This is quintessentially a film blog, and this post is somewhat about movies. Last night, at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco, I had the privilege of seeing a stage performance of classic Hitchcock thriller The 39 Steps.
Adapted as a comedy for the stage by Patrick Barlow, director Maria Aitken ratchets up the entertainment by a few notches. Endlessly self-referential, it is a spoof of its own source material and pokes fun at the best of the Hitchcock canon, including Psycho, The Lady Vanishes, and Rear Window.
There is even the obligatory Hitchcock cameo in a brilliantly conceived shadow play midway through the first act. Also accomplished in shadow is a spot on recreation of the crop duster scene from North by Northwest with a hilarious twist at the end.
But, it is still a spy yarn at heart, and there is a flashlights-in-the-dark sequence that is among the most thrilling I’ve seen live on stage. If you get the chance to see it before it closes next week, you owe it to yourself to enjoy a night out with Hitchcock and the gang.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Six Degrees of Oscar Season
For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, there is a theory that everyone in the world can be connected by six degrees of separation or fewer. Recent studies, which take into account internet communication and cell phone use, have as sought to prove this bit of folk wisdom. One study claims fewer than seven degrees of separation among all of the world’s people.
This was translated to a bar game you may have heard of-- the six degrees of Kevin Bacon, which says that any actor in Hollywood can be connected to Kevin Bacon by six movies or fewer. It works, by the way.
So, I’ve decided to invent my own version: the six degrees of Oscar season. In this exercise, which is nothing more and nothing less than fun and games, I will try to connect some of this season’s Oscar contenders to one another. In comments, please feel free to suggest others. I’ll update with a new one every so often until the Academy Awards.
Today: James Cameron’s science fiction opus and newly crowned box office champion Avatar and Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air, a modern tale about making connections. What else?
Co-star of Avatar Sigourney Weaver, who starred in Cameron’s Aliens, also starred alongside Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, and Harold Ramis in Ghostbusters (by the way, production of the third Ghostbusters movie has begun).
Ivan Reitman directed the first two Ghostbusters movies. The name is no coincidence. Ivan Reitman is the father of Up in the Air director Jason Reitman. Additionally, the father-son duo share a producer’s credit on Up in the Air, which means that Ivan Reitman is in a position to win an Academy Award with his son this year. Wouldn’t that be a fun acceptance speech?
Simple enough, right? How about one more?
Surprise animated box-office hit Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and The Last Station, a hyper-literate drama about the last days of Leo Tolstoy.
One of the main voice actors in Cloudy is Anna Faris, who has actually factored in several Oscar races over the years with co-starring roles in best picture contenders Lost in Translation and Brokeback Mountain.
Heath Ledger, the late star of Brokeback Mountain, made his final screen appearance in this year’s Terry Gilliam fantasy The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. The star of the latest Gilliam film is Christopher Plummer who also plays Leo Tolstoy in The Last Station.
And, that’s how the game is played.
This was translated to a bar game you may have heard of-- the six degrees of Kevin Bacon, which says that any actor in Hollywood can be connected to Kevin Bacon by six movies or fewer. It works, by the way.
So, I’ve decided to invent my own version: the six degrees of Oscar season. In this exercise, which is nothing more and nothing less than fun and games, I will try to connect some of this season’s Oscar contenders to one another. In comments, please feel free to suggest others. I’ll update with a new one every so often until the Academy Awards.
Today: James Cameron’s science fiction opus and newly crowned box office champion Avatar and Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air, a modern tale about making connections. What else?
Co-star of Avatar Sigourney Weaver, who starred in Cameron’s Aliens, also starred alongside Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, and Harold Ramis in Ghostbusters (by the way, production of the third Ghostbusters movie has begun).
Ivan Reitman directed the first two Ghostbusters movies. The name is no coincidence. Ivan Reitman is the father of Up in the Air director Jason Reitman. Additionally, the father-son duo share a producer’s credit on Up in the Air, which means that Ivan Reitman is in a position to win an Academy Award with his son this year. Wouldn’t that be a fun acceptance speech?
Simple enough, right? How about one more?
Surprise animated box-office hit Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and The Last Station, a hyper-literate drama about the last days of Leo Tolstoy.
One of the main voice actors in Cloudy is Anna Faris, who has actually factored in several Oscar races over the years with co-starring roles in best picture contenders Lost in Translation and Brokeback Mountain.
Heath Ledger, the late star of Brokeback Mountain, made his final screen appearance in this year’s Terry Gilliam fantasy The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. The star of the latest Gilliam film is Christopher Plummer who also plays Leo Tolstoy in The Last Station.
And, that’s how the game is played.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
10 Best Films of the Decade
The end of the year is here, and with it, the end of the decade has arrived. As such, it is time to reflect on the last ten years of cinematic offerings and separate the wheat from the chaff. Fifty years from now, these are the ten films that when the time capsule is opened should be found therein.
10. Mystic River
Clint Eastwood has had a decade for the ages. Letters from Iwo Jima. Changeling. Million Dollar Baby. Each of these films was among the best of its year. But, it was Eastwood’s third film this decade that set the standard. In his trademark style, he steps back and lets the story stand on its own. And, what a story it is.
The acting can not be beat. The ensemble in Mystic River is one of the best ever assembled, and every actor in the cast gives a career best performance. Think of these actors, and think of the best work they have ever done: Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Marcia Gay Harden, Laura Linney. Enough said.
9. Capturing the Friedmans
Everything that is wrong with modern documentaries, Andrew Jarecki gets right with his feature length debut. It would be easy to describe this film as a documentary about father-son child molesters, but such a description only scratches the surface of this contemplative and nuanced look at the American dream, the breakdown of the suburban Eden, and the paranoia that can creep into a community that is ill-informed and scared.
Rather than telling the audience how to feel and what to think, Jarecki portrays a reality in which the answers are neither clear nor necessarily those for which we would hope. This documentary shows a world where no one can be trusted: not teachers, not lawyers, not judges, not police, not the very family structure itself. That is the brilliance of Capturing the Friedmans.
8. Synecdoche, NY
Last year, when I put together my list of the year’s best, Charlie Kaufman’s directorial debut Synecdoche, NY, was my number two choice. A year since that estimation, the film has only grown in stature. It is the kind of film that rewards repeat viewings, and every viewing reveals a new layer, which makes apparent the full texture of the Kaufman universe.
This is meta-fiction at its best and at its most meta. It is art about an artist, creating art about an artist, creating art about an artist, and so on down the line. Kaufman takes the wonder and imagination of his screenplays and expands upon it in his first film as director to create a world that is dark and cynical, and full of love and other impossible to explain feelings.
7. The Pianist
Never mind Roman Polanski’s recent legal troubles. Such troubles are of no import and make no impact upon his art. And, that is exactly what Polanski makes: art. For more than 40 years, Polanski has been in the top tier of cinematic auteurs. In 2002, his magnum opus, The Pianist, cemented his position as one of the best of his craft.
This is filmmaking at its most pure and honest. Polanski is telling his story, and that is how it feels. No one other than Polanski could have told the story of a Jewish man in hiding, wandering through a desolate, Nazi-destroyed Europe. More than that, Adrian Brody wears the desperation and despair of the Jewish world on his face. It is the kind of film that can only be viewed and applauded.
6. Traffic
A sprawling epic about the drug trade, but human to its core, Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic is narrative commitment to the extreme. Soderbergh sets out to tell the story of the effects of drugs on every facet of society, and he does just that. And, he does it with incomparable style and energy. But, the story is first.
It is an unsparing vision, but one filled with hope and optimism about a world that can improve but not without great loss. Benicio del Toro, an Oscar winner for his part in the film, is exemplary of everything that is right in this picture. He represents the hopes of a generation that has been scarred by the battle but which has not forgotten its dreams in the midst of the war.
5. Paradise Now
To borrow a phrase, this is a heartbreaking work of staggering beauty. The story of lifelong friends struggling with the decision to commit an act of terrorism is as resonant in Middle America as it is in the Middle East. The reason is that it is not the story of two Palestinians; it is the story of two men with family and friends, culture and honor, duty and fear.
Yet, as tough and forthright as the material is, the film is not a difficult viewing experience. On the contrary, it is immensely humanizing and lays bare truths about all men. All the way through the final seconds of the film, the filmmakers succeed in showing viewers that the world is not a black-and-white place, no matter how much we may want it to be.
4. Requiem for a Dream
Darren Aronofsky’s sophomore feature demands a lot of its audience and is difficult to watch at times, but it is well worth the effort. The characters in Requiem for a Dream are being drawn into a black hole. Once they know where they are headed, it is already too late, and as they approach the singularity, they are torn apart bit by bit, suffering every inch of the way.
The kinetic energy of the filmmaking, however, is what pushes viewers along. The editing style, what Aronofsky refers to as “hip-hop montage,” drives the narrative forward and matches the disorienting dissent into madness that the characters experience. Requiem for a Dream is the quintessential car wreck away from which the viewer can not look, regardless of how distressing it is to see.
3. A Serious Man
The Coen Brothers, Joel and Ethan, have the answer: there are no answers. It is this thesis that is hammered home incessantly throughout A Serious Man. Scene after scene, the Coens drive home the point that it does not matter what you have done, nor does it matter that you have not done anything; the universe does not care. There is no controlling destiny, and there is no rhyme or reason to the suffering. It just is.
Yet, somehow, the Coens show us how funny it all is. If everything is random and there is nothing we can do about it, how can life be anything but absurd? The Coens know this, and through Larry Gopnik, a math professor who wants nothing more than to be a serious man, they show us the absurdity of birth and everything that comes after it.
2. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Le Scaphandre et le Papillon)
A work of art writ large on the big screen, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly represents the convergence of great artists from every film-related medium. Every frame is a painting thanks to the photography of Janusz Kaminski. Screenwriter Ronald Harwood takes an impossible-to-tell story and turns it into a triumph of humanity and spirit that is unrivaled.
The true hero of the day, though, the one who brings it all together, is director Julian Schnabel. A painter by trade, Schnabel brings a perfect sensibility to the material. His artistry is visible in the way that he shows the beauty of a man’s inner life as he dies from the outside but lives on in his mind. There are not enough words to describe the sheer wonder of this gorgeous, heart-wrenching film.
1. City of God (Cidade de Deus)
A brutal, daring, honest portrayal of life and death in the slums of Brazil, Fernando Meirelles’ City of God is one of the best films ever made, let alone of the last 10 years. Everything that Danny Boyle did with last year’s Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire began with Meirelles’ work. The fractured narrative, the gritty reality, the simultaneous visions of hope and despair, City of God is a master class in filmmaking.
However, for all the flash and flare of the style, the film would be nothing without the emotional draw of a story that never condescends but rather attempts to explain the unexplainable. It is a film that stays with viewers long after the final credits roll, and there is nothing else that can be asked of the best film of the decade.
The list:
10. Mystic River (2003)
9. Capturing the Friedmans (2003)
8. Synecdoche, NY (2008)
7. The Pianist (2002)
6. Traffic (2000)
5. Paradise Now (2005)
4. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
3. A Serious Man (2009)
2. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
1. City of God (2003)
Check in next week for the top ten of 2009.
10. Mystic River
Clint Eastwood has had a decade for the ages. Letters from Iwo Jima. Changeling. Million Dollar Baby. Each of these films was among the best of its year. But, it was Eastwood’s third film this decade that set the standard. In his trademark style, he steps back and lets the story stand on its own. And, what a story it is.
The acting can not be beat. The ensemble in Mystic River is one of the best ever assembled, and every actor in the cast gives a career best performance. Think of these actors, and think of the best work they have ever done: Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Marcia Gay Harden, Laura Linney. Enough said.
9. Capturing the Friedmans
Everything that is wrong with modern documentaries, Andrew Jarecki gets right with his feature length debut. It would be easy to describe this film as a documentary about father-son child molesters, but such a description only scratches the surface of this contemplative and nuanced look at the American dream, the breakdown of the suburban Eden, and the paranoia that can creep into a community that is ill-informed and scared.
Rather than telling the audience how to feel and what to think, Jarecki portrays a reality in which the answers are neither clear nor necessarily those for which we would hope. This documentary shows a world where no one can be trusted: not teachers, not lawyers, not judges, not police, not the very family structure itself. That is the brilliance of Capturing the Friedmans.
8. Synecdoche, NY
Last year, when I put together my list of the year’s best, Charlie Kaufman’s directorial debut Synecdoche, NY, was my number two choice. A year since that estimation, the film has only grown in stature. It is the kind of film that rewards repeat viewings, and every viewing reveals a new layer, which makes apparent the full texture of the Kaufman universe.
This is meta-fiction at its best and at its most meta. It is art about an artist, creating art about an artist, creating art about an artist, and so on down the line. Kaufman takes the wonder and imagination of his screenplays and expands upon it in his first film as director to create a world that is dark and cynical, and full of love and other impossible to explain feelings.
7. The Pianist
Never mind Roman Polanski’s recent legal troubles. Such troubles are of no import and make no impact upon his art. And, that is exactly what Polanski makes: art. For more than 40 years, Polanski has been in the top tier of cinematic auteurs. In 2002, his magnum opus, The Pianist, cemented his position as one of the best of his craft.
This is filmmaking at its most pure and honest. Polanski is telling his story, and that is how it feels. No one other than Polanski could have told the story of a Jewish man in hiding, wandering through a desolate, Nazi-destroyed Europe. More than that, Adrian Brody wears the desperation and despair of the Jewish world on his face. It is the kind of film that can only be viewed and applauded.
6. Traffic
A sprawling epic about the drug trade, but human to its core, Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic is narrative commitment to the extreme. Soderbergh sets out to tell the story of the effects of drugs on every facet of society, and he does just that. And, he does it with incomparable style and energy. But, the story is first.
It is an unsparing vision, but one filled with hope and optimism about a world that can improve but not without great loss. Benicio del Toro, an Oscar winner for his part in the film, is exemplary of everything that is right in this picture. He represents the hopes of a generation that has been scarred by the battle but which has not forgotten its dreams in the midst of the war.
5. Paradise Now
To borrow a phrase, this is a heartbreaking work of staggering beauty. The story of lifelong friends struggling with the decision to commit an act of terrorism is as resonant in Middle America as it is in the Middle East. The reason is that it is not the story of two Palestinians; it is the story of two men with family and friends, culture and honor, duty and fear.
Yet, as tough and forthright as the material is, the film is not a difficult viewing experience. On the contrary, it is immensely humanizing and lays bare truths about all men. All the way through the final seconds of the film, the filmmakers succeed in showing viewers that the world is not a black-and-white place, no matter how much we may want it to be.
4. Requiem for a Dream
Darren Aronofsky’s sophomore feature demands a lot of its audience and is difficult to watch at times, but it is well worth the effort. The characters in Requiem for a Dream are being drawn into a black hole. Once they know where they are headed, it is already too late, and as they approach the singularity, they are torn apart bit by bit, suffering every inch of the way.
The kinetic energy of the filmmaking, however, is what pushes viewers along. The editing style, what Aronofsky refers to as “hip-hop montage,” drives the narrative forward and matches the disorienting dissent into madness that the characters experience. Requiem for a Dream is the quintessential car wreck away from which the viewer can not look, regardless of how distressing it is to see.
3. A Serious Man
The Coen Brothers, Joel and Ethan, have the answer: there are no answers. It is this thesis that is hammered home incessantly throughout A Serious Man. Scene after scene, the Coens drive home the point that it does not matter what you have done, nor does it matter that you have not done anything; the universe does not care. There is no controlling destiny, and there is no rhyme or reason to the suffering. It just is.
Yet, somehow, the Coens show us how funny it all is. If everything is random and there is nothing we can do about it, how can life be anything but absurd? The Coens know this, and through Larry Gopnik, a math professor who wants nothing more than to be a serious man, they show us the absurdity of birth and everything that comes after it.
2. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Le Scaphandre et le Papillon)
A work of art writ large on the big screen, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly represents the convergence of great artists from every film-related medium. Every frame is a painting thanks to the photography of Janusz Kaminski. Screenwriter Ronald Harwood takes an impossible-to-tell story and turns it into a triumph of humanity and spirit that is unrivaled.
The true hero of the day, though, the one who brings it all together, is director Julian Schnabel. A painter by trade, Schnabel brings a perfect sensibility to the material. His artistry is visible in the way that he shows the beauty of a man’s inner life as he dies from the outside but lives on in his mind. There are not enough words to describe the sheer wonder of this gorgeous, heart-wrenching film.
1. City of God (Cidade de Deus)
A brutal, daring, honest portrayal of life and death in the slums of Brazil, Fernando Meirelles’ City of God is one of the best films ever made, let alone of the last 10 years. Everything that Danny Boyle did with last year’s Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire began with Meirelles’ work. The fractured narrative, the gritty reality, the simultaneous visions of hope and despair, City of God is a master class in filmmaking.
However, for all the flash and flare of the style, the film would be nothing without the emotional draw of a story that never condescends but rather attempts to explain the unexplainable. It is a film that stays with viewers long after the final credits roll, and there is nothing else that can be asked of the best film of the decade.
The list:
10. Mystic River (2003)
9. Capturing the Friedmans (2003)
8. Synecdoche, NY (2008)
7. The Pianist (2002)
6. Traffic (2000)
5. Paradise Now (2005)
4. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
3. A Serious Man (2009)
2. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
1. City of God (2003)
Check in next week for the top ten of 2009.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
New Film Review: The Blind Side
This movie is better than it has any right to be. Audiences have seen the same story before and from the same director, John Lee Hancock. The director of such inspiring true football stories as Remember the Titans and We Are Marshall is back at it again, this time with a lot less football.
The Blind Side tells the story of current Baltimore Raven Michael Oher and his rise from the urban slums of Mississippi to the packed stadiums of the National Football League. Sandra Bullock plays the woman who saves Oher from the ghetto.
Bullock has a bad reputation, primarily for not being a very good actress. With films like Miss Congeniality and the recent disaster All About Steve on her resume, it is hard to argue with the circumstantial evidence. See, however, Crash for a demonstration of what Bullock is capable of doing if given the right role. She is not quite as good here, but she is not working with the same caliber of material.
All the same, it is a good looking movie, well made, and well acted enough. It’s better than We Are Marshall but not as good as Remember the Titans. The reason is that Sandra Bullock is a better actor than Matthew McConaughey but not as near as good as Denzel Washington, and the movie rests on her shoulders.
The rest of the cast moves around her and reacts, but more than anything, they stay out of the way. It’s probably just as well. The movie feels long already, and any more character development might have proved unbearable.
One suggestion-- if you do see this movie, don’t go into it with any expectation of real discussion on race relations or inner-city poverty. It’s not about that. In fact, from a social justice perspective, Blind Slide drops the ball. It is, essentially, a more than two-hour movie about some rich, Christian white folk rescuing a poor black kid from…from what? I don’t know.
Like I said, though, it’s not about that, and it doesn’t have to be. The bottom line: if you like Hancock’s other movies or if you like Sandra Bullock, you will probably like this movie.
See it? Yes.
The Blind Side tells the story of current Baltimore Raven Michael Oher and his rise from the urban slums of Mississippi to the packed stadiums of the National Football League. Sandra Bullock plays the woman who saves Oher from the ghetto.
Bullock has a bad reputation, primarily for not being a very good actress. With films like Miss Congeniality and the recent disaster All About Steve on her resume, it is hard to argue with the circumstantial evidence. See, however, Crash for a demonstration of what Bullock is capable of doing if given the right role. She is not quite as good here, but she is not working with the same caliber of material.
All the same, it is a good looking movie, well made, and well acted enough. It’s better than We Are Marshall but not as good as Remember the Titans. The reason is that Sandra Bullock is a better actor than Matthew McConaughey but not as near as good as Denzel Washington, and the movie rests on her shoulders.
The rest of the cast moves around her and reacts, but more than anything, they stay out of the way. It’s probably just as well. The movie feels long already, and any more character development might have proved unbearable.
One suggestion-- if you do see this movie, don’t go into it with any expectation of real discussion on race relations or inner-city poverty. It’s not about that. In fact, from a social justice perspective, Blind Slide drops the ball. It is, essentially, a more than two-hour movie about some rich, Christian white folk rescuing a poor black kid from…from what? I don’t know.
Like I said, though, it’s not about that, and it doesn’t have to be. The bottom line: if you like Hancock’s other movies or if you like Sandra Bullock, you will probably like this movie.
See it? Yes.
What does the sucess of The Hangover mean?
This has been an issue on my mind for some time now, and the release of Judd Apatow’s Funny People on DVD this week seems like an opportune time for writing.
Apatow’s most recent man-child comedy was an abject failure at the box office. With a production budget of $75 million, the film made just $61 million world wide, posting a $14 million loss that does not take into account the extensive marketing done on the film’s behalf.
With Adam Sandler, who was able to turn the far inferior Click into a $100 million baby, and reigning everyman Seth Rogen in the leads, not to mention a supporting cast of the who’s who of Hollywood comedy, Funny People was a surprising disappointment to say the least.
So, what happened? Yes, the film is long. It’s dark. And, it’s full of the inside-baseball comedy industry references that alienate casual viewers. But, if I may be allowed, I will put forth another theory.
First, though, let’s look at the success of The Hangover. It’s as crude as Funny People and as much, if not more, of a boy’s club. On a budget of $35 million, it has made more than $459 million. It is the third highest grossing R-rated movie of all time behind just The Passion of the Christ and The Matrix Reloaded.
What explains this? I would suggest that The Hangover is a movie about adults in adult situations who react in adult ways. Yes, the situations presented are ludicrous, but the actors play it straight, and the film reflects a certain reality.
This reality has not been present in American comedy for far too long. I am ardent supporter of films like The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, and I liked Funny People. However, the slew of boy-men comedies over the last several years has become tiresome. Theatre-goers were ready to see adults on the big screen again, and they responded in kind.
In no way do I feel that this is the end of Judd Apatow-style comedies, but the door is open for original comic ideas about real adults to grace cinema screens once again.
Apatow’s most recent man-child comedy was an abject failure at the box office. With a production budget of $75 million, the film made just $61 million world wide, posting a $14 million loss that does not take into account the extensive marketing done on the film’s behalf.
With Adam Sandler, who was able to turn the far inferior Click into a $100 million baby, and reigning everyman Seth Rogen in the leads, not to mention a supporting cast of the who’s who of Hollywood comedy, Funny People was a surprising disappointment to say the least.
So, what happened? Yes, the film is long. It’s dark. And, it’s full of the inside-baseball comedy industry references that alienate casual viewers. But, if I may be allowed, I will put forth another theory.
First, though, let’s look at the success of The Hangover. It’s as crude as Funny People and as much, if not more, of a boy’s club. On a budget of $35 million, it has made more than $459 million. It is the third highest grossing R-rated movie of all time behind just The Passion of the Christ and The Matrix Reloaded.
What explains this? I would suggest that The Hangover is a movie about adults in adult situations who react in adult ways. Yes, the situations presented are ludicrous, but the actors play it straight, and the film reflects a certain reality.
This reality has not been present in American comedy for far too long. I am ardent supporter of films like The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, and I liked Funny People. However, the slew of boy-men comedies over the last several years has become tiresome. Theatre-goers were ready to see adults on the big screen again, and they responded in kind.
In no way do I feel that this is the end of Judd Apatow-style comedies, but the door is open for original comic ideas about real adults to grace cinema screens once again.
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