My Life Without Me (2003) - Life ends prematurely in Coixet's drama

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Wild praise accompanies star Sarah Polley doused by rain on this poster for Isabel Coixet's My Life Without Me

A 23 year-old cleaning lady and mother of two daughters gets an unexpected notice that she has metastatic ovarian cancer that will cause her death soon. She neglects to tell anyone about her situation, while she secretly gathers some last experiences in her still young life.

My Life Without Me is written and directed by Isabel Coixet (Demasiado Viejo para Morir Joven (1989)), based on the short story collection Pretending the Bed Is a Raft (1997) by Nanci Kincaid (Eat, Drink, and Be from Mississippi (2009)).
The film may be a hit for depressed, younger women, who look for a story to weep over, but for me My Life Without Me's humdrum pace and very female-centric plot wsa too distant and still for me to become immersed. Activities observed include doing laundry, washing and combing hair, cleaning, doing laundry (again), tending children, worrying, - and a romance which seems designed to make the tragedy even sadder.
One can't rob My Life Without Me of a certain poetic force as well as a fine cast, (which among others reunites two of the peripheral stars of Pulp Fiction (1994), Amanda Plummer (Ken Park (2002)) and Maria de Medeiros (Mar (2018)), though without giving them a scene together here either), - but this pasty downer wasn't my cup of misery tea.

 

Related posts:

 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

 

Watch a scene from the beginning of the film here

Cost: 2.5 mil. $
Box office: 9.7 mil. $ - 12.2 mil. $ (different reports)
= Big hit (returned 4.40 times its cost)
[My Life Without Me premiered 10 February (Berlin International Film Festival) and runs 106 minutes. No less than 15 companies and governmental support bodies were involved in financing and making the film. Shooting took place in British Colombia, including Vancouver. The film opened #60 to a 40k $ first weekend in 7 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #53 and in 39 theaters (different weeks), grossing 0.4 mil. $ (4.1 % of the total gross, - betting on the 9.7 mil. $ gross listed at Box Office Mojo.) The film's 3 biggest markets were Japan with 5.3 mil. $ (54.6 %), Spain with 2.4 mil. $ (24.7 %) and North America. The film won a prize in Berlin, was nominated for 2 European Film awards, won 2/5 Goya award nominations, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 2.5/4 star review, translating to a notch higher than this one. Coixet returned with 3 other projects (a documentary, a segment and a video) before her theatrical return with The Secret Life of Words (2005). Sarah Polley (Trigger (2010)) returned in Dermott's Quest (2003, short) and theatrically in Luck (2003). My Life Without Me is fresh at 65 % with a 6.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of My Life Without Me?

Splice (2009) - A poor script bogs down good performances, effects

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The evocative creature design of the first spliced human creates chills on this poster for Vincenzo Natali's Splice

Two of the world's most eminent scientists in the field of genetical splicing are also a couple who are tired of making ugly animal clones, and so now they are mixing some human DNA into their latest attempt ...

Splice is written by Antoinette Terry Bryant (I Can See You (2014, short)), Doug Taylor (The Carpenter (1988)) and co-writer/director Vincenzo Natali (Cube (1997)).
Sarah Polley (Guinevere (1999)) and Adrien Brody (Love the Hard Way (2001)) are both capable and each do their best here. Splice has its root in The Fly (mostly David Cronenberg's 1986 version) and its kind of sci-fi-horror; but its stars cannot act their way out of a story that gets too obscure and unlikely. The script is not particularly inventive, and that is the main problem for the gross Splice, which has terrific practical and digital effects.
The relationship between the two scientist leads never becomes important or exciting enough for us to really jump on the film's wagon.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 30 mil. $
Box office: 26.8 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 0.89 times its cost)
[Splice premiered 6 October (Sitges International Festival of Fantastic and Horror Cinema, Spain) and runs 104 minutes. Shooting took place in Ontario, including Toronto, from December 2007 - February 2008. The film opened #8 to a 7.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, its peak there, where it grossed 17 mil. $ (63.4 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 1.4 mil. $ (5.2 %) and Russia with 1.3 mil. $ (4.9 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to 2 notches higher than this one. Natali returned with Haunter (2013). Brody returned with a voice performance in Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) and physically in High School (2010); Polley in Trigger (2010), her last film to date as actress, before she turned to writing and directing instead. Splice is certified fresh at 76 % with a 6.62/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Splice?

Exotica (1994) - Egoyan's strong sex drama

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+ Best Canadian Movie of the Year + Best Sex Drama of the Year

Mia Kirshner sends us an intense, deep stare from the poster for Atom Egoyan's Exotica

QUICK REVIEW:

Thomas smuggles eggs into Canada to resell and goes to the opera with unknown men. Christina dances at the Exotica strip club for Francis, who has lost his daughter.

Exotica is a fine film that nevertheless seemed to force its way into my head without reaching my heart. - It's definitely a film I'll want to revisit. It seems to propose the theory that what each of us find 'exotic' has a much more poignant influence on us than we mostly admit to ourselves and others. It also deals with loss and nonlinear relationships.
Some great actors play in the film: Particularly Bruce Greenwood (Flight (2012)) as disillusioned accountant Francis and Mia Kirshner (Cadillac Girls (1993)) as the 'jailbait' stripper with emotions. The film is heightened by strong photography by Paul Sarossy (The Captive (2014)) and score by Mychael Danna (Life of Pi (2012)).
Exotica is the 6th theatrical feature by great Cairo-born Canadian writer-director Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter (1997)).

 

Related post:

 

1994 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

 

Watch a clip from the film here

Cost: 2 mil. CAD (today equal to 1.53 mil. $)
Box office: 4.2 mil. $ (North America only)
= Box office success (at least)
[Exotica premiered May 16 (Cannes) and runs 103 minutes. The film was shot in Toronto, Canada. Egoyan's wife Arsinée Khanjian (Adoration (2008)) plays a part in the film while being seven months pregnant. Without a world gross known, I can't say whether Exotica was only a box office success or should, in fact, count as a big hit. It won the FIPRESCI (critics') prize in Cannes , 8 awards at the Canadian Genie Awards, Best Canadian Feature Film Award at Toronto International Film Festival as well as a Adult Video News' Best Alternative Adult Movie Award of 1996, a porn industry honor, which amused Egoyan, since Exotica is a serious sex drama. Exotica is fresh at 97 % on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Exotica?

Dawn of the Dead (2004) - Snyder's great remake of Romero's classic

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+ Best Gore Movie of the Year  + Best Remake of the Year + Best Zombie Movie of the Year

The grisly poster for Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead

QUICK REVIEW:

A society is struck by a sudden zombie attack, and a group of survivors arrive at a mall, where they find shelter under a fascistic mall cop.

Dawn of the Dead is the outstanding remake of master filmmaker George R. Romero's classic masterpiece Dawn of the Dead (1978). Debuting Wisconsinite master filmmaker Zack Snyder (300 (2006)) makes the material very much his own and only retains from the original that it's about zombies and a group of survivors, who seek refuge in a mall, a famous line and three cameos of actors from the original.
The new cast is solid and includes Sarah Polley (Splice (2009)), Ty Burrell (The Skeleton Twins (2014)), Mekhi Phifer (8 Mile (2002)), Ving Rhames (Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)) and Kevin Zegers (Transamerica (2005)), - the latter adorning the screen beautifully, giving the zombie grossness a welcomed contrast.
Dawn has a Johnny Cash-fueled opening, gruesome, now super-fast zombies and style to boot. It doesn't equal the original in terms of ingenuity and societal commentary but it is a very good and entertaining, brutal time at the movies.
James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)) wrote the script, with Scott Frank (Minority Report (2002)) and Michael Tolkin (Nine (2009)) contributing an uncredited rewrite.

Related posts:

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Dawn of the Dead (1978) or, Mall of Death! 

In lieu of a trailer, not currently on Youtube, here is the awesome first 2½ minutes of the film, in which the stage is effectively set with a mix of stock footage, sound effects and Johnny Cash's The Man Comes Around. - This is from an Italian version of the film, so pay no heed to the Italian dub

Cost: 26 mil. $
Box office: 102.4 mil. $
= Big hit
[Dawn of the Dead was released March 19 and runs 100 minutes. Most of the film was shot on location in Ontario, Canada, including in a defunct mall. The boat and island scenes were shot as an answer to unsatisfied test responses to the suddenness of the original ending. The film opened #1 to a 26.7 mil. $ opening weekend in North America, where it grossed 59 mil. $ (57.6 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 10 mil. $ (9.8 %) and Japan with 4.7 mil. $ (4.6 %). Dawn of the Dead is certified fresh at 75 % with a 6.7 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Dawn of the Dead?
Other very good horror remakes in your opinion?

Mr. Nobody (2009) or, Profound Film

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One visually engaging poster for Jaco Van Dormael's Mr. Nobody


I had been attracted to this film since its premiere some years ago, but only got to it now. I had build some expectations for it, since it seemed promising, based on its trailer, praise and unusual story.
The plot of Mr. Nobody is hard to explain, but its main character is Nemo Nobody, who is a 100-something year old man, the last mortal alive almost a hundred years into the future, when people have gained 'quasi-immortality'. He looks back on his life, as he's interviewed by a younger man. His life counts several lives, it seems, or several life-spans, because he sees possibilities of alternate versions of his life, - versions, however, that he has also lived, somehow. A key point in his life is at his parents' divorce in his childhood, when he is asked to choose between them. Later highlights are his different loves, and different deaths.
The first about 15 minutes of the film revels in just fucking with its audience by throwing 'bones' every which way; lead actor Jared Leto (Requiem for a Dream (2000)) dies in different ways; we are in the past; we are in the future, we are everywhere. Nothing makes sense. What is this, we think. Will it ever make sense?
The answer is: Sort of, a bit.
The film then goes on to tell its stories of the life of Nemo Nobody, going back and forth, but mostly ahead from childhood through first love and sex to later married life, a mentally unstable wife etc. etc. Unfortunately, I was fast bored with the film, and I really wanted to like it, but just couldn't.
Mr. Nobody has many problems. One is its outset ambition to contain everything in life in it. It seems like it wants to be a 2 ½ hour Bible. It's too much. There's no softer way to say it.
But probably its main problem is its unengaging characters. The film is littered with fickle female characters that never really charm or attain likability or much interest. But the film's main focus, of course, is Nemo, who is mostly in the form of Leto. Jared Leto is all over the place as Nemo Nobody:

He is a floating hobo.

He has about 100 different hairstyles.

But above all, he stares existentially at us in countless existential close-ups from existentialist Belgian director Jaco Van Dormael (Lumière and Company, documentary (1995)), who seems almost existentially obsessed with the actor/rock star's face.
This last problem marks my biggest issue with the film; not so much Leto's face, but that Nobody seems so hell-bent on being existentially profound in almost every single minute it runs. As if it wants us to see it as some kind of epiphany from start to finish. It's a bit like that guy at the party who is a bit too 'smart' for his own well-being; who has seen this documentary/read this article/heard this incredible speech, and now just can't shut up about it. And why can't we all just see and understand what he has seen? Experience is not that easy to share with anyone else, Dormael.
I know that this may seem horribly skeptical and unfair towards the film, which many people really love, but I was bored and annoyed with it through most of its long runtime.

The details:

Lovers of Mr. Nobody will especially hate my use of the next adjective that I will tentatively paste to a corner of the film:
Pretentious.
Not as pretentious as another awful time-twirler, Wong Kar Wai's 2046 (2004), but still a film that really requires patience to get through. As when, for no apparent reason, this guy shows up and is in all earnestness a doctor for Mr. Nobody:

It is reminiscent of films like Darren Aronofsky's airy, failed The Fountain (2006) and the hugely popular The Butterfly Effect (2004). But the better entry into this love-and-the-relativity-of-time sci-fi-sub-genre, (if we may call it that), would be Michel Gondry's excellent Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004).
On the positive side, speaking for Mr. Nobody, it does have striking visuals, and is an unusual, big production of a pretty ludicrous mix of ideas. It is always incredible when someone decides to pour this kind of money into something as strange as Mr. Nobody, (and obviously to most of us with no real chance to make almost anything of it back again), but at least Dormael has put all that money to obvious use here.
The film also has a lot of good music, although I was sometimes sorry to hear such good music in such a dubious film. Its use of  Mr. Sandman by many different artists is quite clever.
One positive experience I made from the film was that divorcées really should never allow themselves to ask their child to choose between them. They have fucked up, and they should have to make this impossible decision of where the child goes, and almost invariably make the wrong one, and suffer all the beatings for that decision from then on. The child is not the responsible party and therefore shouldn't get this unbearable responsibility.
Nobody was Dormael's third feature. He has not been hired since. Perhaps because Nobody, although receiving praise and recognition, was, financially speaking, a black hole. The future will show, using a very poor pun, if Mr.Nobody was the film that made Jaco Van Dormael a nobody.
Mr. Nobody will stretch your concentration with a plot about the relativity of time and every reality strand's inherent perfection. If you are into experimental science fiction and time-related philosophy, you may love it. But I found it a highly trying time to get through.

Related posts:

2046 (2004) or, A Shell of Art

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
 

The trailer for Mr. Nobody

Budget: 47 mil. $
Box office: Less than a tenth of its budget
= Financial disaster

What do you think of Mr. Nobody?
Can you name other unusual sci-fi movies that work better than this?