Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Crisp Criticism - "The Two Faces of January", "Ilo Ilo", "Borgman", "Mistaken for Strangers"

by
Julien Faddoul
















The Two Faces of January *

A rich conman and his wife are assisted by an American tour guide to flee from Greece after a murder is committed.
Tame adaptation of Highsmith’s novel that is elegant enough but sluggishly handled and, by the end, comatose.

wd – Houssein Amini   (Based on the Novel by Patricia Highsmith)
ph – Marcel Zyskind
pd – Michael Carlin
m – Alberto Iglesias
ed – Nicolas Chaudeurge
cos – Steven Noble

p – Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Robyn Slovo, Tom Sternberg

Cast: Kirsten Dunst, Viggo Mortensen, Oscar Isaac, Daisy Bevan












Ilo Ilo **

In 1990s, a Philippine maid forms a relationship with the Singaporean family she works for.
Conventional family drama from Singapore with an involving sense of rigidity and a good cast.

wd – Anthony Chen
ph – Benoit Soler
ad – Michael Wee
ed – Hoping Chen, Joanne Cheong

p – Anthony Chen, Hwee Sim Ang, Wahyuni A. Hadi

Cast: Chen Tianwen, Yeo Yann Yann, Angeli Bayani, Koh Jia Ler












Borgman

The presence of a tramp to a wealthy Dutch family causes their relationships with one another to disintegrate.
Strange cinematic puzzle that fails to convince on every level. It revels in oddball behavior for its audience to toil away with no prospect, borrowing what it can from better movies like The Night of the Hunter and Dogtooth.

wd – Alex van Warmerdam
ph – Tom Erisman
m – Vincent van Warmerdam
ed – Job ter Burg
cos – Stine Gudmundsen-Holmgreen

p – Marc van Warmerdam

Cast: Jan Bijvoet, Hadewych Minis, Jeroen Perceval, Alex van Warmerdam, Tom Dewispelaere, Sara Hjort Ditlevsen











Mistaken for Strangers *

Documentary on a tour of The National seen through the eyes of its lead singer’s brother.
Curious though hard to trust tour-documentary with Berninger under the assumption that everything in the film is interesting. It isn’t.

d – Tom Berninger
ph – Tom Berninger
m – Aaron Dessner, Bryce Dessner
ed – Tom Berninger, Carin Besser

p – Matt Berninger, Carin Besser, Craig Charland




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