SCREENING LOG - 1/07-1/13, 2002

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I saw The Circle, Written on the Wind, Imitaiton of Life, Blackhawk Down, Amores Perros, In the Bedroom, Amelie, Chunhyang, Gosford Park, and McCabe & Mrs. Miller. In order of preference:

McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971, Robert Altman)

After finally seeing it on a big screen, one of my all-time favorite films has secured its place in my heart. Say what you will, the wonder of this film blinds me to whatever faults you can find. This is a film so perfectly into its environment that there's really nothing else to say. The performances of Warren Beatty as the ill-fated entrepreneur building a whorehouse in the middle of the Pacific Northwest, Julie Christie as the zonked-out madam, and everyone else in this god-forsaken town called Presbyterian Church, combine to create the most amazing sense of a community committed to celluloid. The sadness and cynicism that burdens much of Robert Altman's films is somehow transformed into a work of beauty so perfect it brought me to tears. This is surely the greatest, most lyrical achievement of Altman's career.

Imitation of Life (1959, Douglas Sirk)

A new all-time favorite, what I consider to be one of the greatest films about America ever made. Douglas Sirk, the master of melodrama, takes the genre to new artisitc heights in this powerfully complex soap opera involving two single mothers, one white, one black, whose shared lives leads to great successes and failures -- most notably the fate of the black mother's daughter, a light-skinned girl who despises her race (and by extension, her own mother). Every time you think it's getting histrionic and manipulative, Sirk does something to challenge your expecations, turning social norms and stereotypes on their ear with sheer mastery; every scene, every line of dialogue becomes a revelation. The ending brought me to tears not because of the soap opera, but because of the shimmering artistry on display.

Written on the Wind (1957, Douglas Sirk)

This film may be a purer incarnation of Sirk, in terms of its elements and effects, but I found it less complex and engaging on both an emotional and intellectual level. Rich man marries best friend's girl, best friend carries the torch while staying loyal to rich man, but rich man's nympho sister mucks it all up. The bravado opening is a stunner -- after that there are a lot of jewels to be found (not the least of them Dorothy Malone's "dance of death" and her final scene with the toy oil rig -- who would of guessed that stroking a phallus could get you an Oscar?).

(the next 4 films, listed alphabetically, are all of a comparable level of achievement and will probably all make my almost-finished top 10 list of 2001:)

Chunhyang (2001, Im Kwon Taek)

The 96th film by Korea's preeminent filmmaker is a sublime sensory experience, an old legend celebrating female loyalty and sacrifice told with amazing use of color and music. The music is supplied by a singing narrator accompanied by drum, who are shown performing the story in front of a contemporary audience. This framing device adds a modern context to the story -- I'm not sure myself how this antiquated brand of "feminism" (women can become heroes through suffering) holds up, but the artistry on display certainly merits serious consideration.

The Circle (2001, Jafar Panahi)

Another film about women's suffering in an antiquated social setting, only this time the setting is contemporary Iran. The rondelay story follows one woman after another as they contend with oppression, large and small, in their everyday lives. Certainly an eye-opening look into another culture, told with much insight and urgency, and like many great films from Iran it manages to be highly realistic and highly formalistic at once.

Gosford Park (2001, Robert Altman)

In many ways Altman's most accomplished film in a long, long time. What is being advertised as a murder mystery is really a immensely well-choreographed display of the relationship between the English high class and those who serve them. The first hour is both disorienting and enthralling as lords, ladies and servants arrive at a chateau for a weekend hunting party -- the way in which everyone is placed within the hierarchy is utterly fascinating. Altman's trademark cynicism is given new life with a cast of unapologetically snobby characters played to perfection by the cast, easily the best ensemble of the year.

In the Bedroom (2001, Todd Field)

Todd Field's debut shows his knack for measured drama of great meditative power. Tom Wilkinson and Sissy Spacek are pitch-perfect as a middle-aged couple who are suddenly faced with a grievous situation. The middle passages, chronicling their moments of grief in the wake of unspeakable loss, boasts a sense of pacing that allows the emotional impact to register to the full. The last moments of the film, and a key line of dialogue, redeem the story of its weak vigilante climax.

further down...

Amores Perros (2001, Alejandro Gonzalez-Inarritu)

Three intertwining stories, all involving dogs, play out on the far corners of Mexico City. Though its gritty formalism has been compared to PULP FICTION, I prefer to compare it, unfavorably, to Kieslowski's 3 COLORS TRILOGY. I was fairly impressed by the level of skill of this first-time director, though the contrivance of the stories left me more distracted than moved.

Amelie (2001, Jean Pierre Jeunet)

The cinematic equivalent of EuroDisney, in which a quirkily pretty girl with a quirkily pretty lifestyle sets out to commit random acts of kindness on unsuspecting Parisians and eventually find her true love. Technically accomplished, with a number of charming moments, though it seems to borrow some of the gags, not to mention the lanky brunette lead, from Wong Kar-Wai's superior CHUNGKING EXPRESS. This is certain to appeal to the urban romantic loner in all of us -- though I found the candy-coated visuals hard to stomach.

Blackhawk Down (2001, Ridley Scott)

I have a bad feeling that 2002 is going to be the Year of the War Movie. I saw BLACKHAWK DOWN last night and the previews had two war films: a Nazi war prison movie with Bruce Willis and a ridiculously feel-good Vietnam movie starring Mel Gibson. So this is Hollywood's way of responding to September 11 - lots of blood and patriotism. We seem to have had quite a lot of that the last few months - personally I don't feel the need to fork over eight bucks to see any more.

Which leads me to my thoughts on BLACKHAWK DOWN, the kind of movie that's probably going to show up big on Oscar night -- heck, it might even win Best Picture. It's meticulously well made, looks beautiful (if you want to call exploding bodies "beautiful") and couldn't come at a better time when Americans probably want to feel good about themselves, their country, their place in the world. But for what it's worth, I really, really didn't find much value or enjoyment in this movie.

Do people really enjoy watching people get killed in various ways: falling off helicopters, getting fingers and legs blown off, guts spilling into the sand? Do you get pleasure from watching hundreds of Somalis get picked apart and mowed down by rifles and machine guns? Unless you consider this to be some kind of entertainment, there's nothing to recommend this movie for, especially in terms of its ideas. It offers only the most simplistic explanation for what led to the most disastrous American military operation since the Vietnam War. It doesn't offer much insight into the mistakes that were made before and during the operation, and how the government and the military might have reconsidered its policies and strategies to avoid this nightmare from happening again. Instead, it gives us the nightmare operation from start to finish, wall to wall action with little room to think about much of anything but where the next bullet is going to come from, and how the next body is going to get blown up. The underlying logic is that there comes a time when thinking just doesn't matter: it's all about "the guy next to you" and what you're willing to sacrifice for that. Ridley Scott calls this an "anti-war movie" but he's clearly having his cake and eating it too; it's obvious that he's in love with his own re-creation of bloody, intense combat, and that he can turn it into mass entertainment.

My comments are not meant to disrespect the brave soldiers who were placed in an impossible situation and fought tremendously to get themselves out. I disrespect the people who told their story. In trying to give a feel-good patriotic spin to it, they do us all a disservice by avoiding the bigger picture. Heroism is great, but so is wisdom -- the wisdom to know how we can avoid disasters like what happened in Mogadishu, Somalia on October 3, 1993. This film barely gives us that wisdom, and is far more interested in giving us a blood-and-guts thrill ride.

Four years ago Steven Spielberg claimed that SAVING PRIVATE RYAN was the "war movie to end all war movies" -- that its graphic scenes of combat would persuade all of us that war was a terrible thing, never to be entered. Now Ridley Scott has made a movie that is even MORE graphic, and will no doubt send a wave of kids to the recruiting station with its patriotic slaughter. Somehow, the madness has to stop.

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