Film Works

In Her Shoes Movie Review: More Than Just a Chick Flick

In Her Shoes Movie Review: More Than Just a Chick Flick
In Her Shoes actually has enough depth. This chick flick is a richly textured story about the reconnecting of two estranged sisters who have nothing in common but their shoe sizes.
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Film Review: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Fluff and Pathos Equals Adult Fairytale
By Rianne Hill Soriano

“Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day” is a gentle period piece that keeps the comedy humming while unpacking Miss Pettigrew’s one extraordinary day. This Depression-era Cinderella comedy has a certain kind of sophistication backed up by a fluffy form of lyrical cleverness. And for those who are into ultra-light screwball fun, artsy romance, and happy endings, this grown-up fairytale can surely live up for a day of cinematic entertainment.

Light and pleasant, this snappy adaptation of a 1938 British novel by Winifred Watson is a valentine to a by-gone era. Its old-fashioned qualities explore women’s roles in the society at the time – with an impending war hanging heavily at the background. Nicely cast, this handsome production is a delightful farcical fairytale that plays like a joyous whirlwind. Its mood and treatment is reminiscent of a period theatrical piece bolstered by moments of depth and emotion. It’s a veritable treat that’s quick, breezy, witty, and charming amidst the considerably tough and uneasy blending of comic delight and pathos.

Set in 1939 London, the era, costumes, sets, and music make the film feel like a classic. The world war fear is carefully dissolved into a blend of eye-candy production value, cliché romanticism, and screwball comedy that give the film a certain gravitas to keep up with. Director Bharat Nalluri maintains a light mood, a brisk pace, and a pleasurable wordplay for such a film that is pulled down by its own predetermined ending.

Period comedy is a tough act to mount. And “Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day” works with a certain heft. Interestingly, it is aimed at the ‘art house’ crowd while keeping a treatment that is as light as a feather and as stereotypical as your usual romantic comedy. What it lacks in substance is counterbalanced by the energy of its heavyweight actors and actresses – the thespian acting performances fitting the film’s fairytale-ish needs. At the same time, those who are not demanding for some heavy meanings and deeper artsy points would still enjoy the film by just the sights and sounds of cheeky purses, shoes, and dresses, vintage cars, and period music.

Delightful performances make the film a charming 1930’s “Cinderella-meets-Sex and the City.” Frances McDormand puts a frazzled charm and endearing insecurity to her character as the frumpy Miss Guinevere Pettigrew. Amy Adams as a wide-eyed delight of a would-be starlet Delysia Lafosse lends her frivolous charm amidst such an autopilot-ish acting for her ingénue character. The two ladies blend in a likable manner that keeps up a British fortitude and class to the mounted picture. Even the romantic angles of each one (Delysia’s young womanizer producer Phil played by Tom Payne, the rich, have-it-all businessman Nick played by Mark Strong, and the financially modest but simpatico musician Michael played by Lee Pace, and Miss Pettigrew’s urbane fashion designer Joe played by Ciaran Hinds) form an appealing bond that promotes light and gentle laughs. The rest of the supporting cast led by Shirley Henderson as Edythe and Christina Cole as Charlotte Warren are equally entertaining.

This film works as a quick throwaway comedy mixed with period romance, theatrical drama, and relevant theme. Overall, it is fluffy as it is fun.

Film Review: Confessions of a Shopaholic

On Getting Maxed Out
By: Rianne Hill Soriano

“Confessions of a Shopaholic”
Directed by: P.J. Hogan
Starrring: Isla Fisher, Hugh Dancy, Krysten Ritter, Joan Cusack, John Goodman

“Confessions of a Shopaholic” is a triumph of style over predictability and formula. A chick flick about conspicuous consumption, it’s a mixed bag of elements you either want to exchange or keep. It poses as a heavy-handed brief against debt, shallowness, and financial issues presented in a goofy form.

As a fabulously frothy fashion film, it relies on the ordinary but feisty star performance of Isla Fisher as the sassy New York shopaholic Rebecca Bloomwood and her charming leading man Hugh Dancy as the handsome boss Luke Brandon.

Based on the novel “Confessions of a Shopaholic” by Sophie Kinsella, this adaptation about a woman racking up five figures of credit card debt manages itself with a light-hearted anti-capitalist sentiment. The film is a mildly amusing comedic satire effectively putting the message within its madness. And crazy as it can be, it warns you against mindless materialism and the dangers of becoming slaves to labels, while at the same time, it actually celebrates those same designer brands in the story.

The problem nipping at the designer heels of this movie is that the sloppy, unfocused script fails to push all the emotional buttons to chip away the mold from its derivative plot; and at the same time, avoid merely reinforcing the such female stereotypes in the big screen. But what makes it a sale attraction still is its by-the-number schmaltz being saved by its delightful cast. As a cartoonish treat struggling against the humor deficit of such a usual offer, it’s pleasingly addictive to those who are in for a cheesy, feel-good romantic comedy. You might feel guilty for buying into its sellout pulp, and later, you might need more as its markdown considerably makes up only for a short term.

“Confessions of a Shopaholic” becomes more entertaining than anticipated through its bundle of comic energy, production values, and radiant acting performances. The garish, frantic, and frivolous tone of the film from director P. J. Hogan manages to make it a frothy commercial offer and a cautionary tale about the perils of plastic splurgery. The pleasant treatment like that of the moving mannequins adds up to the credit. And with a contrived but breezy take on the life of a spend-crazy writer whose shopping addiction catches up on her, it poises itself as a wonderfully silly, superficially charming, and occasionally hilarious cautionary film against overspending.

The silly and beguiling Fisher is well worth the investment. The shop-till-I-drop Rebecca finds herself giving others advice on how to stash some cash when she lands on a job as a financial journalist. And through her adorable presence, she puts up a slick and polished appeal to spare to overcome the film’s slapdash script and formulaic plot and make a bargain out of its own denouncement to consumerism.

Her bright, comic talent is aptly paired with the desirable monetary journal manager Dancy. The rest of the cast is just as delightful and backs her up quite effectively: Rebecca’s thriftiest parents Jane and Graham Bloomwood played by Joan Cusack and John Goodman; her bride-to-be best friend and roommate Suze played by Krysten Ritter; her fashion magazine dream boss Alette Naylor played by Kristin Scott Thomas; the fashionista she describes as the girl with the longest legs ever Alicia Billington played by Leslie Bibb; her creepily persistent debt collector Derek Smeath played by Robert Stanton; among others.

Overall, “Confessions of a Shopaholic” is a goofy, likeable enough chick flick that eventually steals the indulgent hearts.

Film Review: The Secret Life of Bees

Civil Rights and Women Empowerment
By: Rianne Hill Soriano

“The Secret Life of Bees”
Directed by: Gina Prince-Bythewood
Starring: Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, Sophie Okonedo

“The Secret Life of Bees” is essentially a coming of age chick flick with feminist elements and melodramatic instincts in its healing emotional exploration on love, family, race, and reverence. A well-intentioned film about compassion and love crossing the racial divide during the Civil Rights Movement in America, this gently paced and optimistic tale on woman and racial empowerment primarily works well through the chemistry translated on screen by the acting performances. It can sting particular viewers from both sides of the film audience spectrum. And it can tug at the heartstrings of those who can relate to it.

Adapting Sue Monk Kidd’s soft feminist, best-selling novel, “The Secret Life of Bees” portrays life in rural South Carolina during the 1960’s – exploring the life of a 14-year old girl haunted by the memory of her late mother and the pain of having to live with her unloving and uncaring father. Her search for love and redemption becomes a heart-affecting screen version of the deeply spiritual novel. The film is able to weave the healing and transforming elements of love to elicit genuine emotions in its inspirational take on family, love, and hope. And it may be embraced by moviegoers who find solace in its redemptive themes and values.

By maintaining a gracefully calibrated balance in its honey-sweet moments and its soft-pedaled tragedies, and by treating itself as a fairytale of the Civil Rights era, the film puts a better potential on its familiar themes on racial tension, family abuse, and intertwined relationships. Despite its clichéd script and heavy-handed symbolisms, the film works through its sweet and subtle touches on emotions without spilling over into cheap emotionalism. Running thick on sentiments like its metaphorical honey, it captures the unsaid through its own distinct taste. And this is achieved through its best element – its casting – putting life to a number of emotional characters with accomplished performers punching across the story’s humanist appeal.

The actresses and actors function well like bees effectively working for their beloved hive. Writer-director Gina Prince-Bythewood has encouraged fairly broad performances from the formidable roster of acting talents in the film. She generously showcases her ensemble cast by keeping a good room for them to explore their own characters while staying away from grandiloquent gestures that can make things too sugary. Indeed, it curtails many of the sappiness the story can project through the strong acting work. The now grown up famed child actress Dakota Fanning in a teenager role further proves herself a natural on cam. She moves gracefully from kiddie roles to a dramatic lead, this time, as Lily Owen, a girl longing for her mother and searching for unconditional love in all possible places. Her delivery seems to come from a genuine emotional core. Queen Latifah puts much heart into her character as bottled honey entrepreneur August Boatwright. Fanning and Latifah form the proficient core of this reliable story about black and female liberation. The film also has strong work from Jennifer Hudson as Rosaleen Daise, Sophie Okonedo as May Boatwright, Paul Bettany as T. Ray Owens, and Alicia Keys as June Boatwright.

A film about family, independence, the transcendent power of love, and the transforming comfort of home, the warmth of this entertaining and poignant American period drama cuts the usual schmaltz on a film of such theme and story. Tragedies strike and life lessons are learned with a beating heart.

Film Review: Changeling

Finely Weaving a Human Drama
By: Rianne Hill Soriano

“Changeling”
Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Gattlin Griffith, Michelle Martin, Jan Devereaux

“Changeling” draws you from its quiet beginning, holds you through the creative steam of its compelling mystery and agonizing human drama, and keeps you through its beautifully mounted conclusion – all resonating with integrity and uncompromising emotional truth.

A gripping, powerful drama about a woman victim who struggled against the system, this long-winded cinematic retelling of a real-life case holds you through its perceptions on the capriciousness of crime and the determination of those who choose to fight it. Staged with somber exactitude, this mystery-cum-character study is intensified by its absorbing drama and engrossing tale – finely-weaved together.

Director Clint Eastwood crafts a discursive narrative and indulges realistic and complex character sketches to understand both how fragile and how essential people’s hopes for decency and truth are in a world of both love and chaos. He effectively draws a family and community together in the struggle against organized crime – from street violence to public service malpractice. For a drama about an ill-fated mother searching for her missing child, the story shows a parable of wronged innocence which has found expression in a woman’s tough experiences in a directly corrupt society. Set during the late 1920’s to the mid 1930’s, it exposes the era’s concerns which are still parallel to the societal issues of today. In collaboration with writer J. Michael Straczynski, “Changeling” boasts of a powerful story mounted to be nothing less than riveting as it uncovers the disorderly side of the period – police corruption, mental institution incarceration of women, and grisly serial murder of little boys.

“Changeling” is rich with diverse elements slowly unwrapped with significant details. It traces a good dose of the needed components of related subgenres including the corrupt-cop thriller, seeking-of-justice melodrama, courtroom drama, and political satire. For all its power, fury, and superb tension, the film marks inherently intriguing storytelling that takes advantage of the many strong emotions found within the story. Eastwood’s classical route in laboring the details of the film builds it with hammering intensity. And with a powerful central performance by Angelina Jolie as Christine Collins, along with a valuable cast coming together with rare brilliance, this emotionally gripping drama succeeds as both a compelling mystery and a period piece that still feels relevant today.

Eastwood’s directorial canon is very apparent. “Changeling” bears his personal stamp on each frame. With outstanding period detail and moody characterization, his meticulous direction tells the story without the much poorly contrived dramatics nor shocking stunts that most filmmakers fall prey to. The polished details of the era are very much commendable and work accordingly with the story’s requirements. The film’s impeccably fashioned 1920’s to 1930’s Los Angeles provides an opportunity to peer into a different era with enough creative precision. From the production design by James Murakami, to the cinematography by Tom Stern, to the film editing by Joel Cox and Gary Roach, to the original music also by Eastwood, everything works for its favor and flavor. The period costuming and vehicles, the emotional baggage, the satirical moments… all of them work together for the film’s needed language. You see the crooked cops crippling the City of Angels and victimizing innocent civilians here and there with enough emotional investment. There are many finely directed sequences showing the anguish and pain of losing a loved one, the forces of motherhood and politics clashing in front of the media, the many facets of anger, the sacrifices made in the name of truth, love, and justice, the fear of loss, the many faces of abuse, the shocking moments of a victim, the animalistic nature of a murderer, the instinctive nature of survival and saving a face, among others.

The film is uniformly well-acted. Topping the bill is the main character played by Jolie in an award-bait role that the Oscars and other award-giving bodies would definitely take a look on. Propelling the film with a beautifully measured intensity and subtlety amidst her svelte figure not very much so 1920’s, her charisma in presenting a single mother’s heart in desperate moves to find her son delivers a performance of which any actress can be truly proud of. She renders a believable and shining character overcoming the striking beauty she is endowed with which could have upstaged or distracted her acting performance in the eyes of the audience. The rest of the cast, whether on major or minor roles, makes the film a truly well-acted period piece. To name a few, John Malkovich as Rev. Gustav Briegleb, Gattlin Griffith as Walter Collins, Jeffrey Donovan as Capt. J.J. Jones, Michael Kelly as Detective Lester Ybarra, Jason Butler Harner as Gordon Northcott, Colm Feore as Chief James E. Davis, Amy Ryan as Carol, and Devon Conti as Arthur Hutchins all contribute to the success of the film in the acting department.

“Changeling” is a very good cinematic offer that just misses some outstanding points by small margins. The material is sufficiently compelling enough to override most of the film’s minor problems. On the side that the film seems made with awards season in mind, overall, it works. Although on a minimal degree, there are parts that suffer from more than its fair share of showy moments. There is a very minor concern on its deliberate pacing and contained sense of melodrama. You are impressed, but the touching part yields more on the artsy side that you generally appreciate it well, but the consciousness to the aesthetics builds a considerably thin wall against the core of the emotional attachment and the strike of the story. And this, on a small dose, hampers the complete sharing of the heroine’s pain, disorientation, rage, and grief to the policemen who have subverted their duty with staggering arrogance and misused their power for mere personal gain.

To sum it all up, “Changeling” is a mature, thoughtful, compelling, moving, and well-told adult period thriller that is sure to attract Oscar buzz.

Film Review: Bride Wars

Bridal Catfights
By: Rianne Hill Soriano

“Bride Wars”
Directed by: Gary Winick
Starring: Kate Hudson, Anne Hathaway, Bryan Greenberg, Chris Pratt

“Bride Wars” has a retrograde demeanor. As another bridal-themed movie and revenge comedy aimed at specific female audiences, it tosses out stereotypes about the idealistic and materialistic aspects of a wedding. It’s the typical shrill, mechanical comedy depending on shallow and cartoonish elements to find laughs in the devious romantic comedy formula. Directed by Gary Winick, this film is aimed for those who are in for some catty treatment on a chick flick playing with mundane nuptial wish-fulfillment and half-realized romantic dreams of two best friends who become rivals when their respective weddings get scheduled on the same day.

“Bride Wars” could have been a clever satire about the maddening aspect of the upscale wedding industry and dream weddings’ worship on consumerism. However, it makes itself content in becoming a predictable comedy making toothless jokes about the superficial side of the occasion. What makes it watchable for its target audience is how it plays and flounders on juvenilia and bitchiness to come up with comic moments primarily through wedding sabotage scenes. It seems to have built a high-concept treatment for their two different yet complementary characters, but amidst the clear attempts to elevate its style and approach, it still falls back to the too slapstick stool. Nevertheless, it has some pretty moments of caricature statements exploring what makes weddings exciting, memorable, nerve-racking, treacherous, dangerous, dramatic, and powerful.

A lively tone and sharp performances help bring hype and perkiness to the movie. The scrapbook-wedding photo storytelling concept on the voiceover scenes with Candice Bergen as the most sought-after wedding planner in Manhattan, Marion St. Claire, recreates the film’s tone to something “fairytale-ish.” Both natural charmers on Hollywood screens, Kate Hudson as Liv and Anne Hathaway as Emma make for a good comedic pair as they keep their catfights all the way down the aisle. Bergen does her best to carry the modern fairytale mood; but what pulls down the characters is the overuse of the wedding-obsessed “fembot” characterization, particularly for the main roles, which doesn’t match the film’s treatment at certain parts.

Hudson and Hathaway, who in their own distinctive ways get to command the screen with their roles, play as two best friends-turned arch-enemies after their dominating shallowness for their dream weddings transform their sweet girl relationship into a battle between two scheming, selfish, gown-clad creatures acting like hateful, backward toddlers. As they plan their perfect wedding days, they also plot to destroy each other’s most special wedding moment. There is that giddy gusto for the lavish nuptials it caricatures. And for those light-hearted ones who appreciate chick flicks, the slapstick parts can still work as seen in the film’s retro comedy tone rendering some pretty funny scenes.

Overall, “Bride Wars” is a decent, moderately enjoyable chick flick for its intended market. It has attempts on becoming a satire about wedding mania, but the trite mediocrity and banal predictability provides nothing new, amazing, or special. It can work as a cheeky girl movie with catfights and superficial sentimentality sounding like fun.

Karsel screens at UST CineVita Film Festival on March 7

Rianne Hill Soriano’s first 35mm short film “Karsel,” her thesis film at the University of the Philippines Film Institute (UPFI), screens at the 2nd CineVita Film Festival on March 7, 10 A.M., at the Thomas Aquinas Research Center (TARC) auditorium, University of Santo Tomas, España, Manila.

“Karsel,” recipient of the Kodak Film Award 2003 and Best Production Thesis of UPFI, is a 20-minute film that delves into a young adult female’s submission to the conventions of a traditional home and her struggle for her liberation.

The film was made possible by the generosity of a number of people and institutions including Seiko Films providing the camera, lighting, and grip equipment, LVN Pictures Inc. for the processing, printing and editing of the film, and Optima Digital for the telecine transfer and colorgrading.

“Karsel” was also nominated for the 17th Gawad Urian for Best Short Film, competed at the Tel Aviv International Film Festival 2004 (Israel), and was a finalist for the 1st Indeo Film and Video Festival 2004 and International Women’s Film Festival 2006. It was also exhibited at the Pelikula at Lipunan Film and Video Festival 2004, Celebrating Women – Women’s Film Festival 2004, Eksperimento Film Festival 2004, UP Diliman Film and Video Festival 2004, 1st Pi Omicron Independent Film Festival 2004, Illuminations: Awarded Student Films of the UP Cinema Arts Society 2006, and a number of screenings in various school and art house events.

The film features thespians Summer Sumera, Gigi Pirote, Ermie Concepcion, Chum Aquino, Dingdong Rosales, Pam Sto. Domingo, Roma Regala, and Rico del Rosario. The production staff includes Rianne Hill Soriano as Director/Writer/ Executive Producer/Editor/Director of Photography, Eli Balce as Director of Photography, Chrisel Galeno as Production Designer, Joy Puntawe as 1st Asst. Director, Herbert Navasca as 2nd Asst. Director, Kiko Ortega as Musical Scorer, Noel Bruan as Sound Engineer, and Kiel Sandico-Fernandez, Madz Mandia, Joselle Acuña, and Janice Atencio as Production Managers.

Rianne also directed the 35mm short film “Aninag” which was screened at the Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival 2006, New York Filipino Film Festival 2005, UNESCO Audio-Visual E-Platform, Clermont Ferrand Short Film Market 2005, 4th Neo-Angono Artists
Collective 2007, and competed at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival 2005 and Viva’s PBO Digitales Film Competition 2006 where it won 3rd Place. She is currently in the post-production stage of her new short film “Pera-perahang Lata.” Both films were grants from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).

The CineVita Film Festival, which focuses on positive, life-affirming features, short films, and documentaries, is organized by The Varsitarian, official student publication of UST, and Institute
of Religion, with the UST Journalism Society, UST Literary Society, and Concilium Philosophiae.

Rianne works as a freelance director and writer. She is also currently a film writer for Yehey.com and a part-time educator for the First Academy of Computer Arts in Buendia, Makati City teaching filmmaking, scriptwriting, and directing and Colegio de San Lorenzo in Quezon City teaching photography, scriptwriting, and video production.

Film Review: Alvin and the Chipmunks

The cute singing ‘Munks’
By: Rianne Hill Soriano

Directed by: Tim Hill
Starring: Jason Lee, David Cross, Cameron Richardson, Justin Long

If you are in for a light, nostalgic, and escapist fun time, ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks’ provides a lively and charming family comedy courtesy of its spritely mischievous and cuddly endearing little creatures Alvin, Simon, and Theodore.

Based on the cartoon series about a music group of chipmunks comprised of the cool and rascal leader Alvin, tall and quiet Simon, and chubby and impressionable Theodore, the CGI versions of these three famous and furry nut-gathering mammals cheering people up through their charismatic singing and antics turn out to be really merry and cutesy even after 50 years of existence. Indeed, they are rendered very well and gracefully upgraded into their 3D film incarnations. From the fun musical numbers to the cartoonish humor, ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks’ manages to entertain both the children and the adults (and the children inside the adults). Alvin and his band of little beasties are reasonably realistic and cute in their CG forms. And in this film, these three squeaky-voiced squirrels are convincingly turned into pop superstars.

With its thin plot and trite story about the animated singing rodents and how fame and fortune get the better of them, this family comedy is still a good provider of light-hearted fun. Don’t expect an artsy film, just a light pop sensation story with the fulfillment of having a loving family – both for kids and for their parents who may most likely get hooked by the nostalgia brought by these classic characters. The film is filled with slapstick and bathroom humor. It has the one solid idea of the chipmunks talking and singing – the same concept that fueled novelty recordings and two cartoon series for ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks’ decades ago. The bright and energetic fun really makes these chipmunks way so cute and charming that the film makes you smile – and you may even sing along with it at times.

Director Tim Hill is able to bring back good memories that veer into the formulaic Disney territory. The nostalgia really counts. And the musical numbers are generally appealing with the close harmonies and smart foot stepping to the likes of ‘Funkytown.’ Truly, the film becomes successful in maximizing the old television properties of ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks’ with a slick updating for such a musical-cartoon franchise.

Targeting the family audience with some satiric flavor, the script leans heavily on the pranks and big-eyed cuteness of the li’l guys, along with the slapstick offer for the young viewers and Dave’s amiable frustration as the trio’s surrogate dad being something the parent viewers can relate to. ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks’ provides family values and a shallow anti-exploitation message about the two sides of the music industry and showbiz as a whole. You see Alvin and the ‘Munks singing novelties, recurrent hits, and boy band stuff in their chipmunk signature voicing.

There are some fumbling parts that are just too obvious. You may get to see Alvin, Simon, and Theodore lovingly rendered as huggable CG stars, apparently sapping much of the movie’s budget to the point that such things as continuity and art direction have gone out the window. You see wretched actors clearly pretending to know what’s going on as the CG effects take place beside and around them. One example is at the after-performance party scene where Uncle Ian directly talks to Alvin – Uncle Ian’s line of sight clearly doesn’t match what he is supposed to look at. The discontinuity on Simon’s glasses is also quite obvious. Right after Uncle Ian replaces his old glasses with a new one that doesn’t really help Simon see better, you see him wearing his old glasses on the next scenes – without any problem with his sense of sight at all. And then, a few more sequences after, there goes Simon’s scene with him searching for his old glasses and happily finding it – and he finally gets back his clearer eyesight with it.

Jason Lee as Dave Seville and David Cross as Uncle Ian contribute to the building up of the chipmunks’ characters, although they don’t get to flesh out more with the treatment for their considerably cardboard roles. Alvin, voiced by Justin Long, Simon, voiced by Matthew Gray Gubler, and Theodore, voiced by Jesse McCartney, are given life with such CGI inherent cuteness that make them look like living plush toys.

‘Alvin and the Chipmunks’ is an endearing effort appealing to its viewers with its animated characters of Alvin, Simon, and Theodore – all still very much lovable until now as they’ve been decades ago.

Film Review: Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Woman. Warrior. Queen.
By: Rianne Hill Soriano

Directed by: Shekhar Kapur
Starring: Jordi Mollà, Aimee King, Geoffrey Rush, Cate Blanchett

‘Elizabeth: The Golden Age’ is a contemporary allegory presented as a period film filled with rich Elizabethan colors, sumptuous costumes, political intrigues, religious wars, and intertwined personal relationships. And with the unparalleled acting talent of Cate Blanchett as Queen Elizabeth I, this sequel to the 1998 critically acclaimed film ’Elizabeth’ becomes a really compelling drama about the life and struggles of a woman, a warrior, and a queen.

The film dances through history, and even though the cinematic license pushes it forward more than its historical accuracy, ‘Elizabeth: The Golden Age’ really gets its strength from Blanchett’s dominating bravura as a top-caliber actress. Her soulful modulation between queenly command and womanly anguish goes beyond the pageantry-fashion parade of Elizabeth’s middle years in her kingdom. Though there are moments when the feathery headdresses, the regal barge rides, the sumptuous banquets, the indoor forests of queenly wigs and elaborate gowns, and the royal gifts seem not so consistent with its medieval look as some look too modern for their times (inclusive of some too contemporary dialogue), the film holds on to something strong the way Elizabeth (through Blanchett) personally has her own source of strength – from the soulful eyes peering from behind the white face paint and headdresses swirling above her like forces of nature, the symbolic colors and fashion statements transform themselves into personal struggles, religious issues, and political statements. Here, the Virgin Queen struggles to hold on to power in a time of great religious divide and personal challenges – showing a portrait of a leader who has to rely as much on herself as anyone else when her kingdom is under the attack of one of the era’s largest empire. And just like Queen Elizabeth, the film is passionate with its visual flair and full-scale star performances.

Impeccably shot and acted, Blanchett once again imbues the Queen with her captivating mix of feminine strength, regal dignity, and intimate vulnerability. Elizabeth’s power and responsibilities deftly shows how a courageous woman leader executes matters of state in a time when men ruled most of the world. Blanchett commands the screen as she commands the royal navy. She vows herself to be in service to her people and accepts the fact that some of her personal interests would be better left unconsummated for the sake of her kingdom.

This Shekhar Kapur film is visually arresting – filling the screen with splashy, brightly saturated hues that give the film an almost fairy tale-like visual sense. From its extravagant costumes to its pompous score, ‘Elizabeth: The Golden Age’ works around two threads: a soap opera love triangle and a study about statecraft and power. Kapur piles on the treachery, romance, intrigue, and betrayal aspects of the story and presents the film with impeccably designed drama exploring the woman behind the queenly make-up, wigs, and outfits – from her strongest to her weakest sides as a great leader and as a human being seeking for personal happiness amidst her larger responsibilities to her kingdom. The orchestral score is fine, although it becomes overwhelming at times.

People may find the film quite anti-Catholic. Perhaps, more than just having a superficial treatment that already crosses the line of the deplorable, it could have benefited the film if it were carefully set with more humanized elements than having too exaggerated moments.

All in all, ‘Elizabeth: The Golden Age’ is still a grand package of dramatic acting, sumptuous design, and meditative moments of living life and struggling for the best of life’s journey.

Film Review: The Brave One

An Inventive Film From a Familiar Story
By: Rianne Hill Soriano

Starring: Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard, Nicky Katt
Directed by: Neil Jordan

‘The Brave One’ succeeds in bringing depth to an admittedly familiar storyline. It is a startlingly inventive and thrilling film exploring the nuances of dealing with the emotional conflicts of fear and surviving the trauma of a violent life experience. The film is compulsively fascinating with its dramatic flair as a revenge fantasy about the character journeying the route to vigilantism.

‘The Brave One’ makes a long and hard look at what it means to be a human being in an era of terrorism and senseless violence – with a post-Sept. 11 sensitivity – attempting to tap into post-9/11 anxieties and commenting on the idea of righteous payback.

The film takes a familiar genre – a vigilante revenge flick undermining a morality fable with an allegory about crime and violence spiraling into the larger scheme of things. And upon its aspiration to be something more serious and contemplative, it becomes an emotion-filled commentary on loss, revenge, and redemption. As Erica Bain (Jodie Foster) romanticizes a New York of yesteryear, she falls victim to a violent attack causing her to be severely injured for weeks and her fiancé David Kirmani (Naveen Andrews) dead. From then on, she randomly encounters dangerous situations reflecting the urban conditions of New York of long ago – not exactly the present Big Apple’s yuppie public landscape. Being an oddly dated setting as it is, Erica buys a semi-automatic handgun from a black market firearm dealer – which is highly improbable to be passed up by authorities in the present day New York security system. Moreover, the major reliance on tidy coincidences between the lives of the major characters meeting each other in all possible incidents is quite far-fetched in real life. And yet, despite such tough subject matters and questions about realism, the film is strong enough that the audience is drawn straight into the story. And its engaging treatment definitely compensates for the certain gaps in logic.

The script is incisive and witty. The elegant style and carefully weighted direction from Neil Jordan overrules the sometimes formulaic parts. Jordan attempts to shock the audience on how an ordinarily peaceful person becomes an agent of violence. He effectively utilizes the moody, desaturated lensing of his frequent collaborator, cinematographer Philippe Rousselot, in coming up with a visual style that shrouds Manhattan in a foreboding dread of unsettlingly lit sequences, manipulatively subjective video camera shots, nervously swerving camera movements, and ominously subjective tracking shots. The music from composer Dario Marianelli provides effective discordant themes that fittingly reflect Foster’s psyche. The film’s music is definitely something to keep up with. The editing by Tony Lawson heightens the film’s tensed and dramatic action sequences and the very emotional, complementary, and ironic intercuts of violence, love-making, acts of self-preservation, and sure-handed personal drama. As the story progresses, it gets genuinely wrenching, but never in a heavy-handed way as the performances keep it grounded within the strength and sincerity of human emotions.

Amidst a fast series of violent plotpoints, the film is mainly character-driven. After the Central Park tragedy, Erica evolves with her tainted worldview while trying to go back to the life she used to have – mainly getting back into circulation through her work as a media personality for her radio show ‘Streetwalk’ – where she shares the recorded ambient sounds of the city and her live thoughts surrounding the life in the Big Apple. The film’s many elements and the character’s journey is reminiscent of Martin Scorcese’s classic ‘Taxi Driver.’

‘The Brave One’ is a vigilante drama boasting of a powerful Jodie Foster performance. Erica speaks in a disturbingly cool voiceover that bleeds into her sessions on the air. Her glazing eyes and thin lips communicate many thoughts and emotions in every scene. Her tensed frame and boyish moves and mannerisms become intense and electric. She unleashes her rage on the mean streets of New York with such emotional and physical baggage. She renders a compelling, emotionally raw performance with deft support from Terrence Howard as the soft, conflicted, honest, sympathetic, openly inquisitive, and by-the-book type police detective Sean Mercer. The relationship between these two unexpectedly kindred spirits takes on a vague intimacy that actually results to some of the film’s strongest scenes. With such a quiet intensity, Foster and Howard become such a riveting pair. The two characters reflect their hearts becoming purer than their experiences – preserving a certain tarnished purity and laying this bare on screen.

The rest of the characters deliver well in making delicate depictions of specific human conditions.

‘The Brave One’ takes a fairly obvious, overused movie conceit – but uses this to explore something much deeper and more real than you’d ever expect for such a film with this type of story and genre. And with its strongly internalized performances and stable directing, ‘The Brave One’ becomes an effective character study and action movie rolled into one.

Invitation to watch my film Aninag at Penguin Bar, along with other shorts from woman filmmakers, enjoy the music of rocking moms

Film Review: Miss Potter

Another Enchanting Potter
By: Rianne Hill Soriano

Starring: Renée Zellweger, Ewan McGregor, Emily Watson, Barbara Flynn
Directed by: Chris Noonan

To those who are not familiar with the English children’s book author Beatrix Potter, the initial reaction to having a ‘Miss Potter’ film would be: just-another-movie-riding-with-Harry Potter-fame. But watching this film proves this wrong…

‘Miss Potter’ is a biopic hand painted with the creative license of adding flair, style, and inventive treatment to the story of a very individualistic female artist and writer from turn-of-20th century London. It is not a complex portrait of literary artistry, but it touches on a tender tale about struggling hearts and courageous idealism. Known for her whimsical books, Potter wields magic from her pen to the moving picture seen on the big screen by making a fairy tale story rooted from reality. By showing realistic tones with a workable, pleasant escape to a fantasy world, this film has a light-hearted and magical feel to it without losing grip from its very source. Potter, a woman with a faraway imagination, vividly paints the picture of an inspirational woman who has created lovely bedtime stories for children. Indeed, it is fantasy drawn from realism.

Director Chris Noonan makes the film look refreshingly gentle and a little cheeky, in a lot of charming ways. The movie pulls off a neat animation to show how the solitary Potter comes up with her animal creations – the animal drawings smile, wink, or leap around from the pages. The film offers a brilliant exercise of imagination and an interpretation of the forces that inspired Potter’s phenomenally successful career as a children’s book author. The production design and art direction add up to the enchanting and bunny trail undertones of the story. The photography is equally pretty as Potter’s watercolor art works. The characterization is too fanciful but yields to the film’s dreamy treatment. The film’s gentleness and grace is as charming as Peter Rabbit and Tom Kitten. The love story is beautifully constructed with some caring touch to not take it too far and still focus on the viewers finding themselves moved by Beatrix’s character as she plays with her imagination, discovers her strengths, and accepts the biting realities of life.

The delightful story grows with the audience – sweet and beautiful and captivated by the film’s undemanding narrative. Sentimental as it is, there is no much complexity to overplay the audience’s emotional cords. The tenderness and charm of this picture captures the world with enough sensitivity about a lonely woman’s quest for love and acceptance. It centers more on the emotional side of Potter’s character than merely showing just her career achievements. And apart from a start that is a little too trying hard to be a refined piece on its own (the painting hands opening billboard looks more inhibited than artistic), the rest of the film merely flows rather exquisitely sweet.

Any artist, writer, and woman who visits a world of her own during certain moments (mainly those who get branded as weird or autistic or crazy) shall surely be touched by this film. It pays tribute to a single woman’s quest for independence and individuality and freedom for her creative endeavors – and many women with such a personality can surely relate to the film.

Renée Zellweger makes a sensitive and forceful performance as Beatrix Potter. She does a fine job of fleshing out both the strength and the playfulness of the character. Ewan McGregor as Norman Warne keeps up with both Zellweger’s strength and grace of character. Zellweger and McGregor have believable rapport and good chemistry. The romantic scenes effectively work even with its minimal touchiness.

The rest of the characters are as cartoony as Potter and Warne. From Emily Watson playing the role of Millie Warne, to Barbara Flynn as Beatrix’s mother Helen Potter, to Bill Paterson as Beatrix’s father Rupert Potter, to the rest of the characters of the film, they all work endearingly well to make this film an undeniably refreshing and a very wholesome film for adults.

‘Miss Potter’ is a charming take on Beatrix Potter’s life. It may not be too deep, but it is a curiously endearing and scenic account of her life and times.

Film Review: Blood and Chocolate

A pack of fangs that doesn’t really bite
By: Rianne Hill Soriano

Starring: Agnes Bruckner, Hugh Dancy, Olivier Martinez, Katja Riemann, Bryan Dick
Directed by: Katja von Garnier

For a few good years, vampire movies abound… and now, it seems like the mainstream producers are losing blood for vampire stories. And looking for new fangs to bite the moviegoers, it’s the turn of werewolf stories to get featured on the big screen. And ‘Blood and Chocolate’ is the most recent example of utilizing the genre to get people curious about who and what werewolves are or let them have an escapist time watching the glory of the genre through various historical inputs, legends, fictional stories, and special effects or let them have a bloody taste of romance, horror, suspense, and sex and violence on screen.

‘Blood and Chocolate’ roots in the tradition of gothic romance and elegiac horror films – about the allegedly misunderstood monsters thriving in the shadows to live and survive. And this picture attempts to shapeshift from the initial gore expectations to the sweet kind of flick that it seems to be designed for. And the story is full of gothic clichés dressed up to look like a teen romance with Shakespearean pretensions. Uninvolving and cliché-ridden, ‘Blood & Chocolate’ tries to be classic in a way like ‘Romeo and Juliet’ while dwelling within the movie flick level and a gothic theme. But don’t expect to get that ‘blood push’ at any point, as there is the literal absence of scare and suspense, and blood for that matter. And so, ‘Blood and Chocolate’ has no concrete audience. Horror fans would find a little disgust by its lack of gore. Romance fans would find the romantic angle of the story too bland and too raw in presentation. Suspense fans would ultimately get a high blood pressure… not because of having really effective suspense-filled plots, but because of not really getting what they expect to get – from a supposed suspense ride. Indeed, it has no powerful shake in any particular direction, and the only thing that could probably keep the attention of some patient moviegoers would be the cinematic shots of Romania and the hopes of getting a better knowledge about werewolves – or the hopes of finding something better than the dull fare later in the movie.

Based on a popular teen novel by Annette Curtis Klause, the film version ‘Blood and Chocolate’ can be more associated to being a wanna-be ‘Underworld’ material. However, this cinematic offer from German director Katja von Garnier is, at most, a mildly interesting flick. The story presents getting caught between two worlds, where a lame script promotes a romantic triangle between werewolves and humans in a mixed bag of American teenage romance set in the Romanian landscapes, architecture, and dark corners.

‘Blood and Chocolate’ could have been an interesting type of absinthe (the alcoholic drink is presented in one of the scenes, more likely to pump it up a bit) for the discriminating taste of its supposed audience. Giving a little more depth and aesthetic pursuits to keep the film from falling completely flat could have saved it. However, it is not able to elevate, or at least, give justice to the issues from its theme. All it offers is a lame werewolf and human romance. It seems more interested in flaunting some special effects prowess than mining its thematic potential (but it still fails to amaze the general viewers with having a werewolf flick seemingly using up most of its entire special-effects budget on semi-impressive shapeshifting scenes, werewolf-effect contact lenses, and location expenses).

‘Blood and Chocolate’ is definitely out of the roster of great classic films about the werewolf legend. Seeking for profit by just producing a chick flick with fangs is a pretty dull move. An interesting concept inspired by a literary work should mean making a good material, taking advantage of the senses of the book where it comes from, and coming up with an essential or a striking material (or a combination of them) – exuding its own statement of cinematic grace and power. What is actually left of ‘Blood and Chocolate’ is like an episode for a TV series made in a click of a hand just to keep the series going… It has a really lame romance, which just so happens to have werewolves, and apparently done for those who would probably enjoy such a cinematic treat within the level of an episode of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer.’

Lack of chemistry among the actors reflects the United Nations affair going on. Having no convincing basis and hardly having any good creative foundation, the story comes up with the leader of the pack having a very hard accent from the handsome French Olivier Martinez (Gabriel), English accent from supporting role Bryan Dick (Rafe), and American accent from lead actress Agnes Bruckner (Vivian). Such casting plainly presents a dim-witted pack of blonds and brunettes without much creative input to create a solid back story from a breed of werewolves in the shadows of Romania. Even the main characters lack good characterization. And even the movie poster lacks concept and creativity to begin with. Hugh Dancy (Aiden) may look good as an artist and creates some sort of magic to his character the way Leonardo DiCaprio does it in his matinee idol type of films years back; but then again, the poor romantic story really surfaces for a completely disappointing take.

Amidst all the fangs from the werewolves, ‘Blood and Chocolate’ is quite a toothless wolf story. No much meat of entertainment to watch for and no much thrill to get consummated for watching it. Amidst creating a picturesque backdrop of Romania, the movie is too pretentious with all of the formulaic elements, second-rate special effects, and dull script that there isn’t much to die for in ‘Blood and Chocolate.’

Film Review – Marie Antoinette

A dreamy confection with ‘Marie Antoinette’
By: Rianne Hill Soriano

Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Marianne Faithfull, Steve Coogan, Clara Braiman, M�lodie Berenfeld
Directed by: Sofia Coppola

Cake is the perfect metaphor for this superficial confection. Sofia Coppola transforms Antonia Fraser’s book about the ill-fated Archduchess of Austria, and later Queen of France into a dreamy confection on big screen in ‘Marie Antoinette.’

Marked as the most misunderstood woman in history, ‘Marie Antoinette’ is an ambitious tapestry of fantasy within realism. A visually splendid cinematic poem, the film is partly a speculation of Marie Antoinette’s frame of mind, partly a lavishly intricate material indulgence, and partly an advocacy for some feminist convictions. Indeed, it is not your usual anticipated period piece. Instead, it is a film that is all about mood: artfully capturing the anxieties inherent in being a young, confused woman far from home and exposed to the grandness of a foreign life.

Despite its dreamy, sumptuous production design and cinematography, the film is mainly superficial. It is fluffy and sweet in the outside but quite shallow and lacking point in the inside. And though Coppola’s aesthetic instincts remain strong, this film, like the lavishly fashion-conscious Marie Antoinette, cannot survive on style alone. This passionately sympathetic dream-bio may be a complete eye candy, but the actual story gets lost at some point. For all the pretty stuff within this sugar-looking eye confection, it has actually left the audience hanging in the end. Coppola may considerably have a strong attention to detail with her impressionistic style, but this shallow film masked by its arthouse look never gets to the very point. And the initial reaction of the general viewer would be: ‘there is something lacking in the end.’ There is a possibility that such may be intentional. However, it seems like it’s not working completely well for the film.

‘Marie Antoinette’ is not an attempt to be historically accurate down to the very last detail. With the history, culture, fashion, and etiquette seen in the film (the use of rock music, modern dialogues and the lack of accents), Coppola’s utilizing of her creative license is very much apparent. However, it is inevitable to find negative reactions from some viewers who may say that the film has a somewhat condescending impression to its source material or its historical background.

As a costume drama with invitingly rich colors, it is notable to say that ‘Marie Antoinette’ breathes visual life into the big screen. People fascinated by intricate shoes and towering coiffeurs will enjoy the sight. On a lighter note, the play on the character of Marie Antoinette (all fluffy and pink but seemingly incomplete) in this film makes her like a Paris Hilton of that era of Versailles, France.

Coppola seems to have an affinity in telling stories about what it means to be a girl. She reconstructs the events leading up to the French Revolution in the point of view of Marie Antoinette. As a form of an entertaining experiment, it is a brave decision to deliver a fresh take on a biopic by creatively colliding eras to assert how the rich youth of long ago may not be much different from those of today. ‘Marie Antoinette’ transports you to a place you’ve never been, makes you feel a sensation that’s familiar, and yet leaves you different in time period. Marie Antoinette’s life is explored from a completely different angle, expressing more of her possible human side than what history has chronicled – humanizing a royal-blooded woman whose life has been appropriated by history. With this approach, ‘Marie Antoinette’ becomes human and sympathetic, and lets 18th-century history somehow rock out into modern times. However, from the last image showing the royal family evacuating from the besieged Versailles heading to Paris (no imprisonment in the Conciergerie nor guillotine in this retelling), the end of the film is convincingly abrupt. Though the parallelism of ending the movie where it has actually started (with ‘Marie Antoinette’ in a carriage) seems a fair enough device, the lack of plot development for a cinematic treat becomes a loose end.

Overall, with the kind of treatment given to the film, Kirsten Dunst effectively portrays the pathos of her character as a self-absorbed woman imprisoned in a golden cage of wealth and privilege. Her natural charm carries the story into the scenes. Her distinct ‘Americanness’ and the other characters’ physical and verbal modernity matched by the rock music becomes a play on style. However, just like what I have said earlier, not all people can be impressed with this kind of cinematic play.

Dunst’s character makes a fair point about how to rationalize her fate. More importantly, she becomes a metaphor on how women have been suffering since the times of Marie Antoinette’s reign until now.

‘Marie Antoinette’ is a very pretty picture. However, this film could have been so much more. It is meant like a luxurious feast, but no matter how sumptuous it may be, it should have something more than just the cakes. It’s like eating dessert first and never getting around to the main course. Imagine what this attractive but empty shell of a film might have been with something else in it…

Overall, when you watch this eye candy confection, it is visually nice to watch, and yet, easy to forget – too bad its for its metaphors, they just get in your head and go out right away upon stepping out of the moviehouse.

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Film Review – North Country

Woman against the system
by Rianne Hill Soriano

Starring: Charlize Theron, Woody Harrelson, Sean Bean
Directed by: Niki Caro

North Country is a powerful and compelling drama set in a 1989 American mining community where chauvinistic values are common in the workplace. The story blatantly examines the social injustice suffered by women. This film has a compelling character portrait painting some of the most shocking and nerve-wracking landscapes of sexual harrassment and how a woman, often discriminated by her fellow workers, stands up for herself and her fellow women in the mining company.

Director Niki Caro and screenwriter Michael Seitzman have crafted a familiar and often used story into an exceptionally emotional form. After Caro`s success in Whale Rider, she now delivers a poignant story without much overly melodramatic exposition and overemotional musical score. She knows how to play around the heart and go direct to the pressure points of the film to convey its message and release its power. In simple ways, it is an emotionally potent and resonant film made for more matured audiences amidst the fantasy and horror movies, remakes, adaptations, sequels and prequels conquering our movie theaters.

Charlize Theron gives an emotionally modulated performance as Josie Aimes. It is pretty impressive to see a very realistic portrait of the rural trash look from the `deglamourized` Theron � compared to the frustrating glamour make-up of most actresses playing roles that need some dirt on their faces. The prosthetics is very good as well. From her convincingly blood shot eyes to her bruises to her cracked French manicure, she anchors the film with her impassioned role as a single mom working within the dirt of a mining company. As the single-handed Josie, she carries herself as the working class heroine.

The dynamic performances of the supporting characters contribute to the emotional glory of the film. The characters are well-provided, convincing and touching.

This film has a few lapses. And one major weakness I have seen in the film is that it seems like the research and creative team have not collaborated well to show a clear glimpse of what mining work really entails. Being set in a mine workers’ place with most of the characters supposedly being experts in mining activities, what are seen in the film are only the very materials and equipment used for mining operations and nothing more for the audience to clearly understand the basic things relating to the characters` mining work. It should not be too detailed as it is not the focus of the story but it still should come in well so the audience can relate better to the characters and the story as a whole.

The sexual harassment issue is presented with simplicity and direction. And though it tackles a very serious subject matter and the ending is very predictable, it leaves a significantly emotional mark from its clear-voiced presentation. Moreover, it doesn`t try anything new and big-bang impressive in cinematic terms. Its short scenes and sequences clearly focus on the emotional thread of the issue being tackled without dependence on any technical move as using special effects, non-realist treatment or music. The dialogues are not purely crafted in monologues; and yet, the strong lines, whether in short, direct to the point words or in courtroom argumentations requiring some dramatic highlights, hit right to the bones. And with the kind of ending it has, though it gives redemption to the story, at some point, I would say that, contrary to most films made, this one tries to compromise some of its cinematic license to touch the heart and send its message (a clear example of this is how the film literally ends). And with this, the film`s vision presents the issue with sincerity in an effective audio-visual medium and not just to make `art` from it.

Women-against-the-system films as this can make a good new genre to sprout and spread. This film, along with the likes of Erin Brockovich, may fall under a subgenre of feminist films where the feminist soul can really take fast heartbeats. The weather maybe chilling in this film, but the engrossing story tackled here makes a rush of blood that may cause fiery tension to the unjust treatment and discrimination of women. This film may show just a simplistic account of a hard-won battle with courtroom cliches carefully bent for the story`s end, but its sensitivity makes its minimalist approach worth the tears from the affected audience. It may even infuriate the viewers of any gender.

As reported, a number of scenes in the film have been shot in studio. And with the minimal art requirements needed for the story, this proves that producing a low budget but earnest, honest and well-crafted film can be successful in its very vision and actual venture. And personally, this should be a good example to Filipino filmmakers and producers � to come up with low-budget but well-made films. This can be a trend we can follow — `to be great from being minimalist.` Remember, in our country, the problem is not with the people`s skills, it is a problem with the budget.

The story doesn`t aim to persuade with a gun pointed to the head but it shows what is happening and lets the audience weave their own judgments. The story and script have coherence as seen in the plots and subplots, the characterization and backgrounds, the point-blank realistic exposition and subtexts, the melodramatic side and cinematic add-ups. This film has a vision. It conveys a moralist message. If your`re in the mood for some serious film to watch, see it for yourself.

Film Review – In Her Shoes

More than just a ‘chick flick’
By: Rianne Hill Soriano

Starring: Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette
Directed by: Curtis Hanson
Official Movie site

I did not expect this supposedly ‘chick flick’ to have enough depth. But what I saw in the big screen was an interestingly profound and complex story about relationships – familial, friendly, romantic – they’re all there.

‘In Her Shoes’ is a richly textured story about the reconnecting of two estranged sisters who have nothing in common but their shoe size. But it is not just about a simple issue on sibling rivalry made into a rushed script to come up with a so-so story. It is not just a mere show-off of Hollywood stars ramping fashion clothes and blobbing some insensible girl talks. This film, based from Jennifer Weiner’s best-selling fiction, is a tale of how the past complexities of ruined family relationships try to seek the closure on what have been left hanging for the longest time. With sincerity, wits, and humor combined, this film gives an intelligent and moving effort.

Rose (Toni Collette), is the elder sister – a Philadelphia lawyer who buys expensive heels as an outlet to her depression and insecurities. Ironically, she never thinks of wearing them at all. Her lack of confidence especially with her physical features has made her an introvert who won’t have sex with the lights on. Maggie (Cameron Diaz) is the younger sister � a consummate party hottie who remains the immature and dependent-type always seeking for financial support from her sister, father, and friends to continue her �girls-just-wanna-have-fun life.� She regularly steals money and girl stuff from her sister and covers up her hang-ups in life by maintaining her oozing sex appeal, conspicuous looks and party-going life amidst her unemployable nature. The two sisters also share the agony of their mother’s untimely death as well as the anguish of having a father (Ken Howard) who has kept too much secrets about delicate family issues. He already gives more attention to his second wife, a pretentious stepmother to Rose and Maggie.

After the pain of seducing her older sister�s boyfriend, the two sisters� bond is cut short. And knowing that she has nowhere else to go, Maggie sets off to search for her long-lost grandmother Ella (Shirley MacLaine), the grandmother they have never known. Maggie finds her in a Florida retirement community and tries to take advantage of her dollar bills. Later on, she is convinced to work as a caregiver for the aged. Meantime, Rose gives up her work, starts walking dogs and loses some weight for doing more physical activities. And she falls in love with Simon Stein (Mark Feuerstein), another lawyer, who has been in love with her for years. From these experiences, the two sisters start to grow as real and learned persons facing their greatest fears and insecurities and further discovering their strengths. Eventually, Rose tracks Maggie down to Florida, where both sisters, and their grandmother finally face each other and try to recover what has been lost in their hampered family relationships.

There was good chemistry among the various characters. Each of the character is well-played. Touching sequences are very much apparent in the Florida retirement community where supporting and minor characters breathe new life to the portrayal of senior citizen roles. Tear-jerking moments are not too melodramatic and are just on the right taste for the point the director Curtis Hanson is driving at. Diaz gives justice to her parasite/hottie role. The scene where she struggles with her reading disabilities while taking care of an old man and x-professor gives the right build-up of emotions. Collette suits the intellectual but insecure personality of Rose�s character. MacLaine and Howard give effective supporting roles as well. And though the theme is derived from a serious subject matter, the humor is on the right taste and makes it a manageable tearjerker. A funny and warm depiction of familial relations, the metaphor about shoes is effective. But at some point, it seems to be slightly overused that the utilizing of shoes within the storyline already becomes too direct, too literal, and too much.

This film starts out like an ordinary movie that moves on to become a touching, character-driven melodrama with a touch of good humor to lighten it up. It has elements of romantic comedy and the characters feel like real people. The strength of the film is its heart for the audience as they can really put themselves in the characters� shoes. Overall, this film is a truthful, moving and enjoyable one for those who enjoy good melodramas with some touch of �kikay-ness� and comedy. And yet, it can also be appreciated by boys and men who can open themselves up to the values of family relationships and the realizations of growing old.

Kodak Supports filipino Program with Thesis Award

Kodak Supports Filipino Program with Thesis Award, Career Talk Series

https://partner.kodak.com/US/en/motion/students/onCampus/july2003/filipinoAward.shtml

Kodak Philippines has built bridges to student filmmakers at the University of the Philippines with two programs that support student filmmaking and help prepare graduates for the world of work. The KODAK Film Award is presented annually for the outstanding thesis film produced on 16 mm or 35 mm Kodak film. Kodak also sponsors a Career Talk each semester for undergraduate filmmakers.

The KODAK Film Award
The 2003 KODAK Film Award winner is Rianne Hill Soriano, who submitted the program’s first 35 mm film. Karsel is a 20-minute narrative film that traces a classic plight of women. It delves into a young adult female’s submission to the conventions of a traditional home and her struggle for liberation. In Soriano’s film, the lead character’s hair comes to symbolize her struggle with strong visuals.

“Angela’s hair symbolizes her mother’s complete authority over her, the strands of her hair becoming the bars of a cage on her face, exemplifying her imprisonment,” the filmmaker says. “I love taking charge of the camera work. With this being my first 35 mm film, it was a real challenge for me to perfect crucial scenes demanding intense and uncompromising performances.”

Karsel was shot primarily on Kodak Vision 500T color negative film. “With most of the scenes and the debut sequence, I wanted to really saturate the colors,” Soriano says. “We also shot some scenes that were intended to be push processed at LVN Pictures, which donated free processing, printing and editing resources.”

She edited the film on a Moviola – her first experience with the machine. “It was tough yet rewarding to be the director and editor of your own film,” she says.
The KODAK Film Award was created in 2000 in partnership with the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communications Film & Audiovisual Department to help promote the use of film and recognize outstanding graduating students. The award is open to all graduating students of the Film & Audiovisual Communication Department. The winning film is selected by the thesis defense committee, composed of faculty from the Film & Audiovisual Communication Department. The winner receives P $30,000.00 worth of film stock and a plaque.

“The KODAK Film Award is one of many Kodak-sponsored activities designed to recognize and reward the efforts of students in film production and to encourage them to excel,” said Jane Albito, business manager for Kodak’s Entertainment Imaging division in the Philippines.

“Through these activities, Kodak is viewed by the students as a partner and supporter of future filmmakers.”

Career Talk Series
For Career Talk, distinguished members of the industry are invited as guest speakers to share their career experiences and growth. The guest speakers include directors, cinematographers, executive producers, and representatives from post-production. The objective of the program is to provide the graduating class an overview of the local entertainment industry and career options as they transition to the real world.
Speakers at this year’s event, held March 11, included cinematographers Shayne Sarte-Clemente and Nap Jamir; director Mac Alejandre, and several graduates of the University of the Philippines, including director Sockie Fernandez, supervising producer Brenda Bayhon and director Jeffrey Jeturian.

Kodak initiated the Career Talk program in October 2002, as part of the Student Program. “Our message to the students is that Kodak, which has been supporting their film education, will remain a partner as they embark on their respective careers,” Albito said.

In March 2003, the University of the Philippines created the UP Film Institute (UPFI) by merging the College of Mass Communication’s (CMC) Film & Audiovisual Department and the Film Center. With the merger, UPFI will become one of the College of Mass Communication’s academic units and will offer bachelors degrees in film, masters in media studies, and manage the 800-seat theatre that will continue to be the primary venue for film screenings.

Film Review: Juana La Loca

How ‘Mad’ is ‘Juana la Loca?’
By Rianne Hill Soriano

While in the midst of watching films in the theaters in hot and burning days as this summer, ironically, it is sometimes cool to watch some art films rented in reputable video stores that offer a wide variety of films (from B-movies to art films). And for a change, I am giving you a film review of the 2001 Spanish film Juana la Loca (Joan the Mad). After reading this, you might want to check it out at your favorite video store�

History as a subject for movies intrigues filmmakers, writers and producers. For big budgeted features, it’s a great opportunity for lavish costumes, scenery, violence and romance. Notice the epic myths and stories and their characters ranging from LOTR and Troy, to Elizabeth and Alexander; include here the subgenre specializing with the intrigues of the royal courts as based and inspired by history. Most of these films may not be an accurate portrayal of historical events (safe to say, liberties can be taken for dramatic or poetic license), but it’s still worth seeing. And with Juana la Loca, the movie gives a realistic idea of what life has been like in the 15th to 16th century Spain.

The viewer gets an intimate look at life as a female member of a royal family during those times. The film begins with a scene of an aged Queen Juana (Mar�a Jes�s Vald�s) who in the year 1555 still feels the grief and sadness as she has been imprisoned in a Spanish castle for nearly fifty years. The next scene is in 1496, when Castile’s reigning Queen Isabel (Susi Sanchez), also known as Christopher Columbus’ benefactor, tries to calm her nervous seventeen-year-old daughter Juana (Pilar Lopez de Ayala), who is about to get married to Archduke Philip of Flanders. As a young girl sent for an arranged marriage to strengthen the family’s political ties, she is separated from her family and forced to live in a foreign land.

As a brief historical overview, Juana is the eldest daughter of Isabel de Castilla and Fernando de Aragón, historically known as `Los Reyes Católicos’, whose youngest sister, Catalina (Catherine of Aragón) was to end up headless following her marriage to Henry VIII, king of England. In the film, Juana of Castile and Archduke Philip of Flanders (Daniele Liotti), otherwise known as `Felipe el Hermoso’ (Philip the beautiful), heir to the Holy Roman Empire which consisted of Germany, Flanders (today being part of the Netherlands) and northern Italy, are infatuated at first sight and marry without ceremony. And they instantly go to bed a few minutes after laying eyes on each other. Juana learns she likes sex a lot. Her love for Philip becomes consuming and obsessive. She begins bearing him children in rapid succession. Meanwhile Philip goes far beyond his supposed hunting adventures. It is actually a disguise to his Infidelity. And political power becomes his major concern.

The locations and sets are vast and ornate. The costumes are richly detailed. Its presentation of 16th century Europe is grainy and realistic. The cinematography benefits greatly from the details of the production design which doesn’t fall into the temptations of ‘too much lavishness’ with the concept of a period film. It remains unstylized and valid. It was visually powerful without being technically self-indulgent. Blacks are dense and rich with good shadow detail. It has many warm and dark, candlelit interiors which is in par with the treatment and story.
Juana’s love for Philip is entirely physical and sexual. The young Juana and Philip have a week-long honeymoon/sex marathon. And since then, she turns into his slave. Philip’s manhood becomes the instrument for her misery. Juana is a victim of the males in the court who surround her. Philip, a complete womanizer, plays the man’s game while she plays the game according to the ‘rules for women’ who has been far too repressed, suppressed and oppressed during those times. Her ambitious husband who strikes a deal with her father King Ferdinand of Aragon, uses her jealousy against her. Along with the treachery of her unscrupulous father, Philip gets the throne, free to bed whoever he desires; while Juana’s lack of control permits the manipulation of her husband to have her declared incompetent to rule. She is declared mad and forced into incarceration.

Aixa, a Moorish King’s daughter, Philip’s favorite mistress, and later on, one of Juana’s ladies-in-waiting disguised with the Spanish name Beatrix, gives a disease to Philip. This is covered up until he is on his deathbed. Philip’s principal aide De Vere (Giuliano Gemma) plots to have Juana declared insane so the throne can pass to Philip before his death to enable them control of Castile. As the Castilian nobles fail to get the queen into political action, they then realize that Juana is indeed unfit to govern. However, before she is incarcerated, Philip dies at the age of twenty-eight. Juana ends up confined at the isolated fortress of Tordesillas for the rest of her life.

In this film, Juana’s psychological landscape is left unexplored in favor of her purely sexual motivations. The overall treatment given to her can probably label her a ‘nymphomaniac.’ She persists in wanting her husband’s body as if she were a twenty-first century liberated woman.
Her husband, her father and most of the characters are depicted not too favorably. They are given considerably black and negative characters. No much gray characters are seen. Even with Juana, she is portrayed as nothing more than an obsessed woman who likes having sex with her husband. In fact, there is no much scene of her interacting with her children or conducting her responsibility as queen. She becomes emotionally unstable as even the aged Juana seen at the closing scene of the film laments for Philip to the point of saying that she even misses the smell of his armpits.

The film fails to develop the political climate of the time. I believe it could have been more appealing if even a slightly more detail is given further so as to satisfy some conscious or unconscious questions in the minds of the viewers who are not familiar enough with the historical background of that time. It spends a bit too much time on dwelling on Juana�s jealousy and obsessions.

Pilar Lopez De Ayala as Juana is the best thing in the film. Her acting is superb and she is most fitting for the role. Daniele Liotti’s characterization of Philip, a man endowed with the looks and the sexual prowess, is valid. But the character he plays features a dull and selfish royalty who can only be identified with that sexual, sometimes disinterested, and sometimes treacherous stare. He is effective enough for the ensemble, but he could have served a better purpose if a little more color has been added to his character.

It is unlikely that even though the film takes place over 10 years, the roles, in all aspects, don’t mature at all. For this, the characters lack further depth. And they are nailed to those same characterizations from start to end. It becomes inane and one-dimensional.
Juana la Loca skips to indulge with the mostly expected fight and battle scenes as with the usual medieval eras and royalty scenes captured in film. It is more character-oriented. Juana lets her lust for her husband overtake her sense of duty. The film has a rich and sensuous look in staging that century’s Spanish courtlife. It combines fact with fiction, history with histrionics. In dark hues, the scenery is almost entirely interiors of the palaces with high production values.
Looking into Juana’s sexual character, is she really ‘mad’ or is she just ‘sexually liberated?’ Putting this issue of the film in the present state of affairs, we are left with the distinct impression that Juana has been neurotically obsessed by love, but not insane by current standards. And so, the film serves to redeem her reputation as somebody who is ‘crazy.’ The film suggests that her ‘madness’ is that she has just been a woman ahead of her era’s standards. Personally, I would say it is more of obsession, not being mad or crazy, for that matter.

As a controversial and a beautifully filmed period film, the main actress’ effective interpretation of Juana’s extreme emotions, full of intensity and conviction, and the minor flaws in the treatment and certain plotpoints, I will rate the film 3.5 out of 5.

Now, the new issues to follow: Heart vs. mind? Responsibility vs. personal needs? Love vs. career? These are a few significant issues we can confront based from the film’s own issues of its time which we can very much connect with in this present time’s own issues and queries. We provide the answers.

Film Review: Ring of Nibelungs

A Nordic Tale
By Rianne Hill Soriano

‘The Ring of Nibelungs.’ First reaction: Using the ‘LOTR’ success to source out some audience, not good. On the second thought, I would still watch it as I deeply love Norse mythology, very good. Well, for curious ones out there, it’s worth a try as major expectations would turn out to be some surprising delight. Once more, it’s time to get a dose of swords, dragon, kingdoms, ice and magic amidst love and greed.

The color of this epic seems to be a combination of the ‘LOTR’ and ‘Asterix and Obelix’ mythical/historical film look settled in the vastness of the cold countries of the north. It begins with a brief backgrounder about the Nordic gods including Odin, the god of wisdom and war, the chief of the gods. But no much information can be sourced out more about the gods and the runes (the wooden stone-like stuffs bearing the runic characters thrown by Brunhild’s {Kristanna Loken} female advisor for divination purposes; also the letters tattooed on Brunhild’s female advisor’s forehead; and the runic characters seen on Brunhild’s ‘pagan belt’) as the film focused more on the human characters of the legend. Personally, some additional information about the Nordic gods could have worked at its best for the film – to feed the audience with a deeper heart and understanding about the Nordic mythology in such a way that the focus of the story is not led astray.

This film tells the story of Siegfried (Benno Furmann), the heir of a conquered kingdom who has grown up with the blacksmith Eyvind (Max von Sydow). When a meteor crashes into the Earth, he goes his way for it. He meets, fights and falls in love with the Norse warrior queen Brunhild. Their destiny to be reunited through their love is given by the gods upon their meeting at the site of the meteor. Siegfried uses the metal to be forged as his great sword. As he journeys his way towards Iceland to reunite with the Valkyrie Brunhild, he slays the dragon Fafnir for the Burgunds. From then on, he has been revered as the dragon-slayer who has become invincible through the dragon’s blood (but similar to Achilles having a certain weak spot on his back).

He ignores the curse that lies on the treasure and the ring of the Nibelungs (initially stolen from the Nibelungs by Fafnir) and he now covets as his own. He pays for the curse that will cost his life and his love for Brunhild. The treasure brought by Siegfried to Burgund results to betrayal, deception and greed: King Gunther (Samuel West) of Burgund envying the strength and heroic stance of Siegfried and he agrees to kill him; Kriemhild (Alicia Witt), King Gunther’s sister, agreeing to use magic to steal Siegfried’s heart for her own; Hagen (Julian Sands), King Gunther’s trusted advisor, killing Siegfried to get the treasure and the power solely for himself; and the other people of Burgund blinding themselves to the lust for the golds when Hagen promises them a part of the treasure if they go by his side.

Upon the avenging of the death of Siegfried by Odin’s estranged daughter Brunhild, she reunites with Siegfried by killing herself beside his cold body. Reminds us of a Romeo and Juliet ending…

For a film, it’s not the happy ending people would really love to see. But it is a good ending, it seems just rightful with the flow of the story.

With the sight of the film’s poster, all I thought the story revolves around the character of Brunhild. However, in the film, Siegfried has the most exposure. With the poster, I wonder why this has been so. Is it for the idea of ‘a change’ since ‘LOTR’s’ characters pay attention to an all male fellowship? And the poster quotes this Nordic tale to be Tolkien’s inspiration for ‘LOTR…’

Looking into a broader perspective of how a woman in the character of Brunhild is portrayed here, we can see the irony of her great strength and warrior stance vis-a-vis her femininity, faith, intelligence and love. The honeymoon scene of Brunhild and Gunther is such a comic scene, one of the rarest type of honeymoon to be seen all these centuries: the seemingly unbeatable wife pinning down the husband like a mortal enemy ready to be killed.

On a lighter note, Benno Furmann’s facial features give me the impression that he looks like a male Jennifer Lopez. But seriously, he is effective enough for the character of Siegfried. Only that, the young Siegfried child actor during the first few scenes of the film has left no much resemblance to the adult Siegfried. Kristanna Loken looks great as the warrior queen of Iceland. Samuel West’s face looks too bulky at certain angles, but his acting for the King Gunther role required for the story covers up his ‘fat face’ look at times. Hagen’s dark, gothic features give a conviction for his dark and evil character.

I love Brunhild’s crown, braids and that fur coat/cape she has used as the Queen of Iceland. It reminds me of one of the possessions of the Nordic goddess Freya, the goddess of love and war and the wife of Odin. The production design, especially with the crowns and costumes, is well and good for a luxurious sight of mythology. However, I am not impressed with the design of the dragon Fafnir. It’s not quite the look of the dragon I expected. Nevertheless, the fight scenes with him have been effective enough, technically speaking.

The music given to some scenes with the ‘ring’ of the Nibelungs reminds me of the ‘LOTR’ music for such similar scenes were we see Frodo’s struggles with the evil ring. But overall, the ‘Ring of the Nibelungs’ soundtrack is very haunting and compliments the film well. However, the music at the end is the part of the film that I really don’t like most. Something more effective and enthralling for a film’s ending could have been used then.

The plot of ‘LOTR’ revolves around an evil magic ring that grants the power to rule the world towards destruction. The ‘Ring of the Nibelungs’ revolves on the greed of wealth blinding humans and leads them to their own destruction. Given its cinematic license, the story of this film is effective and well told. It’s good to know that such a bulky material has been transformed into film without losing focus on what it wants to say. It has an extraordinary scale and scope compacted into an entertaining and ‘heartful’ film.

As a huge fan of fantasy and mythology without the disappointment for an initial expectation of an ‘LOTR’ copycat, I would rate this film 4 out of 5.