Jodorowsky's Dune ** subjective stars
If you've seen a Jodorowsky film, there's a strong likelihood, for better or worse, that one of the visuals is tattooed onto your visual cortex. In my case it was dwarf sex in the Spaniard's psilocybin spaghetti western, El Topo, from 1971. Jodorowsky movies are provocative visual spectacles and grotesques from which realism has fled. I'm not a huge fan of his films, but I am an admirer of his chutzpah, his ability stick maniacally to his vision.
In 1975, Jodorowsky obtained the rights to film Dune, Frank Herbert's sci-fi epic. He attacked this project in typical style, hiring some of the best artistic talent to design the film's look and attempting to bring on a bizarre cast of stars including Orson Welles, Dali and Gloria Swanson. He hired Pink Floyd for the soundtrack.
In this documentary, Jodorowsky and a few of his compatriots recount the process of designing a phantasmagorical 14 hour version of Dune. One of the films co-creators claims that Jodorowsky mesmerized him onto the production, a claim easily reconciled with the inspired raconteur we meet in this film. He's a bit like 'the most interesting man in the world' from Dos Equis beer commercials. The crew eventually compiled a massive tome of intricate storyboards and shopped it around the major studios trying to scrape up some sorely needed cash. They'd already spent two million without shooting a frame. Hollywood wasn't buying, but the grandeur of Jodorowsky's failure make a beautiful testament to the creative power of passion. If you're into art making, film or otherwise, it's an engrossing ninety minutes.
Le Weekend ** subjective stars
"WILL MAKE YOU FALL IN LOVE ALL OVER AGAIN" raves something called Virgin Media.
I didn't fall in love again, sadly, but my fear that Le Weekend might be chillingly sentimental also didn't pan out. I was warmed, and cooled evenly, by a deftly written piece on a 60's-ish couple reassessing their marriage over a weekend in Paris. The script is by Hanif Kureishi, who also authored My Beautiful Laundrette.
Even if Jim Broadbent's name doesn't register, his hang dog look will be familiar from blockbusters - Harry Potter and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - and smaller indies like Topsy Turvy (he plays Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan) and The Crying Game. An amazing film actor, Broadbent seems to act almost solely with his eyes and he's a joy to watch. His costar, Lindsay Duncan, is less well known in the US (HBO's Rome), but has also been working steadily for decades and is equal to Broadbent's game. Together they evoke that crazed mix of love and loathing that defines many long lived relationships. Add to that Jeff Goldblum's amusing rendition of a smarmy, successful American. It's not heaviosity, not Bergman's Scenes From A Marriage, but it is well written, funny and superbly acted.
The Wolf of Wall Street
I thought I would give this film a shot on Netflix. It is Martin Scorcese after all.
Let me name the ways this movie disappoints. A film about Wall Street so soon after the great recession might have alluded to the disaster, it might have made some observations about the destructive power of the financial industry, but Scorcese doesn't choose that path. Ok then, we have a light comedy about Wall Street excess. It runs three hours. The main characters are shallow, greedy egotists. The few genuinely funny scenes, such as DiCaprio's drug-addled stockbroker crashing his private helicopter into his back yard, are swallowed whole in a pasty pudding of drugs, hookers and frat boy antics. Relationships don't happen to these cartoon characters, even if it was based on a true story.
I like a good story about excess, but there has to be a story, there has to be some character development. DiCaprio's stockbroker is the same useless schmuck after a three hour recap of his debaucheries. There are moviegoers who are always excited to see a movie star snorting coke off a prostitute's ass, but it's old and it's weak. And it's deeply offensive, circa 2014, to use hookers gratuitously when your film is about nothing. If you're going to perpetuate that stereotype, do it for a reason.
