Sunday, November 26, 2006
Globe Probe
Morocco, Mexico, and Japan on a string... I saw the superb "Babel" yesterday afternoon, in which director Alejandro González Iñárritu sets the bar of his own game ever higher, again interweaving several unusual and gripping stories and indelible performances, but this time with global scope and political as well as personal under-currents. "Babel", while vaster than his earlier films "21 Grams" and "Amores Perros," is miraculously undiluted by its epic size and its cacophony of tongues and cultures. Briefly, the stories concern a shaken American couple (Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett) touring Morocco involved in an accidental shooting mistaken for terrorism, a poor Morocco goat-herding family whose children are implicated in the shooting, a Los Angeles live-in nanny (Adriana Barraza, pictured left) who reluctantly takes her charges (Pitt and Blanchett's children) south of the border for a family wedding with unexpected results, and an affluent, Japanese deaf-mute teenager (Rinko Kikuchi, pictured below) who's having trouble dealing with her incipient womanhood.
"Babel" fully engages you with meandering but gripping storylines - sharp contrast here to the high-adrenaline and precision plotting of its equally brilliant Oscar rival, "The Departed." I'd be surprised if "Babel" didn't get Best Picture and Best Director nominations - probably also Original Screenplay. Also award-worthy are two follow-ups to Brokeback Mountain: the affecting soundtrack by Gustavo Santaollala and the stunning cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto. The ensemble cast is superb, notably Cate Blanchett, a career-peak turn by Brad Pitt, and impressive work by Japanese teenager Rinko Kikuchi. Not to be missed. Note to Mom: neither "Babel" nor "21 Grams" contains anything unwatchable like the dog-fighting scenes in "Amores Perros."this entry's permalink
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