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psmithbell
Reviews
Secondhand Hearts (2017)
96 minutes I will never get back
I gave it two stars for being short. It has the pastel aura of a Hallmark film, with the plot coherence of Eraserhead. The acting is poor, and all but the Emily character seem as if they got their parts through nepotism. When you have an unmemorable actor in the male lead, you wonder if he is also the producer/writer. How else would he get that part? Emily is the most interesting, though she wears a Mona Lisa Smile throughout. Maybe she knows the audience is being punked and is amused. Ben has no redeeming qualities, and that two women desire him, seems improbable. You kind of sort of want him and Emily to get together, but he's a skunk and so is the younger sister, so it sort of makes sense they end up together. But that leaves Emily in a platonic marriage with her BFF. I have no idea what the writer was going for here, unless it is autobiographical.
The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011)
More than a chronicle
This is not just an in-depth study of cinema, it is comprised of lushly edited into idiosyncratic segments rather than genres or a linear history. He compares the nuances of seemingly disparate films dialogically. It's almost lyrical. Partly because the narration is different than traditional documentary. The dialogue is almost poetically sung. There's an affection in the inflection that is worthy of the subject matter. Watch it in segments, giving yourself time to reflect on each one. I saw this over a period of three days at The Traverse City Film Festival and again on TV. I took film studies in art school in the 70's. I wish the instructor had such insight.
Market Value (2017)
Believable and absorbing
I kept wondering if this was a documentary. The characters were very believable. They did not over-act or add dramatic pauses, etc. I think this is how average people might react to events like these. The main character seems quite shy, and the kind of person that has high moral values but this event made her make hard choices, a child's welfare vs. breaking the law. Her wife showed a range of emotions, when finding out. Betrayal, fear, anger and love. The son kept his emotions closed off, as many teen boys might. The bio grandparents and their attorney played villain roles, that were more stereotyped and less believable. I wondered if this is a true story.
To the Wonder (2012)
One of the worst ever
I agree with other reviewers that this is exhaustingly boring. But worse, it seems to glorify shallow, unproductive people. These two supposedly 'fall in love' as evidenced by their acting like 3 year-olds (twirling, LOTS of twirling, running, scampering, and light PDA). And there are always carnival rides, right? SO cliché. The artsy presentation does NOT make up for the clichés. At least he has a job. She does NOTHING except twirl all daylong and play in the mud. She is pretty, and French so she seems to get away with this. She has no job, doesn't go to school, read, paint, meet new people, make her house into a home, nothing ....except twirl, flirt and rub herself like a cat on her man. Imagine if she were 88 or unattractive. How would this film seem then? I kept imagining her a a crone, still twirling and rubbing herself on men. Would this seem romantic? Deep? No, just sad. And she abandoned her daughter like a shallow person gives up pet. She has another child, and I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. HIs dad is in the US and his mom will soon rub herself on another temporary partner. What a bunch of baloney. The man is not much better, he has a job and it is implied that he has some moral misgivings about it, but he doesn't DO anything about it, and he also has zero interests beyond his waning interest in twirling women. He briefly dates a woman who has a little depth, she at least, has faith (and she doesn't twirl but does romp a bit). He dumps her without conscience . It would be different if this film was about the wastefulness of living an unexamined, unproductive life, but it seems to be about the sadness of unattainable perfect 'love'. Get a life. By the end of the film I just wanted to slap both of them into maturity. Real love is between two fully self-actualized developed people. Not toddlers.
Gözetleme Kulesi (2012)
Subtle, deep and intelligent
This is one of the rare films that has many levels. Rather than give obvious clues to the character development and motivation, this film lets the viewer work at discerning the motives behind the characters' actions. There is little dialogue and not much action, yet the film is compelling and never slow. It is one that leaves you thinking about it long after. In particular, I wondered how culture, gender, class or individual experiences instigated the plot line.