kikiricky Reviews

The Man Who Cried (2000)

an excellent director delivers a good movie: support both!

[8/10 · 18 March 2001]

Although I agree with those who say that Sally Potter's THE MAN WHO CRIED doesn't entirely live up to her two previous works, I think that even so it is still a very good movie.

Apparently things are slowly starting to get better for THE MAN WHO CRIED. At least it has now been played in several countries in Europe other than Italy (like England, Germany and France) and its score and screenplay are finally being sold by Amazon.co.uk. (I'm hoping the VHS and DVD will soon be available also.) I want to contribute to this movie's current rebirth by saying what I think makes it special and definitely worth seeing.

The first thing that comes to my mind about THE MAN WHO CRIED is its formal visual beauty. It is extremely well directed and there are many scenes that I regard to be among the most beautiful ever filmed. Ms. Potter's talent as a film director is undeniable: her style is a mixture of choreographic elegance and subtle sensuality. I have never seen the camera move like it does in her pictures. In ORLANDO and in THE MAN WHO CRIED alike, it has a way of chasing the characters on scene, of playing with them, of circling around them, that makes it seem like an animated being rather than a mechanical object. It literally seems as if the camera dances with the characters it portrays! None of the movies by other directors I've seen so far are 'written' in this same 'language.' Ms. Potter's personal contribution to the renewal of the existing 'cinematographic grammar' shouldn't be underestimated.

A second striking quality of THE MAN WHO CRIED is the music in it. The director said that 'The intention was to find a way of telling the story where music was carrying emotional and spiritual truth with as much force as the images and the characters.' By frequently reiterating a set of intensely powerful, culturally eloquent and evocative pieces – among others, Purcell's Dido's Lament, Bizet's Je Crois Entendre Encore and instrumental pieces by Goliov – which serve to remind the characters who they are and where they come from (besides giving the movie cohesion), she succeeds in this difficult task brilliantly. (And courageously: not many film directors, I believe, would dare to make a movie with four opera pieces constantly being sung!) The idea that comes through is that when people are left without their cultural identity and/or dignity, music can save them for forgetting their 'Selves,' save them from silence and incommunicability.

As far as the characters in THE MAN WHO CRIED are concerned, I think they are very well thought out and effectively depicted. It is especially admirable that the director would decide to give life to a 'mute heroine,' Suzie-Fegele, who says almost nothing throughout the whole movie, but expresses herself surprisingly well in spite of this. She conveys, with incredible force, that sense of inadequateness and discomfort so many are left with for life when they are put into a hostile environment during their childhood. Cristina Ricci seems embarrassed at times, and rightly so, for in this movie she plays the part of an outcast, and that's the way an outcast often feels, unfortunately. But there's also strength in her eyes, and determination, and, once again, rightly so, for despite all that fate has unjustly taken away from her, she has learned to go on, to look straight ahead and not ever give in, to live and not to let herself die. Cate Blanchett is an exceptional actress and she performs wonderfully in this movie: both her beauty and intelligent eyes were never this intense and captivating. Johnny Depp is, as always, very talented and very handsome.

As I said at the beginning of my review, this movie isn't quite as good as ORLANDO and THE TANGO LESSON (which were, in my opinion, two absolute masterpieces). While those two movies were perfect from the very beginning to the very end, THE MAN WHO CRIED is perhaps a little uneven, in that along with many breathtaking and superb scenes there are a few instances in which something seems to be missing (overall I rate it 9/10). Also, I personally would have preferred for it to be as multilingual as it was multicultural (then again, I know this probably would have made the movie even less popular). Nonetheless I think THE MAN WHO CRIED has all the qualities of a good art product and I feel perhaps some haven't fully appreciated it because they weren't looking at it as one should look at 'poetry,' but rather as one normally looks at 'prose.' There's so much entailed in it, that needs to be interpreted, as with poetry. Sally Potter doesn't flaunt feelings, but they are there, and I guarantee they can stir you immensely if only you cooperate. Every minute of THE MAN WHO CRIED (which I have seen three times already) gave me something special to think about and remember, and movies don't do that to me very often. Consequently I think it would be a real pity for the public not to support this movie and its director. I think Sally Potter is one of the very best film makers around and I hope our support and enthusiasm will persuade her to do even better next time!

The Tango Lesson (1997)

About Art and Life

[10/10 · 19 February 2001]

I saw the Tango Lesson and found it a genuine work of Art. I recommend those who love good movies to watch this one.

The Tango Lesson perhaps has a weak plot, but a film director isn't necessarily a story teller. The spiralling meta-narration which takes place in the Tango Lesson certainly makes this movie an advanced art product, which has nothing to do with the telling of actual occurrences, but rather focuses on the developing of Art itself in the mind and life of an artist, while touching on a series of parallel topics.

Some may interpret this film as an "empty exercise in self-indulgence," but personally, I find this approach misleading, especially in the age of the "Self." We're talking about Art here, and Sally Potter is the artist. Herself: no one else should be the starting point and centre of her own movie. The lady knows how to direct, act, dance and sing: why shouldn't she do all of the above? I think she deserves much admiration: she's a well rounded artist, and there aren't many! Besides, as I've said already, to me the film is about Art, Life and the relations between the two – e.g. the tango as a representation of the male/female social "role playing" – above anything else. The director uses her own experience and many skills to make a point and to get things done exactly how she wants them, but the movie isn't "about" Sally Potter. In my opinion, the fact this film allows us to peek into the director's head, and see Art through her eyes (I can assure it's quite a sight!), is one of its strong points, not one of its faults. The apparent conflict between two Art forms (dance and cinema) – which, in my opinion, is one of the themes developed in this film – on the one hand highlights the difficulty which people are confronted with when having to understand and recognise as worthy something they're not familiar with, the need to change perspective and see or feel Art, rather than simply discharge whatever they don't understand as an inferior form of artistic creation, and on the other shows that in the end the similarities between the Arts are greater and more profound than the differences: "Perhaps all along Jacob had simply been wrestling with himself…" Difficulties spring up when the desire to lead doesn't allow one to ever follow, when the need to be looked at won't let one see. Changing perspective for a minute, and letting someone else lead the game, can be enough to prove the Arts are really only different ways of signifying the same thing. Art is Art: the creation – by means of self-discipline, abstraction, and finally inspiration – of something beautiful and fertile, that touches and gives life to the human heart, that makes us feel less beastly, something morally edifying as a consequence of the Beauty it surrounds us with. The lesson to be learned from this, I think, is that respect and the willingness to follow can open the door to the understanding of Art as well as of others.

Far from being a mere celebration of the director, in my opinion this movie also deals with a lot more than just the tango. To me, this movie is about self-control, discipline and abstraction. And through abstraction, it's about the strength deriving from calmness, the quickness only slowness can assure, the music only silence can give birth to. It's about the "Reasoning Power" we – as human beings – are provided with: the sixth sense which allows us to pierce the surface of things and find Beauty, Perfection. To Reason means to See, find some kind of Truth and therefore free our shadowed consciences. What this means to me is that having an "aesthetic" approach to life doesn't imply being "superficially appreciative of appearances," but that, on the contrary, it can be a key to spirituality.

Even in experiencing love, it seems to me that Sally tries to uplift its irrational essence to Art's state of perfection and balance. Passion seeps through Sally's "high need for cognition," becoming something intelligible, that "makes sense." The human faculty of loving has to cooperate in fulfilling "destiny," rather than in letting "case" follow its course. Love, being life's natural vehicle of energy and therefore of creative powers, is looked at as something fundamental, but only as it is heightened to the status of a work of Art… So life is used as the indispensable platform for artistic take-off. But from the very beginning, what Sally does - both in the movie and in directing it – is exert her will and strength, constantly struggle to reach perfection.

Inspiration is found neither through self-indulgence nor through love's bliss and oblivion, but through concentration and finally abstraction. In this sense, the Tango Lesson is a religious movie, an exercise in the metaphysics of Art.

Now to the point.

The editing has character, it's intelligent, original, definitely not a Hollywood product. The photography is breathtaking – and eloquent: it says "the Tango Lesson is about Aesthetics, Beauty itself." The acting is honest, fresh, and charming. In my opinion, the acting is superb: Sally Potter really knows what measure and elegance are.

The soundtrack is exquisite. The tango pieces are great, and so is the leitmotiv of the movie: the seagull-like cry in the airport scene ("Doyna") tears my heart out every time I listen to it (it's also the one track that made me decide to buy the CD).

This film, someone said, has little to offer the general public. I'm afraid this might be accurate. Or rather, "the general public" – that, for the most part, is fed upon fast-food movies – probably has neither the adequate means nor the desire to tackle this art-movie, which I don't believe was meant to give easy answers to difficult questions (like so many other films) but to make people think. Nonetheless, seeing this movie made me realise all over again that it's definitely worth trying.