The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, The Edge of Heaven, Redbelt, The Children of Huang Shi

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Directed by Andrew Adamson)

As entertaining and expensive "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" was, there is just something missing from it to make the better than the last installment "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." There is some element of magic or character missing here. I watched the action in this film from a detached standpoint, not really caring about what would happen to any of the people or animals here, but finding it interesting enough to follow. There is heart missing from this film, something that makes every single successful fantasy story successful-and its also why "The Golden Compass" was quite a failure. We follow the four children-Lucy, Susan, Peter, and Edward-once more as they find themselves in Narnia, a year after the events of the last film, but two hundred years after the events of the Narnia scenes of the last film. Narnia is in trouble, and it has been taken over by another race of people, but the trustworthy and mistreated Prince Caspian ends up teaming with the four children to save Narnia and restore it back to its original state.

Last summer I bought a big volume with all seven of the Narnia books by C.S. Lewis, and they were quite wonderful-epic novels in miniature form which are being somewhat overblown in these movie forms. The last film was actually quite wonderful to watch as the book was so wonderfully rich with themes, characters, and plots. I remembered the novel for "Prince Caspian" was also rich, but the themes, characters, and plots are all somewhat dulled here. And yet, as detached as the viewer will be from the action here, it is still engrossing, and the special effects battle scenes are quite a wonder to behold. The film is more of a spectacle, and while that is the definition of a summer movie, it isn't all that should be looked for in them.

*** of ****, but its a very mild recommendation.

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The Edge of Heaven

Directed by Fatih Akin

A few years ago I was very taken by Fatih Akin's "Head On," which was one of the oddest love stories in recent memory. His follow up "The Edge of Heaven," which I was very close to seeing at the Toronto Film Festival last year, is another oddly structured film, but one so absorbing, and so rich in character and plot, that the narrative flows naturally. Nothing in this film seems forced or unneeded, with the exceptions of the "Magnolia"-esque moments which cross the characters together. The film follows Ayten, a young man whose father Ali pays Yeter, a hooker in town, to move in with him and be his only client. Yeter has a daughter named Nejat, who works as a resistance in another part of Turkey. When she is arrested, she asks for the help of a German named Charlotte, and the two of them strike up some kind of a lesbian affair, much to the chagrin of her somewhat rude, ex-hippie mother Susanne, who somehow finds herself trying to help Nejat through her plight. 

Akin really is a terrific director based on the two films that I've seen of his. There are a few questionable things that he chooses to do, which somewhat destroy many of the twists in the narrative-for example the fact that he heads some of the films sections with telling us about the death of characters that we have not yet encountered. And I'm not exactly sure how I feel about the ending, which does not tie up every loose end, but in a film that paints such a large scope it might be almost impossible to really show exactly how everything ends. Suffice to say that "The Edge of Heaven" is more good work by a director who really seems to know what he is doing, and I look forward to his next film.

*** of ****

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Redbelt

Directed by David Mamet

"Redbelt" is David Mamet's first film since his awful misstep "Spartan" in 2004, but he did reclaim himself in 2006 when he wrote the screenplay to "Edmond," a film staring Willian H. Macy which I am very fond of. "Redbelt" brings Mamet into the world of jujutsu, which apparently Mamet is quite fascinated with. We follow Mike Terry(played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, in a rare leading performance) , a man who owns his own dojo, but is having problems with money. When an accident involving a gunshot has his window broken, Mike finds himself in a world of underground fighting, movie stars, and creepy mobsters who bet on fixed fights, all going against his principles of non-violence and limited confrontation. 

Mamet surrounds Ejiofor with his regulars-wife Rebecca Pidgeon, Ricky Jay, David Paymer, and a few others-while also mixing it up with a few newcomers, including a misplaced Tim Allen as the cocky movie star. He ends up crafting a sometimes muddled mystery story, but an interesting fable about principles and sticking to ones own thoughts about life. Ejiofor really does shine here, and being virtually in every scene really does help matters. A few things in the screenplay for "Redbelt" maybe could have been cut out, or just changed a bit to make Mike's problems a little less and a bit more realistic. But this really did make Mamet a name more lined up with success as opposed to failure-"Spartan" is a film not left very well in my memory. 

*** of ****

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The Children of Huang Shi

Directed by Roger Spottiswoode

"The Children of Huang Shi" is far from being a perfect film-it follows the formula for these types of movies to the letter-but it certainly is well made, telling an important real life story and telling it well. Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays George Hogg, a journalist living in London who cons his way into going to China to follow the report of the violence and war happening there. After he gets injured and his partner is murdered, George is sent to Huang Shi by Lee, a nurse played by Radha Mitchell, who wants George to help the young orphaned kids who live there. Hogg finds himself working with the kids, and helping them to find more faith in the life that was almost taken from them, while at the same time finding love with Lee, and finding more about himself than he ever knew before.

There are several obvious turns in the film that we've seen before in movies like this-the love story for sure, which could possibly deviant from life, although I did not do all my research, and the evolution of the kids from when they meet Hogg to the end of the movie. We even get a few real life interviews with the actual kids (now adults) during the beginning of the end credits for the movie. But it never feels manipulative-it just feels like we are hearing this rather uplifting and nice true story. Meyers really isn't a great actor, and there are some moments in this film where you somewhat find yourself laughing at him, but this has been consistent in just about all the films I've seen him in-including "Match Point" which is probably his best role. Mitchell is very good, and grows on me every film I see her in both professionally and visually, and there is good supporting work by Chow Yun-Fat, who provides some minor comic relief. And the cinematography here is quite epic, and nearly every shot is beautiful. "The Children of Huang Shi" is an obvious cookie cutter of a movie for the war torn country/love story drama, but it is a well made one, using the cliche elements as an advantage instead of as a fault.

*** of ****