Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
(January 13, 2002)
I have to admit that I, myself, am a big “Harry Potter” fan. At first the whole “Potter craze,” as some call it, seemed totally childish to me. But soon, all that totally changed after I read the first book. J.K. Rowling, the author of the series, really has done a lot in terms of bringing about a fresh new story that is bound to stay as a classic. There is no doubt in my mind that her series will continue to be praised for many generations, and that perhaps imitations will eventually arise.
So when I heard that there was going to be a movie about the book, you can imagine that I was pretty excited. One thing, however, that was sort of strange to me at the time was that I really had no idea about what to expect. In other words, I really couldn’t form some kind of preconception about what the movie would be like. Knowing the fame that “Harry Potter” had gathered all around the world, there was so much to be expected from this one movie. The filmmakers would be met up with not only an audience of children, but people from many different age groups, all probably big Potter fans. Anyways, what I am basically trying to say is that under all this pressure, it became a pretty inevitable fact that people must have been working hard and trying to do the best job they could to impress the crowds that were going to be pouring into the theatres.
After the movie came out I decided to wait for a while before going to see it (if you’re reading this, you probably know the kind of obsessive people that go to see big movies as soon as they are released… I just wanted to see it in a more nicer and quieter atmosphere). So when I actually got to see the movie I will honestly say that it was indeed impressive. Not only had director Chris Columbus been able to make a beautiful and fun-filled movie, but it was also a very close and accurate re-creation of Rowling’s book. Almost all details in the story presented by the book are accounted for by the movie. It should be pointed out that this, in itself, is rather impressive and deserves recognition (almost every book to movie re-creation that I have seen has been plagued by ugly changes done to the plot in order increase the so-called “bang-for-the-buck”).
In terms of the films quality, I have to say that for the most part it was done pretty well. The majority of the actors were relatively new, so I can’t say that there was any rock solid performances, but I can say that they did a good job for mostly a group of amateur children, and that there was no major noticeable flaws. Daniel Radcliffe, as I saw it, was a great choice for playing Potter; much of his acting was as I imagined when I read the book.
Although many people out there are saying that “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone” is an overrated movie, and that it is way to “kiddy” to be appreciated by anyone older than 10, I would personally disagree (and would add also that if you, yourself, are a victim of such an opinion than you probably haven’t gotten the entire picture). I won’t go into any great details, but I will say that almost anyone can walk away from this movie with an interpretation different from that of someone else. Such is the richness of Rowling’s work; namely, that there are various messages being sent out for a variety of different individuals, so as to accommodate the needs of a broad audience (such as this film surely carried).
All in all, I would surely recommend this movie to almost anyone. All that should be said is that you have to have a certain respect for the whole idea of fantasy tales in order to appreciate the story. Otherwise, I’m sure that if you do choose to see this film, you will not come out feeling cheated or disappointed. On the contrary, you will truly feel a new appreciation towards Rowlings creation. Oh, and by the way, in case you’re one of those people that haven’t read the book or watched the movie because you think that Harry Potter is “stupid,” then I challenge you to go and see this film, for I am almost positive that not only will you enjoy it, but you’ll most likely make a stop at the public library on your way back from the theatre in order to check out the book.
Startup.com (September 4, 2001)
“Startup.com,” directed by documentarians Chris Hegedus and Jehane Noujaim, gives its viewers a truly vivid glimpse behind the curtain of the Internet dot-com revolution. Unlike many other films, “Startup” reaches great depths in showing us not only the financial aspects of business failure, but also the human ones. All in all, if you are curious to know what this movie is really all about, I’d have to say that more than anything it’s about friendship.
The lead roles in the film, as well as in real life, were played by Kaleil Isaza Tuzman and Tom Herman, two buddies from as far back as high school. The way we are acquainted with Kaleil is while he is leaving his prestigious job at Goldman Sachs to pursue a childhood dream and start a company with his friend Tom. At this point we realize how well the timing worked out for Hegedus and Noujaim, because as Kaleil comes to assume his CEO position the company is still choosing a name for itself (finally, govWorks.com is chosen over Nextown.com).
Towards the beginning, “Startup.com” shows us more of the technical and monetary sides to starting up a business, as Tom hires employees while Kaleil seeks funding. As the movie progresses, however, things get more and more personal. Usually, one would not link personal feelings to those of business right away, but in the case with Tom, Kaleil, and govWorks, we see that nothing could be further from the truth. Not only does “Startup.com” make it’s viewers bear witness to the failure of a company, but it also makes them see how easily money can crumple up a friendship.
Hegedus and Noujaim did a phenomenal job in covering all sides of the dot-com frenzy, including its momentary short-lived success, it’s eventual failure, and finally the good score of personal problems that it created for some people. In all honesty, the film in some ways made me realize that there is a different side to corporate success. Of course even though the ideas this movie conveyed were not tremendously new, they were nevertheless shown in such a way as to excite our emotions and provoke us into re-thinking our stance regarding the importance of financial affluence.
One lesson that “Startup.com” teaches us is to never forget the value of friendship. When govWorks failed, it took with it on its downward course Kaleil and Toms relationship (Kaleil and Tom had conflicting views, so Kaleil used his powers as a CEO to terminate Tom’s employment). Kaleils girlfriend, Dora, also gradually disappeared from the film, only leaving the viewers to guess that Kaleil was valuing his job more than he was valuing her. The movie makes us understand their situation very clearly, because, even though we are not all entrepreneurs, most of us know what it’s like to loose a friend.
In the end, however, Kaleil and Tom ended up becoming friends again, and what upset them the most about the past was not that they had lost their company, but that they had nearly lost their friendship. In fact, it turns out that the two started another company, this time with the mission of helping failing dot-coms. The basic statement behind all this is that what we value personally, like our friends and family, is almost always more important than anything else in our lives, regardless of how appealing it might seem at various points to think otherwise. Of course success is very tempting for everyone, but how can we truly be successful if we are not happy with the path we take? How can we be proud of doing something that gives us regrets? It comes a point where a question is asked, which do you value more: personal gain or personal glory? And indeed, only through experience can we actually answer this.
The Princess and the Warrior (August 20, 2001)
Tom Tykwer’s long awaited follow-up to the unique and stylish “Run Lola Run” is finally here, and is titled “The Princess and the Warrior.” Starring Franka Potente (Sissi) and Benno Fürmann (Bodo), Tykwer’s new feature strives to explain the importance of coincidences in guiding our fate. Although the film does share some similarities with its predecessor, it is, in all honesty, something totally different.
Where as in “Run Lola Run” we were met with an environment full of energy that seemed to leap right out of the screen, in this new movie the action is much less jumpy. From start to finish, “The Princess and the Warrior” is a relatively slow film – but don’t get me wrong, it has every justification to be just what it is. Tykwer, who is still a relatively new director, tried to make this movie a little bit more thoughtful and give it an ultimate point: he wanted to show the audience how there is a purpose to everything in life, and to avoid our true destiny is but a crime to ourselves. The mood of the film is perfect for exploring the inner depths of the characters’ feelings and conveying this to the viewers.
Our main character, Sissi, is a nurse at a psychiatric ward, where she both works and lives. In some ways the start of the film makes us feel a bit of pity for her, as her life is obviously not what she wants it to be. One day, however, while Sissi is sitting with a patient, another nurse comes in and delivers her a letter. Like I said before, Sissi seems to be totally at loss of a social life, so when she gets this news she is highly surprised.
Once the contents of the letter are revealed, it turns out that one of her friends, from somewhere far of, has lost a relative in Sissi’s area and would like her to pick up a package that was left over. At this point we are met with another character in the movie, named Bodo, who is to serve as the co-lead. The way that the viewer is acquainted with Bodo is kind of awkward, but nevertheless touching. Bodo, a small-time crook, is looking for a stable job and tries working at a funeral home as a burying assistant. The first time he goes out to help bury someone he ends up crying, and as a result looses his job. This scene, estranged especially by the fact that Bodo seemingly has no relation to the person being buried, is in some ways symbolic. Firstly, it goes to show the softer side of man, and secondly, it represents a change that Bodo is trying to undergo. The fact that he is crying shows us his willing to diverge from the norm, and hints at the fact that he too might not be living a life that he’d truly be happy with.
After loosing the job, Bodo goes back to being a crook, and in the one “Lola”-like moment of the film we see him being chased down the street by two guys from a gas station that he just robbed. While this is going on, Sissi, just a few blocks down, is walking with her favorite patient (a blind boy) to the bank to pick up the things described in the letter. To summarize the rest of the scene, without going into great detail, I’ll just say that Bodo ends up causing a truck to hit Sissi, and after seeing this he comes back and saves her. Although Bodo thinks relatively lightly of the whole matter, to Sissi this incident stands alone as pointer that will help bring her closer to her true destiny.
From that moment on, “The Princess and the Warrior” begins to involve its viewer more and more as the plot thickens and the story progresses. Tykwer has obviously chosen to experiment with various themes and ideas in his new film, but something that particularly appealed to me was his way of showing the importance of listening to your conscience. Where, basically, if we persist in trying to accomplish whatever we truly think is right, despite any hardships met along the way, we will most likely be doing good to ourselves and at the same time stay true to our personal feelings.
Franka Potente, in her role as Sissi, has overcome a seemingly professional challenge. In comparison with “Run Lola Run,” where she played a nearly one-dimensional character that changed very little as the film progressed, Potente now undertook a much more difficult project. In some ways, Sissi is everything that Lola is not, and Potente’s success at both roles goes to show us just how good of an actress she really is.
Although the film is not short of some ambiguity, it is nevertheless very interesting. Many people are for some reason quick to judge this movie, and don’t always take into account every necessary detail. The truth of it is, “The Princess and the Warrior” is very much of a modern day mythic tale, trying to convey an idea through showing of the real world infused with some fantasy-like imaginary elements. Not only is this film very entertaining to watch, but it is also successful at teaching us a few lessons as well.
Sexy Beast (August 15, 2001)
“Sexy Beast”, director Jonathan Glazer’s feature debut, is a very melodramatic film, set in a highly surrealistic environment. From moment one, we see Gal (Ray Winstone), retired criminal, basking in the sun and noticeably enjoying the luxurious lifestyle that he now inhabits. All is going real well up until the moment when a giant boulder rolls by, almost killing Gal, and crashes into his pool. At first this little sequence would seem like a relatively cheap (yet nevertheless exciting) visual effect, but contrary to average thinking it is more than just that. The boulder, its force, its might, its ruggedness all go toward foreshadowing something that’s in Gal’s near future: Don Logan (Ben Kingsley).
One plain and ordinary day, Gal and his ex-porn star wife Deedee (Amanda Redman) are sitting around at a nice looking restaurant, waiting for their friends Aitch (Cavan Kendall) and Jackie (Julianne White) to join them for dinner. When the couple arrive, however, they have sour looks on their faces. The viewers cannot help themselves in asking, “What’s wrong? Everything seemed so perfect.” Well the latter question is soon answered with two familiar words: Don Logan. It turn’s out that Gal’s forgotten gangster past, that he had been so keenly avoiding in Spain’s beautiful Costa del Sol, is catching up with him, and Don Logan is already on his way for a visit.
At this point, the movie’s major conflict opens up. Logan’s mission is to recruit Gal for a bank heist in London, masterminded by the evil-looking (yet somewhat stereotypical) crime boss Teddy Bass (Ian McShane). But Gal, reluctant to loosen his grip on the seemingly perfect status quo and at the same time upset his wife by returning to the “past life”, promises to decline any offers.
As soon as Don Logan arrives, the residents of our beautiful Spanish villa, and their friends, assume a different air. They feel intimidated in a sense. It’s like a nightmare from the past coming to haunt them again. Gal, who actually has to deal with this new arrival, feels worst of all. In fact, he should feel bad, because judging by the sheer looks of Logan, bald, well built, and with veins popping out of his head (one critic even went as far as calling this guy a giant phallus), more than just a simple “no” for an answer is likely to be required. By the way, it should be known that our new friend Don Logan is short tempered, has no social skills whatsoever, and is used to talking through his teeth in obscene and/or brutal language (ex. “I f***ed Jackie. Dirty cow. During what we were doing, she tried to stick her finger up my…”, I’ll let you guess how that sentence ends). All in all, Gal not only has to decline an offer; he has to fight a beast. To say more about the plot would be to give away a great story.
The truth of it is, “Sexy Beast” is by all means a quite complicated film. It can almost be guaranteed that the average viewer won’t understand what the point of this movie was after just one viewing. The film, being a rare case, requires you to take a good look beneath the surface of everything that’s being shown before you truly understand it. To blankly sit and watch will not suffice this time around. Here you have to think.
To put things into perspective, it has to be noted that Gal and Don used to be part of the same community. Both men were at one point fellow gangsters. Now, however, Gal has chosen to desert the criminal world, and live a quiet life of luxury. To Gal, everything is just like he wants it to be: he is no longer a criminal, he loves his wife, and life just can’t get any better. This, the fact that Gal is living a perfect life outside the criminal community, is precisely what is bugging Logan so much. From Don Logan’s point of view, Gal has ultimately broken the “tribal code of behavior”, as Ben Kingsley put it in an interview. The fact of the matter is that Gal might not even truly be needed for this job in London, Logan just wants to set him straight.
Don Logan’s attitude, coupled with the melodramatic surrealism of the film, allows us to draw the conclusion that “Sexy Beast” is not just about criminals, but rather about everyone. The movie exposes us to a part in our psyche that can easily identify with Logan. It is a part of ourselves that we usually ignore for purposes of being civilized and well mannered. You know, as well as I, that there have been times when you were standing face to face with someone who had been either acting differently or doing things differently than they should have been, and you felt like confronting them there and then, but decided, instead, not to do so and just let any anger go. Well this is how Logan felt, and instead of letting his anger go, he unleashes it in a seemingly unstoppable manner. A great part of the film devotes itself to exploring this inner dark-side, of which I speak, and is highly successful in doing so.
Kingsley, an actor who has mostly been confined to playing quiet roles, does extraordinarily well as Don Logan. There can be no doubt about the fact that his performance is worthy of an award. Winstone delivers greatly too, perfectly meeting the requirements for an intended contrast to Kingsley.
Another note worthy of praise is the film’s stylish nature. From the appearance of the characters and their surroundings, to the filming itself, nothing is lacking. Glazer, obviously a talented director, has made this movie enjoyable to the best of his ability. The script too, written by Louis Mellis and David Scinto, containing some clear Shakespearean influence, is unique and witty, not in the least way boring.
Overall, “Sexy Beast” is a greatly satisfying movie that combines comedy, thriller, and suspense all in one. Although the film’s true intentions are not laid out on a platter for you to grab instantly, they are nevertheless accessible through careful viewing, thinking, and consideration. I recommend this movie to all those with an open mind, and sincerely hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.
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