Thursday, June 28, 2007
Bridge to Terabithia
Forty years ago I could have been one of those children. Can't believe I wrote that. This is a Disney production; the first I've watched in some time. When you manage to get past the Superman/dog spoof and other previews or manage to bypass them and the Tinkerbell sequence the movie proper begins. Jesse is at that age when boys swear off girls for life and Jesse has a special cross to bear having 4 sisters. With an interest in drawing and painting not shared by his hard-scrabble father who is struggling to make ends meet and facing the attentions of class bullies at school Jesse's only claim to fame is his ability to run faster than his classmates. Arrives a new female student who beats him in a race and she lives next door! Whereas Jesse's parents are bound up in the struggle to raise a large family without going broke Leslie's are writers who, while they are working on a book allow their daughter the freedom to roam at will. While Jesse has been drilled with the harsh realities of life Leslie helps him let his imagination soar. Together they create a magic kingdom that is their's alone.
As Katherine Paterson, the writer of the book upon which this tale is based, says, the Disney People did a credible job of bringing the world of imagination to life for us without allowing the special effects to get in the way. Despite his representation as a dreamy art-loving kid Jesse proves he has paid attention while he worked with his handyman father constructing a castle-like tree-house and ultimately an impressive plank bridge. And although he has passively endured the bullying of other boys he proves that he can, when provoked enough, throw a mean punch. Way before its time this tale seeks to deal with the causes of aggression and its motivation rather than simply punish it. In a world where imagination is denigrated in favour of hard science it is a pleasure have a chance to vicariously allow it to soar.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
The Cure
I just used a few hankies to wipe my eyes but found myself splitting my sides laughing at the same time. That's the kind of movie experience provided by the Cure. One little boy dying of aids contracted from a blood transfusion and one loner with a chip on his shoulder over the rotten deal his parent's divorce has dealt him discover a unique friendship that transcends disease, public fear, and parental disapproval--at least on the part of Erik's Mom. Dexter's Mom is that unique individual who loves her son so much that she is willing to risk separation even though her time with her son is precious, exploitation, even poisoning to enable her son to experience life and friendship rather than dwell on the inevitabilities of his disease. Even his Doctor holds up hope rather than reality when the disease reaches its terminal stages. The two are the terror of the pediatric ward right up to the point where crying wolf proves to be all too real. This is a male bonding movie not a disease of the month exhibition.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Letters from Iwo Jima
The first thing that struck me about this movie is that the Americans had no monopoly on fubar and snafu. The second is the humanity and common sense of General Tadamichi Kuribayashi. He is intelligent enough to want to see his command from the ground on foot, not from the back seat of a staff car. He also ordered that the officers would have the same rations as his troups. The entire movie is in Japanese, unfortunately the same care wasn't taken in using ethnic Japanese music. As the realization dawns on the men from their leaders on down that they have been abandoned to fight to their deaths each struggles to find honour and meaning in their efforts. Some take their anger out on those below them, some prepare for ritual suicide, many think of events in their past, and most write letters home to their loved ones. As a companion movie to Flags of Our Fathers we are given to see that these men were not unlike their adversaries in their dreams, their fears, their hopes. Unfortunately too few of these men made it home again for there to be any study made of their post war struggles.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
28 Days Later
Alex Garland seems to have an affinity for screen writing--all his books having become movies. The script of this movie was his and he has producer credits for its sequel. This is a disaster movie with all the clichés surrounding an epidemic in place. With the exception of Christopher Eccleston all of the actors are unknowns and none of them show up for its sequel. But then most of them get killed off in this movie. I have to wonder how they managed to shoot daylight shots of downtown London without any people unless they were digitally removed from stock shot with digital cameras. Driving up the "wrong" side of a deserted freeway still looks weird on this side of the pond. Chilling are the scenes with the infected soldier left with a chain around his neck to see how long it takes him to die of starvation as is Eccleston's frank admission that his motivation in attracting refugees to his safe-house was to provide sexual favours to his troops. The troops are suitably gung ho about shooting everything that moves. Not a movie intended to instill the warm cuddlies.
Schindler's List
He was a profiteer, a philanderer, a confidence man, a racketeer; but to the thousand or so Jews whose forced labour he exploited he was a saint. Such is the paradox that is Oscar Schindler. When the Nazi’s decided to liquidate the Jewish Ghetto in Krakow with the help of a Jewish accountant Schindler used the hidden wealth of several hundred Jewish families to buy an enamel factory and then acquired the forced labour of those same prisoners to work that factory. Using the wealth generated by his slave labour force Schindler managed to bribe Nazi officialdom repeatedly when the other members of the camp were sent to liquidation centres even managing to retrieve a group of his female staff from the bowels of Auschwitz itself. That his Jewish plant manager was the brains behind the operation was made clear when all his later enterprises ended in bankruptcy. During his later years he was supported by his Schindler Survivors whose antecedents now number over 6000.
The parallels between Schindler played by Liam Neeson and the camp commandant played by Ralf Fiennes are many: their appearance, their love of music, culture, fine wines, woman, luxury, high living. But while the commandant stands on his balcony with a rifle and picks off recalcitrant camp workers Schindler seeks to save their lives. The shower scene in Auschwitz is enough to make the blood run cold—one expects to see the gas pellets drop.
With only a few exceptions used for dramatic effect the movie is shot in black and white. The beautiful music that serves as background contrasts dramatically with the savage events on screen. In an effecting epilogue a hundred or so actual Schindler survivors come forward and place pebbles on Schindler’s grave.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
The Last Day
[Warning: Contains Major Spoilers]
It has been said that after a certain point it is impossible to go home. Eighteen-year-old Simon played by Gaspard Ulliel has reached that point. Mind you not everyone has a Mother who, upon your turning up with a girlfriend for Christmas Holidays, would matter of factly ask if you plan to share a common bed. That exchange also serves to highlight the change in the filial relationship. The strained relationship with an older sister, the mentally unstable uncle, and a distant father who is critical of your chosen path in life.
Going deeper Simon becomes aware of the tension between his parents his presence seems to generate; his Father’s dismissive attitude; his Mother’s absences and nocturnal departures. How does one deal with the sudden knowledge that the man who raised you is not your biological father, that you have unknown half-siblings, that your girl-friend is attracted to your childhood buddy and not to you?
Through maturing eyes the island vacation home is visible with all its patched plaster, cardboard headboards, and cracked mirrors. What was once an idyllic holiday getaway is now filled with tension, competition, seediness, and adult situations. This being a movie made in France the camera is not afraid to linger over the bodies of its young protagonists. In particular it explores the photogenic Gaspard in great detail. I’m not certain that I buy the suicide sequence that begins and ends the piece.
Friday, June 15, 2007
Breach
Ryan Phillippe finally gets an adult role in which he doesn't have to take off his clothes to expose that taut little torso of his; mind you hiding those dimples would be a crime. This is a spy story without the spooks, dead bodies, or labyrinthine plot lines. Rather it concentrates on character though the tension level is no less great. Chris Cooper gets to glower through the whole but Ryan gets a chance to prove he can carry a movie on his own. The underlying menace becomes so tense at times the expectation of an explosion becomes overwhelming. The theme of pitting an old pro against an upstart newbie is straight out of the wild west tradition. The marital tensions the pressures of his job spawned must have echoed real life for Ryan. Whether or not the storyline has a factual basis is immaterial to the enjoyment of a good plot though once again Opus Dei rears its ugly head. In this case the protagonist truly had cause to attend daily confession though it would appear he was short on repentance.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
The Endless Summer
An ode to Surfing shot in the sixties. Even if you've never caught a wave in your life the scenery alone is worth the viewing time. And as far as I'm aware not a Beach Boy in sight. Bruce Brown is serious about his surfing and he seems to have taken getting the perfect shot as seriously as his surfers took catching the perfect wave. Some years ago I managed to rent the follow-up Endless Summer II and was fascinated sufficiently to pick up the three-pack that includes a 2000 revisiting of the series so I could see his first movie. No word on how much this round the world tour cost but even today some of the places they visited are almost inaccessible. The big water in Hawaii is enough to make you lose continence.
Three observations:
These surfer dudes may spend most of the movie in nothing but surf trunks--modest surf trunks mind you; but they travel in black suits and ties!
Despite travels to remote tropical locations no where in the movie is there in view a naked breast, penis, or even a bulging crotch and no profanity.
If these guys still live today they'll be in their early seventies.
Friday, June 01, 2007
TREMORS
Many actors claim they never look at their own movies and given that they endured 20 to 30 takes for every scene of a 2 hour movie I guess I could understand why they’d never want to see it again. I can still wonder what Kevin Bacon would think of his role in this movie if he saw it today. Back in 1988 when Tremors was shot he was 30 and jeans were worn so tight they fit like a second skin—he can be seen adjusting them on several occasions. His partner in crime Fred Ward is thin as a rake as well; mind you Kevin is still fairly fit. I had good memories of seeing this movie at the time but on re-watching the cornball seems to come to the fore. It’s not quite bad enough to be called cheesy but it borders on it. Redneck, certainly; the gun collections some of these characters have borders on cliché. The creatures of the title appear to be borrowed from the book Dune by Frank Herbert; though these seem to emit fouler odours than cinnamon. Most telling is the fact that Kevin wasn't back six years later for Tremors 2.
