Mirakel (Miracle)

A Danish coming of age film about two friends, Dennis and Mick, who are in love with the same girl. Dennis´mother is still in grief after Dennis late father, and is not much of support, meaning that Dennis must take care of himself and has no grown up to talk to about his problems. One day an angel appears, could it be Dennis´father? If Dennis wants to, he can get a pair of angel wings and magic powers to change things around him to the better. But he must promise not to swear. (If you recognise the story, you have probably watched ”Gabriel and me” , 2001, it´s almost the same plot).

* Country: Denmark

* Release: 2000

* Director: Natasha Arty

* Actors: Stefan Pagels Andersen (Dennis), Sebastian Jessen (Mick)

* Awards: Buster´s grand prix, Buster International Children’s Film Festival, AGIS Gold medal+Bronze Gryphon, Giffoni Film Festival, Award of the city of Zlin+Children´s Jury main prize, Zlín International Film Festival for Children and Youth.

This review would not have been possible without the valuable support of CVMC. I would like to thank them for supporting my blog by providing the DVD of  “Mirakel” .

Check out lots of other coming of age films at cvmc.net, the oldest movie rental service on the internet – since 1998. Specializing in hard to find & rare films from around the world!

         

Photo: ****(very good)

Acting: ****(very good)

Story: ***(good)

Soundtrack: **(below average)

Total: ****(very good)

Flowers in the pocket

It feels rather unusual to review a coming of age film from Malaysia, but this film from 2007 was no disappointment. This is a great Asian film about two boys, Li Ahn and Li Ohm. Throughout the film the main focus is on the lives of the two brothers, when they are in school, meeting new friends and so on. It took a while before I realised that they actually lived with their father, who mostly is at work and just come home to sleep what it seems. The boys have to manage themselves pretty much, even though they´re a bit too young for that. However later on in the film we´ll follow some new development of the relationship with their absent father.

* Country: Malaysia

* Release: 2007

* Director: Liew Seng Tat

* Actors:  Zi Jiang Wong (Li Ohm), Ming Wei Lim (Li Ahn)

* Award: Tiger Award, Rotterdam International Film Festival (2008)

This review would not have been possible without the valuable support of CVMC. I would like to thank them for supporting my blog by providing the DVD of  “Flowers in the pocket” .

Check out lots of other coming of age films at cvmc.net, the oldest movie rental service on the internet – since 1998. Specializing in hard to find & rare films from around the world!

       

Photo: ***** (excellent)

Acting: ***(good)

Story: ***(good)

Soundtrack: **(below average)

Total: ****(very good)

Inside out: Portraits of children

This a complementary (rather short) documentary included in the ”Little Fugitive”-DVD I got, made by the same director, Joanna Lipper. The film presents the portraits of some children, boys and girls, roughly about 10-13 years old. They present themselves, and then talks about their lives, their dreams and goals in life and other things. It´s decently done, but was a bit slow and very conventional and a bit boring to watch. It caught my interest a few times though. If you compare to other documentaries, I would rather recommend for example ”Boy of Baghdad” or ”Chippendiddys”. Here are a few screenshots.

    

Little Fugitive (2006)

Director: Joanna Lipper

Release year: 2006

Genre: Drama

Country: US

Awards: Certificate of excellence (Brooklyn International Film Festival)

Plot Summary: This is a remake of the film ”Little Fugitive” from 1953, directed by Joanna Lipper, who also directed the documentary ”Inside out: Portraits of children” (1997). Joanna Lipper, who is also the writer of this remake, has managed to catch a glimpse of the sometimes harsh environment in which children are growing up in present day US. The story is about the two brothers, Lenny and Joey, who are living with their single and underpaid, hard working mother. With their father spending time in prison, the brothers have to depend on each other. The older brother, Lenny, played excellently by Nicolas Martí Salgado, is not always willing to take care of his younger brother Joey, played by David Castro (born 7 Feb 1996). One day Lenny decides to get rid of Joey for a while, with unexpected consequences.

Evaluation: Joanna Lipper´s remake of the ”Little Fugitive” is a nice and well written story, with a soundtrack well adapted to the film, and with raher good actors in general, especially Nicolas Martí Salgado, playing Lenny. Some of the side characters are not that good and some effort could have been made in finding better actors to those parts. There are also a few stereotypes in the film that don´t have any place in such a good film. The director of the film ”Dog days of summer” ,  Mark Freiburger, have a few things to learn from this film´s cinematography, which is much better with different camera angles and is here for example actually focusing into the characters at times. In turn, Joanna Lipper has a few things to learn from the Russian filmmakers, who as usual are miles ahead of US directors in their capability to create exciting and touching coming of age films.

Where to find it: I found this film at CVMC.net, but it´s also available at for example amazon.com.

Stars: 7 stars out of 10.   

* Has anyone else seen this film and what did you think about it?
* Do you have any other favourite US coming of age films?

Let me know with a comment!

      

   

    

El bola

IMDb. Pablo, nicknamed ”Pellet” (=El bola), is a 12-year old boy living in a city in Spain (filming location: Madrid), where he attends school and is doing the same things the other boys do, for example participating in the ”train-game”. In the ”train-game” the boys have to cross the rails  just before the train comes, trying not to be hit. The director has efficiently placed this crazy high risk ”suicide-game”  in the opening scene, and therefore immediately manage to build up a feeling of tension or thrill in the viewer that doesn´t leave before the end.  

Pablo is played by Juan José Ballesta.

Juan is an intelligent, determined and sometimes mischievious 12-year old with a great deal of natural presence and sensitivity. While Juan has previous television credits, the role of Pellet is his first experience in a full-length feature. Pellet is a complex character with serious family problems and playing the lead was very challenging. Juan is sure that he wants to continue acting and is willing to meet the demands of an acting career while continuing his studies. (Quotation from 2000).

One day a new boy shows up in school, Alfredo, and a friendship begins that will have great effects on Pablo´s life.

Alfredo is played by Pablo Galán.

Pablo was selected from more than 1600 children to play the role of Alfredo. Prior to ”El bola” he had no previous experience in the industry except for entertaining the audience during his older sister´s school plays.

 

 

 

 

 

This film from 2000 is a story about growing up in an abusive environment with a father who is incapable of giving love to his son. It certainly raises questions about parenthood, and about when society should interfere in family matters. Another film where society also intervenes but in different circumstances is  ”Sacred silence” . These questions are never easy as you can see. Both these films are highly recommendable!

Derech ha melech Israel 1989

Gabriel and me

(IMDb). ”Gabriel and me” is a British movie from 2001, made by the director Udayan Prasad, and based on a story by Lee Hall. Set in North-East England, it´s about an 11-year old boy, ”Jimmy”, who one day gets the opportunity to become an angel after he had a visit by the archangel of Gabriel. With his father sick in cancer, Jimmy wants to save him if he can. This reminds me of another film, ”Saint Ralph” , where the boy wants to save his mother from dying by performing a miracle. ”Gabriel and me” is rather well shot, though not extraordinary in any way. The boy who plays ”Jimmy” , Sean Landless, is also acting well I think. Despite the religious undertones, the story is quite ok. However, even if this is a film that´s completely ok to watch a rainy day, it´s not at all one of my favourites, mostly because it´s not standing out of the ”mainstream”, and never really touches me.