Tite Times

Tite Times is Dead; Long Live Tite Times

2007-10-16T13:39:00.000-07:00

Just kidding, sort of. Tite Times has officially been moved to a new location, which can be found at my new (currently under construction) website.

Nothing Ever Happens
http://www.ericmarshland.com/blog

He wrote me from...

2007-08-27T21:11:00.000-07:00

There's a lot going on over here at good old Tite Times, which includes but is not limited to moving into a new apartment this week, starting a new (real) job, getting a pseudo part time film reviewer job (more on that later when it happens), and so on.

In the meantime, enjoy a new favorite music video of mine, one which for some silly reason I had never seen until this week.

Yo La Tengo, "Sugarcube" (featuring Bob Odenkirk, David Cross, and John Ennis)

The Abyss (1989)

2007-08-21T21:27:00.000-07:00

The Abyss (1989)
Written and Directed by James Cameron

In the wake of his smash hits The Terminator and Aliens, James Cameron wrote, directed, crashed, and burned with this bloated sci-fi epic. I had the displeasure of viewing this film last night for the first time in probably 10 years, though this was my first time seeing the obnoxiously long 171-minute special edition version. The story is relatively simple, as a group of American soldiers and underwater oil rig workers investigate a sunken submarine at the bottom of the ocean. The film then unfolds sluggishly through territories well explored in the history of cinema, and Cameron makes sure he hits every unnecessary and trite direction possible. Despite some actually spectacular action/fx sequences that heat up in the second act, Cameron drowns the third act with somewhere around three to four separate climaxes, and for his finale employs unforgivably sappy left-wing ideology with a child's vision of solving the world's problems. Ed Harris was reportedly to have said he would never work with Cameron again after the filming of this movie: I wouldn't either, because it stinks like a big piece of shit.

***If this film has one saving grace it's everyone's favorite bad actor Michael Biehn, playing the wigged out Navy Seal who turns his back on everyone***

[171 minutes. Color. In English. PG-13.]

Superbad (2007)

2007-08-19T12:46:00.000-07:00

Superbad (2007)
Directed by Greg Mottola
Written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg

The latest feature from the Judd Apatow factory of comedy, Superbad is a movie about getting drunk, trying to get laid, and the inevitability of losing friends after high school. The latter gets the least amount of screen time, while the former gets treated with D-Day-esque importance, which allows for the film's juvenile fantasy to play out in the most riotous way possible. Starring the reigning king of awkwardness Michael Cera, and archetypal fat, ugly stoner Jonah Hill as the two best friends who finally get their chance to go to a cool party and possibly score big, Superbad manages its fair share of potty mouth induced belly laughs. Christopher Mintz-Plasse stars as Fogell (aka McLovin), the dorkiest of dorks, and Apatow and company apparently discovered him on YouTube. Only with writer Seth Rogen and SNL-regular Bill Hader making an appearance as local police officers does this film lose it's true charm -- the cops are crazier and more ridiculous than anyone else in the film (hogging the spotlight, a bit). It rubbed me the wrong way, but Rogen and Hader are well known and established funnymen, making their joyriding with McLovin still pretty enjoyable. The real gold however, is the performances of Hill and Cera who consistently hit the right comedic notes (yet I worry that Cera's 5-year run using the same comedy style (read: 1 note) might run its course sooner than later. Hopefully not.) Time will tell if Superbad holds up as important and funny of a high school comedy as Fast Times or Dazed and Confused, but it beats the shit out of American Pie and every other high school comedy since then.

[114 minutes. Color. In English. Rated R.]

Sweetie (1989)

2007-08-17T16:10:00.001-07:00

Sweetie (1989)
Directed by Jane Campion
Written by Jane Campion and Gerard Lee

Though she will most likely be remembered for the ultra successful, award winning drama The Piano, Jane Campion made her auspicious feature film debut with Sweetie, a black comedy about two sisters and their destructive relationship within a dysfunctional family. The film starts with wide-eyed neurotic Kay, who falls in love with Louis (Tom Lycos) after going to see a fortune teller. Later, their relationship begins to decay because he attempts to plant a tree in their backyard. It is at is seems -- Kay isn't the most emotionally stable or developed, and things get even more complicated when her emotionally infantile, slobby sister Dawn/Sweetie (Genevieve Lemon) shows up at their doorstep. The two sisters lock into an endless, childish struggle, and when the rest of the family gets involved it becomes clear as to the dangerous emotional effect Sweetie's suspected mental illness has had on the family (especially the sadly delusional, possibly incestuous father).

Campion, with cinematographer Sally Bongers, manage to create a richly textured world of fantasy within the scope of everyday objects and settings. Employing peculiar framing, carefully crafted camera movements, with surrealism and color saturated sets and costume design, Campion poetically intertwines her unique visual style with an engaging and equally disquieting script. The precise direction of Campion not only makes the film impressive to look at, but the unorthodox nature of the story and the simultaneously enchanting and horrifying work of the actors (particularly Lemon) makes Sweetie as close as a film can get to being a complete, fluid work.

This Week: Godard's "Pierrot le Fou" (1965)

2007-08-17T09:05:00.000-07:00

Playing in Chicago this week at the Music Box. Go see it. From the Reader:

"I wanted to tell the story of the last romantic couple," Jean-Luc Godard said of this brilliant, all-over-the-place adventure and meditation about two lovers on the run (Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina). Made in 1965, this film, with its ravishing colors and beautiful 'Scope camerawork by Raoul Coutard, still looks as iconoclastic and fresh as it did when it belatedly opened in the U.S. Godard's misogynistic view of women as the ultimate betrayers is integral to the romanticism in much of his 60s work--and perhaps never more so than here--but Karina's charisma makes this pretty easy to ignore most of the time. The movie's frequent shifts in style, emotion, and narrative are both challenging and intoxicating: American director Samuel Fuller turns up at a party scene to offer his definition of cinema, Karina performs two memorable songs in musical-comedy fashion, Belmondo's character quotes copiously from his reading, and a fair number of red and blue cars are stolen and destroyed. In French with subtitles. 110 min. -Jonathan Rosenbaum

Rififi (1955)

2007-08-13T11:58:00.000-07:00

Rififi (aka Du rififi chez les hommes, 1955)
Directed by Jules Dassin
Written by Jules Dassin, Rene Wheeler, Auguste Le Breton
Based on the Novel by Augeste Le Breton

After a seven year prison stint for robbery, hardened old timer Tony (Jean Servais) meets up with his former colleagues only to decline a bank robbery job. Upon finding his former girl (Marie Sabouret) shacked up with a sleazy night club owner (Pierre Grasset), Tony re-joins his gang to pull off a heist at a nearby, highly secured jewelery shop. What follows is non-stop action, bringing in all the quintessential elements of the crime/heist genre: dishonor among thieves, double crosses, backstabbing, murder, theft, kidnapping, and vengeance.

Blacklisted American director Jules Dassin directed this crime thriller adaptation while living in exile in France. Having directed a string of successful crime films in America in the late 1940s (Thieves' Highway, Brute Force, The Naked City, Night and the City), the material was nothing new to Dassin -- though Rififi marks a step forward in structure and style with a simultaneous step backwards in themes. That's not to say the film avoids moral issues all together, as Dassin specifically deals with the blacklist backlash, playing one of the criminals himself -- meeting his bloody, violent demise after ratting out his colleagues. Never the less, Rififi remains a landmark crime film, most well known and appreciated for the thirty minute, no-dialogue, no-music heist scene which is a brilliant exercise in tension, sound, paranoia, and professionalism.

[115 minutes. B&W. In French/Italian with English Subtitles.]

Killer of Sheep (2007)

2007-08-08T19:28:00.000-07:00

Killer of Sheep (2007)
Written and Directed by Charles Burnett

The often overlooked and under appreciated Charles Burnett made this gritty, neo-realist masterpiece as his Masters thesis film at UCLA in the late 70s, though the film never enjoyed a theatrical run until now. Despite being named one of the 100 Essential Films of all time by the National Society of Film Critics in 1990 (and placed in the Library of Congress' Film Registry), Killer of Sheep had been unreleasable for the past thirty years due to the twenty-odd songs used for the soundtrack of the film (which includes Dinah Washington, Paul Robeson, Louis Armstrong, Earth, Wind and Fire, etc.). Recently restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and Milestone films (in addition to a contribution from Steven Soderbergh), they also paid around $150,000 for the soundtrack licenses.

In many ways, the wait was worth it -- Killer of Sheep is no doubt a masterpiece, a rare gem in American cinema that examines the life of African-Americans in the Watts ghetto in the late 1970s. Burnett loosely pieces together scenes (some call them 'vignettes', though the scenes are a bit more connected) centered around Stan (Henry Gayle Sanders), a slaughter-house worker. His long work hours seem to have little affect how he and his family lives, although he would be the first one to tell you he's not poor ("I donate stuff to the Salvation Army" he says). With no discernible plot, the film builds scene upon scene, making nothing into something: a hauntingly sad portrait of everyday life in the ghetto, a life that Stan can't seem to escape even if he tried. Together with the soundtrack, Burnett juxtaposes life in the ghetto with a sort of history of African-American music, creating a beautiful, humorous, and sad world of futility. Killer of Sheep is unlike many American films, especially those of the 1970s -- the film is much more closely connected to the neo-realist works of De Sica and Rossellini, though his knack for dry humor and music set him apart (and more American) from the latter. Made for around $10,000 and shot on weekends using non-professional actors, Killer of Sheep is perhaps the most powerful film you'll see this year even though it was made over thirty years ago.

[81 minutes. B&W. In English]

***Killer of Sheep is enjoying an extended run at the Music Box, so check it out before it goes away, you might never have the chance again.

http://www.killerofsheep.com/

Broken English (2007)

2007-08-08T16:38:00.000-07:00

Broken English (2007)
Written and Directed by Zoe Cassavetes

Zoe Cassavetes makes her directorial debut in this "indie" romantic comedy starring Parker Posey. Zoe is the daughter of famous actor and independent film pioneer John Cassavetes, and while it seems unfair to try and compare them, it is strikingly peculiar that there is little of the "Cassavetes" feel in this film. That however, is the least of its problems.

The film stars Parker Posey as a loveless thirtysomething in New York City, who continually gets involved with "bad" guys, including a narcissistic, moronic actor (Justin Theroux) and a still heart-broken mope (Josh Hamilton). Eventually, she meets an attractive and sensitive Frenchman, but of course, pushes him away because of her "insecurities". God, I even feel silly attempting to describe the plot. Broken English is so full of cliches, stereotypes, and mushy platitudes that it's hard to muster up the strength to turn away from the Houston Astros/Chicago Cubs game right now. The script is so inconsistent that it gives the always entertaining Parker Posey little room to display her talent -- her offbeat, unique humor comes through in the first act, but disappears quickly and returns only in flashes for the rest of the film. Cassavetes and the film spends the rest of the time sleepwalking through Dr. Phil-esque self-realizations and predictable plot twists. This film is a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy, and I say that in the most degrading, negative way possible. It's a shame to see such a talent like Posey to go to waste in sappy filth like this. Someone check Zoe's DNA.

[97 minutes. Rated PG-13. In English]

Sunshine (2007)

2007-08-06T20:00:00.002-07:00

Sunshine (2007)
Directed by Danny Boyle
Written by Alex Garland

Apparently sometime in the future, the sun will start to die. In attempt to save the world, a crew consisting of young attractive white Americans, a few Asian-Americans, and an Indian-American psychologist will make the second trip to the sun -- with intention of shooting a gigantic bomb into it in hopes of creating a star within a star. If I wasn't scientifically inept I would try and explain more, though I can tell you that it's a pretty awesome idea (also something the folks at CERN are currently trying to figure out as well). But that is not my place -- my place is to tell you what is right and what is wrong with the latest film from English heavyweight Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later). Re-teaming with the 28 Days Later crew, including writer Alex Garland and producer Andrew MacDonald, Boyle has managed to create two-thirds of a possibly great film.

In theory, the faults of Sunshine are in no way the work of Boyle, who has established himself as an always interesting (at least visually) director over the past decade. His visual flair has been there from day one (Shallow Grave), and Sunshine is no exception -- this is a beautifully shot and constructed film, which combined with some modest special effects prove particularly interesting (especially in the psychedelic, I'm looking right at the sun way). Boyle, as competent as ever, also continues his love-affair with electronica group Underworld, who composed much of the impressive ambient/techno score which was more than enjoyable. For at least two thirds of the film, Sunshine is engaging -- it weaves in and out of varying sci-fi styles, and one hopes that it settles in -- unfortunately it never does. Granted Andrei Tarkovsky and Stanley Kubrick have covered almost all there is to cover metaphysically when it comes to space, Sunshine only slightly explores it's most interesting aspect: seeing/experiencing closeness to the sun as metaphor for God/Heaven/Death/Immortality.

Unfortunately, it seems Alex Garland held his How-To-Write-Dramatically-For-The-Screen book a bit to close this time around. The kick-ass visual aesthetic and score are helped very little by Garland's script, which at times is nothing short of brilliant, but ultimately resorts to the most pathetic and predictable usage of cliched characters / sci-fi archetypes. Sadly, Sunshine had a chance to be something special, a sort of chaotic mixture of all the sci-fi cinema that has come before it, but it's third act burns out faster than the dying sun of the not-so-near-future (oh damn!). Worth a look, but don't be surprised if you leave just a bit disappointed.

[In English. 107 minutes. Rated R.]

Moving Images, Moving On

2007-08-01T21:04:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened since my last update. Two of cinema's greats, Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni have passed away, the MLB trade deadline came and went (way to go White Sox), and I spent a week in San Luis Obispo, California, having lots of tite times. It's been a sweltering hot summer, though productivity has been pretty good. All the tite times have a price though, such as my lack of summer writing. Hence, moving on. For the sake of letting the past be the past, what I've been watching:

Bukowski: Born Into This (John Dullaghan, 2003) -- Drinking, writing, drinking writing. Formulaic documentary made up mostly of footage from another documentary already made about Bukowski. Luckily for first time filmmaker Dullaghan, he chose an interesting subject -- Bukowski's tortured, alcoholic soul is always engaging even when he comes off as a misogynistic hack.

Blue (Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1993) -- First of his Three Colors trilogy, Kieslowski poses the question: is it possible for a woman (or person for that matter) in contemporary society to put everything behind her and start anew? The result is ambiguously depressing and uplifting, though the hypnotic beauty of the visuals and Juliette Binoche's powerful performance is more than enough to convince me of anything.

In the Mood For Love (Wong Kar Wai, 2000) -- Hong Kong heavyweight Wong Kar Wai toned it down for this small film about a love story that never happens. Pretty to look at, but Wong's masturbation through use of repetition is aggravating.

Forty Guns (Sam Fuller, 1957) -- Fuller at his cigar chomping finest. If there ever was an argument for the king of pulp, here it is.

The Simpsons Movie (David Silverman, 2007) -- Of course it's funny, and of course it can't live up to over a decade's worth of priceless satire. See it, for there won't be many more entertaining movies this year like this one.

Mr. Jealousy (Noah Baumbach, 1997) -- Made in between two supremely better films (Kicking & Screaming, The Squid and the Whale), Mr. Jealousy is Baumbach trying to be something he's not. The results are mixed. The comedy is spot on (Jacot and Eigeman deliever as usual), but the shameless homages to Truffaut, Lubistch, et al. are tiresome. Plus, Eric Stoltz could never get women that hot.

My Night At Maud's (Eric Rohmer, 1970) -- One of Rohmer's six moral tales, and not for the short-attention span crowd. The "devout" "catholic" lead as played by Jean-Louis Trintignant is engaging in that confused, tortured way, which moves this nice little movie along when Rohmer gets a bit too wordy.

Ace in the Hole (Billy Wilder, 1951) -- This is what it looks like when Billy Wilder says fuck you to the world. This is also what it looks like when Kirk Douglas unleashes the venom of a viking warrior in the world of small town journalism. This is what an awesome movie looks like, and no it's not funny, and no, it does not star Jack Lemmon.

Time Indefinite (Ross McElwee, 1993) -- The pondering southern gentleman followed up his now-classic Sherman's March with another diary-documentary, this time leaving the women of the south behind for the confusing world of marriage, life, and death. Drags a bit in the middle, but McElwee has an irresitable charm.

Six O'Clock News (Ross McElwee, 1996) -- The charm wears a bit thin in this film, McElwee's examination and worried-father look at news, violence, and disaster. A bit more unfocused than some of his other (better) films.

Bright Leaves (Ross McElwee, 2003) -- The second best of McElwee's autobiographical diary narratives. This film has something to do with the tobacco industry, but McElwee takes his stance as the anti-Michael Moore -- McElwee is not out to muckrake or to promote any sort of political stance, he's simply trying to make sense of a world in which his complex lineage might be traced to a fictional adaptation of his grandfather's life in a Hollywood movie starring Gary Cooper about the rise of the Duke family, Bull Durham tobacco, and lost fortunes. It sounds confusing, but it's not -- probably his most complete and organized film to date, and it totally pays off.

Knocked Up (2007)

2007-07-12T17:52:00.000-07:00

Knocked Up (2007)
Written and Directed by Judd Apatow

I've caught the last train after the last train on this one, and so much has already been said about TV-vet turned film-comedy-superstar Judd Apatow's most recent success that I'm practically speechless. As one might suspect from the title, the film concerns a pregnancy, and an unexpected one at that. In the weeks since it has come out (and boy, it's been out for a while) there has been some controversy in regards to the absence of abortion discussion in the film -- but I think these people (Pat Graham) are missing the point: Knocked Up isn't about much (especially morally) -- unless morality somehow has transformed itself into "an excuse for a group of friend-colleagues to get together and make hilarious jokes and references in front of a camera."

What's especially interesting about Knocked Up, in the critical sense, is it's strangely dualistic nature: it treats moral conflict and drama in the most rudimentary and unimportant of ways, yet it's nature as a contemporary comedy is not only timely but filled with painstaking detail complete with an inexhaustable, relentless barrage of references, insults, one-liners and impressions. Of course it's not a first for a high-profile comedy like this to have actual *emotion* take a back seat, but most mainstream comedies aren't nearly this funny. Apatow is slowly breaking the chains that have binded him in his television-rooted past, most notably his sloppy, close-up driven TV directing style -- but here he shows that he is growing, however slightly. His comedy and work with the actors is far superior here than in anything he's previously done (especially 40-Year Old Virgin) -- and maybe I hang out with too many stoner-fueled, film loving fantasy baseball playing dudes, but it's hard not to enjoy scenes that felt so painfully hilarious to real-life that I couldn't contain myself. It helps that he's basically worked with the same group of actors since Freaks and Geeks, but their casual camaraderie, improvisation, and culture-obsessed humor hits home in the best of ways possible.

Starring Apatow regulars Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, Martin Starr, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Loudan Wainwright III, Leslie Mann, and Jason Segal, and also with Katherine Heigl and a bunch of other people I'm too lazy to list, although Harold Ramis has a particularly funny bit.

[129 minutes. Rated R. Color.]

Tite Times Update -- 7.12.07

2007-07-11T23:29:00.000-07:00

All I can offer for the time being is a recent and most excellent article concerning Woody Allen's 1979 masterpiece:

Defending Manhattan
by J. Hoberman (Village Voice, 7.10.07)

--------------------------------

Somehow graduating college has left me with less time to write than before, or maybe I've been spending my summer days with beers, baseball, and Built to Spill instead. That being said, there is plenty of fun stuff to look forward to here at the Tite, including and not limited to reviews of a handful of Ross McElwee films, Kieslowski's Three Colors Trilogy, Knocked Up, and some other junk I've been watching. Soon, friends, soon.

Rescue Dawn (2007)

2007-06-27T20:46:00.001-07:00

Rescue Dawn (2007)
Written and Directed by Werner Herzog

The enigma of Werner Herzog returns, this time for his second *fictional* film in the last fifteen years, and a fictionalized version of a documentary he made a decade ago at that. Herzog, presumably drunk on the unexpected success of Grizzly Man, and some Hollywood producers and crew (also presumably drunk enough) to finance and make the film have all (knowingly and unknowingly) decided to give America a giant ironic birthday cake this July 4 (the official release date of the film). Adapted from the *true* events that made up his 1997 documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly, Rescue Dawn is the story of Dieter Dangler, a (German-born) American pilot who gets shot down in the early stages of the Vietnam war. Played by the unevenly British (and again emaciated) Christian Bale, Dangler survives the crash only to be captured and held prisoner in Laos with some other delusional fellows (a surprisingly effective Steve Zahn, and a not so surprisingly overacted Jeremy Davies, once again doing his Charles Manson).

Rescue Dawn has all the makings of a quintessential Herzog film: the harsh jungle, savagely violent natives, Caspar David Friedrich-esque imagery, a man driven by obsession -- but color me confused on this one, it felt more like someone doing their damnedest Herzog impression. Technically, it would be unfair to criticize Herzog for breaking from the mold he so carefully (and sloppily) made throughout his career, which was my first reaction to the film ("What? Where is the futility? The death?"). However the more I dissect it, it isn't that Herzog has moved away from the 'impossible-dream' driven stories that made him famous, but it's that he has turned down the knob from 10 to 1 on the classic Herzogian irony and futility scale. All the elements remain intact, but it's all a bit watered down -- though I'll give him credit for making a film that is destined to be misunderstood by just about everyone who sees it (especially Americans). Despite the setting and circumstances, the film has very little to do with Vietnam (Herzog has never been concerned with social reality), yet Dieter's "success" in survival and escape has everything to do with Herzog making an underhanded statement about America and the Vietnam war. Quite simply, the scenario of Vietnam plays second fiddle to Herzog's interest in mankind's never ending (and futile) attempt at overcoming the impossible -- the fact that Dieter survives as a celebrated war hero is sweet bitter irony in the fact that when he escaped, the Vietnam War had just started to heat up, and would (obviously) go on for years costing countless people their lives.

Additionally, the fact that a German embodies 'what it is to be American' in this film, while the 'real' Americans end up dead or as backstabbers (also probably dead) will most likely also be a commonly overlooked part of this film. Possibly his most accessible feature length narrative, Rescue Dawn is a long way off from his finer achievements (like Stroszek, Kaspar Hauser, Aguirre), but it's a much deeper and darker film than it lets on -- so enjoy it this independence day Americans, but don't forget that it really is just one big ironic birthday cake.

[126 minutes. In English. Rated PG-13.]

Rapid Fire: Summer Begins

2007-06-18T07:09:00.000-07:00

In an attempt to catch up on some things I've viewed.

White Dog (Sam Fuller, 1982) -- Fuller's last American film, and perhaps one of his best. An actress in L.A. finds a "white dog" (a dog trained to attack black people) and the subsequent attempted rehabilitation by an African-American animal trainer. A sad and hopeless indictment of racism in America, what might appear as a Lifetime made-for-TV movie is rich with energetic and unique direction by Fuller. It's a shame this film has been shelved for so long. Based on the real life exploits of actress Jean Seberg and Romain Gary (who wrote the memoir).

All The Real Girls (David Gordon Green, 2003) -- The follow up to his breakthrough great film George Washington, the (then) 28-year old American wunderkind co-wrote and directed this southern love story. In many ways an improvement over his previous feature, yet I found it to be much less enchanting -- Green strives so hard for awkward and natural performances that it grows a bit tiring, however realistic it may be. Still, this is an excellent film from one of America's most promising directors. Co-written by lead actor Paul Schneider, and co-starring a wonderfully confused and beautiful Zooey Deschanel.

Saraband (Ingmar Bergman, 2003) -- Bergman's follow up to Scenes From a Marriage, some 30-odd years later. Shot on digital video (I know, right), this film is just as heart shattering the second time around. Bergman's work with Liv Ullman and Erland Josephson is so good it's mind bending.

--------------------------------

Entourage (Episode 43: Welcome to the Jungle) -- Entourage gets ambitious in this 2nd-half season premiere, choosing a documentary style approach to cover the making of their film in Columbia, with drastically mixed results. Though a few good gags, the interview-format was underwhelming and the Walsh-Goes-Hearts-Of-Darkness storyline was brutally predictable and silly.

John From Cincinatti (Episode 2: His Visit) -- Though I missed the first episode, I figured I'd give this a shot. It's terribly uneven, and the characters tend to lapse into elliptical, abstract dialogue which seems like a half-ass attempt at something interesting and profound. The episode provided enough for me to want to watch next week, but with a short-leash.

Flight of the Conchords (Episode 1: Sally) -- New Zealand comedy-rockers Flight of the Conchords get their own show, which seemed deserving to me after seeing their HBO stand-up special (which was nothing short of hysterical). After seeing the first episode, I'm not convinced their live performance ability is justified by a pseudo-narrative storyline. A few comic highlights (including a laugh-out-loud joke about Fleetwood Mac), but mostly a drag. Again, I'll give it another shot.

La Haine (1995)

2007-06-16T14:19:00.000-07:00

La Haine (Hate)
Written and Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz

The day after a race riot (started by police brutality, of course), three alienated youths wander around the suburbs of Paris aimlessly. Their alienation is highlighted by their respective races-- one is a Jew (Vinz), one is black (Hubert), and one is North African (Said). When Vinz introduces a gun (a magnum, at that) to the other characters, and to the story, it brings to the screen an endless sense of dread and anticipation. Going on a 24-hour crime spree of sorts, it's as if the characters (especially Vinz, who is emotionally unhinged) are looking for a reason to use the gun--and between abusively brutal police officers, nasty skinheads, and a coked out psychopath, there are potentially many opportunities to use it, though writer-director Mathieu Kassovitz knows better. His storytelling is confident and his direction is assured and energetic -- he gets his many points across by focusing on the acting, and as a result makes this potentially bad hip-hop shoot em up an intriguing portrait of race-driven angst and teenage hopelessness.

Vinz, Hubert, and Said are all wannabe gangsters, petty criminals at best, and though the film is titled Hate (and they have plenty of it), it's too complicated a subject to be bogged down with moral points-- and though shot in black & white, the world that La Haine creates (and its characters) are realistically nothing but an unsure, murky area of gray. Simultaneously a road, buddy, gangster, youth, and hip-hop film, La Haine is far from uneven, and despite all its stylish low-budget camera work (which there is plenty of) Kassovitz and his cast never forget the essentials: feeling and human emotion (compliments to the excellent acting by Vincent Cassell, Hubert Kounde, and Said Taghmaouui).

96 minutes. B&W. In French with English subtitles.

(Side note: though it was widely unavailable in the United States for over a decade, it was recently released on Criterion Collection.)

Ousmane Sembene R.I.P. (1923-2007)

2007-06-12T00:18:00.000-07:00

Ousmane Sembene, Senegalese filmmaker and writer, dies at 84

George Washington (2000)

2007-06-11T23:29:00.000-07:00

George Washington (2000)
Written and Directed by David Gordon Green

At the age of 25, North Carolina School of the Arts grad David Gordon Green made his first mark on the film world with this lyrical coming-of-age summer drama about a group of impoverished kids in North Carolina. For starters, George Washington is problematic in a variety of ways -- stilted performances by (mostly) non-actors, a meandering and (sometimes) distracted storyline, a young white kid making a film about poor black kids -- but Green transcends his, and the film's flaws with his natural, southern-poetic style and strong metaphoric visuals (compliments of the CinemaScope photography by Tim Orr, with whom he shares screen credit at the end). It's as if the locations created the film, and for all the better -- the characters wander through a timeless southern wasteland, a world of overgrown grass on old railroad tracks and the decaying wood of abandoned houses. As a storyteller Green shows his youth in the lack of direction, but more than makes up for it by the avoidance of cliche. Though the characters are involved in a tragic accident that results in the death of a friend, the film never becomes procedural, instead shifting the focus on how it affects the remaining characters, becoming a metaphor for change, for moving on and drifting apart. Though his style recalls fellow Texan Terrence Malick (who would later produce his third feature, Undertow), Green sets himself apart by his involvement with the characters. The cool, detached feeling Malick often shows towards his characters is absent in George Washington, and despite all the pretty poetry and pondering voice over, Green is able to present a remarkably humanistic portrait of youth.

[89 minutes. Color. In English.]

Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003)

2007-06-11T21:47:00.000-07:00

Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003)
Written and Directed by Tsai Ming-Liang

Tsai Ming-Liang's minimalist ode to old movie palaces and their strange (and perhaps otherwordly) inhabitants is quite possibly the most infuriating film made I've seen this decade/century/millennium. Hailed as a masterpiece by every art critic from here to Hong Kong (I'm looking at you Hoberman, Rosenbaum), Goodbye, Dragon Inn explores the empty world of a cavernous movie palace on it's (implied) closing night, where they are showing King Hu's 1966 samurai film Dragon Inn. The film is kind enough to include a few characters -- two of the stars of Dragon Inn sit separately and silently as the movie plays, a young tourist makes his rounds cruising for a gay-hookup, a deformed/limping theater attendant is possibly in love with the projectionist she can never find, and there might be some ghosts. I would say more if I could, but Tsai rejects traditional narrative in favor of empty space, super-long shots, and silence as means to reach his point (or mood). Citing the Lumiere Brothers as a stylistic comparison might be either too much or too little credit -- a better comparison might be the patience and (attempted) contemplation of Tarkovsky yet with the static of Jim Jarmusch. Regretfully, there comes a point when all this minimalism becomes more overt and obnoxious than the 360-degree dolly shots of Michael Bay, and Tsai crosses the line far too many times: gags run on for too long, silence and slowness is confused and mistaken for profoundness, and moments that should be for contemplation are replaced with confusion and irritation.

[In Mandarin, Cantonese, and Taiwanese with subtitles. 81 min.]

Paris Hilton Loves Michaelangelo Antonioni

2007-05-29T18:56:00.000-07:00

I have made a very strange discovery today. At the half-hearted request of my friend Will to watch the Paris Hilton video for her song "Stars Are Blind", I obliged. Though I can't find confirmation from googling director Chris Applebaum, it seems that someone involved in the creative process seemed to think that ripping off and/or paying homage to a famous scene from Antonioni's Blow Up was a good idea. So without further ado:

Paris Hilton, "Stars Are Blind"

Blow Up (Antonioni, 1969)

Metropolitan (1990)

2007-05-26T14:59:00.000-07:00

Metropolitan (Whit Stillman, 1990)

Whit Stillman's first feature, a comedy of manners about a group of wealthy upper-class Manhattan teenagers during Christmas vacation, is simultaneously a hysterically sharp satire and endearing love letter to the young bourgeoisie. Based on personal experiences from his youth (and oddly, Mansfield Park by Jane Austen), Stillman never stoops to a level of cynicism in his pseudo-satirical portrayal -- instead focusing on the the repressed and guarded nature of people born into a life of unattainable expectations. The group of characters are largely despicable in their selfishness and in the importance they place in social status -- but Stillman transcends the boundaries of class snobbery by employing highly relatable growing-up themes of romance, uncertainty, gossip, class consciousness, et al. Stillman's simplistic and glossy approach recalls the films Leo McCarey, though not without its kinks -- the awkwardness of scene transitions and cutting screams amateur, but not in a terribly distracting way.

Sophisticated, witty, and earnest, Metropolitan is in many ways a precursor to the more well known (and later) films of Noah Baumbach (Kicking and Screaming, The Squid and the Whale) and Wes Anderson (Rushmore). The excellent cast of newcomers includes Carolyn Farina, Edward Clements, Taylor Nichols, Elizabeth Thompson, and Baumbach/Stillman regular Christopher Eigeman.

[98 minutes. In English. Color.]

The Enigma of Kasper Hauser (1974)

2007-05-22T21:41:00.000-07:00

The Enigma of Kasper Hauser
a.k.a. Every Man For Himself and God Against All
(Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle, Werner Herzog, 1974)

Based on the true story of a boy who, having been locked away all his life void of human contact, appeared mysteriously in Nuremberg in 1828. One of Werner Herzog's more sentimental films, it deals patiently (and painfully) with the process of Kasper's socialization. Herzog takes no prisoners -- challenging religion, logic, among other societal standards on Kasper's journey to becoming a "member" of society, only to be mysteriously stabbed to death. Void of the well-worn Herzogian irony, Kasper Hauser functions differently from much of his other work, most notably in its sincerity-- aided by the casting of street-performer turned actor Bruno S., who'd spent much of his life in mental institutions after having been beaten by his prostitute mother. While God and Society are treated with much disdain in this film, it maintains a strange level of sentimentality and personal connection that's missing in many of his other films. The surreal sequences of Kasper's dreams are particularly effective in increasing the depth of the story and character, and Herzog's soft-focus, romantic visual aesthetic (which would later be nearly perfected in Nosferatu) works in achieving his usual contrast between the beauty of his images and the hopelessness of his heart-shattering stories.

[110 minutes. Color. In German.]

Jesus' Son (1999)

2007-05-22T13:27:00.001-07:00

Jesus' Son (Alison Maclean, 1999)

Alison Maclean's (Crush) dreamlike drama about a junkie (Billy Crudup) in and around Iowa City in the 1970s. The film, like the Denis Johnson novel its based on, is named after a lyric in the Velvet Underground's Heroin and is structured in fragmented vignettes. It is also one of the better movies about junkies that I've seen -- mostly because of it avoids the celebratory and predictable nature of most drug movies (I wrote this exact praise for Half Nelson on this here blog). Crudup is willing to take chances, and his performance is not only a great mixture of off-beat comedy and bittersweet sadness, but its better than anything else I've seen of him -- it also helps that the performance is complimented by a top-notch supporting cast that includes Dennis Leary, Samantha Morton, Jack Black, Dennis Hopper, Miranda July, Greg Germann, and Holly Hunter. All in all Jesus' Son is a carefully crafted and engaging character study, and the lush CinemaScope cinematography by Adam Kimmel (Capote) is especially notable, as is the classic rock soundtrack. [107 minutes. Rated R.]

The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005)

2007-05-16T08:18:00.000-07:00

The 40 Year Old Virgin (Judd Apatow, 2005)

I've kind of always been a fan of Judd Apatow, from his involvement with sketch shows like The Ben Stiller Show (among others) to his television series Freaks & Geeks. Though I'm certainly on the late train for this one, I happened to recently catch his big-screen directorial debut in this popular comedy about a middle-aged electronics store employee (Steve Carell) trying to lose his virginity with the guidance of his immature co-workers. It manages a handful of laughs, especially at the hands of Apatow-regular Seth Rogan, but it treats the characters as skits and jokes rather than real people. The end result seems often forced and dull, and the visual aesthetic is shamefully television (Freaks & Geeks is more cinematic). A bright note however, is that Apatow makes good use of his love for classic rock (much like he did in Freaks & Geeks).

[Co-written by Carell, with Catherine Keener, Paul Rudd, and Romany Malco. 116 minutes / 133 minutes (unrated). Rated R.]

Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)

2007-05-12T21:04:00.001-07:00

Aguirre, the Wrath God (Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes, Werner Herzog, 1972)
Facism and colonialism get treated by New German Cinema pioneer Werner Herzog in one of his most memorable (and visceral) films, about a group of Spanish conquistadors in the Amazon searching for El Dorado, the lost city of gold. The film makes great use of power dynamics, and Klaus Kinski's menacing performance as the manipulative, greedy Aguirre is, as they say, worth the price of admission alone. And despite what Herzog might have to say about aesthetics, this film is a visual treat -- never has the jungle been so beautifully violent and horrifying as it is here. Toss in classic Herzogian elements like the unattainable dream, the futility of man against the brutality of nature, long handheld camera shots, a haunting original score by Popol Vuh, and a touch of surrealism, and you've got yourself a winner.

[100 minutes. Color. In German with English subtitles.]