MOVIE: Good Dick (2008)

Good Dick
2008
direction: Palka, M.
screenplay: Palka, M.

quickie:
It’s a love story

general impression:
Truly beautiful

lows:
Will not generate a lot of excitement

highs:
Smart. Funny. Coherent. Pragmatic.

notes:
I took my time deciding whether or not I would go and watch this movie. Quiet and uneventful movies might seem monotonous to some but like all genres, it has a good and bad dichotomy.

Good Dick is good. It not only features a good cast playing really good characters, it is also shot nicely and pieced together quite well. It is quiet but not heavy. Marianna Palka (writer and director) didn’t set out to confuse the audience or scream an idea or theme. Instead she opts to make the movie the way movies are supposed to be made: she tells a story.

Maybe it takes a certain type of person but there’s a lot to be felt from this movie. I haven’t decided about what my stand on relationship or romance is but this movie creates a pretty little picture of it. Hope is a good drug.

FINAL RATING:
[5] out of [5]

MOVIE: The Squid and the Whale

The Squid and the Whale
2005
direction: Baumbach, N.
screenplay: Baumbach, N.

quickie:
Just a family on the verge of a breakdown. Nothing to see here.

general impression:
Quiet and peaceful with enough neurosis to complement the uneventful.

lows:
Kinda… sad.

highs:
Good acting, good story, good dialogues, good shots

notes:
There is something about size that truly iffs me. Something about being reminded of how tiny, tiny, tiny you are stirs these feelings of insignificance and melancholy that becomes very hard to shake. Thankfully, people overcome these moments and live on to face the next one.

The Squid and the Whale revolves around these feelings. In movies, it’s always these writers who suffer some form of megalomania or at the very least, denial. The family involved in the film is at the boundaries of their talent, their belief, their love and whatever other factor that pulls them away from the edge.

There is something highly emotional about the film. Or maybe, as I have always said, dysfunction just attracts me. Not because of anything else but just the belief that life and people are simply complicated. These contradictions that the characters live through make them feel like people.

FINAL RATING:
[4] out of [5]

MOVIE: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
2008
direction: Mungiu, C.
screenplay: Mungiu, C.

quickie:
College roommates dealing with pregnancy

general impression:
Absolutely beautiful.

lows:
Scary if it reminds you of your own life. But then again, that might not be necessarily a bad thing.

highs:
Simple story delivered with focused vision. Outstanding acting.

notes:
This is the first Romanian film that I’ve watched and it all of them are as gorgeous as this one is, I might move there. OK, maybe not. But 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is a really, really, really smart film.

Anamaria Marinca plays Otilia, a rather regular college student who is helping with her friend’s pregnancy problems. She arranges everything about termination / abortion and the camera brilliantly captures every emotion that the event draws out of the characters.

Some people might find the scenes long and boring but the long takes carry meaning. This is particularly evident in the dinner scene where you can not only observe the character but feel with them.

Of course, long takes are not the only way to produce empathy but this style just works so well for the movie. It is truly moving. The movie also makes efficient use of silence and the evening.

Perhaps it’s what makes this movie so beautiful. It knows how to use what when. It tells the story the way it needs to be told and gives the characters (cliché as it is) life and heart.

If you love your movies, this one will blow you away.

FINAL RATING:
[5] out of [5]