Everything Must Go

The ravages of alcoholism make for cinematic gold.  It's a fact, plain and simple.  Many a plot twist has centered around the terrible cycles of spree and remorse suffered by a boozy protagonist.  It's not surprising that Will Farrell would shine so brilliantly in this lovely portrait of a semi-functional alcoholic who is forced to come face to face with the realities of his lifestyle.  The premise of this simple, muted film would be funny, if only it wasn't so tragic.  Farrell has already proven his ability to crossover into dramatic acting after his role in Stranger Than Fiction, but die-hard Will Farrell fans still expect the easy genius of Farrell's improvisational dialogue made even more hilarious by his complete confidence in playing the most radical loser.  Everything Must Go is entirely different.  Its serious, but not preachy in anyway.  Its sad but you probably won't cry.  Its dramatic, but you will not be satisfied by a sense of closure. 
A basic synopsis: Farrell plays Nick Halsey a Regional Sales Manager in his 40's.  The film opens with Nick getting fired, not because of downsizing or poor performance, but because of repeated long term absences from work over the years for substance abuse treatment culminating in an apparently devastating binge incident while on a recent business trip.  Nick returns home to find everything he owns on the front lawn of his beautiful suburban home; wife gone, locks changed, car repossessed, cell phone disconnected and bank accounts frozen.  After a trip to the local store to stock up on beer, Nick camps out amongst his worldly possessions, nowhere to turn but inward.  Insightful relationships with neighbors act as a catalyst for forward momentum as well as provides back-story and depth to Nick's character.  The heartbreaking feature of this film is the miraculously underplayed tragedy of Nick's circumstances.  It's obvious from scene one that Nick is a nice guy who when drunk finds himself in trouble - the problem is Nick can't go a full day without drinking.  The only solution is to sell what he possesses and try to move on with his life, alcohol free. 
There are many moments of subtle beauty and intelligence in this film.  Farrell revises his famous George Bush accent to a slight Texan twang, having an effect which is two fold: 1) This reminds the audience that he is a comedian who successfully satirised a controversial public figure and 2) a play on the former presidents famous alcoholism.  Nick befriends another lost soul of sorts in a young husky kid who has nothing to do but wander around the neighborhood all day on his bike.  Putting him to work on his "yard sale" Nick is no doubt a defeated yet generous and lovable character. The real foe, alcoholism, becomes more of a character than a personality trait as Nick's innocence and befuddled bafflement are juxtaposed against inexperienced wonderment of an impressionable youth.

A cluttered living space is a reflection of a cluttered mind, or so the mystics say.  Everything Must Go is a visual dramatization of this spiritual truism.  Every morning Nick comes to in a disaster zone of his life.  Precious objects whose meaning have been long ago lost on him are strune about the lawn and a foggy reckoning of the events which led to his current predicament demonstrate a wise stylistic choice.  In this obvious state of chaos, the viewer is asked to care for a man so broken that life on the lawn is a reasonable alternative to "normal".  A brilliant and subtly sobering film, Everything Must Go is another great Will Farrell endeavor as well as an honest, unsparingly real portrait of American desperation in the quest for normalcy and the wrenching nature of alcoholism.        

Cowboys vs. Aliens - No, It's Not a Comedy

Nope, definitely not a comedy. What !?!, you most likely exclaim...How can this weird western-slash-sci fi staring James Bond and Indiana Jones and set in 1880's-ish dust-bitten America where yokels battle a bunch of ET's NOT be some sort of campy parody? Fact: This premise is odd, and maybe doesn’t work without suspending disbelief to an unhealthy degree, yet is somehow unhindered and temptingly curious. Question: Why would anyone risk making such a ridiculously silly film? A silly film that obviously takes itself very seriously? Answer: Because its Spielberg, that’s why (well, his production company anyway). And this is what made Spielberg THE famous groundbreaking visionary formula setter of our modern Hollywood age that he is.

I won’t insult your intelligence by repeating a plot outline when the title so clearly gives it all away. Daniel Craig is our protagonist, an unwitting hero who we are not convinced at first isn't a villain. Well played, Craig brings the wiry desperation and confused ruthlessness of a trained killer with amnesia to a whole new level as he plays Jake Lonergan...an obvious Twain-ian play on names. Jake's nemesis turned frienemy turned battle brother is Woodrow Dolarhyde, humbly played by Mr. Jones himself Harrison Ford, who manages a moment or two of authenticity in his attempt at acting. Ford clearly is a wizened vehicle for steadfast and sturdy foundational acting, lay down the bedrock upon which Craig can brilliantly carve out a bizarre character, deep, brooding, sad, and animalian in scope of danger - nearly alien himself in a depth of calm while faced with certain doom.

Loyal to the Spielberg-ian repertoire we find a weird plot, an unwitting hero, a conflict of impossible proportions, a woman who needs saving and another who sacrifices herself so that the men may lead the other men to victory....oh yeah and a kid and a dog. While Spielberg didn’t direct this film, he earned an executive producer credit and Cowboys vs. Aliens is saturated in his aesthetic stamp.

Basically - I liked it.

That Doc Will Make You Cry - The Human Experience

When I decided to pursue a Master's in film theory after completing an undergrad in Art History, I had a serious amount of catch-up viewing to do.  Don't get me wrong; I have always loved the experience of watching films.  Loved them on TV, loved them on VHS, loved them on DVD; really loved them in the theater; and soon loved watching them on streaming Internet.  But I had never really challenged myself to do anything with film other than have a passive, escapist experience.  I had never seen formative classic films like Citizen Kane and had never even heard of auteur's like Godard.  So, in Grad School, I watched a lot of film, tons of film - sometimes 4 films a day (the best homework I've ever done).  
What's my point?  The point here is I have seen many films ranging in reaction from "I'll never get that 90 minutes of my life back" to "I'm going to tell everyone I know to see this extraordinary film". 
Only a few films, however, have garnered the thought, "Wow. I wish I had made this film".  The Human Experience was one of these films.
There is certainly a reason why The Human Experience has received so many accolades and honors from the festival and award community.  It is everything a great documentary should be.  It has a compelling mission, clearly stated through a first person narrator backed by impressive images, wild adventures and strong motifs, themes, participants, interviews, and best of all, makes a prediction which over the course of filming is proven to be true. 
The film follows two young brothers on three adventures in search of a better understanding of life's meaning and the perseverance of the human spirit through illness, homelessness, poverty, and tragedy.  Brilliantly interwoven interviews by top theologians and scholars of Philosophy, Religious Studies and Science serve to intelligently and seamlessly incorporate a timeless questioning of the human condition, man's search for God, and the ability to continue forward in life despite grave obstacles. 
From living homeless on the streets of NYC in the dead of winter, to working for an orphanage for ill and disabled children in Peru, and travelling to a leper community in Africa, The Human Experience works hard to prove its own thesis: No matter what the outside circumstance, the human spirit is something of awe and wonderment, propelled forward by a divinity so lovingly simple, we cannot understand it but be humbled by it. 

Neil Jordan's Irish Fairytale: Ondine

Colin Farrell, Ireland's prodigal son, and little known Polish actress Alicja Bachleda perform cinematic miracles in Neil Jordan's latest film. Jordan, who is one of Ireland's most prolific auteur's, writes and directs this modern day fairytale of a Cork County fisherman who scoops a drowned woman in his net.
Darkly poetic and hauntingly tender, Ondine lulls the viewer into believing odd occurrences are more than just random strangeness floating up from the chilly black waters, but a manifestation of magical properties come to enlighten and inspire.  In typical Jordan style, a dulled tonality matches the sentiment of a small drink and gossip-riddled coastal town in rural Ireland where Syracuse, or Circus as he is called by everyone (played by Farrell), is the only sober drunk.  Though conversations with his only "sobriety buddy", who is Stephen Rea playing the parish priest, and drama with his ex, Circus does his best to rake in a living from the sea and prove himself worthy of his young daughters affections.  His routine is softly interrupted when a beautiful women is found amongst the fishes in his trollers small net.  With her she brings excitement, wonder, trouble, love and redemption.  Though the film as a whole is wonderful, special praise must be given to Colin Farrell's performance for his tender sweet and introverted interpretation.               

History According to Spielberg: Amistad

Steven Spielberg, master of the sensational blockbuster, directed the 1997 film Amistad, a fictionalized version of a pre-Civil War event which saw the release of illegally obtained slaves.  This group of African men found themselves in America only after a shipboard revolt allowed them an attempt to steer the ship back to Sierra Leone, and eventually through several court trails were returned home to Africa
I wanted to title this post: How Spielberg Ruins Great Films, A Case Study, but then I thought better of it, after all, aren't we all supposed to love Spielberg? Is it not true that everything he touches turns to cinematic molasses (sticky, tasty and filling)?  Spielberg certainly owns the formula for wildly popular cinema, but when art, and in this case film, is made to be highly appealing invariably that special magical something gets lost in translation. 
Thus is the case with Amistad.  A tragic misfire from casting to soundtrack, but still a power packed double knockout of a story non the less, with brilliant cinematography and Spielberg's signature use of informative light sources, Amistad becomes a bit of an art critical enigma.
Was it Sir Anthony Hopkins befuddled performance as John Quincy Adams, or Matthew McHottie Hottie (Matthew McConaughey) and his type cast role playing the same eccentrically wacky fish-out-of-water character as the slave groups lawyer, or could it have been the ridiculous Spanish accent that a young Anna Paquin spat out like ninja throwing stars aimed for the eardrums, in her performance as the Spanish Queen Isabella...which one of these was the irritating straw that broke the film critics will to like the film? As much as it pains me, unfortunately is was none of these flaws that broke my spirits as I watched what could have been a brilliant piece of important film making...no, instead, it was the over the top, crescendo heavy soundtrack that ebbed and queued, and crashed and flowered for every single momentary emotional rivet and divide present within the 155 minute film. No wonder it was nominated for 4 Academy Awards...they love it when a film allows an audience to slip comfortably in and out of passively viewing a politically relevant piece of fluffy history.  The gloriously triumphant conclusion far out-weighs the tragedy, as is customary in a Hollywood blockbuster, even if it is based truth...a re-representation of an actual incendiary event which led in time to the bloody American Civil War.

Amistad saving grace, in my opinion, was the performance given by Djimon Hounsou.  A performance as powerful as a lions roar, gritty, emotional, angry, Hounsou paced across the screen the very embodiment of injustice, of suffering, of human perseverance and hope. He was astonishingly magnificent - the perfect tragic hero, just as he was in the films Blood Diamond and In America. But surprise, surprise - no Oscar nomination for this performance.  The Academy instead honored Hopkins and John Williams for his score.

The Greatest

I had no intention of writing about this movie, but the composition, performances and editing were exquisite to say the least.  Beginning with the sexy introduction, where two young lovers madly invite each other into an emotional coil  unleashed upon one another after a period of implied suppression, a quick and unexpected act of violence ends the life of 18 year old Bennett.  And that's just the first 3 minutes of the film.  Unfolding then is a story of grief and love.  Bennett's tragic death sends his parents (provocatively played by Susan Sarandon and Peirce Brosnan) into a tailspin of grief manifesting within the home in various ways from denial to obsession.  The performances by the British new kid on the block Carey Mulligan and old reliables Sarandon and Brosnan are outstanding: thought-provoking, honest, sweet, and wrenching.  As nuanced and affective as the performances, is the cinematography and direction.  Stunningly understated, yet highly photographic, this film has a careful tone, fully aware of its own medium.  When a film is created with the knowledge that everything inside the frame is artifice (sometimes filmmakers forget this and a film becomes boring from an over kill of realism), a sense of the extraordinary emerges.  An example of this occurs with in the title sequence:  The family has just attended the funeral of their 18 son and brother, Bennett.  The camera angle is a low medium frame taken at the back seat of the limo as it transports the family away from the grave site.  The composition includes Brosnan (the Dad) in the center of the seat, leaning forward, absently wringing his hands and appearing slightly uncomfortable.  Sarandon (the Mom) is to the left of Brosnan and is sunken into the black leather seat gazing wearily out the window, which is a wash of green leafy color as a bright and sunny day glides past.  The couples remaining child, Ryan (Johnny Simmons), is to Brosnan's right and is also staring out the window, though decidedly far less haggard appearing than his mother.  They ride in silence, and this lasts for quite sometime, until the shot is broken by the words "The Greatest",  slyly interjected in a humble font at the bottom of the screen.  Though this may not sound like much to get excited about, it is this composition, in its simplicity and humility, which foreshadows the remainder of the film.  Within this delicate frame exists the nuances of each of these central characters, subtly displayed and enveloped within the drama that each with soon participate in, a microcosm, a metaphor, a 3 word summary for the rest of the story.  

The Good Guy

Why is this film worth writing about? Well, read on and I'll be more than happy to explain, only briefly...because it wasn't that great. What an introduction, eh?
Anywho, The Good Guy is narrated by a young, hansom Wall Street trader who wants to tell us a story about how he lost the woman of his dreams.  Surrounded by Gordon Gekko types, this gentleman is presented to us as a nice guy who stands up for his friends, vouches for the underdog and cherishes his girlfriend; the Wall Street veneer is only a means to make the money needed to really do something great with his life. And that is where we are all wrong.  He has told us that's who he is and shown us only the parts of his life that back that claim.
I honestly cant tell you anything else or I will ruin the film.  If you are like me and continuously searching for an intelligent girly movie to sink into after a long day, this might be as good as it gets without becoming political, hence the need to honor this film for its departure from the formula.
Generally in these romantic "Chick-flicks" we can trust that the narrator is truthfully telling their side of the story.  The Good Guy subverts this assumption and uses it later to present the real thesis of the film: who is the good guy, and are people ever really who they seem to be? Maybe that sounds a bit cynical, but its a fairly common experience to create an ideal fantasy in a new relationship, and The Good Guy plays with this phenomena.  Direction, acting, cinematography were all average, but the script, concept and execution were surprisingly fresh.