Change Your Image
dalefried
Reviews
Hell and Back Again (2011)
Letting the Images Speak for Themselves
Sometimes the power in the imagery of a film alone tells an ambiguous tale that can be taken in many directions by a viewer. With the plethora of documentaries on the Iraq and Afghanistan adventures pushing you this way or that, it was incredibly refreshing to see one that had its intentions somewhere else. Just present the war and its impacts and let the chips fall where they may.
People made a big deal last year about Restrepo showing the intensity of moments in combat. That film, while great, doesn't even touch what young Danfung Dennis achieves here. The up close intimacy of the war moments took the most brazen courage to compile, but the shots are so beautifully constructed you truly can touch the daring and fear of those moments. I have only felt this before in narrative films like The Hurt Locker.
But the footage of the struggle this troubled soldier endures in his recovery from crippling injuries is equally compelling, frightening and heartbreaking. The sewing together of the two worlds presented has a power all its own.
I really believe this amazing young filmmaker, who really gives his all to the art in this film, deserves recognition. It won the documentary jury prize at Sundance. It now has been shortlisted by the Oscars for nomination consideration. These are so deserved.
Terri (2011)
A Lesson on Attaining Happiness
I spent my week plus at the Sarasota Film Festival hoping beyond hope to get thrilled by close encounters with great cinema. Though I saw many that were wonderful, there was only one blow-away film for me, but boy it blew me away. One of the festival artistic coordinators warned me against missing her favorite of the films showing because I thought it would be back in the theaters eventually because it had a 'big' star, John C Reilly. On her advice I went on the last day anyway.
I left the festival in 2010 thinking that no film would top Winter's Bone for me that year and I was absolutely right. This year I left the festival thinking the same because I saw Terri.
This film takes the decency and humanism in Tom McCarthy's films, most recently Win Win, and catapults it into the stratosphere. With a mind bending performance by the kid and the passionate direction of a near first timer, I can't explain the magnificent place this film put me. In the end, it is like Juno on steroids but so soft, supple and subtle.
And the word of mouth may have exploded into a much earlier than expected release this summer. Like Juno, it was intended for art houses at best, but I think the buzz from the happiness of those leaving the theater will take it somewhere much larger. Likely not to Juno 2008 $222+ million in the US levels, but certainly past any other art house film this year. Well at least I am predicting so.
At a Q&A I asked the director about filmmakers he liked. He mentioned John Hughes. When you see this as you must, keep your eye out for the magnificent Breakfast Club sequence that is so amazingly intimate, touching, funny, deep and sad all at once. This is what this film is, all of those things rolled up into what I will call in the end a great big happy pill that America needs badly right now.
Here's hoping they will take it.
Winter's Bone (2010)
Brilliant Genre Bender and Thematic Cauldron
Watching this film the first time you will see one of the most accessible, compelling, and almost entirely straight narrative films this year. As a film snob, I tend to like them more visually challenging and time bending. Nonetheless, I was entirely blown away in my first viewing and simply could not get this movie out of my mind for the rest of the film festival I was attending.
In quiet repose, the vapor trails coalesce around two things when you try to explain Winter's Bone to others. From the view of genre it goes everywhere: mystery, noir in gray tones, gangster, thriller, almost horror and a brilliant, stark family drama. Then there are the themes that rage quietly behind the scenes: hopelessness in poverty, good transcending almost demonic evil, an unbridled feminist treatise, nobility free poverty, drug culture ripping social fabric asunder, and family is your trump card for everything.
This really grasps you like a whirling dervish in a cauldron, so powerful it takes your thoughts so many places so quickly.
The source of all this is a startling story and screen rendering by one who may become a great young female director. The performances, likely coaxed by this great director, stun you silent.
Plus it contains possibly the greatest role model for the young ever put on film, performed in true star making brilliance if seen beyond the art houses where characters like me reside.
In the end, after five viewings, it stands as my favorite film seen since American Beauty, therefore placing it in my favorite ten all-time. Please see this before it shocks you when its name appears on year end awards lists.
Waterlife (2009)
Very Contemplative View of Doom
Like many exploratory documentaries intended as polemics, this ends up in that expected place where we are all doomed (which I agree with). The contemplative, quiet style makes this one more disarming than some of its shriller likenesses. In the end, however, it doesn't resonate in your gut like other, softer versions of its kind. Can't say why exactly, but just take a look Manufactured Landscapes for a truly devastating doomsday vision that we won't be able to escape from ... ever. Oh what a world we are handing off to future generations.
That's it. Shame. It doesn't leave us as ashamed as we should be after PCBs, Love Canal, introduced species, reduced yet more contaminated incoming water supplies, overfishing hazardous fish, that cute little whale a quarter of whom have cancer, and whatever else we have done. No Future ...
William S. Burroughs: A Man Within (2010)
The Unknowable Mr. Burroughs
Expectations often drive us. The expectation of full-boat tickets to film festivals like the one recently in Sarasota is that you get to go where you please and when. Once there, you have expectations that some films, based on your predilections, will entice you more than others. Such was the case for my anticipation of the William S Burroughs documentary that I had heard nothing about before it showing up in the SFF playbill. This guy was at least an anti-hero to any wierdster like myself who matured from the late 1950's to the early 1970's. But how to present such a life of what may be one of the most unrepresentable individuals from the 20th Century.
And from a first time filmmaker who was likely enjoying his Captain Crunch the morning the world learned of this infamous man's passing. How could Yony Leyser possibly know and appreciate an at best unknowable enigma from the weird subdivision in boomer-town's hall of fame.
What you get, fortunately, is a film that may tear through the fabric of any experienced viewers strategies on figuring out what beguiles them while viewing. Burroughs was so unpurposely misunderstood by default that he fits into a category of his own unconscious making. At best, I expected, in Burroughs' own words from the film, an 'unprecise' 'approximation' of the man whose infamy, in so many ways, took on a mass far, if not infinitely, greater than the addicted, queer, paranoid, but always genteel man he may have been
maybe.
In presentation, the film explodes past expectations of standard documentary forms like some kind of mutation that I think Burroughs would have loved. The formula, whatever it may be, affects in ways that award winning Alex Gibney did not capture nearly as evocatively in his screed on another modern hipster icon of excess, Hunter S Thompson. Throughout, the style contests your expectations in expansive ways you likely have not experienced. The always artistic, multi-textural presentation cannot possibly, as Burroughs life, be seen in one viewing. This is not unique in documentaries. What may be unique, however, is that other than those IMAX explorations of nature and beyond, the film may be the one documentary that demands to be seen in as big a venue as possible so you may best swim in its excesses and nuances. If the film gets enough attention beyond festivals to be considered award worthy, they may have to invent a category.
In judgment, it has that feel of a discovery found on a fairly long trail of enticing experiences with an array of individuals who had the privilege of hanging with the man for any length of time. What you may be witnessing is an education similar to Candide's travels with the Dr. Pangloss that Burroughs was to so many. What better possible vision of Burrough's world could there be! In the end, one is left with the ultimate contradiction of that dead pan voice from the man in his perennial three piece evoking provoking prose that leaves vapor trails in the aether of your mind in those places where it may resonate for days, confounding.
As is should be. As it will be. As it is.
Thank you, Mr. Leyser for dedicating five years of your young life to this adventure. It was well worth it.
Manufactured Landscapes (2006)
The Either/Or of Beauty/Horror
I had heard this film was a study of a landscape photographer's art by presenting the beauty in man's deconstructing the natural landscape. It certainly showed the laborious activities to find locations, setup shots, and capture stark images whose final destinations were art studios worldwide. Put together in moving pictures it is truly a horror show.
This film oozes by you supplanting the shock of ghastly images with gentle waves of a wonderful industrial soundtrack that guides you like on slow moving river. Each sequence stands on its own, but in combination you get deeper and deeper into the feeling of overwhelming inevitability. There are few words, this allowing the grandeur in what is shown to preach in its own way. An awful, massive factory filled with human automata who live in hopelessly lifeless dormitories. Individuals dying early while rummaging for recyclable scraps in mountains of our E-waste. The birthing of gigantic ships and their destruction by hand in giant graveyards. The construction of the Three Gorges Dam, the largest industrial project in human history and likely for all time. The time lapse as a city dies and is simultaneously reborn into a replica of modernity that purposefully destroys all relics of the culture that was.
The most terrifying image for me was a dam engineer explaining that the most important function of the dam was flood control. The shot shifts to the orchard behind the spokesperson where you witness the level of the last flood by the toxic water having eaten the bark from the trees, demonstrating that nothing but the most hideous vermin could be living in the waters.
The obvious not being stated is far more powerful than your normal preachy Save the Earth documentaries. The artist Edward Burtynsky explains the method wonderfully. 'By not saying what you should see
many people today sit in an uncomfortable spot where you don't necessarily want to give up what we have but we realize what we're doing is creating problems that run deep. It is not a simple right or wrong. It needs a whole new way of thinking'. The subtlety of this descends into an either/or proposition, but the film images scream that the decision has very much been made in favor of the dark side.
Though never stated directly in any way, as the waves of what you witness wash away from your awareness and you contemplate, there is only one conclusion possible
we are doomed. The progress of mankind that is inexorable from our natures leaves behind carnage that this artist finds terrifying beauty in. What he is actually capturing are the tracks of we the lemmings rushing unconsciously toward our own demise. Unlike most films with environmental themes, this one ends with no call to arms. It argues basically what's the point, but makes certain you place the blame properly on all of us equally.
Låt den rätte komma in (2008)
Transcendence From Genre
A major issue with horror films is their inherently being trapped in some corner of the genre. Vampire films are to a degree less prone to this because they are almost always based in relationships. Their power at times depends on the quality shown in these relationships developing, both human and not.
From the moment this film steps from the eerie softness of the snowfall, you know you may see something different if not extraordinary. This tranquility subsists throughout as you observe the evolution of one of the most interesting and provocative relationships you will ever witness in film. The subtlety and, yes, beauty of this truly throws you off bearings of any expectation.
Then suddenly, in context of genre, horror explodes that both redefines and extends the vampire myth. Most importantly, it scares the crap out of you.
The motion between these two moods really moves your emotions in ways you have not often experienced, almost never in a fright fest. Innocent sweetness. Sick pleasure in revenge. Longing remembrance of first love. Amazement at so simple special effects. An almost tear inspiring bloody kiss. Many others.
It all works because of the wonderful story, amazing performances from two first time actors, cinematography that rivals that seen in Bergman, and direction that drives this amazing sense of continuity.
I recently saw this film at a festival in Sarasota, FL. 28 films in seven days. I've Loved You So Long, The Wrestler, Waltz With Bashir, Slumdog Millionaire, The Class among them. This film was far and away my favorite and will end up somewhere in my favorite five for the year. I think that many film snobs like me who see this will be shocking themselves as they compile their personal end of year lists. Maybe end of year awards, particular considering the expectations of a genre that seldom delivers anywhere near the beauty you witness here.
Not convinced yet you MUST see this film and not the likely beyond pathetic US remake already in the works. Any film that can have you weeping at closure with the decision by an innocent yet likely sociopathic little boy running away to facilitate the life of a timelessly young, lonely, and vicious vampire has taken you to a place almost sacred. Go there.
The Toe Tactic (2008)
There's Room for the Experimental
In college I regularly got to view many short films that were labeled 'experimental.' On the surface they didn't make much sense, but the better ones haunted me to consider things that came to me untold. Emilie Hubley, whose animation is meditative in ways so different from the computer cartoon revolution that has taken over megaplexes and weekly box office lists, has created a feature length experimental film that playfully merges a small real life story with glimpses from an animated world that one must consider as the mover of it all.
There are connections between the world of imagination animation denotes and our common experience. What is wrong with a film that ponders that the ingenuity we use to work through our travails might not be inspired by imaginative sources from elsewhere. At the festival I saw this at (Sarasota) there were several films where an imaginative world intercedes with the real (Phoebe in Wonderland, Jellyfish, Christmas Story). The Toe Tactic simply kicks it up a notch.
So the idea that a group of mischievous dogs and other creatures are moving life along in pleasant and unpleasant ways while playing an organic game of tic-tac-toe with few rules is enchanting. The execution of this may not connect to everyone viewing films critically from their normal aesthetic constructs. If they don't drop their guard, they might miss the point entirely. Some in my viewing definitely did.
But for someone entirely over modern animated features, this film was so refreshing and bursting with imagination. Eddie Murphy popping donkey punch lines galore isn't imaginative, and imagination is the major ingredient missing from this recursive, hopelessly derivative industry that creates repetitive computer generated films designed to sell one ticket for the price of two.
Thank goodness there are places like the academic ends of Sundance that provide sustenance to vehicles like this. Though traditional audiences may have no patience with the effort and the film likely has little chance of box office success, is there not a place for viewing efforts like this in a different light from traditional narrative forms?
Why see this film even though it may not be your cup of tea? Go simply to experience the influence of its almost sweet innocence, likely a principle component in the personality of the film's creator. Then ponder a while on where this feeling takes you. Get it?
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008)
Groundbreaking Roller Coaster Few Will See
One of the pleasures of an all access pass to film festivals is the opportunity to be drawn to something by word of mouth. I was accidentally standing outside the theatre after the first viewing of this film at the Sarasota Film Festival. Everyone coming out was raving about it, a film that I had originally pegged as just another manipulative true crime documentary. Most had been crying like babies. My freedom at the venue allowed me to change from a viewing of Priceless to this film. I had no idea I was waking into a wall of cinematic fury.
To say it was staggering is inadequate. The impact of it all is in part driven by style. Though the form is a traditional overlapping story structure, the frenetic pace of the presentation creates a sense many times of 'too much information'. Mixed in however are some stylistic tricks that act as accent marks to move your perception to one place versus others. This moves your feelings in one direction or another within the time frame of larger movements of emotion that drive the story. The technique, though not unique, is applied in the course of a story that would seem to demand more subtly, however, it works wonderfully. Could it be that within this piece of time about a very personal tragedy a new documentary form emerges?
But the story and the trek to get through it are what keeps you glued. I will not go into the morphology of the multiplex of stories here since it would ruin the impact. Leave it to say that constant unexpected change ups give one the feeling you are on a roller coaster of emotional complexity. The net effect leaves you nearly breathless and, as one sobbing young woman I convinced to see the film told me, in desperate need of water.
The film ends with a seemingly endless list of all involved, most at least tangentially affected by the event if not actually in the film content. As you absorb the story's impact, consider that the true theme of the film is to introduce you to this virtual community of people discovered by this young filmmaker who started with an homage to his best friend and ended up capturing something far more profound.
There are many moments where we try to take solace in the good that can come from the horrid. After viewing this, ask yourself that even though all involved would have wished for the events not to have happened, the emotional fulfillment exuding from this film may have left all surviving the better for it. This filmmaker's love letter to his vastly extended family that grew out of the tragedy and his odyssey documenting it make for the kind of things we most look forward to in the cinema.
Encounters at the End of the World (2007)
Poems from the Regulator
What to make of a travelogue on a nearly empty landscape filled in by one of the most eclectic artists of our time. One certainly should take no expectations entering the theatre before viewing this. But when early on Werner Herzog makes the fatalistic pronouncement, 'We will be regulated,' watch out.
And be assured that a film done by a provocative auteur along with effectively his crew of one bankrolled by interesting sources of money is not going to be something for Travel Channel aficionados. It is far, far more.
Though science is at the center of most quests on the continent, Herzog focuses much of the film on the interesting souls who have fallen to the bottom of the world to help out. Passing by their purpose in the enterprise, the director concentrates on a series of humorous poems on who they are and how they got there. Interspersing this with some of the startling imagery NSF and the Discover Channel sent him down there to get leads to this being one of the most engaging documentaries you will ever see.
But that is what you get when you send a guy like Herzog on a mission. This is best shown in a hilarious moment when he asks questions of the penguin researcher who would rather watch penguins than talk to people. While prying answers from this shy soul, Herzog gets a lead on observable madness in penguins. This segues to a wonderful sequence on the phenomena of some of the birds suddenly running off to the inner nothingness of the continent and their demise, the reasons likely left to the understanding of the lemmings.
Science catches up at the end, however, with discourses on active super volcano researchers and those in the quest to capture neutrino activity. On the one hand you have guys contemplating the inevitable eruption of a monster three times the size of the one under Yellowstone that might end our time on Earth. On the other you have those trying to understand a particulate that may represent the echo of the Big Bang and offer the key component in our understanding of time and other prescient things.
At closure the film offers that our next great race may be to discover a far deeper understanding of the universe before our species implodes to the relics we have left in those endless Antarctic ice caves, deferring to future intelligence, if any, to determine whether our quest was worthwhile.
The images of a last stand for humanity trying to understand itself before the Regulator steps in should put everyone that sees this majestic film into a place of provocative speculation. Only an adventurous, risk taking filmmaker like Herzog would even attempt this let alone pull it off with such verve.
An American Crime (2007)
Wallowing Down With the Sickness
What a tragedy that I will never have an opportunity to see this film in a theatre. The cast alone that includes the currently very popular Ellen Page should have merited something better than Saturday night Showtime.
Because of this, the impact will be blunted, however even in its limited presentation, the film was stunning and will easily end up among my favorites for the year. The quiet contemplation of the mood and the selection of a hideous story from post-Beaver Cleaver trivial innocence, pre-late 1960s tumult creates a moment so far outside our expectations of this nonsense daily on 24/7 news channels that its impact nails you full frontal.
I particularly like some of the discussions of this film that complain that it was not graphic enough and because of this, didn't hit people 'in the gut.' This alone warrants a short meditation.
To paraphrase one of the best commentaries I've read on this thing, there is an inner sadist in all of us. America's history of violence and tolerance of violence just gives license to bring it out more often and intensely. And despite our strong sense of individuality and our braggadocio about freedom, we have this very strange conformist streak. The confluence of these two conflicted tendencies can lead to bad places.
This film meditates subtly and, yes, beautifully on all of this. By eschewing potential excesses that some complaining viewers apparently desired, the story puts us in a disturbing place where we might not suspend disbelief and acknowledge the raw emotions as something potentially alive within.
I believe it is this troubling recognition of possibility that branded this film in various ways keeping it from ever being seen in a theatre. By exposing it first on pay TV, the unwashed masses might easily mistake it for a poorly done version of sensational MSNBC serial killer crap. Stuff like this is pleasurable to many because it lets them wallow 'down with the sickness' while pretending they are above it.
There is a wonderful moment in the story when the almost involuntarily sadistic mother utters 'there are things in life we have to do whether we like them or not.' I can't help but think this was borrowed from the sadistic father figure in the original 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre,' a film that many wanted this to be so as to give them some form of absolution from their own demons 'An American Crime' exposes.
Juno (2007)
How Wonderfully Wrong Could I Have Been
Since the 2005 awards season dominated by little independent films, the studios have attempted to co-opt the process by periodically designating the Indie film of the moment. Like MTV, the keepers of the pop music gates, the major studios have been preselecting little films occasionally for us to view as the art of the moment. Little Miss Sunshine was the designated little film of 2006, and though nice, was promoted all the way to the major award shows it really didn't deserve. Waitress was an early entry in this derby for 2007, a nice but limited film.
Since exploding at Toronto, Juno has become the designated Indy film for 2007. Major studio buyout, omnipresent theatrical advertising, should win this, should win that talk everywhere. I approached the viewing of this film with a tiny bit of jaundice, fearful that the hipness of the now memorized trailer was seen as mostly a promotional opportunity.
God, was I wrong.
I have to view it again to verify, but this film was staggering. There are so many things to talk about how wonderful it was, but I will point out the two most obvious. This could be the best written film I have seen in years. Though small in scope, the interloping themes swirling around what is a very simple story are driven much further by the wit and wisdom of the words. What an ear this young woman has for turning phrases into significance. One hopes she isn't reduced to the one hit wonder this thing could become.
Then there is the kid. I don't think I have ever seen a film intended mostly for adults with such a dominant performance by a young person. Ellen Page was simply luminous. She is perfect for this role because of her eyes and expressive mouth that created such a terrifying visage in Hard Candy. Almost all of her dialog gains extra pungency from those piercing expressions. Though her always surprising, obtuse responses to questions and situations are played surficially for laughs, they are delivered with an in-character, intelligent sweetness that enchants while cutting to the bone of a whole number of issues in our time. In the end she pulls off the major theme of the film, going to term her way as a statement of almost subversive independence, with a gusto that calms as it persuades. I was of the opinion that Evan Rachel Wood might evolve into the Meryl Streep of the sub-X generation, but I think she may have some major competition in Ms Page.
Of course it could all be an accident of organic connection. A great off-center writer creating her dream off-center character and finding the perfect actress to pull it off. Mix that with a beyond competent director likely too young to get in the way of great material and you have magic.
More is going on here, however. Everything clicks. The shot selections have a "what's that?" feel that leaves you thinking after they move on. The perfectly selected songs chirp sub-themes galore and carry a tone that moves between fantasy and a much needed reality-check. The editing has similar dynamics shown in Thank You for Smoking. The other characters carry on somewhat independently likely because of the actors selected, most particularly the step mother who evolves from an adversary to the obvious perfect role model before your very eyes.
But in the end, I feel most a need to experience this film again to reconnect to its intentional, optimistic wisdom that its beyond-their-years writer, director, and most importantly its actress communicate so subtly and effortlessly. Some studio honchos picked a winner. This one deserves all the Awards Season accolades it gets.
The Jane Austen Book Club (2007)
Literacy, Fast and Furious
What to think of a film that has the most literary references than any since 'Love and Death'. The danger here is that those with little knowledge of Jane Austen will have no understanding of what is going on since the dialogue twists and turns on discussions of characters and themes in 200 year old novels.
But unlike a Woody Allen punch line comedy full of in-context jokes, you do not need a complete understanding of Austen to appreciate this literate work. The reason Jane Austen interests people two centuries later are the universality of her themes. Seeing these themes played out can work at many levels. Addicts will revel in the dialogue's appreciative in jokes. Those with some experience like me will pick up things here and there while enjoying the whirling dervish playing out in the verbal repartee. Neophytes will simply enjoy the characters living out these timeless motifs likely leaving desirous to learn more.
Some have complained about the lack of directorial artifices to woo us here and there. What better way to emphasize the literacy of it all by letting good actors use wordplays to move us instead. If this is too subtle for you, 'American Gangster' awaits.
Others have complained about obvious symbolism in the characters. A woman trapped in her time, Austen wailed subtly against her capture by focusing thematically on one potential way out through love and relationships. The film and the book it is based on strive to provide a meaningful glimpse into the core themes of this wonderful writer and how for the most part these strivings remain among us as lively as ever. If the characters are archetypes, they are necessarily so and once understood become more powerful in their abstraction.
But it is their likability that rues the day and throughout you feel for them as they traipse through their foibles. The fixer who cares more for the happiness of others than her own, a defense mechanism against longed for passion. The mother who wades through the ultimate disappointment with courage that makes her stronger when her dreams of marital bliss return. The aggressive young lesbian courageously bouncing between adventures until disappointed into seeking another. The young teacher walking to the edge of a potentially luxurious mistake and passionately imploring her man to save her from herself through Austen. The older woman wanting to keep tasting because the effort, though difficult, is worth it. And in the middle, the almost goofy, literature driven, emo-dreamboat who attracts them all in various ways though suffering from an almost paralyzing inhibition ultimately resolved
Unfortunately most men won't get it or even take the time to appreciate it all. In my screening, women outnumbered men 17-2. In the end this intelligent, optimistic feminism may have too small an audience to save itself from obscurity, but if it ends up a voice in the wilderness, it is far better left said than not.
Once (2006)
Warm Profundity in Complex Simplicity
'Once' is a film that could confound many who see it. There is an innocence and simplicity in style that captivates. The musical that lies within is tinged with an originality that comes straight from its street feel driven mostly by the flowing hand-held camera work. Because of this, it operates as almost an abstract, experimental film walking the line between verite and a pseudo-neo realism, but has this organic feel by centering on its core theme, love as the most important ingredient in the birth of music.
And most importantly, it presents a story of an unrequited yet fulfilling love that is more heartfelt and real than almost any requited love story I've ever witnessed.
That's what makes the boy's gift of a piano to the girl at the end magical. Their powerful lovemaking through musical creation would continue on in both lives even if they never met again.
I don't think a simpler film has ever made such a moving, profound statement about what's most important in our lives.
A lot of things to absorb. Most important in the end, however, is the soulful warmth you leave the theater with. I hope as many people as possible get to experience this. They all will be better for it.
Wordplay (2006)
Wondrous Documentary from a Novice Director
The commercial success of documentaries in recent years has led to a spate of money moving into various projects that would have never been seen in theaters five years ago. This rash has lead to many films that approach the method as novice polemicists that have little understanding of the documentary form. The presentations tend to feel more like textbooks than works of art ('Enron, the Smartest Guys in the Room', 'Outfoxed').
The best documentaries are those with oblique presentations of a world you may know little about. The goal is often to leave you illuminated, the best leave you inspired. Quality documentaries work either from the inside out or the outside in. The first type presents some source whose story offers up a world or view of a world that we never had the privilege to see before. The second category presents glimpses of various views of a subject and alters these viewpoints as it moves toward illuminating the topic. 'The Fog of War' and 'A Brief History of Time' are marvelous examples of inside out presentations. 'Harlan County, USA' and 'Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control' are amazing outside in story lines.
'Wordplay' is the best documentary I have seen since 'The Fog of War' and this came as a complete surprise. I expected a textbook presentation by a puzzle obsessor about those like him and their inspiration. I got a wondrous, understandable exploration of a world I knew little about from a guy whose major claim to fame to date was filming hot Maxim babes.
The film is an outside in presentation of the crossword world using four views from the edge. There is the history of the form that centers on its development by the NY Times and the paper's first and current Crossword Editors. Then you have the constructors, the guys who weave these puzzles into shape, the philosophers of the art. You see a view from the fans, the best of which are Ken Burns, Bill Clinton, the Indigo Girls, Jon Stewart, and Mike Mussina. And there are the fanatics, the pastiche of intellectual weirdos who make a science out of it and participate annually in the World Championship.
The film crisscrosses the edges of these oblique views toward a center of what could have been a pedestrian presentation of the 2005 championship. The director actually turns this into a meditation on the zing one gets from successfully doing puzzles while allowing you to take sides with one or more of the fanatics. I found myself utterly mesmerized by this, feeling exhilaration, disappointment, inspiration, appreciation, and most importantly, respect for this cast of zanies. The net effect of this experience was a huge smile that I felt on my face as the adventure wound down. The energy of this comes from the amazing use of juggling split screens that I won't even attempt to explain. Just see it.
And I haven't tried to do a crossword puzzle in years.
I certainly hope this guy has graduated to a new level of film-making and is given whatever he needs for future projects. I am so honored to have been introduced to him in this way rather than in a titillating Maxim video.
Not that there is anything wrong with
.
Running Scared (2006)
Way Too Late to See This in a Theater, but ...
I am so torqued. I was on a business trip the one weekend this film was showing in the theaters. Wanted to see it badly but before I blinked it was gone.
My first viewing was today on the Pay per View circuit and I am even more bent. This could be the greatest film that must been seen on a BIG screen that I didn't ever see on one. There is no way to appreciate the incredible, unfathomable chaos this thing offers on a TV of any size.
But the crescendos of calamity and the absurd ending could not have prepared me for the amazing credit sequence that so boldly makes the film understandable. As I suspected while taking in one incredulity after another, the film is a garish live action horror fantasy. The wonderful credit storyboard makes this very clear. Wayne Kramer is just messing with our heads in ways that other genre artists have, for example John Carpenter in 'Assault on Precinct 13' and 'Escape from New York'. You think its all real, but welcome to Mr. Kramer's nightmare.
So many reviews of this thing went on about the improbability of it all. The layers of impossibility and coincidence become too much after a while, going way beyond anything people complained about in the film 'Crash.' But 'Running Scared' was never intended to make a point. It was simply to be bathed in.
So in the end this is a genre play that transcends its action world full of scum predictability into the nightmare fantasy genre that transmits power from its absurd, incoherent nature. If you felt you should not like this thing but did, watch 'Donnie Darko' and 'The Sender' again to get similar feelings at closure.
But in the end, I have such misgivings that I will never experience this thing full bore as it should have been tasted.
I am so torqued.
Night of the Demon (1957)
A Superlative Achievement From the 1950's
It is interesting to note when a film throws back successfully on expectations. For the most part, horror films have a built in advantage here. No one expects them to do anything approaching artistic. These assumptions were so obvious in the drive in mania of the 1950s where one cheap, guilty pleasure bad film after another came out of the depths. Occasionally a film from the genre surprised like the Quatermass trilogy and cold war allegories like 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' and 'Them'. No monster/scifi film from the 1950's was more distinctive and superior to Night of the Demon/Curse of the Demon.
This film in any form is certainly a top three horror film for the 1950s and comparable in quality to anything in genre history. The quality comes from its mystical atmosphere, evidenced in director Jacques Tournour's Val Lewton collaborations ('Cat People', 'I Walk With a Zombie'), combined with an extraordinary script that has the unexpected turns and disarming out of context humor of Hitchcock (the screenwriter contributed to Alfred's arsenal). But the distinction here comes from the threat of terror that is imbued throughout. Much has been made of the director's desire to leave out the final vision of the demon. Truthfully, it is better with it. I remember seeing this film first on the late night monster movie circuit of the 1960s and was terrified. As a film aficionado now I appreciate it in other ways, however, I am always drawn to the monster. It was truly the most horrifying image I can recall from the low tech era, standing on its own even today.
There is little doubt that this film belongs on any top 10 horror/suspense/monster film list. Since it works so well on all three it certainly fits the framework for being an overall top rated film, particularly for the 1950s.