Syriana
As a last minute decision, Paul and I went to see Syriana last night, starring George Clooney (Oscar winning in his role as a middle-aged, overweight CIA operative who starts picking through US government lies) and Matt Damon. Essentially the film is to oil issues in the Middle East what Traffic was to drugs. The film is even written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, Traffic’s Academy Award winning screenwriter. So there’s a lot of cutting between events in different countries, a lot of multiple storylines, desaturated lighting, and hand-held camera work.
I’m not sure the film is as good as Traffic, but that might just be because the issue of oil does involve a lot more powerful political wrangling which makes sections of the film more slow moving and corruption-in-boardrooms focused.
Syriana certainly makes you think, which not a lot of films on circuit at the moment do. It’s kind of what Fahrenheit 9/11 began to touch on in its second half, but here the examination of destructive greed is far more thoughtfully handled, and more powerful in the rage and frustration it provokes in viewers.
You come away with a greater understanding of how greed destroys reforming positive presences in the Middle East (keeping the area in its wrecked, dependent state), how scarily sneaky US government can be in protecting its interests, and how political and corporate wrangling at the upper levels can turn helpless peasants into terrorists.
And in case you think the film is all talk, the spurts of action (there is one horrific torture scene) are very effecting.
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Before the movie, we saw the Basic Instinct 2 trailer. Apart from giving away the whole plot of the film in chronological order, the entire project looks like a royal waste of time.
Sharon Stone looks utterly amazing for her near-50s but it just seems odd and silly to see her older self attempting to duplicate a character of 14 years ago. Plus, she seems to spend the whole film, and I mean every single scene, talking in her slinky, whispery ‘I’m so fucking sexy’ voice. Anyway, at the end of the trailer Sharon Stone says, ‘I feel like a cigarette.’ Paul’s response, which had me cracking up, ‘Well, you look like a stompie…’
I’m not sure the film is as good as Traffic, but that might just be because the issue of oil does involve a lot more powerful political wrangling which makes sections of the film more slow moving and corruption-in-boardrooms focused.
Syriana certainly makes you think, which not a lot of films on circuit at the moment do. It’s kind of what Fahrenheit 9/11 began to touch on in its second half, but here the examination of destructive greed is far more thoughtfully handled, and more powerful in the rage and frustration it provokes in viewers.
You come away with a greater understanding of how greed destroys reforming positive presences in the Middle East (keeping the area in its wrecked, dependent state), how scarily sneaky US government can be in protecting its interests, and how political and corporate wrangling at the upper levels can turn helpless peasants into terrorists.
And in case you think the film is all talk, the spurts of action (there is one horrific torture scene) are very effecting.
---
Before the movie, we saw the Basic Instinct 2 trailer. Apart from giving away the whole plot of the film in chronological order, the entire project looks like a royal waste of time.
Sharon Stone looks utterly amazing for her near-50s but it just seems odd and silly to see her older self attempting to duplicate a character of 14 years ago. Plus, she seems to spend the whole film, and I mean every single scene, talking in her slinky, whispery ‘I’m so fucking sexy’ voice. Anyway, at the end of the trailer Sharon Stone says, ‘I feel like a cigarette.’ Paul’s response, which had me cracking up, ‘Well, you look like a stompie…’
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