Tag Archives: True Story

Story of the Weeping Camel

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I’m not sure how you would categorize this movie… perhaps docu-drama? A camel refuses to suckle her newborn calf, and after trying all kinds of things the camel ranchers decide to perform a musical “love your calf” ceremony. It’s happy, it’s sad, and it’s almost unbelievable, but yet, so true you have to believe it. With characters like “Dude” the boy and “Botok” the camel, how can you go wrong? Oh, did I mention that it all takes place in Mongolia? I’m not sure if it’s inner or outer Mongolia, or if that even matters… but it is an interesting look into a not-so-idealized portrayal of life in the Gobi desert. I was thinking, these people could just as well be living in eastern Oregon. People are the same everywhere.

 

Sid and Nancy

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I heard this hilarious song once called “Rex and Sid and Nancy”. It was Rex Reed’s audio review of Sid & Nancy over some heavy punk/metal music. A great song, but I never heard it again. Rex Reed didn’t like the grittiness of the movie and annoying portrayal of Nancy (to put it mildly… he went on and on for 3 minutes about how he hated the movie). The stuff that Rex hated was exactly what I liked, and what made this a wonderfully tragic movie. I recently saw the director’s commentary of this – very interesting.

 

Picnic at Hanging Rock

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This is an old Australian movie which is based on a true story that happened like 100 years ago. It’s about a bunch of girls at a boarding school who go for a picnic at a wilderness area called hanging rock. A few of them wander off, never to be seen again. The movie goes beyond the simple tragedy of the event though, and into how it affects the lives of all the people involved. It does a pretty good job of transporting the viewer to a different time and place.

 

The Perfect Storm

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I had the feeling I was watching a carefully constructed hollywood entertainment product… and I was. It had elements which appealed to both adult (braindead) men and women, thus increasing the total market. The directing, cinematography and writing in this movie were totally flat. There was nothing imaginative or interesting throughout the whole movie. That was a shame because there was a lot of opportunity to do some interesting stuff. For example, when the main character talks about the “Zen of Fishing”, they could have filmed some really cool stuff for him to talk over. The only redeeming qualities were some of the special effects and the acting. The rest of the movie played like it was made-for-TV.

 

The Legend of Suriyothai

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A very neat movie… But, the US version is cut/edited rather poorly. It’s really a ~5hr movie about Thai royal intrigue in the 16th century. The US version is cut down to 2.5 hours, which can leave you really confused. I’m told there is no full-length version with english sub-titles. Too bad for me, but fine for Thai speakers. I guess it was partly commissioned by the Thai royal family as a sort of “this is our history” movie. Anyway, it’s not really a conventional movie, I think it would fall more into a category halfway between a regular movie and an “historical dramatization”. In any case, it’s worth watching just to see the set designs & costumes – very elaborate & well-done.

 

I Shot Andy Worhol

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That’s one wacko lady. This is the true story of the woman who shot Andy Warhol (didn’t kill him though, just screwed him up a bit). Why did she do it? Well, it’s more complicated that I can even understand. I guess she needed to feel connected with him again, maybe she was just pissed at him for cutting her out. In any event, this movie is a good study of a disturbed individual. Seeing this movie is a lot like having a conversation with that crazy old lady on the sidewalk who talks to the traffic lights… Remember, she used to be younger and a bit more sane.

Glory

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It’s hard to take a “story within a story” and make it a compelling drama. Glory did a decent job though. The big story was the Civil War, the story within was about the first all-black regiment to kick butt. Or… get their butt kicked… That raises an interesting question, are they “heroes” because they were slaughtered? or are they just poor discarded souls?