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Toronto Film Fest Preview! Moriarty Deciphers Inarritu's Brilliant BABEL!!

Am I the only one who thought 21 Grams... by rbatty024	Aug 31st, 2006 11:39:03 PM
sucked. One of the worst movies I've seen in a long time. The non-linear storyline was superfluous and the acting seemed over-the-top at times. Each character was an idiot I didn't care about. The worst "well reviewed" film I've seen in a while.
I'll definitely check it out. by Rindain	Aug 31st, 2006 11:45:53 PM
We're in for a truly remarkable last quarter of 2006 with The Fountain, Pan's Labyrinth, Children of Men, and now this.
21 G = Masterpiece. Babel = Shite. by heywood jablomie	Sep 1st, 2006 12:29:27 AM
21 Grams is absurdly underrated (by everybody except the Voice's J. Hoberman). Babel is a fairly rote slice of anti-American nonsense a la Michael Haneke's Cache. The Americans are smug, self-absorbed as evil, and the brown people are long-suffering, stoical, and anguished. There's also a weird skein about an exhibitionistic deaf-mute Japanese nymphomaniac in a plaid schoolgirl skirt. Leave it to two Mexican guys to come up with that as their representation of The Orient.
"...it by zikade zarathos	Sep 1st, 2006 12:38:01 AM
KES is better than BABEL by a long, long, LOOOOONG shot, so THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY doesn't exactly have to reach those delirious heights that KES did. BABEL I think will get more praise in the short run, but THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY is a grower, and one that I return to thinking about more and more. They're both great, though.
Heywood... by TheRealMoriarty	Sep 1st, 2006 12:41:55 AM
... I completely disagree about this film being remotely anti-American, and I'd love to hear your reading on CACHE that makes that an anti-American piece, as well. I think you're stretching like Reed Richards, man.
Then why does the trailer look so bad? by whahoppa	Sep 1st, 2006 01:42:30 AM
Because it looks trite and manipulative and like Syriana 2.
I'll just echo Moriarty and say... by jigsaw	Sep 1st, 2006 05:49:52 AM
...Cache is anti-American? You'd have to be pretty goddamn sensitive and/or paranoid to start reading Algerian-sympathetic texts as anti-American. And yeah, Rindain is OTM. Oscar-baiting season should be pretty remarkable this year.
Erm how is cache anti American? by Babyshamble	Sep 1st, 2006 07:28:54 AM
I loved the trailer for this film and can't wait to see it. Twenty one gram's was very well made and I think Gael Garcia Bernal, Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchet are always worth watching. Anyone who hasn't seen Cache should look out for it, it's quite disturbing and the best thing Juliette Binoche has done in years
The" Americans are smug," by Harker-Writes	Sep 1st, 2006 08:21:46 AM
How very true! You hit the nail on the head with that one.
Mori's reviews by BlankGeneration	Sep 1st, 2006 09:31:23 AM
are becoming more and more effete as the months roll by. Any day now, he'll start shopping for a sex change in Thailand.
Am I the only one who thought 21G is overrated? by Lovecraftfan	Sep 1st, 2006 10:22:42 AM
I cant wait to see Babel as the storyline seems far more interesting. Personally I just wasnt impressed with 21 Grams I just didnt think the story was all that special. Also Cache anti-American?? What a joke. Also how is this movie anti- American?
Cache is not anti-American, it by Buffalo500	Sep 1st, 2006 11:14:53 AM
The only Haneke film I have seen and definitely the last. The
Moriarty by PwnedByStallone	Sep 1st, 2006 11:16:07 AM
Don't mind Heywood. He's obviously in the same school of paranoid xenophobes who thought The Ant Bully was communist. Thanks again Massawyrm. I disagree with you Mory about amores Perros only having promise though. Grnasted I haven't see nthe film in a couple years but at the time I thought it was perfection and I regard it not only as one my all time favorites, but as one of the best movies ever made.
Heywood by cptrios	Sep 1st, 2006 11:33:26 AM
posts on Fark too, I believe, and he's just as trollish there. He's the type to approach every piece of news/entertainment by aksing "how anti-American is this going to be?" before anything else.
21 Grams= Naomi's Nipples by Henry Jones Jr.	Sep 1st, 2006 11:40:57 AM
How can you not like 21 Grams- its got Naomi Watts's nipples in it. The 21 Grams from the title actually means the weight of my sperm after creaming my pants at the sight of Naomi's beautiful breasts.
Henry Jones by PwnedByStallone	Sep 1st, 2006 12:01:38 PM
If your title was a reference to the "Flames on Optimus = Nipples on Batsuit" stuff, well then I bow down to you and say well played sir. well played. eiither way you're right. loves me some namomi nipple.
21 Grams was a well made movie with poor script by Bazka Berzerker	Sep 1st, 2006 01:18:21 PM
When I saw 21 Grams in theatre, I thought it had excellent acting, and good, moody cinematography and directing. The non-linear narrative was off-putting at first, but then I got a hold of it and was entertained. Immediately after leaving the theatre I thought it was a good movie. But as a I was constructing the storylines of the movie into a linear narrative in my head, in order to understand all that happened in the film, I realized something: 21 Grams is just a generic soap opera thriving to be "edgy", ridden with lame cliches. The fact that it's edited in a non-linear manner does a pretty good job of hiding this, but once you play out the events in a linear manner, it becomes obvious how lame the story actually is. So 2 hour after seeing the film I actually had a much lesser opinion of it. The film got progressively worse the more I thought about it. And I couldn't help to think that Inarritu had written the film in a linear manner, but when he cut it together he realized what a lame and cliched piece of derivative crap it was, the only option to save the film and make it into something that would come off as "substantial" and "real", would be to cut it to pieces and throw events on the screen at a random order. Amores Perros was a truly great movie, 21 Grams just wanted to be one, but failed. Babel sounds really good, thought.
I am amazed by the Cahe hate by Lovecraftfan	Sep 1st, 2006 01:18:26 PM
Seems like everyday I come here theres a new film everyone hates that I love. I thought Cache was brilliant, subtle, and wonderfully done movie. Really thoughtfully done film.
Bazka Berzerker by Lovecraftfan	Sep 1st, 2006 03:16:58 PM
Exactly that is what I have always thought but nobody has ever agreed with me about 21 Grams. Linear the story just wasnt that impressive to me. Babel really does sound good though.
What about Gael? by MonsterSpielberg	Sep 1st, 2006 04:13:18 PM
Haven't talked about him. He's one of the reason (with of course Innaritu) that I want to go see this!
the idea of this film gives me the chills by occula	Sep 1st, 2006 05:35:41 PM
i agree with moriarty big time about the subtext/impact of a film like this. i don't think of it as manipulative - i think of it as a magnifying glass focused on a squirming ant. forget syriana and traffic and all that. the idea that one wrong word at this point in time could set off a ripple effect that has no boundaries is paralyzing in its horror. one woman at the border, one guy in line at the airport, who knows anymore what could set the world off?
i pushed 'enter' too soon. by occula	Sep 1st, 2006 05:40:55 PM
i should ease up before pulling the trigger. i didn't really mean that the plot of this film is predicated on 'one word causing terrorism'. i meant that it seems to illustrate the tenuous web that connects cultures now who really don't want to be connected. having traveled in third world countries, especially as someone seen as an imperialist, just watching the trailer for this film put me right back in some scary places. i was held at gunpoint - and i mean assault rifle gunpoint - in a back room at the taj mahal while my traveling companion screamed at the guards in hindi. i don't even know what she said. what if she had said the wrong thing? what IS the wrong thing and how would you know? a tenuous web, indeed.
4 it's for Babel! by SuperJAMF	Sep 2nd, 2006 05:11:55 AM
I don't want to have "a powerful emotional ride." I'm denying myself that. It's who I am. It's sacrifice and it's my gift to you all. So, it's just another one of those films like Traffic and Syriana. Now I must take my leave, I got a squirrel peakin'.
juhuuuu...great review by drjones	Sep 2nd, 2006 05:54:15 AM
this is why i come here. this year's second half looks like a thrill. while i really like traffic, mori pointed out what could be better and.... this review sells the movie as something better. sounds like it features magnolian truth, actually. it's getting interesting how films -not out of marketing reasons- try to integrate some sort of globality. if there's a medium, that can express complex CONNECTION the best it is CINEMA. wow...i'm stunned. as a matter of fact i've yet to see innaritus previous films. the only thing i saw from him was the montage he did for these 11 short films for 9/11 that featured little glimpses of a man falling down the WTC. it was really good...
Just Rented 21 Grams Last Night by The Ender	Sep 2nd, 2006 10:56:32 AM
And let me just say the acting was really fantastic. The scene where Sean Penn tells the doctor that the hospitalcan only help him "die better", really fantastic. Naomi Watts was so believable, it was like you were really watching this womans life completely fall apart. It was devastating and I think the film was very well done. I also came to conclude that if Del Toro had blonde hair and blue eyes, he would be indistinguishable from Brad Pitt..Lucky bastards the lot of them!
Gonzalez I by asantiago72	Sep 2nd, 2006 01:09:33 PM
A few days ago a friend and I were discussing this, and came to the conclusion that it is possible that he abuses the technique. If the had directed the Star Wars trilogies, the series would have started with the "I am your father" scene... Seriously though, the film sounds very promising.
21g and three burials by emeraldboy	Sep 3rd, 2006 02:47:48 PM
are two of the most longwinded, boring and tediusly overhyped movies I have seen in along time. I liked that Burt Monroe film very much, even though it had a yeah right quality too it. Everyone at cannes thought babel would walk away with the top prize. that was before ken loach came along and Stole their thunder.
I by jackinitraw	Sep 3rd, 2006 04:47:21 PM
I wanted to see The Departed at the festival. Thanks to this being about the only notable entry I'm not even bothering to go this year. TIFFOG. Toronto International Film Festival of Gayness.
Cache, Babel, and Anti-Americanism by heywood jablomie	Sep 5th, 2006 01:22:38 AM
Far be it from me to attack those who legitimately critique the United States, whether it be Michael Moore in Fahrenheit 9-11 or Lars in the underrated Manderlay. I DO oppose cheap, easy, knee-jerky anti-Americanism as seen in Dogville, Cache and Babel. Here, stereotypes are relied upon that make the audience feel, "Yes, yes, I'm horrible...I drive an SUV, I watch Extreme Makeover Home Edition, and my fridge is way too big. I must do penance for my First World privilege." Far more interesting are movies that actually question our situation in unexpected ways--like Michael Haneke's great, and insanely underrated, TIME OF THE WOLF, which imagines what it might be like to live in a First World country if suddenly a situation like Rwanda's or Bosnia's broke out overnight. Compared to a movie like that, Babel is flaccid and lazy. That's all I'm saying. I'm not a neocon, and no matter what that other guy says, I never posted on "Fark"--I don't even know what that is.
heywood jablomie- Still dont get it by Lovecraftfan	Sep 7th, 2006 07:31:15 PM
Cache is about the relationship between Alegerians and the French. Where does America come into this. And how is Babel a film about global issues have to do with anti any country. I dont get what youre saying.
great film by methman2020	Oct 27th, 2006 04:27:55 PM
brad pitt has his critics but the guy is a brilliant actor fight club and snatch anyone??? Oi need a carraran farr me maaaam
I'm too old by arrangedletters	Oct 27th, 2006 05:10:43 PM
to see movies that don't have happy endings anymore. Does this one?
It's like Crash except by polyh3dron	Oct 29th, 2006 11:14:18 PM
Inarritu and Arriaga keep things slightly ambiguous and don't feel the need to tie up all of the loose ends with a pretty bow at the end.
It didn't connect with me at all by CherryValance	Nov 10th, 2006 09:36:23 PM
I mean emotionally, I didn't feel anything for most of these characters. The movie was good, but nothing great. I didn't get an interconnectedness vibe from it either. It just seemed like a few interesting stories that were somewhat connected through that one family.
Babeloquence by ENAN	Dec 9th, 2006 06:41:26 AM
As far as a movie going experience, Babel can be commended for being an original one. It is important to state up front that the movie is good. This being said, I had problems with the film. What I liked about Babel is so important that, by default, Babel can’t help, but be one of the best films of 2006. It is just too relevant and thoughtfully constructed to ignore. Babel is not about Brad Pitt or Bernal or Blanchett. The film has the surprising ability to rise above the stars in it. Performances aside, Babel brings us highs and lows that have not been emulated before on screen. Babel had the cast and director to make it a must see for the cinematic devout. Film can be linked to theology for those appreciating the humanity altering facets of the narrative more than the fantasy appeal. It’s a perfect medium for enrapturing people with the complexities they peripherally encounter. Immigration and global politics are central to the plot of the film. Morocco, Mexico, America and Japan are sickly alike without knowing it. Barriers, both physical and metaphysical, stop the players of this film from truly understanding one another. The characters incredible desire to relate to one another permeates to a grander spectrum in this film. This was not a star driven film. The highest paid actors in the film, did perform accordingly, but to say they owned the film is false. This film was about Yussef, Cheiko, and what it means to be American today. Babel demonstrates the best of intentions can often lead to suffering. This has been so apparent by our bumbling administration and is just a classically tragic reality of humanity. We may not know what were doing, but once we say we do, how do we turn back? Pitt and Blachett purposefully take a back seat in this film. What happens to them is central, but the culmination of events preceding their position supercedes their plight. They are helpless to the events of the past. Circumstance is the villain in this film. I have fought with too many people about immigration. I can’t help but think of where we live as a giant lollipop. The sun licks away the flavor of unfortunate nations. If there is opportunity to enrich the flavor of a neighboring patch of our lollipop, how can we let their flavor go unappreciated by the cold sun? We have to grow beyond our own supposed potential. Babel concentrates on how sweet things once were. Comfort and celebration are only a single event from pain and desperation. Things can change too quick not to appreciate the good. Having gotten that point across explicitly, this film achieves greatness. Alejandro González Iñárritu directed this film. I loved Amores Perros and I should see 21 Grams again. He brings very intricate plots to life and is known for having especially impacting music to accompany his particular visuals. I was distracted by the theme from Deadwood suspiciously around the climax. I didn’t care when certain storylines resolved. I wanted more Bernal, Pitt and Blanchett. However, feeling what being deaf was like moved me. I was touched by what brotherhood can represent. I actually felt like an exhausted, dehydrated Mexican housekeeper stranded in the desert. The likeness to reality found in the film is startling and can draw you in stronger than most entertainment.
I didn't like it. by Gilkuliehe	Jan 3rd, 2007 09:49:43 PM
Moriarty, I usually agree with you, but this movie felt so... forced. I didn't feel anything that happenned on this movie as a natural thing, I could almost see the writer going "Hum... let's fuck these characters up a little more... shall we put the kids in, say, the desert? Yeah that's it... And then the Mexican lady will be arrested, that's it!" It all felt pointless to me, and the complete lack of humour or intention except the accumulation of tense and horrid situations one after another... I didn't like 21 GRAMS either, for the same reasons, although I can say both ar good films and with lots of excellent things on them. It just didn't work for me.

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Toronto Film Fest Preview! Moriarty Deciphers Inarritu's Brilliant BABEL!!

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