Review of Thirteen Conversations About One Thing (2001) by David H — 01 Apr 2005

THE LAST LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE is a film I was assured I?d love. I liked it, but I had one major problem with it, and that?s possibly because I was expecting more. Christopher Doyle, who?s made some of the most breathtaking cinematography in film history, in films like THE CHUNGKING EXPRESS, HERO, THREE?EXTREMES etc., made such a boring looking film. The shots were all long, and lifeless. I?ve always enjoyed long shots, that sort of style has always worked with me, but everything about them in this film just bugged me. Composition always seemed off, and it?s probably because the film was awfully slow that I focused on it so much. But other than that, it?s a good film with a neat story.

12 MONKEYS: I was so amazed by this film. Everything about this film just impressed the shit out of me, and I?m seriously considering putting the film in my top ten films of all time. Yeah, it was such an amazing film. I never wanted to see it much, based on the DVD box. I always thought it was some futuristic space thriller about robots. It has such a terrible cover. Heh.

13 CONVERSATIONS ABOUT ONE THING: I?d heard a lot of good things about this films, and I?d been meaning to check it out for a long time. I finally got around to watching it last week, and it wasn?t all that it was cracked out to me. I liked the stories, and they way they intertwined, but it was just pretty boring. The acting was all good, but, I just wasn?t digging it was much as I wanted.

CROWS AND SPARROWS: I bet this is a film no one has ever heard of. I?d never heard of it before we watched in my international cinema class, and I don?t think I would have ever heard of it otherwise. And that?s exactly why my professor showed it, as our selection from China. It?s about a group of people who stick together and fight to stay in the house they live in, which is being sold by the owner. Doesn?t seem all that interesting, and for a lot of it, it wasn?t, but the ending, when they really fight against the man, it?s pretty intense. An interesting fact, this film was made under National Socialist in China, and finished just when the Republic of China was established, in 1949, and much of the talk about how socialism is better was cut from the film when it was released, and in the version I saw.