Celluloid #17

In Home

After the Wedding (2007) Bier - A Celebration-like film about a family headed by a very wealthy and successful businessman, a melancholy man trying to get money to sustain an orphanage in India, and the strange ways that their lives have intersected in the past. Emotional, tense, but never cheesy. Highly recommended. 5/5

Better Luck Tomorrow (2003) Lin - Playing up a lot of stereotypes about Asians, this movie centers around a group of over-achieving, but bored high school students. Their boredom leads to petty theft, collusion, partying at first but later escalates to more violent events. 3.5/5

Face of Another (1966) Teshigahara - This film and the other film I have seen by Teshigahara (Woman in the Dunes) pretty much makes me want to watch everything this director has made. This film is about a man who has been in an accident that has scarred his face and left him in bandages, but is presented with an experimental opportunity to have a new face in the form of a realistic mask. Tons of interesting commentary on identity. 5/5

Mahanagar (1963) Ray - A Bengali family is struggling to make ends meet, so the wife decides to take a job as a saleswoman. Her decision is controversial because her family is pretty conservative and thinks she is responsible for many of the household duties. On top of that, she is really good at her job, and her husband ends up losing his job causing the traditional roles to shift somewhat. 4.5/5

Walkabout (1971) Roeg - Another weirdo film from Roeg. This time a family appears to be going on a picnic in the Australian outback when the father starts shooting at his two children and after missing them, lights himself and his car on fire. All of the sudden the kids are left alone in the middle of nowhere and have to find their way to civilization somehow. 4/5

In News

* A new Danny Boyle film should be coming out soon called Slumdog Millionaire about an Indian teenager who goes on a game show to prove his love to a girl

* Ewan McGregor is working on a shitload of stuff including Amelia (about Amelia Earhart), I Love You Phillip Morris (with Richard Gere), Ron Howard/Dan Brown vehicle Angels & Demons, Men Who Stare at Goats (with Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey, & Clooney), a film with Ben Kingsley called Number 13, something called The Great Pretender and I, Lucifer all of that, and he just recovered from a bout of (very treatable) cancer