Movie Magazine International Blog

By Moira Sullivan Paprika Steen as "Thea" in Applause . The subject of the 2009 Danish film Applause seems like a western luxury about problems of people's own making.  The cinematography has a "Dogme" feel to it—the outdated Danish cinematographic conception created by Thomas Vinterberg and Lars Von Trier, which involves making films in the here and now -  no props, natural lighting, and no guns. The Danish actress  Paprika Steen plays Thea, a middle aged alcoholic actress, along with many of the people in her city in Copenhagen: problem drinkers, heavy drinkers, alike. She is trying to quit and regain the love of her two sons from her failed marriage a year and a half ago. The film is shot around the stage performance of Applause with Paprika Steen. Martin Pieter Zandvliet makes his directorial debut in this film, and although it was made three years ago it seems enmeshed with the virtues of "Dogme"- 'naked' reality in...

By Moira Sullivan Michelle Yeoh as Aung San Suu Kyi Luc Besson admits he couldn’t let the story about Aung San Suu Kyi go - and so he made a biopic of the woman who recently won a landslide victory for her party in Burma. The story begins in 1947 when Aung was a young girl and rebel soldiers assassinated her father, the leader of Burma. The film then jumps to many years later where there is a scene with her British husband Michael who hasn’t seen Aung for three years. He has just been diagnosed with cancer. Three years before, Aung left England to take care of her mother in Burma. Michelle Yeoh plays Aung Saan Suu Kyi and David Thewlis , her husband Michael Aris , a man whose hair is dreadfully uncombed through the entire film. This is not your typical Luc Besson film ; the story is straightforward and dominated by dialogue and sentimental background music. The rising and falling action documents how Aung San Suu Kyi became the beloved leader of her people.  Burma ...