Maelstrom [IMPORT]

Rating:
Summary: canadian gem
Review: Maelstrom earned best film, best director, and best actress in canada for good reason. Highly imaginative and original, this is a story about life and death. A story about a young woman told by a 'cronenbergesque' fish on a chopping block.

Rating:
Summary: canadian gem
Review: Maelstrom earned best film, best director, and best actress in canada for good reason. Highly imaginative and original, this is a story about life and death. A story about a young woman told by a 'cronenbergesque' fish on a chopping block.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding and shocking (even without the talking fish)
Review: Right, so if you've heard anything about Maelstrom, it was probably "Yuck/wow/hmmm, it's narrated by a series of fish on the chopping block."

Yep, it is. That's not why you should see it, though.

Bibi is a successful fashion designer in Montreal whose personal life is in a shambles; she can't escape from her famous mother's shadow, nor from the shock and guilt of the abortion she has in the first scene of the film. She gets drunk one night and kills a Norwegian fisherman in a hit-and-run accident. From that moment, what's left of her life becomes entwined with what's left of his.

Bitterly funny moments abound: the soundtrack in the abortion scene plays "Good Morning Starshine"; an obnoxious journalist tries to interview an uncooperative (and hungover) Bibi; she very bluntly declares her love (ok, lust) on an airport runway; she is forced to drink to a toast calling for her own disembowellment; her best friend loses track of how many abortions she's had, and unwittingly sings a gory Norwegian battle song as a lullaby . . .

As the list of "jokes" may indicate, this is often a very dark film. But in the end, it goes a long way toward making you think about the nature of fate, life, death, love, and redemption - and in its odd little way, it's quite uplifting. The cinematography is breathtaking.

And, hey, there's a talking fish.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding and shocking (even without the talking fish)
Review: Right, so if you've heard anything about Maelstrom, it was probably "Yuck/wow/hmmm, it's narrated by a series of fish on the chopping block."

Yep, it is. That's not why you should see it, though.

Bibi is a successful fashion designer in Montreal whose personal life is in a shambles; she can't escape from her famous mother's shadow, nor from the shock and guilt of the abortion she has in the first scene of the film. She gets drunk one night and kills a Norwegian fisherman in a hit-and-run accident. From that moment, what's left of her life becomes entwined with what's left of his.

Bitterly funny moments abound: the soundtrack in the abortion scene plays "Good Morning Starshine"; an obnoxious journalist tries to interview an uncooperative (and hungover) Bibi; she very bluntly declares her love (ok, lust) on an airport runway; she is forced to drink to a toast calling for her own disembowellment; her best friend loses track of how many abortions she's had, and unwittingly sings a gory Norwegian battle song as a lullaby . . .

As the list of "jokes" may indicate, this is often a very dark film. But in the end, it goes a long way toward making you think about the nature of fate, life, death, love, and redemption - and in its odd little way, it's quite uplifting. The cinematography is breathtaking.

And, hey, there's a talking fish.

Rating:
Summary: Hello, Im a talking fishy. NOOOO dont cut my head offfffffff
Review: This movie was very unique and beautiful and thats rare in the movie world cuz they all seem to be cut from the same boring cloth nowadays. Anyhoo, its not too artsy fartsy but it reminded me of something Tom Tykwer would do towards the end with the 'fate brought us togeter sort of theme.' it says its a movie about life and death and the earth and sea and yep i see that. a talking fish starts to tell the story and i thought that was very clever and gave it a sortof sci-fi feel which i thought was cool. the cinematography is brilliantly purdy - sortof blueish tones like the panic room camera work - i thought anyhoo... this was indeed a rare gem find in a film world of same old, same old. worth seeing indeed.