CALENDAR GIRLS

"CALENDAR GIRLS"(2003/U.K.)
Synopsis
Based on a true story, eleven middle-aged Englishwomen pose nude for their annual Women's Institute calendar as a fund-raiser for the local hospital. Chris (Helen Mirren) gets the idea to raise money for the hospital after Annie's (Julie Walters) husband dies of leukemia. The calendar is a little different in that each woman is posing behind a different task that the Women's Institute teaches their members, such as making bread rolls, knitting, planting flowers, and playing the piano. Before they know it, the calendar is a big hit in England with tremendous sales. Eventually, they are flown to American to be interviewed by Jay Leno. The calendar has made almost a million dollars for the local hospital.


Chris was a very active and modern woman. She was tired to attend a meeting of a conservative women's institute every thursday. Her idea of making a nude calendar was an unacceptable for the institute.
The purpose of making this calendar was to earn money for a donation to the hospital, but women who appeared in the calendar shoot seemed to enjoy it. Although the women were above the age of 50, they were all very beautiful. I was impressed with one line which the woman said " I am 55 years old. If I'm not gonna get them out now, when am I?" She was  still a cute woman! I think women can try to be beautiful at any age. This movie was showing it for us. 
In this movie Chris emphasized that we were not naked, but nude. What is the difference between naked and nude? Chris said nudity was an art! She was really a modern woman.
This movie is very fun and heartwarming. I highly recommend this movie!

My rating:★★★

MOON

"MOON"(2009/U.K.)
Synopsis
Sam Bell has a three year contract to work for Lunar Industries. For the contract's entire duration, he is the sole employee based at their lunar station. His primary job responsibility is to harvest and periodically rocket back to Earth supplies of helium-3, the current clean and abundant fuel used on Earth. There is no direct communication link available between the lunar station and Earth, so his only direct real-time interaction is with GERTY, the intelligent computer whose function is to attend to his day to day needs. With such little human contact and all of it indirect, he feels that three years is far too long to be so isolated; he knows he is beginning to hallucinate as the end of his three years approaches. All he wants is to return to Earth to be with his wife Tess and their infant daughter Eve, who was born just prior to his leaving for this job. With two weeks to go, he gets into an accident at one of the mechanical harvesters and is rendered unconscious.

Sam had been alone on the moon for a mission with three-year contract. He was looking forward to go back to earth to see his wife and children again. Two weeks before returning to earth, he had an accident. The company thought he died so they prepared the next "Sam" to continue the mission. There were many clones of "Sam" in the moon station and they were waiting to wake up for a three-year mission. Sam survived the accident and he knew the truth but it was too late. He would live for a few days because his body was exposed to radiation by working for three years on the moon.  It meant that Sam will never able to return to earth. 
Sam was really shocked that he was a clone. The story didn't explain the real Sam was at home with his family, but maybe he was. I could feel the feeling of loneliness and disappointment of  Sam's clone. I was confused several times in different scenes of two clones when they are talking to each other, but this movie's story line was easy to understand and I enjoyed very much.
This is Duncan Jones's first feature movie and he is the son of David Bowie. He also directed "Source Code"  that I wrote in the previous review. I became a fan of him and looking forward to see his next movie.


My rating；★★★

LUISA

"LUISA"(2009/Argentina/Spain)
Synopsis
Luisa is a solitary woman who has undergone a traumatic event in her past. When her pet and only companion Tino the cat dies it becomes the catalyst for a turning point in her destiny, helping Luisa to realize that despite her suffering and fears, she is still alive.


Luisa was strictly on time, working in two places everyday and her habits were not disrupted for more than thirty years. She lived away from the people she is related because of a tragedy for her family. She lost her family- the daughter and her husband and never open herself for other people.
One day her cat which was her only friend, died and then she was told she was fired from her two jobs. She lost everything at the same day. I think normally in such cases, the person tend to lose his mind and this happened to her. But when she went to a subway station for the first time and looked at the performers and homeless earn coins there, she decided to do so in the same way.  She bought lucky Chinese cards to use what little money she had and she tried to sell the card to passengers. After failing to sell them, she bought a pair of crutches and she started pretending to be injured to get money.
Her aggressive power behind her crazy actions just focused on earning her dead cat's burial expenses. Yes, her actions were really crazy but she felt so lively that people living in a subway station than in her practically dead life. Somehow I understood her feeling.
There were two men trying to understand her bad situation and when she felt the sincerity of these two men, she began to talk her past and opened her heart for the first time. I thought she did not despair of life and she would live happier than before.
I enjoyed this movie very much and the sound of the guitar which was used in this movie was very effective and it expressed Luisa's feelings of sadness and happiness.


My rating: ★★★

Los ojos de Julia(Julia's Eyes)

"Los ojos de Julia(Julia's Eyes)"(2010/Spain)

Synopsis

After the death of the blind Sara, who hung herself in the basement of her house, her twin sister Julia suspects that she was actually murdered. Julia has a degenerative problem in her eyes and is losing her sight and she temporarily moves with her husband Isaac to Sara's house to arrange her funeral. Julia goes to the Centro Baumann for blinds where Sara frequented and she learns from the others blind users that Sara had a boyfriend. Julia is chased by a mysterious man but the police inspector Dimas does not believe on her. Julia follows the last steps of Sara trying to find the identity of her secret lover. Julia is surrounded by deaths and weird events while she loses her sight.

Julia was convinced that someone had killed Sara. Although she was worried that she might be blind, she tried to find Sara's killer.

This movie had a quick and lively tempo until half of the story and I was interested to speculate who the killer was. But the other half, the story was just like any other mystery movie with the presence of a madman. 

While Julia had a surgery and a bandage on her eyes, the screen didn't show Julia was talking with. The audience felt uneasy as if they feel almost like the blind character. The camera work of the scene was the best in this movie!

In Sara's house the killer was exploring opportunities to kill Julia and when he cornered her in the living room, she switched off the breaker to hide from him. He used the flash of camera to find her. This scene reminded me of the ending of the movie"The Silence of the Lambs".

The killer died the same as other crime movies and Julia realized how her dead husband loved her so much. Although  the surgery failed , she seemed happy because she could live with the eyes that her husband had given her.

My rating:★★

MY SISTER'S KEEPER

"MY SISTER'S KEEPER"(2009/U.S.A)
In Los Angeles, the eleven year old Anna Fitzgerald seeks the successful lawyer Campbell Alexander trying to hire him to earn medical emancipation from her mother Sara that wants Anna to donate her kidney to her sister. She tells the lawyer the story of her family after the discovery that her older sister Kate has had leukemia; how she was conceived by in vitro fertilization to become a donor; and the medical procedures she has been submitted since she was five years old to donate to her sister. Campbell accepts to work pro bono and the obsessed Sara decides to go to court to force Anna to help her sister.

Kate had Leukemia when she was two years old. Her parents wanted to save her life and decided to have another baby-Ann as her donor. It meant Ann was born as a product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis.
Anne from the age of five, endured surgery for her sister, but one day she accused her parents to protect her body and future.
At first, I thought this movie was about the trial but it was not. This movie was about family love and death with dignity.
Kate and Ann's mother, Sara was desperate to save Kate's life no matter how Kate wanted to end her suffering.　The real reason why Ann filed the case was to be free from Kate and respect death with dignity.
It's very difficult problem to understand the death with dignity. If I had a child who had a serious illness who is alive, I could not respect it and tried to do the same thing as Sara. But in this movie, the audience could understand Kate's feelings easily because of the great production and music and they could acknowledge that she is willing.
It is so sad to separate a person you loved, but sooner or later a life comes to the end and so we should cherish everyday and our family.
According to the production's note, the ending of this story is completely different with the original novel. I like the movie's ending, because I thought this was a happy ending than the novel although Kate died.


My rating:★★★★

LET ME IN

"LET ME IN"(2010/U.S.A/U.K)
In Los Alamos, New Mexico, the twelve year-old Owen is a lonely and outcast boy bullied in school by Kenny and two other classroom mates; at home, Owen dreams on revenging the trio of bullies. He befriends his twelve-year-old next door neighbor Abby that only appears during the night in the playground of their building. Meanwhile, Abby's father is a wanted serial-killer that drains the blood of his victims to supply Abby, who is actually an ancient vampire. Abby advises Owen to react to Kenny fighting back; however, sooner he discovers that she is a vampire and he feels fear and love for the girl. Meanwhile a police officer is investigating the murder cases believing that it is a satanic cult.


This movie not like the showy like other horror films. But after the ending, I realized this movie was good.
Abby was a vampire and she was unable to escape from her fate. Owen was scared of her but he thought he could trust her more than anyone. If  they were adults, they would not be friends each other. But they were children and innocent, so they were the best friends each other.
The mystery of the movie is how and when Abby became a vampire. She was to live long without getting old, so her father was her former partner. Before she met her father, she might have had an another partner. I thought all of them became serial-killers because of her. In this movie, there was no information about her past. The audience will  have a keen interest in her past. (In fact, the comic was written out of her past.)
I'm also interested in what happened to Abby and Owen after the story. Owen decided to stay with her, so he might be in the same boat with her former partners.
I think their destiny was cruel and very sad, but they would be happy to be with each other.
Although this movie is a story of serial murder, the hero and the heroine are just innocent children. The innocence of a child is precious but sometimes it can be cruel in this case.


My rating:★★★