(1996, Dir. Mohsen Makhmalbaf)
In Short: A former policeman and a film director collaborate to make a movie chronicling the event that brought them together twenty years earlier. I don't remember exactly how I came across this movie, but it's a good thing I did. It's an Iranian film, and it's vastly different than anything I'd ever seen. The most noticeable difference is that the storytelling is not as blatant as in American or other Western cinema. The whole story is there, sure, but it requires some assembly. It's not lazily written or poorly put together, it's thought provoking. It demands attention. The style in which this film is shot is very documentarian. It all feels very real and raw. There's very little scoring and no complex editing, but there are some truly beautiful shots in the simplistic visuals of this movie. There are no close-up shots that I can recall--everything is medium to wide, which puts an odd sort of distance between the viewer and the characters. These choices close and re-open the emotional gap between the film and its audience. There are a lot of parallels happening in this film--between two different sides of the same story, between art and reality, between the past and present. It's absolutely fascinating to see all these parallels develop and continue independently throughout the course of the film until everything comes together at the end. It's very powerful. This is a film about perspectives--new perspectives on an old issue, different perspectives on the same issue--and how a person can learn from them, or how they can change the course of events. A Moment of Innocence urges viewers to consider the full scope of any situation and to imagine other people complexly. That's valuable advice any day.
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(1951, Dir. Billy Wilder)
In Short: A washed-up reporter goes to far trying to get his big break. There's something awful about knowing how a movie is going to end. I've had a lot of movies with famously twisty endings spoiled for me before I saw them. I still enjoyed them, nonetheless, but it's not quite the same. (Mega Spoilers) Ace in the Hole doesn't have a twist ending, exactly, but it does have an interesting one. I didn't know the ending going into watching the film--in fact, I knew almost nothing about the movie whatsoever. But as the story raced towards its upsetting conclusion, I realized that I knew not how it would end, but how it had to end. Leo Spinosa has to die for the story to work. It's awful, and it's heartbreaking, but that's what drives the point home. Nothing is learned if Leo Spinosa makes it out all right, because then Chuck Tatum has gotten exactly the story he wants with no repercussions. That's the exact opposite of the point. Tatum did an awful thing in trying to get the story he wanted, and for him to learn that, Leo Spinosa had to die. Is that fair to Leo Spinosa? Absolutely not. Is it even fair to the audience, who's invested in what seems like his probable survival? No way! (End spoilers) The end, of course, isn't the only part of this movie. This film is great at turning expectations on their heads. Leo Spinosa's wife is not the worried, doting, sweet type of a woman who an audience would expect to see in this kind of a disaster set-up. She's uncaring and selfish--much like Tatum himself. Even though he's the protagonist, he's no hero. In reading about this film, I was surprised to learn that it was a critical and commercial failure--director Wilder's first real flop. I can see where it might lack entertainment value for some--it's a little slow on the action in parts, and sometimes, unlikable characters simply repel audiences--but the writing, acting, and technical aspects of the film all stand out as very good to me (but I'm no expert). It's an interestingly shot movie with a messed-up plot that features complex characters. Though a huge departure from the typically sugar-coated world found in most of Hollywood's films in the 1950s, it's real food for thought, and I liked it a lot. (1999, Dir. Gil Junger)
In Short: This is Taming of the Shrew, only a whole lot more '90s. This is one of those movies that I should've seen ages ago that I'm just seeing now. It's a freshman/sophomore year movie, so I thought I would have outgrown it or been disappointed with it. Nope. I didn't know much about it going in--I knew Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger starred, I knew it was based on The Taming of the Shrew, I knew it was known for being a quintessential 1990s high school movie. I quickly realized that this is THE quintessential 1990s high school movie. Every trope I think of when I think "'90s high school movie" is present here in its purest form--the sarcastic feminist, the annoying and prissy little sister, the rumored teen convict, the crazy house party, the prom breakup, all of it. As soon as I noticed this, I was shocked that I wasn't bored out of my skull or just plain annoyed. I was really enjoying it! Every beat, every bit, no matter how typical of the genre, was executed so well that it didn't feel contrived. The screenplay was written by the good people who would bring us Legally Blonde a couple of years later, and it shows. The dialogue is witty ("It's just a party." "And hell is just a sauna.") and the plot is fun to follow but not overly-complicated. The characters (especially Heath Ledger's angsty delinquent) go through interesting and well-developed arcs, too, which is always appreciated. Overall, this was the kind of sit back and relax comedy that I really needed, and it was even better than I expected. I'm glad I took the time to give it the chance it deserved! (2011, Dir. Woody Allen)
In Short: Gil Pender (Owen Wilson) is a nostalgic Hollywood screenwriter working on a novel in Paris with his fiancee's family, where he finds himself transported to the 1920s every night at midnight, during which time he meets his artistic idols. First of all: The good stuff. I thought the opening series of shots was really gorgeous--establishing shots of the city with very little camera movement and really saturated colors and jazz music in the background. I thought that was great! It set a great tone for a movie that was so much about the city of Paris itself as a living, breathing sort of entity. The costumes and sets in the past were gorgeous, too. So was the cinematography! The shot of the two couples in the art gallery looking at the Monets was stunning and very memorable. And yet.... I would have been obsessed with this movie when I was a freshman. I was definitely living under the impression that I was born in the wrong generation, just like Gil thinks he is. I would have loved the idea of going back in time and getting to live in the past for even a little while. I still thought I would at least like this movie. I didn't. I liked the stuff that I talked about before. Unfortunately, there was a lot more I didn't like. The plot felt very gimmicky and predictable. I knew exactly when Gil would try to show Inez what had happened to him, I knew that she wouldn't believe him, etc. It's the same old song and dance. Speaking of the same old song and dance, Woody Allen wrote my least favorite kind of joke into this screenplay. It's the joke you get in time travel movies where the person who has traveled back in time meets a famous person and gives the famous person the idea for their great famous work. It happens in Midnight in Paris with Bunuel. This type of joke never makes me laugh, it just makes me irrationally mad. Another issue I had was the disconnect between the present and the past stories. And, yes, I get it. They're two different things, they're Gil's two different lives, etc. You don't have to tell me. But too many elements were changed. The tone, the color palette, the performances, the style of cinematography, everything was different. It was too big a jump to make. The unity of the film was lost on me. There were a lot of other reasons why I didn't like this movie. And maybe I'm just tired and angry and giving Woody Allen a hard time (but, I mean, he deserves it). I wanted to love Midnight in Paris. I didn't. Oh well. |
AuthorEileen here, writing reviews for film class. Archives
April 2018
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