The Lunchbox Review

I'm usually not a big fan of romantic films. I do like international films from time to time and films involving food is usually grab my attention. I don't recall where I heard about The Lunchbox (2013), but it's a charming movie set in India, though food isn't such a prominent feature as it was in other movies like The Hundred-Foot Journey. The Lunchbox was still a pleasant, light film even when it sticks to commonly used independent film tropes.

Lonely housewife Ila (Nimrat Kaur) decides to try adding some spice to her stale marriage by preparing a special lunch for her neglectful husband.  Through a rare mix-up of the famous "dabbawalas" of Mumbai (a complicated system that picks up and delivers lunches from restaurants or homes to people at work), the lunchbox Ila prepares for her husband ends up in the hands of Saajan (Irrfan Khan), an irritable widower on the verge of retirement who is frustrated with training his work replacement, Shaikh (Nawazuddin Siddiqui). Curious about her husband's lack of response, Ila adds a note to the next day's lunchbox, and thus begins an unusual friendship in which Saajan and Ila can talk about their joys and sorrows without ever meeting in person.

The dabbawala was something new to me. A dabbawala is a person in India, commonly in Mumbai, who is part of a delivery system that collects hot food in lunch boxes from restaurants or the residence of workers in the late morning, delivers the lunches to the workplace, predominantly using bicycles and the railway trains, and returns the empty boxes to the worker's residence that afternoon. I'm not clear why a lunchbox wouldn't be brought with the workers to their place of employment, but this creates a lot of jobs, so who am I to criticize? Harvard Bussiness School added a case study to their compendium for the dabbawalas' high level of service (equivalent of Six Sigma or better) with a low-cost and simple operating system. It's simply fascinating

When the movie started, I instantly recognized Irrfan Kahn. He's best known for his works predominantly in Hindi Cinema. He's been in a number of American films where I recognized him, such as Life of Pi, Slumdog Millionaire, Jurassic World, and The Amazing Spider-Man. He's very good in this film, and plays a character easy to relate to. Nimrat Kaur is a beautiful woman and displays some above average acting here. Nawazuddin Siddiqui's delivery seems a little stiff at times but he really sells his character's positivity and happiness.

The Lunchbox seems to be a romantic drama sort of story. It's got all the elements of a romance, but even though Ila and Saajan communicate through notes and form an emotional connection with each other, there's not really a romance that forms between them. Frankly, I'm okay with this. Saajan is at an age where he can retire while Ila is still a young mother. I feel that given the age gap between them would make any romantic interests awkward. It's less a love story as it is an evocative portrayal of loneliness.  Saajan and Ila are content to share their thoughts about life and their day with one another and that is sufficient for these characters.

Unfortunately, this epistolary exchange of pleasantries and philosophical musings lends itself to independent film tropes. Independent films often have long dialogues about life, what it is, it's fleeting nature, and how it's full of surprises. That is certainly present here, but it's actually well written and well incorporated and doesn't try to act like it's deeper than it actually is. The characters encounter major life changes, albeit common ones that most people experience; getting married, marriage trouble, problems at work, aging parents, caring for a child, beginning a new job, etc. These can make for some fascinating stories, but I felt the way they were handled here made them seem as mundane as real life actually is. Events seem very ordinary, even if they are well written and well acted. I think the what makes these things so interesting to me as a westerner is it peeks into the lives and customs of average residents in modern day Mumbai. What was happening was less interesting as how it was happening. I think that if this exact same story was set in Seattle, for example, it would be a hopeless bore.

The Lunchbox unknots the trials, tribulations, fears, and hopes of everyday people without the glamour that the city of Mumbai has become synonymous with. It's warm, affectionate, and sweet without being overly sentimental. It may have some independent film tropes but they are well incorporated and are good examples of these tropes. Other independent film makers could learn a few lessons from The Lunchbox. The camera work was solid and well shot. The acting was good and featured a talented cast. The only downside that western audiences might face is that it is not an English film. There are bits of English here and there, but the language used is Hindi with English subtitles. If that is too off putting, you're better off skipping this one. The Lunchbox is a good movie I'm glad I saw it, but it's not likely something I'd go out of my way to see again. It's an above average renter.

Have you seen a particularly good foreign romantic movie? Comment below and tell me all about it!

I loved the lunchboxes used in the film. They're called a "dabba" or Indian-style tiffin box. It's a metal and cylindrical, and comes apart in four tiers making four compartments or bowls. I actually found one of these Four Tier Indian-Tiffin Boxes online. I'd love to have one! Go check it out for yourself!

The Triplets of Belleville Review

Upon seeing the trailer for The Triplets of Belleville (2003) I was captivated by the remarkable and surreal animation. I discovered it around the same time I found The Secret of Kells and only now got around to it since it became available on NetFlix Instant Play. The animation of each movie are worlds apart from each other, but were made by a common studio. It's a pretty weird movie, but it's really good as well.

Madame Souza, an elderly woman, instills in her grandson, Champion (for who she acts as his guardian), a love of cycling. As a young man, he does become a dedicated road racer with his grandmother as his trainer. During a mountainous leg of the Tour de France in which Champion is racing, he goes missing. Evidence points to him being kidnapped. Indeed, he and two of his competitors were kidnapped; the kidnappers want to use the threesome's unique skills for nefarious purposes. With champion's overweight and faithful pet dog Bruno at her side, Madame Souza goes looking for Champion. Their trek takes them overseas to the town of Belleville. Without any money, Madame Souza and Bruno are befriended and taken in by three eccentric elderly women, who were once the renowned jazz singing group The Triplets of Belleville. The triplets help Madame Souza and Bruno hatch some ridiculous schemes to try to locate and rescue Champion.

Contrary to my usual pattern, you'll notice I haven't listed any cast credits. The reason for that is there is basically no dialogue in The Triplets of Belleville. You hear some characters chuckle every now and then, but that's about the extent of any vocalization. There are voice actors credited to the movie, but it doesn't specify who they were supposed to have played. Along the same vein as Wall-E, this is essentially a modern silent film, though Triplets has even less dialogue. None of the characters actually speak; the majority of the film is told through song and pantomime. As such, the characters are very expressive even when silent. It's simply amazing how much story is told without any major speaking roles.

The Triplets of Belleville was written, directed, and designed by French comic writer, animator, and film director Sylvain Chomet. His style of animation is positively fascinating to watch. It's full of intricate details, surreal characters, meticulous designs, and gloriously smooth movement both subtle and overt. Many of the characters here have odd proportions that I found distracting at first, such as enormous noses that would probably keep them from seeing properly. Yet it was animated in such a way that as I watched these characters move and go about their business, the distinction between animation and live action becomes less obvious. They move in such a realistic and believable way that at length you forget it's animated if not for the grotesquely proportioned characters. Champion, for example, has large bulging thighs and calves from biking so much, but his upper body is whip thin. I also liked how the villain's henchmen were animated as if it was one large rectangular person when walking side-by-side.

While I generally enjoy foreign films, I don't have a lot of experience with French films specifically. There is a stereotype that French films tend to be slow paced. On the one hand The Triplets of Belleville gets a good story told in only an hour and twenty minutes, but on the other hand it thankfully doesn't move at the insane dizzying speed of most American animated features aimed at kids. Because of the usual breakneck pace of American animated features, most American viewers will probably expect loud, eccentric tempo in any animated movie. The Triplets of Belleville will seem slow-moving by comparison, but it's not dull or uninteresting. The movie is rated PG-13 for "images involving sensuality, violence and crude humor," which seems a little harsh to me, although there are a couple of images I wouldn't expect most parents of young kids to wish for them to see. There's a brief shot of a topless woman in an early scene. While not exactly sexual, the only thing I can think to say to explain it is it's a French film.

The Triplets of Belleville mocks animation studios that exclusively do 3-D CGI movies these days. The animation is beautiful, the imagery is surreal, and the funny and quirky characters are engaging. Sylvain Chomet's unique style makes this film all the more interesting to watch. It has a slower pace than most bombastic American animated movies and it's basically a silent film. That might put off some viewers, but if you can get around that, I highly recommend seeing this obscure gem. It was up for Best Animated Feature but lost to Finding Nemo. This has a 94% on RottenTomatoes.com. It's worth seeing at least once.

Here's the trailer for The Triplets of Belleville so you can get a taste for the animation:
 

Sylvain Chomet recently did a guest animated "couch gag" on The Simpsons not long ago you can check that out here if you like: http://vimeo.com/96908790

Iron Sky Movie Review

If memory serves me right, I saw the trailer for Iron Sky (2012) on  YouTube.com a few months before it's actual release. It looked hilarious and fun and I put it on my movie list right away. That was the last I heard about it until it appeared on NetFlix Instant Play some time later. At first I couldn't figure out how I'd missed what I thought would be a blockbuster of some sort, but it turns out that it was a Finnish-German-Australian foreign film and hadn't had a very wide release in the US. No wonder I missed it.

In the last moments of World War II, a secret Nazi space program evaded destruction by fleeing to the Dark Side of the Moon. During seventy years of utter secrecy, the Nazis construct a gigantic space fortress with a massive armada of flying saucers. When American astronaut James Washington (Christopher Kirby) puts down his Lunar Lander a bit too close to the secret Nazi base, the Moon Führer Wolfgang Kortzfleisch (Udo Kier) decides the glorious moment of retaking the Earth has arrived sooner than expected. Two Nazi officers, ruthless Klaus Adler (Götz Otto) and idealistic Renate Richter (Julia Dietze), travel to Earth to prepare the invasion and meet with the United States President (Stephanie Paul). As the Nazis ready the Earth for invasion, the Moon Nazi UFO armada darkens the skies ready to strike at the unprepared Earth.

Iron Sky was much more bizarre than I expected. I wanted to see a silly action movie with a ridiculous and funny set of villains. While invading Moon Nazis are certainly silly enough to make even the nations they are targeting laugh, the humor was fairly intelligently written and well executed. There are three things that stood out most to me about Iron Sky; the references to other movies, the CGI effects, and the political mocking of the US.

Iron Sky referenced several other Nazi films and some sci-fi films. 2001: A Space Odyssey and Independence Day come to mind. There is a scene where The President's assistant yells at her subordinates in nearly a shot-for-shot reference to the scene in Downfall that became a hugely popular online meme involving a re-dub of Hitler ranting at his key officers. There's also a reference to Dr. Strangelove where James Washington is wheeled out in a wheelchair and tries to keep himself from saluting the Führer. Some of the movies referenced are foreign films making the reference and humor the scene is striving for may be lost on some American viewers who haven't seen them.

While I do enjoy foreign films, I haven't come across many that had particularly good CGI effects. Even though I loved Pan's Labyrinth, some of the CGI was subpar. The space battles in Iron Sky were impressive. The space ships were detailed and looked great. Scenes on the moon involved a lot of green screen with CGI rendered backgrounds. The camera work intentionally tried to captivate the old filming style that was used in during World War II. While you could endlessly argue about the physics behind several scenes, it's the detail of the scenes that makes them pretty solid. Just forget the physics and enjoy the fun action sequences!

Iron Sky is a sci-fi political comedy. How often to do see that genre mash up? Interesting were the numerous political jokes about The United States from the perspective of other countries. It's not just making fun of republicans or democrats; it's making fun of American politics on the whole. The unnamed President of the United States is an amalgamation of several US political figures. She has the Texas drawl of President W. Bush, the campaign slogan and posters of President Obama, the appearance and ditzy mannerisms of Governor Sara Palin, along with several negative American stereotypes. Of course Madam President is thrilled by the Moon Nazi invasion because "Presidents who start wars always get reelected. I thought I was going to have to bomb Australia or something." The movie overtly suggests that Americans have been guilty of the Nazi-like notion of taking over other countries by force for the sake of making said countries better. I didn't particularly like that suggestion, but I honestly can't think of a good argument against it. Iron Sky takes many jabs at American politics, but does so with witty and intelligent humor.

Iron Sky is full of some good and bad qualities. The story was full of holes, but it doesn't take itself so seriously that it's a problem; the acting was pretty bad in some parts, but the depiction of the Nazis is admirable; a good portion of the script was unimpressive, but it had some fairly intelligent humor and satire incorporated into it; the ending was pretty weak, but still remained fun. The humor is pretty dark at times, but still funny. I'd compare the humor style to that of  Dr. Strangelove. The concept is great, the movie is just okay, and the humor pretty good. There's a notable amount of profanity and F-bombs which I didn't appreciate, it seemed to be there only to earn a higher movie rating. If you can ignore the profanity, it's a great political satire that is worth seeing, but not quite good enough to own a copy for multiple viewings unless you really get a kick out of the idea of Moon Nazis.

Here's the trailer for Iron Sky. Don't tell me that doesn't look at least a little bit fun.

What's your favorite fictional group of Nazis? Space Nazis? Zombie Nazis? HYDRA from Captain America?  I've seen a couple different rendition of the go-to villain organization. Which one is your favorite? Comment below and tell me why!

Teddy Bear Movie Review

I heard about a foreign film through the grapevine last year which caught my attention. It's about a bodybuilder trying to find love. That alone sounded intriguing since we don't imagine those beefcakes are ever at a loss for female companionship. Teddy Bear (2012) foreign film from Denmark, it's written and directed by Mads Matthiesen, it's his first full length movie, and is based on Matthiesen's 2007 short film.

38-year-old bodybuilder Dennis (Kim Kold) would really like to find true love. He has never had a girlfriend and lives with his mother (Elsebeth Steentoft) in a suburb of Copenhagen. When Dennis's uncle Bent marries a girl from Thailand, Dennis decides to try his luck on a trip to Pattaya. Dennis knows his mother would never accept another woman in his life, so he lies and tells her that he is going to Germany for a competition. Dennis has never been out traveling before and hectic Pattaya is a huge culture shock for him. The intrusive Thai girls bruise Dennis' naive picture of what love should be like, and he is about to lose hope when he unexpectedly meets a very kind Thai woman named Toi (Lamaiporn Hougaard). They hit it off well, but Dennis dreads what may happen if his mother finds out the truth.

There are so many interesting aspects of this story. Generally, stories that revolve around someone seeking love usually feature a woman making an almighty struggle to find the right man to fill the void in her life, occasionally while being urged on by an impatient mother who wants grandbabies. Here the story revolves around the man simply seeking meaningful companionship, not necessarily sex. Men do want relationships, too, but social norms and gender roles tend to dictate that it's much more important to women. This story is honest enough to challenge traditional story tropes and do something unique.

Often to make a romance story more palatable to a broader range of viewers , they add "comedy" to the genre tag. This makes the story even less interesting since many "romantic-comedies" are so similar they are almost indistinguishable. I keep saying romance, but this movie is more of a drama. Yes, there are humorous bits and a few romantic scenes, but overall it's about Dennis taking a leap of faith to try to find fulfillment and keeping his overbearing mother at bay.

Dennis is such a good character. He is an enormous man who is 308 pounds of muscle. While at the Gym or at competitions he is in his element. Socially, especially when on a date, he is a very shy and awkward man. The movie doesn't have the comical elements revolve exclusively around Dennis' inability to talk to women as most romantic-comedies do; everything about the character is meaningfully done. Kold really is a professional bodybuilder, and even with his lack of acting skills he manages to bring a genuine sweetness to a fairly unique, gentle giant of a character. He's such an unconventional character that it's hard not do like him.

Dennis is a gentle giant seeking love.

Dennis discovers that "easy to find love in Thailand" actually means it's very easy to get a prostitute in Thailand. Dennis isn't after sex at all, and is very much put off by the prostitutes who try to get under his clothes. The movie had a lot of great potential to explore the differences between love and sex, but seemed satisfied to simply establish the fact that there is a difference. It's a bit of a wasted potential, but it doesn't make the movie less enjoyable. Teddy Bear does lean a bit towards being about sex tourism, but doesn't actually do it. There is no nudity or sex scenes. The movie is about finding love, not about getting laid.

Teddy Bear is really a pretty good movie. It has some issues with unnecessary shaky camera work and being a bit slow paced at times, but that's the worst I can say about it. It's got a unique spin on stories about seeking love and a unique character that you can't help but get drawn into. The languages in Teddy Bear include Danish, English, and Thai. There are sub-captions for the non-English speakers; that shouldn't put viewers off too much since roughly one third of the movie is in English. As an independent foreign film it is not rated, but if I were in charge of the world it would safely lie in the PG-13 area. If you're interested in movies that challenge social constructs of love or are a fan of foreign films, this is definitely one to catch. It won't appeal to everyone, but I think it's worth renting.

What movies have you seen that challenged social norms and gender roles? Are there particularly good ones worth seeing? Comment below and let us know!

Hanna Movie Review

I like genre blending stories. They can juxtapose storytelling tropes that ordinarily wouldn’t go together and by proximity they take on a new, interesting quality. Shaolin Soccer, for example, combined a sports movie with a Kung Fu movie and made a very extraordinary and entertaining movie. Hanna (2011) combined the cat-and-mouse chase spy movie with subtle elements of a fairy tale, giving us a fascinating movie.

Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) is a unique teenage girl. She has the strength, stamina, and the smarts of a soldier. These skills come from being raised by her father, Erik (Eric Bana) an ex-CIA man, in the wilds of Finland. Living a life unlike any other teenager, her upbringing and training have been one and the same; all geared to making her a perfect assassin. The turning point in her adolescent life is a sharp one; sent out into the world by her father on a mission, Hanna Journeys stealthily across Europe while eluding agents dispatched after her by a ruthless intelligence operative, Marissa Wiegler (Cate Blanchett). But as Hanna nears her target, she is faced with startling revelations about her existence and some disturbing questions about her humanity.

Hanna is a foreign film; a British-German action thriller with some subtle fairy tale qualities to it. These aren’t really overt; they are just subtle enough to make you think of a fairy tale allegory while enjoying some great action scenes. You can imagine a young princess being raised secluded from dangers in the world by her father, you can picture the prowling big bad wolf henchman who is stalking the innocent little girl as she travels through a strange environment, you can also easily picture Marissa as the wicked step mother wanting to stop the young princess, or even kill her. Even Hanna’s character is like a blend of Black Widow from The Avengers and Rapunzel from Disney’s Tangled. She’s a highly intelligent killing machine that exhibits a naïve sense of awe and wonder as she explores the world she has been cut off from. There isn’t really any magic or fantasy element in Hanna; it really is an action spy movie. But the beautifully subtle parallels to some of Grimm’s cautionary tales are hard to ignore.

The action sequences were remarkably well shot and choreographed. There was no real shaky cam to obscure the action; everything was meaningfully filmed and gave us a very clear image of what was happening. The director, Joe Wright, proves to us that action doesn’t need to be mindless. Even during scenes that are largely CGI and no actual human bodies are present, they are still well choreographed, making some truly beautiful action scenes.

There were a few times when the camera is following Hanna as she leaps, crawls, and flips around obstacles and she simply disappears from the shot and then turns a corner back into the same shot. It develops Hanna’s character by showing us that she is thinking a step or two ahead of us and is faster than our eye can keep up with. In several scenes in the movie, there were very long, sweeping shots that were remarkably well filmed. In one instance, Eric is arriving at an airport and the camera follows him from the terminal to a subway without any cuts. As we watch him walk from different angles we see CIA agents obscured from his vision but not from ours as they close in on him. The cinematography really is impressive in Hanna and it keeps it interesting.

A lot of action movies (and fairy tale movies for that matter) have over-the-top fantasy violence. Has anyone ever thought a James Bond movie was realistic? Hanna remains pretty well grounded, though, especially when she repeatedly encounters an ordinary British family on vacation. The family has a daughter named Sophie (Jessica Barden) who is probably the first girl her age that Hanna has ever met, and Sophie’s family is the first normal family she has ever seen. Scenes with the family are usually humorous, but it adds a touch of reality to the story that keeps the movie from going too far overboard in its own action-based exuberance.

As foreign films go, Hanna was quite good. The only bad thing I can say about it is it left a few loose ends unresolved. I didn’t get the feeling it was hoping for a sequel, but if the movie had gone maybe 5 more minutes to establish just a little more closure, it would have been perfect. There’s still something disquieting about a little girl who has been made into a ruthless killing machine; that alone says something about our views of gender roles. How would we have felt if Hanna was a 16-year-old boy?  Still, it’s great to see a strong female protagonist in a lead role. I liked Hanna, and I recommend seeing it. I didn’t love it enough to want my own copy, but it was well worth renting. Also, you should watch more foreign films.

What is your favorite cat-and-mouse style chase movie? Is it a spy movie like James Bond? Is it a sci-fi action movie like Predator? Comment below and tell me all about it!

Shaolin Soccer Movie Review

I’ve said it before, and I’ll probably say it again; Americans should watch more foreign films. I still think most Americans are scared off by having to put forth the effort to read subtitles. Get over yourself and watch a good foreign film! I suggest seeing Shaolin Soccer (2001).  Shaolin Soccer is the top-grossing action comedy in Hong Kong history, and was a big hit in 2002 Toronto film festival. And with good reason; it’s hysterical! Stephen Chow co-wrote, directed, and stars in this movie that blend of sports, action, and humor.

Sing (Stephen Chow) is a modern-day Shaolin monk who is a master of traditional fighting skills. He’s renowned for his “leg of steel” techniques. But there just isn’t much need for a Shaolin warrior these days. He and his fellow monks earn their keep working menial jobs. One day Sing meets an old, washed-out soccer player, Fung (Ng Man Tat), with a desire to coach a soccer team that will win the championship. The two decide to combine Fung’s soccer knowledge with Sing’s Kung Fu expertise and take on the Hong Kong open cup competition. They gather Sing’s fellow Shaolin brothers, each with their own martial arts technique, and form Team Shaolin. Sing meets a nice young lady named Mui (Vicki Zhao), a baker with severe acne who uses T’ai Chi to make steamed sweet buns. Sing tries to help her gain confidence and come out of her shell. As Team Shaolin climbs the tournament roster they draw ever closer to facing Team Evil which is owned by the malicious Hung (Patrick Tse).

This movie is just hilarious. It’s rife with slapstick nonsense, goofy situations, ridiculous action reminiscent of anime shows like Dragonball Z, and some ironic use of melodrama that parodies old Kung Fu films. Shaolin Soccer is silly, but it’s a high-quality silly that I don’t see in comedy movies very often.

The story is simple and easy to follow. It’s even predictable here and there. As soon as you see the pizza-faced Mui, you know she’ll be a stunning beauty before the end of the film. The role she ultimately plays in the overall story isn’t anticipated, though. It’s also unexpected that Sing manages to get seven soccer players from his former monastic order to form a team. The movie’s opening scene involves a young Fung in his prime as a soccer hero getting his leg broken by Hung. Hung now rules the soccer world and owns Team Evil (that right, Team Evil). We know Fung is going to teach Hung a lesson, we know Team Shaolin is going to face Team Evil, and we know that Sing will get a chance to show the world how useful Kung Fu is. But we get to those points in unpredictable ways.

I’m not a sports person, but even I know these aren’t the actual rules for soccer. The silly humor and action is what’s driving the movie, not the sports drama. Players leap high into the air, performing impossible acrobatic stunts before kicking the ball. It reminded me more of the Quidditch games Harry Potter plays than it did soccer. Thanks to their martial arts training the ball is kicked so hard it catches fire as it flies through the air, sometimes digging grooves in the ground as it goes. It’s a whole lot like superheroes trying to play a game of soccer and causing the whole thing to get way out of hand. It’s not realistic at all, but the movie isn’t taking itself so seriously that this mockery of Newtonian physics ends up being entertaining rather than distracting or annoying.

Foreign comedies don’t always do well in other countries since humor is usually specific to the culture it came from; some comedy nuance gets lost in translation. Not so in Shaolin Soccer. It is full of surprises; from a ridiculous musical number, to the team of female soccer players trying to pose as men simply by wearing obviously fake Snidely Whiplash-style moustaches. Even with a few crude jokes thrown in, I think it’s probably safe for audience’s age eight and up. The humor is comical and unrelenting, and the action is ridiculous and fun. Of course I highly recommend seeing it in its original Chinese with English subtitles, but an English dubbed version is also available on the DVD for viewers who aren’t able to read as quickly. If you enjoy over the top physical comedy, you’ll love Shaolin Soccer. I recommend seeing it at least once. It’s worth owning if this is your style of humor.

Have you seen a really good foreign comedy? What was it and what made it so funny? Comment below and tell me all about it!

The Secret of Kells Movie Review

It seems that a lot of people think that animated movies are targeted exclusively towards small children, and consider all animated movies to be “Disney Movies.” Disney doesn’t have a monopoly on animated movies, nor are animated movies exclusively intended for small children. It’s so nice to come across a good animated movie that is not made by Disney, Warner Brothers, or Dream Works. Such movies are hard to come by, but are worth searching for more often than not. The Irish-French-Belgian foreign film The Secret of Kells (2009) was a great find!

The story is set in the eighth century and gives a fictionalized account of the creation of the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript of the four Gospels in Latin. Abbot Cellach (Brendan Gleeson) is obsessed with building a protective wall around the early-Christian Abbey of Kells to protect it from marauding Viking raiders. When master illuminator (an old term for illustrator) Aidan of Iona (Mick Lally) arrives at the monastery, Abbot’s young nephew Brendan (Evan McGuire) is fascinated by Aidan and the unfinished book he brings with him. Aidan allows Brendan to help work on the book by sending Brendan beyond the walls of the Abbey and into the forest beyond to collect a specific kind of berries to make brilliant green ink. Having never set foot outside the Abbey walls, Brendan becomes lost. He is rescued by a fairy girl named Aisling (Christen Mooney) who helps him along the way. With barbarian Vikings closing in, can Brendan’s determination and artistic vision illuminate the darkness, and show that enlightenment is the best fortification against evil?

This really is a neat story. It’s brimming with Irish legend and mythology. Several characters and places were real people and location. Look up Abby of Kells and the Book of Kells; they really do exist. Aidan of Iona was also a real person. Even Aidan’s pet cat, Pangur Bán, is based on an old Irish poem written by a monk about his cat. Stick around during the closing credits, a verse from this poem is read. Brendan has to face Crom Cruach, deity of Irish mythology whose worship is said to have been ended by St. Partick. Aisling is a forest spirit with abilities drawn from Irish fairy tales. There’s so much culture and history imbued within the story, and it makes the movie fascinating! It reminds me of an Irish version of Disney’s Mulan (1998) which was heavily based on Chinese legend and mythology.

Since The Book of Kells is essentially the first four Gospels of the New Testament, the movie had ample opportunity to become religious and preachy. I could see that not settling well with some viewers. Really, the only religious elements in the movie are some crosses seen around the monastery. The content of Aidan’s book isn’t even specifically discussed, but is established to be important for enlightenment though not the Christian religious creed specifically. The movie focused on the history and mythology, not religiosity.

I cannot speak highly enough about the animation in this film. It has stylized 2-D animation overflowing with fascinating little detail. The real Book of Kells is teeming with decorations in the margins, and I think the animators tried to capture that style in The Secret of Kells. The colors are brilliant and the details were astonishing. Many scenes had patterned borders that are magnificent to look at. There are some scenes that are so captivating that I became annoyed when the scene changed because I wasn’t done looking at the pretty images! The animation is art that is meant to be admired, not merely to express a story through visuals.

The Secret of Kells was so good. It was graphically stunning and so captivating to watch. The story is highly interesting and heralds back to old mythologies, legends, and real world histories. I’d love to get a copy of this on Blu-Ray. Young children as well as mature adults will enjoy this film, I’m sure. The humor and action coupled with the stunning animation will surely captivate audiences of all ages.

Watch the trailer and see how stunning this animation is in action.

What are some legends or mythologies that you would love to see used in a movie? Comment below and tell me all about it!

Troll Hunter Movie Review

I think it is unfortunate that so many Americans do not watch foreign films. Pan’s Labyrinth (El Laberinto Del Fauno, 2006) is a Spanish favorite of mine. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) was cinematographically a good film, but I didn’t care much for it. I suspect most Americans are scared off by having to put forth the effort to read subtitles. That could explain why there are English-speaking American remakes of successful foreign films such as Let Me In (2010), The Invisible (2007), and Quarantine (2008). Unfortunately, the foreign independent film Troll Hunter (Trolljegeren, 2010) has a similarly scheduled fate due to be released in 2014.

A group of Norwegian film students, Thomas (Glenn Erland Tosterud), Johanna (Johanna Mørck), and their camera-man Kalle (Tomas Alf Larsen) set out to make a documentary about a suspected bear poacher named Hans (Otto Jespersen) who spends his nights prowling the Norwegian countryside in a Land Rover which has disquieting scratches all over it. Hans eventually concedes to allow them to tag along, but what the students discover is that the Norwegian government employs troll hunters (such as Hans) to destroy the beastlike trolls that venture too far from their allotted territory and threaten the environment and power pylons. The four of them decide that people have the right to know that trolls exist and change the focus of the documentary project to that of revealing a complex government cover up; they don’t want the public to know about trolls.

I thought Troll Hunter was a very creative film. I absolutely love the idea of fantasy creatures existing in a modern world setting. The trolls in this movie have a heavy basis in classic Norwegian fairy tale. They are big and hairy, can smell the blood of Christians, some have multiple heads, and they all have huge noses that would put Richard Nixon to shame. There is even an encounter with a troll under a bridge, probably one of my favorite scenes. They are beastly monsters that are fun to see on the screen; they herald back to the fantasy creatures you may be familiar with, but are depicted in a kind of a scary, “grownup” way.

Troll Hunter is a “found footage” mockumentary, and thus filmed in queasy-cam. What you see on screen is what Kalle is capturing with his camera. Since Kalle is running away from ferocious trolls, there is a lot of camera shaking. This is essentially the same camera technique that was popularized by The Blair Witch Project (1999). I was really worried that I would get motion sick watching this movie, since I can’t even stomach first-person shooter video games. But I was just fine. If I, and my periodic motion sickness, can stomach Troll Hunter, surely it wouldn’t give you much trouble.

The found footage mockumentary “genre” is often used by low budget horror films. It is a clever ruse to keep the audience from seeing anything in much detail, which gives the film crew an excuse to not spend the money to create much detail in their visuals. It was fairly obvious that Troll Hunter was a low budget film, but the special effects for the trolls was uncanny! They looked so lifelike and believable. Unlike most films in this genre, you get to see lots of the monsters. This movie doesn’t shy away from showing you the trolls, which is good. Why else would you watch this movie? Aside from the fantastic troll effects, the Norwegian forest and mountain scenery in the movie is just gorgeous. I’m ready to go visit.

I recommend seeing Troll Hunter. It’s not a classic for the ages, but it was certainly enjoyable. It has a bit of a slow start, but everything in the movie is significant to the plot. With a rating of PG-13, it’s probably not a fantasy movie to watch with a younger audience, but pretty good for a teenage and adult audience who can keep up with the subtitles. Make sure you watch this before you see the 2014 remake; English-speaking American remakes are rarely as good as the original foreign films on which they are based.