(Theatrical viewing="*"; Repeat viewing="/ /"; Shorts
[shorter, em, than 45 mins]="sXX"; past first hundred shorts: t,
signifying one in the hundreds digit)
Now some sort of weird D'Angelo/Odell/Heilman hybrid w/ comments. I am
weird.
go to zee bottom Months: January
February March April
May June July
Festivals: Sundance Portland Tribeca Seattle
001. (01 Jan) Confessions of a
Dangerous Mind (George Clooney, 2002)* [C+]
Clooney, slow the fuck down. The filters and constant expressionism are cool
enough, and some of it is funny, but it feels patched together and adds up to
very little (ex. when the agent from the FCC is counselling the Dating Game
contestants before the show, it's funny and all, but why would the girl and the
guys be allowed to meet each other before the show, huh? Isn't that against the
rules?). This biopic of a TV personality also manages to be even more obsessed
with sex than Auto Focus, which had every right, being about a sex addict and
all. Charlie Kaufman will one day learn that the taboo of sex just doesn't
translate that humorously to the screen especially if he keeps banging it into
our heads. And disappointingly, Clooney acts like a director (too confident)
and directs like an actor (too showy). At least he's trying. Should be better
than Sonny.
002. (01 Jan) Le Jour se Leve (Marcel
Carne, 1939) [A-]
Carne here is a master of light and fog, bathing his characters in just the
right amount at just the right moments. It's a lovely film about the momentary
nature of love, contrasting two young lovers, both named Francois(e), against
their aging counterparts. The structure, which has badass Jean Gabin hiding out
in his apartment from the police as his predicament flashes before him, is
unique and heightens the poetry here to another level.
003. (01 Jan) The Trial of Joan
of Arc (Robert Bresson, 1962) [B+]
Not as overtly emotional or powerful as Dreyer's version, but it is a totally
Bressonian version of the story, allowing him to see a complex kind of irony in
it all: why does this religion, built around faith, allow for so little faith
in the rest of humanity? The film slowly builds in power as it goes along, as
usual stressing vigorously barren circumstances over overt psychologics.
Bresson's realism makes the confidence in otherworldliness here all the more
intense and ambiguous.
004. (01 Jan) La Captive (Chantal Akerman,
2001) [D+]
Joyless, lifeless, and very, very French. The lead actor in particular is
especially blank; so bad, it might have been a mediocre or even sorta good
movie without him. Mostly unbearably inept as far as versimilitude goes; picks
up once or twice when it sorta channels Antonioni.
005. (02 Jan) /Le Jour se Leve/ (Marcel Carne,
1939) [A-]
...
006. (02 Jan) Rivers and Tides
(Thomas Riedelsheimer, 2001)* [B-]
007. (02 Jan) Life and Nothing
More (Abbas Kiarostami, 1991) [B-]
"if this is modern movie mastery, then our medium is gone and this is
funerary art" - David Thomson. Oh hell yeah David. I am finally being able
to recognize the fact that Kiarostami has made extraordinary art (dig that last
shot, friggin' amazing) but I still don't have much fun watching it. His lone
great film remains Where Is The Friend's House?, where we have at least have a
skeleton of a story to contemplate the moral mystery and questions on.
008. (03 Jan) Antwone Fisher (Denzel
Washington, 2002)* [D-]
Basically Antwone giving himself candy for being a good little boy and
pretending that his righteousness cancels out the goodness of anyone else in
the world. Disgusting. The final exchange between Antwone and the Washington character (Antwone: "Thank you." Washington: "No, thank you. It's you that helped
me, you're the king of the universe, blah blah blah-") cemented my
feelings about this. During much of the movie I was even trying to look for
accidental insight on Fisher's self-aggrandizement, but hey, this wasn't
directed by De Palma, this was directed by Denzel "I want another Oscar so
I'll sell out if I hafta" Washington.
009. (03 Jan) Ruggles of Red Gap
(Leo McCarey, 1935)* [B]
Derives its laughs from Laughton's bizarre facial contortions most of the time,
and most of the time, it's funny, although the scene that had me laughing the
hardest was the party where the English lord dude was instructed to play the
bass drum by "Nell." As funny as Broomfieldesque seductiveness gets.
010. (04 Jan) Crooklyn (Spike Lee, 1994)
[B+]
This is essentially Spike's Boogie Nights, using pop music and obligatory
stylishness to evoke our deepest feelings about family and togetherness through
the guise of a sitcom atmosphere. I loved it. On a side-note, I noticed a song
playing in the background here from 25th Hour (something like "it's alright,")
and it works here in an entirely different way. Even when he rips himself off,
he's original!
011. (04 Jan) Nothing But a Man
(Michael Roemer, 1964) [A]
A quiet masterpiece, probing into what it meant to be a black man in 60's America,
all the more impressive because it was made in 60's America. This is really the
exact opposite of Antwone Fisher: while that pile of garbage worked overtime to
justify all of Antwone's actions, Nothing But a Man knows that the main guy
gains our sympathy because his behavior is instigated by the atmosphere of the
world around him. He's not "wrong," but he's not "right,"
either. His integrity and self-control are always left to be judged, which is
why the title is so apt.
s01. (04 Jan) I'm Hungry, I'm Cold
(Chantal Akerman, 1984) [B+]
The first short on the Akermania video, which shows 2 young girls who function
on forcedly energized opportunism, taking into account just their needs and
putting us in their shoes, in a way, since we only see what they need and what
they get. The short ends by reversing the emotional tone, as opportunism leaves
no room for any other kind of connection than an aesthetic one, hence ours.
s02. (04 Jan) Blow Up My Town (Chantal
Akerman, 1968) [C+]
As observant and emotionally subjective as the above short, but the movie
really only serves as a game; we know the ending already.
012. (04 Jan) Hotel Monterey (Chantal
Akerman, 1972) [B]
Silent journey through a hotel, with every shot seeming to search for action.
At first I didn't like it much, because it didn't seem like there was much of a
point to filming a place without people who interact, but Akerman is actively
and successfully challenging our ideas about space and movement here.
013. (04 Jan) Get on the Bus (Spike Lee,
1996) [B]
Not exactly one of Spike's best; the politics are scattered and provocative as
usual, and the movie evokes an understanding between the men on the bus which
is enough to recommend it, but the metaphor of sticking together and facing tragedy
comes off as a bit contrived.
014. (05 Jan) Duck Soup (Leo McCarey,
1933)* [A]
Absolutely hilarious, even if there's absolutely nothing going on
beneath the hilariousness. Still, this is one of those (extremely) rare times
when I was laughing so hard I wasn't even sure whether I was having a pleasant
experience.
s03. (05 Jan) Mighty Like a Moose
(Leo McCarey, 1926)* [B-]
s04. (05 Jan) His Wooden Wedding
(Leo McCarey, 1925)* [C+]
s05. (05 Jan) Pass the Gravy (Fred
Guiol & Leo McCarey, 1928)* [C]
s06. (05 Jan) Don't Tell
Everything (Leo McCarey, 1927)* [C-]
s07. (05 Jan) Big Business (James W.
Horne & Leo McCarey, 1929)* [B-]
s08. (05 Jan) Liberty (Leo McCarey, 1929)* [B+]
The first few wore on me as they went along (and there were undertones of
anti-semitism lurking in there). I mean, how much fun can be had from watching
caricatures run around and act like caricatures? Saving graces: the spectacular
pianist playing along with them, and the last one, a riveting, vertigo-inducing
liberal allegory starring Laurel & Hardy.
015. (06 Jan) Fury (Fritz Lang, 1936) [B+]
Engaging and politically ambiguous if somewhat implausible thriller.
016. (06 Jan) Made in U.S.A. (Jean-Luc Godard, 1966) [C-]
And the back of the box at Kim's brags "one of Godard's most inaccessible
films." Well, yeah. Most of the time I felt like I had to be a history
major to tell what the fuck he was talking about, although some of the more
cinema-based pieces got to me.
017. (06 Jan) Park Row (Samuel Fuller, 1952)
[A]
The second best movie ever made "about" newspaper publishing. The
endearing thing is that Fuller seems to actually believe in those old American
ideals we now see as ironic.
018. (08 Jan) Pulse (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2001)
[C-]
Struck me as a kind of "Ringu as directed by Antonioni," trying to
cover up contrived schlock with contemplative ennui, but it doesn't work, and I
guess I'll just compare it to a) L'Avventura -- the premise of it too is rather
nightmarish and fantastical, but I suppose it's successful because it's about
the fear of not being able to feel anything in life as opposed to the fear of
turning into a weird black oozy thing when you die and being lonely forever
(which I have, for the record, NEVER been afraid of; I suppose to engage with
Pulse on any real allegorical level you have to accept the idea that you may
become some wandering ghost, which is so not universal), and b) Ringu -- which
is a piece of trash, but a fun one, because it doesn't waste time pretending to
have a point; it's pure premise and delivery (and the premise "what would
you do if there was some video that you watched and died shortly after" is
every bit as thought out in my humble opinion as "what would you do if you
became a ghost who moped through cyberspace.") The difference is, one of
them is actually scary, because death is innately more viscerally scary than
eternal solitude. Because we've never experienced death.
019. (09 Jan) The River (Jean Renoir, 1951)
[A-]
A film about the personal impact of culture (Indian culture, here) with a
melting pot of confused, mixed emotions -- the movie is only off when the mix
is over-explained. This is really B+ stuff; extra points for the protagonist, a
glamorously unglamorous teenage girl, who I desperately wanted to grab a time
machine and fuck.
020. (09 Jan) Scarface (Howard Hawks, 1932)
[A]
Really hit me hard, this one: I had never seen a Hawks before where so many
people died (although Rio Bravo and The Big Sleep came close) and I just really
care about Hawks' people, er, characters. And, this being made just
after the silent era, I loved how the major female characters (Poppy and the
sister, who serves as a sort of metaphor for how we feel about Tony; he's one
of us, but then again, he's not us) sounded so much deeper and more
seductive than what we get today. They seem like, I dunno, women.
021. (10 Jan) *Corpus Callosum
(Michael Snow, 2002)* [A-]
022. (10 Jan) /25th Hour/ (Spike Lee, 2002)* [A-]
Anything that felt remotely hokey or forced the first time (i.e. the very
moving opening credits) diminished the second. Those scenes with Hoffman and
Paquin are so... incredible...
023. (11 Jan) To Have and Have Not
(Howard Hawks, 1944) [A]
Wonderful Casablanca rip-off. The sing-alongs with Lauren Bacall are enchanting
enough to make Davy Thomson's placing of them on the cover of his book
understandable.
024. (12 Jan) Twentieth Century
(Howard Hawks, 1934) [A-]
'Nother good Hawks 'un; it seems to bring the fear of organization and
modernity that can be found in some of his other work to the forefront.
025. (12 Jan) No Such Thing (Hal
Hartley, 2001) [B-]
On the whole it's a bit too caricaturistically deadpan for my taste; still,
there are funny moments and the photography is striking. Hartley doesn't seem
to know what he's exactly doing with the monster figure; most of the real
intrigue here is derived from the Shakespearian madman archetype... the monster
as poet coming to grips with his being. Finally, though, it's too damn messy.
026. (12 Jan) Jungle Fever (Spike Lee,
1991) [C+]
Occasionally, it's very insightful; the goal here is obviously to delve into
the cultural subtext inherent in modern interracial relationships. But the
fierce opposition that drives a lot of Spike's movies comes off here as rather
contrived, and the movie ends up being more about its ideas than its people
(i.e. what the fuck was up with that ending? "NOOOO!!!"??? Gimme a
break.) Spike wants to save us from ourselves but the movie fails because the
danger doesn't feel real enough to want to be saved from.
027. (13 Jan) Millennium Mambo (Hou
Hsiao Hsien, 2001) [C+]
It's so obviously beautiful, and the soundtrack's kickin' (which is why
the opening shot is really the high point of the whole film) but, I mean, there
is so little that Hou is actually saying here. People change. Gradually.
And the philosophical blabber and metaphors that come with that utterly
brilliant observation. And, by the way, it is successful at portraying gradual
change. Really successful. That's so obviously not what I watch movies for
though. It's not like I changed with her... and I realize that's the point
(watching things from the past) but it's inevitably underwhelming.
028. (14 Jan) School Daze (Spike Lee,
1988) [C+]
Some very cool scenes (the thing in the salon is... so... awesome) but there is
a certain line that social allegory can cross into becoming rather preachy and
School Daze pretty much jumps over that line in that last dream sequence/reconciliation/whatever
the hell it was.
029. (14 Jan) The Day I Became a
Woman (Marzieh Meshkini, 2000) [B+]
I suppose the reason this
more-political-exercise-than-actual-piece-of-filmmaking works so well is
Meshkini keeps her eyes on the moments of freedom that are possible in women's
lives moreso than the oppression that it is of course opposed to. The last
segment suggests a celebration of childish absurdity in the face of tradition,
which I am obliged to agree with.
030. (15 Jan) Il Bidone (Federico Fellini,
1955) [B]
Whatever. I guess I liked this one, because Fellini restrains himself and
actually manages to get some real life out of this sad story.
031. (15 Jan) Obsession (Brian De Palma,
1976) [B-]
Ooh, look at me, I wish I made Vertigo. Despite the heartlessness of the
affair, though, some of it still got to me. It's amazing how he makes
unoriginality seem so original.
032. (15 Jan) Joe's
Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (Spike Lee, 1983) [C]
Mostly over-mapped out crap, but gotta love some of the evocative images; he
certainly knew how to shoot on B&W back in the day. Also interesting from
an auteuristic perspective, there being a fear of the mostly encouraged later
on "unity".
033. (16 Jan) Raising Victor Vargas
(Peter Sollett, 2002)* [B+]
Just the kind of movie that makes you fall in love with it, regardless of how
repetitive the story strands can get, because it just knows what it's like to
be in love... it felt a little airy when I was watching it and then immediately
proceeded to expand in my heart. Even the "cute" scenes with the fat
kids are sweet, because they refuse to give in to cliches and one-sidedness.
And while Sollett isn't exactly a poet on the level of David Green, he
certainly knows lyricism -- a quiet cut to a night shot of the city near the
end seems perfectly removed yet somehow in tune with the romantic longing of
the characters (Note to Hou Hsiao-Hsien: coming-of-age movies are more fun if
the people coming-of-age actually fucking interact). I'm seeing it again next
Saturday and the rating may even get a bit higher.
034. (17 Jan) Madame Sata (Karim Ainouz,
2002)* [C-]
Utterly unrevealing, tediously flamboyant biopic about an asshole/drag queen.
By the end of the film, those are still the only descriptive phrases we can
really apply to the guy. I guess it sort of achieves "punctuated
equilibrium," though (aka boredom) if you're into that sort of thing. The
Brazilian Blow.
s09. (17 Jan) Pan With Us (David Russo,
2003)* [B]
035. (17 Jan) The Mudge Boy (Michael
Burke, 2003)* [C+]
A contrived and awkwardly disturbing (OZZY!) coming-of-age flick, almost saved
by graceful direction and, for a while at least, confronting complex attitudes
in a male friendship.
036. (17 Jan) thirteen (Catherine
Hardwicke, 2003)* [D]
Let's just say it felt extremely co-written by a thirteen-year-old girl.
"Like, oh my god! You have to put this thing in, it happened to a friend
of mine! It would be so incredibly cool and realistic!
037. (17 Jan) The Singing
Detective (Keith Gordon, 2003)* [B-]
Never seen the mini-series; this version is sporadically enchanting if a bit
sedate. I still prefer its brand of sleazy fantasia to Chicago, though. Robert Downey Jr. is good in
a very coked-out role.
038. (17 Jan) People I Know (Daniel
Algrant, 2002)* [B]
A leisurely yet incisive parable about the modern kind of trust (not to, not
"to"). Occasionally implausible screenplay helped out by a typically
brilliant Pacino.
039. (17 Jan) Woman of Water (Hidenori
Sugimori, 2002)* [B-]
Your average metaphysical Japanese romance between a woman emitting rain and a
man sort of emitting fire, involving her scary-ass smiling mom and the dad who
paints awesome Mt. Fuji shit in bathhouses, culminating in an orgasmic death
ritual forces of nature thingie. Obviously nothing you've never seen before,
but it gets the job done.
s10. (18 Jan) Lucy & Ricky (Jesus
M. Rodriguez, 2003)* [C+]
040. (18 Jan) Rhythm of the Saints
(Sarah Rogacki, 2003)* [C-]
Yeah, it doesn't pretend to forgive its protagonist's actions like thirteen or
something; still, it's tiresome, rote, indiewood bullshit, with laziness
shining through in the screenwriting and acting. And the whole "let's kill
the abusive cartoony lover" ideology feels a tad shaky to me.
041. (18 Jan) Party Monster (Fenton
Bailey & Randy Barbato, 2003)* [D+]
Shallow, idiotic, and slapped together. Macauley is still a bad actor. It looks
terrible. Chloe Sevigny, who I love usually, shows up for some reason looking
like she just crawled out of a sewer. At least it sort of has a (terrible)
sense of humor.
042. (18 Jan) Comandante (Oliver Stone,
2003)* [B]
At its best when Stone reveals as much about himself as about Castro, and we
can see their relationship forming. What are the boundaries here? What can
Oliver dig up without it seeming like Fidel is evasive? As usual, Stone's
editing is superb, and even questions that seem insignificant on their own are
made richer by the balance that can be found in all those bits of footage he
likes to squeeze in so much.
043. (18 Jan) It's All About Love
(Thomas Vinterberg, 2003)* [B+]
Doesn't make much sense as a narrative at all, and the dialogue was so obviously
written by a Danish guy. Still, it has a raw visionary inventiveness that's
been altogether lacking from the fest in recent hours. Ugandan people flying
upwards attached to cords. Sooooo cool.
044. (18 Jan) dot the i (Matthew Parkhill,
2003)* [B]
Starts out as amiable, formulaic, and occasionally bizarre; then the Thing
happens, fun ensues, cleverness is praised. I guess it feels a tad muddled in
meaning at the very end but hey, I HAD FUN!
045. (18 Jan) Benjamim (Monique Gardenberg,
2003)* [C]
Kind of interesting that for a while here Gardenberg directs so compellingly
with so much storytelling possibility that I could almost ignore the fact that
this is basically an old man's Bergmanesque wet dream. Couldn't, though. Eww,
by the way. Gross.
s11. (19 Jan) Tim Tom (Romain Segaud &
Christel Augeoise, 2002)* [A-]
046. (19 Jan) Pieces of April (Peter
Hedges, 2003)* [C+]
Really just an above average sitcom, but it's personal and it leaves you
feeling something for this family; I still hate Derek Luke though.
047. (19 Jan) All the Real
Girls (David Gordon Green, 2003)* [A]
048. (19 Jan) Cremaster 3 (Matthew
Barney, 2002)* [B]
It is rather brilliant, finally, but also sometimes just weird and
impenetrable. The last bit, a climb through the floors of the Guggenheim and a
man's artistic drive, is awesome though, especially the dueling punk bands
juxtaposed against the dancers. I can't imagine anyone who's seen it thinking the
second half wasn't much more exuberant than the first though.
049. (19 Jan) The Event (Thom Fitzgerald,
2003)* [C-]
Self-congratulatory, liberal-ham-fisted crap (they even try to unsuccessfully
mix in bizarrely insubstantial 9/11 allegory shit) with some artificial regret
tacked on for good measure. Even Parker Posey and Sarah Polley, bad in this
film, cannot escape the maudlin dullness.
050. (19 Jan) Confidence (James Foley,
2003)* [B-]
Adds up to next to nothing, but while it was in front of me it was slick,
sprightly, and cool as hell. The cast is terrific, too (when's the last time
you saw a couple of badasses like Robert Forster and Luis Guzman for example in
the same friggin movie?).
s12. (19 Jan) Olivia's Puzzle (Jason
DaSilva, 2001)* [C+]
051. (19 Jan) The Murder of
Emmett Till (Stanley Nelson, 2003)* [C]
A decent history lesson, I suppose. My intellect prohibits me from giving it
more than a C and my conscience prohibits me from giving it less.
s13. (20 Jan) Little Failures (John
Dilley, 2003)* [B-]
052. (20 Jan) Dopamine (Mark Decena, 2003)*
[C]
A lot less insightful than it thinks; it talks about physiology rather than
actually making it seem integral to the film's conventional rom-com structure.
Especially weak when compared with something as open-ended and poetic as All
the Real Girls.
053. (20 Jan) The Technical
Writer (Scott Saunders, 2003)* [B]
Not always believable, but always compelling. The lead Michael Harris carries
the movie with a subtle, conflicted mixture of paranoia and sexual
satisfaction.
s14. (20 Jan) The Long and Short
of It (Sean Astin, 2003)* [D-]
054. (20 Jan) The Maldonaldo
Miracle (Salma Hayek, 2003)* [D-]
Bland, worthless, unfunny, caricaturized, inconsequential, artless, inane, offensive,
indistinctive bile. It got a standing ovation. I hate the public.
055. (20
Jan) Soldier's
Girl (Frank Pierson, 2003)* [A-]
056. (20 Jan) The Shape of Things
(Neil LaBute, 2003)* [B+]
Really awesome, maybe LaBute's best since In the Company of Men. I kind of get
why Scott thought it was too theatrical, but the dialogue is fascinating and
hilarious, and LaBute keeps a pretty consistent sense of mise en scene that
admittedly only erupts around the end. The main reason this is such a great
film is because it's so provocative in such an interesting way -- the closing
sequence drew applause and gasps, sometimes alternately, sometimes
simultaneously. And I think I know why: it directly relates to what a lot of
people at Sundance argue about, the basis of purely expository art. In a way,
the "project" is brilliant; in another way, it's worthless.
057. (20 Jan) The Sea (Baltasar Kormakur,
2002)* [C]
Certainly some decent production values here, but not once could I feel
emotionally connected at all; I could hardly even follow what was going on.
Still not sure whether to blame this on the director's ineptitude as far as
tone and pace go, or some kind of burnout I've been suffering from.
058. (21 Jan) Die Mommie Die (Mark
Rucker, 2003)* [B]
Really damn funny; a Tennessee Williamsish satire that captures the rhythm and
artifice of something like Suddenly Last Summer or one of those Sunset
Boulevard crazy aging diva movies perfectly. And there are some just plain
terrific set pieces here, like the De Palma-esque LSD freak-out. I guess it's not quite
as much fun as 8 Women, but it has the same deliriously plastic
screw-subversive-politics spirit.
059. (21 Jan) Buffalo Soldiers
(Gregor Jordan, 2001)* [B-]
Mostly successful because of its oddly conflicted attitude towards war (so odd,
in fact, that a woman tried to throw a water bottle at Anna Paquin during the
Q&A), but the jabs at the military felt ordinary and even forced compared
to the deeply fair resonance of Soldier's Girl.
060. (21 Jan) Normal (Jane Anderson, 2003)* [C-]
Wonderful acting gets bogged down in conventional love-rules-all logic, which
quite literally rules all (the teenage girl actually wants to wear her dad's
old clothes, that's how contrived it feels). It's got the cumulative impact of
a pat on the back, basically, and it has an unbelievably sour aftertaste of
dishonesty. And the soundtrack is soooo annoying.
061. (21 Jan) In America (Jim Sheridan,
2002)* [B]
Okay, okay, the center of the movie is a little hokey and muddled, but this is
the kind of schmaltz I can believe in, because it's balanced schmaltz, schmaltz
that never sacrifices its metaphorical integrity, its emotional intelligence,
its personal sense of place, time, and family. We never see Ireland, but we still feel in transition; to me, that's
accomplishment enough.
062. (21 Jan) Northfork (Michael Polish,
2003)* [C]
Could even be overrating this one; it's got some nice pieces here and there
(the creepy thing made out of wolf parts, the listing of names) but overall
it's a boring, pretentious mess that never manages to address in a compelling
way what the hell it's actually about.
063. (21 Jan) AKA (Duncan Roy, 2002)* [C-]
Facile, plodding, and just plain out-dated "skewering" of the class
system; to distract us from the simplicity of the trajectory of his story, Roy
tries to juice the thing up with the Triple Screen Gimmick and some Vague
Homoerotic Stuff but it never amounts to anything; this is trash in disguise.
064. (22 Jan) The Cooler (Wayne Kramer,
2003)* [B+]
Really well-acted -- Baldwin is in Glengarry mode again, finally -- and
immensely satisying on its own terms, because we care so much about what each
character is trying to do. And the luck stuff actually works, because unlike
Intacto it relies on emotion rather than... bullshit.
065. (22 Jan) American Splendor
(Robert Pulcini & Sheri Springer Berman, 2003)* [B]
Solid form-bender that ain't exactly Ghost World but has its own brand of
existential deadpan, switching between the real Harvey and the fake one, asking
them if accepting the world as it was was worth it.
s15. (22 Jan) Devil Talk (Illeana Douglas,
2003)* [B-]
066. (22 Jan) Laurel Canyon (Lisa Cholodenko, 2002)* [C]
If this movie were a rap group it would be called "2 Dull N Inane 4
U." I seriously remember next to nothing from it.
067. (22 Jan) Masked and
Anonymous (Larry Charles, 2003)* [D]
What a disaster. Lots of cameos and muddled political commentary but never any
kind of laughs, thematic coherence, or genuine energy. The fact that he said
this movie is like Cassavetes or Altman doing Shakespeare is just plain
insultingly arrogant for such a clearly bad director and character-producer.
068. (22 Jan) Off the Map (Campbell Scott,
2003)* [C+]
Not bad, perse, but it really just puts a bunch of feelings out there, not
necessarily with the knowledge of what they feel like. And it has an annoying
little girl of course.
s16. (22 Jan) firepussy (Laurel Almerinda,
2003)* [C+]
s17. (22 Jan) Request (Jinoh Park, 2003)* [B]
s18. (22 Jan) OPENMINDS (Joe Sedelmaier,
2003)* [D+]
s19. (22 Jan) Family Tree (Vicky Jensen,
2003)* [D]
First two: decent. Second two: suck. Bad. Shorts suck.
069. (23 Jan) Quattro Noza (Joey Curtis,
2003)* [D+]
Wish I could have a little more affection for this one but the truth is that
it's boring as ass... Curtis has no idea what to do with his story to make it
sing or engage AT ALL, it's just a Romeo rehash. Yet yes, some of the Brakhage-esque
images are real cool-lookin', if somewhat hollow. Just stop making stupid
movies Joey, you can do it.
070. (23 Jan) The Station Agent (Tom
McCarthy, 2003)* [B-]
Quirky characters making quirky connections. Light and kind of amiable, but
where the hell is all that insane praise coming from?
s20. (23 Jan) O beautiful (Alan Brown,
2003)* [C-]
s21. (23 Jan) Struggle (Ryan Fleck, 2003)*
[B]
s22. (23 Jan) Come Nightfall (Abigail
Severance, 2003)* [C+]
More decent this time, especially the second one, which presents an
intriguingly vague allegory about racial freedom.
071. (23 Jan) /All the Real
Girls/ (David Gordon Green, 2003)* [A]
072. (23 Jan) Owning Mahowny (Richard
Kwietniowski, 2003)* [C+]
If you've ever seen a movie about a compulsive gambler before, you'll know
where this one's going. Hoffman is great, but I mean, duh, and the internal
logic of his character's spiral downward is never really explained that well.
073. (24 Jan) What Alice Found (A.
Dean Bell, 2003)* [C]
Writing pretty mediocre enough to make me look for some agenda looking
underneath the utterly contrived premise but couldn't really find anything
offensive. Still, pretty stupid. I mean, come on.
074. (24 Jan) The United
States of Leland (Matthew Ryan Hoge, 2003)* [F]
One of the most deeply offensive movies I've ever witnessed, one that uses
doe-eyed depressed self-consciousness as an excuse or the MURDER OF OTHER HUMAN
BEINGS. There isn't a moment when we aren't supposed to believe that what cute
little Ryan Gosling did was completely justified because he's a whiny
pseudo-poetic teenager. And all the other actors, including Don Cheadle and
Kevin Spacey, are at their just plain laziest here, hamming it up to make sure
we get the forced lack of motivation.
075. (24 Jan) City of Ghosts (Matt
Dillon, 2002)* [C]
Um, Matt, did you really feel that passionate about this typical, stupid,
atmospheric yet just nothing blah "thriller"? May I ask why?
076. (24 Jan) The Secret
Lives of Dentists (Alan Rudolph, 2002)* [A-]
Marriage noir: deliriously cynical yet fully justified and felt, making us feel
inexorably trapped between worry and tranquility. Scott (and Davis is good too)
is so great here that the way he looks at her in the final shot seems to embody
everything the movie has showed us beforehand. Even the wacky bits with Leary
are engaging and fun because they're so intensely involved in Scott's
worldview.
077. (24 Jan) Capturing the
Friedmans (Andrew Jarecki, 2003)* [A]
Jarecki goes all out here, showing us evidence that constantly contradicts each
other (for a while I was completely convinced he did it, but then I wasn't so
sure once the whole forceful interrogation/lack of concreteness/memory lapse
thing came into play) and then he ends by embracing this family and at the same
time wondering about how they must feel not being able to say those things to
each other. The one who made the biggest impression on me was David... because
he really does look like he's repressing the truth. At those moments when I
felt pretty confident I could key into what was going on it became a story of
denial and trying to escape a self-inflicted lack of communication. But it's
also very politically ambivalent which truly pissed some audience members off
at my screening due to some serious bias. Good I say.
s23. (25 Jan) Fits & Starts (Vince
De Meglio, 2002)* [B+]
078. (25 Jan) Camp (Todd Graff, 2003)* [B]
Sets itself up from the beginning as a Fame done by a minimally stylistic
version of Paul Thomas Anderson, and it's a bit of a soap opera, but at the
same time, it's genuinely celebratory, huge fun, and I like it more than
Parker's version.
079. (25 Jan) Whale Rider (Niki Caro,
2002)* [D+]
Some young girl wants to become a chief and control the whales, no you can't
become a chief little girl, yes I can says the girl, then she does, it's all
triumphant and heartwarming and shit and fits in with all this tribal spiritual
crap and that's the end. How's it sound, Harvey? Won the big audience prizes at Toronto and Sundance!
080. (25 Jan) /Raising
Victor Vargas/ (Peter Sollett, 2002)* [B+]
Just as sweet and free-flowing as the first time. Kind of interesting how it
starts out accepting the girls' ambivalence toward the guys' affections and
gradually falls into a standstill where they're all able to accept each
other, which is so sweet.
081. (25 Jan) Levity
(Ed Solomon, 2003)* [C-]
082. (25 Jan) Irreversible
(Gaspar Noe, 2002)* [A-]
083. (26 Jan) /All the Real
Girls/ (David Gordon Green, 2003)* [A]
s24. (27 Jan) La Jetee (Chris Marker, 1962)
[B+]
Yes this is the sci-fi short that Terry Gilliam ripped off. It's a pretty
brilliant allegory for the fleeting nature of time and relationships but
there's a bit more intellectually preconceptualized annoying Resnais
meta-romance stuff than I thought there would be.
084. (29 Jan) Rosemary's Baby (Roman
Polanski, 1968) [A-]
The first Polanski I've liked, and I liked it a lot. Like Repulsion, explores
how a woman is gradually driven insane by how her friends forcibly communicate
with her... but unlike Repulsion, it doesn't appear to live by some bizarre
sexist insanity to get its point across, rather grounding its fear in oncoming
parenthood and then suggesting that Rosemary's obsession may drive her to... not
care so much. Basically, it doesn't feel like an excuse for obligatory horror,
but an actual meditation on alienation.
085. (31 Jan) Final Destination 2
(David R. Ellis, 2003)* [B-]
Cruel and stupid... but alas, still very enjoyable, squeezing palpable aimless
dread out of everything despite its self-contained ridiculousness and getting a
lot of mileage out of the ways different "types" deal with impending
death to boot (like Irreversible, there's a pregnancy to remind us that
worrying about the future can breach into the unknown territory of familial
connection). So damn hilarious, even if we do sort of know what will happen,
yet so easy to get into and feel for despite its glossy throwaway sadism. For
some reason.
086. (01 Feb) /George Washington/ (David
Gordon Green, 2000) [A+]
Still rocks. "They'll get your picture right someday." That's what it
means! A movie that connects history to everyday life that isn't a bunch of
bullshit!
s25. (01 Feb) Pleasant Grove (David
Gordon Green, 1996) [C]
s26. (01 Feb) Physical Pinball
(David Gordon Green, 1998) [C-]
s27. (01 Feb) A Day With the Boys
(Clu Gulager, 1969) [B+]
The first being a less modulated, atrociously acted, shortened and
ideologically next-to-null version of George Washington (although it rules to
see Paul Schneider), the second being a very paint-by-numbers coming-of-age
story complete with the heavy-handed going-ahead-of-your-time streetlight
metaphor (though a few juicy Greenisms, and don't think I'm not considering
watching it again just for auteur worship reasons), and the third being a
totally kickass, absa-fucking-lutely gorgeous montage of nostalgic experimental
blahblahblah. Gotta watch more Criterion extras.
087. (01 Feb) A Woman Is a Woman
(Jean-Luc Godard, 1961) [B-]
The emotional lack of confidence, flares, and colors of Punch-Drunk Love (the
guy even wears a blue suit) meets the fussy tribute of The Truth About Charlie
(they even listen to Aznavour) (why is a tribute particularly intelligent or
stimulating though) meets Godard's self-criticisms about the way his aesthetic
depicts women meets Godard whining about his inability to depict comedic grace
because he has to criticize those ol' aesthetic limitations (there are Lubitsch
references). I guess I kind of liked it; I'm really interested to hear what
raving Karina-fetishist Jared Sapolin
would think, as he walked out of Demme's film and thinks Anderson's
is one of the greatest eva. {Post-Jared-commentary:
well, yeah, I'm basically with you. I guess I'm among the few who like Godard
better when he's challenging himself to be purposeful (see Ici et Ailleurs
below) as opposed to just hollowly self-referential. The B- is probably because
I can always have fun with his sensibility either way, unless he's in a very
glum, dull JLG/JLG-ish mood. And yes young Anna Karina is very hot, very Melora
Walters/Emily Watson.}
088. (01 Feb) Safe Conduct (Bernard
Tavernier, 2002)* [B-]
Pretty compelling when put next to something as petty and uninspired as The
Pianist, because Tavernier (well NOW I know) attempts to relate his brand of
historical truth to the attitudes of the filmmakers he's paying tribute to
here, and I actually got the goddamn Le Corbeau reference and some others too,
but eh, he really should have brought it together more often. This is the price
you have to pay for having your movie center around two barely-knew-each-other
protagonists.
089. (02 Feb) Mister Roberts (John
Ford & Mervyn LeRoy, 1955) [B]
Hesitant to get into this at first. Sure, it knows the vibrant mundanity of
out-of-combat army life and even weaves its own philosophy out of that living
towards the end, but Hawks, Ray, and Curtiz have done things with Bogart that
make what Ford and LeRoy do with Fonda seem like an odd joke of sorts. Then
again, there is the powerfully affirming (if predictable) last sequence with
Jack Lemmon...
090. (02 Feb) /Tears of the
Black Tiger/ (Wisit Sasanatieng, 2000) [B]
Didn't really hold up; now it reminds me of that famous Shakespeare equation,
S+F=0. But what S, what F. Unlike 8 Women/Die Mommie Die, I'm afraid it kind of
proves empty, mocking nostalgia isn't always that funny. Still really cool
though.
091. (02 Feb) My Wife Is a
Gangster (Cho Jin-Kyu, 2001) [C-]
Stultifyingly idiotic, unfunny Korean gangster rom-com. This is really as
screenwriting class bland and fundamentally uninteresting as movies get. Note
to self: stop listening to Jeremy's Asian cinema recommendations. Not to
mention billypilgrimnz's.
092. (03 Feb) Ici et Ailleurs
(Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Pierre Gorin, Groupe Dziga Vertov, & Anne-Marie
Mi�ille, 1976) [A]
Startlingly cogent filmmaking, about activism, promoting activism, questioning
activism, and questioning promoting activism, and everything left. Not only
does it force us to consider the repercussions of our own ignorance, but as it
considers the repercussions of its own dishonesty, it becomes a plea to look at
ourselves the same way we look at other cultures in need of political
grounding/assistance of some sort. It's all the more important to me because,
well, because aw shucks, I recently joined an activist group (for no particular
reason other than I have little other to do) and Ici et Ailleurs makes little
actions like that seem all the more historically worthwhile.
093. (03 Feb) Flowers of Shanghai
(Hou Hsiao-Hsien, 1998) [B-]
Men control women, women can't escape, neither can men, opium, static history
in retrospect to approach a deeper understanding of escaping one's culture, gotcha.
094. (05 Feb) My Sassy Girl (Jae-young
Kwak, 2001) [B]
Yes, so the main guy in this movie is a dumbass with a lot to learn (and yes
that is kind of tiresomely the average situation for modern rom-coms) but he is
a dumbass with genuinely good intentions, and when he learns what being
connected with a person in a way you haven't felt before can feel like, I think
we grow a little bit with him. The trajectory is similar of course to All the
Real Girls, and this film doesn't have the expansive emotional complexity of
that one; but it is really about the connections we make and take away, both
with other people and past events, and I took away plenty from it.
095. (05 Feb) El Topo (Alejandro Jodorowsky,
1970) [D]
The ultimate film-as-representative-nightmare... but unlike the nightmares of
Lynch, Godard, etc., it's so gratuitously inhumane and pretentious and removed
and religiously overwrought and utterly incoherent that it's just, well,
torturous. And I can't believe the first recommendation I got on it was fucking
Ebert. Blue Velvet is exploitative and this isn't?
096. (06 Feb) Man With a Movie
Camera (Dziga Vertov, 1929) [B]
Gloriously pure and beautiful; very much the basic components of cinema smashed
together from life into a symphony: light, darkness, motion. Unfortunately
there's not much more to it than its purity, making it a rather light and
insubstantial kind of glory. Oh well. If you rent the dvd, listen to the score.
It's surprisingly worthwhile even though it's pretty synth-y.
097. (07 Feb)
City of God
(Fernando Meirelles, 2002)* [F]
098. (08 Feb) /The Piano Teacher/
(Michael Haneke, 2001) [A]
A very internal movie, where you're either ready to get buried under years of
repression and disappointment or you aren't. I was. The first time I saw it, it
was about hate, now it's about love. Maybe it's about substitution...
099. (08 Feb) Clockers (Spike Lee, 1995)
[B-]
Probably a great movie, but once you get the idea of all the questions Lee is
grappling with, what is there to savor about it? Get out of the hood, stop
smoking crack. I will, thanks.
100. (09 Feb) L'Argent (Robert Bresson,
1983) [A]
Shattering because it doesn't make "sense"; because it doesn't need
to. Bresson isn't a moral director because he rewards the good and punishes the
bad; he is because as the typical societal imbalance goes out of control, he
always casts a sympathetic yet stern gaze.
101. (09 Feb) On Dangerous Ground
(Nicholas Ray, 1951) [A-]
The first Ray I've seen where the lead character's escape from boredom and
dissatisfaction could almost be described as fetishistic.
102. (09 Feb) Late Spring (Yasujiro Ozu,
1949) [B+]
When they say all Ozus are alike, they aren't kidding. Nevertheless, I was more
than a little gripped by his very rectangular compositions, and it goes to show
you that Ozu thinks all the transitions in life are really the same, with
acceptance, denial, reluctance, etc. He's right.
103. (13 Feb) Frenzy (Alfred Hitchcock, 1972)
[C+]
Strong, tightly controlled scenes all over the place... then why does the film
feel like such an exercise in
we-can-never-know-the-Truth-as-long-as-we-keep-watching-movies-blah-blah-blah?
Auteurism or no auteurism, it's just doodling, sorry.
104. (14 Feb) The Man Without a Past
(Aki Kaurismaki, 2002)* [B]
Have to say it pleased me; Kaurismaki is less self-consciously formal than a
deadpanner like Tsai or Jarmusch (though on the whole I like their films
better), giving into just plain warmheartedness every now and then. Call it
alternating between two types of honesty; better yet, The Majestic done introspectively.
The substance, the love-whatever-life-gives-you business, pales beside the
style.
105. (15 Feb) A Wedding in
Ramallah (Sherine Salama, 2002)* [D]
What's wrong with me that makes me so resistant to inane, crude, casual
documentaries like this one that approach such entirely innocent subjects as
cultural differences/arranged marriages/the after-effects of 9/11? Beats me.
Politically conscious, schmolitically schmoncious.
106. (15 Feb) The Wild Bees (Bohdan
Slama, 2001)* [C]
Let's see, ideas for a movie, ideas for a movie... a dysfunctional family! A quirky
dysfunctional family! With dark humor! And some vague existential undertones
and nice cinematography! Yessss! (basically, The Sea pt. 2: incoherent,
rambling, perhaps quite impressive to the chosen few who were meant to see it.)
107. (15 Feb) Lilja 4-ever (Lukas
Moodysson, 2002)* [C+]
A well-oiled tortue mechanism, for certain, but I wanted it to be a bit more.
You see, I haven't loved a character as intensely as Lilya... in well... forever
(ha ha ha). It was immensely painful to see her get hurt because I wanted to
help her out so much, but I only wanted to help her out so much because she was
getting hurt, etc. The movie is certainly socially responsible, not
exploitative, and just damn gripping, but you know what? It's like being
punched in the stomach for nothing, kinda.
108. (15 Feb) /Soft Shell Man/ (Andre
Turpin, 2001)* [B+]
First time I saw this lovely gem was at Sundance more than a year ago; now that
I've taken a philosophy course since, I got the implications set by the woman
reading Kierkegaard at the beginning and I realized this was the ultimate
Kierkegaardian allegory: a man (perhaps the opposite of Morvern Callar), intent
on expressing and fulfilling all the needs of those around him, becoming an
exact replica of his own surroundings, trying to expand the possibilities of
his Self but eventually exploding with nothingness as the crab eats away at his
brain. It's a visually dazzling piece of work; especially that love-making scene
at the gallery, which may use some surreal symbolism to enact his longing for
irresponsible peace but sure as shit works.
109. (16 Feb) Dressed to Kill (Brian
De Palma, 1980) [B]
At first I just thought it was damn gross... have you ever seen someone more
repellingly desperately plastic than Angie Dickinson? Do you have any desire to
see her stroking her vagina? (I know, I'm an anti-intellectual dick). And then
I sensed some homophobic undertones with all the he-kills-cause-he's-gay stuff,
but I realized De Palma was working on another level here (sub-Sirkian, maybe),
commenting on the stereotypes we have of cultures and sexual orientations with
a hum-drum faux-Hitchcock murder story. Plus, there's the ending, which is like
the inverse of the typical idea of repressed maleness, and is so deeply
provocative for it... And of course Nancy Allen. is hot. here.
110. (16 Feb) Devdas (Sanjay Leela Bhansali,
2002)* [C]
Was having fun with it at first, and continued sporadically throughout, but the
movie is just so... underwhelmingly... product. Nice musical sequences; wish
they could have given warnings to go to the lobby between 'em.
111. (16 Feb) To Be and to Have
(Nicholas Philibert, 2002)* [A-]
Anyone with confidence in the idea that documentary can work as poetry should
see this movie... right... now. Such an amazingly beautiful and heartfelt piece
that really makes you get in touch with your own experiences, your own feelings
about learning and growing, because there's so much variety of naivete here.
The "point" is that no matter what age we are, we can always be
transfixed and frustrated by life's unworkables and givens. If growing up is
knowing a moment is just a moment, when do they stop being more? Why are they
more? We get a little hint of that here.
112. (16 Feb) Monday Morning (Otar
Iosseliani, 2002)* [B-]
What the hell...
113. (17 Feb) At the First
Breath of Wind (Franco Piavoli, 2002)* [C+]
Surprisingly absorbing for a bunch of pretty shots of people sitting around
doing nothing. It's almost as if the movie is afraid of joy; it's a poem about
being held in place. Often laughable (i.e. the dude typing the
"essay" about DNA; the woman yelling "Jean!" and us having
no idea what the fuck is going on); also quite beautiful.
114. (17 Feb) Sweet Sixteen (Ken Loach,
2002)* [B-]
Involving enough, I suppose; it just feels routine. The consensus is it's tense
while it goes on, and it feels like a sociological message movie when it's
over, but I pretty much felt the familiar escape your drab surroundings bit the
whole way through, sorry.
115. (17 Feb) The Magdalene
Sisters (Peter Mullan, 2002)* [B-]
Political motivations here even more obvious than Sweet Sixteen; still, a lot
of fun (hot British girls! evil nuns! die nuns die!). May have worked better as
a straight satire, though satisfying as it is.
116. (17 Feb) Dazzling (Xin Lee, 2002)*
[D+]
Collection of timeless moments done shallowly and redundantly; like At the
First Breath of Wind as directed by Roger Avary. You may connect to the
pseudo-philosophical relationship Calvin Klein ad mumbo-jumbo; I just felt like
I wasn't really getting anywhere.
117. (18 Feb) The Man on the Train
(Patrice Leconte, 2002)* [C]
What a lazy, uninsightful little movie this is. Never really punishing; still,
pretentious, unfunny, and just plain uncourageous.
118. (18 Feb) The War (Alexei Balabanov,
2002)* [B-]
I guess war satire just isn't a fresh genre any more, but at least there's some
decently interesting shit going on in this movie. I'm beginning to feel like a
broken record here because I called Buffalo
Soldiers interesting for its casually conflicted outlook on war. Here the
direction itself seems conflicted; at one moment Balabanov's camera can feel
cold and threatening; at another, the alt-rock music will surge up and make
everything seem oddly slackish... increasing the weight of the cruelty at hand,
in a way. Whatever, the movie's cool. There's a great scene with rocks...
119. (19 Feb) Stevie (Steve James, 2002)* [B]
Moving, resilient, deeply personal, etc.; unfortunately suffers from some
editing problems, because James probably just wasn't able to convince himself
to edit certain sorta-redundant sections out concerning Stevie's family life,
influence, etc. Despite this, it's quite an expansive journey. The film is
asking if there's anything in Stevie that can be changed, or rather if there's
anything that demands to be changed. After seeing that moving-on-optimistically-after-the-Event
stuff in movies like 25th Hour/All the Real Girls there's something just really
really affirming-- in Stevie's best moments-- about the fact that people
actually do that, ya know?
120. (20 Feb) Hukkle (Gyrgy P�fi, 2002)*
[C-]
Rhythmic leisure at its most pure; hiccups, creaking noises, bugs, and vaguely
disgusting sights abound. Too bad it's just sort of precious and irritating and
never really about anything other than some obvious similarities between visual
and aural textures, I mean, duh.
121. (20 Feb) Dragonflies (Marius Holst,
2002)* [C-]
Older guy, younger women, friend between the two of them butts in,
Polanski-esque obligatory psychosis intact, some pat metaphors... gee, what
will happen next? Maybe some insanity/adultery/pattery?
122. (21 Feb) Bend It Like Beckham
(Gurinder Chadha, 2002)* [C-]
Folks, it's been a long night. As if anyone cares about this fucking horny
Adidas commercial of a movie.
123. (21 Feb) Blissfully Yours
(Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2001)* [A-]
124. (22 Feb) Minoes (Vincent Bal, 2002)* [F]
Why do people make loud, witless, shamelessly derivative, offensively
insubstantial movies like this? Where do they live?
125. (22 Feb) House of Fools (Andrei
Konchalovsky, 2002)* [C-]
Okay, so war satire is
beginning to become tiresome. Not only is this movie allegorically obvious (get
it? it's a mental institution, and there's a war! and like, insane people are
at a mental institution, and also, war is insane! so, therefore, they are on
the same level of sanity! ha ha ha ha I'm so clever!), it's lazy; all we get
are the usual types acting up and the odd (attractive; normal) one out who's
actually conflicted. Some cool scenes with Bryan Adams though.
126. (22 Feb) Respiro (Emanuele Crialese,
2002)* [C+]
Paint-by-numbers come-of-age-and-help-your-mentally-unstable-mother flick,
enlivened by some indelible images and terrific acting.
127. (22 Feb) Divine Intervention
(Elia Suleiman, 2002)* [B-]
Obviously not even-handed at all, so while I was watching it, it just felt dry
and cynical and almost politically useless. But it does feature many impossibly
cool scenes (i.e. the kick-motherfucking-ass faux-Matrix training sequence; the
balloon trip; "I Put a Spell on You"), and the coolness of those
scenes I guess sort of transports you to the ethnocentric world of the
Palestinian side of the conflict... I guess... Call it In the Company of
Israelis...
128. (23 Feb) Spellbound (Jeffrey Blitz,
2002)* [B+]
After my invariably gripped and uplifted reactions to this and To Be and To
Have I'm beginning to have nightmares of me standing next to my wife the soccer
mom going "These kids are so cute, aren't they!?" A bit too much Americana for my taste, but it just makes you feel so
good (made with a [David Gordon] Greenian sense of compassion and respect; and
an "expansive", I guess, perspective of the American Dream)!
s28. (23 Feb) Bamboleho (Luis Prieto,
2001)* [B-]
129. (23 Feb) Mondays in the Sun
(Fernando Leon de Aranoa, 2002)* [B]
I'll take this resonating economic instability with a terrific understated
performance by Javier Bardem over the new Loach or Leigh any day; unlike their
films it respectively doesn't OD on didactic familiarity or gooey
reconciliation.
130. (23 Feb)
/Russian Ark/ (Alexander Sokurov, 2002)* [B+]
Russian girls have real purty skin (as with the first time, moments of
revolutionary beauty with thankfully occasional lapses into historically
referential incoherence)...
131. (24 Feb) Bolivia (Adri� Caetano, 2001)* [C+]
Been-there-done-that working class angst explosion... I believe that there are
two other better versions of this movie called Laws of Gravity and Manito that
actually have both naturalism and energy. Nice B&W photography
though.
132. (24 Feb) /Blissfully Yours/
(Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2001)* [A-]
133. (25 Feb) Deserted Station
(Alireza Raisian, 2002)* [C]
I was thinking of writing De Palma : Hitchcock :: Raisian : Kiarostami but
realized the analogy wouldn't work because a) Kiarostami, like, wrote the story
for this movie, and b) it would be an insult to De Palma, who still actually
strives for creativity and self-reflection inside his anguished, wank rip-off
aesthetic. Raisian, on the other hand, uses smug philosophy talk (sample
dialogue: "In one's life, one lives and one dies") and cloying cuteness
(the girl who had to be carried resolving the woman's desire to care; the lamb
resolving the desire to give birth; why the hell do desires have to be
resolved anyway?) where Kiarostami is subtle and giving. Also paled in
comparison to To Be and To Have; this is not a movie about how students
influenced a teacher's life, but How Students Influenced a Teacher(how
ironic)'s Life.
134. (25 Feb) Octavia (Basilio Mart�
Patino, 2002)* [D-]
Can't really suggest you do anything other than stay far far the fuck away;
this is one of those movies where the violins drone on and on and the dully
complacent (and oh-so-existentially-serious) main character, the old man
who is oh-so-profoundly looking back on his life and is oh-so-wise and
knowledgable and cultured, and knows how to "appreciate
beauty" (which is, according to this movie's twisted logic, looking at
pretty buildings and flowers and giving into mindless anti-transcendence),
talks to you about how Octavia (oh, Octavia!) is going to die and that
she was young and that is Sad and that this boring-ass piece of trash is 130
minutes long (it's like the inverse of thirteen, giving into the attitude that
comes with experience and refusing to accept any new ideas, forever holding
onto the soiled teddy bear of Artfulness); thankfully, its seriousness and
ignorance get to be more hilariously laughable as it goes along.
135. (26 Feb) Waiting for
Happiness (Abderrahmane Sissako, 2002)* [C+]
I guess it says something moving about transcending cultural monotony, but
it's just not that, you know, distinct. It's one of those art movies about a
community of African people...
136. (26 Feb) Derrida (Kirby Dick and Amy
Ziering Kofman, 2002)* [B]
Very cinematic representation of Derrida's ideas because it seems to unsure of
its ability to embody them (i.e. the difference between someone and something
being represented by our relationship to what we are shown of Derrida's actions
and what he knows about the filming as it occurs). It's also about the
inseparability of the man's actions and his thoughts (and our actions and our
thoughts)...
137. (27 Feb) /George
Washington/ (David Gordon Green, 2000) [A+]
*wipes tear from eye* I feel like I get closer to this film every time I watch
it.
138. (28 Feb) /All the Real
Girls/ (David Gordon Green, 2003)* [A]
139. (28 Feb) Japon (Carlos Reygadas, 2002)*
[D+]
Something like Herzog meets Kiarostami meets Dumont, and the "meets"
thing is pretty apt here since it felt like Reygadas didn't have a creative
bone in his body (in the program notes he said something about wanting to make
the most beautiful film ever made; pity he didn't want to say anything
remotely interesting). This is a bunch of contrived, tiresome dread, like
the male version of The Hours, with some wacky sexual angst and a cool-ass
final shot as sole mer