The equation of love and death / Li mi de cai xiang (China, 2008)

The equation of love and death is an interesting story with many beautiful and impressive scenes. The entire film is like a puzzle and in the final scene the gaps of the mystery are being filled. Zhou Xun (Suzhou river) gives us a really great performance, she carries this entire movie almost on her own.
The story about a woman who looks for her boyfriend who disappeared four years ago. She became an almost insane taxi driver and meets other trivial people in her cab. In the end, all stories come together.
Sometimes the music is outstanding in this movie, it is a shame I watched it with a weird kind of colour filter (or does the director means it this way?) so they weren’t too bright.

Interesting film, but only for those people who love to watch mysterious films without too many action to see.

The edge of love (Great-Brittain, 2008)

The edge of love stars Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, Jonathan Rhys and Cillian Murphy. Though the temptation is huge to compare it with Atonement, I won’t even start it (also because I will think millions will do it already) because Atonement is of Hors Categorie.

So what is ‘the edge of love’? It is a story about the brilliant poet Dylan Thomas and the destructive influence de has on two woman (played by Knightley and Miller). Rhys is married to Sienna in this movie, but he shares a childhood love with Keira who is still in love with him but marries soldier Cillian. The story evolves around these characters and their emotions.
The story didn’t really enchant me. Though in the first part of the movie there are some great scenes, dark sensual with poetical texts, and even some fighting scenes in Greece, you never really know what the movie wants to tell you. Of course it is about the relationship of the two women who are bond to this man but it just could not really convince me. The second part of the movie takes place in Wales, where it focuses on the downwards spiral of the character’s lives. Towards the end of this film the mood really gets dark as the deepest night.
The acting is often good, to be expected, but sometimes the interaction between the actors is a bit lacking in quality (the friendship between Knightley and Miller never gets really believable). Cillian Murphy (wind that shakes the barley) did rather great as a traumatized soldier and shows once more he is a fantastic actor!

I liked this movie because I like the poetical dialogues and some beautiful and heartbraking scenes but I just expected a little bit more of it.