Words

Deb 5    Me 6

This is a very good story. I liked just about every aspect of the story. Didn't like the movie that much. Deb didn't like the acting. The main couple was just too runway ready. It's a beautiful people movie, white people problems. But its a very good story. They do some twists and there's some curiosities and there's all the ingredients of a good movie; it just wasn't anything to watch. It would be a good book. It would be better in words.

Chicken and Plums

Deb 2     Me 6

When it was over, the four of us walked out saying "whatta long movie". It was an hour and a half. The first few minutes were fine, you don't know any better and you just sit and watch. Then it takes a turn down a long and tedious road that seems to go on forever. I think the director realized how slow and uninteresting the film was going and added some neat vignettes to try to punch it up. But unfortunately they only served to un-necessarily complicate what was ultimately a nice little story. I don't know if its a French film set in Iran or an Iranian film spoken in French, but it felt kind of unsophisticated. They tried too hard to be odd. The casting was sort of cartoon like. The main dude was a kind of bug-eyed distant dude that I never really cared about. The others were no more engaging. Whereas "The Well Digger's Daughter" featured a beautiful and poetic French language, the sound of this French language was no fun at all; compare riding a nice bike on the sidewalk with a riding on a dirt trail with a flat.

The last third of the movie picked up. All the groundwork had been laid, all the wearisome development was behind us and the movie beautifully wrapped up. The last twenty minutes or so were brilliant. At least I thought so. Apparently the movie had drug the other viewers to a point of total disinterest and there was nothing that could save it. I'm not saying it saved it for me, just that the last few minutes were really good. It was long montages with appropriate music that moved the story along with speed and simplicity. Too bad they didn't apply that level of film making to the whole thing.

The Well Digger's Daughter

Deb 9    Me 10

The opening montage sort of set the stage for me. The first shots were quiet and ran long and set a nice pace for the rest of the movie to follow. The credits were in French and looked like random letters from a keyboard, some of these names were totally abstract, it was amusing. The players were all authentic in their look and actions. It takes place around the time WW1 breaks out. The set direction was incredible, everything, all the little details were carefully picked and placed in a most natural way (with the possible exception of what appeared to be a Bic lighter). And that's the way the movie moved, it just naturally cruised through the story. There were a few moments of sap, but they were moments. I really liked the people in the movie, they were all so earnest. For the most part it was good people in difficult situations doing the best they could given their time and place in the world. I might give it a 9, but I just enjoyed sitting there watching so it got a 10. The subtitles allow you to enjoy the melody of the French language. I have just finished a couple paintings where I had to pay close attention to trees and weeds, and this film was chock full of great flowing weeds under trees bent by the breeze. Stupid me, I thought I was going to see another movie and when this unexpected one started it just sucked me in and kept me captivated all the way through.