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Monthly Archives February 2009

Masaki Kobayashi, "The Human Condition" (1959-1961)

This is more of a pointer to Barb’s great review of The Human Condition: I was going to write a mini-review of the movie(s) too, then realized that the act of writing was probably going to be just as exhausting, as she rightly put it, as the films themselves. So, some notes instead, originally written [...]

Posted 23 February 2009 † Benito Vergara § notes ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , ,

Tomas Alfredson, "Let The Right One In" (2008)

It isn’t often that you hear the words “tender” about a horror film and not have it refer to the consistency of human flesh, but the Swedish film Let The Right One In (Låt den rätte komma in), directed by Tomas Alfredson, is just that: a surprisingly tender and simultaneously horrific vampire movie. This strange [...]

Posted 22 February 2009 † Benito Vergara § review ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged: , ,

Kelly Reichardt, "Wendy and Lucy" (2008).

At its core, Wendy and Lucy is simply the story of a woman and her dog. The film doesn’t expand much further beyond that, really – it’s cinematically and narratively pared down to the bone as it is – but its simplicity is deceptive: tucked inside its fluorescent-lit hallways and Walgreens parking lots is a [...]

Posted 15 February 2009 † Benito Vergara § review ‡ Comments (3) ° Tagged: , ,

Henry Selick, "Coraline" (2009).

Let me get this little thing out of the way first: see it in 3-D.Yes, it’s worth the higher price for the glasses and waiting in long lines because, no pun intended, it really does add an extra dimension to the film. And what a film it is, the stuff that cartoon / comic book [...]

Posted 12 February 2009 † Benito Vergara § review ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged: , ,

Around the Bay, February / March 2009.

The 27th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival schedule is finally out! But a quick Filipino film-related aside first: You can get a good heady dose of Filipino cinema the weekend of March 20, as Brillante Mendoza’s Serbis is opening at the Embarcadero, with Lav Diaz’s monumental 10-hour In the Land of the Encantos [...]

Posted 11 February 2009 † Benito Vergara § Uncategorized ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged: , ,

Sam Mendes, "Revolutionary Road" (2008).

There’s something about Kate Winslet’s back, and not just because it belongs to Kate Winslet. In a pivotal scene towards the end – where the film should have ended but goes on for about five minutes too long – we see her with her back turned to the audience, standing silently in her living room, [...]

Posted 02 February 2009 † Benito Vergara § review ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , ,