Be kind rewind | Three colours trilogy

Chibi-R and I have gotten a decent amount of film-viewing done over the last few weeks, the highlights of which were the films in the title of this entry.

Firstly Be kind rewind, a film written and directed by one of our favourites, Michel Gondry. It’s a good film, I really enjoyed it, but I suppose I was probably expecting a little of the Gondry-zaniness of The science of sleep, but it was almost nowhere to be found. Nevertheless, Be kind rewind is a surprisingly light film, almost suitable for children save for the myriad of references to 90’s pop-culture films. It has a charmingly heart-warming conclusion that does little to tie-up the narrative, but instead in Gondry fashion, honours the core themes at heart. One review I read from local paper The Age stated that the humour is never snobbish or cruel, and this is a good description of the film’s innocence. Like most of his films, Be kind rewind takes place inside of Gondry’s own universe where nothing is of the ordinary, a place we could all gain from living in a little ourselves.
Don’t be deceived by my 7, I loved the film and will definitely buy it on DVD. Remember that 7 is still a great score for me.

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Now for the other side of French cinema;
We finally got around to watching Three Colours, and while Chibi-R was the one who finally bought it, I’d better get up off my arse and purchase it myself. These are the last films of Krzysztof Kieslowski, who hasn’t directed anything since Red.

I must say that it’s difficult for me to choose a favourite between Blue and Red. White is still a good film, but I suppose the execution of its themes didn’t strike as strong a chord with me as the other two. Blue is a magnificent exploration of greif, White; revenge and ultimately resolution and resolve, and Red perhaps the most subtle of all; about involvement, interaction and even affection. Those are extremely brief descriptions and don’t do the films justice, but they serve to differentiate them in any case.
The reason I can’t choose between Blue and Red is that they both speak to two specific facets of my character in a very strong way. Blue is almost minimalist, and its sense of peace and stillness is as striking as it is beautiful. Blue also makes very good use of its support roles, having them amazingly three-dimensional even with limited screen-time. As for Red, it is a brilliant conversationalist piece with two unlikely characters exploring interaction, reaction and questionable moral ground. The dialogue is exceptional, and subtly gives way to a very gentle sense of affection in both characters of whom we are led to perhaps draw premature conclusions.

There is a moment at the end of Red that loosely ties the three films together, but each film is greater than its relation to the others, if not only to highlight the fact that they are related to each-other in more ways than just the conclusion of Red itself.

Blue and Red both garner 8 from me, while White rates 7.

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We’ve also been able to watch Planet Terror, having seen Death Proof quite a while ago. I enjoyed Death Proof a lot more being snappily dialogue driven, but Planet Terror was still a blast of good fun to watch. I guess I don’t really get into comedies as much as dramas and sombre themes, though Planet Terror is extremely clever in its homage to 70’s, 80’s and 90’s cinema.
I did spend a bit of time over at A_Spec’s house where we watched the Korean film The Host… it was… sort of fun, but I find Korean cinema still in its infancy. They seem to be overexcited with trying to pack in everything they can, drama, emotion, comedy thrills and scares, and action. The Host was fun enough, but keeps changing pace too often, regardless of the fairly decent CGI. I’ve yet to see The Tale of two Sisters which I also purchased during the week, so we’ll see if our Korean cousins can do Asian-Horror as good as our beloved Japanese.