The most intriguing new film you'll ever see is the ambitious BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD, featuring the most dynamic child actor to appear in a long while. Filmed on location in the marshes and swamps of Louisiana, this new film centers on a 10 year old girl who is pretty much left to her own devices, but still has a strong community of neighbors to fall back on, because her father is often absent, drunk, or in the hospital due to a life threatening illness. Early in the film the community is struck with a Katrina like hurricane which flattens or washes away much of the structures, and the girl must keep her life together or perish---her father has instilled in her a strong survival ethic, and you know she will probably make it. But in her mind, the BEASTS are something to conquer. She also has an active imagination, and the film eloquently mixes fantasy, reality and melodrama to gripping effect. My main problem with the film, whether it be due to awkward location filming or many scenes shot on water or just director's prerogative, is that there is excessive use of jittery hand held camera. I ended up sitting in the forth row, and the camera work was nauseating and distracting for me. Perhaps if this doesn't bother you, or you can sit further back, you may find BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD to be the most innovative and propelling film of the year. GRADE---------B+
A strong film-noir from Russia, ELENA remains a haunting (if leisurely) examination of the class struggles between the rich and middle class, and between the haves and have nots. ELENA is married to a wealthy but ill man, kind but not very understanding, and when she becomes aware that his inheritance is mostly going to his uncaring daughter from an earlier marriage, she decides to manipulate his wishes in favor of her dead beat son and his family. The pacing is careful but builds at a steady pace, helped by the hypnotic Phillip Glass score, and the film has stuck in my mind since I saw it screened back in October at the Vancouver International Film Festival. It had a brief run last week after several SIFF screenings. Watch for it on DVD. GRADE--------B+
Also with a too brief run is the creatively shot "teen film" that is mostly made for adults. STARRY STARRY NIGHT looks terrific, with some CGI effects and glorious cinematography as it tells the story (faithfully presented from the novel) of a young teen whose parents are splitting up. She has an active fantasy life, mostly involving her dead grandfather, and her life changes when she meets another teen boy who lives with his struggling mother. GRADE-------B
Brightly and creatively designed in mostly primary colors, with simple plot lines, the animated film THE LORAX is based on a Dr. Seuss book, and is a cheery (and politically "green"!) experience, and kept my 3 1/2 year old granddaughter rightly intrigued. I liked it too. GRADE------B
The new Michael Winterbottom film TRISHNA is certainly a nice try. He retells TESS OF THE D'HUBERVILLES but sets it in modern day India--and at times the tragedy is exotically intriguing. But in his attempt to modernize the film, he makes the fatal step of copying the directorial style of Michael Bay (ARMAGEDDON, PEARL HARBOR, THE ROCK) who admittedly claims to never allowing a scene to last more than 3 seconds. This really works against this romance, as the scenes never allow us to focus our eyes on the main characters for signs of drama or conflict or subtlety. We are constantly being pulled away to another scene/shot/angle, and we lose empathy for the characters. GRADE--------C+
Sarah Polley's first film AWAY FROM HER (2007) was blessed with a lovely, sad performance by Julie Christie as a woman who is falling into dementia. Her new film has some thoughtful moments, but the oddly titled TAKE THIS WALTZ features some annoyingly irritating characters doing some stupid, irrational things, and by the end I was really disappointed. Her direction is fine but in this case her script is at times trite and awkward. I did appreciate the lengthy pool shower scene featuring some average looking (fat, old, wrinkly, etc) woman talking in the nude, and later another pool scene has two characters swimming like dolphins underwater as they discover that they love each other. Better luck next time. GRADE----------C-
The first 30 minutes of the one joke movie TED, about an obscene, dope smoking teddy bear who is a bad influence on his 35 year old human, is the best, but suddenly, the joke gets really tired, and the last 30 minutes feels like it came from another film altogether--as if the film makers realized that they needed to pad the film out to 85 minutes instead of 55 minutes. GRADE--------D+
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DVD CHOICES
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It has been nearly 10 years since I've seen GONE WITH THE WIND (1939), so I recently watched the new Blu Ray version. I always forget that instead of being an EPIC---yet there are some very epic scenes in the film---GWTW is mostly an intimate, intense drama about the mismatched love relationship between two stubborn people, and how a spoiled, manipulative "princess" nearly ruins the lives of some of those around her. I've always been quite annoyed with the character of Scarlett O'Hara, but with each viewing, I've always appreciated the entertainment value that Oscar winner Vivien Leigh brings to the proceedings and she and Clark Gable make a splendid couple, even it that coupling lasts only 10% of the total running time. Of course, still the great scene stealer is the Oscar winning supporting turn by Hattie McDaniel--she has all the best lines and the greatest double take facial expressions!, and Olivia De Havilland still grabs your sympathies at every moment. The production values still can't be beat---costumes, sets, music, cinematography, editing, etc are all superb. They don't make them like this anymore. GRADE-------A
Simple images, songs, animation and plotting, help to create the Disney classic BAMBI (1942), which becomes an artful recreation in the year in the life of some forest animals. The mother's death, though handled off camera, is still a dramatic shocker, as is the abstract, intense forest fire scene, but the animal and bird antics have a charming and hilarious effect, even in their simplicity. GRADE-----A-
Got a chance to watch last year's fine Woody Allen film MIDNIGHT IN PARIS (2011) again, and it holds up very well as a light comedy filled with intelligence and wit. GRADE------B+
Another light weight but charming musical comedy is HAIRSPRAY (2007), directed by Adam Shankman who this summer gave us the lively ROCK OF AGES (see previous blog.) I also read that there has been some controversy over John Travolta playing an iconic "gay" character (the mother) given his Scientology ties, and the fact that just about every other film maker involved in the movie was gay. That sheds a bizarre light on the new gay sex scandal that Travolta is currently involved in. The film plays down the gender reversal--it's very understated, and not as overt as the great underground performer Devine played it when first conceived by John Waters years ago. The music, while pleasant, is unmemorable to me (I've seen this film a couple of times and never remember anything hummable.) Still, the actors are all quite game and in many cases, very talented. GRADE----------B
I saw HOPSCOTCH (1980), a very surprising, clever and comic spy thriller featuring the shaggy doggedness of Walter Matthau and the intelligent, witty spryness of Glenda Jackson, and even though the film doesn't amount to too much, it is a pleasure to watch. GRADE-------B+
Modest but sincere in the best "based on a true story" sense, GLORY ROAD (2006) tells about the first attempt in 1966 to send an all black basketball starting team to the NCAA finals. It took me 15 minutes to realize that I'd seen it before, but it is quite watchable. GRADE------B-
Friday, July 20, 2012
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