Citizen Kane meets Erin Brockovich, with a twist of Boys from Brazil
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Kate Conway, the heroine, and the mess she finds herself in, provide for a fast-paced and thrilling read.  It's the perfect book for someone wanting a bit of romance, crime and international intrigue in their lives.  I had the privilege of getting previous versions of the novel and am delighted in how it has come together -- anyone who purchases the book will be delighted too.
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The movie is based on a book by the prodigal Paul Theroux. It is centered around Allie Fox (Harrison Ford) and his family's migration to the remote and enigmatic Mosquito Coast. The tropical jungle gives Allie a virgin ground for creating a superior civilization. Surprisingly, he thinks ice is synonymous with civilization and builds a monstrous machine that generates ice, air-conditioning and condensed water. The ice-making machine is called Fat Boy. It is a giant manifestation of his creative genius. He hikes (lugging ice blocks) to remote Indian villages to proudly show them ice that he created. Not surprisingly, the Fat Boy initiates the sudden collapse of his remote & superior civilization. Thereafter, he gets madly obsessed to create another (more elemental) civilization on an unmapped place and exposes his family to great peril, hardships and hunger. He nurtures a strong dislike towards the missionaries operating in rural-rural Mosquito. His dislike towards them and the disappointment of failing in multiple attempts to create & sustain a civilization leads him to burning down a mission city. The reprisal is strong and he is shot & fatally wounded.

If you've read the book, then (subconsciously) you'll be trying to relate every scene to the book and will always be disappointed because the movie seems to move very fast. At times it'll be digressing from the book's story line and other times, it'll be an exact enactment. The mental picture painted by the mind while reading the book is very vivid & colorful compared to the scenes depicted in the movie.
I think movies based on wonderful & compelling books/novels should spend some time building the initial story (as in the book). In the movie, it would have helped if the director would have spent some more time showing Allie, his family members, his creational genius and his plot to migrate to the Mosquito Coast. The director should not assume that everyone watching the movie has read the book. That is the best approach for a mixed audience (folks who have read the book & folks who have not).

Nonetheless, the movie is watchable. Harrison Ford (as Allie) shines and the dramatic Mosquito Coast scenery & rugged jungle beauty is alluring and well shot. I particularly liked the shots of the tiny boat coasting upstream amidst thick jungle whilst being bathed in tropical sunshine. Fat Boy's manifestation is very impressive. The movie will leave you with a very strong afterthought about the manmade creations. To be honest, we are in very many ways (despite the luxuries) a forsaken captive of our own creation.

The movie's background score is lackluster. A good music score would have complemented the jungle backdrop.
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"Celeste and Jesse Forever" (2012 release; 92 min.) brings the story of Celeste (played by Rashida Jones, who also co-wrote the script) and Jesse (played by Andy Semberg), who have been "best friends forever" since their youth, got married 6 years ago, and now are separating but still remain friends. One day Jesse runs into Veronica, a Belgian girl (played by Rebecca Dayan), and starts dating her, even though he remains tormented by the loss of Celeste. In the rest of the movie we watch and wonder whether Celeste and Jesse ultimately will reconcile.

First off, you need to take a leap of faith that, despite still being BFFs, Celeste and Jesse are in the process of divorcing. It's never explained why that is happening, other than a general "taking each other for granted" type explanation (which does not square with the two spending all their time together). But once you can get over that, the movie works like a charm. Jones just oozes charisma, and with her recent roles in The Social Network, The Muppets, and Our Idiot Brother (not to mention her TV work on Parks and Recreation), she is cearly an up-and-coming talent. Can't wait to see what she will do next. There are several other smaller but still choice roles in here, notably Elijah Wood as Celeste's boss, Emma Roberts (niece of Julia Roberts by the way) as the Ke$ha-like pop singer, and the already mentioned Rebecca Dayan as the Belgian girl.

Bottom line, I really enjoyed this more than what I expected going in, and in that sense "Celeste and Jesse Forever" is another winning indie rom-com, not unlike, say, Ruby Sparks, Friends With Kids or even Your Sister's Sister. "Celeste and Jesse Forever" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
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Alessandro Avellis made if feature film debut with Ma Saison Super 8, a wonderful period piece about the gay rights movement in the 1970's.  He follows that up with a slice of life film from the streets of Paris.  Avellis uses three main characters, two men and a woman as the crux of the story. They come together to learn to live and each grows up in their own way.  But it is the City of Paris that really stars in this film.  Short in muted colors, sepia tones or basic black and white the city comes alive in ways not normally presented in most cinema.  The dirty underground, begging on the streets, playing for food on the metro, these are all presented in a matter of fact way that is compelling and shocking.
A love story set in the modern world, Paname is a wonderful look into today's youth culture
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Yes, this is a rom-com but not your typical one. It has quick-witted snappy dialogue you can imagine you and your friends would actually say and not just a series of "oh, aren't we clever" one-liners. In other words, it takes place in an adult world where people have actual lives (and jobs!) and have actual conversations between all the sex.

The chemistry between Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake is perfect. The story also makes sense especially when you get the full picture of their family backgrounds. The supporting cast could have been gratuitous but isn't and Woody Harrelson steals the show as a foulmouthed gay sports editor at GQ. Richard "No Pants" Jenkins takes another turn as one of the most underrated actors around as Timberman's Alzheimery dad. Dharma Elfman plays Justin's sis. Kunis's mom is played by the always terrific Patricia Clarkson who nails the hippy dippy mom role to a tie-dye T. Gratuitous Emma Stone is classic in her lone scene. Gratuitous Andy Samberg as well in this.

The extras are nothing to write home about but the movie stands well enough on its own to be worthy of viewing. Plus I have two words that send this movie over the top: flash mob. Watch and you'll see what I mean.
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As a correspondent for U.S. newspapers, I arrived in Romania when the Communist-era system of lies and secrecy had completely collapsed. The chaos was unimaginable. My plane landed so soon after the 1989 revolution that no customs agents were left at the airport. The first government offices I visited were empty. Grocery store shelves were bare. I found many who dared to talk honestly for the first time in their lives.

So, I lapped up every minute of the 141-minute Tales of the Golden Age by Christian Mungiu and his Romanian filmmaking friends. (Mungiu wrote the scripts, then invited other young filmmakers to shoot the sequences.) Now in its complete form, the film is a series of comedic episodes about life under the half-crazed dictator Nicolai Ceausescu.

The Legend of the Official Visit, the opening vignette in the film, is the most amusing and fully realized of all these tales--and the scene depicted on the new DVD cover. Set in a remote rural village, the story turns on news that the dictator plans to make a personal visit by cruising through the town in his limousine. In scenes that recalled the early films of Federico Fellini, the town also is populated at the moment by a roving family that runs a colorful carousel. Suddenly, bureaucrats descend on the village, planning every last detail of the limousine's procession through the town's one dirt road--right down to the number of cows, vegetable stands and white pigeons that should be positioned along this road. In the end, great quantities of booze and a malfunction at the brightly colored carousel turn this little tale into a deft torpedo of Communist-era buffoonery.

As a journalist, I also loved The Legend of the Party Photographer, set inside the offices of the official government-run newspaper. It's a typical day in the newsroom as the editors meet to discuss front-page coverage of a foreign dignitary coming to meet with Ceausescu. Of course, this means that the photographers are expected to painstakingly alter their photos to give visual advantages to the fearless leader. A marvelous and mostly silent comic sequence shows what happens up and down the many layers of bureaucracy as the altered photos and stacks of newspapers spread across the entire nation--before someone discovers a fatal flaw in the final image. I laughed out loud.

Some reviewers compare this film unfavorably to Borat, arguing that this movie isn't as funny as Sacha Baron Cohen's 2006 savage mockumentary of life in former Communist countries. To those comparisons, I have to say: Yes, Borat was widely celebrated and even scored a nomination for the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar. On balance, however, Borat painted Eastern Europeans as racist, sexist, homophobic and viciously insensitive to their own communities.

The rich humor in Tales from the Golden Age rests on the truth that, despite all the lies and secrecy of the Communist era--people did care about each other and tried to maintain lively families and neighborhoods. That's why these stories are so funny. Yes, many greedy and officious figures are skewered here, but the characters we care about in Tales from the Golden Age are good-hearted folks who we hope can win out in the end. The humor lies in the irrepressible nature of human hope.

Ultimately, that's the terrific gift to the world of this film by Cristian Mungiu and his colleagues Ioana Maria Uricaru, Hanna Hofer, Razvan Marculescu and Constantin Popescu. Bravo to the whole team for creating such a wondrously amusing slice of a now (thankfully) nearly forgotten world.
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This YA dystopia is pretty different from the rest of its subgenre, in a good way.

Frenchie is on the run. His parents and brother have already been taken, grabbed by government agents, shoved in a white van, and driven off to the schools. After years of ecological devastation, a new disaster struck: the majority of the population became unable to dream with terrible results. The only ones who can still dream are Native Americans, and their bone marrow holds the cure for the dreamless. And so the Canadian government authorizes their unwilling sacrifice, turning people into parts to be harvested. Frenchies survived, but survival is always in doubt. Hes found a group of other Indigenous people, all on the run from the recruiters. Each of them has their own story of loss, but their futures are not without hope.

The Marrow Thieves has an unconventional structure. While the main story is Frenchie and his found family trekking through the woods, The Marrow Thieves also contains stories within stories, detailing the pasts of different group members. Theres Miig, a man whose husband was kidnapped by recruiters. Wab, who has been victim to some brutal violence. Minerva, the eldest member of their group. Also unlike the majority of YA dystopian novels, its not action packed. It was interesting to read something of this genre with a slower, more reflective pace. It just goes to show how it can be good to break the mold.

The Marrow Thieves shows the importance of the characters specific connections to their Native heritage and legacy of survival. Frenchie and his family might be living in a hellish dystopia, but his peoples pasts have been dystopic too. Thus, the horrors of The Marrow Thieves are grounded in a long history of racial and cultural violence and the inequities of our present.

I wasn't a huge fan of the romantic subplot, which is with a girl named Rose. Look, it takes a lot to sell me on a romantic subplot, and this one doesnt cut it. I found it hard to buy into the connection between Frenchie and Rose, since it sort of felt like the reason he was interested in her was because she was the only girl his age. I can see it as a crush, but not much more than that. Then again, the overhyped drama of a first crush is probably accurate for a lot of teenagers. Its just not my cup of tea.

I occasionally found the writing style clunky. Some other reviewers have mentioned how The Marrow Thieves forshadows by outright telling you something important is about to happen. Multiple times. Yeah, I noticed that as well, and while it did make me wonder what was going to happen, it also threw me out of the story.

The Marrow Thieves is a dark, intelligent novel and an important addition to young adult literature. At the same time, Im not sure Id be interested in reading any possible sequels. While I liked how it departed from some genre tropes, why did it have to keep the half baked romance sub-plot? Oh, well. It may not have appealed to me as a reader, but Im sure itll find its fans.

Originally posted on <a href=https://theillustratedpage.wordpress.com/2018/01/13/review-of-the-marrow-thieves-by-cherie-dimaline/>The Illustrated Page.</a>
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Rob Brunet's debut novel is a madcap action comedy about Danny Grant, a hapless pot grower in the Kawarthas who runs afoul of a biker gang and makes off with their cash.  Not the thing to do, of course, as such people tend to have short fuses and long memories.  In the ensuing mayhem Danny finds himself serving three years for manslaughter with a cell buddy he would willingly trade for the wrong end of a chain saw.  Small wonder, then, that he takes a walk on his day pass to retrieve his stash.  But before his saga has ended Danny will be make some life-altering discoveries and achieve some small measure of redemption.

The story opens with Grant, his mother, who waitresses at a local restaurant and wateringhole, and Lester Freeden, a free-loading pal, and Lesters maniacal guard dog Shooter.  Interesting, but not compelling.  Before long, however, we are introduced to a bizarre cast of misfits, oddballs and neerdowells, and they make the tale come alive.  At the centre of the approaching storm are Perko Ratwick, a biker with a penchant for leather chaps with fringes, and Marty Mongoose Muldoon, a fellow biker with the unfortunately-named Libidos, together with a nearlyblind recluse in a cabin in the deep woods, Ernie McCann, who harbours two secrets, one of which could just get him killed.

Each of these colourful characters has a role to play in Brunets delightfully improbable tale.  Perko Ratwick has built a stateof-theart growop on an abandoned farm, and put Danny in charge of looking after it.  But after stealing a car and running out of gas, Dannys friend Terry Miner gets picked up by a local cop, who discovers a bag of pot in the car and wants to arrest Terry for it.  In an effort to cut a deal Terry offers to lead him to the growop; as luck would have it they arrive just as Perko and his gang show up to exchange cash for the crop with some outoftown buyers, setting the stage for the mayhem that follows.

Stinking Rich is a stylish, fast-paced narrative that combines psychotic violence with manic humour with genre-bending fantasy.  Think Quentin Tarantino meets Bill Murray meets Dr. Who.  It would be a cautionary tale if anyone were likely to find himself in such circumstances; but then, if they were, theyd likely throw caution to the winds.  We've read it before, of course, but Brunet handles it with outrageously black humour.  Published by Down and Out Books, Stinking Rich is an entertaining take on how life has a tendency to deal from the bottom of the deck, and how, despite that, some people just cant walk away from the game.
__________

Originally reviewed on the Ottawa Review of Books, October, 2014.

Since 2005 Jim Napier's reviews and interviews have appeared in several Canadian newspapers and on such websites as Spinetingler, The Rap Sheet, Shots Magazine, Crime Time, Reviewing The Evidence, January magazine, the Montreal Review of Books, the Ottawa Review of Books, and Amazon.com, as well as on his own award-winning site, Deadly Diversions.
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CATCH ME IF YOU CAN is a very charming film directed by Stephen Spielberg (ET-The Extraterrestrial, Minority Report). It is a period piece and the detail to costumes and set design is very interesting and accurate. It made me wonder how much was actually special effects and how much was real. It's got humor sprinkled throughout and when you see what the ending tells you - you'll walk out of the theatre in amazement.
The story is that of 16 year-old played by Leonardo DiCaprio (Titanic, Gangs of New York) who cons his way into the airline business, medical field and in the Legal profession. His learns the scheming ways from his father who is brilliantly played by Christopher Walkin (The Dead Zone, America's Sweethearts).
Now, the FBI catches on to forged checks and sees a pattern develop and then assigns Tom Hanks (Apollo 13, Castaway, Splash) to try and track him down and incarcerate him
Spielberg directed this one with a little flair and a lot of attention to detail. It has humorous moments and a lot of interesting facets on the FBI, their procedures and what a clever boy can really do.
As a result of his worldly travels he ends up falling in love and the kicker of it all is the ending when you read the text on the screen that tells you what happened to these two men and what their doping today. I liked this movie - although a little long in length - it was much better than AI. This one is one I think the whole family can enjoy - if you can wait the length of the movie. (1-22-03)
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If Ghostbusters and Ferris Bueller's Day Off ever had a love child, it'd be Odd Thomas, an endearing, witty romantic dramedy-slash-supernatural-thriller about a small desert town in California beset by demonic apparitions and a satanic cabal of deranged would-be mass murderers.

Adapted from the Dean Koontz novel and directed by Hollywood middleweight Stephen Sommers (The Mummy, G.I. Joe: Retaliation), the $27 million pic stars the always-brilliant Anton Yelchin as oddball short-order cook and ghost wrangler Odd Thomas. (His mom tells him a typo in the birth certificate reduced him from Todd to Odd, while his dad insists Odd was his proper given name.)

When Odd, who narrates the story Ferris Bueller-style, isn't flipping pancakes at the diner on Main Street or nuzzling with his devoted, diminutive sexpot of a girlfriend, Stormy Llewellyn (Addison Timlin), he helps murdered souls find justice.

"I may see dead people," he tells the camera, "but then, by God, I do something about it."

Odd is svelte, almost lanky, and all thumbs, and he's more likely to be seen on a cherry-red scooter than in an Aston Martin, but the self-described "undercover detective for dead people" knows his martial arts, and he's an old hand at tracking down evildoers and delivering them to the town police chief, Wyatt Porter (Willem Dafoe).

Odd Thomas shifts into thriller mode when Odd notices that one of the town's creepiest dudes is always accompanied by a posse of wraithlike creatures called bodachs. See, these demonic types live off fear and pain, and show up when a violent event is about to occur.

While Odd Thomas is nicely outfitted with diverting set pieces, comic situations, and a seriously smoldering romance, it errs on the cloying. Yelchin, solid for the most part, relies on the teen cuteness that served him so well in Charlie Bartlett.

The special effects seem out of date, silly. The bodachs, especially, look like the discards from a computer animation seminar.

The biggest problem with Odd Thomas isn't the film itself, but the bad rep it has accrued. Slated for a 2011 release, it was stuck for nearly three years in a litigious limbo, finally to be released quietly, on the sly. In the meantime, cast, director, and producers alike seem to have moved on, leaving the film bereft of the PR campaign that could have helped it become at least a sleeper hit, if not a blockbuster.

It's a shame: Yelchin deserves the exposure, the chance finally to become an A-list heavyweight.
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Ricardo, a.k.a. Elvis (Juan Leyrado), middle-aged office furniture salesman by day and rock music afficianado by night, is inspired to arrange a reunion party for school friends he hasn't seen in 25 years.

His idea of a fun diversion turns into something much deeper when he contacts old pal Ernesto (Daro Grandinetti) to discuss the party plans over coffee.

Ernesto's thoughts turn to his teenage flame, Ana (Soledad Silveyra).  Twenty-five years earlier, Ernesto abandoned Ana so he could pursue his dreams of travel and writing.  Now he wants to know if Ana will be at the party, and whether Ricardo has seen her.

As it turns out, Ricardo sees Ana every day.  They've been married for 24 years.

Ernesto is incredulous that his Ana could have married a guy like Ricardo! He phones Ana at home and they arrange to meet for coffee.  They are both a bit disappointed in the way their lives have turned out, and both are curious about what might have been.

The story, moving back and forth between the characters' present and past, deals with the disparities between a person's actual history, memories, unfulfilled dreams, and present reality.

The film is filled with magical touches, not the least of which is a generous helping of the poetry of Mario Benedetti.  The cast is excellent, endearing and believable. The soundtrack is filled with great songs from the 1960's from Elvis to Sandro.

Although the two films are quite different, if you loved hearing Grandinetti recite Benedetti's poetry in&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Dark-Side-of-the-Heart/dp/B00008O34X/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Dark Side of the Heart</a>, you'll probably enjoy this, too.

Another charming and beautiful film from Argentina.  Highly recommended!

Spanish with English subtitles.
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The writer of this book also wrote Mr. Hollands Opus. While I was watching that movie, I thought, I bet this guy could really write a terrific story about Dracula and Hitler.

And here it is!

The book combines European mythology and World War II history into a hard-rocking action movie where the Nazis are in fine form as detestable, killable villains. Thats always a good time in a movie or a comic book. The story is similar to King Kong vs. Godzilla, in that the goal of the story is to get the two together, and get out of the way.

The drama and the characters are still there, but the point of the whole thing is Dracula fighting Hitler. The story is told very neatly, in excerpts from journals, telegrams, and first-person accounts.

Its just fun. This title, this premise, makes me picture the writer grinning as he writes. That is top-notch stuff. (review by Joe Crowe, [...], )[...]
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Kino and the King by Jen Angeli is a middle grade adventure quest set in Hawaii. Cutting to the chase, we need more stories like this one where island kids see themselves as the heroes and Hawaiian culture as something both amazing and ordinary, rather than sensationally exotic.

In the story, 12 year old Kino and her mother move to Hawaii to live with her maternal grandparents in Kalihi, Oahu. With her grandfather ill and her family facing eviction from their home, Kino discovers that she has an ancient destiny to save both Hawaii and her grandfather by going back in time to 1825. There she meets the young Kamehameha III just prior to his ascension to the throne. After meeting with a kahuna at a heiau, it becomes clear that in order to return to her own time,  Kino must go on a quest for four objects gathered from various parts of Oahuand of course the young prince is going to come along.

As the adventure quest plot unfolds, Jen deftly weaves in aspects of Hawaiian culture and history. Islanders will recognize kapu customs, protocol, and Hawaiian legends such as night marchers, Pele, Kamapuaa, sacred waterfalls, aumakua, choking ghosts, and magic gourds and calabashes.

1825 is a significant time in Hawaiian history, after the fall of the kapu system and during the first years of the Protestant missionaries influence. Hawaii is experiencing the growing pangs of contact with the wider world. In the story theres a glimpse of the monumental civic and cultural challenges, but Jen is always conscious of her 4th  8th grade audience and keeps the action moving. Topics are lightly touched upon in a way that can start discussions about these important topics. Kino and the King is respectful of Hawaiian history and culture. Teachers, parents, and librarians will find it provides a springboard for further reflection, study, and inquiry.

But as good as 1825 was, I gotta say I liked the modern conflicts best. Mean girls, romantic interests, class wars, private school snobbery, leasehold vs. fee simple landownership, high cost of living in paradise, afterschool enrichment classes in Hawaiianits all here. Anyone growing up in Hawaii will instantly relate to Kinos modern worldand those far from home will probably crave spam musubi reading about it.

Readers of The Niuhi Shark Saga books are certain to enjoy Kino and the King. Cant wait for Jen Angelis next adventure.

Kino and the King by Jen Angeli is available in eBook and paperback from Amazon.
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This Guy Madden effort from 2003 stars Isabella Rossellini as Lady Helen Port-Huntley, the woman in charge of a prohibition era Canadian beer company who launches the contest.  Musicians come from all over the world (actually from all over Winnipeg) to see which music is the saddest.  Mark McKinney hams it up as Chester Kent, Helen's former lover who took her heart...and legs.  And Portuguese actress Maria de Medeiros fits perfectly here as Narcissa, Chester's amnesiac nympho lover.  I love the impressionism of the film and the subtle satire, like when Chester and Narcissa first arrive in Winnipeg and they take a "streetcar" driven by his WWI-trenchcoat-wearing father (David Fox).  I love how Narcissa takes a nap on the snow, and the flashback to Helen's accident: "Dad, you're cutting the wrong leg!"

  All this played out in literally freezing weather, shot on super-8 and super-16, and vaseline blurring the lens edge.  Meanwhile the contest goes on with a sitarist, guitarists, African drummers, and even Chester's brother as the hypocondriac lost husband of Narcissa representing Serbia in tribute to Gavrilo Princip.  The contest winners get to jump into a pool of beer.  Beethoven's 7th is thrown in appropriately.

  But behind it all is the dream imagery and atmosphere of the absurd and of dark snow-seeped beauty.  An achievement like this puts Hollywood to shame.
3063036
An elegantly constructed and intriguing movie that has me ordering the book this story is based on as well as the musical sound track - yes, I liked this a lot!  Young Frank Avagnale begins his con game posing as a substitute teacher when family circumstances change and he finds himself in public school.  At lose ends when his parents break up, he constructs an outrageously glamourous, high flying life, supporting himself with bad checks.  The chemistry between the hunter (Tom Hanks) and the hunted (Leonardo DiCaprio) ads an element of reality to the outlandish movements of the young criminal.  Thanks to the cleverly interspersed flashbacks, there is no illusion that the criminal will eventually win this game.  And since Frank eventually DOES use his brain legally, a worthwhile moral lesson is contained within.-Mamalinda
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What happens when a city kid gets dumped into suburbia, with no friends, and only a ham radio to keep him company? He finds a band to broadcast on, rents a post box for listeners to send him letters, creates an air name, and rags on everyone in his high school.

With a soundtrack that prominently features artists like Leonard Cohen, The Beastie Boys, Was (Not Was) and Ice T among others, the music certainly is eclectic.

The story is held together with a tour-de-force performance from Christian Slater as the jaded jock, turned reform crusader, exposing the shortcomings of his school behind his anonymous veneer of Hard Harry.

It's a bit talky and a bit too clever at times, but it's earnest in its feelings about free speech and concerns about corruption in leadership, a message that seems even more timely today than it did when the film first appeared in theaters.

If you like this movie, you should also check out an earlier film by Director/Writer Allan Moyle: "Times Square."

They're both worth a look.
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I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this movie and how much I thought about it afterward. I walked out of the theater onto a Los Angeles street at midnight and everything seemed more interesting and alive than normal. Even walking into a 7-11 for a Coke seemed interesting.

There are obvious parallels to "Frances Ha" (which I also liked) but I think there are more levels to Coffee in Berlin. Both films are "slice of life" films about a meandering 25 year old. Coffee in Berlin takes place over about 24 hours. Niko is a 25 year old with a sometimes girlfriend who dropped out of law school, putters, and lives on a stipend from his businessman father - who THINKS he is still in law school. The day starts badly when his ATM account is frozen - Dad has figured it out. Through the course of the day and night Niko meets various characters in unpredictable circumstances, never manages to get his cup of coffee, and has a meeting and brush-off from his disappointed father. It's not clear exactly what Niko's "character development" is, in the classic sense. He's living out the hour of 3 pm because, well, that's the hour that follows 2 pm. People suggest where he should go or take him there. For me, such a movie could be a flat tire or a winner - some odd combination of interest and resonance makes this movie a winner for me.

I like to think you can also see a level of symbolism below the surface story (though you don't have to). His father pretty obviously symbolizes postwar German industry and recovery - nose to the wheel, no time for laziness, and hard work. An old man he meets at the end with stories of the Hitler era clearly symbolizes that era. I think the crazy ex girlfriend he encounters might symbolize East Berlin or East Germany - "I used to be ugly, but now I am better, and I'm right here in your face, and I want you to love me, and by the way, I'm crazy as a bat from all the change I've been through." Two grifters he meets on the subway might represent either government or capitalism or some other kind of bully which is a paper tiger. Nearly every character he starts the movie with - his main girlfriend, or father - seem to disappear. (Even the crazy girlfriend who pops up in the middle, then disappears.)

Niko's hour-by-hour episodes of adventure through a hard day's night might also remind you of the 1985 film AFTER HOURS.