite music and movies, his first objective in this film is going through is Top 5 All Time Break Ups, doing his best to make sure that Laura doesn't sneak her way onto the list, though ultimately, he finds himself wanting to get her back.
I'd be willing to bet that most people over the age of 20 know at least one Rob Gordon: the hipsterish twentysomething who might just be a bit too over his head in his music geekdom to fully exit his adolescence. Cusack is perfectly cast in this lead role, as is Jack Black as Gordon's highly unprofessional employee Barry, who fashions himself a musical genius and is even snobbier in his tastes than Gordon is. In June 2010, Chicago magazine ranked High Fidelity as the #1 film to have ever been filmed in Chicago.
Movie #2:
Just One Look
Directed by Riley Yip
Starring Shawn Yue, Wong Yau Nam, Charlene Choi, Gillian Chung, and Anthony Wong
Trailer
Fan (Shawn Yue) is at a movie theater on his home island of Cheung Chau when his father dies of gunshot wounds in the bathroom. While largely believed to be a suicide, he believes that his father had been murdered by the local gangster Crazy (Anthony Wong). He holds this grudge into his late teens, while he works with his best friend Ming (Wong Yau Nam) at the concession stand outside of the local theater. One day, the two sneak away from the stand to attend a martial arts demonstration and are instantly smitten by Nam (Charlene Choi), the daughter of the local kung fu school's master. Things get further complicated when Fan becomes infatuated with a mysterious young woman (Gillian Chung), who lives at a Buddhist nunnery on the other side of Cheung Chau.
Just One Look is a rewarding little film, thanks to how it often feels lightweight and fun, yet there's a sense of melancholy always lurking in the background. When the drama surrounding Fan's eventual attempt at "avenging" his father comes to head toward the end of the film, it never feels forced or insincere. The romantic angle of the film is probably the stronger part of the film, as the interactions between the young men and the two young women they fancy are a pitch-perfect reflection of youthful romance. This is especially true for the scenes shared between Wong Yau Nam and Charlene Choi, though the whole cast does a fine job with the material. The film's only real weak spots are the attempts at action sequences, which are edited in a very dizzying and confusing manner, though since the film is largely not an action movie, I can forgive this mistake.
There's a lot of great bonus points for audiences familiar with late 60's/early 70's Hong Kong cinema, with references to older films abound.
Why two? Well, some of you may have noticed I tend to like a lot of obscure and/or foreign movies, and if I only post about those, no one will give a ****. However, I also like the idea that perhaps one of you will find yourself in a video store and be like, "HEY THAT BOMBY GUY SAID IT WAS GOOD" and give it a try. So anyway, since it's February, I thought I would start with some vaguely "romantic" movies.
Movie #1:
High Fidelity
Directed by Stephen Frears
Starring John Cusack, Iben Hjejle, Jack Black
Trailer
John Cusack stars as Rob Gordon, a record store owner who has just broken up with his girlfriend Laura (Iben Hjejle). Obsessed with making lists of his favorite music and movies, his first objective in this film is going through is Top 5 All Time Break Ups, doing his best to make sure that Laura doesn't sneak her way onto the list, though ultimately, he finds himself wanting to get her back.
I'd be willing to bet that most people over the age of 20 know at least one Rob Gordon: the hipsterish twentysomething who might just be a bit too over his head in his music geekdom to fully exit his adolescence. Cusack is perfectly cast in this lead role, as is Jack Black as Gordon's highly unprofessional employee Barry, who fashions himself a musical genius and is even snobbier in his tastes than Gordon is. In June 2010, Chicago magazine ranked High Fidelity as the #1 film to have ever been filmed in Chicago.
Movie #2:
Just One Look
Directed by Riley Yip
Starring Shawn Yue, Wong Yau Nam, Charlene Choi, Gillian Chung, and Anthony Wong
Trailer
Fan (Shawn Yue) is at a movie theater on his home island of Cheung Chau when his father dies of gunshot wounds in the bathroom. While largely believed to be a suicide, he believes that his father had been murdered by the local gangster Crazy (Anthony Wong). He holds this grudge into his late teens, while he works with his best friend Ming (Wong Yau Nam) at the concession stand outside of the local theater. One day, the two sneak away from the stand to attend a martial arts demonstration and are instantly smitten by Nam (Charlene Choi), the daughter of the local kung fu school's master. Things get further complicated when Fan becomes infatuated with a mysterious young woman (Gillian Chung), who lives at a Buddhist nunnery on the other side of Cheung Chau.
Just One Look is a rewarding little film, thanks to how it often feels lightweight and fun, yet there's a sense of melancholy always lurking in the background. When the drama surrounding Fan's eventual attempt at "avenging" his father comes to head toward the end of the film, it never feels forced or insincere. The romantic angle of the film is probably the stronger part of the film, as the interactions between the young men and the two young women they fancy are a pitch-perfect reflection of youthful romance. This is especially true for the scenes shared between Wong Yau Nam and Charlene Choi, though the whole cast does a fine job with the material. The film's only real weak spots are the attempts at action sequences, which are edited in a very dizzying and confusing manner, though since the film is largely not an action movie, I can forgive this mistake.
There's a lot of great bonus points for audiences familiar with late 60's/early 70's Hong Kong cinema, with references to older films abound.