The Independent Film movement has morphed into something very different in the last 15 or 20 years. It is no longer a movement of backyard shoots on shoestring budgets. At least not very often. "Independent" projects are more like "The Kids Are Alright" (see previous blog entry) Smaller budgets yes, but not shoestring. An independent film these days is likely to have a big name or three (Benning, Moore and Ruffalo) and have a studio seal of approval. It's more about an actor finding more challenging material and studios trolling for awards. They're still good movies, grittier subject matter, fine acting and writing. But it ain't like it used to be.
But sometimes there's a throw back, and "Winter's Bone" is a throw back. It's also my favorite film of the year so far. You won't recognize the names or the faces. That's a good thing. It will allow you to immerse yourself in the world, a world you've never been to before. A world that exists within the borders of this country but that you need to be born to in order to know it. In that way, there is a spiritual kinship with films like "Frozen River". It may be even better, and that's saying something.
The place is the Ozark mountains of Missouri. It's dirt poor but there are rules. Neighbors help neighbors but you don't ask for it. You don't trust the law and you keep your mouth shut. Squirrel isn't a pest, it's a meal, and kin is kin-can't change that. That's the world of Ree Dolly, 17, taking care of two young siblings and a Mom who's had a psychotic break. Her father's been arrested again on drug charges and is facing years in jail. He's put up the house as bond and now he's missing. If he jumps bail, the house is gone and they're out "in the fields like dogs". So now Ree's got to find him and that ain't gonna be easy.
That search reveals a world that has been utterly unseen to an audience; a world filled with tough moral choices and low behavior, and a people who can't afford to do the right thing but do it anyway. It's a society where the woman do the heavy lifting and stick together when they can, even in the face of abuse. There's little to make these people happy except maybe their music. It's an amazing story, in an amazing world and it's one of the best films of the year. Told honestly and simply-no tricks, it became the Sundance Film Festival audience favorite. Easy to see why. It's what independent filmmaking should be. And a young woman named Jennifer Lawrence gives a performance that is stunning. If the world was fair this would be an easy award nominee. Easy. I can only hope. Directed brilliantly by Debra Granik, you should seek this movie out, in the theaters or soon probably on pay-per-view. You won't be disappointed.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
The Kids Are Alright
It's easy to forget just how good an actress Annette Bening really is. After all, she doesn't work much these days. In "The Kids Are Alright" she serves notice that she's an acting force to be reckoned with. And she's not the only one. The entire cast is pitch perfect in Lisa Cholodenko's American family drama, "The Kids Are Alright".
Bening is a long-married lesbian doctor who has built a loving family and life by very traditional (except for the lesbian part) means. There's a home, a college age daughter, a teenage son and a house-bound, loving, earth mother wife played exquisitely by Julianne Moore. And of course, there's all the trouble and tension associated with any American family at this stage in their development. Then the kids decide to contact the man who donated the sperm to make this nuclear family possible and we are off to the races. Mark Ruffalo as the biological dad, Mia Wasikowska as the college-bound daughter and Josh Hutcherson as Laser the teen son all feel, well, honest, and that is the real strength of this film.
And for all that honesty you can credit writer/director Lisa Cholodenko. Her other feature work, "High Art" and "Laurel Canyon" pointed to the potential. "The Kids Are Alright" is potential fulfilled. Really, it's a rich and moving film watching experience. Nice work all around.
If I were a betting man I'd be heading to Vegas to plunk down some cash on this film getting a SAG Ensemble nomination and maybe even a whole bunch of Oscar love.
Bening is a long-married lesbian doctor who has built a loving family and life by very traditional (except for the lesbian part) means. There's a home, a college age daughter, a teenage son and a house-bound, loving, earth mother wife played exquisitely by Julianne Moore. And of course, there's all the trouble and tension associated with any American family at this stage in their development. Then the kids decide to contact the man who donated the sperm to make this nuclear family possible and we are off to the races. Mark Ruffalo as the biological dad, Mia Wasikowska as the college-bound daughter and Josh Hutcherson as Laser the teen son all feel, well, honest, and that is the real strength of this film.
And for all that honesty you can credit writer/director Lisa Cholodenko. Her other feature work, "High Art" and "Laurel Canyon" pointed to the potential. "The Kids Are Alright" is potential fulfilled. Really, it's a rich and moving film watching experience. Nice work all around.
If I were a betting man I'd be heading to Vegas to plunk down some cash on this film getting a SAG Ensemble nomination and maybe even a whole bunch of Oscar love.
The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of- Inception
I suspect a lot of people will see "Inception" and if you plan to be one of them, make sure you bring your brain that day. You need to be engaged with this movie through the whole two and a half hour experience. But don't worry, it's worth it.
This film challenges both the filmmaker and the audience. It takes a lot of explanation and you'd do well to pay attention to the details. It involves a group of secret-stealers who ply their trade by breaking into the dream state of their target. They invade dreams to either retrieve a secret or implant an idea. The harder the task, the deeper into the dreamer's psyche they need to invade. And if they have to place an idea in someone's head (very difficult) they need to invade at least three levels down into your dream structure. And to complicate matters, time reads differently at each level. At level one, the dream raiders have a time frame of two hours while level two invaders have a time scale of two days. Level three expands so that the time table seems like two weeks. I told ya. Bring your brain. And anytime someone sits down to explain something, PAY ATTENTION! There is a logic to it.
And that may ultimately be the problem. In order for an audience to follow this film, director Christopher Nolan has imposed order on a process that is inherently orderless and illogical. While the physical world of the dream shape-shifts and morphs into amazing worlds, the characters and circumstances of the dream remain very neat and logical. It allows for the action to move forward but it isn't very dreamlike. You know how it goes in your own dreams. Maybe your playing poker in your dorm room when all of a sudden your Mom and your first grade teacher show up with bagel bites and AK-47's. This movie is more concerned with the physical environment being dreamlike than the randomness of plot and character effecting the the dream.
Have I confused you? I know. This stuff is hard to explain. Let's just say that "Inception" is a cool shoot-em-up chase movie with melting walls and crumbling sets.
Is it impressive? Absolutely. Is it a masterpiece? I don't think so. Is it worth the price of admission? Easily, and more. Christopher Nolan is my hero just based on storytelling chutzpah. Dust off your thinking cap and go see "Inception".
This film challenges both the filmmaker and the audience. It takes a lot of explanation and you'd do well to pay attention to the details. It involves a group of secret-stealers who ply their trade by breaking into the dream state of their target. They invade dreams to either retrieve a secret or implant an idea. The harder the task, the deeper into the dreamer's psyche they need to invade. And if they have to place an idea in someone's head (very difficult) they need to invade at least three levels down into your dream structure. And to complicate matters, time reads differently at each level. At level one, the dream raiders have a time frame of two hours while level two invaders have a time scale of two days. Level three expands so that the time table seems like two weeks. I told ya. Bring your brain. And anytime someone sits down to explain something, PAY ATTENTION! There is a logic to it.
And that may ultimately be the problem. In order for an audience to follow this film, director Christopher Nolan has imposed order on a process that is inherently orderless and illogical. While the physical world of the dream shape-shifts and morphs into amazing worlds, the characters and circumstances of the dream remain very neat and logical. It allows for the action to move forward but it isn't very dreamlike. You know how it goes in your own dreams. Maybe your playing poker in your dorm room when all of a sudden your Mom and your first grade teacher show up with bagel bites and AK-47's. This movie is more concerned with the physical environment being dreamlike than the randomness of plot and character effecting the the dream.
Have I confused you? I know. This stuff is hard to explain. Let's just say that "Inception" is a cool shoot-em-up chase movie with melting walls and crumbling sets.
Is it impressive? Absolutely. Is it a masterpiece? I don't think so. Is it worth the price of admission? Easily, and more. Christopher Nolan is my hero just based on storytelling chutzpah. Dust off your thinking cap and go see "Inception".
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Catching Up On Early 2010
This has been a weak summer for blockbusters. Nothing even remotely memorable that wasn't drawn by the folks at Pixar. The Tom Cruise vehicle crashed and burned. The Last Airbender suffocated at the box office. Come on "Inception"! It may be the last hope for the summer. So I caught up on a couple of films from earlier in the year that you can catch on pay-per-view.
HOT TUB TIME MACHINE
Three in a row. Three white-male-angst comedies that I should be deriding for immature narcissism, rampant misogyny and unfunny toilet humor and here I am extolling their virtues. First "The Hangover", then "Get Him to the Greek" and now "Hot Tub Time Machine". What is the world coming to.
"Hot Tub Time Machine" is the lesser of these three comedies. It's more aggressively angry, less nimble in it's execution and not as smart but it has some key factors going for it. It's characters aren't completely implausible, it's funny and sweet, and it's is chocked full of 1980's nostalgia. Now I'm a child of the 70's but I did go to college in the 80's so it's just a short leap for me.
Part of the problem with these films (apart from the three mentioned above) is that actors are allowed to range far off the reservation when it comes to character choice and behavior. You know who you are, Will Farrell. In the three films mentioned, the characters may be loopy and eccentric but they are grounded in reality. Well, somewhat.
HTTM may have a premise that is lunatic (after all, it's a Hot Tub AND a Time Machine) but it doesn't dwell on it. In fact it doesn't dwell much on the logic of time travel at all. The convolutions of time travel have driven great Sci-fi authors batty. It concentrates on themes more easily handled like mid-life crisis, friendship and second chances. Craig Robinson and John Cusack are terrific and there's a rendition of "Jesse's Girl" that'll split your side stitches. Oh and the running gag with Crispin Glover and a prosthetic arm is brilliant. Now if that doesn't get you to the video store for "Hot Tub Time Machine", nothing will.
SHUTTER ISLAND
Right from the very beginning of "Shutter Island" you are aware that you are being manipulated. There is a feeling that you aren't watching the truth. The dialogue is awkward the characters just a little too on the nose. And that sense of foreboding isn't a sense at all. It more like being hit with a sledge hammer. So when that much talked about third act twist finally arrives, there's no surprise. You know something is coming, it's just a matter of which lie will become the truth. And as it turns out the twist isn't even all that twisty.
This film needed the subtlety of "The Sixth Sense" to make the payoff work. What we got is a heavy handed knock off of "The Island of Dr. Moreau". Martin Scorcese has never been a particularly subtle director. "Goodfellas" or "Raging Bull" or "Taxi Driver" aren't exactly exercises in the art of foreshadowing. This whole film feels like a long, stilted set up for a punch line you've heard before. And just a warning. If you listen to the heavy handed score long enough and loud enough, you yourself will end up an inmate on "Shutter Island".
HOT TUB TIME MACHINE
Three in a row. Three white-male-angst comedies that I should be deriding for immature narcissism, rampant misogyny and unfunny toilet humor and here I am extolling their virtues. First "The Hangover", then "Get Him to the Greek" and now "Hot Tub Time Machine". What is the world coming to.
"Hot Tub Time Machine" is the lesser of these three comedies. It's more aggressively angry, less nimble in it's execution and not as smart but it has some key factors going for it. It's characters aren't completely implausible, it's funny and sweet, and it's is chocked full of 1980's nostalgia. Now I'm a child of the 70's but I did go to college in the 80's so it's just a short leap for me.
Part of the problem with these films (apart from the three mentioned above) is that actors are allowed to range far off the reservation when it comes to character choice and behavior. You know who you are, Will Farrell. In the three films mentioned, the characters may be loopy and eccentric but they are grounded in reality. Well, somewhat.
HTTM may have a premise that is lunatic (after all, it's a Hot Tub AND a Time Machine) but it doesn't dwell on it. In fact it doesn't dwell much on the logic of time travel at all. The convolutions of time travel have driven great Sci-fi authors batty. It concentrates on themes more easily handled like mid-life crisis, friendship and second chances. Craig Robinson and John Cusack are terrific and there's a rendition of "Jesse's Girl" that'll split your side stitches. Oh and the running gag with Crispin Glover and a prosthetic arm is brilliant. Now if that doesn't get you to the video store for "Hot Tub Time Machine", nothing will.
SHUTTER ISLAND
Right from the very beginning of "Shutter Island" you are aware that you are being manipulated. There is a feeling that you aren't watching the truth. The dialogue is awkward the characters just a little too on the nose. And that sense of foreboding isn't a sense at all. It more like being hit with a sledge hammer. So when that much talked about third act twist finally arrives, there's no surprise. You know something is coming, it's just a matter of which lie will become the truth. And as it turns out the twist isn't even all that twisty.
This film needed the subtlety of "The Sixth Sense" to make the payoff work. What we got is a heavy handed knock off of "The Island of Dr. Moreau". Martin Scorcese has never been a particularly subtle director. "Goodfellas" or "Raging Bull" or "Taxi Driver" aren't exactly exercises in the art of foreshadowing. This whole film feels like a long, stilted set up for a punch line you've heard before. And just a warning. If you listen to the heavy handed score long enough and loud enough, you yourself will end up an inmate on "Shutter Island".
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