The Watercooler: 8/4/08
Andrew Garfield is Boy A
After last weekend’s multiplex disaster, LiC stuck to the arthouse theaters this weekend. The results were decent if unspectacular.
First up was the UK drama Boy A. Adapted from the novel by Jonathan Trigell, it tells the story of a young man released from prison after spending most of his childhood locked away for his part in a brutal crime. He’s given a new identity and a new life in Manchester, but he finds that erasing his past is more difficult than it seems. It was grim but good stuff and it featured an excellent performance by Andrew Garfield (Lions for Lambs) who will soon be seen (maybe) in Terry Gilliam’s Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus.
Next was the Sundance award winner Frozen River with Melissa Leo. The review is below, but if you’re short on time suffice it to say it was good, but not great. Leo was excellent as advertised, but the drama was kind of tepid.
Finally I saw the Czech film Beauty in Trouble. This is the film that added to the best song controversy last Oscar season because it features the lovely Hansard/Irglova song Falling Slowly and it opened before Once for which it was nominated and ultimately won.
It’s about a young mother who meets a wealthy older man when her husband is put away for auto theft. Her choice seems obvious at first until you realize her husband isn’t such a bad guy. It was kind of a slow, strange story with an odd ending, but it was interesting. Definitely worth checking out if you get a chance.
Highlight of the weekend: an old lady alone at Frozen River wearing a hearing impaired headset would spout off every 15 or 20 minutes, “Oh lord, what a boring movie!” to no one in particular. As I mentioned last week, there’s really no easy way out of this situation so it’s a good thing the movie didn’t require my extreme concentration.
Filed under: Watercooler
Tags: Andrew Garfield, Beauty in Trouble, Boy A, Falling Slowly, Frozen River, Melissa Leo
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- Leo Rising
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Your Frozen River story reminds me of my experience seeing Alexandra almost two months ago. Two guys, who were sitting on either side of the center aisle in seats, roughly in the center of the cinema, were talking with one another as I entered. As it was a small auditorium with a rather tiny screen, I decided to sit in front of them by a few rows. Before the film began the one sitting to the left (who was directly behind me) told the other what the film was about, to his knowledge (”The war in Chechnya, I think…”) to which the other responded (”If it sucks, and if it’s boring, I’m outta here.”) Well, around twenty-five minutes in, the other fellow got up, bellowed, “Goddamn, I can’t take this!” and stormed out. So it was just the other gentleman and I the rest of the way.
That was kind of amusing, though, for some reason, whereas your experience sounds more troubling. Well, at least it was only every 15 or 20 minutes. I now have a mental image of that old lady, though, along with the sound of her voice.
Oh, movies I saw this weekend? Not a one. Experienced a great six-hour, four-group concert Saturday night in Mountain View, though.
I’m quite interested in all three of the films you sought out.
I only saw Wall-E this weekend, on Friday, but if you gotta pick just one, that one will do perfectly :-) I fell in love with this little movie. It’s not without flaws, and it’s not particularly deep, but its simple moments of beauty made me happy.
My best “annoying-people-in-the-theater” experience was during a 70mm print screening of Lawrence of Arabia. Some guy had fallen asleep in the front row, all the way to the right of the theater, and was snoring, loudly. I got up from my spot in the back left, trudged across the aisles, and shook him awake. He fell asleep 10 minutes later and started snoring again, so I rinsed and repeated. He finally just left.
Even with that enormous interruption, watching Lawrence in all of it’s glory like that was one of the greatest cinematic experiences of my life.
So…
This week saw a screening of Pineapple Express. One of the worst films to have to write about. It was entertaining enough, but not spectacular in any fashion. Fits the “stoner action comedy” mold to the tee. If those three words interest you, see it. Otherwise, you can wait.
Also saw Surwise and was sadly a bit disappointed (sorry Daniel!). I don’t believe the creators had enough material to stretch the film on as long as they did, especially since things don’t really get interesting until the 50 minute mark. It felt like a one of those interesting large scale family docs that air on TLC all the time. I think they should have opened the doc up to things outside of the family (psychologists, other families with similar structures, etc.) and made it about the larger issues at stake, similar to what was done with Bigger, Stronger, Faster.
Obviously watched a lot of noir this week. Double Indemnity is like a wonderful, toasty nightcap.
Also caught OSS 117, and what a great, charming film it is. I think Daniel said somewhere that it is telling about American comedy that the best comedic film this year has come from France. I heartily agree with him on that note. The film drags a bit in the middle as a few of the gags wear out and you realize just how paper thin the plot really is, but on the whole an amazing find.
I’m off to a screening of Hamlet 2 later this morning. Fingers crossed….
I love that story of the old woman at the screening of FROZEN RIVER, and the follow up one by Alexander at his screening of the Sokorov. I have one of my own, but I’ll save it for another time. I applaud Craig’s arthouse return this weekend and his positive experience with BOY A (4/5), which was imaginative and probing cinematic fare with (as you rightfully note) a very good performance by young Mr. Garfield. I seem to have liked the Czech film, BEAUTY IN TROUBLE a bit more than you, but I think we are essentially on the same page.
Like Alexander, I attended a long Saturday evening classical concert, so my moviegoing worked around it, but I had an early start with an afternoon screening on Wednesday, and an evening showing on Thursday in addition to the weekend screenings. Hence I saw five films:
“Frozen River” (2 and a half)
“The X Files” (2)
“Profit Motive and Whispering Wind” (3 and a half)
“Before I Forget” (3)
“In Search of a Midnight Kiss” (4)
FROZEN RIVER for me was politically correct, and it was narratively wooden with a particularly disturbing incident later on that was ridden with contrivances. But Leo’s performance was excellent, and the snowy terrain visually engaging. THE X FILES (yes I was a fan of the television show, and certain episodes like “Home” still resonate with me) was a disjointed, unfocused and mess of a movie, and the leads have lost their chemistry. The documentary PROFIT MOTIVE AND WHISPERING WIND, which unfortunately had this single week run at the Anthology, and no further bookings, will hopefully find an audience, as it’s director stated at his pre-film appearance. The barely one-hour feature was a non-ending but mostly hypnotic montage of blowing trees and reeds, and plaques and gravestones of famous freedom fighting Americans. It is a poetic and haunting visual elegy to our democratic heritage, yet it does seem to its discredit a bit constricted and one-sided, even though that is precisely its overview. BEFORE I FORGET is a highly-praised French film, which I see Stephanie Zacharek is calling “one of the most devastating treatments of aging I have ever seen.” I wish I could agree, but this film about an older gay gigolo-prostitute is often uncomfortable to watch, and it’s narrative arc is filled with redundancies. But in the end, what makes it still worthwhile to check out is an altogether devastating transformative final scene. All alone, that one is worth the price of admission.
The very best of the week’s film’s though was the little inde of bittersweet young love in Los Angeles–IN SEARCH OF A MIDNIGHT KISS, which was filmed in monochrome, and develops a full interactive discourse predicated on a very simple premise. The film is not original, and a still image montage later one is rather pretentious, but the entire affair is a winning one, with insights, aching humor and heartbreak, all delivered with innocence and the impulsive yearnings of bohemian elan, circa the Pacific southwest. It is close enough to a four-star rating for me to be generous and give in.
Lucille and the kids saw THE MUMMY and STEP BROTHERS at our local multiplex, but I stayed home and did some blogging and cut the lawn. They seem to have liked the comedy more.
Thanks Miranda, I look forward to your opinion of FROZEN RIVER, if you so choose to see it.
Augh! Crushed by a less-than-amazed reaction to Surfwise! You make a fair point about the possibility of including others, Evan, but I found that the meat of the documentary was fascinating enough on its own. Plus, the dad was such an unbelievable character that I couldn’t wait to see what he would come up with next. I’ll look forward to your review, which I expect to be honestly critical. I’m not the kind of person to take offense if somebody hates (I know you didn’t hate it) a movie that I champion.
Plus, you made up for it by enjoying OSS 117! Also relieved to find out I didn’t somehow miss the comedy in Pineapple. It’s there - you just have to put up with a lot of garbage to get to it.
I wanna see Hamlet 2 (mostly because of Elizabeth Shue) and Midnight Kiss.
I’m blacked out for both River and Boy A until I see them.
Your happiness about Wall-E makes me happy, Hedwig.
I didn’t know that Beauty in Trouble used “Falling Slowly.” I say it belongs to Once, period.
I saw nothing this weekend, again. This might be the 2nd or 3rd weekend in a row. The IMAX TDK was sold out, of course, so I still have to wait for another chance.
Tell No One was very good, really enjoyed it, as I mentioned elsewhere. May not work for everyone but I loved the central lead performance and thought that the entire movie worked because of François Cluzet and his stellar acting. I dread the inevitable stupid American remake.
Also saw Surfwise and I’d have to disagree with you, Evan. I really liked it. In fact, I came to the opposite approach, that the ending was the most obvious part of the narrative and the weakest. I really liked what lead up to that and found the whole notion of a family living off the grid in plain site and the aftermath of that to be particularly interesting. I agree that having a bit broader view might have been valuable, but I doubt any experts could have really given us much insight into these characters and their worlds since their life experiences are so radically different from the norm.
***SPOILER*** I found where the kids ended up to be really interesting but they were all so conflicted and damaged by their upbringing that just getting much out of them was obviously very difficult. When the oldest sings that song and tears well up in his eyes, the film finally found an emotional hook for all their frustration but also veers right into reality TV territory. ***END SPOILER***
Anyway, good stuff regardless.
So, yeah, I saw Miss Pettigrew lives for a Day, but whatever, I could have actually found better things to do with my time.
I too am still waiting to see: Boy A, Frozen River, Hamlet 2 (looks hilarious!), Surfwise, Midnight Kiss, OSS 117 and about a million and a half more.
I did catch the Patti Smith doc, or rather beguiling poem, which was biased and one sided but totally enthralling and I love every second of it.
I too am glad you liked Wall-E, Hedwig. It indeed have some beautiful moments.
This weekend I watched Batman Begins again, which I like more and more every time I see it, before finally seeing The Dark Knight. I thought it was terrific. Christian Bale is great in a completely thankless role and the supporting cast was excellent for the most part (more on that a little later in this comment).
For the record I’ll state right now that I adore Gary Oldman in everything. He is an amazing actor who, without make-up and with very little change to his physical appearance, can look completely different, even almost unrecognizable, every time he embodies a new character. He’s one of the best actors out there. I love his Gordon.
Heath was terrific. This role could have been cliche and caricature-like, but I felt that his Joker had a dimension of real depth. In general Nolan’s take on this franchise has a lot more depth in addition to being darker. I infintely prefer his two Batman movies to Burton’s, much as I enjoyed Batman Returns.
Eckhart too did a fantastic job.
My only complaint was with Maggie Gyllenhaal - apologies to those on this site who love her. She’s a good actress but I hated her as Rachel and I can’t really explain why. She just didn’t fit for me.
Is this Oscarworthy? I’m not so sure. It’s a terrific movie in this genre and it’s really high quality filmmaking, but I also feel that the hype overstates things. We’ll have to see how things go when the later heavy-hitters are released. If they disappoint and the year is a weak one, perhaps this has a chance.
TCM had a tribute to Charlie Chaplin on Saturday, so the rest of my movie-watching included rescreenings of Modern Times and The Great Dictator. The man was absolutely amazing. That is all.
The old lady was actually kind of amusing and didn’t really detract from my enjoyment of the movie, such as it was. It’s just difficult to approach this kind of thing and I always feel like I just have to sit there and take it.
Anyway, Sam, I know exactly what scene you’re talking about in Frozen River and I agree, though I was content to let it slide.
I’ll have to modestly disagree with you on X-Files too. It was less than satisfying, but thanks to some thoughts by K Bowen, I’ve come around on it a little bit. I thought Mulder and Scully still had quite a lot of chemistry, it just manifested itself in more mature ways than it did back on the show. That was actually one of the charms of the film. The mystery was weak, but their relationship was still sound and at times it was a pleasure to watch. This is not a movie I would come to blows over, however.
Glad you liked Midnight Kiss though and I hope others will give it a shot.
Alexander, I’m almost shocked you didn’t see any movies this weekend. Almost. But good for you. It’s good to get outside once in a while, no?
And Daniel…2 or 3 weekends in a row? Slacker!!
Hedwig, I know you were skeptical about WALL-E, so I’m glad it worked out for you. I should probably catch it again before it leaves theaters.
Evan, I agree with you about the “entertaining enough but unspectacular” kind of movie. They’re impossible to write about. It’s one reason I’m glad not to be obligated to write about every movie that comes out. I think I’d grow to hate doing this really quick.
Too bad about Miss Pettigrew Nick, but in retrospect I was a little underwhelmed too. It was ok, but I think it had more potential in it.
Alison, did you like Katie Holmes better than Maggie as Rachel?
Joel, I’m relieved you liked Tell No One. As I said to you elsewhere, this one seems to be dividing my friends equally. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I’m always happy to have one more who agrees with me.
I think the thriller genre is incredibly difficult to do these days. The genre has been beaten to death and modern technology makes it difficult to get away with many of plot devices that made the genre so popular in the first place (horror films are beginning to feel the stress of modern technology too). Tell No One worked for me and I enjoyed it.
It’s received little critical notice here that I’m aware of but the matinee I saw yesterday was packed, about 75% full. It’s only playing one screen in Portland, but that is still impressive for a movie with no obvious credentials to entice audiences.
It’s been quite the word of mouth hit so far, but we’ll see if it’s able to expand. Right now it’s in 94 theaters and it’s made over $2 million. Not too shabby at all.
I’m super busy today, but I’ll pop in to add my weekend to the discussion. Got a last-minute offer Friday night to see Mummy 3 for free, so we thought what the hell and went. I can’t say it wasn’t entertaining because a good portion of my time since then has been spent making fun of it and having prolonged discussions about just how bad it was. I’ll say this: it’s recommended viewing for anyone who hated Crystal Skull. Compared to the Mummy 3, Crystal Skull was practically Bergman.
In only a slight cinematic improvement, I got sucked into watching Flightplan on TV. If the plane had had as many holes in it as the plot did, it never would have got off the ground in the first place, imaginary missing child or not.
The weekend film watching was redeemed by Shotgun Stories. We finally got to see it and we both loved it in all its languid rural Arkansas glory and simmering family resentments. Like very, very few other movies set in the South, it never hit a false note. Every thing that came out of someone’s mouth, or action, motivation, set, all rang true and captured a lot of the uncomfortable social and economic dichotomies that exist here. Plus, the scenery looked like so many small towns I’ve lived in. In fact, they were set in the small towns of England and (micro-town) Keo, Arkansas, which is where my grandmother was raised. Michael Shannon was terrific as Son and the performances from the non-actors for once felt organic rather than stilted. Nicely shot, too. It gets an A in my book.
Last night we also watched On Dangerous Ground the Robert Ryan noir. It wasn’t bad, though the second half–which takes place in a rural, snowy mountainous area that I suppose is supposed to be upstate New York–was not nearly as noirish as the first half. Still, worth watching and only and hour and a half.
Glad you liked TDK, Allison. I kind of agree about Maggie G. Nolan keeps casting these actresses who are thinking man’s sex symbols in that role, but neither of them really worked in it. I thought her performance was better than Katie Holmes (also the writing of her character was a bit better in this one), but it was the film’s weakest point.
As for Surfwise, I think a different filmmaker could have crafted a better film out of that material–sometimes the editing in particular seemed clunky–but overall I liked it a lot. It’s not an Oscar doc, but it was awfully refreshing to know how wonderfully weird people can still be.
On Dangerous Ground is a terrific Nicholas Ray noir, Jennybee. It’s somewhat controversial but I enjoy how Ray transitions from the city to the country, though I agree that the noirish first act in the city is so awesome it almost makes you wish the whole film remained in that urban jungle.
Craig, it was indeed pleasant to just go out, take a drive, enjoy a concert, come home and largely just read and write the next day. Also, these films you were able to see this weekend aren’t up here yet. :)
Jennybee. “Like very, very few other movies set in the South, it never hit a false note.” Did you hear my big sigh of relief? I’d been waiting to hear your thoughts about this local movie. It fellt authentic to me, but what do I know? Glad to hear from someone who can tell the difference that it hit the mark. Makes me appreciate Shotgun Stories all the more.
Alexander I completely agree with what you say about ON DANGEROUS GROUND, (to Jenny Bee) and I would gleefully add that Bernard Herrmann’s score is one of the greatest in the entire history of the cinema. It could be Herrmann’s greatest score–it’s certainly his most ravishingly melodic, melancholy and romantic.
Sam, I wouldn’t put that score in the highest echelons of film music in all of film history, but I did think the music kicked ass. : ) Meant to say that earlier.
And I have an inexplicable weakness for snowy movies, perhaps because it only snows here a little bit once or twice a year, so I did enjoy the second half of On Dangerous Ground and as a psychological character study of Ryan’s disillusioned cop, I thought it worked well. I think I just loved all those rainy dark city streets so much in the first part, I wanted more. It had some great point of view shots, and it was nice to see them actually filming from a moving car instead of using the moving backdrop.
Craig, one point in Shotgun Stories had so much verisimilitude for that part of the state I laughed out loud: They’re driving along in a pickup truck, and you can barely see out the windshield for all the splattered bugs. If I drive across the state, I have to stop and wash my windshield about four or five times on a five-hour trip, just to see the road, especially anywhere in the Delta. That warn’t no LA hot shot filmmaker shootin’ that movie. That boy was native.
Actually, Jenny Bee I am not alone in that assessment. Lukas Kendall, the erudite music critic and the president of the esteemed FILM SCORE MONTHLY wrote in the exhaustive liner notes to the Golden Age Classics edition of ON DANGEROUS GROUND that the score is one of the very greatest that Herrmann has ever written. Herrmann, of course is probably the greatest film composer who ever lived (Steiner is a close second) so his best work would be the greatest work, period.
But you were more than fair, and you met me halfway so I have no complaints.
Yeah, I don’t know enough about rural life to really have an opinion but Shotgun Stories felt very real to me. Michael Shannon conveys a life of hard work and hard luck through his body language, especially that lurchy walk he has down pat. I have cousins that do that…it was chilling when I realized what he was mimicking.
Surfwise does have some technical weaknesses but that family is very, very interesting. I’ve always wondered what the lifestyle might be like and it offers an interesting counterpoint to Into the Wild. The subjects of both films choose to disconnect from society and ignore all cultural norms, but how they go about it and the aftermath of those choices are radically different.
This is far too strong a year for documentaries for Surfwise to have much of a chance come awards time and even in a slow year, it would still be a bit of a stretch.
“So, yeah, I actually saw MISS PETTIGREW but whatever, I could have actually found better things to do with my time.”
Uh…Tell us what you REALLY think, Nicky. Ha ha.
Truthfully, I’ve seen it three times and I couldn’t give it more than two stars. But it’s DANGEROUSLY close to three. It’s like a 6 out of 10. Pleasant good fun. A watchable trifle. Fizzy like a champagne float. But not much more.
But I did SO dig DELYSIA (AMY ADAMS) and MICHAEL’S (LEE PACE) relationship. SEXY AS HELL. Very hot in the way that he put her in her place by plunking her perky ass down on that piano. I thought he was going to slap her - and she DID deserve it. Just the way that he told her he was on to her with the other men and that she’d have to choose.
“I want you to marry me…But it’s ME OR NOTHING.”
Oh, baby, baby, BABY….
Don’t care. I’m buying it anyway.
Nice to know that there are other people around these parts that appreciate LAWRENCE OF ARABIA.
As Evan attests, there is ONLY ONE place where a classic of this breadth and scope should be seen. That’s ON A BIG SCREEN.
Evan, I can’t even imagine some guy falling asleep and snoring during LAWRENCE. Whart an f” ing philistine. It’s just wall to wall bloody brilliance for the nearly four hour stretch.
When something means a lot to me, I can’t always be polite. Occasionally being gracious just doesn’t pay. If he couldn’t stay awake (and I have NO PROBLEM with anyone sleeping - but if they’re noisy that’s a whole other ball of wax) and he was snoring that LOUDLY I would have approached him. I mean, it’s FOUR HOURS. I want to enjoy myself. Not be subjected to that for the entire evening.
If that didn’t work, time to find an usher/manager.
I’m rarely that much of a hardliner. But for LAWRENCE, GONE WITH THE WIND or something similar, I’ll DO ANYTHING to have a peaceful quiet environment so that I have a fabulous experience. They don’t come around all the time.
BUT…
“Acaba.”
“Nothing is written.”
“No prisoners.”
There’s DAVID LEAN’S sheer bloody genius, MAURICE JARRE’S fantastic score, some of the most beautiful cinematography EVER, one of the most famous jump cuts in cinema history (match - rising sun over the horizon - desert), ROBERT BOLT’S brilliant screenplay (the motorcycles - the arc of a famed existence), CLAUDE RAINS, SIR ALEC GUINNESS, ANTHONY QUINN, OMAR SHARIF…
And of course…PETER O’TOOLE. My gorgeous blue eyed lion giving the performance of his life in the movie of the century.
Writing all of this makes me want to see it again NOW. I’ll have to watch it soon (I generally do around Christmastime anyway) and pray that COLUMBIA re-releases it again. Or it ends up here again at some point.
I’ve seen it five times in a theatre and I’ve NEVER found it less than an unforgettable transcendent experience…
The secret genius of Lawrence is Bolt’s script. Really ingenious. You have this extremely literate Heart of Darkness, Mr. Kurtz goes to Arabia story. But it has all these great Hollywood epic lines too - “Nothing is written” “If the camel die, we die,” etc. And the ending just slays me every time.
I’m thinking about going to see X-FIles again. I don’t really want to, because I don’t want to be the fanboy. But I keep reading good articles and interesting takes on it. Doesn’t a film that consistently produces interesting writing suggest strongly that it’s a quality film? So on a critical level, I sort of feel compelled to give it a second look. Especially since I’m having such a hard time reconciling my mixed feelings about it.
That’s not a bad idea at all KB. I might follow up on it as well. One problem was that it just wasn’t what I was expecting and it took me a long time to adjust, but as I’ve said I’ve kind of warmed up to it a bit.
And it doesn’t make you a fanboy because it seems to me the fanboys rejected it. They wanted aliens and black goo and the smoking man and didn’t get it.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/08/05/film.rrated.comedies.ap/index.html
Might be worth its own post, but I found one thing pretty funny - the quote from the producer of Disaster Movie: “The R rating allows the filmmakers to truly realize their vision.”
(insert witty joke)
hahah…I guess turds are R rated.
Hey, have you heard that Helena Bonham-Carter is now cast in Terminator: Salvation? Apparently Tilda Swinton dropped out of the project and HBC is taking her place.
Just when I was saying that I’d like to see her working more…
:-)
I read something about that today Alison. I assumed she was always in it, but that this is the first I’d heard of it. Hell, I didn’t even know Chritian Bale was in it until I saw the trailer before TDK.
I’ve kind of been ignoring that movie because I didn’t even like T2 that much, but she makes it 100% more interesting.
For the record I loved the first one and parts of the 2nd.
I appreciated the 1st one. Never saw the 2nd or 3rd.
Except for the Star Wars and Indy movies, I tend to avoid sequels. As I’ve said before, I never even saw the first POTC in the theater - caught it on TV years after it played in the theaters and I never bothered with the 2nd or 3rd installments. Oh, and the Bourne series was worth checking out the sequels. Other than that…nope.
Though I’ll probably check out Iron Man 2, but only because of RDJ - which was the one and only reason I went to see the 1st one. But that needs no explaining. :-)
Sequels are a dime a dozen and rarely worth that. I think you’re better off avoiding them.
I liked T2 when I first saw it, but it hasn’t aged well for me.
I can’t believe HBC and Bale are going to be starring in a McG movie. There’s a disturbance in the force.
hahaha…I hadn’t thought about that. Odd how I keep forgetting this is McG movie. I think I really just blocked the whole thing out of my mind when I heard he was doing it.
I’m thinking actors of that caliber might be able to raise the bar above Chuck or Charlie’s Angels, but I can’t get past the fact that his “name” reminds me of some new processed chicken thing from the Golden Arches.
“Covered in tangy bbq sauce and served on a kaiser roll with a side of creamy ranch dressing, THE McG!”
How the hell can I ever take this guy seriously?
He is the McNugget of film directors.