The bee-stung lips are back.

Angelina Jolie – statuesque stunner, Hollywood A-lister and lesbian icon – delivers her best performance yet in Changeling, the latest drama by Clint Eastwood (Unforgiven, MysticRiver).

Playing a single mother battling the systemic injustices and classic misogyny of 1920s America, Angelina has already nabbed a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress, as well as several other mentions.

We won’t be surprised if she nabs an Oscar nomination too. Read our review below.

We also bring you our take on Red Cliff 2, John Woo’s spectacular second half to the extraordinary David-vs-Goliath battle of the Red Cliff during the Han dynasty era. Although the movie is not without flaws, it still stands as a sterling achievement in Asian cinema.

The other two films opening this week are both horror films. One is a nail-biting chiller about a couple tormented by a group of sadistic teenagers. The other is downright dumb non-creeper about a girl haunted by voices and visions.

If you like horror, pick the first one titled Eden Lake.

The other two films opening this week are both horror films. One is a nail-biting chiller about a couple tormented by a group of sadistic teenagers. The other is downright dumb non-creeper about a girl haunted by voices and visions.

If you like horror, pick the first one titled Eden Lake.

Before we go, we would like to implore all of you movie lovers to watch Milk, the powerful biopic about the first openly-gay man to be publicly elected into power in America. Milk is perhaps the most important gay film since BrokebackMountain and Sean Penn is excellent in the lead role.

As your Mom would say, Milk is good for you.

Changeling

For too long, the stunningly beautiful lesbian icon Angelina Jolie has allowed herself to be just “tits on toes” for film directors, an expensive mannequin in action movies tailor-made for male audiences. In recent years, she expanded her range to include serious dramatic turns in A Mighty Heart and The Good Shepherd. But her performance in Clint Eastwood’s Changeling is her finest yet.

Despite the unavoidable prominence of those bee-stung lips, Angelina manages to make you forget that she’s an A-list celebrity and believe for two hours that she is a tormented mother longing for her missing child.

She plays Christine Collins, a single mother in 1920s America whose son is kidnapped from his home. The police carry out a search for months and eventually they find a boy who resembles her son. With much fanfare and publicity, they bring him to her. But with just one look, Christine knows the child is not hers. The police – embarrassed by her rejection – become hostile and send her to a mental hospital for grueling psychiatric treatment instead…

What makes this tale so chilling and compelling is that it’s actually based on a true story. Using real court records, director Clint Eastwood and writer J. Michael Straczynski have crafted a bold and unflinching drama that explore both the frightening topics of child abuse and police corruption. Carefully depicting the flaws, ironies and deficiencies of our society and systems, Clint has once again created a work that is rewarding and inspiring for the intelligent viewer.

Changeling is testimony to the continued relevance of Clint Eastwood as a storyteller, and Angelina Jolie as a thespian with genuine depth. Don’t miss it.

Six months ago, Asian audiences were complaining to newspapers that they had to pay the price of two tickets to watch the entire Red Cliff story, while Americans and Europeans get to enjoy the whole movie (albeit a condensed version) in one sitting. Well, after watching Red Cliff 2, we doubt they are still complaining.

Although this second half is not as good as the first, it does live up to its massive hype. The story is fittingly epic, the characters are as compelling as before, and the battle scenes are triumphantly spectacular. The two parts cost US$80million in total, the highest ever for a Chinese project. And it is, in our opinion, money well-spent.

The second half of the historical Han dynasty tale sees land-hungry Prime Minister Cao Cao (Zhang Fengyi) readying his massive army for an attack on the South. The South is defended by the small coalition led by Zhou Yu (Tony Leung), aided by master strategist Zhuge Liang (Takeshi Kaneshiro). Cao Cao’s army may be bigger, but Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang are more cunning. The chronicles of their complex military strategies and the spectacular battles that follow make for one of the most unforgettable epics in Chinese movie history.

The cast gives uniformly strong performances, with the exception of supermodel-turned-actress Lin Chiling in a dull flower vase role. And though there’s a silly flamboyance to certain scenes, we found them forgivable. John Woo largely delivers the goods, even though the film does start to strain towards the end – as if he was running out of stamina.

All in all, the Red Cliff epic is a triumph in filmmaking and, undoubtedly, a source of pride for Asian filmgoers.

Of the two horror films opening this week, EdenLake is the vastly superior one.

Directed by James Watkins, this well-crafted British chiller stars Michael Fassbender and Kelly Reilly as a loving young couple who plan a relaxing trip to Eden Lake, hoping to get away from demands of their city lives. But their peace of mind is quickly destroyed when a sadistic gang of teenagers arrive with a boombox, a savage dog and some knives…

Despite the sometimes obvious dialogue (“We have to do something!”), EdenLake actually does a neat job of keeping up the tension and jolting its audience frequently. The cast is uniformly good and believable, and the direction and cinematography are fairly slick.

But frankly, after WolfCreek, Funny Games, High Tension, Hostel and the endless Saw sequels, we wouldn’t be surprised if audiences have had enough of these psychologically-intense nightmares. Some will enjoy this edge-of-the-seat, nail-biting stuff; others may just get a headache.

A laughably lame entry in the teen scream genre, The Haunting of Molly Hartley stars ultra-hot Haley Bennett as a high school girl who starts to hear voices and see scary visions. Is her school haunted? Is it just her imagination? Is she turning crazy like her Mom? Do we even care?

The school’s resident bad girl (Shannon Marie Woodward) is sympathetic, while the class evangelist (Shanna Collins) wants to save her soul. There’s also a cute rich boy (Chace Crawford from Gossip Girl) with a penchant for bad pick-up lines…

The horror genre isn’t high art, but it doesn’t have to be this kiddy either. Director Mickey Liddell directs the film with the imagination of a five-year-old, turn silly everyday objects into a potential scare – the alarm clock, birds, dogs, the sound of mail dropping into the mailbox.

This is supposed to teen horror flick – not the nightmares of a preschooler. Diehard fans of Chace Crawford will get more satisfaction out of watching Youtube videos of him.

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Kansai Queer Film Festival 2009

Date: 23-27 Jan 2009 (Main Festival)
Venue: Osaka, Japan
Presented by Kansai Queer Film Festival Committee
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I Love you Philip Morris

I Love You Phillip Morris tells the true story of a conman who find love in a Texas jail-cell. Steven Russell is a married man whose many cons and exploits eventually land him in the clink. He ends up in a jail-cell with another man whom he ends up falling madly in love with. When this man is released from prison, Steven Russell does everything he can to escape from jail and reunite with his new flame.

Stars: Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor

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7th Q! Film Festival Indonesia

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A multi disciplinary performance that examines "Who am I" through the maternal figure as a point of identification or seperation. Stars Singapore's very own Melissa Quek.

Date: 16-17 Jan 2009
Date: 8pm and 3pm(17 Jan)
Venue: Substation Theatre more>>

22nd Singapore International Flim Festival

M1 Singapore Fringe Fest

A visual narrative of a group of girls who are finding themselves as they attempt to establish familial ties while dealing with adolescence. A production by Genevieve Chua.

Date: 1st Jan 2009 onwards

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