MID-WEEK UPDATE AS PROMISED!

My trusty counter informs me that you indeed have been checking back for the promised update! Thank you so much! I am much embarassed by the delay :S Your very intelligent author forgot she used Windows Vista at home and XP at work and so had to enlist the help of a collegue so she could get to her articles that were on her hard drive.
So, below you can find two fresh reviews - North Face and Genova. I will resume normal broadcasting on thursday. I have a nice medly of independent - award winners and Oscar winners / nominees lined up so don't forget to check back!:)
And by the way, don't hesitate (well I know you won't but still) to comment and let me know what you think if you watch / have watched any of the films! Looking forward to hearing from you!
In the meanwhile, thank you for reading Essie's Pics and see you on Thursday!
Essie

NOT THE KIND OF BATTLE YOU'RE THINKING OF : NORDWAND / NORTH FACE

If you have had the patience to trawl through this humble blog for any amount of time, you may have noticed that your humble author has a soft spot for “true stories”. This is another one. Set in Nazi Germany in the late 30’s just before the Second World War it is not what you think if you have got thus far. No. Not a war movie this time. 
Well, it is 1936 and the race is on in the field of… Mountaineering!  But no, it is nothing to smile about actually, it was a truly serious business. The aim was to conquer one of the last natural “frontiers” in Europe the “unassailable” north face of the Eiger Mountain in Switzerland. Many attempts had been made and many lives lost in this quest. And in the political climate of the time being the nation to “conquer the Eiger” was a great matter of national pride, especially for Nazi Germany. North Face is the story of one of the boldest attempts to be “the ones” to conquer the Eiger. In the summer of 1936 teams from many countries all over Europe gathered in Switzerland in a “race” to the top of the North Face of the mountain. Among these teams was an extraordinary couple - Toni Kurz and Andreas Hinterstoisser from Nazi Germany. The two were well on the way to becoming famous in their field despite their young age and had actually had to leave their army posts to take up the challenge. North Face is the breath taking account of this attempt, documented by Luise Fellner their childhood friend who coincidentally was covering the attempt as a reporter…
Now, you may not be a great fan of sports movies. I could not agree with you more. And you might think “two guys on a mountain. So?” But no. The characters are so well portrayed and the filming so extraordinarily good that excitement reaches its “peak” (hoho) by the second half of the movie and you will, I guarantee it, be gripping the arms of your seats in anticipation. And the photography alone during the climbing scenes is something to be experienced. Definitely a good quality adventure for those who are seeking one from the safety of their living rooms…

A JOURNEY OF REDISCOVERY... TO "GENOVA"

While watching Genova, I was struck by how closely related the art of painting and the art of cinema are… Not necessarily in the physical sense either, I mean sure, films are made up of a series of pictures, 24 frames per minute, but that is not what I mean, even though the photography in Genova is simply amazing… Some films sort of suck you up into them and you “live” the adventure with the hero. Others are like a beautiful painting. They unfold before your eyes and you watch moved, astounded or however you feel at the time… Michael Winterbottom’s Genova is one of these films. Unique and simply beautiful.
Oscar ® nominee Colin Firth stars as university lecturer Joe, who is faced with major trauma and life decisions to make after his wife dies, leaving him with his two young daughters. The suffering of the family is great and the house full of memories so Joe decides that a clean page is what everyone needs for this “new” life they are faced with… So, he packs their things, finds a good teaching job and settles his young family in Genova. The historical and sunny Italian city is as far as can be from their previous lives in the States. With the help of friends (double Oscar ®nominee Catherine Keener among others) all starts off pretty smoothly, but the family will have their ups and downs (older sister Kelly spending more and more time with her new boyfriend and neglecting her younger sister, while her little sister claims to be communicating with her dead mother’s ghost…) But Genova is mainly a story of looking for a way of moving on. A fresh start in the true meaning of the word.
It is, in my view, a bit of a gamble to make a film like this, unless of course you are Michael Winterbottom and you know the film is very well directed indeed . If you don’t let yourself go with the balmy, Mediterranean flow of the movie and lose yourself in the exquisite details, you may well find the film boring. A film for a certain kind of person, or a certain frame of mind maybe. And then again, not everyone is into painting either, but that doesn’t lessen anything of say Monet’s paintings does it?... :)

ABOUT THE SLIGHTLY SHORTER UPDATE THIS WEEK

Hi y'all :)
You may have noticed a slight dwindle in the number of posts in this weeks update, and I want to appologise to you all about it. I have a whole list of films in mind that I want to write about but "real life" has momentarily held me back, and I haven't been able to put finger to keyboard. However I will be back, with a longer, fuller "menu" next week, or I may possibly do a little "extra update" at the begining of next week, so don't forget to check back!
In the meanwhile, thank you for reading Essie's Pics!
Essie

TRIBUTE TO THE MASTERS : BABEL

I have to admit that I am rather disillusioned by the number of film festivals and awards cropping up lately, even though it is of course a sign of growing interest in the arts. But luckily the good old quality festivals still remain to point us to the great work out there, and if you win, say, the award for Best Director in the Cannes Film Festival, you probably won it for a reason. The example in this case is Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu and he most DEFINITELY deserves every award he got for one of his latest masterpieces, Babel…
If you read the blurb, it seems dubious at first glance whether the film has anything original to offer. True, there is an all-star cast with such “tried and proven” names such as Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and Gael Garcia Bernal. The story of various seemingly unconnected lives clashing and connecting in a big chaotic world is not the most original story in the world; it has been tried more than once by many directors in many contexts and the list in fact includes Inarritu himself! (Remember Amorres Perros?) But this time, Inarritu takes the method and uses it in such a way , with such skill and such successful actors that the result is breathtaking, heartbreaking and mindboggling…
And naturally, the actors deserve a mention in all this! Pitt and Blanchett give steady but not astounding performances so that don’t (perhaps luckily) overshadow the rest of the cast. And Gael Garcia Bernal definitely deserves a mention as the passionate and rebellious Santiago (read developing countries rebelling against the “great” politicians). But I think one of the greatest successes of the film is UNDOUBTEDLY Koji Yakusho who gives a harrowing and sometimes shocking performance as the hearing impaired Cheiko.
Without giving too much of the plot away, Babel is a story of innocent victims, endless prejudices, mindless beaurocracy and the countless human souls that get crushed in the midst of it. It is the story of that butterfly that beats its wing to cause a tragic storm… I will stop eulogizing and end this post now :)

TRIBUTE TO THE MASTERS : "THE BIG LEBOWSKI"

At 26, I am very probably the last person of my generation to watch this Coen brothers classic. I hang my head in shame. Here comes the review for those of you who were too young, too old or like me just too darn lazy.
Ok, so let me sum it up right away. Yes; it is as good as they say it is. I am a massive Coen brothers fan – and the brilliant way they seem to blur the line between the believable and the absurd. Here the use of hallucinogenics (Ehm ehm) among other things help to blur the line even further making it in my view one of the best examples of absurd comedy I have ever seen. As far as the acting goes, John Goodman and Steve Buscemi – two of the Coen brothers favorite actors and don’t get me wrong though they’re two of my favorites too! – are absoloutely hilarious. Recent Oscar winner Jeff Bridges who needless to say became part of movie legend as “The Dude” and simply has to be experienced to be believed. And another small point I found amusing (something that doesn’t seem to get mentioned on the DVD sleeve, possibly because our actor hadn’t “made it” at the time) is the prominent presence of one of my favorite actors : Philip Seymour Hoffman!
Tradition dictates that I touch on the storyline a little: well, this is a story of mistaken identity. Of ruined rugs. Of framing innocent men. Of severed toes and White Russians. And a Vietnam vet with SERIOUS anger-management issues.
Just watch the bloody thing, it’ll make more sense… :)

TEENAGE PREGNANCY MADE AMUSING – MEET JUNO!

I kinda like the idea of honoring Oscar ® winners past and present seeing as the awards season is upon us. So I’m going to keep it up for a bit… Now, do you remember Juno? Won the Oscar® for Best Original Screenplay, was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress the same year. I bet that got your attention, even if you didn’t remember it before!
Well, I’m kind of sure my title got your attention too. And of course, teenage pregnancy is nothing to be scoffed at or laughed about. But this is not any old film. And Juno ain’t any old girl…
Ok, so meet Juno (our Oscar® nominee Ellen Page). She is an eminently original and down to earth 15 year old, and she is in a bit of a predicament. Because after having “tried some sex” with her best friend Bleaker (Michael Cera – possibly one of my favorite actors of his generation) she is pregnant. Abortion seems the only sensible course of action and Juno actually almost has her foot through the clinic door when she is reliably informed that her baby has fingernails. That does it as far as Juno is concerned, and the baby has to be born. It will just have to be put up for adoption. So Juno and her best friend start looking for a suitable couple (in Pennysaver) and find a perfect looking ad, right next to the advertisement for parakeets. And they indeed seem to be the ideal couple. She (Jennifer Garner) has a good job in the city; he (Jason Bateman) is actually a composer and kinda cool. So all seems to be going well. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as “the perfect couple” and life tends to throw curveballs in these situations, as Juno and her baby are about to find out…
There is so much I simply LOVE about this film. Ellen Page and Michael Cera make a brilliant couple. The characters are out of the ordinary in more ways than one – both from real life and nothing you’ve ever seen at the same time. And the story-line is also fresh, I mean seriously, how many amusing takes on teenage pregnancy have you watched before? There are many twists to the tale and I promise you, you will not be expecting them. Last of all, ok, the main characters are 15. But that DOES NOT mean this is a children’s film. Oh no. Not by a long shot.