wildstrawbe
Joined Aug 2001
Welcome to the new profile
We're still working on updating some profile features. To see ratings breakdowns and polls for this profile, please go to the previous version.
Badges3
To learn how to earn badges, go to the badges help page.
Reviews35
wildstrawbe's rating
I recently rent the DVD and I think it's one of the best films I've ever seen. It's about a young druggie in Lower Manhattan and her friendship with a photographer, who happens to be a former junkie as well. The film is really well written and the lead actress, Ana Reeder is a revelation (well maybe not for me, I had the chance to see her last year in a Broadway play with Laura Linney). What I liked about the film is that while it's almost documentary-like it doesn't exploit the actors (something that has happened in other movies with similar topics), the use of music is very good and there is a monologue at the end of the film that made me cry.
It's really impossible to describe how beautiful this film is.
I've been a fan of Michael Winterbotom since I saw Jude. I still remember how much some of his movies like Jude or I want you had affected me, but this time the great film-maker from England has exceeded my expectations. At times where racism is everywhere, Winterbottom dares to go to "other side" and make a film about the poor people from Afghanistan who suffered the most when Bush and his allies bombed their already very poor country. How these refugees go to Pakistan live in tents and everything they have to go through when they decide to search for a better life in one of the world's biggest cities like London. The things the 2 young people have to go through are presented in such a way that it makes you understand that these things REALLY happen. This film makes you aware of some of the most important problems in the world, such as inequality, poverty and even crime. It's not that we don't know about these things already, it's just that we tend to forget them.
Last year it was "Lilja 4ever" that made me more of aware of the problem of child prostitution and this year it was "In this World" who made me wonder if there is a way that I could help all these unfortunate people. Stories like "In this World" and Lilja 4ever" (which I recommend to anyone who believes this film is important and a must-see for everyone who wants to be called a human being) can really change the world and make us better people. And therefore they are very important.
I've been a fan of Michael Winterbotom since I saw Jude. I still remember how much some of his movies like Jude or I want you had affected me, but this time the great film-maker from England has exceeded my expectations. At times where racism is everywhere, Winterbottom dares to go to "other side" and make a film about the poor people from Afghanistan who suffered the most when Bush and his allies bombed their already very poor country. How these refugees go to Pakistan live in tents and everything they have to go through when they decide to search for a better life in one of the world's biggest cities like London. The things the 2 young people have to go through are presented in such a way that it makes you understand that these things REALLY happen. This film makes you aware of some of the most important problems in the world, such as inequality, poverty and even crime. It's not that we don't know about these things already, it's just that we tend to forget them.
Last year it was "Lilja 4ever" that made me more of aware of the problem of child prostitution and this year it was "In this World" who made me wonder if there is a way that I could help all these unfortunate people. Stories like "In this World" and Lilja 4ever" (which I recommend to anyone who believes this film is important and a must-see for everyone who wants to be called a human being) can really change the world and make us better people. And therefore they are very important.
1989 was definitely one of the most important years in recent history. Does anyone remember the Berlin Wall falling, how everyone was talking about the world that was changing, the end of history and all that? Anyone remembers two years later when the Soviet Union collapsed, the Cold War ended and we all knew something very important was happening to the world and we were all hoping things would get better. Well most of our hopes didn't come true, but that's not what this film discusses.
A family lives in East Berlin in 1989, a mother and her 2 children (the father had gone to West Berlin 9 years ago and never came back). One day the mother will see her son protesting against the government and she will fall into a coma. A coma she will wake up from after 8 months. In the meantime Germany has changed. The wall has fallen. Coca Cola has intruded East Berlin, people are losing their jobs everywhere, the eastern german monetary unit isn't valid anymore and astronauts who were once national heroes drive a taxi to make a living. And all that in one night.
When the mother wakes up from the coma the doctors warn her children that she should not go under stressful situations otherwise her situation will get worse. But can there be a bigger shock than the fall of the Wall and everything else that followed? Her kids with the help of some friends and neighbours try to make everything like it was for their mother. They never tell her about the Berlin Wall and they try to convince her that nothing has changed and the only reason they do that is because they love her.
Goodbye Lenin is a beautiful film about love and about a world that changes so quick around us that sometimes we don't even have time to cope with the changes. Yann Tiersen's (who was also responsible for the Amelie soundtrack) soundtrack is excellent and it makes the film even more beautiful. The best film of the year so far.
A family lives in East Berlin in 1989, a mother and her 2 children (the father had gone to West Berlin 9 years ago and never came back). One day the mother will see her son protesting against the government and she will fall into a coma. A coma she will wake up from after 8 months. In the meantime Germany has changed. The wall has fallen. Coca Cola has intruded East Berlin, people are losing their jobs everywhere, the eastern german monetary unit isn't valid anymore and astronauts who were once national heroes drive a taxi to make a living. And all that in one night.
When the mother wakes up from the coma the doctors warn her children that she should not go under stressful situations otherwise her situation will get worse. But can there be a bigger shock than the fall of the Wall and everything else that followed? Her kids with the help of some friends and neighbours try to make everything like it was for their mother. They never tell her about the Berlin Wall and they try to convince her that nothing has changed and the only reason they do that is because they love her.
Goodbye Lenin is a beautiful film about love and about a world that changes so quick around us that sometimes we don't even have time to cope with the changes. Yann Tiersen's (who was also responsible for the Amelie soundtrack) soundtrack is excellent and it makes the film even more beautiful. The best film of the year so far.