Tsotsi

[JG]

I have a hard time believing there isn't already a thread for this, but I can't seem to find one...Minor Spoilers possible

I saw this today, liked it, didn't love it.  The comparisons to City of God are inevitable, but the truth is:  Tsotsi just ain't quite as good. There's some really wonderful shots of the landscapes of South America (EDIT: Africa), an area I'm totally unfamiliar with, so it was sort of getting a glimpse into another world.   There's a couple nice performances throughout the film too, although the characters never really flesh out.    It's a nice little picture, but honestly, that's all it is.  I could totally picture this as an eighties comedy with Steve Martin or something.  Cause really it's just a bunch of old movie cliches set in a totally different environment and shot through a Meirelles-esque frenetic lense.  There's the main character who slowly changes during the course of the film, and his sidekicks, the love interest. 

Ultimately, though, it's nice to have a movie where the character changes for the better, a movie that is pretty optimistic.  I attribute this to the fact that Tsotsi is merely a genre picture stuck in the wrong genre. 

well worth a rental, although your not missing out on seeing it in the theater.   

EDIT:  Upon further reflection and inspection, the film is hardly frenetic.  In fact, one of the major ways the film separates itself from being Meirelles-eque is its lack of quick and jumpy camera work.  Nonetheless, everything else in the review still stands.  I didn't want to edit the original review to make the following posts seem unusual. 

[squints]

The comparisons to City of God are inevitable, but the truth is:  Tsotsi just ain't quite as good.

shot through a Meirelles-esque frenetic lense.

There's was nothing "frenetic" about this film. The camera barely moves. The cuts aren't fast or numerous. The few things this film has in common with City of God could be found in the music or that its set in an extremely poor black community.

There's some really wonderful shots of the landscapes of South America, an area I'm totally unfamiliar with, so it was sort of getting a glimpse into another world.

I didn't see any of these shots. Probably because the film was shot and is set in SOUTH AFRICA

I could totally picture this as an eighties comedy with Steve Martin or something.

Did we see the same movie? Cause i don't know what the fuck you mean by this. 

I attribute this to the fact that Tsotsi is merely a genre picture stuck in the wrong genre.

What genre would that be?

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I thought this film told a great story and it had some pretty powerful images. This film is not the sprawling epic City of God was and is more a character study of a heartless (at first) "thug". As the movie opens we see him kill and steal and as it progresses we learn what kind of a past would drive a person to such extremes and what would cause him to feel and understand "decency". This is a great movie completely deserving of its Best Foreign Film Oscar and i wish i would have seen it sooner so it could've made its way on to my xixax awards list. Oh well. Don't listen to JG, go see this if you can.

[JG]

I'd probably need to see it again, but I remember the camera work being similar to City of God, especially the way it made the "extremely poor black community" look (cinemtography).    Which, by the way, is one of the main reasons it  is being compared to City of God.  frenetic could be a poorly chosen adjective (in fact I hesitated using it when writing the review), but i think the fact that reviewers are comparing this to city of god is undeniable, even though if i don't htink the comparisons are necesarily fair or accuarate. 

As for the whole genre thing, I feel I addressed that pretty well in my first post, and I stand by my overall thoughts of the movie.  I do recommend seeing it. 

I goofed on the south America thing, cause I totally knew that it was in South Africa.  My bad. 

[hedwig]

i don't understand why you think the CoG comparisons are unfair and inaccurate when you've said the camera work is similiar, the film was "Meirelles-esque," and the comparisons to CoG are "inevitable."

i haven't seen the movie yet, so all i can say for sure is that the director's oscar acceptance speech was AWESOME.

[JG]

Basically cause the two movies aspire to completely different things, and CoG is vastly superior.  Unfair, maybe not.  Inaccurate, yes, because they are very different movies.  so yeah, "frenetic" was the wrong word, but the way it beautifies an unfamiliar land, the cinemetography in general was reminiscent of City of God, especially the wide shots of the land.   The reason I mentioned it to City of God is because it in the few reviews I read before seeing the movie this is what I read it being compared to.  I found a review that is pretty much how I feel, from my local critic, who will say it better than I currently can:

http://www.boston.com/movies/display?display=movie&id=8632

It's a solid, earnest drama of moral redemption that places old cliches in an unfamiliar setting

There's nothing really wrong with "Tsotsi" except its predictability, and one only begrudges its Oscar when one considers the richer, deeper films ("Caché," "2046," "Head-On," "Nobody Knows") that weren't even in the running.

I didn't see the oscar speech.   

[squints]

i think you just read the review and never saw the movie
just kidding