intriguing...

Le Concert

This movie's plot piqued my interest that I went ahead to watch it without understanding any of the dialogue in its trailer. Le Concert is a French film which sets in Russia, on a janitor of the historic Bolshoi Grand Theater - Andrei Filipov.

Andrei, once regarded the greatest conductor in Russia, was the Maestro of the Bolshoi orchestra thirty years ago. During one of the performances at the height of his career, he was fired and accused of being a traitor for refusing to abandon his Jewish musicians in the same orchestra. That performance was thus disrupted halfway and they never got to perform the Violin Concerto in D major by Tchaikovsky, the Russian composer whose works Andrei is so passionate about, again.

Now a cleaner there, he happened to be cleaning the Bolshoi's director's room when he saw a fax from France's prestigious Chatelet Theater, inviting the current orchestra to perform there. Seeing this as an opportunity to perform once again, he gathered his old musician friends who are now having menial jobs and attempt to pass them off as the Bolshoi orchestra.

Minus the part about the performance being disrupted and the naming of the musical piece, this is what I interpret from the synopsis and trailer. However, I was in for a surprise as this story delves much deeper. Beneath the surface of a madcap comedy portrayed by Andrei's friends is a surprising tragedy and truth that connects everyone of them together.

It helps if you possess some knowledge on the stereotypical representations of Russians and Jews to get the humor but I feel that it just takes an audience who's willing to read deeper into what's shown to 'feel' for the characters here. Even though the middle part of this movie starts to lose some vitality, the ending with le concert makes up for all that it lacks with a brilliant performance of the Tchaikovsky's piece which I feel is like an explosive burst of the whole orchestra's sentiments throughout the thirty years.

The Hurt Locker

In the war-torn Iraq of 2004, terrorism is rife. Bombs can be found anywhere, even in the most inconspicuous plastic bags at the roadside amidst the rubble of what might once had been a wall at the nearby building.

In The Hurt Locker, we see the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit of the US Army is tasked with the perilous mission of defusing these bombs in this hostile landscape.

I may give the idea that I know a lot about this film before I watched it, but I don't. I usually 'do my homework' on movies before I choose to catch them, but in this case, I watched it without knowing anything except a vague description of "many explosions" from my bf.

Which is why it came as a pleasant surprise for me to watch this fabulous movie.

"Real and raw" is what I would describe this dramatization of urban warfare. I love how cinematographer Barry Ackroyd seizes your utmost attention (& panic for me) as he seamlessly weaves the critical scenes into one great film. By capturing both the macro and micro angles, he not only shows tension, but emphasizes on it while adding the 'real' element in it.

Director Kathryn Bigelow does a great job at depicting the insecurity and life of the three soldiers in the Bravo company. This documentary-like film portrays how their daily missions there is like a huge gamble they make on their lives well everyday by just carrying on with their tasks.

This gripping movie has won me over with its brilliant cinematography in fifteen minutes. 116 minutes later, I walked out of the cinema as a fan.