Vertigo

88/100 (118 min, 1958)
Plot: A San Francisco detective suffering from acrophobia investigates the strange activities of an old friend's wife, all the while becoming dangerously obsessed with her.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Writers: Alec Coppel (screenplay), Samuel A. Taylor (screenplay)
Stars: James Stewart, Kim Novak and Barbara Bel Geddes

It's only a movie, Kim!

Over the last few weeks I've been reading a little bit about the history of cinema. Apparently both Stanley Kubrick and Alfred Hitchock had a lot in common - they both weren't particularly nice for their actors, they were obsessive when it comes to movie making process - apparently the scene where Kim Novak is staring at the portrait in gallery took a week to shoot, because Hitchock was waiting for the right light - and some of their finest movies had been criticized upon their initial release, only to be hailed as masterpieces decades later. That happened to Kubrick with "The Shining" and to Hitchcock, with among others, "Vertigo". The movie was also selected as the best mystery movie ever by the American Film Institute.

53 years after it was made, the movie remains fascinating and feels extremely unique. The way the movie is filmed still amazes with technical virtuosity, although all those years ago the technology filmmakers take for granted today, wasn't even available. It's such a wonderful and ambiguous picture - for most of the time you have no idea what exactly is going on - is it a ghost story? a romance? a thriller? "Vertigo" is a mixture of genres, but it focuses a lot on its characters, who are deeply disturbed.

Saturday TV Special: Damages

Plot: Bright and sharp law school graduate Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) becomes the protégée of the successful and hard-hitting high stakes litigator Patricia Hewes (Glenn Close). But nothing is what it seems.  
Structure: Every episode shows us glimpses of the future, specifically the events we will see in season's finale. We get to see more and more of what's about to come and those little scenes always provide shocking twists and plot revelations.
Verdict: Season 1 and 2 are truly amazing, season 3 is very good and after the producers were forced to change the channel the series airs, season 4 changed the show a bit - there is more mature content in it, but it doesn't feel like the same series anymore. Nonetheless, it's still worth watching.
What makes it so great? Fantastic performance by Glenn Close and incredible plot twists in meticulously planned stories. The opening sequence is pretty impressive as well.

A Dangerous Method

56/100 (2011, 99 min)
Plot: A look at how the intense relationship between Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud gives birth to psychoanalysis.
Director: David Cronenberg
Writers: Christopher Hampton (screenplay), John Kerr (book)
Stars: Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley and Viggo Mortensen

Dangerous method? Empty outcome.

I was waiting so eagerly for "A Dangerous Method". But then I read this little piece of trivia which said that David Cronenberg told Keira Knightley that if she won't want to do any nudity, there will be none in the movie. Why would such a great director compromise his vision because of an actress? If it was a very talented actress, I could maybe understood his actions. But Keira Knightley, even if it was a great movie, would managed to ruin it with one of the worst performances I've seen in years.

I do not know what possessed Cronenberg to cast her. Is he on some charity mission where he takes actors from blockbusters and casts them in ambitious project? I see in his next movie he has Robert Pattinson in a lead role. Knightley is fine in romantic productions like "Never let me go", "Pride and Prejudice" and "Atonement", but despite her Academy Award nomination she really has not much of a talent. Her performance as Sabina Spielrein, Jung's disturbed patient is simply awful. Knightley's way of portraying her character involves trying to speak with bad Russian accent, uncontrollable yelling, hysterical crying and presenting what can only be described as annoying, fake mannerisms. I couldn't believe my eyes as I was watching her. You would think that as Sabina gets better, as the movie progresses,  Knightley would be less annoying, but it's not the case. Everything about her - her voice, her bland expressions, her fidgeting is truly embarrassing to witness. I thought that Knightley was a decent actress until I saw this movie. For her own sake and especially for the sake of the movie goers, I truly hope she will stick to less ambitious material.

Great Expectations (1998)

85/100 (1998, 118 min)
Plot: Modernization of Charles Dickens classic story finds the hapless Finn as a painter in New York pursuing his unrequited and haughty childhood love.
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Writers: Charles Dickens (novel), Mitch Glazer (screenplay)
Stars: Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow and Hank Azaria

Let desire be your destiny

“She'll only break your heart, it's a fact. And even though I warn you, even though I guarantee you that the girl will only hurt you terribly, you'll still pursue her. Ain't love grand?”

Loosely based on the novel by the same title by Charles Dickens, “Great Expectations” is one of the most underrated movies I've ever seen. It's an absolutely spellbinding love story between poor artist Finn and fascinating and rich Estella. Both of them come from different worlds, but its their inner freedom and innocence that will ultimately bring them together.

Estella and Finn meet when they are little kids. He lives with his sister and her boyfriend, he is poor, simple, uneducated. But he has great talent – he paints wonderful, extremely unique pictures. Estella is being raised by her bizarre aunt Norma (in the novel it's Mrs. Havisham), who was left at the alter years ago and since then has progressively descended into madness. Norma raises Estella as a weapon against men. Cold, calculated and manipulative, ready to do anything to bring them suffering.

Soundtrack Wednesday - Atonement

Artist: Dario Marianelli
Song: With My Own Eyes
Movie: Atonement