Review: A Serious Man

In The Book of Job, one of God’s most gifted creations has his faith tested by the big man himself.  Forced to suffer a deluge of hardships and agony, Job must grapple with the existential quandary of why this is happening to him.  What is the cause of this misery?  Didn’t he live a good life?  Wasn’t he a respected member of his community?  Didn’t he try to be a serious man?

Such is the difficulty of human existence.  We inhabit a space in which its origins cannot ever be made clear to us and throughout time we’ve had to debate philosophies that attempt to make sense of events that could possibly make no sense at all.  The Coen Brothers’ excellent new film, A SERIOUS MAN, opens with a prologue that introduces some of the spiritual elements of the film.  Staged entirely in Yiddish, a Jewish couple encounter a man who may or may not be a dybbuk, which in Jewish folklore is an evil soul dislocated from another body.  Whether the man is or isn’t is unclear, and the Coen’s aren’t interested in definitive answers.  The answers, in this film, are less the focus than the questions.  

We soon turn to Larry Gopnik, a math professor on the verge of tenure living in 1960s Minnesota.  His wife is leaving him for a family friend (the scene-stealing Fred Melamed), his son doesn’t pay attention in Hebrew School and gets high while preparing for his Bar Mitzvah and his brother is occupying his sofa while constantly draining his sebaceous cyst and refusing to look for a job.  In addition, a student that Larry is failing attempts to bribe him for a passing grade and even threatens to sue him.  Larry has a difficult time addressing these problems or finding adequate reasons why they are happening to him.  Much like Job consulted his three friends Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, Larry looks for guidance from three distinctly different Rabbis.  The Rabbis offer wise, but seemingly useless advice which is of little help to Larry’s immediate pain and larger philosophical questions.  Even when Larry climbs his roof in order to manipulate his TV antenna to get better reception, he is literally looking to the skies for some clarity.  

As always with the Coens and cinematographer Roger Deakins, A SERIOUS MAN is impeccably filmed and composed.  Close-ups of the ears and mouth pull us literally inside the characters.  The Coens alter the contrast to give the film’s color palette a drained look which works well in the setting of 60’s Minnesota suburbia.  The film also employs interesting uses of perspective, typically when a character is high on pot.  Sleight of hand is employed with certain dream sequences which allows the Coen’s to keep the audience continuously questioning the film’s ideas of morality and consequence.  

A SERIOUS MAN is the Coen Brothers’ 16th film to date and they remain powerful and uncompromising artists.  This is not an easily digestible film, nor does it have much chance for mainstream success with its cast of unknowns.  They remain in the elite class of today’s filmmakers with this strong dark comedy of existential dilemma.  Just as The Book of Job ends with the emergence of God’s voice in the form of a whirlwind, A SERIOUS MAN ends with its own whirlwind which audiences will be forced to contemplate long after the final credits roll.

Review: Inglourious Basterds

Love him or hate him, Quentin Tarantino is an uncompromising filmmaker.  His films exist in a special Tarantino universe that looks a lot like ours but is re-imagined and inspired by a great love of the cinema.  Characters in this universe don’t talk the way we do, but the way Tarantino wishes we did.  With his 6th feature film, INGLORIOUS BASTERDS, Tarantino rewrites history by giving World War II the kind of ending only he could write.  I must say I like his version of WWII better than the actual one.  

While watching INGLORIOUS BASTERDS I was reminded of a quote from Francois Truffaut who said “I demand that a film express either the joy of making cinema or the agony of making cinema. I am not at all interested in anything in between.”  Tarantino’s films are always about the celebration of cinema.  He has often been called a collage artist, ripping off other artist’s styles and slapping them together on celluloid.  Those who make such criticisms fail to see the joy and exuberance in his pastiche.  Tarantino is first and foremost a lover of films and film history.  It’s no coincidence that the climax of INGLORIOUS BASTERDS takes place in a movie theater or that the primary weapon in the film is a collection of old, flammable nitrate film prints.  If the power of the cinema can’t take down the Third Reich then nothing can. 

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS opens with a masterful scene that ranks among Tarantino’s best.  For such a hyperactive person, watch here how patient a filmmaker Tarantino is.  A farmer in the French countryside gets a knock on the door from Col. Hans Landa of the SS (Christoph Waltz) who believes he may be hiding Jews somewhere in his home.  Tarantino takes his time with this sequence, slowly ratcheting up the tension.  Waltz has been the source of all the buzz coming from this film ever since it premiered at Cannes where he snagged the Best Actor prize.  Waltz lives up to the hype by creating a unique screen villain who is equal parts charm, mystique, brilliance and evil.  

A teenage girl named Shoshanna (Melanie Laurent) manages to escape Landa’s clutches, eventually becoming the owner of a French movie theater.  She catches the eye of German war hero Frederick Zoeller, who is the subject of Goebbles’ latest propaganda film.  Zoeller takes a shine to Shoshanna and suggests to Goebbles that they move the premiere of his newest film to her theater.  In another part of France, Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) is leading a squad of Jewish-American soldiers on a killing spree of Nazis who will use German double agents to try to sneak into the big premiere themselves.  

Tarantino takes his time letting these story-lines converge, including several extended scenes designed to slowly build the tension.  Waltz has a great scene in a restaurant with Shoshanna in which eating strudel has never been more menacing.  Look for the extreme close-ups in this scene that highlight Shoshanna’s heightened sense of awareness and fear.  Waltz’ Landa walks a perfect tightrope in this scene.  He is at the same time pushy and polite, charming and evil, intense and relaxed.   Another scene takes place at a German tavern where the Basterds and the double-agent meet to discuss their plans.  The tavern serves as a lion’s den, where the slightest slip-up could mean death.    

It would be impossible to discuss a Tarantino film without discussing its soundtrack, since music plays such an important part in his work.  Who can hear “Little Green Bag”, “Stuck In The Middle With You”, “Misirlou” or the whilstling ladies of the 5,6,7,8’s without immediately thinking about Quentin Tarantino?  The soundtrack to INGLORIOUS BASTERDS is another perfect example of Tarantino’s melting pot of a vision.  What other WWII film features songs by Billy Preston and David Bowie?  Like in KILL BILL, Tarantino turns to the master, Ennio Morriocone, for several cuts that fit seamlessly despite being used originally in Spaghetti Westerns.  The Bowie song upon first listen feels out of place until you realize that lyrically it fits Shoshanna’s story perfectly.  The film also features the most insidious version of “Fur Elise” I’ve ever heard.

INGLORIOUS BASTERDS has been a source of high anticipation for years.  It is a different film than the script I read a year and a half ago, when Adam Sandler was set to play The Bear Jew and the French portion of the film was in black and white.  There are flaws to INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS but the occasional silliness can be forgiven.  This is an exciting, exuberant retelling of World War II by a unique and talented filmmaker.

Review: Let The Right One In

Vampires are big business these days.  Walk into a Barnes & Noble and you’ll be greeted with the sullen emo kids of TWILIGHT.  Ditto for the multiplex which churned out the film version of TWILIGHT to the tune of $384M worldwide.  Flip on the television or simply drive through the streets of Los Angeles and see nothing but TRUE BLOOD advertisements.  The entertainment industry has tapped into a demand that it has been more than happy to meet.  Whether it be vampires disguised as a Harlequin Romance Novel (TWILIGHT) or a hyper-sexualized blood orgy (TRUE BLOOD) the entertainment spectrum is not starving for un-dead material.  Amid the torrent of vampire tales came 2008’s LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, a Swedish film based on a book of the same name.  Do not mistake LET THE RIGHT ONE IN for the aforementioned Vamp flicks though.  

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is the story of Oskar and Eli, both around age 12 (we’re not sure about Eli).  Oskar is ruthlessly abused and mocked at school by a pack of bullies.  At night Oskar takes a stroll outside his apartment complex to indulge in revenge fantasies by attacking a tree with a knife.  Oskar’s world is one of isolation, thrust into the rigors of adolescence with no friends to lean on.   Soon, his lonely nights exploring his building’s courtyard are interrupted by Eli, who immediately informs him “we can’t be friends.”  However, unlike the relationships typical of the genre, their bond is not one of lust but of need.  

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN works as a human story so well that it would have made a great coming-of-age film even if we never found out that Eli was a vampire.  Though Eli is sweet and tender with Oskar, Director Tomas Alfredson does not hold back in showing how violent she can be when she has a hankering for blood.  Eli attacks several times in the film and each time is sudden and brutal.  Horror fans will be pleased with the masterful direction in these scenes as the film is able to take a character we’re fond of and make us terrified of her.  Eli breaks the vampire movie mold by being neither one-dimensional or hyper-sexualized (in fact, she may not necessarily be a woman at all).  Killing for blood is not something she relishes in.

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is also gorgeous to look at.  Each shot feels meticulously constructed.  The lighting is extreme, featuring harsh bright lights during the day and stark blacks at night.  The climax of the film is a stunner, shot brilliantly using the rule of showing us less to give us more.   The baron landscape allows Alfredson to focus in on the two 12 year olds who give wonderful performances.  Alfredson pulls off a remarkable feat in balancing the touching moments between the two kids and the terror of the vampire attacks.

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN isn’t a “big” film.  I recall only one scene that contained CGI, but it is forgiven due to its use of demonic cats.  As usual with classic foreign films, Hollywood has already begun production on an American remake to be directed by Matt Reeves (CLOVERFIELD).  They’ve already changed the title to “LET ME IN” and it’s likely the soul of the film will be ripped to shreds.  Whatever abomination that film becomes (I predict Nicolas Cage and Megan Fox will be cast as the two 12 year olds) it will not tarnish the greatness of the original, which I believe is the best vampire film of all time.  

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is available on DVD.  

Review: PRIMER

PRIMER is the ultimate challenging film.  It requires the viewer to deeply focus and observe something that is difficult to digest.  I cannot say I completely understand everything that happens in this movie.  I have ideas and theories that undoubtedly contain some truth and some gaping holes.  If one were so inclined, they could dedicate their life to piecing the puzzle together.  After searching some message boards, it appears some people have already done this.

The film surrounds two engineers who appear to be in their late twenties/early thirties.  They are dressed at all times in slacks and a striped tie, though the ties have different colored stripes.  So much for individuality.  They’re the kinds of low level employees that send out envelopes containing their work to big companies that never write back.  The men are building a machine in their garage but they’re not entirely sure what it does.  After all, the microwave was invented by accident.  It begins to secrete protein at a rate that suggests either a miracle or that perhaps time is measured differently inside the box.

The men speak as engineers do.  They theorize out-loud,  scribble notes on a legal pad and discuss their discoveries in a technical jargon that we’re not intended to understand.  After all, we are observing minds powerful enough to discover time travel.  How could we expect to understand it?  In BACK TO THE FUTURE, Marty McFly asks Doc Brown how time travel works.  Doc points to a Y-shaped formation of Christmas tree lights called the Flux Capacitor and Marty accepts this and moves on.  There are no convenient explanations in this film.  We are asked to observe the events as they unfold and these geniuses are not going to dumb down their conversations to spell it out for dummies like me.

The men discover that they can turn on the machines, then immediately go to a hotel room where they will unplug the phone and TV, eliminating any issues of causality.  6 hours later, they can go climb into the machines where they will wait for another 6 hours to travel back in time to earlier that morning when they turned the machines on without worrying that they will run into themselves since they will be in the hotel room.  If that’s confusing to you, trust me, I explained it a lot easier than the film does and it doesn’t get any less complicated from there.  The men eventually do what we would all do if we made this discovery: play the stock market and bet on basketball games.

Things get foggier.  During one trip through the box, the men emerge bleeding from the hands and ears.  Did the box make them bleed?  Or are they not the original versions of themselves?  Time travel can’t ever hope to go smoothly given the endless variables to calculate.  The film hurdles forward at a frenzied pace and given the techno-jargon, you’ll be lucky to keep up.  PRIMER is a fascinating puzzle that will drive some viewers crazy and completely engage others.  Consider me the latter.

Shane Carruth wrote, directed, edited, composed the score and stars as one of the two men.  He made the film for an astonishing $7,000 and the film later went on to win the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004.  Carruth, a former engineer with a mathematics degree, has yet to make a second film and perhaps he only had one in him.  What he created was a fascinating mind-bender that will have geeks like myself pouring over it for years to come.

PRIMER can be found on DVD and is currently in rotation on IFC.

Stop Motion using Post-Its

Trailer: Shutter Island

The latest from Martin Scorsese.  I don’t think he’s ever going to make a film without DiCaprio ever again.  This looks like THE SHINING meets SHAWSHANK and I probably wouldn’t have an interest in seeing it if it wasn’t Scorsese.  

SHUTTER ISLAND opens October 2nd.

Review: Up

About 40 minutes into Pixar’s new animated feature UP, a 4 year old girl sitting a few seats down from me turned to her mother and said, “I want to go home.”  

I’m sure there will be many children who will love UP and many Doug the Talking Dog stuffed animals will be sold.  However, like the little girl seated in my row, there will be many kids for whom the larger themes of UP will sail right over their heads.  

UP is a film not of cartoon characters but of real people.  It is a great film, entirely in its own class when compared to the other releases so far in 2009.  The film opens with the meeting of two young children, Carl and Ellie.  Both have wild imaginations and thirsts for adventure, and the two instantly fall into a love that will last them the rest of their lives.  The story of Carl and Ellie is told in a prologue that is by far the greatest achievement that Pixar has ever accomplished.  With this prologue, UP manages to do in 10 minutes what BENJAMIN BUTTON couldn’t do in over 3 hours.  It is powerful storytelling and what struck me the most about the story of Carl and Ellie was the wisdom it contained.  The sequence contains no dialogue because it understands that some of life’s most powerful moments exist in gestures, not words.  A balloon tied to a stick sailing through a hospital room affected me as emotionally as anything I’ve seen in recent memory.  Ever since they were children, Carl and Ellie’s dream was to build a home on the cliffs of Paradise Island, the famous destination of their favorite explorer, Charles Muntz.  They save money in a jar for the big move but as they get older, real life gets in the way.  Car repairs, hospital bills and the like cause the jar to keep being dipped into until both have grown old.  There is a moment when Carl looks at his great love and realizes that she is now an old woman, and the full grasp of that deferred dream settles in.  That Pixar can manipulate Carl’s face with computers to display such a complex human emotion is incredible, yet entirely seamless.  

The real story of UP begins as Carl begins his life without Ellie.  Alone for the first time, he occupies the house they lived in together on a completely barren construction lot.  All of the neighbors around him have sold out to a big corporation except for Carl.  Their house, filled with all the pictures and trinkets of a life spent with another person now feels empty.  It is soon after that he decides to fulfill his promise to Ellie and move their house to Paradise Falls, aided by an endless bunch of helium balloons that stick out of his chimney.  He soon finds that he isn’t alone on his journey.  He is joined by a young Wilderness Explorer Scout named Russell, who shares the same adventurous spirit that once lived in Carl.  

UP largely involves the adventures that Carl and Russell encounter once they reach their destination.  There are hilarious bits involving a pack of dogs that have special electronic collars that allow us to hear their thoughts and the film also contains a truly sinister villain in the form of another explorer whose spirit of adventure has corrupted him.  The film is genuinely funny, with scores of colorful creatures and characters.  Michael Giacchino’s score flutters and soars, keeping the film humming along beautifully.  

Last year I told you that WALL-E was the best film that Pixar had ever made.  This year, they have raised the bar yet again.  UP is a beautiful film both visually and thematically.  I watched the 2-D presentation and am thankful for the experience given that some critics saw the 3-D presentation as a way of dulling the film’s rich color palette.  UP is a film about love and loss, the struggle to move from one chapter to the next and the special relationships that can propel us forward.  It is the film to beat of 2009.

Calm The Fuck Down

I am a passionate sports fan.  I can’t necessarily explain why.  I can’t say why a Laker victory catapults my mood to temporary euphoria and I can’t describe to you why a Laker loss makes me grumpy and irritable.  I know it’s just a game.  I know it’s silly.  I’ve tried explaining it to my girlfriend but can’t articulate it.  Bless her for putting up with me during the 2008 NBA Finals embarrassment.  

Sports are an emotional enterprise.  The word “fan” is short for “fanatic” which can explain some of the heightened tensions and emotions that can exist during a game.  Last night’s NBA Western Conference Finals Game 5 is a perfect example of the emotional rollercoaster of being a sports fan.  The series was tied 2-2.  If the Lakers win, they go up 3-2 with a chance to close out in Denver and even if they lose there they have the deciding Game 7 in the cozy comfort of their home court.  If they lose, they face elimination in a hostile Denver crowd on Friday.  As the game progressed and the Lakers looked lethargic, I begin to chew my nails down to their nubs.  However, when they went on their fantastic run, effectively “flipping the switch” we’ve been waiting for them to flip, it was a great joy to watch.  

What is the point of all this?  Simply to explain that I get it.  I understand the emotions, the triumphs, the disappointments and the let-downs.  I am able to reasonably manage these emotions and keep them in check because after all, it’s just a game.  

This is a concept that European soccer fans just can’t grasp. They have the emotion, but not the self-control.  Recently, Manchester United lost their Championship game to Barcelona.  When American teams win championships the occasional riot is bound to happen.  Perhaps a car or two will be flipped over and set on fire.  While this behavior is obviously abhorrent, it is incredibly tame compared to European soccer riots.  In the aftermath of the Manchester Utd/Barcelona match, this happened:

(CNN) – A man “angered” by Manchester United’s defeat to Barcelona in the final of the Champions League killed four people when he drove a minibus into a crowd celebrating the Spanish side’s victory, police in Nigeria have told CNN.

Ten people were also injured in the incident in the town of Ogbo, where the driver was subsequently arrested, a Port Harcourt Police spokesperson said.

“He was displaying his anger at his team losing the match. The driver had passed the crowd then made a U-turn and ran into them,” spokesperson Rita Inomey-Abbey said.

What causes this behavior?  There is a massive Wikipedia entry titled “Football Hoolaganism” which chronicles the violence around the world.  Why does this happen?  It’s not like it’s all they have in Europe, which is home to some of the finest art, music and cuisine in the world.  Maybe because I don’t understand soccer I don’t understand the riots.  I know that you won’t find me within 10 miles of a European soccer match anytime soon.  I hate to be a killjoy but the league has to step in to insure that these kinds of fights don’t happen anymore.  Who knows how many other fights and injuries were sustained outside this particular incident.  

In the meantime I will watch my Lakers compete in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals tomorrow night.  Win or lose, I can assure you that you won’t flip on the local news to see that I’ve ran anybody over with my car.  Unless there are no cops around and  a group of Celtics fans are just asking for it.

Red Bull Gives You Wings. And A Numb Mouth.

Red Bull, the popular energy drink, gives you such a great boost of energy that the German Health Institute decided to explore what exactly makes it kick.  The result is nothing short of fantastic.

“The [Health Institute in the state of North Rhine Westphalia] examined Red Bull Cola in an elaborate chemical process and found traces of cocaine,” Bernhard Kuehnle, head of the food safety department at Germany’s federal ministry for consumer protection, told the German press on Sunday. According to this analysis, the 0.13 micrograms of cocaine per can of the drink does not pose a serious health threat — you’d have to drink 12,000 L of Red Bull Cola for negative effects to be felt — but it was enough to cause concern. Kuehnle’s agency is due to give its final verdict on Wednesday when experts publish their report. 

Red Bull has always been upfront about the recipe for its new cola. Its website boasts colorful pictures of coca, cardamom and Kola nuts, along with other key “natural” ingredients. The company insists, however, that coca leaves are used as a flavoring agent only after removing the illegal cocaine alkaloid. “De-cocainized extract of coca leaf is used worldwide in foods as a natural flavoring,” said a Red Bull spokesman in response to the German government’s announcement. Though the cocaine alkaloid is one of 10 alkaloids in coca leaves and represents only 0.8% of the chemical makeup of the plant, it’s removal is mandated by international antinarcotics agencies when used outside the Andean region.

I was going to try to write some sort of clever shtick or joke to go along with this story but honestly, I’m just going to take off and get some Red Bull.  Enjoy your afternoon.

When To Pee During Movies

To go along with my passion for the cinema, I have also been blessed with an iron clad bladder.  I never get up to go to the bathroom during movies.  I just can’t stand to miss anything and hate the feeling when you return to your seat and have to ask the person you’re with what you missed.  However, I understand that many of you out there enjoy sipping on a Mr. Pibb while watching NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM 11: BATTLE OF THE NIXON LIBRARY.  Finally, there is a website for you.

RunPee.com is a rather genius website that tells you at what point in a film to run to the bathroom.  In addition, they will provide a description of what you missed in the time you were gone.  For example, when watching X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE you should never pay to see it in the first place.  However, if you find yourself watching it anyway, RunPee suggests hitting the head about 50 minutes into the film, right after Wolverine discovers his new claws in the bathroom.  Here’s what you will have missed (SPOILER, but seriously, don’t see WOLVERINE):

Wolverine accidentally chops up some of the bathroom fixtures with his new claws/blades. He then goes downstairs for dinner with the old couple. The old man and Logan talk about motorcycles and that’s about it. Next morning Logan is out in the barn when the old man comes out and gives him his son’s old jacket. The old lady comes out with some food and that’s when a sniper shoots her and then the old man. Logan is already sitting on the motorcycle so he speeds out of the barn just as the bad guys blow it up. Chase scene ensues.

So for those with shy bladders, you now have your new bible.