"These days I seem to think a lot about the things that I forgot to do"
Recently vieweed films:
The Magnificent Ambersons (Welles, 1942): 8/10
Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room (Gibney, 2005): 7/10
3-Iron (Ki-Duk, 2005): 9/10
His Girl Friday (Hawks, 1940): 9/10
Crash (Haggis, 2005): 5/10
Raiders of the Lost Ark (Spielberg, 1981): 7/10
The Notebook (Cassavetes, 2004): 4/10
Speaking Parts (Egoyan, 1989): 8/10
Look at Me (Jaoui, 2005): 8/10
In the Realms of the Unreal (Yu, 2004): 6/10
---
I went to see 3-Iron despite my less-than-enthusiastic reponse to Duk's Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring... I grasped onto one strong theme in the film, identity, and greatly enjoyed the film. In fact, I found it to be an even more spiritual film than his previous film. Regardless, I would rather not discuss my interpretation due to extreme spoilers.
SPOILERS
I saw it as a film about identity. A young man, a lost soul, wanders around, floating around from one vacant apartment to another and residing for a few nights. He doesn't adopt the life of the vacationer, but he simply follows his own routine and leaves a little mark of himself. When he discovers the woman, and she soon begins to follows him physically and mentally, she nearly becomes part of him (and also his golf ball). After he is jailed, and she is taken away, he plays with an imaginary golf ball (his small remaining semblence of his identity). When his roommate jokingly steals the imaginary golfball (which is aptly played for humor, but is actually quite devastating), he is angered, and once he is put in solitary confinement, he begins to master the art of "disappearing". He must finally revisit the locations where he remembers being with the young woman and ultimately re-unite with her (I saw the scale beign on 0 as them "disappearing" together). Their relationship is so secretive and sincere that almost every thought becomes vocally ineffable.
SPOILERS
This ambient and ethereal film is deservedly placed at the top spot of my 2005 list (and I've seen about 40 films so far).
I must say -- His Girl Friday is a bit overwhelming. Witty, sly and fresh, for sure, but I needed to catch my breath sometimes. I expected it to be a hoot, but I was not expecting it to be so gleefully sardonic. Yeesh -- good thing I am not going to be a journalism major anymore.
Although Crash is ambitious, Haggis commits the sin of having an ensemble cast and underdeveloping the majority of them. Therefore, the characters are basically stereotypes with one sympathetic scene. Perhaps that was deliberate, but it still does not account for a hollw core. Some scenes are tense and very effective, but the film as a whole is only momentarily powerful. Haggis strives to find a way to express racism but his presentation is too overt and preachy. I always thought of racism as being subtle. Haggis isn't sure if he wants to create an observant reflection on society or a hyperbolized depiction which exposes the ugliness of humans. For a film that tries to neatly tie all of the characters together in the end, it doesn't seem to have a strong focus on the themes and narrative. When I was watching this film, I could not help but think of it as a mix of Short Cuts, Amores Perros and Do the Right Thing; all of which are better films (even though I am not a Short Cuts fan).
Don't even fucking consider pondering why the hell I watched The Notebook. My friend will surely pay. She has already been bitched at -- it will continue. Hey, did you get the bird metaphor? Yeah, like, they were birds? Did you get it, huh, did you get it? Oh, you didn't? Oh, well then wait for the closing shot, you might get it then? See it? Yeah, isn't that wonderful and beautiful? Wait, so did you get the bird part? I couldn't stand the artificial and contemptuous stereotypes. Ahem -- I mean, "characters". And JEEESH, that lady must have had a bad fucking case of Alzheimers if she didn't realize where the story was headed.
I was shocked at how at ease I was when watching the powerful and shocked Speaking Parts. The themes spoke loud-and-clear, but still had an edge to them which I appreciate. One of my minor complaints is the end montage. I really love how it is executed (with the intermittent fuzz and various other unpleasant sounds) but it just seemed a bit derivative to me, without knowing exactly where I had seen it before. Regardless, Egoyan succeeds again in weaving a tale of desire and alienation.
Look at Me is obviously the result of an intelligent young woman who did not get enough attention when she was 20. Director Jaoui does not tackle groundbreaking social commentary, but she presents her acute multi-character story with elegance, sharpness and sophistication.
The Magnificent Ambersons (Welles, 1942): 8/10
Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room (Gibney, 2005): 7/10
3-Iron (Ki-Duk, 2005): 9/10
His Girl Friday (Hawks, 1940): 9/10
Crash (Haggis, 2005): 5/10
Raiders of the Lost Ark (Spielberg, 1981): 7/10
The Notebook (Cassavetes, 2004): 4/10
Speaking Parts (Egoyan, 1989): 8/10
Look at Me (Jaoui, 2005): 8/10
In the Realms of the Unreal (Yu, 2004): 6/10
---
I went to see 3-Iron despite my less-than-enthusiastic reponse to Duk's Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring... I grasped onto one strong theme in the film, identity, and greatly enjoyed the film. In fact, I found it to be an even more spiritual film than his previous film. Regardless, I would rather not discuss my interpretation due to extreme spoilers.
SPOILERS
I saw it as a film about identity. A young man, a lost soul, wanders around, floating around from one vacant apartment to another and residing for a few nights. He doesn't adopt the life of the vacationer, but he simply follows his own routine and leaves a little mark of himself. When he discovers the woman, and she soon begins to follows him physically and mentally, she nearly becomes part of him (and also his golf ball). After he is jailed, and she is taken away, he plays with an imaginary golf ball (his small remaining semblence of his identity). When his roommate jokingly steals the imaginary golfball (which is aptly played for humor, but is actually quite devastating), he is angered, and once he is put in solitary confinement, he begins to master the art of "disappearing". He must finally revisit the locations where he remembers being with the young woman and ultimately re-unite with her (I saw the scale beign on 0 as them "disappearing" together). Their relationship is so secretive and sincere that almost every thought becomes vocally ineffable.
SPOILERS
This ambient and ethereal film is deservedly placed at the top spot of my 2005 list (and I've seen about 40 films so far).
I must say -- His Girl Friday is a bit overwhelming. Witty, sly and fresh, for sure, but I needed to catch my breath sometimes. I expected it to be a hoot, but I was not expecting it to be so gleefully sardonic. Yeesh -- good thing I am not going to be a journalism major anymore.
Although Crash is ambitious, Haggis commits the sin of having an ensemble cast and underdeveloping the majority of them. Therefore, the characters are basically stereotypes with one sympathetic scene. Perhaps that was deliberate, but it still does not account for a hollw core. Some scenes are tense and very effective, but the film as a whole is only momentarily powerful. Haggis strives to find a way to express racism but his presentation is too overt and preachy. I always thought of racism as being subtle. Haggis isn't sure if he wants to create an observant reflection on society or a hyperbolized depiction which exposes the ugliness of humans. For a film that tries to neatly tie all of the characters together in the end, it doesn't seem to have a strong focus on the themes and narrative. When I was watching this film, I could not help but think of it as a mix of Short Cuts, Amores Perros and Do the Right Thing; all of which are better films (even though I am not a Short Cuts fan).
Don't even fucking consider pondering why the hell I watched The Notebook. My friend will surely pay. She has already been bitched at -- it will continue. Hey, did you get the bird metaphor? Yeah, like, they were birds? Did you get it, huh, did you get it? Oh, you didn't? Oh, well then wait for the closing shot, you might get it then? See it? Yeah, isn't that wonderful and beautiful? Wait, so did you get the bird part? I couldn't stand the artificial and contemptuous stereotypes. Ahem -- I mean, "characters". And JEEESH, that lady must have had a bad fucking case of Alzheimers if she didn't realize where the story was headed.
I was shocked at how at ease I was when watching the powerful and shocked Speaking Parts. The themes spoke loud-and-clear, but still had an edge to them which I appreciate. One of my minor complaints is the end montage. I really love how it is executed (with the intermittent fuzz and various other unpleasant sounds) but it just seemed a bit derivative to me, without knowing exactly where I had seen it before. Regardless, Egoyan succeeds again in weaving a tale of desire and alienation.
Look at Me is obviously the result of an intelligent young woman who did not get enough attention when she was 20. Director Jaoui does not tackle groundbreaking social commentary, but she presents her acute multi-character story with elegance, sharpness and sophistication.