Cinemanila Film Festival Reviews # 2

Nanga Parbat (Joseph Vilsmaer) **1/2 - This film is based on the true story Reinhold Messner and his brother Gunther's tragic ascent to the titular mountain. I didn't know much about the film going in and what follows is a fairly straightforward story about man vs. nature and trying to survive. It's not a bad film. It features some stunning cinematography and on-location work plus Gustavo Santaollala's score is superb. But I've seen it done better (Touching the Void, for example).

13 Assassins (Takashi Miike) **** - Now THIS is a movie! Few things could make my cinephile heart pitter-patter more than a great samurai flick. And this is it. I'm not much of a fan of Takashi Miike based on just a few works I've seen of his but man, color me converted. The plot is pretty much straightforward: A group of samurai decide that they have to kill a psychotic lord aiming to bring back the age of war and does cruel, unspeakable things to his subjects. What follows is probably the best action movie of the year. Great performances by a fine ensemble. Intense action and visuals. What more could you ask for? This would've made Kurosawa proud!