Gommorah
When I learnt that Roberto Saviano, the author of the book the film is about was in hiding from persistant mob threats I was dubious to the film was going to be about...
5 minutes into this film and you kind of get the jist of it; it's about gangs, killings and big burly men. Not that that's a bad thing. Hailed as a gruling piece of "neo-neorealistic" Italian film, Gommorah focuses on the power and reach of the Neapolitan mob. It's not the typical mob film with one big daddy who everyone looks up to, everybody seems to be a villain, and nobody seems to be who you think they are.Taking place mostly in and around the tenement buildings of Scampìa in Naples; the film has a number of interwoven threads that chop and change throughout the film.
It's really violent, really raw and really quite good.
Burn After Reading
The latest Coen Brothers film has been a huge hit, with everyone going to see it and even more people wanting to. They had a hard act to follow from No Country for Old Men but by all accounts they have done it well.
Malkovich plays an recently fired CIA agent who misplaces a cd containing files of his memoirs. It falls into the hands of Feldmann (Brad Pitt) and Linda Lynzki (Mcdormand) who plan exploit it to their advantage. What then follows is absurdity at it's finest; everybody is being followed, nobody really knows what for, confusion, deaths and dildo's helps everything go a bit crazy. It reminded me a bit of the climax of Magnolia, another film with an excellent ensemble cast.
Burn After Reading is essentially a CIA-spy spoof with a brilliant ensemble cast (Frances McDormand and John Malkovich are predictably excellent, has anyone seen a BAD Malkovich film?)
