Thracian dawg's reviews

Page contents: Made in Dagenham – (2010) / Welcome – (2009) / The Mudge Boy – (2003) / Vanya on 42nd street – (1994) / The Names of love – (2011) / I'm glad that my mother is alive – (2009) / Good Neighbours – (2010) / Manners of dying – (2004) / A heart in winter – (1992) / The Last Seduction – (1994) l / The Baader Meinhof complex – (2008) / The Company Men – (2010) / Midnight in Paris – (2011) / All watched over by machines of loving grace– (2011)

http://www.impawards.com/intl/uk/2010/made_in_dagenham_ver3_xlg.html

Made in Dagenham (2010) - Cole

The Gals against Goliath

A very simple and sweet story about people standing up for their rights told with an impish sense of humour. Although the film has a feminist slant, you could substitute just about any other minority and the film would ring just as true. How a little grievance about better working conditions festers and transforms into something beyond the narrow cobble stoned streets of Dagenham, simply because the people involved are willing to fight for it.

The braying and nay saying (when it doesn't directly line their own wallets) of the ruling class is there; however the story is interesting in that it shows the biggest obstacle to social change is the stiff opposition from the very people that would most benefit. The lion's share of the resistance to their labour demands comes from the very people around them; from the rankle of their fellow workers; to hubby's angered by the amount of unwashed dishes mysteriously piling up in the sink; to neighbour's who believe the gals have gotten a little uppity and forgotten their place in society.

A great supporting cast that helps Rita (Sally Hawkins) along the way. At crucial moments: Bob Hoskins appears (with a twinkle in his eye) to mischievously point Rita in the right direction; Rosamund Pike, an oxford scholar turned housewife, underlines just how important their demands are when almost everyone is against her and she's ready to give up; and Miranda Richardson as the fiery Secretary of State, who despite having clear orders to shut them down and make them go away, instead gives the ladies a helping hand.

Nice things? The early 60's soundtrack. A wonderful zinger that recalls when "Hanoi Jane" was once, one of the most feared firebrands in North America. The typical steward election where no one volunteers for the post---so some poor sacrificial lamb is pushed forward to represent. There's a kind of gentle teaching suggested here. The film recalls the forgotten period before the corporations discovered (much to their chagrin) that democracy actually works and quickly and quietly implemented stealth programs to dismantle unions and muzzle all employee dissent.

Made in Dagenham ~

Welcome (2009) - Loiret

The Swimmer

Simon (Vincent Lindon) made it to the top of the Olympic podium in his younger days. Now he paces the local community swimming pool watching the very young and the very old, dog paddling across the deep end. He's taken by Bidal, a promising beginner who desperately wants to learn to how to swim---particularly the forward crawl. Simon soon discovers this 17 year old is actually one of the scruffy men who camp out on the outskirts of town hoping to make it clandestinely to England. Because of PTSD, Bilal is incapable of doing the usual truck route of plastic bagging it to England. (You got to see it to believe it) Once Simon learns of his plan, He continually warns him off--swimming the English channel in winter time would be suicidal.

An explosion of chaos would occur if it were ever leaked out Calais was the pearly gateway to England. So, Humanitarian aid is in the process of being criminalized in that region. All of the back stories of fleeing war zones, crushing poverty and repression are not accepted as justification in Calais legal system. The bureaucrats who enforce these sound policies appear level headed and rather sympathetic. The activists are ineffectual and passive. Simon's wife is an activist volunteering her time in an outdoor soup kitchen for these men---They're in the process of finalizing their divorce.

Essentially, the filmmakers haven't quite converted the intellectual problem of human migration into a viable film argument. They seem conflicted and wary. In theory, they seem to be against the draconian policies being hammered in place, but at the same time they seem to be condone them. Most of the violence and tragedy happens off screen and it's anonymous and unmourned.

The film is saved by the play between Vincent Lindon (solid as always) and Firat Ayverdi. These two actors embody; the mutual aid of strangers; Father and son; Mentor and protégé and in particular, men in love: Bilal is utterly relentless, and will travel the ends of the earth to be with be with the one he loves. Whereas Simon wouldn't cross the street to save his own marriage.

Welcome ~

The Mudge Boy (2003) - Burke



The only game in town

A rural coming of age story with a twist. The twist being---in this farming community, all the boys are shoe horned from birth into a single kind of rugged masculinity; that of stoic self reliance and hard work---so communication skills will be cast along the wayside. Which has served his father (Richard Jenkins) for most of his life; however, Duncan (Emile Hirsch) has a deeper emotional range and obvious intelligence. Maybe he hasn't quite verbalized it yet, but he's intuited this archetype will never be for him.

The interesting thing is this community is kind of scattered to the sticks, and assembles only for the Sunday Church service, so this masculine archetype may not be working for the other boys as well, but will remain hidden for years and years and rear it's head only through alcoholism and sudden pristine violence.

The death of his mother throws his father and Duncan together in the little farmhouse, because his Dad is walled off emotionally---out of simple necessity, he begins to take his clues from his mother's example. Her trick for calming chickens seems a little odd and suggestive when he does it. Of course he totally bewilders his father. Duncan also takes over her bicycle route which sends him out into the larger world delivering their eggs. This endlessly delights the older kids who discover they've got a chicken boy in their midst.

Nice touches? Father and son are distant, when his Father gets angry and slaps him once, Duncan rubs that sting on his cheek tenderly, more shocked than hurt his father touched him. I liked the pillow shots (a bit of verdure here; a landscape there; the unpainted grey exteriors of the farmhouse) Plus the great character name: Duncan Mudge ... Budge? Smudge?

The Mudge boy ~

Vanya on 42nd street - (1994) - Malle

The work in progress
　
The opening scene is a great period snapshot of Times Square before it was Disneyfied; where drug dealers and streetwalkers rubbed shoulders with the hustling businessmen and the bustling unemployed actors and huckleberries stepped off the bus, fresh from Kansas and stretched their legs and squinted at the sun, ill prepared for their impending New York moment.

When plays are adapted for the screen, the standard operating procedure is to break down all the theatrical conventions so completely as to disguise it's dialogue based origins and make the work live and breathe as a film. Here, they take the opposite tack; We're going to see a play, a sneak preview of a (perennial) work in progress for a handful of special friends (the viewer included) in a crumble down theatre---so decrepit in fact, the actual stage is off limits and condemned and nets are strung across the ceiling to catch the frittering debris.

All the characters (fictional and real) have reached that point in their lives where the road less travelled ... would have been the wiser choice. Uncle Vanya (Wallace Shawn) is the summation of this bitter regret---up until last year, he was full of swagger and confidence, but now believes a life full of self-sacrifice and constant toil has been a complete waste and what to do with those remaining years? All the actors are first rate but I'll single out that Botticellian beauty, Brooke Smith; here, as the oh so ordinary and pining Sonya, her warmth lights up the other actors.

Malle uses a palette of medium and close shots to create an intimate theatrical performance; and there's constant of transcendence where reality becomes fiction and vice versa throughout the film. And despite years and years of on and off rehearsals, this play was never actually performed onstage, so this beautiful film is all that remains.

Vanya on 42nd street -

The Names of love (les noms des gens) - (2011) - Leclerc
　
What's in a name?

The set-up? Bahia (a feisty Sara Forestier) is doing what she can in her own way to make the world a better place. A first glance, she's .... Brazilian? She meets the birdman of Paris; a cool headed, slightly reserved virologist, whose job it is to monitor the risk of a pandemic originating within the local bird populations. He's going to be her next convert. His first impression (Jacques Gamblin) is always the same. He shares his moniker with a popular brand of kitchen appliances: the Arthur Martin. Both he and Bahia are not what they seem.

The synopsis of the film suggests a silly Rom Com where a young woman converts wealthy conservative men to liberal causes through her various amorous and subliminal ministrations. However, this concept is significantly deepened by an inventive, and suggestive mediation on individual and collective identity. There's a layer of real anguish from ancient psychic wounds that are still alive and kicking in the minds of the survivors many years later. Bahia's pathology could be a coping mechanism.

What exactly is a national or communal identity? How is it formed? Is it simply a numbers game? Following in lock step with all the others out of fear? What essential parts of yourself to you surrender to the others? And why?

The original French title seems suggest this superficiality: People's names. Which can be homogenized through numbers or falsified (changing or dropping the ethnic suffix from your name) to conform. The successive waves of immigrants looking for a better life, is always followed by a reactionary backlash of xenophobia by the people already living there comfortably. Which is ironic, since if you go flip back a few pages in the registry, they were in exactly the same tenuous situation, depending on the kindness and tolerance of strangers.

"I'm not crabby"




There's an evocative scene when a character gets her identity photo taken and she can't stop smiling. Facial recognition software works better without a smile. so there's a delicious convergence of completely alien and opposite intentions: that of the individual trying to establish and belong---and that of the state trying to reject and disprove identity at the same time.

There's also a couple of wonderful character epiphanies. An old women has her purse snatched in the street and she has to replace all her papers. And there's the frightening realization that, after an entire lifetime, she hasn't progressed a single step away from the little girl that she was, orphaned in the street. Without a piece of paper, identity is indeed, dependant on others, she can't prove her existence. Her son also has a "symbolic" moment, when he realizes his assimilation is so complete; he mans one of the watch towers and with a single twitch of a his trigger finger or a stroke of a pen, he can become a cold blooded executioner in the name of God and Country.

Likes? The film won Best actress and Best screenplay from in last springs César's, so obviously these elements are clearly strong. But Jacques Gamblin has also been hitting his stride lately. The real life romance between the screenwriter and the director imbues some of the romantic scenes with a little authenticity. However, moving between the various tones of farce, romantic comedy and drama, the direction is at times a little shaky. His use of filters wasn't always clear. There's faint borrows from Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Woody Allen.

The Names of love

Nice reviews Dawggie Thanks

__________________
Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
Buddha

Thanks Nebbie, I notice your avatars are becoming a little "bosomy"

May, the month that was in film and TV
* = rewatch



Better off Dead - (1983 ) - Holland
80's teen comedy with a few touches of originality.
Time of the Buffoons - (1985) - Falardeau
15 minute short. Essentially voice-over commentary of the 200th annual party of the rich and moneyed elite of Montreal. Worth a peek if you've never heard a rabid left wing type speech.
A film unfinished - (2010) - Hersonski
Well, it was what it was. I don't really think the incomplete film they found in the mountain bunker was used in a particularly compelling or original way, The filmmakers seem to belittle the whole exercise by dwelling on the dishonesty of the enterprise.



Nazi's .... dishonest? I'm shocked. The original film was never completed for obvious reasons.
　


* Blue Collar - (1978) - Schrader
Begins on a high note: Captian Beefheart riffing on Muddy Water's Mannish boy which echoes the rhythm's of the production line. Takes a right turn into a heist film, then drives head long into a wall at the end of a cul de sac. The incoherence of Schrader's political message sinks the film. In order to get them to sign on, Schrader lied to the three actors by offering the lead role to each of them. Because of that betrayal they fought like cat's and dogs and couldn't stand being in each another's presence, so most of the scenes were done in one take.
Hill street blues: Season one - (1981 ) - Boncho & Kozoll
Had heard this was one of the great all time TV series. Ouch. Horribly dated, bordering on ridiculous. The street crime borders on urban warfare. It got a little better as the series progressed as they focused on the thin blue line's entitlements, from the freebies and perks to outright corruption.
The Celebration - (1998) - Vinterberg
Maybe the limitations of the dogma film or the steady cam, but I never got into the film for some reason. Curiously uninvolving. Perhaps the film sets up the sister character but never really establishes her presence or even mourns her.
The life of the dead (1991) - Desplechin
At 54 minutes this feels like more of a study than anything else. The Desplechinian "languor" is already present in his first film. Family sagas and the presence of death is always lurking in the corners of the rooms.
If you love this Planet - (1982) - Nash
25 minute short. The impetus for the film came when President Reagan stated that nuclear war was winnable. So Dr. Helen Caldicott explains what happens when you drop an atomic bomb on a city. Hard to imagine why the US state department banned this innocuous lecture as Soviet propaganda back in the day.
　


* Heartbreakers - (2001) - Mirkin
JLH and Signourey Weaver are a good mother and daughter con team but Gene Hackman steals the show as a cigarette baron; his reactions and responses are just a half beat behind what they should be, due to him chain smoking nicotine boosted cigarettes.
The Young Philadephians - (1959 ) - Sherman
There's a kind of, buried in the dirt artifact, there's just enough to suggest how lurid and sensational this may have been when it was originally released. Back in the day, the only way of striking it rich was bagging yourself a heir or heiress to the family fortune. The class differences between the rich and the poor was more overt and class mixing was seriously frowned open.
Late Autumn - (1960) ~ Ozu
Ozu usually sides with tradition and the older generation in his films, but here, he definitely comes down on the side of the kids.



* The Russians are coming, The Russians are coming - (1966 ) - Jewison
A light hearted romp through the cold war in the form of a dramedy. Coming only three years after the Cuban missile crisis, this must have been one ballsy move back then. Imagine doing a comedy about tolerance and understanding using a group of bug eyed, bearded Muslims visiting New York City who are mistakenly identified as a sleeper cell. American dreamz anyone? Lots of great supporting roles, Jonathan Winters as an assistant deputy, Brian Keith as the sheriff. Alan Arkin in one of his first roles. A cameo by Michael J. Pollard.
* Hard Rain - (1998 ) - Salomon
A actioneer that's a cut about because of the strongly written characters.
* Win Win - (2011 ) - McCarthy
I liked all the communal stuff going on. Sure, the "over the hill" gang is reliving their youth through Kyle, but Kyle is getting stability and nurturing from these older people. And in the final analysis, maybe the prizes and trophies of a life spent outward gaming are not important as a winning life.
The West Wing: Season two - (1981 ) ~ Sorkin
Some well written episodes here. This is Sorkin's wheel house; the jibber jabber dialogue, quick scene, quick scene, then move on. Although romance clearly isn't one of this strengths. It's all flirtation and fizzle. Jorja Fox and Moira Kelly simply disappeared once their plot business was finished. Not much of an arc this season.
The first grader - (2010) - Chadwick
An old man receives a letter from the Kenyan government and decides at the ripe old age of 84 , to learn how to read. Nice counterpoint to the comic superhero movie.
Meltdown (the Secret History of the Global Financial Collapse) - (2010)
At twice the length, there's a little more information and detail in this 4 part documentary from the CBC, but lacks the anger of "Inside Job". The series also focuses on the people at the bottom of the pinnacle, forced to muddle through a community now wrecked and broken by greed. The lack of resources in communities produces mean streets. Available on Youtube.
Bridesmaids - (2011) - Feig
Waking Life - (2001) - Linklater
Opening the doors of perception. Definitely, probably one of the most densest films ever in terms of ideas about living well one's life . Strangely filled with movie moments.



* Vertigo - (1958) - Hitchcock
On the surface, the villain is using Scottie's medical shortcomings to establish his alibi however, below the surface, he's actually using his voyeurism Wonderful details. The hair bun in Carlotta and Madeleine (the swirl) is a symbol of vertigo. Overkill on the phallic symbols, particularly when Scottie's skulking after her.
Certified copy - (2010) - Kiarostami
The names of love - (2011) - Leclerc
　
　
High light reel (Re-watches ineligible)
　
Best scenario: Waking life
Best costume design: Sara Forestier's overlarge sweaters in "The names of love"
Best supporting actor: Chris O'Dowd as the nice dater in Bridesmaids.
Best supporting actress: Mariko Okada (Yuriko) from Late Autumn, Ayako's feisty friend from the office.
Best Actress: Juilette Binoche. Certified copy.
Film I finally got to see: If you love this planet.
Best symbol: Meltdown: A Dubai Real estate developer---in order to attract more buyers to his project, proposes to air condition the streets of his development ... wtf? Air condition the desert?
Lost skill sets: The Russians are coming: acting with hats.
Sequential intertextuality: Jennifer Love Hewitt in "Heartbreakers" steps out of one of yellow taxi's they were making in "Blue Collar".

I love the sound of The First Grader. That's definately one I'll be trying to find. Thanks.

If you'd like to take a satirical (and informative) look at the financial crisis, Silly Money is a pretty good one.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...7045427920026#

I just realized "The First grader" was in the slate of films you mentioned in the thread about BBC film releases. Which would make it in reality, a British film and not one from Kenya.

It was? Cool. I really need to make a list of these films so I can keep track of them.

I'm glad that my mother is alive (2009) Nathan & Claude Miller

The difficult child

Psychological drama. Thomas is immediately introduced in a harsh light that accentuates with all the scars of childhood. When he was 4 years old, his mother left him and his baby brother alone in a dingy rooming house; said she was going out to look for a job, and never came back.

This betrayal has left Thomas with a latent distrust of the world and overly aggressive; years of which have ground down his adoptive father and taken their toil. Of course, his younger brother never bonded with his biological mother and has no recollections of these traumatic events---and could care less, their adoptive mother and father is the only family he knows and he, unlike Thomas, is not troubled by the past, he runs straight towards happiness without a stumble.

Fate intervenes 16 years later, when Thomas finally (he never gave up looking for her) tracks her down. Irony of sort, she's remade her life and has another son the same age she abandoned Thomas---in her defense, she's no longer overwhelmed by circumstance and has a solid support system in place now. Only his real mother can answer those heavy questions that have always burdened him. And so begins a quest to meet and maybe form some sort of relationship with this woman. Tentative connections become stronger and their relationship begins to thrive---at the expense of the family life he's already established.

Sophie Cattani---with her darting eyes and open mouthed smile is great as Julie. Vincent Rottiers is also good as Thomas---the current poster boy for adoptions in France (I'm kidding! Nathan Miller did a good job for his first feature, although Pops was standing just behind him, guiding his hand here and there.

I'm glad that my mother is alive ~

Good Neighbours - (2010) - Tierney
　
Cat people

In film, there's one plot device guaranteed to set an audience on edge--- it's that of a serial killer on the loose and the hysteria that ensues. Unfortunately that intriguing premise is confined to a single character who flips through her morning paper at the kitchen table while she sips her morning coffee. The story never expands and explores that idea in the community at large.

So rather than being a thriller or a murder mystery, "Good Neighbours" is actually a study about urban malaise. The opening moments of the film hit this perfectly. The tenants of the apartment building are just ... slightly off. One couldn't categorize them as being ... unfriendly, but then, they're not helpful either. They like their cloak of urban anonymity and prefer not to get involved. And they grow more eccentric as the film progresses.

Caveats? The in-jokes are going to go over like a ... lead zeppelin. It's set during the second Quebec referendum on succession, but rather than some sort calamitous occurrence, it was in fact a kind of fun period in Quebec history. The concierge of the building maintains a shrine to Réné Levesque in the front lobby. The three french actors are all hyphenates (Writer/director/actors) the most recognizable one being Xavier Dolan (I killed my mother, Heartbeats) who has a single scene.

There's a little wonkiness on the construction. The director Tierney seems unfamiliar with some of the conventions of the genre. The screenplay certainly needed another pass to establish the building as more of a brooding presence and to tweak the wheelchair bound character---the film would have noticeably improved by removing a couple of his unnecessary foreshadows.

Likes? A well trained cat that can canoodle on cue. The acoustics of the building, where one can hear what someone is doing upstairs and down. For some reason, Jay Baruchel hasn't gone totally Hollywood. He uses his brand name recognition to get projects financed and shot in his home town. More power to him.

Good Neighbours

My film review system

I thought it would be interesting if I explained the framework with which I rate movies and ended up discovering ... I didn't really have one. I'll start by throwing out stuff that doesn't enter into it.

Rewatches: This is actually a really tricky thing for me. There has to be a pretty decent interval between them, otherwise the film loses a lot of it's emotional kick. Especially with films that I really enjoy. If the interval is too short, I really notice the flaws and nit pick on the details, which kind of sinks the film. Secondly, my first impression of a film has everything to do with my own personal biases of what a film should be. However, during a rewatch, I'm perfectly willing to except a film's shortcomings for what it really is. A film may also have hidden depths that require several viewings to appreciate it.

Incompletes: I've actually stumbled upon reviews where they said, they gave up after 15 minutes, then bombed the film accordingly. So ... no napping, no fast forwarding, I actually have to see the entire film---lock, stock and smoking barrel before I can claim to have an opinion about it.

Expectations: I prefer seeing a film as cold as possible; I recently stumbled across an interview where I was pleasantly surprised to discover that David Lynch actually calls this "a state of innocence", and his preferred norm for watching a film. I certainly avoid reading about a film I know I'm going to see in the near future. However, certain expectations are unavoidable. A bad trailer can spoil the film. The genre can be gleaned from the poster. A tag line can points you into a certain direction.

Continuity errors: unless it's hideously bad, but I'm not really a stickler for such things. I haven't really evolved to the point where I deliberately watch hideously bad films, to mock how ridiculous everything is.

Promotion: classic film criticism is based on avoiding stinkers. The highest rating are the best bet for your patronage, and again this is for an unsophisticated audience unaware of their own tastes---who more importantly, only see 5 or 6 films each year. In this context, my score refers to how close a film (IMHO) approaches something to a genuine, authentic film experience. Which has nothing to do with how enjoyable a film is. If you notice below in the engagement portion, visceral enjoyment of a film only rates a single point.

Taste: getting a personal rating and a point of view. I try to avoid mulitple ratings for a film.

Criteria: so how does a film reach the upper echelons? In every category, originality and invention. Although in many categories, stealth mode is the default setting--- editing and make-up for instance.

And of course, subtlety. Affectation is great Oscar bait: the great actress in her first hooker role really pops, or someone wasting away from a disease of the week works because you can see them "acting" whereas in fact, there's more difficulty and mastery involved in effortless naturalism when the actors don't even appear to be acting. And all the facets of film production have facile tricks which appear amazing, but are extremely easy to do.

Well, after about 2 years, I'm back with a revision. I no longer spend any time pondering over the details, just a snap judgment.

My film review system: third revision

- awful

- Fairly bad

- Decent; a split of good and bad things

- Good

- Very good

- Outstanding

Manners of dying / L'exécution - (2004) - Allen
　
Industrial desolation

The set-up? Condemned Prisoner Kevin Barlow (Roy Dupuis) is transferred to Cantos prison and placed in a holding cell for the afternoon. He'll be executed later that night at one minute past midnight.

The film is not really a discussion of Capital punishment. The main bone of contention is a request by Barlow to send the tapes of his last hours and execution to his mother. The warden, Harry Parlington---in the few conversations with the prisoner, has to sift through his motivations for such a request; would this be a last act of malice or a genuine act of contrition?

The only idea how much trouble this man may have been on the outside, is a minor character tell in that he prefers to eat his dessert before supper. The crimes that brought him here, are never revealed. And the outside world only exists only momentarily in a passing mention that there's a vigil outside the front gates.

Best thing? As the film progresses it does an imperceptible 180 degree turn; rather than making this experience trauma free for the condemned, we gradually realize all the rituals and routines are in place for the inmates, er, prison employees. It's their emotional well-fare and coping mechanisms that are being handled with kid gloves, every step of the way.

They want him to swallow those Valium, they want him to shuffle quietly down the hallway and lie down like a lamb on the gurney. They want him docile and compliant. They don't want to have to drag him kicking and screaming every inch of the way into the death chamber. They don't want him to die hard, because quite frankly that could seriously trouble their beauty sleep later.

And by extension, this is a nice mediation in the way that modern life, isolates and smooths away the presence of death, even in the most unlikely places. Technology is used as emotional isolation. Barlow spends several hours pouring out his heart to the surveillance camera just across the hallway to his cell, only to be told later by Parlington before they march him to the death chamber that the camera doesn't record sound, it's not there to surveil him---it's study tool the employees use to improve their game.

"The procedure is painless"


The game was lost years ago, so they're not in locked in some bitter confrontational mode. Rather, one advances and the other cedes ground---unless it involves rules and regulations, then Parlington gently forces a retreat. Given the volatility of Barlow's situation, the Warden (Serge Houde) is as unemotional and sedate as a Banker.

At times, the story becomes deliciously absurd and ironic about removing death from the equation. The signal for the execution to begin is removing his glasses. Alas, he can't (symbolically) see the dying man now. Why squab his skin for the injection--- it's not like he's going to contract a life threatening blood infection in the next few minutes. At despite the high walls, all the mortal and brick, all the buzzing open and slamming shut of barred doors--- every so often, a droplet of warm blood spatters and leaves an indelible stain.

Manners of dying ~

A heart in winter (1992) - Sautet

Bizarre love triangle

The most dangerous place in a Sautet film is the restaurant or the sidewalk cafe; this is the where lovers exchange that first look through wispy spirals of blueish smoke and fall head over hells in love or tear each another apart in a final act of broken hearted desperation.

I think Sautet is exploring the complimentary nature of relationships. And importantly, this dynamic is not fixed, but always vibrant and shifting with each new circumstance. Take the two thirds of the intrigue; the tandem of Maxime (André Dussolier) and Stéphane (Daniel Auteuil) Owner and employee respectively, of business specializing in the restoration and sale of violins. They're one crack outfit. Maxime enjoys his business---but lives for the canoodling and schmoozing with the various visiting luminaries. He lives just off stage in the wings. There was a time when Stéphane accompanied Maxime to these spirited soirées, now he's content to to listen passively to his little "rock star life" at their daily confab the morning after.

However, the relationship is immediately reversed once a wounded violin enters their atelier. Stéphane is an undisputed master craftsman. Unlike the unbridled vanity of certain star athletes; Stéphane can actually give 110 %. He can restore an instrument beyond to it's original timbre and can even make it better than it ever was. Their phone number is on the speed dial of every concert violinist.

Like Stéphane, Director Claude Sautet is also bit of master craftsman himself. The film is filled with several layers of evocative details and sub-text, and dialogue that at times, cracks like a whip. The intrigue is slight, it's basically a sandwich without any baloney: Girl meets boy; boy loses girl. Yet Sautet manages to infuse deepest regret and tragedy in this tale.

The three actors are echoed in the instruments of the musical trio, which is in turn echoed by the mechanical toys of Stephane's retired music teacher and friend Lachaume.

I think almost everyone can recall a poignant scene in a film that was underscored with the swelling crescendo of violins. Here, it becomes a merely throwaway piece in one of the rehearsals.

The inciting event is in the back story. And it comes not Maxime---but Camille(Emmanuelle Béart) Her personal assistant, Régine, has become a little too possessive in their relationship---her original function was that of chaperone. Camille has outgrown this to a degree that causes her to question their relationship.

Likes? A dizzy tumult of fiddle music to Ravel in. Béart and Auteuil were actually in love in real life during the shooting of this film, so, to say, there's a little sizzle between them is an understatement. Watch the way she looks at him, the entire arc of the story can be told in her eyes.




A few things changed with this rewatch; all the characters gained a little more flesh. In the past, there was a kind of "Rain man" quality to Stéphane that I always found highly evocative. If criminals can be born without a conscience, maybe it's possible for someone being born with an inability to love ... could be, maybe. Plus, he gets brownie points for being articulate about his situation and being able to say it with a straight face. But I now think this is a misuse of artistic emptiness. The success of the story depends on the viewer supplying motivations to actions that ultimately remain unknown.

I noticed Stéphane tends to return probing questions and conversation back to the sender: aware they will supply their own (at times, erroneous) answers. This is why Camille gets into so much trouble. She assumes his emotional distance stems from crushing love affair in his past. She'll be the one to restore him. And I got to be honest: I bet the mortgage payments on that one. She's almost a like visiting resident from Krypton;, under a yellow sun, no mortal man can resist those laser beams she calls eyes. And she knows it ... that anyone could reject her, is absolutely devastating for her.

Also with the Maxime character; he basically gave up everything to be with this woman because he loved her. He ends his marriage almost callously. "That's life", he says. He's a little jealous of the cellist, and thinks about firing him before he puts the moves on Camille. Yet when he intuits a connection between two of them, he immediately steps aside for Stéphane. But then, his relationship with her, was always subsumed to Camille's wants and needs, especially her career demands. And in the end, the depths of passion that Stéphane briefly awoken in her, that exquisite burning of love in her eyes, will never be his. He knows he's simply replaced Régine as her new personal assistant and chauffeur.

Although the title refers to Stéphane. It also, in the end refers to Camille. Although she's was extremely gifted in one area of her life. Her interest in Stéphane was in fact her first coltish steps into the real world. Because of that emotional wreck, she'll retreat even further into her stage life.

And finally, the film reminds me that, although an individual can be full of sound and fury and invulnerable. Ultimately, we can be undone and broken by little things. It doesn't have to be a stray bullet or a knife, the "coup de grâce" can come from a look.

A heart in winter ~

The Last Seduction - (1994) - Dahl

Girls just wanna have fun

The set-up? Bridget Gregory wants to live in the greatest city in the world, and the way it should be lived---in style with plenty of money. Her latest nickel and dime scam is selling commemorative coins at 100 bucks a pop. She's about to graduate to the big time.

Although the film suggests a Neo Noir, it feels at times more like a black comedy. The first scene in the apartment when she calls her husband a idiot. He over reacts---not because of this observation, but he's still a bit frazzled about almost becoming a chalk outline in the ghetto. Her decision crystallizes in the heartbeat that follows. And her greatest talent is---once committed, she's able to follow the script all the way to the end, however bitter.

Bridget's impulsive. She likes breaking rules. She enjoys messing with peoples minds. She appears to improvise some of her greatest villainies on the spot. She's surrounded by guys who are just one or two bricks short of a load---but this isn't by mistake. She deliberately seeks out these rubes. Notice the two her misfires in the story; her Lawyer knows better not to get within hundred feet of her---but finds her ... colorful and amusing. The Local Barkeep has her number the moment she walks into his tavern. Bill Pullman (her husband) is just slightly out foxed by her. As she says: "You can slap me lover, but careful ... I slap harder."

There's just a suggestion of an inferiority complex; she's always on and trolling for an advantage. When she pulls off the highway into the self serve in Beston, she can't resist enticing the attendant out from behind his cash register booth to pump her gas---just because she can.

Details? Her drink is the Manhattan. Her neat trick of writing upside down or backwards. The drug dealers are so low budget, the brief case is not included in the price. That little jazzy riff that repeats every now and then. The Mike (Peter Berg) character is a total hoot. He wants nothing with these small town cowgirls from his hometown, who only one thing on the brain: marriage. He gets his sophisticated dream girl dropped into his lap---after she checks out his. Then constantly whines about her refusal to even pretend that she likes him. Both their goals seen to be about escaping small town lives. I wouldn't be surprised to find out Bridget was New Jersey born and bred.

Best thing? I've always kind of liked Linda Forrentino. I've always wondered why she never made more of a splash. I've read from gossip she has reputation for being a little bit of diva on set, maybe that's the explanation. Anyway, the film is her performance. Although she gains a lot by being the protagonist. "The Last Seduction" is a delicious tale about the girl mother warned you about, who makes no bones for her wickedness---the audience gets a contact high just because she enjoys herself so much while behaving so very, very badly.

The Last Seduction ~

The Baader Meinhof complex - (2008) - Edel

Drops of Jupiter

The opening points to two seminal events in German history that galvanized an entire generation. The murder of Benno Ohnesorg at the Shah of Iran protest. Although The movie doesn't point out the attempted assassination of Rudi Dutschke (the man with the bicycle) that some of the right wing newspapers were openly calling for his liquidation---until some lone deranged gunman answered that sacred patriotic call by shooting him in the head.

The idea that one could legitimately protest something and end up dead in an alleyway with a bullet hole in the skull illustrated the police and the media were not the neutral bystanders in society they pretended to be and were perfectly content to use violence whenever it suited their needs. And so the idea was born, you had to be actively on guard and defend yourself against these abuses.

Best thing? The gorgeous reproduction of the era, with a current crop of hot German actors. In particular, Johanna Wokalek stands out as Gundrun Ensslin; the daughter of a Minister who seems to recoil both from the impulsive grand standing of Andreas Baader and the cool headed intellectualism of Meinhof.



However Martina Gedeck, gets a much more internal and subtle role as Ulrike Meinhof; struggling constantly between the impotence of the ideas and the messy world of action. And while she justifies the growing list of civilian casualties in the name of their struggle; one senses she understands the full weight of her actions, even if they are merely words on a page.

The filmmakers shape the story like a gangster film with the bad guys enjoying a bloody rise to the prominence, then eating their just desserts in the end. However, to their credit they allow, if one so desires, to extrapolate the ideas from the story that animated them to understand their motivations. The complicity of various States is perfectly illustrated in the Shah protest at the beginning. The Shah's Secret police are masquerading as Iranian nationals proclaiming their great love for the King. And the second he disappears inside, they turn and beat the protesters with impunity---as they are wont to do in their own country, while the riot police suppress ... stifled yawns. When some of the crowd escapes their clutches and run to the cops for protection, they quickly whip out their own billy clubs and thrash the hell out of them also.

The hypocrisy is also decipherable by the moral outrage at the home grown violence. Yet strangely, can't make the intellectual connect to the cold blooded aggression in faraway war zones, that ensures the spigots that fuel their affluence and their freedom with continue to openly flow.

Likes? The beginning is really strong. Affluent children of an affluent society slowly awakening to the world around them. Ulrike is first seen, reading a fluff piece about visiting royalty. When her two daughters ask: what's a King? To paraphrase Meinhof's husband: "A King is someone who can kill whomever he wants" Although as members of the upper middle class, they are more likely to share a sparkling glass of champagne, rather then ending up in one of his "reeducation" centers.

I liked the little idea that in the past, when the morning paper landed on your doorstep, one clearly knew the ideological slant of what you were reading, and where it was situated in the spectrum of ideas and politics. And each morning you had your daily fix of ideology and caffeine in the solidarity of like minded individuals. One of the movie posters for the film (the one with the red border) suggests this---it looks like an old cover from Der Spiegel.

The small caliber bullets, where the victim stumbles around despite being riddled with bullets.



I wanted this to be more, but it just doesn't travel well. Perhaps by wanting to be a brief history of the Red Army Faction was overly ambitious. It works as the gang assembles, but less so, once they begin the inevitable downward spiral. The second wave, or second generation of the RAF fighters spring fully grown into the struggle, without any characterization. There is such a wealth of material, that at times you can feel the film is a little over burdened with documentation---the film seems to place very large footnotes self consciously inside certain scenes.

The Baader-Meinhof complex ~

Just because I've seen that banner ad, one time too many.



The Company Men (2010) - Wells

Controlled implosions

The one word review? Flaccid.

Don't get me wrong now, the film was definitely earnest and heart felt ... it just didn't jell into anything compelling---other than a cursory look at the joblessness among 3 upper class, white collar executives. The movie dithers and withdraws from stating the obvious truths.

Points for the roster of good actors. I'll single out two supporting roles: Rosemarie DeWitt, immediately aware and already miles ahead, but with (saintly?) patience, she allows her hubby Ben Affleck to process this new reality for himself, the hard way. And Kevin Costner's small part. He's got his brother-in-law's number down cold. I'll paraphrase one of his digs: "Hey Babby, did you hear? The avehage Wall street CEO makes 2,000 times the avehage corporate employee ... Does that mean he wahked 2,000 times hahder than them?"

The theme of appearance versus reality plays constantly throughout the film. Gene McClary's (Tommy Lee Jones) dilemma is that he understands this essential change; the company now lives and breathes in the virtual world of appearance and spin and grows only through acquisition. When Gene confronts his best friend and CEO (Craig T. Nelson) about the latest wave of mass firings; Jimmy (James to everyone else) immediately shames him in silence when he reminds him the sickening amount of wealth he pocketed over that little decision. Firing thousands of workers shows your cooled headed business acumen and your stock value sky rockets.

The feel good ending is a bit flaky; after decades of transferring the jobs overseas---they'll simply transfer them back, forgetting that the price of three weeks labour in the third world now only pays for about 58 minutes in North America. And the business pundits are rather adamant this current economic model is unassailable, since the difference would come out of their pockets.

The best film about this reality is still Joel Schumacher's "Falling Down" from 1993. After years of transferring the jobs overseas, the working class has quietly become the working poor---taking with them, the scaffolding that the upper middle class had built upon those same disappearing foundations.

The Company Men ~

Midnight in Paris - (2011) - Allen
　
These are the good old days

The set-up? A couple with wedding bells in their future has scored a free trip to Paris with her rich parents. While her father oversees a business merger between of two conglomerates; Inez (Rachel McAdams) and her mother partake of the great opportunities for shopping and pre-furnishing their Malibu beach house. Whereas Gil (Owen Wilson) discovers the romance and allure of Paris has triggered thoughts of abandoning his lucrative career as a Hollywood screenwriter and wants to stay in Paris afterwards to write a real book. In the roaring twenties, Paris was the only place to be if you were a serious artist.

At this point in time, I doubt anyone goes to a Woody Allen film expecting him to re-invent the wheel. He's staked out his claim decades ago, and by his own admission, if you stood with both arms outstretched, you can touch the limits of his fictional world. There's constant reminders of him borrowing bits and pieces, recycling jokes and at times entire characters from his older movies.

For instance, you could overlay an opening from one of his earlier films onto this one. Owen Wilson's voice: "Chapter one. He adored Paris. He idolised it all out of proportion. ... " Uh, no. Make that "He romanticised it, all out of proportion". Better. " To him, no matter what the season was, this was still a town that existed in pastel colored postcards and pulsated to the great tunes of Cole Porter " Etc, etc. That opening would time out here almost exactly to the second.

Nice details? They seem to have shot Marion Cotillard with a softer focus. I liked how the " Vacationing Americans" seem to be color coordinated with the sumptuous decors and recede naturally into the flora and fauna of those moneyed backgrounds. The in-joke when Gil asks the tour guide at the Rodin museum about French mistresses. (Before she was the first lady, she was the first mistress) The in-joke when Gil suggests a movie plot to a filmmaker and the future director finds it completely nonsensical. Gil gets off a good zinger when he meets Tommy " I have measured out my life in coffee spoons " Sterns.

Best thing? The nice reminder we don't need pages of exposition and heavy machinery to simulate time travel. Here, the transition was done in the wink of an eye. A church bell chimes. Slightly inebriated party goers cruise up to Gil in a chauffeured vintage car and invite him into their merry midnight revel. And when they pull up to their destination; the way the exhaust gently envelops the car, suggests steam and that the car is cooling off from the 1.21 giggawatts required for the leap backwards in time.

The actors aren't really there to score deep dramatic roles, they flesh out stock characters in Allen's repertory (and pad their resume with a prestigious entry at the same time) And since they tend to be the best of the best, they do this very well. Some sparkle a little more brightly simply because they given a little extra work. Like the bellicose novelist can't resist a telling observation about a character in Gil's manuscript. Or Inez's old friend (Michael Sheen) from her college days, Paul is a delightful and pedantic windbag who loves the sound of his voice.

"Honey, these would look really great on the veranda"
　

　
For the umpteenth time, Rachel McAdams is misused once again. Although I kind of liked how she quietly, over poses her body in certain scenes, recalling perhaps all the statuary they are seeing all over town?

The lead role is such an archetype to Allen's cinema that he's immediately judged on how well he impersonates the part---which almost dooms most actors to failure since everything has been tailor made, cutting around Allen's weaknesses and playing to his strengths. A lot charm of the movie comes from Owen Wilson choosing not to impersonate Woody Allen, but instead play the character. It's not laugh out loud funny, with Allen taking his typical pot shots here but more of a gentle ribbing, which may go with the territory---if you're in the company of touchy novelists, asking everyone to step outside with him.
　
Midnight in Paris ~

Product placement: the City of Light

All watched over by machines of loving grace - (2011) - Curtis

Knocking on heaven's door

A three part documentary from the BBC film essayist, Adam Curtis. Is there a human gene for selfishness? Is there a human gene for altruism? And can we deprogram it? This is essentially a meditation on self-interest but doesn't quite follow the reasoning all the way through to the end.

Curtis begins his film in the fifties and sixties when scientists began to project computer logic onto a natural world they assumed was essentially static---it simply restored itself to the original settings after calamities. They reduced nature to simple programmable equations to be controlled and managed for the benefit of all mankind.

The film gets off to wobbly start with the Ayn Rand biography. She looks like she got picked up for shop lifting just before her interview, and is going to be arrested the moment the interview is over. Any serial killer or rapist that would step into the witness stand and proclaim himself a Randian hero and society needs to just back off and accept the natural order of things, would be laughed all the way to the gas chamber. The idea that feeble minded entrepreneurs justify their manifest cruelty in the same manner is also laughable.



Despite horrific catastrophes like economic collapse, wars and genocide. There's a lot of folly and black humour in the film, like the mathematicians who program their data and end up initially with the really ominous conclusions. So they return to the drawing board; reprogram and tinker with it, until it comes up with a more palatable outcomes: such as continued economic growth, future utopias and fat military contracts and tenure for them.

There's a wonderful idea that ideas themselves, have a cycle of growth and decay. Necessity is the mother of invention. Once upon a time, there may have been a serious problem and a thoughtful solution was brought to bear. However, the solution that solves the problem changes the matrix irrevocably and creates a different one. There's also the effect of multiplication; as soon as an idea becomes predominate, the original ecosystem is destroyed. The formation of a question, is in itself an ecosystem. The question reveals more about time and place surrounding the questioner than the question.

Unfortunately, the idea of a living breathing ecosystem can also apply to the film. There's a constant stream of fallen or disgraced heroes running throughout the program. Scientists who've taken their one innovation and pursued it to it's own logical end----becoming at times, mad as a hatter near the end. One can't help wondering, where's the error in his logic? What has he missed? What's the one variable would destroy the delicate generalities of the film and render his arguments obsolete?

And I have to complain the documentary states several times that politics has been discredited in order to advance it's theme. But fails to mention the vast propaganda machines that run 24/7 to fuel this sublimation alienation. Ever heard the phrase "Big Government"?

Anyways, Curtis has a wide ranging intellect that travels freely, this film is crammed with ideas---most of them probably whizzed past my pea brain. Except the main idea that computers are the new masters, subtly appropriating resources and changing geopolitics for their continued care and maintenance---much in the way house pets have skillfully trained their masters to attend to their every whim. This ignores the obvious fact that computers are programmable. There's always little men behind curtains pulling the levers for their own selfish reasons, antithetical to the world at large. Skynet this ain't.

All watched over by machines of loving grace ~