creak, creak, we exist in all zones: 34 in 04: movie review catch-up

To make up for the months that have passed since I last posted a movie review, I will attempt to power through the 34 movies that I have seen in 2004 up till now. Does it seem odd that, despite the fact that I am in graduate school studying film, I have watched only about 2/3 the number of films this year thus far as last year thus far? Of course, quantity isn't really the point. However, for some reason, the film-watching experiences that I can count as truly riveting and pleasurable has also gone down hill. Is it the magic of the 99W drive-in, film buddies Becca, Valarie and Brian, that heavenly silver screen pass, ducking into the Fox theater after work just to get out of the rain, or the cheap popcorn and brewer's yeast at the Cinema 21 that I miss? Or is studying what you love just a bad idea?

My Favorite Wife (1940)
The frivolous treatment of marriage and motherhood as a light, silly amusement to be taken up when it charms you and abandoned when there are other adventures to be had is great fun and never gets fully quashed by the reunification of husband with proper wife at the end. Cary Grant is daft, wishy-washy, and dreamy.

Tale of Springtime (1990)
I love the offhand chattiness, the small compromises, and the way people casually float into each other's lives and then become complicated and entangled, but so gently, in Rohmer films. There's the free-spirited, intelligent, sensitive young woman who curiously stumbles upon a strange (and strangely shaped) younger friend; the spineless man who nevertheless occupies the center of the film as his entitlement; betrayal and misunderstanding. But ultimately, it's about the tone, which is incredibly subtle and even. While others might take the same themes and situations and make them satiric, hilarious, melancholy, cruel, or depressing--such strong words--this film is consistently temperate.

School of Rock (2003)
This is the type of anthem movie that makes you spontaneously applaud with delight. I may be a complete sucker for the comedic man-child genre, but just looking at Jack Black doing anything at all, walking down a school hallway or carrying a lunch tray, makes me laugh out loud--even in repose he is so irrepressibly consumed by rock. Mike White from "Chuck and Buck" is perfectly nebbish, the Spider guitarist slam is hilariously dead-on, and most importantly, the kids ring true. Linklater has deep affection for all that is awkward, sloppy, and hopeful.

Love, Actually (2003)
A bit unsatisfying along some of the many romantic threads, and more than a bit disturbing in treating male employer-female employee romances like some sort of inevitable norm. I'm also not a big fan of the "if you are in love with someone, then you must declare your love to them no matter what" school of romance, where it's not only ok but deeply romantic for this icky ribbed turtleneck guy to tell his best friend's wife that he's obsessed with her, as if said declaration was some sort of sweet gift, a romantic ideal, rather than a creepy burden. With the exception of Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman's painful revelations, the stories that stayed silly and tongue-in-cheek worked best. And Hugh Grant as the Pointer-Sisters-dancing PM was a bit of screwy fantastical fluff that transcended its roots in coy manipulation to charm me over. In a break with the "beautiful people belong together even when they are pretending not to be beautiful" convention that brought us Notting Hill, here the biggest star gets paired with the chubby non-star.

Bad Santa (2003)
Outrageously dark and misanthropic, a perfect counterpoint to the saccharine bright humor of Elf. The cruelty heaped onto that awful little boy and the hopelessness of his adult protectors, only partially redeemed at the end, was worthy of Dan Clowes.

An Ideal Husband (1999)
Cate Blanchett and Jeremy Northam's gorgeous and honorable but beleaguered couple at the center of the story is so high-minded and prissy as to be gag-inducing; and the movie gets wonderful when you realize that it recognizes this. Minnie Driver is so incredibly weird-looking (her face is like a Rubik's Cube in mid-move, all oddly-aligned polygons) that I find her disconcerting when she plays a prim, rather conventional husband-seeker rather than the sort of loopy free-spirit at which she excels.

Dazed and Confused (1993)
The first time I watched this film surrounded by a bunch of loudly self-congratulatory Oberlin students, I hated it. I liked it better with this second look, and kept thinking about it as a "hang out" movie as described by Quentin Tarantino in his recent New Yorker interview--the kind of movie that you watch over and over again because you like hanging out with the characters. I loved the way the movie undercut the house party which had been building up as an expected climax to a classic teen movie trajectory, then offhandedly tumbled it all down midway and just as casually rebuilt it again into the big party blowout we had been hoping for. As for characters, the only ones I really enjoyed were Matthew McConaughey, who moves like he owns the world, and the three nerds.

In America (2002)
The only reason to see this film is for Samantha Morton, whose performance goes against the grain of an otherwise mostly conventionally sentimental film where children are innocent angels, dads try their best to provide for their families, and friendly black neighbors who die of AIDS leave you all their money. Why does she act like she's mute, as if she was still in Minority Report or Sweet and Lowdown? In fact, Morton does pretty much act exactly like Morvern Callar transplanted into a Jim Sheridan immigrants-in-NY movie--inscrutable, impetuous, a bit autistic, expressive of some sort of restless yearning.

Hallelujah, I'm a Bum (1933)
Al Jolson plays a hobo, the "major of Central Park," who relishes his community of fellow male hobos (in today's terminology, homeless) who live in Central Park, sleeping on park benches and living off of scraps. His launch into the world of productive labor and a sexual economy, so that he can afford an apartment for the amnesia-striken girl he has fallen in love with, turns out to be miserable. He ultimately rejects it for a return to his ebullient, freeloading hobo life, the freedom to do nothing whenever he pleases. This Depression-era film's politically charged anti-production and anti-reproduction stance is remarkable in the face of today's accelerated pace of capitalist production, 24/7 work ethic and obsession with the normative family. His black sidekick Acorn is also quite disruptive--how to play "servant" to a bum? How do rules of race continue to work even when capitalist rules have been so radically and ostentatiously dismissed? Also striking is that the film is a musical, but with no dance numbers, and the characters speak in really odd rhyming dialogue that periodically turns into song.

Comments

Hi,
Thanks for the movie update. I love to hear your thoughts on what you've seen. I too giggle just thinking about Jack Black. One of my favorites is "High Fidelity."

Posted by: Chris/ mom | April 06, 2004 at 12:18 PM

I'm glad somebody else thought "In America" was overrated. It was so formulaic and cliched to me, yet it's often treated like this instant classic. The only disagreement I have with your review is I don't see what the big deal is with Samantha Morton. Even though she offered something the others didn't in terms of performance and character, to me she just didn't fit in at all. And that whole "You killed my baby" outburst really pissed me off, although of course that was the script, not Morton's performance.

Posted by: Brian | April 07, 2004 at 09:40 AM

I too *hated* that you-killed-my-baby scene that was of course rolled during the Oscars, and I think it kind of killed the character off for me. All the potentially entrancing and complex bits about her performance got boxed up into an utterly simplistic determining factor: she has license to be emotionally damaged because her son died. I liked Samantha Morton precisely because she didn't fit in at all--her performance seemed so out of tune with the rest of the cast--and while this disjuncture hurt the movie overall, I generally find her incredibly charismatic. I would watch the movie just for her pixie cut and retro fashion-sense (Did you see that awesome vintage leather rainjacket she had? I covet it as much as I covet your argyle sweater!)

Posted by: Irene | April 07, 2004 at 06:33 PM

Irene you're back! I'm so excited I don't have to go see movies anymore I can just live vicariously through your reviews. I went and saw "Taking Lives" with David and Laurie last weekend and midway through I thought to myself "what am I doing here?" Don't get me wrong I have enjoyed a few films-"Tokyo Godfathers" "The Dreamers", but I need to save some money and movies in New York are expensive. So keep your buddy Jude in mind the next time you're looking for inspiration to post a review. Ben I have one question where are your insights and opinions and questions on the topic of SCIENCE! P.S. When I bought popcorn and threw some reese's pieces into them copying my good friend Kristine Schultz(She uses M&M's)I reminisced about C-21's fine brewer's yeast selection. p.p.s. what is up with Ethan Hawkes teeth?

Posted by: jude | April 08, 2004 at 09:38 AM

I think you're being 2 harsh about "Taking Lives." I thought it was awesome, it just wasn't good.

We say "eternal mind-spot" or whatever it's called last night. I had done such a good job of avoiding all news/rumors/spoilers about the film that I had no idea Jim Carrey & Frodo were in it. They do a good job of cancelling each other out.

Also, although I used to hate the trailers and ads, I've come to enjoy them. They are so mindless and loud, it's like a special man who cleans out your brain with a hose, so you have no thoughts left by the time the movie begins.

I saw the kids from the school of rock perform live. They were fucking awesome. There is a ten second video fo them over at hello, nintendo.

Posted by: dj | April 10, 2004 at 09:25 AM