Highbrow flix, low brow ramblin’s
Davy Lynch, one of my very favorite film makers, has a new opus out and word on the street is it’s a three hour mess.
Now, I’m not one to sleep on a new Lynch release, I’m a die hard, a bit of a completest you could say. So I bought a ticket to Inland Empire expecting I was about to sit through a three hour exercise in frustration. My expectations were low.
Continue reading ‘Inland Empire’
Popularity: 17% [?]
In the future women have stopped giving birth, and the human race is slowly dying out. As the film opens, the youngest person on Earth has just been killed, murdered by an unruly mob looking for his autograph. And his death casts a long shadow over the denizens of this dystopia the way celebrity deaths seem to do for some mysterious reason.
The opening shot is like something from Touch of Evil. Director Cuaron punctuates his film with complex tracking shots that erupt spontaneously in horror and violence. Cuaron has drawn from a rich well of inspiration and it’s not the typical sci-fi stuff. Touch of Evil, I Cuba, and Battle of Algiers are all recalled. I’ll go so far as to say that no film this year utilizes it’s camera and sound design as effectively. There are at least four classic scenes etched into my brain that I wouldn’t dream spoiling.
Like the best of sci-fi Children of Men manages to tell us about ourselves, who we are and where we’re going. The movie shows us humanity at it’s most desperate and profane but also humanity at it’s most noble. This is an apocalyptic dystopia interrupted by fleeting oases of tranquility.
As Bartholomew Clive Owen is playing a character who is often called upon to be heroic, but his performance is notable because of its absence of heroism. He gets through the ordeals and escapes danger mostly by accident and luck. He catches lucky breaks. He’s a reluctant hero and captures perfectly the face of despair. He’s a sleep walking pseudo alcoholic who sneaks nips from his flask to get through the morning s and has gotten used to he ringing in his ears that is the result of daily terrorist bombings. He is the citizen of interesting times and he’s adapted by keeping his head down and his nose to the ground. He is a perfect representative of humanity. Waiting for the inevitable end, not exactly dreading the prospect that it may come too soon.
Plus there are no less than three classic car chase scenes and an epically choreographed stroll through a war zone. As a sci-fi depiction of the future, as an action thriller and as brutal depiction of the depths and peaks of human behavior this film blew me away. This is a film that stuck with me. It planted itself into my brain where it took up residence and refused to leave.
Popularity: 15% [?]
Saw Departed last night. A great film with a poorly written, badly
constructed last act. It’s one of those movies that doesn’t know how
to end, so it keeps going and going, resolving things with poorly
conceived bursts of inappropriateness.
So it’s a rough final twenty minutes. But until then it borders on the
sublime Scorcese experience everyone always says they’re waiting for.
I liked both Gangs of NY and especially Aviator. But those films took
there time to get going, Departed drops you right in, Scorsese hits
the ground running from frame one, making it his own. Dicaprio, Marky
Mark, Damon give three great performances. I’m not going to look up her
name but the lead actress was really good as well. She was also in a
pretty good exploitation flick this year called Running Scared which I
recommend. Definitely an up and comer.
Nicholson is the weak link in the cast. He’s a cartoon. The film calls
for comedy sometimes but he’s too much. A sledge hammer instead of a
chisel. He recalls the joker at the worst times. But he can’t ruin the
film. Scorsese brings some touches of brilliance, there’s wall to wall
pop music, I couldn’t even identify a score. The screenplay is full of
awesome character moments, bits of dialogue. It takes a confusing plot
and makes it fun instead of a chore.
I guess Scorsese is doomed to make these uneven films from now on.
Films that are 2/3 masterpieces. Films as technically astounding as
anyone but Spielberg is capable of, but seem disconnected from the
apex of his career. Films that are shadows and memories of what they
should be.
But all of that’s meta. The bottom line is it’s a good film and solid investment of time.
Popularity: 12% [?]
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