I just saw this film as part of the 54th San Francisco International Film Festival in a screening at SFMOMA. What a work of art! A clear labor of love, this layered re-telling of the significance of, and meaning in Pieter Bruegel's masterpiece, "The Way to Calvary" is one of the finest embodiments of a canvas brought to life I have ever seen. Rutger Hauer is Pieter Bruegel, Sir Michael York is his patron, and the mesmerizingly beautiful Charlotte Rampling is the Virgin Mary. The unnamed figures in the painting (well over 100) are brought to life, and what a life it must have been in the 16th Century. Simple and with clear order, yet brutal and harsh. Not only is "The Mill and the Cross" a re-creation of the painting it is 16th Century Flanders (as Bruegel saw it). The film also acts as a Passion Play, and given I saw it Easter Weekend it couldn't have seemed more appropriate.
Reviews
16 Reviews
Black Swan
(2010)
Perfecting the Dance
29 December 2010
One of the best films of 2010, and for that matter the past few years. "Black Swan" is dark, disturbing, and beautiful. It is a focused film about one of the most demanding art forms: ballet. The ballerina, especially the prima ballerina must be in the most fit of physical conditions, and because it also demands so much expressive emotion the mental state of the dancer must always be affected by the stress and rigorous preparations necessary for a bravura performance. All of this is so artfully conveyed by the director Darren Aronofsky it seems almost effortless.
The film conveys the physical ordeal the dancer goes through, and literally represents the mental transformation of the main character who is tasked with playing both the White and Black Swan in Tchaikovsky's masterpiece Swan Lake. Natalie Portman is mesmerizing as Nina. She is virtually on screen throughout the film, often shot from behind to emphasize the first- person nature of the story. Aronofsky could not have chosen a more appropriate actress to portray his Prima Ballerina in the making. In fact the casting in this film is impeccable all the way around. Even the small roles give us a sense of authenticity from the other chorus girls, to the instructors, and massage therapist. Barbara Hershey as the cloying mother, Mila Kunis in a breakout performance as the "other girl/swan", even Winona Ryder's minor role as the deposed ballet star stands out in this strong ensemble piece.
It is as if each of the primary women in the film are different representations of the same psyche, so it seems clear the director needed a strong troupe of actors capable of giving and playing with and off each other in ways that would keep the audience on edge and at ease with how the story would be told. Vincent Cassel portrays the proto-typical arrogant ballet director, and yet somehow seems understated in doing it. This is a gifted actor we should see more of, and the director did a magnificent job keeping the tensions right at the edge. He and the other men all seem to have designs on Nina, and just like the women in the film seem to meld into one another.
The film is about mirroring, performing, becoming. Much of the film is shot either from behind the actors, or through mirrors, so what we are seeing is always but a reflection of reality. We are never quite sure if what we see in "Black Swan" even happens. Even in the last shot we are left to wonder if what transpires is real, or imagined, but we are sure that what we have seen is the perfection of art.
The film conveys the physical ordeal the dancer goes through, and literally represents the mental transformation of the main character who is tasked with playing both the White and Black Swan in Tchaikovsky's masterpiece Swan Lake. Natalie Portman is mesmerizing as Nina. She is virtually on screen throughout the film, often shot from behind to emphasize the first- person nature of the story. Aronofsky could not have chosen a more appropriate actress to portray his Prima Ballerina in the making. In fact the casting in this film is impeccable all the way around. Even the small roles give us a sense of authenticity from the other chorus girls, to the instructors, and massage therapist. Barbara Hershey as the cloying mother, Mila Kunis in a breakout performance as the "other girl/swan", even Winona Ryder's minor role as the deposed ballet star stands out in this strong ensemble piece.
It is as if each of the primary women in the film are different representations of the same psyche, so it seems clear the director needed a strong troupe of actors capable of giving and playing with and off each other in ways that would keep the audience on edge and at ease with how the story would be told. Vincent Cassel portrays the proto-typical arrogant ballet director, and yet somehow seems understated in doing it. This is a gifted actor we should see more of, and the director did a magnificent job keeping the tensions right at the edge. He and the other men all seem to have designs on Nina, and just like the women in the film seem to meld into one another.
The film is about mirroring, performing, becoming. Much of the film is shot either from behind the actors, or through mirrors, so what we are seeing is always but a reflection of reality. We are never quite sure if what we see in "Black Swan" even happens. Even in the last shot we are left to wonder if what transpires is real, or imagined, but we are sure that what we have seen is the perfection of art.
Terry's Tempest
26 January 2010
One of Terry Gilliam's better films. Christopher Plummer, Tom Waits, and Lily Cole give stand-out performances. It's Heath Ledger's last film. He died during the film's production, and thanks to some inventive storytelling Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrel capably filled in to complete the film. While this may cause some film goers difficulty I found it rather simple to suspend disbelief as their appearance only occurs during those moments when the character resides within the Imaginarium.
Gilliam is clearly fascinated by the act and art of story-telling, a theme he has addressed in nearly all of his films from "Time Bandits", through "The Brothers Grimm." Here that act is essential for life itself and the Universe as a whole to continue. The film moves fluidly back and forth from a grim but real world and the fantastical world of dreams.
Christopher Plummer uses every trick he's learned over his very long and distinguished career to present a very complicated and difficult to completely pin down exactly who Dr. Parnassus might be. Surely we are presented some very clear possibilities, but with the number of layers Gilliam uses as the over-arching story progresses it would be very difficult to assume any one is definitive, and that is not at all easy for an actor to successfully achieve. Plummer shows us a loving parent, a drunken fool, a wise man of letters, a charlatan grifting for souls, a mystical priest/prophet, a homeless, penny-less bum. Opposite him is Tom Waits' creepy and devilish Mr. Nick. Once again showing us that this musician song-writer has some acting prowess that deserves to be used and seen more often.
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus is a film (or story) about choices. Ones we make, ones' we wish we'd make, and knowing right from wrong. It's not clearly black and white as I just made it sound, and the film ends cryptically enough that we know the story continues. Dr. Parnassus made a bargain many moons ago with an unsavory character, and must make amends, that's the film we see before us from Gilliam, and like Shakespeare he reminds us that the world is a stage and we are but actors rounded with a little sleep wherein we dream.
Gilliam is clearly fascinated by the act and art of story-telling, a theme he has addressed in nearly all of his films from "Time Bandits", through "The Brothers Grimm." Here that act is essential for life itself and the Universe as a whole to continue. The film moves fluidly back and forth from a grim but real world and the fantastical world of dreams.
Christopher Plummer uses every trick he's learned over his very long and distinguished career to present a very complicated and difficult to completely pin down exactly who Dr. Parnassus might be. Surely we are presented some very clear possibilities, but with the number of layers Gilliam uses as the over-arching story progresses it would be very difficult to assume any one is definitive, and that is not at all easy for an actor to successfully achieve. Plummer shows us a loving parent, a drunken fool, a wise man of letters, a charlatan grifting for souls, a mystical priest/prophet, a homeless, penny-less bum. Opposite him is Tom Waits' creepy and devilish Mr. Nick. Once again showing us that this musician song-writer has some acting prowess that deserves to be used and seen more often.
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus is a film (or story) about choices. Ones we make, ones' we wish we'd make, and knowing right from wrong. It's not clearly black and white as I just made it sound, and the film ends cryptically enough that we know the story continues. Dr. Parnassus made a bargain many moons ago with an unsavory character, and must make amends, that's the film we see before us from Gilliam, and like Shakespeare he reminds us that the world is a stage and we are but actors rounded with a little sleep wherein we dream.
Cinévardaphoto
(2004)
3 for 1
14 May 2005
With Cinévardaphoto you get 3 great films in one package. Ms. Varda has brought together 3 films she has made over the span of her career. All of them deal with photos and as a whole present a meditation on what photography and the artistic impulse mean to her. While I think "Ydessa, the Bears, and etc...", and "Ulysse" are more intellectually stimulating, "Salut les Cubains" also offers an interesting time capsule appeal in seeing the Cuban revolution as some saw it back in the early sixties. It also offers up some amazing editing with the help of Chris Marker that shows the life "still photography" can exhibit.
While each of the films could individually stand alone, the collection offers the viewer an opportunity to follow one woman's quest to examine art, photography in particular and her relationship to the artistic process in a most engaging manner. There is also an interesting temporal aspect to the organization of the trio of films. They are presented as films backwards chronologically speaking when considering when each film was made, but the subjects (the photos) of the films in question are shown in their chronology, oldest to the more recent.
The newest film (digital video) is "Ydessa, the Bears, and etc...", and is about an artist/curator her peculiar obsession and an exhibit she did in Berlin. Ydessa collects pictures of people with teddy bears from the turn-of-the-last century through World War II. "Ulysse" is an examination from 1982 of a photo Ms. Varda took in the 1950's. "Salut les Cubains", the oldest of the three films from 1963 looks at the revolution via a photo exhibit some 10 years on.
It might not seem that 3 documentaries about photos would be entertaining, but thanks to the genius of Agnes Varda you will be entertained and invited to think at the same time.
While each of the films could individually stand alone, the collection offers the viewer an opportunity to follow one woman's quest to examine art, photography in particular and her relationship to the artistic process in a most engaging manner. There is also an interesting temporal aspect to the organization of the trio of films. They are presented as films backwards chronologically speaking when considering when each film was made, but the subjects (the photos) of the films in question are shown in their chronology, oldest to the more recent.
The newest film (digital video) is "Ydessa, the Bears, and etc...", and is about an artist/curator her peculiar obsession and an exhibit she did in Berlin. Ydessa collects pictures of people with teddy bears from the turn-of-the-last century through World War II. "Ulysse" is an examination from 1982 of a photo Ms. Varda took in the 1950's. "Salut les Cubains", the oldest of the three films from 1963 looks at the revolution via a photo exhibit some 10 years on.
It might not seem that 3 documentaries about photos would be entertaining, but thanks to the genius of Agnes Varda you will be entertained and invited to think at the same time.
Crash
(I) (2004)
Roller-coaster of emotions
1 May 2005
Like Altman's classic Short Cuts, and Anderson's Magnolia, Crash, by writer/director Paul Haggis weaves a tale of multiple characters through the web of streets we have come to know as Los Angeles. Unlike those other two films this one has a very specific theme to explore. From the opening line uttered by Don Cheadle we know this is to be a film about how people relate, and from the interchange that follows between Jennifer Esposito and Alexis Rhee (pretty sure she plays the Korean female driver who rear-ended her) how people relate tends to be ruled by first impressions or prejudice.
Race is paramount in this film, and all our preconceptions of who people are get twisted and turned through the intricate plot. With each new additional character we find another assumption, another stereotype, and then watch as that preconception is obliterated as the character develops. It is a credit to the deftly written script, tight direction and exceptional acting talent that every one of these many characters is fully realized on screen without ever feeling one-dimensional.
I would love to discuss some of the details of what happens to explain how well it is done, but part of the magic of this film is allowing yourself to be taken on this ride. Mind you, this isn't a ride of pleasure. The first half of this film is unrelentingly in its ferociousness. I could literally feel my rage at some of the characters forming to a fever pitch. The fear and hatred I was confronting wasn't just on the screen, but in the pit of my stomach. And in one absolutely brilliant moment I was literally sobbing at the expectation of horror unfolding, only to be cathartically released in a most unexpected way.
Mr. Haggis was in attendance at the screening I saw and explained that the idea for this film came to him one night sometime after 9/11 at about 2a.m. when his own memories of a car- jacking experience from 10 years before wouldn't leave him alone. Clearly this film was his way of relieving those demons of memory, using the catharsis of his art to unleash them and in doing so has given to all viewers of cinema an opportunity to examine our own preconceptions about race relations and how we treat each other and think of ourselves. He mentioned in the discussion after-wards that he likes to make films that force people to confront difficult issues. Films that ask people to think after the film has ended and not just leave saying: "that was a nice film".
This isn't a "nice" film, and I would expect that it will provoke many a discussion in the ensuing weeks when it opens nation-wide. It's a discussion long overdue for this country, and it took a Canadian to bring the issue to the fore in this brilliant, thought provoking film.
Race is paramount in this film, and all our preconceptions of who people are get twisted and turned through the intricate plot. With each new additional character we find another assumption, another stereotype, and then watch as that preconception is obliterated as the character develops. It is a credit to the deftly written script, tight direction and exceptional acting talent that every one of these many characters is fully realized on screen without ever feeling one-dimensional.
I would love to discuss some of the details of what happens to explain how well it is done, but part of the magic of this film is allowing yourself to be taken on this ride. Mind you, this isn't a ride of pleasure. The first half of this film is unrelentingly in its ferociousness. I could literally feel my rage at some of the characters forming to a fever pitch. The fear and hatred I was confronting wasn't just on the screen, but in the pit of my stomach. And in one absolutely brilliant moment I was literally sobbing at the expectation of horror unfolding, only to be cathartically released in a most unexpected way.
Mr. Haggis was in attendance at the screening I saw and explained that the idea for this film came to him one night sometime after 9/11 at about 2a.m. when his own memories of a car- jacking experience from 10 years before wouldn't leave him alone. Clearly this film was his way of relieving those demons of memory, using the catharsis of his art to unleash them and in doing so has given to all viewers of cinema an opportunity to examine our own preconceptions about race relations and how we treat each other and think of ourselves. He mentioned in the discussion after-wards that he likes to make films that force people to confront difficult issues. Films that ask people to think after the film has ended and not just leave saying: "that was a nice film".
This isn't a "nice" film, and I would expect that it will provoke many a discussion in the ensuing weeks when it opens nation-wide. It's a discussion long overdue for this country, and it took a Canadian to bring the issue to the fore in this brilliant, thought provoking film.
Tokyo Magic Hour
(2005)
Experimental waste of time
30 April 2005
I really wish I had paid closer attention to the description in the festival catalog. They tried to warn me, but I saw a reference that compared this film(maker) to Derek Jarman and thought, hmmm? maybe it will make me think new thoughts.
How disparaging of Mr. Jarman's memory to be connected to this piece of useless video crap. The director apparently couldn't even take the time to shoot his own meaningless video imagery, but had 6 others shoot whatever they wanted in Japan/Tokyo and then he put it through every contortion Final Cut Pro offers and claimed he had made ART!!!
He really needs to return to his previous profession as a lawyer, because between this film and the shoddily edited documentary "The Year of Living Vicariously" which was screened with it I can't really imagine he can afford to live on his "art" for much longer.
How disparaging of Mr. Jarman's memory to be connected to this piece of useless video crap. The director apparently couldn't even take the time to shoot his own meaningless video imagery, but had 6 others shoot whatever they wanted in Japan/Tokyo and then he put it through every contortion Final Cut Pro offers and claimed he had made ART!!!
He really needs to return to his previous profession as a lawyer, because between this film and the shoddily edited documentary "The Year of Living Vicariously" which was screened with it I can't really imagine he can afford to live on his "art" for much longer.
Pin Boy
(2004)
Slice of Life
26 April 2005
(Some may feel this comment contains spoilers, but that would be hard to do with this type of film.)
If there were ever a film that could be used as the dictionary definition for a "slice of life" film Parapalos (or Pin Boy) would be it. I just saw this film over the weekend at the 48th San Francisco International Film Festival and as the catalog description there puts it: "nothing happens". Please don't take that to mean this film is boring, I never once felt bored or wondering when it would end. I was always fully engrossed in this examination of life at the fringe. The lead actor, Adrián Suárez in his debut (I believe), gives a memorable performance as a young man recently moved to the big city and taking a menial job as a pin boy in one of the last manually operated bowling alleys in Buenos Aires.
We are told from the beginning during his physical by the off-screen doctor that his new job is a dangerous and grueling one. This is reinforced by his fellow pin boy co-workers. The director uses this expectation of danger to give the film it's dramatic tension, but like life itself, nothing much happens besides work and sleep. Adrián Suárez shows great promise since he remains on screen for nearly the entire film, the camera constantly keeping an eye on him even while we here the other actors around him tell their stories. The camera follows this young man through his daily routine in a way that the overly scripted "reality TV" could never capture.
By concentrating our attention directly on the one actor while activity and speech occur all around him we can view this character as emblematic of what is. But what is, is also changing. The aging self-described hippie is sometimes now a punk. The manual bowling alley is only half the space, the other half has already been converted to machine. The lead character has moved from his rural home to the big city. In one of the final scenes with Adrián Suárez and Nancy Torres, who plays the cousin he shares an apartment/bed with, they are sitting in the evening, doing a cross-word puzzle. He stares out into the heavens noting that in the city fewer stars can be seen, and she reminds him, and us, that the stars themselves don't necessarily even exist any more. It is just their light that continues to shine long after they have disappeared.
This is what cinema is. We sit in darkened theatres watching the flickering light of images. But those moments captured on film are gone now, those people have moved on, grown older, maybe even they are dead, but to us the image remains a living testament to what was, to life itself, burning brightly before us. Life as Ms. Poliak sees it is poetic and moving. In a gorgeous shot (the one time the setting is outside) on the roof the camera follows our everyman as he circles the roof playing with a new harmonica. In this very tightly controlled pan as the actor circles around coming into extreme close-up and walking away again the focus and camera remains tightly on him, always keeping your attention on him. This could not have been an easy shot to set up since the roof is neither very large, nor was there any edit to allow for change of position of the camera. The camera in-fact seems to remain fixed in place, just turning as the actor moves around, coming close, moving away, but always in focus.
In the end, as the other commenters prove, this film is not going to appeal to everyone, but if you go in not expecting an "action" film; if you don't need your films to be just entertainments to distract you, I think you will find this one worthy of a view.
If there were ever a film that could be used as the dictionary definition for a "slice of life" film Parapalos (or Pin Boy) would be it. I just saw this film over the weekend at the 48th San Francisco International Film Festival and as the catalog description there puts it: "nothing happens". Please don't take that to mean this film is boring, I never once felt bored or wondering when it would end. I was always fully engrossed in this examination of life at the fringe. The lead actor, Adrián Suárez in his debut (I believe), gives a memorable performance as a young man recently moved to the big city and taking a menial job as a pin boy in one of the last manually operated bowling alleys in Buenos Aires.
We are told from the beginning during his physical by the off-screen doctor that his new job is a dangerous and grueling one. This is reinforced by his fellow pin boy co-workers. The director uses this expectation of danger to give the film it's dramatic tension, but like life itself, nothing much happens besides work and sleep. Adrián Suárez shows great promise since he remains on screen for nearly the entire film, the camera constantly keeping an eye on him even while we here the other actors around him tell their stories. The camera follows this young man through his daily routine in a way that the overly scripted "reality TV" could never capture.
By concentrating our attention directly on the one actor while activity and speech occur all around him we can view this character as emblematic of what is. But what is, is also changing. The aging self-described hippie is sometimes now a punk. The manual bowling alley is only half the space, the other half has already been converted to machine. The lead character has moved from his rural home to the big city. In one of the final scenes with Adrián Suárez and Nancy Torres, who plays the cousin he shares an apartment/bed with, they are sitting in the evening, doing a cross-word puzzle. He stares out into the heavens noting that in the city fewer stars can be seen, and she reminds him, and us, that the stars themselves don't necessarily even exist any more. It is just their light that continues to shine long after they have disappeared.
This is what cinema is. We sit in darkened theatres watching the flickering light of images. But those moments captured on film are gone now, those people have moved on, grown older, maybe even they are dead, but to us the image remains a living testament to what was, to life itself, burning brightly before us. Life as Ms. Poliak sees it is poetic and moving. In a gorgeous shot (the one time the setting is outside) on the roof the camera follows our everyman as he circles the roof playing with a new harmonica. In this very tightly controlled pan as the actor circles around coming into extreme close-up and walking away again the focus and camera remains tightly on him, always keeping your attention on him. This could not have been an easy shot to set up since the roof is neither very large, nor was there any edit to allow for change of position of the camera. The camera in-fact seems to remain fixed in place, just turning as the actor moves around, coming close, moving away, but always in focus.
In the end, as the other commenters prove, this film is not going to appeal to everyone, but if you go in not expecting an "action" film; if you don't need your films to be just entertainments to distract you, I think you will find this one worthy of a view.
Ulysse
(1983)
Now part of Cinévardaphoto
23 April 2005
This film is now being exhibited as the middle section of a trilogy of documentaries about photography Ms. Varda has done over her career as Ciné Vardaphoto. If you get a chance to see any of the three you will be engaged into a vibrant examination of what is photography, memory, history, and the artistic process. Be prepared to think, and revel in one woman's amazing ability to constantly provoke us to examine and re-examine our human condition. Ulysse itself uses one particular photo the director took back in 1954 to re-examine both the time, subject(s), and meaning of that photo. What sounds like it could be a dry intellectual enterprise is treated with great care and love by Agnès Varda. What in less assured hands would seem pedantic turns into the revelatory. Anyone who can take the still image and breathe life into it deserves her ranking as one of the major film-makers in world cinema today or any day.
Goodbye, Dragon Inn
(2003)
A film about watching film
2 May 2004
It has been nearly two weeks since I saw Bu jian bu san (Goodbye, Dragon Inn) and I still can't get some of the images out of my mind. This is partly due to the fact that the director (Ming- liang Tsai) holds onto an image, a scene, long after, or before any action occurs. In doing so he insists the viewer bear witness to its own self re-presentation in the form of characters in a film they are watching.
Two of the finest moments in the film are moments where the camera is pointed back towards the mostly empty chairs of the cinema itself. In one, an actor who appeared in the original kung-fu film Dragon Inn watches a scene from the original. As the camera settles on his face, we are pulled ever closer, listening to the original's soundtrack while watching the actor as a receptive viewer. We are watching the emotions of time and change develop on his face. Finally, with his face in extreme close-up and the water glistening in his eyes with the film's light reflecting in them a single tear falls down his cheek.
Near the end of the film as the old classic has ended the camera is again pointed to the empty chairs of the cinema. There is no one there, then on the far side of the frame the ticket woman enters with bucket and mop. She walks across, up the stairs, back down and out the left side of the screen, literally walking off the frame as the camera remains motionless. He holds this shot for what many will argue is an interminable time. But he wants you to really take in this shot, consider what you are witness of, think about your own place now, viewing a film.
There is far more to this film than just these two scenes. They just exemplify the kind of artful ways this film explores the nature of action and reaction. What adds to this already complex and studied examination of cinema and the cinema viewing experience is the exquisite cinematography done by Ben-Bong Liao. If you love film, especially film that asks you to fully participate in the moment, then find a screening of this film and get lost in it.
Two of the finest moments in the film are moments where the camera is pointed back towards the mostly empty chairs of the cinema itself. In one, an actor who appeared in the original kung-fu film Dragon Inn watches a scene from the original. As the camera settles on his face, we are pulled ever closer, listening to the original's soundtrack while watching the actor as a receptive viewer. We are watching the emotions of time and change develop on his face. Finally, with his face in extreme close-up and the water glistening in his eyes with the film's light reflecting in them a single tear falls down his cheek.
Near the end of the film as the old classic has ended the camera is again pointed to the empty chairs of the cinema. There is no one there, then on the far side of the frame the ticket woman enters with bucket and mop. She walks across, up the stairs, back down and out the left side of the screen, literally walking off the frame as the camera remains motionless. He holds this shot for what many will argue is an interminable time. But he wants you to really take in this shot, consider what you are witness of, think about your own place now, viewing a film.
There is far more to this film than just these two scenes. They just exemplify the kind of artful ways this film explores the nature of action and reaction. What adds to this already complex and studied examination of cinema and the cinema viewing experience is the exquisite cinematography done by Ben-Bong Liao. If you love film, especially film that asks you to fully participate in the moment, then find a screening of this film and get lost in it.
Japanese Story
(2003)
Toni Collette is pitch perfect in Down Under gem
29 January 2004
No finer example of acting on film is needed now that Ms. Collette has given us her performance here in Japanese Story. What seems to begin as a culture clash film, winds through romantic comedy via road movie motif and delivers one of the more powerfully shocking twists put on film. It all works because both actors, Gotaro Tsunashima gives a magnificently balanced performance as Tachibana Hiromitsu, manage their roles by stripping the characters down to the raw essence of living.
To those who claim this film has no plot, clearly you need everything spelled out for you with big giant marking pens to understand a film. This films' plot is simply about life. Learning to live, experiencing life in all its joyous beauty and sad loneliness. And as Sandy's mother explains to us at the beginning of the film, death is part of life too. In the final shot of the movie I actually feel as if I knew exactly what Sandy was feeling at that moment, the aching in her heart. The change in her character from the person we meet in the opening sequences to that last shot is nearly as large and wide as the Australian outback. The film has some beautiful cinematography. The haunting shot of her face peering out of the pitch black, and receding back into the dark is simply magnificent. I urge people to go see this wonderful small, but moving film about learning, love, and life.
To those who claim this film has no plot, clearly you need everything spelled out for you with big giant marking pens to understand a film. This films' plot is simply about life. Learning to live, experiencing life in all its joyous beauty and sad loneliness. And as Sandy's mother explains to us at the beginning of the film, death is part of life too. In the final shot of the movie I actually feel as if I knew exactly what Sandy was feeling at that moment, the aching in her heart. The change in her character from the person we meet in the opening sequences to that last shot is nearly as large and wide as the Australian outback. The film has some beautiful cinematography. The haunting shot of her face peering out of the pitch black, and receding back into the dark is simply magnificent. I urge people to go see this wonderful small, but moving film about learning, love, and life.
House of Sand and Fog
(2003)
Modern day tragedy
18 December 2003
This is the second film this year that has made me think of Greek Drama. The first one was The Human Stain. In both cases, it is tragedy not comedy I think of, something we rarely see done in film anymore. It is most refreshing to see. Tragedies are meant to speak to the audience, to get the audience to see themselves in the drama before them, and hopefully learn something about themselves.
There are always actions taken in tragedy, that lead to ends; these ends of course, as the word implies are not happy ones. In this case we have Kathy (Jennifer Connolly) who fails to take action, or any responsibility for her life, and Col. Massoud Behrani (played powerfully by Sir Ben Kingsley) who lives in the past but seemingly in complete control of it nonetheless. All the main characters (including Ron Eldard's Sheriff Burdon) are essentially homeless, drifting through their lives searching for something other.
Kathy has been displaced by a bureaucratic mistake by the county tax assessor. The Behrani's are displaced from their true home of Iran by the Islamic fundamentalist Ayatollahs, and Lester Burdon leaves his home for Kathy. It is also about family. Kathy is clearly estranged from her own, and one of the final shots of the film inside the bedroom with the camera looking down, Kathy assuming a fetal position on the bed is both beautiful and tragic at the same time. This is a sad tale about actions, and the consequences those actions inherently carry inside themselves.
The film clearly needed some editing, it's just a bit too long. A couple of scenes near the end of the film elicited laughter from the audience, and none should have been happening. The director should have seen that possibility and either cut, or demanded more from the actors to avoid the twittering. I also didn't get the need to open with the ending sequence, while I felt that worked for The Human Stain this film doesn't need to be seen as a mystery to be solved.
The acting is superb. Ben Kingsly is certainly at the top of his form. This contained the regal quality he showed years before in Gandhi, and the fierce, smoldering violence of Sexy Beast. He should certainly make the cut for Best Actor. Jennifer Connolly gives her best performance since Requiem for a Dream, and Shohreh Aghdashloo was amazing Nadi Behrani. If this really is the Dreamworks release for Oscar consideration I could see 5 nominations on the way, Kingsley for Actor, Connolly for Actress, Aghdashloo for Supporting Actress, and for Perelman's Adapted Screenplay and the fog enshrouding Cinematography of Roger Deakins, who is so very overdue for an Oscar. I think there are too many other, more worthy films for the Picture and director nominations. While this is a good film it is not perfect. 8 of 10.
There are always actions taken in tragedy, that lead to ends; these ends of course, as the word implies are not happy ones. In this case we have Kathy (Jennifer Connolly) who fails to take action, or any responsibility for her life, and Col. Massoud Behrani (played powerfully by Sir Ben Kingsley) who lives in the past but seemingly in complete control of it nonetheless. All the main characters (including Ron Eldard's Sheriff Burdon) are essentially homeless, drifting through their lives searching for something other.
Kathy has been displaced by a bureaucratic mistake by the county tax assessor. The Behrani's are displaced from their true home of Iran by the Islamic fundamentalist Ayatollahs, and Lester Burdon leaves his home for Kathy. It is also about family. Kathy is clearly estranged from her own, and one of the final shots of the film inside the bedroom with the camera looking down, Kathy assuming a fetal position on the bed is both beautiful and tragic at the same time. This is a sad tale about actions, and the consequences those actions inherently carry inside themselves.
The film clearly needed some editing, it's just a bit too long. A couple of scenes near the end of the film elicited laughter from the audience, and none should have been happening. The director should have seen that possibility and either cut, or demanded more from the actors to avoid the twittering. I also didn't get the need to open with the ending sequence, while I felt that worked for The Human Stain this film doesn't need to be seen as a mystery to be solved.
The acting is superb. Ben Kingsly is certainly at the top of his form. This contained the regal quality he showed years before in Gandhi, and the fierce, smoldering violence of Sexy Beast. He should certainly make the cut for Best Actor. Jennifer Connolly gives her best performance since Requiem for a Dream, and Shohreh Aghdashloo was amazing Nadi Behrani. If this really is the Dreamworks release for Oscar consideration I could see 5 nominations on the way, Kingsley for Actor, Connolly for Actress, Aghdashloo for Supporting Actress, and for Perelman's Adapted Screenplay and the fog enshrouding Cinematography of Roger Deakins, who is so very overdue for an Oscar. I think there are too many other, more worthy films for the Picture and director nominations. While this is a good film it is not perfect. 8 of 10.
The Human Stain
(2003)
Greek Hero and Roman Goddess
3 November 2003
Warning: Spoilers
(this commentary contains a possible spoiler)
Most commentaries have stalled over the issues of casting in this
film. Let us dispense with this first. One third of the way into this
film you are confronted with the credibility issue of Anthony
Hopkins' portrayal of an African American. At first, even I recoiled at
the revelation, which, not having read the Philip Roth novel on
which the film is based, I was blissfully unaware. And so, I was
dutifully in shock for a moment.
I was able to transcend the moment, and accept this risky choice
of casting because a good friend of mine in college, the 9th of 10
children from an inter-racial marriage, had surprised me years
before by informing me he was African American. He looked as
white as I, and his family made for a wide display of what the
mixing of races can offer. Also, at the screening I attended, Robert
Benton, the director also introduced the audience to a film
consultant, Allison Davis. He played the "white" Diner on the Train
who complained to Coleman Silk's father. He looked every bit like
Anthony Hopkins, ruddy cheeked, short cropped grey hair, white;
nevertheless, he was the progeny of two African Americans we
were told. He chose a different path than the character in the film,
and had embraced his racial heritage all his life.
Often films ask the audience to suspend disbelief, and since I do
not believe this film over-extended on this level I gave it the benefit
of the doubt. If you can do that, I believe you will be engaged by this
film. It presents some highly well defined characters, and truly
reveals them. I could get prurient here and discuss the physically
revealing scenes, but again, people have simply reacted viscerally
to the presentation of an older man and a young beautiful woman
having sex. Our society is so youth obsessed, most people can't
get beyond the images. Hopkins becomes in many viewer's minds
some sort of dirty old man, pawing at the current Hollywood sex
goddess, Kidman. How less rich are we, that we can't look beyond
the image to the acts themselves. That is partly why I believe Roth
places them at the Clinton/Lewinsky moment in time.
These are two people who have made choices and decisions with
their lives. The film intentionally doesn't decide if these are right or
wrong decisions. It simply displays in a very classical way, two
tragic characters, their fateful decisions, and ultimate penalty they
receive from society. Coleman Silk chose to hide his race and
lived a lie. Faunia Farley ran from her upbringing as well, though
most reviewers don't seem to notice this. Another misconception
that leads to some reviewers' displeasure with Nicole Kidman's
performance. She is living on the edge, because she chose at one
point in her life to stand up and fight, or more accurately, run. She
was being sexually molested by her step-father, and her mother
wouldn't defend or believe her when confronted with the facts. She
also has been abused by her ex-husband, played menacingly by
Ed Harris. Faunia's life, like that of Coleman's, is dictated by this
decision early in her life story. Her decision relegates her to the
lower classes, while Coleman's sends him to the highest levels of
what the upper classes consider important, Dean at a higher
institution of learning.
They are two tormented souls reaching out in a hauntingly
evocative way to find something tender in this harsh, unforgiving
world. The ways in which the story plays with classical mythology
are intentional, adding to the depth of this films' text. Coleman
opens the story with a quote about Achilles' exile outside the city,
having turned his back on his own people. Faunia, from the Latin
Fauna, Goddess of Fertility. Both performances capture these real
characters, and their mythological significance in wonderfully
understated performances. Though the real find is Wentworth
Miller, as the younger Coleman Silk. His bravo performance
should be recognized come award time.
I would be the first to admit that The Human Stain is not a movie
for everybody. If you need car chases, or loud explosions to keep
your attention span in a darkened cinema, then don't bother with
this one. If you are willing to think about the story being told, the
lives portrayed, I think you will find The Human Stain a most
rewarding experience.
Most commentaries have stalled over the issues of casting in this
film. Let us dispense with this first. One third of the way into this
film you are confronted with the credibility issue of Anthony
Hopkins' portrayal of an African American. At first, even I recoiled at
the revelation, which, not having read the Philip Roth novel on
which the film is based, I was blissfully unaware. And so, I was
dutifully in shock for a moment.
I was able to transcend the moment, and accept this risky choice
of casting because a good friend of mine in college, the 9th of 10
children from an inter-racial marriage, had surprised me years
before by informing me he was African American. He looked as
white as I, and his family made for a wide display of what the
mixing of races can offer. Also, at the screening I attended, Robert
Benton, the director also introduced the audience to a film
consultant, Allison Davis. He played the "white" Diner on the Train
who complained to Coleman Silk's father. He looked every bit like
Anthony Hopkins, ruddy cheeked, short cropped grey hair, white;
nevertheless, he was the progeny of two African Americans we
were told. He chose a different path than the character in the film,
and had embraced his racial heritage all his life.
Often films ask the audience to suspend disbelief, and since I do
not believe this film over-extended on this level I gave it the benefit
of the doubt. If you can do that, I believe you will be engaged by this
film. It presents some highly well defined characters, and truly
reveals them. I could get prurient here and discuss the physically
revealing scenes, but again, people have simply reacted viscerally
to the presentation of an older man and a young beautiful woman
having sex. Our society is so youth obsessed, most people can't
get beyond the images. Hopkins becomes in many viewer's minds
some sort of dirty old man, pawing at the current Hollywood sex
goddess, Kidman. How less rich are we, that we can't look beyond
the image to the acts themselves. That is partly why I believe Roth
places them at the Clinton/Lewinsky moment in time.
These are two people who have made choices and decisions with
their lives. The film intentionally doesn't decide if these are right or
wrong decisions. It simply displays in a very classical way, two
tragic characters, their fateful decisions, and ultimate penalty they
receive from society. Coleman Silk chose to hide his race and
lived a lie. Faunia Farley ran from her upbringing as well, though
most reviewers don't seem to notice this. Another misconception
that leads to some reviewers' displeasure with Nicole Kidman's
performance. She is living on the edge, because she chose at one
point in her life to stand up and fight, or more accurately, run. She
was being sexually molested by her step-father, and her mother
wouldn't defend or believe her when confronted with the facts. She
also has been abused by her ex-husband, played menacingly by
Ed Harris. Faunia's life, like that of Coleman's, is dictated by this
decision early in her life story. Her decision relegates her to the
lower classes, while Coleman's sends him to the highest levels of
what the upper classes consider important, Dean at a higher
institution of learning.
They are two tormented souls reaching out in a hauntingly
evocative way to find something tender in this harsh, unforgiving
world. The ways in which the story plays with classical mythology
are intentional, adding to the depth of this films' text. Coleman
opens the story with a quote about Achilles' exile outside the city,
having turned his back on his own people. Faunia, from the Latin
Fauna, Goddess of Fertility. Both performances capture these real
characters, and their mythological significance in wonderfully
understated performances. Though the real find is Wentworth
Miller, as the younger Coleman Silk. His bravo performance
should be recognized come award time.
I would be the first to admit that The Human Stain is not a movie
for everybody. If you need car chases, or loud explosions to keep
your attention span in a darkened cinema, then don't bother with
this one. If you are willing to think about the story being told, the
lives portrayed, I think you will find The Human Stain a most
rewarding experience.
Nada
(2001)
Nothing
26 April 2003
While the film-maker kept insisting this film is "nothing" I found it a brilliant piece of art. Filmed in black and white, but with certain items, emblems, and images in vibrant color, this film speaks volumes through it's manipulation of the art of film to say "nothing".
It is pure farce, poignant drama, and slapstick comedy all rolled into a love poem to Cuba.
While nothing in Nada should be taken too seriously, it never once panders to its audience with simple cheap laughs. Well, ok, some characters are certainly intended as pure caricatures, which others have rightly identified as in the style of "commedia d'ell arte". This is part of the film's joy. This is not to say that the film doesn't have some poignant moments.
Nada is the story of a bored and lonely postal worker in Havana named Carla who decides to play God with the letters that pass through her hands. Through a twist in fate, a spilled bit of coffee, Carla happens upon the world of the letter writers, those whose mail she mindlessly stamps "priority" on a daily basis. Suddenly she is confronted with the sadness and loneliness of not just her own life, but the world outside. For a lark she decides to re-write the letter ruined by the coffee spill, but instead of re-writing it as it had been written, she alters it.
In one of it's more brilliant and moving moments; using truly mesmerizing camera work, we listen as Carla re-writes a letter to a woman bent on ending her life. The woman's long flower patterned dress is in color. We follow this woman into an old empty house; following at a distance, as she finds her way to the bath. Carla has written her about the need to live life with a passion, and not to live simply a long life. We watch as the woman disrobes, and then slips into the bath tub, disappearing from the screen, the camera moves in slowly towards the tub. This deliberate and slow movement heightens the melodrama unfolding. Has she just climbed into an empty tub? Is this her way of ending an un-lived life? I won't spoil this moment here, you should see it for yourself.
The amazing thing about this moment, is that, as different as it is from much of the rest of the film, it doesn't feel out of place. Nor does the moment as we listen to Carla's re-write of a letter from a daughter to her father. We watch this man, thinking about the letter he has just read, as he moves slowly to the sea wall, the camera first facing him, and then slowly moving up over, and then behind him to look out to the sea with him. We don't linger, but the point has been made, for during this high tracking shot over him we have been listening to Carla's voice tell us of the love this daughter holds for her father, even while she hasn't seen him for years.
But again, Nada never takes itself seriously, it isn't about anything (please read a wry smile here). And soon we are always back to some silly moment with the nosy bureaucrats in the Post Office, or the noisome, neighbor. And finally Nada fulfills itself as a love story between Carla and Cesar, a fellow postal worker she enlists in her efforts to change the world around her.
Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti indicated at the SFIFF where I saw it, that Nada is the first of a trilogy he plans to make. For a first feature that can be both subtle at one moment, and hit you with a sledge-hammer the next I only hope the wait is very short.
It is pure farce, poignant drama, and slapstick comedy all rolled into a love poem to Cuba.
While nothing in Nada should be taken too seriously, it never once panders to its audience with simple cheap laughs. Well, ok, some characters are certainly intended as pure caricatures, which others have rightly identified as in the style of "commedia d'ell arte". This is part of the film's joy. This is not to say that the film doesn't have some poignant moments.
Nada is the story of a bored and lonely postal worker in Havana named Carla who decides to play God with the letters that pass through her hands. Through a twist in fate, a spilled bit of coffee, Carla happens upon the world of the letter writers, those whose mail she mindlessly stamps "priority" on a daily basis. Suddenly she is confronted with the sadness and loneliness of not just her own life, but the world outside. For a lark she decides to re-write the letter ruined by the coffee spill, but instead of re-writing it as it had been written, she alters it.
In one of it's more brilliant and moving moments; using truly mesmerizing camera work, we listen as Carla re-writes a letter to a woman bent on ending her life. The woman's long flower patterned dress is in color. We follow this woman into an old empty house; following at a distance, as she finds her way to the bath. Carla has written her about the need to live life with a passion, and not to live simply a long life. We watch as the woman disrobes, and then slips into the bath tub, disappearing from the screen, the camera moves in slowly towards the tub. This deliberate and slow movement heightens the melodrama unfolding. Has she just climbed into an empty tub? Is this her way of ending an un-lived life? I won't spoil this moment here, you should see it for yourself.
The amazing thing about this moment, is that, as different as it is from much of the rest of the film, it doesn't feel out of place. Nor does the moment as we listen to Carla's re-write of a letter from a daughter to her father. We watch this man, thinking about the letter he has just read, as he moves slowly to the sea wall, the camera first facing him, and then slowly moving up over, and then behind him to look out to the sea with him. We don't linger, but the point has been made, for during this high tracking shot over him we have been listening to Carla's voice tell us of the love this daughter holds for her father, even while she hasn't seen him for years.
But again, Nada never takes itself seriously, it isn't about anything (please read a wry smile here). And soon we are always back to some silly moment with the nosy bureaucrats in the Post Office, or the noisome, neighbor. And finally Nada fulfills itself as a love story between Carla and Cesar, a fellow postal worker she enlists in her efforts to change the world around her.
Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti indicated at the SFIFF where I saw it, that Nada is the first of a trilogy he plans to make. For a first feature that can be both subtle at one moment, and hit you with a sledge-hammer the next I only hope the wait is very short.
Blissfully Yours
(2002)
A blissful afternoon in the sun.
21 April 2003
Blissfully Yours as the film is being called in the U.S. is not a perfect film. That said, my initial reaction fades as I re-examine the film in my mind's eye. It has an ethereal quality, especially the second two-thirds of the film (after the credits finally roll). The film plays with the whole idea of what is film. When does a film begin?
Initially you feel as if you have just walked in on the personal lives of the characters. You are quietly viewing their life, or maybe you're just along for the ride. This is especially driven home while in the car with two of the main characters, Roong and Min, as they drive around. At times you are viewing them from the outside, at others inside the car watching them, and at still others, just looking behind at where they have come from. In a way it is in these sequences that the director gives you clues about how to view the overall film. The first third, prior to the credits, is showing you as a viewer where these three characters come from.
Once the credits roll we only see one other person (ok, we do see the back of another person on a scooter) besides the three main characters. At this point it becomes their film. Their afternoon in the sun. In the jungle, away from all of life's troubles, it is a moment of bliss. It allows Min to forget for a moment his skin problem, and his life left behind in Burma. It allows Roong to forget for a moment her regimented life as a factory girl, laboriously painting the same mass produced items, over, and over again. And it allows Orn the opportunity to finally let go and relax; to come to terms with her own past; wherein, she may have had a child that drowned, and has been unable to forgive herself.
The film is deliberately slow paced, and yet I never once felt bored, or disinterested in what I was watching. It is not filled with action, but with feeling. It is a film about release. The letting go of our worldly cares for a blissful moment in the sun. I recommend you take a lazy afternoon and see Blissfully Yours. Let it help you escape into the jungle of your own mind.
Initially you feel as if you have just walked in on the personal lives of the characters. You are quietly viewing their life, or maybe you're just along for the ride. This is especially driven home while in the car with two of the main characters, Roong and Min, as they drive around. At times you are viewing them from the outside, at others inside the car watching them, and at still others, just looking behind at where they have come from. In a way it is in these sequences that the director gives you clues about how to view the overall film. The first third, prior to the credits, is showing you as a viewer where these three characters come from.
Once the credits roll we only see one other person (ok, we do see the back of another person on a scooter) besides the three main characters. At this point it becomes their film. Their afternoon in the sun. In the jungle, away from all of life's troubles, it is a moment of bliss. It allows Min to forget for a moment his skin problem, and his life left behind in Burma. It allows Roong to forget for a moment her regimented life as a factory girl, laboriously painting the same mass produced items, over, and over again. And it allows Orn the opportunity to finally let go and relax; to come to terms with her own past; wherein, she may have had a child that drowned, and has been unable to forgive herself.
The film is deliberately slow paced, and yet I never once felt bored, or disinterested in what I was watching. It is not filled with action, but with feeling. It is a film about release. The letting go of our worldly cares for a blissful moment in the sun. I recommend you take a lazy afternoon and see Blissfully Yours. Let it help you escape into the jungle of your own mind.
Dragon Fighter
(2003 Video)
Bad doesn't begin to describe this.
5 January 2003
I mistakenly kept myself awake late last night watching this thing. About the only thing I could say good about this horrid film is that it could be used by film schools to show how not to make a movie. No proper character development, wait, I'm not even sure they were characters. Set-ups were hokey and inane, and the overuse of split screens was wasted since sometimes they couldn't even synchronize with alternate shots. If I could give this a zero or minus rating I would. Sadly, it isn't even worth the time for a few laughs.
It's just a sad example of money wasted by Hollywood, and now I waste my time even thinking about it.
It's just a sad example of money wasted by Hollywood, and now I waste my time even thinking about it.
The Singing Detective
(1986)
One of the best pieces of filmed entertainment.
12 February 2001
I have to agree with the person from Croatia. This is still in my mind one of the finest pieces of film making ever put on the small screen. The seemless movement from one time frame to another, from one reality to another, from one story to another makes this a true masterpiece. How is it all connected? If you can rent it - then take the time to see
Tell Your Friends