Sunday, March 30th, 2003

25th Hour

Went and played hockey today with SUDEEP, who complains that I never mention him in my blog. This was the most exercise I’ve gotten in a dog’s age, and I felt it. First shift was fine. Four or five shifts in, I was dizzy. I am so lame. I even turned my ankle, and it hurts. But on the positive side, these guys play every Sunday and anyone can show up. I may have found a new regular activity. On the negative side, I am sooo going to be feeling this tomorrow. But it’s a good kind of hurt… except the ankle. That’s a bad kind of hurt.

Also went and caught 25th Hour at The Royal. It was not what I’d thought it would be. It’s a smaller film than I expected, the story of one man’s last day before he goes to prison for seven years. I had figured it’d be more along the lines of a caper, maybe Edward Norton would come up with some masterful plan to escape his certain fate by playing his enemies off of one another. Instead, it’s primarily a character study of one man dealing with the impending consequences of the choices he’s made, and how he and the people around him spend the last day of his life. The film also functions as a sort of allegory for New York pre and post September 11th – the aftermath of that day hangs over the whole film like a shadow. I couldn’t appreciate the full depth of what Lee was trying to convey, but the imagery of Ground Zero and the towers of light, for example, were pretty stirring in and of themselves.

So yeah – while it wasn’t the thriller I’d maybe signed up for, it was definitely a more thought-provoking movie and all in all, a better movie. Good performances all around. Philip Seymour Hoffman was particularly impressive, playing against type as an awkward, nebbish, sweaty mouth-breather. Ha.

np – The Posies / Dream All Day – The Best Of The Posies

By : Frank Yang at 10:03 pm
Category: Uncategorized
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  1. Garry says:

    I read ‘The 25th Hour’ back in August. It was a good read, but I heard it doesn’t compare to the movie. Well, it does via context, but when SPIKE LEE uses post 9-11 material in it, I don’t see the story evolving.

  2. KyLE says:

    I really want the couch from that movie.

  3. Kate says:

    It was my favourite film of last year. And I have a hard time explaining why.