The Watercooler: 4/28/08
It was a fairly quiet movie-going weekend here at the LiC head offices. The choice between Harold & Kumar and Baby Mama didn’t seem like a choice at all so I chose to skip the multiplex altogether. Instead I hit the arthouse and caught a screening of the surprising Shotgun Stories with Michael Shannon (Bug).
I didn’t know anything about it going in, but what I got was a quietly devastating little number about two families in Little Rock, Arkansas sharing the same father but torn apart by bitterness and rivalry.
The first family is essentially a train wreck made up of three brothers. They were abandoned and left to poverty by their alcoholic father who then found God, cleaned up his act and started a new family with a new wife and four new sons.
On the occasion of their father’s funeral, simmering resentments flare up and threaten to explode into tragedy.
It all sounds very melodramatic, heavy handed and depressing, but it’s really none of those things. The drama is fairly subtle and there’s a very dry, laconic humor that keeps the movie from getting bogged down.
After premiering at Tribeca in 2007, Shotgun Stories opened in New York at the end of March. If it plays in your neighborhood, I recommend you check it out.
Here are the trailers I caught:
Sangre De Mi Sangre (Blood of My Blood). Two illegal immigrants meet on a truck transporting them from Mexico to New York. One is looking for his father and the other steals his belongings and his identity. This one won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2007.
Bloodlines. BS documentary about all the Da Vinci Code nonsense that looks like it should’ve gone direct to DVD about 3 years ago.
Noise. An urban comedy where Tim Robbins plays a New Yorker pushed over the edge by noise pollution who becomes a vigilante vandalizing cars when their owners fail to turn off false alarms. City dwellers can probably identify.
Mr. Lonely. The latest from Harmony Korine (The writer of Larry Clark’s Kids) is about a group of celebrity impersonators living in a castle in the Scottish Highlands. Sounds bizarre in a potentially good way and it got some good notices when it played SXSW. Diego Luna (Y Tu Mamá También) plays Michael Jackson and Samantha Morton (Morvern Callar) plays Marilyn Monroe.
Standard Operating Procedure. I thought this one was opening in L.A. this weekend, but apparently it was only New York.
Filed under: Miscellaneous
Related Posts: - Movies You May Have Missed Update: Shotgun Stories
- More Relentless ‘Shotgun’ Plugging
- Weekend Forecast: 3/14/08
- Weekend Forecast: 5/16/08
- The Watercooler: 11/10/08
I think Shotgun Stories sounds great.
This weekend, which is still going on because today is a public holiday, I saw The Other Boleyn Girl which I really enjoyed, I’m Not There which was amazing, Run Fat Boy Run which was fun to say the least, and Nim’s Island and Untraceable which I would rather not talk about, a little too traumatic.
The only film I saw this weekend was The Long Kiss Goodnight
I’ll retreat in shame now.
I was blown away this weekend by a film that is surely the best American film of the year so far, a film that has deservedly received it’s plethora of superlative reviews, including one from LIC’s own revered “Pierre la Plume.”—–Tom McCarthy’s THE VISITOR. This follow up to the independent gem THE STATION AGENT, is a deeply moving and ultimately shattering drama that presents a cross-cultural ‘life’s experience’ examined for all it’s nuances, including so much which is not said in dialogue. Yet in building deliberately, the film is a consumate character study that examines humanity under the surface. Richard Jenkins give a truly outstanding performance, but there isn’t a week link in the cast–a quality that boosted the helmer’s first film. The film deserves the highest rating!
On the other side of the coin is another film that has received mostly very good reviews, but for all intents and purposes is disposable—a frivilous, shameless and formulaic multiplex dud that defines the essence of commercial artlessness—-FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL. I feel like I need to sue somebody for stealing two hours from me.
To repeat though: THE VISITOR is a treasure!
I just saw a trailer for Mister Lonely. I thought it looked pretty entertaining. I saw War Dance last night on DVD and it was fantastic. Definitely recommended. And on Saturday, I went to the IFF Boston to see the doc We Are Wizards, along with a wizard rock show afterwards. That was unbelievably fun. Good times had all around.
Oh yeah, I saw Baby Mama Thursday night. No good.
Justin, War Dance is fantastic indeed.
I’ll look out for Shotgun Stories at next opportunity. Noise played here at the film festival but I just missed it. No buzz about it, so I don’t feel too bad.
War Dance is a great doc, and one deserving of its Oscar nod last year.
The Visitor has been one of my most highly anticipated films of the year, and I STILL haven’t seen it. Shameful, and I’m in the dangerous position of having to avoid all mention of it as it releases wider. A quick glance tells me Sam is enthusiastic about it, which combined with Craig’s lukewarm recommendation and a smash screening at the festival last week gives me good confidence. I hope for a late night viewing this week, but the festival just doesn’t end.
Speaking of which, I hit about 60% of what I wanted to.
Friday, The Edge of Heaven, a fantastic new addition to German director’s Fatah Akin’s filmography.
Later Friday I skipped Jar City (from Iceland, I’m going tonight instead) and Ellen Page in The Tracey Fragments (early negative buzz has turned me off).
Saturday, The Grocer’s Son, a French romantic dramedy with beautiful scenery and warm characters in a rich story.
Later Saturday, my plan to see Sundance fave The Wackness went awry when I missed the first 10 minutes and decided to just skip it altogether. I’m getting over it, now will have to wait.
Yesterday, I stepped out of the festival to see The Year My Parents Went On Vacation, and can report that all positive word of mouth here is highly deserved. Thanks to Alison and Sam for the recommendation about a great little film that tells an old story in a new way.
Finally, last night I saw American Teen, followed by Q & A with director Nanette Burnstein. An absolutely tremendous accomplishment, and a lot better than I expected. The comedy and drama are so rich that you’d think they were written, and Burnstein perfectly captures the hopeless awkwardness and guarded optimism of the American high school student. I was SO impressed with this.
Grinning as I left the Q & A, I decided to back out of my plan to see Oscar nominee Katyn. It was late and I just didn’t feel like ruining my mood. Hopefully I won’t regret it.
Well Shotgun Stories will be on my list. I had lots of social responsibilities this weekend, didn’t see a darn thing. Nothing, but I had a good weekend.
No blockbusters for me this weekend either, but my fair share of movies. Friday night brought THE ANIMATION SHOW 4, which was pretty disappointing compared to the last three. This is the first year that Hertzfeldt wasn’t involved, and oh man does it show. There are way more attention-grabbing comedy shorts than in previous years, and less in the way of stabs at profundity. Frankly, I missed the artsy stuff, but the crowd I was with thought otherwise.
Saturday I saw THE COUNTERFEITERS and CHOP SHOP. THE COUNTERFEITERS is OK, but sort of generic. The best thing it’s got going for it is its story, but as far as Holocaust films go it’s pretty standard-issue. Definitely the kind of movie that wins foreign-language Oscars. CHOP SHOP was pretty darn good though. It’s more a character study than a hard-hitting social drama, but in that vein it works.
Finally, I watched a few DVDs I intend to review this week for Screengrab. You’ll have to wait and see what they are.
Hedwig~~ No shame in LONG KISS GOODNIGHT. That movie rules.
I don’t remember any standout trailers, but I’ll concur that MISTER LONELY looks interesting. I’m particularly eager to see Denis Lavant as Chaplin.
Craig~~~ I’ll be sure to check out SHOTGUN STORIES when it comes to town, Armond White-approved though it may be.
Daniel, Jar City is gorgeous and cold, an exquisite ice sculpture of a film. Not one to miss.
Caught Chop Shop last night. A tremendous, understated slice-of-life film. I saw in it an unobtrusive celebration of the qualities that make America great (sorely needed in this time when all we seem to hear about are America’s faults). Here’s a snippet from the review I wrote:
“The antithesis of hope is desperation, and Ale spirals downward in ever deeper arcs, first stealing hubcaps, then cannibalizing stolen cars for parts, and finally purse-snatching in broad daylight.
Hope is the fuel of life, and in spite of its faults (which are legion), America is the great facilitator of hope. It wouldn’t be hard to imagine Ale, transported to a country with an oppressive religious state, going from purse snatching to strapping a bomb to his chest. Religious extremism succeeds where hope and purpose are lost: when you have nothing to live for, the hollow purpose of a martyr’s death becomes very, very attractive.”
Would be interested in hearing anyone else’s thoughts if they’ve seen this, as I imagine I interpreted it very differently than many other critics.
Also: still trying to find time to watch Satantango. I think that will soon become a running joke.
I had a busy non-film weekend but I still managed to see Samson and Delilah, the Cecil B. DeMille film starring Hedy Lamarr and the acting-challenged Victor Mature. One thing I’ll say, there’s something to be said for old films where they were unafraid of keeping individual scenes going for five or more minutes. The film is stolen, naturally, by George Sanders as the philosophizing villain. The way he coolly instructs his underlings to “Take this fool away,” when speaking of a guy telling him the story of Samson fighting legions of soldiers off with the skull of a jackass is hilarious. Lamarr is as sultry as ever (Robert Osborne from TCM said before the film that this was her last very important performance). The shots of Mature’s Samson fighting with a lion are funny because in one shot it’s him going up against a stuffed animal and then in another his stuntman fighting a real, toothless lion (Osborne said that DeMille wanted the cowardly Mature to fight the toothless lion, but Mature said he didn’t want to even be “gummed to death”). Despite its many flaws, the ending more than saves the film, giving it the spectacular finish audiences doubtlessly craved.
I also saw, late last night, The Wages of Fear again. I love that film.
Daniel, you’ve officially made me envious. I don’t want to pressure you or anything but I think it would wonderful if you did a formal write-up of your whole experience and perhaps Craig could post it for everybody here at LiC. I would greatly appreciate it and I’m sure everyone else would, too. But if you think you’ve already written enough on it or whatever, then that’s cool, too, and I really am glad you posted your thoughts on the film you saw.
Craig, thanks for the recommendation for Shotgun Stories.
Chop Shop is definitely on my list to see when it finally arrives here. Ramin Bahrani’s previous film, Man Push Cart, is also highly recommended. You can find it on DVD.
Happy Birthday, Alison Flynn!!!
A fellow Taurus! Happy Birthday, Alison.
I don’t think The Counterfeiters was the best foreign film of last year, Paul, but as you said, its story carries it, and I thought it was somewhat different than the average Holocaust movie. Certainly had Oscar written all over it.
Did Chop Shop play at Sundance? Sometime in the last few months it’s come up on my radar, and I’m highly anticipating it. Man Push Cart was decent on first viewing for me.
Alexander, we’ve only switched places for a little while. Your typical movie offerings are much better than mine on an average week. I’m gradually posting reviews of the ones I’ve seen on Getafilm, and plan to do a complete wrap-up when the festival ends next weekend.
And, of course, Happy Birthday to Ms. Flynn.
Thanks, Alexander and joel! Just got online!
I saw Young@Heart on Saturday, which was wonderful. The beloved lyrics to some of my favorite songs took on new meaning. The film is a joy to watch.
Yesterday I watched The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (yes, I insist on typing out the full title still). God I love everything about this movie - story, acting, cinematography, music, and on and on. I don’t always like Brad Pitt in everything, but I really like him a lot in this film. I can’t complaint about Elswit winning for TWBB, he certainly deserved it, but damn if I don’t mourn Deakins not winning every time I watch this movie.
Thanks also to Daniel. You snuck in there while I was typing my comment. :-)
Happy b-day Allison! And The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is indeed a nice early birthday present to give yourself.
Also, Iron Man? Really, really cool. The action scenes aren’t extraordinary and Favreau leaves enough slack moments that make you ask questions you shouldn’t be asking (wait. How does he get cell phone coverage at THAT altitude?), but there are enough “wow”/shitfaced grin moments to make up for it.
Now if only I can expand that into 500 words, I’ll have earned my keep ;-)
Thanks, Hedwig! I forgot that you were seeing Iron Mantoday. I’m glad to hear that you liked it.
I would like to see Robert Downey Jr. have a big comeback.
Nick, are you going to review I’m Not There? I totally chickened out on that one. Loved it though.
Sam. I liked The Visitor quite a bit, though not as enthusiastically as you. Shotgun Stories trumps it for me in terms of best American films of the year so far. I’m with you on Sarah Marshall though. It was passable but unremarkable.
Justin. War Dance. Great, another documentary I need to catch up on!
Daniel. Good news on American Teen. My interest just crept up a notch. Too bad you skipped out on Tracey Fragments though, I think it might’ve been worth your while. Tough call though.
Paul. I think Chop Shop is so good precisely because it avoids overt social commentary and sticks to the characters and human drama. It gives it a universal quality. Also, I’ve quietly managed to avoid The Counterfieters for 2 or 3 months. I have nothing against it, but nothing is drawing me to see it either.
Evan, I didn’t see it as specifically a celebration of American values so much as an examination of human values and our ability to survive and thrive in a way in the most dire of circumstances. I like your take on it though, and I admit the power of the invidual is a treasured American ideal.
Joel, I think you’ll definitely like Chop Shop. My tiny opinion is that it’s more satisfying than Man Push Cart, though similar in many ways. It’s impossible not to root for the kid in Chop Shop, but the lead in Cart was a bit more difficult.
Happy B-Day Alison. Would you believe I’ve still only seen The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford one time? (I love typing it out too). I’m almost afraid it will let me down, but everyone I know who has revisited it comes back with a similar report to yours.
Glad you liked Young@Heart too. I’m having a hard time selling people on that one.
Hedwig. Good news on Iron Man. I’m fully prepared to leave my brain at the door and enjoy. If it cleanses the bad taste Spider-Man 3 left in my mouth last year, I’ll be a new man.
May the Cinema Gods help me though, Speed Friggin’ Racer is creeping up the list of my most anticipated movies which is weird because I thought it looked retarded the first time I saw the trailer. Perhaps I’m losing my mind.
Alexander. George Sanders rules. The master of the withering dismissal.
Happy birthday Alison! LiC and its readership are so lucky to have you regularly grace its boards. Every site should have a resident film loving NY songbird.
I’m with you on Speed Racer. Meh.
Thanks, Craig! Thanks, sartre! I hope your wife had a happy birthday, too (you mentioned that hers is around this time, too). :-)
Craig, I guess people are leery of 73+ year olds singing Sonic Youth.
Still have to see The Visitor and Chop Shop, too. And War Dance.
I’m one of the few that isn’t interested in Speed Racer. I never liked the cartoon as a kid and when I see TV spots for it I just think “meh”. Of course, if all of the lovely people here at LiC come back praising it, I will certainly give it a try. :-)
Hmm, I didn’t realize you’d seen Tracey until I looked back at your prescient thoughts on it and Page, Craig. Nice call. I didn’t think I could handle Page as another teen with ‘tude, but the experimentalism of it intrigued me. Unfortunately it’s playing at the same time as Jar City tonight, which I’ve mentally committed myself to. We’ll see what happens. I have to see Up The Yangtze before either one.
I’m indifferent about Speed Racer. I’ll see it out of obligation, but I have zero expectations, even though I like Emile Hirsch.
Same with Iron Man, but Hedwig’s early positivity helps me put it higher on my list this weekend.
George Sanders definitely rules.
Hope this doesn’t result in an online fistfight…
Having seen The Visitor, I’ve just got to say that I think it’s my candidate for most overrated American film of the year thus far. I say this as someone who greatly liked The Station Agent. I think this has the better premise between McCarthy’s two films, but my problem is essentially with the execution. On the drive home I kept trying to think why it didn’t touch me and I think it’s for a similar reason why Million Dollar Baby mostly left me cold. It just feels too calculated.
And I don’t mean that in a formal sense. Certainly many directors can make films that are as conceptually carved in stone before the cameras began rolling. The Coen Brothers are, in my eyes, the best in this particular school. Their films are delicately predeveloped and feature practically zero ad-libbing (Josh Brolin’s little “…Yeah…” when he stumbles onto the cash was, they say, the most ad-libbing in a Coen film). Yet the finished product is as cinematically alive can be.
But McCarthy’s film, like Million Dollar Baby, unfortunately feels like it’s been meticulously molded to the point that the artfulness seemed shut out. It may be that the story arc is quite familiar–that can’t help–but I think the main issue is that I felt like every beat of the film was excessively couched in a kind of neither fish-nor-fowl, part character drama, part message movie, feeling lugubrious and leaden (again, for me, like Million Dollar Baby–at the time Jim Emerson made this point exceedingly well with regards to Eastwood’s film when it was still out in cinemas). And like many films that are too naked in their assembling, it seems to rely on a few too many crutches, my least favorite being the recurring image of the Statue of Liberty.
Anyway, I admired it in parts, and there is no doubt that Richard Jenkins gives a soulful performance. But I just never found the heartbeat I was searching for.
Speaking of Jim Emerson, his review of The Counterfeiters says everything I think with regards to that film. It has its moments but like I said before here, Stefan Ruzowitzky makes films with excellent ideas based around ethical dilemmas but they’re repeatedly bogged down by one-note characterizations. (The lead counterfeiter is the only one who is given a fairly multifaceted persona.)
I just rewatched The Station Agent for the first time since it was in theaters just last week, Alexander. In comparison, The Station Agent is a sublime masterpiece of a three-way character study whereas The Visitor is a well-acted but an emotionally overwrought political exercise.
All the same, I really enjoyed the Visitor for all things it accomplished on the path to its political message, which thankfully wasn’t the entire picture. It doesn’t hold a candle to The Station Agent, but I’ve been trying to consider it on its own merits. All the actors are quite good in the film, but there’s little conflict or evenness to the roles (to be fair, any actor with a modest amount of charisma can easily shine in role such as these though).
But I still liked the movie. It was what I needed when I saw it. Will I revisit it? I doubt it. But I could easily watch The Station Agent many times.
We watched three films on DVD my wife had missed in the theatre – Sweeney, Before the Devil, and The Savages. I was reminded what an outstanding year it was that films of such quality didn’t even make my top 10.
Sweeney in some ways improved with a second viewing, I better appreciated the intelligence and complexity of Sondheim’s music. As highly accomplished and entertaining a film as it is I still thought the tone wasn’t quite right. I would have preferred less jarring violence and slightly more leavening with humor. As much as I’ve been a longtime fan of Burton, his signature directorial style and preoccupations just don’t feel as fresh and inventive to me as they once did.
I appreciated Lumet’s direction more the second time. It still felt sprightly in combination with the editing style, but I could better appreciate how the power of many key scenes was heightened by his subtle, understated choices. And he is a masterful director of actors. How else could one get such amazing ensemble performances and maximize the intelligence of the script? I still don’t understand why PSH’s acting here wasn’t more consistently hailed as one of genius. The film slightly suffers for me by not covering sufficiently new territory.
The Savages remains my favorite of the three. I’m not sure it could have been made any better by all concerned. The balance between unflinching realities and naturalistic humor was spot on. I couldn’t help but compare it to Margot at the Wedding. Whereas the latter felt uneven and poorly structured, with characters and interactions that weren’t always convincing, The Savages presented fully realized complex characters who related to each other in plausible ways, and the storytelling and character arcs were organic, realistic.
Shotgun Stories is from, pretty literally, my neck of the woods, so I’m eager to see it. It played in Little Rock for a while, but I didn’t get a chance to get into the “city” to see it then. Glad you liked enjoyed it, Craig.
And yes, happy birthday Ms. Flynn!
Joel, I rather like your more glass-half-full take on The Visitor. And I agree that The Station Agent is a triumph, one of the better indies of the decade. And I think The Visitor does suffer from McCarthy overthinking it; whereas with The Station Agent there is a fast and loose gracefulness with which the plot points occur, and although one could attribute much of that to the humor to be found therein, I think it’s also the subtle undergirding of the arc. I do think McCarthy is an interesting filmmaker and though I can’t endorse The Visitor I do look forward to whatever he makes next.
Sartre, I like your three little reviews of 2007 films. I’ve heard from a few friends that Sweeney Todd actually gains something on the small screen and/or the second time through. I’ve seen Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead twice… Eventually I’ll probably revisit it, mainly because I think Philip Seymour Hoffman’s performance is probably his all-time best. The Savages was a neat little film with some fabulous truths that was helped greatly by the acting of everyone involved.
Oh, and I watched In the Shadow of the Moon on DVD and saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall in the theater, which I actually enjoyed. For what it was trying to do/be, I thought it succeeded pretty well. Then again, going two months without a movie may have dulled my critical sensibilities. Not that they were ever that sharp.
In the Shadow of the Moon was good. It wasn’t the most technical and detailed account of the early space flights, but it told the emotional story of their evolution (with Ron Howard producing, I guess I should have expected that). There were parts it got a little structurally muddled I thought when they would switch from speaking about one Apollo mission to another and then to another two or three before getting back to the original one, and the blocks of words were too small for my thirtysomething-old eyes to read easily on my not-wall-sized TV, but the old astronaut fellas were fun and interesting.
Just wanted to wish the charming and lovely Ms. Alison Flynn a happy birthday.
Hope it’s thoroughly fab….
“Not that they were ever that sharp.”
Nonsense. You’d cut yourself if they were any sharper.
Yeah, Jennybee, I liked In the Shadow of the Moon too. The photography was great and some of those interviews were quite moving.
I was wondering what you’d think, jennybee. Shadow of Moon was overlooked last year, imo. Not necessarily for an award, but at least for public consumption. These men did some pretty groundbreaking work up there (or so they’d have you believe! just kidding, i believe it), and nobody really cares very much these days. You ask why should we? The last few minutes of the movie should answer that for you - the U.S. has never been so loved as it was at that time, according to the evidence presented.
The Visitor succeeded almost entirely on Jenkins and the Syrian guy and their chemistry and that was enough in the end for me to call the movie a success, if not a perfect one.
I was hoping you’d caught Shotgun Stories Jennybee, I was looking forward to your thoughts. Oh well.
I’m with you on Savages Sartre, particularly in comparison to Margot. I don’t want to beat the dead horse on that subject however, I know Margot has a few deserving fans around here.
THE VISITOR was emotionally overwrought? And the Statue of Liberty was an overused prop? Sounds like Scott Foundas. The emotions came from characters and situations that were initially static and stoic–the final catharsis was well earned within the minimalism of the story. And yes I read in Foundas’ review as well that he didnt like the use of the Statue of Liberty. But I find that myself rather inconsequential.
Anyway, with a critical rating of nearly 8.0 and a superlative 55 to 5 ratio, the film has received better reviews than any other American film this year (including Sarris and Scott) and I say bravo to that! The film has more emotional resonance than THE STATION AGENT, therefore for me it is the stronger film, even if both are excellent.
I do agree with Craig on Jenkins and the character chemistry, but in essence teh film did not attempt to do any more than this, nor did it need to. This is a great film.
Happy Birthday to Alison and Sartre’s wife!!!!
Thanks on behalf of my wife, Sam. The generally favorable yet often qualified appraisals of The Visitor have me intrigued.
You guys are all great! :-)
Thanks to jennybee, Miranda and Sam!
sartre, I really liked The Savages as well. In fact, it was in my top 10 for 2007. Perhaps because the material is fairly close to my life it touched me in a certain way; but I imagine watching it was a painful experience for others going through the same thing. It was an intelligent, poignant film about a very difficult subject, which effectively portrayed the serious and heartbreaking impact on families facing that kind of decision, but I felt that it balanced it beautifully with wit and comic relief. Not an easy thing to achieve, and Jenkins’ screenplay effectively straddled these two opposite sides without either seeming forced or out of place. And the acting was stellar by all involved.
I’ll have to check out Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead again. I really liked it when I saw it in the theater. You’re assessment of Lumet’s directing in this is spot on, and it’s one of the things I came away with after seeing it the first time. That man can teach the young’uns a few things about directing ensembles. And, of course, fantastic acting all around. Someone referred to Philip Seymour Hoffman as this year’s Swiss Army knife of acting - that pretty much sums it up. As far as I’m concerned, he and Laura Linney are two of the best actors working today.
Sam, I liked reading your rebuttal. I honestly haven’t read the Foundas review yet, though I’d heard going in that he disliked the film for what he perceived to be naively liberal or something along those lines. I don’t think the catharsis is unearned and I liked The Visitor’s intimacy. The storytelling is solid. But the film, for some reason, just never quite made me believe. Perhaps it just all felt too easy; the illegal immigrants are almost perfect people, whereas the Peter Dinklage character in The Station Agent seemed like a fully rounded guy. Just my take. I like your passion for the film, however, to be sure.
Thanks, sartre for your generous estimation of my critical skills. I just try to keep up with you, Craig and all the rest of you brilliant cinephiles.
Yes, I think one of the problems for In The Shadow of the Moon is that so many of the people who are interested in it are the ones who lived through it and appreciated it as it was happening, whereas it’s much more moving and informative for those who grew up taking moon travel for granted–the young people who aren’t seeing it. Like that quote towards the beginning by the astronaut whose father could barely believe his son had gone to the moon and his five-year-old son at the time thought it was no big deal.
I gotta say, between watching that and catching up with the John Adams mini-series, my patriotic genes were in rare form this weekend.
Craig, I’ll catch Shotgun Stories the first chance I get. Didn’t Ebert give it some crazy-good praise? Seems like I read that somewhere. Only rarely do I see films that capture the real feeling of the South as I’ve experienced it. Junebug, though flawed, had some ace moments of cultural verisimilitude. Sling Blade had some of that, too. I’m hoping Shotgun Stories falls into that category.
I haven’t seen The Visitor yet, but I am awfully fond of The Station Agent, so I’m looking forward to it. I still need to catch up with The Savages and Before the Devil. They’re coming up on Netflix next, along with I’m Not There and War Dance.
Am I the only one here who thought Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead was terrible overrated? Admittedly, PSH was a force of nature, and Lumet still knows how to direct a scene, but I hated the unnecessary and irritating looping back in time over and over again. Why have so-called “perspective shifts” if you don’t actually change the perspective much, and reveal no new information that couldn’t have been deduced from what we saw the first time around? The whole thing with the drug dealer was just ridiculous, too, and for a “Greek tragedy” (as Lumet has referred to it himself), the tragedy at the end doesn’t come from a tragical character flaw (unless you count stupidity), but just from an assortment of coincidences.
Alexander, you are a gentleman and a scholar. And you do make a lot of sense from the direction you are coming from. I tend to (ask some at Awards Daily) to defend films I really like with over-aggression, I admit it. Your sincerity is unquestioned, and I appreciate your kindness.
Keep in mind that I am also the consumate hypocrite. I use composite reviews to support me for leverage when they are in agreement with me. But when the situation is reversed as in the case of THE FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON (which by and large the critics adored, but I disliked) I do not make reference to them!
But one of the great things about LIC is that the film lovers here could care less what the critics say about any films. This is what sets this site apart–nobody is intimidated here—and that’s the way it should rightfully be.
Hear, hear, Sam. Well said.
In that spirit, Sam, I’ll throw my lot in with Hedwig re: Devil, for all the same reasons.
At the festival last night I saw Up The Yangtze, a brilliant cultural study and a devastating glimpse into the life of one family displaced by the Three Gorges Dam. The film is unpolished, but is carried by the sheer power of its raw material.
Later, I blew off The Tracey Fragments for Jar City, a criminal thriller from Iceland. As Evan recommended to me above, it is indeed quite cold, and calculating, almost to its ruin. I loved the production but viewed it as more of a CSI: Iceland than anything else. As someone who’s never seen those shows the story didn’t do much for me, but it wasn’t a bad film by any means.
Re: Devil.
My understanding of tragedy is that it can come, seemingly predestined, from a force that’s totally beyond the characters’ control, hence the coincidences counting as tragedy. But, admittedly, I’m not one to consult on such matters.
Sam and Alexander, interesting comments. For me, The Station Agent has real characters existing in a real world and reacting to each other with depth and honesty. It’s more contrived than real life, but none of these characters are perfect and as the movie unfolds, we see hints and eventually evidence of what is driving them and what draws them together. The three main performances are all solid, impressive work and the movie shows us a simple slice of life that is typically overlooked by most films, mainstream and indie. Plus, Peter Dinklage is an amazing discovery and I’ve yet to ever see a movie that focuses so much attention on a dwarf as the main character. He’s not a prop and he’s not entirely sympathetic.
The Visitor is also a good movie, but the characters and their interactions seem modestly contrived. Jenkins begins the movie as a fairly complicated character, but five minutes in he’s the nicest guy in the world and his interactions with his new-found friends are anything but difficult. They all fit together perfectly, even after the mother enters the picture. I found it hard to swallow, and since the entire narrative is a loose skeleton on which to hang the film’s politics, it seems (again) even more contrived.
BUT I really liked all the performances. I really liked McCarthy’s direction and I appreciated the politics of the story. The movie shows me a side of New York I’ve rarely seen and it doesn’t break down into the simplistic moralizing that most American films do, however there is some moralizing going on. Jenkins gets the rare chance to shine as a lead and I loved that about the movie.
I’d recommend The Visitor to folks I think would enjoy it, but I’d hesitate to recommend it to someone expecting something more complex than what the Visitor is. However, I’d recommend The Station Agent to just about anyone. To me, it’s a much better film.
After last year and the critical mistreatment of a couple wonderful movies, I’ve given up on Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes. Those are good sites to visit for quick links to individual reviews, but I think those rating systems do more harm than good.
Thanks for the comments, Sam.
Thanks so much Joel, Daniel and Jenny Bee!
Joel you are a difficult man to contest as your eloquence, taste and knowledge of film is one of this site’s highlights. I guess in the end with me, what it all comes down to is how a film resonates with me on an emotional level, providing it did not employ bogus or fraudulent methods to achieve that. I will see what I think of THE VISITOR months down teh road to see if it’s art and impact were lasting with me, but right now I admit I am fullt smitten with it. But everything you say here is expertly rendered.
And alas, you are right about RT and Meta. As you say, it is far more wothwhile and pointed to use it as a link to critics, whose opinion are always worth checking out…people like Dargis, Scott, Sarris, Hoberman, Rosenbaum et al. Odd enough, the critic through my life I have revered above all others in America, 94 year-old Stanley Kauffmann of The New Republic (who still is the head critic there, incredibly!) isn’t even represented at RT, but some others are there who……oh well……….I won’t go there………….LOL……….The sites are only modestly of any token value in just gaing a quick general concensus……….but in the case of a number of film they communally get it wrong as often as they get it right………
OK. not to get too sloppy here Sam but you’re no slouch yourself. You made me really reconsider some of my earlier comments on The Visitor. I’m still wondering if I’m being too hard on it in retrospect.
As I said, it was exactly what I needed to see the day I walked into the theater and I definitely liked the movie. I’m excited to see what McCarthy does next and hoping he takes less time between projects.
Bravo to that Joel! Thank You.
OK, I’m rethinking that last comment:
“I’d recommend The Visitor to folks I think would enjoy it, but I’d hesitate to recommend it to someone expecting something more complex than what the Visitor is. However, I’d recommend The Station Agent to just about anyone. To me, it’s a much better film.”
That sounds far too harsh and almost belittles the intelligence of the movie. Maybe I should have said, “I’d hesitate to recommend it to someone expecting something more demanding than what the Visitor offers.”
I think the movie has something important to say, I just disagreed somewhat with the delivery.
I’m not sure what’s worse: me editorializing my comments after Sam so graciously swallowed them or me being condescending in the first place.
Oi vey.
Hedwig and Daniel, obviously I don’t have the same critical take on BtDKyD. Here’s why it worked for me. I think the time/perspective shifts made for a better film. You had a bunch of criminals who set out with the intent of committing an aggravated robbery without anyone being physically harmed. By starting with the actual outcome (or one dramatically violent aspect of it) and then going back to what preceded it for different characters, sometimes in overlapping ways, the story deliberately focuses us on the details of “how” despite the initial intent a crime went so wrong. I found that a welcome perspective. So much of the film was about the psychological and behavioral mechanics of the steps that took each character from A to B to C etc. And the steps were ill thought through and morally reprehensible, bad choice begat bad choice in a spiraling way. I’ve worked with offenders where on the surface you wonder at the monumental stupidity of their crime. But as you gain more information about exactly what lead up to it. All the things going through their heads (in particular an exclusive focus on the positive benefits of the crime and minimization of the risks), their interactions with others, the specific emotions at play, the relevant circumstances of their lives at the time, and something of their past history and character combine to make what initially appeared inexplicable understandable, though never excusable. I thought the film expertly presented this type of layered causal understanding, a psychological anatomy of a crime that to me was completely plausible and in keeping with my firsthand experience of working with similar offenders.
Wow Sartre, what a magnificent essay on the film—I haven’t read better anywhere!!!!
Joel, either way works as far as I’m concerned. Both your original comment and this revision state your position eloquently. And you most assuredly did not sound condescending at all.
Thank you very much for the extremely kind compliments, Sam, and all I can say in accurate response is, “Likewise.” You don’t mince your words but you’re always open to varying responses from others and I know many, including myself, greatly appreciate that.
I still remember reading you vigorously defend Dreamgirls to a crowd of naysayers over at A-D back in the winter and while, again, I can’t say I agree with you on that film, I completely admired your passion for a film that doesn’t have the word “SERIOUS” attached to it by more esoterically minded critics.
Sartre, that explanation on behalf of Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead is excellent and I think on-target. The editing, while taking some getting used to early on, reinforces the aspect of “Just how the f*** did this thing get so messed up?” in a way that somehow underlines the moral decline of the main characters more keenly and possibly cerebrally than just the linear take would have, and as a result I liked the take the screenplay and Lumet had on the material–especially the second time, which enriched the experience enormously.
I second Sartre’s excellent defense of the time shifty BS in BTKYD.
I vividly remember sitting in the theater when the first flashback came and little post-Pulp Fiction alarm bells started going off in my head. Was this just going to be trickery meant to disguise a tired plot or is there a purpose to it?
In the end, I decided it had a purpose and it relates to a lot of what Sartre said.
For me, the movie wasn’t about the crime. The crime was simply the moment beyond which these slow motion trainwecks could not repair their lives. By getting the crime out of the way at the start, the focus as Sartre says, rests on how that low point was reached. It becomes a character study disguised as a caper film.
It’s a strange film for me. It’s one that I had to warm up to after the fact. I’ll have to see it again to decide where I really stand on it, but for now I think it was terrific.
That’s another fantastic point, Craig, and it gets to what Sartre was saying as well. It really is a cutting melodrama, as Lumet said, and a character study–not a caper film at all. The suspense hinges on the how’s of “slow motion trainwrecks” you describe, not on the crime.
The second time I saw it, at the San Rafael arthouse (first saw it in San Francisco with Beowulf on IMAX… weird pairing on my part), as I was leaving, I started talking with this old guy who said that while he could revisit No Country for Old Men sometime soon, he didn’t think he could ever go through Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead again. It’s a harsh, blunt smack-to-the-face of a film. It’s not asking for anybody to fall in love with it and your predominant response to it, I think, it more than understandable.
I third sartre’s fantastic analysis of BTDKYD, and the film as a psychological and character study, as Craig points out, is what fascinated me. The motives of Ethan Hawke’s character stuck with me particularly. He was obviously the weaker brother who could easily be manipulated by PSH’s character and he was so fearful of acting himself that he brought in a professional, which immediately guaranteed that things would go awry. And he was the one who survived and got away.
Yeah, all those scenes where PSH is totally playing Ethan Hawke were amazing. You could just see him pushing his buttons and you knew it had worked every time since they were kids.
Thanks for the kind words everyone. I really enjoyed how the follow up observations deepened and expanded on my own. Craig’s description of slow motion train wrecks is spot on. The family dynamics felt truthful, each person relating to the other, whether deliberately or casually, in well established and clearly dysfunctional ways.
I liked how they were an unlikely family of killers. The minor sister character aside, each family member kills someone. Ethan Hawke’s character doesn’t pull the trigger but his surrogate does.
I fourth the stunningly analytic rebuttal from sartre, though I still look back on Devil with shrugged shoulders. I think it may come down to a matter of taste (surprise, surprise), and the viewer’s personal reaction to the time shifting method. The friend I saw it with absolutely loved it, and still gushes about it, but I feel like we saw two different movies. Mine featured despicable characters (partly as a plot device, yes, but to the point where I had no sympathy for anyone) doing unbelievable things. PSH’s explosion in the last 15 minutes may make sense in hindsight, but at the time it seemed like totally unnatural behavior for his character. The predictability of the last shootout disappointed me as well.
All that being said, I haven’t bashed Devil anywhere and have enjoyed talking about it with people. The acting was outstanding, no debate. As with Hedwig, however, my reaction to it soon became influenced by the groundswell of hype about it. Perhaps I thought I missed something and I was jealous of those who loved it? (Actually, I did inexcusably miss the first 10 minutes or so of the movie, but this isn’t the time to mention that, is it…)
Certain methods work for certain people in certain movies. I had a similar issue with the recent The Edge of Heaven, in which vital plot twists are announced by the director (literally, on the screen) ahead of time. You just don’t sometimes know how a certain style will work for you in a given movie.
Ramble complete.
It only ever is a matter of taste. There is no right and wrong. I agree Daniel that the principal characters are mostly dislikeable people who do despicable things. But they were human enough for me, terrible flaws and all, to find tragedy in their fate and interest in how their story was told by everyone involved.