[timmys]

Anyone tired of the big studios and their commercial bollocks please feel free to join in .
Who has seen great films this year like Lilya 4 ever, Goodbye lenin, Etre et avoir , City of God .

Any art house recommendations ?

[thierry]

sets

[thierry]

forget what i just typed that was a mistake.

Anyway, it's nice to see that there are some kenyans out there who appreciate 'unhollywood' like productions. I prefer not to call them art movies for the fear of sounding pretentious. I don't want to alienate anyone.

Still, i live in a small town with liberal tendencies. The indiecrats wet dream.Plenty of Arthouses and a good qoro of college age and middle age cinephiles to have some nice converstion with at the ticket line. I love it here.

Let me see about the movies i've watched recentely....i think the best i've watched is "Talk to her" by Pedro Almodovar. That is one heck of a movie. The characters are complex and layered and they make you feel sorry for them and hate them at the same time etc etc.....

If your'e a guy you have to have guts to watch that movie. It is not for everyone. It's what i like to call a "sensitive-guy flick' a la chic flick or guy flick.

Other good ones are 'raising victor vargas' which was really good considering the cast was all amateur....., "Dirty pretty things" ....this one is great coz it's such an accurate portrayal of immigrant life...i thought we suffer here in america!! ..people should try brito!! wa!! Anyway, It stars Nigerian born brit Chiwetel Ejiofor( who is excellent!) and the ubiquitous Audrey Tatou (Amelie). Speaking of Amelie i went with syke to borrow it but was disappointed coz i didnt quite gitch it's premise.Too cosmic for me.I didn't even finish watching it.

I am biased towards spanish film coz i speak spanish and watching spanish film is a great way to really absorb all the subtle nuances of the language and all it's verbal intricacies. Subtitles leave out a lot. Go watch Y' Tu mama tambien(screw your mama too!) and Amorres perros (Love's a ####). Amorres Perros is the spanish Pulp Fiction. Both of these star Gael Garcia Bernal who is really good.

I tried watching 'Sex and Lucia' but it pulled an 'Amelie' on me coz it was too weird and i just didn't get it. I don't know maybe i should be more patient.

Things to look forward to.

'The human stain'..about a light skinned Black American who tries to pass as a white.........by the way there are rumours that Terence Malick (A thin red line ) is considering a Biopic on ........drum rolls please!!......Che Guevara himself! I am excited beyond words ...cant wait to see that one

I also can't wait to see Quentin Tarantinos ' Kill Bill .

Those are my pics.

[heathcliff]

@ thierry - i am not an art/indie movie person but i stumbled across y' mama tambien and i loved it!!!! that garcia (is that right?) guy is really very good. i am debating whether to try raising victor vargas - would u recommend it??

i also cant wait for kill bill - that isnt indie, is it?

[thierry]

Yeah man, Gael garcia bernal is really good. watch him in Amorres Perros also, and chasing papi. Good stuff.

Raising victor vargas. i would definately recommend this one. It's a quiet understated movie that has a strong message. IT's about how love really is an awkward thing especially young love. THis is in contrast to mainstreams media portrayal of teenage lovers as experienced sexual marathoners. The two lead characters do not even kiss by the time the movie ends. They just cuddle and fumble awkwardly and innocently around each other. This is good stuff. It's just about a day in the life of an ordinary dominican family in east new york. IT is almost documentary like.

I would'nt consider Kill bill to be an indie flick coz it's content is nothing new. If it was directed by anyone else and not tarantino then it wouldn't get half as much publicity as it is getting now. Still go watch it coz if youve seen Pulp Fiction,Reservoir dogs and Jackie Brown, you will not wanna miss this.

[timmys]

Thierry,

At last somebody who appreciates my kind of movies. The Mexicans have made some good movies recently . Amores perros was a very big hit here in Brito, Y Tu mama was relatively big.
Recently, i watched some good movies at the London film festival .
A mighty wind, and At five in the afternoon set in Afghanistan during the Taliban days.

I haven't seen spellbound, about the spelling bee competition, and i am also looking forward to seeing a documentary by Nick Broomfield(biggie and Tupac)about serial killer Aileen Wuornos.

The human stain was on at the film festival, i have read the book, was Hopkins convincing as a black man?Anyway it opens here next year .

[thierry]

Wassup,
The human stain could have been brilliant. It was good make no mistake, but a bit miscast if you ask me. Hopkins is good in his role but when i watched him i didn't think once.....'he's black'...I suppose that proves that he really did well since in the movie he repudiates EVERY aspect of his Negro sensibilities physical or mental or cultural.

Nicole kidman was miscast too. She is just too beautiful to be believable in her 'i'm a simple ol country gal just scrubbin the cow shed' role. Even if she smokes i think six packs of cigarettes through the whole movie.I was watching one scene where she bends down to pick up a pail of milk or something and she was just so elegant and had good posture! i almost burst out laughing at how ludicrous it was. Still she did well.

The real deal in this movie is Wentworth Miller. I am in stato so i suppose that name would be familiar to people living in Britain. His perfomance is just excellent. He was the reason i didn't find Hopkins to be credible in his role because there is no way(in the movie at least) that Wentworths character could have grown up to be Hopkins character.

Anyway i am waiting anxiously for 21 Grams, the 2nd feature from Gabriel Inarritu who did Amorres Perros. It's opening this friday and i am literally just dying of curiosity to watch it.