Monday, August 14, 2006

'when father was away on business'. 'miss congeniality 2'

it comes with the territory, i guess. after watching too many fassbinder films you come to expect more from a film than just plain storytelling. you expect some experimentation with language too. no such luck in the cutesie-pie story around a young child’s view of the world of adults and adultery during a time of turmoil in the yugoslavia of the 50s. one of the many films of this genre and has all the formulaic themes that typify them. sweet young central figures, a budding sexuality, a caring brother, a much-abused mother, cuddly grandfathers and a narrative structure that i have seen too many times from european cinema trying to deal with communism and / or the world war. naturally an oscar nominee. feel-good fluff.

sometimes brainless hollywood is more entertaining; like ‘miss congeniality 2’ where sandra bullock saves miss usa from a kidnapping in a stupid not quite laugh fest. i did not crack a smile through the entire thing but also did not change the channel. its tv movie fare and i couch potatoed through it fairly satisfied that i had not paid money for a movie hall ticket.

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