Nico and Dani/Krámpack (2000) - Gay's sexually vibrant, incisive coming-out drama

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The two protagonist friends light cigarettes on this poster for Cesc Gay's Nico and Dani

Nico and Dani are two 17 year-old friends, who live alone in a house in the summer for a period: They find girls, - but one of the two falls for his friend, is forced to face his different sexuality, - plus the fact that his feelings are unreciprocated.

Nico and Dani is written by Tomás Aragay (Truman (2015)) and co-writer/director Cesc Gay (Hotel Room (1998)), based on a play by Jordi Sánchez (Pedralbes Centre (1995)). The original Spanish title refers to a kind of mutual masturbation that the two friends engage in in the film.
Nico and Dani is a refreshing coming-of-age drama with sexual frankness, piercing wistfulness, nice images and outstanding performances. The story is related with wonderful straightforwardness, and it has some especially funny scenes of the ignorance inherent in being young. The film is highly suitable for use in sex education classes.

Watch 2-minutes from the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Uncertain - in excess of 372k $
= Uncertain
[Nico and Dani premiered in May (Cannes Film Festival, out of competition) and runs 91 minutes. Shooting took place in Barcelona. The film's Box Office Mojo sheet only covers its North-American and Taiwan releases, of which 370k $ were from North America; the film's earnings in production country Spain and other European markets are missing. It won an award in Cannes. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Gay returned with In the City/En la Ciudad (2003). Fernando Ramallo (Dani) (Between Abril and Julio/Entre Abril y Julio (2002)) returned in 3 shorts and a TV-series before his theatrical return in Algunas Chicas Doblan las Piernas Cuando Hablan (2001); Jordi Vilches (Nico) (La Sagrada Familia (2011, TV-series)) in Warriors/Guerreros (2002). Nico and Dani is certified fresh at 87 % with a 6.62/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Nico and Dani?

The Graduate (1967) - Submerge yourself in Nichols' terrific classic

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Someone's sticking out an alluring leg before Dustin Hoffman on this titillating, hugely popular poster for Mike Nichols' The Graduate

We meet Benjamin as he graduates college and finds himself on high and dry concerning his future. At this junction his parents' friend Mrs. Robinson enter his life with her attractive daughter Elaine, which further complicates things.

The Graduate is written by Calder Willingham (Paths of Glory (1957)) and Buck Henry (The Owl and the Pussycat (1970)), adapting Charles Webb's (Love, Roger (1969)) same-titled 1963 novel, and directed by German-born American master filmmaker Mike Nichols (Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf (1966)), whose 2nd film it is.
This film is everything. You might go into it with some reservations and find the symbolism and heightened drama of the performances somewhat ostentatious. But keep watching. This film is irresistible: so funny, so involving, so full of creative spirit and invention. It is a zeitgeist hit that's full of youthful energy, joy in the art of relating a narrative, music, - Simon and Garfunkel's folk-pop evergreens are an integral part of the film, - and memorable performances, especially form Anne Bancroft (Home for the Holidays (1995)) and Dustin Hoffman (Kung Fu Panda (2008)). And so many underwater shots!
The film also has a visual (the cinematography is simple yet fabulous) and lyrical poetic quality, especially in the scenes of Hoffman driving the red sports car. It is a strange thing, but watching the film feels like traveling back in time, visiting the 1960s. It is absolutely wonderful. And The Graduate is a genuine classic.

Related posts:

Mike Nichols: Closer (2004) - Nichols and Marber's intelligent film of love and infidelity 
Angels in America (2003, TV-miniseries) or, Dying in the 80's, of AIDS, at L-E-N-G-T-H
Biloxi Blues (1988) or, '45 Army Camp Confidential     
Catch-22 (1970) - Nichols wages war on war with ensemble cast in absurdist satire

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 3 mil. $
Box office: 190 mil. $
= Blockbuster (returned 63.33 times its cost)
[The Graduate premiered 20 December (New York) and runs 106 minutes. An exhaustive list of actresses were in contention or considered for the main female parts, while Hoffman was mainly cast over 'just' Warren Beatty and Robert Redford. Shooting took place in California, including Los Angeles, from April - August 1967. In post-production Nichols begged Paul Simon to write more songs for the film. It made 104.6 mil. $ domestically in its original release, making it the currently 23rd highest-grossing film in North America, adjusted for inflation. It is estimated to have made 85 mil. $ in international rentals, and it has made another 339k $ in 3 subsequent domestic re-releases. It was nominated for 6 Oscars, winning for Best Director. It lost Best Actor to Rod Steiger for In the Heat of the Night, Actress (Bancroft) to Katherine Hepburn for Guess Who's Coming for Dinner, Supporting Actress (Ross) to Estelle Parsons for Bonnie & Clyde, Cinematography (Robert Surtees) to Burnett Guffey for Bonnie & Clyde, Picture to In the Heat of the Night and Adapted Screenplay to Stirling Siliphant also for In the Heat of the Night. It won 5/7 Golden Globe nominations, 5/7 BAFTA nominations, a Grammy, a National Board of Review award and other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch harder than this one. It was since adapted for the stage. Nichols returned with Teach Me! (1968, short) and theatrically with masterpiece Catch-22 (1970). Bancroft returned in Young Winston (1972); Hoffman in Madigan's Millions (1968); and Katherine Ross (A Climate for Killing (1991)) in Hellfighters (1968). The Graduate is certified fresh at 86 % with an 8.85/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Graduate?

Brooklyn (2015) - Ronan captivates in Crowley's exquisite, soaring period romance drama masterpiece

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+ 3nd Best Movie of the Year
+ Most Deserved Hit of the Year 
+ Best Irish Movie of the Year  
+ Best Period Movie of the Year 
+ Screen Couple of the Year: Saoirse Ronan & Emory Cohen

Saoirse Ronan encapsulates the formidable power of John Crowley's Brooklyn in her look on this poster

In 1951, a young Irishwoman takes the big decision of moving to the US, where she makes a life for herself and falls in love, until an event in her family drives her back home again.

Don't judge Brooklyn out based on the possibly a bit unassuming quality of its poster and trailer; the film is pure gold!
Saoirse Ronan (Death Defying Acts (2007)) breaks out as a true star here, and she (and her incredible blue eyes along with her) simply becomes the moving Eilis Lacey here. She and Emory Cohen (Afterschool (2008)) as her Italian-American beau suit each other and the silver screen magnificently and seem destined to be the year's best movie pairing. Jim Broadbent (Another Year (2010)) also deserves singling out; here he is great as a priest.
Brooklyn has elegant, simple production design (by François Séguin (The Karate Kid (2010)) and photography by Yves Bélanger (Demolition (2015)) and a beautiful, Irish-inspired score by Michael Brook (The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)), which seems to play right into our very souls.
Brooklyn is a true winner that moves, inspires, causes recognition and joy, - and transforms your heart into a veritable lump of melting butter. It is written by Nick Hornby (Wild (2014)), based on the same-titled 2009 novel by Colm Tóibín (The Empty Family (2010)), and is the 5th feature directed by Irish master filmmaker John Crowley (Intermission (2003)).

Related posts:

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 11 mil. $
Box office: 62 mil. $
= Huge hit
[Brooklyn premiered 26 January (Sundance) and runs 112 minutes. Shooting took place from March - April 2014 in Ireland, including Dublin, New York and in Montreal, Canada, which doubled for Brooklyn. Funding came together as a puzzle from no less than 20 companies and governmental bodies. The film opened #30 to a 187k $ first weekend in 5 theaters (a solid 37k $ average) in North America, where it spread to peak at #9 and in 947 theaters (different weeks) and grossed 38.3 mil. $ (61.8 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 8.5 mil. $ (13.7 %) and Australia with 4.5 mil. $ (7.3 %). The film was nominated for 3 Oscars: Best Film, lost to the great Spotlight, Best Actress (Ronan), lost to Brie Larson in masterpiece Room, and Best Adapted Screenplay (Hornby), lost to Charles Randolph and Adam McKay for masterpiece The Big Short. The film was also nominated for a Golden Globe, won 1 out of 6 BAFTA nominations, 1 out of 5 British Independent Film Awards, 2 out of 7 Irish Film and TV Awards and many other awards and honors. In Canada, which was one of the countries behind the film, it was the highest-grossing Canadian or part-Canadian film of 2015, making 4 mil. C$. In Ireland, it had the biggest opening (650k $) for an Irish or part-Irish film since 1996's Michael Collins. The film ranked on more than 120 film critics' Top 10 lists of the year. Crowley followed up his success with directing two episodes of True Detective's 2015 S2. His next feature is the much bigger (40 mil. $) budgeted drama The Goldfinch, starring Ansel Elgort and Aneurin Barnard, which is in pre-production. Brooklyn is certified fresh at 96 % with an 8.4/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Brooklyn?

Norwegian Wood/ノルウェイの森 (Noruwei no mori) (2010) - Hung's delicate adaptation of grand emotions youth drama in 1960s Japan

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+ Best Japanese Movie of the Year

 

An intimate, lovely poster for Tran Anh Hung's Norwegian Wood

 

Young Japanese male Hizaki commits suicide. His girlfriend and best friend sleeps together, but she later becomes unstable and moves into a home in the mountains, while he balances their capricious relation with the temptations of living in Tokyo.

Norwegian Wood is an adaptation of Haruki Murakami's (Sputnik Sweetheart/Supūtoniku no koibito (1999)) same-titled 1987 novel  by great Vietnamese writer-director Tran Anh Hung (The Scent of Green Papaya/Mùi du du xanh (1993)). It is an utmost delicate, youthful film of grand emotions set in a vividly beautiful Japan in the 1960s: Especially natural scenery are utilized to great effect throughout the film, which has spectacular cinematography by Ping Bin Lee (The Rooftop/Tian tai ai qing (2013)). 

The film is long but so immersive and filled with sexually piquant scenes as well as fine moments that convey loneliness other intimate feelings, as if taking a bite of a ripe fruit of youth. The Japanese specialty for overwrought feelings and behavior, (and, surely connected to that, a striking absence of humor), is strongly portrayed here; the film may even go as far as to go along to a small degree in the local custom of romanticizing suicide. In any case Norwegian Wood is a fabulous, wonderful film.

 

Related posts:

 

Tran Anh Hung:  2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

 2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

The Scent of Green Papaya/Mùi đu đủ Xanh/L'Odeur de la Papaye Verte (1993) - Hung's debut is pure visual poetry

 

Watch an official trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 19.1 mil. $
= Unknown
[Norwegian Wood premiered September 2 (Venice International Film Festival) and runs 133 minutes. It took Hung 4 years of talks with Murakami, before the famous author approved the adaptation in 2008. Filming took place in Japan in October 2008, February 2009 and from June - July 2009. The film opened #56 in just 3 theaters to a 13k $ first weekend in North America, where it never went out wider and got pulled out of distribution after those just 3 days. The film made the vast majority of its gross in its native Japan: 16.3 mil. $ (85.3 %). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 550k $ (2.9 %) and Spain with 383k $ (2 %). Without knowing the film's budget, it is impossible to know if its gross makes it a theatrical hit. The film was nominated for 3 awards at the Asian Film Awards, winning for Best Cinematography (Ping Bin Lee (The Assassin/Nie yin niang (2015)). Norwegian Wood is certified fresh at 74 % with a 6.5 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Norwegian Wood?

Omar (2013) - Problematic love-and-war in-look at life for young Palestinians

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Fleeing for love is adequately shown as central to the story of Hany Abu-Assad's Omar here on its poster

QUICK REVIEW:

Omar is an energetic young Palestinian, who is in love with his buddy's little sister. He carries out a kill mission on an Israeli soldier and gets captured. - The little group he works with have a rat. What now weighs heavier on Omar's mind? Love or the fight?

Omar is the 6th fiction feature by Palestinian writer-director Hany Abu-Assad (Paradise Now (2005)). It features handsome cinematography, by Ehab Assal (The Idol/Ya Tayr El Tayer (2015)), and is a technically impressive film, which brings the Palestinian side of the Israel-Palestine conflict into the light.
The problem of Omar is that the film presupposes that we accept Omar as its (also romantic) hero, even though he pretty early in the film becomes too dubious: The killing he carries out is too unjustifiable, and the macho culture that the film continues to show is in a similar way too reprehensible for the feat to succeed. - And if Omar's last act in the film (SPOILER his kill #2) is hailed as an act of heroism in Palestine and the Muslim world in general, the film is a downright catastrophe in my opinion.
In another note, some of the film, particularly in its beginning, is somewhat disorienting and confusing, at least for a non-Israeli/Palestinian.

Related reviews:

Other Best Foreign Film Oscar nominee 2014: The Hunt/Jagten (2012) - Vinterberg's strongest film since 1998 is a reversed Celebration
The Best Foreign Film Oscar winner of 2014: The Great Beauty/La Grande Bellezza (2013) or, Jep Gambardelli's Rome

In lieu of a trailer, which is not available on Youtube at the moment, here is a scene from the film with English subtitles

Cost: 2.1 mil. $
Box office: 0.8 mil. $
= Mega-flop
[Omar was written by Abu-Assad in four days and shot in the end of 2012 in Israel and Palestine on a budget made up from a 5 % contribution from the Dubai International Film Festival and the rest coming from Palestinians. The film was released for just 10 days in North America, where it grossed somewhere between 0.3 - 0.6 mil. $. - The numbers released for Omar are few and contradictory. The film received the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize in Cannes and was Oscar-nominated as Best Foreign Film, losing to Paolo Sorrentino's masterpiece The Great Beauty/La Grande Bellezza (2013). Omar is certified fresh at 91 % with a 7.5 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Omar?

Control (2007) - Ian Curtis' youth, love and music as the front man of Joy Division

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+ Best Music Movie of the Year + Best Debut Movie of the Year: Anton Corbijn + Best B/W Movie of the Year

The stylish poster with Sam Riley cigarette-in-mouth for Anton Corbijn's Control

QUICK REVIEW:

Control is a music drama biopic based on Joy Division front singer Ian Curtis' life from 1973-'80, when he took his own life. 
The movie covers him from the assembly of his first band Warsaw, to his early marriage and child, the building of Joy Division, perhaps the most important post punk band of all, the music, the success, the mistress, his epilepsy and finally, his suicide. His struggles with love most of all, perhaps, is the center here.
I love the music of Joy Division, though being a fan is not a prerequisite for watching or enjoying Control, which is very well-produced; especially the cinematography (by Martin Ruhe (The American (2010)) is excellent and at its best moments poetic like Curtis' lyrics. 
The English reality portrayed in Control is incredibly crude and dreary, - similar to Hamburg in the film's Dutch director Anton Corbijn's (The American (2010)) newest film, A Most Wanted Man. (2014). The script is also rather stiff and hard, at times tragicomic. It deals with hard topics.
Control was Corbijn's debut feature. He comes from a background in photography and music videos and has had a long history with Joy Division in this role. He is now in post with his next movie, Life (2015), about a photo-shoot with James Dean for Life Magazine.

Related posts:

Anton Corbijn: 2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
A Most Wanted Man (2014) - Hamburg anti-terror spies in lean, serious picture

Watch the trailer here

Cost: 4.5 mil. euros
Box office: 8.1 mil. $
= Minor flop
[Corbijn put up half of the budget himself and won considerable critical praise and prizes for Control, including a BAFTA for the film's writer. His next film was the low-budgeted George Clooney-starring The American, which had a better commercial result, making 67.8 mil. $ on a 20 mil. $ budget.]

What do you think of Control?
Other good movies about punk bands?

The Notebook (2004) - A modern, and very old-fashioned, love-story classic

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+ Best Breakthrough of the Year: Ryan Gosling + Best Melodrama of the Year + Best Romance of the Year + Best Screen Couple of the Year: Ryan Gosling & Rachel McAdams + Best South Carolina Movie of the Year

A delicate, sensual poster for Nick Cassavetes' The Notebook

The Notebook is an adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks (A Walk to Remember (1999)) novel by American director Nick Cassavetes (John Q (2002)), the son of great American actor-director John Cassavetes (Faces (1968)) and actress Gena Rowlands (A Woman Under the Influence (1974)).
It's a story of socially awkward love, as a belle of the high society falls for a lower class working country boy. Their relationship ends by orders of her family, and years pass by, in which he fights in WWII, and she gets engaged to another fine gentleman.
The story is told in a frame about an old man, who reads the story to an old lady in the present day in the nursing home where she resides. She has dementia, and by and by, we realize SPOILER that they are the two main characters of the 'story', which is the story of their lives and their strong love.

From the get-go, - a visually breathtaking boating sequence during the title credits, - The Notebook is a swooning, wildly emotional movie. It is securely placed in the melodrama genre and feels comfortable there, without any tinges of irony, elements that are unrelated to the story, or even scenes that do not completely flow with the general, extrovert emotionality of the film. Things are written OUT, and the lines are big, - the characters never hold back. Visually as well, the team go all out, as with the romantic boating scene amongst hundreds of white ducks.
This brings a level of unreality to the film at times. As with the facts that Noah (Ryan Gosling (The Place Beyond the Pines (2012))) writes 365 (no more, no less (!)) letters to his love. Or that they are away from each other 7 (!) years, (but obviously haven't aged more than a few days. - This could perhaps have just been 3 years...?) I swallowed these very minor reservations, because the film makes you do that and just go along and love it for what it is, - but totally real, The Notebook doesn't feel.
The performances of the two leads hooked me early: Gosling and Rachel McAdams (Morning Glory (2010)) are young and vivacious and sparks fly between them, as they command our attention to them wholeheartedly. There's real movie magic going on in The Notebook in their scenes, which gives us a wonderful, believable, impulsive romance that sweeps us away.
The fine cast also includes, playing 'third violin', a good James Marsden (X-Men 2 (2003)). And Cassavetes has cast his own mom, Rowlands to portray the aged, demented Allie, a part which is perfect for her, and she is strikingly beautiful throughout and really made that whole frame-story work for me. Her deeply human face and empathy once again draws you to her. 

James Garner and Gena Rowlands in Nick Cassavetes' The Notebook

In other very good supporting roles, Sam Shepard (Mud (2012)) and Joan Allen (Pleasantville (1998)) are solid. The Notebook is bereft of monsters and tough villains, which is liberating. It is an honest and wonderful love story with a beautiful, touching ending. 
Let yourself enjoy this one; it is a very fine movie and a modern romance classic.

The details:

The style of The Notebook is an impressive, well-crafted mix that almost instantly brings back memories of the Douglas Sirk (Imitation of Life (1959)) melodramas of the 50's. One also thinks of Gone With the Wind (1939), yet often the camera does move in closer, so that the style never seems dated but still remains modern and fresh.
The costumes, hair, production and location work is top notch. Just look at McAdams in this picture and try not to get carried away to long lost times:

Rachel McAdams is a joy to the eyes and ears in Nick Cassavetes' The Notebook

Rowlands, who made her TV-debut in 1954, amazingly, is still in movies; Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks (2014) being the coming attraction.
Cassavetes has earned tremendous box office but critical disregard for his latest, the vulgar chick flick The Other Woman (2014). His next project will be the real-life period drama Kentucky Rhapsody.
Gosling has premiered his directing debut, Lost River (2014) these days in Cannes to boos, ridicule and scattered praise. Cannes verdicts are notoriously unreliable, though, as with Nicholas Winding Refn's Gosling-starring Only God Forgives (2013), which critics chewed up and spat out last year, but which is really a great film.

 

Related post:

 

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

Watch the trailer here

Budget: 29 mil. $
Box office: 115.6 mil. $
= Big hit

What do you think of The Notebook?
Have you seen other Nicholas Sparks adaptations, and if so, how were they?

Blue Valentine (2010) or, Love: In and Out of It

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1 Film Excess nomination:

Best Lead Actress: Michelle Williams (lost to Jennifer Connelly for Virginia/What's Wrong with Virginia)
 
+ Best Love Story of the Year
+ Sexiest Screen Couple of the Year: Ryan Gosling & Michelle Williams

Romantic, blue-tinted poster for Derek Cianfrance's Blue Valentine

Dean and Cindy are two young adults, who fall in love and have a baby together and marry, then SPOILER lose their relationship and divorce.
Truly a blue valentine, this film seems like a clear warning against marriage; the bad aspects definitely outweigh the good ones in the relationship shown: Ryan Gosling (Drive (2011)) as the romantic and Michelle Williams (My Week With Marilyn (2011)) as his partner, who loose her love for him.
Somewhat sophisticated structurally, the film also has a fine score by the Brooklyn-band Grizzly Bear (Jack Goes Boating (2010)) and intimate photography by Andrij Parekh (Dark Horse (2011)). Valentine is a very real tale, - sometimes sweet, and later a very sad descent and ending.
It was made on a shoestring budget with lots of improvisation involved from its impressive stars, and it achieves that Bergman-reminiscent sense of uncomfortability in the claustrophobicly intimate marriage. Williams was also Oscar-nominated for her performance.
Director Derek Cianfrance feature-debuted in 1998 with the interesting-sounding Brother Tied, and has done TV and short films since Valentine, which he actually paid to make, (and hopefully saw some payment out of subsequently), whereupon he made the similarly fine crime drama The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)). His next project is called Metalhead and is about a metal-rocker that loses his hearing.

Related posts:

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Watch the film's trailer here

Budget: 1 mil. $
Box office: 12.3 mil. $
= Huge hit

What do you think of Blue Valentine and Cianfrance's other works?