Best Achievement in Directing. Best Achievement in Editing. Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score. Best Motion Picture of the Year. Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role. Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role. Best Writing, Original Screenplay. From my count, this adds up to a total number of seven nominations for an Oscar in this year´s 2007 Academy Awards. This also makes Alexandro Gonzalez Inarritu´s film "Babel" one of the year´s darlings of the Academy and one of the front runners for taking home the "Best Picture" Oscar. In anticipation of the awards and hoping that "Babel" takes home a few of the coveted statues, Paramount is hoping to capitalize on the hype and has released a no frills DVD just in time for the bit awards ceremony.
"Babel" is the third film by the director, creating a trilogy of sorts and following "Amores Perros" and a film I enjoyed tremendously, "21 Grams." "Babel" is this year´s edition of "Crash." It is the mishmash of intertwining stories the take place over a short period of time and show how one event can interrelate and affect a much larger community. In the instance of "Crash," the events affected Los Angeles. In "Babel," four corners of the world are affected. Whereas I thought "Crash" deserved the Best Picture victory and wanted to see "Brokeback Mountain" not take home the shiny gold statue, I do not have the same hopes for "Babel." I enjoyed the film and felt it was well written and each of the separate stories was done nicely, but I do not sense that "Babel" is the best film released in the year of 2006.
Richard (Brad Pitt) and Susan (Cate Blanchett) are on vacation in Morocco. Susan is not very excited by the trip and appears more vexed than relaxed. They argue over the reason for being in the country and Susan fights with Richard over some ice for a warm Coca-Cola. The trips gets much worse when Susan is shot through the window of a bus by a boy trying to prove that bullets in a Winchester hunting rifle are not worth anything at any distance. Without proper education on the dangers of the gun, the boy unknowingly hits Susan and after hearing the news of what has happened, believes he has killed the American tourist. His father quickly becomes a target by a brutalistic police force and he finds his father, mother, sister and older brother all in dire danger after his dangerous folly.
Back in Los Angeles, the couple´s housekeeper and nanny Amelia (Adrianna Barraza) does not want to miss her son´s wedding and has her nephew Santiago (Gael Garcia Bernal) drive them to Mexico. The wedding is a culture shock for Richard and Susan´s two children, as they witness chicken´s being beheaded, lots of drinking and the firing of pistols in celebration. With the hours of the night passing, a drunken Santiago decides he is sober enough to take Amelia and the two children home. He is stopped by customs at the Mexico / U.S. Border and discovers that Amelia does not have letters of permission for the children. The border patrol realize that Santiago is drunk and they pull him over to the side to detain him. He flees in his car from the border and is pursued by the police, only to leave Amelia and the children alone in the hot desert.
In Japan, the original owner of the Winchester rifle, Yasujiro (Koji Yakusho) is struggling to be the father of his deaf-mute daughter Chieko (Rinko Kikuchi). Chieko is at a stage in her teenage life where she wants to be romantically involved with somebody and engage in sex, but she is avoided because of her hearing impaired handicap. She starts to remove her underwear in public and display her genitalia to just about any boy who will look. She loses a boy´s interest to her friend and heads home in sadness. A young police investigator has questioned her in regards to her father´s previous ownership of the Winchester. She believes it is in regards to her mother´s suicide a few years prior. She yearns for sexual attention by the investigator and has him called upon to answer questions. She disrobes in front of him and hopes that he will calm her amorous needs.
The main part of the story is Richard´s struggle to find aid for his dying wife. Susan has been shot in the chest, just above where the heart resides. The tour bus takes her to a small village where a local doctor does what he can to curb the bleeding and help her survive until hope can arrive. The U.S. Embassy cancels an ambulance pick-up and promises a helicopter, but the added wait has sparked the ire of the other people on the tour bus and they leave Richard and Susan behind. Susan´s survival is strongly in question after the shooting, though the near death experience has reignited the love between the two.
They are unaware of the dangerous adventure that their children are undertaking, and believe that terrorists are behind the shooting and not an innocent peasant who purchased the gun to help protect his heard from coyotes. They are completely unaware that the gun in question was formerly owned by a Japanese businessman who no longer hunts because of the suicide of his wife. Yet, the entire "butterfly effect" of these stories are shown to us in the film. The butterfly effect of "Crash" had more bearing on each of the smaller stories than what "Babel" has. The Japanese side of the story is related only by the ownership of the gun and the final effect of the shooting is that the daughter parades nude through the living room and when the father finds his naked daughter, their relationship is strengthened. This practically unrelated, yet inspired story gives "Babel" a sense that it is reaching for further material by including this in the butterfly effect. Unlike "Crash," it just doesn´t add any true power to the overall story.
Each of the four sub-stories of "Babel" show different aspects of humanity. The main story between Richard and Susan show how anger and love can fester in the face of death and its shows how dire situations can rekindle a lost love. Brad Pitt nicely shows the desperation of man. The story about the two boys, their father and the gun show the innocence and mistakes of youth and how much one little juvenile error can affect the world. This story shows that a father´s negligence in educating his children can also have a horrendous effect on others. The Mexican wedding brings to light how somebody that has been trusted for years can be less responsible that expected and how a strong trust in that person can almost result in having that person´s trust be nearly fatal. The Japanese story discussed the need for normalcy by those that are saddened and unable to fully fit into a mold of life that is typically considered normal, as the girl Chieko is without a mother, hearing and the ability of speech.
"Babel" is a beautifully shot film, a well written film and the actors all do an incredible job. Rinko Kikuchi was especially convincing as the sexually challenged deaf-mute. Both her and Adriana Barraza are nominated for "Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role" and while Barraza was also excellent as Amelia, I am rooting heavily for Ms. Kikuchi to bring home the Oscar. The rest of the cast is solid as well, but no others have been nominated for an Academy Award. Brad Pitt looks weathered and old in the film. Cate Blanchett is lovely as always and portrays a woman facing death with conviction. Gael Garcia Bernal depicts every stereotype imaginable for a Mexican and pokes fun at these stereotypes with one comment in the film. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu is a very talented filmmaker. I thought "21 Grams" was a better picture, but I did enjoy "Babel." I eagerly await what stories the filmmaker has in store for the future. I do believe this movie will bring home two or three Oscars in the very near future. I believe it deserves the accolades it has received, but I do not believe it is the best picture of the year.
"Babel" is the third film by the director, creating a trilogy of sorts and following "Amores Perros" and a film I enjoyed tremendously, "21 Grams." "Babel" is this year´s edition of "Crash." It is the mishmash of intertwining stories the take place over a short period of time and show how one event can interrelate and affect a much larger community. In the instance of "Crash," the events affected Los Angeles. In "Babel," four corners of the world are affected. Whereas I thought "Crash" deserved the Best Picture victory and wanted to see "Brokeback Mountain" not take home the shiny gold statue, I do not have the same hopes for "Babel." I enjoyed the film and felt it was well written and each of the separate stories was done nicely, but I do not sense that "Babel" is the best film released in the year of 2006.
Richard (Brad Pitt) and Susan (Cate Blanchett) are on vacation in Morocco. Susan is not very excited by the trip and appears more vexed than relaxed. They argue over the reason for being in the country and Susan fights with Richard over some ice for a warm Coca-Cola. The trips gets much worse when Susan is shot through the window of a bus by a boy trying to prove that bullets in a Winchester hunting rifle are not worth anything at any distance. Without proper education on the dangers of the gun, the boy unknowingly hits Susan and after hearing the news of what has happened, believes he has killed the American tourist. His father quickly becomes a target by a brutalistic police force and he finds his father, mother, sister and older brother all in dire danger after his dangerous folly.
Back in Los Angeles, the couple´s housekeeper and nanny Amelia (Adrianna Barraza) does not want to miss her son´s wedding and has her nephew Santiago (Gael Garcia Bernal) drive them to Mexico. The wedding is a culture shock for Richard and Susan´s two children, as they witness chicken´s being beheaded, lots of drinking and the firing of pistols in celebration. With the hours of the night passing, a drunken Santiago decides he is sober enough to take Amelia and the two children home. He is stopped by customs at the Mexico / U.S. Border and discovers that Amelia does not have letters of permission for the children. The border patrol realize that Santiago is drunk and they pull him over to the side to detain him. He flees in his car from the border and is pursued by the police, only to leave Amelia and the children alone in the hot desert.
In Japan, the original owner of the Winchester rifle, Yasujiro (Koji Yakusho) is struggling to be the father of his deaf-mute daughter Chieko (Rinko Kikuchi). Chieko is at a stage in her teenage life where she wants to be romantically involved with somebody and engage in sex, but she is avoided because of her hearing impaired handicap. She starts to remove her underwear in public and display her genitalia to just about any boy who will look. She loses a boy´s interest to her friend and heads home in sadness. A young police investigator has questioned her in regards to her father´s previous ownership of the Winchester. She believes it is in regards to her mother´s suicide a few years prior. She yearns for sexual attention by the investigator and has him called upon to answer questions. She disrobes in front of him and hopes that he will calm her amorous needs.
The main part of the story is Richard´s struggle to find aid for his dying wife. Susan has been shot in the chest, just above where the heart resides. The tour bus takes her to a small village where a local doctor does what he can to curb the bleeding and help her survive until hope can arrive. The U.S. Embassy cancels an ambulance pick-up and promises a helicopter, but the added wait has sparked the ire of the other people on the tour bus and they leave Richard and Susan behind. Susan´s survival is strongly in question after the shooting, though the near death experience has reignited the love between the two.
They are unaware of the dangerous adventure that their children are undertaking, and believe that terrorists are behind the shooting and not an innocent peasant who purchased the gun to help protect his heard from coyotes. They are completely unaware that the gun in question was formerly owned by a Japanese businessman who no longer hunts because of the suicide of his wife. Yet, the entire "butterfly effect" of these stories are shown to us in the film. The butterfly effect of "Crash" had more bearing on each of the smaller stories than what "Babel" has. The Japanese side of the story is related only by the ownership of the gun and the final effect of the shooting is that the daughter parades nude through the living room and when the father finds his naked daughter, their relationship is strengthened. This practically unrelated, yet inspired story gives "Babel" a sense that it is reaching for further material by including this in the butterfly effect. Unlike "Crash," it just doesn´t add any true power to the overall story.
Each of the four sub-stories of "Babel" show different aspects of humanity. The main story between Richard and Susan show how anger and love can fester in the face of death and its shows how dire situations can rekindle a lost love. Brad Pitt nicely shows the desperation of man. The story about the two boys, their father and the gun show the innocence and mistakes of youth and how much one little juvenile error can affect the world. This story shows that a father´s negligence in educating his children can also have a horrendous effect on others. The Mexican wedding brings to light how somebody that has been trusted for years can be less responsible that expected and how a strong trust in that person can almost result in having that person´s trust be nearly fatal. The Japanese story discussed the need for normalcy by those that are saddened and unable to fully fit into a mold of life that is typically considered normal, as the girl Chieko is without a mother, hearing and the ability of speech.
"Babel" is a beautifully shot film, a well written film and the actors all do an incredible job. Rinko Kikuchi was especially convincing as the sexually challenged deaf-mute. Both her and Adriana Barraza are nominated for "Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role" and while Barraza was also excellent as Amelia, I am rooting heavily for Ms. Kikuchi to bring home the Oscar. The rest of the cast is solid as well, but no others have been nominated for an Academy Award. Brad Pitt looks weathered and old in the film. Cate Blanchett is lovely as always and portrays a woman facing death with conviction. Gael Garcia Bernal depicts every stereotype imaginable for a Mexican and pokes fun at these stereotypes with one comment in the film. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu is a very talented filmmaker. I thought "21 Grams" was a better picture, but I did enjoy "Babel." I eagerly await what stories the filmmaker has in store for the future. I do believe this movie will bring home two or three Oscars in the very near future. I believe it deserves the accolades it has received, but I do not believe it is the best picture of the year.
Best Achievement in Directing. Best Achievement in Editing. Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score. Best Motion Picture of the Year. Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role. Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role. Best Writing, Original Screenplay. From my count, this adds up to a total number of seven nominations for an Oscar in this year´s 2007 Academy Awards. This also makes Alexandro Gonzalez Inarritu´s film "Babel" one of the year´s darlings of the Academy and one of the front runners for taking home the "Best Picture" Oscar. In anticipation of the awards and hoping that "Babel" takes home a few of the coveted statues, Paramount is hoping to capitalize on the hype and has released a no frills DVD just in time for the bit awards ceremony.
"Babel" is the third film by the director, creating a trilogy of sorts and following "Amores Perros" and a film I enjoyed tremendously, "21 Grams." "Babel" is this year´s edition of "Crash." It is the mishmash of intertwining stories the take place over a short period of time and show how one event can interrelate and affect a much larger community. In the instance of "Crash," the events affected Los Angeles. In "Babel," four corners of the world are affected. Whereas I thought "Crash" deserved the Best Picture victory and wanted to see "Brokeback Mountain" not take home the shiny gold statue, I do not have the same hopes for "Babel." I enjoyed the film and felt it was well written and each of the separate stories was done nicely, but I do not sense that "Babel" is the best film released in the year of 2006.
Richard (Brad Pitt) and Susan (Cate Blanchett) are on vacation in Morocco. Susan is not very excited by the trip and appears more vexed than relaxed. They argue over the reason for being in the country and Susan fights with Richard over some ice for a warm Coca-Cola. The trips gets much worse when Susan is shot through the window of a bus by a boy trying to prove that bullets in a Winchester hunting rifle are not worth anything at any distance. Without proper education on the dangers of the gun, the boy unknowingly hits Susan and after hearing the news of what has happened, believes he has killed the American tourist. His father quickly becomes a target by a brutalistic police force and he finds his father, mother, sister and older brother all in dire danger after his dangerous folly.
Back in Los Angeles, the couple´s housekeeper and nanny Amelia (Adrianna Barraza) does not want to miss her son´s wedding and has her nephew Santiago (Gael Garcia Bernal) drive them to Mexico. The wedding is a culture shock for Richard and Susan´s two children, as they witness chicken´s being beheaded, lots of drinking and the firing of pistols in celebration. With the hours of the night passing, a drunken Santiago decides he is sober enough to take Amelia and the two children home. He is stopped by customs at the Mexico / U.S. Border and discovers that Amelia does not have letters of permission for the children. The border patrol realize that Santiago is drunk and they pull him over to the side to detain him. He flees in his car from the border and is pursued by the police, only to leave Amelia and the children alone in the hot desert.
In Japan, the original owner of the Winchester rifle, Yasujiro (Koji Yakusho) is struggling to be the father of his deaf-mute daughter Chieko (Rinko Kikuchi). Chieko is at a stage in her teenage life where she wants to be romantically involved with somebody and engage in sex, but she is avoided because of her hearing impaired handicap. She starts to remove her underwear in public and display her genitalia to just about any boy who will look. She loses a boy´s interest to her friend and heads home in sadness. A young police investigator has questioned her in regards to her father´s previous ownership of the Winchester. She believes it is in regards to her mother´s suicide a few years prior. She yearns for sexual attention by the investigator and has him called upon to answer questions. She disrobes in front of him and hopes that he will calm her amorous needs.
The main part of the story is Richard´s struggle to find aid for his dying wife. Susan has been shot in the chest, just above where the heart resides. The tour bus takes her to a small village where a local doctor does what he can to curb the bleeding and help her survive until hope can arrive. The U.S. Embassy cancels an ambulance pick-up and promises a helicopter, but the added wait has sparked the ire of the other people on the tour bus and they leave Richard and Susan behind. Susan´s survival is strongly in question after the shooting, though the near death experience has reignited the love between the two.
They are unaware of the dangerous adventure that their children are undertaking, and believe that terrorists are behind the shooting and not an innocent peasant who purchased the gun to help protect his heard from coyotes. They are completely unaware that the gun in question was formerly owned by a Japanese businessman who no longer hunts because of the suicide of his wife. Yet, the entire "butterfly effect" of these stories are shown to us in the film. The butterfly effect of "Crash" had more bearing on each of the smaller stories than what "Babel" has. The Japanese side of the story is related only by the ownership of the gun and the final effect of the shooting is that the daughter parades nude through the living room and when the father finds his naked daughter, their relationship is strengthened. This practically unrelated, yet inspired story gives "Babel" a sense that it is reaching for further material by including this in the butterfly effect. Unlike "Crash," it just doesn´t add any true power to the overall story.
Each of the four sub-stories of "Babel" show different aspects of humanity. The main story between Richard and Susan show how anger and love can fester in the face of death and its shows how dire situations can rekindle a lost love. Brad Pitt nicely shows the desperation of man. The story about the two boys, their father and the gun show the innocence and mistakes of youth and how much one little juvenile error can affect the world. This story shows that a father´s negligence in educating his children can also have a horrendous effect on others. The Mexican wedding brings to light how somebody that has been trusted for years can be less responsible that expected and how a strong trust in that person can almost result in having that person´s trust be nearly fatal. The Japanese story discussed the need for normalcy by those that are saddened and unable to fully fit into a mold of life that is typically considered normal, as the girl Chieko is without a mother, hearing and the ability of speech.
"Babel" is a beautifully shot film, a well written film and the actors all do an incredible job. Rinko Kikuchi was especially convincing as the sexually challenged deaf-mute. Both her and Adriana Barraza are nominated for "Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role" and while Barraza was also excellent as Amelia, I am rooting heavily for Ms. Kikuchi to bring home the Oscar. The rest of the cast is solid as well, but no others have been nominated for an Academy Award. Brad Pitt looks weathered and old in the film. Cate Blanchett is lovely as always and portrays a woman facing death with conviction. Gael Garcia Bernal depicts every stereotype imaginable for a Mexican and pokes fun at these stereotypes with one comment in the film. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu is a very talented filmmaker. I thought "21 Grams" was a better picture, but I did enjoy "Babel." I eagerly await what stories the filmmaker has in store for the future. I do believe this movie will bring home two or three Oscars in the very near future. I believe it deserves the accolades it has received, but I do not believe it is the best picture of the year.
"Babel" is the third film by the director, creating a trilogy of sorts and following "Amores Perros" and a film I enjoyed tremendously, "21 Grams." "Babel" is this year´s edition of "Crash." It is the mishmash of intertwining stories the take place over a short period of time and show how one event can interrelate and affect a much larger community. In the instance of "Crash," the events affected Los Angeles. In "Babel," four corners of the world are affected. Whereas I thought "Crash" deserved the Best Picture victory and wanted to see "Brokeback Mountain" not take home the shiny gold statue, I do not have the same hopes for "Babel." I enjoyed the film and felt it was well written and each of the separate stories was done nicely, but I do not sense that "Babel" is the best film released in the year of 2006.
Richard (Brad Pitt) and Susan (Cate Blanchett) are on vacation in Morocco. Susan is not very excited by the trip and appears more vexed than relaxed. They argue over the reason for being in the country and Susan fights with Richard over some ice for a warm Coca-Cola. The trips gets much worse when Susan is shot through the window of a bus by a boy trying to prove that bullets in a Winchester hunting rifle are not worth anything at any distance. Without proper education on the dangers of the gun, the boy unknowingly hits Susan and after hearing the news of what has happened, believes he has killed the American tourist. His father quickly becomes a target by a brutalistic police force and he finds his father, mother, sister and older brother all in dire danger after his dangerous folly.
Back in Los Angeles, the couple´s housekeeper and nanny Amelia (Adrianna Barraza) does not want to miss her son´s wedding and has her nephew Santiago (Gael Garcia Bernal) drive them to Mexico. The wedding is a culture shock for Richard and Susan´s two children, as they witness chicken´s being beheaded, lots of drinking and the firing of pistols in celebration. With the hours of the night passing, a drunken Santiago decides he is sober enough to take Amelia and the two children home. He is stopped by customs at the Mexico / U.S. Border and discovers that Amelia does not have letters of permission for the children. The border patrol realize that Santiago is drunk and they pull him over to the side to detain him. He flees in his car from the border and is pursued by the police, only to leave Amelia and the children alone in the hot desert.
In Japan, the original owner of the Winchester rifle, Yasujiro (Koji Yakusho) is struggling to be the father of his deaf-mute daughter Chieko (Rinko Kikuchi). Chieko is at a stage in her teenage life where she wants to be romantically involved with somebody and engage in sex, but she is avoided because of her hearing impaired handicap. She starts to remove her underwear in public and display her genitalia to just about any boy who will look. She loses a boy´s interest to her friend and heads home in sadness. A young police investigator has questioned her in regards to her father´s previous ownership of the Winchester. She believes it is in regards to her mother´s suicide a few years prior. She yearns for sexual attention by the investigator and has him called upon to answer questions. She disrobes in front of him and hopes that he will calm her amorous needs.
The main part of the story is Richard´s struggle to find aid for his dying wife. Susan has been shot in the chest, just above where the heart resides. The tour bus takes her to a small village where a local doctor does what he can to curb the bleeding and help her survive until hope can arrive. The U.S. Embassy cancels an ambulance pick-up and promises a helicopter, but the added wait has sparked the ire of the other people on the tour bus and they leave Richard and Susan behind. Susan´s survival is strongly in question after the shooting, though the near death experience has reignited the love between the two.
They are unaware of the dangerous adventure that their children are undertaking, and believe that terrorists are behind the shooting and not an innocent peasant who purchased the gun to help protect his heard from coyotes. They are completely unaware that the gun in question was formerly owned by a Japanese businessman who no longer hunts because of the suicide of his wife. Yet, the entire "butterfly effect" of these stories are shown to us in the film. The butterfly effect of "Crash" had more bearing on each of the smaller stories than what "Babel" has. The Japanese side of the story is related only by the ownership of the gun and the final effect of the shooting is that the daughter parades nude through the living room and when the father finds his naked daughter, their relationship is strengthened. This practically unrelated, yet inspired story gives "Babel" a sense that it is reaching for further material by including this in the butterfly effect. Unlike "Crash," it just doesn´t add any true power to the overall story.
Each of the four sub-stories of "Babel" show different aspects of humanity. The main story between Richard and Susan show how anger and love can fester in the face of death and its shows how dire situations can rekindle a lost love. Brad Pitt nicely shows the desperation of man. The story about the two boys, their father and the gun show the innocence and mistakes of youth and how much one little juvenile error can affect the world. This story shows that a father´s negligence in educating his children can also have a horrendous effect on others. The Mexican wedding brings to light how somebody that has been trusted for years can be less responsible that expected and how a strong trust in that person can almost result in having that person´s trust be nearly fatal. The Japanese story discussed the need for normalcy by those that are saddened and unable to fully fit into a mold of life that is typically considered normal, as the girl Chieko is without a mother, hearing and the ability of speech.
"Babel" is a beautifully shot film, a well written film and the actors all do an incredible job. Rinko Kikuchi was especially convincing as the sexually challenged deaf-mute. Both her and Adriana Barraza are nominated for "Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role" and while Barraza was also excellent as Amelia, I am rooting heavily for Ms. Kikuchi to bring home the Oscar. The rest of the cast is solid as well, but no others have been nominated for an Academy Award. Brad Pitt looks weathered and old in the film. Cate Blanchett is lovely as always and portrays a woman facing death with conviction. Gael Garcia Bernal depicts every stereotype imaginable for a Mexican and pokes fun at these stereotypes with one comment in the film. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu is a very talented filmmaker. I thought "21 Grams" was a better picture, but I did enjoy "Babel." I eagerly await what stories the filmmaker has in store for the future. I do believe this movie will bring home two or three Oscars in the very near future. I believe it deserves the accolades it has received, but I do not believe it is the best picture of the year.
No comments:
Post a Comment