Saturday, February 25, 2006
Africa - Toto
It's movie time again! Hey, it is the weekend!!!!
I'm actually on a roll here cuz i'vebeen watching good movie after good movie during the weekends. 2 weeks ago was "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang". Last week was "Munich". This week is "The Constant Gardener".
The title will not give you any clue of wat the movie is about!!!*
This movie won the most number of nominations in the recent BAFTA Awards in London. It oso turned out to be the biggest loser - no thanks to a couple of gay cowboys and a Taiwanese director! It only won 1 award - for best editing - despite garnering 10 nominations.
Still, dun let it's failure to pick up awards deter you from watching this excellent movie! Just before i started watching it, i was feeling pretty tired and sleepy. But once i started, i became wide awake and intrigued! And mind you, this is not an action movie!!!
First and foremost, it stars Ralph Fiennes (pronounced as "Rafe Fines") and the lovely Rachel Weisz.
The former is no doubt one of the most brilliant actors today. Who can forget him as the evil German officer, Amon, who used Jews as target practice? And he should have won the Oscar for best actor in his splendid performance in Quiz Show!
It is no big spoiler that Rachel Weisz's character, the wife of Ralph Fiennes's character, dies in the movie - this was revealed very very early on in the movie. Here is wat Richard Corliss of the Times Magazine said:-
Toward the start of his new film The Constant Gardener, Ralph Fiennes, as Justin Quayle, a British diplomat stationed in Kenya, is told that his young wife Tessa may have been killed while on a research trip with another man. As the camera holds on him, searching for a reaction, Fiennes doesn't conjure up a rage or a gasp. He doesn't gush a stream of tears or obscenities. He moves hardly at all. Yet alert viewers will see his pale face turn a shade ashen. They will watch his spirit sink as he struggles to retain propriety. Somehow a symphony of grief, suspicion and copelessness plays lightly on his sharp, elegant features. "You can see what he's thinking, on his face," says Rachel Weisz, who plays Tessa with an ornery passion that complements Fiennes' implosive delicacy. "It's an incredible shot, almost a minute long, and you can see a thousand different thoughts cross his mind. There's a transparency to him." Indeed, an interior transparency. Subtly, he shows us an MRI of a decent man's heart at the moment it breaks.
As for Weisz, how can such a lovely actress do any wrong? ;-P Ok, ok, i'm biased towards women who speak wif an English accent!
Secondly, the movie was set mainly in Africa. And it really captures Africa so well - in the opinion of one who has never been there before! Despite the scenes of the slump areas which are the homes of the locals there, i was drawn to the place - and a desire welled up inside me to add Africa to my list of must-visit-places-before-i-die! The people, the colours, the landscape - brilliant!
Finally, the plot - i actually watched the movie without any prior knowledge of wat it is all about. I would therefore recommend to you - in spite of my spoiler-free-post - to stop reading now!!!!
But if you wanna know, read on! I was surprised that the movie had a direct tie-in with one of the subjects which i have been learning in me course - the right to health and the role of private pharmacuetical companies. Yes, this movie highlights the need of the people in Africa for medication and medicare - and how they are exploited. I will stop there so as not to inadvertantly post some spoilers here.
As one reviewer said, this movie has it all - love story, thriller, and social message. And it works because it was very well done!
I'm actually on a roll here cuz i'vebeen watching good movie after good movie during the weekends. 2 weeks ago was "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang". Last week was "Munich". This week is "The Constant Gardener".
The title will not give you any clue of wat the movie is about!!!*
This movie won the most number of nominations in the recent BAFTA Awards in London. It oso turned out to be the biggest loser - no thanks to a couple of gay cowboys and a Taiwanese director! It only won 1 award - for best editing - despite garnering 10 nominations.
Still, dun let it's failure to pick up awards deter you from watching this excellent movie! Just before i started watching it, i was feeling pretty tired and sleepy. But once i started, i became wide awake and intrigued! And mind you, this is not an action movie!!!
First and foremost, it stars Ralph Fiennes (pronounced as "Rafe Fines") and the lovely Rachel Weisz.
The former is no doubt one of the most brilliant actors today. Who can forget him as the evil German officer, Amon, who used Jews as target practice? And he should have won the Oscar for best actor in his splendid performance in Quiz Show!
It is no big spoiler that Rachel Weisz's character, the wife of Ralph Fiennes's character, dies in the movie - this was revealed very very early on in the movie. Here is wat Richard Corliss of the Times Magazine said:-
Toward the start of his new film The Constant Gardener, Ralph Fiennes, as Justin Quayle, a British diplomat stationed in Kenya, is told that his young wife Tessa may have been killed while on a research trip with another man. As the camera holds on him, searching for a reaction, Fiennes doesn't conjure up a rage or a gasp. He doesn't gush a stream of tears or obscenities. He moves hardly at all. Yet alert viewers will see his pale face turn a shade ashen. They will watch his spirit sink as he struggles to retain propriety. Somehow a symphony of grief, suspicion and copelessness plays lightly on his sharp, elegant features. "You can see what he's thinking, on his face," says Rachel Weisz, who plays Tessa with an ornery passion that complements Fiennes' implosive delicacy. "It's an incredible shot, almost a minute long, and you can see a thousand different thoughts cross his mind. There's a transparency to him." Indeed, an interior transparency. Subtly, he shows us an MRI of a decent man's heart at the moment it breaks.
As for Weisz, how can such a lovely actress do any wrong? ;-P Ok, ok, i'm biased towards women who speak wif an English accent!
Secondly, the movie was set mainly in Africa. And it really captures Africa so well - in the opinion of one who has never been there before! Despite the scenes of the slump areas which are the homes of the locals there, i was drawn to the place - and a desire welled up inside me to add Africa to my list of must-visit-places-before-i-die! The people, the colours, the landscape - brilliant!
Finally, the plot - i actually watched the movie without any prior knowledge of wat it is all about. I would therefore recommend to you - in spite of my spoiler-free-post - to stop reading now!!!!
But if you wanna know, read on! I was surprised that the movie had a direct tie-in with one of the subjects which i have been learning in me course - the right to health and the role of private pharmacuetical companies. Yes, this movie highlights the need of the people in Africa for medication and medicare - and how they are exploited. I will stop there so as not to inadvertantly post some spoilers here.
As one reviewer said, this movie has it all - love story, thriller, and social message. And it works because it was very well done!
*poster obtained from a link at IMDB
# posted by imissw : 5:35:00 pm
Comments:
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Haven't seen kiss kiss bang bang, plan to once the dvd comes out. Have u seen natural born killers, if not, u should. Got to agree with u on Constant Gardener, great acting by both leads. Catch walk the line too when u get the chance, also great acting by both leads.
jt
jt
# posted by 
: Mon Feb 27, 05:49:00 am
: Mon Feb 27, 05:49:00 am
NBK? man, that's ancient! yeah, of course i've seen it! ;-P
haha - din think u'll like constant garderner. expected u to say it was a pretentious, preachy, boring brit movie!!!!!
as much as i like rachel weisz, methinks she wont win the oscar - she was good, no doubt, but not outstanding.
haven watched walk the line yet but will do soon. am big fan of jaoqin phoenix. but reese witherspoon???? hhmmm... sori, cant help thinking of legally blonde each time i see her.
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haha - din think u'll like constant garderner. expected u to say it was a pretentious, preachy, boring brit movie!!!!!
as much as i like rachel weisz, methinks she wont win the oscar - she was good, no doubt, but not outstanding.
haven watched walk the line yet but will do soon. am big fan of jaoqin phoenix. but reese witherspoon???? hhmmm... sori, cant help thinking of legally blonde each time i see her.
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