The Red Turtle
Nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Animated Feature Film category, The Red Turtle is a remarkable film. The most intriguing aspect of this movie is there are no words, except for an occasional emotional grunt or gasp, but not one word.
Nonetheless, it unfolds scene after scene to reveal its message in a powerful and emotional way: loneliness, despair, hope, joy, love, tragedy, contentment and so much more.
This film is the product of a collaboration of Japan’s Studio Ghibli’s and its first international co-production with the Dutch Academy Award winner, Dudok de Wit.
The Red Turtle will become an instant global classic. It is suitable for any age, rated PG as a Fantasy/Animation running 1 hour 20 minutes. Ultimately it is a beautiful story told in a simple, graceful way.
Note: Will it win the Academy Award? It’s a tough category this year. Stay tuned for our Oscar picks later this week!
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Deep Water Horizon
The story of the Deep Water Horizon disaster in the Gulf Of Mexico and the environmental crisis it caused was also a story about survival under unimaginable circumstances.
Much to our surprise, this movie was engaging, credible, well written, well acted and thoughtfully touching as it honored the 11 workers who died in this diaster.
It features performances by Mark Wahlberg, Kate Hudson, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich and a dozen more actors. It is intelligent, suspenseful, tragic and thrilling. It is rated PG-13, listed as a Thriller/Drama running 1 hour 47 minutes.
It is nominated for an Academy Award this year for Visual Affects and Sound Editing categories for good reasons.
We must admit we did not seen this film when it was first released last Fall, mainly because we were too busy travelling. We Bad! Once nominated, we thought we had better see it. We are so glad we did.
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Buddies in India
We had not heard about this film until we stumbled upon it in the local press on line website. Two Chinese friends head to India to find the last will and testament of one’s deceased father. Adventure ensues…
Well, our experience was a little unique bordering on bizarre. It started with the previews. All the previews were in Hindi, rattling along with subtitles in English at a frantic pace. It was virtually impossible to keep up with the speed reading. At first we thought, how interesting to finally have South Asian films distributed in the US.
Then the movie started. It was a cross between a cartoon, live action slap stick and a corny farce. We must say it was colorful, action packed, occasionally funny, often confusing and childish, definitely unique.
It was clearly a peek at the global emergence of the Chinese film industry into Western markets. We later learned the marketing is rarely seen outside the Mandarin speaking Chinese communities. I guess we are not part of that market demographic. It will be interesting to see where this segment of the industry goes.
This film is not rated. It is listed as an Action/Comedy. It runs 1 hour, 39 minutes. Mandarin and Hindi with English subtitles.
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