At Five in the Afternoon (2003) "Panj é asr" (original title)(Iran) Rating 4/5

For some of you who have witnessed the great Iranian and Far Eastern cinema for some time this movie might feel a bit familiar. But there is nothing familiar about its story and the very emotional approach of it. This speaks of a family who is struck by poverty and the cruelness of the bitter politics which is currently faced by the people of Afghanistan. And it strongly portrays the mighty thrust the religious beliefs force upon them and the traditional thinking following it. The first half of the movie strongly portrays the fate of women in the region where man dominates their life start from thinking to dressing. In this part a the movie concentrates on a woman who is the member of this homeless family moving from place to place to find their solace as the key character. We find her secretly going to school where as her father believes that school is not for woman. And then she dreams of becoming the president someday to end the cruel regime and mistreating the people, especially woman.

On the latter part the story becomes more centered upon the father an old man beaten up by life still struggling to keep his daughters and the new born grandchild alive. Clearly he fails at many times and finds his peace by speaking to his only friend a horse. The one sided conversations between this man and the horse shows the bitterness the man feels about everything he wants to fix.

Amidst all this drama the viewer feels the harsh reality of a set of people face day in and day out in a region still caught in between power, religion and politics. While million dollar air crafts are sent to bombard them by the richer they remain empty at heart and stomach. Death seems to be the only certain thing beyond the life they never go to live fully. This movie is a strong drama no doubt. Before conclusion I wish there was more profound acting done here. The acting is raw and quite good but I don’t find it to be truly emotional. Most of the time actors look numb and muttering lines without feelings. I don’t know if that’s how the director wanted it but for most of us a tear or two from the characters would have made lot of sense. 

Silmido (2003) (South Korea/Korean)

This movie is based on a strong military background but not the usual war themed. It is more of a military spy thriller that drills its routes from recruiting and training to deployment. And said to be based on true events that took place in 1960s South Korea it is a tremendous journey of heroism and courage. And for being a movie about soldiers and love for the nation its stands well above many mediocre films of that sort.

 

Silmido is structured well with good performances by most of the large cast. The only downfall is that we being unfamiliar with the names and faces of the characters at times can be a bit confusing. (They say all Asians look the same for a reason). But once that part is sorted out and the timeline and characters are set its pretty much clear to the audience. And the tough and sort of merciless training these soldiers go through are well portrayed making a solid base for the plot that unveils later. And the much unexpected twist hits the viewer on an unexpected moment. This is where the movie gets a real turn and emotional.

 

(From this point onward it's translation in Sinhala language)

 

මෙය ප්‍රබල හමුදා තේමාවක් චිත්‍රපටියක් වුවද නිතර දක්නට ලැබෙන හමුදා චිත්‍රපටි වලට වඩා බොහෝ සෙයින් වෙනස් එකකි. එය සෙබළුන් බඳවාගැනීම, පුහුනුකිරිම සහ විසිරුවාහැරිම යන අංශ සියල්ලම හොඳින් ආවරණය වන අයුරින් දිවෙන කතාවකි. එමෙන්ම 1960 ගණන් වලදී දකුණු කොරියාවේ සිදු වී ඇතය් දැන් සනාත වී තිබෙන රහස් හමුදා මෙහෙයුමකි මේ චිත්‍රපටියට තේමා වන්නේ. එනිසාම එහි විශේෂත්වය තවත් වැඩි වෙයි.

 

චිත්‍රපටියක් වශයෙන් එය හොඳින් ස්ථානගත වන අතර තරමක් විශාල නළුවන් පිරිසකගේ හොඳ රන්ගනයන්ගෙන්ද යුක්තය්. සමහරක් විට අප කොරියානු නම් සහ ඔවුන්ගේ මුහුණුවර ගැන දැනීමක් අඩු බැවින් චරිත වෙන් කර හඳුනා ගැනීමේ සුළු අපහසුතාවයකට පත් විය හැකි. (ඔක්කොම චීන්නු එක වගේ කියා කියන්නේ කට කසනවාට නොවේ ) . නමුත් එය හරි හැටි විසඳා ගත් පසු කතාවේ හරය වඩා හොඳින් වැටහෙය්. සොල්දාදුවන්ගේ දරුණු සහ අමානුෂික පුහුණුවීමේ ක්‍රම ඉතා හොඳින් පෙන්වීම තුලින් කතාවේ අවසානයට ප්‍රබල පිටුවහලක් ලැබෙය්. එමෙන්ම කතාවේ අනපේක්ෂිත මොහොතක සිදු වන විශාල වෙනස් වීම සමගම එය බොහෝ හැඟීම් බර එකක් බවට පත්වෙයි.

 

I rate this 4/5

 

-Priyantha Bandara

 

Silmido (2003) (South Korea/Korean)

 

Synopsis: Based on a true story of 1968 Korean Republic Army plan to assassinate North Korean president Kim Il-Sung. 31 criminals and death row inmates are recruited into secret training on the island of Silmi; for two years they are subjected to maximum mental and physical abuse before the mission is cancelled and the unit terminated. (IMDB)

 

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter .... and Spring (2003) (South Korea)

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter .... and Spring (2003) (South Korea)

Drama

I like to keep my reviews short as possible. The world is a busy place and you may not have the time to read a ton of details. But honestly when I write short on this movie I will be doing the greatest injustice to it. So as the Buddha says don’t take my word for it. See for yourself.

This is a mind soothing piece of cinema which heavily based upon eastern Buddhism. For some it may not be applicable as a religion or a philosophy but as humans this will apply to everyone none the less. It is the story of maturing creatively expressed through the journey of a monk who lives in a small shrine in the mid of a lake. The story evolve through seasons and each season has something very different yet thoroughly deep to offer. The viewer has the sole freedom to determine and justify or reject the events this has. The movie will not push you to any corner or try to justify anything. It just gives you an opinion and that may not always be agreeable by the viewer. But largely what this cinematic masterpiece has to offer is far ahead of just being spiritual. And the sheer beautify and inner piece is not just created by the story but by mesmerizing cinematography and beauty of nature.

 I myself may not have understood it to its fullest and will be pondering for many days to come. And with each moment I will realize something new and that much closer to the life story this movie unfolds.

ලොව බොහෝ කාර්යබහුල තැනක් නිසාවෙන් මම මගේ චිත්‍රපටි විචාර ඉතාම සරල සහ කෙටි ඉදිරිපත් කිරීම් ලෙස දැක්වීමට කැමැත්තෙමි. නමුත් මේ චිත්‍රපටියට මා කරන ලොකුම අසාධාරණය එයම වන්නේය. මෙහි ගැඹුර වචන කිහිපයකින් කීම කිසි සෙත් නුසුදුසු බව හැඟෙ. එනිසාම බුදුරදුන් වදාළ සේම මාගේ වචනය මා කියූ පමණින් පිලි නොගෙන ඔබම සිතින් සිතා පිළිගන්න. එසේ කිරීමට ඔබ මේ චිත්‍රපටිය බැලිය යුතුම වන්නේය.

මෙය මනස සනසන බුදු දහම සහ ගැඹුරින් බැඳුනු සිනමා කෘතියකි. බොහෝ දෙනෙකුට ආගමක් හෝ දර්ශනයක් වශයෙන් මෙය නොදැනුනද ජීවිතය හා බැඳී යතාර්ථයක් ලෙසින් එය සියල්ලන්ටම පොදුය. ජීවිතයේ පරිනතවිම ඉතාමත්ම නිර්මාණශීලි අයුරින් මෙහි කතිකා කෙරෙන්නේ විලක් මැද පිහිටි පාවෙන පන්සලක වැඩ වසන පැවිද්දෙකුගේ ජීවිතය ඇසුරෙන්. එය ගලාගෙන යන්නේ පරිච්චේද පහකින් යුතුවය්. ඒවා එකිනෙක බොහෝ වෙනස් කම් දරන අතර ඇතුලතින් ඉතා ගැඹුරු මෙන්ම සමානද වෙයි. චිත්‍රපටිය ඔබට කිසිම දෙයක් ගැන මත විවරණයක් බලෙන් ලබා නොදෙන අතර එය තේරුම් ගැනීම සහ තීරණය කිරීම ඔබටම භාර වන්නේය. මෙහි කතා වස්තුව හුදෙක් ආගමික කතාවකට සීමා නොවූ විශිෂ්ට එකක් බව කිව යුතුමය. එහි ලස්සන තව තවත් වැඩි වන්නේ පරිසරයේ ඇති අලංකාර එයට එක කොට ඇති අයුරිනි.

මා මේ චිත්‍රපටිය මුළුමුනින්ම තේරුම් ගත්තෙයය් කීමට හැකියාවක් මට නැත. නමුත් බොහෝ කලක් මා මේ අගනා සිනමා කෘතිය ගැන මෙනෙහි කරන බව මා දනී. ඒ සියලු මොහොතකදීම මා විසින් අලුත් යමක් ජීවිතය ගැන සොයා ගනු ඇත.

4.5/5

-Priyantha Bandara

Synopsis : This film takes place in an isolated lake, where an old monk lives on a small floating temple. The wise master has also a young boy with him that teaches to become a monk. And we watch as seasons and years pass by.

Wonderful Days (Original title korean) AKA Sky Blue (2003)

Wonderful Days (Original title korean) AKA Sky Blue (2003)

Action | Fantasy | Animation | Sci Fi 

There are absolutely no two words that this movie is one of the most epic visual experiences you can have up to date from an animation. It’s not just animation but a hybrid of CG and 3d modeling mixed to make a stunning eye pleaser from start to the very end. And the brilliant score becomes one with the visual and puts the viewer in to mesmerizing trance. The soundtrack is just awe perfect and grips the viewer by the depths of the ear canal. Yet the same cannot be told about the story. It has being tested before and has a bit of vast unexplored and unexplained territories. But with the sheer magic unfolding with the stunning visuals and the music the plot seems to be tagging along just fine. Animation and Sci Fi lovers will dig this! And this is going in to my personal favorites collection.

Sky Blue මොහොතක් මොහොතක් පාසා ඔබ මවිත කිරීමට තරම් සුන්දර ජවනිකා දහස් ගණනකින් හෙබි, ඔබට දැකීමට ලැබෙන විද්‍යා ප්‍රබන්ධ සජීවීකරණ චිත්‍රපටි අතර විශිෂ්ටතම ස්ථානයක මතකයේ රැඳෙන එකක් වනු ඇත. කන්කළු සහ අසන්නාගේ මනසේ ගැඹුරු ස්ථානයන් පවා ස්පර්ශ කිරිමත සමත් පසු බිම් සන්ගීතයන්ගෙන්ද මේ චිත්‍රපටිය පිරි තිබෙනවා. එලෙස මන බඳිනා දර්ශන සහ ඒ හා උරෙන් උර මිත්‍ර වුනු සංගීතයද එක්වූ කල මේ දෙස විමතියෙන් බලා සිටීම හැරෙන්නට වෙනත් කිසිවක් කිරීමට ඔබට අමතක වන්නටද පුළුවන්. කෙසේ වෙතත් චිත්‍රපටියේ කතා වස්තුව ගැන එසේ වර්ණනාවන් කිරිමට අපහසුය්. මින් පෙර අත් විඳ පුරුදු තේමාවකි එහි ඇත්තේ. නමුත් මේ සියල්ල එක් කොට ගත් කල Sky Blue සජීවිකරණ චිත්‍රපටි ප්‍රිය කරන ඔබට දිව්‍යමය ආහාරයක්.

3/5

-Priyantha Bandara

Synopsis: In the future, after the human civilization ended by war and pollution, only those few people who had the power and technology escaped the disaster. Those people built the last human city of Ecoban. As its energy source is the pollutant, the people of Ecoban plan to destroy the inhabitants of Marr to get more pollutant. Standing against Ecoban is a young man who wants only to clear the skies of the clouds to show the wonderful heavens to the girl he loves. (IMDB)

OLD SCHOOL (2003)

Old School is about 3 grown up men who are hitting their 30s fed up with their family lives and relationships and seeking to do something new and interesting. So they start a fraternity club with all other intentions in their minds. And when their rented house is threatened to be taken over by the college campus they have to prove some points in order to save the club and the house. 

This flick is filled with good humor start to end. And it’s obvious when Will Farrell teams up with Vince Voughn and Luke Wilson is caught up in the middle. These three portray the somewhat crazy yet ambitious men who stand up to what they believe in.

A good run for the comedy lovers indeed!

My Score: 3/5

Genre: Comedy

Director: Todd Phillips

Writers: Court Crandall (story), Todd Phillips (story)

Stars: Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn and Will Ferrell

TEARS OF THE SUN (2003)

War or military themed movies come in different styles and sizes. These flicks stage upon true life events like Black Hawk Down to fictions like the Predator. And amongst them Tears of the Sun is somewhat entertaining than many.

Plot around a special US platoon who is led by Lt. A.K. Waters (Bruce Willis) goes in a covert mission to rescue Dr. Lena Kendricks (Monica Bellucci). She is involved in a humanitarian mission in the civil unrest war zone of an African country. Though the orders were to rescue only her and few others, Lt. Waters make a sudden change of plans when the Dr. refuses to leave her patients. While trying to protect and rescue a bunch of Africans with the support of his team, Lt. Waters is faced with grave enemies who stop at nothing. 

It’s a good old American style war movie. Where the highly trained heroic American soldiers goes on a deadly mission to an unknown territory. And then their hearts melt when they face with reality and decides to do something extra than what they were supposed to. And their high tech and war machines display their colors. Maybe in that sense it’s mundane.

However this becomes quite heroic at its last stages, with the heavy battle sequences and the team trying to keep the civilians safe as much as possible. Then there are few heartwarming dialogues and gestures to finish off. 

Tears of the sun pack some good action and acting to go along with the plot. Not the best war flick you will see but you will not forget it for a very long time. 

Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller

Director: Antoine Fuqua

Writers: Alex Lasker, Patrick Cirillo

Stars: Bruce Willis, Cole Hauser and Monica Bellucci