DVD Voice

This gem of a picture, Everlasting Moments, is a Swedish film about an early 1900s family, and particularly of the mother who finds escape through the lens of a camera. Just before she is married, Maria (played by Maria Heiskanen), wins a camera in a lottery and later in life begins to use it after trying to sell it to a photographer who takes a liking to her and teaches her how to use it. Little by little she gets better and finds more enjoyment in taking the photos as her family grows and through tough times of life her husband becomes cruel and abusive.

Honestly, it is a slow moving picture that Jan Troell presents here, but it sort of has to be. The worst part is, for people like me, its in Swedish and you have to read subtitles. But that isn’t a bad thing. It’s a beautiful picture and very touching — if you look and let it speak to you.

If you think about it, you could ask yourself some intriguing questions that are raised by the film. Why do people stay with abusive spouses? How is alcoholism so destructive and why can’t people quit or manage their addiction without it always getting the better of them? Do people have a propensity to cheat and can they not stop themselves? Why is it that some will realize how their behavior is hurting the ones they love, and even be moved by that realization, but yet are powerless to give it up? How do you make ends meet in tough times? Why is art and creativity such a great release from the cares and burdens of everyday life? Why do we have skills that we take for granted while everyone around us would treasure those skills and use them better? Can you find the charm and beauty inside everyone?

But I guess most of all, the film is entitled “Everlasting Moments” in reference to what is caught on film is an everlasting moment. You’ll never be that young again, that particular event or day will never happen again and you have it captured for it to live (as it were) forever. So like a photographer that chooses what they take a photo of and when to time it and from what point of reference to view it from, can we also mold our memories in the same way and keep the ones that look at life in the best possible way? Life is short and those around us that we love and cherish are worth the most in life how much of the bad things or bad habits should be overlooked in hopes of the future? What does keep people together, is it, as the film asked, is it love?

The film, which is based on the author’s family, ends after Maria’s death with her daughter discovering the camera and an undeveloped plate inside bearing the only photo  her mother ever took of herself, smiling back at us.

Not Rated. 131 minutes (2 hours 11 minutes) – yes, that’s two hours. But, while I started this prepared to sit and endure for the evening it flew by a lot faster than I expected.

The Maid, or La Nana, is a one and a half hour picture about the ever fascinating life of a maid. You’ll get to follow Catalina Saavedra, as Raquel, around the house as she cooks, cleans, washes, takes her shower, serves breakfast in bed, and more. The trouble starts when the family hires a second maid, despite Raquel’s insistence that she can still do all the work – she’s been there for over 20 years.

Raquel responds to these new maids with hostility – locking them out when they go outside, not letting them back in, disinfecting anything the other maid uses, and so on. Why some of this would be troubling, well, I guess I’ve never been in that situation.

The problem for me with this movie is that it is in Spanish. I don’t speak it. So, I had to read subtitles. It’s hard to put on a movie from Netflix that maybe you are only mildly interested in when you have to stare at the screen the entire time. I mean I usually do that, but having to read subtitles wears on you after a while!

The movie was interesting if you look at it from the perspective of how do you treat those who you consider to be beneath you. For instance, perhaps the janitors at work or school.

Things learned from this movie: If you lock other help out of the house and scrub the shower after they’ve used it, they will eventually quit. As soon as you get to like someone they will also quit. If you get locked outside its ok to take off all your clothes and sunbathe. If your dad has spent a year working on a tiny sailing ship model, you can glue it back together in a few hours and he won’t notice – unless he gets home earlier than you expect.

Not Rated. 94 minutes (1 hour 34 minutes). Mild profanity, if any. Non-violent. Nudity, you get to see all the maids (except one, thank you!) nude or topless in the shower or sunning. The “man” of the house also is surprised like a deer in the headlights and stands momentarily spread-eagle like totally nude — avert your eyes! Another man’s butt makes an appearance.

As promised, tonight I took the time to watch the sequel to Ong-Bak, Ong-Bak 2: The Beginning. I really enjoyed Ong-Bak last night and was expecting more of the same. I got it. Wow… as much martial arts as you could handle.

But, somehow it didn’t feel as satisfying as the first one. The first one was really out of nowhere, I wasn’t expecting it to be as hard hitting and good. This one, probably was on par, but just didn’t quite ring that same bell!

Since it’s called “The Beginning,” that should tip you off that it happens before Ong-Bak. Tien, Tony Jaa (who also directed), is the son of a nobleman who is orphaned and taken in by the King of the Outlaws. He is trained in all sorts of fighting styles and weaponry. Later in life he seeks revenge. He seems rather intent on killing everyone, and the last 30 minutes of the film is basically a big fight.

I’m not saying the action is good, it is, it’s just that I believe I enjoy a good martial arts movie, but I don’t truly appreciate the intricacies of it enough. Or maybe it’s that I shouldn’t do martial arts two nights in a row?

Oh, the DVD has trailers for John Woo’s Red Cliff and The Warlords. Both look good and I think I’ll have to try them sometime soon. And there was some video of Ong-Bak 3, which from the little bits looked like it may be more interesting, to me, that this one.

Rated R. 115 minutes (1 hour 55 minutes). Violence. Let me repeat that, Violence.

Today is Ground Hog’s Day. Well, actually it was yesterday, but I was having a little difficulty getting my blog to cooperate, so I’m posting this one a day late. Great start, huh?

My first thought was to see Ground Hog Day, but I’m going to pass. I am very interested in another movie with Bill Murray that comes out this week, Zombieland! And hopefully (fingers crossed!) Netflix will send that one pronto!

Since Ong-Bak 2 is coming out this week, I decided to see them both. So for starters we hit the ground with Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior. Honestly, I knew nothing about this movie. I heard it was supposedly pretty good and an action-martial arts type film.

I was lucky, it was both sub-titled and voice-overed. I listened to it in English, I didn’t feel like reading.

Basically, Tony Jaa, Ting, lives in a tiny village. They are about to celebrate a sacred holiday that is only celebrated once every 24 years when a man named “Don” comes to the village and when he leaves steals the head of On-Bak, a Buddha like statue. One villager must go after and retrieve the head. Ting volunteers.

Country boy in the big city type movie follows. The gangs think they are too tough for him but learn otherwise, there are fights, street chases, car (or tiny taxis) chases, bar fights, and yet more fights. Some of the characters bring in a fair amount of humor and at times it felt like I was watching an anime!

Overall — very good! I really enjoyed this mindless martial-arts. Great stunts and I swear someone had to of gotten hurt filming this! At least it looked that way. If you enjoy a good action movie and want to see some stunts that rival Jackie Chan and Jet Li, then you should enjoy this one as well. And later this week I’ll see how the sequel stacks up!

2003 Rated R. 101 minutes (1 hour 41 minutes). Lots of action violence and blood. Drug use.