Thursday 21 February 2008

Thursday

I should preface my remarks on Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street by saying that I have little patience for musicals. I went to see this movie, however, on the understanding that it was a very un-musical musical, and because it was directed by Tim Burton. He's a director that I initially liked, but have come to be suspicious of. Are any of his movies actually any good? Ed Wood, perhaps, is remarkable, but it stands as a rare example rather than a general trend. Anyway, this is a subsequent issue. The singing starts within about thirty seconds of this film beginning, and thus immediately I was on edge. Perhaps what irritates me is the singing of unspectacular lines. I don't mind songs at passionate, dramatic moments, when a character is in tension, but when a character sings 'I'm walking down the street', or something equally mundane, I am tempted to punch them. I was, however, gripped by the plot (this coming from a play by Christopher Bond), and tried to engage with the characters. The stage design, as always with Burton, looks far too artificial, and the speeding camera shots through the East-end streets were unnecessary, annoying, and failed to give the film the scope or size intended. It still felt like a series of solitary sets with nothing tying them together. The songs kept slowing the pace down. Towards the end, however, as the inevitable conclusion drew nearer, the film does pick up, and the finale is satisfyingly grim. The performance of Depp was appropriate, but he is hardly doing anything innovative here. Overall, what was interesting about this movie came from other sources. Of course it is well made and produced, but I don't think it is a good, lasting film, and it's been significantly over-praised in the media.

Wednesday 20 February 2008

Wednesday

There Will be Blood is almost a masterpiece. Instead, it is just a very, very good film, which isn't a bad thing, of course. I hesitate to say what you would need to add or remove to make it better, but the answer has to be 'not much'. It is a remorselessly intelligent movie which treats its audience as intelligent. Someone told me P. T. Anderson is too contrived, but I think they have a different meaning of that word than me. The music sustains a grim mood, and the lack of sound effects and silence in horrific moments makes them even more horrifying. The humour at times seemed out of place, and this may have come from the book, but was missing in the rest of the film. Daniel Day Lewis, on screen for almost the entire film, puts in an amazing performance. At times, however, it felt too intense, too 'method', and the difference between this and his role in Gangs of New York seemed minor. The ending was perhaps the only major blemish, turning the film into a biography of the man, rather than a portrayal of part of his life. The brief flashback to happier times, and the last scene itself, felt out of touch with what had gone before. But these are minor complaints. This is easily one of the best films I've seen in a long time.

Wednesday 6 February 2008

Wednesday

No Country For Old Men, or 'Old Country For No Men' as the people behind me in the ticket-queue called it, is a remarkable film. The Coen brothers return to the serious themes of some their earlier work (Blood Simple, Miller's Crossing), but with the twenty years of intervening experience added to it. They still retain some of their humour, but it comes from the characters themselves, rather than being contained in the style of the film. The plot is a little reminiscent of Fargo, but that is neither really their fault, nor a great problem. This movie is sombre and threatening with, to begin with at least, little dialogue, and little music that I noticed. For the majority of its length I thought it was superb, but the ending disturbed me. Not wanting to give too much away, but it seemed like a substantial character was dealt with unsubstantially. It felt as if perhaps they had suddenly had to condense a large part of the book to fit it into the film. I don't know. The conclusion itself caught me when I wasn't quite concentrating (such that I had to go find the novel in a bookstore and read the last pages), but perhaps it is a good thing that I can still be surprised by a movie. I did, however, feel strangely unsatisfied, despite this being I think a brilliant film.

The Hateful Eight

Tarantino has said he'll only make ten films, and then retire. I don't know if he still stands by this statement, and if he does we ...