Review of Two Women (1999) by Umi H — 20 Apr 2006

STANDARDIZED MOVIE EVALUATION.

(Inherently without Spoilers).

I. CONTENT (out of 3 stars plus bonus, composite of sub-criteria bellow): ---> 2.25 <---.

I. PHILOSOPHICAL/PSYCHOLOGICAL DEPTH (out of 2 stars, where very shallow = 0; shallow = 0.25 or 0.5; somewhat deep = 0.75 or 1.0; deep = 1.25 or 1.5; very deep = 1.75 or 2.0).

---> 1.5 <---.

Ii. SCREENPLAY ORIGINALITY (out of 1 star, where very banal = 0; banal = 0.25; somewhat original = 0.5; original = 0.75; very original = 1.0):

---> 0.5 <---.

+ BONUS FOR CONTAINING CONTROVERSIAL & UNPOPULAR TOPICS (up to 0.5 star, where controversial topics = 0.25; unpopular and taboo topics = 0.5).

---> 0.25 <---.

II. PRODUCTION (out of 2 stars plus bonus, composite of sub-criteria bellow): ---> 1.5 <---.

Iii. ACTING (out of 1 star, where very ineffective = 0; ineffective = 0.25; somewhat effective = 0.5; effective = 0.75; very effective = 1.0):

---> 0.75 <---.

Iv. PRESENTATION (out of 1 star, where very ineffective = 0; ineffective = 0.25; somewhat effective = 0.5; effective = 0.75; very effective = 1.0):

---> 0.75 <---.

+ BONUS FOR PRODUCING ON LOW BUDGET (up to 0.5 stars, where up to one million dollars budget = 0.25; up to half a million dollars budget = 0.5).

TOTAL STAR RATING: ---> 3.75<---.

GRADE & RECOMMENDATION (above 5.0 = A+," Very Good Movie, Highly Recommend"; 5.0 & 4.75 = A," Very Good Movie, Highly Recommend"; 4.5 = A-, " Very Good Movie, Highly Recommend"; 4.25 = B+, "Good Movie, Recommend"; 4.0 & 3.75 = B, "Good Movie, Recommend"; 3.5 = B - "Good Movie, Recommend"; 3.25 = = C+, "Fair Movie" ; 3.0 & 2.75 = C, "Fair Movie"; 2.5 = C-, "Fair Movie"; 2.25 = D+, "Poor Movie"; 2.0 & 1.75 = D, "Poor Movie"; 1.5 = D-, "Poor Movie"; bellow 1.5 = F, "Very Poor Movie") : ---> B, " Good Movie, Recommend"<---.

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COMMENTS (may contain spoilers):

I)The movie is fairly deep in it's exploration of the position of the woman in a fundamentalist society.

Ii)While the movie is melodramatic and clished in many ocassions it contains a dose of orginality in it, in part by incorporating a Middle Eastern perspective.

Iii) The acting is effectively emotive and charged.

Iv) The presentation is accomplished effectively, despite some rough editing and archaic tape quality (judging from the tape quality it would seem the movie was created in 1950s rather than 7 years ago).

+) I gave it some bonus for touching controversial issues of women's rights in middle east.

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BALANCED MPAA RATING (not biased in favor of violence and against sexuality, where G = no violence, no sexuality; PG = OK slight violence, OK slight sexuality; PG-13 = OK moderate violence, OK moderate sexuality; R = OK explicit violence, OK explicit sexuality; NC-17 = OK extreme violence, OK extreme sexuality).

---> PG for slight violence <-.