The three idiots

This is a near three hour long Bollywood film about three student friends studying at the Indian college of engineering. One of them is an enigmatic genius whilst the other two are more towards the bottom of the class. The film sends up the uber competitive nature of the indian education system in a gentle but goofy way, and there are plenty of pleasing melodies to keep your toes tapping. I didn't even really notice it was nearly three hours long.

Abel

I rented this from Lovefilm. It is set in Mexico and is the story of a nine year old boy who has spent an unspecified amount of time in psychiatric care, during which he was practically mute. He is then released into the care of his single mother, who at first struggles to work out how best to care for him. Abel adapts by adopting the role of the father of the family, to his five year old brother and fifteen year old sister. All is going swimmingly until his real father turns up. All in all, an interesting film, but not a brilliant one.

Water for elephants

I rented this from iTunes and watched it whilst staying in Casa della Sensa. It is the heartwarming story, set in America during the depression of the 1930s, of a young Polish immigrant man Jakob, whose parents die in a car crash just as he is about to sit his vet exams at Cornell university. He leaves home to roam the country, and ends up joining a travelling circus, as you do. In addition to falling in love with the animals, including the delightful Rosie the elephant (who handily understands Polish instructions!), Jakob also falls for the boss' wife, Marlena, played by Reece Witherspoon. Suffice to say that the boss is not the most free- thinking of men. All good clean fun, but not the most intellectually demanding film in the world. It is based on a novel written by Sarah Gruen, allegedly during National Novel Writing Month (commonly known as NaNoWriMo!). I think Catriona has taken part in that.

Last night

I rented this from ITunes and watched it in Venice. It is a clever, quite sensitive portrayal of a young married couple in New York, with Keira Knightley playing the wife. Both the husband and the wife are tempted to be unfaithful - he with a colleague whilst on a business trip; she with an ex boyfriend who turns up out of the blue. There is plenty of intelligent discussion and exchange of views, without making it dull.

The descendants

I went to see this film as part of the London film festival, at the Odeon Leicester Square (nice comfy seats, but a wopping £25 per ticket, which is a lot for a film, even with an introduction from the great Sandra Hebron), with Spodo, who was particualrly impressed with seeing George Clooney in the lobby, and also appreciated the free bar of chocolate with each seat.  The film is the story of a Hawaian man, played by Clooney, whose wife is lying in hospital in a coma, after a powerboat accident.  His two daughters are fairly uncontrolled, but he has to pull together some semblance of normal life.  At the same time, he discovers that his wife has been having an affair, and he is also head of an extended family whose land is up for sale for a gazillion dollars.  All in all I found the film very synthetic and the acting wooden.  Despite a potentially interesting story, I just didn't feel any empathy with the characters and the film didn't really make the most of the scenery of Hawaii.

Confessions

I rented this DVD from Lovefilm, having had it recommended by a new Zealand friend, Brad. It is japanese, and is set around a female secondary school teacher whose young daughter dies from drowning in a pool. The mother believes that two of her pupils are to blame for the death, and she then goes about exacting her revenge. It is a bit gory in parts, and a touch surreal in others, but I generally found it pretty engaging.

How I ended this summer

I rented this on Lovefilm. It is set in a remote Russian polar station in the arctic, where the only inhabitants are old hand Sergei and new graduate Pavel. They are getting along fine and dandy, making regular reports back to base by radio - watch out for all those Russian numbers! However, then comes some bad news over the radio, and suffice to say it is always best to deal with bad news straight away, and not let things fester! Nice arctic scenery, and watch out for the educational bit about how to gut an arctic trout, and the nice radioactive isotope beacon!?!

The Waves

I watched this as part of the London film festival, with Steve. It is a Spanish film, set around the theme of the Spanish civil war. The person introducing it said that it had won three prizes at the Moscow film festival and that it used a totally new way of looking at the civil war, which sounded intriguing. However having watched it all I can say is that the Russian jury must have been off their heads. This was essentially the watching paint dry version of the civil war - next to nothing happened. Just about the only saving graces were that there was an interesting classic Renault in it, and also they switched between spanish, Catalan and French, which was good for my languages!

50/50

I saw this at the London film festival, with Wizzy. It is the story of a 20 something guy, played by the excellent Joseph Gordon-Levitt who has cancer. Other strong characters are his best friend, played by Seth Rogen, and his inexperienced but enthusiastic counsellor, played by Anna Kendrick. I just really liked the delicate mix of emotions, including a liberal dollop of humour, but also some very moving scenes. Angelica Huston plays the main character's mother, in an inimitable way - I have always enjoyed seeing her, after watching her in the Royal Tenenbaums.

Weekend

I went to see this as part of the London film festival, at the BFI. It is set around two gay men who fall in love after a one night stand. The guy who introduced it said that it had been the single film that spoke to him the most in the whole festival, very personal, etc, etc. I found it interesting but a bit slow, and too many single shot ten minute long scenes.

City Island

I rented this from Lovefilm.  It stars Andy Garcia as a prison officer who comes across in prison a son he he abandoned before he was born.  Garcia lives on City Island, an ex fishing village that is part of the Bronx, and as part of his son's bail conditions he comes to live in his father's house (though he doesn't know the full story).  The rest of the family (wife, daughter, son) also don't know the story, and all have secrets of their own.  Quite an amusing comedy, but not 100% absorbing.  Emily Mortimer stars as a friend from an acting class attended on the sly by Garcia.