More current films

8/9/07

2 Days in Paris
Written and directed by Julie Delpy

Julie Delpy. She wrote and directed 2 Days in Paris. And produced. And edited. And starred in. And composed the music for. And sang the song that ran over the closing credits for. This is a Julie Delpy film. Totally. That could be a scary prospect, but actually, it’s pretty good light entertainment. 2 Days in Paris tells the story of a French woman bringing her American boyfriend to Paris to meet the family and spend a couple of days. The boyfriend is played by Adam Goldberg. He’s neurotic, jealous, and suffering from severe culture shock to boot. All of this results in some pretty amusing conversations.


The Bourne Ultimatum
Directed by Paul Greengrass

If you’ve been conscious in recent days, you know this is the third in the Bourne series. Identity was first, then Conspiracy, then Ultimatum. TVOR is not quite sure what ultimatum they’re talking about, but it’s probably not important. This is a well-made action film, with Bourne as the anti-Bond. This man is tortured. In every sense. There’s an impressive supporting cast including Joan Allen, David Strathairn, Albert Finney, and Scott Glenn, who all play CIA types. The Bourne Ultimatum is a very post-9/11 film, and it turns out that the CIA has some bad people in it, who do bad things. Julia Stiles is back, and she may have been paid by the word. She says very few, which is a good thing.

This film is good for what it is. If you’re a Bourne fan, you’ve probably already seen it. If you’re not, you can probably skip it.

Video notes:

Daniel Bruhl plays small roles in both 2 Days in Paris and The Bourne Ultimatum, but he’s the lead in a couple of good German films available on DVD. Good Bye Lenin! tells the story of a young man living in East Berlin in the late ‘80’s who tries to keep the news of the collapse of East Germany from his sick mother, a devoted Communist. The Edukators is about a group of activists who break into the mansions of the rich and rearrange furniture and generally mess with them. Things escalate from there, especially when a girl enters the picture. These are both worth checking out.

And do take a look at the first Bourne film, The Bourne Identity. It’s more character-driven, and it has Franka Potente, Clive Owen, and a great car chase (well, it is an action/spy film, after all) involving a Mini.

Paul Greengrass, in addition to directing the last two Bourne films, made the excellent film United 93. It’s difficult to watch, but definitely worth seeing.