I’ve recently become a Wong Kar-Wai fan, so I was excited to be able to see his latest film 2046 with English subtitles at a theater in Bangkok. It was in a sense a sequel to In The Mood For Love. Some of the same characters appear, but there are some new elements that distinguish it from its predecessor. It is a different story so there are new characters introduced into the story. Some of these people and their experiences find their way into a science fiction serial that Leung is writing for a newspaper. These sequences are reminiscent of Blade Runner with its impressive backgrounds and the presence of androids that have emotions. One of the central stories concerns the daughter of the landlord who falls in love with a Japanese businessman played by the famous Japanese superstar Kimtaku, who did his voiceovers in Japanese. But like previous Kar-Wai films this one is concerned with some romantic/tragic themes, particularly the unfortunate timing of love that comes too early or too late.
Pirate DVDs are easily available on the streets of Bangkok/Hanoi and the upside of bringing my computer was that I could watch some of them and down load music from CDs bought into my iPod, even though I wasn’t able to connect to the internet line in my friend Jason’s apartment. The first one I watched was Meet The Fockers. I’m not sure why they felt the need to include the baby-it seemed a bit cloying to me. But all in all quite an entertaining film. Streisand and Hoffman were particularly great.
I also really enjoyed The Incredibles. It has been getting a lot of good reviews and I think it is one of those family shows, like The Simpsons, that can be enjoyed on many levels. It has a clever storyline, perhaps inspired by X-Men-where super heroes are forced to enter in society because of lawsuits from an unforgiving public. The animation from Pixar continues to be superb. It’s a film that lives up to the hype.
Ocean’s 12 unfortunately lived up to its negative hype. It comes across as a vanity project for all involved; the first film was a stylish, entertaining, caper film. Minor Soderbergh, but solidly entertaining. This one was a bit of a travelogue vacation for the cast. I hope Soderbergh chooses a more challenging script for his next film.
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