Head In The Clouds, 2004

Head in the clouds, 2004
Director: John Duigan
Cast: Stuart Townsend, Penelope Cruz, Charlize Theron



Head in short: a sweeping romantic drama set in 1930's England, Paris, and Spain. Gilda Bessé shares her Paris apartment with an Irish schoolteacher, Guy Malyon, and Mia, a refugee from Spain. As the world drifts toward war, Gilda defiantly pursues her hedonistic lifestyle and her burgeoning career as a photographer. But Guy and Mia feel impelled to join the fight against fascism, and the three friends are separated - seemingly forever.


Stage: Home theatre

Preps: None in perticular. A brilliant cast set and war as a background give me high expectations.


Reality: One of the better ones in terms of war drama, romantic drama. Brilliant cast by Theron, another one of Cruz. Making a love triangle from director's perspective is brilliant, in this cast set also possible to really bite into the challenge. Threesome form a miraculous set for adventures, indulging life as it was just before the war. The scenery is amazing, awsomely dragging you into that period with the clothes, parties, shoes, hats. The manners of behaviour. The food and the drinking. Enjoying company and wasting the time, not like in present, when we run around headless and without breathing. Shown as potential the viewer can only dwell upon and think how good it would be to be there for some time.
The story turns completely around with the savage approach to the war. The perspective is european, but in my opinion pretty honest. If in the first half you want to experience this - the director in the second half makes sure you remember that it was one of the most disastrous moments in history of mankind and that there's nothing for individual to wish to be there.
The piece involves everything worth remembering. The suffering, endless romance. Expectations. Indulgement. All in one piece.


My personal rating: 8,0 (something worth seeing and remembering. I simply adore Theron and Cruz).

Head in the clouds on IMDB
Head in the clouds homepage

Trapped, 2002

Trapped, 2002
Director: Luis Mandoki
Cast: Charlize Theron, Courtney Love, Stuart Townsend, Kevin Bacon


Stage: Home TV selection on a rainy Sunday evening

Trapped in short: When their daughter is kidnapped by experienced nappers (Bacon and Love), the Jennings' (Theron and Townsend) turn the tables on this seemingly foolproof plan

Preps: None in perticular - I have just caught the TV movie and I loved the cast, seemed intriguing. Theron just doesn't go with lame movies and neither does Kevin Bacon (in general, I believe it's so). However, the movie is unfamiliar to my knowledge and I am curious.

Reality: I am deeply dissappointed in this piece. The topic can be strong and the story can be written in an intriguing thriller-kind, maybe even showing deep revenge and the excitement when a kid is kidnapped and the blackmailing begins. But not this story. Not the Trapped story. This one is really something pulled out when the director (or should I blame the screenplay writer) was on vacation, I guess.

The movie seems deep, but it's really shallow. I think about turning it down in the first quarter, but then decide to show some respect to Theron and Bacon, who I love watching in some pieces. However, I am deeply annoyed spending two hours on a vague movie, which doesn't leave a trace in me. Scenery is rotten, cast could be much better, it seems the creators of the movie took this one as a high-school assignement rather than a serious movie.

I don't recommend it - do something more useful with your time!




My personal rating: 3,0 (not even decent fun, really one of the worse versions of the topic.. truly dissappointed when seeing this)

Trapped on IMDB