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GreenIsTheColor
Reviews
Beirut (2018)
Is it offensive? no. Is it great? no.
First, yes, the filmmakers could have been more considerate and filmed it in Beirut and hired local actors and crew if they wanted to truly pay homage to the city, but is it that despicable or offensive? Probably not. They might have made up for it by including all the clichés that the Lebanese folks like to hear and see, such as "ski in the morning, go to the beach in the afternoon, and party all night", and the girl in the bikini walking next to a veiled woman. And their over-simplified summation of the very complex nature of the conflicts seems to hold some truth and is probably just enough for the short attention span folk, who could only consume brief over-simplified summation.
But overall, the film is only slightly entertaining, the story is ok, nothing deep or moving, average suspense and action, but it's interesting how it's mixed up with the tragic events of the city, although most of them is made up.
Contratiempo (2016)
Not so believable
It starts as a potentially good thriller, but at some point, it starts dragging with one twist after the other, and the story becomes less enjoyable and much less believable (such as, ordinary folks with super spy capabilities, and supposedly smart people acting dumbly). I can understand why some would be wowed by this sort of twists and turns, but I've seen so many movies of the genre I'm not easily amazed. It's just adding twists for the sake of it, because that's what they do in these movies, in the hope of misleading the viewer (but it's not hard to predict the ending half way through). It's not terrible but I didn't fully enjoy it.
Vals (2014)
A WWII era Alps drama
I saw the film at the Montreal international film festival. The amount of films to chose from is massive, so my main attraction to this particular one is that it is set in WWII era Austria, in a remote village in the Alps. So my expectation was to see beautiful sceneries and old villages I would probably never get to see in person. And at this front, the film doesn't disappoint. It delivers the natural beauty of the Alps, and views of some very old houses in the valleys that, according to the director, actually still exist which allowed them keep a low production budget.
It follows the struggles of the residents of a little Alps valley village against their relentless winter, the effects of war, and the constant demands of the losing Nazis, in particular Rosa's struggle after the man she loves is taken to fight along with the German side, and the village's Nazi collaborator's bothersome pursuit of her attention.
The director, along with the lead actress, were present for a Q&A after the film presentation, and according to her, it is based on a real life story of a person she met, named Rosa, who actually went through the circumstances that are portrayed in the film.
One aspect was particularly confusing to us, strangers to the culture, and that's the woman in blue, some sort of a mythical creature that oversees the valley and the lives of its inhabitants. Her role is not very clear in the film at times, and she would just seem as a solitary recluse who inhabits an icy cave, and dresses up eccentrically like a snow queen. And she was indeed the subject of many questions to the director, who clarified that she was in fact part of Alpsian folklore.
All and all, it's a nice film to watch, even though some of the events might seem a bit pushed and under-developed, the beautiful shots and the performances make up for them.
The Lebanese Rocket Society (2012)
All in all, it's a good effort to document a piece of Lebanon's history otherwise forgotten.
We've got accustomed in recent years to documentaries being educational and entertaining at once, this film takes a crack at the latter, but falls short. The second half is a bit weak, as it follows the activities of the filmmakers, some current events, unrelated to the topic, and a far-stretched animated sequence of an imaginary future had this program never been aborted.
While this review is starting a bit negative, I'm actually glad to have watched the film. The educational side of the documentary is where it shines, as it unearths a story that no one of my generation knows about, and no one of the previous generations remembers. It brings to light a great amount of old photos and footages, of students, scientists and army men, experimenting with rocket launching, material that could been lost forever had no one looked for it. And most interestingly, the filmmakers locate some of the people who were involved, most of them in their late life now, and give them a chance to tell their accounts on film one last time, if not first, while they're still here.
8/10 cause, all in all, it's a good effort to document a piece of Lebanon's history otherwise forgotten.