Movie Mania

Watched Little Children, Notes on a Scandal, and Last King of Scotland today.

Went out with Stephen to Vivocity to catch Little Children in the afternoon. I like the seats and legroom of the cinema there. Went to grab a bite at Carl's Jr before watching the show. Among the batch of movies i watched today, i would pick Little Children as my favourite.

Little Children is about a young suburban housewife, Sarah (Kate Winslet), having difficulties coping with her demanding daughter as well as her pornographic addicted husband. She got acquainted with a young and handsome man, Brad (Patrick Wilson), whose wife (Jennifer Connelly) is the breadwinner of the family. Brad and Sarah commit adultery and both of them acquires an outlet to vent their inner frustrations and unhappiness in their own lives. Also, a paedophile has just been released from prison and his house is situated within the small neighbourhood.

This movie gives a very realistic take on life in general, the events that slowly unfold are strikingly similar to real life. What will you do if you are unhappy with your husband/wife? What if you feel that you are doing the same routine over and over again everyday and want to try something different? Will you do anything that will possibly break the marriage and cause your child to lose a parent? Some people try new things 'to make themselves feel alive again', while some choose to adhere to their normal routine. While the adultery-affair theme has been repeatedly protrayed in tv and movies for many years, this movie stands out on its own for being incredibly rational, intelligent and having a superb cast.

Kate Winslet and Patrick Wilson are perfectly cast as the leads with their suppressed lust for each other in the dawn of their friendship, their growing thirst for carnal desire when they got to know each other better, and finally their full blown hunger towards each other when the affair commences. Perhaps it sounds a little too exaggerated here but their acting is definitely first rate. Moral values are implicated as well with responsibilites to their own families. The side story on the paedophile is quite interesting as well with the rest of the world shunning him except his mother who is constantly by his side.

Little Children is a film that will make us ponder over lives' decisions and what we ultimately want in our lives.
****

After watching the movie, we walked around in vivocity for some time and i fetched Stephen to orchard area as he had an appointment with his friend in the evening. I was meeting Yining 9 pm at cine to watch Last King of Scotland and didn't have anything to do from 7 to 9 pm. Decided to stay at orchard and watch Notes on a Scandal in the meantime.

Notes on a Scandal is about an old and single schoolteacher, Barbara (Judi Dench), who is seemingly jealous of the beautiful and outgoing new art teacher, Sheba (Cate Blanchett) in the school. Turns out that she is interested in the young beauty instead. After helping Sheba resolve a fight between 2 students in her class, Barbara starts a friendship with Sheba and gets to know some of her marital woes and her wild past. Barbara accidentally stumbled upon the illicit dallyings between Sheba and a 15 year old student, and uses the scandalous matter to enhance her friendship with Sheba.

This movie deals with female homosexuality as well as the theme on adultery. The storyline is rather interesting and the dialogue is brutally honest with the narrative coming from Barbara's perceptions and thoughts. Barbara's loneliness is accutely depicted from Dame Judi Dench's acting. She longs for a long term companion who will share the rest of her remaining days with. Cate Blanchett protrays the unsettled teacher who needs some sparkle in her life with a husband who is 16 years her senior very well too.

The drama is riveting when the friendship hits boiling point and the consequences tragic. This film is a dark character study of Barbara and Sheba with memorable multi-layered performances.
***1/2

The Last King of Scotland is about a restless young Scottish doctor, Nick (James McAvoy) who is unsatisfied with his current life. He flies to Uganda to help out at a local hospital which has very basic equipment and facilities. An accident involving the Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker), results in friendship between the doctor and the dictator. Amin requests for Nick to be his personal doctor and promises him that he will be able to help millions of people with a new healthcare project. Nick gets swayed by the generous offer and he gradually begins to find out the horrific deeds that the Amin regime has commited. This movie is based on a true life story of the Ugandan dictator who killed more than 300,000 people in his regime.

Winner of many major awards in acting including Oscar Best Actor, Forest Whitaker is overwhelmingly convincing in his role as the dictator. In the beginning, he appears as a charismatic leader who is able to capture the audience's attention very well. His speeches to the locals are compelling, entertaining and uplifting. Slowly, he unravels his dark side and he secretly slays the opposition of his party as well as preventing Nick from returning to his home country. He is crazily obsessed with the power he controls and getting more and more disillusioned with the thoughts of people wanting to murder him.

The graphic slaying and torture of the people adds to the urgency of the matter as the rest of the world cannot do anything but watch the tragic events unfold. This film serves as a good history lesson that is propelled by great acting and the compelling storyline.
***1/2

Darn, i'm such a movie addict. Bad distributors for releasing so many good movies at the same time. I still wanna catch Volver, The Lives of Others, and Paris, Je T'aime although i think there is absolutely no time as i have to rush to do my projects and catch up on my tutorials.