Moonrise Kingdom
I always want to like Wes Anderson's films. And there are often aspects that I appreciate. The humor is dry, the mis-en-scene is lovingly detailed. But those aspects are also part of the problem. The films are often crafted into oblivion and the detached tone of the films can turn stale. You almost root for someone to flub a line or break character. One positive is the performances he elicits. Here Bruce Willis plays nicely against type as a weak-kneed policeman and Edward Norton does a nice turn as Boy Scout leader. There are funny, absurdist moments, but I ended up exhausted by the effort of trying to like a film that's overdetermined. It's a whimsical film without whimsy.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Prometheus
How does Ridley Scott fall so short of the mark set by Alien?
The original was written by Dan O'Bannon, who also wrote Total Recall, and it featured a gritty, realist view of space travel. The ship oozed grime and the crew were clearly disgruntled hired help working for a sinister corporation. The cast was seamless with great American character actors Yaphet Kotto and Harry Dean Stanton, British stars Ian Holm and John Hurt, all led by Tom Skerritt and Sigourney Weaver. The plot hummed with tension as the characters slowly succumbed to the nearly invincible creature.
Prometheus boasts an almost equally fine lineup with Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Noomi Rapace (Girl/Tattoo), Charlize Theron and the amazing Michael Fassbender. But here the action doesn't hum, it drones. My sister complained that Ms. Rapace wasn't up to Sigourney Weaver's toughness in the original, but Rapace was plenty tough in Girl w/Dragon Tattoo. As the role is written, she simply isn't viable as an anthropologist who conveniently morphs into an action hero. Bad directing and writing. Charlize Theron seems to be typecast as the cold bitch here, more or less the same role she has in Snow White and the Huntsman. Her part in the movie is extraneous, as are those of most of the crew. There are too many plot points stolen from the original - landing on a dangerous planet, infection, betrayal by android, corporate skullduggery - undercutting the possibility of suspense. Bad writing. And the brief but powerful use of bodily gore in Alien becomes over-the-top horror in Prometheus. Bad writing and directing. Horror doesn't equal tension. The film is undeniably gorgeous on the big screen and it has moments, but it's a sadly pale companion to the beauty of Alien.
How does Ridley Scott fall so short of the mark set by Alien?
The original was written by Dan O'Bannon, who also wrote Total Recall, and it featured a gritty, realist view of space travel. The ship oozed grime and the crew were clearly disgruntled hired help working for a sinister corporation. The cast was seamless with great American character actors Yaphet Kotto and Harry Dean Stanton, British stars Ian Holm and John Hurt, all led by Tom Skerritt and Sigourney Weaver. The plot hummed with tension as the characters slowly succumbed to the nearly invincible creature.
Prometheus boasts an almost equally fine lineup with Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Noomi Rapace (Girl/Tattoo), Charlize Theron and the amazing Michael Fassbender. But here the action doesn't hum, it drones. My sister complained that Ms. Rapace wasn't up to Sigourney Weaver's toughness in the original, but Rapace was plenty tough in Girl w/Dragon Tattoo. As the role is written, she simply isn't viable as an anthropologist who conveniently morphs into an action hero. Bad directing and writing. Charlize Theron seems to be typecast as the cold bitch here, more or less the same role she has in Snow White and the Huntsman. Her part in the movie is extraneous, as are those of most of the crew. There are too many plot points stolen from the original - landing on a dangerous planet, infection, betrayal by android, corporate skullduggery - undercutting the possibility of suspense. Bad writing. And the brief but powerful use of bodily gore in Alien becomes over-the-top horror in Prometheus. Bad writing and directing. Horror doesn't equal tension. The film is undeniably gorgeous on the big screen and it has moments, but it's a sadly pale companion to the beauty of Alien.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Goodbye First Love
Another meandering, talky and pretentious film (France) about a young woman's first love affair. I rarely like French films for these very reasons. At one point in this film, the two lovers go to the cinema; she loves it, but he says it was talky and complacent. Oh, the irony.
There's a bit of tasteful nudity and idyllic French countryside.
Another meandering, talky and pretentious film (France) about a young woman's first love affair. I rarely like French films for these very reasons. At one point in this film, the two lovers go to the cinema; she loves it, but he says it was talky and complacent. Oh, the irony.
There's a bit of tasteful nudity and idyllic French countryside.
Headhunters (3 subjective stars)
Taken from the crime novel of the same name by Norwegian Jo Nesbo, Headhunters is a slickly paced thriller about a high-living corporate headhunter with short-man complex. To make up for his lack of stature, he feels he must shower his supermodel wife with constant luxury. Maintaining this lifestyle requires a second job as a thief.
Nesbo's books excel both in plotting and pacing and the screenwriters have done an excellent job of carrying this over to the film. It's beautifully shot and well-acted. There is some violence. My only quibble is the ending, which doesn't do justice to the whole. It's meant to be heartwarming, but it doesn't mesh with the black comedy tone of most of the film.
Taken from the crime novel of the same name by Norwegian Jo Nesbo, Headhunters is a slickly paced thriller about a high-living corporate headhunter with short-man complex. To make up for his lack of stature, he feels he must shower his supermodel wife with constant luxury. Maintaining this lifestyle requires a second job as a thief.
Nesbo's books excel both in plotting and pacing and the screenwriters have done an excellent job of carrying this over to the film. It's beautifully shot and well-acted. There is some violence. My only quibble is the ending, which doesn't do justice to the whole. It's meant to be heartwarming, but it doesn't mesh with the black comedy tone of most of the film.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
A Dangerous Method
A film about Jung and Freud. By David Cronenberg. Had to see that. Sadly it's a biopic instead of some Cronenbergian fantasia, but it features a great characterization of Carl Jung by Michael Fassbender. It's also interesting historically about anti-semitism, class and the birth of psychoanalysis. Keira Knightley plays the most intriguing part as Sabina Spielrein, a 'hysteric' who is Jung's first patient to be treated with Freud's 'talking cure' (psychoanalysis). Critics have complained that Knightley has insufficient depth to play this part, but I found her convincing.
The film is based on a screenplay adapted from a play by Christopher Hampton, which seems to have been a somewhat perfunctory look at the early days of psychoanalysis. One couldn't ask for juicier material - two pioneers of psychology, one of whom is involved with a patient who later becomes a substantial contributor to the field herself - but the film, like the play, fails the material. Sabina Spielrein's story alone - childhood beatings, institutionalization, medical school, original thinking appropriated by Freud and Jung and finally death at the hands of the Nazis - has the making of a mini-series.
Still, it's not a bad film as an introduction to a watershed moment in psychological history and a great jumping off point for further research.
A film about Jung and Freud. By David Cronenberg. Had to see that. Sadly it's a biopic instead of some Cronenbergian fantasia, but it features a great characterization of Carl Jung by Michael Fassbender. It's also interesting historically about anti-semitism, class and the birth of psychoanalysis. Keira Knightley plays the most intriguing part as Sabina Spielrein, a 'hysteric' who is Jung's first patient to be treated with Freud's 'talking cure' (psychoanalysis). Critics have complained that Knightley has insufficient depth to play this part, but I found her convincing.
The film is based on a screenplay adapted from a play by Christopher Hampton, which seems to have been a somewhat perfunctory look at the early days of psychoanalysis. One couldn't ask for juicier material - two pioneers of psychology, one of whom is involved with a patient who later becomes a substantial contributor to the field herself - but the film, like the play, fails the material. Sabina Spielrein's story alone - childhood beatings, institutionalization, medical school, original thinking appropriated by Freud and Jung and finally death at the hands of the Nazis - has the making of a mini-series.
Still, it's not a bad film as an introduction to a watershed moment in psychological history and a great jumping off point for further research.
The Skin I Live In
Even when I don't love the films, I love Almodovar. You have to if you're interested in the politics/psychology of identity. Or if you love melodrama and fine (mostly female acting). The Skin I Live In is his first exercise in Body Horror, a genre whose big names include Davids Lynch and Cronenberg.
Almodovar's films are always carefully crafted and often highly stylized. This film leans heavily on it's mis-en-scene with meticulously crafted shots and sets that sometimes give you that sense of looking at a mesmerizing photograph or painting. While the beauty and sense of detachment achieved by this technique is powerful, it leaves me a bit cold. Artists often separate the esthetic from the emotional. Films that are esthetically neat are often unsatisfying and ultimately unimaginative. A strange critique of Almodovar, and especially of this film, which nicely turns sexual identity inside out.
The film offers another stunning performance by Marisa Paredes, a veteran of numerous Almodovar films. Antonio Banderas is good as the arrogant plastic surgeon, but I found myself thinking his part had been underwritten. His doctor stands in too clearly as the representative of male arrogance. Almodovar usually, if not always, sides with women in the battle of the sexes, which is natural. That doesn't excuse stacking the deck against male characters; drama depends upon balance.
All my quibbles aside, I love Almodovar and recommend this film purely on esthetics, if not on its ability to sway emotions.
Even when I don't love the films, I love Almodovar. You have to if you're interested in the politics/psychology of identity. Or if you love melodrama and fine (mostly female acting). The Skin I Live In is his first exercise in Body Horror, a genre whose big names include Davids Lynch and Cronenberg.
Almodovar's films are always carefully crafted and often highly stylized. This film leans heavily on it's mis-en-scene with meticulously crafted shots and sets that sometimes give you that sense of looking at a mesmerizing photograph or painting. While the beauty and sense of detachment achieved by this technique is powerful, it leaves me a bit cold. Artists often separate the esthetic from the emotional. Films that are esthetically neat are often unsatisfying and ultimately unimaginative. A strange critique of Almodovar, and especially of this film, which nicely turns sexual identity inside out.
The film offers another stunning performance by Marisa Paredes, a veteran of numerous Almodovar films. Antonio Banderas is good as the arrogant plastic surgeon, but I found myself thinking his part had been underwritten. His doctor stands in too clearly as the representative of male arrogance. Almodovar usually, if not always, sides with women in the battle of the sexes, which is natural. That doesn't excuse stacking the deck against male characters; drama depends upon balance.
All my quibbles aside, I love Almodovar and recommend this film purely on esthetics, if not on its ability to sway emotions.
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