Tzameti (aka 13 Tzameti)

Once in a while, you see a low-budget movie made with friends and family that really makes you think, "Yes, this is what film-making is all about." Tzameti (which is the Georgian word for 13, making the supposed alternative title somewhat tautological) is just such a film.

Shot in France, it is the story of a young Georgian man who, upon the death of his boss, stumbles upon an opportunity to make a good deal of money... something that is in short supply now that he is out of a job.

He follows mysterious instructions and finds himself involved in a deadly game. There's not much more that I can say about the plot without giving it all away. I may already have given away more than I should have.

The film is shot in grainy black-and-white, and the lead actor is the director's brother (undoubtedly why he is shot so lovingly). Of course, there are things that suffer with a low budget, and one of them is often the acting. But I think we can look past that to some extent... Overall, a fascinating little film. Catch it before the remake comes out (I shit you not, it's coming).

Scores
Acting: 12
Story: 13
Direction: 15
Enjoyment: 14
Involvement: 15
Total: 69

Hard Candy

I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from Hard Candy, although I vaguely knew it had something to do with paedophilia and chatroom pickups. (Readers may know that I prefer to go into films with as little knowledge of the plot as possible.)

Essentially, this film is a two-hander, and one could easily believe that it might originally have been written as a stage play (I don't know whether it was or not, but it has that vibe). We have the Internet prowler, trawling the Web for underage girls, and we have an underage girl.

They arrange to meet at a café. On the wall near the table they choose, we see a poster requesting information about a missing schoolgirl. The guy tells the girl he's a photographer; he seduces her on a mental level; she flirts with him on a sexual level. We feel she's playing a dangerous game -- that this guy will eat her and spit her out, and no one will ever know they met.

She goes back to his place...

Strangely enough, I felt this film was a little slow to get going. That said, it may have been solely that it was quite uncomfortable in those opening scenes, and that as a viewer you almost want not to be there, watching this seedy meeting unfold. But once the pair go back to the guy's house, the pace picks up.

I won't give away any spoilers (as is my way), and I would urge anyone considering watching this to learn no more about the film than what I have revealed above.

There are elements in the film that are really good (such as the general feeling of discomfort and unease that is evoked), and there are things that detract. One of the latter is the film's length: even at just 103 minutes, it's about quarter of an hour too long.

Overall, though, this was an interesting and diverting film, better than some others I have seen on a similar theme.

Scores
Acting: 13
Story: 13
Direction: 14
Enjoyment: 13
Involvement: 14
Total: 67

The Family Stone

Needless to say, The Family Stone was not my choice of movie, but the missus and I take it in turns to choose stuff. I'm nothing if not democratic, y'know. Red likes all that Sex & the City stuff, so a film with "Carrie" in it, not to mention her latest love Rachel McAdams, was always going to be a shoo-in. And I don't mind Dermot "Wolf" Mulroney and Diane Keaton, so what the hell, right?

SJP plays an uptight posh chick who goes with her boyfriend to his family for Thanksgiving. The family pretty much hate her; not so much because she is uptight and posh, but more because she is socially incompetent and says all the wrong things.

During the course of the vacation, it is boyfriend Mulroney's intention to ask SJP to marry him, but the path of true love, as they say, never runs smooth.

This is yet another in that current spate of Hollywood movies that starts out as a pretty funny comedy, then takes a maudlin, morbid, tragic turn. What the fuck is with that? Anyway, fortunately some restraint was employed by the writers and directors, who, along with a fine ensemble cast, pulled the whole thing together very nicely. Even Claire Danes goes some way towards compensating for her shit-awful performance in the pretty-darn-bad Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

Scores
Acting: 14
Story: 13
Direction: 13
Enjoyment: 13
Involvement: 13
Total: 66

Tribute to director Bob Clark, who died yesterday

Every Christmas I try to find time to watch A Christmas Story, for no other reason than it is probably the overall best Christmas film in the known universe. Sure, we likely are all in agreement that It's A Wonderful Life is really the best Christmas film in terms of message and film-making and performances, and it rightly deserves its long-held crown, but for out-and-out fun A Christmas Story just takes the cake.


The story, if you've never seen it (and if you've never seen it, you're probably not an American, since it seems to be a national institution over there), is set in the 1940s and revolves around young schoolboy Ralphie and his desire for a particular brand of BB airgun as a Christmas gift. "You'll shoot your eye out," is the mantra repeated to him by sensible adults throughout the film, but still he wants it, and still we want him to get it.

Other key characters are Ralphie's younger brother Randy and their parents, all of whom are wholly believable in their roles. And there's a raft of wonderful scenes. Who can forget the "your tongue won't stick to a frozen telegraph pole" bet (pictured above)? Or the bunny suit? Or the fight between Ralphie and nemesis Scut Farkus? If you've never seen it, go rent it now, while you're still feeling almost festive.

Scores:
Acting: 13
Story: 15
Direction: 13
Enjoyment: 17
Cerebral pleasure: 13
Total: 71

25th Hour

As a longtime semi-fan of Spike Lee, I'd had 25th Hour on my "to watch" list ever since it first came out. I was interested in the setting in post-9/11 New York, keen to see Ed Norton, willing to pay money for another great Lee flick. So even though all the details added up right, for some reason it's taken until now for me to get around to watching this film.

The basic premise is simple enough: one evening in the presence of Ed Norton, who, the following day, is going to prison on a drugs rap. He hangs with his father, his girlfriend, a couple of old schoolfriends, his dog, his colleague... What we have here, ladies and gents, is a character study and a treatise on the value of relationships.

The performances are almost all strong, with really only one duff note. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Barry Pepper are good, as you'd expect, Brian Cox even better, and Rosario Dawson very appealing. The weak link is the drastically overrated (well she must be rated highly by someone since she gets so much damn work) Anna Paquin. Nothing of her character rings true -- from the oh-so-obviously-fake tattoo, to her role as a schoolgirl, to... well, it all sucks.

Paquin's appearance is a shame, because it really hurts what was otherwise a pretty good movie -- funnily enough, much as I felt Jodie Foster's did in Lee's Inside Man. Does Spike suffer the same problem as Tarantino, in that he can't write convincing roles for women? It's sure starting to look that way...

Scores
Acting: 12 (severely penalized for Paquin)
Story: 13
Direction: 15
Enjoyment: 14
Involvement: 15
Total: 69

Tsotsi

I'm not very au fait with South African cinema, so the Oscar-winning Tsotsi was a good place to start my education. It's been a while now since I've seen it, and to some extent I'm concerned any review I might write will not truly do it justice, so I'm going to keep it brief and let the numbers do the talking.

This is a good little drama with strong performances from unknown actors and nice direction and camera work.

In brief, title character Tsotsi (whose name means "thug") steals a car without realizing there is a baby in the back seat. What happens next drives the entire film, so I won't say any more.

By turns, scarily violent and emotionally involving, Tsotsi is certainly deserving of your time.

Scores
Acting: 13
Story: 13
Direction: 14
Enjoyment: 15
Involvement: 15
Total: 70