Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

Ellen Burstyn is an amazing actress.  In ALICE DOESN’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE, she creates a title character so true to life that I actually forgot I was watching a movie. Alice’s fears, her frustrations, her hopes, and her development are the film; and Burstyn never puts a foot wrong through two full hours of running time.

Honestly, that about sums up my entire reaction to the film.  Harvey Keitel, Kris Kristofferson, and even a young Jodie Foster appear in this early Scorsese film, but they’re already fading in memory next to Burstyn’s extraordinary performance.  In her way, she’s every parent that ever was.  See this film for her, and be glad.

W.

W bounced on and off my Netflix queue a number of times. I knew that Oliver Stone is a major director, but I didn't particularly care to sit for a two-hour tomatofest directed at our 43rd president

Yep, I expected a hatchet job, and some blademarks are clearly visible: Dick Cheney's Strangelove moment in the War Room, the mannequin that stood in for Condi Rice. But the movie got at what I perceive to be the fundamental nature of its subject: a good man out of his depth. Josh Brolin was phenomenal, making us believe in his character at every step in his journey, and taking all those Bushisms and weaving them into the natural language of a guy whose brain often outpaces his mouth.

While watching the film, I wondered why it needed to be made in 2008. I think there's a difference between a sitting president and and an alumnus, no matter how recent. As the Obama team has learned with the lack of traction of its "blame Bush" public strategy, unless the last guy in the job was a towering figure, he may as well be Jim Garfield. W was urgent during 43's presidency because then, he formed a member of our perceived "circle," those people in our daily lives who have the greatest impact on us. Now, he's like a member of that circle who has since moved away. He's a person in whom we're still interested, but that interest lacks the immediacy it once had.

Immediacy aside, W is still a film worth watching. It's a take on a man and a time by a master filmmaker with a surprising point of view. It looks great, most of the supporting cast is terrific, and it was over before I knew it.

The Fountain

THE FOUNTAIN swept me up and away. I loved it.

I took two runs at this movie. First, I tried watching it on the Metro, but its imagery and structure simply is not compatible with viewing on a tiny screen while bumping along at rush hour. Second, I woke up before dawn and watched it on the enormovision, in glorious surround sound. In this environment, THE FOUNTAIN enfolded me in its dream-like worlds, washing over me like a languorous wave. When it ended, I knew I'd been on a journey. It took me a day or two to figure out where, but I viscerally loved the experience even before reason kicked in.

This movie does something different: it challenges the viewer to work with both intuition and analysis, offering few easy answers, and it does so while playing very loosely with the classic three-act structure. We meet Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz, lovers in different worlds and times, haunted by tragedies past and present and looking for ... something. In one construct, they're conquistador and queen; in another, scientist and patient; in a third, voyager and phantasm. In all three, we sense an overtone of sadness and defiance, acceptance and denial, enlightenment and desperation. The tales, one or more of which may be happening in the imagination or serving as an allegory of a state of mind, engage us in their own right and as part of a larger whole.

By the time THE FOUNTAIN climaxes in visions reminiscent of Dore's Paradiso illustrations, as well as Hindu and Mayan creation mythologies, we're carried away, outside of ourselves. Darren Aronofsky's doing something audaciously different here, and he succeeds wonderfully. This is a film worth seeing.

ADDENDUM

ecently, I've been subjected to repeated showings of the STAR WARS prequel trilogy. While watching it, I've been bothered by the utter lifelessness of Natalie Portman's Queen Amidala. While watching THE FOUNTAIN, I realized what was missing: gravitas. Portman's idea of Queenly bearing appears to be limited to having good posture and speaking in monotone. Rachel Weisz's Queen Isabella, on the other hand - now, there's a queen to inspire devotion and desire! Weisz's commanding, yet vulnerable, presence radiates monarchy: a personal state of being that lies beyond the powers of either Portman's talent or Lucas's direction.

For that matter, Weisz's entire performance in THE FOUNTAIN is simply brilliant. I've always respected the actress, who can bring class even to pulpy entertainments such as THE MUMMY RETURNS, but this picture takes her career to a whole different level.

Requiem for a Dream

I'm still wrapping my head around 'Requiem for a Dream.' It wasn't a pleasant experience, to be sure. The movie deals with addiction, and it's not a pretty subject. There's a whole lot of pain on display here, and it's presented in such a compelling, artful manner that it drew me in entirely.

Probably the strangest thing about my experience with the film was the Jennifer Connely element. Earlier today, I was in a place that was screening 'Labyrinth' in the background. 'Labyrinth,' of course, stars Connely in her early adolescence. Going from that presentation to that of her as a junkie in an accelerating downward spiral is quite a transition!

This is just a quick note, of course. For an excellent full review of REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, I suggest heading over to Cinescene for Ed Owens's comments.