I probably wouldn’t have liked this so much if I hadn’t seen it right after having watched the bloated, horribly acted Chronicles of Narnia—Helena’s performance in Mirrormask blows all the abysmal kid-posturing in that movie totally out of the water.

I agree with Arahsae—the plot is too simplistic and the pacing is too slow, but what a gorgeous film. As long as you don’t expect it to be an epic masterpiece, this is really a lovely little book of wonders.

Pretty, and faithful to the book, but utterly lacking heart. None of the performances, even Tilda’s, stylish though she was, came anywhere near being compelling enough for me to care about.

This is a highly cerebral film that’s also very detached (you’re always watching the characters from a distance, there are no close ups of faces, there’s very little music on the background track, there are lots of slow - potentially boring - sequences in which nothing much happens). As a result you have to sort of enter the characters’ emotional lives intellectually, by choosing to consider their dilemmas rather than being pulled into them. It’s an interesting style decision. It worked for Ross, less so for me. But the performances are absolutely stellar—very naturalistic and subtle. Just lovely acting. Which is why I was perhaps even a bit more disappointed not to have been more drawn in by them.

If you get the DVD, watch the interview with Michael Haneke - he is very egoistic in a mild and amusing way. :)

Like the Bukowski documentary we saw recently, this is a film that is great because of its subject and not its own merits. The movie has a very amateurish feel - its organization is confusing and the narration is so informal and partial that it borders on cheesy - but George McGovern is such an incredibly charismatic human being that you can’t help but be drawn into the story of his campaign and what might have been. The country was so much the same then, and so different—it’s amazing to me that these events all took place this less than 10 years before I was born.

Middle-child Old Boy is definitely the masterpiece of the trilogy - but Sympathy for Lady Vengeance is a heck of a lot better than the first film in the series. It’s totally gorgeous (those opening credits are to die for, and the baroque music is a lovely touch), beautifully shot, well-acted - but aside from the usual plot holes it has a HUGE pacing problem. Everything takes too long and instead of scenes building up to a crescendo you are constantly forced to ask yourself “Is this the climactic moment I’ve been waiting for? Is it this? Or this?”

Still, totally worth seeing, if only for that amazing red eyeshadow.

I liked this movie ok, but only because I like Milan Kundera’s work and having read quite a lot of it I had some context for the film. But since most of the power, humor, and pleasure of Kundera’s writing comes from his sharp observation of internal monologue, motivation, and emotion, the actors would have had to do a pretty astonishing job of pointedly telegraphing all their characters’ private thoughts in order to convey the wonderful texture of his intricate insights. And they don’t, really. Oh well. The woman who plays Sabina is pretty yummy. :-)

Wow. I feel like watching this movie damaged my psyche.

Well. Not really. But I can’t find a meaning for the utter depravity in this film, which had a curiously cumulative effect—at first it was kind of funny and mitigated by the cool effects, but as it went on and on it got more and more nauseating and pointless. Also a horribly misogynistic film, which didn’t help. I mean, misanthropic to be sure. But especially misogynistic.

Meh.

Rich and strange and earthy, and very sad; Harper’s narrative voice is astonishingly light, clear, and consistent. Not quite what I was expecting after having read Sleeping Dogs – which is much more… eccentric – but actually a more satisfying read.

A good Halloween choice, but this is all surface and no depth – a very beautiful and bizarre film whose beauty and bizarreness don’t connect to any real emotional weight. Jelisa Rose is so untouched by the events around her that we remain untouched by her. A pity.

I’m trying to think of something I didn’t like about this book, but I can’t.