14 March 2005

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/

12 March 2005

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.

06 March 2005

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/

03 March 2005

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/

02 March 2005

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/

01 March 2005

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/