-Y Tu Mama Tambien
I loved how throughout the film, there was a voice over of Julio. In this film, I thought the voice over fit well because there was actually two stories going on. There was the obvious visually personal story of a friendship that gets tested one summer and then another that was not so visible about the political/economical changes in Mexico. After certain events take place between Julio, Tenoch and Luisa one summer, they all lose touch with each other. But one day Tenoch and Julio meet in a cafe a year later and they are all grown up and mature. Similarly, the conditions in Mexico clear up, it happens to be the same year the Industrial Revolutionary Party lose an election after 71 years. In the cafe, they catch up and talk briefly about what's going on in their lives; then silence ensues after. Tenoch mentions the trip and how Luisa was sick with cancer and knew about it the whole time and died a month after they left her. Another moment of silences and Tenoch excuses himself, leaving Julio in the cafe shop collecting his thoughts. After that, never to see each other again. BEST ENDING EVER! I'm not sure what it is about that ending but it just closes the book on something that has been bothering both of them and thats it. Ugh! I can't explain. Next one ...
-Lost in Translation
Contrast to the movie above, this film had no voice overs and less dialogue. Still, it became one of the best crafted love stories of the decade (and possibly ever). The ending was beyond perfect. Bob is leaving Tokyo and leaving Charlotte behind who is not quite sure what to do about her life in terms of marriage. He awkwardly says goodbye to her in the hotel and we can see he regrets the way it went down. As Bob is being driven to the airport, he spots Charlotte in a crowd, going nowhere in particular. He gets out and runs to her says his goodbye and whispers something in her ear and she seems to agree. Then they share a kiss and he leaves. So much perfection in one shot! Now we don't know if they meet up in the United States or if Charlotte actually leaves her husband and chases after Bob or if they see each other again in Tokyo. The point is that it didn't matter, because it was a film that showcased the beauty of meeting strangers and how similar they can be even in a foreign country.
-Before Sunset
For this one, it was tough to come up with because I never saw "Before Sunrise". But from watching "Before Sunset", I can tell exactly what it is about. About two strangers that have this one meeting 9 years back and lose all connection with each other just to find each other 9 years later with some catching up to do. The movie is mostly following the two characters around France in one day which I thought was brilliant. Ethan Hawke's character Jesse just finishes his book tour on a book he 'loosely' based on his experience with Celine 9 years back and coincidently finds Celine on his last day in France. They go through a park, boat ride, and car ride to Celine's house talking about their lives and their feelings towards each other. But the ending was just awesome. Jesse goes in to Celine's apartment begging her to sing him a song and she does. She brews him coffee and reminisces about a concert she went to and dancing to a song from the concert. Then as she's dancing she looks at Jesse who's sitting on the couch smiling at her and she says "Baby, you are gonna miss that plane " and he smiles and says "I know". You can't ask for a better ending than that. Contrary to "Lost in Translation", this sequel is like a bit like what would happen if you see that stranger twice! The mystery of what is going to happen between them after that is left to the audiences' imagination.
-Memento
Although this was a roller coaster that went in a 360, it still had some sort of ambiguity to it. After we learn that Leonardo in fact killed his wife and tried to make himself believe that someone else did, then what? We saw in the beginning that Teddy was killed mistakenly because Leonard tried to make himself everyday point his clues towards Teddy because Teddy made Leo kill another man for his own gain. So my question is, does Leonard go after Natalie? Or does he remind himself that he killed his wife and that there is no suspect that should be hunting for?
-Inception
I thought it was the icing on the cake for this film. Most of Nolan's films have this ambiguous feel to it and I'm surprised at myself for not realizing it was going to happen here. I think that people can develop their ideas and feelings about whether it is a dream or reality but for me, I don't care. I rather take this to my grave and never figure it out because thats the magic of the whole film.
-The Graduate
This movie I just absolutely adore! We have a young man who is lost after graduating college and a older woman who is looking for lust. After the two get together - he falls for her daughter. The mother is jealous and forces him to tell the daughter the truth, in which she resents him and gets engaged to another man. He rescues her on her wedding day and they run in to the sunset and take a bus? A very odd ending indeed - but nonetheless awesome! We can see that even they are not sure what to do with themselves. They smile and chuckle at each other nervously and take the bus going somewhere both the characters nor the audience are not sure of. Brilliant!
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