Meewella | Critic

According to P

Tag: Antonio Pinto

QuickView: Nine Days (2020)

“Good memories, bad memories, they’re all just the same right now. It still hurts…”

Will

Japanese Brazilian writer-director Edson Oda has a bold and distinctive voice in his debut feature, a contemplative piece about the nature of living as a human. In an isolated house on a beach, a fastidious man named Will interviews souls for a chance at life on Earth, his living room filled with a wall of CRT televisions screens showing real-time first-person perspectives of those he previously selected. It is the ultimate cinematic contrivance to experience others’ lives through an audiovisual medium, but the archaic technology (Will also records and rewatches his favourite moments on VHS tapes) assists in crafting an otherworldly suspension of disbelief. The primary issue with Nine Days’ conceit is that souls without the experience of life cannot provide meaningful answers to Will’s questions; rather, the selection process is background noise to illustrate Will’s own thought processes — hurt by his own life experience, he seeks those tougher and less sensitive than himself — whilst not really engaging with the inherent cruelty of judging others’ right to live. Winston Duke’s performance radiates the quiet pain of a man hurt by life and unable to forgive himself for perceived failure. However, it is Zazie Beetz that draws in the audience with her intriguing portrayal of a new soul — guileless, and yet intuitively understanding life. Nine Days is likely to strike a chord with certain viewers who find their worldview affected. I found no such profundity, but I would be very content to experience further meditations that Oda may wish to design.

7/10

QuickView: Lord of War (2005)

Lord of War poster

“You read the newspaper? Every day there’s people shooting each other. You know what I do when I see that? I look to see what guns they’re using, and I ask myself: why not my guns?”

Yuri Orlov

Lord of War succeeds in portraying the ethical apathy and mercenary attitude that fuel the arms trade. Following the fortunes of an ambitious Ukrainian American entering this world ought to heighten the tension through personal stakes, but it unfolds in a fashion largely predictable to anyone familiar with crime drama. For such an extravagant character, Nicolas Cage’s performance is surprisingly muted, resulting in large swathes of the narrative being communicated in a flat voiceover monologue that lacks the energy of, say, The Wolf of Wall Street. Whilst its subject matter is important, in focusing on Yuri’s competing conscience and ambition, Lord of War fails to engage in the political complexity of this world, simply alluding to the powerful connections he has made. The film is bookended by its most powerful messages: first, an impressive opening sequence that follows a single bullet from a munitions factory all the way to its eventual use against an African child; and secondly, presented in passing with closing text, the bleak fact that the world’s five largest arms dealers are the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

6/10

"A film is a petrified fountain of thought."

(CC) BY-NC 2003-2023 Priyan Meewella

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