Stars: Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightley, Jonathan Rhy

1
Bend It Like Beckham
Rating Four (out of five) BBC Movie review

• Director Gurinder Chadha
• Writer Gurinder Chadha, Paul Mayeda Berges,
  Guljit Bindra
• Stars Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightley, Jonathan
  Rhys Meyers, Kulvinder Ghir, Shaznay Lewis,
  Juliet Stevenson
• Genre Comedy, Drama
• Running time 112 minutes
• Releasing time 12 April 2002
• Country UK

http//www2.foxsearchlight.com/benditlikebeckham
2
brief review

• A wedding. Cross-cultural clashes. A young woman
  getting a makeover and finding herself. But
  there's no Windex and this isn't My Big Fat Greek
  Wedding. In fact, it's not My Big Fat Indian
  Wedding, either. However, it is a feel-good
  comedy that traverses similar territory, if not
  exactly the same road. Marketing will probably
  have a lot to do with whether Bend It Like
  Beckham finds its audience in North America (it's
  already an unqualified success overseas), but I
  would venture a guess that most people who were
  entertained by My Big Fat Unexpected Box Office
  Hit will leave this movie with the same kind of
  warm, fuzzy feeling deep inside.
• Jess (Parminder Nagra) is the British-born
  daughter of Sikh parents. She is also a fairly
  typical teenager, and, as is true of nearly every
  teenager across the globe, feels the need to
  rebel. Her source of rebellion is to play
  soccer/football, and she dreams of one day being
  on the field with her hero, David Beckham, and
  kicking the ball in for the winning goal.
  However, although her parents tolerated her
  sports passion when she was young, they now
  believe she should become serious about her life
  and prepare for the future. That means giving up
  "children's games" for cooking lessons, marriage,
  and university studies. The edict to stop playing
  soccer comes just as Jess has been offered the
  opportunity to play for a semi-pro, all girls
  team. One of the players, Juliette (Keira
  Knightley), has seen Jess play and invites her to
  audition for the coach, Joe (Jonathan
  Rhys-Meyers), who thinks she's brilliant. So,
  what's a teenager to do? Sneak out of the house
  and lie about her whereabouts, of course.
• Bend It Like Beckham touches on some serious
  issues like cultural assimilation, but doesn't go
  into any great depth. Like East Is East, which
  deals with a Pakistani family coping with the
  East/West tug-of-war, Gurinder Chadha's movie
  acknowledges that this is a divisive issue that
  creates inter-generational conflicts, but chooses
  to go for a more uplifting resolution. This is,
  after all, intended to be more light
  entertainment than a "message movie."
• In addition to the main storyline Jess trying
  to break free of her family's restrictions and
  find herself without irretrievably damaging her
  relationship with her parents there are some
  subplots. One finds Jess falling for Joe, whose
  affection is also coveted by Juliette. Thus, we
  have a time-honored romantic triangle. Jess' best
  friend, Tony (Ameet Chana), has a secret he's
  afraid to tell his mother. Then there's the
  question of whether Jess can lead her team to the
  championship and get the chance to fly to America
  and be paid to play. (Since when was the United
  States such a hotbed of soccer mania?) So, of
  course, we get the big sports movie moment.
• The leads are energetic and likable, especially
  Parminder Nagra and Kiera Knightley, both of whom
  bring a lot of spirit to their instantly likable
  characters. Irish actor Jonathan Rhys-Meyers,
  whose career is on the upswing, exudes charisma
  and may be on his way to sex-symbol status.
  Anupam Kher brings a sense of humanity to a role
  that could easily have been a caricature that
  of the strict father who is torn between his own
  beliefs and his desire to please his daughter.
  Juliet Stevenson, as Juliette's mother, embraces
  the caricature label and turns in a
  scene-stealing comic performance. She's strictly
  two-dimensional, but she's funny in a cartoonish
  sort of way.
• Bend It Like Beckham delivers a positive message
  that doesn't tax viewers in the delivery. It's
  frothy and undemanding, and proud of it. For
  director Chadha, this is a decided improvement
  over her previous feature, 2000's What's Cooking?
  It unashamedly wears the crowd-pleaser tag, and
  it's likely that some critics will gripe that
  it's too eager to enrapture the masses. Bend It
  Like Beckham is enjoyable enough that the
  sprinkles of artificial sweetness in the mix
  don't do lasting or irreparable damage.

3
Mr. Hollands Opus
Rating 7.1( out of 10) www. imbd.com

• DirectorStephen Herek, Patrick Sheane Duncan
• Writer  Patrick Sheane Duncan
• Stars Richard Dreyfuss  Glenne Headly Jay
  Thomas  Olympia Dukakis William H. Macy  Alicia
  Witt Beth Maitland  
• Genres Drama and Musical/Performing Arts
• Running Time 2 hrs. 25 min.
• Releasing time 1995
• Country USA

http//www.mhopus.org/
4
Brief review

• When The American President was released, many
  knowledgeable movie-goers commented how the
  sentimentality of its "feel good" storyline
  recalled the work of director Frank Capra. Now,
  with Mr. Holland's Opus, another Capra-esque
  motion picture has reached today's theaters.
  Similar in theme and content to Dead Poets'
  Society and It's a Wonderful Life, this movie
  persuades its audience that no life spent in a
  worthy pursuit is ever wasted. Unlike The
  American President, however, it doesn't stoop to
  heavy-handed proselytizing. And, while no one
  will accuse Mr. Holland's Opus of getting its
  message across subtly, it's a more dramatically
  secure picture than Rob Reiner's -- when it
  manipulates, it does so skillfully.
• Mr. Holland's Opus spans thirty-one years in the
  life of a high school music teacher. When Glenn
  Holland (Richard Dreyfuss) first comes to the
  newly-dedicated JFK High School in 1964, he has a
  dream of spending a few years teaching to
  accumulate a nest egg, then returning to his true
  passion composing. His loving wife, Iris (Glenne
  Headly) is completely supportive -- until she
  becomes pregnant. After that unexpected event,
  teaching is no longer just Glenn's "fall back
  position". It has become his means to provide for
  his family.
• Yet Glenn finds that instructing students in
  music appreciation has its rewards. When lectures
  and text assignments don't fire his pupils'
  passion for the subject, Glenn tries unique ways
  of encouraging an understanding that "playing
  music is supposed to be fun -- it's about
  heart... not notes on a page." Repeatedly during
  his three decades of teaching, Glenn chooses boys
  and girls with special skills to nurture and
  encourage. In the process, he creates a deep
  loyalty among JFK's student body while straining
  the harmony of his home life. His wife and son
  wonder if Glenn cares more about his pupils than
  about them.
• The musical metaphors in Mr. Holland's Opus are
  rather obvious, and the soundtrack is an
  effective mix of pop tunes, classical
  compositions, and Michael Kamen's score. While no
  film this decade has equaled the accomplishment
  of Krzysztof Kieslowski and Zbigniew Preisner in
  wedding music and visuals for 1993's Blue, Mr.
  Holland's Opus has moments when it comes close.
• Like It's a Wonderful Life, this movie is about
  appreciating the value of every person's effort
  to better the lives of others irrespective of the
  individual cost. Dead Poets' Society told a
  similar story in a similar setting with similar
  themes, but Mr. Holland's Opus has enough
  singular material to preserve its unique
  identity. Those who prize the message and tone of
  those other pictures, however, will almost
  certainly enjoy this one.
• Most of the time, when Hollywood wants to show
  changes to a character over a significant span of
  time, a relatively young actor is used, and the
  aging process is accomplished via (usually
  fake-looking) makeup. For Mr. Holland's Opus, the
  film makers tried the opposite, choosing a
  performer whose actual age closely matches the
  final age of the main character, then using
  makeup to rejuvenate him for the film's early
  sequences. Surprisingly, the result doesn't
  excessively stretch credibility, although Richard
  Dreyfuss never looks thirty (possibly forty). As
  always, the actor turns in a strong performance,
  regardless of how old Mr. Holland is supposed to
  be. Supporting players like Glenne Headly, Jay
  Thomas (as one of Glenn's teaching buddies),
  Olympia Dukakis (as a crusty principal), Alicia
  Witt (as Glenn's first "project"), and Jean
  Louisa Kelly (as a student with a crush on her
  music teacher) keep Mr. Holland's Opus in tune.
• In recent years, it has become common practice
  for movie studios to release at least one
  emotionally stirring drama around the holiday
  season. In 1992, it was Scent of a Woman. In
  1993, Shadowlands. Last year, Nobody's Fool.
  Flaws aside, one common element in these films is
  that each focuses on the triumph of the human
  spirit, using a story that seeks to touch the
  heart. Mr. Holland's Opus deserves a place in
  their ranks. It's a symphony of solid
  storytelling and good feeling that pays tribute
  to Hollywood's rarely-seen, gentler side.

5
BARAKA
Rating 7.9 (out of 10) imdb.com

• Director Ron Fricke
• Genres Documentary
• Running Time 1 hr. 36 min
• Releasing time 1993
• Country USA

http//www.spiritofbaraka.com/
6
Brief Review

• "Baraka" is a stunning visual essay on the
  relationship between Man and the Earth, set to
  haunting music from around the world. Without the
  use of dialogue and merely relying on a series of
  hypnotic images, this film has a quiet eloquence
  about it, following in the footsteps of its
  predecessors, "Koyaanisquatsi" and "Powaqqatsi".
• The film opens up on a snow-covered mountaintop
  in Japan, the natural habitat of the snow
  monkeys. This opening scene is perhaps the most
  powerful image in the whole film and a prelude to
  the stirring visceral delights that the viewer
  can look forward to. In the middle of a hot
  spring, a lone snow monkey sits. In an intriguing
  example of anthropomorphism, we watch the snow
  monkey bide its time in the hot spring, with a
  facial expression of deep meditation on its face.
  We do not know what the snow monkey is thinking,
  if it is thinking at all, but its facial
  expression betrays a deep reflective process. At
  one point, it closes its eyes, shutting its
  senses off from its surroundings, as though it
  were dissociating itself from some painful
  memory. It is an unnerving experience that is
  difficult to describe-- one must view this scene
  to fully appreciate the power of this cinematic
  construct.
• From here, the camera seamlessly glides across
  continents, capturing moments in both the natural
  world and the world of Man. The first stop is a
  survey of worship, with scenes from a Buddhist
  temple in China, to the wailing wall in
  Jerusalem, and the whirling Dervishes spinning
  elegantly in a rapturous trance.
  Industrialization is highlighted by two
  juxtapositional sequences. In the first, a Shinto
  priest shuffles slowly down a busy Tokyo street,
  ringing a bell and uttering a prayer with each
  step, as the cosmopolitan inhabitants race by
  him. The second is almost comedic the camera
  intercuts between chicks being tumbled through a
  conveyer belt system (being sorted out, tagged,
  and having their beaks clipped) and busy
  commuters being shuffled through the turnstiles
  of a Tokyo subway station and being packed into
  trains. For poverty, the viewer is transported to
  New Delhi where the poorer denizens pick through
  a garbage landfill, to the graffiti-scarred
  sidewalks of New York, and finally to the somber
  expressions of young prostitutes standing outside
  a Bangkok brothel. For war, scenes from the
  burning oil fields of Kuwait, the 'showers' at
  Auschwitz, and the killing fields of Cambodia are
  seamlessly integrated.
• All filmmaking techniques are used to great
  effect in "Baraka", from the judicious use of
  slow-motion to time-lapse photography that
  captures the beauty in nature that occurs too
  slowly to be appreciated by the human eye. The
  subtle camera movements used are elegant, adding
  to the mesmerizing quality of the images
  presented. Fortunately, the videocassette has
  been recorded in the widescreen format,
  preserving the scope of the panoramic vistas.

7
Hero
Rating 8.1 (out of 10) www.imdb.com

• Director  Zhang Yimou
• writer  Zhang Yimou    Feng Li    Bin Wang
• Stars Jet Li  Ziyi Zhang Tony Leung Chiu-Wai
   Donnie Yen Maggie Cheung  Liu Zhong Yuan Zheng
  Tian Yong  Chen Dao Ming
• Genres Action/Adventure and Art/Foreign
• Running Time 1 hr. 33 min.
• Release Date  August 27, 2004 (wide)

http//www.hero-movie.jp/phase2/
8
Brief review

• Hero is apparently the single most pirated film
  in history, and it's not hard to see why.
  Director Zhang Yimou aims to do Crouching Tiger,
  Hidden Dragon one better, and the results exceed
  even his sky-high expectations. The mythic
  tapestry of martial arts legends creates an
  atmosphere of bold visual beauty, drawn in simple
  strokes but evoking a sense of awe on par with
  anything seen this year. The story is easy to
  grasp, yet rich in detail and containing enough
  thrills, romance, and tragedy to fill a dozen
  summer blockbusters. And like so much of Zhang's
  other work, it is a superbly cinematic
  experience, achieving its full effect only when
  seen on the big screen. If this is the movie that
  closes the summer, we're definitely going out on
  a high note.
• Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger had the benefit of
  setting the bar -- Western audiences, at least,
  had never seen anything quite like it -- and the
  comparisons with Hero are easy to make. Zhang's
  effort lacks Lee's complexity and poetic
  symmetry, but so too does it avoid the clinical
  detachment that dogged Crouching Tiger's every
  frame. The characters here are briefly sketched,
  but much warmer than Lee's, full of passion and
  humanity where Crouching Tiger was all ciphers
  and archetypes. It keeps pace visually as well,
  too late to match Crouching Tiger's innovation
  but finding an original cinematic look that makes
  its identity unique.
• Indeed, the most direct influence is not Lee but
  Kurosawa, whose Japanese epics contained the same
  mixture of melancholy and grandeur. But while
  Kurosawa worked largely in black-and-white, Zhang
  goes the opposite route and embraces a wondrous
  color palette that takes the breath away. Hero
  actually uses it as a key element of its plot
  structure, which develops through a Rashomon-like
  series of flashbacks, memories, and shifting
  perceptions. Each new alternative is rendered in
  a different dominant color white, red, blue,
  black, white, and a stunning shade of green. The
  characters' clothing, the landscapes they
  inhabit, the flapping banners, and bunting of the
  soldiers... everything is painted in the chosen
  tone for that sequence. The effect is
  overwhelming, both in the sheer power of the
  imagery, and in the way it highlights and
  separates the varying accounts of the action.
• The story itself is steeped in Chinese legend, as
  seven kingdoms war against each other in a futile
  struggle for dominance. The King of Qin (Chen
  Daoming) has visions of uniting them all under
  his rule, but his legions have perpetrated much
  suffering and bloodshed in pursuit of that goal.
  He now lives in fear of three master assassins --
  Broken Sword (Tony Leung Chiu Wai), Flying Snow
  (Maggie Cheung), and Sky (Donnie Yen) -- which
  has kept him permanently isolated and surrounded
  by an army of guards. But then a wandering
  official called Nameless (Jet Li) appears with
  the assassins' weapons, claiming to have killed
  them all in armed combat. Amazed, the king allows
  him to enter his presence and share the details.
• The truth of what happened -- and the
  implications of each new perspective -- forms the
  central question of Hero's narrative. Its
  meditations encompass the warrior-poet's
  philosophy, pondering such notions as duty,
  honor, and how far noble ends justify violent
  means. It also includes a heartbreaking love
  story (Broken Sword and Flying Snow are mates) as
  well as eliciting another wonderful performance
  from Crouching Tiger's Zhang Ziyi, as Broken
  Sword's servant Moon. And it's a return to form
  for Li, whose American efforts never reached the
  potential of his earlier Chinese films and who
  now finally has a project worthy of his talent.
• And Hero is never slowed by its loftier elements.
  The subtext is posited simply and cleanly, and
  the overall tone is light as a feather. Its
  martial arts sequences are as good as they come,
  even in this post-Matrix world of eye-popping
  wirework. Fight choreographer Tony Ching Siu Tung
  has crafted an extraordinary series of fight
  scenes, as noteworthy for their seeming
  effortlessness as they are for their imagination.
  Hollywood movies in the same vein have a sense of
  undue competitiveness about them each new film
  tries to outdo the one before. But Hero's
  actionmeisters are too wise for such
  chest-beating, following their own path and
  reaping the rewards for it. Zhang adds an
  exquisite pacing to the mix -- you'd never know
  that this is his first real action picture --
  which, when combined with the production design,
  creates a vision exceeding the most lovingly
  crafted special-effects landscape.
• Perhaps Hero's greatest strength comes in the coy
  way it plays with the title, and how the visceral
  excitement combines with the quieter
  undercurrents in the process. We're never
  entirely certain who the word "hero" applies to
  it would appear to be Nameless, the fulcrum of
  the plot, but it touches all the other principle
  characters as well. Few American directors
  understand the willingness to maintain such an
  enigma without definitively answering it, or the
  benefits the film may gain by doing so. More than
  a glorious visual treat, Hero provides a
  brilliant new take on its director's native land,
  a swiftly drawn philosophical essay, and an
  engrossing adventure story that thrill-seekers
  and art-house devotees alike will devour whole.
  As summer slowly gives way to fall, Zhang Yimou
  has thrown down a gauntlet that few movies can
  hope to match. Shazaam.
• Review published 08.27.2004.