Enjoy It While It Lasts
Project 365 here 365Pieces
Dec 14th, 2011 @ 7:40 pm
May Movies
One Hundred Mornings
Irish film about the end of the world. It follows 4 people who, after a societal breakdown, are now living an isolated and scared life in the mountains. It doesn’t focus on what happened to cause the breakdown of society (global warming is implied.. yawn…….), instead it focuses on 4 quite uninteresting people (or was it just bad acting?) and their reactions to it. It sounds like I didn’t like the film but it was very good. It’s wonderfully shot and, despite the dull characters, Conor Horgan’s sparse direction makes this a unique and timely take on a run-of-the-mill story.
4/5
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Hanna
The most entertaining film of the year, Joe Wright’s smart, action-packed take on the child assassin was both thrilling and emotionally involving. The cast works really well together and Saoirse Ronan is outstanding. The Chem Bro’s pounding score is probably the best you’ll hear in 2011 and it’s the perfect union of all these aspects this that elevates Hanna above most films you’ll see this from 2011. An all-round piece of art.
4.5/5
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Oranges & Sunshine
This really never should have been put in cinemas. Not because it’s dire (it isn’t) but it’s boring and there’s nothing cinematic about the story. It follows a woman who discovers the covering up of child-deportations in the 1950s in England. It even sounds as if it was made for television. Dull.
2/5
Taxi Driver
Scorsese’s apparent classic got a re-release in the IFI and, yes, it’s a classic. Everything that makes a great film great is here in bucketloads but it is Robert Deniro’s iconic performance as Travis Bickle that makes this film. I’m sure anyone with taste has seen this already, but if you haven’t you really should.
5/5
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Win Win
Average but funny comedy following a family who……… something about a kid who wrestles? Yeah, the film’s forgettable but I remember laughing a good but when I saw it.
3/5
Apocalypse Now
Another classic film that was re-released in the IFI, and another one that deserves the title. Probably the definitive war movie. It’s visceral, sickening, mad and feels like an incredibly personal effort by Francis Ford-Coppola. Most people have seen it but seeing it on the big screen was my first time seeing it - it left me speechless. A cinemtaic experience that I won’t forget soon.
4.5/5
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Le Quattro Volte
An essentially silent Italian film about life and the nature of existence (really) sounds really annoying, right? But when its main characters consist of a pile of coal, a goat, a man who drinks dust and a tree it all adds up to one of the biggest cinematic triumphs I’ve ever seen. It’s hilarious, touching, singular and never boring. It defies any expectations it could precede. It’s a film that should be seen by everyone and probably the most original one I’ve seen all year.
4.5/5
