monkey see, monkey do serves as a personal blog and creative outlet for
short movie reviews
here are a few more quick movie reviews.
the russian film come and see (idi i smotri) i thought was both thrilling and haunting. a story about the russian towns overrun during world war two, the story follows a young boy joining the partisans and the horror that he witnesses. The film has been uploaded to youtube in pieces. (warning: this movie is quite disturbing and graphic; and anti-german)
two other russian films, Night Watch (Nochnoy Dozor) and Day Watch (Dnevnoi Dozor) are action films with interesting visual and artistic styles. i wouldn’t give them strong recommendations but found them entertaining. almost mainstream in their simple vampire versus angel / good versus evil story line. they’re interesting in how the story is told. the main character attempts to be more complex and ambiguous but the story doesn’t give that much room to evolve.
then a german film, though the only dialog is in french and latin, is Into Great Silence (Die Große Stille) a documentary about the Carthusian order of Catholic monastics. It’s a stunning film, visually and contemplatively, with footage of the alps. But it’s not for the faint of heart: nearly three hours long and almost entirely in silence. if you have a meditation practice i strongly recommend it no matter your faith tradition. the director philip gröning captures the deep joy of simplicity.
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1. March 2008 at 6:43 am :
I’ve been wanting to see Day Watch for a while. It sort of fell off my radar, though. I liked Night Watch, but found it somewhat confusing at times though very pretty. I should move DW up in my queue just so I can see the “end” (though I may need to rewatch NW because it’s been so long).
1. March 2008 at 7:40 am :
Romantic:
Paris Je T’aime(2006)
Once(2007)
Historical/Action:
Tunnel, Der(2001)
Rescue Dawn(2007)
1. March 2008 at 9:16 am :
z: I think Day Watch was better than Night Watch, worth seeing it if you’ve seen the first. I found the way the first leaves you hanging, feeling that the main character screwed up and there will be no resolution slightly irritating. The second movie resolves that somewhat.
Thanks, Lisa! One of those had piqued my curiosity recently. Also because it’s available on itunes which is *so* convenient. Don’t even have to leave the house for a movie anymore, though the list of available films is short still.
1. April 2008 at 8:51 am :
Come and See was disturbing. It was too disturbing for me to ever rate highly. It made me think that Germans were all ‘Evil’ monsters, and there was no relief from that thought through the entire movie.
Have you seen The Cuckoo(Kukushka)? It’s good.
1. April 2008 at 9:37 am :
I agree, the einsatzcommando units were portrayed in that film as completely evil monsters. though that particular part of history seems to affirm that, the einsatzgruppen did go from town to town exterminating people. the use of gas chambers to kill civilians cheeper and faster was something they developed. evil, though exterminating people one conquers seems to be a not too uncommon feature of history.
1. April 2008 at 9:41 am :
haven’t seen kukushka, but i did see Rukajärven tie (Ambush) which is from the finnish point of view. it was quite interesting to see a movie from the finnish view, since they were allied with the germans. that movie is a sort of more raw / less spielberg “saving private ryan”.
1. April 2008 at 9:57 am :
“completely evil monsters, though that particular part of history seems to affirm that”
Really? Hm; sources please. I tried the wiki link, but it didn’t say anything about there being monsters around back then.
I just really found it disturbing and didn’t want to watch it the whole way through, but forced myself. One-sided historical movies disturb me. I feel like they’re propaganda, in a way.
1. April 2008 at 10:24 am :
oh, definitely has a propoganda quality and is one sided for sure. i also found it quite disturbing. perhaps i should add a warning to my review above about how disturbing it is.
1. April 2008 at 12:36 pm :
Damn those Germans, my ancestors included.
1. April 2008 at 12:43 pm :
i think i’m culturally german, if not genetically. when i got off a plane in frankfurt i was surrounded by people who appreciated a good gray and black outfit, had the same kind of stoicism with strangers, and generally loved specificity. i was quite surprised. who knew i was really german?
1. April 2008 at 7:00 pm :
Not I.
My great-great grandfather was German. Their name was Krashinska(sp?), I guess that sounds German. My dad’s dad was Irish though — Kilpatrick.
I don’t think I’m culturally anything most of the time. Sorry I inadvertently cursed your people.
1. April 2008 at 10:30 pm :
kilpatrick eh? i’m mostly Irish. good people.
2. April 2008 at 7:05 am :
Yes. Supposedly, I killed St. Patrick in Elementary school. Catholic school humor.
Did you know they used to call the Irish ‘monkeys’? Americans once had a derogatory name for every ethnicity and ‘monkey’ was the Irish version. So, you’re an Irish Monkey See, Monkey Do, then?
2. April 2008 at 11:28 am :
http://www.victorianweb.org/history/race/Racism.html