Monday 31 May 2010

LE GRAND CHEF : Pertarungan Dua Jago Masak Perebutkan Kehormatan

Storyline:
Koki muda berbakat, Sung Chan mengundurkan diri dari dunia memasak setelah sebuah tragedi terjadi pada kontes kelas dunia. Bersembunyi di kota kecil bersama kakeknya, Sung Chan menemukan kedamaian sebagai petani penjual sayuran di pasar lokal. Hingga suatu hari, Sung Chan bertemu Su Jin yang mengagumi masakannya dan mendorong Sung Chan untuk kembali ke permukaan menantang saingan abadinya, Joo Bong sekaligus memperebutkan pisau legendaris Koki Kerajaan demi memulihkan nama baiknya.

Nice-to-know:
Terinspirasi dari komik karya Ha Yeong-min.

Cast:
Kim Kang-woo sebagai Sung-chan
Im Won-hie sebagai Bong-Joo
Lee Ha-na sebagai Jin-su

Director:
Sutradara senior asli Korea bernama Jeon Yun Su pernah menggarap drama romantis, My Girl And I (2005) yang sempat diputar di Blitz Megaplex juga.

Comment:
Selayaknya film mengenai memasak, tentunya sutradara harus membuat segala sesuatunya terlihat lezat dengan cara memasak yang meyakinkan. Dan Jeon cukup berhasil menyajikannya dengan tampilan menarik masakan yang dihasilkan di luar poin minus tidak adanya zooming yang mempertontonkan kemampuan para aktornya secara langsung. Lalu bagaimana dengan plot ceritanya sendiri? Karena diangkat dari komik populer, rasanya tidak perlu banyak perubahan yang mendasar dari aslinya. Seorang koki yang berusaha bangkit dari trauma kegagalan masa lalu. Simpel bukan? Kim dan Im berhasil menciptakan performa tukang masak yang brilian dengan semangat persaingan yang kental. Sayangnya tidak didukung pengembangan karakter yang maksimal mengingat cukup banyak subplot yang sebetulnya tidak terlalu penting. Adaptasinya terkesan sama persis mulai dari frame halaman komik hingga penjejalan semua bab di dalamnya sehingga kedinamisan sebuah film layar lebar sedikit terganggu. Sedikit mengingatkan saya pada film Mandarin (alm) Leslie Cheung yaitu Master Cook di pertengahan 1990an. Le Grand Chef bukan karya yang buruk tetapi cukup membosankan sebagai sebuah tontonan berdurasi cukup panjang. Mungkinkah komiknya jauh lebih menarik?

Durasi:
110 menit

Asian Box Office:
3,038,868 in South Korea.

Overall:
6.5 out of 10

Movie-meter:
Art can’t be below 6
6-poor
6.5-poor but still watchable
7-average
7.5-average n enjoyable
8-good
8.5-very good
9-excellent

Symbolism in Gone with the Wind


In “Gone with the Wind” (1939), when in the closing days of the American Civil War Scarlett O’Hara, played by Vivien Leigh, berates Melanie, played by Olivia de Havilland for feeding starving Confederate soldiers straggling home. Melanie relates that her husband Ashley was last known to be in a Northern prison camp…

“And maybe if he’s alive and well, he’s on some northern road right now, and maybe some Northern woman is giving him a share of her dinner and helping my beloved to come back home to me.”

Melanie’s typically sweet response reflects in some measure those Southern women who decorated the graves of Union soldiers after the war, which was the beginning of our Memorial Day. Today, we cover Memorial Day with a look at symbols in “Gone with the Wind.”

I have to warn you, this is going to be a long post. You might want to get a sandwich.

We’ve touched on Memorial Day and the Civil War as depicted in movies in previous posts on “Friendly Persuasion” (1956) and here on a compilation of Civil War movies. We noted particularly in this latter post that most Memorial Day television marathons show World War II movies. Since it was the American Civil War that gave us Memorial Day, it’s interesting to look at our film treatment of that war.

“Gone with the Wind” presents some interesting aspects of that era, especially of how that war has come down to us in symbols. Symbols are very important to us. They are stand-ins for deeper meaning or fuller explanation. A wreath on a soldier’s grave is a symbol. A Confederate flag is a symbol. We are still dealing with repercussions, not of the war, but of the war’s complicated aftermath when this flag first developed into a powerful symbol. The war’s aftermath constitutes most of “Gone with the Wind”.

Only last month, Virginia Governor Robert F. McDonnell (R) drew criticism when he issued a Confederate History Month proclamation that paid tribute to the state’s heritage as a member of the Confederate States of America, and omitted any mention of slavery. Gov. McDonnell explained that the proclamation was devoted to issues he felt were most "significant" to Virginia. The proclamation was requested by the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

He afterwards re-issued the proclamation with the additional paragraph:

WHEREAS, it is important for all Virginians to understand that the institution of slavery led to this war and was an evil and inhumane practice that deprived people of their God-given inalienable rights and all Virginians are thankful for its permanent eradication from our borders, and the study of this time period should reflect upon and learn from this painful part of our history…

It was admirable for him to correct the omission. Some may wonder how in this day someone might forget to mention slavery as a significant issue in the American Civil War. On the other hand, most of us by now have grown cynical with the knowledge that there are a vast number of people who dismiss facts which are uncomfortable for them.

However, part of this dismissing of facts, or at least of in-depth explanations, is due to our inevitable packaging of historical events in the form of convenient, no fuss-no mess symbols. These symbols are vivid, triggering instant recognition the same way corporate logos and commercial jingles are used. Sometimes they are used with the same purpose of “selling” an idea or image to us to trigger our acceptance and allegiance to that idea, the way commercials try to trigger our allegiance to a product.

Sometimes, however, we must fault our own laziness in teaching history this way, and our laziness in accepting history this way.

“Gone with the Wind” is a lush, lavish soap opera about survival, told through memorable characters and a dramatic backdrop of the Civil War and Reconstruction periods. It is excellent storytelling, and is a movie that many of us can watch again and again. Despite our familiarity with it, it remains captivating and enjoyable.

It is not an historical documentary. It is storytelling, and yet for many people it is possibly their introduction to the American Civil War, and perhaps even the sum total of their knowledge.

Plucking only a few symbols from this movie tells us a lot about our attitudes about the Civil War based on our ignorance.

When Scarlett receives a letter announcing the death of her first husband during the War, his commander writes, “Though Captain Hamilton was not vouchsafed a hero’s death upon the field of glory, he was none the less a hero, dying of pneumonia, following an attack of measles.” (For one thing, the penmanship is too modern to be 19th century style, but we’ll let that go.)

I can recall watching the film with others who chuckled at this, since it implies that goofy Charles Hamilton was a bit of a loser for dying in this unheroic manner. I believe probably the film’s famous producer, David O. Selznick, thought the same thing and so emphasized this frame of film where we see the letter with the flowery language and the irony of what is perceived to be an ignominious death.

However, most soldiers who died in the American Civil War died of disease, not battle wounds. We also might note that this is especially significant when we know that the battle deaths occurred in the thousands.

To put that into perspective, in the past seven years over 4,700 American service personnel have been killed in Iraq. As terrible a price that is to pay, in the four-year period of the American Civil War over 200,000 battle deaths occurred, North and South. The deaths due to disease were over 400,000, more than twice that of deaths due to battle wounds. About two-thirds of the over 600,000 military personnel who died in the Civil War died of illness.

Many battles resulted in a loss of 30 percent of the soldiers on the field. Thousands were mowed down in minutes. We could not, and would not, endure such statistics today. For deaths due to sickness to top that alarming rate is astounding.

So, Charles Hamilton’s sickbed fatality is not so worth smirking at after all. It is not a joke; it is a tragedy.

Another symbol we may address is the Confederate flag. One of the most striking scenes in the film is when Scarlett wanders out of the hospital to look for Dr. Meade, played by Harry Davenport. She walks out to the railroad yard where wounded men have been deposited and are awaiting treatment. As the camera pans back, we see her become smaller and smaller as she disappears into a sea of wounded men. Finally, the camera pans back far enough for us to have a bird’s-eye view, with a tattered Confederate flag snapping in the breeze in the foreground.

It is a wonderful symbol of pride being humbled by defeat in battle, of a proud young nation struggling to establish its identify under bleak circumstances.

But the so-called Confederate flag, that dramatic design of blue crossed bars on a red field, with stars for each Confederate state in the blue inverted cross, was never the flag of the Confederate States of America. It would never have flown in this manner from a town flagpole at the rail yard. It is a magnificent and stirring piece of symbolism, (movies love visuals) but it is the product of Hollywood imagination.

There were several flags of the Confederacy. The first was a blue flag with a single gold star, the so-called Bonnie Blue Flag, as in the song, “Hurrah, hurrah, for Southern rights, hurrah! Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star!” It is also where the daughter of Scarlett and Rhett Butler, played by Clark Gable, got her name: Bonnie Blue Butler.

This flag was followed by other designs, mostly based on a variation of the United States flag. Here you can see an example behind Harry Davenport as he conducts the ball. Here again it is behind the bandleader who announces to the crowd they are about to play the Virginia Reel. The flag was nicknamed The Stars and Bars.

(The only thing more dashing than Clark Gable is Clark Gable dancing the Virginia Reel. The ball sequence contains a lot of symbolism to illustrate the gracious and elegant heritage of the planter class of the Old South.)

What we know today as the so-called Confederate flag was actually a square battle flag. Flag bearers marched out onto the field of battle along with their company of soldiers. The Stars and Bars appeared too much like the Stars and Stripes on the battlefield, so General P.G.T. Beauregard, Army of Northern Virginia, sought a different design after the First Battle of Bull Run (or First Manassas) to keep troops from being confused in battle and being the victims of friendly fire.

This design was created and was used in various versions for many battle flags for different fighting units of the Confederacy. Late in the war in 1865, part of this design was used in yet another new official flag of the Confederacy. Today part of this design is found on the flags of many southern states.

What makes people today recognize this flag as the Confederate flag is perhaps due to two circumstances. One, the South lost the war, and when devastation occurs it is usual for people to blame politicians first. It may be that the Stars and Bars, though revered as their nation’s flag early in the war, became a bitter reminder of a failed government of a country that no longer existed.

The South’s reverence was transferred from their government and their cause, to their veterans who had fought so bravely and so skillfully against incredible odds. They took the old Army of Northern Virginia battle flag design to their hearts as a symbol of the courage of their men.

A second circumstance is that this flag was early on adopted by the post-war fraternal group, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, that same, still active group which prompted Virginia Governor McDonnell to issue a Confederate History Month proclamation.

There were other circumstances that took root in the late 19th century and continued to blossom in the 20th: the Ku Klux Klan adopting this flag as their standard, as did many hate groups, Neo-Nazis and the like, whose reverence for a self-styled superior heritage is as twisted as their ignorance of the true history of this flag. Today the flag is still used in both ugly hate demonstrations, and also in completely innocuous venues. Neither use, however, either as threat or as an innocent gesture of regional pride, displays an accurate knowledge of the history of this flag.

But the symbolism that has come down to us, that symbolism which spurs us to instant recognition, is complex, mainly due to ignorance of how this flag was really used. To some today it will symbolize the Old South. To others, a rebellion against oppressive government. To others, it means racial domination.

General Beauregard only wanted a battle flag to keep his men from being fired upon by members of his own army in the confusion of battle.

The truth may not always set us free, but it can sometimes shed a light on things.

As for the above-mentioned Ku Klux Klan, this organization was also used by some as a symbol of righteous Southern men preserving their heritage and defending the honor of their women. Director D.W. Griffith famously brought enormous controversy upon himself when he depicted Klansmen as heroes in “Birth of a Nation” (1915), see previous post part 1 here and part 2 here.

GWTW delves into this vigilante-as-hero only a bit in the scene where Scarlett is attacked in Shanytown, and Ashley, played by Leslie Howard, and her second husband, Frank, played by Carroll Nye, along with a gang of other noble heroes of the gentlemen class, must “clean them out”. They set fire to the camp of indigents.

Union solider Ward Bond barks,

“A lot of those shantys were burned. A couple of men were killed. It’s about time you Rebels learn you can’t take the law into your own hands.”

It is mild castigation, and we may note that there is no further reference in the film to the Klan that would become famous as an underground group of terrorists whose sole purpose was to oppress African-Americans, Catholics, Jews, and foreign-born Americans. Hanging, along with mutilation, and setting fires to churches, was a favorite pastime. It might also be noted that the Klan enjoyed its zenith not in the immediate years following the war, but in the 1920s, only the decade before this film was made.

The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s did much to dispel the myth of respectability, and to shine a light on the hypocrisy of so-called respectable men who would see oppression of others as their path to righteousness, as an expression of their heritage.

But GWTW treads lightly on such racial issues, which is quite a trick to pull off. To be sure, the film is racist in its depiction of “good” blacks as being the servile ones. We have Gerald O’Hara, played by Thomas Mitchell, exhorting Scarlett to be firm but gentle with “inferiors.” We have the symbol of the well-dressed haughty (I believe the term back in the day would be “uppity”) black man singing “Marching Through Georgia” to insult the Southerners. We have the sharpster selling gullible ex-slaves on the “40 acres and a mule” slogan. All visual symbols strung together to be a kind of easy survey course in American history. No fuss, no mess, no in-depth explanation.

However, one can see a degree of sensitivity in Mr. Selznick’s helmsmanship. There are interesting clues to make one suspect he was fighting the good fight from behind the lines.

For instance, though Scarlett is attacked by ruffians, those ruffians were white men. The man who came to her rescue was Big Sam, played by Everett Brown, one of the former slaves on her family’s plantation.

In another scene, Big Sam and several other slaves are being marched through Atlanta, taken off their plantations by the Confederate army, to dig defense entrenchments. As they walk along, they ironically sing the spiritual, “Let My People Go.”

And though the African-American actors portray servile slaves, they nevertheless have their own distinct personalities. One of the great joys of this film is watching Hattie McDaniel holler at everybody.

She won a Best Supporting Actress award for her role, the first African-American actor to win an Academy Award. Her best scene is when she is slowly walking up the grand staircase with Melanie, weeping over the death of Bonnie, and explaining the tragedy to Melanie and to us. Her emotional breakdown is one of the most genuine scenes in this film. Here she is not a servile slave, she’s a heartbroken woman, and we feel her agony. She was a great actress, and this is obviously a scene David O. Selznick can be proud to have in his film, because the two actresses in it transcend being either black or white. It just doesn’t matter at that moment.

Prissy, played by Butterfly McQueen, may be empty-headed, but she inflicts her will in her own unique ways. However, the producer missed the opportunity to show the character Uncle Peter, played by Eddie “Rochester” Anderson in a better light.

This character is the slave of Aunt Pittypat Hamilton. Because Aunt Pittypat, played by Laura Hope Crews, is even more empty-headed than Prissy, in the novel this house servant with more sense than anybody actually runs the home. Uncle Peter decides when Melanie may put up her hair and go to parties, and when Charles may have a larger allowance, and he sends him to Harvard. In the movie, we only get to see Uncle Peter chasing a chicken in the rain. It does nothing for the dignity of the man we see in the novel.

One more scene I find interesting if only because I think it’s significant that it has been ignored, is when after the war Scarlett gives her deceased father’s gold pocket watch to their servant, now former slave, Pork. He tells her that she should sell it to pay taxes on the property, but she insists that she would rather give the watch to him, as he was her father’s devoted manservant for many years.

Pork, played by Oscar Polk, is choked up, and Scarlett replies, “Don’t cry. I can stand everybody’s tears but yours.”

There’s more going on here than Scarlett showing kindness. Vivien Leigh actually takes Oscar Polk’s hands in hers, places the watch in his hands. Then she briefly cups his hands in hers and pats them in a comforting manner.

It lasts only a moment, but consider, in the later years of the Civil Rights Movement, in 1968, after so much progress had been made changing the attitudes of bigotry, there occurred the famous incident between Petula Clark and Harry Belafonte. British singer Petula Clark hosted a television special with Mr. Belafonte as her guest star. At the end of one duet they sang together, she lightly touched his arm in an unthinking, friendly gesture.

A representative of the show’s sponsor, Chrysler-Plymouth, requested that gesture be edited out. He did not want to offend his southern market. A white woman touching a black man. Petula Clark, who owned the show, stood her ground and would not allow the gesture to be edited out.

Nearly 30 years earlier in GWTW, a British white actress touches a black actor in a similar gesture, in an era where this could have been a huge problem with the film distribution in the south. It could have so easily been edited out.

It was left in. Perhaps it drew no fire because the woman was supposed to be the mistress of the house, and the man was supposed to be the servant. It was still a white woman touching a black man with affection. I wonder if David O. Selznick knew what he got away with.

All kinds of symbols. We make too much of some; we make too little of others.

The most entertaining aspect of GWTW is Scarlett’s and Rhett’s survival instincts that carry them through so much. When the war is over, Scarlett’s active mind switches immediately from peace to profit:

“Ashley’ll be coming home. We’ll plant more cotton! Cotton ought to go sky high next year.”

She sees before anyone the need to shake off the old failed experiment of the Confederacy and live for the here and now. She sees her downtrodden, confused father shuffle bits of paper, and asks him what they are.

“Bonds. They’re all we’ve saved, all we have left.”

“What kind of bonds?”

“Why, Confederate bonds, of course, Daughter.”

She blows off his reverence both for his bonds and his Confederacy.

We might take a leaf out of Scarlett’s book, or rather, author Margaret Mitchell’s, when we consider the importance of landing on our feet economically. Margaret Mitchell related that she first began to learn the story of the South during the Civil War and Reconstruction when she was still a child and she played hooky from school. Her mother took her on a ride in the country, showing her dilapidated mansions and told her stories of people who could not, or would not adapt, how a whole society collapsed. She impressed upon her daughter the need for education and a sense of perspective, as much as the need for grit in a changing world. It left a seed in young Margaret’s mind.

David O. Selznick may have embroidered his film with flowery verbiage about “Cavaliers” and gallantry that is no more, “of a civilization Gone with the Wind…”, but Margaret Mitchell saw the less romantic and practical side of it, and that is what is most intriguing about the book, and most intriguing, when we see it, in the film.

Some have looked at the novel and the film as dismissing all that was abhorrent in the Old South, but Margaret Mitchell and all Southerners, white and black, deserve their pride of heritage. Margaret Mitchell, Governor McDonnell, and the Sons of Confederate Veterans included, none of us should feel defensive over the ways of our ancestors (especially to the point of diminishing the importance of certain facts), anymore than we have a right to take credit for their good deeds and achievements. Only what we ourselves do and say is what sticks to us. Let the past lie, but don’t kick dirt over it.

What we must all not allow is too much wallowing in symbols that don’t really mean what we want them to.

The American Civil War era was awash in contradictions. (Consider another brief scene in GWTW of a town band playing “Dixie” while the crowd waited for casualty lists after a major battle. The song so identified with the South was written by a Northerner for a minstrel show.)

The war was fought by southerners as a reaction to what they felt was a too-strong centralized government favoring northern interests. The main right they wanted to preserve was the right to own slaves, upon which their economy was based. When Abraham Lincoln was elected President, a man who promised only to limit slavery in new territories, not to abolish it, the southern states kicked over the checkerboard, scattered the checkers and decided they didn’t want to play anymore. The idea of separatism has always been appealing when frustration reaches its peak.

They weren’t the first to think of secession. New England wanted to secede over the War of 1812 because fighting with Great Britain was destroying their economy. Just after the Revolution, farmers in western Massachusetts erupted in Shays’ Rebellion as a response to what they felt were eastern merchants oppressing them economically. Such rebellions never end well, at least not in a nation where working together has always benefited us more. Our whole system is specifically designed to capture the benefits of compromise. Separatists, and special interest groups, should remember that.

It is remarkable to think that after the terrible hatred and violence of the American Civil War, some southern ladies decided to honor the graves of enemy soldiers by placing flowers upon them. By such simple and gentle measures are great nations reborn.

(For another angle on Northern and Southern reconciliation, have a look at my essay on Anne Sullivan and Helen Keller and The American Accent on my New England Travels blog.)

Next year marks the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the American Civil War when southern separatists attacked the United States military post at Fort Sumter. (The order to fire was given by the above-mentioned General Beauregard, who later gave us “the Confederate flag”.) We’ll be up to our eyeballs in symbolism. But I wonder if the anniversary will be as important to reviving interest in the Civil War as did the 100th anniversary commemorations in the early 1960s?

GWTW was re-released in theaters in 1961 just in time for the 100th festivities (again in 1967 in a 70mm stereophonic version). Now on DVD, I wonder if it will play any part in capturing the imaginations of a younger generation for the American Civil War? Or, perhaps for many the movie just seems to carry a greater impression of Hollywood in the 1930s than it does of the Old South.

Sunday 30 May 2010

PRINCE OF PERSIA : THE SANDS OF TIME Pasir Waktu Gulingkan Kekuasaan Raja Persia

Quotes:
Prince Dastan-You really enjoy telling me what to do, don't you?
Tamina-Only because you are so good at following orders. Prince Dastan-Don't press your luck.

Storyline:
Di bawah pemerintahan Raja Sharaman dari Persia, Dastan muda tumbuh menjadi petarung sekaligus pangeran yang tangguh di jalan Nasaf bersama kedua saudara angkatnya, Garsiv dan Tus. Mereka bertiga kerapkali membahas strategi peperangan yang membuat pertarungan dengan musuh terasa mudah. Saat Tus menyerang Kota Suci untuk mengungkap suatu rahasia, Dastan bertemu Putri Tamina. Sayangnya beberapa saat kemudian, Dastan malah dituduh membunuh Raja Sharaman yang meninggal secara misterius. Dastan mau tak mau terpaksa lari dan bersama Putri Tamina berupaya memecahkan misteri pasir waktu yang diyakini dapat merubah sejarah sekaligus membersihkan namanya dari musuh tak terlihat yang punya rencana jahat.

Nice-to-know:

Pada screening pertama di Inggris, sutradara Newell yang sudah mengenal Gyllenhall dari usia 7 tahun selalu berpikir Jake adalah orang yang tepat untuk peran Dastan. Padahal sewaktu casting sempat dikabarkan Orlando Bloom atau Zac Efron untuk karakter tersebut.


Act:
Memulai karir akting di usia 11 tahun dalam City Slickers (1991), Jake Gyllenhaal merupakan salah aktor aktor muda bermasa depan cerah di Hollywood. Terbukti kesempatannya memerankan Dastan di game legendaris ini datang di saat yang tepat.

Peran epik keduanya berturut-turut setelah Io dalam Clash Of The Titans (2010), Gemma Arterton bermain sebagai Tamina yang cantik dan menguasai legenda kuno Persia.
Aktor senior Inggris bernama Ben Kingsley ini pertama kali bermain dalam Fear Is The Key (1972). Kali ini kebagian peran Nizam, paman Dastan yang keras hati.

Director:
Sutradara senior asal Inggris bernama Mike Newell ini karirnya berawal dari televisi dan mulai dikenal di layar lebar lewat Into The West (1992) yang banyak memenangkan penghargaan internasional di beberapa festival film.

Comment:
Harap buang jauh-jauh pikiran akan buruknya film adaptasi game terkenal karena film ini jelas bukan salah satunya! Dari mulai masa produksinya sudah digadang-gadang akan meraih kesuksesan terutama karena jaminan nama produser Jerry Bruckheimer dan sutradara Mike Newell, belum lagi bujet 150 juta dollar yang tergolong berani karena banyaknya film adaptasi game yang hancur lebur di pasaran. Nyatanya keraguan dijawab tuntas. Pertama, formula serupa Pirates of the Caribbean kembali lagi yaitu menulis ulang cerita, di luar storyline game yang sudah mendunia tetapi tidak menghilangkan elemen dasar yang ada yang tentunya sudah dikenal pecinta gamenya. Kedua, visualisasinya Timur Tengah nya indah termasuk dari setting dan kostum yang sangat sesuai, lihatlah kota Alamut dan lanskap padang pasirnya. Ketiga, koreografi dan adegan laganya sangat menjual dari awal sampai akhir. Dari jajaran cast, pemilihan Gyllenhaal tidak salah, dengan rambut panjang dan baju perang ia terlihat gagah dan bernuansa Timur Tengah. Sama halnya dengan Arterton yang ayu dan eksotis. Keduanya berbagi chemistry yang wajar. Di luar keduanya, semua bermain maksimal apalagi kapasitas Kingsley yang tidak perlu diragukan lagi. Namun dari semua yang dijelaskan di atas, bukan berarti film ini tanpa kekurangan. Pertama, kemampuan Dastan termasuk "luar biasa" dalam lompat dari satu gedung ke gedung yang lain dan menghindari serangan senjata bertubi-tubi. And you expect us to believe it? Come on, make it more real! Kedua, background waktu dan masa yang dihadirkan rasanya seperti tempelan saja, keakuratan perlu dipertanyakan dengan lebih detail. Ketiga, unsur humornya sangat minimal. Ini dirasa penting terutama saat jeda dari intensitas tinggi. Prince of Persia : the Sands of Time dapat dikatakan memuaskan mayoritas audiens dan diharapkan sekuelnya yang rasanya sangat mungkin akan lebih baik lagi dengan inovasi-inovasi yang lebih kreatif lagi.

Durasi:
115 menit

U.K. Box Office:
£1,371,066 in opening week mid May 2010.

Overall:
7.5 out of 10

Movie-meter:
Art can’t be below 6
6-poor
6.5-poor but still watchable
7-average
7.5-average n enjoyable
8-good
8.5-very good
9-excellent

Saturday 29 May 2010

OCEANS : Kehidupan Bawah Laut Yang Menakjubkan

Tagline:
Explore the depths of our nation's oceans. Experience the stories that connect their world to ours.

Storyline:
Nyaris tiga perempat belahan bumi ditutupi air dan film ini secara tegas membabarkan penjelajahan misteri yang terdapat di dalamnya termasuk eksplorasi manusia terhadap ekosistem bawah laut dan juga jenis-jenis makhluk hidup yang mungkin tidak pernah anda bayangkan sebelumnya.

Nice-to-know:
Merupakan film kedua yang didistribusikan Disneynature setelah Earth (2008) untuk menyambut Hari Dunia yang jatuh pada tanggal 22 April 2010.

Cast:
Untuk versi Inggrisnya, narator disuarakan oleh mantan James Bond, Pierce Brosnan.

Director:
Jacques Perrin sempat dinominasikan Best Picture Academy Awards 1970 bersama Ahmed Rachedi lewat Z (1969) kali ini dibantu astrada, Jacques Cluzaud.

Comment:
Jika sebelumnya ada Earth (2008) secara luar biasa sukses di pasaran internasional maka film ini dapat dikatakan lebih spesialis pada kehidupan bawah laut. Kamera berteknologi tinggi dari berbagai sudut termasuk yang disematkan kepada helikopter elektrik yang dikendalikan remote kontrol dan juga speedboat berhasil menyorot gambar-gambar menakjubkan. Coba bayangkan ikan paus yang berjumpalitan di udara, ikan sarden yang berenang berkelompok dengan cepat atau pertempuran antar ekosistem demi bertahan hidup. Semua itu merupakan kerja keras bertahun-tahun sutradara dan tim produksi yang berkelana di berbagai belahan dunia. Narasi yang dijabarkan bisa dikatakan minimal dan tidak menggurui samasekali meskipun tetap menyelipkan pesan moral akan perilaku manusia menjamah ataupun mencemari lautan dengan sesuka hati. Endingnya ditutup oleh penggambaran kapal laut yang berjuang mengatasi badai cuaca yang ganas di tengah lautan dengan ombak berpuluh-puluh kaki yang menerjang. Walaupun secara keseluruhan kualitasnya masih sedikit di bawah Earth dalam hal pengaturan tempo dan tensi penceritaan, Oceans tetap layak tonton bagi anda dan keluarga yang peduli akan lingkungan tentunya.

Durasi:
90 menit

U.S. Box Office:
$18,524,665 till end of May 2010.

Overall:
7 out of 10

Movie-meter:
Art can’t be below 6
6-poor
6.5-poor but still watchable
7-average
7.5-average n enjoyable
8-good
8.5-very good
9-excellent

Friday 28 May 2010

THE LOSERS : Kebangkitan Sekelompok Pecundang Terkhianati

Quotes:
Pooch-Oh my God, I'm the Black Macgyver.
[pause]
Pooch-Blagyver.

Storyline:
Anggota U.S. special force masing-masing Jensen, Roque, Pooch, Cougar yang dikomandani oleh Clay tiba-tiba menjadi sorotan media karena menyebabkan 25 anak Bolivia terbunuh dalam suatu misi karena pengkhianatan Max. Mereka berlima membuang identitas dan hidup bersembunyi di Karibia. Semua mulai berubah saat anggota C.I.A yang cantik, Aisha menawarkan kehidupan mereka kembali seperti semula dengan cara menghentikan Max yang berencana membeli senjata mutakhir berteknologi tinggi yang bisa meleburkan dunia tanpa sisa dalam sekejap! Berhasilkah Clay dkk menuntaskan misi tersebut sambil tetap berjalan di bawah radar?

Nice-to-know:
Skripnya didasarkan pada bagian awal komik "The Losers" yang muncul dalam edisi 1-6 DC Vertigo comic ditulis oleh Andy Diggle dan digambar oleh Jock.

Act:
Boleh dibilang Jeffrey Dean Morgan telat bersinar justru di usia memasuki pertengahan padahal memulai karir layar lebar dalam Uncaged (1991). Kali ini sebagai Clay, Dean Morgan kembali menunjukkan kharismanya.
Baru saja memesona dalam film terlaris sepanjang masa Avatar (2009), Zoe Saldana disini sebagai Aisha, si cantik yang misterius.
Pernah mendukung sekuel yang dianggap gagal, Speed 2 : Cruise Control (1997), Jason Patric bermain antagonis sebagai Max.
Chris Evans sebagai Jensen
Idris Elba sebagai Roque
Columbus Short sebagai Pooch
Óscar Jaenada sebagai Cougar

Director:
Sylvain White terakhir menggarap Stomp The Yard (2007) yang banyak bertaburan bintang-bintang Afro-Amerika termasuk penyanyi R&B kontroversial, Chris Brown.

Comment:
Memasuki musim panas, banyak sekali film-film yang diunggulkan meraih hit termasuk salah satunya ini. Tanpa ekspektasi apa-apa, saya menyaksikannya hanya sekadar mengisi waktu. Pada akhirnya merasa terhibur dengan aksi-aksi yang disuguhkan. Dan rasanya itulah yang seharusnya dilakukan anda juga yaitu jangan menaruh harapan tinggi! Semua elemen film aksi ada disini seperti pahlawan yang dikhianati, sekelompok protagonis yang memiliki keahlian masing-masing, antagonis yang ingin menguasai dunia dan tentunya gadis cantik seksi bersenjata yang tangguh. Belum lagi kejar-mengejar, tembak-menembak jarak jauh maupun dekat, ledakan mobil helikopter dsb. Keseluruhan unsur tersebut untungnya dikombinasikan sutradara White dengan humor yang memancing tawa sehingga plotnya yang mudah ditebak menjadi sedikit terselamatkan. Dean Morgan rasanya terlihat terlalu tua untuk bertarung tetapi memperlihatkan akting yang baik sebagai pemimpin. Evans cukup mencuri perhatian dengan pakaian warna-warninya sepanjang film. Saldana agak sulit mengesankan karena masih terkenang peran Neytiri yang legendaris itu, Short, Elba dan Jaenada terlihat kelebihannya dari fisik yang kokoh sehingga cocok dalam film semacam ini, Kesatuan protagonis tersebut tidak diimbangi oleh antagonis yang terkesan canggung termasuk Patric dan McCallany. Endingnya mungkin sudah dapat diduga audiens tetapi memungkinkan adanya sekuel jika The Losers ini laris. Kita tunggu saja!

Durasi:
95 menit

U.S. Box Office:
$23,082,102 till end of May 2010.

Overall:
7 out of 10

Movie-meter:
Art can’t be below 6
6-poor
6.5-poor but still watchable
7-average
7.5-average n enjoyable
8-good
8.5-very good
9-excellent

Thursday 27 May 2010

DEPARTURES : Ketika Kematian Membuka Gerbang Kehidupan Baru

Tagline:
The gift of last memories.

Storyline:
Pemain celio, Daigo Kobayashi dilanda kebimbangan setelah orkestra tempatnya bernaung dibubarkan. Ia akhirnya memutuskan kembali ke kampung halamannya bersama istrinya, Mika. Daigo melihat iklan lowongan pekerjaan di koran berjudul "Keberangkatan" dan memutuskan untuk melamar posisi tersebut demi menyambung hidup. Ternyata yang dimaksud adalah pemberangkatan orang meninggal sebelum memasuki gerbang kehidupan yang baru! Daigo menerima pekerjaan itu dan berguru pada Tsuyako dan asistennya, Yuriko. Dari rasa enggan, Daigo mau tidak mau belajar bahwa pekerjaan barunya itu mempunyai arti yang lebih bagi sebagian orang.

Nice-to-know:
Memenangkan gelar Film Berbahasa Asing Terbaik dalam Academy Awards 2009.

Act:
Masahiro Motoki sebagai Daigo Kobayashi
Tsutomu Yamazaki sebagai Ikuei Sasaki
Ryoko Hirosue sebagai Mika Kobayashi
Kazuko Yoshiyuki sebagai Tsuyako Yamashita
Kimiko Yo sebagai Yuriko Kamimura

Director:
Sutradara kawakan Jepang berusia 55 tahun, Yojiro Takita sempat membesut Ashura (2005) yang juga diputar di Indonesia itu.

Comment:
Tempo drama Jepang biasanya lambat dengan suasana depresif. Setidaknya itulah yang ada di pikiran saya saat menyaksikan poster film ini di Jiffest 2009 yang lalu. Namun melihat review positif dan juga fakta film Asia Timur ini berjaya di ajang sekelas Oscar, saya baru berkesempatan menyaksikannya nyaris setahun kemudian! Prolog dibuka dengan pengenalan pada karakter Daigo yang tidak beruntung. Meskipun berbakat dalam memainkan cello toh nasib tidak berpihak padanya saat menerima pekerjaan yang bagi sebagian besar orang sangatlah rendah dan menjijikkan karena menerima uang di saat orang berduka. Awalnya ia merasa demikian sampai akhirnya menyadari upacara pelepasan itu sangatlah penting bagi keluarga yang ditinggalkan. Peran itu dilakoni oleh Motoki dengan sangat wajar dan terjaga emosionalnya. Lihatlah caranya memandikan, memakaikan baju dan merias mayat yang juga diperlihatkan secara detail lagi di credit title. Belum lagi penjiwaannya dalam memainkan cello seakan unsur kesepian dan putus asa benar-benar melekat padanya. Sejak mula, audiens seperti halnya Daigo enggan melihat upacara tersebut tetapi lambat laun dapat memaknainya dan diajak juga melihat dari sudut pandang keluarga yang sedang berduka dengan segala macam emosinya. Cast lain juga dengan gemilang mendukung penceritaan beberapa sub plot yang dibangun dan pada akhirnya mengukuhkan suatu lingkaran penuh. Sutradara Takita membangun mood film yang sendu lewat alunan cello sebagai musik latar yang terasa pas hingga menutupnya dengan ending yang brilian. Departures akan membawa anda sebuah pengalaman baru bersinema yang ironisnya dilihat dari sudut pandang kematian dimana rasanya setiap momen kehidupan terasa sangat berharga untuk dilewatkan begitu saja. Tidak diragukan sebagai salah satu film Asia terbaik sepanjang masa!

Durasi:
125 menit

Asian Box Office:
$61,010,217 till mid Apr 2009 in Japan.

Overall:
8 out of 10

Movie-meter:
Art can’t be below 6
6-poor
6.5-poor but still watchable
7-average
7.5-average n enjoyable
8-good
8.5-very good
9-excellent

The Grub-Stake (1923)


There is something irresistably modern about her. Watching her lithe, tall body run, and climb, and even fight, we might forget for a moment that she did these things a very long time ago. It is the silent movie, the sepia tint, the title cards, and the accompanying music that underscores the moods that remind us Nell Shipman was strictly Back in the Day. She could fit comfortably in the world today, except perhaps that she was a maverick who did not seem to aspire to fitting in.

Today we have a look at “The Grub-Stake” (1923), a silent film written, produced, and starring Nell Shipman. My copy comes courtesy of your friend and mine, John Hayes from Robert Frost’s Banjo. John and his wife, Eberle Umbach, wrote and performed the score for this 2006 restored version of Miss Shipman’s little known masterpiece.

Nell Shipman, who cut her teeth in vaudeville and traveling acting troupes, was a woman of intelligence, extraordinary creativity, and astonishing grit, who shook off the trappings (and shackles) of Hollywood to form her own production company when indie films, let alone indie films with a woman at the helm, were unusual. And she did her own stunts.

“The Grub-Stake, A Tale of the Klondike”, a long eight-reeler, takes our Nell, a kind-hearted but naïve girl, from a waterfront slum in the Pacific Northwest where she cares for her invalid father, The Skipper, played by Walt Whitman (no relation) as a laundress and bumbling Jill-of-all-Trades.

A sauve entrepreneur from Gold Rush country, played by Alfred Allen, comes down for supplies, and bestows upon her a “grub stake”, that is financial backing, to start herself up a laundry in the Klondike to serve what she hopes will be a busy clientele of gold prospectors in dirty clothes.

But oh, the tangled web of fate! This sauve fellow is a Wicked Man, who compromises her, marries her (though he is already married), and hies her away to the Alaskan mining town where he runs a dance hall.


He immediately puts his “wife” to work dancing with wealthy men. Nell, who has shucked her simple sailor dress for fancy duds, is shocked to learn from the crude saloon madam with the heart of gold, played by Lillian Leighton, that she has been lured here for unsavory activities, which indeed may lead to a Fate Worse than Death.

So to speak.

“Dumb as an oyster” her husband notes when he decides she is the perfect pigeon for his chicanery.

It takes her a little while longer to discover that her husband is also just about to have her poor old father murdered by his stereotyped sinister Chinese toady.

But, Nell, full of righteous indignation and a bucketload of terror, packs up The Skipper, a new friend who is the adle-pated saloon lush dragging an imaginary dog on a piece of rope, and heads for the hills in a dogsled (pulled by real dogs, not imaginary ones). In a snowstorm. Filmed on location in Idaho, we have real snow and ice, and real frostbite, as the “making of” documentary on this DVD can attest.


We are treated to several more reels of winter, in which Nells gets separated and wanders blindly in foul weather until she takes refuge in a bear’s den. The bear takes kindly to her, in fact, kisses her full on the mouth. There will be a love story, but not yet. Not with the bear. They’re just good friends, apperances notwithstanding. Oh sure, they sleep together, but you really should get your mind out of the gutter. It’s not like that.



Several weeks pass as winter turns to spring and some beautiful nature photography guides the story. Nell finds comfort among the critters of the woods, a sense of affection and peace as she had never felt in civilization. Nell Shipman kept her own zoo of critters for these wildlife scenes, and it has also been noted by film historians that she was an early proponent of humane treatment for animal actors.


But, trouble returns in the form of her evil husband, a rowdy gang of claim jumpers, a relentless Mountie, and her sprained ankle that just does not seem to want to heal. Fortunately for Nell, the saloon madam has a handsome artist son, played by Hugh Thompson, who also lives in the woods. Eventually, true loves conquers all (this time with the artist, who is almost as affectionate as the bear), but not before we get a final cliffhanger with Nell actually hanging off a cliff. Did I mention she does her own stunts?

Watching Nell Shipman is a treat, mainly because of that unusual unaffected quality of hers that seems to reasonate beyond the decades since the time this film was made. Where other female stars of her era were waif-like, she is big and athletic. Perhaps because she made the film herself, there is no turning her into a comic buffoon, which could easily happen in the studio system back down in Hollywood where “types” were plugged into the machine.

Miss Shipman defied the types of the day. Her shaggy, unruly bobbed haircut, and her wry, subtle expressions of humor alternating with utter innocence are an intriguing contrast to the typical exaggerated pantomime of the day. She moves with natural, unselfconsicous energy, unlike some of the more tableau-stances typical of actresses in silent films of the time. I would not say she is a better actress than someone like Lillian Gish or Greta Garbo, who were more studied and trained. She was not a better actress, but her very ease and naturalness are refreshing.

The use of a natural setting itself seems like a bold example of Nell Shipman’s escape from the Hollywood studio.

I especially enjoyed John’s and Eberle’s score for this restored film, which follows the moods and conscience of the characters, and especially of the real woman at the helm. It must have been a fascinating process, interpreting not only the dramatic moods of the film as vingettes in music, but to try to relate the emotional and psychological regeneration of the Nell's character when she encounters nature.  In a sense, a musical score written for a silent film is rather like another script for the entire plot.

Can’t get enough plunking on a toy piano, for my money. For more on their participation in this, and in another of Nell Shipman’s films, have a look at John’s description here, and also here. John also gives a good bit of background on Miss Shipman’s career.

“The Grub-Stake” is third in a three-volume DVD series of Shipman’s films available at the Boise State University bookstore. Here’s a link to get your copy. Extras on this particular DVD include an interesting documentary on the making of “The Grub-Stake”, and another brief bio narrated by Nell Shipman’s granddaughter and great-granddaughter.

When “The Grub-Stake” was released, it received initial praise and brief success, until the distributing company suddenly failed and went out of business. This pulled the plug on Nell Shipman’s silent film career. It took many decades and the efforts of determined people like Tom Trusky of the Idaho Film Commission, research and restoration staff, including the likes of John and Eberle, to revive her masterpiece and share it with us.

My thanks to all of them for their efforts, and especially to John for sending me this very special DVD.

Wednesday 26 May 2010

KITES : Akhir Perjalanan Cinta Terlarang

Storyline:
Bekerja serabutan mulai dari guru tari, penjual popcorn, pedagang DVD bajakan hingga dibayar sebagai suami kontrak bagi kaum pendatang yang ingin mendapatkan greencard, Jay juga kerapkali mengadu nasib di kasino Las Vegas milik Bob. Saat didekati Gina, putri Bob, Jay mulai melihat titik cerah masa depannya yang terjamin. Namun semua berantakan saat menghadiri pesta pertunangan Tony, kakak Gina, dengan Natasha yang tak lain adalah wanita yang menyewa jasanya terakhir kali di kantor catatan sipil! Sejak awal Jay jatuh hati dengan Natasha dan mulai bermain api diam-diam tanpa menyadari bahwa perbuatan itu mungkin mengancam apa yang sudah mereka miliki.

Nice-to-know:
Dibuat dua versi yaitu Hindi dan Internasional yang digarap oleh Brett Ratner yang memangkasnya menjadi 90 menit.

Act:
Mulai mencuri perhatian setelah menang Best Actor dalam Filmfare Award 2001 lewat Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (2000), Hrithik Roshan sebagai Jay
Sempat memenangkan MTV Movie Award 2002 kategori Hottest Girl lewat Inspiracion (2001), Bárbara Mori sebagai Natasha.
Nicholas Brown sebagai Tony.
Kabir Bedi sebagai Bob.
Kangana Ranaut sebagai Gina.
Anand Tiwari sebagai Robin.

Director:
Anurag Basu sebelumnya menggarap Life in a Metro (2007) yang sempat memenangkan Filmfare Awards 2008.

Comment:
Cukup jarang film India diputar di jaringan bioskop XXI dan hal tersebut membuat saya penasaran apalagi melihat posternya yang eye-catchy. Plotnya sendiri bisa dibilang campur aduk sehingga adegan-adegannya pun demikian bervariasi mulai dari tarian, kejar-kejaran, kebut-kebutan motor/mobil, tembak-tembakan, ciuman, pernikahan, perjamuan dsb. Beruntung semuanya didukung oleh sinematografi yang indah dan mixing scenes yang cukup runut sehingga tidak terkesan norak. Chemistry Roshan dan Mori cukup pas. Mori cantik eksotis dan ekspresif meskipun aslinya Uruguay. Roshan yang terkesan menjual "tubuh"nya disini nyaris melakukan semua adegannya sendiri termasuk menari di awal film hingga berbaku hantam. Semua elemen yang ditawarkan disini hampir tidak ada yang baru. Tensinya pun turun naik dan agak slow di depan. Bujet besar cukup membantu penggunaan banyak lokasi yang indah. Namun sutradara Basu seperti kebingungan menutup film supaya tidak terkesan klise ataupun terlalu eksperimental, akhirnya ia memilih "happy ending" dengan caranya sendiri yang menurut saya cukup janggal dan dipaksakan. Judul layangan sendiri dibahas sebagai narasi pembukaan film dengan sedikit filosofis yang dikaitkan dengan cinta. Sesungguhnya Kites bergenre thriller romantis tetapi masih terasa tanggung disana-sini. Kesimpulan akhir: average saja!

Durasi:
120 menit

U.S. Box Office:
$958,773 in opening week May 2010.

Overall:
7 out of 10

Movie-meter:
Art can’t be below 6
6-poor
6.5-poor but still watchable
7-average
7.5-average n enjoyable
8-good
8.5-very good
9-excellent

Monday 24 May 2010

RATU KOST-MOPOLITAN : Bahu Membahu Menyelamatkan Kost Dari Premanisme

Cerita:
Gina, Tari dan Zizi ngekos di tempat Ibu Laksmi di suatu gang sempit nan padat ibukota Jakarta walaupun harus menunggak pembayaran berbulan-bulan. Ketiganya yang masih berstatus mahasiswi pun bertekad mencari penghasilan tambahan, Gina menjadi wartawan freelance, Tari menjadi instruktur aerobik, Zizi menjadi seniman tatoo. Selain itu ada juga Seno, ketua Karang Taruna favorit mereka yang menyambi menjadi caddy di sebuah golf club. Ketenangan lingkungan seketika terganggu saat kepala preman, Rido datang bersama antek-anteknya yang bertujuan menguasai tanah yang akan diambil alih oleh PT. Garda Utama. Gina, Tari, Zizi bersama Seno pun memutar otak untuk mengusir Rido cs sekaligus mengamankan apa yang seharusnya menjadi hak warga setempat!

Nice-to-know:
Diproduksi oleh MVP Pictures dan gala premierenya dilangsungkan di fX tanggal 24 Mei yang lalu.

Cast:
Cukup lama absen bermain film, Luna Maya kembali sebagai Gina yang cantik dan bercita-cita menjadi wartawan untuk menyambung hidup.
Terakhir bermain dalam Air Terjun Pengantin, Tyas Mirasih disini berperan sebagai Tari yang seksi dan juga berani.
Debutan Imey-Liem bermain sebagai Zizi yang percaya pada hal-hal mistik.
Fathir Muchtar sebagai Seno, ketua Karang Taruna yang tampan dan lucu.
Reza Pahlevi sebagai Rido, ketua preman yang aneh bin ajaib.
Yattisurachman sebagai Ibu Laksmi, pemilik kost.
Adi Kurdi dan Verina Widodo sebagai Bapak dan Ibu RT.

Director:
Ody C. Harahap terakhir mendirect Punk In Love mengenai empat muda-mudi punkers yang melakukan perjalanan ke Ibukota itu.

Comment:
Menyaksikan film ini mau tidak mau mencermati dua hal utama yaitu cerita dan humor. Dari segi cerita, harus diakui memang dangkal. Sebetulnya dangkal tidak menjadi masalah asal dibangun dengan struktur yang kuat. Namun film ini seakan menempatkan terlalu banyak hal di paruh pertama durasinya dan memaksa penonton untuk menerima saja situasi yang dihadirkan tersebut. Memang menginjak paruh kedua tidak terlalu mengganggu lagi tetapi tetap saja secara logika bercerita terasa ada sesuatu yang kurang. Dari segi humor mesti diapresiasi karena karakter Gina, Tari dan Zizi seakan mengingatkan kita pada Warkop DKI dan Luna, Tyas dan Imey tampil cukup kompak bahu-membahu mengatasi problema yang ada dengan solusi yang sekenanya. Tingkah laku ketiganya juga terasa spontan dan tidak dibuat-buat meski unsur berlebihan tidak dapat dihilangkan begitu saja. Beberapa adegan slapstik juga terkesan tempelan belaka tanpa alasan yang kuat seperti contohnya adegan Seno berganti pakaian yang diiringi instrumen yang nyaris sama persis dengan My Love nya Justin Timberlake?! Ataupun adegan bloon perilaku Rido dan anak buahnya yang absurd itu. Sutradara Ody yang juga merangkap sebagai penulis pada akhirnya cukup berhasil menjadikan Ratu Kost-mopolitan sebuah tontonan yang kocak menghibur walaupun dari penggarapan skrip masih kurang matang.

Durasi:
100 menit

Overall:
7 out of 10

Movie-meter:
6-sampah!
6.5-jelek ah
7-rada parah
7.5-standar aja
8-lumayan nih
8.5-bagus kok
9-luar biasa

Blondie Has Servant Trouble - 1940

Here’s an ad for “Blondie Has Servant Trouble” (1940), the sixth of a whopping 28 movies in the “Blondie” series. They don’t crank them out like that anymore.

Penny Singleton made her name and fame playing the newspaper cartoon character come to life, (she later went on to voice the animated cartoon character Jane Jetson). Arthur Lake was her bumbling husband Dagwood of the mighty sandwich and unmanageable cowlick. We are reminded in these B-movies that their son was called Baby Dumpling long before he was re-christened Alexander in the comic strip.

Penny Singleton was one of those workhorse actresses who began in vaudeville and plied her trade in whatever medium she could for every decade. She was also a noted performers’ union leader back in the day, and also holds the dubious distinction of being one of those Non-Entities whose names were left off the memorial tribute during the Oscar telecast, in this case it was in 2004 for the deaths of the previous year. You could probably make a parlor game of compiling the names of all the Nobodies Oscar has sent to oblivion.

Banished from official recognition perhaps, but not forgotten by us.

Sunday 23 May 2010

SHREK FOREVER AFTER : Lari Ke Dunia Magis Yang Menjebak

Quotes:
Donkey-Man, you are a cat-tastrophe.
Puss in Boots-And you, are ri-donk-ulous.

Storyline:
Kehidupan Shrek dengan Fiona dan tiga bayi ogre yang tenang seketika membuat Shrek jemu dan rindu pada masa lalunya yang bebas merdeka tanpa beban. Keluh kesah ini dengan oleh Rumpelstiltskin yang kemudian menawarkan perjanjian magis untuk Shrek kembali ke masa lalu selama sehari, hanya ditukar sehari dari masa lalunya. Shrek menyetujui tanpa mencium gelagat buruk. Setelah menjalani kehidupan lamanya kembali, Shrek baru menyadari ia kehilangan keluarga dan teman-temannya itu dimana semua orang yang dikenalnya menjadi orang lain disini. Berpacu sebelum matahari terbit, Shrek harus mendapat ciuman dari cinta sejatinya atau musnah selamanya dari peradaban!

Nice-to-know:
Dikabarkan sebagai penutup dari trilogi Shrek sebelumnya sekaligus satu-satunya yang menggunakan teknologi RealD-3D and IMAX 3D.

Voice:
Mike Myers sebagai Shrek
Eddie Murphy sebagai Donkey
Cameron Diaz sebagai Princess Fiona
Antonio Banderas sebagai Puss in Boots
Julie Andrews sebagai Queen
Jon Hamm sebagai Brogan
John Cleese sebagai King Harold
Craig Robinson sebagai Cookie
Walt Dohrn sebagai Rumpelstiltskin / Priest / Krekraw Ogre

Director:
Mike Mitchell terakhir membesut film superhero SMU yaitu Sky High (2005). Shrek 4 ini adalah hanya karya ke-6 nya sejauh ini di luar beberapa serial teve yang ditanganinya juga.

Comment:
Ketiga film Shrek sebelumnya yang terkonsep dengan sangat baik merupakan salah satu animasi favorit saya sepanjang masa. Namun saat mendengar akan ada film keempat dan membaca plotnya, saya cukup pesimis dengan kualitas film ini. Betapa tidak? Shrek diajak masuk ke dunia magis karena keinginannya lari dari kenyataan. Sepintas terdengar seperti campuran Bedazzled, Aladdin ataupun It's A Wonderful Life. Beruntung para pengisi suara melaksanakan tugas masing-masing dengan sangat baik sehingga kedalaman penjiwaan karakterisasinya terasa maksimal. Terima kasih juga pada Walt Dohrn yang memberikan nafas antagonis yang menjadi sumber permasalahan disini. Tokoh-tokoh utamanya selain Shrek di dalam Far Far Away dijungkir balikkan sifat dan peranannya, itu yang membuat installment keempat ini cukup fresh di luar fakta bahwa sebetulnya tidak ada yang baru dari apa yang mereka tawarkan. Animasinya masih terkonsep dengan baik walau unsur magisnya tidak terlalu kental seperti seri-seri sebelumnya. Humornya juga seimbang dan sudah diduga banyak datang dari Donkey dan Puss. Di luar semua uraian tersebut, Shrek Forever After masih merupakan dongeng yang membumi dan mengedepankan pelajaran hidup yang sangat berharga bagi kita semua. Tentunya seperti yang sudah-sudah, endingnya ditutup dengan manis dan kuat dalam menyampaikan pesan yang diembannya. Well done! Semoga ini benar-benar menjadi film penutup dan keempat serinya akan memorable bagi para moviegoers di seluruh dunia.

Durasi:
90 menit

Overall:
7.5 out of 10

Movie-meter:
Art can’t be below 6
6-poor
6.5-poor but still watchable
7-average
7.5-average n enjoyable
8-good
8.5-very good
9-excellent

Saturday 22 May 2010

KICK ASS : Kala Pecundang Berusaha Menjadi Pahlawan Super

Quotes:
Dave Lizewski-If it wasn't for you, I'd be dead.
Hit Girl-And if it wasn't for you... my dad wouldn't be.


Storyline:
Siswa SMU cupu, Dave Livewski yang menyukai komik bercita-cita menjadi pahlawan super terlebih setelah maraknya kejahatan terjadi di sekelilingnya. Lewat internet, Dave membeli sebuah kostum hijau dan menamakan dirinya Kick Ass, pahlawan tanpa kekuatan super. Dalam sebuah kejadian membela seseorang dari keroyokan anggota gang, Kick Ass tertangkap video dan kamera yang kemudian membuatnya terkenal seantero Amerika! Di luar dugaan, tindakannya itu mengundang perhatian bos mafia, Frank D'Amico yang terganggu olehnya. Dibantu superhero sebayanya Red Mist, dan ayah-anak, Big Daddy-Hit Girl, Kick Ass pun berjuang menuntaskan misinya memberantas gerombolan D'Amico.

Nice-to-know:
Daniel Craig dan Mark Wahlberg sempat dicast untuk peran Big Daddy dalam film yang komiknya dihasilkan oleh Stan Lee yang juga muncul sebagai cameo disini.

Act:
Sudah bermain serial televisi sejak usia 11 tahun, aktor muda Inggris bernama Aaron Johnson ini didapuk sebagai Dave Lizewski alias Kick Ass.
Pernah mengisi suara animasi Disney Bolt (2008), Chloe Moretz didaulat sebagai Mindy Macready alias Hit Girl.
Clark Duke dan Evan Peters sebagai duo tandem Kick Ass yaitu Marty dan Todd.
Love interest Kick Ass yaitu Katie Deauxma dimainkan oleh Lyndsy Fonseca.
Tak ketinggalan aktor yang rajin bermain film yaitu Nicolas Cage sebagai Big Daddy.

Director:
Pria kelahiran London pada 7 Maret 1971 bernama Matthew Vaughn ini terakhir lumayan berhasil menangani Stardust (2007) yang cukup disukai kritikus dan publik itu.

Comment:
Saya menyaksikan film ini tanpa ekspektasi apapun selain mendengar bahwa film ini booming di Amerika sana. Dan bagi sebagian besar penonton di belahan dunia bagian Asia mungkin akan sulit menyukainya karena beberapa hal. Awal film mungkin sedikit membosankan menyaksikan kehidupan monoton pecundang bernama Dave LIzewski yang berusaha menjadi seseorang. Beberapa adegan satir yang dialami Dave mungkin membuat kita miris dan berpikir harus ada yang seseorang yang melakukan sesuatu terhadapnya. Sampai titik ini kemunculan Big Daddy dan Hit Girl seakan menjadi jawabannya. Keduanya dibekali skill dan peralatan yang mumpuni untuk syarat menjadi superhero, tentu saja bukan tanpa misi karena masa lalu kelam yang dialami mereka. Adegan bertarungnya seakan perpaduan dari Spiderman dan Kill Bill dengan koreografi yang menarik. Pengeksekusian plotnya juga terasa abnormal karena mengombinasikan kekejamanan, sarkasme, humor dan keputusasaan secara seimbang. Johnson dan Moretz bermain gemilang menerjemahkan karakter utama yang dipercayakan pada mereka. Cage dan Strong juga efektif membagi pengalaman akting mereka. Semua terbantu oleh lagu-lagu Prodigy ataupun Sparks yang pas mengisi adegan bertensi tinggi. Terkadang musik latar mengingatkan pada Watchmen yang bertemakan tidak jauh berbeda. Yang cukup kontroversial adalah fakta bahwa Hit Girl masih berusia 11 tahun tetapi terbiasa dengan kata-kata kasar dan kemampuan membunuhnya yang sangat keras terlepas dari sekelam apapun masa lalunya. Namun jangan biarkan hal tersebut mengganggu pengalaman baru bersinema yang akan anda temukan dalam Kick Ass. I can't say it's good but it's uniquely stylish!

Durasi:
110 menit

U.S. Box Office:
$46,616,232 till mid May 2010.

Overall:
7 out of 10

Movie-meter:
Art can’t be below 6
6-poor
6.5-poor but still watchable
7-average
7.5-average n enjoyable
8-good
8.5-very good
9-excellent