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SCREENING LOG
- 12/22-12/28, 2003
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I watched LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING, 21 GRAMS,
COLD MOUNTAIN, IN AMERICA and SEABISCUIT. In order of preference:
Cold Mountain (2003, Anthony Minghella)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0159365/
In many ways this adaptation of Charles Frazier's acclaimed
Civil War novel is a reconfiguring of elements found in another
novel adaptation by Minghella, THE ENGLISH PATIENT: again
we have an absurdist's view of war and the moral chaos it
creates, infused with swooning romantic interludes between
two star-crossed lovers. I find myself a sucker for both films
almost in spite of myself -- it's classy and respectable in
the way that Miramax manages all too capably, and yet it is
as powerful in its dramatic force as it is impeccable in its
craft. I didn't feel the passion between Nicole Kidman and
Jude Law was established strongly enough for the subsequent
two hours of long-distance Odyssean pining to pay off, but
both actors succeed well enough as dignified observers-cum-participants
in the devastation in which they find themselves isolated.
The opening battle sequence is overwhelming in its insanity,
one of many absurdities to follow (including a pointed and
contemporarily relevant depiction of the Confederate equivalent
of the Homeland Security department, one that terrorizes its
own people). Renee Zellweger steals the show as the wild woman
who comes to save Kidman's failing farm -- her bizarre, slack-jawed
ugly-cute act doesn't fit comfortably into any easy category
for dismissal; she's obviously in love with her role and makes
sure we are as well. Consider her the clear front-runner for
a best supporting Oscar. #5 for 2003 IMDb titles, between
RAJA and PTU #10 for new movies watched in 2003 between HERO
and MARION BRIDGE
21 Grams (2003, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0315733/
I wasn't a fan of what I found to be the arch, overdetermined
construction of storylines, ironies and symbolic significances
in Inarritu's breakthrough film AMORES PERROS, so I'm not
sure why I accepted more of the same this time around. It
probably had to do with the winning, totally committed performances
of Naomi Watts as a woman who loses her entire family in a
car accident, Benecio del Toro as the guilt-ridden ex-con
who drove the other car, and Sean Penn as the grateful recipient
of Watts' ex-husband's heart. The characters are as obsessive
as Inarritu in wrestling with the meaning of their suffering
(much of which is self-inflicted, and by this I don't just
mean the characters but also Inarritu), yet despite the contrivances
of the setup, the feelings come out as painfully real. #8
for 2003 IMDb titles, between MYSTIC RIVER and THE STATION
AGENT #21 for new movies watched in 2003 between "Going Home"
from THREE and THE STATION AGENT
In America (2002, Jim Sheridan)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0298845/
Sheridan's semi-autobiographical story of an Irish immigrant
family struggling through their first year in a slummy Hells
Kitchen apartment lets you know from the start that it's going
to paint in broad, monumental strokes as it weaves its magical
yarn about America, Family, Life and Death, but what keeps
it from sinking painfully into formula is Sheridan's conviction
in recreating his experiences and infusing them with passionate
storytelling. The two girls (Sarah and Emma Bolger) are expectedly
cute to a fault, the parents (Samantha "I can do no wrong"
Morton and Paddy Considine) are expectedly anxious, and the
black man dying of AIDS downstairs (Djimon Honsou) expectedly
emerges as a Christ figure, but the proceedings are handled
with such verve and everyone so committed to their roles that
sure enough, several hard-won and special insights about guilt,
loss and family responsibility surface, and quite movingly.
The film also makes remarkable use of digital video footage,
though this also contributes to the uncertainty of time period
-- certain aspects of the movie feel a lot more like 1980s
New York than 2000, though one can argue that the point of
the film is to achieve timelessness, which it sort of does.
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003, Peter
Jackson)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0167260/
The concluding chapter of the ubiquitous nine-hour trilogy
is certainly the most entertaining and action-packed, at least
up to the last half-hour of deadly dull pomp and circumstance.
Those more inclined than I to indulge in fantasy for the sake
of fantasy will reap more than I have from this as well as
the other LOTR films; as far as I'm concerned it all amounts
to an engaging but not enthralling mix of expensive spectacle
and convoluted plotting. The good guys all end up victorious,
the bad guys all end up vanquished -- the only "bad guy" who
displays any shred of complexity (the computerized Gollum/Smiegel,
who gives the most animated performance of the lot, pardon
the pun) is conveniently reduced to a raging monster by the
end. If only life were that simple. But at least in the climactic
battle scene the filmmakers made sure to conform with 21st
century requirements of having a woman kick ass at some point
in the whole bloodless mess. #15 for 2003 IMDb titles between
DISTANT and GOODBYE DRAGON INN #37 for new movies watched
in 2003 between BOLLYWOOD HOLLYWOOD and SO CLOSE
Seabiscuit (2003, Gary Ross)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0329575/
Three men and a horse gain redemption through each other;
the crowd goes wild. The best thing I can say about this formulaic
audience-pleaser is the exciting and innovative camerawork
employed during the horse races. This film is an embarrassment
for the formidable cast (Jeff Bridges, Tobey Maguire, Chris
Cooper and William H. Macy), each member relegated to squeezing
nuance out of formulaic character types with constipated effort.
The sappy ESPN Greatest-Moments-in-Sports-History voiceover
saddles the film in cheap nostalgia. It's a sad sign of how
poor the options were for adult moviegoers this past summer
for this hokey bag of oats dressed up as a steak dinner to
have been consumed with mainstream adulation.
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