Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Leofwine_draca THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY is an Australian film shot by Peter Weir that looks at a military coup in Indonesia in the 1960s. The story is told through the eyes of Aussie reporter Mel Gibson, in one of his early fresh-faced star-making turns, and is one in a slew of similarly violent journalist abroad-based true stories made during the era (THE KILLING FIELDS perhaps being the best of these).It's an engaging story for sure, but I found the film a little lacklustre. Too much of it seems to focus on a romance with the fine Sigourney Weaver, and there isn't much political context. In fact, I found that the film only really gets going in the last 40 minutes or so and until that point the pace flags. Towards the end, however, we get some excellent plot twists and some very hard-hitting material, and it's very good indeed; a shame that the rest of the movie didn't follow suit.My enjoyment of the tale was also spoilt by the presence of Linda Hunt playing a young Chinese guy in the ultimate Hollywood example of 'yellow face' make up. Hunt is never convincing and a complete distraction, especially when you hear her soft feminine vocals coming out of this supposed guy's mouth. The Spock ears don't help much either. I was astonished to read that she won an Oscar for this caricature performance, which to my mind is no better than that of Peter Sellers in MURDER BY DEATH.

Bill Slocum The chance to watch two future stars lock lips at their physical prime against the backdrop of an imploding Asian nation seems a great cinematic opportunity, but it's that emphasis that ultimately bogs down "The Year Of Living Dangerously."June, 1965: Guy Hamilton (Mel Gibson) is an Australian reporter sent on his first overseas assignment, covering Indonesia as communists and right-wing generals vie for control. He makes two important friends. Billy Kwan (Linda Hunt) is a crafty photographer whose amiable exterior hides a soul in torment. Jill Bryant (Sigourney Weaver) is a British embassy secretary who struggles to reconcile her sense of duty with her romantic feelings for Guy.Gibson and Weaver got star billing, but Hunt got the Oscar. That was fair. For much of the film, it's Hunt's performance that gives us a handle on what is going on. Kwan helps Guy land a scoop interview with head Communist D. N. Aidit, all the while pushing Guy not to lose sight of the human dimension involved, the suffering of the people and the unfulfilled desire for freedom."Add your light to the sum of light," says Kwan.That Hunt was a woman in a man's role gets a lot of attention, as does the fact the American plays a part-Chinese character. It's kind of pointless getting hung up on that. She's about the only thing in "Year Of Living Dangerously" that makes you care.It's not a bad movie, just a confused one, with long slow passages where Guy and Jill make small talk amid the bamboo. In one inane sequence, they run a roadblock and are met with a barrage of automatic-weapon fire, something they treat as a lark.I was more interested in Guy's teamwork with Billy, who uses his short stature to negotiate dangerous crowds and gives Guy the leads on important stories. "That little twerp knows everything," sneers a Washington Post reporter (Michael Murphy) who does everything but wear an ugly-American T-shirt for easy identification. Gibson and Hunt are an easy pair to like; Gibson with his put-upon mien, Hunt with her enigmatic serenity."Don't take it personally," Kwan tells Guy as he is menaced by an angry crowd. "You're just a symbol of the West.""Feel more like a spittoon," Guy answers.Eventually they fall out, over a story that Billy claims jeopardizes Jill. That Billy is angry I get, though we don't actually see Jill menaced for the information she gave and Guy seems to have no choice but to use the information. A labored connection is made between Guy's "betrayal" and a similar disillusionment Billy feels for Indonesia's embattled leader, Sukarno. Even when Billy is visited with personal tragedy, his over-the-top reaction is something even Hunt can't sell.The music is first-rate; so is the camera-work. You know you can count on those things in a Peter Weir movie, and the celebrated director indeed delivers. There are also several small moments, like one where a corporal of the guard at a scene already awash in blood briefly menaces a pair of helpless travelers before apparently taking mercy and sending them on their way with a smile.Too often, though, the film reaches for more than it delivers. The second half of the movie, when the romance between Guy and Jill is thickest, slows to a crawl. Putting the political intrigue in the background creates needless plot confusion just as things are reaching a boil. We don't even get to see the major crisis point in the movie, Guy getting his biggest (and last) story.The frustration with "The Year Of Living Dangerously" is ultimately more than it can manage. While noble in its refusal to traffic easy answers (despite what others say, this is not a "good-communist" movie), there is a failure to present the questions in a clear or compelling way. Instead, it is content to reference the Indonesian art of "wajang" and employ shadow puppets in place of clearer characters or setting, a poor brush-off of the need to tell a good story.

gavin6942 A young Australian reporter (Mel Gibson) tries to navigate the political turmoil of Indonesia during the rule of President Sukarno with the help of a diminutive photographer (Linda Hunt).Of course, a film about Indonesia needed to be made. And the right people to do it (besides the Indonesians) are the Australians. And the greatest Australian director is Peter Weir. The biggest Australian star (despite being born an American) is Mel Gibson... so this all shapes up to be the right sort of ingredients for this.And yet, it never seems to reach the levels that Weir is capable of. Some say this film has great atmosphere, and that much is true. But something is off. And it is also very uncomfortable watching Linda Hunt... not quite clear what they were going for with that.

paul2001sw-1 The cast credits for Peter Weir's political thriller lists "the players", and the film indeed has something of the characteristics of a play: it's talky, and sets up certain well-defined conflicts between characters who represent something, but who don't feel completely natural creations. It's still good, with an interesting character, an Indoensian oddball who conducts an ambiguous intelligence operations, at its heart. The counter focus comes from Mel Gibson's Australian journalist: Gibson is actually quite good in the role, the he's not as intriguing as his foil, and when he becomes the sole focus of the film's final section, the movie becomes less interesting as a result (westerner tries to escape exotic east is a duller theme than that which preceded it). I still liked the movie: it's not as self-consciously arty as some of Weir's other movies, but its atmospheric, even if it falls short of the best treatment of similar material, Graham Greene's masterful novel, 'The Quiet American'.