There's something about belgium movies. Being from the Netherlands I always get a bit jealous. Why isn't it possible for our country to produce some descent films?
Anyway, this movie is another belgium masterpiece.
Giving away the ending would be lame, so I just say this to the people who haven't seen it yet: it is worth the wait.
Aaltra is a 'weelchair roadmovie'. It is shot in black and white wich make the images stand out. There is not much talking. So you have to get in to subtle, mostly visual humour. The bizarre situation at itself and other individual weird scenes made me laugh a lot. Aspecially the scene where some crazy dude sings Sonny by Boney M in one of the cafés the main characters crash. http://whatthemovie.com/shot/26899
This and some heavy metal/punk band in another café, are the only times music is heard in the film. Maybe that's why it made those scenes extra funny.
10/10
schnaeckerdt's Reviews
Displaying Review 6 - 10 of 10 in total
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Once in a while my girlfriend and I eat at a local chinese restaurant. Mostly we order dim sum for a starter. After seeing this film we didn't for quite some time.
This movie is rather disturbing. It's pretty nauseating, but not because of gore, scary beast or anything like that. The psychology behind it is the real horror aspect.
The acting is superb. The main role is a woman who wants to be young again, so she can marry a waelthy man. Her futility and greed are very confronting for everybody I guess, for it's human nature after all. The woman hears of a sort of wonderdoctor who can make you look years younger by eating her homemade dumplings (dim sum). It turns out the dumplings are made of young womens foetuses.
The movie is shot beautyfully. You don't see the actual butchering of the unborn babys, but the suggestion is made. This made the film more creepy than when it had containted a lot of splutter.
The final scene is terrifying, the way the main character, bathing in blood, looks into the camera, combinded with some chinese singing, gave me the chills. -
For I am not very keane on american comedy in general it's not a 10/10, but being a Jim Carrey fan I must rate this movie pretty high.
Watching the 'making of' on the dvd made me realise that this film is mostly a Jim Carrey improv. They just let him have his way with only a certain situation and his character in mind. This is almost like the way, for example, Mr Bean is made. And I realy like that style of comedy. It works so well for Jim Carrey. When you watch a film like Liar Liar you see why it doesn't work for him when he has to keep to a boring script. Just let the man do his thing and your movie will turn out great!
The story isn't bad also. I liked the idea that signs in your environment are god's way of telling you things. And that a prayer is heard when it is not for yourself.
But mainly I just enjoyed Jim Carrey playing god. -
Before viewing this movie I was unaware of the phenomenon that is Harvey Pecar. Afterwards the man gained an admirer.
Faith brought me to Cleveland Ohio that summer. And I even more experienced a bond between me and Harvey Pecar, being in the city he lives in and writes about, and reading some copies of American Splendor I purchased at a local bookstore.
For who is'nt familiar with American Splendor; it is a monthly comic written by Harvey Pecar about his own life and illustrated by several artists.
The movie tells the story of creating that comic and in particular the one about Harvey and his wife having to deal with his cancer: 'Our year of cancer'.
As said before American Splendor (the comic) is about Harvey Pecar's personal life. The movie is consequently as well. Funny aspect of the movie is that the real people also apear. Harvey does a voice over and his wife and colleauge are also present. This way you can compare the film with ordinary life. And that is what American Splendor is all about. As the tagline says: ordinary life is pretty complex stuff.
Harvey is played by Paul Giamatti, who does a fine job. It's not so much the physical likeness that is well caught, but more the psychological characteristics he exhibits.
James Urbaniak plays Robert Crumb, the underground comic artist who drew the first American Splendor, being a friend of Harvey's. More artist where to follow. One of them left his daughter Danielle with Harvey and his wife Joyce Barber. Harvey himself had a vasectomy, as he romanticly states meeting his wife for the first time.
Also a nice character is Toby Radloff, very well played by Judah Friedlander. Toby is Harvey's fellow worker in the hospital. At a certain point Toby has a show on MTV and Harvey realises that real people like him and Toby are being used by the media as entertainment. His performance on Letterman, that became famous around the world, is also a statement that underlines his view on the media and the way they portrait regular people.
But not only do I agree with Harvey on political and social matters like that, I even more so love the subtle humour and recognizability, the moment you become part of his thoughts about himself. After raving about 'Revenge of the nerds' to Toby, he realizes that he is more mad at himself.
I can very much relate to that way of thinking. It's very honest and treu. It's real. -
I firstly saw this movie on TV. And I was fascinated. Not only by the way it was shot. But also by the acting and the samurai phylosophy that is a big part of this film.
The soundtrack by the RZA, who also produced the soundtrack of Kill Bill, is very suitable. For Wu Tang Clan this man allready produced some samurai influenced tracks in the past.
But if you think you are going to see a simular film to Kill Bill you will be deceived. You don't have to expect a very fast storyline and a lot of action.
Quickly summarized, the story is about an assassin (Ghostdog), living a lonely life on a rooftop full of pigeons. He lives like a samurai. His wisdom comes from a book: 'The code of the samurai'. Every now and then we read a line from this book.
A member of the maffia saved his life as a kid and therefore he consideres this man as his master. He kills for his master and contacts him only trough his pigeons.
When he must kill a maffiaboss it is the maffiacode to kill him. Eventually his master is the one to do this.
The few social contacts Ghostdog has are very moving. His only friend is a french speaking icecream salesman. Although they speak another language they understand each other perfectly.
Also very nicely portraited is the relationship he develops with a little girl, sitting on a bench in the park. The girl likes to read and they talk about books. In the end this girl is the one to inherit 'The code of the samurai'.
The story is as simple as strong. And Jim Jarmusch shot the film very beautifully.
I bought it on DVD and it is a valuable accession to my collection.
