Category Archives: 8,0-8,9

8,0-8,9, drama,, male director

“Manchester By The Sea” (Kenneth Lonergan, USA 2016)

manchester-by-the-sea

strong script and direction

A movie essentially focused on male characters, in which women play a subdued role.
An uncommon and powerful representation of how a father experiences the loss of his children somewhat compensates the gender unbalance of the movie.

Interestingly, the music is not intended to fit a particular scene but does include several ones, creating an overarching level of expression that transcends that of the scene itself. In some of the critical passages, the personages talk but the dialogue is not heard, being replaced by the music that links the scene to the previous one.

Cast: Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler, Lucas Hedges, Gretchen Mol, C.J. Wilson
Director: Kenneth Lonergan
Writer: Kenneth Lonergan
Cinematographer: Jody Lee Lipes
Editor: Jennifer Lame
Composer: Lesley Barber

8,0-8,9, biography, drama,, male director, romance,, true story

“Hidden Figures” (Theodore Melfi, USA 2016)

hidden-figures

strong message

Cast: Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kevin Costner, Aldis Hodge, Kirsten Dunst, Glen Powell, Mahershala Ali, Jim Parsons, Olek Krupa
Director: Theodore Melfi
Writer: Margot Lee Shetterly (book by), Allison Schroeder, Theodore Melfi
Cinematographer: Mandy Walker
Editor: Peter Teschner
Composer: Benjamin Wallfisch, Pharrell Williams, Hans Zimmer

8,0-8,9, drama,, female director

“Evolution” (Lucile Hadzihalilovic, France 2015)

evolution

strong images and silences punctuated by sparse dialogues

The total absence of explanation allows the viewer to create his/her own story, a magnificent present, but difficult to carry out. See mine below.

Beware: spoilers ahead!

My story. An island serves as a prison for a group of women. They are all the same age and do not grow old. Each woman has a boy to fulfill her maternal desires. The boys are all the same age, but are human, thus growing old. For that reason, they must be constantly medicated and operated to prevent them from reaching puberty. The nurse who takes care of the young Nicolas bonds with him and helps him to escape.
The sea – the magnificent images sharply contrast with the colorless and lifeless prison-island – represents the living world to which Nicolas belongs.

Cast: Max Brebant, Julie-Marie Parmentier, Roxane Duran, Mathieu Goldfeld, Nissim Renard
Director: Lucile Hadžihalilovic
Writers: Lucile Hadžihalilovic, Alante Kavaite
Cinematographer: Manuel Dacosse
Editor: Nassim Gordji Tehrani
Composer: Jesús Díaz

8,0-8,9, crime, drama,, male director, romance,

“Notes On A Scandal” (Richard Eyre, USA 2006)

notes-on-a-scandal

excellent dialogues + music
weakest: message + humor

Cleverly orchestrated four-generational love relationship, in which a woman in her sixties who is still looking for her true (lesbian) love falls for a young married mother of two who has an affair with a teenage boy. The emotional stability of the two male characters (the 15-year old boy and the older husband) contrasts with the vulnerability of the two female leads.

Director: Richard Eyre
Writers: Patrick Marber, Zoe Heller (novel)
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Judi Dench, Andrew Simpson, Bill Nighy
Music: Philip Glass
Cinematography: Chris Menges
Editing: John Bloom, Antonia Van Drimmelen