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Babel (2006) – Review

*Contains spoilers

Directed by Alejandro Gonz?°lez I?±?°rritu

Babel the third feature film by Director Alejandro Gonz?°lez I?±?°rritu is by far his greatest achievement to date. His first film ‚ÄòAmores perros‚Äô (2000) had a similar dimension to Babel with multiple stories interlinking each other in a non-chronological fashion. Babel continues on from ‚ÄòAmores perros‚Äô and ‚Äò21 Grams‚Äô his second film, encompassing more than three storylines in multiple locations, which include San Diego, Mexico, Morocco and Japan.

Babel sees I?±?°rritu reunite with a trusted group of experienced craftsmen that include Writer Guillermo Arriaga, Director of Photography Rodrigo Prieto and Composer Gustavo Santaolalla, in this film his largest film to date in terms of production and budget as well as many other factors. Continue reading…

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) – Review

Directed by Guillermo del Toro

El Laberinto del Fauno aka Pan’s Labyrinth has been one of the highlights of the 2006 film calendar and I hope to explain why in this review.

Directed by Guillermo del Toro (Devil’s Backbone, Blade 2, Hellboy), Pan’s Labyrinth is the story of a young girl, Ofelia, who travels with her pregnant mother to their new home, a military outpost in a rural part of Spain commanded by her new stepfather Captain Vidal set against the time of the Spanish civil war of 1936-39… Continue reading…

Children of Men (2006) – Review

Directed by Alfonso Cuaron

From the heart of the independent filmmaking world comes Children of Men starring Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Set in 2027, a chaotic society where humans can no longer procreate, a former activist (Owen) helps to escort a pregnant woman to a sanctuary at the sea, her child who will be the future of man kind.

Set in an unforgiving, violent and warring backdrop, Children of Men is an eye-opening film that touches on many issues including racism, immigration, the treatment of refugees and religion. Many of the scenes were filmed in the heart of London including Fleet Street and the Tate Modern, and it was amazing how the design team had transformed London into a futuristic place riddled with poverty and disorder. The film is very realistic with its design, a look with very little colour in the images giving the overall image a soiled, gritty and dark look.

Clive Owen puts in a very honest and sincere acting performance who carries the film along and is perceived as an ordinary man put in an ‘extraordinary’ situation having to help this woman out of duty and responsibility. The supporting actors help to build the story, and the script is written so that we reveal more and more about the characters as the film progresses. As a result, the film has a good balance of conflict and action.

The film covers current issues and reveals what could be a very possible future. It’s an excellent premise for a film that was greatly needed to once again show us the power of movies, where by we can be drawn in by the plot and our emotions, and can inhabit a world or possible future.

9/10

A Scanner Darkly (2006) – Review

Directed by Richard Linklater

A Scanner Darkly is based on the famous novel written by Philip K. Dick. Based on real-life experiences involving the destructive power of drugs, the book has been a cult classic with many readers…

So that’s a little about the book, so what of the adaptation to the silver screen? Using a technique called Rotoscoping which has been used in other films including Linklater’s ‘Waking Life’ and other various commercials etc. The technique involves shooting the film traditionally and then animating on top of the video footage in post-production. This process is very time consuming but gives a very painterly and fluid look to the picture, and in the context of drug experiences this seemed appropriate as a technique to use. From the outset there is a level of sophistication seen in the movie, the most obvious being the quality of the animation, a big improvement in terms of realism and original effects.

A chilled paced movie is complimented with dense dialogue from the screenplay, which many have said is quite true to the book. Although the source material was a great success I feel that the film was a big let down. Waking Life was a big inspiration for me, and still stands out as one of the most innovative films of modern cinema. So when I heard about ‘A Scanner Darkly’ I naturally had high expectations. A Scanner Darkly fails to grab the audience, because it’s all one in one gear and lacks balance. Waking Life was definitely the opposite – the different styles of animation, a querky score and original material made it very unique and appealing to a young audience.

A Scanner Darkly was not what I expected and adds to the recent list of bad and disappointing movies.

7/10