Change Your Image
delucadom
Reviews
Donnie Darko (2001)
interesting, but, ultimately, disappointing
Contains Spoiler Jet engines falling from the sky, a demonic rabbit and a horrible performance by Drew Barrymore are all featured in this semi-weird, slight and unconvincing film.
It's watchable, there's no doubt about that. It's also, from time to time, creepy. DD is also a self-negating film. That in and of itself isn't necessarily a bad thing, but, it's Superman-like ending(remember Superman flying around the earth to reverse time to save Lois Lane) cancels out most of the film. If only it could've cancelled out just the parts in which Drew Barrymore appears. Ah, now that would've been something worth applauding.
After watching the film, I found myself thinking about how the writer failed to fully incorporate some of the supporting characters into DD's storyline. The puritanical Kittie Farmer(the one who teaches Donnie and the other boys about FEAR/LOVE)is completely unnecessary. She could've been cut out of the entire film and it wouldn't have made any difference. She doesn't figure in Donnie's story in any significant way. His confrontations with her and Patrick Swayze's informercial creep are forced and irrelevant to the central story - that being Donnie's hallucinations of a demonic rabbit, his obsessions with time travel via Roberta Sparrow and his relationship with the new girl in class(Jena Malone).
Of course, it's clear that the writer/director meant DD also as a satire of Regan-era America. That's all well and good. I agree with his critiques(superficial as they may be)but what, exactly, does all that book banning and info-mercial idiocy have to do with the demonic rabbit's apocalyptic talk or DD's desire to find a way to time travel or his love for the Jena Malone's character? And who cares if Ms. Pomeroy(Drew Barrymore - wow, really bad) loses her job? And what were those two creeps from DD's school doing in Roberta Sparrow's cellar anyway? Apparently waiting for DD and his girlfriend to show-up so they could threaten to kill them and, ultimately, put Jena Malone's character in a place where she would get run over by a car being driven by a guy named Frank in a demonic bunny suit so that DD could then travel back in time and commit suicide to save her.
Another thing - when DD travels back in time and offs himself to save his girlfriend, he also, inadvertently, frees Patrick Swayze's character from jail, which, I guess, means that he can continue viewing his kiddie porn collection. Way to go DD!
Ratcatcher (1999)
Visually interesting, nicely acted yet dull
There are moments in Lynne Ramsey's "Ratcatcher" that are powerful and affecting--the opening death/murder scene, the moments that follow; James' trip to his future house, his exhuberant play in the field behind. The actors, especially the kids, are convincing, offer very sophisticated, if one dimensional, performances. Ramsey is talented at creating interesting, compelling images--the opening shot; the mouse tied to the balloon and his/her flight into space and crawling on the moon; James trip to his new house. She has a real talent for suggesting activity without showing it--witness the scenes where the boys terrorize Margaret Anne. We never actually see what they do to her, which makes the scenes much more compelling and disturbing. It's almost as if she's telling us that what they are doing to her is too ugly for our eyes. Her use of "off-screen" space is remarkable. Her cutting is interesting. The opening death/murder scene is cut so abruptly with significant gaps of time missing that it properly mimics the way in which the human mind absorbs and experiences traumatic moments. She captures the confusion and shock and horror of the moment. So, there is a lot of promise in Ramsey as a filmmaker, yet, "Ratcatcher" would probably have been better as a 40 minute short than a 90 minute feature. This slight story, which has barely any narrative progression or momentum, is slow, dull, and repetitive. It's running time weakens, does not strengthen, the film's impact. Maybe this is understandable considering that this is Ramsey's first feature length film. I think she's still adjusting to a longer story form. She's still thinking in short film terms. Having said that, I think she has an interesting style that, given stronger scripts, could lead to much more satisfying films.
Rekopis znaleziony w Saragossie (1965)
Dull, rambling bore of a movie
I could only stand two thirds of this three hour mess of a movie. Now, granted, the last hour may in fact be dazzling and may tie all the stories together and give them greater meaning. Yes, this may be true, though, I'll never know for sure, because, no matter how brilliant the last hour may be it couldn't possibly make up for the dull, rambling bore of the first two hours.
There is lots of promise in the characters, situations and some of the moviemaking but none of it is compelling enough or dramatic enough to sustain ones interest. The lead character, Alfonso Van Warden, wanders around the Spanish country side and stumbles into this immaculate hide away where he possibly meets two evil ghosts in the form of two very beautiful and sexually aggressive women. This quickly leads to Van Worden waking up in a field next to a couple of dead bodies. Then he meets this old, wise man who seems to know where Van Warden has been and warns him, then Van Worden gets captured by the Spanish Inquisition then rescued, then meets up with the old, wise man again, blah, blah, blah. Praising a bad film like this only serves to mislead and discourage movie buffs like myself, who are endlessly searching for those little-known, forgotten films that truly deserve one's attention and raves--films like "Seconds", "Scarecrow", "Gun Crazy", "I am Cuba" and the poetic and truly humanistic "Ballad of a Soldier." See those instead!