blog.portblue.de » movies

Bus 44

admin — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 20:24:00 +0000

I’ve been doing some research on Dayyan Eng today, the director of Waiting Alone, and found out that he is a Chinese-American filmmaker who was born in Taiwan in 1975.
Since I really liked Waiting Alone, I checked into his earlier works — one of which was Bus 44 (車四十四 Chē Sì Shí Sì). It’s a short film, obviously based on a true story, that tells the fate of a female bus driver and her passengers encountering highway robbers on a lonely road in the countryside. Yet another excellent short film worth watching.

Bus 44 on CBC Television (click “watch” in the upper right corner)
> more information

Waiting Alone

admin — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 14:42:00 +0000

We’ve been watching a pretty funny movie in Chinese class today called Duzi Dengdai 独自等待, or Waiting Alone. The film is about a guy who desperately falls in love with a girl and tries everything to get closer to her. I don’t know all the details, since we’ve been watching the Chinese version with Chinese subtitles, but the dialogues are pretty simple and the story is understandable, even if you don’t speak the language. Hilarious movie anyway — worth checking out.

> Trailer (scroll down to the bottom of the page)
> Wikipedia: Waiting Alone

Kleingeld

admin — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 15:59:00 +0000

I’ve been thinking about a short film recently I recall having watched a few years ago. Luckily, I was able to dig up a link to a website which has a video stream available. I don’t want to say much about it, since it would probably spoil its message. The runtime is only 15 minutes and there is not much dialogue — the effect, however, is very impressive.

AtomFilms – Kleingeld (Small Change) (click “watch film” on the left)
> further information

Lost in Translation

admin — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 22:29:00 +0000

Lost in Translation — many people have been asking me why I like this rather lengthy and boring movie. After all, it has only won one more or less commercially oriented Academy Award and didn’t receive too much further attention by the general audience.

True, the screenplay owes a lot to Tokyo’s amazing atmosphere, but for those who haven’t noticed: this film is not about love. Contemporary movies have become somewhat simplistic in certain regards — one is driven to believe in a Hollywood cliché where people destined for each other meet, fall in love and live happily ever after. I prefer the idea of this movie because it shows that there is more between heaven and earth than «love» and «no love». Anyone who has ever had the feeling of longing for something indefinite will understand this movie.

Paradise Now

admin — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 14:16:00 +0000

I’ve just finished watching an incredibly touching and moving movie called Paradise Now. I’ve read a lot of praise about this picture in the past, but I have to admit that I never managed to get round to watching it.

It’s the story of two Palestinian childhood friends who were chosen to carry out a suicide bombing in the city of Tel Aviv. The movie depicts the last few hours of their lifes and the doubts that arise within them when they start to realize the imminent consequences of their actions.

Apart from the plot, the film is also very well shot in terms of stilistic means. There are not too many movies around these days where you feel you are watching a “real” story. Directors tend to focus too much on clichés and pictures that are, simply put, appealing to us. Paradise Now doesn’t belong in that category — certainly worth watching.