Monday, August 18, 2008

The Deer Hunter (1978)

I am not a fan of bloated, over long, indulgent movies. This one is the epitome of bloated, over long, indulgent movies.

The story was basically interesting: working class guys who like to deer hunt are sent to Vietnam, experience all of the horrors of that war, and most of them come home to a place they don't fit anymore. But, my god, what it took to get that basic story was sooooooo long. I didn't need that much of the wedding. I didn't need the virtually pornographic landscape ode to deer hunting. I didn't need to see so much of the Russian Roulette game (I understand this impact this was supposed to have but it really just made me almost immune to it's effects--I knew the outcome of the film the longer it lingered with that gun game). I didn't need any of the drawn out parts of the film. And I certainly didn't need the cast singing "God Bless America" at the end.

It seems the film took what was an interesting poignant storyline and proceeded to get too ambitious with the scope but instead of making the narrative too big they made the story too small for the movie. There wasn't enough character development or information to compete with the amount of screen time the deer got. And, while I was saddened by the events and appropriately horrified at the disaster Vietnam was, I was not sympathetic to any of the characters--I just didn't connect. And, I was a little confused by the few news reel shots included--the color schemes didn't flow with the film so they were kind of obvious.

I can sort of see why people like it and I understand watching it because of the way it shows Vietnam but I was not impressed.

Love in the Time of Cholera (2007)

What? I don't know whose bright idea it was to try to turn a Garcia Marquez novel into a movie but it wasn't a good idea and it didn't work. I mean it is a movie but it's not a good one. And, Netflix totally lied to me and said it was about an hour shorter than it is.

It's actually not as bad as it could have been (of course, the watching of this coincided with the reading of Windows on the World and I assume I only have so much vitriol to throw at "art"). The problem is that Garcia Marquez's work is so rich and layered and complicated that it will never translate to film. It has to be watered down and then it's not so great. Clearly the director was a little confused about what he wanted because the "cut scenes" portion of the dvd has the longest list of scenes I've ever seen on a dvd, by about twice.

This film, however, had more problems than the watering down of the script. Characters just disappear from the film, others simply appear with no introductions (here I'm thinking Liev Schrieber, John Leguizamo, and a character named "Ricardo"). The whole "cholera" thing is only at the beginning and the very end of the film. And most of the emotion is drained from the film. It's like the took Garcia Marquez's novel, put it in a sieve, let it sit there until it was absolutely anemic, beat it up a little, and then put it on the screen.

AND, the greatest offense in my mind is the scene in which the two main characters, Javier Bardem and and Italian actress I don't know, have a naked love scene in aged makeup!!!!! I don't need to see that.

Tropic Thunder (2008)

Yay! I love Robert Downey Jr. LOVE HIM!!

While this movie isn't the laughing every minute movie I thought it would be, it is actually a better movie than I thought it could be. It's humor spans from Jack Black running around in a black speedo to more subtle humor which served it well. It manages to tell a story, and a smart satiric story, while maintaining the funny.

And Tom Cruise dances which is amusing.

Windows on the World by Frederic Beigbeder (2005)

Oh. My. God. I read a lot of books that should be offensive to me. A lot of male authors who are not female reader friendly. A lot of postmodern authors who are simply not reader friendly. I watch a lot of movies that should offend me. I say things that offend other people. But I have never in my life been more offended by a book than I was by the 40 some off pages of this one I choked down in two sittings. I'm not so hurrah! America that I can't take the criticism of the country and I've read a LOT of 9/11 literature but I was really appalled that this author took the route he did in telling the story.

The book is told by two narrators, an American with two kids who are in the Windows on the World restaurant on the morning of 9/11 (they will die) and a French guy sitting in a mini-skyscraper in Paris musing that he's at the French equivalent of Ground Zero----uh, not so much considering that building is STILL STANDING! The author, who is French, tries so damned hard to prove he likes America in a "I have an American friend" sort of way. He uses an entire page to list his favorite film makers, authors, and musicians all of whom are American (and male, by the way). There is really atrocious dialogue. At one point he wonders who might have worked in the WotW restaurant and decides they must have employed "the blacks." Right.

I could go on and on and on about the few pages I read but it's just making me angry about it all over again and I might have to write an article about this atrocity so I need to remain calm and carry on.

Affectionately Yours (1941)

It was Rita Hayworth day on TCM so this came on after The Lady in Question. I like Hayworth so I watched. This one is about a journalist who is constantly travelling the world in pursuit of the story, telling a woman in every city, "if I weren't married . . . " While out on "assignment," his wife divorces him (goes to Reno--see The Women for a bigger exploration of this phenomenon) and doesn't really tell him. He finds out through the grapevine that his marriage is over and rushes back to New York to resolve the situation. His editor doesn't approve of his remaining a domestic reporter (in both senses of domestic) and his lover, Hayworth, is excited about his divorce--they plot together to keep him divorced and travelling. The reporter devises all sorts of schemes to keep his wife and those schemes subsequently backfire repeatedly. I'm not sure I'm convinced of the ending though . . .

The Lady in Question (1940)

The plot for this one is fairly simple and straightforward: a French family man is excited to finally be chosen for jury duty and the woman (Rita Hayworth) on trial is accused of having murdered her lover. The main guy (a la Twelve Angry Men) stonewalls the jury until they acquit the woman. The man then feels sorry for the woman because she's been outcast regardless of the verdict and he hires her to work in his bike shop, with her using a different name and him not telling his family who she really is. Mild hilarity about hiding her identity ensues but the interesting part of the film is the exploration of how we judge people. How we act around people who may be guilty of something when they start to encroach upon our personal space. Interesting to watch if it's on tv (which is why I watched it).

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Kandahar (2001)

This film is described as a "partially fictionalized documentary." I'm not sure which parts are fictionalized but I'm betting it's the actual story as opposed to the facts therein. Anyway, the film is about an female Afghani (living in Canada) journalist who makes the dangerous journey into Kandahar, Afghanistan in order to save her sister. Her sister was wounded by a landmine and remained in Afghanistan. Because of the oppression inflicted upon women is only getting worse, the sister has written to the journalist that she will kill herself at the next eclipse. Because of the culture and the fact that the journalist has escaped the country once before, she has a hard time getting into the country secretly. She finally finds a way but constantly runs into difficulties, the least of which are wearing the burga and having to be accompanied by a man at all times.

The film does offer an interesting and heartbreaking look into the plight of Afghani women. But I think it ends too abruptly to do the narrative any service. It's definitely worth watching if only to see the burgas up close and the scenes with the doctor in his office. But it is not well acted on the whole and I don't think it does quite enough in terms of its message.

Lighthousekeeping by Jeanette Winterson (2004)

I remain absolutely smitten with Winterson's books. They are really just delightful, especially after reading so very many overwrought books. Hers seem effortless but certainly are not simple.

This one is about a girl named Silver because she was "born part precious metal part pirate" who has no father (or not a known one, anyway). She lives a secluded and a bit bizarre life with her mother until an accident and her mother dies. Silver is then orphaned and sent to live with the blind lighthousekeeper, Pew. Pew teaches Silver about seeing, storytelling, and living--giving her the history of the Scottish town they live in, the story of the Dark family who built the lighthouse, while teaching her that to tell stories is to live.

The plot is really minimal. Silver and Pew don't do much and the storyline of the past, while containing more action, is equally sedate. The charm really lies in the way the story of the book and the stories within the book, stories within stories, ad infinitum, are told.

My favorite lines may be: "Turn down the daily noise and at first there is the relief of silence. And then, very quietly, as quiet as light, meaning returns. Words are the part of silence that can be spoken." I'll definitely be picking up more of her books, if I ever finish (or begin, really) the tome that is Midnight's Children.