Cache (Hidden)
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Movie Reviews of Cache (Hidden)
Movie Review: "East is East, West is West, and Never the Twain Shall Meet" Rudyard Kipling,
Summary: 5 Stars
I think it was one of the best movies of 2005 that deservingly won the Cannes Best Director Award. It is one of the most mysterious films I've ever seen that looks like a thriller but it is not, it is much more interesting, dramatic, and deeper.
Haneke's camera fixes on a successful French couple, Georges and Anne and uncovers (at the same time leaving a lot hidden) a lot about them, about what it means to live a life with the feeling of never ending guilt that would always stays in the memory no matter how hard one tries to hide it.
Georges and Anne begin receiving strange videotapes with the footage of their house, disturbing cards, and phone calls. Georges's memory and guilty conscience about some events that took place when he was 6-year-old child let him realize who might be behind the tapes but he hesitates to tell Anne because the story is complex. She is furious at him for lack of trust even though there are some secrets in her life as well.
Dreams and flashbacks of Georges' childhood reveal the mystery that goes as far as not only examining the jealousy of a young boy to another boy, a stranger from different culture and backgrounds with whom he had to share love and attention of his parents but also controversial racial and political relations between two countries that have not improved by now and would they ever improve as the new generations grow up remains one of the many questions that this uncompromising masterful film brings up but would not and could not answer.
I've watched the enigmatic film over and over during the weekend and I am fascinated by Haneke's craft, by his subtlety, by his ability to say something new in a very original way about subjects that are anything but new.
Outstanding film-making at its best.
Movie Review: Things are not what they seem!
Summary: 5 Stars
For some years Michael Haneke has been picking apart the petty and hypocritical concerns of a colourless and characterless bourgeois society, but with "Hidden he fearlessly takes on one of French society's darkest days, namely the drowning of several hundred Algerians in the Seine in the early 60's. This event provides the bedrock for a film that works on a number of levels, and explores some universal truths about the human condition and its propensity for deceit and betrayal. The intricate layers of deception and trickery that plague the middle class suburban couple (played wonderfully by Daniel Auteuil and the faultless Juliette Binoche) are peeled away to reveal a seething mass of hidden and buried prejudices, which seem to worryingly translate to the next generation. The impetus of this breakdown in familial institution is brought about by a series of mysterious and unnerving videocassettes, which show the families house under surveillance. The film which has been very unconventional up to this point (consisting of very long, static, medium shots) takes on the form of a detective thriller as Georges attempts to get to the bottom of the mystery of the tapes. In a society dominated by surveillance of all forms, Haneke suggests that not even the deepest and most painful secrets can be hidden from a voyeuristic and intrusive society. Haneke creates an incredible tension with his static camera and infrequent editing. But Haneke consistently infuriates generic delineation, and regularly crosses boundaries, so that "Hidden" becomes something peculiarly unique in tone. There is an objective iciness about the proceedings which offers no answers to a problem that has plagued mankind since time immemorial; the nature and quality of truth.
Movie Review: A "guilty" pleasure
Summary: 5 Stars
Cache is a film, that right off the bat you understand isn't going to be like all the others. First off, it begins with a still camera focusing on a house while nothing particularly important goes on. One soon finds off that the well off family of main characters is being harassed with mysterious video tapes and postcards, but with no real idea on who is sending them. Slowly as things start to unravel, one gathers more and more questions about, well basicly everything in the movie. This will be enjoyed by most film buffs who don't mind not having anwsers spoon fed to them. The plot gets better as you start to see the characters secrets come to life. Cache keeps a atomsphere all to itself as well, the film does not rush itself, and also lacks a score which is a brillently vital way to keep suspence to those who can pay attention without it. The moments of shock that come in a largely suspence building movie are heightened I would say actually in the movie, because we are so use to scores as psychological clues in film, we almost feel lost without them.
One reviewer said that "personal guilt" is overplayed. The odd thing about that is that guilt is the main theme of the entire film, so i'm far from agreement about that. The film as a whole is about exploring not just personal guilt, but the guilt of a society as well. The director has a fairly well thought out interview in the dvd as well, that is recommended viewing as it gives very clear thoughts on what the director wanted. However, even with all the explanation there is no clear anwsers to certain questions, and you might end up re-watching to try and catch things you missed in the background the first time around.
Its not called "Hidden" for no reason..
Movie Review: CAUGHT IN THE WEB--A MASTERPIECE
Summary: 5 Stars
Set in contemporary France and manifestly about reverberations from France's colonial past, the film is touched me deeply. On reflection, it is a nearly perfect movie, with a personal authorial sense of story telling.
I call it a masterpiece because CACHE is a work of art that takes you way beyond its surface into a state of mind that amplifies and illuminates its nominal subject. I'm reminded of a very different masterpiece--Pedro Almodovar's TALK TO HER--which luminously carries you into a state of love.
CACHE has the power to transport you into the web of human social connection. A sticky web, not easily seen, not easily extracted from.
In a phase, the film is about guilt and self-produced moral blindness across the various networks/divides of our socially extended selves (generations and social strata, and, to a lesser extent, gender). Very disturbing to see/feel how we avoid responsibility for the unavoidable damage we as individuals do "in all innocence" to "others" in a stratified society. The film--by forcing us to decide how guilty (responsible) can a six year-old be-- puts the blood in our face, and we can watch our own internal struggle with historical awareness claw past the complex processes of rationalization that keep us blind to our connection to one-another. This French film is universal because it is human. Certainly, it has something to say to every American.
Movie Review: Brain massage
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie makes you pay attention. You follow the same mystery that the characters are faced with. From the very beginning this movie is unconventional. I played with the sound and was convinced the movie was defective when there was no action but a camera set on a simple street in Paris. Then the voices and from then on I knew this was not your run of the mill Hollywood movie. The other reviews sum up the movie's plot and characters. The ending is the climax to me. I watched and watched and then you are left just sitting there. I did notice the exchange of two of the characters that I was not expecting. I might have missed something else who knows. The director made vague references but leaves everything up to the viewer to interpret. THAT is exactly what the director wanted you to do. You must view the extra interviews that will give you insight and the real genius behind this movie. I did not trully appreciate it until I listened to the directer. The actors themselves questioned but what a job they did. This movie does not tie up all the loose ends when the titles roll. It will haunt you not knowing if there was maybe something or things that you missed. Maybe something that someone else saw that you didn't. Would be a great movie for people to see together and then discuss. But be forwarened to have an open mind because you are challenged.