Titanic

Titanic

One of the best films along these years was Titanic which has won eleven awards including Best film. This masterpiece was interpreted by many famous actors and it was written and directed by James Cameron.

Jack is just a poor boy who has won the ticket for the Titanic in a game of poker and Rose travels in the ship with her mother and her fiancé in business class. Rose and Jack meet when she is trying to commit suicide but Jack doesn’t let her go.
Something very special begins to grow between them although Rose’s mother doesn’t approve of their love. Suddenly, the captain of the ship receives a message warning him about the presence of an iceberg but he turns a deaf ear to it and steers the ship straight on. Unavoidably, they crash and the magnificent and unsinkable boat starts to go down. Rose, instead of getting on a lifeboat, goes to look for Jack who had been arrested before for no reason.

The main characters of the film are starred by Kate Winslet in the role of Rose and Leonardo Di Caprio playing the main character Jack Dawson. Another outstanding role, the centenarian Rose, is played by Gloria Stuart. From my point of view, the film is incredibly well-done and the special effects are stunning. Moreover, the actors play their roles in a fantastic way. The plot is so sensitive and many aspects are treated in such a sweet way that many tears will be shed.

This film was thought for all kind of people and I think it has caused such an impact because it is based on a real story. I recommend you to watch it because it is surely one of the best films in history.

Cold Mountain

Cold Mountain

A young woman (Nicole Kidman) and his father leave their city and go to Cold Mountain, a small village in North Carolina, where her life changes dramatically.

Based on Charles Frazier’s novel, the film is directed by Anthony Minghella, who is well known by his third film, The English Patient, which earned him 7 Oscars, including Best Film and Best Director. Most parts of the film were shot in Romania and only a few scenes in Virgina the USA with spectacular landscapes, as for instance the snow landscapes.

Ada Monroe, (Nicole Kidman) and his father start a new life in Cold Mountain where she meets Inman (Jude Law) and they fall in love very quickly. But the Civil War breaks up and Inman is made to enlist and go to fight. Then Ada promises that she will wait for him. Inman is wounded and he decides to desert and return with his love, in a hard journey escaping from the local militia. Ada´s father dies and she meets Ruby Thewes (Renée Zellweger) who helps her with the farm.
When finally they meet again they have changed a lot but they are still in love.

This is a very long film but it is quite entertaining, with an unexpected end. In this film we can see the horrors of war, the cruelty of the people but of course we can also see the triumph of love.

Titanic

Titanic

Titanic is a romantic drama released in 1997. This film was directed by James Cameron.
The stars of this film are Leonardo Di Caprio who plays the role of Jack Dawson and Kate Winslet playing the role of Rose De Vitt Bukater.
It is based on the real story of the Titanic, a luxurious transatlantic, which on the 14th of April of 1912, was sailing from Southampton to New York but never reached its destination.

Although the film is about the sinking of the Titanic it is mostly about a love story that takes pace on the ship.
It starts when a man is looking for a blue diamond that is supposed to be on the Titanic but instead he finds a drawing of a young woman wearing it and after that an old woman phones to tell him that she is that woman and she tells her story:
Rose, her mother and her fiancé were returning to the US on the Titanic. Rose wasn’t happy because she didn’t feel free and on the same night they went on board she tried to throw herself into the sea. Jack, a penniless man saved her life and because of that he was invited to have dinner in the first class dining room with her and all the important people on the boat.
They fell in love and when the boat crashed into the iceberg they were together. They spent all the night together and she didn’t even want to get into one of the lifeboats as the other women.
This film is the most famous one by James Cameron and it won 11 Academy Awards in 1998.
For me is one of the best films I have ever seen because I love romantic films and the ones that are based on real stories and this one has both things so it is my favourite film.
Moreover the soundtrack is fantastic and it shows perfectly the tension or the happiness of the moments.
I thoroughly recommend it. If you are a sensitive person, don’t miss it!
But if you are sad because of something wait and see it at another moment when you feel better because if you are sad and you see it I think you will be more depressed.

Million Dollar Baby

Million Dollar Baby

A dream. This is what we first think after seeing Million Dollar Baby. And we won’t be wrong but there’s more to it.

Million Dollar Baby has become one of the most popular films of the last years. The film is directed by Clint Eastwood and tells the story of the relation between Frankie Dunn and Maggie Fitzgerald. Frankie is a boxing trainer who runs a gym in Los Angeles with his friend Scrap (Morgan Freeman), a boxer who lost an eye in a fight. The main story starts whit the appearence of Maggie, a waitress who wants to be a boxer. At first Frankie refuses to train her, telling her that he doesn’t train girls, but she doesn’t give up and finally he accepts to teach her the techniques of boxing. Maggie becames a very good boxer, knocking out her opponents very fast and winning a lot of championship fights, but her success finishes in the World Welterweight Championship, where she is knocked out.

But it is not only fights that you can see in this film. The background story idevelops during the plot. It’s the story of the personal relations between the two main characters and how they become closer during the film. For Frank, Maggie represents his daughter, who he hasn’t seen for years, and for Maggie, the old trainer represents her father, dead when she was a child.

Million Dollar Baby is set in North America. As I have said it was directed by Clint Eastwood, who also plays one of the main characters, with Hillary Swank as Maggie and Morgan Freeman as Scrap, who narrates the film. A great cast for a great film, one of the greatest films on Eastwood’s filmography, who is showing that a good actor can also make very good films as a director. You only have to watch Mystic River, one of his previous successes.

What can we say about this film? It’s a masterpiece. The final part is extremely powerful, and this is one of the best things that a film can have. The cast is brilliant during the whole film, especially Hillary Swank, who looks really natural in her role. The plot is amusing and don’t think that it’s just a film about boxing because this is a film about hearts, faith and truth. If you are a fan of Clint Eastwood and you really like cinema, please, don’t miss it.

Love Actually

Love actually

Sweet, extremely charming and plenty of amusing moments, “Love Actually” is one of the best romantic comedies in the last years.

Directed and written by Richard Curtis, ” Love Actually” is a delightful comedy set in London with about twenty leading roles properly played by a whole cast of talented actors, most of them, big stars.

The start and the end of the film take place at Heathrow, the most important airport in London at Christmas time. The plot is about nine different stories with one thing in common: Love. But not only the typical cloying love between a couple but also the love between siblings, friends, parents and children ( not always with a happy ending) and obviously romantic love that let the director prove the tittle of the main song of the soundtrack: “love is all around”

Well-acted by a cast that includes Hugh Grant as the Prime Minister who falls in love with his new secretary, Emma Thompson as his sister, a perfect housekeeper with marital problems or the role of the heart-broken writer played by Colin Firth, ” Love Actually” will make you smile and maybe cry because this film definetily touches your heart. Don´t miss it!!!!

Girl with a Pearl Earring

Girl with a pearl earring

The film was directed by Peter Webber in 2003.He is not a well known film director because this has been the first of his films to be shown in cinemas, until then he had only directed films for TV. It is set in Holland in the seventeenth century and it shows how Holland in that century, as the rest of Europe, was divided into two groups of people: the rich and powerful, and the poor and hungry. The majority of the poor were working for the rich.

In 1665 in the city of Delf, seventeen-year-old Griet is the daughter of a ceramic painter who has recently gone blind. She is sent to work as a maid for the painter Johannes Vermeer. After some days Vermeer notices her interest in painting so he begins to teach her about paints and other things related with painting but at his wife’s back.This relationship has consequences for the maid due to the jealousy of wife and daughter.
The main roles at this film are played by Scarlett Johanson and Colin Firth. She is not yet a film star but after this film she will be known all around the world and you can realise that she is going to be one of the most beautiful, well paid-actress in Hollywood in not so far a future.
But otherwise here we have Colin Firth,an experienced actor with with a ten-year-old successful career.

The director in this film is far more interested in images than words because there are very few dialogues during the ninety minutes of film.The most remarkable thing in it is how Peter Webber uses lights and shadows and of course the music to transmit the strained atmosphere among the characters. Another point treated very carefully is the photography which must be mentioned in a very positive way.
The film will not appeal to many people because the action is very slow and if you don’t like historical films I strongly recommend you not to see it because you will find it extremely boring.

The Hours

The Hours

“The Hours” is based on the acclaimed book “Mrs. Dalloway” by Michael Cunningham. The film follows a single day in the lives of three women in different time periods.

In Richmond, England, Virgina Woolf (Nicole Kidman) is starting to write her book in 1923. She is under the care of doctors because she has a severe case of mental illness. She is planning a party so she receives a visit from her sister and her children. During this period Virginia must face the decision of running away to London or staying with her husband.

In Los Angeles, 1951, Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) who is pregnant thinks she won’t be a good mother to her son and her future baby. She must make the decision of running away from it all or going on living miserably with her husband. As she reads “Mrs. Dalloway”, she empathizes with its main character. Laura decides to commit suicide, but then she changes her mind.

In New York, 2001, Clarissa Vaughan (Meryl Streep) is a publisher who is planning a party for her friend, an author dying of AIDS. She lives with her girlfriend, Sally, who doesn´t understand why Clarissa is so sad.

All the three stories are connected with de novel “Mrs. Dalloway”, as one is writing it, one is reading it and one is living it. I think Clarisse is the only one of the three women who has a reason to be depressed, her friend succumbs to madness and kills himself so the party is cancelled and Clarissa meets Richard’s mother.

Nicole Kidman is brilliant as Virginia Woolf, Julianne Moore is captivating and Meryl Streep gives an amazing performance.

The music, composed by Phillip Glass, ties the three stories together as if they were happening simultaneously.

There is no doubt that “The Hours” is a great film. I recommend it to people who like thinking after they have seen a movie. Although the film is superb, it isn´t for everybody, the story is touching and a bit depressing.

Girl with a pearl earring

Girl with a pearl earring

The story is set in Holland 1665. Delft is a city full of humble Protestant families who live on craftsmanship and trade. Griet, who used to help her mother at home, has to go and serve in an artist’s house because his father has gone blind and he can’t go on working in his tile workshop. So this is how the story begins, and this is how Griet meets for the first time the artist who would change her life.

In the Catholic district, a family was about to welcome a new baby. Everything was a mess, and they needed a new servant to help washing the clothes and doing the shopping, but most of all, she was needed to clean the master’s studio. Vermeer, which was his name, was the head of a numerous family, and one of the most prestigious painters in the city. He needed order to paint, and so he wanted someone special to clean his room. Griet was not very well received when she arrived, but she could get used to it, and he did all the work she was told to do without complaining returning home on Sunday to give her money to her parents. But the thing she liked most was to clean the studio, bit by bit, taking care not to move any of the objects out of their place. As time passed, Griet got more used to the house, and she sometimes permitted herself helping Vermeer choose the background for his paintings. The problem began when a regular customer of Vermeer, Van Ruijven, saw Griet and wanted a painting of her. Everyone new what happened with girls he wanted to be painted , and so they refused to do it, but as Van Ruijven insisted again and again, Vermeer had to think of a solution. Unfortunately, problems do not usually come alone, and she had to deal with her suitor, the butcher’s son, Vermeer’s jealous wife, who considers Griet a threat, and her daughter Cornelia…

Girl with a pearl earring is a special film based on Tracy Chevalier’s book. Its main point is that it is not a film with difficult dialogues, but very visual and sensitive. There is no dialogue in a lot of scenes where the feeling which stands out is the comprehension between Griet and Vermeer, and words are not needed. The setting is also a really well used resource to make the film appealing.

And finally, I would like to say I recommend this film, but I am going to go further and say that I recommend everybody to read the book by Tracy Chevalier, because it is far better and more complete. Anyway, the film is a very good adaptation and it is also very recommendable. It is the perfect film for people who like using their visual sense and learning art, mixed with, why not?, the typical or not so typical love story.

The House of the Spirits

Meryl Streep in the House ofSpirits

The House of the Spirits, based on Isabel Allende’s book, is a family drama directed by Bille August. The main characters are played by worldwide known stars, like Meryl Streep who plays the part of Clara del Valle, Jeremy Irons in the role of Esteban Trueba, Winona Ryder as Blanca Trueba and Antonio Banderas as Pedro Tercero Garcia.

The film is set in South America before the second World War. It tells the story of the Trueba family. Esteban is a poor man who works very hard in the gold mines until he gets a fortune and marries Clara who can predict the future. They have a daughter, Blanca.
Esteban has a farm in the country and they go to live there but he is feared by his workers and he isn’t loved much. When Blanca grows up, she falls in love with his father’s worst enemy, a revolutionary called Pedro.

Blanca becomes pregnant and Pedro has to be hidden from Esteban. The family is broken and Esteban stays alone on the farm while Clara and Blanca go to the city.
After some years without contact and when there are some political problems in the country they finally solve their differences before Esteban dies.

The film is a very real story about the problems caused in families by the different ways of thinking between different generations while at the same time shows the political changes in that country. The stars’ performances are unsurpassable: they can transmit strong feelings in each scene.

If you want to enjoy a film, this is a great family drama with a historical background in which love wins. I recommend it for people who like real and romantic films, if you do, don’t miss it!

The House of Spirits

House of Spirits

Based on the bestseller by Isabel Allende this is the story of three generations of a family in Chile during the 20th century. It also shows the change in the mentality of parents and children alongside with the movement from totalitarism to democracy experienced by many countries during the last century.

Both film and book are an example of the South American literary movement known as “Magic Realism” and as the name suggests, this means that a sugarless reality is portrayed in the story, but generously sparkled with magic and imagination, making a complex mixture that has its charm in the book, but loses everything on the screens.

Esteban Trueba (Jeremy Irons) is a poor but hard-working man who is in love with the beautiful Rosa del Valle. When she dies accidentally poisoned he buys an “hacienda” in the middle of nowhere and turns it into one of the most prosperous in the country. Time goes by and Rosa’s younger sister, Clara (Meryl Streep), a clairvoyant and imaginative girl who had made vow of silence after the death of her sister, breaks her silence to predict her marriage to Rosa’s former fiancé. They marry and go to live to Tres Marias, the hacienda with Esteban’s sister, Férula (Glenn Close), a bitter spinster who develops a sick attraction to her sister-in-law due to the sweet character of Clara and her solitude. Clara has a child named Blanca (Wynona Ryder) and when the girl grows up, she falls in love with the son of the main employee of the hacienda, Pedro (Antonio Banderas). Esteban disapproves of the romance and throws him out of the hacienda, because of his low status and his revolutionary ideas. Clara leaves Esteban because he has beaten her during an argument about Blanca, and goes to the city with her pregnant daughter. There, she gives birth to Alba.
Meanwhile Esteban becomes a Conservative senator, at the same time as Pedro, his non-recognized son-in-law, gets popularity as a socialist leader. When the socialists win the elections, there’s a military coup to bring the right back to the power again. Blanca is captured and questioned because of her relationship with Pedro, and Esteban has to struggle with his mistakes of the past and with his former ideas and feelings to save her daughter and his hated son-in-law as he slowly understands that nothing is as it was in the past, and that the most important things are love and family.

Having heard that the novel “La casa de los espíritus” by Isabel Allende had been adapted to screens and, although books made into films are rarely as good, I watched “The house of spirits” with no prejudices. It was highly disappointing!

The Danish filmmaker Bille August tried to put on the screens a very complex story full of passion and tragedy and he didn’t succeed on apprehending the real spirit of the novel. He used non-hispanic actors for the main characters (with the exception of Banderas and this is not by far his best work) and although the performances are correct there’s something unreal, unconvincing and cold, about all the film. Besides many charming passages of the book were omitted. Therefore it isn’t surprising that the film was a flop.

I only recommend the movie to enthusiastic readers of the novel because this is not a good film in any artistic way. It can provide you with an entertaining time but there are lots of good films to be seen and they are much more worthwhile. On the other hand, I thoroughly recommend the novel.