Rating (out of 4): **1/2
As I was watching ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’, I felt a resemblance to ‘Forrest Gump’. No wonder, the same writer, Eric Roth, penned the screenplays for both movies. Both movies feature a less-than-normal human being, and follow their life story in a cross decades and continent way. Both films also feature a love interest that intersects with the life of the main protagonist in an on and off manner.
No, ‘Benjamin’ isn’t in the class of ‘Forrest Gump’, and I’ll tell you why. ‘Forrest Gump’ is aided by a magnificent performance by Tom Hanks, which will stand the test of time and be remembered as one of the most unforgettable performance in film history. Secondly, ‘Forrest Gump’ is a meditation on modern American history, chronicling major events in recent American history, as seem through the eye of a naïve, good-hearted Gump. As a film, ‘Benjamin’ lacks qualities of such intellectual focus as well as a pivotal acting achievement.
In fact, the 1st half of the movie is somewhat sluggish. We see Benjamin Button born as a baby with wrinkles and cataract, and age backwards. His childhood was spent in an old-age home, listening to life stories of old people in their twilight years. Death, is a common sight for him from small. He then met Daisy, the love of his life. As he grew up, he embarked on a cross-continental sea voyage in a tug boat, and stumble upon war battle.
Up until this point, the film is way too episodic, lacking a good flow. It is a common trap for movies chronicling life events to fall into, particularly biopic. Some, like Martin Scorsese’s splendid ‘The Aviator’, managed to provide a much-needed story arc to allow the life events sail through in a nice flow.
The movie starts to pick up when Ben and Daisy, who age in opposite direction, intersects in their 20’s and 30’s. This is when a story arc starts to surface, putting them into difficult life choices and moral dilemma. Ben was hesitating to raise his daughter, as he thinks the daughter need a real father who age with her, and that Ben will be more like a playmate to her, and Daisy can’t possibly be raising both of them. This is what we find interesting, fitting a ‘curious case’ as Benjamin’s.
The film was directed by David Fincher, who has previously worked predominantly in the realm of thrillers. His ‘Se7en’, ‘Fight Club’, ‘The Game’, ‘Panic Room’ and ‘Zodiac’, offers some of the most well-made thrillers in modern time. A material like ‘Benjamin’ is a somewhat unfamiliar territory for Fincher, and it felt so.
No doubt, on a production level, ‘Benjamin’ is impressive in many aspects, and it may very well picks up Oscars for makeup, visual effects, art direction and other technical categories. It is also well-acted as a whole. It is an ambitious film, exploring heavy subject matters such as life, death, aging and mortality. But the film seems overwhelmed by its own ambition, and I am not sure if the ‘curious case’ premise really helps to tell such philosophical elements better. It feels more like a gimmick to pull the audience in.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Red Cliff (Pt 1 & 2) 赤壁
Rating (out of 4) : ***
I am thankful that John Woo has made Red Cliff (Pt 1 & 2) without overly focusing on the grand battle scene. The original material which the films were based upon, 'The Romance of the Three Kingdom', is a work with considerable depth, and John Woo's films lend justice to that.
Yes, 'Red Cliff' has loads of grand battles, some a bit overlong. But the films are also as much about the mechanics of warfare too; the planning, the strategy, the war tactics, great minds outsmarting each other, the organizational structure within a war faction. These, are in fact, elements that I find more interesting.
The mechanics in which the war factions organize themselves was elaborately presented by John Woo, so much so that it can be seen as a parable to the way humanity organize themselves. At the very top, you have warlords like Liu Bei and Sun Quan. In the business world, they will be the business owners, the ones with the vision. They assembled a team of able and trusted lieutenants to work with him in achieving his vision. At the foreground, the warlord (business owner) may not be doing much. The actual running of the army is left to a commander-in-chief like Zhou Yu, much like the CEO is the one who run the business. Nevertheless, the warlord is the ultimate leader, who first came out with the vision and build an organization from scratch to achieve it. They, the successful ones, often live by a certain principle and thus command respect and loyalty from his top lieutenants. In the film, Liu Bei stood firm by his principle to protect his citizen, even if that means he will have to concede defeat to his enemy due to that.
The commander-in-chief (CEO) run the business, they get the job done for the warlord (business owner), but they are often professionals who may switch sides by working for another warlord (business owner). Still, as the film shows, a successful war campaign (business) needs a loyal partnership between the warlord and his commander-in-chief, that's where the warlord (business owner) needs to be trusworthy and charismatic to make his top lieutenants believe in his vision.
Under the commander-in-chief, there are the other top generals like Zhao Zilong, Guan Yunzhang, Zhang Fei and Zhu Geliang, not unlike the COO, CFO, CTO, Regional Chiefs who formed the top management team of a business organization. The chain of command goes right down to a bomb maker who make bombs out of fish oil. He is like a project manager, no?
Hell, even top generals had to deal with tight deadlines, and the punishment for not meeting the deadlines? Death by beheading. I would have been dead many times have I lived in those time.
Of course, you also have variation in roles like Chao Cao, who's more like an owner/CEO. Zhu Geliang is not quite a CEO but a chief strategist, a master mind.
Cool huh?
Red Cliff is the kind of movie that sort of making the war looks pretty cool. In fact, the one attempt by John Woo to balance things up (to make it look ugly) by having an unnecessary romantic subplot involving Sun Shangxiang and a young rival army turn out to be rather, unnecessary.
If only John Woo has gone even deeper by exploring the personal conflict, the inner struggle of some of the major characters like Liu Bei, Sun Quan, Zhou Yu and Zhu Geliang, the moral dilemma of these people in fighting the war, Red Cliff would have been quite a package. Yes, yes, I know I am being fussy here. Still, Red Cliff deserves praise as a work that lend justice to its original materials. The production is impressive, the war game intriguing and the ensemble cast gave an imposing collective performance.
* Note: I choose to review 'Red Cliff (Pt 1 & 2)' as a single unit of work as I don't see any artistic reason of breaking it into 2 films. This is unlike Quentin Tarantino's 'Kill Bill Vol 1' and 'Kill Bill Vol 2', which posses qualities that justify them to be seen as 2 individual films. The decision to break 'Red Cliff' into 2 films must have been purely a commercial one.
Also, part of the reason is I happened to watch both the 'Red Cliff' films in a single day 4-hour-plus movie marathon, thanks to GSC who re-run part 1 which I have missed last year.
I am thankful that John Woo has made Red Cliff (Pt 1 & 2) without overly focusing on the grand battle scene. The original material which the films were based upon, 'The Romance of the Three Kingdom', is a work with considerable depth, and John Woo's films lend justice to that.
Yes, 'Red Cliff' has loads of grand battles, some a bit overlong. But the films are also as much about the mechanics of warfare too; the planning, the strategy, the war tactics, great minds outsmarting each other, the organizational structure within a war faction. These, are in fact, elements that I find more interesting.
The mechanics in which the war factions organize themselves was elaborately presented by John Woo, so much so that it can be seen as a parable to the way humanity organize themselves. At the very top, you have warlords like Liu Bei and Sun Quan. In the business world, they will be the business owners, the ones with the vision. They assembled a team of able and trusted lieutenants to work with him in achieving his vision. At the foreground, the warlord (business owner) may not be doing much. The actual running of the army is left to a commander-in-chief like Zhou Yu, much like the CEO is the one who run the business. Nevertheless, the warlord is the ultimate leader, who first came out with the vision and build an organization from scratch to achieve it. They, the successful ones, often live by a certain principle and thus command respect and loyalty from his top lieutenants. In the film, Liu Bei stood firm by his principle to protect his citizen, even if that means he will have to concede defeat to his enemy due to that.
The commander-in-chief (CEO) run the business, they get the job done for the warlord (business owner), but they are often professionals who may switch sides by working for another warlord (business owner). Still, as the film shows, a successful war campaign (business) needs a loyal partnership between the warlord and his commander-in-chief, that's where the warlord (business owner) needs to be trusworthy and charismatic to make his top lieutenants believe in his vision.
Under the commander-in-chief, there are the other top generals like Zhao Zilong, Guan Yunzhang, Zhang Fei and Zhu Geliang, not unlike the COO, CFO, CTO, Regional Chiefs who formed the top management team of a business organization. The chain of command goes right down to a bomb maker who make bombs out of fish oil. He is like a project manager, no?
Hell, even top generals had to deal with tight deadlines, and the punishment for not meeting the deadlines? Death by beheading. I would have been dead many times have I lived in those time.
Of course, you also have variation in roles like Chao Cao, who's more like an owner/CEO. Zhu Geliang is not quite a CEO but a chief strategist, a master mind.
Cool huh?
Red Cliff is the kind of movie that sort of making the war looks pretty cool. In fact, the one attempt by John Woo to balance things up (to make it look ugly) by having an unnecessary romantic subplot involving Sun Shangxiang and a young rival army turn out to be rather, unnecessary.
If only John Woo has gone even deeper by exploring the personal conflict, the inner struggle of some of the major characters like Liu Bei, Sun Quan, Zhou Yu and Zhu Geliang, the moral dilemma of these people in fighting the war, Red Cliff would have been quite a package. Yes, yes, I know I am being fussy here. Still, Red Cliff deserves praise as a work that lend justice to its original materials. The production is impressive, the war game intriguing and the ensemble cast gave an imposing collective performance.
* Note: I choose to review 'Red Cliff (Pt 1 & 2)' as a single unit of work as I don't see any artistic reason of breaking it into 2 films. This is unlike Quentin Tarantino's 'Kill Bill Vol 1' and 'Kill Bill Vol 2', which posses qualities that justify them to be seen as 2 individual films. The decision to break 'Red Cliff' into 2 films must have been purely a commercial one.
Also, part of the reason is I happened to watch both the 'Red Cliff' films in a single day 4-hour-plus movie marathon, thanks to GSC who re-run part 1 which I have missed last year.
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