Reviews
The Last House on the Left (2009)
Doesn't Disappoint! A Great Shared Catharsis with an Audience!
Craven's 1972, Last House on the Left is a deplorable act of low budget film-making that should be seen by all cineastes. The audacity of its nihilism hasn't lost its edge. The appeal of its cheapness is how it brings out the brutality of what happens on screen. It's close to watching a snuff film during the first half. The haunting ballads by David Hess, who also plays the leader of the rapists/killers really add an emotional heft to the rape and murder of virgin Lucy. I'll never forget how she walks away with that song echoing, "And now you're all alone...". The final half isn't as powerful, but still packs quite a catharsis for the audience wanting to see these sadist gets tortured by everyday suburban Americans.
I saw Iliadis' version and was stunned out how effective it was. The story itself remains pretty much unchanged. Style wise it's as far away from the grimy Craven version as you can get. Which for in 2009 works for the young audience I saw it with. I can tell you that many of them didn't know what they were getting into. Unlike some other remakes like Halloween, Last House On the Left isn't a know commodity. Clearly the audience wasn't expecting to see acts of rape and silent brutality without the help of blaring music. When the knives penetrate you feel them. In that way it works like Craven's film. Iliadis doesn't tone things down though the wonderful cinematography makes things a little prettier, which doesn't mean less pretty.
Monica Potter and Tony Goldwyn play the parents with conviction to elevate the material. They become the focal point during the last half of the film, which loses some of the nail biting tension of the first half. Still it seemed extremely cathartic for the audience to see the parents carry out their brutal revenge. This is an audience film by all means, unlike I believe the original, which still has the power to haunt you in your home and in your dreams. If anything that's the major difference. The new version, while better than most remakes, is a visceral experience with an audience. Afterwards it kind of fades from memory. It lacks the complicated sociopathic performance by the handsome David Hess of the original. Still I'm glad this remake was made, it really gets under your skin and almost brings you back to the Wes Craven I used to love.
Special note should be given to Sara Paxton, a teen Reese Witherspoon, she really earns the sympathy of the audience. It's rare in a Times Square audience that a nice rich white girl isn't called a "stupid bitch". Paxton manages to pull off the right amount of vulnerability and smarts to let the audience root for her. Spencer Treat Clark, who plays the sons of the lead psychopath, is also very good and gets the audience to care about him as well. Come to think about this horror film works more than most due to the audience actually caring about what happens to these young victims on the screen.
The Wrestler (2008)
THe Best American Film About Loneliness Since Brokeback Mountain!
After seeing the greatness of MILK, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE and THE DARK KNIGHT, I didn't think it would be possible to be floored once again by a 2008 motion picture. Last night though I wasn't only floored but I felt I was walking on air after watching Darren Aronofsky's near masterpiece, THE WRESTLER.
MIckey Rourke's performance is not one of just hype. He is the real deal here. Like Ledger in BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, he's able to inspire tears from the viewer without even having to say anything. It's in those sad soulful eyes and the beaten down affect of a person whose sole identity is based on the adoration of strangers.
Loneliness is the key ingredient here. Aronofsky films New Jersey in away you usually see in European films like ones from the Dardeene brothers. He really brings you into the world of those down and out in the United States, without being condescending at all. Aronofsky, educated at Harvard, is amazing in his depiction being so authentic of the strip clubs, soulless shopping centers, and trailer parks. I don't imagine he has lived in the world portrayed in THE WRESTLER but his portrays it so honestly that at times it felt like a documentation of everyday life.
THE WRESTLER is amazing, for while it's full of despair, gritty/desolate locations and people who are like ghosts from the 80's, it maintains this sense of hope that no matter who you are you will have someone out there who will love you. It reminded me of conventions I've gone to where former actors that used to be adored are now seen as relics, yet there are still those devoted fans that come out of the woodwork. THE WRESTLER has vivid authentic scenes portraying this subculture.
As for the actual wrestling, well not being a fan of the sport, I was absolutely riveted by all the sequence portraying the brutality of it and yet the extreme compassion that the wrestlers have for one another.
Anyway I could go on and on. There's a lot here to discuss including the dueling thread of Marisa Tomei and Mickey Rourke's characters both using there aging bodies to perform, and yet not knowing if they have anything else. There are some painful scenes of Tomei being rejected at the strip club where she works. The devastation and fear in her face should win her an Oscar.
So yes THE WRESTLER is my # 1 film of the year. I have not had an emotional response to a film like this since BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN!
Shine a Light (2008)
Might Be Nice For Fans of the Stones, but for Scorsese Followers it's a Letdown
I found this to be a somewhat tedious affair. I'm not sure if it was my mood or if it was truly to by the numbers for my taste. If you love The Rolling Stones chances are you'll be happy, but if your looking for a Scorsese cinematic experience you might find yourself wishing you were watching GOODFELLAS instead. I find the Rolling Stones music much more electrifying in that film.
My biggest problem with the film was the audience of the concert itself. It consisted of a lot of well to do hipsters and front row Britney Spears like blonds that just weren't compelling to watch. Concert films that have a more public (less elite) audience always makes for more exciting viewing. The concert is set in the Beacon theater, which gives the film a claustrophobia that just doesn't work for me. Technically the film is flawless, which ultimately leaves the film stale and lacking spontaneity. Call me a man of bad taste, but I had a much better time at THE RUINS.
Halloween (2007)
When you want the heroine to die, the director has failed!
What a travesty! Not so much that Halloween has been remade, but that Zombie's take on Michael Myers begins so well only to end up being a turd.I resisted seeing this upon release, but finally gave in when it available to me for free. The idea of one of my favorite films of all time being messed with just didn't sit right with me.
I must admit that for the first 50 minutes I was genuinely captivated. Originally I was appalled by the prospect of fleshing out Michael Myer's childhood. What made it work was that this was clearly Zombie's vision. I could accept it because I didn't feel that this had anything to do with Carpenter's Michael Myers. It felt more like Zombie's fantasy of what Michael Myers childhood had been like in a white trash family and how it led to his murderous spree. Of course the scariest thing about the original Myers is that there is no apparent reason for his evil. He's a blank slate which all sorts of fears can be projected on. For Zombie that projection is having a stripper mom who has a boyfriend who threatens to "skull f*&k" her. This all works because it is clearly Zombie's universe.
The film goes down hill and I mean tumbling down when Zombie enters Carpenter's territory. The film becomes all to familiar in that its plot begins to mirror Carpenter's original. By no means is Zombie able to pay homage or even copy Carpenter in a compelling manner. What has to be the worst aspect of this is the actresses who play the three teenage girls. All of them are horrible, and what's most unforgivable is how awful the girl is who play Laurie Strode. This is the character who was played by Jamie Lee Curtis, who gave an iconic performance in the original. All this girl does is shriek and talk like some valley girl. Imagine this line, "so like was that the boogie man". Now I'm not sure if these were her exact words, but that's what her character is like. The biggest abomination of this fiasco is that it's not even scary. The set pieces just make you wish you were watching the original. Zombie only comes close only once to an effectively scary scene when Laurie is trapped in a drained pool. She can't get out and Myers is in hot pursuit. What kills this creative sequence is that you really could care less if the girl lives or dies. More will actually probably wish her to die. When you want the heroine to die in a horror film the director has failed.
Se, jie (2007)
Judge LUST CAUTION a day later.
When I saw LUST CAUTION yesterday I wasn't sure what to think. There were moments of transcendence and many others of what, at the time, seemed like tedium. I was frustrated that I couldn't decide if this was a masterpiece right away as I was with BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, THE ICE STORM, and CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON. When I woke up this morning I couldn't stop thinking about it. It has haunted me all day and I want to see it again. Perhaps my expectations were so high that I had trouble appreciating what I was watching. More than likely I was anticipating the already notorious sex scenes. In any case LUST CAUTION is another masterpiece by Ang Lee that may take time for some to appreciate it. Years to come it will be studied and watched compulsively. It will strike debate among cinephiles of its worth. Most importantly it will be a film to be treasured, perhaps not by many, but by a very enlightened few.
During the sex scenes I was holding my breath. Lee's slow burn toward these instant classic scenes was like foreplay leading to an explosive climax. Lee's themes of repression and double lives continue in LUST CAUTION. I look forward to savoring and arguing about this film for years to comes.
Mulberry St (2006)
Rats terrorize NYC, but the real threat are the yuppies taking over Manhattan.
I saw this at Tribeca Film Festival and had a great time. This is a great example of low budget film-making at its best. The first half hour establishes the protagonists, which are all a nice mix of "real" New Yorkers who are under threat of eviction. This is due to the major gentrification of the city, which is slowly causing it to lose its soul. Film deftly conveys how NYC is becoming a city just for the wealthy. A rat plague begins turning people into zombies. The film drags a bit and then picks up steam in the final half hour. There's one shot in the front seat of a car involving the reunion of two characters and the elimination of another. It's one of the best scenes I've see in a horror film in quite sometime. Filmmakers should be commended for not selling out on the bleakness of this apocalyptic post 9/11 gem.
Syriana (2005)
A Souless and Boring Film
While Syriana certainly covers an important subject its execution is void of any feeling. The film follows the paths of several uninteresting characters involved in the complex world of oil trade. The film begins promisingly enough introducing each characters role, and how their involvement in the nasty business of oil effects their family members. Amanda Peet is especially strong as Matt Damon's suffering wife, but is given little to do. For over two long hours the film becomes a series of sketches of incredibly boring discussions on oil trade and legal complications, with a few scraps of human drama thrown in. There is the subplot about young men who are laid off from working at oil factories and are led into terrorism. Than there is Jeffery Wright, who is wasted, once again playing a supporting role, as a lawyer who seems not to feel much of anything. He has an alcoholic father who he ignores. George Clooney, who gives a good performance, has a son that he ignores. Clearly there is a thread of father-son conflict at work here, but it doesn't seem sincere. The problem of SYRIANA is its compelling material made with no passion. It has a self- satisfied air and seems to care nothing about the audience. It wants you to know how smart the filmmakers are and how sophisticated they are at avoiding human emotions. Yes it's great for a film to make you think and to educate you. But for many going to the movies is also an emotional experience, and this has about as much feeling as an episode of Nightline.
Queimada (1969)
The horror of slavery burns to the core of the human psyche.
Gilo Pontecorvo has crafted an extremely intense documentation of the use of human beings as slaves, and how do those slaves free themselves not only mentally but physically. Evaristo Marquez plays Jose Dolores with an intensity and intelligence as a symbol of oppression. Marlon Brando plays William Walker who is is sent to Portuagal occupied sugar plantations to manipulate slave Jose Dolores into leading a revolt against the Portuguese, which will later allow England to dominate the slaves themselves. Complication arises once the slaves have had a sense of power and freedom. Their reaction becomes baffling to the Portugese and to the British.
Both Brando and Marquez give forceful performances giving their relationship a love/hate subtext. The scenes in which Walker trains Jose to revolt through manipulation are fascinating to watch. Dierector Pontecorovo once again proves he is a master of crowd scenes and mass destitution on screen, as he did in the more well received THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS. Morricone also as usual lends a haunting score. It would be hard to imagine a film like this being made today in such blunt fashion, but the manipulations of those in power over the servitude continues to be relevant. BURN doesn't have solutions to the problem of Man's desire for domination, but it gives it one hell of a vision of the motivations and calculations empires will do to control others and ensure their domination in the World.
At times film seems to be a bit choppy and loses focus, but this was know to be a problematic production to begin with. There are several versions of the film with slightly longer running times. In some ways the dubbing of voices and awkward transitions lend to a more haunting and gritty experience while watching the film. The scenes of battles and dances seem so authentic it almost feels as if the cameras is witnessing events that occurred hundreds of years ago.
Brando himself seem to really be enjoying playing the somewhat sadistic, but at time empathic Walker. He shows know fear that his playing with the victims of colonialism like a game of chess could result in dire consequences not only for England, but for himself.