Laurel Canyon (IMDB) (Netflix)
Preachers' kids are the wild ones, so a bohemian record producer's son must be an uptight psychiatry student, and an uncomfortable L.A. houseguest. His fiance, on the other hand, finds this new setting most liberating, and from there the roux thickens. Frances (Fargo) McDormand is the wild mom, Christian Bale is the son with baggage, and Kate Beckinsale the tempted intended, with Allesandro Nivola as Charmer #1 and Natasha McElhone as Charmer #2. It's not exactly Temptation Island, but headed that way.
This situation could easily have become soap opera pulp, but writer/director Lisa Cholodenko excels at skirting the potholes, creating tension and releasing it at just the right moment, and getting great performances by the entirely competent cast. McDormand is the "it woman" of middle-aged actresses (her supporting performance stole the show in the wonderful and underseen Almost Famous). I particularly liked Bale's subtle choices, and Nivola's character can be read as "lovable rogue" (by the women in the audience) or "imminent threat" (by the men). McElhone apparently is the new Meryl Streep, unveiling a new accent for each role. While it's intentionally easy to see where the film is generally going, the journey is the entertainment, and the ending refreshingly ambiguous. A small film embedded with a lot of quality.
Saturday, March 29, 2003
Basic (IMDB) (Netflix)
A U.S. Army Ranger training mission run by a sadistic Sergeant (Samuel L. Jackson) goes seriously awry, with guys shooting each other and at least one soldier dead. When it's over, nobody's talking, least of all to Captain Julia Osborne (Connie Nielsen), so they bring in an unsavory DEA agent (John Travolta) to dope out the situation. Everybody's got their own version of the story when they finally do open up, and it's not that intellectualized subjective reality nonsense—people are just plain lying—and Nielsen's not happy about being subordinated to a cop under investigation for taking bribes.
Lots of story angles, and they're all played hard and fast, creating a fog of audience confusion that says "let go of trying to understand the plot, but hang on for the banter and romantic byplay." The technical advisor should be brought up on Dereliction of Verisimilitude charges for allowing berets to be worn by the characters during training ops and letting a woman be a Ranger (a line that has yet to be crossed). Shining through the many holes, however, are entertaining performances by Giovanni Ribisi as one of the dissemblers and by Nielsen, whose character rises pretty forcefully to the occasion. On balance, though, often frustrating and mostly forgettable escapism, which ain't all bad.
A U.S. Army Ranger training mission run by a sadistic Sergeant (Samuel L. Jackson) goes seriously awry, with guys shooting each other and at least one soldier dead. When it's over, nobody's talking, least of all to Captain Julia Osborne (Connie Nielsen), so they bring in an unsavory DEA agent (John Travolta) to dope out the situation. Everybody's got their own version of the story when they finally do open up, and it's not that intellectualized subjective reality nonsense—people are just plain lying—and Nielsen's not happy about being subordinated to a cop under investigation for taking bribes.
Lots of story angles, and they're all played hard and fast, creating a fog of audience confusion that says "let go of trying to understand the plot, but hang on for the banter and romantic byplay." The technical advisor should be brought up on Dereliction of Verisimilitude charges for allowing berets to be worn by the characters during training ops and letting a woman be a Ranger (a line that has yet to be crossed). Shining through the many holes, however, are entertaining performances by Giovanni Ribisi as one of the dissemblers and by Nielsen, whose character rises pretty forcefully to the occasion. On balance, though, often frustrating and mostly forgettable escapism, which ain't all bad.
Saturday, March 22, 2003
Nowhere in Africa (IMDB) (Netflix)
Kindof a "Little House on the Veldt," plus politics, both global and sexual. A Jewish couple and their young daughter quit pre-war Nazi Germany for Kenya to start a new life, where each adapts differently to the new surroundings and circumstances over the next dozen years. These personal changes create a myriad of stresses in the three relationships, particularly between husband and wife, less so with the kid, who naturally grows into the new world with aplomb and grace.
Maybe it's the angst-ridden times in which we live, but this film somehow dove under my skin in a hurry and tapped into a deeply buried vein of emotion, and is just now extracting itself. Aside from a few ill-advised camera moves, too-perfect natives and a tendency to overplay the more dramatic moments, there's a very human, endearing story of people in trying circumstances, and coping awkwardly with each other's maturation process. For good reason it's been nominated for Best Foreign Film Oscar.
Kindof a "Little House on the Veldt," plus politics, both global and sexual. A Jewish couple and their young daughter quit pre-war Nazi Germany for Kenya to start a new life, where each adapts differently to the new surroundings and circumstances over the next dozen years. These personal changes create a myriad of stresses in the three relationships, particularly between husband and wife, less so with the kid, who naturally grows into the new world with aplomb and grace.
Maybe it's the angst-ridden times in which we live, but this film somehow dove under my skin in a hurry and tapped into a deeply buried vein of emotion, and is just now extracting itself. Aside from a few ill-advised camera moves, too-perfect natives and a tendency to overplay the more dramatic moments, there's a very human, endearing story of people in trying circumstances, and coping awkwardly with each other's maturation process. For good reason it's been nominated for Best Foreign Film Oscar.
Sunday, March 09, 2003
City of God (IMDB) (Netflix)
A nearly apocalyptic blend of Mean Streets and Lord of the Flies that takes place in Rio de Janeiro slum named—with bitter irony—"The City of God." The lack of jobs and ensuing poverty creates a favela that is dominated by an evermore-powerful hoodlum subculture, and whose rise is narrated by "Rocket," one of its few seemingly redeemable denizens.
If you had trouble with the violence of Gangs of New York, this could push you over the edge. It's shot in a quasi-documentary style that strips away any veneer that could have distanced viewers from this societal trainwreck, and laid out in such a forceful way that, for those of who aren't repulsed, it becomes a searing-but-fascinating experience. Critics are stumped as to why this wasn't nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar, and you too will be mystified.
A nearly apocalyptic blend of Mean Streets and Lord of the Flies that takes place in Rio de Janeiro slum named—with bitter irony—"The City of God." The lack of jobs and ensuing poverty creates a favela that is dominated by an evermore-powerful hoodlum subculture, and whose rise is narrated by "Rocket," one of its few seemingly redeemable denizens.
If you had trouble with the violence of Gangs of New York, this could push you over the edge. It's shot in a quasi-documentary style that strips away any veneer that could have distanced viewers from this societal trainwreck, and laid out in such a forceful way that, for those of who aren't repulsed, it becomes a searing-but-fascinating experience. Critics are stumped as to why this wasn't nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar, and you too will be mystified.
Saturday, March 01, 2003
The Pianist (IMDB) (Netflix)
The true story of Wladyslaw Szpilman (played by Adrien Brody) and his epic struggle inside the World War II's Warsaw ghetto. It was genocide in slow motion, taking years to complete, and we experience it all through Szpilman's story, told by Roman Polanski, director of Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown. It's nominated for seven Oscars, including best picture, best actor for Brody and best director for Polanski (although you won't see him at the Academy Awards show, at least not without handcuffs, after fleeing a California statutory rape charge that has kept him out of the U.S. since 1977).
This is exactly the kind of story that the Academy voters love: historical, tragic, featuring the best and worst of the human spirit. There almost should be a special category, just to be fair to the other genres. It's beautifully shot in a way that doesn't call attention itself, and the performances are uniformly restrained, refreshingly free of the pathos you would expect given the situation. That choice of tone, however, means that there is little more than a nodding glance at Szpilman's inner conflict as he makes the choices that determine his fate, taking the film a notch down from perfection. For lovers of Schindler's List (surprisingly, not available on DVD)and Life is Beautiful.
The true story of Wladyslaw Szpilman (played by Adrien Brody) and his epic struggle inside the World War II's Warsaw ghetto. It was genocide in slow motion, taking years to complete, and we experience it all through Szpilman's story, told by Roman Polanski, director of Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown. It's nominated for seven Oscars, including best picture, best actor for Brody and best director for Polanski (although you won't see him at the Academy Awards show, at least not without handcuffs, after fleeing a California statutory rape charge that has kept him out of the U.S. since 1977).
This is exactly the kind of story that the Academy voters love: historical, tragic, featuring the best and worst of the human spirit. There almost should be a special category, just to be fair to the other genres. It's beautifully shot in a way that doesn't call attention itself, and the performances are uniformly restrained, refreshingly free of the pathos you would expect given the situation. That choice of tone, however, means that there is little more than a nodding glance at Szpilman's inner conflict as he makes the choices that determine his fate, taking the film a notch down from perfection. For lovers of Schindler's List (surprisingly, not available on DVD)and Life is Beautiful.
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