Blog of Leonid Mamchenkov

I went to see “Burn After Reading” a couple of weeks ago.  I had a feeling that it should be rather good, because it was directed by Cohen brothers, who directed, produced, and wrote screenplays for quite a few good movies (”No Country for Old Men”, “O Brother, Where Art Though?”, “The Big Lebowski”, “Fargo”, “The Hudsucker Proxy”, and more).  Also, the cast for this film was interesting - George Clooney, John Malkovich, Brad Pitt, and a few other names you know.  And, of course, there was a cool trailer.

The film was excellent, but it wasn’t quite what I expected.  I thought (based on the trailer) it would some sort of comedy action, with a bit of crime.  And it sort of was.  But.  I don’t even know how describe it.  It was funny but very sad film.  Or a very sad film, which was funny.  I guess that just doesn’t make any sense, but that what it was.

Overall, I really enjoyed it.  Especially with all the good acting, interesting story telling, camera work, and even more good acting.  An 8 out of 10 and strongly recommended.

I rented “Syriana” when I saw George Clooney and Matt Damon on the cover. Not that they are a guarantee of a good film, but they are a pretty good sign of one.  And indeed they both did a nice job in this film, however it wasn’t enough for me.

This time though, my criticism (critinism?) is not of the film itself, but of that particular DVD that I rented.  It didn’t have English sub-titles (although I don’t know if it didn’t have them originally, or if this DVD was a pirated copy).  Half of the movie takes place in Middle East and there is a lot of non-English talk happening.   I couldn’t make much sense out of it, except for the general dramatic mood and some people over there not being very happy with some people over here and vice versa.

Other than that, the film looked to be very nice - it has a certain mood, there is some good photography, and there is also a lot of human appreciation, which is something I like seeing in the movies.  That is when people appreciate other people for just being people.  There aren’t enough films out there promoting appreciation.  It was nice to see this one did.

I’d rate it as a 6 out of 10, with reserving a lot of space on either end of this rating due to not understanding half of what was said.