The Squid and the Whale (2005)

Genre

Comedy | Drama

Director

Noah Baumbach

Country

United States

Cast

Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, Jesse Eisenberg, Owen Kline, Anna Paquin, William Baldwin, Halley Feiffer, David Benger, Adam Rose, Peter Newman, Peggy Gormley, Greta Kline

Plot

Bernard Berkman (Jeff Daniels), once a successful author, had to fall back on teaching for the good of his family.

When his wife, Joan (Laura Linney),  has begun publishing her own work, which increases the tension between them, divorce seems the only possible solution. 

To suffer the consequences will be their two sons, Walt (Jesse Eisenberg) and Frank (Owen Kline), a child who drowns his sorrows in alcohol.

Opinion

The Squid and the Whale is a great film. The story takes place in Brooklyn (New York) in 1985 but it could be anywhere, in any year. Loved the comparison between the battle between the squid and the whale (seen in the museum by Walt when he was a kid) and the parents divorce: you suffer more intensely when you are watching the battle and you can't cover your eyes with your hands.

12 Years a Slave (2013)

Genre

Biography | Drama | History

Director

Steve McQueen

Country

United States

Cast

Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Brad Pitt, Lupita Nyong'o, Alfre Woodard, Sarah Paulson, Scoot McNairy, Taran Killam, Garret Dillahunt, Michael Kenneth Williams, Quvenzhané Wallis, Ruth Negga, Bill Camp

Plot

1841. A free-born black man, Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), was kidnapped and sold into slavery. At first, he decides that cooperation is the best way to survive. At the moderate humanity of his first master, William Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch) is opposed the violent and unrestrained cowardice of Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender), the most fearsome of slaveholders. Epps, a frustrated and disturbed man, vents all his violence on mangled bodies of those who believed "owned" slaves, and his favourite victim is the young woman Patsey (Lupita Nyong'o), forced to pander the meanest instincts of the master. Wrapped in these heartbreaking images of inhumanity, Solomon, forced to respond to the more appropriate name of Platt, will finally surrender to surrounding cruelty and  his main target will be survive. Solomon's life change when he met the Canadian carpenter Bass (Brad Pitt).

Opinion

12 Years a Slave is a masterpiece! Steve McQueen made a solid and raw film, that brings us back in the horror of slavery and agonizing lives, defrauded of all their rights.

This film is fed by dramatic scenes through which come out all the brutality of the human being. The horror is so vast and unimaginable almost to freeze the emotions.

Chiwetel Ejiofor is stunning and unforgettable as Solomon Northup. Michael Fassbender delivers a performance plenty of emotions; arguably his best performance so far. Lupita Nyong'o is outstanding. Benedict Cumberbatch is good as the good slaver. Paul Giamatti and Sarah Paulson are both seen for a few minutes, but they are great.

Quotes

Solomon Northup: I don't wanna survive, I wanna live.

The Great Beauty (2013)

Original Title

La grande bellezza

Genre

Drama

Director

Paolo Sorrentino

Country

Italy

Cast

Toni Servillo, Carlo Verdone, Sabrina Ferilli, Carlo Buccirosso, Iaia Forte, Giovanna Vignola, Pamela Villoresi, Galatea Ranzi, Franco Graziosi, Sonia Gessner, Giorgio Pasotti, Giusi Merli, Dario Cantarelli, Roberto Herlitzka, Serena Grandi, Massimo Popolizio, Anna Della Rosa, Luca Marinelli, Ivan Franek, Vernon Dobtcheff, Lillo, Luciano Virgilio, Anita Kravos, Massimo De Francovich, Aldo Ralli, Isabella Ferrari, Annaluisa Capasa, Fanny Ardant, Antonello Venditti

Plot

Jep Gambardella (Toni Servillo) is a journalist and a theatre critic, with an undeniable charm, committed to disentangle the social events of Rome immersed in the beauty of the past and stands out more than nowadays' squalor.

Opinion

The Great Beauty is a mediocre film, a bad "remake" of La dolce vita. There are some decent flashes, but they should be credited to Rome and not to the film. Foreigners, in particular Americans, like it maybe because they have an unreal idea of Italy.

Two things I did like about this film: the music which was great and the photography which was outstanding. Academy Award undeserved.

Quotes

"To travel is very useful, it makes the imagination work, the rest is just delusion and pain. Our journey is entirely imaginary, which is its strength."- Céline's Journey to the End of the Night.