Movie Reviews
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(*Updated 07/03/09*)
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Dear all my beloved readers,
I'm currently doing research in the health industry and have uncovered important information that needs to be fully disclosed to you and everyone you know. Please click here to read my first article published about the cover-up of hidden MSG and its potentially harmful health effects.
Must-See Movies or Events:
Lion’s Den
Directed by Pablo Trapero.
In Spanish with subtitles. Julia (Martina Gusman) wakes up one morning with blood on her hands, takes a shower a shower and heads off to class at a university. When she arrives back to the apartment, she discovers her lover, Nahuel, and his gay lover, Ramiro (Rodrigo Santoro), lying on the floor seriously wounded. The police arrive to arrest her and, after Ramiro testifies against her, she’s sent to a special prison ward for women with children. She doesn’t want to have the child and repeatedly hits her stomach repeatedly inside her jail cell in anger and frustration. Once she gives birth to her baby, named Tomás, she gradually calms down and learns to appreciate being a mother while doing everything possible to protect her son. Tomás initially weans only from Marta (Laura Garcia), Julia’s cellmate, who becomes a close friend and lover of Julia throughout their prison sentence, but after many attempts, he finally weans from his own mother. In an interesting turn of events, Julia’s estranged mother, Sofia (Elli Medeiros), eventually shows up and takes Tomás away from her for a while. At that point, Julia becomes determined to do anything in her power to get Tomás back from her, so, with the help of Marta, she stages a rebellion at the prison. The intelligent, well-focused screenplay by director/co-writer Pablo Trapero brings the complex character of Julia to life even though you don’t really know that much her or how she met her boyfriend, Nahuel, to begin with. Trapero has a knack for showing the gritty realities of prison life for Julia without veering toward any silly subplots or melodrama. He also includes a well-chosen soundtrack and terrific cinematography. Martina Gusman delivers an utterly convincing and raw performance as Julia which helps you to stay engrossed from start to finish. As you watch Julia go through her ordeal, you want her to escape from prison as much as she wants to so that she could take care of her beloved son peacefully. Ultimately, Lion’s Den manages to be a thoroughly captivating and engrossing drama with a raw, unforgettable performance by Martina Gusman. Number of times I checked my watch: 5 Released by Strand Releasing. Now playing at the IFC Center. 
Food, Inc.
Directed by Robert Kenner.
This provocative and vital documentary exposes the deep-rooted corruptions in the food industry that pose a serious threat to public health and even evolution. Corporations control everything from the raising of chickens, cows and pigs on a farm to the production of food in a factory all the way to its distribution at your local supermarket. Purdue chickens, for example, come from farms where chickens injected with growth hormones can barely walk because as they can’t support their increase in weight. The hormones increase the size of their breast meat, which there’s a high demand for, but that, along with other injections, adds toxic chemicals to the meat. Cows get injections, too, and, in turn, become sick. In a moving interview, Barbara Kowalcyk, a food safety activist, recalls how her 2-year-old son, Kevin, died from E.coli poisoning after eating a contaminated hamburger. The company that sold her the meat wouldn’t even apologize to her or promise that it won’t happen again. That tragic situation represents a microcosm of how corporations have no conscience when it comes to its effect on public health; it’s all about profit, profit and more profit no matter what. You have every right to get angry and fed-up by how the FDA and USDA allow for public health to be undermined when it should be their job to protect it. Director Robert Kenner also includes illuminating interviews with Eric Schlosser, author Fast Food Nation, Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, and Joel Salatin, an organic farmer. You’ll also learn about the consequences of Monsanto, a corporation, patenting the biology of seeds, such as soybean or corn, which have genetically engineered. They have sued farmers for infringing on their patent by saving GMO seeds, even if the seeds result from cross-pollination from a neighboring farm with GMO seeds. With the power of lawyers and money, Monsanto wins those lawsuits against the small farmers. A consumer wouldn’t be able to know whether he or she were buying a GMO product because it’s not required to be labeled as such. If you’ve seen the documentary King of Corn, you’d know that many foods have ingredients derived from corn, such as high fructose corn syrup, which can be even be found in breakfast cereals such as Kellogg’s Cornflakes . The ingredient maltodrextrin, malt extract, hydrolyzed comes from corn as well. What Robert Kenner fails to mention, though, is how exactly food corporations hide toxins in their products. Many ingredients, such as citric acid, autolyzed yeast, gelatin and malted barley, contain or result in hidden, unlabeled processed free glutamic acid, which is equivalent to MSG. Believe it or not, Whole Foods Supermarket carries products with those ingredients. (Please click here for more information about the cover-up of hidden MSG and for a complete list of ingredients with hidden MSG.) It’s very common for a product to include the misleading phrase “All Natural” on its package, but an educated consumer should know that natural does not necessarily imply that it’s safe health-wise. To all those who use the excuse “everything in moderation,” asks yourself whether you really think that health abuse should be in moderation as well. Everyone should think about the following question: Why are food and drugs regulated by the same administration (the FDA)? Would you be surprised that there are conflicts of interest within the FDA? Unless you learn to not only read ingredients, but how to interpret them, you’ll be deceived into buying something that’s a hazard to your health in the short run and/or the long run. Whether or not you’re able to avoid the temptations of fast foods and other processed foods that taste good will depend on your courage as well as your education about food and health. Food, Inc. at least manages to be an illuminating, vital and provocative documentary that will open your eyes to the corruptions in the food industry and will compel you to change your diet to organic, unprocessed food. Number of times I checked my watch: 0 Released by Magnolia Pictures. Now playing at the Film Forum, Beekman Theatre and BAM Rose Cinemas. 
The Hangover
Directed by Todd Phillips.
Merely a few days before his wedding, Doug (Justin Bartha) drives all the way from Los Angeles to Las Vegas with his two best friends, Stu (Ed Helms), a dentist, and Phil (Bradley Cooper), a schoolteacher, as well as his fiancée’s brother, Alan (Zach Galifianakis). Stu hasn’t told his controlling girlfriend, Melissa (Rachel Harris) the truth about where he’s going and neither has Doug told his fiancée, so they all hope that it stays a secret. After one night of gambling and heavy drinking, they wake up in a luxurious suite with a hangover and absolutely no recollection of the prior night’s events. Stu misses a tooth, the rooms looks like a mess and, to top it all off, they find a baby in the closet and a tiger in the bathroom. Just when you think that the crazy, mysterious events stop there, it turns out that Doug has gone missing, they had somehow stole a police car and Stu has gotten married a stripper named Jade (Heather Graham). Co-writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore have written what deserves to be a classic, R-rated comedy that won’t be forgotten any time soon. What makes it a classic? First of all, there’s lot of hilarious, quotable dialogue and situations that get more and more outrageously funny. Most comedies nowadays either have a very funny first half and then the laughter tapers off in the second half or just sporadic moments of laugh-out-loud comedy every now and then. In this case, though, the laughter comes fast and consistently without any dull moments in between. While much of the humor is indeed crude, rude and lewd, it’s nonetheless refreshingly intelligent and grounded, at least to some extent, in reality, much like in Old School, which Todd Phillips had also directed. Each member of the cast here gets a chance to shine, especially Zach Galifianakis as Alan, a.k.a. Fat Jesus, and they play off of each other with terrific comedic timing. Ultimately, The Hangover manages to be outrageously funny, refreshingly witty and smart. It’s a non-stop laugh riot that’s destined to become a comedy classic. Please be sure to stay through the end credits for more R-rated hilarity as the credits roll. Number of times I checked my watch: 0 Released Warner Bros. Pictures. Now playing nationwide. 
Departures
Directed by Yôjirô Takita.
In Japanese with subtitles. Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki), a young man, loses his job as a cellist in a Tokyo orchestra that had recently dissolved. His wife, Mika (Ryoko Hirosue), agrees to move with him to a house in his northern Japan hometown. He desperately wants to find a new job so that he can continue to support her. Soon enough he, applies to a job ad that reads “Working with departures” and assumes that he’s applying for work at a travel agency. Upon his arrival at the workplace, he learns that it’s actually a job as an “encoffineer” or “Nokanshi” at a mortuary, where his tasks include preparing dead bodies for burials. His boss, Ikuei (Tsutomu Yamazaki), convinces him to take the job despite that it doesn’t sound too appealing or worth telling Mika about. The more he immerses himself in that line of work, the more he finds a way to appreciate his job while learning all the nitty-gritty details of how to prepare the corpses aesthetically. At some point, he rediscovers his innate passion for playing the cello and becomes inspired to try reconnecting with his estranged father. The intelligent screenplay by Kundo Koyama infuses the genres of drama and tragedy with plenty of grace and sensitivity toward gradual character development. There are many intricate details throughout the film that become more important later on, so it’s very important to pay close attention to everything. When you first meet Daigo, he’s already working as an encofineer and you’re watching him at a funeral. That initial scene represents a microcosm of the mix of poignancy and surprising dry humor that ensues thereafter. Some scenes make you cry while others lesson the burden of heaviness by making you laugh. The strong performances all across the board help you to feel fully engrossed from start to finish while the messages about coming to terms with death and embracing life will make you feel alive and gently uplifted. Moreover, director Yôjirô Takita includes superb cinematography, pacing and music score which help to enrich the film without hitting you over the head. It’s the kind of film that finds just the right balance between entertaining the audience, provoking them intellectually as well as emotionally. At a running time of 130 minutes, Departures, winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film of 2008, is a tremendously moving experience filled with warmth, wisdom, intelligence and tenderness sprinkled with just the right dash of humor to balance the heaviness and keeps you thoroughly enthralled. Number of times I checked my watch: 0 Released by Regent Releasing. Now playing at the Quad Cinema. 
Owl and the Sparrow
Directed by Stephane Gauger.
In Vietnamese with subtitles. Thuy (Pham Thi Han), a 10-year-old girl, lives with her uncle, Tran Le Minh (Nguyen Hau), in the rural village of Bien Hoa where she works at his bamboo factory. She’s overworked and unhappy working there with all of his yelling at her, so, one day, she runs away all the way to the big city of Saigon. There, she learns how to make a living by selling postcards and flowers to pedestrians. Her uncle, meanwhile, searches for her whereabouts throughout the city. The last thing she wants is to go back to living and working with him or to end up in an orphanage. While wandering around Saigon, she meets Hai (Le The Lu), a zookeeper who talks to a baby elephant that’s about to be sold off to another zoo. His heart still hasn’t healed from breaking up with his beloved girlfriend and hopes that he still has a chance to be with her. Thuy also befriends Lan (Cat Ly), a stewardess who used to smile a lot, but now, during a five-day layover in Saigon, she’s sad, lonely and sleeps with a married man who refuses to leave his wife. With her youthful spirit intact, Thuy finds a clever way to introduce Lan and Hai. Writer/director Stephane Gauger takes a simple plot and infuses it with genuine warmth and tenderness. There are many small moments that radiate more authenticity than most dramas, such as when Lan tells Hai that he has an honest face and, soon after, she holds his hand. At the heart of the film, though, there’s the charming performance of Pham Thi Han, who’s so convincing here that you eventually forget that you’re watching a child actor in her big screen debut. Admittedly, Gauger uses too much shaky cinematography that slightly diminishes to sense of realism and palpable dramatic tension that’s quite character-driven. It’s also worth mentioning, though, that all of the characters seem complex enough to seem real and believable without going over-the-top, especially Thuy’s uncle, Than, who’s somewhat of a bad guy, but not in the traditional sense—he’s not physically abusive or cruel; just very strict, uptight and often angry in a way that makes Thuy feel uncomfortable. Ultimately, Owl and the Sparrowmanages to be a captivating and engrossing drama brimming with genuine warmth and tenderness as well as a charismatic, radiant and heartfelt performance by newcomer Pham Thi Han. Number of times I checked my watch: 1 Released by Wave Releasing. Now playing at the Cinema Village. 
Burma VJ
Directed by Anders Østergaard.
In English and Burmese with subtitles. This suspenseful and captivating documentary focuses on the civilian uprising in Rangoon, Burma against the Burmese military dictatorship during 2007. No one had challenged the dictators since 1988 when students protested against the Burmese government and, in turn, 3,000 protesters were massacred. Aung San Suu Kyi had led the revolt and since then has remained in house arrest. Nearly thirty years later, a small group of video journalists, known as the Democratic Voice of Burma, risk their lives to document events from 2007 uprising which the mainstream media don’t want to cover because of fear. Instead, they broadcast propaganda to make the government appear just and even moral when, in truth, they’re far from it. Out of fear that history will repeat itself in exactly the same way that had occurred during the 1988 uprising, the Democratic Voice of Burma wants to expose the evils of the military junta to the world without sugar-coating or spinning it in any way, shape or form. Not surprisingly, though, especially if you’ve read Naomi Wolf’s book The End of America about the step-by-step processes of reaching a state of fascism, the fascist government in Burma did everything in their corrupt power to suppress any truthful media covering the uprising, banning foreign journalists and even shutting down the internet as a means of further closing down the society as a whole. One of the Democratic Voice of Burma journalists, a Burmese man codenamed “Joshua,” bravely recorded the rebellions in Burma with his small, hidden camcorder. He concurrently documented the plight of other courageous, selfless video journalists just trying to do their job for the sake of democracy and truth. When his life was threatened, Joshua fled to Thailand where he found safety in a house and continued his journalism from there with access to the internet. Director Anders Østergaard blends footage from the journalists’ camcorders along with dramatizations of Joshua’s experiences in a well-edit way that keeps you fully riveted as if you were watching an edge-of-your seat thriller with some devastatingly poignant and infuriating moments. He wisely avoids excessive voice-over narration, talking heads and preachiness. Ultimately, at an appropriate running time of 84 minutes, Burma VJ finds just the right balance between entertaining the audience and provoking them intellectually as well as emotionally, without a dull moment from start to finish. Number of times I checked my watch: 0 Released by Oscilloscope Laboratories. Now playing at the Film Forum. 
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