Monday, January 12, 2004
GOODBYE, LENIN! + Alice + Lord of The Rings: Return of the King
Directed by Wolfgang Becker; Jan Svankmajer & Peter Jackson
Any correlation between these three movies? Except for the fact that I watched all the three during the weekend; they don’t share much common traits. So why am I doing a review of the three movies in one? To save time? Perhaps. Ok Ok. I know if I continue going on, I’m goin to put you off reading my reviews.
Coming back to what I should be doing, which is writing down what I think about the movies, I must say I kind of enjoyed all; but not quite eager to say they are equally worth what has been said about them.
Starting with Goodbye Lenin, it was a hot on the critics’ list in the indie circuit; which I did not catch during its first run during the German film festival here because tickets were sold out. It turns out to be a disappointment.
Alex Kerner (Daniel Bruhl) tells us his childhood ambition of becoming a cosmanaut as his mother was harrased by secret agents about his father’s whereabouts. Years later, he is a TV technician who joins a demonstration to bring down the Berlin wall. His mother, Christiane Kerner (Katrin Saß) who is a fervent woman supporter in the party saw his son in the act; and being captured by the police; suffers from an instant heart attack on the spot.
She falls into a coma for eight months and by the time she woke up; the outside world had changed. The wall had come down and East Germany was transformed into another “capitalistic” society. Alex sister, Ariane (Maria Simon) gave up her university education to work for Burger King and their apartment was refurnished to reflect their acquired taste.
Christiane who had woken up could not suffer another heart attack and Alex decided to bring her home and recreate what their house used to be. Not only does Alex have to recreate the bedroom settings for her bedridden mother, he had to find her favourite food which are no longer in supermarkets and play faked news videos which would convince her that East Germany still exists.
His sincerity and willingness to go to lengths is remarkable. The socio- political statement being made is one of nostalgia. When Christiane went for a stroll for a breather, she witnessed the removal of a Lenin bust that symbolizes the end of Communism. Yet Wolfgang is not embarking on a tirade of the evils of any system.
Instead, he uses the plot of the “reverse recreation of what actually happens” that was used to deceive Christiane; as the idea of “history is personal”. The audience laughs po faced at the jokes of how Alex and his friend re-edit news byte to fool their mother. This is inadvertently an implicit attack/ satire on how much we are willing to believe what we see on TV. For if Christiane’s reality is based on what she sees on TV, then it must be the same for us. Even though we can argue that as audiences who knows better because we are in touch with “reality”, we are no better than her as what we know is just what we come into contact with; which is also Christiane’s situation. This is perhaps the “political” segment of Goodbye Lenin – the idea of trusting what we see/ hear are as illusory as a bedridden ex comatose patient. The idea that news can be reworded into something totally different (as has been done by Alex) again mocks the idea of the truth as espoused by the media who deems themselves as “gatekeepers”.
The theme of escape vs repression is seen in Alex’s failed desire to become a cosmanaut (becoming a cosmanaut so that he could see from space what home looks like reinforces the idea of looking at one’s source of fear from far); Christiane’s trapped by her fears of exiling with her kids to West Germany (fear of a new country and being caught); her becoming a spokesperson for women within her community (repression leading to unconscious desire to speak out); Alex becoming a TV man and later satellite TV installation technician (TV as a form of escape from reality); Ariane’s working for Burger King rather than becoming an academic; which would be expected of her if the regime had continued (removing the shackles of oppression and instead doing what she wants to).
What then is my problem with Goodbye Lenin if you might ask. It is one of expectations. Wofgang weaved a film collage of pasts, presents, realities, faux realities, laughter, fears and underlying emotions so casually and seamlessly that Goodbye Lenin becomes a classic narrative Hollywood realism tale. No points for guessing the ending. Laudable but not breaking new grounds.
Alice as a movie suitable for children is fascinating in certain aspects and the praise goes to animator, Jan Svankmajer. Though the effects are “outdated” by today’s standards, Alice is a good film to watch and mull over with its mythic and allegorical symbolism.
Notice the filming of Alice’s mouth and her voice which was heard when the animal speaks. They alert the audience that what we are seeing are just snippets of Alice’s dream.
The fact that Alice doesn’t have a clear narrative structure and that her adventures doesn’t seem to follow the pattern of finding a problem which she has to solve as opposed to classic narrative story telling; reinforces dreams as a stream of consciousness subject to vague intepretation.
As an example, when Alice was following the rabbit which had disappeared into a large drawer, we see her follow behind. The shots taken wa sone from her point of view whereas it was lower and the rabbit’s point of view earlier when the rabbit made the same journey. Though they were supposed to be in a room, the table was located in an open rocky beach with open blue skies.
Though the dreams seem to wander aimlessly, there are items that keeps appearing in Alice’s dreams such as small stones which she throws; the keys to doors, entering other realms through drawers; the fact that Alice has to open the drawers only after breaking the handle; the cookies and a blue ink that shrinks or enlarge her; the mushroom which allows her to shrink or enlarge physical things.
Recommended for kids and adults alike.
Comparing that the last episode of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King; Alice seems more like a psychological brainer than the latter; which is merely special effects thrown in with a few melodramatic moments highlighting irredeemable morals of friendship, valor, patriotism and honour.
So much has been said about the effects, the war scenes, the awkward melo – drama emotional moments of Lord of the Rings, I wonder, if there is anything I could have said which people would agree with.
Most obvious is the lack of acting from Mr Frodo (Elijah Wood). Certainly no acting best describes Wood for he is so “wooden” one wonders what emotions he can squeeze from this critical reviewer. He doesn’t smile, puts on a heavy face, and worst of all stares at us with his big green eyes all the time. We should award him the worst actor of the century.
On the contrary his homo-erotic best friend adventure mate, Sam, Sean Astin, is full of tears and anger against the slimy looking ugly Gollum/Smeagol (Andy Serkis) whom we could say carry the best acting in this movie’ or the best villian we hate or can’t decide if we should love. The only problem is that as much as Sam and Gollum play decidedly clear cut characters; their acting is at most perfunctorily. Nothing beyond the surface; which of course is expected since this is what Lord of the Rings is all it has in the first place.
Someone complain to me about the long winded ending. I agree to a certain extent but wonders if this is due to neccesity to end the story to follow the book faithfully or because Jackson thought it would be good to close all endings.
There is one lesson one can probably learn from Lord of the Rings though. That the people we trust most may end up being not so trustworthy; that situations sometimes changes and creates a happy ending.
Directed by Wolfgang Becker; Jan Svankmajer & Peter Jackson
Any correlation between these three movies? Except for the fact that I watched all the three during the weekend; they don’t share much common traits. So why am I doing a review of the three movies in one? To save time? Perhaps. Ok Ok. I know if I continue going on, I’m goin to put you off reading my reviews.
Coming back to what I should be doing, which is writing down what I think about the movies, I must say I kind of enjoyed all; but not quite eager to say they are equally worth what has been said about them.
Starting with Goodbye Lenin, it was a hot on the critics’ list in the indie circuit; which I did not catch during its first run during the German film festival here because tickets were sold out. It turns out to be a disappointment.
Alex Kerner (Daniel Bruhl) tells us his childhood ambition of becoming a cosmanaut as his mother was harrased by secret agents about his father’s whereabouts. Years later, he is a TV technician who joins a demonstration to bring down the Berlin wall. His mother, Christiane Kerner (Katrin Saß) who is a fervent woman supporter in the party saw his son in the act; and being captured by the police; suffers from an instant heart attack on the spot.
She falls into a coma for eight months and by the time she woke up; the outside world had changed. The wall had come down and East Germany was transformed into another “capitalistic” society. Alex sister, Ariane (Maria Simon) gave up her university education to work for Burger King and their apartment was refurnished to reflect their acquired taste.
Christiane who had woken up could not suffer another heart attack and Alex decided to bring her home and recreate what their house used to be. Not only does Alex have to recreate the bedroom settings for her bedridden mother, he had to find her favourite food which are no longer in supermarkets and play faked news videos which would convince her that East Germany still exists.
His sincerity and willingness to go to lengths is remarkable. The socio- political statement being made is one of nostalgia. When Christiane went for a stroll for a breather, she witnessed the removal of a Lenin bust that symbolizes the end of Communism. Yet Wolfgang is not embarking on a tirade of the evils of any system.
Instead, he uses the plot of the “reverse recreation of what actually happens” that was used to deceive Christiane; as the idea of “history is personal”. The audience laughs po faced at the jokes of how Alex and his friend re-edit news byte to fool their mother. This is inadvertently an implicit attack/ satire on how much we are willing to believe what we see on TV. For if Christiane’s reality is based on what she sees on TV, then it must be the same for us. Even though we can argue that as audiences who knows better because we are in touch with “reality”, we are no better than her as what we know is just what we come into contact with; which is also Christiane’s situation. This is perhaps the “political” segment of Goodbye Lenin – the idea of trusting what we see/ hear are as illusory as a bedridden ex comatose patient. The idea that news can be reworded into something totally different (as has been done by Alex) again mocks the idea of the truth as espoused by the media who deems themselves as “gatekeepers”.
The theme of escape vs repression is seen in Alex’s failed desire to become a cosmanaut (becoming a cosmanaut so that he could see from space what home looks like reinforces the idea of looking at one’s source of fear from far); Christiane’s trapped by her fears of exiling with her kids to West Germany (fear of a new country and being caught); her becoming a spokesperson for women within her community (repression leading to unconscious desire to speak out); Alex becoming a TV man and later satellite TV installation technician (TV as a form of escape from reality); Ariane’s working for Burger King rather than becoming an academic; which would be expected of her if the regime had continued (removing the shackles of oppression and instead doing what she wants to).
What then is my problem with Goodbye Lenin if you might ask. It is one of expectations. Wofgang weaved a film collage of pasts, presents, realities, faux realities, laughter, fears and underlying emotions so casually and seamlessly that Goodbye Lenin becomes a classic narrative Hollywood realism tale. No points for guessing the ending. Laudable but not breaking new grounds.
Alice as a movie suitable for children is fascinating in certain aspects and the praise goes to animator, Jan Svankmajer. Though the effects are “outdated” by today’s standards, Alice is a good film to watch and mull over with its mythic and allegorical symbolism.
Notice the filming of Alice’s mouth and her voice which was heard when the animal speaks. They alert the audience that what we are seeing are just snippets of Alice’s dream.
The fact that Alice doesn’t have a clear narrative structure and that her adventures doesn’t seem to follow the pattern of finding a problem which she has to solve as opposed to classic narrative story telling; reinforces dreams as a stream of consciousness subject to vague intepretation.
As an example, when Alice was following the rabbit which had disappeared into a large drawer, we see her follow behind. The shots taken wa sone from her point of view whereas it was lower and the rabbit’s point of view earlier when the rabbit made the same journey. Though they were supposed to be in a room, the table was located in an open rocky beach with open blue skies.
Though the dreams seem to wander aimlessly, there are items that keeps appearing in Alice’s dreams such as small stones which she throws; the keys to doors, entering other realms through drawers; the fact that Alice has to open the drawers only after breaking the handle; the cookies and a blue ink that shrinks or enlarge her; the mushroom which allows her to shrink or enlarge physical things.
Recommended for kids and adults alike.
Comparing that the last episode of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King; Alice seems more like a psychological brainer than the latter; which is merely special effects thrown in with a few melodramatic moments highlighting irredeemable morals of friendship, valor, patriotism and honour.
So much has been said about the effects, the war scenes, the awkward melo – drama emotional moments of Lord of the Rings, I wonder, if there is anything I could have said which people would agree with.
Most obvious is the lack of acting from Mr Frodo (Elijah Wood). Certainly no acting best describes Wood for he is so “wooden” one wonders what emotions he can squeeze from this critical reviewer. He doesn’t smile, puts on a heavy face, and worst of all stares at us with his big green eyes all the time. We should award him the worst actor of the century.
On the contrary his homo-erotic best friend adventure mate, Sam, Sean Astin, is full of tears and anger against the slimy looking ugly Gollum/Smeagol (Andy Serkis) whom we could say carry the best acting in this movie’ or the best villian we hate or can’t decide if we should love. The only problem is that as much as Sam and Gollum play decidedly clear cut characters; their acting is at most perfunctorily. Nothing beyond the surface; which of course is expected since this is what Lord of the Rings is all it has in the first place.
Someone complain to me about the long winded ending. I agree to a certain extent but wonders if this is due to neccesity to end the story to follow the book faithfully or because Jackson thought it would be good to close all endings.
There is one lesson one can probably learn from Lord of the Rings though. That the people we trust most may end up being not so trustworthy; that situations sometimes changes and creates a happy ending.
