The Tempest (2010, U.S)

I'll be honest, I had a very hard time focusing on this film. I think I'm just too stupid for Shakespeare, so I had difficulty understanding what was going on a lot of the time. I read The Tempest for my Shakespeare class in college, but my memory of the plot was vague at best. Perhaps I should have read the Cliffs Notes before watching this.

For the most part, however, I have nothing but good things to say about this film. Helen Mirren is incredible, and I absolutely adore Djimon Hounsou. (Side note: I can't believe this is the first new movie I've seen with him since I've started this blog. He is a show stealer—The Island, Blood Diamond, even Tomb Raider, and especially The Four Feathers. Love love love him.) He was a very engaging Caliban. The rest of the cast was also made up of very solid acting talent, although to be honest I could live without Miranda. The sets were also beautiful. Ariel and all his accompanying special effects were a bit weird, but I guess they're supposed to be.

So I don't know if I would recommend this to anybody or not. Shakespeare fans would probably be unhappy about the gender change of Prospero (although it is Helen Mirren, people), and non-Shakespeare addicts would probably be underwhelmed. So there you have it... a quality film that I just can't get too excited about. Very sad.

Rating: 2.5

My Blueberry Nights (2007, ?)

I put a ? in place of the country because I'm not quite sure about the country. I thought this was a U.S. or UK indie film, but imdb says "Hong Kong / China / France." So who knows?

I wanted to see this one when it came out in theaters, but it was a limited release so I never did. It was definitely worth the wait!

Although I was hesitant about Norah Jones as the main character, she was actually a decent actress. And while one or two of her songs was used in the soundtrack, there was no "look at me singing karaoke" or "...to my boyfriend" or "...in the shower." So that was a relief. Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, and Natalie Portman all play people she meets on this journey to find herself and define herself without a man in her life. She teaches them and they teach her, but in a very subtle way. (To give you a point of comparison, it was not like Chocolat in its "look at us help our friends grow as people!")

The acting was great, of course. Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, and Natalie Portman (in order of appearance) are all amazing actors, and their performances were spot on and understated enough to not steal the show from Jones. Also, I've been seeing more and more of David Strathaim recently, and I've really enjoyed his stuff.

This was Kar Wai Wong's English-language debut, and it definitely makes me want to go see more of his Chinese films. He does some fascinating things with close-up angles, with what looks like hand-cameras, with general structure. (To give examples: extreme close up of blueberry pie with melting ice cream, using the cafe's security camera as a POV, interrupting with frames thay say "Day x, y miles from New York.") Very neat stuff with a somewhat nouvelle vogue feel, I thought.

So I really liked this a lot. It's hard not to compare this to other films I've watched recently and give it it's own rating independent of them... I couldn't rate it as high as Jeux d'enfants, for example, but I also liked it more than Gods and Monsters. Can I give it a 4.25?

Rating: 4.0