This is a mystery story built within the framework of a harsh, brutal war movie. There are tons of deeply affecting moments that hit hard and will haunt you long after you’re done watching. The whole thing is anchored by a breathtaking performance from Lubna Azabal, who burns with a raging fire while somehow being very minimal in her emoting. The film goes deeper than you imagine it’s going to and gets more interesting every step of the way. Until it goes a step too far and travels places you don’t want it to go. It has one of those awful twist endings that relies on one million different coincidences to come together, is completely insulting to your intelligence, and should sink the entire production. The ridiculous coincidence of the final reveal might be explained away as being fairy tale or in keeping with Greek tragedy, but the rest of the movie is far too realist in its tone for me to buy that explanation. Still, while I may have hated the destination, I enjoyed the journey of this one far too much to walk away saying that I didn’t like the movie as a whole.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Short Round: Incendies (2010) ****/*****
This is a mystery story built within the framework of a harsh, brutal war movie. There are tons of deeply affecting moments that hit hard and will haunt you long after you’re done watching. The whole thing is anchored by a breathtaking performance from Lubna Azabal, who burns with a raging fire while somehow being very minimal in her emoting. The film goes deeper than you imagine it’s going to and gets more interesting every step of the way. Until it goes a step too far and travels places you don’t want it to go. It has one of those awful twist endings that relies on one million different coincidences to come together, is completely insulting to your intelligence, and should sink the entire production. The ridiculous coincidence of the final reveal might be explained away as being fairy tale or in keeping with Greek tragedy, but the rest of the movie is far too realist in its tone for me to buy that explanation. Still, while I may have hated the destination, I enjoyed the journey of this one far too much to walk away saying that I didn’t like the movie as a whole.
