The premise of this little musical about an Irish street busker/vacuum repairman and a Czech immigrant is so simple you wonder why it’s never been done before. Over the course of a week or so, these two meet cute and you think, OK, indie musical rom-com, but all generic expectations get thrown out the window as the film slowly but surely evolves into something completely different–a moving testament to creativity, determination, love, loss, compromise, stasis, and the never-ending joys of a melodically infectious pop song. Noel Coward would be proud.
Month: December 2007
Sweeney Todd
The first forty-five minutes or so are slower than expected (there’s a lot of musty exposition to wade through and all is delivered via solemn arias, duets and trios). This, I thought, was for fans of Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, Stephen Sondheim and Dante Ferretti only (OK, so that’s a pretty big group of fans and they were being well-rewarded, but still). Then the blood starts to flow (and flow) and the mood grows darker, more macabre, more wickedly comic, and the narrative’s original melodramatic leanings give way to something best labled Jacobean revenge tragedy. I’m a fan of Hal Prince’s 1979 staging–which can be found on VHS and DVD here and there–with its Brechtian flourishes and its larger than life Grand Guignol gestures; but Burton strives for something more intimate, more interior, less stagy. Poetic justice has no room in Burton’s version of Sondheim’s musical and, therefore, sweet sailor Anthony Hope and Judge Turpin’s “pretty little ward” Johanna are somewhat minimized in order to focus more specifically on Sweeney Todd’s obsessive desire to avenge the destruction of his family. The film has its share of flaws, but I think it may be one of Burton’s greatest achievements. The stunningly beautiful, stunningly grotesque, stunningly bloody final tableau may be Burton’s most compassionately horrific image ever committed to celluloid.
bladerunner
from the brief discussion of bladerunner in the film quiz thread, chris:
I think there are four versions released (5, 4, 3 and 2 discs respectively). This was the only version that gave me the new cut (no doubt containing 17 seconds of new material) plus the old director’s cut. Truthfully, I just wanted ‘Bladerunner’ on DVD so I can throw out my old video version. I’ve always liked the movie (a lot) but I found myself teaching a bit of it this past semester, so I thought it would be useful to have it on DVD.
can someone explain to me why so many smart critics (and reynolds as well) slam this movie? i don’t think it is as good as i thought it was when i saw it as a teenager but does it really deserve to be reviled as it so often is, or just faintly praised? here, for instance, is stephen metcalf on the new dvd set, on slate. he has very positive things to say about the film’s stunning visuals and atmospherics, but the review is framed more in terms of the film’s mythos and is finally dismissive. okay, so there are some lame narrative moments–but isn’t this on many levels a visionary film that has had a gigantic impact on its genre?
2007 Film Quiz
Here is The Guardian‘s annual film quiz
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
I can’t decide if this was enjoyable crap or utter crap. A bit of both, I suppose. Mostly the latter. Bigger budget than the first, and even more preposterous plot. Helen Mirren is humiliated by the awful dialogue. Nicholas Cage plays the role seriously, and there is an intensely annoying subplot of the dysfunctional relationships between Cage and Kruger, and Voight and Mirren. That said, the sidekick, Riley (Justin Bartha), is a lot of fun, and some of the set piece action sequences are good. On reflection, this is utter crap. Even the kids thought it sucked.
Year
So, woefully underprepared, I offer up the following tentative year-end stock-taking, knowing full well that at least three or four of the ones not yet seen may easily displace current residents. Still. It’s fun to do this. Continue reading Year
Juno
Kris and I both loved this, its acid-tongued stream of one-liners a tart complement to its openhearted appreciation of all characters. Every performer in this film is pitch-perfect, special mention for Ellen Page who is as vivid and lovely and moving as everyone says, and has as good an ear for her lines as the always-remarkable Michael Cera (who seems to have an uncanny ability to find whole new symphonies of nuance in the blank-faced befuddlement of the poor guy to whom things happen).
I was most impressed by how the film, even as it turned into the skid toward certain generic expectations, confounded the tendency to lay blame or find a convenient villain or foil.
[Minor spoliers ahead]
the center of the world (molly parker)
i met luminous canadian actress molly parker, who plays a main character in deadwood and may be known to some of you through that show, in marion bridge, an equally luminous, if painful, 2003 canadian drama of family, abuse, and endurance. since i found molly parker stunning — she is, yes, beautiful, but she’s also an actress who can convey a whole depth of feelings with just the way she looks — i went looking for other films of hers and saw last night wayne wang’s 2001 leaving-las-vegas-remake(of sorts) the center of the world, based on a story by wang, miranda july, paul auster, and siri hustvedt. Continue reading the center of the world (molly parker)
Twitchy revisions
I’ve seen over the last week three things I quickly throw out to my blog-buddies, each of which seems structurally familiar yet each, in very different ways, shakes and maybe even re-shapes the foundations of the genres they inhabit.
Two-Lane Blacktop
I’m surprised how much I liked this film; its fanciful reification of American myths as played out by three car jockeys and a hippie drifter girl on the homosocial backroads of early-seventies America is both nostalgically evocative and comically addictive. James Taylor and Dennis Wilson can’t act their way out of paper bags, but the script doesn’t really ask much from them. They eat, sleep and shit car-talk; the scenes they occupy are so pure, generically speaking, they’re apt to put you to sleep. The film’s heart and soul, however, belongs to the trickster/mythmaker “G.T.O.” As played to perfection by Warren Oates, this character is a slippery, mercurial, American original, and Oates races away with the film. While Oates’ iconic character may attempt to steal fire from the gods, he’s also haunted by a nagging rootlessness. “If I’m not grounded soon, I’m going to go into orbit” he cautions himself. It’s a moment both touching and ludicrous, yet Oates makes you believe.