Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)

The Devil in a Blue Dress of Carl Franklin is a good police story with a good plot, a tale between the good, the bad and the not-so-bad guys. It will keep you for two hours focussed on the play with enough of suspense, with a style of those movies where Humphrey Bogart is a private investigator.It is not the real “film noir” stuff though. It takes a lot more to make a John Huston film.

Corruption, politics, people being played like pawns in the games of the influential people, all webbed in a tale with plot turns and enough violence.

My rating: 07/10

Attenberg (2010)

Attendberg of Athina Rachel Tsangari is one of those symbolic films that you either understand and adore or you hate! It is a daring comment on the way our society treats the sexuality of the individual as well as the reality that all our beloved will die sooner of later.

As in other symbolic films, below, you may find my interpretation on the meaning of the film. You may want to see the film first and then read it. This time, I will not hide the text 🙂 I am just leaving some space…

My rating: 08/10

On the opening scene of the movie (as well as may others that follow), the ‘experienced’ female tries to teach the ‘inexperienced’ one, how to kiss: a series of lip contacts and touches of the tongue that are so unnatural  and awkward that are repulsive, followed by the verbal instruction: you must remember to … breath! A double comment on  what happens in our society in the first three minutes of the film.

First, how many of us, forget to breath in a relationship?

Second, although our sexuality is a vital need of our body, of our self, in order for us to be balanced as individuals, we (usually) teach our children nothing about it.  No one has done it for us and it is very difficult to invent the method of doing it effectively. Our educational system is doing next to nothing to provide the most basic truth to all of us: wanting to make love with the opposite sex is equally natural with wanting to eat or drink.

So, we rely for information to our friends that are supposed to be more … experts that we are! Friends that have the same age and problems! Or try to get information by looking at documentaries about … other animals (e.g. the series by  Sir David Frederick Attenborough – Attendberg?!) .

Sexual attraction is a tabu that is not discussed in the family.  The father says to his daughter that she should be ashamed, even thinking of him being naked. It is ‘inappropriate’ for a child to think of its parent as a member of the opposite sex. That is why Marina initially tells her father that she thinks of him as a man without a penis.  It is perfectly natural for father and daughter to eat together, but not to talk about  their sexuality.

So, Marina (and her friend) uses any other tool she has to explore and understand the mystery of sex attraction. They mimic the behavior of different animals in the yard, making silly walks and moves to attract the males. They practice in showing hostility and aggressiveness as any animal does when fighting for a mate!

When Marina takes the big decision to make love with the engineer, she must discover everything from the beginning.  She has to figure out how to seduce the male – she totally undresses herself in a minute, she moves her shoulder blades in an attempt to do so! She tries to understand the language of the body using the language of the brain, i.e. the discussion, to the point where every desire of her boyfriend is killed. But most of all, making love as an expression of love, is not realized until her father is ready to die. It is then when she proposes to her friend to sleep with her father, as an act of love, it is then, that she manages for the first time to make love with her boyfriend.

Another line of the film addresses death and they way we deal with it. The absurdity of not being able for one to decide to be cremated, the inhumanity and exploitation of the hospitals (but we did not watch any satellite TV!), the luxury of the coffins vs. the wooden box they put the body to ship it abroad for cremation etc. On top of that the desperation of the parent that rushes to arrange every issue, asking his daughter to face the situation but calling her the same way as she was a baby…

The closing scene is equally devastating: a land massacred by machines, unattractive and ugly, resembling to the alienated people who created it.

A symbolic film has the power to convey much more meaning is a very short time frame (provided it is understood of course).  There are a lot more scenes in the movie than mentioned here. Hope I gave some highlights 🙂

TRON: Legacy (2010)

Let’s face it: if a movie has truly scientific grounds, then it is a poem of imagination. If it is just a story of fantasy with no logic behind it, then … well, it is just fiction! Personally, I enjoy much more the first kind. The TRON series falls in the second category. The … shock from the lack and/or distortion of concepts of the 1st movie have (more or less) been absorbed when the 2nd is watched. So, the story seems less outrageous and mind-enerving than the old movie. This is the first plus!

Usually, the 2nd movie is expected not to be as good as the 1st one is. Less expectations bring more pleasure when facing reality. This is a second plus.

Apart however from the above, TRON: Legacy is much better than the original TRON. I am not talking only about the better graphics and the 3D parts which are of course better than those back in 1982. There is a better flow in the play, better acting, a faster and more natural rhythm.

Not of the best Sci-Fi movies, but you may want to watch it video. 3D is not worth the money anyway.

My rating: 06/10

 

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)

Well, from time to time I do want to see some adventure-kind-of-movie. Childish? May be so 🙂 Avoid G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra though: it is when nanotechnology becomes the excuse for a naive scenario and all that it has is action, action, action,…

My rating: 03/10