"Akeelah and the Bee," "Red Road," and "Selon Charlie"

Writing film reviews are getting harder, if only because I'm starting to see more of them and writing a whole review is tedious. However, I want people to know what I've watched, so I'm going to include short summaries from now on.

"Akeelah and the Bee" (United States)
Akeelah is an 11-year-old girl in South Central Los Angeles who is so incredible at spelling that she makes it to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. -- despite being laughed at by her peers and ignored by her mother. Lawrence Fishburne plays her spelling coach, portraying a former UCLA English professor with a sad past.

The film is the first one produced by Starbucks Coffee (not kidding), but it's surprisingly good for the following reasons: It's not overly sentimental and its ending is not entirely predictable. The best part of the film is how it deals with education and success in black culture; how black students are discouraged from showing off or achieving success because of a fear that they will be looked down upon or laughed at by their peers and family members.

3.5 stars
***
"Red Road" (United Kingdom)
Jackie works as a security camera operator in Glascow, Scotland. One day, among her many camera eyes, she spots the man who was convicted of killing those closest to her. Apparently, he has been given an early release and now lives in a slum on Red Road. Jackie attempts to befriend her killer for reasons unknown to the audience until the last 15 minutes of the film.

Although the movie is part of the official selection, I didn't like it because it took forever to understand why Jackie was doing what she was doing. It was too slow.

1.5 stars
***
Selon Charlie" (France)
Also part of the official selection, and although better than "Red Road," it was still a bit slow, especially at the beginning. The movie is about 12 people in a French city and shows their stories weaving in and out of one another. The characters all are connected in some way. The stories include an archealogist/scientist running a science conference, a colleague of his who left his team and now is a teacher, one of the teacher's students, the mayor of the town, a criminal, the student's father, a young tennis player and several more.

Similar to "Red Road," audiences have to sit until almost the very end to appreciate and understand the coincidences.

2 stars
***
Wayne's star system
1 star --> avoid at all costs
2 stars --> watch on TV when nothing else is on
3 stars --> rent it eventually
4 stars --> must see before you die