What can you expect from cinema these days? Sounds? Voices? Long dialogues? Too long dialogues? Monologues? Too long monologues? How much of the actor’s job is his voice, his intonation? Well, in 2011, I think these make a lot of difference… But not if you make a mute movie in the same year!

“The Artist”, made by Michel Hazanavicius, the 2nd movie I saw during the Amsterdam Film Week depicts the struggle of an actor that did not want to talk. Of course, the movie follows the normal curve: the peak of fame, the decisive moment when pride steps in, the fall, the near-death experience, the pride’s last struggle and the second rise. But, the movie is not about that: it’s about giving back the importance to the picture, not the words. How many of us haven’t been watching movies just by listening? Although the soundtrack made by Ludovis Bource is amazing (which you can sample below), this movie is very expressive through the eyes of the characters and their small gestures.

Must see!

Once that I left the country, I might as well turn this blog’s language from my native one to the mainstream. Don’t ask me why!

AFW stands for Amsterdam Film Week and, for me, it just started because today I saw The Tree of Life . I never saw any of Terrence Malick’s movies and I did not not what to expect, what kind of imagery he will use and what storyline can he put together.

Some randon thoughts about this movie:

• *It is a definitely Christian movie, but still, we have clear footage of a lively “Big Bang”
• *The evolution of the planet and its species is interleaved into the storyline to generalize the subject, life, to any living creature
• *The movie was brilliantly shot, 1st person feeling, cosy perspectives
• *We follow the lives of 3 little boys from the perspective of the last one alive, for the moment
• *Each little thing that made an impact on him, on his life and shaped him as a man, are captured in very lively details
• *Brad Pitt plays greatly an overbearing father, feared disciplinarian, that wanted them to be strong
• *Jessica Chastain plays their mother, a spiritual person, the closest to the kids
• *The difference that struck me the most was the two ways of teaching: the father always used words and force, while the mother used affection and closeness.

In the end, we were asking each other: “so, which one of the 3 boys died at 19?” Clearly, we were on the wrong logic path. It doesn’t matter which one died in the military service, all that matters is the journey through life that these boys (or any other living soul) had and each experience that shaped them as beings, every transformation and every sensation.

Must see!