Tue Jan 23, 2007 2:02 pm
Oscars..
I'm actually quite excited about this years Oscar nominations. For once it's not just the incestuous Hollywood pat-on-the back glitz fest it usually is, for there are a lot of very worthy productions up for awards.
Foremost amongst these for me are "Letters from Iwo Jima" dir by Clint Eastwood, which I haven't seen yet, and "Pan's Labyrinth" dir by Guillermo del Toro, which I saw last week. "Letters from Iwo Jima" is a big-budget production that tells the story of the battle from the Japanese p.o.v. I'm a great admirer of Eastwood's directorial abilities ever since Pale Rider and Unforgiven, which i thought was magnificent. although the unashamed and literal flag-waving of Flags of Our Fathers really turned me off in a film which was billed as anti-war by virtue of it's graphic realism. "Letters from Iwo Jima" from what I've seen appears to be Eastwood at his very best, showing a seminal event from the losers perspective and giving Western audiences an insight into the mind-set of the then very much embattled Japanese Imperial Army.
"Pan's Labyrinth" (El Labirinto del Fauno) is a very different affair, blending political comment, history and magic into a beautiful and tragic film where you are never sure if the events are real or imagined by the main protaganist, a rather sad and lonely little girl. It's set in late WW2 in Fascist Spain, where a brutal and sadistic officer in Franco's regime is conducting an anti-insurgency campaign against remaining Republican guerillas in the hills. He takes a new wife who has a daughter by a previous marriage, and treats the child quite increasingly harshly. the girl discovers a complex of ancient ruins which she sees as a magical portal to the undeground Kingdom of the Faires, although only she can see them; a faun gives her tasks to perform and tells her she is the lost daughter of the Fairy King who they've been waiting for for thousands of years, but she can only return home if she completes these tasks and proves she still has a fairy soul. right to the end there is no proff that anything she sees or does has any existence outside of her own escapist imagination. it's beautifully made with incredible artwork and animation, and as a visual treat I can't recommend it highly enough.
There quite a few other excellent productions up for awards, but personally these two stand out for me.
Foremost amongst these for me are "Letters from Iwo Jima" dir by Clint Eastwood, which I haven't seen yet, and "Pan's Labyrinth" dir by Guillermo del Toro, which I saw last week. "Letters from Iwo Jima" is a big-budget production that tells the story of the battle from the Japanese p.o.v. I'm a great admirer of Eastwood's directorial abilities ever since Pale Rider and Unforgiven, which i thought was magnificent. although the unashamed and literal flag-waving of Flags of Our Fathers really turned me off in a film which was billed as anti-war by virtue of it's graphic realism. "Letters from Iwo Jima" from what I've seen appears to be Eastwood at his very best, showing a seminal event from the losers perspective and giving Western audiences an insight into the mind-set of the then very much embattled Japanese Imperial Army.
"Pan's Labyrinth" (El Labirinto del Fauno) is a very different affair, blending political comment, history and magic into a beautiful and tragic film where you are never sure if the events are real or imagined by the main protaganist, a rather sad and lonely little girl. It's set in late WW2 in Fascist Spain, where a brutal and sadistic officer in Franco's regime is conducting an anti-insurgency campaign against remaining Republican guerillas in the hills. He takes a new wife who has a daughter by a previous marriage, and treats the child quite increasingly harshly. the girl discovers a complex of ancient ruins which she sees as a magical portal to the undeground Kingdom of the Faires, although only she can see them; a faun gives her tasks to perform and tells her she is the lost daughter of the Fairy King who they've been waiting for for thousands of years, but she can only return home if she completes these tasks and proves she still has a fairy soul. right to the end there is no proff that anything she sees or does has any existence outside of her own escapist imagination. it's beautifully made with incredible artwork and animation, and as a visual treat I can't recommend it highly enough.
There quite a few other excellent productions up for awards, but personally these two stand out for me.
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