Tag Archives: Foreign

The World's Fastest Indian (2005)

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Every now and then, every so often, you just have to watch a film that makes you smile and makes you happy. “The World’s Fastest Indian” is the surefire antidote for depression or cynicism. Anderson’s film, in the spirit of coming of age stories like “Harry and Tonto” and “The Straight Story”, evolves from a story of friendship, then of a small town, then of an old man refusing to lay down and die, to a road flick, and then to an underdog sports film. And it’s just such a treat to watch everything unfold with Burt Munro played with such genuine charm by Hopkins.

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Whispering Corridors (1998)

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Whispering“Whispering Corridors” was not an awful film, as a matter of fact I’ve yet to see a Japanese horror film that I thought was incredibly awful, but “Whispering Corridors” is in fact, boring. It’s aggressively boring. As a matter of fact, if you or anyone you know has insomnia and you’re attempting to cure it, put on “Whispering Corridors” and you’ll find them asleep within a half hour, for sure. Ki-Hyung Park’s direction is quite possibly the saving grace for “Whispering Corridors.”

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Duma (2005)

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“Duma” is basically the sort of film children can watch without damaging messages, and I’m all for that. These days it’s impossible to find watchable children’s films, but “Duma” treats its audience with consideration presenting heroes that are relatable, and an animal character that’s never goofy. “Duma” is an epic story about a father and son whom discover a baby Cheetah on the side of the road one night in their homeland. They take the baby back home with them and decide to raise it until its old enough to go on its own. But when young Xan’s father dies (Campbell Scott), Xan is forced to move back to the city with his mother along with Duma who can not adapt to his urban settings.

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Maria Full of Grace (2003)

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maria-full-of-graceYou may not think to look at it, but “Maria Full of Grace” is quite possibly one of the tenset films made in years. Mostly centered on suspense and agonizing tension, “Maria” is a film about the drug trafficking world, the world where desperate people are duped in to becoming mules for Colombian drug lords. Catalina Sandino Moreno gives an excellent performance as the spoiled and head strong Maria who basically lives the mundane life of a teenager in Colombia. Marston’s film about the experience of not only people seeking a better life in what they perceive as a Utopia, but also of drug mules.

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Millions (2005)

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Millions (2004)

Danny Boyle puts the usual cynicism he injects in much of his films on hold, for a Spielbergian fairy tale of greed, wealth, and saints. Boyle’s tale of young boys whom fall upon an enormous amount of money is often times a very sweet and bright film very much in the vein of “The Treasure of Sierra Madre” sans the violence. Boyle’s departure from darkness is a rather unique and well done story of greed and emptiness. In usual fashion, Boyle unusually goes from red eyed infected monsters, to two brothers coming of age with a million dollars. Well—it’s not really a million dollars, it’s more like thousands, but the fact that the two main stars describe it as millions adds to the charm.

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Infection (Kansen) (2004)

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0_Infection“Infection” is a moral tale in the vein of “The Telltale Heart”; a low rent basically abandoned hospital with a staff of merely five or six people find themselves in the throes of an epidemic one fateful night. An ambulance rushing a diseased man to safety struggles to find a hospital and leaves him at the doorstep of the hospital which refuses to admit him. “Infection” is an often bleak and grim moral horror story about the power of our conscience in spite of our loss of control under circumstances. Much like Poe’s story, “Infection” is the tale of our minds becoming our worst enemies and Mochiai focuses on stark almost flawless shades of green and red to convey the psyche turning on the characters, and express the sense of disgust within the low-rent hospital. Mochiai’s film is spooky and through disgusting and gruesome imagery, we learn of this disease which becomes a manifestation of their guilt, and their dirty deeds.

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Ichi the Killer (Koroshiya 1) (2001)

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imagesIf I could best sum up Miike’s film “Ichi the Killer” in only one sentence, I’d use the word: Havoc. Because Miike’s film about a sadistic mobster attempting to find a sadistic avenger is Miike’s all out masturbatory practice in sadism, torture, and sheer lunacy. If you thought the last half hour of “Audition” was utterly insane, try sitting through the entire 135 minute running time of “Ichi”. Told through many narratives almost like a darker “Pulp Fiction”, Miike’s entire film is a sheer test on his audience, a test of stomach turning, cringe-inducing sadism that he explores without pulling his punches.

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