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Reviews: February 2006 Archives
"Tsotsi": Steal a baby, redeem your soul.
By Alison Willmore on 02/24/2006
"Tsotsi" opens with a group of hoods playing dice. They bicker, one making a particularly compelling argument by slamming his knife into the table. The three turn to their leader, the title character (the name simply mean "thug"), who's brooding by the window: "What are we doing tonight, Tsotsi?" And Presley Chweneyagae turns to the camera, and a throbbing kwaito track kicks in as the gang swings off to saunter down the street of the township, a sprawling shantytown on the outskirts of Johannesburg. It's gleefully, guiltily enjoyable. It's unavoidably reminiscent of "City of God." But director Gavin Hood's film... MORE »
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"Night Watch"'s New World Order
By Alison Willmore on 02/17/2006
Filed under: ReviewsWhat does a Russian blockbuster look like? It turns out, a lot like an American blockbuster...mainly "The Matrix," with plenty of MTV2 mixed in and a sporadic sprinkling of Eisenstein. Timur Bekmambetov's "Night Watch," made for an outrageous (in Russia) $4 million, may have been an unexpected and record-breaking hit in its home country, but the dark urban fantasy is more interesting as a cultural artifact than as a techno-heavy, flashy, forgettable bit of entertainment. As is de rigeur these days, "Night Watch" (which is the first installment of a trilogy) rests on a convoluted, po-faced mythology — there are... MORE »
