Films to Look Forward to

Blue Valentine (out end of December)

Blue Valentine is the the film I have been impatiently waiting for all year. I think this film could be the best film of 2010. After not seeing Ryan Gosling in anything for some time, this film caught my attention right from the start. Why do I think it will be as good as I think it will be? A number if things. For one, it stars Ryan Gosling, the best young(er) actor in Hollywood for some time now in my opinion. And he is astonishingly underrated, but I suppose that is how he prefers it. Apart from that, this is a story that has been waiting to see the light of day for many years, with both Ryan and Michelle Williams taking a huge leap of faith to see it get made. Of course, the buzz it has been getting now that we are slowly approaching award season has added some spice.

The film is about the life and relationship of a young married couple. It's about their ups and downs. Seemingly, it is the same old story we have all heard about so many times. But to me, these films (when done well) are the most interesting ones. Because they analyze people in their natural habitat – relationships. Just by watching the trailer, you can see that Ryan and Michelle will tell a top-notch story. I definitely intend to watch it once it comes around my way. Then again, I watch pretty much everything that comes my way, but if you are in America, and you plan on visiting the cinema only once in what's left of 2010, I recommend you choose Blue Valentine. Release dates for the rest of the world are unclear, which happens often with smaller films that need to battle for every single theater, but Blue Valentine  should be on limited release in US theaters from December 31st. Unless it gets an Oscar nod (which it might), the rest of us might have to be waiting for a DVD release or search the internet to check the film out.

Rare Exports (out December 3^rd in UK)

I personally don’t know how to get my hands on this film. I haven’t watched it, and considering that it is a smaller budget foreign film, it may be very long before I manage to. However, I have had the chance to read some about it, and based on the reviews the film seems promising.

But you know what, the whole review part of it is beside the point, because even if the movie was utter crap – which it does not appear to be – I’m saying you still have to see this film if you get the opportunity because it takes big balls to mess with Santa’s image. Because frankly, whoever Santa’s PR guy was, he deserves to have a monument built in his name. Because, let’s be honest here, Santa can’t do no wrong! Whether he is delivering presents or riding a big Coca-Cola bus, Santa only brings happiness and joy. He is the one stranger that parents do not tell their children to not take candy from. Santa is a fun loving, sweet, and friendly man.

What these guys do is take this image that was set in stone decades ago and they destroy it. According to the trailer and the synopsis, they make sure that Santa resembles the Texas Chainsaw Massacre dude more than a grandpa in red. I say, let’s support them! Because it’s something different, and as I said before, it takes balls to portray Santa as a child-kidnapping psychopath. And a good job on making Santa slim in this one. A fat psycho killer isn’t very credible, how will he chase his victims?!

 Debt (rumored 2011)

This movie looks quite promising. Mainly because it deals with a topic that I find extremely fascinating – medical experiments that took place in the concentration camps in Nazi Germany. To me, it is the most mind and gut wrenching part of everything that happened during those years. Mind you, I am not by any means downplaying anything else that took place in the camps. People were killed daily. They were beaten up, they were raped, they were starved, treated like dirt and executed. A human life had no value. But even the horrific system that the concentration camps followed, to me does not compare to the medical experiments (aka torture) that the doctors undertook supposedly for the good of progress and science. We hear of maniacs and serial killers and it freaks us out. God forbid this happens to me. If a person must die let it be instantaneous, painless. But all these maniacs, they are crazy demented people that were molested as children or whatever else story one comes up with. But here, these were completely sane, clear thinking professionals that supposedly entered the field to save lives!

I will definitely watch it, but having seen the trailer I can’t help but worry. Despite the great cast and seemingly interesting story, I fear this will end up having a problem that many big films suffer lately – accuracy. And another thing is that Sam Worthington just didn’t seem like a young Israeli Mossad agent from the 60s to me. Maybe that is my own issue, and it will definitely not stop me from trying to appreciate the film for whatever it will do well, but watching the trailer, sometimes I just couldn’t help but feel that Mr. Worthington was going to suddenly turn blue and plead that there is a better way out there and harmony, not violent search for progress, is the answer.


Until later,
Girl in Leggings