The Lives of Others (2006): A-

Director(s): Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. Screenplay: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. Cast: Martina Gedeck, Ulrich Mühe, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Tukur, Thomas Thieme, Hans-Uwe Bauer, Volkmar Kleinert, Matthias Brenner, Thomas Arnold, Ludwig Blochberger, Werner Daehn, Marie Gruber and Udo Hübner. Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics. Runtime: 137 min. Rating: R.

It's rare that first films from a first director get my full support, but The Lives of Others is really something special, both beautifully portrayed and written. It's also clear, of course, that Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck has skill; even though it's only his first film, some of the content of the film is so remarkable that it immediately brings to mind a feel of veteran mastery.

The film takes place in East Germany, 1984. There are two good men, but they are never shown on the same frame together. One, Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), a successful playwright; the other, Capt. Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe, who gives of what is the best supporting performance in recent memory), the Stasi officer who spies on him. Georg, tall and intelligent, leads something of a charmed life, enjoying a measure of official favor without losing the respect of his fellow artists, who are not all as lucky, or as circumspect, as he is. Capt. Wiesler, a first-appearing evil teacher of law at the local university, is handed down the case of 'Operation Lazlo'. With the excellent score playing in the background, one immediately sees the apartment bugged cameras on the first floor and the Capt.’s memorable face as he listens in. It is pale; his features are bland -- not too sharp, not at all soft, except for his steel blue eyes.

Critics have already been diminishing the film, claiming that it is flat as a character study. In some ways, they are right, though I suspect that some critics are simply not buying what it's selling (there is a study cached among its excellent tone, its final shot evoking this). Yet The Lives of Others is truly something special and rare, disturbingly accurate and really quite extraordinary. In the end, however, it proves to the viewer not only keen filmmaking skill, but rather the ability of mankind to change upon its surroundings. It's rare that a beginning film reach out to me the way this one did, but The Lives of Others is a most exciting film.

Zodiac (2007): A-

Director(s): David Fincher. Screenplay: James Vanderbilt. Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards, Robert Downy Jr., Brian Cox, Chloë Sevigny, Elias Koteas, Dermot Mulroney, Donal Logue, Clea DuVall, Philip Baker Hall and John Carroll Lynch. Distributor: Paramount Pictures. Runtime: 155 min. Rating: R. Year: 2007.

Exhilarating, unshakeable, mesmerizing, baffling, and adept beyond belief, David Fincher's Zodiac neither lacks ambition nor audacity. Combining all aspects of Fincher's works from his cynical Se7en to his brilliant Fight Club, Zodiac is of the rarest—and dying—kind of Hollywood thrillers, both simplistically alive and meticulously astute.

Both a superb character study and a film about true obsessions, Zodiac chronicles various people as they try to uncover the true killer that terrorized the bay area for more than 22 years. The first scene—the film's seemingly drawing introduction— is truly unshakeable: a young couple is stationed at a very high altitude (possibly a mountain). As they wonder along with their business, a car stops. It is seemingly dark, allowing the eyes watching the film to see nothing. The car waits and pulls away. The couple is startled, but as they are caught up in their oblique emotions the man in the car returns and comes out. "You gave us quite a scare", says the young man. As a memorable rock tune plays in the background, the couple is shot down relentlessly. So comes the first death, so comes the mesmerizing Zodiac. A string of other murders pursue, and thus we are introduced to the characters. For one, San Francisco Chronicle "boy scout" cartoonist Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal), compulsive but a good man. The second, a hard boiled Mark Ruffalo as David Toschi, the main investigator in the case. And finally, the brilliant, boozy, ascot-wearing Francisco Chronicle reporter Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr., exhibiting his usual quirky, attractive idiosyncrasies.) They each part their own way, all finding info on the killer but never anything conclusive. Graysmith, on the side of Avery, smartly cracks codes from the zodiac sent to the Chronicle, which gives good credit to Gyllenhal. Overall, he plays his part well, both compulsively pitched and shaky (his character). Shot on state-of-the-art HD by Harris Savides via a process that required absolutely no celluloid or tape, Zodiac gives off somewhat of a rich, smoky feel, often felt as if it were shot with a Mini DV. This also gives a feel of realism towards a film that is not supposed to be interpreted that way at all. Such a toned-down aesthetic (full of fades to black) is matched by David Shire's taut score and the director's conspicuously reserved camerawork, which favors both masterful crane-shots and visual close-ups giving the audience it's grab towards emotion. Years pass by and still there is nothing, yet, Graysmith develops an obsession towards finding the killer. Convinced that former military man and convicted pedophile Arthur Leigh Allen (John Carroll Lynch) is the Zodiac, Graysmith finds himself incapable of doing anything substantial about it, his reward for going crazy and alienating loved ones and colleagues proves his obsession. He ends up writing a book all about the Zodiac, and this is where the film comes from; the taut script seems to be original but isn't, both juxtaposing key informative points and the reality of character.

Although Zodiac looks like the average, done-deal, it truly isn't. Mixed with stunning casting (especially Ruffalo, who finally proves himself), a beautiful chronology that never seems to slog the film's pace, and a feeling of overall realism, Zodiac really is a director at the top of his game. The film is in its own world, unique in its own ways, but also glares a sense of naturalism. Zodiac embeddes the beauty of itself in our minds, creating a stark, unforgettable journey that truly must be seen to be believed.

After the Wedding (2006): B+

Director(s): Susanne Bier. Screenplay: Susanne Bier and Anders Thomas Jensen. Cast: Mads Mikkelsen, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Rolf Lassgård, Stine Fischer Christensen, Mona Malm, Christian Tafdrup and Niels Anders Thorn. Distributor: IFC Films. Runtime: 119 min. Rating: NR. Year: 2006.

Susanne Bier's After the Wedding was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards this past February. And deservingly so. Yet another richly complex foreign language film, After the Wedding is illuminating, a film whose deep rofoundness reaches an unfathomable cathartic level past any simple contrivance. Jacob (a silently effective Mads Mikkelsen), from Denmark, runs an orphanage in India. This is where Bier's film starts, and she uses a DV—just a simple part of the film's proving aesthetic—to film it. The first shot is of kids lining up waiting for Jacob to feed them. When summoned to Denmark to sustain the orphanage, a kid, quite close to Jacob who lives there says, "You won't come back". Jacob laughs at him, claiming that he hates rich people. Once in Denmark, Jacob meets the obscenely rich Jørgen (Rolf Lassgård), who immediately cuts business and invites him to his daughter's wedding. Jacob goes, but a secret ensues: Jørgen's daughter (Stine Fischer Christensen) (spoiler alert!) is really Jacob's, and Jørgen's wife was once his girlfriend. The film surprisingly avoids soap-drama machinations; for one, Bier's film is concentrated on the human catharsis, and second, more than anything, the actors stop this from occurring. The whole cast—especially Rolf Lassgård, who plays Jørgen—acts magnificently, and without this aspect such a film would be down the drain. Bier's aesthetic is appeased by the film's own poetic milieu— the extreme close-ups, flowers, the house, and taxidermied animals, are just signs of precious life itself. Another one of After the Wedding's stratagems is that someone is dying—it's (spoiler alert!) Jørgen. Many scenes are purely emotionally arresting. Bier knows this throughout; as the film moves along, scenes become stressed and everything is evoked into turmoil. Bier plays with this aspect mostly through Jørgen—whose death waits quite soon—and not even after his death is the film satisfactory: Bier still plays with Jacob. More than anything, After the Wedding is just simply a character study—a complicated, but superb one. The circumstances are complex, but connaissence it does not lack; the depth of each character is immeasurable for just one viewing.Demoralizing to its very core, After the Wedding is richly multifaceted and rough, but posses a harmonious spiritual center. Multiple viewings, will, no doubt, reveal more, but from one viewing, Bier's film is emotionally stable, with a cathartic thrust of gold.

By the end of the film, Jacob is forced to stay in Denmark as part of a deal he signed with Jørgen. This is Bier's last and most unpredictable trick: the kid was right.

Juno (2007): B

Director(s): Jason Reitman. Screenplay: Diablo Cody. Cast: Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Olivia Thirlby, J.K. Simmons, Allison Janney, Rainn Wilson and Lucas MacFadden. Distributor: Fox Searchlight Pictures. Runtime: 92 min. Rating: PG-13.

The brilliance of Juno is in the way it presents itself to the audience. After the pretentious, smug, absurdly overrated Thank You for Smoking, I walked in with low expectations; totally unlike Jason Reitman's previous film, Juno is a wonderfully unpretentious character study that, in the long run, ends up being more touching than any recent comedy has the right to be. The film stars Ellen Page—and inhabiting it perfectly—as its titular character Juno, a sixteen year old who finds herself knocked up by her best friend (Michael Cera); abortion seems to not exactly be Juno's most-wanted option, as she opts for foster parents (Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman) to take care of her child once born. Reitman unpretentiously frames his narrative through seasons, while Cody's witty script seems to beautifully encapsulate Juno's overall psyche through each one. And while the film's first fifteen minutes or so are incredibly dull and dowdy in their familiarity, Juno marvelously finds its soul—by the end, it achieves an unfathomably graceful, almost pitch-perfect harmony.

The Savages (2007): B

Director(s): Tamara Jenkins. Screenplay: Tamara Jenkins. Cast: Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Bosco, Peter Friedman, Gbenga Akinnagbe and Cara Seymour. Distributor: Fox Searchlight Pictures. Runtime: 113 min. Rating: R.

Tamara Jenkins' new film, The Savages, deals with the ubiquitous dilemma of dealing with the elders when they can no longer care for themselves. While the film takes a different approach then the brilliant aesthetic qualities and profound themes of Away from Her, Jenkins' work clearly stresses this as its theme, its modus operandi a more comical yet nevertheless biting portrayal of a similar situation to that as Sarah Polley's work. It is one, conversely, about two siblings, playwrights Jon and Wendy (Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney), forced to roadblock their "lives" in favor of taking care of their Dementia-diagnosed father (Peter Friedman); all three go into the whole nursing home crisis, the narrative dutifully dramatizing their plight through comedy and extraordinarily well framed character development. However, it's Hoffman and Linney's pas de deux, bent to Jenkins' acutely stinging writing, that is what robs the show—despite the fact that, unfortunately, it is aestheticized with a buoyant, often un-moving manner. Jenkins can't exactly avoid genre conventions—moments are contrived and predictable—yet The Savages has this bleak, rare sting that comes to it all in a remarkable fashion; while at first light, there is a cached profoundity to the film, ultimately the film's true virtue.

Atonement (2006): C+

Director(s): Joe Wright. Screenplay: Christopher Hampton. Cast: Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Romola Garai, Saoirse Ronan, Brenda Blethyn, Vanessa Redgrave, Juno Temple, Patrick Kennedy, Benedict Cumberbatch, Harriet Walter, Michelle Duncan, Gina McKee, Daniel Mays and Alfie Allen. Distributor: Focus Features. Runtime: 122 min. Rating: R.

Oscar season continues with Atonement, Joe Wright's overly-calculated adaptation of Ian McEwan universally acclaimed novel. However moving and faux-imaginative as its primary themes suggest, the film's roadblock is its ostensible and black marked raison d'etre: Academy Awards. The film starts circa the late 1930's, as the war starts to arm up; it is the tale of Briony (Saoirse Ronan), a young girl whose primary love is to write (almost the first thing we hear in the film is the sound of the type-writer, slightly incorporating itself into the film's score). Naivety, however, causes havoc in the family itself, as the child finds herself falsely accusing the gardener, played by the solid James McAvoy, of raping her sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley)—though they are both in love—as well as, incidentally, a member in the extended family; one could say, indeed, that it is an indignant plan—Brinony herself being herself a striving writer—though it certainly doesn't stop the whole dilemma from entering the war, as Cecilia and her love find herself separated at the cost of the girl' stupid little mistake (the titular "atonement" comes into play later in the film.) Fashioned in faux-chronological order, the narrative itself feels strained of naturalness, though nevertheless one able to portray its characters emotions. Yet the film's main problem, however, is in its uneven feeling: however dire their situation is, Atonement refuses to go deeper, almost even afraid to scrap true emotions, despite its harshly realistic ending; one could say that, ironically, Wright has dubiously diminished the themes of his work to please its audience. Artistically, however, the film proves its virtues through a magnificent color palette and cinematography (including a stunning eight-minute tracking shot on the beach, perfectly queued and felt), with both Knightely and McAvoy proving an interesting chemistry on the frame. Moving it is, though the clash of these two ideas ultimately renders Atonement as a semi-beautiful, semi-flawed, semi-felt, and finally, semi-poignant concoction.

2007 New York Film Critics Online Winners

Top 11 Films:
Atonement
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
The Darjeeling Limited
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
I'm Not There
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
Persepolis
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
There Will Be Blood


Picture: There Will Be Blood and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Director: P.T. Anderson (There Will Be Blood)
Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood)
Actress: Julie Christie (Away from Her)
Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men)
Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett (I'm Not There)
Screenplay: Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzman (The Darjeeling Limited)
Cinematography: Robert Elswit (There Will Be Blood)
Music/Score: Jonny Greenwood (There Will Be Blood)
Foreign Language: Persepolis and The Lives of Others
Documentary: Sicko
Animated Feature: Persepolis
Debut Director: Sarah Polley (Away from Her)
Breakthrough Performance: Ellen Page (Juno)
Ensemble Cast: Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

Participants: Ethan Alter, Chris Barsanti, Fred and Mary Ann Brussat, Marcy Dermansky, Edward Douglas, David Edelstein, Jurgen Fauth, Ed Gonzalez, Susan Granger, Ron Henriques, Brandon Judell, Harvey Karten, Glenn Kenny, Kurt Loder, Maitland McDonagh, Prairie Miller, Scott Nash, Michelle Orange, Louis Proyect, Rex Reed, Julian Roman, Chuck Schwartz, Dana Stevens, Armond White, Kam Williams, William Wolf, Stephanie Zacharek

So, as the year comes to an end, the NYFCO releases their top films list. (I linked them all up to cin-o-matic.) To be blunt: There Will Be Blood has robbed the show, and I really cannot wait for it - my top ten list will probably come out after watching Persepolis and that film; in the meantime, I am working on a few more reviews before the year ends. A great selection of some of the best films of the year are available over at Slant, and it was released today: 2007 Year in Film

Drama/Mex (2006): B-

Director(s): Gerardo Naranjo. Screenplay: Gerardo Naranjo. Cast: Fernando Becerril, Juan Pablo Castaneda, Diana Garcia, Martha Claudia Moreno, Miriana Moro and Emilio Valdés. Distributor: IFC First Take. Runtime: 93 min. Rating: NR.

Gerardo Naranjo's sophomore feature, Drama/Mex, is as unhinged as its protagonists. The film plays out as an Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu hybrid, dubiously and forcefully trying to connect three stories that are uncoiling in Acapulco. The first is that of Fernanda (Diana Garcia), who runs into Chano (Emilio Valdes), her ex boyfriend, at a cafe; the next thing you know, they're in bed. In this case, the drama is that, familiar as it may seem, she already has a boyfriend named Gonzalo (Juan Pablo Castaneda). At the same time, another tedious narrative thread follows Mariana, who, just after being hired by fellow prostitutes, spots Jaime (Fernando Becerril)—a pretty-damn-old man who has such meaningless life that he basically goes to the city to kill himself—and gets him to feed her, entertain her, and shelter her. Despite its grand and promising opening sequence, filled with ambition and audacity, the main problem with Drama/Mex, of course, is its callously exasperating narrative; jaundiced to its very core, it ends up going all over the place, as we now find Gonzalo attacking Chano, Jaime at the club, Fernanda running all over the place, and Mariana buying anything she can. What starts out as a finely nuanced, audaciously handsome drama evolves into a frustrating imbroglio, with a familiar ending that fails to unite its narrative threads; culminating happily, yet with a profound feel—and, as odd as it may seem, such disaster can be pliantly interpreted, even appealingly. Indeed, Drama/Mex is not entirely with out its merit: Naranjo's mesmerizing camera work fits its milieu perfectly, and the fact that he studies his characters first, before sending them to ruin, is proof of its boundless self-confidence—all of which are perpetuated by the miraculous cast which beautifully portrays the dubious situations.

The Violin (2005): B+

Director(s): Francisco Vargas. Screenplay: Francisco Vargas. Cast: Ángel Tavira, Gerardo Taracena, Dagoberto Gama, Mario Garibaldi, Fermín Martínez, Silverio Palacios, Octavio Castro, Mercedes Hernández, Gerardo Juárez, Ariel Galvan, Amorita Rasgado and María Elena Olivares. Runtime: 98 min. Rating: NR.

A strikingly accurate, yet minimalistic and starkly self-reflexive depiction of war, Francisco Vargas Quevedo's The Violin may be one of the greatest Mexican films—an independent one at that—the country has released in quite some time. The film has been adapted from a 15 minute short of the same name—also directed by Vargas—though its unforgettable story of war is no less humanistic and tender, particularly given its violent opening scene: one is thrust into the depths of peasants in the midst of torture, their captors in search of rebels running a civil war against the military. This really plays as the ending, given its main narrative thread is Don Plutarco (Angel Tavira), an old, very wise man who passes as a violin player in order to seize ammo for his cause of the civil war. In his path lies a music-loving commander, who ultimately really ends up friending Plutarco until the film's last scene. Yet The Violin rings with an unfathomable amount of tenderness, whether portrayed through the lens of Vargas' austerely sumptuous black-and-white cinematography to non actor Angel Tavira's incredibly realistic role; the man won best actor at last year's Cannes. And Vargas' realization of the camaraderie amongst the peasants is also surprisingly and warmly portrayed, essentially giving the film its humanistic feel. That Vargas' storytelling is unique and rarely found makes The Violin another fantastic testament against the evils of war.

Live-In Maid (2004): B

Director(s): Jorge Gaggero. Screenplay: Jorge Gaggero. Cast: Norma Aleandro, Norma Argentina, Elsa Berenguer, Hilda Bernard, Monica Gonzaga, Susana Lanterí, Claudia Lapacó and Marcos Mundstock. Distributor: The Film Sales Company. Runtime: 83 min. Rating: NR.

Jorge Gaggero's first feature, Live-In Maid, is a pleasant surprise. The film stars Norma Aleandro as Beba, a bourgeois woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown right before late 2001, when Argentina's economy, already substantially weakened, reached an unprecedentedly bad state. This said, the film's other main protagonist is Dora (Norma Argentina), Beba's live in maid who's already worked at the there for thirty years. As Dora starts to realize that her quite moody boss has barely enough money to pay substantial victuals (as well as her own wage), she decides to take off. It's here where Gaggero's film, especially as his exceedingly nuanced script and wonderful camera work further evoke the time and place, reaches superlative heights—an aspect that only aids the film's astute commentary; essentially, Gaggero recognizes them—especially Dora—as real people. As Beba and Dora's relationship heightens off of the realization that each has his/her identity, their, as well as the film's intimacy, grows by a fantastic amount. Gaggero's script also recognizes the warmth among them; at times funny, piercing, and poignant, it gains heft as it goes along—finally resulting, despite superfluous aesthetic thrust, in a true friendship, as well as something to truly ruminate about.