My brief Synopsis: While on a trip to the Moroccan dessert, two American tourist find themselves in a struggle to survive and accidental shooting that sets in motion a change of events that link two Moroccan boys involved in an accidental crime, a nanny illegally crossing into Mexico with two American children and a Japanese teen rebel whose father is sought by the police in Tokyo.
My Review: First and foremost who the fuck vacations in the Moroccan dessert. I don't care what has transpired in your life that you might so desperately need to get away from, stay away from third world countries, plain and simple. Now that I got that out, Babel has great expectations for itself: Inarritu invites us to get past the babble of modern civilization and start listening to each other, which seems like such a novel concept we all should practice but usually don't. It wants to be a movie about big ideas and big emotions at the same time, it is aided by gorgeous locations and stunning cinematography, and it succeeds for the most part. The most impressive performances were not by Brad Pitt or Cate Blanchett but by Adriana Barraza (Amelia) and Rinko Kikuchi (Chieko)...Kikuchi performance is stunning, without speaking a single work she puts on one of the best performances of the film. Is this a must see, unfortunatly for all the hype and Oscar talk...Not really.
Kong gives Babel 2.5 wing out of 5
1 comment:
Babel..this movie is about pretense and promise. The pretense is that it encapsulates a 'deep, probing understanding' of disconnected lives. It misses the mark. The promise is put forth with casting choices, production values and actor performances. While you got it right in noting the superlative performances of Rinko Kikuchi (Chieko) and Adriana Barraza (Amelia)the movie falls flat with not to subtle anti-gun scenarios and lack of resolution. The movie spends much of its time in gushes of emotional angst while giving only bland attention to consequences. No more than 1.5 wings, hold the sauce.
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