Minari

Minari ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Director: Lee Isaac Chung. Cast: Steven Yeun, Yeri Han, Yuh-jung Youn 

Beyond the seemingly ordinary rural life depicted here there’s a beautiful, gentle, warm and nuanced portrait of a Korean family in America. Winner of the first prize at the Sundance last February and produced by Brad Pitt, this is a beautifully acted film (Steven Yeun from the “walking Dead” TV series really deserves a mention), which is all about good (though flawed) people struggling do find their place in the “American Dream” and also trying to love each other and find peace within their family. It is touching, tender, empathetic but never sentimental or cheesy. It’s intimate and yet universal. It’s beautiful to look at but without resorting in fake sunsets or grand vistas. It is a very quiet film (in fact really quiet… I have to confess I missed a few lines here and there) and yet so full of life and details that can speak a thousand words even when it looks like it’s not saying anything. It is definitely a slow film, but I loved spending every second with these character and I began feeling very protective towards them and didn’t want anything bad to happen to any of them. Also… you know me… When you put a super-cute little boy in a film… I’ll melt in an instant. How refreshing and uplifting is to find a film where there are no bad people.

Unfortunately if you live in the UK and missed this at the London Film Festival (or if you’re not a Bafta Member) you may have to wait until next April to watch it. But I’m sure we will hear a lot about this at the next Oscars (the film was also on the list of Obama’s favourite films of 2020).

Peter Pan (2003)

Peter Pan (2003) ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Director: P.J. Hogan. Cast: Jason Isaacs, Jeremy Sumpter, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Olivia Williams.

This has always been one of my favourite stories: how could it not be? The concept of a boy who “never grows up” and in fact it doesn’t really want feels a bit close to home (hehe). I’ve always been a little bit of a “Peter Pan”… at least at heart. The Disney version is the ultimate translation go screen, it’s the one that everyone remembers, for better or worse (the “better” is of course the magic, the flying, the songs, the wonderfully drawn characters, Tinkerbell… The worse is of course the now infamous “racist” depiction of the Indians. But then again, 1953 (which is when the Disney animated version was made) was a long time ago and our sensibilities were a lot different then. Today Disney+ runs the film (as well as “Dumbo” and “Jungle Book”) preceded by an un-skippable advisory messages about racist stereotypes, how hurtful and wrong they are… etc. etc…

Anyway, back to this 2003 version, the makers know very well that the enduring images we all know about Peter Pan come from the Disney version, so instead of re-inventing the wheel (something which incidentally Spielberg did with Hook, a mixed bad, and also tried very unsuccessfully in the 2015 version “Pan”), they stick the existing template pretty closely, with a few extra additions straight from the original book (Among the other things, the ending, with the lost boys leaving Neverland, but also the fact that the parents are getting worried when the children are gone for many days).

It’s a fairly unimaginative take on the story, but it’s still rather charming and pleasant film. The cast is pretty solid (Hello Jason Isaacs) and the action scenes are To its credit the film attempts at least to develop the issue at the core of the original story: all children have to grow up at some point and that’s something that Peter Pan doesn’t intend to do. Whether the message will stick with the score audience of children who might be a lot more interested in the swordfights is whole different matter.

Arthur Christmas

Arthur Christmas ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Directors: Sarah Smith, Barry Cook. Cast: James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Bill Nighy, Jim BroadbentImelda Staunton.

This is a classic at my place… and every Christmas my son makes us go through it, so it’s now part of the package, together with the Christmas turkey, jingle bells and all the rest. I must have seen this 3 or 4 times and yet I can never quite remember it… not quite sure whether that says more about my mushy brain or the this being a rather unmemorable one.

To be honest there’s a lot worse to watch around this season, and while certainly it is not an Aarman classic (nor a Christmas classic either to be honest), it does manage to strike a nice balance between “Christmas tradition”, spirited fun and irreverence. It subserves the Santa’s “status Quo” adding modern twists to the Christmas legends, without spoiling the innocence of the magic and ruining anyone’s childhood. There are some inspired moments too, especially towards the beginning, with the acrobat-elves parachuting down to deliver presents with the help of some modern high-tech gadgets, Santa’s headquarter, looking more like a military base in North Pole or the suggestion that it was Santa’s flying sleigh that caused the Cuban missile crisis (one to be picked up only by the grown ups really, but still fun).

The Arthur of the title is very a likeable and sympathetic character (voices by James McAvoy) which makes it easier to root for him. The story does run out of steam somewhere in the last third (it is a film without a real baddie after all) but then it quickly recoup it all with the heart-warming finale: it’s Christmas after all.

76 Days

76 Days (2020) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Directors: Weixi Chen, Hao Wu, Anonymous

I’m sure there are more “comfortable”, relaxing documentaries to watch while I am actually living a Covid infection myself, though one which is definitely lighter than what’s depicted here (By the way, for the record I’m doing all right and hopefully I’ll be clear soon).

“76 days” tells us about the time of first ever lockdown in Wuhan, the infamous city in China where the whole pandemic started.These are the early days of the pandemic when we knew very little about the virus, but some of the scenes of life in hospitals look unfortunately very familiar even when compared to what’s going on today (I’m writing this in December 2020). People struggling to breathe, people separated from their dear ones, people scared and the heroes, as always, are the fearless doctors running about trying to get on top of an impossible situation, but alyways showing their incredible heart (“we are your family now” one of them says at some point) and strength of spirit as well as their professionalism.

There’s a great sense of immediacy in what we are seeing: no talking heads, no captions, no time stamps (well, a couple right at the end), no interviews, but just snippets of real life inside and outside the hospitals. In the beginning it’s all rather disorientating and claustrophobic with faceless victims and faceless doctors, completely covered by their protective gears, coming in and out. They all seem interchangeable.

But slowly as the film progresses some real characters begin to take shape and as they start to come back we get more and more of a sense that these are actual human beings. The unflinching eye of the camera never shies away from the brutal reality, whether people “scared shitless” (that’s how they themselves define their fear), or mobile phones belonging to people who died ringing hopelessly from inside a box. At times we almost forget that there is a camera there as people act and react so naturally to any given situation.

It is incredible that such a product that feels so honest and real could have come out of China a country which is not always known for its freedom of speech (unsurprisingly one of the directors Is credited as “Anonymous”), all of which makes this film even more extraordinary.But beyond the tragedy, there’s also a lot of hope, especially towards the later part of the film. New lives being born and a general sense of optimism as the lockdown is lifted, though without ever forgetting the human cost.

Of course we all know today that what we were seeing was just the beginning of a long long nightmare, which affected the whole world, but this film will remain an important document for the future, when hopefully all this is over.

THE FATHER

The Father (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Director: Florian Zeller. Cast: Olivia Colman, Anthony Hopkins, Mark Gatiss 

I’m a blubbering wreck after watching this. Writer Director Florian Zeller puts the audience in the shoes of Anthony Hopkins who’s suffering from dementia. He’s an independent man and he refuses to be assisted by anyone. But slowly he begins to doubt the world around him and so are we at the same time. Characters change, people appear and disappear in his flat, in fact even his furniture seem to change. Wasn’t there a painting there? Is this even his flat? And who is this man walking around the house? The daughter’s husband? Wasn’t she divorced? As reality keeps changing, the film is intentionally fragmented and confused just like the mind of the 80 years old man.

It is a painful watch and not just for anyone who’s had any experience of a dear person suffering from dementia. A devastating portrait made even more powerful by one of Hopkins’ best performances in years. If there is any justice left in this world, he’s certainly going to get another nomination for this and possibly he might even win it (Having said that, Olivia Colman is wonderful too).I’m not even sure whether I should recommend anyone to watch this and I don’t think I will ever again, mainly because it’ll stay with me forever just after this one watch, but as a study of old age and a heartfelt look at dementia, this is an beautiful piece of work.

The release of this film has currently been pushed to next January, in case you felt strong enough to give it a go.