painted skin: the resurrection (2012). directed by wuershan.

there's some interesting visual style, but the story is erratic. the story telling is not interesting enough and i don't find the actors compelling. feels like watching those crap malay movies i just can't get my head around. 

man on the moon (1999). directed by milos forman.

we were tossing between lars von trier's antichrist (2009) and this film. my brother promised to pass von trier's film as he said that movie is no-no for family viewing.  

man on the moon is not an easy viewing either. not that i expected anything vanilla, but still, if not for milos forman (amadeus (1984), one flew over the cuckoo's nest (1975)), it could be more incoherent. 

it is because of the subject matter - the chameleon-like-but-not-really-funny andy kaufman? his kind of funnies is not really funny in the strictest sense - i am no comedian because he seems to have a cult following - the kind of hoaxes he did challenges what funny means - and what matters is that he finds them funny, it doesn't have to be everyone's cup of tea. 

or, it is due to the story telling the story adopts? it is not as linear as the life and death of peter sellers (2004) as we were shown various facets of seller's life - as the gifted immature selfish comedian to the immature selfish son and husband that he was. there's not a lot of air time for andy kaufman as a person outside his comedian role, perhaps not enough his known about his personal life, or that he wears his role outside his professional life. 

my brother, my gf and i were weirded out of our wits. may be that's the whole point - the guy is baffling and there is no keeping up with him. 

the help (2011). directed by tate taylor.

think of mean girls (2004) 60's style. these women are bitchy. a bunch of racists to their maids, and intolerant of others who are a tad different from them. the queen bee's motto, played with malicious perfection by bryce dallas howard, separate but equal. that refers to the outdoor toilets reserved for the coloured maids, which pretty much applies to everything else from cutlery to not being visible at all. 

it's a good story but it's a vanilla way to describe the horrendous treatment received by african americans at that time. and it was the 60's, mind you, which is really not that far off from recent times. 

the ninth gate (1999). directed by roman polanski.

it's a pleasure to see the master at work. by that i mean polanski. good directors don't need stupid shock factors and over the top special effects - they can deliver a good film simply with a good script and good acting. 

this two things isn't to be underestimated. many just can't work with just these two. 

the subject matter could easily become silly and corny at the hands of a lesser talented director, but polanski delivered something supernaturally creepy. there is no apparition of the ju-on: the grudge (2002) kind, but i was genuinely scared. thank goodness i watched it with other people otherwise i would have screamed. the premise is simple, what it takes to be a devoted servant of God is essentially the same qualities required if you were to serve, say, the Prince of Darkness himself. 

are you up for the ride, now?

detachment (2011). directed by tony kaye.

anyone who says teaching is a passion is dead wrong. these teachers are suffering. teaching kids today just isn't what it used to be. they are rude, have no sense of curiosity let alone learning, and to top all that is having to deal with the parents - which is a hundred times worse than the students themselves. this is not an easy profession. 

the last i heard tony kaye made anything remotely famous was american history x (1998). if he got his way like he did with this film, history would be far more potent - and it already is. imagine that.