The Joneses

Year: 2009
Directed by: Derrick Borte
Written by: Randy T. Dinzler (story), Derrick Borte
Starring: Demi Moore, David Duchovny, Amber Heard
IMDB page & official trailer:

movie girl:

What if there was a marketing technique that involved pretending to be a member of the target group of consumers and showing-off products that the group would buy if influenced by your charming personality? The movie describes this scenario.

It presents a dream family from an advertiser's point of view – rich, charismatic, set to convince everyone they meet that what they have are the greatest products in the world. But what they really are is a business unit, a cell in a network of artificial families competing against each other and aiming at becoming an "icon", an inspiration for product design for the greatest brands.

Being part of the family is a difficult job because you have to hide your true feelings, values and personality and you also risk that your influence on the ones you tricked into buying stuff they don’t need will have bad consequences. And it has.

The film makes you think about what brands do to people that cannot afford them - they make them feel not good enough so they buy them to feel better about themselves, and then they accumulate debt and then descend into despair. Maybe what others have matters to much these days. And maybe brands should not be a condition for social acceptance.

Rating: 6

movie boy:

I started watching this movie with no high hopes, misjudging it from the beginning and to be honest, expecting for a laugh. When I finally realised this was not supposed to be a comedy, I started watching closely. David Duchovny was not so bad, Demi was... perfect and, must say, Amber Heard was that kind of girl that could have convinced me to buy something terribly expensive and totally useless.

And this is the exact point of this movie:to create perfection so that others would want to reach it and overcome it. In a world of mimetism in which people have other people to think for them, where they only agree or disagree, seduction is a very important component.

This could be interpreted as a reminder, as a protest or as an artistic documentary. The signals are very clear: we are living in a consumeristic society and the higher our social position, the higher the buying tendency. The trigger must simply direct you towards the right product and the competition spirit will do the rest. This is a lesson about marketing and how merciless it is, about how it understands human nature and how it responds by offering virtual rewards to what sometimes goes as far as to the supreme sacrifice. "If people want you, they'll want what you've got". Sounds familiar?

Rating: 5,8

The Secret Life of Words

Year: 2005
Directed by: Isabel Coixet
Written by: Isabel Coixet
Starring: Sarah Polley, Tim Robbins
IMDB page & official trailer:

movie girl:
I like words. The title of this movie made me curious, but at the same time I didn't have high hopes, titles like this are often an expression of wishful thinking or are so sublimated that, after a while, you don't remember them - because they don’t relate so tightly to the content of the movies.
At first, I had the feeling of a Nordic dystopia – lots of grey, plastic, uniforms, order, and lack of emotion. But then I realized that it is a dystopia, but it is the main character's (Hanna, a foreigner) point of view on the world. The horrors she's been through (as we find out later) have made her insensitive to life’s pleasures. She lives with her secret (maybe that weird voice that intervenes in the movie is a personification of it) and totally in the present – no fears, hopes, plans, no relation to the future.
What troubles Hanna's quiet life is the necessity for her to take some time off from work. So she flies to some vacation destination and on her first day there takes a surprising opportunity to spend her time differently: as a nurse on a platform out at sea, for a man who had suffered injuries after a fire.
On that platform, the atmosphere is very interesting. There are only a few men, most of them lonesome guys, escaping different realities – not fitting in the society, having families with many children and responsibilities and gay tendencies, being unable to influence environment policies to stop waters pollution, love for a friend's wife etc.
Though Hanna and the crew share the need for reclusion, there is a contrast between them. She is cold, they are warm. This warmth gets to her, mostly thanks to Josef (the one she's taking care of) and, though she returns to her arid life, she later melts and decides to trust Josef and to give happiness a chance.
What I liked about this movie was the "ecosystem" of the platform. I also appreciated Sarah Polley’s acting. Hanna's story didn't touch me so much and Tim Robins's character really annoyed me most of the time because he was a sentimental childish reactive guy.
Rating: 6,0 


movie boy:
Even though you can predict its ending, this movie is playing with your feelings from the start till the end. The story will surprise and drive you through a mix of powerful emotions and intriguing human nature.
The movie evokes the realationship between Hanna (Sarah Polley), a deaf factory worker in search for a holiday and Josef (Tim Robbins), the man she will instead start taking care of on a sea oil platform.
I especially liked the Josef character, a sort of scamp, a guy who despite his situation, keeps his slightly obscene, yet funny humour. His relationship with Hanna is like demolishing a wall brick by brick, a quid pro quo with the purpose of nourishing his curiosity by freeing her from herself.
In parallel with their story, the other characters on the oil platform will embody different needs and aspirations as they would be trying to recreate a world they have left, surrounding themselves with life, art and memories.
This is a sensitive movie, where the words are carefully selected, portraying strong images and having their role in a process of healing. It is true that freeing them will set you free but it is also true, that despite deafness, there are some you will always hear only inside your head.
Rating: 6,5

Ghost World

Year: 2001
Directed by: Terry Zwigoff
Written by: Daniel Clowes (comic book), Terry Zwigoff
Starring: Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi
IMDB page & official trailer:

movie girl:
This movie has two very adorable high school girls in it, one of them being Scarlett Johansson, so it’s definitely worth watching.
So, we have a blond (Rebecca) and a brunette (Enid), cynical and authentic, one that gets a job and an apartment, one that has an unexploited talent (drawing) and has trouble complying with rules and models of behavior.
Enid is a creative girl who does not live by the standards of her time, she doesn't appreciate what most people think is cool. This is why she can see beauty in a middle aged sociopath, a collector of vinyl records and posters, a quiet guy used to being seen as a looser by people around him.
I don’t know what to think of the end – does Enid’s leave by a ghost bus means she accomplished her fantasy of disappearing? Is disappearing from a world you don’t fit in good or bad?
It was a nice movie. Nice storyline, nicely played, nice to watch. I think the fact that it is based on a comic book shows - it has characters you like and sympathies with (and you can learn from them), but it doesn’t involve you very much emotionally or intellectually. It’s all about personality, lifestyle, dreams.
Rating: 6,5 


movie boy:
I've rewatched this one barely remembering the story but with a very pleasant feeling of knowing that I will enjoy it. This is a movie dressed in wittiness, with absolutely clever lines about such an important part of any teenager life - high school graduation and choosing what to do with your life right after that. The movie is full of little details seeming absurd or forced but very revealing and comic on a closer look or a second view.
The main characters, Enid and Rebecca (extraordinary Thora Birch and blooming Scarlett Johansson) are that kind of best-friends couple who are feeding by making people miserable. In a continuous search for anti-ordinary people, they get bored not finding them and mock everyone who isn't until this practice hits the roof when they find Seymour (Steve Buscemi at his best). The relationship between Seymour and Enid changes the relations between the characters itselves and between them and the world. Enid will learn that knowing someone better will allow you to see the world through his eyes and by that to understand that in any ordinary person there is an extraordinary story. Rebecca will choose to follow a dream with the compromise that she could be transformed in an ordinary person. Seymour knew the consequences from the start but he deliberately loses control by allowing his only chance of "something beautiful" to happen.
In this "ghost world" where nothing is what used to be, it looks like you have to wait for your bus no matter what people think about you.
Rating: 6,8

Margin Call

Year: 2011
Directed by: J. C. Chandor
Written by: J. C. Chandor
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, Demi Moore
IMDB page & official trailer:

movie girl:
This movie was a demonstration. It was like "If you start at this point and do that you will end up here, and these are the reasons for it." Every move of the characters, every step of the story was explained very clearly - through images and the words of the characters.
The movie shows the way an investment bank reacts to the discovery of the imminence of the financial crisis. This is the moment where decisions have to be taken at the top management level and where the most important interest of the company is revealed. This turns to be survival at all costs – ethics are ignored and reputation is sacrificed.
These "extraordinary times" are a wonderful opportunity to watch closely how the relations between the managers at different levels evolve. I like movies that look at strategy and influence within the business or political environment, so I enjoyed this in Margin Call too.
I found it interesting that during those 24 hours of crisis none of the characters spoke on the phone with family or friends, only at the end Sam (Kevin Spacey) talks face to face to someone I assume was his ex-wife. Maybe the writer wanted to underline the focus these people have on work/money versus personal life.
I liked Demi Moore in this movie; I think she acted very well, given the lack of substance of her character. Kevin Spacey had this slightly distracted air throughout the movie, I liked that too. I think it is that protective detachment you have when you do things that go against your values.
Overall, I would say it is a movie without artistic value, one that tries desperately to make a point. Being director’s JC Chandor first movie, I think it suffers from that eagerness of the fresh creator to make his statement clear, not knowing how much to show/hide/suggest.
Rating: 6,0

movie boy:

This is a good movie for the simple fact that it's comprehensive. In a world of numbers and stock market happening on the 40th floor over Wall Street, Margin Call succeedes to translate for any ordinary viewer the problem of the economic crisis by addressing it as to a "Golden Retriever".

The movie has a wonderful triplet - Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, Demi Moore - that provides credibility and also very good acting in a story that doesn't necessarily requires acting. In a nutshell, Margin Call is the definition of a margin call but also it is about the process of taking high-risk decisions at the highest financial level. It is a story about a sick dog that dies at the end.
It is a movie about hierarchy but also about the respect for the dedication in and for the firm. A sad dedication when you know that by what you do today everyone else will hate hate you tomorrow; a dedication so ruthless you even won't tell your son that he will lose everything the next day; a dedication that above all, is based on the need for money. 

What intrigued me the most in this movie was the apparently peacefulness of the characters despite the disastrous situation - there are no exaggerated shoutings in this film, I felt that even "fuck you" is said with a tone of politeness, it is a great feeling of seeing people acting responsably even though they don't know what to do or even if it is against their beliefs. A not so good directing, with awkward lights but with a well transmitted message about what happened - as it is inspired by a true story. 

Rating: 7,3