AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH

This film is basically a lecture by former American Vice President Al Gore about the dangers of global warming. Sounds boring, right? It’s not—it’s probably the scariest movie you’ll see this year.

Here are the uncontestable facts the man has put forward in a slide show he’s done all over the world—a slide show director David Guggenheim has based the film on: Global warming is real. It is caused by human activity and the build up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Automobiles and coal burning power plants are the biggest contributors. If the warming of the planet continues at its current rate, we will experience in the next ten years the beginning of a major catastrophe involving severe storms, draughts, rising seas and unprecedented spread of disease. Though at a distance this all sounds like a lot of doom and gloom “the end is nigh!”-type forecasting, the statements that Gore makes are backed up with an endless litany of facts: the 10 hottest years in history occurred in the last 14 years; glaciers are melting at unprecedented rates; every region of the world is setting records for storm ferocity and frequency. And then he shows what would happen to a city like Shanghai or New York (or Bangkok for that matter) if the sea level rose just five to ten feet, and speculates about the millions of people that would be displaced from their homes. It’s an incredibly convincing argument, yet for some reason there were still people walking out of the theater complaing that his view is one sided. Well, yes, it is one sided, but he’s on YOUR side! The side of the planet, across from which stands irresponsible auto manufacturers and power plant owners who care nothing about the fact that they are facilitating humanity’s self destruction.
Forget about what you think of Al Gore and his politics. Want to save the world? See this movie. Then turn off your air conditioner.

WORLD TRADE CENTER

This film is no fun to watch. Unless, of course, you call watching people get tortured while trapped beneath the rubble of a building a good time.

In World Trade Center, Oliver Stone faithfully and excruciatingly recreates the story of two Port Authority cops (played by Nicholas Cage and Michael Pena) who rushed into the World Trade Center buildings on September 11, moments before they collapsed. I use the term “excruciatingly” because there’s really no other way to describe it—Stone pulls no punches in bringing the realism of this predicament to the screen. But let’s face it, considering Stone’s track record (Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July), pain, suffering and misery are his bread and butter.

As we idle away the seconds with these two men in such extreme pain they are contemplating suicide, one may ponder why does ANYONE need to sit through this? I don’t mean to belittle the gravity of 9/11, but do we really need to pay B120 to live it all over again? It’s emotional exploitation.

It isn’t until the closing moments of the film when a voice over by Cage’s character brings to light the true intention of World Trade Center. Here, he says that 9/11 revealed to New Yorkers (and to some extent, the world) not only how horribly cruel we can be, but also the real beauty of humanity in our ability to go out of our way to help one another.

Therein lies the core message of this film—sympathy in the Era of Apathy. Whereas we look around us everyday and feel like no one cares, here is a story of people who did, and acted on it—from the paramedics and rescue workers digging in the rubble for survivors (only 20 were actually pulled out in the end) to the psycho Staff Sergeant who got an SMS from God telling him to go to Ground Zero to lend a hand (and who, the epilogue tells us, got a follow up call from God telling him to blow Iraq back into the Dark Ages on two consecutive tours of duty). It’s just sad that it took a tragedy like this to bring out the best in people. Make no mistake, though, this is a hard film to sit through.

THE BANQUET

Dinner is served…and it’s a mixed bag of sweet-toothed visual candy and watery, melodramatic soup that will leave Oscar critics cold, martial arts fans famished no one completely satisfied. Renowned comedy director Feng Xiaogang takes a script loosely based on Hamlet and transplants it to 10th century China. The film begins with the Crown Prince Wu Luan (a smoldering Daniel Wu) returning from exile at a fruity acting school to seek answers regarding the death of his Emperor father. His newly crowned uncle, Emperor Li (Ge You) isn’t too happy about that, though, which leads to the film’s first (and best) fight sequence, which is as bloody as it is balleric. Wu Luan escapes, of course, and bides his time. Meanwhile the new Emperor has taken a liking to his brother’s widow, Wan (Ziyi Zhang), and makes her his Empress, knowing little that she has an agenda of her own (as well as a sexual fixation on her son-in-law). The film lumbers to it’s somewhat belaboured conclusion, and ends with an interesting twist that will certainly provide ample post-cinematic conversation.
There’s no doubt this film is gorgeous—the locations are beautiful, sets are luscuious, and the costumes are exquisite—but this strength is at the same time the film’s Achilles Heel. The story, while not nearly as disposable as recent martial arts flicks like House of Flying Daggers or Hero, is still not really enough to hold the audience’s attention through the film’s 2+ hours. While the actors do try their very best, it’s the Oscar winning production/costume designer Tim Yip who really steals the show with surfaces, textures and sets so sensual, the audience will be hardly moved by the sight of Zhang’s toned gluteals slipping into a black stone bath amid the beaturiful sets and costumes that surround her. Though The Banquet has “Oscar-hopeful” written all over it, it’s a meal, unfortunately, a bit too pretty to be properly savored.