Redacted (2007) Brian De Palma

This one didn’t work for me; the movie is so clearly politically motivated that it hurts. De Palma has forgotten to make a good movie here; first I thought that it was me, that I was numb to these war stories from Iraq, but this story is just too one-dimensional and the characters are flat. The showing of the real photo’s at the end made a hundred times more impact than the whole 90 minutes of film. So, this one is no where near examples like Platoon, which has the same theme, but does a much better job showing the complexities of war.

 

MAGNUM Photos 60 years @ SMCS

Thomas Hoepker

Great retrospective showing 60 years of MAGNUM, the agency founded by Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger and David Seymour in 1947 to give the photographer more say about his own images. Viewing the images throughout the exhibition, you see many of the iconic images of recent history that made this agency so ground braking. A must for all fans of photography.

 

Eyes Wide Open @ SMCS

Tjebbe Beekman, Bonus-Malus (2006)

Overview of recently acquired work. Highlights (for me): Lisa Yuskavage, Aernout Mik, Luc Tuymans, Tjebbe Beekman. Raw Footage (2006) by Aernout Mik especially, a video projection on two screens showing surplus material from news footage about the Balkan conflict. It shows the strange normality of war, men goofing to the camera while firing mortars, or men mechanically unpacking shells and arming them. All this with a mostly serene landscape as background. Super.

Aernout Mik, Raw Footage (2006)

Luc Tuymans, Rome (2007)Lisa Yuskavage, Dutch Girl (2006)

 

The Olympic Games, Beijing 2008

via monoscope

sign petition at avaaz.org

 

Margot at the Wedding (2007) Noah Baumbach

Another view into a dysfunctional family from director Noah Baumbach. In my memory The Squid and the Whale was a better movie than this one. I like these movies which have this kind of uncomfortable feeling, but here there doesn’t seem to be much more. No real plot, one (anticipated) dramatic event [spoiler]: the wedding is off. Almost all characters are flawed or unsympathetic in some way, but funny enough I didn’t hate them, they just annoyed me every now and then. Maybe that’s what is good about this movie; it mirrors one’s own experiences in dealing with family at weddings. Didn’t get those neighbours, what was the purpose of them in this story?

 

An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar by Taryn Simon @ Foam

Cool set of images uncovering unknown and secret worlds of mainly industry and research facilities. The effect is surprisingly vulnerable and beautifull. Taryn Simon is one of the two winners of the Paul Huf Award 2007.

Interview with Taryn Simon in the Morning News

 

STASI – Secret Rooms by Daniel & Geo Fuchs @ Foam

Strong series of photographs showing the offices of the Stasi, the secret police in the former DDR. They look staged, like movie sets, but incredible these rooms are exactly the same as they were 20 years ago. They air a serene mood, but you can feel the weighing history.

 

No End in Sight (2007) Charles Ferguson

I got to see this documentary last night, marking the five-year point of American involvement in Iraq. It deals with the (lack of) planning of what to do after military operations would finish. I was surprised to see that, although they started late, there was a great deal of planning, but throughout the film it becomes evident that all good intentions got overruled by the inner circle around the president. In this documentary there are a lot of interviews with the people involved with this planning and they are all left with the question why all advice from the experts was neglected. This documentary doesn’t have an answer, either, mainly because none of the decision makers in Washington wanted to cooperate with the makers of this film. A couple of key decisions are important: first of all Bush signing over full control over post-war Iraq to the Pentagon. And secondly, the actions of Paul Bremer; the firing of all Baath party members and the disbandment of the Iraqi army, leaving hundreds of thousand able men with no future or income and rendering the country into total chaos. The question remains; was this all part of some alternate (evil) strategy by Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, or was it just plain stupidity and enormous arrogance.

 

There Will Be Blood (2007) Paul Thomas Anderson

Go…See.

 

12 Angry Men (1957) Sidney Lumet

Incredible to see a young Sidney Lumet already so accomplished. The extreme bare setting of almost only a jury room is never boring throughout the entire length of the movie. Although the story is a bit too perfectly constructed for my taste, this movie is involving until the last minute. Never mind that all I got to see for ninety minutes were 12 sweaty middle aged men discussing a murder case!