NI2 FILM REWIEWSNovember 2013

Django unchained is a 2012 American western film written

and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Jamie Foxx

(Django), Christoph Waltz (Dr. King Schultz), Leonardo

DiCaprio (Calvin Candie), Kerry Washington (Broomhilda),

Samuel L. Jackson (Stephen). The film was released on

December 25, 2012 (Christmas Day), in North America.

Set in Texas short time before the Civil War, the movie

opens with the unorthodox purchase of a slave, Django

(Jamie Foxx), by a dentist turned in a bounty hunter, Dr.

King Schultz (Christoph Waltz). Not believing in slavery,

he soon frees Django and the two become partners in Schultz's business. After a

profitable winter, they head to Mississippi to locate Django's wife, Broomhilda (Kerry

Washington). They make up an excuse to be invited by Calvin Candie (Leonardo

DiCaprio), the proprietor of “Candyland,” the infamous plantation where she is being

held. Although, Django and Schultz arouse the suspicion of Stephen (Samuel L.

Jackson), Candie’s trusted house slave who marked their moves …

With this movie Quentin Tarantino gives us a bloody, vicious, controversial, and

hilarious homage to Spaghetti Western genre. It's everything you'd expect from a

Tarantino film, high-octane action scenes, which tend to be short and brutal,

violence so amplified and exaggerated so transformed into moments of hilarity.

Tarantino delivers also a film about slavery, with an unsparing look at its horrors,

showing it as a despicable evil and enjoying its destruction. The acting of Samuel L.

Jackson as the house slave - the smiling old servant who says, "Yes, boss," and

loves his master above all things - was absolutely fantastic.

I found the movie excellent from many perspectives, not the least of which were the

representations of multiple perspectives of slavery. Django Unchained is an absolute must-

see for Tarantino fans, but also film buff, action fans, comedy lovers, and anyone who

doesn't mind their movies with in-your-face violence or who doesn't need their films to be

told through a politically correct filter. Paloma Capelo

“The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover”

“The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover” was the sixth movie by Peter Greenaway. It is a dramatic love story which mixes black comedy and a thriller plot. The film was successful at the independent film world in its moment. It was released in October of 1989 in the UK.

The main character was played by Helen Mirren who was the wife of a cruel, ruthless and extremely fat man, the owner of a huge and sophisticated restaurant. The lady had an affair with a customer of the restaurant, an intellectual and sensible man, the opposite character of her rude husband. They could develop their affair inside the pantry of the kitchen, surrounded by chickens, pheasants and geese, with the complicity of the cook, a kind man.

The great strength of this film was the amazing technical and artistic team who participated in it. Besides the incredible selection of actors and actresses, the film had the participation of Jean-Paul Gaultier as the fashion designer, Michael Nyman as the musician composer of the unforgettable soundtrack and the director, who is famous for renovating the cinema’s art, for investigating new codes of telling stories and for working with the most contemporary artists around the world.

Greenaway is more than cinema; Peter Greenaway is a creator who uses the movies for creating, an artist, a complete artist, who is as a conductor working with designers, architects, musicians, composers, photographers, decorators and visual artists to create not the best films in the world, but the most original ones in my opinion.

ÁNGEL MARTÍN HUMADA

THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND (Directed by Kevin Macdonald)

The Last King of Scotland is an adaptation of a novel by Giles Foden, which is loosely based on historical facts. It is a drama, set in Uganda during the 70’s.

The movie tells us of Idi Amin’s life, who was one of the most bloody African dictators, through the eyes of Doctor Nicholas Garrigan, a non-historical character. Garrigan was firstly fascinated by Idi Amin Dada, because at the beginning he represented a blow of fresh air in Uganda’s political life. After that he became the personal doctor of Idi Amin and his Adviser. But real life is cruel and he soon realized the fascinating Idi Amin had an awful dark side.

The interest of this film, and his distinctive characteristic, is that it represents Idi Amin Dada’s both faces and how a dream about freedom and change of a country can became a fatal nightmare. Forest Whitaker, who won an Oscar for this role, built a powerful character, because he performed a real dictator who is sometimes like a small child, sometimes terrible, but always fascinating. My only objection to this movie would be the character of Doctor Garrigan who was a bit naïve.

This is a gripping film, and also depicts a real historic fact which represented a hope that changed into a dreadful curse. And if you want to know why Idi Amin Dada was the Last King of Scotland, you have to watch the film. It’ll be on tonight 18 th of November on the second channel. ;-)

The Untouchables

“The untouchable” is a French comedy-drama film

directed by Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano. Set

in modern-day France and based on a true story.

It is a story about friendship and social classes:

Philippe is a really rich man, who becomes disabled

because of a paragliding accident. Driss, on the

other hand, is an immigrant from a marginal district who just came out of jail.

Philippe hired Driss to be his live-in caregiver, so they started to know each

other and become friends, despite the warnings of Philippe’s family, who

didn’t trust Driss because of his past.

This film is one of the best films I’ve ever seen. It makes you laugh and cry,

and teach you the value of equality and respect. Also, I love the soundtrack,

made by Ludovico Einaudi, a pianist and composer well-known in the film

world.

Original and unexpected, I recommend this film to everyone.

Joaquina Egozcue