movie - che

there are a multitude of reasons why steven soderbergh's 'che' was not nominated for any academy awards. the complicated reason is che guevara, (played by benicio del toro,) has been demonized in american culture, (pop or otherwise,) from the time he became known to americans right up to today. so in effect, this is like making a movie about charles manson, (wherein manson is the hero.)

of course the reality is that guevara behaved fairly heroically in his brief life. even for one who may oppose marxism or socialism, if they are familiar with the facts of the man's life, it is difficult to deny the selflessness of one who would go fight in foreign lands on behalf of the poor and powerless.

in che, soderbergh has created a modern, film-making marvel. by choosing a simple style of storytelling, from the use of hand held cameras to a dearth of context, soderbergh has achieved a quality of grittiness heretofore unseen.

in che, the facts are holy. style, dramatic effect, ego...they are all put aside in order to portray guevara's story as accurately as possible. even the music is scarce albeit effective. soderbergh stops well short of going all dogme 95 with this film, striking instead a tender balance between enhancing the story and letting it tell itself.

it is as if che was made for the american audience, for the purpose of informing them as to the true essence of che guevara. as it is, in america his image is considered iconic and at the same time it is parodied. ideologues on either side may sport the image unaware of the myriad and confused implications.

the movie is not a biography. it does not include guevara's childhood in argentina, his time in medical school, his trip by motorcycle up the continent, nor does it include his foray in the congo. it is the story of his encounter with fidel castro, (demian bichir,) in mexico city and their subsequent successful revolution in cuba, (part 1-"the argentine.") and it is the story of guevara's mission to bolivia to foment another revolution, (part 2-"guerrilla,") which of course failed and for which guevara lost his life. 80% of the film is war.

to understand the essence of che guevara the film offers a quote from che who said, in response to a reporter during a sequence of the film when he is in new york to address the united nations who asked him what one quality is most important for a true revolutionary,

an authentic revolutionary does it for love.

che guevara did not crave power. he was not interested in material gain. he did it for love. the movie, 'che,' captures this about guevara and also illustrates how strident he was in regards to his values. "a revolutionary must feel like he is already dead to live." "feed the children first." "we always go back for a comrade who is down."

che guevara was a principled man extraordinaire. in addition to living his values, he lived for his values. despite the fact he wrote a book on guerrilla warfare, he was in no way a theoretician. he was a man of action. he put his principles into practice and proved their practicality in spite of those who live so far short of that and expect the worse from others. he was a man in the truest sense of the word.

in 'che,' guevara is never glorified, at least not by anything other than the facts. del toro is stoic in his portrayal of the warrior, which seems entirely accurate. if truth is a factor in the giving of awards, if consistency is a factor, del toro should have been a serious contender. (and kudos to sean penn for mentioning del toro's performance upon receiving the best actor golden globe.) still, awards are just awards. they are fun but they are subjective. benicio del toro's accomplishment is one of truth and the shame that is the lack of award nominations in no way detracts from the accomplishment and higher purpose that is 'che.'

the 50 years that have passed since fidel castro's rebel army toppled the regime of fulgencio bautista have provided perspective. in those days it was hard to know if bautista was the corrupt u.s. puppet the revolution portrayed him as or if he was the honorable leader our government would have us believe at that time. however, in time things such as these become clear and in spite of the many cuban-americans who were on the right side of that bautista regime and who lost land and wealth as a result of that revolution, it is difficult to see bautista as anything other than the despot he truly was.

in the years following that revolution the cia hatched plan after plan to assassinate castro. our government has funded propaganda primarily for distribution to and through the cuban-american community in the miami area using the newspapers of that area. since that revolution our government has stopped producing steel in birmingham, alabama, and along with trade embargoes, travel restrictions and other means of economic oppression, we have effectively isolated cuba from much of the world. in spite of those conditions, cuba has thrived in many ways.

cuba has a health care system of the first world. cuba has 100% literacy. despite limited natural resources, with only sugar cane and tobacco being valuable exportable products, cuba has survived in the face of long odds. wouldn't it have been interesting if the united states has been less insecure about our system of capitalism and instead agreed to trade with cuba and aid them in their quest to try something different so that they would not have been forced to ally themselves with the former soviet union?

hopefully 'che,' is seen by many americans and as older generations pass away the younger ones will open to the idea of accepting the sovereignty of cuba as well as their decision to try a path other than capitalism. this film is powerful and can certainly be a cog in the wheel of change.

movie - the wrestler

some moviegoers will not like darren aronofsky's latest film, 'the wrestler,' because it portrays realistic characters on the fringes of society who do not live beautiful or glamorous lives. those watchers, (like the woman in my hair salon several weeks ago,) want to be entertained when they go to the movies, which is their prerogative. they want to be made to feel good.

however, the characters in the wrestler are not really all that far out there. robin, "randy the ram robinson," ramzinski, (mickey rourke,) is a wrestler at the end of his career. his marketable commodity is his modicum of renown associated with his glory days on the pro wrestling circuit. he parlays that familiarity with many wrestling fans to the modest financial rewards of continuing to wrestle and from that along with a part-time job in a supermarket, he can almost afford the rent on his trailer, his steroid drug habit and his penchant for spending much of his free time in a strip joint.

it is not pretty or even pleasant watching "the ram," as he has a profound life moment and through some reflection makes efforts to revisit some of his past failings both to make amends and to find a way to anchor his life and find meaning. his efforts to change do not go smoothly and so in the end, randy the ram arcs back to from where he came.

similarly, pam, "cassidy," (marisa tomei,) is past her prime as a stripper. she is also the mother of a nine-year-old boy. like randy the ram, cassidy's marketable commodity is her body and her looks and her willingness to strip and be pawed nightly in a seedy bar atmosphere. like randy too, time is taking a toll on her commodity and she too has a moment, albeit a less dramatic one. she is dancing up against a pole, spreading her legs wide and running her hand over her body, making a certain seductive facial expression when she realizes no one is watching her. no one in the club is appreciating her efforts and at once it is obvious this is an increasing phenomenon for cassidy.

aronofsky does not make films that do not have a larger point. even if the message is not his primary reason for making a movie, you can count on finding great truths exposed and explored in aronofsky's work. he is among the most interesting and innovative writer-directors working today.

humans are opportunistic as evidenced by the ram's willingness to wrestle and cassidy's willingness to strip. these two merely find their careers tolerable, like so many in our utilitarian society. this movie caused me to think about when i have tolerated my jobs. the higher i have ascended in my career the more tolerable the job has become but by and large i have always found aspects of my work either unpleasant or unsavory. (i mean you would have to be insane to enjoy talking to irate customers on the phone in the name of customer service, which is not to suggest people just this insane do not exist.)

the wrestler is about more than not liking one's job. it is about mortality and human connectedness. it is about responsibility and consequences, specifically as explored in the relationship between randy the ram and his daughter stephanie, (played by evan rachel wood in a remarkable performance.)

ultimately, randy the ram and cassidy may be ready for each other. they may be ready to make real life changes and to find anchor in one another. the problem would be in overcoming the multitude of impediments they face including randy's health and their individual histories which may define them and their actions.

much has been made of rourke's performance in a role that in some ways mirrors his life, (as well as resembling that of hulk hogan.) he is completely deserving of his best actor academy award nomination. it is a poignant role and rourke brings "the ram," to life with a subtle nuance that indicates a certain intimacy and familiarity with the character. he is never overwrought and even his wrestling/acting chops seem well honed.

maybe the wrestler is more than entertainment. maybe it is that mirror in which we can see the ram and cassidy in each of us. maybe we can learn from the tragic and become somehow healthier and more able to overcome our own demons.

movie - changeling

changeling joins chinatown, la confidential, and the onion field, (among others,) in the pantheon of films set in a historic los angeles, which tell fascinating stories and simultaneously chronicle some aspect or period of city history. until the day when someone turns mike davis' city of quartz into a film, changeling is likely as realistic a feel for 1920s los angeles as can be seen.

j. michael straczynski wrote the screenplay after doing extensive research on the facts of the story and that research comes through on screen. yes, los angeles had rail cars, a ham-fisted police department and women in the work place who were required to wear roller skates. it is this authenticity that turns the film from a mere fact-based story to a special film worthy of oscar consideration.

angelina jolie plays christine collins, a single mother whose son walter was abducted by gordon northcott and his mother and was presumably killed in the infamous "chicken coup murders." jolie has been nominated for a best supporting actress oscar and deservedly so. that said, angelina jolie is sort of accepted as one of the most attractive women on this planet and despite the demure clothing she wore for the part, there was something disconcerting about her being single, about an entire police force treating her as persona non grata and worse, and about more people besides a local priest not coming out to support her. it just did not ring true. (isn't it refreshing to discover there really can be a downside to physical beauty?)

still, once one gets away from the fact it's angelina jolie up there on the screen, it is easy to see that she gave a great performance. she shows great range in the role and perhaps more importantly, considerable restraint, (which worked.)

for his part clint eastwood does an admirable job directing. his straightforward style keeps the pace brisk thereby negating the 141 minute run time.

changeling tells a factual story in its proper historical context. further, it is dramatic and suspenseful and includes an array of solid performances from the actors, the writer, the costume designer and virtually everyone involved.

movie - the visitor

the visitor might have been called 'the curious case of walter vale.' after all, vale, (played by best actor nominee richard jenkins,) is a most curious character, alternately gruff and curmudgeonly then open and accepting, but without any hint of incongruity. he is one of those characters that gets under your skin because he is just so damned human.

walter vale arrives late one evening to a new york city apartment he keeps even though he visits it rarely. his wife has recently passed and he is like a buoy bobbing around in the vast expanse of the ocean, untethered to anyone, disengaged from everything, cut off from that which nourishes. in the apartment he finds a young couple who have been duped into renting it from someone who of course has no right to rent it to them. eventually, vale convinces tarek, (haaz sleiman,) and zainab, (danai jekesai gurira,) to stay for a few days until they can find somewhere suitable to go.

the plot twists from there as we find out that tarek and zainab are illegally living in the united states. as vale and tarek become friends with tarek teaching vale how to play the bongo drums he plays in night clubs or outdoors in public with other drummers, tarek is suddenly swept up by immigration officials and placed in detention.

the visitor visits the ideas around our immigration policies, particularly in our post 9/11 world, and touches on relationships, such as that between a senegalese illegal immigrant making ethnic jewelry for a living and a syrian illegal immigrant djembe player living in the nyc, or an illegal mother and son living in a foreign land 1,000 miles apart under the constant specter of deportation, but the essence of the film is really a study of the character walter vale.

vale is ill at ease. he has been taking piano lessons, which his wife had played at a high level, but he has fired several instructors. he is working on a book but he doesn't seem to do any work on it and admits later that it is not going well. he is sent by his school to new york city, (from connecticut,) to present a paper he is receiving co-authorship credit for even though he has not read the paper and is utterly uninterested in the trip.

upon engaging with tarek and switching his musical passion to drumming, this otherwise somnambulist of a man awakes. he smiles. he is out of place in the world tarek inhabits and yet he comes to life. he dares. at one point he even makes a joke with zainab who does not get it and is uncomfortable with vale as she feels she and tarek are an imposition, but it is the venturing forth, the willingness to be un-funny, the risk of interaction that is so relevant for vale.

in attending the conference where he presents his paper vale is disconnected. he is one dimensional, utterly uninterested in conversing with his peers, wrapped up in his thoughts of what will happen after this obligation. once tarek is imprisoned vale takes it upon himself to champion tarek's cause, (in as much as he can.) zainab moves out but shortly tarek's mother, mouna, (hiam abbass,) moves in, after considerable pleading from vale who asks from kindness, not from desperation. as it turns out, tarek's mother is also windowed, her husband having died years earlier in syria. as mouna and walter live under the same roof and shuttle to and fro staying in contact with tarek and zainab and attending to other tasks, they develop a poignant relationship. if not for tarek's deportation and mouna's subsequent self-imposed deportation to join her son, the two of them, (walter and mouna,) likely would have become closer. as it is they comfort one another and share moments of real tenderness.

at the heart of walter vale is a hole. he is unfulfilled. we can't know if he was significantly different when his wife was alive though we might guess that he was. all we can know is that his prestigious position at the university with published books under his belt and a class he has taught for 20 years, is unsatisfying to him. his life when we meet him is the definition of utilitarianism. his life when the movie ends is different. vale is different. he is wholly unconcerned with appearances and interested only in fulfilling that which exists in his heart. what is there, in his heart, is a love for his new friend and a desire to help. what is there, in his heart, is a desire to be surprised, a need to learn new things, a keen interest in the foreign. what is there is his heart is an openness to the world around him.

thomas mccarthy has written and directed a wonderful film in 'the visitor.' if i had a vote, i would give the best actor oscar to richard jenkins. his portrayal of vale is subtle but strong. whatever that thing is that makes walter vale so easy to identify with and root for, jenkins exudes it. the real credit may go to mccarthy for his writing and yet, since he was not nominated, i hope jenkins reaps the reward.

walter vale is a character who will stay with you. you will remember walter vale. he has that quality of being so fragile and yet so brave, injured and yet able to conquer anything so long as he has a sense of purpose and perhaps someone with whom to share his mission. he is a singular character, who is in spite of that definition, in spite of that lonely and memorable nuance, is actually just like every single person on this planet.

movie - man on wire

in 1974, after having stopped the traffic in similar fashion above sydney harbor in australia and having amazed his own french countrymen high above notre dame, phillipe petit walked on a wire fixed between the two world trade center buildings in new york city. by taking this walk petit embodied neitzsche's man on the highwire and true to form, men looked on in amazement.

james marsh made this film presumably after reading petit's book, to reach the clouds. the story is compelling largely because petit's act so resembles nietzsche's ubermensch, or superman. moreover, the movie and the act are about a man daring, daring to risk everything in the name of an idea, this idea being about the beauty of a man on a high wire, and daring to defy convention, (and the law.)

new york city's finest arrived on scene within minutes and watched in amazement as they awaited petit's arrival atop the north tower. down below petit's girlfriend gazed intently into the sky and explained to others who gathered around her that there was a man up there, on a wire, between the towers, without a net. unable to see him because of the distance and the light of day, they stood transfixed none the less ready to praise him who would dare or mourn him who might die.

as a documentary marsh's film plays like a heist movie, (as advertised.) so much of what is captured is about how petit and his crew/friends, (who interestingly were no longer his friends soon after this event,) were able to access the roof of the towers. phony papers get them into the garage and working crew disguises help them go unnoticed inside the buildings.

nowadays 1974 represents a simpler time. petit would never succeed today in his quest and that is part of the film's attraction. petit's enthusiasm for walking the wire is and was contagious. in some respects the feat can be seen as meaningless, and it is. it did not cure blindness or anything. on the other hand, it is the daring that inspires. it is the single-minded willingness to achieve this goal strictly for the sake of the beauty of it, strictly for his own sense of the artistic, that captures the imagination.

man on wire is like a diversion just as petit's act was 34 years ago, a delightful diversion.

movie - the curious case of benjamin button

instead of using the trite, "the curious case of," in the title of the f. scott fitzgerald adaptation of the story about a man who ages backwards, they might have simply chosen a heinleinesque title such as; "human frailty is," or "life happens." in any case the story of benjamin button is a sweeping epic, which provides plentiful insight into the condition humanity.

benjamin button is at once a thoroughly implausible and ridiculous device, (a man born old who becomes young thereby living his life in reverse,) and a fable for mankind.

there are things worth taking exception to in this film, such as benjamin button's, (brad pitt,) lack of outward emotion during the most crucial moments of his life. we are to know that he feels the immensity of the moment, that he is injured beyond perhaps anything we ourselves might know, but the actor provides no insight. such is pitt's performance. it is understated and underwhelming. he seems a pro as button. he is consistently of the same manner and he feigns a believable new orleans accent. he is altogether-ly competent in the role and yet, not scintillating, not touching, not insightful, not...something.

but then who would want to take exception to anything in this movie? it is as charming as modern films can be and its fable-like quality is in the message and the wisdom the story conveys.

you see benjamin button could have had his life chopped up into 10 year increments and then had them put on shuffle and the message would have been as clear. gibran or confucius could have written this fable as they seemed to be concerned with precisely the same ideas. the thing is, at every stage of life we encounter problems. at every stage we have our frailties. when button was old he was weak and unattractive to women. at the same time he possessed a certain wisdom. when he was young he was undeveloped in some ways and he had little experience to draw on. at the same time he was the picture of good health and hope sprang eternal. in the middle or prime of his life, he was healthy and able in most every way but he was painfully aware of the peak of the mountain's role as the beginning of descent.

we remain alone in this world as the only creature who is aware of its own end. death is everywhere in the curious case of benjamin button. throughout the movie characters duck into view then just as quickly depart. the story is told from the perspective of button's journal account of his life as read to his true love, an elderly daisy, (cate blanchett,) who lays in a new orleans hospital, in her deathbed, at the onset of hurricane katrina. button's mother dies in one of the opening scenes too, as she gives birth to this strange, wrinkly, hoary baby. there is a cavalcade of death really, throughout, and the movie is something of a rumination on the nature of life through the study of death.

in the end we learn that death, like life, simply is. it is not something to be feared. it is not something to be hated. it just is and while young people may run around feeling like the world is their oyster and they have a leg up on everyone who is not of them, they merely display their ignorance and will likely suffer the indignity of feeling the opposite emotions when they reach the elderly years. when old people look down their noses at youth, as if it is indeed wasted on the young, they merely play small.

i do not think i am giving anything away when i tell you that benjamin and daisy meet in the middle of their lives at which point, they stand on equal footing. it is a flash in time. in their primes, deeply in love, making the most of their time together, they remain oppressed by time itself. as with death, they are aware of the fact they are marching in opposite directions and nothing is static. benajmin remarks in his journal about how during this season they practically lived in a certain room of the duplex they had bought, "on that bed." the point is benjamin and daisy knew what was happening and they were not unworthy of the love they shared. they made the most of it. they revelled in one another. they spent all of their time together. haunted as they were by time they did not stop to take stock of it or think on it much. when they did, daisy tells benjamin she knows he is afraid of the future and he replies that he never intended to hide that fear.

similarly, we should not dwell on the temporal nature of our lives. while we must come to terms with it, with our ultimate demise, our ultimate sadness, we have to embrace what we have while we have it. the only way to minimize the pain of the endgame is to have gotten our money's worth while we played. benjamin conveys this idea through his world view. he is acutely aware of time and sees all things through the perspective time provides. if he had a mantra it would likely be that for everything there is a season.

blanchett, as daisy, is typically phenomenal. to see her on screen is to see an actor in her prime at the top of her profession. her pitch and balance are amazing. similarly, tilda swinton is excellent in a smaller role.

the curious case of benjamin button is a fairy tale for a post modern world. it is charming in every respect, sumptuous to look at, lovely to listen to, and warm to take in. while the two hours and 45 minutes run time might have been pared down a bit, i don't know why anyone would want to do that. this movie reflects our lives and is entirely worthy of a few of our precious hours.

movie - the reader

[spoiler alert. the plot of this movie will be revealed.]

the reader is a triumph of art in its never ending quest to expose and refine the duality of man. it may be true that only those who possess the most refined sense of empathy will understand the conundrum that is the reader and the richness of the film lay in its ability to explore the gray territory between good and bad or right and wrong. its genius arrives when it forces the viewer to reevaluate the area they have staked out as their own personal moral right.

hanna shmitz, (kate winslet,) is alone in the world and she is illiterate. in the way she carries herself and takes care of herself one can see that she has learned how to get along in the world. she has a set of values she lives by and while she is ashamed of her inability to read, she is careful not to let it be an obstacle to her own ability to pay rent.

at the outset of the film, hanna works on a tram and she is obviously meticulous in everything she does. she meets michael berg, (david kross than ralph fiennes later in life,) when he happens into her doorway one day ill. hanna is duty-oriented. upon seeing michael hunched over on a bench in the entranceway to her apartment, she strides past him with purpose and returns seconds later with a bucket of water to splash the vomit away from the boy's feet.

as it turns out, michael has scarlet fever and ends up bedridden for a few months after which, he comes by to thank hanna, at which point the two embark on an affair. it is michael's first sexual experience and will color his entire life. hanna holds no illusions about the relationship but she treats it respectfully, giving michael what she can in tenderness and experience in return for the satisfaction he gives her. she also has michael read aloud to her regularly as he is something of a star pupil in school and in this way the plot twist that is hanna's illiteracy is revealed.

flash forward 20-plus years to germany's truth and reconciliation trials where hanna is on trial for her role as an ss guard at auschwitz and moreover for her involvement in allowing a church to burn to the ground with 300 prisoners locked inside.

the moral dilemma comes in understanding who hanna really is. she admits to her role at the trial because she sees it as just that; a role. she did not decide anything. she merely accepted a job, which came to her as just reward for her having performed so admirably on the trams. (moving into an office environment was inconceivable for her because of her inability to read so she quits the job rather than admitting to her handicap and finds the ss guard job.) hanna has learned that in this world she must take care of herself which is to say, she must have a job she can perform well enough to keep her paycheck coming in. so monthly when she was told to pick 10 prisoners to come in who she knew were going to the gas chamber, instead of torturing herself over it, she simply picked 10. she saw this as her job. she saw herself as a pawn and she certainly felt powerless to do anything about the larger scale situation.

what is so ghastly about what happened in nazi germany is the simple fact that so many allowed it to happen. one of michael's classmates in law school finds hanna's behavior entirely normal in as much as he proclaims that all germans were complicit in genocide. he explodes in the classroom condemning all of the older generation for doing nothing, a behavior he rightly finds shameful and disgraceful.

americans may find this movie particularly poignant in the wake of the invasion of iraq. somewhere near 50% of us did not support this war but ultimately we were powerless to do anything to stop it from occurring. so instead we went on with our lives. we may have complained but at the same time, we went to work every day. we went to the movies. life went on. hundreds of thousands of iraqis were dying. thousands of our own countrymen were dying or being maimed. some were being tortured or suffering extraordinary rendition.

ultimately you must accept two opposing ideas into your brain when you watch the reader. hanna shmitz' behavior is disgraceful. she should have stopped working that job. she should have died a violent and cruel death rather than continue to do what she did. and, while this would be an appropriate self judgment for her, it is really not for us to judge her. what do we know about what it is like to be alone and illiterate? what do we know about the need to survive and the fear of not being paid regularly? hitler is responsible for the holocaust. hitler and goring and eichmann and the others who made decisions. yes, someone like hanna shmitz would be complicit but given her station in life, only the most angry and abrasive could withold empathy.

so in the end you have to see hanna sympathetically, as someone who accepted the world she lived in on the terms with which it met her daily. her human frailty most poignantly displayed by her inability to read is perhaps the driving force in her life. in her relationship with michael she was both soft and hard but always human, always respectful. at the same time you have to see hanna as despicable. you have to see her that way because it is important for the human race to learn from past mistakes lest we be doomed to repeat them. you absolutely have to keep it your brain even while feeling for hanna that she has made an unspeakable error of judgment, even if on some level she was ill-equipped to do better.

similarly, at the end of this movie you can walk out feeling both wretched for having taken in such a dark and loathsome film, (it is all of that as it will make your gut ache in moments,) and at the same time you can escape this film marvelling at the complexity of life and the wondrous achievements of our highest art form. in two hours the reader will move you in several different directions all the while revealing to your inner self your own world view. like any great art, the idea is movement. the idea is to push at self-imposed boundaries, to spur growth and cause change. in that way, the reader is an extraordinary accomplishment.

movie - vicky cristina barcelona

watching woody allen's vicky cristina barcelona is like taking a pill that will make you smile for 96 minutes. it's a portal to an alternate universe wherein everyone is beautiful, dialogue is witty and interesting, every landscape and piece of art is stunning, the bohemians are portrayed as utterly sane and the money-oriented are seen as doltish buffoons. it's dizzying while it lasts.

maybe this is just woody allen's on-screen fantasy. it is obvious after all, that scarlett johansson has been his muse of late but getting her and penelope cruz involved in a three-way relationship with javier bardem and adding rebecca hall is like a big chocolate truffle for the eyes.

the plot and the dialogue are similarly amazing. the characters talk about big, important ideas as opposed to constantly discussing people and events. social commentary abounds as vicky, (hall,) and cristina, (johansson,) consider the various paths their lives might take and choose, (or do not choose.) juan antonio, (bardem,) lives by his own code, which he is also ready to verbally defend at a moment's notice.

it occurred to me after seeing this movie, the young, single, smart and artistic might live by a new mantra of wwjd, or what would javier do? in the scene wherein bardem woos both vicky and cristina upon meeting them, he counters vicky's conventional, american opposition to his proposition for the three of them to go by small aircraft to a nearby town to see some art, have some drinks and possibly make love, by explaining he has not proposed anything outrageous or in any way rude. juan antonio sees the three of them as adults, (if not consenting as of yet,) naturally of the beautiful people, concerned with higher things and able to choose to engage in the pleasures of their senses by choice with only good consequences. cristina accepts juan antonio's invitation just as it is offered while vicky is somewhat aghast at his nerve. still, when vicky tries to point out how ostentatious juan antonio is, he answers openly and honestly explaining he has not offered war or anything violent. rather, he has suggested they fly to oviedo to take in some art, have some drinks to lubricate the conversation which will surely be on art and other ideas of the day, then possibly engage in a consenting affair of a physical nature only if the parties are willing.

at every turn vicky is unable to find flaws in juan antonio's personal philosophy because of course, it is flawless. while vicky's personal philosophy, actions and social mores do not fit together, juan antonio's are ordered and in sync.

vicky and cristina have found themselves in barcelona for different reasons but both are intent on resolving some of their own unanswered questions as they embark upon the course of their lives. vicky is engaged to be married to a man who will provide for her in the way she has become accustomed but he will never satisfy the things of this world a juan antonio might offer, the things she has only recently glimpsed possibly to her detriment. cristina is open to experience and content to see which way the winds may move her. she considers all that she takes in as valuable for helping to her to discover who she will become and while she anxious to live and experience, she is in no rush to reach any sort of end game wherein she marries and has children and moves to the suburbs or whatever convention may come to mind.

in this way, allen has brilliantly juxtaposed these two characters in such a way as to shed light on their values. in the end vicky seems to resign herself to an uninspired life of comfort. cristina by contrast seems upon first glance to be exactly where she was when she began this journey but on closer inspection one can see that she has added so much to her person. she has become something of an artist and can be seen satisfying her highest of maslow's needs. she has scratched several itches of natural curiosity in such a way as to demystify them so she can take away value while remaining open to change and the world around her.

juan antonio, (bardem,) and maria elena, (cruz,) are in a way devices to bring out certain truths about vicky and cristina. that said, they are as interesting and colorful supporting roles as can be found anywhere. (indeed cruz just won the bafta for best supporting axctress.) chris messina, as vicky's fiance, gives a similarly stupendous performance.

it is a quick, intoxicating 96 minutes but if you want to escape into a movie with eye candy galore, if you want to listen to intelligent characters contemplating big ideas, if you want to be challenged and entertained simultaneously, vicky cristina barcelona is for you.

movie - gran torino

gran torino was destroyed for me before i even walked into the cinema. unfortunately, my expectations were inordinately high and this film just could not deliver.

i love clint eastwood. i don't love him for the spaghetti westerns or dirty harry, by the way, i love him for his directing work. i loved million dollar baby, (as evidenced by my blogpost from 2005 i linked there.) i loved flags of our fathers and thought letters from iwo jima was even better. since he began directing movies clint eastwood has just been as close to perfect as possible. (have you seen the changeling?)

the idea that this movie, gran torino, was about an elderly man who would successfully take on a local street gang also sounded great to me. ooooooooooohhh!! i just love me some justice in my movies. i expected eastwood would play this part with more subtlety than his dirty harry character and i looked forward to a downplayed, nuanced performance.

i also thought i might learn something about asian gangs in this movie. i thought there would be relationships between races that would be insightful to me.

to be fair, i think the movie also sought these things. that is to say, eastwood must have sought these things as well but to no avail.

for me gran torino was disappointing and worse. immediately after the movie started i noticed there were eyes on me instead of the film from just over my right shoulder. it was unnerving, too. i tried to look and could not tell in the darkness who it was much less why they seemed to be mad-dogging me but they were and it added to why i did not like the movie.

everything in gran torino, in spite of any perceived loftier goals, comes across as trite. eastwood plays walt kowalski, a korean war veteran and former auto worker who upon the death of his wife finds himself mostly alone in his home and in the world. (his children are like cardboard cut-outs prancing into a scene from time to time to remind us of the vacuous, money-grubbing nature of americans at large. they're meant to fill in holes in the background and depth of walt's existence but instead they prove to be mere distractions who only highlight the same caricatured nature of the other characters depicted.)

kowalski discovers in short order that his angelic wife had asked a young, (and i mean like 12,) irish priest to look in on walt and help ensure he makes it to heaven so he can be reunited with her. the priest is meant to come across as a novice but fails even at that. he seems like a novice acting like a novice with zero life experience to draw on to remind him of what it was like to be inexperienced at anything.

kowalski forms relationships with his neighbors, (and again i have no interest in spoiling the plot for you,) in particular the son, thao, and daughter of the hmong family who have recently moved in. the boy, thao, tries to steal his garaged 1972 gran torino as initiation to his cousin's gang but nothing rings true about this plot. thao does not like his cousin. he seems to have no interest in being in the gang as they beat him up prior to his initiation and after the failed attempt on kowalski's car. yeah, yeah, peer pressure can cause people to do things that are out of character at that age but given the strength thao shows later in the movie, the prior action just seems like a hastily arranged device to drive the plot to its end. the daughter, sue vang lor, is at once completely uncomfortable with herself and utterly self-assured. there is a scene wherein a couple of unidentified street hoods, obviously not from this particular neighborhood which we have already learned is rapidly turning asian, are threatening sue with violence and kowalski shows up and pistol whips the boys. all the while sue vang lor sasses the street urchins as if she is an asian cross between juno and supergirl. she is a likable character because she is smart and brave but she smacks of the kind of one-dimensional, heroic qualities eastwood usually avoids in his movies.

gran torino is just a bad movie, which may explain why it is already eastwood's highest grossing film to date. it is too bad the praise of wealth arrives to honor this subpar effort but i guess it is the cardboard characters, the black and white nature of everything therein, (eliminating the need for any critical thought,) and the stereotypical depictions of virtually everyone and everything in this movie that will define it as simple entertainment as opposed to anything resembling art.

when i looked over my shoulder after the house lights came up i realized those eyes that had been so rudely glued to me throughout were atop a little stack of money. apparently it was the cash i could have saved if i would have skipped seeing gran torino.

joy

terra has moments when she thinks no one is watching and she is so excited and she clenches up her fists and shakes them in front of her in pure glee while she laughs or lets out some verbal expression of joy and i am always taken back to how i did the same thing regularly when i was a kid. in fact, i exclusively did that when i thought no one was looking. (perhaps when i was older i became less self-conscious about it.) it was like there was a bubble of joy welling up inside me and i could not contain it any longer so i would make those fists of happiness and clench up my face in a twisted smile and blood would rush to my head and i would shake with joy for just a moment. and afterwards, i felt better. it was like a nervous release. i had a tough childhood, (i know, who didn't,) so i learned early on to expect the worse. some bad things happened when i was young and in some cases, i had not the least expectation those bad things were coming my way until i was deeply entrenched in the circumstance, looking a monster in the teeth or realizing someone was not who they proclaimed to be or who they were supposed to be to me. so i remember my first christmas in particular with my aunt and uncle. instead of two presents, i received around 25. i must have did that thing i did, that clenching and shaking nervous joy thing, about 18 times over the next couple of days. it was a haze. and i don't guess i am capable of such joy today. those outer edges of mine emotion are hardly accessible and i feel good about that. in order to know that kind of joy gibran says we must know the same degree of pain and with that in mind, i find the middle comforting. i am glad terra mimics me in this way. for me it is an outward expression of our bond and our relationship and in a very simple way, it just makes me feel good. if i could do it on purpose, i would clench up my fists right now and turn them inward, forearms parallel to my body with fists just below my chin and i would shake them and smile and growl just a little bit. man that would feel good.

movie - slumdog millionaire

you know how some movies can just make you feel good when you see them? as the credits roll you sit there still in the dark feeling warm and fuzzy and like our world is the best of all possible worlds and too bad this film had to end? slumdog millionaire is that kind of movie.

danny boyle,(in a severe departure from his trainspotting days,) and loveleen tandan have created a fantastical film that is at once believable and adorable. slumdog millionaire is set in mumbai, (formerly bombay,) a teeming metropolis of 13.5 million people that is home to the indian stock exchange and bollywood as well as some of the poorest slums in the world.

you have probably heard about the story by now. it is about a boy who grows up an orphan in the slums subjected to an especially harsh childhood who finds true love but can't quite hold on to it. he holds on to the memory of it, (of her, really,) however and shows a sense of purpose in recovering what he has lost that is admirable and uncommon. despite an array of travails, the main character, jamal, (played by dev patel,) stays focused on finding his true love, latika, (played by freida pinto.)

a sense of innocence pervades this movie. from the two boys growing up with only each other who always believe they can escape any situation and survive, to an out of place dance number during the end credits, (probably an aside to bollywood films but i am not familiar enough to know if this is the case for sure,) slumdog certainly involves a measure of fantasy.

in addition to this fantastical sense of innocence that makes this film so easy to embrace, there is something refreshing about the setting. mumbai comes to life and is like a co-star in slumdog millionaire, along with the indian history that is ever so delicately touched on along the way. jamal's mother is a victim of the hindu-muslim riots of january 1993. jamal and his brother salim work as unoffical tour guides at the taj mahal. jamal works for a time in a call center for a british phone service. these settings bring mumbai to life and spark a certain curiosity and sense of adventure that can no longer be summoned from a movie set in new york city.

ultimately the film leaves you with a sense that life really is the same the world over and while there is bad everywhere, there is good too and it often prevails. and when jamal and latika are seen dancing in front of a pyramid of what must be a hundred people dancing in sync as if the michael jackson thriller video just broke out impromptu on a train platform, you will feel good in part because of the commonality of disparate cultures and in part because you believe that life can have such perfect happy endings.

i don't think slumdog millionaire is in any way this year's best film but if what you are looking for when you walk into the theatre is to be entertained and to come out feeling positive, you simply cannot do better than this movie.

movies - revolutionary road

this is for my friends and family. yes, all three of you who read my blog. with less than two weeks until the academy awards, i thought i would write little reviews of some of the major films as i have seen most all of them this year. as these two weeks wind down, i will also write a piece contemplating why steven soderbergh's 'che,' was all but ignored in this country after benicio del toro won the cannes film festival's "best actor," award equivalent.

revolutionary road

couples who impale their dreams on the altar of convention are nothing new. even director sam mendes has tread this subject matter previously in his debut movie american beauty. still, it is a fascinating topic and while revolutionary road is a dialogue driven film, it still commands your full attention from start to finish.

mendes' movie is based on a 1961 novel of the same name by richard yates and it explores themes that should be especially significant and familiar to american audiences. why do americans go into a dull office every day to toil at jobs they find meaningless? why do we seem to care more about appearances than reality? why are we afraid and why don't we recognize fear as the very worst condition to live in? why don't we identify hypocrisy as an outward sign of some other unknown ill? these are the kinds of questions this movie stirs within the viewer and if you like contemplating heavy subjects of this ilk, i guess you will like revolutionary road.

for their parts, leonardo dicaprio and kate winslet give great performances absolutely capturing the essences of their characters, april and frank. they are an american couple with two children who are living the americana, suburban dream of the '50s. frank goes to the office every day but seems to do almost nothing for a business machines company. april teeters on the brink of going stir crazy daily in their seemingly luxurious and charming new home on a hillside in a connecticut suburb.

these two characters are both complex and likeable. frank loves his wife and wants to do the right thing. april loves her children and her husband but like the characters of a kate mansfield or joan didion story, she remains rooted in reality and recognizes her situation as desperate, which if you are honest with yourself in viewing the film, you will too.

on frank's 30th birthday april hatches a plan that involves the family completely uprooting and moving to paris. (yeah, france.) she explains how she can get a job to support the family which will afford frank the opportunity to "find himself." frank warms to the idea and plans follow. however, one day as frank mocks his ridiculous job with some flowery wording about one of their machines, he is approached with an offer for advancement, (in a moment reminiscent of office space.) from this point on frank's weakness seems to take over. his courage falters and eventually he tells april he will not move the family to france, not now anyway.

april reacts with disbelief. she is angry not only at frank for his perceived weakness but also at the society she lives in for her station in it. april decides that she will exercise whatever power she has which is to say, the power over her own body. april's reaction seems on the surface to be a bit dramatic and perhaps crazy but in actuality and in the broader picture, it can be seen as the only sane reaction. april refuses to compromise. she decides that if she and frank cannot take charge of their lives as a couple then she will damned sure take charge of her life as an individual.
the movie employs a mother and son as clever devices to clearly delineate the polar opposite choices frank and april are faced with. kathy bates plays their realtor who sees the world in black and white and lives for appearances. she represents how frank and april's life could be in the future. if they stay put they can become just like her, living in this suburb, knowing everyone's business, constantly making small talk, denying any real self that may exist at the hearts of their beings. or, they can heed the prescient mumblings of bates' son who is just released from a mental institution and who says whatever comes into his mind and thereby exposes the hypocrisy of frank and april's decisions and behaviors.

while it is hardly new territory, the subject matter explored in revolutionary road is fertile ground for the art of our day, movies, to address as a means of moving us and making us think about our own brief lives on this planet. and isn't that what art is all about?