The Ice Storm

Ang Lee, USA, 1997
3.5 out of 4 stars

It’s not as if it’s not clear what was happening, but I wasn’t entirely certain what it all meant when the film was done. Nevertheless, it made a very strong, positive impression on me. It sounds dumb, but the “ice storm” was more literal than I expected, and this led to some very beautiful shots. In fact, the imagery in this film does indeed, as at least one critic remarked, make Ang Lee’s work on Brokeback Mountain look lazy. Much of what happens in this film (although eventful, there isn’t a “plot” per se) is unnerving but also rather mundane, but for the most part, James Schamus’ screenplay avoids the obvious and expected. The only exception seems to be the ending, which as I hinted, baffled me a bit; I wasn’t opposed to it per se, but it did seem like I was missing something. In conclusion, this is a good film that went over my head.

Source: Fox DVD
29 April, 9:08 PM

The President's Last Bang

(Geuddae geusaramdeul)
Im Sang-soo, South Korea, 2005
3 out of 4 stars

It didn’t bowl me over, but it was certainly something I’d never seen before and it was very expertly done. This film details the assassination of one of the Republic of Korea’s old authoritarian “presidents,” giving us a good look at all the players involved (although I had trouble figuring out who was who, especially in the beginning). It especially comes alive when the deed is done, and even moreso during the aftermath, when the plot seems to really get going. And to some extent, I must concede that the somewhat elliptical nature of the plotting did help draw me in. I suppose I would’ve liked more clarity as to what the ideological motivations were, but I suspect that the director’s point (and political statement) is that petty, interpersonal strife was ultimately more important and all the ideology involved was shallow at best. Most of all, having studied modern Korean history as an undergrad and then having of course forgotten it all afterwards, it was interesting to get such a good look at the bad-old pre-democracy days, at least for it was (or might have been) at the top level.

Source: Kino DVD
23 April, 10:30 AM

Friends with Money

Nicole Holofcener, USA, 2006
3 out of 4 stars

It’s contemplative and also very slight at the same time. What saves this film is that it is very hilarious for much of the time, and there is a certain, appreciable amount of poignancy (this seems to be the buzzword for me lately) to some of the more serious moments, at least regarding some characters’ plotlines. It is short, so some elements feel underdeveloped, and I’m not sure if the writer/director put the emphasis where it was needed, in some instances, although the subplot regarding the character who seems to be gay was actually much better than one might expect. And at some level, the whole “sorrows of the rich” angle is fundamentally diseased. This film does try to have it both ways by attempting to pose as a critique of the rich, but it doesn’t quite wash.

There is also a rather dubious twist near the end that thrusts this movie closer to “Hollywood” and farther away from the “art-house” that the Sony Pictures Classics opening logo would seem to imply. The ending itself is that classic “fade out from nothing in particular” bit that sent shockwaves through the audience, apparently hoping for a straight-up “chick flick.” I wisecracked to my friend that I could name 10 different films I’d seen this year with more ambiguous non-endings than that; probably an exaggeration, but it did crack me up that they were so aggravated by something that seemed so non-challenging to me.

Source: Sony 35mm print
21 April, 7:30 PM

Keane

Lodge Kerrigan, USA, 2004
Three and a half stars

This film is a very interesting and risky experiment that thankfully works quite well. I suppose it has been done before somewhere by someone, but I myself have not seen very many art films that focus entirely on one man to the extent that, for perhaps the majority of the film, his head and shoulders fill up most of the frame! This character has lost his daughter and, to put it lightly, isn’t dealing with loss very well, and director Lodge Kerrigan creates a really wrenching effect by preventing you from looking away from this guy. Just as importantly, actor Damian Lewis is clearly up to the challenge of having to be the entire movie (although his child co-star is quite good too). Plot developments come as a surprise, but for the most part I wasn’t sitting there waiting for them, I was engrossed in the character’s seemingly aimless trajectory through his own misery. I think there are limits to how far this kind of filmmaking can go (by which I mean, I wouldn’t want to watch too many films like this), but I was generally more receptive to this than I expected, although my mind did wander at times. The end, however, is perfectly calibrated in tone and sentiment, which was almost surprising considering that films like this tend to have very unsatisfying endings (although it would be misleading to say I was “satisfied” in the traditional sense).

Source: Magnolia DVD
19 April, 8:57 PM

La dolce vita

Federico Fellini, Italy, 1960
4 out of 4 stars

I liked the previous Fellini film that I saw, but this one was leagues better Even though it’s one of the two longest movies I’ve watched this year, there were no slow spots whatsoever, especially impressive considering that’s one of my most frequent criticisms of films.

Even more than La strada, this is an extremely episodic film. Fellini fades away from one event to the other without giving any direct hint as to where we’ve gone or how much time has elapsed. Rather than causing needless difficulty for the viewer, this approach somehow seems organic and a fitting way to convey a sense of the protagonist’s progression, or lack thereof, as the case may be. I actually find myself, to a certain extent, at a loss in my attempt to explain why this was so good. It is nice to find yet another much-avowed “classic” that I really enjoyed, especially without having to make any special allowances for its age or something like that. This film really seemed closer to flawless than anything I’ve seen lately.

Source: Koch DVD
17 April, 5:12 PM

Swordsman II

(Xiao ao jian hu zhi dong fang bu bai)
Ching Siu-Tung, Hong Kong, 1991
3.5 out of 4 stars

Wow! Already, from the first scene, it was clear that the sequel was an immense improvement over the original. Even so, it seemed for much of the film that it was mostly an entertaining but jumbled affair. It’s almost shocking, then, to see the whole thing come together at the end with astonishing force and poignancy, as you realize what all the entanglements have been leading up to.

This film would seem like less of a mess at first if they had jettisoned much of the confusing politics involving Japanese forces, which doesn’t really seem to add to the story and makes it more difficult to figure out who’s who. Everything that’s important has to do with the intricate relationships between the hero, played by Jet Li with a level of both comedy and drama that is surprising considering many of his later, somber/bland roles, the two women in his life, and… a hermaphrodite! You really have to see it to believe it. No one comes away clean or completely admirable with regards to this gender-bending plotline, but the results are fascinating, and the filmmakers go farther with it than you would really expect even for most films today.

As for the action, well it’s still very superhero-ish, much as it was in the first one. In that film, I objected to the supernatural foolishness and hoped for some combat where people would actually hit each other. Surprisingly, however, I enjoyed the same kind of outlandish fights here, which seems to suggest that it wasn’t the concept so much as the execution that I objected to in the previous film. When it comes down to it, I’m really surprised that I can recommend this film so heartily (with the caveat that I can’t guarantee you’ll respond to it the same way).

Source: Tai Seng DVD
16 April, 8:23 PM

The White Diamond

Werner Herzog, UK / Germany, 2004
4 out of 4 stars

Fantastic! There is such a great wealth of beautiful imagery in this film, yet there is also an amazing, bizarre artistic vision at work. This comes before Grizzly Man, which I saw earlier, in the oeuvre of Werner Herzog, and you can see some of the same motifs at play; a tragic background of a quest for capturing nature that is both admirable and foolish, shameless intrusions by the director/narrator, and uncomfortable, lingering shots that wrench unwanted sentiments out of the subjects Herzog is scrutinizing. The last one is weird because Herzog was working from the amazing treasure trove of found footage that Timothy Treadwell left behind for him, whereas here, he’s always at the helm (I suppose Herzog did the film on Treadwell because Treadwell captured himself in the same way that Herzog would have sought to capture Treadwell).

Of course, Herzog’s perspective on the whole thing is amazingly skewed and there’s no real pretense of objectivity, but this element really works in his films, for some reason. Meanwhile, I find it especially fascinating that there are so many shots in this film that are more beautiful than anything I’ve seen in a narrative, fictional film this year. See it for the swifts, the waterfall, the airship, or the whacked-out maestro himself.

Source: Genius DVD
14 April, 10:04 PM

Inside Man

Spike Lee, USA, 2006
3 out of 4 stars

A very engaging, dynamic film that ultimately doesn’t turn out to be about that much. Spike Lee always brings up a lot of interesting things, and this is not one of those films like Bamboozled that just ends up preaching ideas that, while compelling, don’t really add up to a working film. Instead, I would say that this film, if anything, has the opposite problem, which is that the ideas aren’t big enough. There’s a bit with an ultra-violent video game that is spot-on, but does it really have anything to do with the rest of the film? Not exactly. Lee does do a good job at conveying a strong impression of New York as an imperfect but nonetheless promising rainbow; not exactly new for him or his many fellow NYC-boosting directors, but at least in this instance I was sucked in by it instead of rolling my eyes… although that may just be the big screen.

The main problem here is the ending. This is where you find out what everything was all about, and you realize you’ve been holding out hope not so much that it will all tie together, but that it will tie together in a way that will matter, and I think it falls short in that regard. Also, some of the gimmicks in this part are a bit much… dare I say, too Hollywood? Mainly, the ending just drags. It’s not that anything happened that was so stupid or poorly executed that it made me really turn against the film, but it’s also not like it entirely lived up to its promise either. This makes me sound more down on it than I was, when in fact, I would actually recommend this film. It might also reward a repeat viewing, but it was more than two hours! Maybe he should have cut down the ending part.

Source: Universal 35mm print
13 April, 4:50 PM

A Bug's Life

John Lasseter, USA, 1998
3.5 out of 4 stars

This film definitely starts out slow. Much of the opening seems to be overly clichéd and not as inspired as other Pixar efforts. This isn’t to say it was bad per se, just that it wasn’t the greatness I expect from Pixar right from the beginning.

This came later. Indeed, by the time I got to the end of the film I myself felt inspired and thoroughly entertained. Unlike DreamWorks or even Disney proper, Pixar generally gets it right when they try to convey a theme like individualism and innovation over conformity and tradition, because they personify these values to some extent. I think part of the problem here is that the ants aren’t much to look at, so you really need the color you get from the circus bugs, but that may actually be the point, as the ants’ world really changes from that point on. There are certainly some great images, but my favorite would have to be the killer bird. And while the humor (or the characterization, for that matter) isn’t exactly perfect, it works for the story.

Source: Buena Vista DVD
12 April, 9:45 PM

La strada

Federico Fellini, Italy, 1954
3.5 out of 4 stars

This film, my introduction to Federico Fellini, made a strong positive impression on me early on, which is good because it really tried my patience as it dragged on near the end. I actually don’t exactly know what to say about this film. I found the characters strangely compelling, an interesting balance between nuance and vapid emptiness. Everything was, fittingly, very stark but there was still a lot of dynamic camera work to say the least. The ideological contradictions were fascinating although this is probably unintentional to some extent. I do worry that his subsequent films, which like this one I will see in my role as “projectionist” for this Fellini class screening, are going to be much more self-indulgent than this one (partly from the little I’ve read). But this one mostly got on my good side.

Source: Home Vision DVD
10 April 5:10 PM

The World

(Shijie)
Jia Zhangke, China / Japan / France, 2004
3 out of 4 stars

This rather arty film depicts the lives of workers at an internationally-themed park in Beijing. It’s actually more focused on two main characters than the chaotic opening might lead one to believe, and the very brief diversions into the lives of others seem mostly to be thematic red herrings, but I don’t know if that’s a fair assessment. There isn’t tons of narrative here, but there is nonetheless a plot and a more sincere attempt to engage the viewer than what I’ve seen recently in other arty, uneventful films like Millennium Mambo and Forty Shades of Blue.

Jia Zhangke does some very interesting things with recurring visual motifs, and he hints (sometimes agonizingly) at things like broader social significance and the most basic of character motivations. Even with some surface plot points, it took me a few seconds to digest what had happened. While I enjoyed it, I couldn’t recommend it because I feel that films like these are even more “in the eye of the beholder” than regular films, because when the director doesn’t guide your experience of the film as much, your reaction is going to be all the more personal.

Source: Zeitgeist DVD
4 April, 8:29

Lost in La Mancha

Keith Fulton & Louis Pepe, UK / USA, 2002
**1/2 stars

Definitely a letdown. I’ve seen and enjoyed a few films by Terry Gilliam and I know he has something of a bad reputation (he released yet another dog this year in the form of The Brothers Grimm, apparently) so I thought I would get some interesting insight into the creative but troubled mind of an auteur.

Instead, perhaps out of an unwillingness to indict the maestro they set out to chronicle, the faceless filmmakers show us a series of unfortunate coincidences and have us wondering, “okay, and so what?” There are a lot of suggestions and implications but none are really realized.

The interesting thing about documentaries is that no one watches them, yet they can sometimes seem like prototypes of intellectual reality shows. This one, I think, goes too far into that realm. Many encounters feel staged, although you do see some interesting glimpses of Gilliam’s frustration on set.

Mostly though, there isn’t enough here to hold my interest, and certainly not enough for a feature film. I’m tempted to say a 30-minute TV special would have been better, but in fact, I think a decent-sized article would have sufficed! It’s really enough to say in conversation, “did you hear Gilliam tried to make Cervantes but failed?” (in fact I had this exact conversation with my parents on Tuesday) The fact that a film came about by documenting this failure adds an interesting layer to your conversational tidbit, but the film itself doesn’t really add to it. Maybe with a stronger authorial (directorial) voice or a better selection of footage, this could have been something, but I’m not entirely certain about that. The "flair" they do use is downright awful, like the constant slow motion they use when they want to cut away in the middle of a sentence. Yuck.

The worst thing is, this wasn't even as good as the one-hour "making of" feature on the History of Violence DVD, entitled "Acts of Violence." Since there is actually a story to tell here, I find that really inexcusable (and since this "film" started life as a similar project, I find the comparison to be fair as well).

Source: Newvideo DVD
1 April, 9:02 PM