I loved Amores Perros and 21 Grams and was not wowed by this. Arriaga/Inarritu explore the same thematic concepts with the same approach and not half as well as they have done before. Great performances, though...

I hate to say Crap, because I think a lot of my feeling about this is disappointment, but I have to do it.

That's interesting. Babel is by far my favorite of the three.

In some ways I feel that Arriaga/Inarritu's main objective is to invoke an emotional response. I have mixed feelings about that. I sort of flipped out after seeing this one, though the film was maybe only 1\4 of the reason.

What I really loved about this one is the commentary on USA vs. the rest of the world. It was fairly subtle and personal--a series of events that we can relate to much easier then say, the political side of that equation. Almost every American/First World Westerner in that movie was either totally helpless and pathetic in their non-First World environment or a policeman type with their humanity conditioned out of them.

For me, this is a film with a really strong, emotional reminder that our system is designed to preserve the structure of the system, not the welfare of the people within that system.

NOT CRAP!

saw it yesterday, good flick.
The Japanese girls were very arousing.

the most racist film I've seen in ages. Good editing and camera though

dimpfelmoser wrote:the most racist film I've seen in ages. Good editing and camera though

I found it to be very sexist and homophobic as well

Marsupialized wrote:

dimpfelmoser wrote:the most racist film I've seen in ages. Good editing and camera though

I found it to be very sexist and homophobic as well

Sure, but I don't object to that

Babel? Isn't he that elephant that wears a hat and bumps into stuff?


Not Crap.

I think it needed someone to tell the director that you really didn't need a slow motion shot of a helicopter landing from several different camera angles and that sort of thing.

Felt it was over indulged, the theme (everyone's interconnected blah) has been over done and done better and the whole thing was bursting from the seems with its own sense of worthiness.

I suppose i don't want to say Crap because it is still well made and I can see why some would find it affecting but it didn't do it for me so I'll have to tick the Crap box.

i adored it. the director has a way of making the mundane seem significant. the blanchett pissing scene. sean penn driving naomi watts home in 21 grams. and yes, it has japanese schoolgirls too. A+

Marsupialized wrote:saw it yesterday, good flick.
The Japanese girls were very arousing.

i think without that story the film would not have been nearly as well received. pitt was miscast. the mexico story was lovely to watch and the tension held for so long during that wedding: i thought someone was gonna get shot.

the very loose connection with the guitar came across as a gimmick to include the japanese story, which was by far the most engrossing due to the editing and sound editing.