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Reviews
The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun (2021)
Anderson's Tribute to French Cinema, and France
If you are not a cineaste, or a Francophile, a lot of this movie will be lost on you. And if you are not an Angoumois, or have spent time in Angouleme, the real life setting for Ennui-sur-Blasé, tant pis. The film is laden with tributes to French cinema and French culture, often stereotypes, but great fun nonetheless. Even the structure of the film is a tribute to different films in the 60s and 70s, in French and Italian cinema, which featured many films in different chapters, often directed by different directors, an epic style of film popularized by Jean-Luc Godard. The spirit of French lit and philosophy runs through the film, perhaps most prominently Jean Genet, whose prison novels inform the first part of the film, "The Concrete Masterpiece," my favorite of the three sections. All the actors in this part are wry and on-topic, typical Anderson style - Swinton,Brody, del Toro - but the real centerpiece is the sumptuous Lea Seydoux, baring it all for the camera, a prison riposte perhaps to Emanuelle Beart in "La Belle Noiseuse," as the artist's muse. Del Toro's portrayal of the mentally unstable murderer who also happens to be a great artist is no less notable. The other two segments of the film -"Revisions to a Manifesto" and "The Private Dining Room of the Police Commissioner" - are also worth watching, the first informed by May 1968, the latter a return to Genet, via Escoffier. Great fun to watch - the references to French cinema and culture pile up almost too fast to keep track of. And of course, the spirit of the New Yorker forms the structing element in the film, though there might be a nod or more in the film to The Paris Review. One of Anderson's top films, right behind Grand Hotel Budapest and Rushmore.
Broad Peak (2022)
Very truthful and thoughful film about winter Himalayan/Karakoram climbing
Extremely well-made film, with very good CGI depicting the Baltoro area of the Karakoram in winter. Climbing movies - good ones anyway - are notoriously difficult to make as the real climbing itself is, in the case of alpine climbing in the Karakoram and Himalaya, slow, and hence the pace of the film as well. One climber described Himalayan climbing as long stretches of tedium punctuated by moments of sheer terror. And climbers - high mountain alpinists - are notoriously taciturn. The director does an excellent job of showing the inner life of these tough, but very human men, while not feeling the need to create meaningless dialogue. Silence does work in the case of this film. Very well photographed, and the Polish cast is uniformly excellent, while the principals also bear a striking resemblance to the real climbers - Bielecki, Berbeka, Wielecki, and others, the famous Polish Ice Warriors of the 70s, 80s, 90, and into the 21st century (read Bernadette McDonald's "The Art of Freedom" on Woyteck Kurtyka, on of the famous Poles).
The final climb seemed a bit truncated - I was expecting more, so I would say that the film was about 15 minutes too short. Other than that, this is well worth watching, and I don't really understand the negative reviews. The climbing sequences are true to form (I am a climber myself, and have been to the Himalaya), the gear, everything, and it is not over sensationalistic. Ranks right up there with another great climbing film, "Nordwand," a German film about the 1936 attempt on the Eiger North wall.
Masaba Masaba (2020)
Flashy but superficial
Having watched tons of Indian movies and series, after a while, you get the formulae - lots of color, always drama about personal relationships and marriage, pestering parents, quick cuts, keep it moving and keep it sentimental. The good news is that Masaba, and mom, are worth watching through the first two episodes. Mom has the acting chops, her daughter is getting there, though in the first episode when breaking up with her hubby, her emotional response is somewhere between losing her cat and profound annoyance. As usual with Indian series, its hard to tell if they are exploiting stereotypes, confirming them, or shedding new light on them. Masaba's work in the fashion industry in real life lends undeniable cred to those scenes, though again the character choices for some of the characters leads more to confirming stereotype. The "crowd" scenes for the big fashion awards and other scenes seem underpopulated, though the fashion boat scene is pretty funny. But still, if you have watched other fashion movies, there is no new ground being broken here, with not much insight into deeper issues in the two women's lives. I would sum this up as a watchable vanity project, though it does get rather cloying at times.
Game of Thrones (2011)
Turgid, sophomoric pablum
Five, maybe ten years from now, people will try and watch this series and think to themselves about the public mania for this dreadful tripe, "what drugs were the viewers on?" and "couldn't they afford better ones?" Many good actors gave their best, and many more mediocre actors chewed the scenery to no effect, but really, this is pretty silly stuff. Tried to watch many times, every time turning away from it with one thought: is this a rejected Monty Python film?
Big Little Lies (2017)
Starting off weak, now much stronger
The first two shows left me thinking that this series was going to be a miss, but since Episode Three, "Big Little Lies" ratcheted up the dramatic intrigue and character development. Now, lets get one thing straight: the idea that this has anything to do with Monterey is a bit of a joke, or that the public schools are like the one portrayed in the series - I think they have it mixed up with the Stevenson School. And there are a few more minorities than portrayed in the series: at times it feels more like "Real Wives of Malibu," which might be where some of the series is filmed (Laura Dern's house looks like it is in Malibu, and the house that Bonnie and Nathan share looks a hell of a lot more like its in Topanga Canyon, or Carmel Valley, than Monterey. Plus. the series seems to have a very expansive idea of where Monterey is - Madeleine and Jane, for example, seem to drive every morning from Palo Colorado and Big Sur to go to school. Monterey has colonized Big Sur. The acting is terrific - especially Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon - and the direction is solid enough, though again, this is a very Hollywood version of Monterey. Having lived in the area and a frequent visitor to the area, it is considerably less glamorous than as portrayed on TV. Hey, where are all the retirees?