MOVIE REVIEW: Mystic River

I have yet to see another Clint Eastwood film before I could declare whether he's a real artist or a poseur and more of a popular entertainer. Undoubtedly, this movie caught me and its message made me think of the inevitability of violence in our lives and how karma always kicks masked. The massive, surprising twists in the story are depressingly pleasing. Just when you thought you've solved the mystery of whodunit, it goes behind your back and stabs you. Well, the story simply shows the reality of how violence begets violence and how you put your trust on someone. How you put your trust on authorities upon looking for answers; how you trust your traumatized and almost insane husband insofar that your marriage and his safety is put to the test; how you trust someone upon telling the truth. It shows the fact that there is really no certainty of something until you undergo a long process of proving it. This movie exhibits the truth that people, most of the time, desire for revenge but only a few risk-takers pursue. It's in us to seek for revenge, even when we say it only goes far in our minds. I'd say, uhm, human nature? 

Anyway! This is the movie that will have you yelling at the TV by the end! It's depressing but it's supported by a veeeery flamboyant storyline and a fitted, powerful cast. Sean Penn, as always, was at his best in this film. As I quote, "this is not your ordinary thriller!" And, is it just the Grey's-Anatomy-infatuated me, or does Sean Penn kinda looked like McDreamy (Patrick Dempsey) here??? Must be the hair? haha!





P.S.
Did this movie review a while back and I thought I should also share this in this blog.
I really recommend this movie! It's so good that every time I watch it, I feel like I'm watching for the first time!

MOVIE REVIEW:Ang Babae sa Septic Tank

Ang Babae sa Septic Tank was one of the award winning films in the 7th Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival. I chose not to watch it before because I thought, 'Hey isn't that the actress from Kimmy Dora? I'm pretty sure this film would be as corny as that'. But I was wrong. I forgot that Kimmy Dora's a mainstream film, and that Ang Babae sa Septic Tank's an Indie. Big difference (here we go again with indie vs mainstream.)

Ang Babae sa Septic Tank was an Inception kind of movie. There is a movie within a movie. It is about the 2 film graduates who aspire to make an award winning film. Their chosen topic was, of course, poverty and trafficking in the Philippines. One of the observations I was able to make while watching the movie was that I think it is satirically targeted to other directors in the industry who use poverty as a tool to make an award winning indie. Surprise, surprise! This film bagged a lot of awards last year. Well, poverty and trafficking in the Philippines was highlighted in this film. 

It is very funny and through most of its scenes you can safely tell that they did a great job establishing their subject. But I can't help but wonder why film makers use poverty for "cinematic purposes"? Perhaps this would be one of the reasons why people perceive the Philippines as one of the poorest countries in the world. Which is true but, we all know that our country is not all that. Films like this specifically cover only the shanties and the poverty stricken lives of some of our citizens. But admittedly, this masterpiece did it differently by adding satire in their story. It aimed not just to expose the state of poverty in the Philippines but also to make us realize that filmmakers take advantage of these issues, again, for cinematic purposes--which is not bad. It isn't bad at all. But I think there's just too many films about poverty already...

Movie Review:The TV Set

This movie is about a writer, Mike Klein, who wanted to pilot a comdey TV series. The series was to be titled "The Wexler Chronicles" and the plot was derived from his real life experiences. It tells a story about the life of a lawyer who's very affected when his brother committed suicide.

While Mike was working on it from the casting to the actual shooting of the pilot episode, he was being manipulated by the network he's working for, his manager, his producer and even his own director. The first instance was when he was looking for an actor who'd play the role of the 'lawyer'. He rooted for the guy he thinks would perfectly fit the role but his manager liked someone else. Second was when everybody wanted to change the story and cut out the "suicide" part, since it would be 'too depressing' for a comedy show. He was torn between two decisions: whether to change to plot and erase the suicide part, or not continue with the shoot. He tried to resist the opinions of his manager and of his producer, but he gave in to what they wanted when he talked to his wife about it. He realized they needed the money for their toddler and his pregnant wife.

As they were already shooting, everything was, of course, not how he wanted it to go. The set wasn't how he envisioned it to be, the shots were not how he wanted it to be and the actors do not live up to his expectations. Also, his network boss was pressuring him, again, to change the suicide part. He decided to do two versions of the pilot episode, one was the death of the brother and the other was the death of the mother. By the end of the movie, the network piloted the version where it's the mother who was dead before Mike even knew about it.

This movie presented the networks as ones who are hungry for new minds and then they suck the talent out of them. Mike Klein wanted to do a good pitch but then his bosses just used his ideas to create a whole new show. Perhaps this movie mirrors the realities behind the sitcoms we love watching nowadays. But for me, if I was Mike Klein, I would stand my ground and fight for the things that I wanted to do. After all, those are my ideas, I wouldn't let them create a whole new story under my name. If they are to, then might as well I stay out of it than to be labelled as someone who wrote yet another stupid show on television. Regarding his (Mike's) need for money, if I were him, I would walk out of the project and find someone who would accept  the story as it is. Besides, it would be the network's loss for it's them who wouldn't have anything to air. I'd like to believe that I am a good negotiator and if I were to end up in the same industry as Mike Klein, I wouldn't let this happen to me.