A Forgotten List

I just remembered why I have so few movies in my Netflix mail queue. It is because it had gotten so big a while back, that I removed the majority of them and put them on a new “Not Yet” sheet in my movie database, and maybe even added a few more to the sheet while I still remembered it was there. When rediscovered, the sheet had over 250 movies, twelve of which were promptly moved to the top portion of my mail queue. Some of them, at the top of the list below, were pretty good. Again there is a tie at the top, hence two pictures.

Here is what I have watched on DVD and streaming since I posted my last list. The ratings I give are on my own number system explained at the link on the sidebar. Those watched via Netflix instant view, include “Streamed” after the numeric rating.

For My Father – 2008 (3.3) Streamed. Per the Netflix filmographies, the young talent in this Israeli movie is all new. The first impression they have created with this film about a Palestinian suicide bomber who can’t get his bomb to work is very promising. The script has lots of back stories, none of which are developed, but that is OK because the story is really about the bomber, a talented soccer player whose father got caught up in Palestinian politics and the Israeli girl who has made a moral mistake and become a social outcast. Mutual attraction, curiosity, defensiveness and a kind of desperate fatalism mark their attempts to relate, and somehow we sense that is also the case between their nations.

Under the Same Moon – 2007 (3.3). Patricia Riggen does not sound like a Spanish name, but the young director of that name is Mexican and did a good job on this Spanish language movie filmed mostly in her country. She also worked closely with the script writer. The story is about a young Mexican single mother who has illegally entered the US and is doing domestic work in LA and sending money back for her 9 year old son, very well played by Adrian Alonso. They have not seen each other for four years, but she talks with him every Sunday morning from phone booth to phone booth. A change in Mexico starts the boy on an unapproved road trip to reunite with his mother, just when the anguish of separation is prompting her to return to him.

Lemon Tree – 2008 (3.2) Streamed. The Israeli Defense Minister builds a house on the border of Palestinian territory, with an old family lemon grove, now run by a lonely Palestinian widow, on the other side of the border fence. When the security authorities decide the grove must be cut down, the widow fights it in Court, aided by a lonely young Palestinian attorney. Meanwhile the wife of the chauvinistic Minister begins to sympathize with the widow. An Israeli film well done all around, with an especially strong performance by Hiam Abbass as the widow.

Fugitive Pieces – 2007 (3.2) Streamed. His parents killed and sister abducted by the Nazis, a young boy is rescued and raised by a Greek professor and into his adulthood he struggles with his own version of survivor’s guilt in this sensitive and well done drama from Canada.

Thirteen Days – 2000 (3.2). I don’t remember following in detail the Cuban Missile Crisis of October, 1962, probably because I was absorbed in adjusting to my first quarter in law school. This well done movie takes viewers through the crisis with an inside look at it from the point of view of JFK and his top political adviser. Of course Bobby Kennedy is relied on heavily by his brother and there are many experts with divergent opinions, with the joint chiefs expectedly leaning heavily toward aggressive actions. This film realistically reminds us how close we were to nuclear world war and how important it was to have a level headed Commander-in-Chief.

Avatar – 2009 (3.1). Granted I did not see this on the big screen and in 3-D, but we got a pretty good impact viewing it on my home theater set up. Quite a production, well done and with some interesting though not particularly novel allegories, but is just not a favorite genre with me. I did like the concept of transporting the humans into their avatars and back and the way it was central to the script. I would like to see the special features, which apparently are not made available for rental [a new marketing ploy by the film industry to try to regain some sales lost to rentals], so I may have to borrow a collector’s set from a friend.

The Atomic Café – 1982 (3.1) Streamed. With the radiation leakages at the nuclear plants in Japan in the news, concerns over nuclear safety again come forward. Attitudes run the gamut from hysteric fear to ridiculous dismissal of any danger. This 30 year old documentary affords a double opportunity to view the history of the debate. First we can see very interesting archival footage of the first atomic and hydrogen explosions and film of radiation victims from the bombs dropped on Japan and from people exposed during bomb tests, along with government propaganda films telling us how manageable a nuclear attack on America would be. Second, we can see how those early atomic years were viewed 30 years later, during the early years of the Reagan Administration while the Cold War was still running and Reagan wanted to take nukes into outer space. Fast forward another 30 years to now, and see what you think.

Bloody Sunday – 2002 (3.0). Made 30 years after the event, this Irish production uses documentary style to dramatize the day that a peaceful demonstration in the Catholic part of Derry, Northern Ireland, took a bad turn as a few young rock throwers played into the hands of trigger happy British paratroopers, setting off a small massacre that dashed hopes for peaceful resolution of the political issues and fueling IRA enlistment. Local amateurs were used to good effect in most of the roles.

The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall – 2008 (2.9) Streamed. Based on a true story of the shooting by a Bedouin Israeli sniper of a young English peace activist in Palestine, this British movie chronicles the effort by his parents to have the Israelis properly investigate. It doesn’t get too much into the politics involved beyond the intensity of Israel’s security protocols, while it does an effective job at portraying the tension between the parents and the stress on the younger siblings of the victim.

The Song of Sparrows – 2008 (2.9). Majid Majidi is an Iranian film maker who does good work presenting movies that have an authentic feel about showing us life among the less affluent families in Iran. His actors may in fact be real people, not professionals. In this story a man who works on an ostrich farm loses his job and takes his motor scooter into Tehran on some errands which quickly lead him into making money driving people around in the horrendous traffic. Since he returns home every day to his wife and children, we can compare the city and the country, the rich and the poor, and the honest and dishonest, as we watch the man coping with all this new information and deciding on how to let it play out in his life, as he absorbs it and learns more about his family and friends also.

Mr. and Mrs. Iyer – 2002 (2.9). This Indian movie is not a Bollywood musical. It does have good music on the soundtrack and a small amount of incidental singing, but it is a serious drama with an undercurrent of romantic potential. The principals are a young college educated Hindu mother traveling with her toddler and a Muslim man the family asks to look after her on the bus trip. When the bus gets stranded because of post 9/11 violence between Hindis and Muslims, the pair spends a couple days together discussing some of the issues and getting to know each other better. This is not preachy and the on screen chemistry is very good (both leads are quite appealing). The toddler is also entertaining.

Everybody’s Famous – 2000 (2.8). Not that funny for a comedy, this Dutch movie tells a variation of the story about kidnapping a celebrity in order to get a chance to show your talent in performance. This time it is dumb but loving Dad doing it for overweight but supposedly talented daughter. It starts like a dumb comedy, then gets a little more serious and turns into a reverse caper with what is supposed to be a heartwarming finish, but it falls a little flat.

Love Laughs at Andy Hardy – 1946 (2.8) Streamed. I always enjoyed the Andy hardy movie series, but not many of the 15 films have made it to DVD. This was the last of the series, done after WWII, with Mickey Rooney playing Andy as a returning GI, which Mickey actually was, having served 21 months in the Army as an enlisted man entertaining the troops and doing some broadcasting. Still funny, especially Andy dancing with a girl twice his height, the film also had some serious overtones about GIs returning home to their special girl. On the brink of the War, Mickey was number one at the box office, but after the War his career headed down hill, as did his personal life with many financial setbacks and broken marriages. Yet, like Andy, he always makes it through and has been married to his current wife since 1978.

Hula Girls – 2006 (2.7). Based on a true story of a coal mining town in northern Japan in 1965 that was in economic trouble because the mine was closing down, this Japanese movie tells how the mining company decided to try to turn the town into a Hawaiian theme park because it had hot springs. Townspeople were resentful of the plan but a few of the women decided to go along with the plan and train to become Hula dancers, taught by an experienced but troubled young woman professional from Tokyo. Clumsy and a bit amateurish, the broad humor at the beginning does not work well, but then settles into a drama with some sensitive moments but lots of missed opportunities. If you don’t watch it all, skip ahead to the end to see the long shots of the last dances, which apparently were performed by real pros.

Winter’s Bone – 2010 (2.4) It was hard to tell the professional actors from the real local yokels and the settings were real places in Missouri hillbilly country in this movie that had the right look but didn’t tell a story that ever got me as interested as I should have been. Drug cooker Dad put up the home property for bond and is now either a bail jumper or a doomed snitch. To save the place, and take care of her incompetent Mom and younger siblings, the heroine sets out to track him down, but meets only with resistance from her inbred family and neighbors who are also in the same pharmaceutical business. Sorry, but I laughed out loud during what was supposed to be the most horrific scene.

The Windmill Movie – 2008 (2.4). I’m not sure how I got wind of this windmill. Only a few people rated it at Netflix and they all liked it. Maybe they were part of the Hampton set often shown in this posthumously assembled selection of self-indulgent home movies of a documentary film maker, Richard P. Rogers, who despite his privileged upbringing, struggled with self-esteem issues, while at the same time, being stuck on himself. This will be coming to streaming, but then you won’t get to see the two shorts by Rogers that were on the DVD extras, and which weren’t as bad as the main show.

The Jilting of Granny Weatherall – 1980 (2.4) Streamed. I streamed this old TV drama of a Katherine Anne Porter short story because I had an hour to kill and I have seen every other movie at Netflix by the director, Randa Haines, and liked them all. This was well directed and acted and captured the feel of its era, but it also felt like an old TV drama. The material itself had little appeal to me and to be honest I slept through a lot of the show, so maybe this review is unfair.