Melinda and Melinda (Woody Allen) ***/5
(Comedy, plot summary at IMDB) Some good writing, hints of good performances from a few cast members (Will Ferrel did not disappoint, Amanda Peet has a promising comedic flair, Brook Smith as Cassie, played a very likeable and grounded Melinda confident in the tragedy portion.) Ultimately, however, this was an underperforming product in need of a usability makeover. More visual cues to shift from the comedy, the cafe (narration) and the tragedy would have been good. This could be achieved with different lighting and perhaps a more be-boppy fifties wardrobe theme for the comedy. We can't cheat and make one black-and-white afterall, for that would ignore the needs of our colorblind friends.
Sin City (Robert Rodriduez) ***/5
(Action/Crime/Drama) Stylistically this film was a home run, perfectly transcribing the noir comic genre from page to screen. Great cast selection with faces the lighting director could really take advantage of: Bruce Willis, Elijah Wood, Jessica Alba, Brittany Murphy with her lopsided grin (my pet peeve is a movie with too many characters that look alike, not a problem here.) Unfortunately the prosthetic makeup on Mickey Rourke's face detracted from his role. Perhaps that led to my irritation with the steady, or should I say constant, voiceover narration by his character. There was no rhythmic break in the narration, gunshots, fist fight, car chase, narration, gunshots, car chase sequence. I couldn't take the repetition and, figuring I got the basic idea, walked out. I'd be willing to rent the DVD, if only to speed through parts to find out what happens in the end. And I walked into...
Born into Brothels (Zana Brinski/Ross Kauffman) ****/5
(Documentary) I may upgrade this to five stars if I see the beginning (see Sin City, above.) Two of my favorite themes in any story, fictional or not: that we are more alike than we are different, and that providing someone with a means for self-expression is to bridge them into a new frontier. These precocious, curious, bratty and very bright ten year old photographers are so very...ten years old. That they're children of Calcutta red light district prostitutes, and expect to be put 'in the line' within a year, two at most, is secondary (as we are reminded it should be.) These kids are not a poverty demographic, they are kids: individual, mischievous, even cocky, also wise and compassionate...and hauntingly aware of the bleak probabilities their future holds. As the credits role, and the epilogue gives us some hope and inevitable disappointment, we still leave the theatre with a set of young talented friends, peers even, from across the globe.
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For more on self-expression and the new frontier: see POV's What I Want My Words to do to You as Eve Ensler leads a writing class of 15 incarcerated women. Writing doesn't just explain ideas, someone said, it also generates them. Also see Jeff Jarvis' collection of those who are blogging behind bars, particularly death row inmate Vernon introduced by TalkLeft.
For more on the wisdom and love for life only a ten year old can show us, read The SF Chronicle's Pulitzer winning story. The prize was for the photography, but would not have even be nominated without the story of Saleh, the Iraqui boy who loses his eye, both hands, and 16-year-old brother, but with his devoted and exasperated father, endures several surgeries and life changes. It was a five-kleenex read for me.