Major Spoiler Warnings ahead... You've been warned!
It seems like Leonardo DiCaprio doesn't like movies that have happy endings, especially if he's in it. The Quick and the Dead, Romeo and Juliet, Titanic, Gangs of New York, Catch me if you Can, The Aviator (not the happiest of endings anyways for the last two). The list continues... I saw two movies I saw this weekend - both starring DiCaprio - The Departed (my second viewing) and Blood Diamond. I enjoyed both:
The Departed. A good but less talented director would have made an action thriller of the movie, which would have been really fun to watch. But then the movie was directed by Martin Scorsese. It can't be a plain thriller. It has to be more. So he took what would have been a mainstream movie about two people - Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) - caught up in situations they don't want to be in and trying to survive and squeezed out all the tensions and emotions that is possible for the audience to see in a two hour movie and then left plenty more for them to think about. And then added the thriller element to it. I still haven't understood many of the characters yet, especially that of William Costigan's (Leonardo DiCaprio). Even the lead female character has a lot more shades than meets the eye. It'll probably take a few more viewings. :-) Some scenes really struck me as funny though, although I'm not sure if it was meant that way - one scene in particular where Billy Costigan asks his psychiatrist and the lead female role whose name is perfectly made up for her trade - Madolyn Madden :-), if her father was a drunk based on one of her earlier responses where she admits that she lied at times. Stunned, she hesitates for a moment and then asks him if his father was one. He replies with a sharp negation. The scene I personally thought was played out really well as was all of the movie. A great star cast and great performances by all. A must watch in my opinion.
Blood Diamond - When Gangs of New York came out, I really thought Leonardo DiCaprio was miscast in that movie. His acting was great as usual. But he has a boyish face that seemed out of place in a gangster movie shot in the rough streets of the mid-eighteen hundred New York City. But then, that was a great movie and he delivered great performances in several movies after that. But when I saw the DVD for Blood Diamond, I was wondering if DiCaprio has decided to make some quick money by acting in an mainstream action movie for a change. The cover of the DVD atleast gave me that impression. And I was wrong. Again! The movie is much more than action and is a great overview of a serious situation in Global politics - Conflict Diamonds - diamonds that are mined in regions in conflict - mostly Africa, Sierra Leone in the movie. The movie is captured from the angle of three characters - A fisherman named Soloman Vandy (played by Djimon Hounsou) who is kidnapped and put into Diamond mining by Rebels who also kidnap his son and enlist the latter as a child soldier; a mercinary turned diamond smuggler named Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio) and a reporter (named Maddy Bowen and played by Jennifer Connely) covering the issue of Blood Diamonds. Their roads of course cross in less subtle ways that an Alejandro Inarritu movie. Solomon Vandy has found a big pink diamond and Danny Archer wants it so that he can sell it and get out of the "continent". In return for splitting the return on the sale of the diamond, Danny Archer promises to help Solomon Vandy find his family and son. Maddy Bowen plays the role of good conscience. While the second half of the movie is mainly the search for Solomon Vandy's son, the first half is a look at the causes and effects of diamond smuggling. It also has a brief coverage of the plight of child soldiers and the mental turmoil they go through. While the movie is thrilling, there are some really sappy scenes that seem really out of place with the great story line and pace of the movie. And these scenes are of such short duration that I wonder why they were put in the movie at all. But then some of these scenes are also used to tell more about the characters involved. But these scenes could probably have been done in a different way. But that apart the movie is well made and gives good picture of the global diamond smuggling business. In this respect it's on par with movies covering global issues like Traffic (about Drugs) and Syriana (Oil), which are well made movies as well. Highly recommended!
A song that I had not heard in a long time began to float in my mind last night... Song to the Siren, a song written by Larry Beckett and sung by Tim Buckley. But I heard it first covered by Robert Plant in his Dreamland album... A beautiful song. You can watch Tim Buckley singing the song on YouTube. Especially like the chord changes in the original Tim Buckley version. Read more about the song on this post.
