halfwayintelligent Reviews

The Long Goodbye (1973)

Watchable, but re-watchable?

[7/10 · 13 January 2008]

I would like to put this in the top tier of Bob stuff with McCabe and Gosford Park, but I feel that it has lost some of the nuance that the viewers of three decades ago must have enjoyed. Elliot Gould seems almost blasé in his portrayal of the prototypical noir detective, Philip Marlowe, and his cool, detached demeanor makes the film tend toward the soporific. Sterling Hayden felt a little too Hemmingway-esquire (maybe it was the beard) as the alcoholic writer. Nina van Pallendt delivers a rather by the numbers performance as the red herring/romantic interest who momentarily diverts Marlowe's deductions.

The film has a washed out, golden look, owing to a technique of 'flashing' or overexposing the film. Altman's idea was that Marlowe has been asleep for twenty years and he wakes to find himself in the sun baked, marijuana baking L.A. of 1973, but having the same values he had in 1953. This conceit does not get voiced literally, but every scene has some little feature that crows out the modernity of Marlowe's surroundings while making him seem terribly anachronistic by comparison. In fact, the temporal displacement gag feels a bit heavy handed after a while.

If Altman had made another Marlowe movie every 10 years or so, the premise might have seemed to have achieved fruition. But 'The Long Goodbye' on its own, while still very watchable, does little that one doesn't see in scads of antecedent noirs.

Swartzenegger looks awesome in this (it was during his pumping iron days) and thankfully says nothing.

Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

One Viewing and You Will Know

[10/10 · 6 January 2008]

Let me just state before anything else: 10/10. And not just a begrudging, 'I can't find anything wrong with it soo...' kind of ten, but a very solid and well earned and freely given 10/10.

OK, now that we've gotten that out of the way. Wow! This movie reminds me of the phenomenon James Joyce describes in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man as 'aesthetic arrest'. Basically, he divides all media into high art and pornography. He states that anything purporting itself as art that resorts to playing on the emotional responses of the consumer is actually just pornography. So if you find yourself overly moved on an emotional level, you have actually experienced low, pornographic art. If, however, the film (or other work) causes 'aesthetic arrest'; a feeling that transcends emotion and makes the consumer nail him or herself to the spot and experience the work over and over; makes one question his or her own responses and definitions of truth, beauty and the like; the consumer is in aesthetic arrest and the work represents high art. In short, low art affects the glands whilst high art affects the soul. 'Grave of the Fireflies' certainly seems to fit well in that latter category.

I found this movie so amazing because it always had me on the verge of tears but never made cry. At 88 minutes, every image and every sound carries significance with nothing in just for the sake of bathos and sentimentality. Rarely does one find a cartoon where inanimate objects hold such deep symbolic meanings on their own, with no attempts made to underscore or personify them with wacky celebrity voices.

Making this film as anime was the obvious way to go. If it had featured live-action, I think the sadness of the story would have overpowered the beauty of the message. I don't think I would have been able to watch real actors go through the events experienced by the animated characters. These animated performances somehow seem to transcend acting. They seem more indelible, more real to me. I am tempted to buy this movie, but then, I don't see why I should since one viewing seems to have grafted these images onto my very soul.

Indescribably haunting, human and surreal. Best cartoon I've ever seen and up there with Citizen Kane, Naked and the other Great Ones

Inland Empire (2006)

Most Likely Lynch's Best

[10/10 · 9 November 2007]

Wow. This movie really rips the horror genre to shreds. Lynch masterfully splices and dices the narrative and never lets the viewer take a breath. It contains all the cliché elements of a cheap slasher movie; the nubile young women, the rusty weapon, torture, voyeurism, veiled threats, the creepy guys lurking around corners, the close up of the woman shrieking and even the dolly zoom (how the hell did he pull that off with a video camera?), but it shuffles these elements and their respective realities to such an extent that you find yourself inexplicably laughing at the whole deluded and hackneyed concept of a horror film. This isn't horror- this is America- which is even scarier.

Dern is magnificent and it's a shame she doesn't work more often.

Unbelievable that Lynch shot this on a $1000 video camera. I wonder if the numerous shots of 35mm Panaflex cameras (used in the shooting of the movie within the movie) represent gentle swipes at the industry, as if to say, "If I can make it look this good on video, what the hell do I need you schmuck producers for?"

The atmospheric lighting effects and the sound seem grittier, more real than much of Lynch's other work. Also, while the film shares some plot points with 'Mulholland Drive', it ends up feeling more optimistic and freer, maybe just owing to Lynch's working sans the scrutiny of a studio.

I'm reminded of Godard and Picasso. I think a revolution is intended here. If Lynch can do it, why not us?

The War Is Over (1966)

A Film that Captures Life in the Midst of Politics

[8/10 · 14 October 2007]

Resnais really impressed me with this film. He uses real locations and finds subtle atmospheric things that almost never turn up in movies. One sees the way a shadow of a tree moves gently back and forth on the wall as two people relax in bed, the way a gust of wind briefly animates a woman's hair in a subway tunnel.

The movie successfully combines an account of resistance to Franco's Spain from an ex-patriot living in Paris (played by Montand), and his life outside of politics. We see not only his political views, but also how he feels about love and his own situation. Beautiful, brave and innovative, this movie also has some of the most passionate, yet restrained and overall fascinating love scenes that I have seen since Peter Sellers and Shirley Maclaine in 'Being There.'

Prozac Nation (2001)

Worth Watching

[3 October 2007]

I believe Erik Skjoldbjærg holds the record for most 'J's in a director's name, but apart from that, he also shows good restraint and a keen eye for narrative and detail in helming 'Prozac Nation.' Basically a period piece set in the mid 80's, the film relates the collegiate memoirs of Elizabeth Wurtzel, who now writes a music column for The New Yorker. Christina Ricci plays the part of Wurtzel and does passably well, though I couldn't help noticing the actual Wurtzel bears more than a slight resemblance to Anne Hathaway.

The film gives a sympathetic account of Wurztel's struggles with substance abuse and depression while being a journalism prodigy and dealing with undergraduate studies at Harvard. Friends and family run out of patience in trying to secure help for her as she tailspins into a suicidal funk. Eventually, she allows herself to be medicated on Prozac, which sort of stands as the anticlimactic resolution of the film.

Jason Biggs does a fine job portraying her first serious lover, and they have a couple very powerful scenes together which I would recommend that people watch if they are at all concerned about heir own tendencies to romantically obsess over other people. Jessica Lange falls a bit into melodrama in portraying Wurtzel's frazzled mother, but Michelle WIlliams gives a very strong performance as Wurtzel's supportive but overwhelmed roommate. Anne Heche turns in a *meh* performance as Wurtzels's shrink. Lou Reed plays himself and in one incredibly frightening scene he gently strokes Ricci's face (don't get too alarmed, it happens in a fantasy sequence).

I find it sort of sadly hilarious that this film, which appositionally refers to America in its title never received a U.S. theatrical run. Americans should probably all watch this movie.

Days of Wine and Roses (1962)

melodramatic but heartfelt

[7/10 · 28 September 2007]

While still featuring some of the hallmarks of 1950s melodrama, this film nicely transitions into the more subtle performances that would dot the 60s and come to full fruition in the 70s. Jack Lemmon plays a public relations man who must, along with his wife, battle alcoholism. Lee Remick turns in another superb performance as Lemmon's mercurial, oft inebriated spouse. Blake Edwards shows a surprisingly nice feel for drama and allows most of the scenes between Lemmon and Remick to play out in long, uninterrupted takes which lends the film an air of pathos and grim inevitability. This story does not pull any punches and the b&w color scheme seems to reinforce the binary nature of alcoholism; no middle path exists with the disease, you either get sober or it destroys you.

'Days of Wine and Roses' puts American alcoholism in the foreground of many scenes by prominently displaying flashing neon signs that say things like 'Bar' or 'liquor' in establishing exterior shots. These signs add tension to the plot because the characters are struggling so hard to maintain sobriety. Lemmon's work as a PR man also bears some significance because he deals professionally with images and perceptions, not the underlying realities of life. These underlying truths will eventually surface and haunt him.

The movie inheres the same flaws that one would no doubt find in American culture itself in 1962. Remick's character has very little to do and she finds her housewife routine unsatisfying and empty. Lemmon's character seems arbitrarily stronger and more capable of beating alcoholism, perhaps just because of his status as a man. Their daughter gets very little time devoted to her unfortunate situation, both from a writing and a film standpoint. I found myself wondering if her story might not have had the most potential power. That said, both Lemmon and Remmick deliver some of the most powerful dialogue concerning the struggle against alcohol that I have ever seen.

It might be interesting (though it would certainly be depressing) to view this film in direct comparison with Meg Ryan's very similarly themed 'When a Man Loves a Woman.'

Beau Travail (1999)

visually arresting; thematically relevant

[8/10 · 16 September 2007]

I was very happy with this movie. The languid pace of the editing serves the remembrances of a jealous and obsessive commanding officer, as he recounts his dealings with a young legionnaire. Claire Denis skillfully allows static shots to evolve into moving shots and still figures to resemble the dynamism of Grecian statues. Many times, while watching the legionnaires perform their arduous training drills, I was reminded of classical statues. I also noticed how there was a vague homo-erotic underpinning to the legionnaire lifestyle, never outwardly expressed. Galoup, the officer who remembers the story for the viewer, only has access to certain aspects of the events portrayed. This leaves the viewer to do much of the work in figuring out what has happened. In the end, the narrative splits and we have a vision of Sentain, the young legionnaire, suffering in exile. I found this split necessary and welcome though, as it perhaps constitutes a dream or fantasy being experienced by Galoup. Galoup's obsession with Sentain allows him to construct his own version of what happens to the younger man when he left the legion.

I was also sometimes reminded of '300', though only inasmuch as they are both movies that show a certain respect and love for the male form. However, in '300' the male form becomes a device of basic warfare or basic sexual desire. In 'Beau Travail,' the male form is much more utilitarian, perhaps even universal. Effort went in to showing the monotony and conformity of the chores and drills; the things that cause all of the men to look, act and think the same, and the overall effect that militarization might have on the psyche of the individual.

I highly recommend this movie to anyone who hasn't seen it.