Goodbye Solo (Ramin Bahrani, 2009) Something of a disappointment after the super awesome
Chop Shop. With
Chop Shop I loved the specific sense of place, the naturalism, and those kids just broke my heart. Bahrani is known for his realism, but here, perhaps partly because of the Solo character, the film felt very scripted to me. Solo, by the way, is played wonderfully by Souléymane Sy Savané, but I couldn’t help but get a magical negro vibe from the whole thing. And as far as that kind of thing goes,
Driving Miss Daisy is more entertaining, in fact the film is kind of
Taste of Cherry meets
Driving Miss Daisy. Tee-hee, it’s fun to be a smart alec. Anyway, it took a while to warm up to, but by the end I was pretty engaged.
Grade: B-
Morvern Callar (Lynne Ramsay, 2002)I’m on the record with my love for
Ratcatcher and all things Samantha Morton so I was pretty pumped about this one. It’s good, but only great in moments, I thought. Once they leave Scotland and the film goes into road movie mode, I kind of lost interest. It didn’t knock my socks off from beginning to end, but it is more evidence of Ramsay’s greatness; I can’t wait for her next one.
Grade: B/B+
Trouble the Water (Tia Lessin & Carl Deal, 2008)Even more than her remarkable footage from the storm, the film’s real ace up its sleeve is Kim Roberts herself. Ultimately, it’s a pretty conventional personal redemption story, but it’s a pretty good one.
Grade: B-
The Wall (Walter de Hoog, 1962)Awesome little propaganda film about the first year of life with the Berlin Wall. It plays like an espionage thriller. The footage of people fleeing to the west side of the wall is pretty amazing.
Grade: A-