The Assassination of Richard Nixon

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation."

-- H. D. Thoreau, "Walden"

About ten minutes into the Assassination of Richard Nixon, one wants to take Penn's character and: 1) shake him, 2) sit him down and talk him back from the ledge, or 3) send him to a shrink. This is the portrait of a slightly disturbed man whose condition is exacerbated when it could seemingly be so easily ameliorated. One is at once sympathetic and not. This is further amplified by the misguided target of his angst -- Richard Nixon -- who certainly was ignoble, even if he was simply more a symptom of the society Penn's character accused on injustice, rather than its master. Perhaps the greatest irony here is not that Penn's character's decline is justified by society's maladies (as the character thinks) but that the viewer knows society's neglect is what allows the decline to continue unabated. This, of course, *is* a political statement that Penn's character would have liked: One cannot pull one's self up by one's own boot straps. Rather, it is a community affair.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364961/

Last Days, and Elephant and Gerry

There was something elegaic about Elephant. It was a sort of lilting meditation almost on behalf of the spirit of one of the dead killer's soul -- taking the viewer on a journey through the world from which he came and from which he left. And there were no explanations.

But that wasn't quite it. Gerry indicated that Elephant wasn't the end of something, but the beginning of a new voice. Van Sant was stepping up the volume of the meditation and removing even more of the narrative drive. To think that this is what an accomplished and successful (both as an indie director and as a Hollywood commodity) was turning to was truly lovely. That the result was fascinating and sat on the edge of its reach exceeding its grasp was wonderful.

But with Last Days we see that the previous films were not flukes. Last Days takes the topicality of Elephant and the existentialism of Gerry and digs deeper into the psyche than either by being a bit more grounded than Gerry and much less sensational (as in less sensationalized) than the already very dry Elephant.

Perhaps it hits me strongly because during the early 90s I lived in homes like that, among people not too far removed from these people. And why one does or does not end up on one side or the other of the line (between dead and living, slacker and worker, child and adult, right and wrong) continues to be puzzling.

One Night in Mangkok

Not a Thai film, with a mispelled "Bangkok" in the title, a Hong Kong crime film largely set in the Mangkok neighborhood. Gritty, well-executed, but only marginally above the better such efforts, the film holds one's attention, even as it seems to (ironically) stretch repeatedly into new twists.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0430772/

Exodus (& Sayonara)

There might be no better-yet-accessible film for understanding the birth of the modern state of Israel -- and for understanding the conflicts between the the indigenous populations and the Israelis, and amongst the Israelis themselves. The latter conflict is seldom noted by the popular media outside of Israel. What is both impressive and disheartening, in many ways the conflicts have not changed during the past six decades. Rather, the divisions have grown along the same lines, to the point where one can appear to hope, at best, for a lasting detente.

Unlike other epics from that era, designed to bring the insular American sensibility into contact with another culture, Exodus still feels sophisticated and modern. Contrast this with, say, Sayonara, which feels ridiculously dated -- and is entertaining now as camp, rather than for its content. A case in point: In Sayonara, Ricardo Montablan plays a famous Kabuki actor -- and the producers apparently consider his skin color and accent when combined with a little makeup and a few Japanese words to be "Asian enough" to fool Americans. There are few such gaffes in Exodus. Newman's Ari is frightfully spot-on for what such an Israel looks like, sounds like, and acts like -- both then and now. Eva Marie Saint does a fine job of being the surrogate for the audience watching Exodus, something that Brando, in Sayonara, in his encumbered position as an American icon, can't quite pull off.

So what's Exodus' downside? Although the film tries to be balanced, the sympathy clearly lies with one set of political aspirations -- and presents those as the most reasonable. This is perhaps inevitable but unfortunate because the reality was and is a set of irreconcilable differences.

(The DVD is far from ideal: While presented in the 2.35:1 widescreen format of the theatrical presentation -- yeah! -- it is not anamorphic, and appears to be sourced from the same composite video master used for the laserdisc. The only thing lower than the video fidelity is the audio fidelity. I have sympathy with those that complain about surround re-mixes of classic films from multichannel sources, but am sometimes pleasantly surprised by the results. Exodus is horrible, with the entire soundtrack being panned to various places at various times, hampering the already low quality of the original dialog and score recordings.)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053804/

Love Actually

I've waited until watching this a second time to see whether my first impression holds. It does.

I'm a long time closet fan of romantic comedies. Love Actually is a peculiar treat: It's as if the plot points and high lights of a half dozen romantic comedies were woven together, and all of the superfluous substance was removed. But is it really superfluous?

We've got the fantasy of the young man going abroad to "get lucky". We've got the cuckolded husband finding new love in the midst of his solitude. We've got the recently widower-ed step-father learning to live again through the first love being experienced by his dead wife's son. We've got the middle-aged family man who wakes up to what he has been taking for granted at home when he is nearly seduced by his secretary. We've got the third-wheel best-friend of the groom who is cold and distant to the new wife not because he dislikes her but because he loves her. We've got the prime minister who falls in love with a household assistant. We've for the soft-core body-doubles who can easily feign passion on command but who can't hardly figure out how to date. And we've got the love-sick office workers who can't quite get together because life and family get in the way.

It's as if Curtis, who has written more of his share of hit romantic comedies, among other things, had a stack of stories lying about -- and rather than develop any one into something like another Notting Hill, he combined them all into an ensemble picture of nothing but money-shots.

Oddly, it almost works. But it's hard to feel there's much going on other than a mechanical walk through, not unlike the simulated sex some of the characters perform for a living.

Recommended, with two key caveats: It's only for the die-hard romantic comedy fan, and even then only if seeing the form exploited in so blithe a manner is of interest.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314331/

3-Iron

I think we have to add 3-Iron (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0423866/) to my list of favorite romances, along with:

Wings of Desire Secretary City Lights Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Lost in Translation Vertigo

For now, I'll say that the final shot, with the scale at zero, has to be one of the most exact denouements I've seen in quite a while.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The Book looks a little more like an iPod advertisement than I would have pictured, Trillion is a little less intelligent than she should have been, and I was hoping to reach the restaurant at the end of the universe -- but the only real blunder was how silly Marvin looked. And that's saying something, because with this classic, there was lots of room for error.

As a fan since I first listened to bootleg cassette recordings of the original BBC broadcast in the early 80s -- and as someone who realizes now that I picked up more than a few verbal quirks derived from Adams' laconic style -- I can say: Recommended, though if you're a fan already, you'll already know all the punch lines.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0371724/

Beyond Our Ken

"Ken" is not some approximation of "kin". Rather, Ken is a man's name. "Our" refers to the current and the previous girlfriends -- who meet and decide to move "Beyond" the guy who is not quite the great catch.

It seems Ken has been posting nude photos of the former girlfriend to an adult web site. Unfortunately, at least some her colleagues at the school where she works visit the site, and have shared it with the rest of the staff.

After learning about this, the current girlfriend decides to help the previous girlfriend -- perhaps with some revenge, but certainly with deleting the photos from Ken's computer.

But it's not quite so simple an action as one might think. And the girlfriends' relationship never seems to really move BEYOND Ken. Rather, he seems to remain somewhere at the center of their world, even as they bond more and more in their apparent desire to seek revenge.

Recommended.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0440445/

Unknown Pleasures

Reminiscent of a hybrid of Italian film styles from the 1950s -- mixing the neo-realism that still prevailed at the start of the decade with the pondering meditations Antonioni was delivering at the end of the decade -- Unknown Pleasures manages to portray a slice of Chinese life in the new millennium.

On the one hand we have an amateur cast caught on video tape in real locations, with very few fantastical events -- even the thugs are too lowly and unromatic to break the "realism" spell. On the other hand, we have long tracking shots of characters riding motorcycles, or long stationary shots of characters watching TV, that provide time and space for the viewer to absorb the milieu and all of its implications.

What don't we have? Some will be disappointed by story arcs that don't really end up anywhere in particular. Motivations are not always spelled out, though it's fair to say they can be inferred. And while it was shot on video for obvious reasons, one can't help but yearn for a bit more clarity to the image -- something a slightly larger budget (for better video gear?) could have enabled.

Recommended? Yes, but with mild reservations -- unless what you want is a slice of mainland life, in which case it's the best available.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318025/

JSA - Joint Security Area

There is something very Korean about this film. It again represents the fascinating combinatoin of the Korean film industry's adoption of Hollywood production values and syntax to a quintisentially Korean theme: the essential brotherhood shared between those in the north of the Korean peninsula and those in the south, especially among those in the opposing militaries.

What do we learn here? That the avergae guy on both sides of the DMZ is genuinely good, decent, caring and has far more in common than at odds with his brother/comrade on the other side. But more than that, we see that the source of conflict are the higher-ups, the institutionalization of the conflict, and the international presence that seems at best interested in helping each side gloss over any subtleties in the situation and, at worst, ready to add fuel to fire (or, at least, the US is accused of such by the Northern soldiers).

Quality, heart, enough intelligence, not too sentimental. Recommended.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0260991/

"Extreme Moment"

The quotes around the title indicate that this is a literal translation of the Chinese characters presented at the start of the film. I cannot see that there is an IMDB listing, and there is no English title anywhere on the film.

The film appears to be made in the mainland. The dialog is Mandarin, and the setting is both Hong Kong and the mainland, during the first SARS episode. SARS is peripheral, however, to the films plot of two underemployed "brothers," one of whom happens into some money and both of whom are (mostly) unluckly in love.

We've got all the Hong Kong film attributes of action, luck, love, snetimentality, and music which occisaltes between spot-on and send-up. But the film is not work of an assured industry, such as Hong Kong's. Many sequences are gestures toward a particular effect (eg, an exciting gun battle) rather than the application of an effective practice.

Overall, a curiosity rather than a recommendation.

(In Mandarin with English and one style of Chinese [not sure which] burned-in subtitles, letterboxed 1.78:1.)

The title in the film:

I [heart] Huckabees, Spring Summer Fall Winter... Spring

Two of the best Buddhist films of last year couldn't be worlds fuller apart. David O. Russell's films get better by quantum leaps with each new effort. Three Kings was a remarkable feat of critical thought and entertainment, which pushed beyond the indie-cuteness of his first films, which never quite achieved the necessary coherence. But nothing prepared the way for Huckabees. How can you not love a film that not only brings Tippi Hedron back to the screen, but let's her say "fuck". But there's more: We get a lesson in the convergence of eastern and western metaphysics in a way that is effective without sermonizing -- pace, "What the [bleep] do we know?" What we get is one of the two Buddhist truths (this is the "general" or universal truth), and lots of lovely touches, like the caricatured (and accurate as far as caricature goes) view of grassroots social change movements which brought back lots of memories. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0356721/ Spring Summer Fall Winter... Spring give us the other half of the Buddhist worldview -- the other truth (the particular). By paring away at the particulars that can lead us astray, Ki-duk Kim is able to complete a full cycle of a life, of life, by never really drawing on anything other than simple events. There are a few points where the phantastic (sic) intervene. The mother's death as she slips beneath the ice, the murder off-screen, remind us that we're watching a film -- but these serve to distance us from the experience enough that we can then contemplate the movie as a work, an artifact, and not the message itself. The boat is not the point, but getting across the wide river requires a water-craft. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0374546/

Luther, Motorcycle Diaries

Two films about two revolutionaries. While sympathetic to both, neither lacks problems -- both neither film and neither person.

How sympathetic? I've been called a communist -- though these days the belief that everyone deserves a roof under which to sleep, food to eat, an education, and health-care, all regardless of means, makes one a communist. Does that make me Che's compatriot? I doubt it. And while I am a proverbial card-carrying-ACLU-er, they'd hardly think Luther is a poster-child.

Perhaps the biggest problem with Diaries is the truncated nature of the narrative: We don't get to see the consequences of the consciousness-raising we have witnessed. It's the drunkenness without the morning after. A less significant defect: as Dannette notes, perhaps the most moving passages from the real diaries are omitted because they are not dramatic, just horrible.

Luther gives us consequences measured in blood and limbs and the bodies from which they came. This is (gasp) refreshing -- though, of course, the bloodshed would escalate after Luther departed the scene, and we miss that. What troubles one about this inspiring film is the notion that it was an intellectual exercise, and a matter of conscience, of a single man -- though even the film's script alludes to the gestalt from which the real reformation sprang. Yes, Luther nailed the theses to the church door, but it was the general disgust at what the Church had become, and the political awakening of northern Europe, that fashioned the movement. The film is rich enough we need not kowtow to the message its sponsors (the Lutherans) paid for.

Safety Last

The first thing that you know about Safety Last, even if you don't know who or what Harold Lloyd is, let alone what Safety Last is, is the guy-hanging-from-the-clock. And it turns out this is what Safety Last is all about. It's the "money shot."

The idea for the film began with the idea of the climb, based on Lloyd seeing it done for real one afternoon on the streets of Los Angeles. And the reason one went to see the film then, as now, is to see that shot, and how Lloyd gets into that situation.

But though that sequence caps the film, and presents several purple passages, the machinations that set up his character, his character's situation, and the relationships in the film are what surprise the veiwer more than eight decades later. They are likely to both endure as something we can identify with and they are likely to remain a window into another era: We can understand why the characters (and especially Lloyd, who is the closest to a three-dimensional character) do what they do, even if the mannerisms and milieu are at best quaint, and at worst very foreign.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0014429/

Shiri

For those of us who have been wondering how, even in the fanciful world of action movies, the leading characters end up with super human combat capabilities, Shiri offers an answer in its opening montage. But more than that, Shiri is a reminder of what's been going on in Korean films for the past decade.

The Hollywoodization of product values has been oft-noted. It's true, though much of Shiri looks more like a Hong Kong production than Hollywood film -- except for the rapid editing which during action sequences that is intended to create a state of excitement at the expense of coherence and genuine tension. But what's truly interesting is the way the themes and treatments are Korean.

The re-unification of the two Koreas looms large in Shiri, as it does in so many films from the peninsula. And the emotional content of the film's relationships -- the time and import given to them -- exceeds Hollywood, and plays more seriously than Hong Kong.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0192657/

Osama

Yes, Osama is harrowing, moving, maddening and beautiful. One can see the Iranian-style's influence, so the fact that there was cross-fertilization of creative talents should come as no suprise.

But the stories around the story is worth thinking about, too:

The Taliban are "gone" but the rules and tactics remain in place in many places -- not just in Afghanistan, but in many other countries.

George W. liked this movie. Do you think he missed the point?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0368913/

Once Upon a Time in Mexico, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - Extended Edition, Fall Guy

There is a delerium at the heart of Once Upon a Time in Mexico. Rodriguez is playing with genres -- his own stomping grounds, as well as spaghetti westerns, and Hong Kong crime comedies. One can see "Spy Kids" for adults seeping through. And at points Depp is having so much fun with his silly role, we see the actor rather than the act. There is not too much else -- a star-filled cast, and beautiful HD videography round out the bill. Fodder, but fun fodder. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0285823/

The Extended Edition of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy stretches more than 10 hours. Even with the occasional misstep -- Frodo and Sam disguised as orks? -- there is no reason to watch any of the theatrical versions ever again. There is little revolutionary about these films: The effects take the technological realization of a fantasy world to a new level, to-be-sure, and the adaptation of a gargantuon work has humbled even more innovative directors. But the overall effect is like a well executed military campaign to construct a mighty entertainment. It is *remarkably* successful in this regard. But why do I feel guilty?

The Stand In: I wish I could say more than that I couldn't watch more than 20 minutes. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082601/

The Suicide Club: Other than its missing a third act, this Japanese horrro film might have gone some where. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0312843/

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

If it weren't for the twist, where Warner Bros steps on itself, this would be an uninspiring rockumentary.

Shall We Dance?

No, not with jay-low, but with Tamiyo Kusakari. At points one wonders whether Masayuki Suo watched Strictly Ballroom a few too many times, but the transformation into Japanese culture and mores impacts not just the ephemeral trappings (language, environment, conventions) but the plot itself. Reticence, sublimination, and interpersonal evasion are given their due, as are the moments of direct communication in which whole inner lives are laid bare. It's touching, entertaining, and while not "realistic" the film manages to be hopeful while not resting on a happily-ever-after coda.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117615/