I've never seen the first "Babe", the one that was nominated for Best Picture in 1995. I was ten when it came out and a non-animated film about a talking pig did not pique my interest. The sequel that followed in 1998 didn't register on my radar at all as I figured it would just be more of the same shenanigans. However, "Babe: Pig In The City flopped at the box office and was lambasted by some critics for being too different from its predecessor. Fans were expecting another light romp with their favorite barnyard characters and director George Miller (of Mad Max fame) instead supplied them with a darker, more visually stunning approach. As the film ended up making both Siskel and Ebert's top ten of 1998 list, even topping Siskel's, and has now developed a cult following, I decided it was time to forget my biases and watch this underrated film.
"Babe: Pig In The City" is a remarkable achievement. It defies classification as a family film or children's picture. Obviously the main characters are talking animals, but they live in a world straight out of a Terry Gilliam movie. I can't stress enough how fantastic this movie is. Pixar fans consistantly tout those films as being made for all ages; that there are jokes subtle enough for the parents, but the kids will love the characters and scenery. "Wall-E" and "Up" have made adults bawl in their theatre seats. Personally, I've enjoyed every Pixar film I've watched, but none would ever make any top movie list of mine. "Babe: Pig In The City" is the first film I've seen in who knows how long that fits those qualifications.
Within ten to twenty minutes I knew I was watching something special. The set of "Metropolis", the city where Babe and his owner stay, is wonderfully charming, quaint, mysterious, and wild at the same time. It represents all cities, having landmarks as varied as the Statue of Liberty, Sydney's Opera House, and the Golden Gate Bridge, and the sight of seeing all those buildings and monuments in one realistic setting was mind-blowing. The narrator describes the farm Babe is from as a "little left of the Twentieth Century". The farm is a beautiful place and the juxtaposition of Babe on the farm and in the city is jarring at first. Then we discover that "Metropolis" has Venitian waterways home to a hotel for talking animals and Mickey Rooney in a clown suit and everything feels a little better.
I don't know how they made it look like the animals were talking, (a combination of real animals, special effects, and puppets I presume), but the "acting" by the variety of creatures Babe the pig encounters is realistic and engrossing. There are monkeys wearing clothes, including an orangutan named Thelonius who has come to adore his human keeper and perhaps like King Louie, aspires to be human too. The animals' faces in this movie all carry very realistic human expressions and Thelonius with his combination of wisdom, sadness, and mysteriousness was my favorite character.
There were defintely some dark moments. There is a scene where a character comes close to drowning that reminded me of the scene in the most recent episode of "Lost" where Sayid is forcebly held underwater. What makes the dark scenes in this movie even darker is that unlike a old time Disney cartoon or even computer animated Pixar creation, the animals in this movie are real and lifelike. It's not like watching Nemo the fish or Ratatouille the rat narrowly escape death. The fact that these are real animals in a real world with real rules with discernable personalities is very affecting for the viewer. I didn't cry, but some scenes made me feel very anxious and sad. The movie's also hilarious, with the laugh out loud scenes outnumbering the melancholy ones.
I find it hard to describe just what the tone of "Babe: Pig In The City" was. It's similar to a lifelike version of those old Warner Brothers and Disney shorts, minus most of the slapstick. It's one of the few films made for children in the last decade-plus with the same intelligence as those old cartoons from the forties and fifties. It almost felt like a children's movie that Terry Gilliam or Guillermo Del Toro would create, but there was something about that transcended any sort of description. The combination of the art direction, sets, characters, music (including Piaf's "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien", Martin's "That's Amore", and Elvis' "Are You Lonesome Tonight" sung by high-pitched mice), and script took me away so fully to this world that I can only be in awe of the people behind it. If you're against the idea of watching a movie like this just like I was, I implore you to give it a look anyway. This is why movies exist.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Monday, February 1, 2010
Dark City
1939 is often regarded as Hollywood's peak year. "Gone With The Wind", "The Wizard of Oz", "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington", and "Stagecoach" among others all were released in that short period of time along with France's "The Rules of the Game" along as a bonus. Those are all bonafide classics, but I've always thought of 1998 as a year filled with top notch entertainment. "Saving Private Ryan", "Pleasantville", "The Truman Show", "There's Something About Mary", "Out Of Sight", "The Big Lebowski", "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels", "Rushmore", and "Blues Brothers 2000" have all made lasting impressions on me, and that's not counting the other great 1998 films I haven't yet watched. I'm aware now that 1998 was the year I started to notice non-Disney films so those 12 months of movies hold a special place in my mind.
"Dark City" was Roger Ebert's pick for "Best Movie of 1998", (Siskel's was "Babe: Pig In The City", another 1998 classic I haven't yet seen). It's also one of the few DVD's he's done a commentary track for, indicating his support and love for it. I've always been interested in seeing it; I'd only heard that it was similar to "The Matrix", but better and released earlier. I also dig those mindbending sci-fi thrillers in the vein of "Minority Report", "Vanilla Sky", and the 1960's classic "Seconds" (See Seconds NOW).
Anyway after not only watching "Dark City" for the very first time, but also choosing to indulge in the 11 minute extra "Director's Cut" for my first taste of the movie, I feel like the case for 1998 being a golden year for cinema has just gotten a little stronger. This movie is a trip. The title is pretty literal, the setting is a "Dark City", and this dark city is home to some of the most engrossing effects I've ever seen. You can keep your Avatar, here director Alex Proyas has buildings grow and shape themselves like organic objects in his 1930's film noir town. You are thrown right in without a net right from the start as it seems to be a noirish detective story. A man wakes up in a hotel tub with amnesia, next to a dead body. As he struggles to figure out what's going on, we do too..., but all of a sudden things go kind of crazy and you realize this is a totally different world you're dealing with. Answers don't come fast and they don't come easy. By the end, there is a bit of exposition to fill in some of the blanks that appear, but while that helps answer some questions, it also raises lots more.
As I watched more and more, I realized what made "Dark City" stand out from other similar movies of its time period was its overall feel and design. Proyas was hugely influenced by the silent German expressionistic movies of the early part of the 20th century. The city in this movie is vast and mysterious, and becomes almost terrifying once you see it grow and morph. There is no sun and the constant electrical light adds a lot to the atomsphere. There were times where I was reminded of Terry Gilliam's "Brazil", especially during the chase scenes. Thinking your safe, but then realizing you are not where you supposed you were is a terrifying feeling.
There's a great cast including Rufus Sewell, Jennifer Connolly, Kiefer Sutherland, and William Hurt (who, like Michael Caine, makes any movie better; example: Mr. Brooks). Sewell and Connolly both do fine work, but their characters aren't very interesting. Hurt is a police detective and no one plays a noble authority figure like William Hurt. He fits perfectly into this mashed up film noirish world. Kiefer Sutherland, in between his roles as the raging a-hole in "Stand By Me" and Jack Bauer is almost unrecognizable as a sort of Quasimodo psych doctor who knows the secrets of the city. He's really fun to watch and even as his character is somewhat over the top, he manages to underplay that. There's also a character who's a former policeman, who's going crazy because he's started to realize what wrong with their world. Apparently Proyas was going to base the story around this character, but flipped it to focus on Sewell's "fugitive" character instead to make it less analytical and more emotional. Well the crazy police guy is also fun to watch and fills his scenes perfectly.
The plot itself is more a story to ponder than to watch. Halfway through I realized I wasn't that interested in what was happening, I just wanted to find out the answers to what was going on. It also stuck me fascinating just how many "This isn't what you think it is" stories were produced in the late '90s-early '00s period. At various points I was reminded of the inferior "Thirteenth Floor", "The Truman Show", and "Vanilla Sky". There's also a fantastic "Twilight Zone" episode referenced in "Vanilla Sky" that also falls into this sort of genre. "Shadow Play" with Dennis Weaver, about a guy on death row claiming that the world is only his recurring nightmare he has over and over. As a piece of art, "Dark City" is 5 stars, fantastic. It wasn't nominated for any Oscars, not even an Art Direction one, which is ridiculous. As a story however, it has its faults, which is why I still love "The Truman Show" and "Pleasantville" much more
"Dark City" was Roger Ebert's pick for "Best Movie of 1998", (Siskel's was "Babe: Pig In The City", another 1998 classic I haven't yet seen). It's also one of the few DVD's he's done a commentary track for, indicating his support and love for it. I've always been interested in seeing it; I'd only heard that it was similar to "The Matrix", but better and released earlier. I also dig those mindbending sci-fi thrillers in the vein of "Minority Report", "Vanilla Sky", and the 1960's classic "Seconds" (See Seconds NOW).
Anyway after not only watching "Dark City" for the very first time, but also choosing to indulge in the 11 minute extra "Director's Cut" for my first taste of the movie, I feel like the case for 1998 being a golden year for cinema has just gotten a little stronger. This movie is a trip. The title is pretty literal, the setting is a "Dark City", and this dark city is home to some of the most engrossing effects I've ever seen. You can keep your Avatar, here director Alex Proyas has buildings grow and shape themselves like organic objects in his 1930's film noir town. You are thrown right in without a net right from the start as it seems to be a noirish detective story. A man wakes up in a hotel tub with amnesia, next to a dead body. As he struggles to figure out what's going on, we do too..., but all of a sudden things go kind of crazy and you realize this is a totally different world you're dealing with. Answers don't come fast and they don't come easy. By the end, there is a bit of exposition to fill in some of the blanks that appear, but while that helps answer some questions, it also raises lots more.
As I watched more and more, I realized what made "Dark City" stand out from other similar movies of its time period was its overall feel and design. Proyas was hugely influenced by the silent German expressionistic movies of the early part of the 20th century. The city in this movie is vast and mysterious, and becomes almost terrifying once you see it grow and morph. There is no sun and the constant electrical light adds a lot to the atomsphere. There were times where I was reminded of Terry Gilliam's "Brazil", especially during the chase scenes. Thinking your safe, but then realizing you are not where you supposed you were is a terrifying feeling.
There's a great cast including Rufus Sewell, Jennifer Connolly, Kiefer Sutherland, and William Hurt (who, like Michael Caine, makes any movie better; example: Mr. Brooks). Sewell and Connolly both do fine work, but their characters aren't very interesting. Hurt is a police detective and no one plays a noble authority figure like William Hurt. He fits perfectly into this mashed up film noirish world. Kiefer Sutherland, in between his roles as the raging a-hole in "Stand By Me" and Jack Bauer is almost unrecognizable as a sort of Quasimodo psych doctor who knows the secrets of the city. He's really fun to watch and even as his character is somewhat over the top, he manages to underplay that. There's also a character who's a former policeman, who's going crazy because he's started to realize what wrong with their world. Apparently Proyas was going to base the story around this character, but flipped it to focus on Sewell's "fugitive" character instead to make it less analytical and more emotional. Well the crazy police guy is also fun to watch and fills his scenes perfectly.
The plot itself is more a story to ponder than to watch. Halfway through I realized I wasn't that interested in what was happening, I just wanted to find out the answers to what was going on. It also stuck me fascinating just how many "This isn't what you think it is" stories were produced in the late '90s-early '00s period. At various points I was reminded of the inferior "Thirteenth Floor", "The Truman Show", and "Vanilla Sky". There's also a fantastic "Twilight Zone" episode referenced in "Vanilla Sky" that also falls into this sort of genre. "Shadow Play" with Dennis Weaver, about a guy on death row claiming that the world is only his recurring nightmare he has over and over. As a piece of art, "Dark City" is 5 stars, fantastic. It wasn't nominated for any Oscars, not even an Art Direction one, which is ridiculous. As a story however, it has its faults, which is why I still love "The Truman Show" and "Pleasantville" much more
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Chinatown
It's ridiculous how badly my generation was robbed when it comes to motion pictures. Watching a movie like "Chinatown" for the first time is an eye-opening experience. It was made in the 1970's and tells a story that takes place in the 1930's, but its overall production is timeless. To call Jack Nicholson a "Movie Star" would be putting it mildly. He's in every scene of this film and in every scene he's on. He's not just full of charisma and swagger, he's not just a handsome model type, he's an actor to the fullest degree. And the best part is, you can't tell. Nicholson is Jake Gittes from the moment you see him onscreen. I've read that Nicholson in the early 70's can compete with any actor's peak and I'd be hard pressed to argue that. Watching Brando in "On The Waterfront" is like watching Pete Rose run out a groundball. He's talented and hustling like nobody's business, but the strain is noticable. Nicholson at this period is like frickin' Sandy Koufax steaming curves past the National League in the early '60s before his arm gave out. Effortless.
There is no actor today off the top of my head who can compare. Dicaprio has the look of a young Nicholson, but nowhere near the prescence. Not even close. It helps that the script for "Chinatown" is top notch. The story is played out subtlely and the intelligence of the audience is assumed. Polanski shoots the entire movie from Nicholson's perspective, meaning we find out clues when Gittes does. We don't hear other characters conversations and when Gittes gets knocked out, we do too. Nicholson plays everything understated too for the most part. That way, when he does blow up or get excited about something, it means much more.
I've only seen Faye Dunaway in two movies, "Bonnie & Clyde" and now "Chinatown". Her character in this was more diffrent than Bonnie Parker than I expected, but she played it just as well. There are little scenes of character development between her and Nicholson which separate movies of this era from today's average release. There are generic scenes today where you find out items that happened in a character's past. To me, these usually feel shoehorned into the plot between action scenes and unauthentic. In "Chinatown", every scene flows, one into another. We barely find anything out about the main character at all, yet he's not really a mystery to us. We know his personality, what's important to him, and what he's trying to do. Nothing else matters. Then we find out whatever he finds out.
There are movies that I like a little more than "Chinatown" like "L.A. Confidential" and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" that take place in a similar time period as "Chinatown" (1930's L.A.). However, although I may have my reasons why I like those movies better (Kevin Spacey dies and keeps his eyes open FOREVER, "When I killed your brother, I looked just like THIS!!!"), I believe "Chinatown" is much better at showing that period than any other movie. Within a few minutes of the movie starting, I had forgotten I was watching a period piece and just took for granted that this was 1937 Los Angeles. I don't know how authentic everything was, but the way it was shot led me to believe everything I was seeing. There are movies today that take place 40 years ago that either try to shoot the footage more "arty" and "flashy" or the color scheme looks wrong, or somehow or another your taken out of the picture. With "Chinatown", Polanski shot a movie in the 1970's using 1930's costumes and props and it worked perfectly. No crazy camera tricks either. There are points where the camera is RIGHT THERE in the scene and that's all I really need to feel like what I'm watching is real.
It was refreshing to see a movie have no generic feel to it at all, even though it came out 40 years ago. I wish more movies assumed that the core audience was intelligent. I wish more actors were like Nicholson, who plays every line the opposite way you'd expect (in a good way). I wish there were more villains like John Huston, who is so incredibly evil and monstrous in this movie without acting like it at all. I wish there more actresses like Faye Dunaway, who is ten times a better actress than she is beautiful and she is gorgeous. I guess I'll take what I can get.
There is no actor today off the top of my head who can compare. Dicaprio has the look of a young Nicholson, but nowhere near the prescence. Not even close. It helps that the script for "Chinatown" is top notch. The story is played out subtlely and the intelligence of the audience is assumed. Polanski shoots the entire movie from Nicholson's perspective, meaning we find out clues when Gittes does. We don't hear other characters conversations and when Gittes gets knocked out, we do too. Nicholson plays everything understated too for the most part. That way, when he does blow up or get excited about something, it means much more.
I've only seen Faye Dunaway in two movies, "Bonnie & Clyde" and now "Chinatown". Her character in this was more diffrent than Bonnie Parker than I expected, but she played it just as well. There are little scenes of character development between her and Nicholson which separate movies of this era from today's average release. There are generic scenes today where you find out items that happened in a character's past. To me, these usually feel shoehorned into the plot between action scenes and unauthentic. In "Chinatown", every scene flows, one into another. We barely find anything out about the main character at all, yet he's not really a mystery to us. We know his personality, what's important to him, and what he's trying to do. Nothing else matters. Then we find out whatever he finds out.
There are movies that I like a little more than "Chinatown" like "L.A. Confidential" and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" that take place in a similar time period as "Chinatown" (1930's L.A.). However, although I may have my reasons why I like those movies better (Kevin Spacey dies and keeps his eyes open FOREVER, "When I killed your brother, I looked just like THIS!!!"), I believe "Chinatown" is much better at showing that period than any other movie. Within a few minutes of the movie starting, I had forgotten I was watching a period piece and just took for granted that this was 1937 Los Angeles. I don't know how authentic everything was, but the way it was shot led me to believe everything I was seeing. There are movies today that take place 40 years ago that either try to shoot the footage more "arty" and "flashy" or the color scheme looks wrong, or somehow or another your taken out of the picture. With "Chinatown", Polanski shot a movie in the 1970's using 1930's costumes and props and it worked perfectly. No crazy camera tricks either. There are points where the camera is RIGHT THERE in the scene and that's all I really need to feel like what I'm watching is real.
It was refreshing to see a movie have no generic feel to it at all, even though it came out 40 years ago. I wish more movies assumed that the core audience was intelligent. I wish more actors were like Nicholson, who plays every line the opposite way you'd expect (in a good way). I wish there were more villains like John Huston, who is so incredibly evil and monstrous in this movie without acting like it at all. I wish there more actresses like Faye Dunaway, who is ten times a better actress than she is beautiful and she is gorgeous. I guess I'll take what I can get.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Billy Liar
Billy Fisher is an incrediblely relatable young man who lives with his parents, has a boring job at a funeral home, two fiancee's, and tries to keep himself sane by spending as much time as possible daydreaming about Ambrosia, a perfect world where he is the king, war hero, and all other types of interesting people. He does believe that he has a job waiting for him in London working for a famous comedian as a writer, but first he needs to quit his job and get rid of the fiancee's he doesn't want anyways.
I was instantly struck by how easy it was to emphasize with Billy. He knows that he's better than the situation he's found himself in and just has to find a way to get out. He uses little fibs to make social situations easier, but these have snowballed into him finding himself with two unappealing fiancee's. When he seemingly catches a lifeline from comedian Danny Boon, it seems like everything will be easy from then on in. Boon however has never even heard of him and was probably just sending him a polite thank you for his material. It's a completely accurate representation of what happens when you build something up in your head as being much more important than it is. This setback just kills Fisher inside and might be the thing changes the course of his life forever.
Tom Courtenay made Billy into the most everymanish everyman possible. I constantly thought I was watching scenes from my life play out on screen, not by what he was doing, but by how he reacted to everything. Here is this young man who just wants to be comfortable, but has sank so deep into the rut that is his average life that he can't find a way out. The daydream sequences are entertaining to be sure, but the scenes where we see Billy truly react against his life are my favorites. When he is in the graveyard with one of his fiancee's and he has to lie to keep his facade going, but he becomes so frustrated he almost blows up at her; it's such a great example of the daily balance one must go through between one's own needs and society's. Billy has his own little successes like having a song he wrote be played at the local club, but he is so overcome by the dampers on his life that this seemingly important moment has no effect on him. By the end of this film, I felt like someone had took all my character traits and made a film to mock me with them.
The first time I watched this, I was drained by the ending. I was hoping to see the perfect ending play out as what I'd like to happen in my life, but then it all slipped away. The second time I watched it, it was even worse because I knew it was coming, and I was really hoping that somehow it would change. The ending involves the most frusterating yet entertaing part of the movie, Liz, played by a really attractive Julie Christie. She's a girl that Billy had a fling or something with sometime before the setting of the movie. She represents what Billy wishes he could be. At her first appearence in the movie, Billy remarks to a friend that "She's crazy. She's does anything she's feels". We then see her walking carefree past a bunch of shops and then encountering Danny Boon at a store opening ceremony. When she finally meets up with Billy, he's at the end of his rope. She convinces him to go with her to London where they could live free and pretty much do whatever they wanted. Billy could visit with Danny Boon and try to sell him some jokes. It would be the perfect scenario. He meets up with her at the train station and they board the train. At the last moment, he tells her he wants to grab some milk to bring on the train and we see him agonizing over whether he should go or not. We hear the train leave and when he aimlessly walks after the leaving train we see that his bag is waiting for him on the side of the tracks. He goes home and imagines himself in Ambrosia again. It makes sense, but still fills me with a combination of anger, confusion, and most of all despair. Billy just didn't have the courage to go after the dreams he constantly pined for, instead choosing to retreat to his boring, yet comfortable home. I would be on that train in a heartbeat with 1960's Julie Christie.
I was instantly struck by how easy it was to emphasize with Billy. He knows that he's better than the situation he's found himself in and just has to find a way to get out. He uses little fibs to make social situations easier, but these have snowballed into him finding himself with two unappealing fiancee's. When he seemingly catches a lifeline from comedian Danny Boon, it seems like everything will be easy from then on in. Boon however has never even heard of him and was probably just sending him a polite thank you for his material. It's a completely accurate representation of what happens when you build something up in your head as being much more important than it is. This setback just kills Fisher inside and might be the thing changes the course of his life forever.
Tom Courtenay made Billy into the most everymanish everyman possible. I constantly thought I was watching scenes from my life play out on screen, not by what he was doing, but by how he reacted to everything. Here is this young man who just wants to be comfortable, but has sank so deep into the rut that is his average life that he can't find a way out. The daydream sequences are entertaining to be sure, but the scenes where we see Billy truly react against his life are my favorites. When he is in the graveyard with one of his fiancee's and he has to lie to keep his facade going, but he becomes so frustrated he almost blows up at her; it's such a great example of the daily balance one must go through between one's own needs and society's. Billy has his own little successes like having a song he wrote be played at the local club, but he is so overcome by the dampers on his life that this seemingly important moment has no effect on him. By the end of this film, I felt like someone had took all my character traits and made a film to mock me with them.
The first time I watched this, I was drained by the ending. I was hoping to see the perfect ending play out as what I'd like to happen in my life, but then it all slipped away. The second time I watched it, it was even worse because I knew it was coming, and I was really hoping that somehow it would change. The ending involves the most frusterating yet entertaing part of the movie, Liz, played by a really attractive Julie Christie. She's a girl that Billy had a fling or something with sometime before the setting of the movie. She represents what Billy wishes he could be. At her first appearence in the movie, Billy remarks to a friend that "She's crazy. She's does anything she's feels". We then see her walking carefree past a bunch of shops and then encountering Danny Boon at a store opening ceremony. When she finally meets up with Billy, he's at the end of his rope. She convinces him to go with her to London where they could live free and pretty much do whatever they wanted. Billy could visit with Danny Boon and try to sell him some jokes. It would be the perfect scenario. He meets up with her at the train station and they board the train. At the last moment, he tells her he wants to grab some milk to bring on the train and we see him agonizing over whether he should go or not. We hear the train leave and when he aimlessly walks after the leaving train we see that his bag is waiting for him on the side of the tracks. He goes home and imagines himself in Ambrosia again. It makes sense, but still fills me with a combination of anger, confusion, and most of all despair. Billy just didn't have the courage to go after the dreams he constantly pined for, instead choosing to retreat to his boring, yet comfortable home. I would be on that train in a heartbeat with 1960's Julie Christie.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
My Best Friend
Word on the street that Wes Anderson's next project is a remake of the french film "Mon Meilleur Ami" aka "My Best Friend". Released in 2006 this film apparently was notice by foreign movie fans when it was first released in America, but I have no recollection of it. The plot revolves around a rich antique dealer, Francois who is confronted by his gallery partner and acquaintances at a dinner one night after attending the sparsely attended funeral of one of his former clients. Upon remarking on the fact that only seven friends & family (including himself) showed up at this memorial, the rest of his dining partner turn on him and declare he'll have no one at his funeral. Turns out he has no friends. When he protests, his smoking hot partner Catherine bets him the 200,000 euro ancient Greek statue he had just purchased at an auction that he can't produce a best friend in 10 days.
This leads him to discover that French people are real assholes when encounters various people and tries to befriend them. One person randomly keeps popping into his life, a taxi driver named Bruno. Noticing that Bruno is the gregarious type, he asks for tips on making friends. This leads to some sitcomy like adventures until Francois realizes that he's becoming friends with Bruno. They see a soccer match, they meet each other's families, all seems awesome. He blows it however when tries to go to far in proving to Catherine and his asshole acquaintances that he has made a buddy. This reveals to Bruno that their friendship was the result of a bet which leads to the last half hour of the film as Francois shows everyone he's learned his lesson.
I have mixed feelings about this film. It was enjoyable enough and the performances were good all around. I chuckled a few times at some funny bits, but for the most part the comedy seemed to be at the level of your basic Hollywood screenplay. It wasn't cliche, but there were moments where characters' reactions or witty remarks made it seem so. It was much better than the average processed comedy coming out every week here though. Francois' journey for a friend brings up some interesting thinking points and Bruno has a deep enough backstory that slowly leaks out.
Right from the get go I was struck by how assholeish the majority of the characters were in this movie. Francois is supposably so cynical, selfish, and work-oriented that he hasn't accumulated any friends over his 50 years of life. However, when that's revealed 10 minutes or so into the movie at a dinner, I was feeling sympathy toward him instead of scorn. He hadn't come off as a jerk really, and all of a sudden these French antique dealers are saying how much they hate him, even though they spend a ton of time with him. It was kind of ridiculous. He sees a woman at the opposite end of the table and asks his partner who that is, since she's kind of cute. Catherine, his partner, responds that it's her girlfriend. Francois is kind of taken aback because it turns out he didn't know she was a lesbian. This is the boiling point which leads everyone to personally attack him. We are constantly reminded by different characters that Francois has no friends because he's an asshole, but everytime he tries to have a civil conversation with either his acquaintances or a stranger, he gets insulted. The only time he really insults someone himself is during the part of the movie where he's attending find-a-friend functions to find a best friend quickly. He's approached by the geekiest man ever who tries to bond with Francois over their mutual lack of friends. Francois pretty much ignores him and walks away, but the guy was a total spaz. He tracks down his best friend from junior high who also looks like a spaz and says he hated him in junior high as well.
Bruno is a trivia buff who knows a bunch of useless crap, but he gets too nervous everytime he auditions for the French "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire". He's friendly to everyone he meets, but has no friends either. He says at one point to Francois that having no friends and having everyone as your friend is the same thing. He seems like a great guy and the scenes of him and Francois hanging out are really fun to watch. This movie falls into the trap of having that "person A does something to person B for the wrong reason, but ends up better because of it, person B finds out and doesn't want anything to do with person B" cliche that almost every movie has. It's not as bad in this one, but still somewhat forced.
The vase Francois is attracted to so strongly, strongly enough to pay 200 grand for, is an ancient Greek vase in tribute of friendship. He outbids a couple of other people for it, including one rich TV producer who offers to give him a blank check for it. The vase was made for a man in honor of his dead friend, a man who was so saddened that he filled the vase with his tears. Achilles and Patroclus are the focus of the vase which is weird since they were cousins who had sex with each other, which is a little more than friendship.
The major weakness in this movie is that the story is filled with minor plot holes and events that never get followed up on. Catherine is pretty much the 3rd main character in the movie, but other than knowing she's a lesbian and Francois' partner, she only seems to exist to move the plot along. Francois' daughter appears early on having a sneezing fit. Then it turns out she lives with her father, but parties every night. When she meets Bruno, who stayed overnight at Francois' house after a bout of drinking, he helps her discover a food allergy that had tormented her throughout her life. This makes Francois appreciate Bruno even more, but we barely know his daughter and the only time we've really seen her is when she's agreeing that her father is a jerk with no friends. There is one character who's purpose might have gone right over my head. Francois has a fuckbuddy it seems, who's actually at the dinner where he's challeged to find a best friend. I don't know who she is, but apparently she wasn't his friend even though the only other times we see her are either after she's spent that night at Francois' place, at a party with him, and interupting his night of fun with Bruno in search for some sex. I don't know why a booty call would be interacting with his work acquaintances, but that's what happens. A stronger screenwriter and/or director would have either tightened the script and made every scene seem valuable.
I look forward to Wes Anderson's adaptation. I imagine he'll only take the basic story (Man is bet that he can't find a friend in 10 days) and work from there. This movie is very un-Wes Anderson, but the plot could be. He has a history of making unsympathetic characters the focus of his plots, which might've been a factor in his interest in this story. This original French version is somewhat pedestrian at times, but can be entertaining. It would appeal to the average moviewatcher as Saturday night DVD movie or something. Better this than "The Proposal".
This leads him to discover that French people are real assholes when encounters various people and tries to befriend them. One person randomly keeps popping into his life, a taxi driver named Bruno. Noticing that Bruno is the gregarious type, he asks for tips on making friends. This leads to some sitcomy like adventures until Francois realizes that he's becoming friends with Bruno. They see a soccer match, they meet each other's families, all seems awesome. He blows it however when tries to go to far in proving to Catherine and his asshole acquaintances that he has made a buddy. This reveals to Bruno that their friendship was the result of a bet which leads to the last half hour of the film as Francois shows everyone he's learned his lesson.
I have mixed feelings about this film. It was enjoyable enough and the performances were good all around. I chuckled a few times at some funny bits, but for the most part the comedy seemed to be at the level of your basic Hollywood screenplay. It wasn't cliche, but there were moments where characters' reactions or witty remarks made it seem so. It was much better than the average processed comedy coming out every week here though. Francois' journey for a friend brings up some interesting thinking points and Bruno has a deep enough backstory that slowly leaks out.
Right from the get go I was struck by how assholeish the majority of the characters were in this movie. Francois is supposably so cynical, selfish, and work-oriented that he hasn't accumulated any friends over his 50 years of life. However, when that's revealed 10 minutes or so into the movie at a dinner, I was feeling sympathy toward him instead of scorn. He hadn't come off as a jerk really, and all of a sudden these French antique dealers are saying how much they hate him, even though they spend a ton of time with him. It was kind of ridiculous. He sees a woman at the opposite end of the table and asks his partner who that is, since she's kind of cute. Catherine, his partner, responds that it's her girlfriend. Francois is kind of taken aback because it turns out he didn't know she was a lesbian. This is the boiling point which leads everyone to personally attack him. We are constantly reminded by different characters that Francois has no friends because he's an asshole, but everytime he tries to have a civil conversation with either his acquaintances or a stranger, he gets insulted. The only time he really insults someone himself is during the part of the movie where he's attending find-a-friend functions to find a best friend quickly. He's approached by the geekiest man ever who tries to bond with Francois over their mutual lack of friends. Francois pretty much ignores him and walks away, but the guy was a total spaz. He tracks down his best friend from junior high who also looks like a spaz and says he hated him in junior high as well.
Bruno is a trivia buff who knows a bunch of useless crap, but he gets too nervous everytime he auditions for the French "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire". He's friendly to everyone he meets, but has no friends either. He says at one point to Francois that having no friends and having everyone as your friend is the same thing. He seems like a great guy and the scenes of him and Francois hanging out are really fun to watch. This movie falls into the trap of having that "person A does something to person B for the wrong reason, but ends up better because of it, person B finds out and doesn't want anything to do with person B" cliche that almost every movie has. It's not as bad in this one, but still somewhat forced.
The vase Francois is attracted to so strongly, strongly enough to pay 200 grand for, is an ancient Greek vase in tribute of friendship. He outbids a couple of other people for it, including one rich TV producer who offers to give him a blank check for it. The vase was made for a man in honor of his dead friend, a man who was so saddened that he filled the vase with his tears. Achilles and Patroclus are the focus of the vase which is weird since they were cousins who had sex with each other, which is a little more than friendship.
The major weakness in this movie is that the story is filled with minor plot holes and events that never get followed up on. Catherine is pretty much the 3rd main character in the movie, but other than knowing she's a lesbian and Francois' partner, she only seems to exist to move the plot along. Francois' daughter appears early on having a sneezing fit. Then it turns out she lives with her father, but parties every night. When she meets Bruno, who stayed overnight at Francois' house after a bout of drinking, he helps her discover a food allergy that had tormented her throughout her life. This makes Francois appreciate Bruno even more, but we barely know his daughter and the only time we've really seen her is when she's agreeing that her father is a jerk with no friends. There is one character who's purpose might have gone right over my head. Francois has a fuckbuddy it seems, who's actually at the dinner where he's challeged to find a best friend. I don't know who she is, but apparently she wasn't his friend even though the only other times we see her are either after she's spent that night at Francois' place, at a party with him, and interupting his night of fun with Bruno in search for some sex. I don't know why a booty call would be interacting with his work acquaintances, but that's what happens. A stronger screenwriter and/or director would have either tightened the script and made every scene seem valuable.
I look forward to Wes Anderson's adaptation. I imagine he'll only take the basic story (Man is bet that he can't find a friend in 10 days) and work from there. This movie is very un-Wes Anderson, but the plot could be. He has a history of making unsympathetic characters the focus of his plots, which might've been a factor in his interest in this story. This original French version is somewhat pedestrian at times, but can be entertaining. It would appeal to the average moviewatcher as Saturday night DVD movie or something. Better this than "The Proposal".
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
What's Next
I'll probably take a break from the Anderson films for a bit. I just saw "Royal Tenenbaums" a few weeks ago and I don't feel like watching it again so soon. I also can't remember too many specifics without a rewatch. The hard part about writing about his films is that the plots are so detailed, but are not that important to the main focus of the film. Also, writing about "On The Waterfront" was easy since I'd never seen it before and I felt like I had to discuss it. From now on I'll probably focus on stuff I've never seen. Anyway, I'll probably next write about the film it looks like he's doing next, a remake of the french film "My Best Friend". Then I'll probably look at something else.
Rushmore
This is the first "Wes Anderson Film", meaning the first one with all the trademark quirks and camera movements showing up noticeably. Jason Schwartzman makes his debut here as the lead, Max Fischer, a student at the prestigious Rushmore Academy. He's not from a well-off family like the rest of his classmates; his father is a barber, his mother died when he was 7, and he recieved a scholarship to attend the school when he was in second grade because he wrote a play. The school is his life and he seems to be a part of every single extra curricular activity they offer, even starting numerous ones himself, like his "Max Fischer Players", a theatre group in which he stages awesome stage versions of movies like "Serpico". Although Max is undeniably street smart in the prep school enviroment, his grades are downright below average which leads him to constantly being on the verge of expulsion. Bill Murray enters the picture as Herman Blume, a local multi-millionaire whose sons attend the school. Blume and Max share a mutual love for Rushmore, and Max's over mature personality matches up well with Blume's childlike nature.
The focus of the plot is Max's infatuation with a 1st grade teacher at Rushmore, Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams). She's too old for him, but that doesn't stop him from trying to work his way into her affections. He tries to break ground on a school aquariaum without permission from the headmaster (Brian Cox) which leads to his expulsion and journey to public school. I'll try to refrain from describing the plot from now on, since with the level of detail that goes into a 90 minute Anderson movie, I could write a short novella just rehashing it.
Anyway, Jason Schwartzman has been compared to Dustin Hoffman as Benjamin Braddock in this role, but I don't really see it aside from similar haircuts and big noses. Max Fischer is more reactionary than Braddock ever was and he's always has some sort of plan or action to take to lead to his next big thing. He's is very similar to Owen Wilson's Dignan from "Bottle Rocket" in this way. The movie is split into months, from September to December and for the first two so much goes on that it's surprising that only a month has passed. When Max is expelled and put into public school, the month of November goes by in 10-15 minutes of the movies time. Max is very aware of his class status at Rushmore and tries to do anything and everything to make up for not having money. He has the kid who played Dennis the Menace in the 1993 movie (Mason Gamble) as his assistant/gofer. He uses Rushmore more as livingspace than a school. We almost never see him in class, but he's constantly accomplishing something on campus. When he's thrown out for having bad grades and for overbounding his steps once too often, the change from prep to public school is astounding. The world Wes Anderson creates with proscenium curtains opening to present scenes, Max running around in his Rushmore blue blazer, closeups of books, letters, and other writings, is contrasted with basically the real world. Max walks into a public school filled with the first minorities of the movie, still wearing his blue blazer as a security blanket, and is immediately out of place. The way he's able to adapt and combine the two worlds is remarkable and entertaining.
Bill Murray takes a liking to Max Fischer after giving a speech at Rushmore which Max enjoyed. Murray's Blume is a wealthy, intelligent man, but has an unhappy marriage and twin boys who annoy the hell out of him with their brash ways. In Max he finds a kindred spirit, a boy he wishes were his own son, but also a friend who's smart enough to have conversations with. When Max falls for Olivia Williams' Miss Cross however, Blume and Max find themselves in a love triange. Murray is subtle, understated, and very funny in "Rushmore". Only five years removed from "Groundhog Day", he looks quite aged with his grey hair and thin mustache. The way he'll offhandedly insult someone never gets old.
The soundtrack is great of course. All British Invasion songs from bands like the Rolling Stones, Kinks, and Cat Stevens. Mark Mothersbaugh scored "Bottle Rocket", but this is the first time where his music stood out as good enough to listen to without watching the movie.
As a movie its pretty good, I'm actually not sure if I'd place it over "Bottle Rocket" after watching them back to back. Having seen "Royal Tenenbaums" recently it's defintely not better than that.
The focus of the plot is Max's infatuation with a 1st grade teacher at Rushmore, Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams). She's too old for him, but that doesn't stop him from trying to work his way into her affections. He tries to break ground on a school aquariaum without permission from the headmaster (Brian Cox) which leads to his expulsion and journey to public school. I'll try to refrain from describing the plot from now on, since with the level of detail that goes into a 90 minute Anderson movie, I could write a short novella just rehashing it.
Anyway, Jason Schwartzman has been compared to Dustin Hoffman as Benjamin Braddock in this role, but I don't really see it aside from similar haircuts and big noses. Max Fischer is more reactionary than Braddock ever was and he's always has some sort of plan or action to take to lead to his next big thing. He's is very similar to Owen Wilson's Dignan from "Bottle Rocket" in this way. The movie is split into months, from September to December and for the first two so much goes on that it's surprising that only a month has passed. When Max is expelled and put into public school, the month of November goes by in 10-15 minutes of the movies time. Max is very aware of his class status at Rushmore and tries to do anything and everything to make up for not having money. He has the kid who played Dennis the Menace in the 1993 movie (Mason Gamble) as his assistant/gofer. He uses Rushmore more as livingspace than a school. We almost never see him in class, but he's constantly accomplishing something on campus. When he's thrown out for having bad grades and for overbounding his steps once too often, the change from prep to public school is astounding. The world Wes Anderson creates with proscenium curtains opening to present scenes, Max running around in his Rushmore blue blazer, closeups of books, letters, and other writings, is contrasted with basically the real world. Max walks into a public school filled with the first minorities of the movie, still wearing his blue blazer as a security blanket, and is immediately out of place. The way he's able to adapt and combine the two worlds is remarkable and entertaining.
Bill Murray takes a liking to Max Fischer after giving a speech at Rushmore which Max enjoyed. Murray's Blume is a wealthy, intelligent man, but has an unhappy marriage and twin boys who annoy the hell out of him with their brash ways. In Max he finds a kindred spirit, a boy he wishes were his own son, but also a friend who's smart enough to have conversations with. When Max falls for Olivia Williams' Miss Cross however, Blume and Max find themselves in a love triange. Murray is subtle, understated, and very funny in "Rushmore". Only five years removed from "Groundhog Day", he looks quite aged with his grey hair and thin mustache. The way he'll offhandedly insult someone never gets old.
The soundtrack is great of course. All British Invasion songs from bands like the Rolling Stones, Kinks, and Cat Stevens. Mark Mothersbaugh scored "Bottle Rocket", but this is the first time where his music stood out as good enough to listen to without watching the movie.
As a movie its pretty good, I'm actually not sure if I'd place it over "Bottle Rocket" after watching them back to back. Having seen "Royal Tenenbaums" recently it's defintely not better than that.
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