The Secret Life of Words - 2005

dir. Isabel Coixet

I recently discovered Sarah Polley when I saw Away From Her, a movie she wrote and directed. I didn't know much about her, but Away From Her was sad and sweet and wise. My boyfriend told me Polley once said that if she wasn't an actress she would be a labor organizer. Now, after seeing her performance in The Secret Life of Words I can safely say I love her. I'm following her career backwards, apparently she was in Go - which by some twist of fate I survived the '90s without having seen. She appears to be a thinking-woman's Uma Thurman.

I've read that some people compare The Secret Life of Words with Breaking the Waves(BTW), which to me does not compare. The Secret Life of Words is much sweeter and calmer. As I remember, and it's been quite a while seen I've seen it, the characters in BTW have ugly struggles with their anguish, in SLOW, the characters devise ways to peacefully coexist with theirs.

The movie predominantly takes place on a shut-down oil rig, the rig itself serves as a coping mechanism as an isolated and controlled environment that mirrors the factory where Polley's character works. The lovely aerial shots of the oil rig and the sea bring home the isolation in which these people interact. Because there is no outside life to complicate things, the film concentrates on the internal; like quiet conversations that signify slow building relationships between people.

If I were to compare this movie to something, it might be the TV show Northern Exposure. Maybe that is because the director included a couple musical montages featuring the quirky people stranded on the oil rig, including a loveable chef and a geeky oceanographer who plays b-ball with a goose. I love musical montages, and the ones in this movie help to diffuse the seriousness of its characters and underline how a severe, isolated environment can also be healing.

Polley is a joy to watch as a silent, secretive and spare young woman who plays nurse to Tim Robbins, who is distractedly Tim Robbins. Polley aces her apex performance in which she divulges the source of her pain. Above all this movie is a devastating statement against war that will make you cringe at the widespread acceptance of military might. It will remind you that war itself is an enemy of all people; and the consequences of it are unacceptable. And it will remind you how dearly we need more women directors.

My Neighbor Totoro (Tonari no Totoro) - 1988

dir. Hayao Miyazaki



I don't know whether the little girls voices in this movie are as annoying in Japanese as they are in the Americanized version we rented from Blockbuster but my guess is that the Japanese version is infinitely better. As a rule I love movies from Studio Ghibli hence my disappointment with the squeally voices emanating from the cute animated girls in My Neighbor Totoro. Studio Ghibli movies are like the fantasy world I lived in when I was 5. Fantastically magical. Silly and sweet. Everything is possible including having a "Totoro" or Troll live in the gigantic tree beside your house that roars and flys you around the countryside late at night when you should be sleeping. Perfectly normal for a 5 year old brain. American animation has never seemed to aspire towards the beautifully painted landscapes, subtle changes in light, and the sad wonderfulness of being a child that Miyazaki has mastered. There are moments of imagination and beauty in this movie that are hard to describe and to a 5 year old I can only imagine that they may seem delightfully normal. This movie is more for a child than other Studio Ghibli creations. Mei and Satsuki are open to the scary things in the world in a way only a young one can get away with, and the audience is reassured that there is always a safe place and somone to rescue you even if it is in a psychedelic chesire cat bus.

The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen) - 2006

dir. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

A movie set in 1984 East Germany? Well that was enough to make me want to see this film. It opens with the a Stasi agent (The East German secret police) conducting an intense interrogation of a suspected dissident. From there, I was afraid it would be a grim uncomfortable movie. But it turned out to be bittersweet, contemplative and a bit humorous.

The cast was excellent and Ulrich Mühe, the actor playing the lead Stasi agent, apparently known as the German Kevin Spacey, really carried the movie. Mühe plays a restrained and obedient high-level Stasi agent, quietly conducting a surveillance operation of a writer under suspicion by the government and consequently becomes engrossed in monitoring the activity in the writer's life-filled apartment.

The Stasi agent little by little becomes sympathetic towards the couple he is observing who gradually become caught up in a web of blackmail. Eventually he ends up sacrificing himself for the lives he's been watching. Not the most orginal plot, but it is executed with style, good writing, and a solid story.

The movie unfolds slowly and presents many moral dilemmas. It deals with questions of corrupted power, how much repression a person will endure before taking action, and the role of artists in a time of censure.

I also loved the female lead, she had a strong, interesting face, but I didn't much like her character. She was written as weak and there are instances of rape and sexual domination that were not dealt with originally by the writer. Although it didn't bother me enough to influence my liking of the film.

This movie takes place during a grim but fascinating time in German history. Unbeknownst to the characters, the Berlin wall is about to come down in a few years, making history an interesting subplot of its own. And like most foreign films The Lives of Others is smarter than your average U.S. production and as my filmgoing partner noted it "has a refreshing lack of explosions."