FlickNut

The Aristocrats

2005-08-12T22:36:00.000-07:00

The Aristocrats is a film shot by Paul Provenza on a crappy camera, the film tells the origins and evolution of the comedian’s all-time in-joke. Because the joke is possibly the dirtiest joke ever told it isn’t printed in its entirety in any review ever written (so far) about this funny and engaging film. The premise of the documentary is that the joke reveals more about the person relaying the joke, than the punchline itself. With the same beginning and the same punchline, comedians are given a free pass to elaborate the intricacies of the "act" which is central to the comedy of the joke.

And elaborate they do - the all-star project has versions from Bob Sagat, Gilbert Gottfried, Howie Mandel, George Carlin, Carrie Fisher, Lewis Black, Penn & Teller, Robin Williams, Paul Reiser, Tim Conway, Sarah Silverman, Don Rickles, Harry Shearer, Eric Idle, Eddie Izzard, Drew Carey, Whoopie Goldberg, Fred Willard and many more known and unknown comedians. Ruckus and uncomfortable, the chances that you don’t laugh or squirm just a little bit are slim – no taboo is too big to be included in the joke. The film's jokes contains everything from the inaneness of a ventriloquist telling the joke to inclusion of the victims of 9/11 in the telling.

My favorite tellings included Billy the Mime's version (the only work-safe telling, but only if your colleagues close their eyes), Kevin Pollak's attempt to tell the joke as Christopher Walken and Sarah Silverman’s non-sequitteur relay. Go see it already and practice your own version.

Howl's Moving Castle

2005-07-09T12:45:00.000-07:00

Those who are familiar with the subtitled version of the Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli movies, such as My Friend Totoro, Princess Mononoke, or Spirited Away will be disappointed by this dubbed, Disney-presented version of Howl's Moving Castle. The story taken from one written by Diana Wynne Jones, focuses on Sophie - a milliner who chances upon Howl while walking to a bakery to meet her sister.

Because of this chance meeting she is visited by a witch who casts a spell on her, making her an elderly woman. Not knowing what to do, she heads out to the land of the wastes in search of her sister (which they mention, but don't elaborate on in the film). On her way out there she meets a friendly scarecrow who helps her and leads her to Howl's Moving Castle.

She is cold and not knowing what else to do, sits by the fire. The fire (Calicifer, voiced by Billy Crystal) asks her to help release him from the spell he is under (as virtual slave of Howl), and in return he will help release her from the spell she is under. They make the pact and she falls asleep.

In the morning she meets the castle's inhabitants, Howl and Morkel (his apprentice), and suddenly she becomes the cleaning lady and an indispensable part of the household.

The problems with the story are immense, I couldn't help thinking that there was perhaps a director's cut, that is just waiting for release on dvd. There were a few storylines that weren't pursued, that seemed like they should have. The biggest being the lack of a situational transformation for Sophie. Her character doesn't really experience an arc in the story, so how can she have changed? And how about Sophie's family, what were the dynamics there? They seemed to introduce the relationships, but didn't explain motivations. Also, why was the scarecrow so attached to Sophie, we aren't given much poignant moments and how did the Prince's disappearance lead to the War?

The visuals by Studio Ghibli are wonderful, the contrast of the castle with the 2-D of the inhabitants was beautifully illustrated. The cartoon, aesthetically, is spot-on in typical Ghibli-style. I'm not sure they are worth sitting through the holey story, the bad voicing by Christian Bale, or the trite lines.

I think that Disney wanted a way to release a cartoon that was solely for the 3-9 year-old set, because that is the only demographic that I can think of that would be able to ignore those factors in a film. Especially if the film is visually stunning.

Howl's Moving Castle is playing in theatres everywhere.

Shape of the Moon

2005-07-09T11:25:00.000-07:00

In Shape of the Moon, Leonard Retel Helmrich brings us a very slow paced documentary about the travails of a Christian family in predominantly Muslim Indonesia. Due to the ease that the family allowed, Retel Helmrich was able to film key moments in the family's life. And Retel Helmrich was able to film some absurdist moments, such as when a neighbor comes to look for an apple that has disappeared.

A refreshing documentary, it's been awhile since I've questioned if what I was watching was staged or not. The feature is at times frustrating and funny at turns and the last scene is heartbreaking in its inevitability.

Look for this Sundance award winner at art house theatres and maybe on the Sundance Channel on Doc Day.

Murderball

2005-04-23T20:22:00.000-07:00

Murderball is a documentary that I'm gonna call "a raucous good time"... (for the soundbyte). The filmmakers (Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro) focus mostly on the rivalry between the quad rugby teams of the USA and Canada.

The doc is an unexpectedly uplifting and insightful look into a sport that at the time of the movie's making in 2004 - doesn't have sponsors in the way of sports such as basketball, which it shares a court with and is visually tied to. I found myself being excited to learn about a sport that doesn't receive much exposure.

The filmmakers chose to focus on a few key members of the USA team and a former USA team member, Joe, now a Canadian team coach. The coach has a huge bone to pick with the US team and the story focuses heavily on the rivalry between the two.

Besides the inevitable heartwarming stories inherent in a doc of this nature, there are quick shots and a lot of humor on the screen. I felt myself laughing at the profiled players and their bigger than life personalities, it was easy to see past the wheelchairs into the heart of their competitiveness.

I'm not a sports fan, but enjoyed Murderball immensely. I hope the doc will blow the sport out of obscurity into big corporate sponsorship territory.

Murderball plays on April 28 at the wheelchair accessible Kanbar Hall (JCCSF) and April 29 at the AMC Kabuki 8 Theatres as part of the SF International Film Festival.

The Last Mitterrand: Last Socialist Standing

2005-04-13T10:41:00.000-07:00

The Last Mitterrand is a Robert Guédiguian docudrama about the last months of the last Socialist President of France. Told through the eyes of a writer who has been contacted to help Mitterrand write his memoir, the film stars Michel Bouquet as François Mitterrand and Jalil Lespert as Antoine Moreau.

Told with over voice and in a series of disjointed meetings, one gets the feeling that Guédiguian had no choice, but to use Moreau as a device to explore the innerworkings of Mitterrand. Perhaps no one actually knows the unadulterated true story of Mitterrand.

As evidence of this, instead of scripting a fictionalized story in attempt to answer the question of why Mitterrand possibly made certain choices (rumors he had sided with the Vichy Government); Guédiguian chooses to use the device of an elder imparting advice in the last few months of his life (à la King Lear). Some of the advice is very endearing, such as the advice involving what exact type of woman to fall for and a cheekingly admitted admiration of Julia Roberts. Other times his ruminations on why he feels people are out to get him seem megalomaniacal. Moreau serves as a foil who not only records, but also embodies youth and youthful socialist idealism.

Like real life, the film leaves in doubt the question of what is truth and what is deception versus selective memory. The audience is left with the idea that Mitterrand might have a questionable past as a "Champagne Socialist", but his career stayed true to the ideas of the Socialist party. Most importantly, he stood up against the capitalist ideals of the US at the UN at a time when Socialist governments (such as the USSR) were falling around the world.

Not being knowledgeable about French government or French history didn't mar my enjoyment of the film. Certain historical markers are indicated and certain key dates, so if you can understand how Mitterrand may have fit into the world at the time of his presidency one can understand why he is still an enigma. Well done in that fictionalized docudrama sort of way.

The Last Mitterrand plays on April 22 at the AMC Kabuki 8 Theatres and April 24 at the Castro Theatre as part of the SF International Film Festival.

Turtles Can Fly

2005-04-10T12:43:00.000-07:00

An amazing film by Bahman Ghobadi (A TIME FOR DRUNKEN HORSES) that stars Kurdish-Iraqian child non-actors and their (very rough) lives the weeks leading up to the US invasion of Iraq. Ghobadi, himself a Kurdish-Iranian, films children in a story about a Kurdish-Iraqian refugee camp.

The story follows Satellite (Soran Ebrahim), an enterprising 13-year old, who manages the children in their mine clean-up in the dangerous borderland area between Turkey and Iraq (aka Kurdistan). The village elders are trying to receive news of the impending invasion, so they enlist the help of Satellite to procure and install a satellite dish.

Soon a trio of children (seemingly two brothers and a sister) come to the camp and turn Satellite's world upside down as he falls for the sister (Avaz Latif) and competes with the, older brother, Henkov. The tragedies the trio endure prior to coming to the camp are numerous (shown in a flashback). As Henkov (Hirsch Feyssal) tries to hold his family together and deal with the possible harm of his prophetic abilities, the everyday struggles of the camp's place in Iraq plays backdrop.

Beautifully acted and amazingly directed (wow those children's eyes are FULL OF PAIN!) and without obviously choosing sides, Ghobadi has crafted a film that is the best denunciation of war I have ever seen. If you see only one anti-war movie this year, see TURTLES CAN FLY.

Opens April 15 at the Opera Plaza in San Francisco.

Palindromes: Backwards and Forwards

2005-04-09T08:37:00.000-07:00

The story of Palindromes takes place in the suburbia of America, mostly in New Jersey (a common locale for all Todd Solondz films). There are dispirited youth, caring parents, pro-lifers, religious fanatics and mudane characters that are odd in their "ordinary-ness".

Palindromes starts with a funeral for Dawn Weiner (protagonist for Welcome to the Dollhouse). Dawn has apparently committed suicide and her young cousin Aviva (a palindrome name) wants assurances from her mother (Ellen Barkin) that she won't end up with the same fate as Dawn. In a scene, heavy with foreshadowing, Aviva tells her mother she wants "lots and lots of babies..."

A few years later Aviva, now 13 years old, goes with her parents to visit family friends at a lake home. There she has a sexual misadventure with Judah, the family's son. By the time she gets back to the city, she is pregnant and insistent on keeping the child. She agrees to have an abortion, but unbeknowst to her, there was a tear in the uterus and the doctor gave her a hysterectomy. This is the beginning of the adventures of Aviva played by eight actors (two women, five girls and one boy).

Solondz does a great job of showing the banality of suburban living and the discontent of tweens and teens that inhabit this landscape. With Palindromes his primary purpose is to challenge the concept of the audience's investment in a character, versus the investment in the actor playing the character. It's an interesting concept, but I'm not sure Solondz succeeds.

Could the audience stay invested in the trials and tribulations of an Aviva that (physically) changed from scene to scene in the same film? It was difficult. The characters played Aviva differently, markedly differently, but perhaps unintentionally so. (It may have been more interesting if the actors invested in practicing overtly similiar mannerisms.) Also the secondary characters Joe/Earl/Bob (played by Stephen Adly Guirgis who is sexually involved with Aviva) and Aviva's mom (Ellen Barkin) seemd to treat the various Avivas differently.

Mark Weiner, played once again by Matthew Faber from Welcome to the Dollhouse, was one of the most sympathetic and well-constructed characters. The character acts as a prophet who has no control of what is to be, he is the modern Cassandra. He lets Aviva understand the nature of her palindrome and the "Dawn Weiner-esque" cycle she is stuck in. He is also given the task of verbalizing why Aviva has unwittingly chosen the path she has trodden. Weiner functions as a reveal to the audience, but there is uncertainty whether Aviva understands (or believes or will take heed of) his words.

In the end the film is an interesting experiment at a conversation with the audience about the nature of character and our involvement with the actors on screen. Extremely well-conceived, the film feels poorly executed.

Palindromes plays on April 23 at the AMC Kabuki 8 Theatres and April 25 at the Pacific Film Archive as part of the San Francisco International Film Festival. It opens in New York April 13, 2005 and Los Angeles on April 15, 2005.

3 Iron: Houseguest

2005-04-03T09:54:00.000-07:00

3 Iron is the latest film from Ki-duk Kim dealing with the mysteries of the human psyche (and it's a love story!). The film follows the character of Tae-suk (Hee Jae) who puts flyers over the keyhole of homes, so that he knows which homes are empty. He then breaks into the homes and cleans up the spaces, does laundry and attempts to fix broken appliances, leaving without stealing.

One day he breaks into a house that isn't empty. Sun-hwa (Seung-yeon Lee) is unhappily wed and abused by her rich husband. She hears Tae-suk enter her house and hides in the shadows, observing him cleaning and fixing appliances. Reassured he is well intentioned, she decides to reveal herself to him, he gets frightened and leaves when she picks up the phone.

He sits on the street, considering the events. Seemingly sensing and understanding her predicament (and perhaps being a tad lonely himself) Tae-suk returns to the Sun-hwa's house, wherein they begin a flirtation using a golf ball as a tool.

When Sun-hwa's husband comes home and is violent with her, Tae-suk uses a 3 iron golf club and pelts him with golf balls. Sun-hwa and Tae-suk then drive off together to start a new life wherein she accompanies him, cleaning and fixing the homes while their inhabitants are on vacation. There is a moment of acceptance, as she places herself into the digital photo he is about to take of himself with pictures of the homeowners. At this moment we know they've made an emotional connection. They continue this life for a short period of time before they come upon a home where the homeowner isn't on vacation, but instead dead in his bathroom. They give the man a proper burial, but soon after the man's son shows up unexpectedly at the apartment. Tae-suk is arrested and Sun-hwa is reunited with her still very abusive husband.

*Spoiler Alert*

After Tae-suk is "released" from prison the reality of what is happening disappears and questions of the final outcome are raised.

Does Tae-suk die or is he reunited with Sun-hwa though she still lives with her husband? Perhaps both. The alternative is that he doesn't die, but has found a way to live just outside of human perception. A strange idea, but very well conceptualized in the film.

Kim makes this blatantly (though perhaps unnecessarily) obvious by ending the film with these words on the screen: "It is hard to tell if the world we live in is a reality or a dream."

*End Spoiler*

Interestingly the two primary characters never speak, until the end when Sun-hwa says "I love you" to Tae-suk in the last minute of the film. Extremely well-acted the piece is a sweet and metaphysical love story. Crisp clean cinematographic shots of a very ordered suburbia devoid of people is an effective vehicle for Kim who has been known to tackle the human psyche through his film lens. A satisfying viewing of a poetic film.

As an unintentional result of all the cooking they do in the film and the myriad of dishes they prepare, 3 Iron feels a bit like a movie about food. Don't be surprised to find yourself craving Korean food as you exit the theater!

3 Iron plays on April 22 and 25 at the AMC Kabuki 8 Theatres as part of the SF International Film Festival. The film will be released in wider distribution May 2005.

Imelda

2005-03-27T23:09:00.000-08:00

Imelda Marcos was the Eva Perone of the Philippines! Imelda is an amazing documentary by Ramona S. Diaz, who received unparalled access through a connection with one of Imelda's closest friends, who also happens to be her aunt.

Imelda Marcos, is one of the most frightening and enigmatic women I have ever seen a documentary about. The story follows her life just prior to meeting the former President/Dictator Ferdinand Marcos until present day. Filled with historic footage and interviews from childhood friends, their children, and detractors, the film presents a broad and disturbing image of Imelda Marcos. The cognitive dissonance is amazing, as she contradicts herself from one sentence to the next.

Interesting tidbits about Imelda:

Marcos sometimes speaks of herself in the third person, especially when questions are raised about her character.

She seems to display some dramatic OCD tendencies (I recognize this, trust me). This is probably best showcased in her diagrams of her spiritual philosophies.

Going against the Catholic church, she implemented birth control measures and made them widely available through the Philippines, actually decreasing the birth rate.

Humorously, the doc is filmed with excellent Imelda-isms like:

"When I see ugliness I turn my back or seem to skip it."

"The shoes saved me because when they went to my closet they found shoes, not skeletons."

This documentary is a fascinating portrait of a woman who was arguably one of the most powerful women in Asia in the last 50 years.

As a footnote, the legal battles and fall out Diaz faced when trying to screen the documentary in the Philippines is equally as fascinating. She eventually suceeded in releasing it over Marcos' objections and the film eventually outgrossed Spiderman 2 in 2004.

Oldboy: Revenge!

2005-03-21T10:24:00.000-08:00

Oldboy, revenge-based romantic comedy or nightmare of dating singles?

This film is about Oh Dae-su an average salaryman in Seoul and his inexplicable kidnapping and imprisonment. After fifteen years he is released and attempts to unravel the mystery of why he was imprisoned.

This film has the best reality-based fight scene I have ever seen. The people looked exhausted as they tried to fight each other and the punches and hits missed more often than they landed. Yet, they kept at it, only pausing to catch their breaths - it was pretty awesome.

Beyond the too numerous to name violent scenes; there are a few comedic moments that brought levity to the story, such as the aforementioned fight scene and when Oh Dae-su and Mido first talk at her apartment.

I liked it, but to say the film was uncomfortable would be putting it mildly. Let's just say there's nothing like incest and horrific torture to make this lady squirm in her seat. Ew. Watch with caution.

Numbers Life

2005-03-01T22:29:00.000-08:00

In 212, screenwriter/director Anthony Ng brings Hong Kong style romance to the screen via New York. There are three stories here: Vincent (Ajay Naidu) and Lana (Priscilla Garita) - a failing romance, Antonio (Johnny Sanchez) and Ama (Michelle Luchese) - a budding romance after a heartbreak, and Viv (Catherine Zambri) and Seth (Brian Gant) - a budding romance cloaked in awkwardness and fantasy.

SPOILER ALERT! Don't read further if you'd prefer to remain surprised.

The film starts with Viv and Seth meeting in a laundromat. Seth has a distinctive quirk to his handling of laundry. He purposefully (and loudly!) turns all his wet clothes inside-out before putting them in the dryer. Viv watches him with some curiosity and a lot of amusement. They talk briefly and Viv comes into Seth's work, he asks her out and time is spent watching him get ready. He's obviously excited about the meeting, but his watch breaks and he's late. Viv leaves their meeting place, visibly upset that she may have been stood up. There is a moment of awkwardness as she goes back to his work and asks for the $1 he had borrowed at the laundromat - they're embarrassed and it's obvious that she wants to accept his apology as much as he wants to apologize. Instead in her awkwardness she makes up an elaborate story about traveling through Europe. So begins their courtship via her sending him audio cassette tapes through her "roommate" and her elaborate stories of traveling through Europe and the people she meets. Of course she is still in NYC and at parts she stalks him, so he's laughing while listening to the cassette tapes and she's there in the background with sunglasses and a newspaper. Seth begins missing the physical Viv and just when the audience and Viv think he's gone to Europe as well - he's walks into the laundromat and finds her there.

The second story of Vince and Lana is the most tragic. Vince lives with his mostly disinterested girlfriend Lana, who can't seem to spend face time with him, even though they're sitting next to each other on the couch. This is shown through scenes and scenes of her on her cellphone, as he tries to talk to her. At one point, she leaves in the middle night because she receives a call. The audience is made aware how close they are to the end of their relationship. Vince has a secondary story of his crush on a girl in a photo (he works at a photo developer) who hasn't picked up her photos. Oddly/randomly he's in one of the photos she's taken, he's fascinated by her looks and the possibility of her story. This vignette gets the least time, but feels the most heart-wrenching. Their everyday consists of non-communication or small quibbles. The audience knows the outcome of the story and it is all a matter of when, which makes it slightly uncomfortable to watch. We aren't disappointed after Vince gets a call from Lana saying she wants to talk and he rushes home, as he pauses at the door of the apartment, the screen goes to black.

The third story is that of the girl in the photo, Ama a copymat employee, who has a broken heart and a broken copier. One night she calls for a repairman to come in and Antonio with his limited English is sent to fix it. Ama is soon breaking more and more items so that Antonio can come down and fix things while she works. At one pivotal moment in their arc, she is reading a book about how to get over a broken heart and she asks Antonio, "what else can you fix?" The moment is pregnant with expectation as the thought, flashes, "broken hearts" - before he replies that he can fix VCRs, toasters, and goes on to name most small appliances. It was particularly clever of Ng to include that moment in for the viewer. In fact the sweetest story is that of Ama and Antonio. At the end, after a night of finally eating together, they are shown taking the subway together and falling asleep on each other's shoulders. It is a pure sweet moment, pure WKW and filmed just as Doyle would have.

An interesting aspect of this movie is the lack of modern day technology. There is a marked lack of use or reference to modern day conveniences. Suspension of disbelief needs to be taken liberally. For instance: why didn't Seth call Viv on her cell when he was running late or use the time on his cell to see the real time? Also why didn't Viv e-mail Seth her stories in Europe, or if talking was needed, audioblog it? The also very analog places that the characters work, a copymat, photo processor and a travel agency without a computer? These places seem quaint in the wake of modernity, they seem deliberately anachronistic in the 21st century. My guess is Ng didn't set out to deliberately make a statement about modern convenience, or recent inconvenience, but I noticed it nonetheless and because of that it felt fantasy-like. (Which given the context, makes sense.)

The movie at its best is an indie movie shown through eyes with simplicity and rawness, using the skills of the actors facial expressions, the lighting, art direction, and cinematography to tell the story of three couples in the 212 area code without being laden with hip-jargon. At its worst it is a WKW/Doyle rip-off, but I'm going to go with the former statement. Ng has done what all movies should, transported an aesthetic, but made it accessible for its intended audience. He was also able to do the film with the wonderfully understated acting without the annoying story voiceover that WKW always uses. A gorgeous movie.

Otaku Magnet

2005-02-17T21:12:00.000-08:00

CUTIE HONEY directed by Hideaki Anno, starring Eriko Sato and based on the manga by Go Nagai follows the travails of an android named Cutie Honey.

She's a superhero who needs to constantly eat onigiri (rice balls) to keep up her strength and battle evil. In this case it is Sister Jill who hopes to capture the secrets of everlasting life and beauty. She is after Cutie Honey because the villains (and the audience) learn that Cutie Honey's amazing feats to rescue her kidnapped uncle is because of her robot nature.

The back story is that a year prior, the 100% human Cutie Honey died in a car accident and her father, a scientist, saved her life by implanting her with the I-System. Fusing human and robot in a way, that made her a superhero, yet still enabled her to feel - to have heart if you will. He figured a way to give Cutie Honey everlasting life and beauty as she would always stay the same age.

Some of the most interesting parts of the movie were the costumes. The four claws that do Sister Jill's bidding (Gold Claw, Scarlet Claw, Black Claw, and Cobalt Claw) all have some fetishistic element to their elaborate costumes. Scarlet Claw is dressed as a geisha, Cobalt is dressed in a multi-zippered vinyl catsuit, Black Claw looks very Phantom of the Opera-esque and Gold Claw look sort of like a lobster in metal.

The story is a typically thin one about the nature of love and friendship, but the whole thing is amusing for a light comedic romp. The staging and filming of the piece gave me the impression it would appeal to otaku and a certain set of single men, purely for the eye candy. Not a must-see, but a fun film.

Countdown to 2046

2005-01-15T08:55:00.000-08:00

One of the most visually stunning movies I've ever seen, 2046 tries to tie up the loose ends of two of Wong Kar Wai's earlier movies, the sublime DAYS OF BEING WILD and the glamorous IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE. Christopher Doyle has signed back on as cinematographer extraordinaire, so the scenes are beautifully saturated and the long shots are stunning.

In return for trying to tie old footage and characters in with new, he creates a piece that is too long and convoluted in the storytelling. The movie's overvoice was annoying this time around - as it tried to link the previous stories with the current footage. The best vignette being the story with characters played by Zhang ZiYi and Tony Leung as lovers/neighbors with their very quiet power struggle.

The film ostensibly follows the writer from the last sequence of DAYS OF BEING WILD, who just happens to be the married writer from IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE. IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE being the first movie of the trilogy. As the writer is recovering from heartache he meets characters from the DAYS OF BEING WILD story and is tied into how their lives were affected by that past (which he isn't a part of) at the same time he reminisces about his own past from IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE days and his subsequent time in Singapore after. Add to this his current situation in a resident hotel, the love affair with Zhang ZiYi, the landlord's daughter's (played by Faye Wong) own love affair and a book she is helping him write that takes place in 2046 and one gets a too long and very confused story.

The film almost plays like a flashback episode, there are too many references to what had happened previously and how that affects the characters now. Otherwise the story is very thin. If you haven't seen IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE and/or DAYS OF BEING WILD it might be a good idea to rent them before checking out 2046.

Unreal

2004-12-09T21:31:00.000-08:00

Jessica Yu brings us the life of Henry Darger through her documentary, IN THE REALMS OF THE UNREAL. Darger is the foremost modern day "outsider artist." His life reads like an Encyclopedia Brittanica entry for just that: self-taught (check), shitty menial job his entire lifs (check), obsessive dedication to the artwork (check), no friends (check), others discovery of art when it is too late (check), and extreme life circumstances (check).

Beyond interviews with those who were acquainted with Darger, Yu uses his letters, his artwork, his autobiography, his 15,000 page novel (perhaps the longest novel ever written) and the only two photos of Darger that are known to be in existence to try to understand his life and the art that he dedicated himself to. Questions of his motivations are discussed, but no one can fully understand what inspired him and his social isolation during his life. In one segment, people who have known him throughout his life say his lastname, in a collage of voices - the piece speaks volumes that there is no consensus on the pronunciation of Darger.

With a deft hand Yu brings to life, through animation, the fantastical images that Darger left in an apartment in Chicago after he vacated. Through voiceovers by Dakota Fanning and Larry Pine, the story of the Vivian Girls (the protagonists in Darger's work) and Darger himself are explored as a character study. Ultimately one can only use conjecture to understand the motivations of Darger - religion, abandonement, child abuse, cynical/sarcastic view on life, a child-like understanding of the world - all these probably had some hand in fashioning the life that Darger chose to lead and inspired him in the artwork he did, but we'll never know.

Vrom Vroom.. kaput

2004-12-05T15:06:00.000-08:00

Finally made the time to see the MOTORCYCLE DIARIES last week. The movie is wonderful as a road movie and reminded me of movies such as BROWN BUNNY (just the road aspect) and INDOCHINE (in the traveling as transformation aspect). Gael Garcia Bernal does an excellent job of being likeable as an actor. He plays Ernesto Guevara de la Serna (before he was "Che" Guevara) in 1952 Argentina.

As a young medical student, Guevara travels throughout Latin America with a friend on a motorcycle. Though he and his companion are from privileged backgrounds - they experience another side of life when they travel backroads and meet the people of Latin America. They meet coal mine workers, farmers, indigenous people, lepers, and affluent Latin Americans.

The movie is a homage to a trip that has been romanticized as THE TRIP that changed the course of Guevara's destiny from medical doctor to Socialist Revolutionary. Beautifully shot and well-acted the film shows the changes that overcome the traveling friends as they meet diverse Latin Americans and empathize with their plights. Taken as a romantic dramatization of a transformative road trip, the movie is sublimely gorgeous.

Folktales Alive!

2004-11-26T15:58:00.000-08:00

In OAN HON (SPIRITS) Victor Vu brings a slice of traditional ghost telling to the celluloid screen. Using the haunted geography of a house at an unspecified locale in Vietnam as the focal point of three stories with a common character - a writer named Loc - Vu attempts to give vision to the traditional VN ghost story.

In the first vignette, Loc walks by what appears to be an abandoned house where he finds a young woman, Hoa (played by Katherine Nguyen) cooking in the back. The woman is very nice, but reticent about how she came to be alone in the house. The truth of how she came to be there is soon revealed after Loc sleeps with her. Each of the three stories progress roughly in the same fashion, with the shifting main character of the piece seeing things that are not based in reality. And then each piece ending with a reveal about a dark secret, which is inevitably about death. Throughout all three stories, Loc is pivotal in the piece, though not always the main character.

The fright scenes aren't very scary, though Vu does make a valiant effort, using a fright aesthetic similiar to that of current Korean and Japanese directors (mainly from movies such as RINGU and A TALE OF TWO SISTERS). The stories feel like updated folktales and all but one of the outcomes were predictable (to me at least; CW said he guessed all three). The three pieces were all extremely well acted, given the brevity of each vignette. Tuan Cuong* as Loc and Kathleen Luong as Linh did especially well in their portayals as anguished individuals, playing melodramatic roles without overt melodrama. The piece works really well if seen in the light of creating a piece that gives props to Vietnamese ghost stories. A good well-acted small film.

*As a weird aside Tuan Cuong looks like a Vietnamese version of CW. Can you see it?

Watch out for the!!

2004-10-31T14:39:00.000-08:00

HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS, the new film by Zhang Yimou, is sweeping and beautiful and sort of sweet if a bit kitschy.

The scenes in HoFD far surpass any movie you can name in the Hollywood-based action category. Forget MATRIX RELOADED or THE PHANTOM MENACE, Zhang Yimou blows these films on their filmstock ass (dv ass). You want beautiful costumes and amazingly balletic choreographed fight scenes? You can't beat HoFD. Zhang Ziyi, Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro do a great if slightly awkward job of displaying raw emotion in the story of a love triangle and deception in the time of the Chang Dynasty. The movie is all eye candy with the referred to flying daggers, beautiful costuming, and intense looks all through the lens of Xiaoding Zhao. (And if you're into cinematography there is an amazing sudden snowstorm scene!)

Unfortunately everything feels a bit trite in HoFD. If you are hoping for a story that goes beyond Asian period piece soap operas, look at renting HERO again. The story of assasins and political intrigue falls a bit flat. And unfortunately the chemistry in the love triangle (though sweet) doesn't feel as hot and burning as the chemistry between Maggie Cheung and Tong Leung in HERO.

Still, as an action film it far outweighs what we in the West would expect in terms of cinematography, costumes, and action scenes. For this reason I recommend you go out and see it. If only so Sony and Miramax will continue to widely distribute Hong Kong films (action or otherwise) in the US.

Give me the Head!

2004-10-27T13:41:00.000-07:00

Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior is the latest action film out of Thailand. Starring Tony Jaa as Ting who journeys from the provinces into Bangkok to retrieve the stolen buddha head of Ong-Bak. Since the robbery, the village Prong Nardu is drought ridden and suffering greatly, all the villagers believe the drought will end once the head is recovered.

A thug named Don has foolishly stolen the head and takes it to his boss in Bangkok. The courageous Ting volunteers to track Don down and bring the head back to the village. When he arrives in Bangkok, he meets up with a former villager, Hum Lae, who now goes by "George" and is a scam artist and gambler. Through his travails of hanging out with George and pursuing Don, Ting gets into a lot of fights involving his expert skills at Muay Thai/ kick boxing.

The plot's premise and how he constantly ends up in chase scenes and fights is a bit outlandish -in a Benny Hill sort-of-way - but the story has two great points that they grind home:

The problem of modern day stealing and exportation of cultural treasures
The stereotype of Asian males as weak*

*The second one having an excellent line voiced by an Aussie actor:

"You Thai men are weak, that's why your women go to my country to become prostitutes!"

[Umm, okay, so the simple law of supply & demand have nothing to do with it and the women actually like having sex for money. Whatever dude.]

The movie has the same joy that one got of watching early Jackie Chan movies. The thin storyline is a vehicle for Jaa to walk on people, kick like a mofo and put an elbow pretty much through anyone's skull. His acrobatics are amazing and perhaps I'm blind, but I didn't see any wire. Billed as the next Jackie Chan, Jaa seems more than capable of taking on the responsibility. A fun action-packed film.

Look into the Dep(p)ths of the Story

2004-10-08T13:30:00.000-07:00

Marc Forster (MONSTER'S BALL) does a more than capable job of directing Jonhhy Depp, Kate Winslet, Julie Christie, Dustin Hoffman, and Radha Mitchell in this fictionalized biopic about James Barrie, the creator/playwright of Peter Pan.

At the beginning of FINDING NEVERLAND, we are shown Depp as Barrie, nervously pacing the theatre house where his play is about to be staged. The story is set that the character is a little neurotic and his wife (played by Mitchell) is a little uptight and disapproving of him. The story then follows Barrie as he meets and befriends the Davies family with Kate Winslet as the single mom Davies.

The movie is very PG as Barrie has neither lascivious thoughts for the four boys or for Mrs. Davies (or for his wife for that matter). Depp's little boy nature plays perfectly into the fantasy worlds Barrie creates for the boys and himself as he romps with them in the Davies' garden.

Forster is able to create a seemingly real bond between Barrie and the Davies children (especially Peter). But something falls flat, the film's joys aren't that high and the sorrows aren't that low. Call me a cynic, but I think it is the fictionalization that did it. The Barrie character played by Depp seemed to be accessible and passionate, yet had no physical connection to others?

The real life Barrie had an extreme affection for the Davies family, but was compulsive about not being touched. He abhorred it and would recoil. Which already makes him more interesting, he enforced no physical connection with people (autism? ocd?). The film's depiction made a failed sanitized version of the real Barrie, and as a result made it less believable/interesting to watch.

Bleep

2004-08-28T19:53:00.000-07:00

Halfway through watching What the #$*! Do We Know?!, I realized I was seeing a spritual recruitment film.

The movie promulgates a worldview based on eastern mysticism and quantum mechanics through a combination of talking head interviews, a loose narrative starring Marlee Matlin and CGI.

It was a really uncomfortable movie going experience. I'd been very petulant about going to see it in the first place and I realized that leaving in the middle would definitely cross the melodrama threshold. But still - I was squirmy, largely because I agreed with what was being said, but was dying at the way in which it was said.

Part educational filmstrip and part instructional video, the movie posits answers to the mysteries of life by invoking precepts such as be here now, visualize peace, see the divinity within and so on. These ideas are presented in short soundbytes from talking heads and go largely uncontextualized. (Well, the narrative part of the movie tries to shoulder some of the load here. But it's like the story in a health class video - it is slave to the message. Also, this whole part really sucks eggs from an execution standpoint.) As a result, these ideas come off as slogans or tips for happy living rather than what I feel they're meant to be - pointers to a transcendent truth.

The filmmakers make matters worse by poorly contextualizing these spiritual ideas in the study of modern physics. Throughout the movie, quantum mechanics is invoked as a talisman to bridge the gap between mysticism and reality. On the whole, this is, again, a line of thought to which I'm very sympathethic having really dug on Fritjof Capra's whole deal. But the Tao of Physics puts a lot of effort establishing the traditions of both eastern spirituality and western physics - as such the associations are rich and meaningful. In What the Bleep, they are completely superficial.

Of course, Fritjof had a whole book - maybe this stuff just can't be done in a movie. I don't think that's actually the case. Instead, I feel the film fails because it ends up flying over the propaganda line.

But, then again, Fahrenheit 9/11 was a propaganda film and I enjoyed it as such. What the Bleep is, similarly, an activist movie but the whole thing ends up eating itself precisely because of the spiritual truths it attemps to convey. The movie hammers away with soundbytes and hand wave-y science until the tone is one of pure dogma - which is just an awful thing to do to a philosophy that is completely un-dogmatic.

Zom Rom Com

2004-08-13T11:24:00.000-07:00

SHAUN OF THE DEAD is a romantic comedy homage to George A. Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD.

In the film Simon Pegg (screenwriter/actor) and Edgar Wright (screenwriter/director) take the romantic comedy and zombie genre to a new level of gory humor. Pegg stars as Shaun, a guy stuck in stasis in danger of losing his girlfriend. The day she breaks up with him coincides with a strange occurrence of zombie attacks (later billed as Z-Day).

The film takes us from the oblivious nature of Shaun's life to Shaun becoming a take-charge guy given the zombie situation. Along with the nod to DAWN OF THE DEAD, SHAUN OF THE DEAD also tips it hat to 28 DAYS LATER. But these are zombies in the traditional sense - the slow moving somnabulant beings who just want to eat you. Not the quick moving 28 DAYS LATER or 2004 remake DAWN OF THE DEAD zombies. (Who Pegg and Wright call "gym bunny zombies.")

The movie is light fun fare, but the filmmakers do manage to inject commentary about how much of London normally lives life a little bit in a somnabulant state.

There are some great lines. Such as Shaun, 29 saying to a 17-year old co-worker, "I want to do something with my life too!" To which his co-worker replies, "When?" Shaun is then unable to reply with anything coherent.

One can look for (and find) the meaning of friendship and the feel good knowledge that under duress people will rise to the occasion. But really, the movie is just another take on the zombie romantic comedy genre. Lots 'o' chuckles abound!

Rabbit Food

2004-08-11T11:01:00.000-07:00

BROWN BUNNY is the infamous new film by Vincent Gallo. There is a correlation between one's view of Vincent Gallo and one's view of the movie. If you can't buy into Gallo, you won't be able to buy into BROWN BUNNY.

So, I liked the movie (see this is where I stand). It was full of conceptual ideas and was fraught with heavy meaning. Gallo has a lyrical way of trying to get his tightly wound concepts across. He uses a lot of clues, silence and framing (that is - the subject of his lens is frequently slightly out of frame) to tell his story of regret. There are some humorous moments, but unlike BUFFALO 66 you won't find yourself laughing self-consciously. He doesn't relieve the psyche in that way, instead he provides the viewer with the loneliness of the open road and the odd mundane-ness of trying to make fleeting connections with strangers (something that happens every day in every bar across the US). The rawness of those fleeting connections feel almost serial-killer-esque as the character of Bud Clay drives from New Hampshire to California.

Much has been made of the many credits Gallo has in this film. He's credited as screenwriter/director/actor/costume designer/cameraman/editor as well as a few more. Gallo is an admitted control freak and as an indie director it makes sense that he would wear many hats in the film. So I'm not sure that aspect is as narcissistic as critics propose it to be.

The infamous scene with Chloe Sevigny is graphic, but not sexy (at all). Even though I buy into Gallo's concepts, the scene begs the question "Would he reveal all, if he wasn't gifted?" Because even if the scene isn't pleasureable or narcissistic (and I'll give him that) it still is, intentional or not - a good advertisement of his jewels.

If you're curious or like Gallo, give it a go.

The Infinite Abyss

2004-08-04T17:59:00.000-07:00

GARDEN STATE is the first film for director/writer Zach Braff who also stars in it. Andrew Largeman is back in town (somewhere in NJ) for the funeral of his mother after being estranged from his parents for 9 years.

After "Large" has a dream in which he calmly sits on a crashing plane as all his fellow passengers cry and move about frantically, panicking - he decides to stop taking any of the many, many antidepressants that fill his drug cabinet. As the story moves on we are given clues to his life in New Jersey before he left.

The journey is almost Odyssean as Large comes back from the edge of not feeling. The film is in fact how Large is able to re-embrace living, how he comes back from being numb to being normal. And, yes there is a romance with a girl (Natalie Portman).

The biggest disappointment was the ending. It feels a bit tacked-on, like it was done for Hollywood's sake. The movie would have been better if it ended either 7 minutes earlier in the Infinite Abyss or 2 minutes earlier in a scene that echos the beginning of the movie.

The film has a great humorous aesthetic, but I felt at times assaulted by it. Is NJ really filled with very strange characters that all seem to know him or his friends? Are pets really that hilarious? My thought is that Braff did it to create levity in a film that would have been too depressing otherwise.

Braff also seems to suffer from first time ADD in film making. He used editing and camera tricks to enliven the pace of the movie, slo-mo, quick cuts, swooping camera angles, speedy motion, but none in any consistent fashion. This was intermixed with panoramic angles and small languorous scenes. It wasn't distracting so much as puzzling, "What emotion did he intend for us to have here - with that camera angle?"

The film is good and one is bound to enjoy the soundtrack and humor, but the film doesn't resonate enough to stay with me days after viewing it. It's not a film I'd recommend or caution against. I think it does show that Braff will soon be a force to reckon with as he continues to add slashes to his credits. (He adds Producer to Writer/Director/Actor on his next film.)

Yellow team vs. Red team

2004-08-02T16:29:00.000-07:00

THE VILLAGE is a beautifully shot psychological drama that takes place in a village surrounded by Covington Woods in Pennsylvania. Shyamalan brings us a thriller that has been mistakenly marketed as a horror film.

As the trailers reveal - an uneasy truce exists between carnivorous creatures living in the woods and the villagers. Soon the peace between the two is disrupted as Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix) pushes for permission to go into (and through) the woods (for medicine) after the death of a 7-year old boy. Once he even passes beyond the barrier and is spotted.

Soon the creatures from the woods are wandering into the village . They leave markings on the doors and skin and hang up dead carcasses. The Elders are sure this is a sign that the villagers must not venture into the woods. The young people in the village begin to get more and more agitated as events seem to escalate.

Phoenix and newcomer Bryce Dallas Howard do an amazing job of carrying the story through drama, a love story, and extreme courage. The movie is fraught with an incredible amount of tension and real moments of beauty (such as a scene with confessed love!). Those who don’t enjoy Shyamalan’s pacing may have some difficulty with the movie as many scenes are low-key and best described as balletic (if you’re a fan) and slumberous (if you aren’t).

The ending has a SIXTH SENSE like surprise, but once you guess it- it seems obvious. The film begs for repeat screenings as the viewer searches for clues.

In the end what emerges from THE VILLAGE is the lengths that people will go to protect themselves and those they hold dear.

Do you think you're what they say you are?

2004-07-19T17:21:00.000-07:00

During August 1997, before my junior year of college, I watched the filmed version of Jesus Christ Superstar approximately 7 times in row in less than 2 days. After some viewings, I would cry.

It was a confusing time and, frankly, my weepiness was much more a pharmacological by-product than a spiritual awakening.

Needless to say, I approached the new direct-to-video version of JCS with some trepidation. Filmed in 2000, the goal of the producers was to update the look so as to reach a wider audience. So it's out with bell bottoms and in with the Gap.

As a result, when we first see Jesus, he's wearing a ribbed wifebeater and cargo pants. The apostles are portrayed as some kinda metrosexual paramilitary group outfitted with blue camo muscle tees and automatic weapons.

Which brings up a confusing part of the whole production ... who exactly are we rooting for here? The apostles force Jesus to go pop, his followers quickly become an unruly mob, even the lepers are shown as being annoying ... well, maybe that's not a stretch.

Pilate, as is the modern style, comes off amazingly well. Sure he's wearing Goering's hand-me-downs, but that's just 'cause he's Roman. Pilate hearts Jesus.

In fact, one of the movie's more interesting touches is the scourging. In the film, folks from the mob come running up and slap their hands on JC's body as Pilate counts out the lashes. Their hands are dripping with red paint so the streaks they leave on Christ's torso represents the whipping. At the end of the scene, we zoom in on the ghoulish jewmob (they're wearing goth eye makeup) as they reach out with their blood stained hands.

Them's my peoples!

A(Muse)ment

2004-07-15T11:54:00.000-07:00

As part of the 9th Silent Film Festival some friends and I had the opportunity to see THE DRAGON PAINTER which was released in 1919.

The film was accompanied by a live performance by Master Benshi Midori Sawato and the Mark Izu Ensemble played along with an original score he composed for the film. Benshi is the art of speaking along with the silent movie to add depth to the screen characters. It ends up being a little like Mystery Science Theater 3000 without snarky comments.

The story stars Sessue Hayakawa as a painter who is convinced he has lost his muse to spirits. When he meets the character played by Tsuru Aoki, he is convinced she is his reincarnated muse. They marry, he still is "painter blocked" --- she then fakes her own death, he gets depressed, she reappears and he is reinvigorated -- able to paint again.

The film is remarkable given the context of the time it was produced in. This was a Hollywood that made Asian actors the villains and required their death at the end of the movie. "Yellow face" was common at this time and this movie isn't spared (Edward Peil), but the movie sought (and succeeded!) in portraying a story that was free from western cultural bias of the era.

It made me think of the movie indusry in the same way I think of the modern experimental art scene. People like Hayakawa (who opened his own production company) gave themselves the tools to display the type of art they wanted to see. Their only obstacle (besides racism) was creating the initial work. Because there wasn't a huge catalog of films, if you could do a good job at producing a movie, it would most likely get shown. Show business was not the formidable monster it is today.

Wow!

All for Whitecastle Sliders

2004-07-09T17:19:00.000-07:00

HAROLD & KUMAR GO TO WHITECASTLE is a very light romp in the vein of DUDE, WHERE'S MY CAR? (written by the same peeps). The movie is enjoyable in the same way as well. Weird things happen to Harold Lee (John Cho) and Kumar Patel (Kal Penn) as they embark on an Odyssey worthy search for Whitecastle Sliders after smoking out in their apartment.

Their very long evening includes Neil Patrick Harris on ecstasy stealing their car, a ride on a cheetah, the offer of a foursome with a hot woman and her disfigured husband, bullet wound surgery, a trip to Princeton University, and a jailbreak.

Critics will very likely point to the undeveloped female characters as the main disappointment in the flick. (And yes, that could be better.) Others may point to some of the very obvious race focused jokes, but you know what - that's just life. The characters of Harold & Kumar come off like regular Asian American guys and for Hollywood that is very commendable.

I'm not a fan of these types of easy-gag type of movies, but I enjoyed Harold & Kumar for everything that it is. And when I left I told my friend that I liked it much better than DODGEBALL.

Note: [This is the same review I posted at sfiaaff.blogspot.com].

Is there a life coach in the house?

2004-07-07T16:14:00.000-07:00

METALLICA: SOME KIND OF MONSTER is a compelling portrait of Metallica not only as a band, but as a business venture. Whether you're a Metallica fan, music fan, doc fan, or looking for a new profession you can find something compelling here. I'm not a Metallica fan, but that didn't get in the way of my enjoyment of the documentary.

The doc follows the band as they gear up to record St. Anger (2004). After 22 years, the band is in dire need of some overhaul and therapy. They hire a therapist named Phil, a type of "life coach," to help them deal with each other as they record the album. The film is at turns funny, frustrating, and almost, but not-quite heart wrenching.

The filmmakers do a great job of training their lens on the band members for a heartbeat longer than necessary. It's comical and poignant at the same time as Hetfield rolls his eyes in response to Ulrich's speaking about his feelngs to the assembled group. As the band replaces their bassist and confronts the past loss of band members, in the midst of Hetfield going to rehab -- one understands that Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield run the show with minimal input from Kirk Hammett. But things haven't been working very well.

To Metallica's credit they (seemingly) allow unlimited access to the filmmakers. They also don't shy away from controversial issues. (E.g. Ulrich's very vocal anti-downloading stance.)

As far as likabilty - in the same way that Bernard Sumner came out looking good in 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE - Hammett comes out looking the best in SOME KIND OF MONSTER. He doesn't seem as self-focused as Ulrich or Hetfield and when no one is talking to each other they are still talking to Hammett.

And at the point when Dr. Phil's salary is mentioned ($40,000/month) anyone with doubts about their career path might just consider pursuing a new profession in life coaching.

At the end you'll get more insight into the individuals that make up the business venture called Metallica.

Good fun, you'll find yourself continually laughing.

Expecto Patronum!

2004-06-05T21:23:00.000-07:00

I wasn't quite the first of us to see Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban but it looks like I'm the first to resurrect FlickNut with it.

I enjoyed this movie immensely, possibly more than the first two. You could definitely tell the change to a new director -- everything was a lot darker and a bit creepier, but I think it was appropriate, since the books change their tone this way a bit as well, as you get to the third book and beyond. There were some wonderful new sets, and a new location for Hogwarts as well, which was absolutely beautiful (though a bit farther off from the description in the books, I think). A lot had to be chopped from the book to fit it into a 2-hour movie, but I think they did a very good job of it this time around. I would have added a few things back in, but on the whole I think it was well edited. Pay attention to the music, too. There was a greater variety than in the previous two, including what sounded like some authentic Medieval or Renaissance music, which was a nice touch that fit well with the castle setting.

The Marauder's Map was always one of my favorite magical artifacts from all of the books, and I loved the one they created for this movie. (Watch the footprints on it during the closing credits, too -- it's fun.) The Whomping Willow was really neat, as well. The dementors and the hippogriff and the grim were all quite good, but the one that was really awesome was the werewolf. I had always imagined werewolves as fairly humanoid, or at least bipedal, whereas Mom had always thought they just turned into regular wolves. Professor Lupin, though, was in between and very different from either one of these possibilities. I didn't think I liked it at first, but it turned out to be far cooler and far scarier than either alternative.

I've gotten very attached to all the kids in the main roles through these three movies. Unfortunately, they really don't look like they're 14 (because most of them aren't). A few years ago they could pass themselves off as 11, but it just isn't working anymore. I think we're probably due for some new kids for the next movie, but it'll be a heck of a job for them to step into.

"I'll show you the life of the mind!"

2004-02-24T21:59:00.000-08:00

I saw Barton Fink again this weekend. It's simultaneously one of the most difficult Coen brother's film and one of their best.

Barton Fink is an NYC playwright who gets pulled into writing Hollywood B movies and watches his life devolve into a semi-private purgatory. This movie has as many theories to explain it as it has symbols. Personally, I can never tell if this movie is complete genius or complete trash but I love it.

It's reported that the Coen brothers wrote this movie revolving around writer's block after suffering from writer's block while writing Miller's Crossing.

Fantastic cast, crazy script, great acting. It's definitely worth watching.

A Week in Japan

2004-02-24T21:01:00.000-08:00

It's not often that a completely deadpan expression is one of the most satisfying parts of a movie, but Bill Murray's face in Lost in Translation definitely hit the spot. He plays an American actor spending a week in Japan to shoot a whiskey commercial and get away from his family for a little while. His counterpart is another American played by Scarlett Johansson, who seems to have been auditioned primarily for her skill in hanging around a hotel room in her underwear, though I'm sure she exhibits many other fine qualities as well. She's the wife of a photographer on a business trip, and mopes around while he's off working all the time. Staying at the same hotel, the two form a sort of comfort relationship that seemed too gentle for the word "affair" but still wasn't something they should go off and tell their spouses about.

This movie isn't really plot-oriented in the usual way, but it's interesting for other reasons. It's more like a little window showing one episode in these people's lives, rather than a complete entity in its own right. The American-Japanese culture clashes are amusing, though not played up as much as one might expect from the title. The visual images of Tokyo were also fascinating. Overall, I wasn't completely sold on the movie, but it was still pretty enjoyable. So readers should accept my conditional recommendation based on their own individual tastes.

The Age of Beauty!

2004-02-15T23:25:00.000-08:00

Mood: Elated!
On iTunes: The Santa Fe Sessions

(so I was feeling LiveJournalish... bleck.)

Belle Époque was, in short, outstanding, and eternal thanks go to Bizby Wetherdeal for the recommendation. Honestly, can you imagine a better way for a hopeless romantic like myself to have capped off a Valentine-less weekend? Dig this!

"Handsome young soldier Fernando deserts from the army during the Spanish Civil War and befriends a free-thinking artist. But when he meets his new friend's four daughters, he finds himself in a romantic dilemma -- which woman should he romance? In a neat twist, the women do the deciding, as each in her turn tries to seduce him. Penelope Cruz co-stars in this passionately comic romp."

Since I've yet to start Homage to Catalonia, this film seemed a good place to start. First, it's en Español, which was bueno for mi práctica. Second, Penélope Cruz makes her fourth-ever screen appearance and oh, she's adorable. Third, it stars Maribel Verdú, whom we all know quite well from Y Tu Mamá También...

The interplay between young, seminarian Fernando and Don Manolo, eccentric 70-something painter and father of the 4 beauties, intrigued me most of all. "I knew he'd miss the train once he caught a whiff of my daughters," Manolo says offhandedly. Purist Fernando decides he's in love with each of them, one after the other, following their consecutive affairs. And for this reason he feels compelled to inform Don Manolo each time! Were I Fernando, I would have eloped with any of them, but Don Manolo practically expected and even accepted the debauchery. This, my friends, is elderly wisdom personified. ¡Viva España!

In conclusion, toss Belle Époque in your Netflix queues for the next time an "I'm feeling like an Iberian romantic comedy" mood strikes- you won't regret it!

Baked goods and growing things

2004-02-01T23:01:00.000-08:00

Bread and Tulips was probably my best result ever for seeing a completely random movie. I knew nothing about it before I saw it, hadn't even seen so much as a preview, and I ended up loving it. Pane e Tulipani is the actual title, and it won nine of Italy's Donatello Awards in 2000. It's a romantic comedy about Rosalba, an unhappy Italian housewife (Licia Maglietta) who is on vacation with her family when she accidentally gets left behind by a tour bus. Dutifully making her way home, she decides on a whim to visit Venice. Her stay there gets gradually drawn out as she finds friends, an apartment and a job, all the while discovering her own independence and her identity apart from her family. The cast of characters is delightful. A neighbor is a holistic beautician and masseuse, and the florist is an anarchist with strong floral opinions. The bumbling amateur detective is actually a plumber, but reads a lot of mystery novels. A sweet but suicidal Icelandic waiter provides some nicely understated romantic interest, and the Icelandic quirks of his Italian translate into some surprisingly amusing English subtitles. All are played beautifully, making real characters out of what could easily have become caricatures.

One extra thing that really sold me on this movie was that Maglietta actually does her own accordion playing in a couple scenes. As a musician, I really appreciate seeing that. The music in general for the movie is good, but I especially liked the chromatic, G minor waltz that she first plays on the accordion. Absolutely gorgeous.

Overall: a beautiful movie about striking out on your own and learning self-reliance, with some good humor and music thrown in. Definitely recommended.

I am homely... I am beautiful!

2004-01-28T09:05:00.000-08:00

Adrenaline Drive is a satire of japanese teen romance flicks. I've never seen one of those. If I was a betting man (and thank the good lord I'm not), I'd say they probably involve a young ordinary girl who becomes fabulous in a strange twist of events - usually related to a cute boy and some manor of trouble. That's what this movie has. There's the girl, the boy, and a big sack of mob cash. What there isn't, is adrenaline. The movie moves so slow, that you might think it's french. The opening scene is an impossibly long conversation in a car, where the main character mostly sits there quietly taking shit from his crazy boss. The closest thing to action there is, involves an insanely small compact car chasing a mini van, and a very short fall down a small hill.

The thing is, it's really good. The characters are genuinely charming, and there are more than a few laugh-out-loud (that's LOL, for you kids) parts. It's maybe not worth owning, but certainly worth a rental.

Wrong! Your Ears You Keep

2004-01-27T23:14:00.000-08:00

The Princess Bride is my favorite movie. I challenge you to find a movie more perfectly cast. Is there another film that casts an actual giant in the role of a giant? If so, is it directed by Rob Reiner and meticulously acted? Does it inspire? I’ll give you some time to think about it before you agree with me: The Princess Bride is the best movie of all time.

Jehova

2004-01-26T22:36:00.000-08:00

Netflix allows me to skate the line between the bad-funny sci-fi movie and the bad-painful sci-fi movie. I should say, I'm not a very good skater.

To wit, Equilibrium.

Equilibrium is a movie that got released in like one theater in Paramus and was later shown by accident on a small plane. Which is surprising because it stars Christian Bale and Emily Watson who, I believe, were tricked. It takes place in the post-apocalyptic future - you know the one where society realized that the only way to avoid future violence would be to suppress our emotions using a cleverly named drug called Prozium. Good to see that uncreative branding survived nuclear winter.

Most people voluntarily tie-off and shoot-up, but the outlaws live on the fringe, getting their feel on by wearing shabby clothes and viewing works of art.

No, really.

The opening scene is a bunch of grubby folks who have holed up with the Mona Lisa and a Fischer Price record player and sit around listening to emo-pop and sobbing. Okay, I lied about the emo ... everything else - true.

Christian Bale is the highest ranking Grammaton Cleric, a nigh-supernatural badass who is able to dodge bullets by using statistical models and fancy posing. The clerics are the enforcement arm for the Pax Stolidus, wiping out the feelies in the name of the Father; the grammaton bit being a reference to the tetragrammaton, the four letter abbreviation for the name of God which has absolutely no relevance in this movie whatsoever but, hey, it's a fun fact.

Anyway, it's obviously only a matter of time before Christian realizes the error of his emotionally distant ways and starts to explore life on the other side of the weepy divide. Plus, I think it dawned on him that knowing the difference between the mean and the median in no way allowed him to avoid getting shot. I may be reading in my own frustration here.

Still, I feel all the silliness actually makes the movie work in a way that doesn't and would recommend it for your next let's-all-sit-around-and-make-fun-of-the-movie night.

As an extra bonus: someone gets his or her face cut off during the climactic battle but I'm not going to say who. It could be Emily Watson. It could be Sean "Boromir" Bean who's in the movie for about 10 minutes, possibly with a face. It could even be Skeet Ulrich ... except he's not in this movie.

"She ain't gonna call you back"

2004-01-26T21:50:00.000-08:00

Roman Holiday is Audrey Hepburn's debut film. In it, she plays a princess who gets fed up with the demands of state and runs away from her minders during a visit to Rome. And that pretty much tells you enough to imagine the entire plot and resolution to the film. (Hint: she doesn't ultimately decide to give up royal life in favor of slinging chianti at a trotteria near the Spanish Steps).

So there's not much in the way of compelling story. Which is why it's all the more remarkable that Roman Holiday is incredibly fun to watch. For one, it's got that whole Edith Head/50's chic thing going on ... which you know, looks nice. And it's filmed on location in Rome ... also nice-looking.

But really it's all about Audrey.

Audrey, Audrey, Audrey.

Damn.

I don't think there are many other actresses who could make a movie turn on a scene about getting a haircut. But, man, does she get a fine-looking do.

There's a featurette on the DVD for Roman Holiday that has a clip from Audrey's screen test. In it she talks about how, during WWII in occupied Holland, she put on ballet performances to raise money for the resistance. I love the idea of little Audrey using her innocent art to fight the war against fascism. But then they ask her "Well, what if the Nazis had found out?" She goes wide-eyed and says in that blue-blood tinged yet still vulnerable voice "Oh, but they couldn't!"

The lady breaks my heart.

Money... It's A Crime

2004-01-10T10:54:00.000-08:00

An idea- should sufficient content manifest here, we could toss AdSense on it. All proceeds would, of course, go to the "Buy Biz a Bed Fund."

Thoughts?