| Monday, January 21, 2008 |
| Go See It |
The Kite Runner
Moving, inspirational, heart wrenching, emotional, uplifting...all of it. It's too bad this isn't being shown in more theaters, because it's a really terrific film. They did an amazing job conveying fear, terror, remorse, joy, love, friendship, loyalty, all the most intense and basic human emotions - the actors were just incredible, and the two little boys who played the main characters, Amir and Hassan, were just mesmerizing.
They certainly didn't have to do much set dressing to Kashgar. They used scenes from the market, the main mosque, the narrow alleyways and courtyards downtown, the small street shops - it was marvelous to watch it again. It was like watching a home movie of my vacation. They also used the Karakorum Highway near the Pakistan border as the border crossing scenes between Afghanistan and Pakistan. I recognized the salt water flat and some of the road scenery. In order to make Kashgar look like Kabul in the big kite flying competition, they used CGI animation to make Kashgar look about 10 times larger than it actually is from above. The actual city is in the very center, and everything else is filled in electronically to make it look bigger. The only real set dressing they had to do was: (1) create the upper class Afghani home compound of Amir and his father. No Chinese are that wealthy in Kashgar! And (2) create a war torn atmosphere, bombed out look to depict Kabul after the Russian invasion and the take over by the Taliban.
This is a real roller coaster of emotions kind of movie - take tissues, but you'll clap at the end - everyone in the theater did.
And I have to say, Inner Harbor East is really coming in to its own as a real upscale urban downtown destination. My friend and I had a workout and swim with a soak in the hot tub and a steam shower at the MAC, went downstairs for coffee at Starbucks, headed immediately next door to the theater, and then walked directly across the street to James Joyce Pub for a black and tan and some Irish Stew on a frigid Sunday evening. Made for a great Sunday afternoon / evening.
UPDATE: The Kite Runner was nominated for a best music score Oscar. I deeply disappointed that it didn't garner more than this. It could easily have won for best screenplay or best adaptation of a book to film, and that's not to mention the acting. Oh well, at least I have a movie list to knock off in the next month or so. I have yet to see: Atonement, No Country for Old Men, Juno, Michael Clayton or Days of Blood. My goal is to see all the best film contenders this year BEFORE the awards ceremony. I don't think I've ever done that before. |
posted by Broadsheet @ 10:42 AM   |
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