I finally watched 2 films I've had on my list for a long time:
The Departed, now playing at McMenamin's theaters, and
The Science of Sleep, now on DVD.
The Departed is of course directed by Martin Scorsese, and is a remake of a great cops vs. robbers film from Japan called
Infernal Affairs. The two films both have great performances from big name stars, and both are told in a very similar way. Due to the surprising and complex plot, the one you see first is likely to be more enjoyable, but both are worth seeing. One young police officer is a spy for a crime boss, and a young 'ex cop' is a spy for the police.
The Departed also has some funny scenes that I don't remember being quite as funny in
Infernal Affairs (mostly due to Mark Wahlberg and Alec Baldwin), and a few changes made in the Scorsese film are interesting. A major difference at the end may be evidence of an American sense of justice.
The Science of Sleep was written and directed by Michel Gondry, who also made
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Like
Eternal Sunshine,
The Science of Sleep is beautiful to watch and tells the story of a relationship between one or more crazy people. The craziest person in this movie is an artist who actually makes some nice artwork, but he has trouble telling the difference between reality and his crazy dream world. As a result, this is another one of those movies that looks like it was shot inside of a diorama. And you just can't miss those movies. It's the only place you can see people driving cars made out of toilet paper rolls. Plus it stars Gael Garcia Bernal speaking multiple languages!!! Could be MNITBY material...
