Falling behind again

I can't keep up with myself -- I must be watching too many films (big surprise!), so I'll do a multiple review of some recent highlights.  I'm off to New York at the weekend for a few days and hope to do a few more before then, but who knows.  So it could be that my next posting will be on in-flight movies again, either next Wednesday or Thursday:

The Triumph of Love (2002):  This was a very peculiar rendition of an old French farce with Mira Sorvino as a princess disguised as a man trying to gain the affection of a handsome young man who has every reason to hate her family, and simultaneously making his guardians, "Sir" Ben Kingsley and Fiona Shaw fall madly in love with her.  I should add that only the latter was not made aware of the fact that she was really a woman.  With all the period trappings, one was occasionally alienated by shots of a modern audience watching the performance; this device did not work at all.

Downfall (2004): I'd heard some good things about this German film covering Hitler's last days and it was put forward by them for best foreign film at the Oscars earlier this year.  Well, apart from the fact that the Swiss actor Bruno Ganz made a wonderful job of playing Hitler, the rest of the movie was no different than others I have seen on the same subject; the only difference here was that it was made by the Germans examining their own past which no doubt many would prefer to forget.

Fist of Fury (1972): This was arguably Bruce Lee's best performance and is also known as "The Chinese Connection" or "The Iron Hand" and is not to be confused with his "Fists of Fury" which is also known as "The Big Boss" -- yes it IS confusing.  Anyhow his athletic prowess and charisma really shine through here despite the positively, absolutely horrendous dubbing -- it's criminal that this movie is not currently available in a better form.

The Crime of Father Amaro (2002):  Again I was expecting more from this Mexican film which was also Oscar-nominated.  The very attractive (if very small) Gael Garcia Bernal plays a newly ordained priest sent to a small community where he gets involved in local politics and manages to impregnate a 16-year old.  I suppose the film was meant to expose hypocrisy amongst the priesthood since his lust and self-serving in no affected the village's perception of him, while others had their lives ruined.  I did however find the movie something of a disappointment, although I believe it was very successful in its home territory.