Heads Up: Mother

Now, there are several films named "Mother," and I can only account for one of them.  Others might be good, and I assume at least one of them is terrible.  I'm talking about the 2009 Korean film from Bong Joon-ho called "Mother."  I discovered this movie in "Piranha," a free monthly magazine released by Saturn - the vastly superior German version of Best Buy.  It caught my eye because director Bong Joon-ho also directed "The Host," which was a super cool monster movie revolving around a dysfunctional family.
"Mother" received a lot of attention due to the performance of the female lead, Kim Hye-ja.  I learned from the special features that she is a very well known and well respected actress in Korea, and Bong Joon-ho essentially created this film from the ground up so he could work with her.
The film he created is a dramatic crime thriller, and has drawn many comparisons to classic Hitchcock thrillers.  Kim Hye-ja plays the over-protective, obsessive mother of a mentally challenged young adult, Do-joon.  When Do-joon is hastily arrested for the murder of a teenage girl, despite a lack of evidence, his widowed mother takes upon herself the investigation to find the real killer.  This search leads her on a twisted journey from one clue to the next, in the seedy culture of the small town they live in.
Often crime thrillers, or murder mysteries, begin with an intimate relationship, and unravel to show a far reaching effect full of convolutions and connections, or in other words: the story starts with an individual and grows to encompass the town.  This story is unique in its genre because it starts with the town and works its way back down to the relationship that forms the backbone of the story, that is: the relationship of son and mother.
Bong Joon-ho is a painter with a camera.  Cinematically this is one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen.  He consistently finds environments and sets up frames that are simply breathtaking.  Right from the incredibly beautiful, and charmingly surreal opening shot, it is clear that this film is incredibly beautiful.  Bong Joon-ho likes to play around with reality and surrealism, not in the mind-bending sense, but sometimes in the Brechtian sense, reminding you that you're watching a film.  I never felt these moments were out of place, I thought they added to the film and its style as whole, but I have heard complaints about that.
This is still one of my favorite movies I've seen in the past few years, and it seems to be tragically overlooked.  It is a thrilling story that would make Hitchcock jealous, and is crafted with an expertise rarely accomplished.  Excelsior!

News: Greenwood to score new PT Anderson Film

Paul Thomas Anderson, aka the best film maker currently making movies, is working on a project scheduled to come out late next year starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, and featuring Joaquin Phoenix in his return to cinema.  If that isn't enough to get you stoked for this movie, which it should be, there is more news that blew a small portion of my mind.
A PT Anderson fan site (Cigarettes and Red Vines) is reporting that Radiohead's Johnny Greenwood will be doing the score.  You may recall Johnny Greenwood's brilliant work in Radiohead, but also you may be recalling his brilliant score for "There Will Be Blood," which I hold to be the best movie of last decade.
For the AV Clubs scoop, click here.

Album of the Week: Colossal Youth (1980)

Young Marble Giants' first, and as far as I know only LP, "Colossal Youth" is an album that I find difficult to define.  I first learned about it because Broadcast's third album, Tender Buttons (2005), drew some comparisons to the cold minimalism of the Young Marble Giants album.  I've been totally digging on this album since I found it though, and at this point it probably makes Young Marble Giants my new favorite band from Wales, taking the coveted position from long time holder Super Furry Animals.
The album is usually labelled as post-punk (I promise next week I won't mention post-punk), and it fits that in a way, but that label is a bit misleading.  It has also a very Indie aesthetic, back in a time when Indie was still actually an abbreviation for Independent.  Kurt Cobain was reportedly a fan, which makes sense because the female singer and guitar is at times very reminiscent of The Raincoats, another favorite band of his.
Instrumentation is very minimal, and very subdued, but the songs are well crafted so as to be very atmospheric and compelling.  Most songs were recorded in single takes, with little to no overdubbing, which the band did in order to maintain the life of the music.  This doesn't mean it is a ruckus, chaotic or live sounding album, but it does mean it is a very intimate sounding album.
The song writing is incredibly concise, and the interaction of the instruments is often as intricate as the interplay we hear on Television's debut album "Marquee Moon."  I love the drum machine when it shows its cheesy lo-fi sounding head, especially the jittery buzz of the title track, and there isn't a drum to be heard anywhere on the album.  I'm also a sucker for cool sounding organs and synth lines, and this album has exactly as much of that as I want.  Try to listen to the organ on "The Man Amplifier" and not smile.  Guitar and bass are never noisy or angry, but full of presence, and they push songs forward with purpose even while being atmospheric and broad.  Potentially the real star, however, is Alison Statton's beautiful dreamy vocal work.  I just have a huge crush on her voice.  If the instruments are atmospheric their purpose is to give her voice somewhere to dance.  Mood's vary and shift throughout each song, and the listener is pulled through the album.  I felt like the music took me by the hand and I didn't want to let go until the last track had finished.
I can only account for the original 15 tracks, but there are also several versions of the album that have been released since the original came out in 1980 that add extra material.  There is at least one addition that has also taken all of their songs from EP's and compliation albums and such, effectively comprising all of Young Marble Giants' music.  I'm told this is the version to listen to, but I just haven't gotten around to it yet.
All I can say is that I really fell in love with this album.  It is a soft spoken set of songs, but each song is crafted with such purpose and performed with meticulous care that it is a very seductive and powerful album.  If it is to be called post-punk, one should not expect any of the punk anger, or sloppy song structures that defined that genre and gave it such power.  However this album does have the production of a punk album, giving the album presence, as if you were right there with them.  It is also very much an album of youth seeking to find their place in a sub culture, and isn't that what punk is really about?
With "Colossal Youth" Young Marble Giants have created an enjoyable, unique and entirely beguiling album.  And that's what I've been digging this week.

Heads Up: Flame & Citron

I'm taking a German cultural history class from a certain Hans Wilhelm Kelling, who experienced World War II as a German.  When we learned about World War II, we spent an entire lecture talking about the resistance movements that existed who fought against the Nazi's.  This is evidently a topic that is much more frequently taught and remembered in Europe than it is here in the states, which is a bit of a shame.  How many of us know about the Germans who risked their lives to try and stop Hitler?  Put your hand down if you only know because you have seen "Valkyrie."
The 2008 Danish film "Flame & Citron" (Flammen & Citronen) tells the true story of two resistance fighters in Denmark with the code names Flammen and Citronen who worked together as "liquidators," assassinating German officers and other targets.  The main elements of the story are pulled straight from history, which is incredible because the events are incredibly intense.  Nothing needed to be exaggerated to make this a thrilling action film, their lives were already like that.
 The film takes the structure and style of a classic noir gangster picture.  Again, nothing needed to be stretched in the source material to accomplish this.  So it's super cool that the lives of these resistance fighters fits so well stylistically to make a great modern noir film.  On the International Regulatary Bad Ass Scale this film scored pretty high, with about 400 international bad ass units (IBU's), compared to "Saving Private Ryan," which measures at 325 IBU's.  The overall plot is a perfectly executed tale of betrayal and murder, and all set in the framework of Nazi occupied Denmark between 1943 and 1944.  There's bar room shoot outs, stand offs, a femme fatale and everything else you hope for in a gangster picture.
 The two main characters are well played and presented, and all around the acting from other parts of the ensemble is impressive.  Mads Mikkelsen plays Citronen, a very different role from the kick ass viking he played in Refin's "Valhalla Rising," and this time around he speaks.  So that was fun.  The film is in Danish, except for a bit or two in German.
Cinematically the film is very stylish, but not stylized.  The settings are perfect.  It's probably relatively simple to film World War II period pieces on location in Europe.  Meticulous attention is given to color - in the lighting, costuming, set design and locations - but not in such a way to be overbearing or obnoxiously artistic (I'm looking at you Mr. Shyamalan, we get it: red).  The violence is visceral and believable.  Camera work is also smart, and the film features some very fun crash zooms that set it apart from the classic gangster pictures it seemed to be using as a frame of reference.
There are those who don't like "reading" movies, and for this reason ignore all international cinema.  I expect these people to being learning new languages all the time, because there is no reason to miss out on great films like this.  So if you complain about reading films start learning Danish today.  This is a film that would appeal to the history buff, the film noir connoisseur, that guy you know who likes talking about World War II, or even just anyone who enjoys a good action movie full of intrigue and excitement.  So this really is a movie that deserves to be enjoyed by everyone.  It tells an engaging and exciting story in a very effective and skillful way.  What's more it tells a story based on real events, and due to the nature of the story it tells there is little changed or exaggerated, because there was no need for that.  This a story that shouldn't be forgotten, about people who should be remembered for what they did.  They were not perfect men (killing is not really cool), but what they did was brave, and should be viewed as heroic.
Go find this film.  Get a group of people together.  Have fun, talk about it, and then be amazed that all of this really happened.
If i were to assign a numerical rating, which I won't, I would hypothetically give it a very solid 4 out of 5 score units.