The Devil's Playground (Fred
Schepisi) *** - A group of boys in a seminary school as well as their
teachers and superior struggle with sexual awakening and worldly
desires. I thought it was going to be darker than it ended up being.
Though it has serious undertones and themes, there are moments of humor
and light-heartedness in it as well. It avoids being too
sensationalistic and handles its very sensitive themes very tastefully
and intelligently without hitting you over the head with it so much.
Great performances too.
The Letter Never Sent (Mikhail
Kalatozov) ***1/2 - Four geologists trying to find diamonds in the
Siberian tundra get themselves into a life-or-death situation in a
forest fire. Like in the other films of his that I've seen, director
Mikhail Kalatozov once again demonstrates that he is a real cinematic
master. This survival film features some stunning on-location work,
jaw-droppingly gorgeous cinematography and inventive use of editing and
dissolves. Beyond that, the compelling survival story still shines
through.
The Music Room (Satyajit Ray)
**** - An aristocratic landlord hanging on to his old way of life
re-opens his Music Room for one last moment of glory. This is my first
non-Apu Satyajit Ray film and it's a great one. It really is a sad,
melancholy film but also oddly life-affirming in its own strange way.
It's also filled with wonderful, exciting and beautiful visuals of a
lifestyle people outside of India and outside of that particular society
seldom see.
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4 comments:
Great round-up as usual buddy, these films all sound pretty good in their own right, I'd love to check one of these out.
Devils' Playground is the only one I've heard of but they all sound pretty good.
HAH YOU'RE SO HIGHBROW FG BASTARD, WHY CAN'T YOU JUST SHOVEL POPCORN INTO YOUR FACE WHILE WATCHING (insert brand x movie blockbuster here) AND JUST HAVE FUN WITHOUT ANALYZ-wait, wrong post...sorry, bro.
Much like Mark, Devils' Playground is the one I heard of out of all of these...but man, The Music Room kinda speaks to me.
Sounds like somethin' I'd be interested in seein' sometime, y'know?
It was fun to see this list, I didn't pay much attention to movies through out 2003 cause I was busy with so much else, so its nice to see what I missed! I liked Lost in Translation and the Return of the King but number 10 (forgot its name) definitely looks like something I'd like too! Gonna have to find that one out and The Son! (thanks for not telling to much about it! Some movies need to be entered in ignorence! Can't wait to see it!)
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