The English Patient by Anthony Minghella, 1996 (R)

with Ralph Fiennes (In Bruges, The Reader), Juliette Binoche (Breaking and Entering, Chocolat, Certified Copy, Paris), Willem Dafoe (Fireflies in the Garden), Kristin Scott Thomas (Bel Ami, Salmon Fishing In The Yemen, Partir), Naveen Andrews, Colin Firth (Tinker Tailer Soldier Spy, The King's Speech, A Single Man), Julian Wadham (The Iron Lady), Jürgen Prochnow, Kevin Whately, Clive Merrison

Set against the backdrop of World War II, this Oscar-winning drama stars Ralph Fiennes as a badly burned pilot who recounts a tale of doomed romance to the nurse tending him. As his story spills out via flashback, so do secrets about his identity.

I watched this movie when I was 12 (it was allowed in France, forbidden for children under 12 :). I was by myself, since it wasn't the kind of blockbuster movies my friends would go to the cinema for, it was my first movie in English with subtitles, I was a bit nervous, and a teacher of my school was sitting right behind me, which made me uncomfortable during the love scenes, and also and mostly because I cried a lot.
This is the movie that made me fall in love with Kristin Scott Thomas. She was sublime, emotional, funny, strong, passionate. Ralph Fiennes was handsome (still is, but in this movie, he was really hot (actually quite cold, but with a lot of charm). Juliette Binoche was exuberant but cute. Anyway, at the end, she got the Oscar, not Kristin, which got me terribly upset.
Coming back to the topic, it took me a second time, 16 years later, to fully understand the movie historical context, the role of Willem Dafoe (I always see him as the bad guy, this time I guess I was wrong), and also perhaps the true content of the relationship between Fiennes and Scott Thomas, although I might have grasped back in time the essence of it, in an instinctive way. Anyway, this movie is a masterpiece, it is profound, rich of emotions and subtleties, an excellent portrayal of what war can be, when you are not political, when you do not really belong, except perhaps to someone. It is beautifully shot, almost artistic. And the remains of the love stories of this movies stay with you as soft sad memories, unreachable, yet emotionally palpable.

Wath Trailer (took me a while to find it!)

Dream House by Jim Sheridan, 2011 (PG-13)

with Daniel Craig (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo), Rachel Weisz (360, The Bourne Legacy, Constantine, Agora, The Whistleblower), Naomi Watts (Fair Game, J. Edgar), Marton Csokas (The Debt), Claire Geare, Taylor Geare, Rachel G. Fox, Jonathan Potts, Lynne Griffin, Elias Koteas, Mark Wilson

Daniel Craig plays Will Atenton, a successful businessman who forsakes New York City for the rural pleasures of New England, only to discover that the tranquil abode he's moved into was the scene of an as-yet-unsolved multiple homicide. Drawn reluctantly into the mystery surrounding the tragic events, Will and his wife (Rachel Weisz) soon begin finding plenty of reasons to worry about their own safety in this psychological thriller.

Not what I expected. It was saying "Psychological Thrillers" and from the trailer, I felt it was more of a horror film (I don't particularly like horror movies). But in the end, it was what it said it was, with an interesting twist of events around the middle of the film that confuses you for a bit and then unravels into a thriller. The acting is impeccable, but I cannot be truly objective, since every time I see Rachel Weisz on screen, she feels like sunshine. And here where all she is is love, she resonates. Anyway, difficult to say anything without unveiling parts of the plot. I recommend.

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Twilight by Catherine Hardwicke, 2008 (PG-13)

with Kristen Stewart (Snow White and the Huntsman), Robert Pattinson (Bel Ami), Taylor Lautner (Valentine's Day), Billy Burke, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser (Young Adult), Cam Gigandet, Nikki Reed, Jackson Rathbone, Ashley Greene, Kellan Lutz, Sarah Clarke, Justin Chon, Anna Kendrick (Up in The Air, 50/50), Christian Serratos, Michael Welch

"Bella Swan has always been a little bit different. Never one to run with the crowd, Bella never cared about fitting in with the trendy, plastic girls at her Phoenix, Arizona high school. When her mother remarried and Bella chooses to live with her father in the rainy little town of Forks, Washington, she didn't expect much of anything to change. But things do change when she meets the mysterious and dazzlingly beautiful Edward Cullen. For Edward is nothing like any boy she's ever met. He's nothing like anyone she's ever met, period. He's intelligent and witty, and he seems to see straight into her soul. In no time at all, they are swept up in a passionate and decidedly unorthodox romance - unorthodox because Edward really isn't like the other boys. He can run faster than a mountain lion. He can stop a moving car with his bare hands. Oh, and he hasn't aged since 1918. Like all vampires, he's immortal. That's right - vampire. But he doesn't have fangs - that's just in the movies. And he doesn't drink human blood, though Edward and his family are unique among vampires in that lifestyle choice. To Edward, Bella is that thing he has waited 90 years for - a soul mate. But the closer they get, the more Edward must struggle to resist the primal pull of her scent, which could send him into an uncontrollable frenzy. Somehow or other, they will have to manage their unmanageable love. But when unexpected visitors come to town and realize that there is a human among them Edward must fight to save Bella? A modern, visual, and visceral Romeo and Juliet story of the ultimate forbidden love affair - between vampire and mortal." IMDB

It's strange how a teenager movie, supposedly, can be fascinating anyway. The meaning of it doesn't have much, but the actors are good, the story is interesting... and addictive. Aesthetically, it's beautiful. Gothic and poetic at the same time. It makes you want to see what is coming next.

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Marvin's Room by Jerry Zaks, 1996 (PG-13)

with Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady, It's Complicated, Julie and Julia, Kramer Vs. Kramer), Leonardo DiCaprio (J. Edgar, Titanic, Shutter Island), Diane Keaton (Morning Glory), Robert De Niro (Killer Elite, Limitless, Jackie Brown)...

"A man who had a stroke 17 years ago is left incapacitated and bed-ridden. He has been cared for by his daughter Bessie, and totally ignored by his other daughter, Lee, who moved to Ohio with her husband 20 years ago and has never contacted her family. Now, however, Bessie's doctor has informed her that she has leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant and she turns to her sister for help. Lee, in turn, turns to her son Hank , who has been committed to a mental asylum for setting fire to his mother's house. When Lee finds that she may have to take over her father's care, she at first begins shopping around for nursing homes. Eventually, the sisters grow close to one another, their father Marvin, and Lee's son." Wiki

A very interesting movie about what the conventions are, and how you face them in a family context where death and illness is omnipresent.
It is also amazing to see two monsters like Diane Keaton and Meryl Streep in the same movie. The surprise was also to watch Meryl Streep rough and young after having seen her in "The Iron Lady" and "Julie and Julia".

Hereafter by Clint Eastwood, 2010 (PG-13)

with Matt Damon (Invictus, Margaret, True Grit, We Brought a Zoo, The Informant!), Cécile De France (L'auberge Espagnole), Frankie McLaren, George McLaren, Bryce Dallas Howard (50/50, The Help), Jay Mohr, Marthe Keller, Thierry Neuvic, Mylène Jampanoï
From the director of Invictus, J. Edgar, Million Dollar Baby...

Clint Eastwood directs this supernatural thriller about three very different people and their responses to death, including a hesitant American psychic named George (Matt Damon) who may be able to help the others find answers and peace. Marie (Cécile De France) is a French journalist caught up in the aftereffects of the devastating 2004 tsunami, while in London, young Marcus (Frankie and George McLaren) seeks to contact his deceased twin brother.

It is said people who experienced death and came back to life experienced something similar. I don't know that this is the afterlife or just something in between, or something else. But definitely, it is fascinating. And the parallel stories of this movie makes you long for something unique, and it is pretty well built. You want them to meet to see the "something special" happen. It does happen, but I think the climax happen too much towards the end, with no continuation and a cheesy happy ending that made me upset. Too bad for a movie that was so enjoyable until the last five minutes.

Incendies by Denis Villeneuve, 2011 (R)

with Lubna Azabal, Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin, Maxim Gaudette, Rémy Girard, Abdelghafour Elaaziz, Allen Altman, Mohamed Majd, Nabil Sawalha, Baya Belal

When their mother's will implores them to deliver letters to the father they thought was dead and a brother they never knew about, twins Jeanne (Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin) and Simon (Maxim Gaudette) journey to the Middle East and attempt to reconstruct their family's hidden history.

The themes of the movie are very strong. I don't know that we can understand it to the extreme that it reaches. The movie takes alternatively place in the past and in the present in Canada and in the middle east. And it unravels slowly, just giving you enough clues at the time to make you anticipate the next scene, with horror, before having the confirmation of it. It is a sad movie, with powerful characters, excellently played. Worthy.

Melancholia by Lars von Trier, 2011 (R)

with Kirsten Dunst (All Good Things, The Virgin Suicides), Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alexander Skarsgård, Kiefer Sutherland, Brady Corbet, Cameron Spurr, Charlotte Rampling (Never Let Me Go), Jesper Christensen (The Debt), John Hurt (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), Stellan Skarsgård (The girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Thor, Avengers), Udo Kier

This inventive drama charts the disintegrating relationship between newly married twentysomething Justine and her melancholy sister, Claire, just as Earth hurtles toward certain collision with a newly discovered planet.

The worse has been said (mostly from the directors) around this movie, which didn't make it too interesting to watch. It felt like promoting the wrong people. But on the other hand, it had this great departure point and the director's background is good enough that somehow the movie would become intriguing. So... The first half of the movie with the wedding of Claire was absolutely torture. The second half is the realization that the planet is most probably going to hit earth and the development of the characters at that point become very interesting. The cinematography is ok, interesting, not as surprising as you would think it could, lighting is good, some sort of intensified moon light. Anyway, interesting... Reminded me in a way of this new concept: science and fiction, as opposed to science fiction, in the movie "Another Earth" by Mike Cahill.

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