Restrepo, a documentary film by Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger

by James Gilmore

Restrepo is the first documentary reviewed on this blog (and hopefully not the last) but is worth discussing due to its vigorous storytelling qualities.

The film documents the most combat-intensive atmosphere known to US soldiers since Vietnam, wherein American soldiers find themselves engaged in 4-5 firefights a day for 15 unbroken months. Transcending the normal objectivity of the format, Restrepo thrusts the viewer into the startling subjective experiences of young soldiers right from the beginning. Illustrated by intense first-hand footage of combat, poignant interviews, and daily losses and gains, the film recreates the surreal daily life of these soldiers. Footage of “boys being boys” punctuated by ghostly silence and heart-stopping combat. What we see in the often unspoken psychological aftermath of war is devastating.

The filmmakers quickly get a bead on what is human and interesting in the story. These men aren’t just soldiers in another American conflict, but youths who barely understand anything about their own world, let alone the incomprehensible foreignness of the world they have been dropped into. To these young men the war is not about ideology, the fight for freedom or any other such lofty goals. It is about surviving in an alien environment they will never understand.

Restrepo is more emotionally intense than any synthetic war movie. At times it is beyond heart-wrenching. It is ultimately compelling. One of the best military documentaries of the decade.

Rating: 5 / 5

Blue Gender, an animated series by Ryosuke Takahashi and Koichi Ohata

by James Gilmore

In an attempt to branch out in review material, Blue Gender is this blog’s first Minimalist Review of a TV series—a Japanese anime TV series at that.

Seemingly inspired by another anime series called Neon Genesis Evangelion (and occasionally approaching near plagiarism of it), this 26-episode animated series proves to be an incredibly dark, violent and gory sci-fi that is externally centered around a chosen few individuals who pilot exoskeleton suits (read: big robots) to fight off a global alien invasion.  Internally, the story is about one individual trying to find his purpose in a seemingly pointless existence.

Although the series stays afloat with decent execution, it suffers from numerous logic holes, a unique but blunted concept (a directorial issue, see below), and a bloated, inefficient plot spread too thinly over 26 episodes.  Even though it improves somewhat over time, the whole series still feels two episodes longer than is necessary.  The plot is sometimes too predictable due to directorial shortcomings in dramatizing big reveals, even if they do occur on cue in a solid over-arching structure.  The underlying emotional/relationship content remains adequate for the genre but could have been taken much further given its powerful seeds.  Barely worth mentioning is the all-too-frequent laughable dialogue and occasional clips of unnecessary nudity (justified as “fan service,” which is typical of the anime supergenre).

Despite its numerous shortcomings, Blue Gender remains coherent, well structured, directed, animated and characterized, ultimately leading to a surprisingly entertaining end result, even if the commendable main character has a habit of becoming irritating a little too often.  Testaments to the series’ impressive visuals are its gruesome imagery, realistic future technology, intimidating foes and intense battle sequences, most notable in the first six episodes.  Most striking of all is the uniquely remarkable soundtrack which combines dirty grunge and dark choral with the experimental.

In the end, Blue Gender is worth a look for those into adult sci-fi series featuring an alien invasions, big robots and wholesale slaughter.

Rating: 2 / 5

Exterminating Angels (Les anges exterminateurs), a "Quickie" review of the film by Jean-Claude Brisseau

by James Gilmore

Exterminating Angels (Les anges exterminateurs) by Jean-Claude Brisseau should have been a short film.  Bloated with too many shenanigans and not enough story, the film contains all the elements of a deep story but fails to take the necessary steps required to achieve its goal or to adequately explore its thematic material.  In short, it doesn’t provide a qualitative, coherent examination of the subject matter.

Not to downplay the surrealism of E.A., but many of the film’s elements are completely superfluous while the plot is not as solid as it needs to be.  Instead, it seems to act as a vehicle to justify extended scenes of sexual indulgence.

Brisseau makes an attempt at unraveling the ambiguity of sexuality and sexual love, but the result is shallow despite its proposed depth and, if anything, comes across as simply old-fashioned.  One can’t help but feel like the filmmaker thought he was being clever while sending a personal message of defiance directed toward his critics.  However, the result is incoherent and superficial.

Rating:  2 / 5

The Trip, a film by Michael Winterbottom

by James Gilmore

The Trip is a comedic film reconstituted from a short-lived improv TV series of the same name, starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as fictional (and sometimes not so fictional) versions of themselves. Off-beat and off-color, this hybrid mockumentary/traditional film narrative delivers comedy that might not be to taste for the general American viewing public. Although presented as a low-key comedy, the film is really a sad coming of middle-age story at heart.

The plot follows a foodie pilgrimage taken by non-foodies, unfolding to reveal the life of an aging, professional actor as he approaches a sort of mid-life crisis. But beneath the façade of this simple story is one man’s journey as he is confronted with the revelation that he hides in a fantasy world and must face the brutal truth about his own life, and in so doing transcend from the idles of youth into the maturity of adulthood. For this the film and especially the direction are commendable. Unfortunately, in part because of its conception and in part due to its nature as an ad-hoc film edited together from a TV series, The Trip fails to deliver a strong story arc, resolution of sub-plots or character relationships. The true core of the film cannot be better illustrated than by Steve Coogan’s line: “It’s not about the destination; it’s about the journey.”

The film’s comedy is both passive-aggressive and extremely understated, often to the point of there being no joke or gag at all, merely subtext and unspoken situation which presents itself as genuinely humorous. Especially entertaining is the continuous battle of dinner table impressions, namely those of Michael Cain and Woody Allen.

Coogan’s acting proves to be one of the most impressive aspects of the film as he demonstrates his chops for more serious roles (not to mention that he won a BAFTA for his acting in The Trip).

Rating:  3 / 5

Zelig, a “Quickie” Review of the film by Woody Allen

by James Gilmore

Woody Allen’s Zelig is a light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek mockumentary told through a veritable 1930s-style news reel.  Despite being a simple love story at heart, Allen’s film demonstrates remarkable subtlety of theme about a common man who expresses his desire to fit in to society by literally adopting the characteristics of others.  Zelig not only entertains, but manages to expose the desires of every human being through the fantastic journey of one human chameleon.

Rating:  4 / 5

Captain America: The First Avenger, a film by Joe Johnston

by James Gilmore

Captain America: The First Avenger is the best of the “Avenger” origin movies to date.  Although well written and directed, special recognition is in order for the film’s excellent casting, studded with marvelous actors and nuanced, layered performances.  Hugo Weaving is a delight as always—that is, until he takes off his mask, at which point he loses his broad range of subtleties and becomes a mere caricature (as disappointedly expected in the superhero genre).  Chris Evans displays remarkable flexibility in his transformation into Steve Rogers compared with his previous performance as the Human Torch in both Fantastic Four films wherein Evans plays a character who could not be more different.  Impressive performances by Stanley Tucci and Tommy Lee Jones are also unavoidably worth noting.

Invested into the story is an intelligent journey toward the burgeoning of Captain America as superhero, playing upon not only the usual choices of balancing heroism and humanness but also the very idea of Captain America as an icon of World War II symbolism.  Captain America ends up parodying his future self before actually taking the plunge into his role as true hero.  Few superhero stories can boast an equally clever step.  To cement his role as hero icon of the War, Captain America also makes the choice to not live to fight another day (in his own time), but makes the ultimate sacrifice—the mark of a true hero—one few comic book “super” heroes make, even though the term “hero” implies such a requisite act in order to receive such a lofty title.

Still, at times the action pushes beyond the realm of believability, which is further exacerbated by a few sub-par special effects and the obligatory comic book-like action sequences in the third act (which are always a bit harder to swallow).  Also, one finds the glaring lack of visual verisimilitude in Steve Rogers’ pre-superhero physique annoying to the point of distraction while the minions of Hydra appear plagiarized from an unrelated videogame called Return to Castle Wolfenstein (2001).

Overall, an enjoyable superhero film with a little something more.

Rating:  4 / 5

(Jet Li’s) Fearless, a “Quickie” Review of the film by Ronnie Yu

by James Gilmore

Jet Li’s Fearless (aka Huo Yuan Jia) is a martial arts action film told in the old Hong Kong studio style.  While the fight scenes are nothing special in of themselves, watching Jet Li attempt to act is always a grueling task for even the most die-hard of his fans.  The impressive layered conclusion is packed with subtext, character and emotion, in spite of the obligatory (and blatant) pro-Chinese, pro-unity message required to pass government censorship.

A must for any fan of Jet Li or kung fu diehard, a popcorn film for everyone else.

Rating:  3 / 5