Film Review 11: Passengers vs My Blueberry nights (Cinema VS Cinema 8)

In this eighth round, we have two films in which women are the main characters. One is ''Passengers'' and the other is ''My Blueberry nights'' Which one will win?


LET THE BATTLE BEGIN!

1

Title: Passengers

Countries: USA and Canada

Year: 2008

Genres: Drama, Fantasy and Thriller

Runtime: 1 hour and 33 minutes

Language: English 

Directed by: Rodrigo García
Written by: Ronnie Christensen

Music by: Edward Shearmur
Cinematography by: Igor Jadue-Lillo

Cast: Anne Hathaway (Claire), Patrick Wilson (Eric), Andre Braugher (Perry), Dianne Wiest (Tony), David Morse (Arkin), William B.Davis (Jack), Ryan Robbins (Dean), Clea DuVall (Shannon), Don Thompson (Norman), Chelah Horsdal (Janice), Stacy Grant (Emma) and Robert Gauvin (Paul)

                                        VS

2

Title: My blueberry nights

Countries: USA, Hong Kong, China and France

Year: 2007

Genres: Drama and Romance

Runtime: 1 hour and 35 minutes

Language: English 

Directed by: Kar-Wai Wong

Written by: Kar-Wai Wong and Lawrence Block
Music by: Ry Cooder

Cinematography by: Darius Khondji and Pung-Leung Kwan
Cast: Norah Jones (Elizabeth), Jude Law (Jeremy), David Strathairn (Arnie), Rachel Weisz (Sue Lynne), Natalie Portman (Leslie), Frankie Faison (Travis), Adrianne Lennox (Sandy), Benjamin Kaines (Randy), Cat Power (Katya), Michael May (Aloha), Michael Hartnett (Sunglasses), Chad Davis (Boyfriend), Katya Blumberg (Girlfriend), Jesse Garon (Poker Player) and Tracy Blackwell (Matron)




Plots:

1A plane crashes and only five people survive. Claire, a brilliant psychologist, should help the survivors overcome the trauma. But, inexplicably, these either disappear or begin to miss therapy sessions. On the other hand, it is not even known what caused the accident. Among the survivors is Eric, an attractive man who doesn't seem to need therapy.
2 Elizabeth is a young woman who begins a spiritual journey through America in an attempt to rebuild her life after a breakup. Along the way, framed between the magical urban landscape of New York and the spectacular views of the legendary Route 66, the young woman will find a series of enigmatic characters that will help her on her trip.


My review:

Passengers is the story of Claire, a psychologist who helps the survivors to overcome the accident trauma, but there is a problem, they dissapear with no trace and the most mysterious person is Eric, a good looking man who happily lives his own life and does not need support, so this is the most suspicious thing. What really happened to the plane crash? Is Arkin hiding something about the accident?
From my point of view this film has a surprising ending, to which I did not expect. It has an unexpected ''Black Mirror/Inside No.9'' ending of why some of the characters are behaving in a strange way, but it does not especify you why they are gone. The plot does not make any sense for a reason: the writer just wants you to feel sensations, emotions and empathy for the characters until you know the truth (which I would not explain since it is an spoiler alert). This film has low ratings in IMDB and Filmaffinity because critics did not understand the writer's intentions since Christensen wanted to remark is the psychology of every character and how do they feel in each situation.
To sum up, the film was poignant and quite overwhelming to me but it has no coherence in the plot.

My Blueberry Nights is the story of Elizabeth, a young woman who started a voyage of self-discovery after her break-up with her boyfriend. While travelling, she meets Arnie, a policeman, Sue Lynne, Arnie's boyfriend and Leslie, a poker player.
This film knew how to interconnect the character's lives, but I think it was quite a slow film since Wong tried to create an intimate romantic story. It is a story full of symbolism and metaphors, for instance, the blueberry pie imitates Elizabeth's character love for Jeremy, the owner of a small café, and the Jaguar may symbolize the desire for freedom.
To sum up, this film was interesting to see but the problem is that it is too much slow-paced. For this reason I got bored while seeing it. And that is quite disappointing, since romance is my favourite genre.

Movie 1 Film mark: 5,6 out of 10
Movie 2 Film mark: 5,4 out of 10

Well, this result is an unexpected surprise since the first movie has a lack of plot and the second one has a lack of rhythm but...

PASSENGERS IS THE WINNER OF THIS ROUND!

Film Review 10: Daybreakers vs Personal effects (Cinema VS Cinema 7)

In this seventh round, we have two films related to survival and grief. One is ''Daybreakers'' and the other is ''Personal effects''. Which one will win?


LET THE BATTLE BEGIN!

1

Title: Daybreakers

Countries: USA and Australia

Year: 2009

Genres: Action, Fantasy and Horror

Runtime: 1 hour and 38 minutes

Language: English 

Directed by: Michael and Peter Spierig
Written by: Michael and Peter Spierig

Music by: Christopher Gordon
Cinematography by: Ben Nott

Cast: Ethan Hawke (Edward Dalton), Willem Dafoe (Lionel 'Elvis' Cormac), Sam Neill (Charles Bromley), Claudia Karvan (Audrey Bennett), Michael Dorman (Frankie Dalton), Isabel Lucas (Alison Bromley),  Jay Laga'aia (Senator Turner), Harriet Minto-Day (Lisa Barrett), Vince Colosimo (Christopher Caruso), Mungo McKay (Colin Briggs), Damion Garvey (Senator Westlake) and Christopher Kirby (Jarvis Bayom)

                                        VS

2

Title: Personal Effects

Countries: USA, Germany and Canada

Year: 2009

Genre: Drama

Runtime: 1 hour and 46 minutes

Language: English 

Directed by: David Hollander

Written by: David Hollander (based on a short story by Rick Moody)
Music by: Jóhann Jóhansson

Cinematography by: Elliot Davis
Cast: Michelle Pfeiffer (Linda), Ashton Kutcher (Walter), Kathy Bates (Gloria), Spencer Hudson (Clay), John Mann (Hank), David Lewis (Brice), Rob LaBelle (Camden), Alexis Paunovic (Tom), Brian Markinson (Finneran),  Sarah Lind (Annie), Ali Skovbye (Beth), Kyle Toy (Jose), Dean Wray (Larry), Brock Johnson (Mark), Mary Black (Peggy), Sarah Strange (Janet), Jay Brazeau (Martin), Jake LeDoux (Maloni) and Serge Houde (Judge Wettick)


Plots:

1In the year 2019, because of a plague, vampires have taken over the world. The hunt for human beings to feed on their blood will put humanity on the brink of extinction; but a group composed of men and vampires decides to fight to save the few survivors of the human race and also to find another way to feed and survive.
2 After losing their loved ones, Walter and Linda try to move on with their lives. On the one hand, Walter is a young professional wrestler who returns to the family home after the brutal murder of his sister, days before his wedding. On the other, Linda is the mother of a deaf child whose alcoholic husband has died at the hands of a friend in a bar. While trials for both crimes take place, Walter and Linda have a love affair.

My review:

Daybreakers tells an apocalyptic story about the human race extintion caused by an infected bat, turning them into vampires. Their willing to the immortality has caused an increasing on vampire species. Edward Dalton, the head hematologist for the largest supplier human blood Bromley Pharmaceuticals is working on a research for blood substitute. Days later when he had an accident, he met Audrey, a survivor who revealed a cure to put an end to vampire race. But Bromley will make things very complicated for that to happen... Will Edward and his human friends stop him? Will Bromley learn from his mistakes?
This film is surprisingly interesting. I thought it would be a waste of time, but it is entertaining. The plot has coherence and as you see it, you realize the meaning it has. Altough its apocalyptic and dystopical fantasy it tells us a story of survival and I think it is implicitly a critique of the society in which we are living in. Capitalism and the influence of banks in political decisions. In this case blood represents money, food and the rest of our basic necessities and I think Sam Neill's character symbolizes the ambition of a policy to profit from his business and policies. The main characters, however (the human ones) represent the rebelliousness and resistance of society.
My conclusion about ''Daybreakers'' is that it has a deep meaning on it.

Personal effects is about the lives of two people who have something in common: facing the death of a loved one by murder. Walter faces the death of his sister and Linda, her husband. While trials for both crimes take place, Walter and Linda support each other, emerging an unexpected love. Clay, Linda's son, is a problematic child since the death of his father and the souvenir he has from him is a gun. Fortunately, Walter teaches Clay how to channel his fury through wrestling at the gym. At the end of the story, something terrible will happen...
My review about ''Personal effects'' is that it really is a poignant story, it almost made me cry since I had a strong empathy with all the characters and the hard tests that life makes us. The plot is coherent and uses shocking flashbacks to makes us feel the pain of what the protagonists are suffering.
There is a song by the British electronic duo Frou Frou, with its song ''Let go'' that totally relates this film, especifically in the chorus ''Let go, let go, jump in, Oh well what you're waiting for? It's alright cause there's beauty in the breakdown''. I remark this last sentence since it is the moral of this story, so grief is really painful for everybody.
My conclusion about ''Personal effects'' is that is an insightful film.

This round is a difficult one, I enjoyed both of the films and it is even much more harder than the fourth one, but I made a clear decision.


Movie 1 Film mark: 7,34 out of 10
Movie 2 Film mark: 7,40 out of 10

For a few tenths of difference...


PERSONAL EFFECTS IS THE WINNER OF THIS ROUND!