Primal Fear (Gregory Hoblit, 1996);
I watched this film last night with my boyfriend - it was awesome!! I read a tweet from Caroline Flack the other week stating she couldn't believe she hadn't watched it before and that it was amazing, and I came across it in a magazine or something again the other day...so thought I'd rent it from my LoveFilm account! But this was a great film - was slow in parts, it jumps straight into the action; it successfully constructs a 'whodunnit?' narrative, with three core suspects but no definitive answer for the duration of the film. This was Edward Norton's first film role, and his successful future is evident through his great, mysterious performance. Laura Linney is annoying as usual (*cough* The Truman Show *cough*) but Norton and Richard Gere perform successfully. Was on edge for the majority of the film and the twist at the conclusion was unexpected and shocking - I would recommend to anyone that enjoys a good thriller!!!
Amores perros/ Love's a Bitch (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, 2000);
This film was last weeks film screening for my World Cinema course at De Montfort University. Whist my feelings on the films shown throughout the course have been mixed, this way by far my favourite film of the year so far; it was fairly epic, but gripping, thoughtful and mind-blowing. The film involves three stories following peoples lives - the first and the third more physical and brutal, whilst the second more emotionally battering - which come to gradually interlink throughout the narrative, making for an interesting and clever viewing. This Mexican film was quite easy to follow, too; whilst some films I have viewed in the past can be difficult to piece together due to mass amounts of characters or missed details, Amores perros was simple but witty to connect together, althought it still relied heavily on attention. The conclusion of the film is almost sad, with no full happy ending for any of the protagonists, but it still an unaccepted happiness; almost real and not exaggeration. I wouldn't recommend this film for those with dogs; I, myself, struggled to watch some of the dog fight scenes, having had different dogs in my life since I was born. Animal welfare groups got involved due to the controversial scenes, which is highly understandable; they are graphic! The fast-paced action is effective, with no establishing shots throughout the film; the repetitive use of close-ups illustrates the emotional suffocation felt by the troubled characters. Overall, this is one of the best films I have viewed all year, and when I have more money - I will be buying this!
Priceless (Pierre Salvodori, 2007);
Am currently half-way through watching this as I type! I saw this film a few years ago and snatched it for a bargain of £2 from the 'That's Entertainment!' shop in town near where I live. It is a fun comedy, which follows opportunist Irene (Audrey Tautou) and bartender Riverera Jean (Gad Elmaleh), whom coincidentally meet at this hotel that Riverera works in, and is mistaken for a rich businessman; this comical story of mistaken identity goes cringe-worthily wrong, however, as Riverera goes along with his 'new' identity to impress the glamorous Irene - who happens to be a blackmailing, demanding golddigger (too brutal for the bartenders salary!) Humorous chaos follows, which makes for an enjoyable, laid-back French film.
(Also, I've only seen Tautou in one of my favourite films, Amelie, beforehand - where she is cute, loveable and MAINLY innocent -, which constrasts sharply with the gold-digging, promiscious madam here - a great, fun actress!) :)
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