Children of Men
6 September, 2008
The editing and cinematography is astounding, even now, even on a small screen. It kicks me in the gut. The disinterest… the apathy. It isn’t a wandering camera, like in Neorealism, it is a dispassionate camera that is slowly drawn in. A camera that is slowly captured by the story-line, that follows the arc of Owen’s character’s development from pathetic waste to savior. Absolutely brilliant.
Marie Antoinette
6 September, 2008
I cannot figure out why I like this film so much. It’s pretty, yes. It’s filmed luxuriously and is incredibly well-costumed. The art direction is spectacular and the acting is superb. The editing is quite good, the music and the sound are all exceptional. But it lacks depth. I think. Maybe it only appears to be superficial. I can’t decide. The glossy sheen on it is deliberate, right? I am so confused. Sophia Coppola is either a genius, or a very spoiled girl who gets to play with very expensive toys.
It is the ending, really, that leaves me wondering whether what I just watched was what it seemed. So smart, so abrupt, so very very unexpected. But of course, Sophia knows how to end a film. We know this, from her earlier work. I think she starts from the ending and works back, to be honest. She has an image, something she knows will catch and stick, and builds backwards from it.
Encounters at the End of the World
28 August, 2008
What madness is it that drives the man to conquer the beast or summit the mount? And what of insatiable curiosity, the pursuit of knowledge? Is it the same urge? To know everything, to catalogue it and keep it close in bound paper vaults, is this the same as conquest and enslavement? Is all of this rooted in some form of greed? I do not know. And what of beauty? What of awe? Does submission in the face of beauty overcome the greed? To pursue ones dreams to the logical end… to the actual end… to the place from whence one can only begin…
It is spectacular, I think, that Mr. Herzog finally found his un-looked-upon images, and he was not in control of the camera. Even he was not permitted to look upon his subject. Only a special few are admitted to that cathedral, and even he is not among them.
No Country For Old Men
10 August, 2008
I saw this again after having read the book. And all I can say is, the Coen boys have big giant weepy bleeding hearts next to Mr. Cormac McCarthy. It retains its brilliance, even seen small. Breathtaking, heartbreaking, and so filled with narrative perfection it almost makes me forget to breathe. Also, Tommy Lee Jones really ought to be used more appropriately. He is so very perfect in this role.
Hancock
10 August, 2008
Hancock is essentially two movies- one fairly decent one, one completely awful one- stuck together with thumbtacks, or perhaps a staple gun. The pacing is slapdash, and the story itself is all kinds of weird. There are some very pretty shots, and then there are things that seem as though they have been processed to the point of no longer retaining any ‘real’. The thing I really don’t get, though, is the number of reviews I read that said Will Smith had really put himself into this role, that he wasn’t just smiling and joking his way through. He wasn’t smiling big and dumb for the camera, but he was certainly having a good laugh over the whole ordeal. Anyhow. It’s barely passable, but it does have some hysterically funny moments. And Jason Bateman is loveable as always- I would like to see Bateman play a serial killer or something. Not really worth seeing, but if you’re bored, why not?
Possessed
10 August, 2008
I can’t help feeling strange when I watch this piece. It is carefully, even beautifully, crafted. And it scares the hell out of me, because I can see just where I might go mad as well.
I don’t really have words for it, but if you click below, you can watch it yourself.
Possessed on Vimeo.
Rehearsals for Extinct Anatomies
10 August, 2008
I cannot stop humming the score to myself, and I cannot stop dreaming of things made of string. Like almost nothing else, the Brothers Quay can invade the mind and expose parts of the psyche that perhaps did not exist until they entered. The delicacy of this particular piece is astounding, the loops of narrative that play back and forth and parse the film of which they are part until aesthetic and story are one.
The Wackness
10 August, 2008
Essentially, this is the new Garden State, with better music and no Manic Pixie Dream Girl. I mostly saw it because I wanted to be creeped out by Ben Kingsley making out with Mary-Kate Olsen. Which did happen, but was not particularly creepy. It actually kind of made sense. And with her utter lack of talent, she’s going to have to find someone older and wiser to take care of her, because pretty soon people are going to stop paying for the novelty of having her around.
Maybe she should make out with Bob Saget. That would be creepy.
Anyhow. The film was enjoyable and cotton-candy light, without the sugarsick afterwards. Not bad, really. And Kingsley was having the time of his life, which was great to watch.
Werckmeister Harmonies
5 August, 2008
I drifted in and out of sleep while watching this and so I do not know for sure what happened, but it was beautiful and I awoke to compositional perfection and an enormous whale.
I will watch it again, I am quite sure.
Bela Tarr is a master of black and white cinematography, in a way that no one else is.
dear god it has been a while…
5 August, 2008
So here’s a list of the things I need to write about:
Immer Zu
The Secret Story
Pony Glass
Possessed
Rehearsals for Extinct Anatomies
No Country for Old Men
Hancock
Werckmeister Harmonies
I swear on something super special that I will get this done, soon.
