MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS

(The Weinstein Company)
Runtime: 111 Min

I love Blueberry pie and this film tries to give you the magical healing powers of Blueberry pies to any sadness you have. As Wong Kar Wai’s first English language film, this is as stylish as his previous works and echoes the Chungking Express/In the Mood for Love formula (Broken heart, a melancholic policeman and catchy tunes) plus his trademark of inserting scenes of trains, clocks and neon lights to give the visual mood.

Norah Jones fills the title role, she is a singer, but can she act? Appearantly she can.

I have read the reviews which stated that this film wasn’t as good as Wai’s previous films, but I dare to disagree. Perhaps those reviewers (mostly American) cannot understand how broken heart and melancholy seen from Asian perspective or perhaps Wai just doesn’t want to bother translating it into an American style of lost love.

Elizabeth (Norah Jones) was shocked after having been dumped by longtime boyfriend.
Still hurt and absorbing the usual Denial-Anger–Acceptance phase Elizabeth bumps into Jeremy (Jude Law), the sympathetic British owner of Gotham cafe. One Blueberry pies, then everything spilled.

A hushed kiss is a sign of desperation from Jeremy, and he becomes more desperate as Elizabeth suddenly gone on a soul searching journey as a bartender and waitress where she meets an alcoholic cop, Arnie (David Strathairn), whose sepearation from Sue Lynne (Rachel Weisz), proven to be devastative and Leslie (Natalie Portman) an energetic girl with an estrange father daughter relationship plus a gambling addict. Predictably, Leslie and Elizabeth find they have something to learn from one another.

As road movie, there were less than few long shots, the shots were mainly indoors. It seems Wai doesn’t use the usual long shots in every road movie because the road is inside the soul, not on the streets. Unlike Chungking Express with an open ending, this one pleases the crowd with good wrappings in the end.

Overall, I like the mood of this film. Perhaps for non-art movies fans, this film is challenging to comprehend.

THE DARJEELING LIMITED

(Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Runtime: 91 min

My reaction to The Darjeeling Limited is “Does such trains -let alone journey-ever existed?”, or perhaps it is only in the imagination of Director Wes Anderson? If it is imagination, surely it’s a colourful one, with splendid colours filled the screen.

The jokes are difficult to digest just like The Royal Tennenbaum, although it is still funny. It is about three brothers, Francis (Owen Wilson), Peter (Adrien Brody), and Jack (Jason Schwartzman) who had not seeing each other since the death of their father.

They are escaping from something: Francis almost have himself killed in an accident, Peter’s girlfriend is pregnant (that was suppose to be the tragedy?) and Jack cannot leave his break-ups easily.

Is it really tragic what had happened with the trio? I don’t think so, but they had to escape, to India (where the colours are more vibrant), to fulfill their thirst on spiritual journey (Why not Vegas?) and they embark themselves on a train, a surrealistic train in which they have to dwell the same compartement together. As expected, the journey goes awry with lots of distraction here and there. At the end of their journey is their mother, Patricia (Anjelica Huston), who also list “escape from reality” as one of her hobby, makes us understand why these kids have the “escapist” genes. Each of these characters has odd features. Francis's face is heavily and artistically bandaged, Jack is very jumpy and Peter collects their father’s stuff.

There's also the constant presence of 11 pieces of luggage - a legacy of their father with which they are unwilling to part and in the end of the film, they throw away the luggage, perhaps as a symbol of letting go anything that has burdened them in the past.

Short movie fans might like the prologue for The Darjeeling Limited - a 12-minute short called Hotel Chevalier where Natalie Portman and Jason Schwartzman engage in an odd romantic conversation and Natalie bares (almost) all and brings the audience new information about Jack’s character. This is a tale of emotional healing through a journey, where the escapist finds out that there’s no cure for life after all.

MICHAEL CLAYTON

(Warner Brothers)
Runtime: 119 Min

Roughly said, this is the show about the battle of the janitors, one is evil with an ounce of conscience and the other one is deadly evil with no conscience. Or people can say, George Clooney show, minus Danny Ocean self confidence plus the ruthless rhetoric and Syriana-like of conspiracy. This directorial debut of screenwriter Tony Gilroy (responsible for Jason Bourne trilogy), is an intelligent thriller that moves slowly but sure and gives us a screaming intellectual orgasm in the end. The dense narrative and smart lines gives the audience no place to stop by to ponder and may cause confusion. If you have seen The Insider (1999) you might recognize the elements; people in the grey areas, corporate vs the people, difficult plot to digest and the quintessential question of all: does money means everything in life?

Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is a special kind of lawyer, an in-house "fixer" at the law firm of Kenner, Bach & Ledeen - a man who defines himself as a janitor instead of a miracle worker. Life has been unkind with Michael, apart from his Esquire magazine front cover looks and a sleek S-Class Mercedes, he hates his job, has an unsettled gambling debt and a strained relationship with his son. Not to mention his friend and co-janitor, Arthur (Tom Wilkinson), has gone “lunatic”. Arthur decided to switch sides, trying to uncover U/North conspiracy to in a class action law suit.

U/north is Kenner, Bach & Ledeen's biggest clients and Michael was ordered by the firm’s Don, Marty Bach (Sydney Pollack), to clean the “mess” or they will lose millions of dollar of legal fees. Then enter the other janitor, the witch of U/Narnia, erm… U/north, Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton) who is willing to strech the real meaning of blunting the damages Arthur may cause at all costs.

This is a film about characters that inhabit the gray area between morality and immorality, where everyone has a different definition of what constitutes ethics. Just like in real life, the three dimensional characters are the end products of “the end justify its means” culture. As the only film which nominated in more than one acting category in this year Academy Awards, this one is worth your time.

I wonder why I haven’t seen such a slick and smart thriller from Indonesian movies. Aren’t the audiences getting sick of a wafer thin happy ending plot from another wafer thin horror-teen love flicks? I’d love to write such stuff, but I need time to learn screenwriting.

INTO THE WILD

(Paramount Vantage)
Runtime: 150 min

"Death's a fierce meadowlark but to die having made something more equal to centuries than muscle and bone, is mostly to shed weakness. The mountains are dead stone, the people Admire or hate their stature, their insolent quietness, the mountains are not softened or troubled and a few dead men's thoughts have the same temper."

-From the last post of Chris McCandless journal-

I always had a dream of this sort of journey, where we turn our back on our so called hedonistic society and march our way towards the wilderness to celebrate the unity of a simple man with the unforgiving nature. That was a dream I had between awake and sleep, the dream to view society as objectively as it can from the outside.

Fueled by Tolstoy, Thoreau and Yeats, Chris McCandless (Emile Hirsch), a young man raised in an upper class family discarded his entire existence so he could make his way to Alaska and survive in a society of untamed solitude.

What was to be seen is breathtaking, dozens or more postcard like scene of the beautiful American wilderness and a journey of one man against all odds.

Powered by flashbacks to provide a back story, Sean Penn didn’t paint Chris as a near perfect hero. When finally Chris already reached his goal: the unspoiled Alaskan wilderness, perhaps he find himself and be a happy man. Surely this sort of journey is very interesting, how one person with a wide privilege decide to turn his back against civilization and try to find himself in the most extreme situation.

It is said that in road movies, the journey is what matters, not the destination. For Chris this is what he wants all his life, to be away from the cage of materialism. It is a physical journey that will make you appreciate the nature more and recognize the spiritual journey inside. It is also a film that inspires you to become a better person.

Still, after the movie ends, the idea of living alone in the wild is very seductive; perhaps we can found something inside us we never realize exist at all. But does everybody need to get through what Chris had been through? Appreciating the nature, unlocking our soul from the madding crowd and do whatever it takes to prevent Global Warming? Yes, but unplanned journey fired up only with idealism and no serious plan to survive? No, since what is the use of a journey if you have to die because of starvation? We don’t have to die to appreciate life objectively. Besides, in my humble opinion, wouldn’t it be nice to share the beauty of this world with someone you love instead of enjoying it alone?