Tuan Jim - February 10, 2008, 6:31am

Oldboy - February 7, 2008, 1:12pm

Ping Pong

after hearing some good things about this movie i decided to give it a go and for me it definitely didn’t live up to what i read. It was not funny and took itself too serious with the life lessons through ping pong. It was mildly amusing at best. I kept picturing what this movie would be like if they redid it in america (switching the humor for american audiences and switching the sport like street dancing) and all i could think of was a bad teen comedy mixed with You Got Served…. not that it was THAT bad. It had it’s moments, but overall didn’t get the warm fuzzy feelings it was intended to give.

I’m a little surprised to see a comment like this for this film - I’m assuming you viewed the recently released R1 DVD - (as I was also surprised by the lukewarm review at DVDTalk).  I picked up the Japanese R2 back in 03 or 04 a year or two after initially reading a rave review of it at kfccinema and loved it.

Of course, when I put it in perspective, I suppose some of these reviews (like the negative ones I’ve seen for Tears of the Black Tiger) - are a little like my initial reaction to viewing “Reservoir Dogs” and “Pulp Fiction” in 2000-2001 (can’t remember when exactly), but well after I viewed “Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels”, “Snatch”, and “Fight Club” - or to be honest, my initial reactions to watching something like “Akira” in college. 

I guess some films, as good as they may (or may not) be, are really creatures of their time (and culture).  Even a couple years after something’s come out, the genre can already be beaten to death in some cases.  And unfortunately, we in the US often get the tail end of popular culture overseas before someone sees fit to release the one film (or films) that started it all.  That’s probably my biggest reason for importing.  Partly the “I saw it first factor” - which isn’t as big of a deal since I’m no longer hanging around with my college computer store buddies and talking about badass movies every day, but really now just looking for the next interesting thing.

wow, I got heavy on the parentheticals there.  I need to practice casual writing more ;p

I’m the same way. I like being “that guy” that all your friends go to for the latest in movies; foreign or otherwise and I too just have that itch to see it as soon as it’s released instead of waiting a year or two. Somehow Ping Pong slipped by me when it was released and I just happened across it on IMDB. I went on to read all the glowing reviews for it and perhaps my expectations went a tad too high (as they tend to do sometimes no matter how hard i try not to let them interfere) and perhaps that is the reason I didn’t enjoy it as much. As I said, it’s not that I felt it to be a bad film… just not a great one. The comedy for me didn’t hold much weight (i’m sure a cultural thing) and the emotional payoff wasn’t there for me either. While it had it’s moments and some scenes were great… overall it was only an alright film for me. Glad I saw it once but probably wouldn’t watch again.

A “Ping Pong” question: what would be the best DVD out there at the moment?

Ardvark - February 11, 2008, 8:27am

A “Ping Pong” question: what would be the best DVD out there at the moment?

This is the R2 I picked up (OOP) - subs on the feature, but I don’t think anywhere else - have to check later.  I remember the video being excellent, but I haven’t watched it on my HDTV yet: http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=AEBD-10146

This is the R1 2 disc: http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=30299

This is a Korean LE including OST:  http://us.yesasia.com/en/PrdDept.aspx/code-j/section-videos/pid-1004541600/—no idea about quality - seems to be a more recent release.

“First Blood”

In preparation for “Rambo” I watched a bit of retro Rambo rumbling.

Still an evergreen classic, the first John J Rambo movie benefits no end from a top support cast.
Top of the top is Brian Dennehy as the bullish Sheriff who pushes too far. It’s classic Dennehy and shows why this guy was so damn welcome in movies.
Add cult director Jack Starret as the bullying Deputy, a baby-faced David Caruso as the only sympathetic member of the Sheriff’s dept and a now classic bit of cheese from Richard Crenna as the walking Rambo Is Great advert (packed with melodramatic statements!) and you have a solid bedrock for Stallone to build his character upon.

Despite general snobbery Stallone is actually very good as the tragic ‘Nam vet and handles the well staged action with great aplomb.
He makes Rambo a genuine ‘force of nature’ as manmade weapon easily establishes a symbiotic relationship with his surroundings.

And despite a few flaws (seeing as Rambo shoots up half the town for a good 15 minutes without a single police car appearing you have to wonder where the 500 cop cars come from in the last 5 minutes) director Ted Kotchef has delivered a true crowd pleaser that not only works as action-packed popcorn entertainment but also as a solid drama with something to say.
Even the much criticised ending delivers an emotional weight.
True on first viewing (especially through an 80’s cinema sound system or VHS tape) Stallone’s delivery of the speech does make it hard to understand at times. But after a couple of viewings you can easily hear what he says and what he says is actually very moving and suitably bitter.

The icing on the top is the GREAT score by Jerry Goldsmith.

“Rambo: First Blood part II”

Although not as well scripted, well acted or as serious a drama as “First Blood”, this still makes for a fine slice of chest thumping, violent, fuck the liberals, entertainment.

Remembering that actually there was a half of Vietnam who did not want to be overtaken by mass murdering, Russia and China backed, communists (despite what Jane Fonda may have thought) this sequel sees John J Rambo released from hard labour (following his antics in the first film) and teamed up with a South Vietnamese woman (the truly striking Julia Nickson) to help him find out if missing American POW’s are indeed still being kept prisoner. But all is not as it seems…

The ever welcome Charles Napier makes for a wonderfully slimy beurocrat (with traitorous fall back plans) and an even cheesier Richard Crenna returns and entertains, in a slightly reduced role, as the walking Rambo billboard Col. Trautman.
But no one has the impact of Brian Dennehy from “First Blood” and although The Berkoff makes a cameo appearance as a dastardly Soviet it’s really left for Stallone to carry the film this time.

The action is as good as 80’s Hollywood action got really with loads of, ever essential, exploding bamboo huts, oodles of blood squibs a huge bodycount and those gloriously famous exploding arrows.
Stallone is even better here action-wise and although Rambo himself has now become a comic book creation he still does well. But so many years of parody have hurt his performance here, where it’s still remained untainted in “First Blood”.
The speech at the end as well (even more infamous than the unjustly maligned speech in the first one) is badly acted, thus making the sentiment (rather cloying anyway) rather less than successful in relating pride and dignity than it is in delivering unintentional smiles.

Not great, but still damn good.

“The Ghost Train” (1941)

One of the may adaptations of the famous play, sees it turned into a comedy vehicle for wartime/post war comedian Arthur Askey.

A group of passengers miss their connection and are stranded in a wind and rain lashed, deserted, rural train station where the ghostly apparition of a train that once crashed is said to haunt the place.
And if you gaze upon it as it thunders past…you die.

The comedy hangs very well, and although Askey’s antics have dated and are very music hall most of it works and there are some genuine laugh out loud moments of fun and Askey is very likeable.

Special mentions as well to the wonderful Kathleen Harrison as her stuffy, tea-total character gets sloshed on some ‘medicinal’ brandy and Askey’s regular co-star and semi-straight man partner Richard Murdoch who bounces superbly off Askey.

What’s also genuine is the creepy atmosphere built up in the excellent deserted train station set, helped no end by a wonderfully theatrical performance by Linden Travers as Julia, who is supposedly being driven insane by her need to look once more upon the ghostly train after glimpsing it years before.
Her wide-eyed pronouncements of spooky doom (as the unseen train thunders past, lights from its ghostly carriages illuminating the shrouded waiting room full of the stranded terrified passengers) add a full-on Gothic creepiness to the proceedings and certainly these scenes made a lasting impression on me when I first saw them in bed, on late night TV, as a teenager.

A fine, oh so delightfully English, blend of broad comedy and atmospheric, creepy horror.

“The Brave One”

Hunky Asian Brit guy from “Lost” is the boyfriend of Jodie Foster who gets beaten to death when they are both mugged in Central Park.
After physically recovering,  Foster buys a gun and walks the streets blowing away general street scum as self-therapy.
A cop with issues of his own with the way criminals manipulate the law is on her trail…

First of all let’s get the kind of spoiler any real fan of the Vigilante sub-genre needs to know before watching a Vigilante flick…yes, she gets away with it!
So be of good cheer. 
Because as we all know the journey in a Vigilante flick is what’s important…not the destination.

Coming out at about the same time as that other Vigilante movie “Death Sentence” (which, with utter hypocrisy,  played up the crowd pleasing Vigilante violence while at the same time condemning it and worst of all punishing its Vigilante for daring to be a Vigilante in the first place despite The Law failing him…a cardinal sin in a Vigilante film), “The Brave One” got the higher profile and better box office and, despite some flaws,  deserved it.

Jodie Foster gives a superb performance as the damaged radio presenter who, as the Police shuffle her unseen and uncared for through the system, finds that the only way she can remotely live again is to become the hunter not the hunted.

True, as has to be the case or there would be no film, she handily comes across more scumbags after being attacked than she ever saw before (though she does go out of her way to do so) but this at least means that we get to see bling smothered ghetto gangbangers, sexual sadists, and psycho gunmen get holes blown in them.  Which is good.

Terrence Howard makes for a likeable co-star as the honest Cop getting screwed by the system in his attempts to get a big time criminal and although his relationship with Foster seems overly forced he works well with her and the scenes with his delightfully amusing partner Nicky Katt are a highlight.

The film looks great, has a nice grimy atmosphere and offers up some nice moments of violence.  True 2007 New York can’t deliver the wonderful Grindhouse-style visuals, atmosphere and urban jungle nightmare that 70’s films could (this is no “Death Wish”), but this is the best we’ll get today.

Much criticism has been thrown at the film because of the end.  And while I agree the steps taken were a little too contrived and perhaps badly scripted, it is wrong to say that they go against the character of the person involved.  Hints of this have been dropped throughout…It’s more the ‘it’s no big deal’ attitude of the acting and script that make the thing seem weak and forced.

I’m also not sure about the initial set-up of this finale (though it delivers the blood spattered criminal snuffing) which flips the thing from being real Vigilantism to out and out revenge. 
But then again, given that these guys will certainly have past records as long as their arms and yet they are still free to wreck lives, perhaps this was indeed the only way to get closure and justice.

But the important thing (in a sub-genre that is meant to deliver a fantasy cathartic release from the real injustices in the world that don’t get righted when the Law fails or gets manipulated) is that “The Brave One” gives us a personal justice and lets the Vigilante walk off into the gloom, her gaping mental wound at least partly closed, so she can at last attempt to heal and get back as much of her life (and herself) as she can.

Nothing new here, but the class act technical side, the satisfying Vigilante violence and the acting make this well worth a look.

“Cottage to Let”

Superb British wartime spy drama with an utterly wonderful cast including the much missed Sir John Mills as a mysterious pilot, the wonderful Alastair Sim as a mysterious house guest, an astonishingly young George Cole (in his debut) as a cocksure refugee boy with a love of Sherlock Holmes, a young Michael Wilding as a geeky assistant and Leslie Banks as an eccentric scientist working on a new bomb sight in a house PACKED with British and Nazi spies.

Cole is a joy and shows right from his first scene just what an astonishingly assured talent he is. He’s the cliche Cockney scamp playing the thing for lighthearted fun for the most part, but has a brilliantly dark scene later on as he experiences his first taste of betrayal.

Sim is of course excellent switching from amusingly eccentric to darkly sinister with ease.
It was here he met the young Cole who he would basically adopt and nurture for years hitting the perfect acting partnership a few years later in “The Belles of St Trinians”.

Ironically Leslie Banks would go from being surrounded by Nazi spies to being a Nazi spy years later in the truly superb Ealing, pre-“Eagle has Landed”, German invasion of an English village movie “Went the Day Well?”.
Some great twists and revelations unfold as this wonderful mix of light humour, stiff upper lip resilience and exciting wartime thrills plays out and all in all this is essential viewing.

What adds an extra edge to this film now is that it was made in 1941 when the outcome of the war was uncertain and Germany could very well have triumphed…Meaning we can say for certain that “Cottage to Let” would have never been seen ever again if the same bravery, good fortune and fighting spirit acted out in the film had not triumphed in real life

I reopened my Netflix account and started with the third season of THE WIRE, which was superb and allowed me (finally) to be completely caught up with everything. As soon as the current (and last) season finishes airing on HBO—only three episodes left!—I could see myself watching the complete 60 episodes every year—one week at a time. sigh ...

I was away from home last week and intended to catch up on some DVDs, but instead simply flaked out.

I finished Mad Detective today and I really enjoyed it, however, the final bit before the credits confused me, the three card monty bit.  I have to go back and watch the last 3 minutes again ASAP!

[B]“Witness for the Prosecution”.[/B] (1957)

Billy Wilder’s almost masterly adaptation of the famous Agatha Christie play sees the great Charles Laughton (with delightful, Oscar nominated,  support by his Wife Elsa Lanchester as his fussy Nurse) as a cigar and whiskey consuming English Barrister hired to defend an American man (Tyrone Power) accused of bumping off an elderly spinster for her money.

The man’s wife (Marlene Dietrich, in uber-firey form) is summoned by Laughton to support her Husband but he is surprised to find out she’s actually hostile to him.  And the case gets more and more complicated from then on…

A fine cast indeed and Laughton (in a role that was one of my most memorable filmic moments as a youngster) is an absolute joy. 
All the players work well off each other and Laughton’s comedic jousting with lanchester’s Nurse are as effective as his rather more serious jousting with Dietrich’s hostile witness, as the well scripted case unfolds.
The failings then come mostly from Power’s turn as the accused. 
But I’m not sure if it even is a failing! 
If you know the outcome then you will know what I mean, but Power seems so theatrical and overwrought in all that he does you can’t help but come to the conclusion the guy’s as guilty as sin and have to wonder why Laughton does not think the same.
But I’m truly not sure if this entire performance is meant to be like that to make the plot twist mechanics work.  Either way Power becomes an air grasping, lip quivering, ranting annoyance.

Dietrich is wonderfully memorable as the wife with a scheme and truly radiates sexual power while at the same time coming across as vulnerable.
Una O’Connor (sadly in her last role) is also a complete joy as the bad tempered, un-trusting old Scottish housekeeper to the murdered woman,  and is representative of the perfect mix of comedy and murderous drama that Wilder does so well.

The outcome is fun if rather melodramatic (as well as having to rely on a less than convincing bit of dated movie audio trickery) but sums up the twist upon twist convolutions of the case perfectly as, even as the film ends, the plot carries on in the same ‘all is not how you imagined it to be’ fashion.

Gabriel

eh, mildly amusing. Average acting, horrible recycled storyline, poor special effects driven fight scenes…. didn’t mind seeing it once but wish i hadn’t bought it.

“Eastern Promises”

Put a gun to my head and ask me who directed this and, unless I grab at the Viggo Mortensen link, I don’t think I’d be able to answer.
Perhaps the most un-Cronenberg David Cronenberg movie out.

True we have 3 moments of graphic, gory, violence (the initial throat slicing is an Islamist’s wet dream) and the infamous, naked fight/ sauna sequence is certainly the kind of in your face, uncompromising moment (Viggo’s pretty impressive genital set-up is waved, wobbled, shaken and sloshed around the screen with wild abandon) you would expect Cronenberg to embrace, but that aside this is achingly normal and often pedestrian thriller making.

Viggo is excellent as the tough as a very, very tough thing ‘Russian Mafia’ driver and makes for a suitably menacing presence with a touch of something more human on the inside.

Naomi Watts (with a great English accent, toning down her Australian one) is good but is given a very limiting role and she’s quite frankly part of the least interesting part of the story.

French ham Vincent Cassel has fun as the drunken brute of a Mob boss’s son and seeing his misogynistic tough thug crumbling in front of his ruthless father (who spends much time clipping him around the ear!) is great fun…but hardly serious cinema.

As the aforementioned father/boss Armin Mueller-Stahl is suitably charming when he needs to be and sadistic enough when the public face can be packed away and he makes for a good villain.

But the basic plot and how it unfolds is simply an average Mob based story, we have a main twist/revelation that for some reason is signposted very early on thus coming as no big surprise, and a later twist/plot is also given away as soon as it’s offered up by some needless dialogue that basically tells us what’s going on before the plan is even set in motion.  So again we have no surprises or interesting revelations to add a something extra.

Cronenberg delivers a well made, sometimes brutal, sometimes uncompromising, well acted thriller/drama that is perfectly fine and enjoyable…but the only truly outrageous and surprising thing about it is… it’s so basically normal and not remotely surprising.

“Cruising”

Hmmm…..
Given the level of homophobia at the time you can see why this caused trouble.
But it never stated it was a representation of the ENTIRE Gay scene (no more than wife swapping and ‘dogging’ is of the Hetro scene!) and today the wildly over the top protests seem like the same kind of thin-skinned hot air that (ironically) would come from Bible thumping homophobes for the film covering anything Gay in the first place.

As for the film itself it’s sadly hard to fully judge given the amount of footage excised that has not been restored.
Certainly the first hour is damn good, with some great scenes of 70’s sexual decadence, a nasty murder, Pacino in fine form and some great songs.
The new transfer looks absolutely stunning and Friedkin’s criticised tinkering (blue tinting the night-club scenes, adding a ‘smeared juddering’ effect to the Amyl Nitrate dance scene) are actually very effective and the sudden, brief,  lurch from blue-tint into bright colour, as Pacino sniffs the drug,  is a superb enhancement.

But an hour in the film leaves much of the nighcrawling and S/M club hopping behind and turns into a mainly daylight set Police procedure film with some obvious chunks of character/plot footage missing. 
The film now drags a lot sadly and loses it’s groove and exploitation edge and the rumoured censored sexual images in the S/M clubs would be most welcome during this period.

The generally confused, utterly incomprehensible as far as the identity (or not) of the killer (or killers) and who was killed by whom,  ending sort of works on a ‘crime is random and ever present’ level that Friedkin said he was going for…but this is in the end a movie and the utter lack of any real conclusion to anything is a bit of a con.
The final image is a good one though and is edited perfectly into the driving end credits.

Certainly a film with some great moments, certainly a film that is not what too many people think it is, certainly NOT a homophobic film and certainly a well acted and crafted film.
But also a film with some major flaws in pacing and lack of grit later on and with a perhaps too oblique a conclusion to truly be the mini-classic it could have been. 
Perhaps if a restored print does appear this ultimate conclusion could be reversed though.

“Take your Seats, Please” (1936)

Before Mel Brooks tackled Yevgeni Petrov’s famous play “The Twelve Chairs” this George Formby vehicle did a wonderful job at crafting the play (about a fortune hidden a group of identical chairs) to its star’s needs.

The delightful Formby’s 5th film (4th starring role) sees him in a rare ensemble set-up where, as well as the ever-present love interest (here it’s variety star Florence Desmond), he has an achingly cute child (Binkie Stuart), a crafty conman (Gus McNaughton) and the great Alistair Sim as a twitchy, scheming lawyer, to work the humour with.

Featuring the famous musical ditty “When I’m Cleaning Windows” but little else of note as far as the songs go it’s left to the manic comedy and acting to truly delight and there the film hits the mark every time.
Some very funny set-ups, but two stand out.
An hysterical bedroom farce sequence involving a jealous husband coming home to find his bemused Wife with Sim on the bed, George under the bed and McNaughton in the cupboard (as they all try to get their hands on one of the chairs) is a gem.

And a magician’s act where three of the chairs are the props on stage and George has to try and slice open and search the chairs (filled with hidden animals in preparation for some of the magic tricks) without anybody catching on, is expertly crafted comedic chaos.

A great cast, some fine humour and a solid plot help to make this one of Formby’s most enjoyable films.

“Turned out Nice Again” (1941)

At a dark period in World War II,  British comedy came into it’s own in many ways. 
With a spirit, that died years ago sadly,  the British people fought hard and risked all with great pride for what was right while still managing to keep a smile on their Blitz shocked faces and making sure that famous stiff upper lip was present and correct.

As such perhaps only Britain could have released a musical comedy film about rival underwear firms as London burned.

Delightfully English, delightfully funny and filled with some great Formby songs with a saucy edge (given the plot line Formby’s then infamously risqué songs were well and truly at home) this is a joy to watch but has perhaps dated more than most of the films from that period simply due to the now bizarre ‘social graces’ and ‘class issues’ that become a big part of the film’s plot.

Fr example, when George’s independent Wife, Lydia (a nice turn by Peggy Bryan) has her hair dyed blonde the fallout is massive! 
“What will the neighbours say” screeches George’s mother (one of THE most horrible mother/mother-in-law characters ever seen on screen, expertly played by Elliott Mason).
“What will the church choir say” replies George!

The mother also makes many swipes about George and Lydia living above their station and not knowing their place and George himself is all bowing and scraping and “yes sir, whatever you say sir” to anyone higher up the class ladder than he is.

Thankfully the comedy, songs and acting is strong enough to overcome these now archaic aspects and in fact with the large numbers of women flouncing around in their underwear, the saucy songs and much talk of “panties” and a sub-plot involving a new yarn that makes underwear see-through pushes the sexual aspect of the plot to what must have been cheekily enjoyable levels for 1941.
As do a few verbal jokes involving George, like where he can’t find some knickers for a customer and announces “I just had my hand on a pair a minute a go” as well as various remarks about “taking things down and having a better look”.

Look out for a likable Edward Chapman (later to be famous and less likable as ‘Mr Grimsdale’ in the Norman Wisdom films) as George’s pigeon breeding Uncle and a young (though I don’t think he ever was!) Wilfred Hyde-White as a removal man.

Another Formby gem.

“Rambo III” -

Easily the weakest and most ridiculous of the ‘Rambo’ series (and in fact the one that really shows how serious and well done #4 is) and one that is now fatally flawed by the about turn that history took as far as the Mujahideen goes, where the Soviet fighting resistance fighters seen here mutated into the truly vile and murderous Taliban in the power vacuum that followed the Soviet defeat.
Ironic to now see the fictional Afghan women rescued from a Soviet run prison in “Rambo III” only to have their real life versions end up in the Taliban run prisons their own homes became.

As such the speeches made by these noble fellows in the film now grate indeed, although amusement of a bitter kind is had from the conversation between the American Col. Trautman (Richard Crenna back again for the last time in slightly less fun and cheesy form) and the Russian baddie where Trautman says that the Russian should have studied the history of Afghanistan and known that the Afghan’s never surrender against invaders etc etc….OUCH.
Now it is the general Afghan people fighting alongside British and American forces to try and rid Afghanistan of the same Mujahideen/Taliban fighters seen as the heroes in “Rambo III”!

The action is good though and you can see how much the budget has gone up from the previous film.
But the structure of the film is a mess (why have a long failed rescue mission sequence then almost instantly follow this up with a second rescue mission that is basically the same plan only this time it works?)  and the comic strip absurdity is overpowering.
A sign of the good and the bad is perfectly shown in two bits of dialogue.
We have a great moment of perfectly judged hyperbole like this;
Russian - “One man against a hundred commandos!  Who do they think this man is, God”?
Trautman - “Oh no.  God would show mercy”.
BRILLIANT!  A spontaneous whoop of laughter escaped my lips!

But then we have groan-worthy garbage like this;
Russian (into radio) - “Who is this”!?
Rambo - “Your worst nightmare”.
Oh please! Spare me!

So we have some good action and a nice big budget spent on it, some class horsemanship by Stallone, and the odd groovy line of dialogue. 
But we also have a major drop in IQ all around, some ‘ready for the video game’ crap dialogue, a laughable Rambo hairstyle, a messy and repetitive structure, far too much absurdity in general and a (now,  at least) fatally flawed political set-up.

All of which means we should give even more thanks to “Rambo 4” for seeing that Rambo the character, as well as the series in general,  regained that grooviness, seriousness and (dare I say it)  dignity that made the first 2 films so successful.

42nd Street Freak,

May I thank you for these wonderful reviews?

Rarely have I gotten so much enjoyment out of reviews for movies I know by heart, than as I did when I read your write-up for the “Rambo” movies.
Splendid, splendid stuff. Hats off to you, sir!

DEAD DAUGHTERS

Russian film, Dead Daughters, from newcomer Pavel Ruminov is a ghost story horror. The story goes like this: There were three dead daughters, their mom drowned them, they were pissed, came back from the dead to kill their mom, they’re still pissed so they stick around to kill more. They follow around a person for three days and if that person does something bad they kill that person and then follow the person that saw the that person alive last. Kinda remind you of watching a video and days later you die? Ring? Very similar premise. Although this doesn’t deliver as well as The Ring did.

On the positive side, it is very well filmed with good use of lighting and natural lighting. The sound design is very nice taking full use of surround sound to build tension. However, the tension never goes anywhere. It appears the director wants to build quite a few times but as soon as it’s getting good it cuts to another seen. He wants to imply whats going on rather than showing it. This works for some films such as The Sword Bearer which i recently reviewed but not this one. There is no story. The history of the ghosts are laid out at the beginning and the whole film follows these characters around until their impending death arrives. Only one of the characters decides to dig more into the story of the daughters to find something out that could save her. This is the directors first feature length film. Before this he had only done short films. This could of been a good short as only about fifteen minutes of the movie kept my interest.