March 20, 2007

Fatal Obsession

Yesterday I went to with Joyous and ScottE to go see the Oscar winner for Foreign Language Film, The Lives of Others. Pan's Labyrinth was a nice movie, could this one really be better?

Without question.

The Lives of Others is a tightly-woven film about human obsession. The time is 1983, and the place is East Berlin. A state security ("Stasi") official is assigned to observe a couple of artists in the hopes of catching them betraying the Socialist party. But instead, this usually flawless man becomes so engrossed in the life of "Lazlo and CMS" that his life begins to collide with theirs.

This movie builds on a slow burn, so be patient during the opening half-hour. Rest assured that the payoff comes in the final moments in a way that is satisfying, but not "Hollywood-ified."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I loved this movie. It was definitely my favorite of the Oscar voting season. I'm going to take B to see it, and he won't see ANYTHING in a movie theater. It's just that good.