Thursday 26 February 2009

Thursday

Today I'm going to talk about what I will call the 'Rabbit Hole Moment' (maybe someone else already uses this name, or has a better one for it). This is the moment when a character in a film does something that you wouldn't do, and so separates himself from you and enters the world of fiction. The job of the script-writer is to make this moment as seamless as possible, to make you believe the character would do it, or (even better) to convince you that you would do it too, were you in that situation. I was reminded of this by Jeepers Creepers. The moment comes when the two main characters decide to return to the church and see what is down the pipe where they think they saw a body being thrown. None of us would do this. We can't believe they want to do it either. The writer's best line is: 'What if it was you down that pipe?'. However, this is still not quite convincing enough, and, of course, the characters aren't satisfied with just looking down the pipe. So, it almost works. A better moment comes in Star Wars. Luke visits Obiwan-Kenobi. Obiwan says Luke must come with him to rescue the Princess and learn the ways of the force. Luke says he can't go. Here, we as viewers want Luke to go. Learning the force and rescuing a Princess sounds exciting. Only when Luke discovers his Aunt and Uncle are dead, that there is nothing left for him on Tatooine, does he decide to go. The transition is seamless, and we want it to happen.

Tuesday 24 February 2009

Tuesday

Into the Wild is the film of a true story, directed by Sean Penn. It's about Christopher McCandless, who after university donated all his money to Oxfam and left to live the life of a vagrant, often without money or human contact. His ultimate aim was to live in the Alaskan wild, which he achieved in 1992, after two years of wandering. My main problem with the film and the story is that McCandless seemed like a self-indulgent, idealist, seriously unprepared for what he was undertaking. He left without contacting his family, and they never knew of his whereabouts, he knew little about hunting, and didn't take a map or compass with him. The film itself was well-made, with interesting music from Eddie Vedder (of Pearl Jam). The skipping backwards and forwards in time seemed a little needless, although it did bring some poignancy towards the end. The writing across the screen and the narration by his sister only emphasised the lack of McCandless himself. We want his voice to tell us what he's doing and why, not other people. A film about a man's quest for loneliness, however, is always going to be difficult to convey. If it weren't for the impact of the real-life story, this film probably wouldn't have received the promotion it did. If you want to find out what happened to Christopher McCandless, without seeing the movie, check Wikipedia.

Monday 23 February 2009

Monday

I approached The Happening with more sympathy than reviews of the movie suggested. I have found something to like in all of M. Night Shyamalan's films, even the widely panned Lady in the Water. I think of him as a classic film-maker, and The Happening is no exception. The film does have a bit of a B-movie feel about it (whether this was deliberate or not I don't know), and it is hard not to laugh at some parts, but this is what made me enjoy, not scorn, the picture. The actors take themselves very seriously in a bizarre situation that is never fully explained, but I liked it. For me, I couldn't help seeing parallels with Hitchcock's The Birds. Shyamalan has been criticised for his 'twist' endings, but these only really occur in two of his films, and even then I wouldn't think it's a bad thing for a director to have a style and stick to it. When you see a Shyamalan movie you get a good, well-wrought thriller. Being an optimist, I predict that after perhaps a few more mediocre films he will come back into the mainstream again with a great movie. So, The Happening is great for those of you that like Shyamalan, but be cautious if you're not sure about him.

Thursday 19 February 2009

Thursday

Expectation around a movie, in my experience, is more often than not deflated when I finally get to see it. This was certainly the case for Slumdog Millionaire, which I saw last night. Without doubt I preferred Danny Boyle's last film, Sunshine. Slumdog's twists of fate just weren't convincing or powerful enough for me. Something in them failed. Pithily, one might say that the film is little more than an extended episode of 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?': one where we get the history of the contestant. It is only in this contestant's extraordinary life that we become interested. However, his story is not that different from many other rags to riches stories we've seen throughout cinema and literary history. The fear of the criminal gangs is nothing especially new. I didn't find the love story particularly convincing either, as it seemed to centre mainly on his desperation, rather than any shared interests. The film does show a fascinating country and lifestyle (I think ignored by Bollywood), but these are more the credentials of a documentary rather than a movie, and I think this is what people are blinded by. The montage sequences work well (although they also reveal this films origins as a novel), and the flashbacks are at times patronising, at times eloquent. The ending was lame, falling flat, with no great surprise to shock us with, as I was expecting. Perhaps, then, it is my own expectations that have been disappointed. After all, this is a good film, but not the great one I was hoping for. Despite the many awards it won at the BAFTAs, I would be surprised if it does so well at the Oscars, or if we're still talking about this film in ten years.

Friday 13 February 2009

Friday

Sean Penn is nominated for an Oscar for his performance in Milk, and rightly so. In fact, the whole cast of this movie is superb - Josh Brolin is nominated for best supporting actor too. The film itself is also there for best picture, direction, editing, writing and music. I'm sure it should win in at least one of these categories, but I doubt it'll win the major awards. It's a film about Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to office in the US, directed by Gus Van Sant. His last film Paranoid Park was quite awful, so it seems he has returned to form here. The film is compelling and fascinating (especially for those of us who didn't know much about the gay rights movement). I'm not sure if I agree with the procedure of showing the end first, and then going back in time - this is done over and over again in biographies - but I think they manage to get away with it here. You are made to care about the characters and, whilst I did watch this film in Soho, I could hear a lot of people crying as the credits rolled. It's powerful without being sentimental, and is essential viewing this Oscar season.

Thursday 12 February 2009

Thursday

I was surprised, as you might be, to find myself watching The Devil Wears Prada. This is not, however, the 'chick-flick' that I thought it would be. It has undertones of such a movie, but just about manages to resist them, I think. It rises above the chick-flick mainly due to the performance of Meryl Streep, a role that suits her very well, and which she brings off persuasively. Essentially, the film is about the terror of starting a new job. We've all experienced this: you enter a new world where everyone knows the rules except you, and no one is willing to share. The film works because of how particularly harsh this world is that Anne Hathaway has entered, and also because she's not actually interested in fashion. This is the point that interested me. Towards the middle of the film, she does become excited by it, and I began to think 'Oh well, I've lost interest', but then it turns around. The ending, as far as I remember, rejects the fashion world as cruel and pointless, which I was slightly astonished by. This is a chick-flick, especially because of the strange love-interest, the music and the success of the main character, but it is also strangely subversive. As to whether I liked the movie, a different issue, I would have to say no, but it did surprise me.

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 ...