I can tell you the exact moment I went from liking PAPILLON to loving it.
Jerry Goldsmith's score is doing the things a score is supposed to do: underlining and enriching the story unfolding onscreen. Then there's this scene, a chase scene, in a forbidding jungle. Goldsmith goes absolutely bananas, giving us a postmodernist piece that sounded more like it came from the pen of Donald Erb than a mainstream film composer. The music is absolutely effective, it takes the viewer completely by surprise, and it's indicative of the skill and care that went into every facet of this picture.
PAPILLON is a long film, clocking in at 2.5 hours, but it races by. Not a moment onscreen feels wasted, and it strikes a wonderful balance between action sequences and character moments. What a great movie!
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Friday, August 18, 2006
A Face in the Crowd
Elia Kazan's A FACE IN THE CROWD tells the story of Lonesome Rhodes (Andy Griffith), a drunk and drifter from the rural South. Early in the film, he's plucked from obscurity by an ambitious young radiowoman (Patricia Neal, in an extraordinary performance), and his unique combination of charisma and bull$#!^ eventually make him a nationwide success. It's a solid setup for a movie, and it sports great supporting performances from Neal, Walter Matthau as an increasingly disillusioned writer, and Anthony Franciosa as a hustler with his eye out for the main chance. Unfortunately, the setup doesn't pay off in a satisfying way.
I recently argued about the nature of screenwriting with a dear friend (Come on over to my place, where the fun never ends!). He posited that the first thing the screenwriter needs to do is outline the themes he wants to address, then create characters who embody those themes.
"The good screenwriter will give those characters enough hooks to make them interesting," he said, "to give them the feel of real people."
I argued that such an approach to screenwriting leads to characters that are little more than wind-up toys. Real characters, like real people, go places you don't expect them to go; they develop into complete personalities that are much more than the personification of themes or ideas. A FACE IN THE CROWD strikes me as an example of my friend's theory of screenwriting. Every character here is the embodiment of something: ambition, selfishness, conscience, greed, naivete, or what have you, and not a single one of them feels like an actual human being. Add to this Griffith's braying, scenery-chewing performance, and you get a movie that leaves audiences watching the clock.
A FACE IN THE CROWD is sold as an overlooked masterpiece. Well, it was "over" a lot of things: overwritten, overacted, and overwrought. Overlooked? No, I think it's just where it should be.
I recently argued about the nature of screenwriting with a dear friend (Come on over to my place, where the fun never ends!). He posited that the first thing the screenwriter needs to do is outline the themes he wants to address, then create characters who embody those themes.
"The good screenwriter will give those characters enough hooks to make them interesting," he said, "to give them the feel of real people."
I argued that such an approach to screenwriting leads to characters that are little more than wind-up toys. Real characters, like real people, go places you don't expect them to go; they develop into complete personalities that are much more than the personification of themes or ideas. A FACE IN THE CROWD strikes me as an example of my friend's theory of screenwriting. Every character here is the embodiment of something: ambition, selfishness, conscience, greed, naivete, or what have you, and not a single one of them feels like an actual human being. Add to this Griffith's braying, scenery-chewing performance, and you get a movie that leaves audiences watching the clock.
A FACE IN THE CROWD is sold as an overlooked masterpiece. Well, it was "over" a lot of things: overwritten, overacted, and overwrought. Overlooked? No, I think it's just where it should be.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
A Tale of Two Sisters
A TALE OF TWO SISTERS didn't work for me. I approached it as a horror film and, aside from a couple of jump-scares, it didn't manage to get under my skin. Rather than spending the movie in a state of mounting dread, I spent it in confused impatience. Since the movie didn't give me enough clues to even guess what was going on, I found myself marking time until the reveal. When the reveal did come, it let me down. Instead of feeling deliciously afraid, I felt cheated.
On the plus side, the movie is beautifully photographed, the sets and costumes are gorgeous, and the actress who plays the stepmother role is a knockout. You can't win 'em all.
On the plus side, the movie is beautifully photographed, the sets and costumes are gorgeous, and the actress who plays the stepmother role is a knockout. You can't win 'em all.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Divorce, Italian Style
I'm tired of neorealism. Finally, an Italian movie that's just plain fun!
(Some mild spoilers follow, but nothing you wouldn't get by reading the back of the DVD box.)
Here's the setup for DIVORCE, ITALIAN STYLE: Marcello Mastroianni is married to a woman who loves him, well, too much. She dotes on him, she's attentive to his every need, and she can't get enough sex. To make matters worse, she's a good money manager and a faithful wife. Sure, she has a Frida Kahlo unibrow and a light moustache (both of which appear to have been applied with magic marker, which is kinda cute), but she has a figure to die for and a love for life. Clearly, it's time for her to go. What sparks this realization? Two things: first, ol' Marcello's gray is starting to come in and his belly's getting a little slack. Second, well, there's this girl. She's 16. She lives across the courtyard and she has this habit of sleeping on top of her covers with her doors open and curtains pulled. Now, here's the problem: Marcello's a Sicilian Catholic - he can't divorce. The solution? He's gotta kill his wife, and he's gotta get away with it. There's your movie.
There are about a million ways this movie can go wrong, but it manages to sidestep every one. We should loathe Mastroianni's character, but we love him instead. He's slick, he's charming, he's got it all under control, and he's a total idiot. We should pity Daniela Rocca's hapless wife, but she's so broadly drawn that we laugh rather than cry. The entire situation should make us shudder in horror, but instead we laugh, laugh, and laugh. What a pleasant change from the run of depressing neorealist pictures I've been watching lately.
Some incidental notes: this is a Criterion release, so the transfer looks great and the sound is crisp. Much of it was filmed in Sicily, and I enjoyed some "Hey, I've been there!" moments, so that may have skewed my response to the film overall.
(Some mild spoilers follow, but nothing you wouldn't get by reading the back of the DVD box.)
Here's the setup for DIVORCE, ITALIAN STYLE: Marcello Mastroianni is married to a woman who loves him, well, too much. She dotes on him, she's attentive to his every need, and she can't get enough sex. To make matters worse, she's a good money manager and a faithful wife. Sure, she has a Frida Kahlo unibrow and a light moustache (both of which appear to have been applied with magic marker, which is kinda cute), but she has a figure to die for and a love for life. Clearly, it's time for her to go. What sparks this realization? Two things: first, ol' Marcello's gray is starting to come in and his belly's getting a little slack. Second, well, there's this girl. She's 16. She lives across the courtyard and she has this habit of sleeping on top of her covers with her doors open and curtains pulled. Now, here's the problem: Marcello's a Sicilian Catholic - he can't divorce. The solution? He's gotta kill his wife, and he's gotta get away with it. There's your movie.
There are about a million ways this movie can go wrong, but it manages to sidestep every one. We should loathe Mastroianni's character, but we love him instead. He's slick, he's charming, he's got it all under control, and he's a total idiot. We should pity Daniela Rocca's hapless wife, but she's so broadly drawn that we laugh rather than cry. The entire situation should make us shudder in horror, but instead we laugh, laugh, and laugh. What a pleasant change from the run of depressing neorealist pictures I've been watching lately.
Some incidental notes: this is a Criterion release, so the transfer looks great and the sound is crisp. Much of it was filmed in Sicily, and I enjoyed some "Hey, I've been there!" moments, so that may have skewed my response to the film overall.
Million Dollar Baby
MILLION DOLLAR BABY worked, from beginning to end. Where some saw a hodgepodge of cliches, I saw the assured hand of a master filmmaker paring a genre down to its core elements, then working those elements to create a simple, yet effective picture. It's hard to believe MILLION DOLLAR BABY is from the same guy who made BLOODWORK.
One friend of mine took issue with the portrayal of Swank's white trash family, seeing it as a cheap shot at the demographic America loves to hate (or at least mock): hillbillies. I found the characterization to be effective and wholly realistic. I've spent a little time around that particular demographic, and I thought it was refreshing to see characterizations that spoke more to my personal experience than to the standard Hollywood dictum that poverty = saintliness.
Regardless, I thought that MILLION DOLLAR BABY was an effective motion picture. Its fight scenes were far more exciting than those in the last three ROCKY movies, and they knock out UNDISPUTED in the first round. The leads were all interesting and engaging, and I was happy to follow them on their journey.
There's a fair amount of hate for MILLION DOLLAR BABY out there, but not from me. I think it's a winner.
One friend of mine took issue with the portrayal of Swank's white trash family, seeing it as a cheap shot at the demographic America loves to hate (or at least mock): hillbillies. I found the characterization to be effective and wholly realistic. I've spent a little time around that particular demographic, and I thought it was refreshing to see characterizations that spoke more to my personal experience than to the standard Hollywood dictum that poverty = saintliness.
Regardless, I thought that MILLION DOLLAR BABY was an effective motion picture. Its fight scenes were far more exciting than those in the last three ROCKY movies, and they knock out UNDISPUTED in the first round. The leads were all interesting and engaging, and I was happy to follow them on their journey.
There's a fair amount of hate for MILLION DOLLAR BABY out there, but not from me. I think it's a winner.
Monday, August 14, 2006
A Very Long Engagement
I loved A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT. It's a beautiful film, full of hope and golden light, and it made us both cry like adolescents who've just figured out what heartbreak means.
My favorite thing about this movie is that it's visually creative, using seamless CGI to give us a world that's just a little more beautiful, and a little more terrifying, than ours. What a great way to spend a couple of hours.
My favorite thing about this movie is that it's visually creative, using seamless CGI to give us a world that's just a little more beautiful, and a little more terrifying, than ours. What a great way to spend a couple of hours.
Come and See
COME AND SEE is a powerful, disturbing film, but I'm not sure it earns that power more through storytelling or casting.
The film is about the Beylorussian partisans of WWII. The element that makes the film so powerful is its lead character, a boy of about 13 who's played by one of the most gifted child actors I've ever seen. In the early stage of the film, he's eager to join the grownups and begin the adventure this war is sure to be. As horror piles upon horror, his reserves of courage and optimism slowly burn away as he turns into an ancient man, old beyond his years and bereft of hope. Aleksei Kravchenko, the young actor who plays this character, is absolutely extraordinary. Sure, the makeup helps us see him age, but the real drama is in his eyes.
The movie's photography is proficient, but it really shines in the area of sound design and scoring. 'Come and See' isn't afraid of ambient noise, and it isn't afraid of music that fades in and out, varying in appropriateness but never in impact. The movie showed me plenty, but it sold me with what it let me hear.
Would I have responded to COME AND SEE so strongly had its protagonist been 25? I don't know, but I do know that I was moved by what I saw. 'Come and See' took me to another place, a terrible place, and it did so effectively and without bombast. This is a very effective film.
The film is about the Beylorussian partisans of WWII. The element that makes the film so powerful is its lead character, a boy of about 13 who's played by one of the most gifted child actors I've ever seen. In the early stage of the film, he's eager to join the grownups and begin the adventure this war is sure to be. As horror piles upon horror, his reserves of courage and optimism slowly burn away as he turns into an ancient man, old beyond his years and bereft of hope. Aleksei Kravchenko, the young actor who plays this character, is absolutely extraordinary. Sure, the makeup helps us see him age, but the real drama is in his eyes.
The movie's photography is proficient, but it really shines in the area of sound design and scoring. 'Come and See' isn't afraid of ambient noise, and it isn't afraid of music that fades in and out, varying in appropriateness but never in impact. The movie showed me plenty, but it sold me with what it let me hear.
Would I have responded to COME AND SEE so strongly had its protagonist been 25? I don't know, but I do know that I was moved by what I saw. 'Come and See' took me to another place, a terrible place, and it did so effectively and without bombast. This is a very effective film.
Red Trousers
You may remember Robin Shou from MORTAL KOMBAT, a fun-filled cheesefest from the mid-'90s. He played Liu Kang, the hero, and his skill at stuntwork was eclipsed only by his consistently great hair.
Well, Shou still has great hair, and he's still deeply involved in the stuntman's craft. With RED TROUSERS, he has directed a documentary about the lives of Hong Kong stuntmen, their roots in Chinese Opera, and the challenges they face as they ply their craft. It's an interesting film with the requisite number of talking heads and archival clips, but what makes it really fun is its use of a terrible movie-within-the-movie to illustrate how the sweat and pain of stuntwork delivers delivers those sequences that make the audience go, "Ooof! That's gotta hurt!" Will the general viewer find RED TROUSERS particularly engaging? Probably not, but fans of Hong Kong action pictures might want to give it a spin.
Well, Shou still has great hair, and he's still deeply involved in the stuntman's craft. With RED TROUSERS, he has directed a documentary about the lives of Hong Kong stuntmen, their roots in Chinese Opera, and the challenges they face as they ply their craft. It's an interesting film with the requisite number of talking heads and archival clips, but what makes it really fun is its use of a terrible movie-within-the-movie to illustrate how the sweat and pain of stuntwork delivers delivers those sequences that make the audience go, "Ooof! That's gotta hurt!" Will the general viewer find RED TROUSERS particularly engaging? Probably not, but fans of Hong Kong action pictures might want to give it a spin.
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Night Watch
NIGHTWATCH represents Russia's entree into the world of glossy, flashy, action-oriented entertainment.
The movie is just that: glossy, flashy, and action-oriented. Unfortunately, that's all it is. NIGHT WATCH tells the story of the the, erm, Nightwatch, a group of supernatural cops who ensure that the bad guys play by rules established in a Manichean-confounding truce sometime in the Middle Ages. The movie has a Maguffin, it has a conflicted hero, and it has plenty of neat special effects, but it chokes on its own need to be hip an cool. NIGHT WATCH never met a CGI-insert it didn't like, and the animations and jump-cuts threaten to overwhelm an otherwise-professional action picture.
Yes, with NIGHT WATCH the Russian film industry does, indeed, arrive: at the direct-to-video market. With a little more character work and a little less flash, this could have been a fascinating movie. Let's hope they tune the machine a little more smoothly before DAY WATCH hits the streets.
Salvatore Giuliano
Francesco Rosi's SALVATORE GIULIANO is the kind of movie that sounds better in theory than it plays on your screen. The film, a historical drama about a postwar Sicilian bandit (well, sorta - one could argue that it's really about corruption, and compromises that kill), eschews the tropes of filmed biography in favor of an oblique approach that makes Giuliano the un- or barely- seen axis about which the story turns. The film incorporates some elements of neorealism, using local amateurs for all but a couple of roles, and it's comfortable with letting time speak for itself.
Sounds interesting, right? Well, that's just the problem: the movie is ... interesting. Not gripping, not fascinating, just interesting. While viewing it, I enjoyed engaging with the movie, allowing it to take me on an intellectual journey; but it never got me in the gut. SALVATORE GIULIANO gives us no characters in whom we can invest, and it offers no real insights beyond the observation that people screw other people for their own ends. Ultimately, this film works more as an historical document than a complete cinematic experience. It was worth seeing, but it was worth seeing in an eat-your-vegetables kind of way.
Sounds interesting, right? Well, that's just the problem: the movie is ... interesting. Not gripping, not fascinating, just interesting. While viewing it, I enjoyed engaging with the movie, allowing it to take me on an intellectual journey; but it never got me in the gut. SALVATORE GIULIANO gives us no characters in whom we can invest, and it offers no real insights beyond the observation that people screw other people for their own ends. Ultimately, this film works more as an historical document than a complete cinematic experience. It was worth seeing, but it was worth seeing in an eat-your-vegetables kind of way.
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