A Prophet *****

Original Title: Un prophéte

Director: Jacques Audiard

Year: 2009

Writers: Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain, Abdel Raouf Dafri, Nicolas Peufaillit

Cinematographer: Stéphane Fontaine

Tahar Rahim gives an incredible performance, in a film filled with great acting, perfectly directed... great film. Everything I love about american gangster films like the Godfather, combined with everything I love about french cinema.

Biutiful ***

Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu

Year: 2010

Writers: Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Armando Bo

Cinematographer: Rodrigo Prieto

This is a well made movie, but I think Iñárritu's passion, his idea for what cinema should be is not a contagious idea. The story is so heavy that it failed to live beyond the screen. Amores Perros is still his greatest work. Don't get me wrong, I think he's a great filmmaker, taking on serious subjects, choosing to show things that we haven't seen before... this is great. The problem is that stories must have levity. You can tell a depressing story, in fact, I prefer a pessimistic view to an unrealistically optimistic view in story telling, I am all for realism, showing the way real people suffer... but the way you tell that story must empower the human spirit, educate you, move you... or at least leave you with images that will not leave you alone.

I am okay with a film meandering a bit, like real life, but I found myself wanting either more or less of the chinese story and of the african story. He gave us hints, just little glimpses into their story, but didn't really develop the characters... if you're not going to develop a character, why introduce that character in the first place?

Great cinematography, great acting. Story didn't connect with me as much as I wanted it too. I respect this director a lot, but I don't think I got what he was going for... I'll still be eager to see his next work.

Death of a Cyclist ****

Original Title: Muerte de un ciclista

Director: Juan Antonio Bardem

Year: 1955

Writers: Luis Fernando de Igoa, Juan Antonio Bardem

Cinematographer: Alfredo Fraile

Some great cinematography, poetic script. Some melodramatic acting, I don't have enough fingers and toes to count how many times distressed characters grabbed their heads in anguish... but worth sitting through. Symbolic and critical of spanish culture of the time and of the Franco regime, definitely worth a watch. The opening and closing scenes are especially cinematic.

The director is Javier Bardem's uncle.

Winter's Bone ***

Director: Debra Granik

Year: 2010

Book by: Daniel Woodrell

Adapted by: Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini

Cinematographer: Michael McDonough

Didn't like the script very much, felt very forced, like it came from an outsider trying to imagine what these people might be like. I didn't like much of the acting, most of the lines were delivered too unnaturally. Maybe its because I'm from the ozarks, but I felt like so many lines in the script were trying too hard to be authentic and ended up sounding forced. I got bored by the unimaginative scene transitions... walking through the woods to someone else's house. It had the quality of a good student film... reminded me of my film school projects where I just wanted to go out and find locations and use them instead of focusing on the arch of my story.

Not a bad movie, just didn't feel like it was a great work, and certainly didn't live up to some of the hype it received from critics.