Lonesome Jim -- USA/2005 -- Directed by Steve Buscemi

Jim (Casey Affleck) comes home to the small town of Goshen, Indiana, after failing to succeed in New York City and finds it’s just as drab and mundane as the day he left. But Steve Buscemi’s latest comic drama shows how small and mundane things can turn a life around.

I liked Trees Lounge a lot, so I was expecting good things from this one. Nope...it was really disappointing. It was like Garden State Lite. Same depressed twentysomething guy (substitute Casey Affleck for Zach Braff) living an unsuccessful life in a big city (sub NYC for LA). Guy reluctantly comes home (sub Indiana for New Jersey) to a family he can't stand and tries to avoid them as much as possible. Guy meets beautiful, cheerful, quirky girl (sub Liv Tyler for Natalie Portman) who gives his life some meaning. Guy decides he can't deal with his boring mundane life in his hometown and wants to leave. Slap on an ending that's equally as cliched as Garden State's.

(Don't get me wrong, I loved Garden State, just thought the ending was lame.)

Yeah, there were some differences. In Lonesome Jim, Jim's family is much bigger (mom, dad, older brother (played by Kevin Corrigan), two nieces, white trash drug dealing uncle), so there's more interaction with his family than with friends as in Garden State. And Liv Tyler's character is a single mom with a son (9 years old, maybe?), so Jim is dating the son right along with Liv, lol.

Meh. Steve Buscemi is capable of so much better.

Give it the DVD treatment. C


Machuca -- Chile/2004 -- Directed by Andres Wood

Acclaimed director Andres Wood (LOCO FEVER, FOOTBALL STORIES) offers a perceptive coming-of-age story of friendship, class struggle and social responsibility through the eyes of two 11-year-old boys from different classes. When political tensions escalate during the installation of the military junta in Chile in 1973, the boys’ friendship is tested.

Okay, you know what? It was a long weekend and I am TIRED. Too tired to give this excellent film the thought it deserves. I hope more of you will see it because I'd love to discuss it...when I'm less exhausted, lol.

In the meantime, check out this review. I agree with pretty much everything she says.

http://www.offoffoff.com/film/2005/machuca.php

I just have to say Matias Quer, the boy who plays Gonzalo aka "Strawberry Face," is so freakin' adorable it should be criminal. He reminds me of a pug, lol.

Seriously...If you're lucky enough to have this film come to your city, you'd damn well better go see it, or you risk facing my wrath. ;-) A+


Vital -- Japan/2004 -- Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto

Japanese indie favorite Tadanobu Asano (ZATOICHI, LAST LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE) stars as medical student Hiroshi, left amnesiac in a car accident that kills his girlfriend. Before the accident he was a drifter, unwilling to dedicate himself to his studies, much to the chagrin of his parents. Once amnesiac, he returns to university with obsessive zeal, drawn particularly to his anatomy class. But no matter how much he dedicates himself to school, he can’t stop dreaming about the girl he has unwittingly killed. Just when it seems like he might be getting his life back on track, as he develops a relationship with another student, the body on his dissection table starts looking suspiciously familiar. The more layers he dissects, the more his dream world starts to intrude on his life.

I liked it...I guess. I can't say Tadanobu Asano's performance was particularly remarkable because 99% of the time his face was just dead looking and mostly covered up by his scraggly hair. But it was supposed to be that way. *shrug*

The plot was pretty interesting up until the last third of it, when there was much more of Hiroshi's dream world and less of his reality as a medical student. In his dreams, his dead girlfriend had the habit of breaking into interpretive dances that made me want to bust out laughing. And then there was this creepy female classmate of his stalking him. That got tiresome.

I don't know...maybe it's because it was the last of three films yesterday and I was tired. I think I'll give it another chance when it hits DVD. For now it gets a C+.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

My diminutive DVD collection: http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.html?cat=1&id=kurlyswirl

I be Scrobblin': http://www.audioscrobbler.com/user/TasteeTreat/