After the Wedding (Efter brylluppet)

Release Year: 2006

Director: Susanne Bier

Review: "Every acquaintance, every friend, every person who has a place in your heart, it is the time with them that really means something.  Nothing else matters."  This quote from the film sums the essence of its message perfectly.  In 'After the Wedding', Jacob, a manager at an orphanage in India is summoned back to his home country of Denmark to help secure funds to save the orphanage from bankruptcy.  While there he learns something about his past that shakes his life up in a way he could not imagine, and he is forced to reassess everything.

The way the film deals with family and relationships is incredibly moving.  Each character feels vividly fleshed out and real.  Their emotions are whole and complex, not shadows of the familiar which is so often found in movies.  There is real a real struggle in dealing with feelings for people.  Relationships between mother and daughter, father and son, wife and husband and ex lovers.  None of these relationship are single dimensional, and all are important.  As stated in the quote, its these relationships which define our lives, not the jobs we hold or the places we live.

There isn't a single character which feels underplayed, or insignificant, and a wonderful cast is largely responsible for this.  The interactions and chemistry between them is imperative and their acting is what holds this film together.  There are many intense, personal scenes which are poignant and they ride solely on these powerful performances. Each person is shown to have their flaws, but also their strengths.  There is no bad person, but each fighting for what they believe is right.  Sometimes this conflicts with other people, but its never done maliciously.  There is no one with bad intentions, but sometimes life makes it difficult for everyone to get along.  This is life.  The way the film deals with these conflicts exposes the nature of why relationships, any relationship, is trying.

Without people who we care about in our lives, life would be empty.  It's at times necessary to make sacrifices and give into compromise in order to hold these relationships in tact.  It may not be the easy thing to do, but it often is the right thing if you truly care for that person.  It's this message that the film really hammers home.  It is an emotionally gripping family drama, which is full of heart to its core.

Rating: 4.5/5

Once

Release Year: 2006

Director: John Carney

Review: What a great music video.  Yes, I might be trivializing John Carney's film, but in the end its very thin on plot and heavy on the music.  This, however, is not a bad thing.  There is just enough of a story to hold together this endearing little film.  It's more about the mood and feel than the saga.  Carney uses the music to tell his story, and its very effective in this sense.  He uses musicians instead of actors, and while their acting may not be earth-shattering, its effective in its use. More than making up for their lack of acting chops is their authenticity in their craft.  This is a fine band movie, and an experience which can best be described as relaxing.  This sort of modern musical niches out its own genre, that while not overly ambitious, is an enjoyable journey none the less.

Rating: 3.5/5

The Host (Gwoemul)

Release Year: 2006

Director: Bong Joon-Ho

Review: South Korean director Bong Joon-ho's highly anticipated follow up film to 'Memories of Murder', about a monster who is loose in the Han river.  Song Kanh-ho is cast again in the lead role, one which isvery different from the one he had in Bong's previous film.  In 'The Host' he plays a slow witted father of a young girl.  After the initial monster attack his daughter is taken by the monster.  He, his father and his siblings go on an against-all-odds quest to kill the monster.  

Despite the praise I can't help but feel that this is a mediocre monster flick.  A lot is added to it's cause by injecting political issues subtly into the plot. By handling these issues in the scope of a comedic monster movie they can be presented without getting preachy.  It's also not afraid to show you the monster.  From the start you know exactly what everyone is up against.  While I appreciate the boldness, the CG didn't quite back up the effort and was a little distracting.  Regardless of the believability of the monster, this wasn't that compelling of a story.  There were too many plot weaknesses.  I never bought the responses from the Korean and American government.  Everything was just all to convenient.  The whole concept of the family drama never went anywhere.  It was just a failed ploy to be able to have them come together and form a team for the hunt.  Only it doesn't work.  The fact that each member had their own special ability, if you will, almost made it seem like I was watching a superhero movie.  I knew exactly how the finale would go down, and when it did happen it wasn't even handled in a satisfying way.  The entire film was building to the climax which could have redeemed it, but was ultimately a let down.  There is a lot of fun to be had, but in general this is just an adequate monster movie with not much more going for it.
Rating: 3/5

The Last King of Scotland

Release Year: 2006
Review: Based on the real reign of the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, 'The Last King of Scotland' attempts to show the brutality of the man through the eyes of a Scottish doctor. The movie is based on the book by the same name and tells the fictional story of a young Scottish doctor(played by James McAvory) who goes to Uganda to try and make a difference. He is charmed by the newly appointed dictator and delights in being his personal physician. Only later does he realize his mistake once he sees what Amin is capable of.

Forrest Whitaker plays the part of the charming, yet ruthless, Idi Amin well, but unfortunately doesn't get the screen time he deserves. This was my problem with the film. I want to know more about Idi Amin, and not the doctor. I understand they use the doctor character as a vehicle to show the life of Amin, but they fail at achieving this. I'm uninterested in the misadventures of a young, ignorant doctor, who by all accounts deserved exactly what he got. The plot line for the doctor was not well fleshed out, and his motivations and the consequences for his actions seemed superficial. There were things he did that seemed completely out of character and I had no idea what I was supposed to feel about him. The far more interesting character was Amin, and his story is overshadowed by the lesser spoiled doctor. Most of the terrible reign of Amin is skimmed over, and his brutality was only nominally portrayed. The film has some powerful scenes, but is undercut by a weak, often forced, story. Idi Amin is an interesting character, and plays well on film, but is ultimately squandered by a much less interesting and shallow minor character and the film suffers for it.
Rating: 3/5

Special

Release Year: 2006
Review: A small film with a lot of thought, 'Special' is about a mundane meter maid who is mentally impaired to believe he has super powers after taking trial anti-depressant medication. The plot was fascinating to me even before watching the film, and the execution was even better than I had expected. While the plot is often light and comes across humorous, you began to understand how sad the story really is. Underlying are powerful messages of individuality, the corruption of drug companies and the tragedy of those with mental illnesses. 'Special' is a frequently funny but altogether moving film which shouldn't be overlooked.
Rating: 4/5

Farce of the Penguins

Release Year: 2006
Review: A pathetic excuse for a spoof. Despite having a decent voice cast including Samuel L. Jackson, Lewis Black, Tracy Morgan and Whoopi Goldberg and having dozens of cameos by some funny comedians, this film by Bob Saget is just awful. For a film that relies exclusively on the jokes that it overlays over animal footage, there were almost none that landed. It's immature, unfunny and almost painful to watch. Save yourself the time and skip this.
Rating: 1/5

Day Watch

Release Year: 2006
Review: The second film of the the Night Watch trilogy. The movie picks up a few years after the first one, and continues the the Dark vs. Light theme. While this film is beautifully shot, it falls into even more of the over stylized pitfalls which ruined many of the scenes and takes you out the story. The plot becomes more convoluted and some of the major plot points seemed to be there solely to fill time and never went anywhere. The plot line and mythology are too thin for a trilogy and could have easily of been fit into two films, if not just one. If you enjoyed Night Watch then this is a decent follow up, but otherwise its not something to go out of your way to see.
Rating: 3/5

Dave Chappelle's Block Party

Release Year: 2006

Review:I was hesitant to watch this movie, not being a fan of rap/hip-hop music, but the odd paring of director Michel Gondry and Dave Chappelle works wonderfully. Even if you don't care for the music, the film is full of interesting characters and you can't help but smile every time Chappelle comes on screen.

Rating: 3/5