Tale of Two Halves for "The Recruit"

Nothing is what it seems.

The second half of this 2003 film devolves into a weak spy thriller as the characters of Colin Farrell and Bridget Moynahan play a predictable romantic, sexual cat and mouse game.  But, for me, the real drama and intrigue were in the first half.  One feels for Farrell and his longstanding desire to learn more about who his father was and how he died.  He is bright, he is a go-getter, but he plays right into that cat and mouse game that CIA lifer Al Pacino schemes.  The Recruit begins with good human drama, but slips into spy snoozer.

Enough Murder, Action and Humor in "Cellular"

I've watched this 2004 film a few times, and while it doesn't really engage my intellect, it has good doses of murder, action and humor to draw me in every time.  It's an improbable, sometimes comedic film that walks a fine line with plausible and frightening.  Chris Evans pulls off this balance terrifically, with William Macy and Rick Hoffman on the former side and of course Kim Basinger and Jason Statham on the latter side.
 

Shorts on Love (6) Forever in my Dreams

Sawyer Hartman proudly noted:

For my one year of making weekly videos on YouTube, I decided to try and make my first ever dramatic short film! i hope you enjoy it. Please Share it with your friends if you liked it :)  

The entire film was written, filmed, and edited in 48 hours. costing me a total of 12 $ :)

Several comments speak to how this hastily made short film made them cry.  Perhaps it wasn't so hasty, after all, as I imagine the story had germinated in his mind for awhile.  In any case, Hartman is proof positive that it doesn't take a big budget or long timeline to make art that resonates with a lot of people.  His is one of the few short films that garnered a lot of views:  nearly 560,000 right now.  Make art that is honest, heartfelt and timeless, and you have art that is quite lovely indeed.

By the way, I fell in love with this oh so tender music Forever in my Dreams, by Fariborz Lachini, which I first listened to on Pandora.  It's supposed to be a love theme for a film, but I hadn't seen it or heard of it.  So I Googled Forever in my Dreams, and stumbled serendipitously on Hartman's piece.  Meanwhile I'll keep searching for the film, as my spirit takes me, that Lachini scored with his own lovely piece.
 

Shorts on Love (5) Yellow Fish

A young couple must pick up the pieces when fault lines in their home and relationship are exposed in the aftermath of an earthquake.

The fault lines that give rise to the earthquake are a metaphor for fractures in this young couple's relationship:  fair enough.  But that's just on the surface of things.  One step below has to do with his smoking.  It is probably no directorial accident that the earthquake occurs, the moment that he breaks a cigarette in half.  His struggle to abstain from smoking, and more importantly the physical and psychological meaning of cigarettes for him, are more than she apparently understands or tolerates.  (Her casually tossing that vase from his aunt is another example of how little she is plugged into his interior world.) That struggle shakes him up more than a little. 

What was most striking about this short film is that he totally ignores her calling for him during the earthquake.  Afterwards he lies about where he was and what he was doing, as he cannot seem to articulate what his distemper may be about.  We don't know for sure, but it clearly has to do in part, or even in large measure, with her.  All of which make the fault lines metaphor even more powerful, I believe: They lie well below the surface of the earth, just as fractures run well below the daily lives for the two of them.  She is evidently not aware of them, and he may not be so conscious of it, either.  Still the earthquake began to surface his distemper in relation to her, and he is clearly unsure and-or unwilling to raise it with her.  Regardless, their relationship is in trouble, the earthquake being merely a precursor to a more volatile, emotional shake up for both of them. 

An altogether brilliant, poignant film.
 

Shorts on Love (4) IRL

She seems to be an introspective, solitary lady, which the soundtrack and soft focus shots suggest. Maybe she's in a long distance relationship, but is unhappy and unsure about it. I think most of the subway shots take place as she's walking to meet her date (e.g. her hand looks tense on the train), then at the end she comes out of the subway and on her way home makes a call (i.e. maybe to an on-again, off-again boyfriend). When her date asked her to rank order qualities in a significant other, which she thought was important, she paused and we don't hear her answer. That was a moment of her realizing something. What? Maybe her current relationship isn't so bad after all. I agree with others that the storytelling could've been better, but I think it's a very evocative little film that speaks to how isolating, and isolated, real life (IRL) can be.
 

Shorts on Love (3) Requiem for Romance

If an endearing 90-second animation short film like A Ninja Love Story were to play itself out, that is, in a more complete story, this masterful piece by writer, animator and director Jonathan Ng would be it.  I love the way Ng portrays a commonplace phone call between two lovers in extraordinarily moving animation and richly metaphoric martial arts.
 

Shorts on Love (2) Your Place or Mine

Two strangers follow their hearts and instincts as they are led down two opposing paths. Big decisions are determined by little moments: a glib comment, a simple gesture, a meaningful touch can swing the outcome one way or the other.

This short film could've been more accurately titled Your Place and Mine.  It's a brilliant effort by writer Karen Moore and director Jessica Joy Wise, that is, to play out the parallel tracks that a chance hookup takes.  But perhaps the more apt metaphor is that of two strands, that tie loosely at points, then separate in frayed fashion at others. 

Even though they are Annie and Danny in one lifeline at the end, the other lifeline seems just a momentary turn away.

Even though they are no longer Annie and Danny in one lifeline at the end, the other lifeline seems just a momentary turn away.

See what I mean.