Released: November 10th, 2006
Starring: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Gael Garcia Bernal
Writer/Director: Guierrmo Arriaga/Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Description: Tragedy strikes a married couple on vacation in the Moroccan desert, touching off an interlocking story involving four different families.
[Review may contain spoilers. Please watch movie before reading, unless you don't care. Most of these films have already been released for a while, so they should be readily available.]
***
It appears to be a recent phenomenon that movies should have interweaving storylines. It doesn't matter what genre it is, or what exactly the story is trying to get across. The writers and directors seem more interested in showing you how cleaver they are than creating a compelling story. It's a trend that can be intriguing but is getting progressively worse as time goes on.
"Babel" is one of the more well structured ones. They movie begins with an American tourist getting shot while on a tour, and this sets off a chain of events that involves four families in a very interesting way. By using a gun as the connection, it opens the story up for a lot of foreshadowing and call back.
What caught my attention was that three of the four segments were subtitled, and despite the need to read, the performances were really captivating. I especially enjoyed the Japan scenes with the deaf teen. The choice to make them really quiet was genius and helps you get in the mindset needed to understand that segment. But the way this is connected to the other stories is weak. This could have easily been a movie unto itself; really strong storytelling.
Pitt's performance as an American stuck in a small village with no way out was really good. He has gotten much better with age. After watching this, and recalling his breakout role in "Interview With the Vampire", you begin to notice how much more of a nuance he gained in his acting. The best example is the end of the movie when his is on the phone and he slowly begins to breakdown after the ordeal he went through. He doesn't show his emotion at finger-snapping speed, but rather, he went through a range of emotions very naturally and made you feel for him.
Pitt is only challenged by Rinko Kikuchi as Chieko Wataya, the deaf Japanese teen, who is beginning to blossom sexually. She had to be so strong with her physical acting because she could use the volume of her voice to convey emotion. It's a lot harder than it looks, and she completely deserved her Oscar nomination, and should have won against Jennifer Hudson.
"Babel" is a long movie that loses me in places but it's emotion is so raw that it is captivating. If more movies with interweaving storylines were more like this, then the over-saturation wouldn't be such a concern. The four locations were very distinctive, which is what you need when you're jumping back and forth from locations.
Rating: 7/10 -- If you can stay with it, you will be rewarded with a good ending. One of the few best picture nominees that truly deserved to be there, and got robbed in the best supporting category. One warning though, there's a lot of subtitles.
"Babel" is one of the more well structured ones. They movie begins with an American tourist getting shot while on a tour, and this sets off a chain of events that involves four families in a very interesting way. By using a gun as the connection, it opens the story up for a lot of foreshadowing and call back.
What caught my attention was that three of the four segments were subtitled, and despite the need to read, the performances were really captivating. I especially enjoyed the Japan scenes with the deaf teen. The choice to make them really quiet was genius and helps you get in the mindset needed to understand that segment. But the way this is connected to the other stories is weak. This could have easily been a movie unto itself; really strong storytelling.
Pitt's performance as an American stuck in a small village with no way out was really good. He has gotten much better with age. After watching this, and recalling his breakout role in "Interview With the Vampire", you begin to notice how much more of a nuance he gained in his acting. The best example is the end of the movie when his is on the phone and he slowly begins to breakdown after the ordeal he went through. He doesn't show his emotion at finger-snapping speed, but rather, he went through a range of emotions very naturally and made you feel for him.
Pitt is only challenged by Rinko Kikuchi as Chieko Wataya, the deaf Japanese teen, who is beginning to blossom sexually. She had to be so strong with her physical acting because she could use the volume of her voice to convey emotion. It's a lot harder than it looks, and she completely deserved her Oscar nomination, and should have won against Jennifer Hudson.
"Babel" is a long movie that loses me in places but it's emotion is so raw that it is captivating. If more movies with interweaving storylines were more like this, then the over-saturation wouldn't be such a concern. The four locations were very distinctive, which is what you need when you're jumping back and forth from locations.
Rating: 7/10 -- If you can stay with it, you will be rewarded with a good ending. One of the few best picture nominees that truly deserved to be there, and got robbed in the best supporting category. One warning though, there's a lot of subtitles.
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