Dec

Why Some People Hated Melancholia

I’ve seen many facebook status updates and overheard a few comments from friends about this movie. The consensus was most people couldn’t even finish it and turned it off. So, what was so difficult about it? I think I can sum up the good and the bad about this film. And for the record, I actually liked the film. So did the critics because it’s winning awards.

Kirsten Dunst plays Justine in this Lars Von Trier film. She’s marrying Alex Skarsgard who plays Michael, and he wants nothing more than to have a normal evening with his new bride. Justine’s wealthy sister and brother-in-law are hosting the wedding at their sprawling mansion and have bent over backwards to give Justine her dream day.

The first 15 minutes of the film consists of the new couple arriving in a limo that’s too big to turn on the small curved street to the mansion; a foreshadowing sign that the marriage itself was just not going to work out due to unfortunate circumstances. Not only that but they are over an hour late to arrive. Even though they are aware of it, it seems like Michael doesn’t want to pressure Justine to do anything other than just walk in the door, albeit really late, because that’s all she can handle. They laugh and kiss each other sweetly during the most frustrating moments going back and forth, back and forth, when the limo driver can’t seem to make it work. Michael is so patient with her, and the limo driver, and they relish in a moment where it didn’t turn into a screaming match.

Although happy together, Justine can’t maintain stability throughout the evening and often runs around the mansion grounds to get away from her family and friends.

It sucks that everyone spent so much money on this fairy tale in the midst of Justine’s unyielding bipolar episodes. You aren’t exactly told what her issues are but she goes from extreme depression to spacing out to having sex on her wedding night with a random waiter in the grass. One can assume she’s unable to control herself during her selfish mood swings. You are given a picture of her parents’ broken relationship and their inability to parent Justine which is why her sister plays both roles.

Not surprisingly, Michael realizes he was wishing for something that was never going to happen. He leaves disappointed that Justine already turned into a pumpkin on what was supposed to be a night to propel her towards a more positive life. At this point you want to hate Justine for being such a selfish wench.

Meanwhile, the world is learning about a recently discovered neon blue planet called apropriately, Melancholia. Scientists are explaining that the planet’s trajectory will just narrowly miss Earth. But, they are wrong. Suddenly the planet is going to hit earth and destroy everyone.

If you find out that everyone is going to die in a few days, how will that change their relationships? The better question is do we even care? That’s the problem with the film…..some people just didn’t get attached the characters enough. You’re already starting out with a despondent type of main character who’s hardly likable and then you’re supposed to care about her imminent death. That’s the problem with the film, but a challenge I think Lars was aware of and happy to take on.

Justine’s habit of believing she’s already dead (unworthy) and the world sucks actually becomes an asset in dealing with everyone else’s anxiety regarding the moving planet. She’s able to cope much better with death than most people, including her sister. This world was never for her and it was never forever for anyone else. Justine is more at home in the ethereal neon blue light than she is partaking in a lavishly rich wedding with a hot husband.

Now here’s the part I think most people didn’t understand. Lars takes these Salvador Dali type still shots of the upcoming scene and holds them in the frame for about 2-3 minutes each. It reminded me of the Tree of Life universal shots. They were pretty cool looking but I’m not exactly sure what their purpose was other than to salute the traditions of human life and send them off with a moment of silence.

The other annoying factor was Kirsten Dunst running around the grounds in her dress just staring up at the sky, peeing in the grass, dancing around as if she’s completely wasted, etc. Most of the film was just this back and forth between the planet, still shots, Kirsten acting like a depressed idiot and shots of her family freaking out about her behavior.

I did like that Justine offered this unique perspective on paranoia in a situation where the end of the world becomes imminent. It was her calming acceptance that helped her family in those final moments. I felt that Justine was sensing things far beyond this world and her defects were born out of survival in a world she didn’t feel like she ever belonged to.

Lars often shows us that Justine in touch with nature. She’s naked in the forest one evening; soaking up the planetary energy waves. You’re left feeling like the foreign planet has these awesome powers that are infused into Justine’s veins; again reinventing her as a beacon of acceptance of the unknown and dangerous.

And finally, the most poignant emotion Lars evokes in the audience is the feeling of this majestic pending doom. What if you know the time you will die? How will this affect you and your loved ones? Do you shoot yourself? Hide in the basement? Run outside chanting? Well, each character has a different way of dealing with it.

Ironically Justine feels like it’s the end of the world all the time. Funny that no one else can handle that kind of pressure when they find themselves in this situation.

I can understand and relate to those people who didn’t want to sit through the film to see the obvious. The film wins in cinematography, Charlotte Gainsbourg’s acting (sister), overall themes (even if they weren’t fully realized by all audiences) and the relation of personal melancholia to an ability to remain calm in the face of death.

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Dec

One Day With Anne Hathaway

Break out your cheeseballs and crackers! Anne Hathway is in another romantic movie about two people who meet at University in Scotland in the late 1980′s. Anne plays Emma Morley- dorky, smart and totally unaware that she’s attractive. A part she often plays reminiscent of “Devil Wears Prada”.

Jim Sturgess plays the upper crust guy named Dexter that she’s had a crush on for years. After graduation they end up in the same bed, but it’s awkward and nothing happens but some painful dialogue. The two continue to be wrought with bad timing and so they decide to just be friends. Their friendship isn’t without their ups and downs; she has a rough road in the love department while working at a crappy Mexican restaurant. He becomes a late night sleazeball T.V show host who never lives up to his buried potential. The two talk often; see each other when they can, and often discuss how each should be living their lives. We all know that they love each other how two married people should, but this is a fairy tale in a dark, dismal society filled with obstacles.

I can relate to this story (don’t laugh) because I do have some guy friends of mine that I’ve had for years…and it’s not without us at one time or another thinking it could work. It just never does, but you do secretly hope it will. You might think, “what if”…because someone who knows you completely and relies on you is the perfect partner, but you don’t want to wait around either.

Anne is always a joy to watch because she’s such a good actresss but the British accent isn’t her strong suit. It wasn’t terrible either. I think we’re just so used to her speaking English it was hard to switch.

I also didn’t really believe in Jim Sturgess’s character in Act 1. It wasn’t until the script gave him an actual personality and depth that I started to care about their story. He gets into the drug scene, loses his mother, struggles with his father, gets married to a woman who cheats on him, has a daughter…..etc. I mean the guy is put thru a dramatic blender.

Honestly the movie becomes about his struggle and her ability to pretend she doesn’t really love him while just making do with all the wrong people.

When these two finally come together; it’s perfect. Jim’s a brand new person; hollowed out by life and refilled by the belief that dreams do come true. Anne’s finally found her peace and written her critically acclaimed book (of course!). However, all good things must come to an end (she dies) and poor Jim Sturgess is left contemplating if he can even go on.

His father tells him, “you have to live life as if she’s still here….what do you think I’ve been doing for the past 10 years”. It was only then that he realizes his father’s pain and just how much that special person in your life means to you. Awwww. It’s actually rather depressing!

The film then pans back to when they first met and what the Director didn’t show you on the first round. Jim runs back to Anne…gets her number after their awkward graduation encounter….and they kiss as if it was meant to be. It always was.

I though the Direction was flawless-and how could the film look anything but unbelievable with such a fantastic European society backdrop. Perhaps this was a case where the book was better than the film and you just don’t get that same authenticity to the story on the big screen.

It was a gut wrenching ending and makes you nostalgic and appreciative. I started to contemplate how many times he probably tried to commit suicide after this. I guess life goes on, right? Okay well now it’s time to do some laundry! Maybe I don’t want to meet the person I am supposed to be with because he’s going to get hit by a truck leaving me with all the bills. Forget it….I’ll just be single! haha.

I give it a B- for romantic movies…

Here’s a snippet about the film from the LA TIMES: “One Day” seemed so promising given its pedigree — lovely and sensitive actors Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess at the forefront; Lone Scherfig, a master of intimacy in the director’s chair; and David Nicholls adapting his own bestselling romance novel. But as so often happens with love, what you hope for is not even close to what you get, and in this case we are left with a heartbreaking disappointment of a film.

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Nov

Tree Of Life Film Review

As we grow up, we remember little moments of our younger life. I often wonder why I remember certain things more than others. It’s not always the big events that make the biggest impact.

A scent in the room, the first recognizable feeling of elation, walking home knowing I’m going to get in trouble…these are all things I remember well. I remember the layout of the house we lived in when I was very little. I remember the smell of the thermos that had this fruit punch in it every day. I remember the feeling of wood chips between my sandals on the playground.

The beauty of recollection is that you never have the same story as everyone else who was there. You are the only one who has lived your life.

As time goes on, at parties and reunions, you realize the holes that exist between stories. Your Mom thought it was the worst day of her life but it was your best. How did that happen?

Life is so beautiful and painful all at the same time. And to think, we are emotional caged animals in suburbia afflicted with such an enormous span of possibilities good and bad. It’s like a menu list where we check off pain in childhood (check), father issues (check), loving by subdued mother (check), summertime in the grass with the sprinklers (check).

Similarly, the world around us has gone thru pain. You can chose to relish in the hellacious nature of atoms crashing into one another or you can accept life with grace and candor. The film asks you this in the first 5 minutes, literally.

Somewhere in between are all the answers as to why we are here, who we will become, and how to feel better about the way you lived your life.

Sean Penn is an older man today. He’s still having a hard time dealing with the death of his younger brother. He’s had a roller coaster relationship with his father, Brad Pitt. This is definitely not a film about the actors because you really don’t see them much. They are just future placeholders that help to tell a story about growing up.

This film takes you on a Discovery Channel-esque journey of the small moments in life from the time Sean was born. Even just a brush of a hand across your face, an annoying glare from your sibling, a kiss on the forehead, the family dinner where Dad flipped out due to stress.

Terrence Malick delivers a perfectly spliced together story of one family among millions who undergo the transformation of life. He never tells this story linearly. He forces you to already feel agitated and sabotaged as you watch the film which helps you relate to the characters. Terrence also forces you to think about what you DON’T see just as much.

The film is getting some mixed reviews; some are negative regarding Terrence’s use of universal footage of clouds, water, planetary movements, (basically anything emoting God’s great splendor and pain). He does use it for longer than you would expect and I was frustrated in parts. I think he could have shortened it and achieved the same effect.

But, this film is a true gem and has its place among thought provoking movies. We hope there’s a reason for everything we experience but then in the same breathe it’s really difficult to imagine a being (God) who is somehow coordinating all of this for a reason AND still cares about all of us equally. When we experience “life” which is a mixture of good and bad, we hope we are here because of a master plan and that one day we’ll be rectified, rewarded……and answered. But no one knows for sure.

A nuclear family is an exact mirror to the universe and how it expands, contracts, blows up, and never reveals what it truly consists of and what it will become after we’re all done here on this planet.

Feb

Dogtooth; A Focus on the Family Special

I love me some weird psychological mind warping films. Dogtooth definitely didn’t disappoint.

Dogtooth is about a unique family; one that believes eating your greens is extremely important. So is incest… and clipping your Dad’s toenails….and not having any contact with the outside world. The film is somewhat similar to M. Knight Shyamalan’s, “The Village“, but in my opinion, much better.

The story is about a family who lives on a pretty nice compound with a home, a pool, 2 teenage girls, 1 teenage boy, 1 Dad and 1 Mom. Thing is…no one but the Dad is allowed off of the compound and he’s brainwashed his entire family to live in this suburban version of hell. The kids are told they can’t leave the compound until their dogtooth falls out (which it won’t), and they can’t leave the compound until they learn to drive, but they can’t learn to drive until their dogtooth grows back. Yah, it doesn’t make sense to me. But, to these kids, it makes perfect sense.

They do not want to leave, for they have spent numerous years being told the horrors that befall those who leave the house too early. The “dogtooth” represents the human psyche, in my opinion. It also represents how the film focuses on a ridiculous method (but effective), on how to control individuals; especially your family.

Every day the kids are taught a new, unique language. For example, a water glass is called a “tree” and a chair is called the “sea”. If there is ever something the parents need to explain away, they call it something completely different, define it for the children, and use any means to reinforce the system. The parents have made it so their kids cannot survive in the world AT ALL unless they live on the compound. The house is very plain, white, and there is very little entertainment beyond the swimming pool. The Dad rules the roost, but the mother goes along with it like some creepy, emotionless statue. They install fear into them by saying a domesticated cat is really the enemy and must be destroyed. The Dad teaches the family to bark in order to keep the cats at bay. Planes that fly overhead are really toys- and if one lands in the grass- they can try and go get it like a really bad version of an Easter egg hunt.

The teenage boy has needs, so Dad brings home the female security guard about once per week. The security guard represents the hole in which items from the outside world leak to the kids like VHS tapes of ”Jaws” and “Rocky”. One small hole starts to plague the family and sexual desire spreads like a disease. The eldest female starts mimicing and reciting lines, which sparks the father to flip out and beat her over he head with the VHS tape. I really don’t want to give away anymore than I already have. Just rent the movie and you’ll never be the same again. Be prepared for some geniuine bonding time between brother and sister. By bonding I mean incest. Hey, what else are you going to do while in a canoe towards suicide falls?

The film really does a good job of bringing you in because you want to see how this is going to play out, how warped the kids are going to become, and if they will ever escape. The acting was phenomenal…the way they played these characters with plain, stringy hair and an inability to compare themselves to anything but their siblings- was awesome. The fact that these teenagers played together like they were five was definitely something I think they had to really work out on set. It may sound easy but it was authentic, dark, satirical and delicious. I especially liked the scene where the two daughters play a game of “who can wake up first” after dousing their faces with cloths full of heavy antiseptic. They have no reason to know or believe they are different or in a dangerous situation…. yet the games they ended up playing with each other were surrounded by life and death themes. For that reason, the film really flowed and gave a much more cohesive moral argument and ending.

Here are the actors in real life: much more normal!!!

Feb

1 Minute Review of “Buried”

Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds) wakes up to find himself in a wooden coffin; a few feet beneath the Iraqi desert. He worked for CRT, a truck company delivering supplies, when his convoy was hit. He doesn’t remember anything past the initial blast.

Turns out the citizens of Iraq who have been displaced by the war are pissed off, and rightfully so. Paul Conroy is one of many that have been abducted and kidnapped for ransom money.

Paul has a cellphone with limited battery life, a lighter and only 90 minutes worth of oxygen. He starts calling people he knows in the states and runs into a lot of problems trying to get someone to believe his story. Not only that, his wife isn’t home and isn’t answering her cell phone. Meanwhile the kidnappers call with demands to “get money from the embassy” and take videos and upload them.

Paul’s company gets a hold of him and they basically screw him over and tell him he was no longer an employee as of that morning due to an affair they claimed he was taking part in with a co-worker and was against company policy. Pamela Lutti, the alleged girlfriend, is suddenly shot in her own ransom video- sending Paul into a mental tailspin.

There is a glimmer of hope- Paul’s able to get in touch with the USA Iraq kidnapping division where a man is trying his best to help find him before it’s too late. However, a blast occurs above ground causing sand to start pouring into the coffin. A deadly snake makes its way through a hole and Paul has to use the lighter fluid to scare it away. It’s seriously your worst nightmare.

I have to say the ending was really intense. Actually, the whole film was really intense. I thought it was well done and Ryan Reynolds did a surprisingly good job. You can tell I’m not a huge fan of his, but he really did draw me into his character in this film. I also really liked the dialogue in the film… the phone calls were all really eery, distressing and realistic. (The Director Garcia Perez did the voice of the kidnapper). The hook of the Iraq desert and being at the mercy of kidnappers works really well.

The film is a lot like Meadowoods which is a story about a girl locked in a coffin while her captors videotape and taunt her.

Jan

“Case 39″ 1 Minute Review

Renee Zellweger and Bradley Cooper star in this psychological thriller/horror film about a little girl named Lilly who is really a demon. At first Renee, a social services case manager, believes that the little girl is being abused by her parents. In reality, the little girl is terrorizying her parents and they will do anything to kill her so that she can’t hurt anyone else. Unbeknowest to Renee, she saves the girl and ends up being her temporary legal guardian when the parents are put away. Bradley Cooper plays a psychologist who works on cases with Renee and of course, has a thing for her.

The story had a few creepy points like when Lilly told Bradley Cooper he better watch himself. She’s a good little actress! Her parents also tried to put her in the oven and turn on the gas! Bradley Cooper is terrorized by a bunch of black bees in his bathroom. But to be honest, you already knew what the film was about within 15 minutes and it was really nothing new. We’ve seen similar stories in “The Orphan” and “The Bad Seed” and “The Omen”. We also saw a similar trick in “Hide and Seek”. Yawn.

I was mostly fixated on the fact that Renee looked a bit ..ehhh….different in this film. I know they were trying to play her down since she’s a mere social services worker. I guess it worked! Bottom line is I think the hype was bigger than what the film actually delivered on. The ending was a bit of a let down because I was left asking all sorts of questions about how unrealistic it was. Then again, how realistic is it that a little girl would suddenly bark like a demon and destroy your house? I love these types of films and I didn’t find it very good. It was probably an excellent script though.

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