Cozinha Do Inferno

I found this movie to be solidly entertaining. I was fascinated by the character of Johnny Miller. This was a guy surrounded by ugliness who, with one misstep, could have been consumed by it. However, simply by being who he was and doing what he knew to be right he redeemed himself and those around him. A lot of people in the world would do well to follow his example, and I hope a lot of people will see this movie and enjoy it.

I saw this film for the first time today and I was often in tears throughout. It was very slow at the beginning and I was contemplating turning it off. I'm glad I didn't, Once the initial scene had been the set, the cast began to shine. Mekhi Phifer is particularly convincing (it was also refreshing to see a black man not being portrayed as a gangster)as a man who makes a mistake but wants to get on with his life. Angelina Jolie is very "real" despite her having to take a more subtle and more in the background approach to her character. The soundtrack is very beautiful and appropriate to every stage of the film and its development.

Its well worth watching, just stick with it through the slow parts in the beginning and you'll enjoy it.

... about the American b-movies of the 90's that isn't exactly placeable anywhere. my own very young background is literary with movies as adiaphora, but it's a damn necessary one if today's society is to be at all comprehensible (which even then doesn't insure us of its comprehensibility for all that). the movie reviewed is a mish-mash of emotion, all misdirected, but sure as hell standing in their own right; that is, as open to ridicule. an honest look, however, at the 'private' life of modernity rarely entails one linear chain of events, affects, that can be deduced 'logically'. confusion is not only permitted and encouraged, but sustained throughout its madness, meaning as banished as the howls of the afflicted discordant and the 'possibilities' being presented are using us for its own instrumental reason without ever including our 'human potential', so why not put in the breaks and vegetate? seems to be the message of modern-day cynicism. sure as bunkers, you can't either blame or pity these neo-nihilists, put in their rightful place by a society all-too-much-like a Russia of the late 19th century. a simple "no" is not the truth but at the same time not an "affirmative" of what you in your heart of hearts suspect of untruth (covered up with courteous witty banter). there is no hypocrisy in such play-acting, but even those who refuse to intellectualize (don't believe in any form of "rationalization" whatsoever) and give way to the scurvy feelings and blurry outlines of their being, vaporize the untruth of a society as well as any truth makes its intellectual form ever. the one is descriptive, the other normative. this movie portrays how most human relationships are actually played out from beginning to end and it should give rise to wonder, if not awe, in humility. the sheer bulk of madness transforms itself before our very eyes into an intelligible quality, which we begin to fear. i'm willing to go as far as to say it's cathartic, but in the modern sense, which, unlike tragedy, doesn't anesthetize your defeature with a supplementary cord of meaning. as always, it's the raw fact of death that shines a light on life and serves as the usual wake-up call for the lazy 'human'. (jolie is great, by the way)

I for one am a huge Angelina Jolie fan, so when I picked up this movie at blockbuster I was hoping that it would turn out to be a really good film. I wasn't disappointed but the movie didn't blow me away. It does go in a lot of directions and it doesn't really officially resolve any of the problems. But I must say that Angelina Jolie and Mekhi Phifer gave great performances, despite the fact that the script was only okay. Despite the script I have to give the movie its credit, it was gritty, disturbing, even moving at times and it did keep me watching. I did feel like I was directly in Hell's Kitchen. This film shows the budding talents of two very good actors and I am glad that I had a chance to see it. So I would give the movie a 7 out of 10.

I am amazed that this film got such a low score. I personally thought it was a very convincing and moving mood piece and was well acted all round. Quite clearly an indie film and a character study but has a plot that moves along quite quickly and gives plenty of opportunity for reflection without ever moralising or passing judgement or overtly trying to make a social or political statement. No clear good guys and bad guys but rather interesting and individual characters caught up in a bad situation. Apart from anything else it had a great soundtrack/score and the original song by Rosanna Arquette was fantastic!

Perhaps the problem is that Angelina Jolie fans picked this one up for a perve?