I have now seen both films and my opinion is that if you want to see a film with a non-linier storytelling structure and which is set in a third world country, then the film to see is...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.steelmillpictures.co.uk/images/postersm_l2b.jpg

 

LONDON TO BRIGHTON by Paul Andrew Williams and starring Lorraine Stanley, Johnny Harris and Georgia Groome

 

http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest/2006/med/filmPics/188.jpg

 

 

i saw blood diamond today, great film- definitely go see that over babel!

 

actaully i think i'd go to see blood diamond over babel. babel bored me in parts. however knew from Amores perros that there might be dips and a strand i couldnt be bothered with (didnt like the middle in that) however wasnt too bothered with both the Morrocco and Mexico strands. it might be better if like Sin City you could watch events happening in one country as a mini episode on the dvd in your own time but too long too keep me occupiued.

 

saying that I thought the Japanese strand was alright with Rinko Kikuchi giving a great performance. however think i'd rather had watched lost in translation again, and when the film was going 'into the territory of Nobuyoshi Araki' with Chieko and the detective back at the flat I was thinking that this remined me of Laura and Lolita's house in Broken Flowers and that i could be having a better time with a Bill Murray double feature back at home.

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/79/Broken_Flowers_poster.jpg

 

http://www.filmbespreking.be/lost_in_translation_files/image005.jpg

 

also the Mexico trip made me want to watch Harsh Times again. that's another one to get when its cheap!!!

 

apart from those I think it would have been better just sticking with The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada or 21 grams again than going to see Babel. which offered me nothing much new on screen (however left-bank chin-strokers might get something from subliminal meanings of title and themes, and wondering where Gael García Bernal got to)

 

talking of Gael García Bernal hopefully cineworld might get (at last) The Science of Sleep, which should be much better.

 

http://www.movie-college.de/aktuell/filmfestivals/images/science_of_sleep.jpg

 

(however in defense of the film, on the production side i suppose it was good project. couldnt spot any major slip up as far as transport was concerned like blood diamond and was a solid production, and not all filmed cheaply in the Czech Republic like many films are these days!!!! :lol: )

 

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The relatively unknown Scottish actor in "Last King of Scotland" also does this, although that is another film that has pretty significant problems as it is attempting to tell the story or a real person and plays a bit too fast and loose with the facts...

 

James McAvoy??? relatively unknown??? scary to think what kind of films/tv people are watching if they dont know who he is by now :lol:

 

then again tbh i think i've seen more films with McAvoy in it than Leo DC. actually thats bizzarre!!!

 

I thought Last King of Scotland was better than both of those films. as it was the one that kept me entertained the most (which is the most important thing!!!). obv all three have their pretentions, with Babel probably being the most pretentious of the lot, and their 'issues' to hang the marketing on (but i suppose we've got the Independent letters page if we wanna go into the issue rather than the enjoyment of the film :lol: !!)

 

 

Yes, I do believe that the plight of the third world does involve the first, and I can see this idea of what you say about the First World using the Third World for its own ends, but let's face it mate, that idea was put across far more effectively in the quite marvellous "The Constant Garderner" which is ten times the film that "Blood Diamond" is and is vastly more politicized IMO, mainly because the director of that film (Fernando Meirelles) is himself from a nation that is practically a Third World State and his perspective on the whole thing is not coloured by as many Western sensibilities. Far too often, "Blood Diamond" just comes across like an Action Movie (admittedly, a vastly superior one to most..), and on those occasions any pretentions it may have of being something meaningful or perceptive just go totally out of the window. Edward Zwick does have a conscience and he gets credit for at least trying, and I suppose if any mainstream Hollywood director was going to do it I would rather it was him more than some hack like Tony Scott (his attempts at trying to shed light on the troubles of a Third World nation resulted in the frankly awful, completely dumb, "Man on Fire"..) or Joel Schumacher, but he has the tendency to sacrifice the 'conscience' element in favour of following his instincts of producing something slick and typically Hollywood...

 

The Constant Garderner now £6 in woolies in a double pack with Out Of Africa. it is very good.

 

btw maybe using the term Third World like we have done over and over again is not so good and maybe that is patronising to the people of those countries as well?

 

According to Antoine van Agtmael, whos a kinda business guru, he invented 'emerging market' as a 'positive and invigorating' alternative to Third World. however thats mostly to do with the world bank/intertnational Finance Corporation/business so maybe we can come up with a pro-active term for these areas as well????

but he has the tendency to sacrifice the 'conscience' element in favour of following his instincts of producing something slick and typically Hollywood

 

The film is emotive and has some amazing acting in it, I still dont see the point of such off topic divergancies - even some talk of Japanese films I believe I read above?

 

I will keep my views to just my personal optinions as its ludicrous how off topic things get :wacko:

The film is emotive and has some amazing acting in it, I still dont see the point of such off topic divergancies - even some talk of Japanese films I believe I read above?

 

I will keep my views to just my personal optinions as its ludicrous how off topic things get :wacko:

 

I believe I actually kept things ON topic mate... You cannot talk about a film like "Blood Diamond" without talking about the wider issues of how Africa is portrayed on film and for whose benefit the film is really being made.. Does making "Blood Diamond" really help Africans or is it merely been made to salve the collective conscience of the West...?

 

As for acting - Djimon Honsou, excellent (the heart and soul of the film); Leo Di Caprio, significantly less than excellent... His 'Efrican' accent is all over the shop and clumsy (he perhaps should have taken notes from Meryl Streep's performance in "Out of Africa")... He is not convincing in the role he is playing (a baby-faced Hollywood pretty-boy playing a tough, grizzled Rhodesian Mercenary...?? Come on.... :lol: :lol: Someone like Christian Bale or Daniel Craig would have been a FAR better choice, imo ) and his Hollywood 'A-List' presence totally diverts the film away from the main issue...

 

The film is emotive and has some amazing acting in it, I still dont see the point of such off topic divergancies - even some talk of Japanese films I believe I read above?

 

I will keep my views to just my personal optinions as its ludicrous how off topic things get :wacko:

 

Babel is partly set in Japan if you hadnt noticed. the thread is not about African film-making in general (as things like Moolaade and a billion Nolly releases would have been mentioned too) but the two films which are not linked only by the continent of Africa (another that shouldnt be squished into thought of one culture)

 

and if you are wondering why Nobuyoshi Araki was mentioned here. type his name into google and then click to images (if parental controls are off) you will realize that i was trying not to give the plot away!!!!

 

http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/content/images/2005_5127.JPG

btw maybe using the term Third World like we have done over and over again is not so good and maybe that is patronising to the people of those countries as well?

 

Right, "third world" isn't PC anymore, plus it was used to describe communist nations during the Cold War, totally unrelated to any measure of wealth or industrlialization. Academics absolutely cannot decide on a proper terminology. Some of the most popular ones are

 

developed, underdeveloped, undeveloped

developed, less developed countries (LDC), least developed countries (LLDC)

 

Then of course some still use "The North" vs "The South" which I never understood...

 

According to Antoine van Agtmael, whos a kinda business guru, he invented 'emerging market' as a 'positive and invigorating' alternative to Third World. however thats mostly to do with the world bank/intertnational Finance Corporation/business so maybe we can come up with a pro-active term for these areas as well????

 

Spoken like a true WB/IFC slimeball :lol:

 

 

developed, underdeveloped, undeveloped

developed, less developed countries (LDC), least developed countries (LLDC)

 

 

None of those are exactly an improvement on or any more "PC" than saying 'The Third World' though are they....?

 

The whole "Northern Hemisphere/Southern Hemisphere" hardly works either does it..? You've got Places like Romania, Bangladesh, Mongolia and the former Soviet Eurasian States in the North where abject poverty is rife, and places like Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, etc in the South which are highly developed...

 

None of those are exactly an improvement on or any more "PC" than saying 'The Third World' though are they....?

 

The whole "Northern Hemisphere/Southern Hemisphere" hardly works either does it..? You've got Places like Romania, Bangladesh, Mongolia and the former Soviet Eurasian States in the North where abject poverty is rife,

 

and not forgetting Barnsley :lol: