AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH -- Davis Guggenheim, dir

©2006
studio: Paramount Home Video
production company: Lawrence Bender Productions, Participant Productions
director: Davis Guggenheim
cast: Al Gore, Billy West
documentary

A global warning.

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Former Vice Preseident Al Gore has become quite well known for his vigilence in warning about global warming and the effects of pollution on our planet. This award-winning documentary illustrates his warnings clearly and precisely. This really is a MUST-WATCH video for anyone concerned about the planet.

The message is frightening, but the optimistic-ness of the fact that we can slow and perhaps even change the course of environment -- for the better -- is worth listening to and heeding.

Recommended!

LIGHT OF MY EYES -- Giuseppe Piccioni, dir

©2001

director: Giuseppi Piccioni
studio: Film Movement

cast: Luigi Lo Cascio, Sandra Ceccarelli, Silvio Orlando, Barbara Valente, Toni Bertorelli, Mauro Marino
screenplay: Giuseppi Piccioni, Umberto Contarello, Linda Ferri
Italian -- sub-titled
Short Film: Dreamscapes by Sean McBridge

Antonio, a chauffer in Rome, has a chance encounter with Maria, a woman struggling to hold on to her daughter and her business. Antonio finds ways to help Maria, without her knowing that he's doing so, and at the same time, hopes that she will come to apprecaite him just for himself.

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Although it sounds like a description off of a DVD case, this movie had a real haunting beauty to it. I was drawn into Antonio's desire to be near Maria and her daughter. I understood where he was coming from, I was rooting for him, and was wishing Maria would make the right choices for a change.

This is one of those films that makes you glad for Film Movement. I would most certainly never have seen this movie if not for FM and am glad that I've seen it.

You wonder how long he'll allow himself to be taken advantage of, and when he'll lose his job because of the devotion he pays to Maria, and you wonder if he'll ever get out of the hands of the Mob. But through it all, Antonio remains true to himself above all, and it's that which has us cheering for him, in this romantic drama.

Recommended.

THE ASTRONAUT'S WIFE -- Rand Ravich, dir

©1999
studio: New Line Home Video
production company: Mad Chance, New Line Cinema
director: Rand Ravich
cast: Johnny Depp, Charlize Theron, Joe Morton, Clea Duvall, Donna Murphy, Nick Cassavetes, Samantha Eggar, Gary Grubbs, Blair Brown, Tom Noonan
screenplay: Rand Ravich

After losing contact with NASA while on a space walk, two astronauts return to earth, decidedly changed. But how?

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This movie is a rare sci-fi/thriller cross. The thriller aspect is played to the fullest, and the sci-fi part emerges, pulling this film down.

Without giving it away, you need the sci-fi part to make it work, but it makes it feel cheap and a scapegoat pay-off.

Performances are fine, but not as outstanding as I would like to see from Depp.

Not really worth the time to see this one.

MARION BRIDGE -- Wiebke von Carolsfeld, dir

©2003
studio: Film Movement
dir: Wiebke von Carolsfeld
cast: Molly Parker, Ellen Page, Stacey Smith, Marguerite McNeil, Hollis McLaren, Joseph Rutten
screenplay: Daniel MacIvor

Short Film: BETTER OR WORSE? by Jocelyn Cammack

The story of three sisters paralyzed by family secrets. In the midst of struggling to overcome her self-destructive behaviour, the youngest sister, Agnes, returns home determined to confront the past in a community built on avoiding it. Her quest sets in motion a chain of events that allows the sisters each in their own way to re-connect with the world and one another. [from FilmMovement.com]

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It took me a little while to get into this film, but once I did, I really enjoyed the journey.

First off, I never really understood the leading woman's place in the family. Was she the oldest daughter? The youngest? A middle child? The description bills her as the youngest, and yet she certainly doesn't appear or act that way. The oldest? It would make the most sense, but again, she doesn't act in such a way.

The relationship with the dying mother is odd. It never resolves, and it never strikes anyone as strange that the daughter had been gone.

The mystery of the young girl is good. It had me wondering for quite some time as to who she was.

The resolution with the father was good. Very appropriate, even though we never feel fully vindicated.

A good movie, and worth sticking it through.

LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON -- Bill Wilder, dir.

©1957
studio: Warner home Video
production company: Allied Artists Pictures Corporation
dir: Billy Wilder
cast: Gary Cooper, Audrey Hepburn, Maurice Chevalier, Van Doude, John McGiver, Lise Bourdin, Bonifas, Claude Ariel, Jack Ary, Charles Bouillaud, Marcelle Broc, Olivia Chevalier, Leila Croft, Valerie Croft
screenplay: I.A.L. Diamond, Billy Wilder from a novel (Ariane) by Claude Anet

A middle-aged playboy and a young, virgin, wallflower play games with each other as they discover their love for one another.

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Hmmm. I'm not sure where to start with this one. I didn't like it, I didn't dislike it. Performances were good. Direction good. But what kind of characters are these? What kind of story is this?

It never resolved properly, as far as I was concerned. To have this virginous young woman madly in love with the arrogant playboy bachelor was fine, but who in their right mind ever expects the relationship to succeed? Certainly not the girl's father, who as a private detective has spied on the man for years.

So where can a story of this sort go? To see the couple together at the end would make the intelligent viewer rather sad because we know that the playboy will always wander. To see them separate will make us sad because we will understand the heartache of losing a first love.

The problem here is that the playboy (Cooper) is so stereotyped as a playboy that we can never truly believe he will be any different than he is.

The age difference between Cooper and Hepburn is also so great that we never believe there is a chance in hell of the couple ever working out.

Chevalier is wonderful as the father/detective, but for him to practically give a blessing to the relationship is so out of character, we leave the film not liking or trusting him.

An awkward film that can easily be avoided.