The Barbarian Invasions
Another Denys Arcand movie. This is the second I’ve seen after Jesus of Montreal. This guy loves the realistic style. His movies portray real life, with all their complexities. His characters are never good or bad. They are simple people, confused, making mistakes, etc. I did not enjoy this film as much as ‘Jesus…’, probably because ‘Jesus…’ had a lot more humour and metaphorical content. But yes, this certainly is an interesting story.
The movie is about a group of people who rally around a dying man. A man who cheated on his wife, and chose a life of pleasure, an intellectual who lived life to the fullest (according to him), who followed many a new philosophy that changed the world when he was young, etc, is now dying. His son is perfect – materialist and rich - but cannot relate to him. But he has to get closure. He has his father’s friends come down during his fathers’ last days. He even pays his father’s ex-students to come visit him in the hospital. He gets drugs for his father and, in the end, helps him kill himself. An interesting story, even if you do not agree with the morality of the characters.
How I killed my father
A very intense film, deliberately slow. The movie is about a very successful married man who’s father comes back after years abroad. He is unsure how to deal with his father’s presence; he starts to get paranoid of it, even getting jealous of the time his wife spends with him, eventually exploding. An interesting movie to watch.
The Soul Keeper
Good story. Incomplete execution. The true story of one of the world’s first female psychoanalysts. But an incomplete story that leaves you wanting more. I did enjoy the continuous flashbacks but was not sure why such large gaps existed in the storytelling. The main character’s story seems to fast forward too quickly at two particular points in the movie. The first is when she gets cured and is released. The second is when she starts a family and moves to Moscow. This movie could have been deeper…Most of the movie simply consists of the character’s relationship with Jung. It would have made a great movie but is only an average product as it is. O.K for viewing if curious about the real-life Sabina Spielrein.
Movies I saw during the weekend before Christmas
