Two reviews.
Sep. 3rd, 2007 01:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elwenTrying to savor the last bits of summer vacation, I've been marathoning a lot of anime and watching a lot of Netflixed DVDs.
I finished watching Cluster Edge, which was decent. It takes place in a fictional European-ish country in something resembling the 1930's, I think. (Old-fashioned cars and early, open-seat planes? Maybe? I'm not good at identifying decades by technology.) It mainly focuses on Cluster E.A., an elite international school for the sons of nobles. [I never thought about it, but I guess this is a pretty popular set-up for BL-ish shows (Marginal Prince, Meine Liebe, etc.). It's kind of like the shoujo equivalent of "alien girl starts living with awkward male protagonist".] The main character is Agate, a really bubbly, optimistic new student who soon reveals that he has mysterious powers. Two other students, Fon and Beryl, end up becoming his friends and growing stronger as people, and start fighting against the stagnation and complacency prevalent in the school.
Of course, just those things doesn't really explain much. What grows more and more important is the political setting. In the past, countries manufactured artificial soldiers, basically clones, to fight each other. Now that things are relatively peaceful, manufacture of such soldiers is banned by treaty. The ones still alive were isolated in camps, and public opinion is strongly against them. However, there was a man named Chalce who fought for their rights and tried to make them human by giving them memories and thus teaching them morality. Chalce, it turns out, has various connections to several people at Cluster E.A., including Agate and one of the teachers.
I wouldn't want to sell Cluster Edge for something more than it is, but I found it quite different from your typical BL show. For one thing, it's not really BL -- there just aren't any female characters that are anywhere near the age of the protagonists. What made it stand out to me was that the political and moral themes were strongly highlighted and actually quite coherent. [In contrast, I enjoyed the political element of Meine Liebe, but there wasn't really a message there; it just moved the plot forward.] As you might guess, the main enemies are discrimination (against artificial soldiers) and powerlust. Which might make it seem a bit cliché, but it didn't really feel that way. The one part I felt a little too heavy-handed was the religious aspect -- there is a Church that is obviously based on Catholicism though they never come out and say it. At first, it's unclear how they're involved in any of it, but at the end the creators apparently decided to dump a lot of barely developed and very standard moralistic themes on them: corruption, sacrificing some to save others, redemption, etc.
As with most shows like this, the one thing that has to be strong is the characters, and they did that very well. I am pretty much indifferent to Agate -- I don't think he was meant to develop but to act as a foil and catalyst for others anyway -- and his unshakable optimism alternating with rage annoyed me at times, but . . . well, if I described Beryl as a refined but tormented pretty boy, I think that explains it all, right? ^o^;; Beryl and Chalce both had very compelling backstories -- actually, most of the characters who got backstories had pretty compelling ones -- and I think those were what really lent so much strength to the show's themes. There is also a group of artificial soldiers whom Chalce had been working with, and their "becoming human" story, even if fairly predictable, was very beautifully done.
With respect to characters, my one complaint would be that the motivations and goals of the two main villains were not very well-explained. As far as I could tell, one was simply a twisted sadist and the other was a clever guy out for revenge. Very one-dimensional and not adding very much to the story besides providing the necessary destruction and adversity.
My biggest complaint about the show is pacing. At first, they had recap every third episode, which was way overkill. Especially since it was the kind of recap which doesn't so much remind you of what happened as replay things "artistically" and take up time. And, as with most shows, it felt a bit rushed at the end. But overall, it was mostly satisfying. And definitely less fluffy and more thought-provoking than I thought it'd be.
And then I watched The Lives of Others. It did with the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, so I guess it's unsurprising that I liked it a lot. In short, it's about a member of the Stasi [East Germany's secret police, for those of you who don't read enough Cold War spy novels to know] who is assigned to carry out surveillance on a playwright and his girlfriend, who is a beautiful actress. As he watches them, he starts to care for them and is drawn into their lives -- in a very cerebral, stalker-ish, watcher kind of way. As he starts to discover subversive activities, he has to choose between protecting them and advancing his career, as well as remaining loyal to the communist ideal he once strove for.
The article that convinced me to Netflix the movie described it as an intellectual spy movie -- in contrast to, say, the Bourne Ultimatum. [It said something like "Americans' idea of an intellectual spy movie is one in which the protagonist has a Ph.D." Sad, but probably true. Also, annoying because I can't believe they have the gall to preserve that part of the Bourne novels, but that's another story.] But I wouldn't really call it a spy movie because conjures up images of people running through multiple countries with guns and massive political conspiracies and whatnot. The events in Lives of Others are more quiet, involving only a few people and having little impact beyond that circle. It takes place entirely in East Germany, mainly in the apartment where the target lives and the little room where the surveillance equipment is. Like the FBI versus the CIA, apparently the domestic arm of the Stasi had a much less glamorous job.
Rather than intellectual, I would say that the movie is very psychological. It's about seeing how the artistic community is dealing with the oppressive regime and, especially, how specific individuals must cope. It's about how the watcher is affected by what he sees. Words and facial expressions are the "action", rather than shootouts or car chases.
The movie is tense all the way through. Perhaps only a German filmmaker could convey what East Germany was like the way it is in this film, and that atmosphere is what makes the story feel so immediate and compelling. There were both unexpected twists and inevitable trainwrecks, but each of them felt slightly dissonant and unresolved, like the ending itself. That, too, is something you probably wouldn't find in an American film. The ending made me cry, though. Even though I didn't cry . . . well, at the part where you'd expect people to cry.
Overall, highly recommended. I mean, it did win an Oscar. And it's not like most of you readers aren't used to watching subtitles. :P
I finished watching Cluster Edge, which was decent. It takes place in a fictional European-ish country in something resembling the 1930's, I think. (Old-fashioned cars and early, open-seat planes? Maybe? I'm not good at identifying decades by technology.) It mainly focuses on Cluster E.A., an elite international school for the sons of nobles. [I never thought about it, but I guess this is a pretty popular set-up for BL-ish shows (Marginal Prince, Meine Liebe, etc.). It's kind of like the shoujo equivalent of "alien girl starts living with awkward male protagonist".] The main character is Agate, a really bubbly, optimistic new student who soon reveals that he has mysterious powers. Two other students, Fon and Beryl, end up becoming his friends and growing stronger as people, and start fighting against the stagnation and complacency prevalent in the school.
Of course, just those things doesn't really explain much. What grows more and more important is the political setting. In the past, countries manufactured artificial soldiers, basically clones, to fight each other. Now that things are relatively peaceful, manufacture of such soldiers is banned by treaty. The ones still alive were isolated in camps, and public opinion is strongly against them. However, there was a man named Chalce who fought for their rights and tried to make them human by giving them memories and thus teaching them morality. Chalce, it turns out, has various connections to several people at Cluster E.A., including Agate and one of the teachers.
I wouldn't want to sell Cluster Edge for something more than it is, but I found it quite different from your typical BL show. For one thing, it's not really BL -- there just aren't any female characters that are anywhere near the age of the protagonists. What made it stand out to me was that the political and moral themes were strongly highlighted and actually quite coherent. [In contrast, I enjoyed the political element of Meine Liebe, but there wasn't really a message there; it just moved the plot forward.] As you might guess, the main enemies are discrimination (against artificial soldiers) and powerlust. Which might make it seem a bit cliché, but it didn't really feel that way. The one part I felt a little too heavy-handed was the religious aspect -- there is a Church that is obviously based on Catholicism though they never come out and say it. At first, it's unclear how they're involved in any of it, but at the end the creators apparently decided to dump a lot of barely developed and very standard moralistic themes on them: corruption, sacrificing some to save others, redemption, etc.
As with most shows like this, the one thing that has to be strong is the characters, and they did that very well. I am pretty much indifferent to Agate -- I don't think he was meant to develop but to act as a foil and catalyst for others anyway -- and his unshakable optimism alternating with rage annoyed me at times, but . . . well, if I described Beryl as a refined but tormented pretty boy, I think that explains it all, right? ^o^;; Beryl and Chalce both had very compelling backstories -- actually, most of the characters who got backstories had pretty compelling ones -- and I think those were what really lent so much strength to the show's themes. There is also a group of artificial soldiers whom Chalce had been working with, and their "becoming human" story, even if fairly predictable, was very beautifully done.
With respect to characters, my one complaint would be that the motivations and goals of the two main villains were not very well-explained. As far as I could tell, one was simply a twisted sadist and the other was a clever guy out for revenge. Very one-dimensional and not adding very much to the story besides providing the necessary destruction and adversity.
My biggest complaint about the show is pacing. At first, they had recap every third episode, which was way overkill. Especially since it was the kind of recap which doesn't so much remind you of what happened as replay things "artistically" and take up time. And, as with most shows, it felt a bit rushed at the end. But overall, it was mostly satisfying. And definitely less fluffy and more thought-provoking than I thought it'd be.
And then I watched The Lives of Others. It did with the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, so I guess it's unsurprising that I liked it a lot. In short, it's about a member of the Stasi [East Germany's secret police, for those of you who don't read enough Cold War spy novels to know] who is assigned to carry out surveillance on a playwright and his girlfriend, who is a beautiful actress. As he watches them, he starts to care for them and is drawn into their lives -- in a very cerebral, stalker-ish, watcher kind of way. As he starts to discover subversive activities, he has to choose between protecting them and advancing his career, as well as remaining loyal to the communist ideal he once strove for.
The article that convinced me to Netflix the movie described it as an intellectual spy movie -- in contrast to, say, the Bourne Ultimatum. [It said something like "Americans' idea of an intellectual spy movie is one in which the protagonist has a Ph.D." Sad, but probably true. Also, annoying because I can't believe they have the gall to preserve that part of the Bourne novels, but that's another story.] But I wouldn't really call it a spy movie because conjures up images of people running through multiple countries with guns and massive political conspiracies and whatnot. The events in Lives of Others are more quiet, involving only a few people and having little impact beyond that circle. It takes place entirely in East Germany, mainly in the apartment where the target lives and the little room where the surveillance equipment is. Like the FBI versus the CIA, apparently the domestic arm of the Stasi had a much less glamorous job.
Rather than intellectual, I would say that the movie is very psychological. It's about seeing how the artistic community is dealing with the oppressive regime and, especially, how specific individuals must cope. It's about how the watcher is affected by what he sees. Words and facial expressions are the "action", rather than shootouts or car chases.
The movie is tense all the way through. Perhaps only a German filmmaker could convey what East Germany was like the way it is in this film, and that atmosphere is what makes the story feel so immediate and compelling. There were both unexpected twists and inevitable trainwrecks, but each of them felt slightly dissonant and unresolved, like the ending itself. That, too, is something you probably wouldn't find in an American film. The ending made me cry, though. Even though I didn't cry . . . well, at the part where you'd expect people to cry.
Overall, highly recommended. I mean, it did win an Oscar. And it's not like most of you readers aren't used to watching subtitles. :P
