Stories We Tell

After watching this film, I’m surprised that the critical praise for it is so pronounced. It looks good and the use of archival footage/re-enactment is done well, but the story is just not that compelling. In it Sarah Polley interviews different friends and family members about her late mother. During this process, she starts to ask questions about a longstanding rumor that the man who raised her is not actually her biological father. Overlaid with this is a philosophical discussion of narrative and the discrepancies that exist when we tell stories. My basic problem with the film is that the story at the heart of it is just not very interesting. There are some moving moments and some interesting aspects of the lives of the subjects of the film, but it doesn’t really seem like it warrants a film.

The discussion about the search for truth is poorly done in my opinion. The way Polley gets here is by pointing out discrepancies in the stories people are telling about her mother. The problem is that there are surprisingly few discrepancies in their stories. It almost seems like this was added as an afterthought to make up for the fact that the story itself is not that compelling. It seems to me that if the story was better, it wouldn’t need this. Similarly, a film about narrative inconsistency could be based on stories about any event. All the stories would require is significant difference.

The film doesn’t do a good job of explaining who is talking and what their relationships are to Diane Polley. At the end of the film, there is as sequence where it runs through all the people who talked about her throughout the film. I didn’t know who several of these people were.

I like the interviews with Michael Polley. That guy is interesting. I also like the idea of using him as a narrator. At one point, he reads an email he wrote to his daughter about the film. He too seems suspicious of the theme of truth-telling vs. storytelling.

Gut reaction: 2.5/5

One film I liked more: Capturing the Friedmans

One film I liked less: The Aristocrats

Blue Jasmine (2013)

Anxiety, nightmares and a nervous breakdown, there’s only so many traumas a person can withstand until they take to the streets and start screaming.

We were going to see The Grandmaster last night as part of our Wong Kar Wai exploration. It didn’t start until almost 11pm so we decided to check out Blue Jasmine at the Sundance Cinema instead.

This is one of my favorite films of the year. Cate Blanchett is ridiculous. She is incredibly good in this role. It’s hard for me to imagine any other actor pulling off the breakdown scenes where she is talking to herself as believably as Blanchett. If anything, her performance is so strong that it makes the other performances appear weak.

There has been a tremendous amount of critical praise for this film. I think it’s well deserved. I expect Blanchett to at least get a nomination. I also wouldn’t be surprised if Andrew Dice Clay gets a supporting nod.

The music in this film is great. The title is also very fitting.

Gut reaction: 4/5

One film I liked more: A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

One film I liked less: The Queen of Versailles

Fruitvale Station

I got a daughter.

This is a great film. It’s heart-breaking to watch, especially as a father.

A few things about the performances bothered me in the first 20 minutes, but after that I was captivated. Michael B. Jordan (Wallace from The Wire season one) gives a great performance. I would be surprised if he doesn’t get a Best Actor nomination. I think he deserves it.

Writer/Director Ryan Coogler has done a lot of press for this film. I found his appearance on The Treatment with Elvis Mitchell to be particularly interesting.

Wikipedia has a long file on the Oscar Grant killing.

Rumor has it that Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan are teaming up again to make a film called Creed. A spin-off of the Rocky franchise, Jordan would play the grandson of Apollo Creed who was killed by Drago in Rocky IV. According to Coogler, Rocky is one of his father’s favorite movies. I’m sure that played a role in his decision to make this film.

Gut reaction: 4/5

We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks

I like crushing bastards.

This film is in limited release right now. I usually see releases like this at the Sundance Cinema in Madison, WI but I’m in rural Georgia doing my doctoral research right now. Fortunately, it is available to rent via iTunes currently for less than the price of a movie ticket. I did about nine hours of observational research and interviewing yesterday, so I decided to watch it in bed before falling asleep.

An Inconvenient Truth

Should we prepare for other threats besides terrorists?

I didn’t see this when it first came out. It’s currently a 99cent rental on iTunes so I’m catching up with it now. Recently, my computer started playing back iTunes rentals with a delay between the audio and video. I’m going to stop using the service.

Freddy Got Fingered

Look, Daddy, I’m a farmer.

I don’t know how I avoided this film for so many years. I was 17 when it came out. I must have picked it up countless times in the video store before ultimately selecting a different film.

I was at my friend Andy’s house last night. We had planned to watch Magnolia, but our conversation got away from us. By the time, we wanted to start the film it was already 10:30pm; much too late for a movie that had two cassettes in its VHS release. We decided to venture down into his basement to peruse his roommate’s film library. Our only decision rule was it had to be under 90 minutes. It was either this or Grave of the Fireflies. History will probably look upon our decision poorly, but it felt like the right decision at the time.

Argo

Argo fuck yourself!

Why is Ben Affleck playing the lead? His character is super boring and the long-shots on his tense face don’t work. He should resist the temptation to give himself roles like this in the future.

The film should have been called Argo and the Screaming Iranians. Why didn’t they translate the vast majority of the Farsi?

I didn’t like the story-board opening. It just didn’t look good to me.

The cast (with the exception of Affleck) was pretty awesome. Alan Arkin and John Goodman were both great. I also really like some of the performances of the actors playing the six focal hostages.

It would have felt a lot tighter if all the family-life context for Affleck’s character was taken out. This could have been a 105 minute movie instead of a 120.

Lots of this story is bullshit. Like actual lies. The final sequence is completely manufactured. No cars chasing planes on the runway. Also, the Canadians did a lot more than open wine bottles for captive foreign service workers. Maybe they felt like they could get away with it because Victor Garber is from Ontario.

I’m going to be bummed out if this movie wins Best Picture. It’s looking more and more like it could.

Gut reaction: 2.5/5

One film I liked more: Gone Baby Gone

One film I liked less: The Town

Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts

I had the pleasure of watching the five nominated live action shorts at the Sundance Theater tonight. Below are quick reactions to each of them.

Death of a Shadow

I didn’t love this film. The story interested me and I liked the weird steam-punk gadgetry, but it just wasn’t that compelling. It seems like the kind of story that someone would try to make into a feature length film. I appreciate that they didn’t do this.

Gut reaction: 3/5

Henry

This was my least favorite of the five films nominated. That isn’t to say it’s bad, it just wasn’t as good as the others. With the exception of the above still, it felt like it was almost a black-and-white film. It had a really washed-out look to it. It was depressing. Another movie about elderly musicians. So weird. It was good enough to make me cry a little bit though…

Performances were stellar. Also, the casting for people at different ages was amazing.

Gut reaction: 3/5

Curfew

This was a really interesting film. It was the only U.S. film in the bunch. I think that says something about American audiences and our current outlets for viewing films. Why doesn’t Netflix have a bunch of shorts in their streaming catalog?

This film was considerably more cinematic than the previous two films.

Gut reaction: 4/5

Asad

This was my favorite (and my pick for the Oscar). It was the only film that I wanted to watch over immediately after it ended. That’s usually a good sign. It’s a little different when you’re talking about an 18 minute film, but it still means something pretty significant, I think.

I’m a sucker for non-professional actors.

Gut reaction: 4.5/5

Buzkashi Boys

This movie was really great as well. The three actors were incredible. I hope they continue to make films. The music was the only thing that bothered me about this one. This film seemed more expensive than the others. They definitely had some pretty elaborate crane-shots that I imagine would take a fair amount of work to set up.

Amazing locations.

Gut reaction: 4/5

Quartet

If you’re only going to see one film about geriatric musicians this year, it should probably be Amour. It might win some Oscars. Emmanuelle Riva could be the oldest woman to take home the statue for best actress. I’m sure Jessica Tandy is spinning in her grave.

If you’re going to see a second movie about geriatric musicians, then it should be Quartet. It’s Dustin Hoffman’s directorial debut. And the guy is 75 years old.

Quartet is a really enjoyable film. There are a few parts that feel a little goofy in terms of editing and some of the voice work is done with ADR in sorta clumsy ways, but on the whole it’s a really nice movie. I cared about the characters and I was interested in the story. I don’t ask for much more than that.

Nobody died. That never happens in movies with all post-75 characters. I liked that.

The woman that played the doctor was really good, but she was probably about 10 years too young for the part.

Using actual aging musicians was a nice touch. Stay classy, Dustin.

Gut reaction: 3.5/5

One film I liked More: Waking Ned Devine

One film I liked less: Grumpier Old Men

Zero Dark Thirty

Hmm, if what you say is true, the Shaolin and the Wu-Tang could be dangerous!

This was a great movie. It was wonderfully put together and all the acting was top-notch. I chose a picture of Jennifer Ehle because she is awesome and doesn’t get the shine she deserves. Maybe that’ll all change when RoboCop comes out in 2014.

Gut reaction: 4.5/5

One film I liked more: Standard Operating Procedure (Errol Morris)

One film I liked less: The Hurt Locker