Before going to Marking Hell Number Two
May. 12th, 2006 10:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chaniAs promised, my film review...
Uno is a difficult movie to review. Of course I could say it's about a young man, David, who lives in Oslo and about his ties to other people, his family, his co-workers at the local gym where he hangs out, his friend from childhood. And it's true.
But at the same time, there's something universal in the movie that we can all recognize as ours, it's solitude. David is alone and must face the world and the harsh light of every day alone.
It's a film about loyalty and choices, and courage, about what matters in life and where true honour lies vs. street-boys' macho honour-code.
It's a realistic film taking place in a gang/crime world, Olso's underworld, but it isn't a thriller or a detective film at all.
What I liked in that film is that everything was right and sound. The tone was right, the cast was right, the dialogues were right. The ending occurs at the right moment while so many film-makers would have added a scene. Yet there was some dangerous stuff that could have turned the film into something heavy or soppy or melodramatic.
For instance David's father is dying from cancer, and his brother has Down's syndrome...But the writer/director, Aksel Hennie, handled it with delicacy and simplicity.
In a way, it's also a film about Murphy Law because so many things turn wrong in it. And you can feel the depression, the anxiety and the fear the characters experience on screen.
The leitmotiv that also gives its title to the movie, is a card game, UNO. For a while it looks like David really doesn't have all the cards, or rather he didn't get a good hand and his life does get into a rut but at least he always puts his cards on the table unlike his brother who keeps cheating ! But maybe cheating is the only way David's mentally retarded brother can go through life. He has to take short cuts!
I know I'm a metaphor freak but I didn't make it up, the cards game means something. There are even honour cards! The goal of the game is for the players to get rid of all the cards they received at the beginning. Losing is winning, so even though the film is dark and painful, we understand that David's successive losing might not be that bad at the end of the day. There's catharsis but there's hope. Actually I think it's a humanist film.
The movie is divided in days, and each part starts with a UNO card pointing out a distinct visual style. So each day in David's week from hell is colour-coded as we follow those characters struggling to understand the rules of their game.
When the coding card is yellow, then we get a following sequence with a yellowish light, with the blue one we get a bluish light. The film is slowly displayed through the prism of the game, it is literally suited by the cards. It is really smart and original!
So when we get to the wild card, the dark and yet multicoloured one, after David tried to explain the rules of the game to his beloved brother, we know it's significant. It means that David is going to name the colour he wants, he will deal...Darkness come but so does a new light.
Maybe the best way to describe it would be to say it's a film of atmosphere, with a smooth pace despite moments fo raw violence. And Tom McRae's songs work wonderfully for those pieces are so moodful.
A last word about the cast. They are all beautiful (not in a fashion or glamour way) and excellent, even the dog! The scenes with that dog are unforgettable (funny, powerful, touching) !
It's a must-see.
But at the same time, there's something universal in the movie that we can all recognize as ours, it's solitude. David is alone and must face the world and the harsh light of every day alone.
It's a film about loyalty and choices, and courage, about what matters in life and where true honour lies vs. street-boys' macho honour-code.
It's a realistic film taking place in a gang/crime world, Olso's underworld, but it isn't a thriller or a detective film at all.
What I liked in that film is that everything was right and sound. The tone was right, the cast was right, the dialogues were right. The ending occurs at the right moment while so many film-makers would have added a scene. Yet there was some dangerous stuff that could have turned the film into something heavy or soppy or melodramatic.
For instance David's father is dying from cancer, and his brother has Down's syndrome...But the writer/director, Aksel Hennie, handled it with delicacy and simplicity.
In a way, it's also a film about Murphy Law because so many things turn wrong in it. And you can feel the depression, the anxiety and the fear the characters experience on screen.
The leitmotiv that also gives its title to the movie, is a card game, UNO. For a while it looks like David really doesn't have all the cards, or rather he didn't get a good hand and his life does get into a rut but at least he always puts his cards on the table unlike his brother who keeps cheating ! But maybe cheating is the only way David's mentally retarded brother can go through life. He has to take short cuts!
I know I'm a metaphor freak but I didn't make it up, the cards game means something. There are even honour cards! The goal of the game is for the players to get rid of all the cards they received at the beginning. Losing is winning, so even though the film is dark and painful, we understand that David's successive losing might not be that bad at the end of the day. There's catharsis but there's hope. Actually I think it's a humanist film.
The movie is divided in days, and each part starts with a UNO card pointing out a distinct visual style. So each day in David's week from hell is colour-coded as we follow those characters struggling to understand the rules of their game.
When the coding card is yellow, then we get a following sequence with a yellowish light, with the blue one we get a bluish light. The film is slowly displayed through the prism of the game, it is literally suited by the cards. It is really smart and original!
So when we get to the wild card, the dark and yet multicoloured one, after David tried to explain the rules of the game to his beloved brother, we know it's significant. It means that David is going to name the colour he wants, he will deal...Darkness come but so does a new light.
Maybe the best way to describe it would be to say it's a film of atmosphere, with a smooth pace despite moments fo raw violence. And Tom McRae's songs work wonderfully for those pieces are so moodful.
A last word about the cast. They are all beautiful (not in a fashion or glamour way) and excellent, even the dog! The scenes with that dog are unforgettable (funny, powerful, touching) !
It's a must-see.
I saw Transamerica today but will review it later. Tired now.
