100 Movie Challenge 2016 - # 131: The Danish Girl

Director: Tom Hooper
Genre: Drama/ Romance
Runtime: 120 minutes
Year: 2015
Starring: Alicia Vikander, Eddie Redmayne, Amber Heard, Ben Wishaw, Matthias Schoenaerts, Sebastian Koch

Description: A fictitious love story loosely inspired by the lives of Danish artists Lili Elbe (Eddie Redmayne) and Gerda Wegener (Alicia Vikander). Lili and Gerda's marriage and work evolve as they navigate Lili's groundbreaking journey as a transgender pioneer.

Review: “The Danish Girl” starts in 1926, where we meet Einar and Gerda Wegener. Einar is a very successful painter, Gerda’s work isn’t as popular. When Gerda asks Einar to dress up as a woman, because her model is absent, it’s the beginning of a big change in their lives. Einar feels surprisingly comfortable in woman’s clothing. When the two plan on a joke, where Einar dresses up as a woman and pretending to be Lili, the long way from man to woman starts for Einar. He isn’t Einar anymore, he is Lili.
What I find conspicious is that the radical transformation hardly gets any social resistance. The film is set in the twenties/ thirties and this is a pretty shocking and groundbreaking action. It’s not very realistic. What we see is a melodramatic story where Lili struggles with her identity an Gerda stays by her side.
The actors make this movie good. Eddie Redmayne is really strong, but it’s Alicia Vikander that steals the show. She is sublime and manages to lift the film to a higher level. The chemistry between the two is very good.
The film looks fantastic, the ydillic shots of Denmark, the costumes, paintings and décor. But the movie is simply a melodramatic story with great actors.

Rating: 3/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2016 - # 71: Bridge of Spies

Director: Steven Spielberg
Genre: Drama/ Thriller
Runtime: 141 minutes
Year: 2015
Starring: Tom Hanks Mark Rylance, Amy Ryan, Sebastian Koch, Alan Alda

Description: During the Cold War, an American lawyer (Tom Hanks) is recruited to defend an arrested Soviet spy (Mark Rylance) in court, and then help the CIA facilitate an exchange of the spy for the Soviet captured American U2 spy plane pilot, Francis Gary Powers.

Review: Steven Spielberg is one of the biggest modern American film makers. Adventure films of historical dramas, they are special. And again Spielberg has made a movie about war. This time the sixties, the cold war.
The story is about James Donovan, an insurance lawyer. He has to defend the Russian spy Rudolf Abel and also help the CIA facilitate an exchange the spy for a captured pilot.
The focus is not on wether Rudolf Abel is a spy or not. In the opening we see his daily routine and how Abel is trying to stay under the radar. When the FBI arrest him, he is nothing but corporative.
Tom Hanks is very solid in his role, but it’s Mark Rylance that steals the show with his ontrovert performance as Abel. “Bridge of Spies” is a good film, strong, solid, but nothing spectacular.

Rating: 4/ 5