Mathew Englander (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} mathew5000) wrote in ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} moviebuffs,@ 2007-01-11 13:06:00 |
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The Secret Life of Words
For anyone who is a fan of Sarah Polley or Tim Robbins, I would recommend The Secret Life of Words. I just saw it this morning; the DVD has been released in Canada but not the US.
The film is set mostly on an oil rig in the North Sea; Tim Robbins plays Josef, who in the opening scenes is badly burned in an accident. Meanwhile, Sarah Polley plays Hanna -- I won’t say much about her character except that she keeps you guessing through the first half of the film. Her life seems very simple, Spartan even; some of her behaviours are bizarre and even comic. Meanwhile there are some amazing shots of the oil-rig, a small platform isolated and vulnerable in the middle of the huge sea. The oil enterprise in the deep waters serve as a source of metaphor for the characters’ feelings.
The film is a Spanish production (in the English language), directed by Isabel Coixet. Javier Cámara (from Talk to Her and Malas Temporadas) is great in a supporting role as the cook on the oil rig.
Just a warning: if you look this film up on the web you can easily come across spoilers. One of the major themes of the film is only revealed three-quarters of the way in, and I think the moment works a lot better if you are not prepared for it at all. In particular, do not look this movie up on Netflix.com because the Netflix summary has this spoiler. (If you want to add the film to your Netflix queue, you’ll need to ask someone else to do it for you.) There is also a spoiler on the IMDb main-details page for this film. However, you can safely watch the trailer; it does not have any spoilers, but it makes the film come across as cutesy and rather conventional, which it is not.
The film won the 2006 Goya Award for best film, the 2006 Butaca award for Best Catalan Film, and the 2005 CEC Award (Spanish film critics’ prize) for best film.
For anyone who is a fan of Sarah Polley or Tim Robbins, I would recommend The Secret Life of Words. I just saw it this morning; the DVD has been released in Canada but not the US.
The film is set mostly on an oil rig in the North Sea; Tim Robbins plays Josef, who in the opening scenes is badly burned in an accident. Meanwhile, Sarah Polley plays Hanna -- I won’t say much about her character except that she keeps you guessing through the first half of the film. Her life seems very simple, Spartan even; some of her behaviours are bizarre and even comic. Meanwhile there are some amazing shots of the oil-rig, a small platform isolated and vulnerable in the middle of the huge sea. The oil enterprise in the deep waters serve as a source of metaphor for the characters’ feelings.
The film is a Spanish production (in the English language), directed by Isabel Coixet. Javier Cámara (from Talk to Her and Malas Temporadas) is great in a supporting role as the cook on the oil rig.
Just a warning: if you look this film up on the web you can easily come across spoilers. One of the major themes of the film is only revealed three-quarters of the way in, and I think the moment works a lot better if you are not prepared for it at all. In particular, do not look this movie up on Netflix.com because the Netflix summary has this spoiler. (If you want to add the film to your Netflix queue, you’ll need to ask someone else to do it for you.) There is also a spoiler on the IMDb main-details page for this film. However, you can safely watch the trailer; it does not have any spoilers, but it makes the film come across as cutesy and rather conventional, which it is not.
The film won the 2006 Goya Award for best film, the 2006 Butaca award for Best Catalan Film, and the 2005 CEC Award (Spanish film critics’ prize) for best film.
