On Lust Caution

Ang Lee has eyes of a stranger when it comes to making a movie about his own country. The same went true to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. And his themes are always spinning around the love like Brokeback Mountain.

This time he shows what love is all about using tiny little bit of historical facts but his intention doesn't have any relation with the history itself. It's just a means to an end. His intention was expressed by some subtleties like the expression of Tony Leung and of Wei Tang especially through their flirtation and love-making. But the problem is that those erotic scenes was prolonged too much and sometimes out of focus. Another problem was so simple patriotism, specifically around the theater. It was simplistic approach to his own history. That's why I think that his movies about Asia are made in the eyes of westerners.

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On Breakfast on Pluto

Last month I watched the Brave One which Neil Jordan made recently. That movie can be controversial because it may justify the possession of weaponry no matter what happened to Jodi Foster and his future husband in the movie.

I love the narrative of the director and screenwriter. The first half of this film reminded me of the Butcher Boy and sometimes of Mona Lisa, especially when Stephen Lee made a scene after Cilian Murphy was dragged out of that magic club by Charlie. It also made me think of him when he starred in the Crying Game. Another actors like Liam Neeson, Ian Hart and Brendan Gleeson who frequents his film and singers such as Bryan Ferry and Gavin Friday played small roles.

: : Breakfast on Pluto : :

Sony Pictures Classics : Breakfast on Pluto, a film by Neil Jordan

On the Black Dahlia

Brian de Palma is one of my favorite directors. He has some magic to show audience how the main character tries to deal with his or her desperate situation and how he or she fails to do that. For example, John Travolta did everything to save the ex-wife of this director but she was eventually killed in Blowout. I guess that happened on 4th of July with those fireworks, which makes me so sad. I realized that this director knows how to use that kind of contrast in the tragedy.

I expected the similar thing to work in this 2006 film. But neither Scarlett Johansson nor Hilary Swank could be femme fatale. Maybe one of them was supposed to be someone similar to the main role of Chinatown. Aaron Eckhart and Josh Hartnett succeeded in representing the emotional Fire and the not-so-cold-blooded Ice respectively.

The Black Dahlia on DVD