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MrJigsaw
Reviews
Black Snake Moan (2006)
Actresses must kill for parts like this....
At the ripe old age of 27 Christina Ricci already has almost fifty credits in IMDb but her work here as the redneck nymphomaniac in "Black Snake Moan" is the best I've seen (with "Monster" a close second). A part like this almost can't be overplayed. Sporting a rebel-flag tank-top (and often little else) and funky tattoos and armed with cigarettes, booze, drugs and other fun props including a very very very long heavy chain (no false advertising here, folks), Ricci shoots the moon and swan-dives gloriously into her abused-and-abusive character. I didn't even notice her enormous forehead this time, mostly her enormous eyes (and, yeah, other bodily parts) which are just as waif-like as those of, say, Winona Ryder but edgier and less calculated-seeming. Like Blanche DuBois, her character Rae really does "depend on the kindness of strangers" but gets precious little of that for most of the running time.
With her boyfriend (Justin somebody, was in some band or something?) off to the army, Rae finds a huge void in her life and (shades of "Breaking the Waves") tries to fill it with sex with anything on two legs. Beaten and dumped on a backwoods road by yet another would-be partner, she's discovered by semi-retired musician and small farmer Lazarus, played by Samuel L. Jackson. Not trying to "dis" Jackson by not mentioning him earlier---he's great here, gold-capped teeth and all, just that his part seems an amalgam of parts he's played before; even his shambling gait seems borrowed from a similar role in "A Time to Kill." Lazarus is in a kind of funk of his own, having been dumped by his wife for his younger brother, whom he then almost kills in a bar. For me the least convincing moment of "Moan" is when Lazarus makes a seemingly snap decision to carry the unconscious Rae into his house instead of just going back inside to make an anonymous call to the sheriff; we just have to make a "leap of faith" there. With his open Bible in front of him (I'd be curious what passage that was) he decides he must not only nurse her back to health but keep her chained to the radiator until she gives up her wanton ways.
Kudos to writer/director Craig Brewer for making what ensues seem not only believable but entirely natural, even "pre-ordained." Here as in his previous "Hustle & Flow" he shows great talent for being "life-affirming" without the usual accompanying sappiness. His characters grope towards redemption with "a little help from their friends." There's no conventional "happy ending" but at least they're off the path to self-destruction (for now). Both movies also have a musical theme; I for one greatly prefer gut-bucket blues to hip-hop, so I may even buy the soundtrack for this one. The food looked damn good, too; good thing I don't live in the South, I'd probably weigh a ton. So treat yourself to "Black Snake Moan," possible "sleeper" hit of the year
.By the way is there anyone who hasn't wanted to walk the road in front of an impatient truck driver and "flip him off" at least once in a lifetime (preferably without getting killed)?
Kabul Express (2006)
A far cry from your usual "Bollywood" escapism....
Americans have always seemed to enjoy "road movies," from "It Happened One Night" (one of the few cinematic comedies to cop some Oscars) onwards, so those feeling bold enough to venture to see "Kabul Express" shouldn't come away totally disappointed; it even harks back to those "Road to
." epics with in this case Bob Hope, Bing Crosby & Dorothy Lamour being replaced by a couple of Indian guys and a Yank gal. They're journalists who have been (literally) dropped into War-torn Afghanistan (that should probably be the official name of the country) to procure a big story, although they seem to have trouble stumbling across anything big occurring; they can't even find any of the poppy fields generating most of the heroin getting injected into Caucasian veins the world over.
Oddly enough, this is a comedy much of the running time. The Indian Bob and Bing are constantly bickering, with the cameraman accusing his partner of getting him into dangerous situations. (Maybe he should consider a career change.) They haggle with their Afghan guide over the cost of an interview with some Taliban members, who in this movie are depicted as almost an endangered species. The interview falls through but they get a kind of unwelcome bonus: their SUV is commandeered by a Taliban with the omnipresent AK rifle (it's clear this is the weapon of choice for most of the non-American world). It's the uneasy interaction of Bob, Bing and their guide (later joined by Dorothy) with their captor that makes up the "heart of" the movie.
This character (played by Salman Shahid in only his second IMDb credit) becomes ever more fascinating as we learn more about him. It would be a shame if word got around that there's a "sympathetic Taliban," thus deterring some Americans from seeing it. The writer/director does "cheat" a little, though: Shahid is "really" with the Pakistani military, not one of those hard-core guys who blew up the Buddha statue or enjoy relegating women to "beekeeper suits" (he makes good use of one at one point). He and the guide (Hanif Hum Ghum in his first IMDb credit) pretty much steal the movie with each seeking the upper hand over the other (Shahid makes Ghum watch him urinate at one point). The reunion of Shahid with his daughter, with cultural mores preventing him from even speaking to her, is the emotional climax of the film. But here's the main spoiler: Americans constantly in search of a "happy ending" will be disappointed here.
Also disappointed may be those seeking more of a political statement. There's no extensive "back story" a la "Blood Diamond" about the nurture of the Afghan guerrilla fighters (including Osama Bin Laden) by the CIA against the Soviets, the pre-Nine Eleven machinations over oil rights etc. It does become clear that the American military has largely worn out it's welcome. The bombing of civilians etc. is presented briefly. Probably the single most jarring image is that of a smiling young boy who stands up to reveal his missing leg.
Ordinarily I hate to slag actors, but Linda Arsenio as "Dorothy" comes off as almost zombie-like, but then she suffers from my memory of Jennifer Connelly in "Blood Diamond" in a similar role. The others are fine, especially the local non-professionals used. I reckon those are some faces you may not forget for a while.
United 93 (2006)
Nice polite doomed people.....
In a recent interview writer/director Paul Greengrass seemed sincere about wanting to present a meticulously researched "docu-drama" about the biggest mass murder in American history, paying full deference to the wishes and sensitivities of surviving family members; he was also careful to include the obligatory reference to Islam being a great religion hijacked by fanatics etc. (more on that in a moment). I haven't seen his other work but I'm sure it never would've occurred to him that he'd be making a kind of "snuff film." But essentially that's what we have here. We're forced to share a plane ride with a set of nice polite (mostly) white people, all of whom (known by us but not by them) are going to die that morning. Would anyone else out there care to admit having indulged since 09/11/01 in some guilty speculation about what it must've been like being in that plane? Well, here's your chance to find out. Except for a few liberties that we know Greengrass took based on the findings of the 09/11 Commission, I absolutely "buy into" this depiction of events on United 93. How do I feel afterward? Pretty damn glad to be alive, frankly
.
Notice how slowly and mundanely it all goes at first: have you ever contemplated all the little things you do that would seem precious and amazing if you knew they were for the last time? Reading a newspaper, looking at clouds, drinking or eating or urinating, hugging or kissing (etc.) someone, watching TV, filling up your gas tank (if you can afford that nowadays) ----imagine never doing any of those things again, knowing everyone else'll go on doing them without you. That's where "United 93" really "got me" ---the part before all the action---having to sit with and listen to all these pleasant ordinary future corpses, the kind of people most of us know. We don't need to be "introduced to" them personally, in fact it's more poignant without that; each of us can better "identify with" each passenger, projecting our own personal details or those of people we know. (Some have asked "Why didn't the passengers 'do more,' or do it sooner?" Well, they'd been brought up to "behave themselves" and be co-operative. This wasn't Israel where terrorism's a quotidian reality. Nobody knew what to do.) The tension (not suspense) would be unbearable if Greengrass didn't often cut away to the air traffic controllers and others trying to function amidst mounting chaos and uncertainty. I would've believed every minute of that even if some of the real people hadn't been playing themselves. The single most effective moment comes not on the plane but as we stand with the controllers watching the second plane hit the other tower, leaving them (and us
again) in stunned silence....
I haven't delved into any political (or other) ramifications because the movie doesn't. George Bush is not seen, nor do I remember his name being mentioned. We hear the soldiers frantically trying to establish the "rules of engagement" from on high, and that's enough, point made. (I liked the one hijacker speaking German on the phone, reminding us that the failure to prevent 09/11 was an international one.) I do wish that Greengrass had had a character lament the absence of armed air marshals on the planes---that was my first question as news unfolded on 09/11---"Don't they still have guys with guns on those planes?" (One more reason I'm glad I haven't flown since 1985.) A few other points: Greengrass takes such pains to present the hijackers as devout Muslims that ironically he leaves at least some of us presuming the Koran must really say it's okay to kill civilians or they wouldn't be constantly quoting it. (Most of the hijackers that day were middle-class Saudis whose motivation was political not religious; many of them indulged in western "decadence" when they were living here.) Some have questioned the scene showing the passengers stomping a couple of the hijackers before reaching the cockpit, but that also seemed plausible to me. These people were scared and desperate and enraged, hearts racing and adrenaline pumping, spontaneously clawing for any chance to survive; too bad for the "holy warriors" if they got a few bruises en route to their "72 virgins" or whatever
.
There can't really be a "spoiler" for a movie like this, but here's a warning for those who get dizzy easily: if you saw "Blair Witch Project," remember that queasy feeling you got from all that jittery hand-held camera work? Well, "United 93" magnifies that "big time." Mercifully, Greengrass doesn't let the camera dive all the way to the ground with the plane, or I'm sure I would've been racing for the red EXIT sign on which I had my eye. I've never actually vomited at a movie but this was touch and go. (It was hours before I felt "normal" again.) Had I not been distracted by feeling ill, I'm sure I would've found the whole thing as emotionally moving as Greengrass intended. But it's a masterful if brutal piece of work and should be seen by every American who can (literally) stomach it. Especially now with this endless bloody morass in Vietnam---er, sorry, Iraq---it's crucial for us to be reminded that violent death is real and horrible and permanent. (I don't care if you believe in an afterlife, it won't be this one that you've always known. If you believe in reincarnation, it won't be the same "you.") There's nothing "ennobling" about being a victim. None of those passengers would have chosen to be a dead "hero." If you leave the cinema enjoying each additional breath just a little more (I sure needed some air) and if that even just minutely influences how you continue to live and interact with other people (e.g. telling someone "I love you" daily, not just in extremis), then "United 93" really will be a "memorial" to so many lives stupidly wiped out
..