Letters from Iwo Jima

"We soldiers dig. We dig all day. This is the hole that we will fight and die in. Am I digging my own grave?"

I first saw this a while ago, I really enjoyed it, but I still had the sour taste of Flags of our Four Fathers in my mouth, I really did not like Flags. This was so much different, and had so much more depth, it was far superior.

Title: Letters from Iwo Jima
Year of Release: 2006
Director: Clint Eastwood
Genre: Drama/History/War
Rating: 9/10

Letters from Iwo Jima is an unbiased film about the Japanese side of the Battle of Iwo Jima. It centers around General Kuribayashi, the man who is in charge, and Saigo, a baker conscripted into the army, he is not an ideal soldier, either.

One thing that is very obvious from the first scene, is the great way this was filmed. I don't know how to describe it, but everything seems to look one colour almost, it's very plain and so beautiful. It seems to be similar style of cinematography as in The Pianist & Saving Private Ryan, very bland colours. The cinematography in this film is superior than both Pianist and Private Ryan, because it really works perfectly in every scene, in every frame. The lighting particularly on the actual battlefields is great, really helps build your tension accompanied by the score, which leads me to my next point.

The score was very good, a lot of the time it is able to blend into the film well, you go on not noticing it. It's very quiet and subtle throughout, which really suits the mood, I felt. When they are fighting at night time, pitch black sky, very little details, you can only see whats practically directly around the camera, nothing in the distance, no stars, no nothing, in those scenes, the music really builds your excitement, to me, it really felt like the sort of music you would hear in a Horror film of sorts, not the sharp, loud and quick sort, but the quiet sort that builds and builds.

I cannot find a better example of a film depicting a completely unbiased view of both America and the Japanese during World War II. Neither are portrayed as more stupid, or cruel than the other, they are both shown for what they are, men. The propaganda the government fed them and led them to believe the other side were violent savages that you cannot reason with. This film shows that, it shows a lot of stubborn ignorant Japanese soldiers who are brainwashed into thinking committing suicide is a better choice than retreating to help elsewhere. The film uses letters to show that the two sides are exactly the same. The government really brainwashed the military men, the cattle of war, and the letters show the soldiers they are much the same, it shows them that the men they are killing are brothers, fathers, husbands and sons, much like themselves. I really admire this film for that. As well, just to throw in something to help connect the dots of those who lag behind, it shows American soldiers not being as kind as they are thought to have been in the War, believe it or not, they too mistreated Prisoners of War.

Kazunari Ninomiya plays Saigo, he does it very well, he has the look and everything down, he isn't a super-soldier, he isn't an even average soldier. He is a baker, that is more optimistic and Ninomiya really seemed to capture that and deliver a very emotional performance that felt very real. Ken Watanabe who plays the General also delivers an emotional performance, he is a man who feels the need to die for a cause, a man who felt he needs to die with dignity and have some significance. It got very frustrating when the over-the-top close minded patriots of the 'Imperial Army' disobeyed him because they thought his ways were stupid, cowardly and wrong. Watanabe's performance really helped you feel his frustration, with the assistance of, I think, Shido Nakamura who fed you the frustration on a plate. Ryo Kase plays the part of a man who is desperately trying to be an ideal soldier, and an ideal patriot but struggles because he is human and he wants to live, Ryo Kase, also delivered an emotional performance that was phenomenal (yes, I know I'm repeating emotional performance a lot). I'll stop listing the actors and whatnot and just say the acting from everyone was amazing.

I feel this is the greatest war film to date, it's very realistic and very unbiased which you don't come across much, and even when you do, it's not often done very well. Not just that, but the film is a treat to just look at, and/or listen to. It's definitely Clint Eastwoods best film that he has directed. I highly recommend this to anyone interested.

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The Pianist

"Thank God, not me. He wants us to survive. Well, that's what we have to believe."

It's been a while since I had seen this, so I thought I'd watch it, I had forgotten a hell of a lot about this which only added to the enjoyment.

Title: The Pianist
Year of Release: 2002
Director: Roman Polanski
Genre: Biography/Drama/Music/War
Rating: 8.5/10

The Pianist is the almost unbelievable true story of Wladyslaw Szpilman's struggles to survive as a Jew in Warsaw during World War II. His will to live is driven by his desire to play the Piano.

After watching the short documentary thing on the other disc for The Pianist, I found out Roman Polanski himself survived the holocaust too as a child, he lost his mother because of it, and he was able to reunite with his father after the war, luckily. The documentary showed how much Polanski got involved with this film, he really made an effort to be realistic, authentic and true to the source material. It was incredibly obvious that this was all of those. During this terrible time there is no glamorizing what happened, there can't be any characters that is "cool" that you sit there admiring and longing to be like, if it was like that then this film would fail. Thankfully it shows it very dimly, and quite graphic.

The cinematography is kept simple, again, this is not the film to stylize with, there are some beautiful shots, but everything is relatively simple and traditional in the way it was filmed. The art direction was phenomenal on the other hand. The destroyed buildings, and the way everything was so pale and colourless. It helps paint the picture that this is a very downbeat and sad time and merges very well with the story.

Adrien Brody was made for this role, I haven't really seen him in anything else that was even half as great as his performance in this, I admire him a lot because this film, sure some just hit a lucky note, or have a great director to help, but he really seemed to put the effort in and do a great job. He was obviously dedicated, starving himself so he lost 30 pounds to look the part of a very hungry man, also learned the Piano, and another I learnt from the documentary, he wanted so much to feel the same sort of lonesomeness Wladyslaw would of felt, so to feel a small fraction of that, he sold almost everything he owned and got out of contact of a lot of people he knew during filming. I respect him a lot for doing that, it's good to see he didn't just learn his lines but really put an effort in learning his role.

This was, I think, my third viewing of this film, and I forgot the majority of the film. The final 30-50 minutes of this film is all I remembered really. It's his most isolated time, though the rest of the film is magnificent, I don't know, the last quarter or so is the best, I don't want to spoil anything, but I'm sure you will be amazed, because this is one incredible story, and it's so perfect for a film that it feels unreal because it's just so damn extraordinary.

That's all I have to say really. A great film about the holocaust, survival and hope. I recommend it to fans of Polanski as this is quite unique, also fans of Brody should definitely see this because his performance in this is unmatched by any of his other performances and it's just a great film.

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Badlands

"At this moment, I didn't feel shame or fear, but just kind of blah, like when you're sitting there and all the water's run out of the bathtub."

I remember reading a while back about the serial killers this film is based off and I stumbled upon this film, only recently I had decided to watch it.

Title: Badlands
Year of Release: 1973
Director: Terrence Mallick
Genre: Drama/Romance/Crime
Rating: 7.5/10

This film is about Kit and Holly, Kit 25, Holly 15, they fall in love. Kit is quite a poor man, Holly's father doesn't approve of Kit and Holly being together. Kit desperate to not be separated from Holly, he kills her father. They then flee from police and bounty hunters across America.

Martin Sheen makes this great film so much better. His character is a complicated one, he doesn't really show his emotions, not even his love for Holly, but regardless it is obvious he loves her a lot. He is quite trigger-happy and kills people without thinking twice, and he never shows any large deal of regret. The character of Kit is certainly very interesting. Holly is quite a lot the same as Kit, but she is not a killer. She just is a young foolish girl going with the flow simply because Kit is the first male to ever love her like the way he does. She doesn't approve of him killing, but she doesn't question it or bug him either. Kit knows what he has done is wrong, and from the beginning he is willing to take whatever is coming. Kit, despite killing people he is still very likable, it seems he has a few screws loose but he still seems human, not a psychopathical killer, this is especially obvious in the later scenes.

This is one of those films that is short and simple, yet so great. The acting is as I've said quite damn good, the characters are interesting, and the plot, just as interesting. It's not a explicit film, it doesn't glorify killing in any way, it doesn't make killing look cool, and the characters aren't intended to be all that cool either. It's not like many other films about Serial Killers, usually, they will go into the psychology a little more than this, they will try show them to be Monsters, unreasonable and disgusting, these characters aren't any of those characteristics. Again, this does not justify killing, but it's very unique in it's approach to such a morbid subject.

The soundtrack is interesting, it doesn't consist of exciting tension building pieces, it's relatively the same throughout. It's quite mellow and as I've said, it's mostly the same throughout. It does enhance the scenes but not for the typical reasons, to build excitement, tension, fear, etc, but mainly just to help mold the general feel of the film and help you get the general gist of the films approach, it really fits in perfectly.

The scenery and cinematography is outstanding. There is quite a few long shots used with the emptiness of the desert and the rising sun (or sundown). These sort of shots are done quite often in numerous films, they fit in quite well with this film, and usually helps you know that the characters are deep thinking. The use of medium close up shots are also used quite well and create more wonderful looking scenes.

Personally it felt to me like there wasn't all that much talking in this film, there is plenty of narration which is great, helps you along, jumps unnecessary scenes that probably wouldn't suit this film. This film I felt doesn't show you a lot, but shows you enough for you to just know everything. Don't get me wrong, it shows you the obviously important things, nothing is like implied or anything, just, it's like describing something quite simply enough for the listener to get the point (maybe like this?).

Anyway, it's a nice film to watch, a very good performance from Sheen, and just a generally interesting film, it's short, and simple. There is a lot of subtle symbolism with certain sound effect you probably won't notice, but little things you will pick up on other viewings (I've seen it once, but I just know this). If you were interested in what I've said, you will enjoy this film, I'm sure.

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Once Upon a Time in America

"I hope the investigation turns out to be nothing; it'd be a shame to see a lifetime of work go to waste."

I've owned this film for about two years, but I was too lazy to even give a good attempt at watching this since it runs close to four hours. I just decided to watch it, planning to have a break in between discs, I didn't end up needing that break.

Title: Once Upon a Time in America
Year of Release: 1984
Director: Sergio Leone
Genre: Drama/Crime
Rating: 8.5/10

This film is about Noodles, played by Robert De Niro, who at the beginning you see go into hiding, at that point you don't know why. He is then drawn out of hiding 35 years later, again, for an unknown reason. The film chronicles four boys rise from being twobit hoods to gangsters.

During De Niro's golden days (70's-mid 90's) it was harder to find a movie that De Niro didn't deliver a great performance in than one he delivered a terrible performance in. This and Taxi Driver I would have to say are his best performances to date. Moments before the infamous scene in a car, his facial expressions showed all emotions you could imagine to running through him at that particular point. De Niro is quite widely known to be a "Method Actor", the way he just sinks into his role like it was himself was incredible, I'm not sure what exactly he himself did to prepare, but I certainly got the feeling that he truly cared for his role, and put a lot of effort into it, much like Leone did into even being allowed to make this film.

The picture above shows only a frame of such an incredible scene. The tall buildings, the distant bridge, the four boys walking and little Dominic dancing down the street. This is a perfect example of great use of a long shot. What follows this great moment is a scene that I think is one of the best in this film. The way Dominic turns and runs back "Bugsy is coming!", everything slows down, they turn and run, with fear painted right on their face, it certainly is very intense. "I tripped", a great line that effects the hoodlums, and gives the chance for a time jump, and helps life their level of being simple hoods up to no good into something far more serious.

This film is does so much more (like any great film, really) than just stick to a genre in particular. A lot of people may watch this in hope for a good gangster film, I'm sure you will find that in this film, but there is far more than just being about the crimes committed. It does a great job in showing how the boys develop into men, and how their relationship develops. This film, certainly does sit on relationships a lot, not just friendship and loyalty, but love and most of all, betrayal. Which increases this film from good to great.

The musical score was great, I've read of people not liking the choice of having "Yesterday" in the film, but I had no problem with it personally. The theme that is played numerous times was great. I don't have much to say about the score though really. I didn't pay enough attention to it, but I know I liked it, but I can't think of any examples where it enhanced scenes.

This film is quite graphic, I've read of people being greatly disinterested from this film because of the nudity that is present throughout, the violence that is there from the very beginning, and also the sex, mostly that involving adolescent teens. I don't have any smart words to dismiss these problems some felt, simply, get over it.

This film is quite a long film, running slightly under four hours, I thought it would be a struggle to pull myself through this in one go, so as I've said, I was prepared to watch it in two parts. I was so immersed in the story and just generally eager to find out the reason for Noodles' return. I'm sure there are some people out there though that will find this a long film, I'm not sure about your copy, but mine is two dvd's, half of the film on each disc, I suggest if your tired of the film, stop between the discs, though if you think you will only need about five minutes, just wait until the intermission that appears about twenty minutes or so into the second disc. I urge you greatly to make it through the film though.

Overall, a great film, worth watching, especially if you liked The Godfather, I recommend this to you.

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Generation Kill

"You Americans have killed a lot of sand. The sand was very evil."

From a video I saw this looked quite interesting so I bothered to watch it, but really, the main reason I bothered was because it was done by the two guys who created The Wire, the greatest television show (at least in my opinion) of all time.

Title: Generation Kill
Year of Release: 2008
Creators: David Simon & Ed Burns
Genre: Drama/War
Rating: 9/10

This mini-series follows the 1st Recon Marines who has a Rolling Stone reporter attached to their crew to report during America's invasion of Iraq 2003.

Much like The Wire this show is incredibly realistic. I'm no soldier or master of military tactics, but you don't need to be to know how realistic this show is, there are no super-hero's in this film, no Rambo's, there are simply real people fighting a war. One man won't just take on about 50 armed with a mere pistol and his trusty spoon[?]. It's so much more enjoyable when the show/film you are watching truly feels authentic.

One thing among the many great things with this show, is that it does a very good job of showing how incredibly morbid the war is, it doesn't sugarcoat is, it certainly isn't propaganda made to make you want to join the military. It shows badly hurt or killed children, and America soldiers accidentally or purposely killing innocent unarmed civilians. As I've said, it's very graphic for effect, it really wants to get the point across that this war that is going on is ridiculous, and the American's approach at certain elements was very stupid and heartless. This isn't anti-American or anything, don't get me wrong. The affect of the war has a different effect on numerous of the soldiers, some enjoy it and love shooting, etc, whereas some are deeply affected by the war and feel a great sadness to what is going on, and how ruthless they must be. I felt when they saw the passports of some of the "soldiers" they had killed and realised that the men they had just killed were in another country and came specifically to fight off the Americans, some of the contents of their wallets even showed some of them were attending University, I thought that was very effective. The name really does say it all.

The action sequences throughout the series were phenomenal. They managed to make them very exciting, sad, shocking and beautiful at the same time, particularly at night. At night in the distant towns and villages you would see explosions and gunfire, it really did look amazing. Of course. The sadness shown in the action sequences, as I have mentioned would be definitely regarding when innocent people were killed, they don't just touch on this element once, it is quite frequent. Well, shocking is quite self explanatory.

I know I haven't really done the show much justice here, so I'll quickly just wrap this up, the show is fantastic. Everything basically is great, the only real flaws in the show I feel are regarding certain characters, mainly that they were either annoying or cliché to some extent. I recommend this show to anyone interested in the war still going on, this is quite realistic and at no point is it ever boring. Actually, to add to the downsides, it is very short, only 7 episodes, but then I guess it is a mini-series..

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8½

"The truth is: I do not know... I seek... I have not yet found. Only with this in mind can I feel alive and look at you without shame"

I watched this a while ago, I was left quite confused and frustrated with the film, but giving it time, thinking back on it I began to really like it, so I decided to watch it again. It was a much better experience the second time round.

Title: 8½
Year of Release: 1963
Director: Federico Fillini
Genre: Drama
Rating: 10/10

This film is about a man called Guido who is a successful Italian film director, he has began working on a new film, he has lined up some people to star in the film, he has a Producer who is constantly pressuring him to begin filming, after stressfully working on a script it is constantly criticized by a man he asks to critique it. Guido is having a lot of trouble on trying to finally make up his mind on what exactly he is doing, no one even knowns what part they are auditioning about and no one really knows what the film is about, but it has a Spaceship in it.

The film achieves a lot, one example I felt was the fact you feel confused and overwhelmed much like Guido feels in the film. Constantly he is pressured, poked and prodded to hurry up and tell each person their part, and what exactly the film is about. Especially the Producer who was perfect, he had the whole look down, from the moment you see him, this old fat man with a young women at his side, you instantly think "asshole". I'm sure even if you didn't like this film, I'm sure you would of felt or at least realised how incredibly overwhelmed and stressed Guido must feel, they just don't give him a break.

Throughout the film the film will transition into a dream, which at some points is quite obvious, but at others you may be sitting there going "Whaa??" until the part of the dream that defines it as a dream, I didn't have a problem the second time through, the first time I got confused quite a lot, keep in mind though I was quite tired (another factor why I wasn't too huge on it the first time). The dreams throughout the film are great in showing how Guido feels about himself, his past, the film he wants to make, etc. They give you an insight into Guido's mindset.

Each moment in the film is a moment I can look back, smile and go "Wow", each scene looked and felt so amazing. A lot of the frames in the film could be frozen and made into a picture you put in your home or in a prestigious art gallery, really fantastic cinematography. Some films benefit from being Black and White, and some benefit from being in colour, this definitely needs to be black and white, because I think if this was in colour it would just distract you, and give it less meaning, whereas because it's in black and white, it stays simple and the messages given across are far more simple which is better in this case. I don't really know how else to describe why this is better in black and white than I'm sure it would be in colour, just simply I'm sure it would be better in black and white than in colour, I feel the same when it comes to Night of the Living Dead.

The acting by the entire cast was fantastic, the characters I felt, were biased in favor of Guido's feelings and shown mostly how Guido saw them. A lot of the characters were annoying, and misunderstood Guido. Tried to control Guido, and boss him around, a lot of them didn't even really know Guido but would obviously claim they did. Though Guido may have understood some of their views, and maybe even respected some of them, I still felt as if he didn't really care about them too much, which is where the end comes in.

The ending, the final scene, the final five minutes (give or take a couple minutes) of 8½ are crucial and so perfectly done. It seems as if the film described Guido plans to make is somewhat similar to the actual film [8½]. I don't know this by my own knowledge, but it has been said that this is quite strongly autobiographical for Federico Fellini (director) which you can sort of feel by the end, at least it seemed that way to me. I can't say much about the ending in particular without spoiling it, so I'll just say, pay attention to the end.

I did not forget about the music, I just simply don't know what to say other than it was perfect and captures the mood perfectly. Do not expect a very simple straight forward and normal film, because you will not get that from 8½ and that is for sure. 8½ is a very unique film, that is easily described as "weird", I guess. I loved practically every aspect of the film. It's a decent length, only a little over two hours, so those interested, check it out.

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The Tenant

"These days, relationships with neighbors can be... quite complicated"

I saw Rosemary's Baby when studying the Horror genre at school, not long ago I watched Repulsion and now I thought I'd check this out since I had loved both Rosemary's Baby and Repulsion. This did not let down. By the way, I can see myself talking about Repulsion and Rosemary's Baby through this sorry if you have not seen either, but you'll get over it.

Title: The Tenant
Year of Release: 1976
Director: Roman Polanski
Genre: Thriller/Mystery/Horror
Rating: 8.5/10

The Tenant is about a man called Trelkovsky who moves into an apartment immediately after the previous tenant had commit suicide. Of course, following the tradition set by Repulsion and Rosemary's Baby, nothing is what it seems, nothing is ever so simple in this film.

One thing I'm sure everyone who has seen this film will agree on is that it is very creepy. The other films in Polanski's unofficial trilogy are creepy too, but they are all different in what makes them creepy, but they all roughly deal with the same thing, they all deal with the mind. Definitely the staring people are very creepy, each of them sent shivers down my spine that made me incapable of sitting still. Again, if you have seen the other two films mentioned, I'm sure you'll find this quite creepy, because you begin to expect typical Polanski traits that you think you have caught onto, he is aware of this and will keep teasing you with simple things, personally every time Trelkovsky would slowly turn around I would be bracing myself for a jump, maybe that's just me, but it felt intended to do that, though it was quite subtle, there is no build up of the music in those moments.

The acting in this was pretty good, mostly that from Polanski of course, the other characters in the film don't have all that much time to outshine the lead. Polanski really proves himself as an all-round great filmmaker, he not only can direct and write great films, but he can actually act too. I don't think there is any other better person who could have pulled off the Trelkovsky character, Polanski settled right on in perfectly. I like seeing films where the director is also apart of the main cast, to me it really highlights their fantastic versatility and talent, which I respect greatly.

One thing I didn't like about this film is how it was done in English. For those who don't know, this is a French film, American financed, and as well to make it more commercially successful it was mostly done in English. There are parts which it is very obvious there has been dubbing, and I don't know why it is, but 3/4 of the time when there is a dub they get the complete wrong person to do the dub. There is a women in the film who when she speaks it's obvious it's a dub, but they got the most annoying person to do the voice-over, it was seriously pain to my ears to hear her speak, she had the loudest high pitch voice I've heard in a while, it almost seemed fake, but I don't see what the point was, she was a rather small character. I honestly would of preferred if they just left it as it was filmed, parts of it in French and parts of it in English, because the dubbing in this film was a pain and was not near (two completely different films, I know) the high standard of another film that did a similar thing, which was, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. I realise it's not a big problem, just when you do realise it, it gets annoying, but I'm sure you won't sit there the long trying to lip read what they are actually saying, regardless if you know French.

Whats so great about Polanski is that he will let you think you know him, that you know his style, which in some aspects you do, but really, you can't see whats behind that corner. This film is a lot more open to interpretation than the other two films mentioned, which I think really strengthens this one in particular. I personally feel this is the best of the three, I'm unsure which comes next, but they are all relatively close in their level of greatness. The ending is fantastic, it is so easy to dwindle on it for a long time to come and get nowhere. I choose not to think to much on it, just to have my personal opinion and leave it at that.

I've rambled on, and I haven't really given any insight on what makes this film so great, I don't think, so I'll quickly do it here. If you liked Repulsion and/or Rosemary's Baby, I guarantee you will enjoy this film to say the least. For those who are too unfortunate to have seen either then I recommend you check this film out if your looking for something that is quite a creepy film that is quite intelligent, particularly the end, as well if your looking for something that deals with the mind, paranoia even, though that is better fitted under Repulsion.

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