Bassem Reviews

Youth (I) (2015)

A Simple Song

[10/10 · 21 October 2017]

must have been the alternative title to this Film (with a capital F).

There is a fine line kept throughout the narrative: somewhere between the real and surreal, making the identification with the characters easier than unusual, while allowing for most surreal situations and dialog.

Rachel Weisz, Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel and Paul Dano really brought their respective roles to life. The many small roles were enriching as well, especially Jane Fonda's wonderful cameo!

But there were two other stars which made this Film a masterpiece in artistic collaboration: the cinematographer Luca Bigazzi, whose every frame is worthy of a wall to hang from and David Lang whose original music brought it all together.

Writing, directing, filming, performances and music, in this particular case, make for great Cinema… I was touched to tears.

Munich (2005)

This goes beyond Cinema

[9/10 · 2 February 2006]

When I first heard Steven Spielberg was making a Movie about Munich 1972 my heart sank. I thought to myself: there goes one more director I'm fond of down this road and it felt like I was going to lose an old friend. Let me introduce myself first in context. I am a Palestinian who grew up with Spielberg's films, which helped keep the child in me alive. When you grow up to be happy that Steven is around cuddling your inner child every now and then, the prospect that your ways may separate soon is not a happy thought. For a while I truly tried to ignore this movie release. But after stumbling over what was happening in the media all around this movie, my initial success in keeping away all but vanished. So there I stood tonight and with a heavy heart at the box office of a Munich theater buying tickets for Munich showing at 9:45 p.m.

I stalled as long as I could before going in talking in the hall with my friend, getting a drink, then peanuts and a Mars Bar… well, when we finally made it in the ads were done, the lights were going out and the movie was starting. As I saw the Amblin Entrainment clip, I thought to myself: this is not right... the boy in the moon and the subject at hand…this does not fit together well. But before I could continue the though, something strange happened once the first scene of the movie started… I got involved and I couldn't tell you why. The director got my attention, not by a trick but rather by something which is more complex. This is what I will attempt to convey through this review and which is at the heart of this movie… and it is there in the first scene.

Outside of the Olympic City before closed gates stands a group of young men (in a totally believable seventies outfit) with the intent of getting in. Shortly after I was almost caught off guard when I find out that they are in fact the perpetrators. In hindsight I notice that there was no psychological distancing applied in the scene. In fact this is a stance throughout the movie... simply put: its up-close and personal. If you should feel any distance to any character in the movie it is your own, for those who made the movie have gone to great length to eliminate this distance. This is the first ingredient to this complex work of art.

Next comes the characters of whom we get introduced to Avner first… I like to call him the loving one, for he is introduced through the love he hold for his family and is saved by it. In the course of the movie there will be the righteous, the skeptic, the technocrat, the charmer, the Zealot and many more. Avner is a young Mossad Agent, a Sabra (born in the state of Israel) and son of an Army Hero. He is expecting a child with his young wife and is faced with a mission in the aftermath of Munich. The events hit him hard and he is willing to take on this mission of retaliation. At this point two other qualities of this movie are revealed: The characters are not defined by their respective roles in the movie, but are separate from them and thus become even more real; and the ability of the script to get to the point very efficiently.

Pivotal messages are conveyed with a directness seldom seen in a movie, especially when dealing with a subject matter which is so delicate as the conflict at hand. In the war room scene with Golda Meir the rational behind retaliation is introduced juxtaposed against response. In a very short scene light is shed on the political reasons for doing what is then to ensue in the course of this story. And this scene opens the way for the fourth and most important element employed in this movie; namely: questioning.

Munich questions all involved and involves you in the process. The movie stirs you up, not because it is throwing issues at you, but because it is asking you questions up-close and personal involving real people and conflicts. The movie does so without taking sides. Here I need to point out that one should not mix-up taking sides with perspective. A story needs to be told by some kind of protagonist, in our case it is the Mossad agent Avner. Relating the story from his perspective did not, in the case of this movie, entail taking his side.

Steven Spielberg and his team produced a masterpiece, where craft is employed to achieve the effects needed in order to maintain the delicate stance the makers have taken, all the while remaining human. This movie is not trying to be balanced in dealing with the subject matter. It is rather bringing us closer to the inner child, which without bias nor hate, with naivety without ignorance puts the questions forth which need humane answers.

So the boy remains in the moon… and Steven, my friend, may our one God hear your prayer and mine for peace tonight.

Battlestar Galactica (2003)

It ain't that bad!

[8/10 · 7 August 2004]

Why are so many bashing this mini series? The acting is good… all the major characters fill their roles well and some even have quite a screen presence. The writing is good… while at times cheesy, it manages to depict interesting persons and plots worth following. The music is at times brilliant and at others atrocious. The CG effects are a means to an end in this production and this is how they are employed… the novel way of use and the economy in relying on CG was a good change. While there are some weaknesses in the mini (many have been mentioned in the forum), what remains after viewing is interest in seeing the rest of it. This means the mini did exactly what was intended… I for one got interested.

The Talk of the Town (1942)

This is a good movie

[8/10 · 9 October 2003]

Talk of the Town is a good movie! It is well written with witty and interesting, sometimes even surprising dialogue. It is well directed and well played. Even the score is really good (I am not sure if both John Williams and Frederick Hollander borrowed or it was just Williams who borrowed form Hollander for Star Wars). I grew fond of Roland Coleman through this movie, he is simply debonair. Sure, the preaching toward the end of the movie is a bit thick, but it is in character… and should you listen closely you would find that the message is as relevant today as then. And about the love triangle plot… It keeps you guessing till the last moment (only one other movie successfully does the same: Casablanca). Talk of the Town is an intelligent and endearing mix of comedy and drama, it does not use comedy only for the introduction but keeps it up, in parallel to the drama, well through the movie; in that it is remarkable. To say the least it did not deserve to be forgotten, for it does what movies do best: give you a good time.

T.R.A.N.S.I.T. (1998)

The perfect short

[10/10 · 22 July 2000]

I discovered a treasure in film making and I want to tell the world about it. This stylish animated short tells the tale of a suitcase thrown into the sea and the people linked with it. I cannot tell you more. The story is told in a very different way and is full of twists. I call it the perfect short because it established for me the need for this form of film. T.R.A.N.S.I.T would not work as a feature length movie, yet as a short it is revelation.

Run Lola Run (1998)

A turning point in movie making

[10/10 · 7 May 2000]

lola rennt is a movie experience of the exhilarating kind, an

electric high energy charge that fills you up with life-force. A

good movie will touch you, a masterpiece of a movie will move

you, thrill you and carry you, all of you, to places you have

not been before. This movie is nothing less than a masterpiece

of our times. lola rennt is the most innovative movie since the

French rebel movies of the sixties by Jean-Luc Godard. Having

made this association I have to distance lola rennt from these

experimental movies: where you need patience to appreciate the

movies of Jean-Luc Godard, lola rennt works for you and on you

right from the opening scene... you know right from the

beginning that you are off on a ride. I could rave about this movie for pages on, but I want to get

you to watch it, so I need to lay the bait. Rave music is a

driving force in the tightly woven fabric of this movie... a

tighter script you will hardly find. The story is simple and I

would not be giving anything away if I give you the opening:

lola misses her rendezvous with her boyfriend manni, who was

waiting for her to pick him up with her Vespa... someone stole

it while she was buying something. Due to that a whole slew of

dire consequences follow: manni loses a bag with a lot of money

he is to pay to his boss (some dubious character), who will

surely and brutally end his misery, when he finds out that manni

lost his $50,000. manni calls lola from a phone cell and tells

her of his loss. Across the street a supermarket catches his

eye, he decides to rob it... he figures he has no other choice,

because at 12 pm he is to hand over the bag with the money to

his boss... this is in 20 minutes. lola begs him to give her 20

minutes to get him $50,000. After deciding what the best course

of action is to get hold of that amount of money and having no

means of transportation she opts to run. The movie find three answers to lola‘s run; all having the same

sequence of events but with differences due to timing. Each

sequence has a different outcome. So lola rennt (lola is running) to manni, for his life, because

of love and against all odds. There is much more in this movie than you might assume and it

all meet the eye, involves your mind and gives you a vitalizing

heart beat. I almost always try to keep issues involved with a movie out of

my reviews, but in the case of lola rennt I have to break my

rule... I beg you to bear with me It grieves me to see that

lola rennt has an R rating in the US. This I find unjustified

and leading to a situation where the movie does not reach the

audience it was intended for. This is not to say that lola rennt

does not work for an "older" audience, but that it is young,

full of life and meant to be experienced by young viewers. If

you feel you are not young, see this movie it will make want be

young.

The Green Mile (1999)

what makes a good movie

[9/10 · 16 March 2000]

The Green Mile made me think about very real things in life

although its story goes into the realm of fantasy. What this

movie succeeds in is to make the fantasy work for the questions

it is posing. What makes this movie great is that it involves

you with its story and leaves you with a lot to think about...

this makes a good m

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

A classic in crime and punishment

[9/10 · 4 March 2000]

Adapting a novel for the big screen is always a risky business.

I the case of this movie I have the benefit to not have read the

novel. I am quite sure it is a great read, yet watching the

movie first gave me a better chance to experience the work first

hand. The talented Mr. Ripley is a very good viewing experience.

All aspects of the movie work well together to make a clear

case... one that really hits you in the last minutes of the

movie. The only annoyance is the many scenes in which a

microphone shows up in th

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

Very shocking message

[12 September 1999]

This is Kubricks manifest! He has given us a timeless message coded in his last work "eyes wide shut". I will not take this space to explain why Kubrick is a master of the medium "Cinema", but rather to discuss what I thick his message is. Kubrick is saying Mr and Mrs Normal are not willing to let anything come between them and their "normal" life. Even if this means overlooking two murders... all what Kidman could come up with in the end was to get back home and f*, much to the relieve of her husband. The fact that we are lead to identify ourselves with Cruise and Kidman, is part of the trap that Kubrick is setting for us to tap into at the end. It seems that middle class morality dictates that we keep our "eyes wide shut"... even in old Rome, this has been this way. That message combined with the trap get you really thinking. By all means, this is a master peace

Instinct (1999)

Intense

[9/10 · 18 July 1999]

I liked this movie, although it traveled a thin line between innovation an cliché.

In my opinion it did a better job than Gorillas in the Mist in conveying the link between our protagonist and the primates.

Sometimes I thought that I knew for sure what will happen next, only to end up surprised by the twist in plot.

The acting reached me and the messages were very tangible.

Letting go and feeling the rain is something I am looking forward to... as long as it isn´t too cold for me. Animals still try to protect their health... that is instinct. ;)

Waking Ned Devine (1998)

Simple stories are still the best!

[9/10 · 28 December 1998]

A charming movie. When I saw the check over 6.8 million pounds I thought this must have been more than the budget of this film... and it would not shock me if this were true.

You do not need hundreds of millions of dollars to make a thoroughly entertaining movie.

This is a classic and the reasons are: great idea, the script is as natural as it can get, the characters are very real and time passes before you know it.

This film is like a good friend that knows how to cheer you up.

Microcosmos (1996)

Probably the best nature film ever made!

[10/10 · 28 December 1998]

The stunning images are not what make it a masterpiece, rather it is its poetry which conveys the sheer beauty of life.

This movie is a religious experience.

The Prince of Egypt (1998)

Why was it not made as an epic

[7/10 · 26 December 1998]

The story of Moses is the most epic story in the Bible. The movie is too short for the material, it runs through the story as if doing a summary. The screen use implies more interest in the video market than the big screen. The grandeur of the animation does not save the weak script.