Ponyo
Four new movies this week. Let’s start with my favourite: “Ponyo” (Madman | Japan | 100′). It is the latest effort of Japanese animation genius Hayao Miyazaki. It was presented by its director at the Venice Film Festival in September 2008.
It is supposedly a film for a younger audience. However, do not be fooled: the film is about the sense of wonder that is inside and outside of us. In Miyazaki’s words, the film is about “a little boy and a little girl, love and responsibility, the ocean and life—these things, and that which is most elemental to them, are depicted in the most basic way in ‘PONYO.’”
Do not miss it. If you do not have little kids try to watch it in the original Japanese version, in which it became the top grossing film of 2008. Check trailer and photos at Official Website
Taking Woodstock
“Taking Woodstock” (Universal Studios | USA | 130′) is a trip to the seminal mass-concert, directed by eclectic award winning director Ang Lee. The timing, exactly 50 years later, is a bit suspicious but Lee has a proven ability to investigate American’s dysfunctional Sixties era (The Ice Storm, Brokeback Mountain).
The film was competitive at the latest Cannes Film Festival. It is based on gay activist Elliot Tiber’s book, who at the time owned the El Monaco hotel in Woodstock and was instrumental in moving the without-a-venue concert to 600 acres of farmland next door.
“Young Victoria” (Roadshow | UK | 105′), an English production directed by Canadian new hope Jean-Marc Vallée (C.R.A.Z.Y) depicts the turbulent first years of Queen Victoria’s rule, and her enduring romance with Prince Albert.
Check out the following expert: “An elegant, entertaining, informative picture with a gallery of vivid supporting turns, this provisionally crowns the winning Blunt as a Brit-pic star – but it skimps a bit on the bodice-ripping, blood and thunder.” Empire
The Taking of Pelham 1/2/3 (USA/UK | 121′) is another action packed thriller starring Denzel Washington and John Travolta, under standard Tony Scott direction. The film is a remake, but follows the original plot:
‘Armed men hijack a New York City subway train, holding the passengers hostage in return for a ransom, and turning an ordinary day’s work for dispatcher Walter Garber into a face-off with the mastermind behind the crime’.
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