Mud Songs

I saw Kung-Fu Panda last night and I regret not seeing it while it was still in theatres. It’s easily the most entertaining animated movie I’ve seen in 2008. My brother said something like this about it: “Kung-Fu Panda is an animated film about a panda who loves Kung-Fu and has to learn it in a hurry to save his village from his master’s nemesis. I recommend it for kids and adults. The story is simple but engaging, with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. The action scenes are incredible, intense, fast, and fun — it could make you dizzy. The animation is well done. I took my seven-year-old daughter who laughed out loud at parts, as I did (although different parts). She wasn’t scared during the intense, dark scenes. We both recommended it.”

Jean de Florette was originally 4 hours long. Instead of cutting essential scenes, the director, Claude Berri, split off the second half and called it Manon of the Spring (a.k.a. Jean de Florette - Part 2). But he didn’t have to. Anyone who watches the first part of the story will want to go on to the second part immediately. Fans of Cinema Paradiso or Antonia’s Line will love it. I can’t say much more without giving it away, but it is a gorgeous film, full of engaging characters and a story that builds in its intensity and doesn’t let up until the very last scene. I wanted to go back to the beginning and watch it all over again as soon as it was finished. (Read the reviews I’ve linked to if you want to know the story, but don’t read too much. It’s best to go in just knowing you’re going to see a wonderful film.)

Click the image to view trailers for each film.

Searching for Bobby Fischer became one of my favourites when I first saw it in a theatre in 1993. I was hooked after the opening narration by 8-year-old Max Pomeranc that recounts Bobby Fischer’s rise to fame as one of the best chess players in the world and ends with the whispered words: “He disappeared.” Then we discover the narrator is a child prodigy, a genius chess player who some call a young Bobby Fischer. But where Bobby Fischer was a nut, this kid stays on a path that keeps him sane. He plays baseball and goes fishing and doesn’t have a mean bone in his body. It’s a good story.

Whenever I put on just about any Krzysztof Kieslowski DVD, it becomes apparent, usually within the first 60 seconds, that I’m watching an exceptional film. The way it looks, the rhythm of the shots, the way it sounds, the natural look in the actors eyes — the attention to the details of every facet of the filmmaking process creates a feeling like a symphony of 50 different instruments playing a melody in perfect pitch and perfect time. It moves you. And you know that wherever the journey takes you, you’re in good hands. It doesn’t happen often because Sturgeon’s Law holds true in movies too. But when it does happen, you sit up and take notice because you don’t want to miss anything. You’re no longer a passive viewer. You’re engaged. You’re paying attention. Vera Drake is that kind of film. It tells the story of a woman in England after World War II who performs illegal abortions for poor people who can’t afford the medical procedure themselves. It’s not a pro-choice or anti-abortion film. It presents the situation, draws you into the thoughts and feelings of all the people involved (Vera’s close-knit family) and allows you to make your own judgements. None of it is black and white, though. When the end credits start rolling, you’re left with a lot of feelings to sort through and plenty to think about. It’s not an overly-serious downer film, though. Yes, there is drama, but it’s a pleasure to be with these characters because they’re so genuine and kind. It’s just solid filmmaking all around. At any rate, I’ll keep an eye out for anything directed by Mike Leigh for now on. He definitely got my attention with Vera Drake.

I’m talking about the original 1933 version of King Kong. It is a great movie and a hell of lot more violent and gruesome than I ever thought. It must have shocked and scared the crap out of audiences in 1933. I never realized what an incredible movie it is. There isn’t much of a story until Kong comes into the picture — and then you can watch the movie with the sound down if you feel like it because everything unfolds in broad strokes: 1) Island natives capture Fay Wray for sacrifice to Kong; 2) Kong runs into the jungle with Ms. Wray, protecting her instead of eating her; 3) A rescue party runs into the jungle and are killed off one at a time by Kong; 4) Kong is captured and brought back to the US… and so on. Although King Kong is sometimes considered a B-quality monster movie, it’s operatic and poignant as well. I’d love to see it in a theatre someday.

WALL-E is one of the most imaginative stories I’ve ever seen. It’s also proof to me that if Pixar wanted to, they could make an excellent adult science fiction film. They have conceptual artists who can create creatures and landscapes as impressive as anything put on film. They have writers and directors who know how to develop strong characters and a good story. They know what they’re doing. Everybody loves them. They can’t do wrong. They’ve found a winning formula making CGI family films, but I’d still love to see them take a crack on at some hard science fiction. Instead they give us WALL-E, a touching, entertaining and engaging story of a little robot left behind on a post-apocalyptic earth where everything is so polluted that humans can’t live there anymore. He eventually meets up with another robot that sort of looks like an iPod, and things take off from there. It’s a nice, harmless kids movie with an environmental message: don’t pollute.

A big ominous ugly truck comes barrelling down the highway and makes life difficult for a lonely businessman in a car on his way to a meeting. Duel is like Jaws on wheels. Directed for TV by Steven Speilberg in 1971, this 90-minute theatrical cut is nothing but entertainment. There’s no moral to the story. It’s just one long chase scene that keeps you wondering, “How the hell is he going to get away from that truck?” Speilberg takes that simple concept and milks it to the hilt. Well done.

Brief Encounter is a 1945 film about two people who meet, have strong feelings for one another, toy with the idea of taking their brief encounter to another level and then… I won’t tell you want happens. My initial feelings were, “I’m not in the mood to watch some stiff British actors sit around a table with their cups of tea and say la-dee-da back and forth for an hour and a half,” but I’m glad I stuck it out. Over looking the film’s dated qualities is a small price to pay for a love story that rivals anything out of Casablanca. And what an ending!

Directed by Sydney Lumet. If you think you have problems or that your family is messed up or that your life hasn’t turned out the way you hoped it would, watch Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead and you’ll be grateful for everything you’ve got. It’s difficult to talk about the plot without giving away the story, but it involves two brothers who plan a heist that goes all wrong. And that’s just the beginning of their troubles. It’s the kind of story that only exists in movies, but the people feel so real, their reactions to the extreme circumstances so genuine, that it works. It’s completely engaging. The entire cast — Philip Seymour Hoffman, Albert Finney and even Ethan Hawke — couldn’t have given better performances. When you see acting on this level, you quickly realise how mediocre most actors are and what a challenging profession it really is. (Marisa Tomei has a major role, but they don’t give her much to do except take off her shirt.) It’s not a happy movie (though I had to laugh at the absurdity of it all from time to time), but it’s so over the top and compelling, it’s difficult to look away.

Once is a unique film about a singer-songerwriter in Dubln who works at his dad’s vacuum repair shop and spends the rest of his time busking on a street corner with his guitar. He eventually meets a girl and tries to make more of his music, and that’s pretty much the whole story. The film has been described as a musical because whenever the guy sings a song, we hear the whole thing. If you like the music, the full songs will work for you. I’m not going to go out and buy the soundtrack, but I still got into everything about this movie because it looks and feels like a documentary with characters who seem like real people. The plot (if you want to call it that) doesn’t feel contrived. You meet these people, you like them and you want find out what happens to them. It’s a simple equation that works on a nice, quiet, genuine level. It’s not a visually spectacular movie, but it doesn’t need to be. Once — once it gets noticed — is likely to become a favourite of independent singer-songwriters everywhere.

The Blue Planet and Planet Earth are BBC documentary TV series — and they are without question the most spectacular, incredible documentaries about the natural world I have ever seen. They could easily play as a series of films in a theatre — and it would be fantastic. At times it’s like watching science fiction with creatures that seem unreal, landscapes and geological formations even the most imaginative artists couldn’t conceive, and shots of animals up close that turn into wide shots so wide you’d think the camera was fired into orbit. (I would love to work on these kinds of documentaries.) It’s not only a mind-blowing visual feast. It’s informative and dramatic. The narration reveals just enough to make you move in for a closer look — and it may transform your perception of the planet and the natural world. (My comments refer to the original BBC editions, not the US editions narrated by Sigourney “Ripley” Weaver.) I’ve spent plenty of time living on the land away from the noise and pollution of human activity. I’ve been able to feel a connection to natural things that is generally impossible to approach while living in the suburbs or a city. But watching The Blue Planet and Planet Earth comes pretty damn close to it, possibly closer than most people stuck in front of the boob tube will ever get. My highest recommendations.

The King of Kong is a documentary about two guys going for a world record in Donkey Kong. One of them, Billy Mitchell, comes off as such a conceited jerk, you want punch him in the nose and knock him down in the mud. It may not be an important documentary, but it presents an engaging story of good vs. evil and it’s entertaining. The editor deserves an award for piecing together a compelling, exciting and entertaining story, just as good — if not better — than most dramatic feature films. I couldn’t believe the people in it are real. I wouldn’t have been surprised to discover that they’re all actors and the whole story was scripted. But it’s all real. And thus surreal.

The Lives of Others is one of the most compelling, intriguing and eye-opening films I’ve seen in years — and sadly, it’s relevant too. I can’t add much to the linked review, so here are some quotes: “The Lives of Others is an excellent German film about life in the East German GDR before the fall of the Berlin Wall, when the population lived in constant fear of the secret police known as the Stasi. Writer-director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s story of artists under surveillance by merciless, corrupt officials is gripping from beginning to end… [We learn] something about the arrogance, corruption and twisted psychology that result when “security” bureaucracies are given special powers.” It’s difficult to shake the impression that Stephen Harper, the current Prime Minister of Canada, would love to have this kind of power in his government. The amendment to Bill C-10 is just the beginning. This guy has got to go!

Crimes and Misdemeanors is one of several Woody Allen films that’s pretty damn close to a masterpiece. From Roger Ebert’s original review: Crimes and Misdemeanors “is a thriller about the dark nights of the soul. It shockingly answers the question most of us have asked ourselves from time to time: Could I live with the knowledge that I had murdered someone? Could I still get through the day and be close to my family and warm to my friends, knowing that because of my own cruel selfishness, someone who had loved me was lying dead in the grave? This is one of the central questions of human existence, and society is based on the fact that most of us are not willing to see ourselves as murderers. But in the world of this film, conventional piety is overturned and we see into the soul of a human monster… Actually, he seems like a pretty nice guy.”

In Quest for Fire, a group of Paleolithic humanoids travel across dangerous country in search of fire. Along the way they meet up with a sabre-toothed tiger, woolly mammoths, cannibals and a more technologically advanced species (homo sapiens). The story is compelling and entertaining — and probably the most accurate depiction of early humans on film. Watching Quest for Fire is like jumping into a time machine. It’s fascinating.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind is one of the best science fiction films ever made, and worth revisiting if you haven’t seen it for a long time. Steven Speilberg’s directorial style quickly became what you might call obvious later in his career, but in this early film he allows plenty of room for interpretation. He shows us but doesn’t tell us anything. The final encounter with the aliens is spectacular and mysterious (communicating through music is pretty darn cool). Too bad they don’t make movies like this anymore.

Movies like The Diving Bell and the Butterfly are why I love movies. It’s a motion picture that takes hold of you from the first frame and doesn’t let go until the end credits are rolling. It’s a true story of a guy who has a stroke that leaves him unable to do anything except blink one eye, and from that one blinking eye he writes a book and communicates with people. In the opening shot (and for the first half hour of the film), we see what he sees after the stroke. His waking up. His distorted vision. We hear his voice — but no one else does because he’s unable to speak his thoughts. We hear his thoughts as he reacts to seeing his reflection for the first time, as orderlies clean his body that he can’t feel, as his children come to visit him, all of it. The experience of seeing what he sees is immediate and affective. (It’s also funny because he has a better sense of humour than most of the people around him.) I’ve never seen anything like it. I sat in my seat until the theatre lights came back on. It’s an extraordinary film.

I saw Casablanca in a theatre tonight for the first time. It was amazing. Seeing it on a giant screen in a theatre with a good audience, I noticed details in the acting and the storyline that passed me by in all my previous viewings. It opened the movie up to me in ways I wouldn’t have thought possible. Casablanca is a classic that deserves its reputation.

The Double Life of Veronique is a beautiful film about two identical but unrelated woman living completely separate lives but who may or may not have an indirect influence on each other. Krzysztof Kieslowski remains my favourite director. His films are poetic, profound and mysterious. I saw Veronique years ago on VHS. Watching it again on DVD is like watching an entirely new film.

I’ve watched most of Kieslowski’s films. I’ll eventually post about in them more detail as I re-watch them.

No Country for Old Men is the best movie I’ve seen from the Coen Brothers. Naturally, it’s about a psychotic killer with a high-pressure air gun looking for stolen money, and another guy who stole the money running from the guy with the air gun. I normally don’t care much for the way the Coen Brothers use lethal violence in their movies, but in this case it’s fascinating and compelling because it’s so cinematic. It’s a pleasure to watch the craftsmanship that goes into it. And it’s not all for show. The images and the subtle details work together to create a story and a weird reality that takes you for a ride and leaves you thinking, “What the hell was that?” It’s a crime drama, a thriller, a comedy and a morality tale, and it’s entertaining. (A detailed analysis and discussion of the film on Jim Emerson’s Blog.)