Hotaru No Haka (1988)

Also Known as "Grave of the Fireflies"

Directed by: Isao Takahata
IMDb Top 250: #168
My Rating:



Film anime produksi Studio Ghibli ke-tiga yang gw tonton (setelah "Spirited Away" - "Sen to Chihiro Kamikakushi" dan "Princess Mononoke" - "Mononoke Hime") dan paling depressing, paling sedih, paling nyebelin, walaupun secara kualitas gw masih lebih demen sama "Mononoke Hime". Well, gw bilang sih selevel sama "Spirited Away".

Film ini secara implisit memicingkan mata dengan sinis dan penuh kebencian terhadap perang. Bukan terhadap siapa di balik perang tersebut. Tapi cukup kepada perang itu sendiri lepas dari siapa ngebom siapa, atau siapa njajah siapa.

Mengisahkan pejuangan Seita, seorang bocah laki-laki remaja dan Setsuko, adik perempuannya yang baru berumur 4 tahun dalam menghadapi masa-masa sulit Perang Dunia II. Ayah Seita dan Setsuko adalah seorang pejuang yang tentu saja harus ada di garis depan. Dan ketika dalam suatu air-raid sekutu menyebabkan sang ibunda meninggal, Seita dan Setsuko harus berusaha untuk mempertahankan hidup.

Seorang temen memperingatkan bahwa film ini adalah film yang luar biasa mengharukan. Bahkan dia (kebetulan cewek) bilang, selalu menangis tiap kali nonton film ini entah untuk yang keberapa kalinya. Pftt.. girls. That's what i thought before i had my hands wet with it. Filmnya mengharukan dan buat gw, layak masuk ke jajaran film terbaik tentang perang (termasuk di antara "Full Metal Jacket", "Appocalypse Now", "A Bridge Too Far").

Yg gw suka dari film ini adalah nihil-nya ke-protagonis-an setiap karakter. Mungkin yg masih tersisa adalah lewat cute-ness dari Tetsuko. Some thought it annoying, tapi buat gw it just so natural kalo datengnya dari gadis kecil umur 4 tahun. Seita, sang kakak meskipun cinta-nya jelas tak terukur terhadap adiknya buat gw malah bisa qualify untuk jadi antagonis. Bagaimana tidak, he's lazy and stupid. Padahal jelas-jelas semua orang harus bahu membahu untuk membangun Jepang yang porak poranda gara-gara perang tapi apa yang dilakukannya? geez. Sang Bibi walaupun sangat menjengkelkan (kalo kita memutuskan untuk berpihak pada Seita) tapi tetap saja tindakannya sangat masuk akal demi melihat suasana perang yang membuat semua hal jadi susah. Pada intinya sih, gw melihat setiap karakter di film ini hanya melakukan apa yang memang mesti dilakukan di kondisi itu (pengecualian buat Seita yang memiliki harga diri agak berlebih). And for me, that was the strength of the movie.

Buat alur-nya? tidak masalah. Alurnya straight-forward. Lurus lurus saja dan dalam pace yang wajar. Gw akui gw terlalu berlarut pas menonton film ini yang lantas mempengaruhi penilaian gw. Tapi, gw yakin adegan terakhir dari film ini bisa membuat hati siapapun sesak.

Intinya, perang itu buruk. Tidak masalah siapa yang bersalah siapa yang benar. Perang itu buruk. Dan pesan itu, yang ingin disampaikan oleh film ini mengena. War sucks. Hey, Jepang adalah negara yang dulu selama tiga setengah tahun pernah membuat ribuan pemuda Indonesia mati meninggalkan keluarganya.

Damn, i miss my brothers.

Yojimbo (1961)

Foreword: I've actually seen the movie for quite some time, but i just got enough time to put thought about it and to write article about it.

Starring: Sekali lagi, tak bosan-bosannya Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakdai, Yoko Tsukasa, Isuzu Yamada, Daisuke Kato, Seizaburo Kawazu, dan peran kecil oleh Takashi Shimura
Directed By: Akira Kurosawa
IMDb Top 250: #103
My Rating:



Impresi pertama gw ketika ngeliat film ini, dari setting kota-nya terutama adalah "Wah, Western banget". Desain kota-nya (atau desa) adalah bangunan-bangunan tua di sisi kiri dan kanan sebuah jalan raya yang membelah kota tersebut tepat di tengah-tengah, lengkap dengan Devil's Grass yang meluncur malas diterpa angin. Akira Kurosawa memang sedikit banyak terinspirasi dari film-film western ketika membuat film ini. Dan uniknya, tiga tahun kemudian seorang sutradara yang pada akhirnya menjadi sutradara western terkenal, Sergio Leone membuat 'remake' shot-per-shot dari "Yojimbo" melalui sekuel pertama dari trilogi "Man with no Name": "A Fistful of Dollar" dengan Clint Eastwood pada posisi Toshiro Mifune. Thus, the circle is complete.

Arti harafiah dari "Yojimbo" adalah "Bodyguard". Film ini memposisikan Toshiro Mifune sebagai seorang (lagi-lagi) samurai ronin, tak bertuan yang pengembaraannya membawanya ke sebuah kota di mana didalamnya dua kubu gangster berseteru. Mengaku sebagai Sanjuro Kuwabatake, setelah membuat persahabatan yang unik dengan seorang penjaga warung sake dan mempelajari kejadian di kota tersebut, ia memutuskan untuk memainkan peran sebagai "Bodyguard" bagi pihak manapun (dari dua kubu gangster yang berseteru) yang membayarnya lebih.

Scene-scene awal mengindikasikan bahwa Sanjuro adalah seorang anti-hero yang brutal, tidak ubahnya dengan para villain yang merongrong ketentraman kota tersebut dan tentu saja mengedepankan ego dan kepentingan dirinya sendiri terlebih dahulu. Gw enjoy banget nonton scene-scene awal, gw serasa lagi hura-hura, ongkang-ongkang kaki bersantai ketika Sanjuro dengan asik-nya membunuh tiga orang demi mendapatkan impresi dari pemimpin gangster yang berseteru bahwa ia lebih dari layak untuk menjadi seorang "Bodyguard". And that scene which follows the murder of three when he coldly asks for coffin-maker to make another three coffins was wicked cool. Dan cuma Toshiro Mifune yang bisa membuat gw menggeritkan gigi demi menahan emosi ke-keren-nan (rada ga jelas niy) yang muncul dari dalam diri gw.

However, setengah jalan genre-nya berbelok cukup drastis ketika akhirnya Sanjuro menunjukkan sisi melo-dramatic-nya, sisi kemanusiaan-nya yang terenyuh, yang lantas diikuti oleh kesalahan Sanjuro sehingga menyebabkan ia dipukuli dan disekap oleh salah seorang gangster. Dari sini genre-nya berubah jadi sedikit gelap. Gw pribadi ga terlalu suka sama alur-nya, too crappy, too western, too often tapi dari scene ini yang keren cara Kurosawa memvisualisasikannya. Gw paling inget ketika muka ancur Sanjuro (habis dipukuli) di-shot dalam gelap dengan sedikit cahaya yang menyinari sisi mukanya yang masih relatif mulus dan menyorot mata liar Sanjuro yang memancarkan kemarahan. And that's another teeth grinning for Toshiro Mifune.

All in all, dari awal sampai akhir film ini agak njelimet alur-nya. Suka lompat kesana-kemari. Bahkan dalam satu scene, gw sempet mundur beberapa menit karena scene Sanjuro berikutnya yang terpengaruh oleh scene sebelumnya ternyata cuma dipicu oleh satu dua baris script dalam hitungan detik yang secara mudah akan terlewat kalau nontonnya sambil lalu. Selain itu, adegan terakhirnya juga agak-agak cliche. But, i've seen worse. Dan meskipun Sanjuro pada akhirnya harus meluluh-lantakkan sepasukan gangster dengan sabetan pedang-nya, implikasi logisnya jauh lebih nyata dari pada...say, "Rambo"?, "Collateral Damage", "Cobra", atau any Van Damme's movie. Yah itulah, Kurosawa is Kurosawa bagaimanapun dia membuat film, artistik kaya "Dream" atau eksyen seperti ini, pada akhirnya gw masih merasa digiring ke konsep humanity yang selalu disuguhkannya.

King Arthur (2004)

Starring: Clive Owen, Stephen Dillane, Keira Knightley, Hugh Dancy, Ioan Gruffudd
Directed by: Antoine Fuqua
IMDb top 250: -
My Rating:



Jerry Bruckheimer. Ever heard the name?. Seharusnya dia adalah jaminan mutu buat film-film eksyen berbobot (masih ingat "Bad Boys"? atau "Pirates of the Caribbean"?) dan tampaknya itu yang dijanjikan oleh trailer film ini.

Well then, untuk mengomentarin film ini, terlebih gw tekankan bahwa kesimpang-siuran legenda Arthur dan ksatria meja bundar telah melahirkan banyak versi yang bahkan sampai menimbulkan anggapan bahwa Arthur dan temen-temennya adalah 100% fiksi. Hal ini menjadi patokan gw -- membuat legenda Arthur yang ditawarkan oleh King Arthur sebagai sebuah entitas sendiri yang independen terhadap legenda-legenda lainnya -- buat menikmati film ini supaya lantas penilaian gw tidak berbias terhadap pengetahuan gw mengenai origin dari si Arthur (dan temen2nya tentunya).

Clive Owen adalah Arthurius seorang keturunan Romawi ber-ibu orang Inggris aseli. Ketika dia sudah dewasa, dia ditugaskan untuk menjaga wilayah Romawi di Inggris yang mendapat gangguan terus-menerus dari penduduk asli yang menginginkan kemerdekaan (Merlin dan kawan-kawannya beserta si cantik Keira Knightley sebagai Guinevere) and later, the Saxons. Arthurius a.k.a Arthur tidak sendiri ada serombongan ksatria yang membantunya: Lancelot, Bors, Galahad, Gawain, Tristan, sama satu lagi gw lupa namanya. Inti ceritanya sendiri ada pada masa bakti Arthurius dan temen2nya yang udah habis sehingga mereka layak mendapatkan kebebasan mereka. Namun, Romawi mengirim mereka ke satu misi terakhir, menyelamatkan sekeluarga Romawi (ngapain mereka ada di sana?) yang ada di utara tembok (wilayah Romawi ada di selatan tembok) ditengah ancaman orang-orang pribumi dan rombongan Saxon yang melabuh di pantai utara Inggris (sekali lagi: ngapain tu orang Romawi bikin tempat tinggal di sana? jauh di wilayah musuh? quoting Obelix: "Orang Romawi memang gila").

Put that aside, start film-nya sungguh buruk. Sederetan narasi (entah lewat audio atau graphic), time-leap 15 tahun yang singkat, agak-agak ndak jelas Who's Whos and Why's Whys. Pokoknya tahu-tahu 7 orang ksatria naik kuda membunuh orang-orang pribumi yang membuat gw bertanya: "apa tujuannya?" soalnya Antoine Fuquo menggambarkan para ksatria ini (terutama Tristan, Lancelot, dan Bors) tak ubah-nya kaya orang Saxon, barbar, whatever lah yang doyan ngebantai orang. Geez. You just got yourself a bad mark there, Antoine. Karakter-karakter-nya laughable. Serius, gw pengen ketawa setiap kali melihat Clive Owen dengan tampang sok imut-nya sekuat tenaga pengen memotretkan image seorang Arthur yang dihormati kawan dan disegani lawan. Dan sayangnya, cuma Clive Owen / Arthur yang mendapat kesempatan untuk dibangun sedemikian rupa karakternya. Karakter-karakter lainnya? bah... numpang lewat. Palingan cuma Lancelot (banci, perengek, sok keren) dan Bors ("Rus!!", sok patriotik padahal paling bar-bar) dan itupun tidak cukup.. jauh banget dari cukup.

Berikutnya, kita punya Kiera sebagai Guinevere. Gw ga ada masalah sama pakaian suku-nya yang ultra minim di samping. Sekali lagi, gw nonton film ini menganggap seakan-akan gw ga pernah baca cerita Arthur. Tapi yang mengganggu gw adalah 'kegatelan'-nya itu lho. Dia seakan-akan udah ga sabar untuk mencopot pakaiannya di hadapan Arthur (atau Lancelot) dan lantas membiarkan dirinya 'dimasuki' oleh Arthur (atau Lancelot, whoever come first). Oke, romantis (maunya). But? what do i got? just a whore.. praktis semenjak adegan di kemah antara Arthur dan Guinevere gw udah males nonton film ini.

Jadi, biar gw simpulkan. Film ini tidak punya alur cerita yang kuat. Satu misi terakhir dari Roma. Karakter-karakter yang dangkal, Guinevere yang 'kegatelan', skrip yang payah, eksyen yang ya... oke lah walaupun tak sebaik "Braveheart", buat penggemar eksyen terutama yang sabet-sabetan gw rasa bisa terhibur. Trus satu adegan yang membuat gw cukup bisa untuk muntah, atau terguling-guling ngakak. Ketika dalam menit-menit yang menjemukan, para ksatria (temen) Arthur yang sebelumnya hendak meninggalkan Arthur dan kaum pribumi berjuang sendiri melawan Saxon saling memandang satu sama lain, tersenyum, dan lantas mengambil senjata mereka untuk kembali ke sisi Arthur (maaf, gw ga nganggep ini Spoiler kok, if you see the movie, you ought to see it coming long before it actually happened). Ekspresi, angel-shot, dan skrip-nya bener-bener bikin gw mau ngakak. Jadi, secara keseluruhan meskipun Jerry bilang ini film action/drama, bagi gw film ini gw sebut sebagai film "unintentional comedy". A failed comedy yang menambah panjang jajaran film-film tentang Arthur yang jeblok secara kualitas. Sayang sekali melihat Kiera, atau Clive mau-maunya tampil di film kaya gini.

Collateral (2004)

Disclaimer: Film ini gw tonton dalam suasana yang sangat kondusif, jadi gw bisa memberikan penilaian yang cukup obyektif dan tak berbias. Sehingga meskipun bukan film yang terakhir kali gw tonton, gw bisa dengan mudah menulis tentangnya di sini.

Starring: Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett-Smith
Directed by: Michael Mann
IMDb top 250: -
My Rating:



Gw suka sama pergerakan kameranya. It was so fluid that it gives me the feeling that i was on the scene instead of sitting on the outside beyond perimeter of the screen. But, i guess that was it. Meskipun Jamie Foxx dan Tom Cruise cukup keren aktingnya, tapi gw tidak melihatnya sebagai sesuatu yang istimewa soalnya menurut gw sih, you can't expect less from both of them.

Ini adalah film ketiga besutan sutradara Michael Mann yang gw tonton setelah "Heat" (damn, it was the best heist movie ever) n "Ali" dan menurut gw, film ini adalah film yang terburuk bila dibandingkan dengan kedua film tadi.

Vincent (Tom Cruise) datang ke L.A dengan satu tujuan. Di dalam tablet PC yang diserahkan oleh cameo Jason Statham di LAX terdapat daftar nama-nama yang harus ia habisi sebelum pagi menjelang. Ya, Vincent adalah seorang pembunuh profesional, a heartless mother-f*cker who knew how to shoot. Dan dalam misi-nya ia memanfaatkan "a guy in a wrong place and in a wrong time", seorang sopir taksi shift malam, Max (Jamie Foxx) untuk mengantarkannya keliling L.A dan dimulailah perjalanan si pembunuh dengan chauffeur-nya.

Sebenernya ceritanya lumayan bagus, skrip-nya juga cerdas (dibawakan dengan manis oleh Tom Cruise, Vincent jadi benar-benar perfect -- too perfect -- walaupun tidak nyata sebagai seorang pembunuh yang tak punya hati, profesional, tahan banting, pencinta jazz dan sekaligus filosofis) bahkan gw hampir jatuh cinta sama adegan awal ketika Max ngobrol sama Jada Pinkett-Smith yang disampaikan tanpa banyak kata-kata kecuali kata-kata yang cerdas tapi jelas nunjukin betapa lonely-nya orang Amrik dan dari situ karakter Max jadi terkonstruksi dengan apik soalnya di sepanjang film, Max nyaris tidak beranjak ke mana-mana.

Total ceritanya sendiri juga jauh dari mengecewakan, gw pribadi sih ndak terlalu suka sama aksyen-nya yang menurut gw cuman ditambah-tambahin buat menambah nuansa pop biar para penonton jadi lebih tertarik untuk menontonnya. Buat gw, yang paling menarik dari film ini adalah clash-of-characters-nya (tentu saja karakter-nya Foxx sama Cruise) yang sayangnya jadi agak hambar menjelang akhir film.

So, what's with two and half rating you say? well, praktis rating gw banyak dipengaruhi oleh sepertiga akhir film ketika akhirnya Max memutuskan untuk berbuat sesuatu yang heroik dengan terang-terangan menentang Vincent yang diklimakskan dengan adegan yang menurut gw terasa agak dipaksakan apabila mengingat latar belakang Vincent dan Max. Many illogical plots as well ketika di sepanjang film, Vincent tertembak, terguling, tercelakai, dan teraniaya tapi tetep bisa komit dalam menunaikan tugasnya atau adegan di rumah sakit ketika Vincent dan Max mengunjungi ibu-nya Max (what was that scene meant anyway?). But that aside, gw suka sama clash-of-characters-nya (Jamie Foxx vs Tom Cruise). Sedikit mengingatkan gw sama Robert De Niro vs Al Pacino di "Heat". Cuman sekali lagi, sayang ternoda oleh sepertiga akhir film yang bernuansa aksyen Hollywood standar.

Another Week

Wassup Blog?

Not seeing much movies lately, some precious time had been forcefully ripped-off me last week. Most recent was last weekend, when my friend, my high-school friend -- even though that i had to admit that we never a so-called close acquaintance during my gray-pants old days -- had a wedding ceremony in Bandung and since my friends in Jabotadebek had already planned the How's and When's all to the tiny details, i had decided to tag along to Bandung for a two nights ride.

Well, Bandung was okay -- much-much crowded, warmer and dirtier than the last time i remembered it which gradually reduced my affection toward the city --, my friend's wedding ceremony was superb tough, nice party, loads of great foods, actually i had a great time there, and a full tummy afterwards. Also met several friends, one of which was one of the few close friends that i used to had, and another one who had disappeared for several years due to some reasons best untold. Pretty nostalgic, there were 10 of us and we shared the same past and talked about past, the shame, the laughter, the sorrow, all of which usually brought us a good relief of laughter and happiness.

The bad news is, when we're about to hike off Bandung back to where we came from (Jakarta) we were jammed by the sudden crowd, a sea of humans crowing Dago because that night was happened to be the annually held Dago Festival. That night, it seems like every living soul, every breather in Bandung were came out of their houses and populated Dago by foot on which made Dago magnificently un-penetrable by our vehicle. Hence, we were trapped in the crowd for about three hours before we could manage to escape Dago Festival and head back to Jakarta. That was one of the tiresome experience i ever had. Eight hours which almost twice as usual required for us to make a trip from Bandung to Jakarta. But, it was a nice and pleasant trip none-the-less. I had a great time, and i just wish that everybody (especially our drivers) were also had a great time.

Friends, i love u all.

Taxi Driver (1976)

Starring: Robert De Niro, Cybill Sepherd, Harvey Keitel, Jodie Foster (when she was 14, i suppose)
Directed by: Martin Scorcese
IMDb Top 250: #43



Perkenalan pertama gw sama Martin Scorcese terjadi pas di film "Gangs of New York", film yang langsung gw suka karena adegan pembukanya yang brutal, violent, and ugly tentang perkelahian antar geng di kota New York pas era Perang Sipil di mana setiap geng yang berantem bertemu di sebuah tempat (selayaknya padang Kurusetra di cerita Mahabharata) dan bertarung hand-to-hand. But that's another story.

"Taxi Driver" ini film-nya Robert De Niro. Dalam maksud bahwa sepanjang 115 menit film ini berjalan, jarang sekali kita tidak melihat tampang Robert De Niro di situ (yang paling gw inget sih cuman adegan dansa Jodie Foster (Iris) sama mucikarinya, Sport (Harvey Keitel)). Robert De Niro adalah Travis Bickle seorang ex-marinir pulang dari Vietnam untuk bekerja menjadi seorang supir taksi di New York. Segera kita melihat potret kota New York dari mata seorang Travis lewat shot-shot yang secara mudah bisa meng-capture the harsh-ness, the rough-ness, and the dirty-ness of New York suburbs and the people in it. Demikian Travis kemudian memandang orang-orang di sekitarnya. Dia melihat mereka sebagai sampah dan dalam sebuah monolog yang terkenal, dia ingin ada hujan yang turun begitu derasnya sehingga menyapu bersih jalanan kota New York dari sampah-sampah itu.

Travis Bikcle juga seorang penyendiri. Dia tidak punya siapa-siapa dan sekali waktu ia menulis surat untuk kedua orang-tua-nya tanpa pernah mau menyebutkan di mana ia tinggal dan apa pekerjaan dia yang sesungguhnya. Kesendiriannya ini benar-benar diekspresikan oleh Martin Scorsese dengan baik sehingga atmofsirnya jatuh ke luar layar. Ada satu adegan yang menjadi monumental berkaitan dengan ke-anti-sosial-an Travis Bickle ketika ia melakukan monolog di depan cermin. Very sad, very touching.

Suatu ketika, Travis bertemu dengan seseorang (Becky - Cybill Sepherd) dan lantas memutuskan untuk mengencaninya.. dari sinilah muncul konflik batin baik di sisi Travis ataupun buat gw, penonton. Buat gw pribadi, pada saat itu gw mulai ragu akan simpati gw terhadap kesendirian Travis, gw juga ragu apakah gw harus merasa kasihan atau kesal akan ketidakbisaan Travis dalam menjalin hubungan dengan manusia. Dan dari sini, alur film kemudian berbelok tajam, mengubah karakter seorang Bickle dan menyetirnya untuk 'menyelamatkan' seorang pelacur muda, Iris (Jodie Foster) yang menurut sudut pandangnya, gadis ini ingin keluar dari cengkeraman mucikarinya, Sport (Harvey Keitel). Tapi, apakah memang si gadis ingin diselamatkan? ataukah itu hanya ilusi dari Bickle yang ingin melakukan sesuatu agar ia tidak merasa tercampakkan dan terhina seperti apa yang ia rasakan terhadap orang-orang disekitarnya? perlu dilihat sendiri.

Secara keseluruhan, "Taxi Driver" buat gw adalah film yang menjengkelkan. Sound effect-nya bener-bener bikin depresi. Di satu titik gw merasa terbawa ke alam 'kelam'-nya Kurosawa dan itu sudah cukup untuk membuat gw merasa 'bt'. Tapi, karakter-karakter yang terlibat di dalamnya ciamik sekali. Kredit lebih untuk Robert De Niro yang secara alamiah menentukan baik buruknya film ini mengingat 95% dari panjang film kita akan selalu melihat Travis Bickle, sedih, sendiri dan depresi jadi sudah jelas, apabila De Niro tidak bisa meyakinkan penonton sebagai Travis Bickle, filmnya tentu tidak akan sefenomenal ini. Cybill Sepherd gw juga suka banget aktingnya sebagai Becky di sini. Jodie Foster? hmm, rada aneh juga melihatnya masih selangkah di umur belasan tapi she's good none-the-less.

So, meski film ini termasuk film yang boring dengan alur yang lambat, dan kadang-kadang tidak jelas tujuannya, gw suka film ini karena Travis Bickle-nya. Dia menawarkan sesuatu yang selalu membuat gw terkagum-kagum sehabis nonton film: Dualisme. Gw simpati, tapi gw juga anti-pati, gw kasian, tapi juga gw tidak peduli.. perasaan-perasaan yang bertolak belakang yang gw berikan kepada Travis Bickle. And the ending, bukankah ending-nya membuatmu bertanya-tanya? apa sih yang sebenernya terjadi sama Travis?. Yang jelas, he's there always with his Taxi, strolling New York City on the midnight ride, disgusted himself to the people - trash - around him and wishing that someday a rain would wash the street clean of them.

Rating: *** / **** - A bit overrated you say? well, i'm not sure myself, but i could feel myself as Travis Bickle, lonely and deserted. And he's the blood of this film and his taxi was his vein. The characters are the reason for the rating.

New Layout

This site has been down for a whole week. It because approximately a week ago when i was about to wrote another article about movies, to my folliness, i did something on the template which up to this date i had not clue whatsoever on what did i do wrong at the time. All i knew was that this site had practically un-accessible the whole time.

So instead of finding out what i've been done wrong which sort of like finding a needle in the hay-stack, i've recreated the template for this site right from scratch. Yea, and it may not much but i guess the new layout represented more thoroughly the ideas that came to my head than the old ones.

Rashomon (1950)

Disclaimer: Meskipun di beberapa entri terakhir gw mencoba memfasilitasi bahasa Inggris sekaligus merupakan pelatihan gw terhadap penggunaan bahasa tersebut, gw merasa waktu yang gw butuhkan buat nulis satu entri cukup signifikan. Oleh karena itu, gw akan menulis tiap entri berikutnya dengan bahasa ibu, dan nantinya baru gw terjemahin (meskipun ga bakal gw taruh di sini lagi, elsewhere, mungkin gw perlu punya binder yang menyimpan semua properti fisik dari hasil pemikiran gw yang sebelumnya tertuang di sini atau di situs lain).



Starring: Siapa lagi kalo bukan Toshiro Mifune, sekali lagi bersama-sama Takashi Simura, Minoru Chiaki, Machiko Kyo, dan Masayuki Mori, ditambah dengan tiga kast lagi: Kichijiro Ueda, Fumiko Honma, dan Daisuke Kato, film ini memang cuma terdiri atas delapan karakter saja.
Directed By: Akira Kurosawa

Beberapa orang menganggap "Rashomon", bersama-sama "Ran" dan "Shichinin no Samurai" sebagai masterpiece dari seorang Kurosawa. Gw pribadi sih setengah-setengah sama pendapat itu.. a masterpiece? kalau gw menempatkan diri gw di tahun 1950, ya.. gw bakal bilang itu masterpiece. Menurut beberapa sumber, film ini adalah film pertama yang ngambil gambar matahari secara langsung, sebuah shot yang sangat umum ditemui di film-film sekarang. Juga merupakan alasan kenapa Academy (pemberi Oscar) membuat kategori "Best Foreign Films". Dengan fakta-fakta itu disingkirkan, pendapat gw pribadi untuk film ini sih: cukup buat mikir tapi certainly not my favourite amongst Kurosawa's. Why, gw lebih suka "Yojimbo" yang lebih fun, "The Hidden Fortress" yang lebih grandeur, atau "Ikiru" yang lebih dalam mengupas sisi humanis yang jadi kelebihan Kurosawa. Afeksi gw terhadap film ini malah seperti terhadap "Throne of Blood". Secara kualitas mantap, tapi kelam dan depressing. Tidak sepenuhnya menunjukkan bahwa gw tidak suka film ini, tidak. Gw anggap ini film bagus karena 'dalem' tapi sekali lagi, ke-kelam-an film ini yang membuat gw ikut2an 'kelam' yang di satu sisi menunjukkan kehebatan Kurosawa dalam mentransfer emosi dari film ini, di sisi lain mempengaruhi penilain gw yang jadi ikut2an 'kelam'.

"Rashomon" adalah sebuah studi mengenai relativitas kebenaran. Kurosawa menceritakan pengalamannya ketika menghadapi ketiga asisten-nya yang bertanya tentang tujuan dari skrip "Rashomon" ini dalam bukunya (gw lupa judul-nya). Pengalamannya tersebut kurang lebih menyimpulkan bahwa untuk bisa menikmati "Rashomon" secara utuh, mesti dilihat bahwa pada dasarnya manusia itu memiliki hati yang kompleks, the inability to tell the truth tanpa memikirkan kepentingan diri sendiri, dan seterusnya. Lebih jauh, Kurosawa bilang bahwa "Rashomon" ini film yang menceritakan tentang hidup... dan hidup itu tidak selamanya harus dimengerti.

Ada empat karakter yang menceritakan suatu kejadian dan masing-masing mengaku menceritakan kebenaran dari perspektif dirinya. Seorang samurai (Masayuki Mori) dan istrinya (Machiko Kyo) sedang berjalan di sebuah hutan ketika seorang bandit (the one and only, Toshiro Mifune) memutuskan untuk memperkosa si istri. Kejadian ini berbuntut dengan terbunuhnya sang samurai yang mayatnya ditemukan oleh seorang penebang kayu (Takashi Simura). In the later scenes that follows, masing-masing dari empat karakter ini (berurutan dari si bandit, sang istri, sang suami -- lewat mediator, dan penebang kayu) menceritakan kejadian as they know it lewat serangkaian flashback yang menarik.

Tapi tentu saja, keempat cerita itu tidak ada yang sama satu sama lain meskipun hasilnya sama saja: si samurai mati terbunuh tapi tidak ada senjata pembunuhnya, si istri ternodai dan belati bertahtakan mutiara milik si istri tidak ditemukan. Akira Kurosawa pun tidak mau susah-susah menunjukkan pada penontonnya mengenai versi mana yang benar-benar terjadi, atau siapa yang benar-benar jujur. Bahkan ketika salah satu karakter (pendeta (Minoru Chiaki)) bilang bahwa orang mati tidak bisa bohong, hence, the truth was told by the deceased samurai who has been summoned by a certain miko to tell tales, Kurosawa dengan subtle mengindikasikan bahwa bahkan orang mati pun masih membawa ego mereka yang membaurkan kemampuan mereka untuk berbicara dengan jujur, tak berbias.

Intinya sih, film ini merupakan teriakan Kurosawa akan 'kebenaran'. Kritik-nya sih, bahwa setiap manusia itu susah atau bahkan tidak bisa mengatakan 'kebenaran' tanpa diusik oleh ego mereka, kepentingan mereka, hence.. the heart of man is truly a remarkable thing.. unthinkable, unpredictable just like life itself. Buat gw, film ini juga merupakan kritik buat sistem peradilan -- 'asas praduga tak bersalah' -- modern soalnya setiap karakter di film ini masing-masing mengaku bahwa mereka sendiri-lah yang bertanggung jawab atas kematian sang samurai, bukan orang lain.

Yang lebih membingungkan lagi adalah adegan terakhir, adegan ini dengan mudah bisa menimbulkan ambiguitas ketika si penebang kayu setelah dituduh tidak jujur, tidak beda dengan pembunuh, dan semacamnya melakukan kebaikan yang nyaris tidak bisa dipikirkan tujuan maupun maksudnya. Apa tujuannya? apa maksudnya? hanya scene si penebang kayu, tersenyum dengan mata berkaca-kaca berjalan ke arah kamera di tengah hujan yang mereda di antara reruntuhan kuil Rashomon yang sebelumnya digunakan untuk berteduh yang disediakan Kurosawa sebagai jawaban.

Truly, not one of my personal favourite. Tapi bobot dari film ini, pesan yang dikandungnya, yang membuat ini layak jadi masterpiece. Oh ya, the sound.. the sound was annoying.

Rating: **** / **** - Still, not one of my favourite.

IMDb Top 250 Films (part 2)

11. Citizen Kane (1941)
A rather self-importance movie, Citizen Kane's achievement lies not within the dollars it made but rather with the critics who praised and acclaimed it to be one of the best cinematography achieved in cinema. My memory about this film is rather vague, i had to watch it again in order to learn more about it.

12. One Flew Over Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
One of the best chemistry among two characters in cinema. With Jack Nicholson who i i thought was at best when he played as a numb-nuts, crazy, lost-of-wit character -- check out The Shining -- as a rebellious mental institution patient, this movie delivers enough drama to capture my eyes within its varied characters whose of course fall not far from the crude definition of 'insane'.

13. Pulp Fiction (1994)
Quentin Tarantino's second best (after Kill Bill). This movie breaks all the timeline limitation but yet, QT's had doing so well to keep them intact and intertwined each other in a subtle scenes. Beginning with the robbery by a couple (Bunny and Pumpkins?) in a diner which at first doesn't make any sense at all, the movie had proceeded with loads of wacky, and hillarious adventures. With loads of profanities and witty dialogue (for example, about metrics system in Paris), if one loved Kill Bill they're bound to watch Pulp Fiction.

14. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
My favourite of the serie, so far. Master Yoda is formidable. But Luke Skywalker (as much as his dad, Anakin) is annoying. With this movie as a required transition between Eps. IV and Eps. VI, some key elements are loaded in this second installment which made it my personal best of the serie.

15. Rear Window (1954)
Haven't seen it.

16. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
Haven't seen it. I have been looking for this movie for like, eternity. This movie was my #1 Most Wanted movie. Made by Kubrick, this movie was held as his most funny works. Considering that Kubrick had a rather wierd sense of humor, i have been looking for this movie ever since.

17. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
The fist installment of the Indiana Jones serie was also my favourite. I remembered it as the very first adventure movie (which i could recalled) i saw. I had a heartily good laugh here and there. But that was then, when i was a child. I need to watch it again, to made my judgement.

18. The Usual Suspects (1995)
My first acquaiantance with Kevin Spacey was in this movie. As demeanoring Verbal Kint, his role is a very subtle one. A magnificent twist right at the end of the movie (which later spoofed at one of the Scary Movie film), made me fall in love to Kevin Spacey at that instant.

19. Memento (2000)
It was a feast to the brain. The director, Christoper Nolan divided it into several scenes and reversed in its time line forcing us, audience to keep remembering what was happen in the future instead guessing what would happen in the future. Very cool.

20. Il Buono, Il Bruto, Il Cattivo (1966)
Or The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Considered to be the most known (and best) western spaghetti movie, this movie was a classic. I was not fond to a western spaghetti hence, this movie never made to my most wanted list.

To be continued...

IMDb Top 250 Films

I had a leisure walk to IMDb's site later this day and examined the top 250 films list appeared on the site (http://www.imdb.com/chart/top). Now this list was constructed based on the visitors' votes. And only those who deemed as a regular voters whose votes are considered. Well, since the website was a widely known sites for movie geek, i thought that the top 250 films were almost accurate. Now, how many of the movies appeared in the list have you seen?.

1. The Godfather (1972)
Classic. No doubt that Francis Ford Coppola's trilogy of Corleone family had become a standard reference (by words or by shots) to many movies about gangsters that follows. Though i loved the second more than the first, i loved the series. And that shot where Marlon Brando got shot and killed while he was walking to his car after bought some fruits was my favourite shot of the series (it later appeared as a spoof on Robert DeNiro's "Analyze This").

2. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
I dont know about this. I found the third installment was rather boring. I loved the second way more than the third. Well, i guess since this third was a conclusion (that Samwise Gamgee is the real hero and Frodo Baggins is a whiner useless c*nt) to the series, people would chose it more since it provides a satisfication ending to the series.

3. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
I knew it!. I have written a review on this movie, and i remember i gave it a full mark and "a best adaptation" entitled to it. This movie is loaded with emotion. Of how that a man, -- slowly devastated mentally and physically by the damp life in a prison and at the same time had to stay alert every time with his back toward the unknowing peril of his inmates and the prison warden who would love to beat the shit out of him until an inch of his life -- able to back and wiggling himself toward a simple dream that he hold tight inside his cell patiently for as long as fifteen years. A simple dream that lies beneath the Rita Hayworth's poster of beach and a life beyond the caged bar of a prison.

4. The Godfather Part. II (1974)
My favourite of the serie. I loved Robert DeNiro -- who speaks Italian in the entire movie -- when he played the young Vito Corleone, and the juxtaposition between him and Al Pacino's character.

5. Shichinin no Samurai (1954)
Nuff said. Probably Kurosawa's widely known movie. I loved the idea, the emotions it offers, the chemistry between the characters, and Toshiro Mifune. Even though that i've seen Kurosawa's that slightly better than this, this movie was more known and has been re-told by Hollywood ("The Seven Magnificent") hence, more popular than others.

6. Schindler's List (1993)
???. I had to see it again. I mean, yeah ??? i didn't quite grasp the quality of this movie and why does it made to the top ten list let alone #6.

7. Casablanca (1942)
Again, a romantic classic that sets the stone for romantic movies that follows. Many scenes had reproduced and referenced in modern cinemas. My affection toward it was actually around a mediocre level. I loved the final scene and dialogue at the Morocco's airport though.

8. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
No comment.

9. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Simply the best of the serie and proved the capacity of Peter Jackson as a director who brought forth the classic literature to life. And even larger than the original. I was really really astounded by Battle of Helm's Deep. In the book, it only had a 5-6 pages but in the movie, it swallows two third of the movie's length. Superb.

10. Star Wars (1977)
Or Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. The original two series of Star Wars trilogy were far exceeded the latter two series of Star Wars trilogy (Ep. I and Ep. II) in terms of quality. R2D2 and C3PO were funny couple, yet George Lucas had ruined it in Ep. I and Ep. II by adding not one, but two additional jokers -- annoying jokers if i may add -- Jar Jar Binks and Anakin Skywalker. I'm not a Star Wars fan though, but compared to the others (except with its sequel Empire Strikes Back) this episode is stood aloft among the rest.

To be continued...

Closer (2004)

Disclaimer: This would be my very first PRE-view page about a movie

Starring: Jodie Foster, Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Clive Owen
Directed By: Mike Nichols
Release Date: December 12th, 2004 (wide)

From Yahoo! - "A story of passion, drama, love, and abandonment involving two couples, which only gets more complicated when the man from the first couple gets acquainted with the woman from the second coupling.", this movie recieved an "R" rating from MPAA for its sequences of graphic sexual dialogue, nudity/sexuality and language.

From its cover, it was immediately shown that the two couples in questions were Jodie Foster - Clive Owen and Natalie Portman - Jude Law. Well actually, beside that small information about this film from Yahoo! that i had cited above, i had no information whatsoever regarding this movie. Only a small tid-bits information that Ms.Portman would play as a stripper. Now that's some news. Ms.Portman as we already knew, was my favourite actress.. i mean, she's young (d.o.b June 9th, 1981), Harvard graduate, able to speak in English, Hebrew, French, and Japanese, and she had always been a nice girl who would still let her body covered in a full-cloth in her movies. With that youngness gestures, enigmatic yet smart pair of eyes, beautiful but rather sinistic smile, i was immediately fallen in love with her when i first laid an eye on her role as Jean Reno's sidekick Mathilda in Leon, The Professional (1994) and alas she's the only reason i had endured the ultra-terrible Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Well, that was another story. But anyway, rumor had it that Mike Nichols was actually shot a scene featuring Ms.Portman, for the first time in her career un-dressing her-self and exposing her uncovered beauty. That news was shocked me! literally, apart from my manhood who would like to see her naked, i dont want to see her naked whatsoever as it would surely ruined my favouriteness in her.

"Damn you Mike Nichols!". No! it wasn't my exclamation regarding the issue. It was a title of a certain article on the internet which i had read several days ago. In the article which had earned more exclamation suggested by its title than the sigh of relief such as the one i had, said that Mike Nichols had recently cut-off the scene where Ms.Portman shows her naked body. And furthermore, he had clearly stated that the scene will not made it to the DVDs as well. And as i've said, it simply earned the "Damn you Mike Nichols!" exclamation though i've found that the news was simply delightful since i dont want to see her naked whatsoever.

Put that aside, i had anticipated this movie by the time i grasp the news. Okay, Ms.Portman was all the more reason i need why i'd waited for this movie to come around. But who would doubt Julia Roberts? okay, she wasn't that good in "Mona Lisa Smile" but she was everything in "Erin Brockovich" and had maintained her role qualities over several movies that follows or Jude Law? though true, that he had played in too many movies these last years but he was clearly not one of those boyish actors who only knew how to pose and to gave a chick-magnet gestures on the screen. And anyway, these last years had proved that this kind of movie (a comedy-romance genre) which released at this specific time of year almost nearly weighing more in quality than the same kind of movie which released at any other time of year.



Desire-O-Meter: *** / **** - Cant wait to see Ms.Portman.

Dear Readers

I was frowning when i saw the latest entry date of this blog. November 4th.. Geez! Where have you been, muse? oh yeah, i've lost my muse in writing recently. Some things are happening in my life, some are delightful, welcoming, and embracing some are hateful, painful and depressing and those things were ones i hold responsible for the escape of my muse. But i've had the muse in my sight right now. And i would chase it until it comes the time when i had an urge to write again after almost a month idling. So until then, got to catch my muse right now. It won't be long, i assured you..

Rhama Arya Wibawa.

Das Boot (1981)

Disclaimer: I know, i know, i've promised that i'd write about Jackie Chan's New Police Story. But, since it was rather had to find the materials to work with, i had decided to write about the most recent movie i've seen instead.

Starring: Jurgen Prochnow, Klaus Wenneman, Erwin Leder, Herbert Groenemeyer
Directed by: Wolfgang Petersen

I've got my hands on the 210 minutes director's cut version of this movie instead of a mere 150 minutes original release. It took me several stops between the chapters in order to keep my fatigueness a little above sea level and subsequently, hushing away every movie appreciator's enemy, "boredom".

"Das Boot" is a really-heavy movie. There always seems a curtain of blackness and uncertainty hung on the screen for most of the movie's running-time. But it was a good thing, really. By the presence of that curtain, the viewer would surely be drawn from his seat with unknown tide that overflowing from the screen and instead of being outside of the screen, he will be there, among the crew of U-boat, criss-crossing in silence under deadly British destroyer above, 270 meters below the surface, wet, and in the ultimate desperation for a fresh-air. And then again, that's the very reason why i had to made a several stops between the chapters just so to keep my sanity intact.

"Das Boot" is a movie about a German submarine during World War II, set ashore with a mission to cut-short the allied supply ships in Atlantic by sunking them. Even though that the word 'claustrophobic' was entitled to it, the movie was not about claustrophobia. However, since the narrow (10 feet by 150 feet) interior of U-boat crowded with hundreds of German soldier crew was extensively explored by the movie-makers, it was easily observable how does the word 'claustrophobic' was entitled to it. The scene where camera rolls from deck to aft in a single cruise portraying the crew squeezing themselves to made at least enough room for a passing. Or how'd everytime the officer's had a meal in officer's room, some of the officers had to occassionally stand from their table to let some other crew passed them. It's horrible. I was totally unable to imagine a comfortness there.

The centerpiece of the film is an attack on an Allied convoy; the U-boat torpedoes three ships. We share the experience of the hunt; they drift below the surface, waiting for the explosions that signal hits. And then they endure a long and thorough counterattack, during which British Destroyers criss-cross the area, dropping depth charges. The chase is conducted by sound, the crew whispering beneath the deadly hunters above. It simply terrifying.

The next episode was said to had an endless discussion among movie-fans. Having finally outlasted the destroyers, the sub surfaces to administer a coup de grace--a final torpedo to a burning tanker. As the ship explodes, the captain is startled to see men leaping from its deck: "What are they doing still on board?" he shouts. "Why haven't they been rescued?" Drowning sailors can clearly be seen in the flames from the tanker. They swim toward the U-boat, their pitiful cries for help carrying clearly across the water. The captain orders his boat to reverse at half speed, to keep it away from them. What does he think of having let the victims drown? He does not say. Only one sentence in the ship's log ("assumed no men were on board") gives a hint.

The captain of the U-boat (Prochnow) was the center of attention in the movie. He was the figure of leader who his crew-mate, and officers alike depended upon. He was like a buoy, floating in a wilderness of storm, wide enough and strong enough to bear the hope of his crew. But, when the U-boat stranded in 270 meters below surface, and death -- either by the ocean pressure or lack of Oxygen -- was already peering on everyone's eyes we also see the human side of the captain. It was a side that rarely explored by Hollywood movies nowadays.

In comparison, this movie was populated by male actors. Much like Peter Weir's "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World". But as much as liked the movie, Master and Commander would seem like a children -- a joyful adventure -- movie compared to the bleakness, grimness, and sadness that portrayed by Mr.Petersen here. In my opinion, it was an advantage that Das Boot choose German submarine instead of American submarine. Why? since by choosing a German submarine, they simply remove the patriotic element and increase the suspense. We identify not with the mission -- since if it was American, the mission would be succeeded with happy-happy-joy-joy celebration in the end --, but with the job.

Also inevitable, i remembered this painting while watching the movie.

Theodore Gericault's "Raft of the Medusa"

But instead of the wild ocean surrounding the devastated crew, it was the silence of ocean-depth which surrounds the terrified crew.



Rating: **** / **** - Take my advice, put a several stops between the chapters. With which the greatness of Das Boot shall be represented in its whole, un-affected by human fatigueness nor boredoms.

A Cinderella Story (2004)

No more glass shoe, but a hi-tech flipped Samsung handphone.
No more horsewagon made out of rats and pumpkin, but a boy in a Zorro costume with a Mercedes.
No more fairy godmother, old, wise and fat, but an African-American ordinary-Jane working in a Diner.
No more Prince charming rode in a white horse, but an almost-perfect young man, handsome, head school president, captain of football, crushed by half girls in school, with a little problem of identity-crisis.
The evil stepmother still there, the evil twins are still there as well.
"A Cinderella Story" one of the worst movie of the year.

Starring: Hillary Duff, Jennifer Coolidge, Chad Michael Murray
Directed by: Mark Rosman

For an adolescence Sam (Duff), living with his father was everything a young girl could've asked for. So when an earthquake said to separated them, Sam had to start a new life with her stepmother (in movie, it said that she came shortly before the earthquake) and her twin stepdaughter who happened to inherit all of Sam's dad possession since he -- aparently -- doesn't leave any will.

The movie then jumps in several years ahead when Sam was already in her senior year in high-school. Now the movie then forcefully dragged the classic tale of Cinderella to a modern day high-school. Okay, then it's time to test our virtue of how much had we known about American high-school life as portrayed in movies. Let's see what we've got:
1. A group of annoying teenage queen-wannabe bitches who happened to be de-facto leader of cheer-leader squad. This group usually consists of three. check.
2. A man, a young man, a handsome man, a cool man. He was popular, a head-president school, captain of football team, had a bright future laid ahead of him, and half of the girl in the school fell in love with him. Also known as 'The Prince'. check.
3. An ordinary man, trying desperately to be known but would only humilliating himself in the end. Now this man is real. But let's add the flavor a little bit.. he had no friend. Well, except for Sam, our heroine that is. check.
4. And now! may i present you, our heroine the one and only, an angel in disguise, a hard-work laborer, a straight-A student, working 7 days a week in a diner owned by her step-mother, also doing a house-errands 7 days a week, always seemed get herself in the way for the group of annoying teenage queen-wannabe bitches. Samantha. check.

What else do we got? umm.. we got an evil step-mother which nowhere near 'evil' that i had expected before. A pair of devilish evil twin step-sister.. umm wait, an idiotic moronic so-stupid-that-no-way-they-could-have-been-graduated-from-Junior-High-School pair of movie-bullies shall do, and oh yeah, how could i almost forgotten about her.. an African-American diner manager as a fairy godmother's personification.

Samantha had an internet boy-friend which shares the same interest as her (which was -- as the movie suggests -- going to the Princeton), poetic, almost romantic, not to mention smart. Now they had planned that they shall meet at the Helloween's party. But Sam's evil step-mother forbid her to go and told her to work at the diner instead. Before she leaves though, she said "I shall be back at the diner on 12 sharp". There you go, Cindy, you had your ultimatum. Cindy.. um, Sam.. refused to go to the party, but when her friend -- the one and only friend --, her co-workers (which soon she would addressed them as her real family) insisted that she should go, she decides to go then only to find out that she doesn't have a suit. Now, this is where the fairy godmather comes in. Okay.. okay.. okay... i'll skip the details... so they went.. to the party... prince... charming.. ballroom... outside dance... a twelve o'clock chimes... came at the diner.. barely in time... evil step-mother.... a Princeton acceptance letter.... a hidden will.. and well, Sam and the Prince live happily ever after.

This movie have it all, all that made the movie terrible. A similar kind of theme had been excercised and exploited by many movies before. Altough that it wanted to brings a classic-tale of Sam.. umm, i mean Cinderella to a modern-tale, it still couldn't escape the teenage-flick formula with a high-school life and stuffs. It works best to a 12-14 years old girl tough that i was doubted that it would still works after all this similar kind of movie floating around. The script? umm, no! simply no! Sam's last speech to Austing in a man's locker room was more dramatic visually than it was phonetically. And the ending? like Sam said, "all will fall into place". It was full of coincidence. Almost unnecessary, exaggerating coincidence that it seemed a million light-years away from reality. Ironic as Sam once said, "I'll go back to reality".

Well, i guess that's a wrap.



Rating: 1/2 / **** -- quoting Sam, "I live in an attic!". I'd say, "well at least it had a window, and you've got your own personal computer there".

Upnext: New Police Story (2004)

A Quick Announcement

Damn! I've been so drawn up lately. Barely had time to log the blog nor to surf the net anymore. Meanwhile, i had seen a whole lot of movies lately, finishing three fiction-books (a Stephen King's Misery, Arthur C. Clarke's 2010: Odyssey Two and Robert Ludlum's Bourne Identity). To sum up, here's the upcoming reviews that would be up soon. Hopefully when Monday arrived some of it will shows up here.

- Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa).
- The Dreamers.
- Flight of the Navigator.
- Bourne Identity.
- Dodgeball: The True Underdog Story.
- White Chicks.
- Pattoon.
- New Police Story.
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
- Spider-Man 2.
"What had gotten into you: or why would i spare time to watch these teenage flicks".
- 13 Going 30.
- Cinderella Story.
- New York Minute.
- Raising Helen.
- Alex and Emma.

Dawn of the Dead (2004)

Starring: Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Mekhi Phifer, Michael Barry, Lindy Booth
Directed by: Zack Snyder

Zombie. Gah! I got fed up with zombie in a movie. And after that horrible, un-bearable, so-stupid-it-disgusts-you House of the Dead, a supposedly-a-movie made from the hack / slash game about zombie I got a real low expectancy for films about zombies. And so does my expectancy toward this film.

However, in minutes ahead I shall find myself glued to my chair as the movie rolls by.

As you may have heard, the 2004 version of Dawn of the Dead was a re-make to a 78's horror which many would considered it as a classic. I haven't seen the original version though, but I highly doubted that it will be better than the one I had right now.

The movie began slowly. There was a good ten minutes before the actual credit-title rolls up (using the real human blood's splatter they said) portraying a peaceful life of Ana (portrayed below), a nurse on her way back to her home where her daughter and husband waited with arms extended in love.


But then when the dusk gone and the dawn come, Ana quickly found a nightmare right after she woke up when her dead-walk daughter attacked her husband, chewe-off his left ear and subsequently turns her husband into a dead-walk (mind you, that none of the characters in this movie using the word 'zombie' to describe them) who then viciously attacks her (with credit to Stanley Kubrick's The Shining camera shot). Barely able to flee through the window, she found out that the rest of her neighborhood had turns into a blood turmoil chaos full of dead-walks similar to her husband and her daughter. And then the credit title rolls.

The rest of the movie is pretty much the same with the original versions. On her way out of town, Ana (Polley) stumbled into a huge officer, Kenneth (Ving Rhames) and several others survivors. Together they'd hole up and fortified themselves at the mall where lots and lots of dead-walks scouring those who inside in hope to had a touch with a fresh human-flesh.

One thing that satisfied me during the movie was that it doesn't bother to explains hows and whys. It was simply dead-walks, human which more than happy to kill one another. I'd put a 'fun' word to describe the movie. It knows exactly what i want (hence, i want to see some blood, and they gave me just that without any tits-bits about as-a-matter-of-fact details). Some stupidities occures where a particular character without thinking thrown herself to a road-full of gnarling dead-walks just to save one puny dog.

Some quiet drama was also put briefly halfway the movie when Ana, finally having a time on her own remembering her loss and tragedy that had befell her. But quickly enough, she'd found another man to bumped into (yeah! i dont need that kissing-scene, it was sooo stupid).

The characters were okay, though most of them just being there to add the body counts but some of the character had their own sub-plot such as Ana and Michael's intimacy, Andre's concern and love about his unborn infected-fetus, Frank and Nicole's sad farewell and Kenneth's long distance relationship with the man on the gun-store roof. Though we don't need any character development in this kind of movie, the necessity of putting some character development was handled nicely which adds an excellent delicacy for the whole dish.

And finally, the ending. Don't skip the closing-title to get a full ending (my kind of ending). When seconds before closing-title starts rolling, i was actually disappointed. "That's it?", i grumbled to myself. But, i stayed until the closing-title rolling nonetheless. And damn! what a reward, as some footage that inserted between the closing-title (and accompanied by terrific soundtrack) giving me the ending that i had been expected, an ending that satisfied me. Hence, when watching this movie, make sure you dont skip the closing title.



Rating: ***1/2 / **** - The best hack / slash movie of 2004. It also solidified "chain-electric-saw" as my #1 tools for killing. Gya ha ha ha ha ha!

Ikiru (1952)

Starring: Takashi Shimura, Yunosuke Ito, Nobuo Kaneko, Miki Odagiri
Directed by: Akira Kurosawa

A sometime neglected drama by Kurosawa. A powerful -- if not masterpiece -- works on humanity was made between the two best-known Kurosawa's masterpieces (Rashomon and Seven Samurai). Probably the very reason of its neglection. But either way, the movie was made at the "golden moments" of Kurosawa if there's any such thing in Kurosawa's life.

Kenji Watanabe (Shimura, you'll see him later as a charismatic, and powerful ronin's leader in Seven Samurai) spent his working-life (thirty-years of working days without a single absent) as a bureaucrat in a city office doing nothing. This fact was emphasized by Kurosawa in a quite humoruous way of how the bureucrates bounced the complaining citizens from a unit to another. At one time (we knew the fact earlier than him, though), Watanabe was diagnosed to have an incurable cancer and had as much as five-months more to live. And then, among his depression he eagered to learns his meaning in his life as the title "Ikiru" (to live) suggest.

But his struggling won't came out easy as he finds himself unable to talk to his family (his son, Kaneko and his wife), spends a night in a debauchet night life with a novelist (Ito), and spends some time with a young woman (Odagiri) from his office, but ultimately decides that he could make a difference through his job which then we learnt from his co-workers' stories at his funeral.

The movie was yet again, clearly divided into two parts, before the funeral which told about Watanabe search of redemption for his loneliness, his struggle to learnt how to live with the death-judgement the doctor gave him, and his connection or how he sees through things with another especially those forementioned (his family, a stranger novelist, and a lively young woman) in process of his search of the meaning of life. Part one ended with the dedication of his approval and his effort to built a citizen-park which request was already declined and showed in brief at the early minutes of the movie. This part is showed superb Kurosawa's work on humanity. We sees how he learnt the surrounding of his character, and let the character (which superbly portrayed by Shimura, it would've been wrong to put Mifune in his place in this movie) moves on its own and intermingled nicely with his surroundings. As a consequence, you'd see more human nature and Japanese culture in this movie than any other. For example, how'd his son reacts to his old-man's behaviour when he caught him holding the young-woman's hand in his room. Quite some art.

But then part two, when his co-workers attended his funeral, gobbling sake and munching some rice-balls, i found that this movie reached its anticlimax. The politically conspiration behind the park, the "hows" and "whys" did Watanabe insisted on built the park, was told in a flash-back fashion. Though it added some spicy ingredients to the main-dish, i personally tought that the second part (nearly 40 minutes) was rather un-necessary. It sort of like an epilogue, a dessert that went sour and washed away the quality taste of the main-dish. I think that it was better if Watanabe's story told in a straight way, hence it would build the climax to the top instead of crumbling it halfway through.

Nonetheless, the final image when Watanabe slowly swinging in the playground he built with gentle snow pouring down in the last night of his life was among the most touching scenes in cinema. It was actually rebuild the climax or returning the quality taste of the main-dish.



Rating: *** / **** - Hail to Watanabe! i would give it four if the story told in a straight-forward way.

The Idiot (1951)

Starring: Setsuko Hara, Masayuki Mori, Toshiro Mifune, Yoshiko Kuga
Directed by: Akira Kurosawa

Adapted from the classic Russian literature of the same title written by Fyodor Dostoevsky, "The Idiot" told about Kameda (Mori), who had been in Asylum on Okinawa, travels to Hokkaido. Where he then become invloved with two women, Takeo (Hara) and Ayako (Kuga). Taeko comes to love Kameda, but is loved in turn by Akama (Mifune). And when Akama realizes that he will never have Taeko, his thoughts turn to murder, and great tragedy ensues.

Against Kurosawa's will, the film was cut off by 100 minutes by the studio who released it. It shall remembered by the remarks made by Kurosawa who tells the studio to physically cut the film instead of asking him to cut it. That leaves us with a "mere" 2,75 hours movie.

The extensive cutting was clearly visible ultimately at the beginning of the film, when oftenly the scenes keep jumping (leaping is much more like it) to and fro, accompanied by mostly-useless extensive subtitle about who and what was happened between one scene and another. This has made the movie was rather hard to follow. It's like swallowing a bitter pill dry. It's good for your health, but you must endure the bitterness of the pill in order to have it.

As forementioned, the film was kick-offed in a hurry. The characters' introduction seems like overflowing from the screen. All the names, all the events that linked them, and all the relationships between those names. Furthermore, some are still hidden in the hazy-fog, even after nearly 72 hours had passed since i've appreciated the movie. All those haphazardous arrangements ultimately summed-up like all the rivers flowing into the sea into a total confusion, when suddenly after the appearance of a woman (Taeko), all the main casts with some other casts crumpled up together in a melodramatic humor and tragedy with only faint and thin red line that connected them. It's almost unforgivable if i hadn't known that the film (against Kurosawa's will) was extensively edited.

The film itslef was separated into two clearly divided parts. One part consists of introduction to the characters, and the love story between Taeko and Kameda with Akama in the shadows. Here we'd see the powerful Mifune. With his mere presence in the backdrops of Taeko and Kameda he's just like a bomb ready to explode. He's so menacingly powerful here. And he delivers that power smoothly into the screen.

Part two, with slight better narration since the cutting barely touch it, deals with the relationship between Kameda and Ayako. Only this time, instead of Akama stands in the backdrop, Taeko was stands as their shadows with Akama lurking still further behind.

I found that the film is amazingly powerful in term of its characterization. All the casts even the minor roles are powerful and able to deliver the power and the tone which portrayed in its original "The Idiot". It's like watching a silent movie of 20's or 30's instead of a black-white movie of 50's. I could feel Akama's rage and despair, i could feel Ayako's weakness and yet strong determinations, i could feel Taeko's proudness and sadness, and i could feel -- though i found myself hating him in the end of the film -- Kameda's pureness by merely looking at their body languages. Mr. Kurosawa himself was very successful in directing the movie as he superbly smooth translate (if not due to the cut, it may be even smoother) the novel into a portrayed humanity which he is very good at.

With the original 4 hours ++ unavailable to public, if anyone of you, my beloved readers wanted to appreciate this movie should be aware that this film was intended to those who is familiar with Dostoevsky's "The Idiot" or at least had the glimpse of what characters are like in the novel. Since this film -- again, despite of its lack of consistency and coherent logical plot due to the extensive cutting -- was a feast of powerful characters.



Rating: ** / **** - Why two? the rating goes for the 160+ minutes version, when the extensive cutting had diminished most of the coherent logical plot that interconnected the scenes. Especially in the first part where the characters were being introduced. But still, Kameda was my second best character (after Scarlett O'Hara) with his duality (i found my pity for him during the first part, but then my pity grows into hate toward the end of the second part, and at the end of the movie, i couldn't decide whether i should hated him or pitied him).

Dreams (1990)

Starring: Akira Terao, Chisu Ryu, Mieko Harada, Martin Scorcese
Directed by: Akira Kurosawa

"Hey, would you hear about the dreams that i had last night?".

If one was asked with that question, the response would be mostly winched and counting the clock or immediately wished to be somewhere else or doing something else. Well, that's not the case when we seen the "Dreams" by Akira Kurosawa.

Composed with eight unrelated short-story, "Dreams" is a voyage to the wonderful imageries, a dream's materialization from Akira Kurosawa's personal dreams that somehow reflected his opinions toward things especially humanity as we often has seen in his previos movies. Dreams that in the unconsciousness level also become dreams to anyone else.

Some say that "Dreams" was over-done and over-rated. Some even say that at the time when Kurosawa is at the dusk of his career had surely lost his touch, the "Dreams" was also lose his usual touch of charms.

But as for me, "Dreams" was as beatufiul as ever. The eight episodes fore-mentioned was clearly stated Kurosawa's conscious mind toward things he love the most, nature. His griveous fear of the outcome of war, and nuclear-power. His view of the inevitability of death. All portrayed in magnificent sometimes surrealistic view with fantastic color that dragged me to the so-called "Fantasia".

The first two-episodes, "Sunshine through the rain" and "The peach orchard" told about the urban legend related to the fox -- the most feared beast-demon in Japan -- and the Doll celebration which had to be arranged in a certain strict rule. Of these two episodes, i was astonished with the color tone he uses. I was quickly absorbed in his world, in his utopia, in his fantasy, with such magnificent view of nature. And we also get to see, the traditional Japanese-dancers and cloths. Very astonishing.

The next two-episodes told about death. "The Blizzard" told about the weary mountain climbers in a midst of snowstorm. The weariness ultimately became unbearable as many of the team members decided to stop lest the group leader keep yelling them to keep moving, since he knew that once they halt to a stop, a certain death would embraced them. When suddenly the leader has also became weary and already in the verge of death, there came a siren encouraging him to stay on. "Yuki wa atatakai", the snow is warm she said. It was a damn cold episode.

"The Tunnel" was the most frightening episode in the "Dreams" and ultimately also became my personal favourite. It told about the military commander who was on his way home thorugh dark hollow tunnel when -- menacingly frightening -- he heard the footsteps that follows. And in the end he had to explain to the third batalyon, the ones who followed him that they're already dead and can't walk with him through the tunnel. He also asks for their forgiveness for being the only one alive. Very touching when he gave the batalyon his last regards.

I didn't like the next episode that follows, "Crows" so i think that i just going to skipped it. It told about a young art student who literally walks through Van Gogh's painting and meet with the artist himself (played by Martin Scorcese) and visually amazing the young student followed Van Gogh by literally walking from his painting to another.

The next two episodes told about his fear in nuclear power, and the outcome of war. "Mt. Fuji in red" portrayed the nuclear-plaint explotion that rendered Mt.Fuji as if the mountain has erupted and engulfed in the bright scarlet color. The message of this episode, which is the danger and the fear of nuclear power was delivered successfully in a most horrific-shots and final sequence that leaves the conclusion of certain death left untold. While "The Weeping Demon" literally brings hell on earth as Kurosawa portrayed the worst possible outcome of war. These two episodes can be regarded as the darkest episodes in the "Dreams", it is tragic, it is horrific, and it is -- of course -- dark.

But the final episode was quickly lift the mood after being stormed by two dark episodes forementioned. "Village in Watermills" told about one hiker ("I" which i then learnt that he was the alter-ego of Kurosawa) who stumbled upon the village which seems so distant from a certain monster called Civilization. While he sat and talks to the elderly man about living in such calm village, we sought the beauty of nature and as for myself, longingly wanted, and missed those kind of lives. This is a great slow-paced peaceful episode that wrapped the "Dreams". A series of Kurosawa's experiment in the dusk of his career of more than 50 years directing movies.



Rating: ***1/2 / **** - I would give the four rating to this movie if Martin Scorcese doesn't play the English speaking Vincent Van Gogh.

Dersu Uzala (1975)

Starring: Maksim Munzuk, Yuri Solomin, Svetlana Danilchenko
Directed by: Akira Kurosawa

When Kurosawa's life is at the lowest, when his depression had culminating into a suicide attempt in 1971, an offer came from Soviet Union to finance film on a subject of his choosing, to be shot in Russia.

On this film, Kurosawa adapted the real-life journal by a Russian explorer, Vladimir Arseniev. The story then evolves in and around Captain Arseniev who sent with a team of explorer and cartographer to map the untamed region in the South-West Russian-China border wee-bit North of Vladivostok.

The film was clearly divided in two parts. First part concentrated on Captain Arseniev, a leader of Tzaris expedition team forementioned. On one evening, in the midst of wilderness, almost mistaken as a wild animal in the gloomness of dusk, came out of nowhere as if by apparition the Mongolian tribesman, stout, almost comical but had been known the Siberian wilderness as good as his own backyard. Now this man by the name of "Dersu Uzala", who at first became object of humour by the expedition team, became a sort of tour-guide and quickly achieved the admiration from the team as his extensive knowledge of jungle-wilderness, his deductive prediction upon tracks, had saved their life in many ocassions. Most respect and admiration toward Dersu came none other from the Captain himself as he then stated in his notebook, "Dersu's ingenuity had ultimately save my life from the blizzard-storm on the frozen Siberian lake".

Part two was concentrated on Dersu as his dusk of life approaching. His second meeting with Captain Arseinev then unveiled his corroded ability to stand in the wilderness anymore. We, the audience witnessed through Arseniev's eyes the inability of Dersu to stand in the wild as the dusk of his life approaching, and we felt the same sympathy as Arseniev's was when Dersu denied but inevitably realized that he was indeed grows weak while the wilderness where his life depends on wasn't change at all.

Kurosawa's film was widely known with his deep observation on humanity. On this film, we see the pureness of mutual-friendship represented by Arseniev and Dersu. And of Dersu, we could see the man too noble to stand by as his world is swallowed by the civilization. It also portrayed what men's are against the nature. We see, we may even feel the chillness of Siberian blizzard-storm, the hugeness, the emptiness, the unimportantness of man's presence before nature.

The characters, though natural as it seems were memorable. We soon see the portrait of Dersu in quite the same physical appearance, wisdom, and even the talks in the form of much-better-known Master Yoda in Empire Strikes Back. The Tzarist captain Arseniev though he may seem unimportant, just a little-ingredients to spice up the "friendship" theme brought up by Kurosawa here was like an eye and an ear to me. I see through his eyes, i listen through his ears, i even share the same awe with him as he faced up with the greatness of nature he came upon, and at the same time, as he faced up with the greatness of human represented by Dersu Uzala.

The movie was slow-paced, but well enough -- at least the Boredom Republic is nowhere near your beloved review here -- with long-shots, vivid imagery that overwhelmed the screen. Some say that this is the coldest movie he ever made, and though there's a scene in "Dreams" that may seem a bit colder than this movie, i could agreed that this movie is AMONG the coldest movies ever made. The Blizzard is fascinating.



Rating: **** / **** - Oh yeah, did i already mentioned that this movie won the Oscar for best foreign language film?

Akira Kurosawa

So it begins,

As some of you devoted reader of my so-called reviews had observed in my previous posts. Approximately last-month, i had bought several (10 to be exact) movies which directed by Akira Kurosawa.

Akira Kurosawa was regarded as the "Sensei of Cinema". Many great directors had named him among their influences such as George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, John Woo. But, however great he was, i've got to admit that i've never known him before i decided to be more than just a movie-viewer just about two-years ago.

It began when in one faithfulday, a friend of mine ask me to accompanied him to the game-store. And while he was enjoying himself at the store and left me particularly on my own, i went to look around to see if something might caught my interest. And there it was, right in front of the store was a DVD-booth. With no particular interest in mind, i browse the booth's collection and finally came up with an old movie titled "Seven Samurai".

Now at the time, i've heard, i've known, and i've seen that one of the Hollywood's movie entitled "The Magnificent Seven" was lously based on the movie. And at the time, that was the only reason of why i choose the DVD to bought. I've no clue whatsoever (at the time) of who is this Akira Kurosawa was whose judging by the way his name appears in the DVD-box was a man with significance importance in accordance to the movie itself.

So it marked my self-introductory to Akira Kurosawa. None of my friend had recommended me his movies. I simply stumbled upon that "Seven Samurai" and admiring it as the work of a true deep-insightful movie-maker. I mean, just look how he portrayed the chemistry between the ronins and the villagers, how he portrayed the final showdown between the bandits and the ronins amidst of heavy rain. It may not much comparing to the special computer generated effects that over populated the screen nowadays. But one thing was true, one thing was alive, that the emotion was intact, as a mere audience i could feel the way those ronin stood there protecting something which is may not important to them, but merely they stood for what they believed (pretty much like the hair-cutting scene in more recent "The Last Samurai" starred by Tom Cruise which in my opinion the only scene memorable from the film). It's the emotion that kept this movie alive and subsequently (as i later observed) had made the movie become (albeit argueably) one of the greatest Kurosawa's film.

Kurosawa himself had directed 30 movie-titles, and of that 30, adding to the 10 titles i just bought would leave me with 11 titles of Kurosawa's films that i had been appreciated.

I've seen one of the 10 film i mentioned earlier (titled "Dersu Uzala", a 1975 joint-production with Russia and won the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language film) but i won't wrote the review yet as i wanted to compare this film with his other works as also i would like to learn what his characteristics are in making film so i could understand more the spirit he wove among the thread of selulloid.

The Perfect Score (2004)

Starring: Erika Christensen, Scarlett Johansson, Leonardo Lam, Chris Evans, Darius Miles, Bryan Greenberg
Directed by: Brian Robbins

Enam muda-mudi, latar belakang berbeda, dan (kepentingan film) politically correct kalo diliat dari ras dan gender (two girls, four guys, Asian, Kaukasian, Afro-American) memiliki masalah yang sama.. SAT (semacam UMPTN kalau di Indonesia).

Anna (Christensen) adalah gadis cerdas dengan GPA 4.0 tapi dia punya "stereotipical problem" yang suka membuat dia meninggalkan kertas kosong di sebuah ujian, atau karena ekspektasi berlebih dari orang-orang disekelilingnya yang membuatnya jengah.

Kyle (Evans) memiliki cita-cita sebagai seorang arsitek dan ingin melanjutkan kuliah ke Cornell, tapi nilai SAT-nya tidak mencukupi.

Matty (Greenberg) harus masuk ke Universitas Maryland untuk bersatu kembali dengan pacar-nya.

Desmond (Miles), atlet basket yang harus masuk universitas (instead of NBA) demi memenuhi keinginan ibunda-nya.

Roy (Lam), a natural screen-stealer, a stoner which happen to be there, hitch-a-ride the heist journey.

Terakhir, Fransesca (Johansson) yang harus ikut karena ayahnya adalah sang pemilik kantor yang menjadi target tindakan mereka. And hell, she says it's been fun in the end.

Ber-enam mereka merencanakan aksi yang at-best untuk hanya menjadi konsumsi film saja yaitu masuk ke kantor tempat jawaban tes SAT disimpan, mengkopi jawaban yang benar dan menggunakannya dalam tes SAT untuk memperoleh hasil yang maksimal supaya bisa tercapai apa yang mereka cita-citakan.

It was a lame story to begin with, and yet another lame way to end it, with 'heavy' 'morale' stuff "Dont do drugs!", "Dont cheat!" weighing in one end and none in the department of quality and remembrance in the other end to provide the balance. Film-nya menyenangkan sebenarnya kalo dilihat sebagai hiburan teen-flick semata tapi yah, cukup sampai di situ saja.

Brian Robbins (Varsity Blues) juga tampak paham betul mengenai keterbatasan plot untuk dikembangkan sehingga dia mengembangkannya dengan faktor fun setinggi mungkin yang justru malah menjebak para pemainnya apakah lantas berkonsentrasi pada film komedi (seperti yang diindikasikan oleh main-plot-nya) atau justru ke drama yang menuntut mereka memainkan chemistry antar karakter yang mereka perankan.

Plotnya sendiri cukup banyak meninggalkan lubang yang bahkan kontradiktif antara satu sama lainnya (contoh, satu adegan ketika para remaja ini mengendap-endap di bawah kamera lobi sementara berapa puluh menit kemudian Fransesca dan Matty mengobrol dengan santainya di lobi yang sama. So what's the point of being sneaking around in the previous scene?. Plot-holes sendiri sebenernya forgivable enough apabila konteksnya berada di film komedi gila-gilaan, tapi apakah film ini merupakan satu dari komedi gila-gilaan? reviewer anda di sini menggeleng-gelenggan kepala.

Aktor dan aktrisnya sendiri jauh dari memuaskan. Erika Christensen, untung dia cantik jadinya bisa dimaafkan. Leonardo Lam, is he being stupid because he is stupid or does he has to be stupid? well, either way he was a natural-scene-stealer. Darius Miles is more like an athlete than an actor and it was pretty obvious why does he has to stop pursuing his career as an actor and concentrate on the NBA instead. Duo aktor yang menjadi mastermind di film ini juga cuma numpang lewat saja. Charming, tapi tidak memorable.

That leaves me with Scarlett Johansson. Sejak "Lost In Translation", I already fallen in love with this girl. Ditambah performanya yang mengaguman saya di "Girl with a Pearl Earring", aktris ini menjadi satu dari aktris muda favorit saya. Di film ini dia tampil selayaknya oli buat mesin karatan, she kept the movie rolling but cant help to give a more decent quality to the movie.

Satu lagi, sudah saya sebutkan kalo film ini produksi MTV? karena demikian, film ini tidak akan pernah sepi dengan musik-musik pop yang justru seingkali membuat saya tidak betah nonton sebuah film.



Rating: * / **** - Erika Christensen, and Scarlett Johansson gave the * to the rating of this movie.

Man On Fire (2004)

"Revenge is a meal best served cold".

Saya mengernyit ketika salah satu karakter di film ini mengucapkan kalimat di atas. Ingatan saya lantas terbang ke kalimat yang sama yang diucapkan oleh The Bride di film yang mungkin jadi revenge-flick terheboh tahun ini, Kill Bill.

Kill Bill, The Punisher, Walking Tall dan Man On Fire adalah film revenge-flick, film yang bertemakan balas-dendam yang muncul di tahun 2004 sampai sekarang. Dengan Uma Thurman, The Punisher (saya lupa nama pemerannya), The Rock dan Denzel Washington sebagai pelakon utama untuk masing-masing film tersebut.

Dari keempat aktor tersebut, Mr.Washington definitely out-acted all three. Kualitas akting-nya yang menurut saya mewajibkan penggemar revenge-flick untuk mengintip film ini.

Man On Fire 2004
Starring: Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, Marc Anthony, Radha Mitchell, Christopher Walken
Directed By: Tony Scott

Cukup beralasan untuk menjadikan Man On Fire menjadi film terbaik untuk genre revenge-flick saat ini, bahkan bila dibandingkan dengna Kill Bill sekalipun. Meskipun Kill Bill memiliki beberapa kekuatan sendiri yang tidak ditemui di Man On Fire, tetapi untuk emosi, sebab-akibat yang ditimbulkan oleh revenge di Man On Fire lebih baik daripada Kill Bill.

Revenge-flick, Denzel Washington sebenarnya bukan favorit buat saya. Tapi saya sempatkan untuk menikmati film ini karena ada Dakota Fanning, she was stunning me in I Am Sam, and she really-really-really out-smarted and out-acted -- both in film and in the real world -- Brittany Murphy in Uptown Girls all the more reason for me to expect something great from her in the movie where she took a head-on against Mr.Washington, one of the leading quality actor nowadays.

Mr.Washington bermain sebagai John Creasy, tipikal perannya Mr.Washington yang kadang-kadang membuat saya bosan dengannya (kapan lagi dia maen jadi proto-antagonis kaya di Training Day yah?) yang sangat protagonis dan menarik simpati luar biasa dari penonton. John Creasy adalah mantan tentara -- Amerika tentunya -- yang datang ke Mexico City untuk reuni dengan sahabatnya, Rayburn (Christopher Walken). Demi melihat sahabatnya berada dalam suatu state yang depresif, Rayburn membantunya untuk kemudian menjadi body-guard untuk Pita (Dakota Fanning), putri pengusaha kaya (Marc Anthony) dengan istrinya yang Amerika (Radha Mitchell). The rest is pretty much guessable, i let you slide with the fact by yourself.

Film ini durasinya panjang, dua setengah jam dan menurut saya worthed banget soalnya Tony Scott memanfaatkan kepanjangan durasi film-nya dengan membangun keterkaitan emosional yang sangat kuat antara Pita dan Creasy, sehingga penonton pun akan terpancing dengan mudah untuk menjustifikasi eye-for-an-eye yang dilakukan Creasy di sepertiga terakhir film.

And as expected, Ms.Fanning luar biasa, singkirkan dulu lah Mr.Anthony yang cuma sleep-walking di film ini, atau Ms.Mitchell yang hanya perlu marah-marah saja, atau karakter-karakter lain yang sebenarnya signifikan tapi terasa seperti hanya numpang lewat saja. Film ini memang panggung yang diciptakan untuk Mr.Washington dan Ms.Fanning saja dan keduanya memang benar-benar mengemban tugasnya dengan baik.

Mr.Washington -- sekali lagi dalam peran yang biasanya (membosankan) -- tampil mengesankan dari state awalnya yang depresif menjadi sosok ayah menjadi sosok pembnuh berdarah dingin. Ms.Fanning pun demikian, tidak terjebak di peran cute yang bahkan masih diperankan sama aktris muda lebih tua 4-5 tahun darinya bisa mengimbangi Mr.Washington dengan cerdas dan penuh emosi. This was maybe the best duo-on-screen.

So where's the catch? well, Tony Scott. Dia mengarahkan film ini dengan style MTV yang kurang mengena buat saya dan secara overall malah mengaburkan penyampaian cerita film ini. Transisi konstan, lompatan frame, permainan tone color yang sedikit out-of-date acapkali membuat lost-track dari film ini. Scott juga berkali-kali mengingatkan hubungan emosional yang menjadi dasar revenge-nya Creasy dengan shot-shot yang menunjukkan memori Creasy dan Pita. Sampai suatu titik, saya menggeliat malas, "Okay, Scott. I've got your message. You dont have to remind me". It's okay to give the audience yet another justification reason tapi kalo berlebihan rasanya kurang bagus juga, lagipula sedari awal hub. emosional yang dibangun sudah cukup kuat.

Satu lagi, ketika merayap ke sepertiga akhir film, sayangnya film ini kemudian berubah menjadi standar untuk film action, Creasy bisa dengan santai jalan-jalan ke night-club Mexico City padahal kepolisian sudah menetapkannya sebagai tersangka pembunuh polisi, selain itu dengan mudah dia juga mendapat fancy-suit, unlimited ammo and weaponry sampai shoulder-mounted Grenade Launcher RPGs yang sanggup mengehentikan Tank. And guess what? he got shot in the chest and yet he could easily outsmarted the supposedly-nastiest bad-ass guys in Mexico City single-handedly. Well, too bad.

Endingnya sendiri cukup asik, tidak memberikan kepuasan voyuerisme tapi retribusi dan karma yang cukup dalam dan cukup mengoyak emosi yang saya yakin membuat sedikit di antara penonton yang akan meninggalkan bioskop dengan muka cerah.



Rating: *** / **** - Kenyataan bahwa film ini sepertiga terakhirnya cuman film action std greatly reduced the rate i give, yet Ms.Fanning, she's quite an extraordinary young actress worth to watch. And at such a young age too. Expect this movie real soon came at 21 network.

Traffic (2000)

Ada sesama apresiator film yang nyaris selalu bersebrangan pendapat dengan reviewer anda ini. Sebagai contoh, mengenai Stanley Kubrick. Teman saya ini berpendapat bahwa Kubrick itu sutradara sok pinter, menggurui mulu tanpa pernah peduli sama kepuasan penonton sedangkan saya sendiri berpendapat film-film Kubrick walaupun selalu mengakibatkan bertambahnya kerutan di antara alis, memberikan kepuasan yang lebih dari pada film summer jedang-jedung yang justru timbul jauh setelah beberapa lama. Dan juga beberapa perbedaan lain yang kebanyakan sifatnya prinsipil.

Tetapi, mengenai Benicio Del Toro kita punya persepsi yang sama. That he's one magnificent actor that is. You've seen him as Frankie Four-Finger in a helluva British-comedy "Snatch", you've seen him as the one responsible of taking away Naomi Watts' two children in "21 Grams". And both role though short were magnificently memorable ones. Now this is a movie which awarded him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Award Ceremony 2001.

Traffic (2000)
Starring: Michael Douglas, Benicio Del Toro, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Erika Christensen, Dennis Quaid
Directed by: Steven Sodenberg (Erin Brokovich), recieved an Oscar for his directional effort in this movie.

Film ini dibuka dengan tone gersang yang mengetengahkan dua orang kepolisian Tijuana sedang menunggu untuk menyergap selundupan obat bius (kokain). Benicio Del Toro berperan sebagai salah satu dari polisi Meksiko tersebut.

Di belahan dunia lain, Ohio diceritakan secara paralel bebarengan dengan even di Meksiko dengan tone biru gelap kiprah seorang hakim anti drug (Michael Douglas) yang kemudian di tugaskan oleh POTUS (President of the United States -- of America tentunya) untuk menjadi czar kampanya anti-drug yang baru.

Di Florida, seorang ibu (Catherine Zeta-Jones) yang selama ini percaya terhadap legitimasi bisnis suaminya harus berhadapan dengan kenyataan bahwa suaminya hanyalah seorang importir kokain dari Meksiko.

Di Cincinnati, seorang pelajar (Erika Christensen), third in her class, begitu mudah masuk ke dalam drug-addiction which utterly led to her destruction demi memenuhi suplai kebutuhan kokain-nya.

Di San Diego, dua agen DEA sedang berusaha untuk menangkap seorang agen penjual kokain.

Dan di Meksiko, seorang jenderal bertekad untuk menghancurkan salah satu kartel penyuplai kokain terbesar di negara itu.

Cerita-cerita di atas hanya memiliki satu benang merah, drug yang dalam film ini diwakili oleh kokain. Diadaptasi dari miniseri "Traffik" yang menceritakan bagaimana drug didistribusikan dari ladang-ladang petani Pakistan sampai mencapai jalan-jalan kota London, "Traffic" mengambil alur yang sama hanya memindahkan lokasi dari Pakistan ke Meksiko dan dari London ke US. Dan cerita-cerita di atas yang dikombinasikan secara apik oleh Sodenberg membuat film ini adalah salah satu film terbaik tahun 2000.

Saya sendiri selalu suka film-film yang tidak terpaku kepada cara bertutur sekuensial yang linear-linear saja. Dengan alasan itu, dari ketika tone gersang yang menggambarkan Tijuana berpindah menjadi tone biru gelap yang menggambarkan ruang sidang di Ohio saya langsung mempunyai hunch, "I'm gonna love this movie" dan ya, saya menyukai film ini.

Kemajemukan cerita ini dideferensialkan oleh Sodenbergh lewat tone-tone yang ia pakai. Sehingga di suatu titik ketika tone berubah, dengan cepat kita tahu kita sedang ada di mana dan fokus cerita lagi ke siapa.

Satu lagi mengenai kemajemukan cerita, film ini juga tidak lantas menimbulkan series of lucky happenings yang mengaitkan masing-masing cerita secara alur cerita. Bahkan Catherine Zeta-Jones tidak pernah ada satu scene dengan Michael Douglas. Sodenbergh mentransisikan satu cerita ke cerita lainnya dengan narasi yang relatif sederhana. Pada intinya memang cerita-cerita dalam Traffic ini hanya melompat dan mengitari benang merah yang diberikan sejak awal film ini bergulir, yaitu kokain.

Film ini juga berfungsi sebagai semacam dokumenter yang menceritakan perjalanan kokain dari kartel di Meksiko, distribusi ke US lewat para importir, sampai penjualannya di jalan-jalan suburban di US dan tentu saja orang-orang yang berkepentingan dengan drug tersebut, entah sebagai pengusaha, pengguna, penjual, sampai pemberantas.

Juga jelas diperlihatkan efek dari drug-addict yang menimpa seorang pelajar cemerlang (Erika Christensen) yang lantas melacurkan dirinya dan nyaris menghancurkan hidupnya demi memenuhi kebutuhannya akan kokain.

No good movie is too long, and this movie is way too short. Despite of 150 minutes of running time, film ini terasa begitu singkat buat saya dan agak-agak tidak rela untuk meninggalkan tempat saya duduk menonton film ini.

Kesimpulannya, film ini punya segalanya yang membuat film ini saya sukai. Alur cerita non-linear-sekuensial, drama yang mengharukan, pesan serius yang sukses tersampaikan, pretty-good action, dan tentu saja superb acting dari para aktor-nya dengan Benicio Del Toro jadi front-runner.

Akhir dari film ini juga tidak ditujukan untuk menjual mimpi hiperbolis untuk mengakhiri perang dengan drug. Karakter hakim yang dimainkan Michael Douglas bahkan mengajukan pertanyaan di akhir film ini "How do you fight a war when the people that you love are the enemy?". Film ini hanya menyuguhkan insight terhadap bisnis obat bius, not the solution. Insight yang disajikan dalam kisah yang kuat dan kompleks dengan sentuhan drama yang mengesankan.

The war still goes on.



Rating: **** / **** - Kenapa Oscar tahun 2001 terbang ke Gladiator? why? why? why?!!!!!

My Top 10 Movie of All Time (August 2004 edition)

Untuk membangun sebuah daftar yang mencakup top 10 film terbaik yang pernah disaksikan adalah sebuah usaha yang membutuhkan penilitian yang hati-hati dan paling tidak melihat kembali repositori film yang kadang-kadang hanya sebagian saja tersisa di pikiran sadar seseorang.

Mulai hari ini, sebagai seorang pecinta film, saya akan membuat sebuah daftar top * dengan * adalah angka sebarang lebih besar dari 1. Dan mohon diperhatikan, bahwa karena saya cuma bisa menyisihkan waktu 30 menti saja untuk membangun daftar ini, anggota dari daftar top * ini akan selalu berganti seiring dengan berjalannya waktu dan bertambahnya repositori film yang terdapat di kepala saya.

Ini adalah daftar top 10 saya yang pertama, saya usahakan untuk selalu diupdate setiap bulannya. Daftar film yang ada tanda asterisk (*) adalah film yang memiliki daya tahan lebih lama karena achievement-nya yang begitu nyata sehingga susah dan bahkan mustahil untuk lantas ditendang dari daftar top * oleh film-film modern.

In no particular order.

1. Gone With the Wind (1938) *
Sebuah epik drama romantis, yang berdurasi 4 jam adalah sebuah tantangan ketahanan buat saya. Tapi, secara mengejutkan film ini tidak memberikan saya sedikitpun rasa bosan apalagi kantuk yang acap kali datang menyerang ketika saya menonton film-film berdurasi lebih dari tiga jam (ambil contoh Lord of the Rings, saya sempat bosan luar biasa ketika nonton film ini). Film ini begitu padat dan menarik, lupakan sejenak dialog yang kaku dan gestur-gestur teater jaman dulu karena memang itu ciri khas film tahun 30'an - 50'an. Scarlett O'Hara lah yang membuat film ini begitu istimewa. Bukan-bukan Vivian Leigh, tapi Scarlett O'Hara sang tokoh yang diimpesonasikan dengan baik oleh Vivian. Salah satu karakter film yang paling berkesan dan yang akan saya kenang sepanjang masa yang bahkan ketika credit-title mengalir, saya belum bisa memutuskan apakah saya akan bersimpati padanya atau membencinya.

2. Pulp Fiction (1994) *
Film yang begitu fenomenal. Mendobrak tatanan pop sebuah film dan lantas menghadirkan aliran baru dalam perfilman, Quentinian. Adalah Quentin Tarantino, ensiklopedia film berjalan yang berkesperimen dengan alur cerita yang dianut oleh sebuah film. Lewat Pulp Fiction, Quentin mengacak-ngacak alur film, mengabaikan alur waktu logika dan membiarkan penonton menikmati film apa adanya. Didukung oleh cast-cast top macam John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Michael Clarke Duncan film ini begitu memesona sehingga tidak cukup untuk hanya nonton sekali. Esensi film ini kemudian direproduksi, dan dicontek oleh banyak judul yang sayangnya tidak pernah mencapai ujung kuku dari apa yang telah dicapai oleh film ini.

3. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) *
Satu lagi film yang monumental. Di tahun '60-an, film ini menyajikan sebuah film sci-fi yang bahkan masih tercium rasa modern-nya setelah 36 tahun berselang. Sebenarnya, film ini tidak bisa dinikmati dengan santai. Bisa dibilang bahwa ini merupakan film 'ultimate boredom', sepengetahuan saya jarang ada yang betah untuk duduk selama 3 jam menyaksikan eksploitasi visual dan warna-warni hiperbolis yang disajikan oleh Kubrick di sini. Akan tetapi, menurut saya film sci-fi ini termasuk sedikit dari film sci-fi tentang luar angkasa yang ajeg dan sedikit melanggar hukum-hukum fisika yang justru kerap dilanggar oleh film-film sci-fi blockbuster demi meraup untung macam Star Wars, atau Star Trek. Namun seperti halnya film garapan Kubrick yang lambat, dan membosankan, film ini tidak direkomendasikan buat mereka yang mencari film untuk bersantai.

4. Natural Born Killers (1994)
Film ini menurut saya, adalah film yang paling gamblang / jelas dalam menampilkan dualisme, jukstaposisi terbalik. Dari setting komedi sitkom, news-footage, shot hitam-putih dan berwarna film ini adalah eksperimen, exercising in-style dari seorang Oliver Stone yang menghadirkan kegetiran dalam humor, kebrutalan sebagai popularitas, dan pembunuhan sebagai kesenangan. Karakter-karakternya karikatur, fiktif, pun dalam menyajikan ceritanya, Stone sering kali menunjukkan kefiktif-an ceritanya dengan amat sangat jelas. Saya sangat enjoy menonton film ini. "Seeing once is not enough", kata Ebert. Dan saya setuju. Oh ya, naskah cerita dari film ini ditulis oleh Quentin Tarantino. See the connection? *wink-wink*

5. Seven Samurai (1954) *
Emosi. Film epik garapan sutradara terkemuka asal Jepang, Akira Kurosawa ini memiliki emosi yang sangat-sangat kuat. Setiap aspek yang ditunjukkan oleh film ini, setiap karakter yang diguratkan oleh pemain-pemainnya, setiap aksi yang ditampilkannya masing-masing sarat dengan emosi yang membuat saya larut dalam setiap menitnya. Satu dari sedikit film epik (durasi 3 jam atau lebih) yang saya tidak bosan untuk menontonnya. Memang, film-nya hitam putih, memang spesial efek berantemnya 'cupu' tapi memang itu bukan jualannya film ini. Dengan karakter film semacam ini, wajar kalau film ini jadi legenda dan mungkin adalah film-nya Kurosawa yang paling dikenal. Saya pun memulai perkenalan saya dengan Kurosawa lewat film ini.

6. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Stephen King adalah penulis favorit saya. Walaupun pada akhirnya terasa penurunan kualitas karya-karyanya Stephen King, saya selalu menyempatkan untuk menambah koleksi saya dengan karya-karya King. "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" adalah salah satu short-story yang dikumpulkan dalam buku Different Seasons. Tidak ada unsur misteri di cerita ini. Pure Drama. Ketika saya membaca novelnya, saya tak kuasa untuk menahan titik air mata saya. Benar-benar kisah yang mengharukan dan menggugah kebanggaan sebagai manusia bebas. Filmnya 'surprisingly' ajeg dengan jalan cerita yang ditampilkan di novelnya. Mungkin ini adalah salah satu film adaptasi yang paling sesuai dengan naskah aslinya, menurut saya. Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman benar-benar sangat baik dalam memerankan tokoh-tokoh dalam cerita aslinya. Dan endingnya, meski tidak semengharukan novelnya, tetap membanggakan, dan cukup menyesakkan dada.

7. Big Fish (2003)
Kisah fantastis yang sangat imajinatif. Mengusung tema yang agak abstrak, dibungkus dengan fantasi, dan menceritakan seputar cinta, film ini rewarding. Warna-warnanya indah tapi tetap terasa kehadiran Tim Burton lewat shot-shot kelamnya. Menonton film ini juga membuat saya kembali ke masa kecil saya yang dipenuhi cerita-cerita fantastis tentang raksasa, penyihir, sampai kota tersembunyi yang penghuninya tak pernah memakai sepatu. Semuanya disajikan dengan baik oleh Tim Burton seakan-akan dia tidak sedang membuat film melainkan menceritakan kembali fantasinya. Catchy visuals, superb acting (Ewan McGregor, orang Skot yang ngomong Inggris aksen Mississippi), dan rewarding ending membuat film ini definitely become the best movie of 2003, as for me. Saya heran, kok bisa-bisanya 21 tidak memutar film ini.

8. I Am Sam (2001)
Kalau ada yang lebih istimewa dari film ini selain akting istimewanya Sean Penn, Dakota Fanning dan istimewanya emosi yang dibangkitkan oleh film ini adalah soundtrack dari film ini. The Beatles. Salah satu tokoh di film ini yang diperankan oleh Sean Penn adalah penggemar fanatik The Beatles sehingga sepanjang film selalu terdengar lagu-lagu The Beatles yang dinyanyikan oleh penyanyi / band-band pop masa kini. Bercerita tentang perjuangan seorang ayah yang 'mentally-retarded' (Penn) untuk bersatu kembali dengan anak-nya (Fanning), film ini menyentuh sekali. Ditambah akting luar biasa Penn dan Fanning film ini tidak boleh dilewatkan oleh mereka yang ngaku-nya penggemar drama.

9. Elizabeth (1998)
Cate Blanchett. Sepertinya aktris satu ini memang terlahir sebagai seorang ratu. Tentu masih pada ingat dengan Galadriel, ratu elf Lothlorien di trilogi epik Lord of the Rings? keanggunannya ditampilkan cantik oleh Blanchett. Cerita yang berlatar belakang naiknya ratu Elizabeth I sebagai monarki baru Inggris ini dibintangi oleh Cate Blanchett sebagai Elizabeth. Film semi otobiografi ini mengangkat kisah naiknya Elizabeth ditengah konflik Katolik - Protestan yang sebenarnya bukan sentral dari film ini sehingga sutradara perlu menegaskan hal ini dengan satu adegan pembuka yang sebenarnya menurut saya tidak perlu ketika tiga orang Protestan dibakar hidup-hidup oleh otoritas Katolik. Well, saya suka film ini, saya suka Cate Blanchett, transformasinya begitu sempurna dari seorang gadis remaja menjadi sosok ratu yang angkuh dan berwibawa menunjukkan sebenarnya dia pantas meraih Oscar (yang terbang ke Gwyneth Paltrow dan lantas membuat saya membenci Gwyneth sampai sekarang). Selain Cate, Geoffrey Rush juga sangat notable performanya sebagai seorang di balik layar dari kepemimpinan Elizabeth. Desain kostum dan set yang luar biasa cakep, membawa kita serasa kembali ke Inggris abad 16. Selentingan tidak sedap menyebutkan bahwa film ini gagal di Oscar (dan kalah oleh Shakespeare in Love, "What???") adalah karena film ini debut sutradara India (Shekhar Kapur) di Hollywood.

10. Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003)
Film yang sangat miskin dengan dialog. Achievement terbesar dari film ini dan yang lantas membuat saya memasukkan film ini ke dalam daftar adalah sinematografinya. Berlatarbelakang kisah seorang pelukis, film ini menyajikan seni lewat tata cahaya, color tone yang dikerjakan dengan baik oleh para sinematografer-nya. Lebih lengkap, bisa dilihat di artikel lain dari blog ini.