Change Your Image
cpurves
Reviews
An Education (2009)
Enjoyable but thin
While I agree with the other reviewers about the excellence of the acting and the cleverness of the dialogue, I left the theatre feeling how thin so many movies are these days. The plot was straightforward and basically simple. Apart from the wonderful speech from the father at her closed door, there was little development of character or texture to the story. Obviously the Jenny character came up against some painful realizations but she wasn't given much opportunity to develop them. The references to Rachman (remember him?) and John Piper (David's 'friend' mentions that he just bought a painting of his) were a nice touch. It was showing us the incredibly repressive nature of English society just before the Beatles exploded and 'swinging London' emerged.
Revanche (2008)
One of the finest movies of the year, or the past 5 Imho
No need to recap the plot as so many of you have already done so. What was interesting to me, along with the excellence of the photography, great naturalistic acting, lack of portentous music (what a relief), was the psychological portrayal of guilt. Who felt guilt for their actions, who did not. Obviously the piggy brothel owner felt none. The policeman was painfully racked by guilt...his panic attack was brilliant, the best I have seen portrayed in a movie. Then, the scene by the pond when the guilt was transferred to Alex was intensely moving, I thought. Even though Alex had tried to dissuade Tamara from joining him on the bank job, he was clearly shaken by Alex's unknowing accusation.
Susanne's character was also nuanced — someone who was a rescuer (in a good way), her attempts to protect her husband while also getting what she wanted, were compelling.
This, for me, has been one of the better movies of the year. Highly recommended.