But first! ....
TWO MORE OBSERVATIONS about "THE DARK KNIGHT"
1. I never visualized Gotham City as looking like Chicago before -- it has always been New York City, only scarier. (I even thought that in "Batman Begins"). But Chicago it is this time, unmistakably.
2. Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont is one tough old guy! (standing up to The Joker like that!)
Tell No One (2006)
The French have always had a knack for creating unsurpassed mystery/thrillers: foreboding visual style, impeccable acting, serious and thoughtful movies for adults. [But when you have the entire oeuvre of the prolific Georges Simenon to choose from, you already have a head start. He wrote the Maigret mysteries and the story that was turned into 1989's Monsieur Hire, for example.] The classic example of the genre is Les diaboliques (the 1955 version directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot and starring Simone Signoret, of course). That plot was so good not even Sharon Stone could ruin it!
Notable recent examples in the genre include "Under the Sand" (Sous les sable, 2000), "Red Lights" (2004, also based on a Simenon story) and L'homme du train (2002, with the great pairing of Jean Rochefort and pop icon Johnny Hallyday).
What the French have proved to me in the last two films I've seen is that they can even make gems out of material that is decidedly below par. Witness the previously-reviewed Roman de Gare, and now, Guillaume Canet's "Tell No One" -- even the title sounds better in French: Ne le dis à personne. [I refuse to include Francois Ozon's "Swimming Pool" in this category -- that ridiculous movie still makes me mad!]
The film has a great cast and compelling plot: a supposedly-dead wife begins sending emails to her husband seven years after her murder, and the police continue to suspect the husband in her death. The action and suspense is non-stop, I will admit. The actors, especially in the roles of the couple (Francois Cluzet and Marie-Josee Croze) and her father (Andre Dussollier in a triumphant return to the screen) are totally invested in this plot, and it shows in their performances. I wish they had something better to invest in: the plot takes them (and us) to places I just find preposterous. The movie trumpets the author of the source material: "Based on the best-selling novel by Harlan Coben." My reply: "Who is this hack Harlan Coben??"
La France (2007)
The French also have pioneered a decidedly different genre: the grim and depressing World War I movie. It is given a new twist in La France, courtesy of actor-turned-writer/director Serge Bozon, whose last film was in 2002. One could call him a 'Gallic triple-threat,' since he also wrote all the songs in the movie. Yes, I said 'songs,' for this is a grim and depressing (the French don't make any other kind) French WWI musical!!
"A Very Long Engagement" this is not!! For one thing, it does not feature Audrey Tatou as the long-suffering war bride who goes to look for her husband. That role is taken by the boyish, but still gamine-like Sylvie Testud (last seen in La Vie en Rose) as Camille. The movie follows her as she pretends to be a boy in order to get to the front, where she soon joins up with a ragtag company of French soldiers, under the command of a gruff but loveable lieutenant (Pascal Greggory). Whether they are advancing or retreating is one of the many questions left hanging, supplanted in your mind by 3 or 4 unexpected musical interludes, featuring the soldiers singing and playing homemade instruments. Bozon deliberately makes no attempt at verisimilitude here: the music, obviously coming from real instruments, is not of the period; the songs, while connected in theme, appear to have no relation to the plot. I interpret this device as a clue from the director that what we are witnessing should not be taken literally. (Another clue might be the readings and discussions about the lost city of Atlantis among the foot soldiers). Through a series of close calls, the men bond with Camille and become her guardian angels.
Regardless of how you interpret Bozon's intentions, he succeeds in bringing this story to a beautiful and satisfying conclusion that makes sense of everything you have seen.
* No spoilers here!
Sure, "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" had an unusual tone for a musical, but it didn't take place on the front lines of World War I! Without a doubt, this is the most-depressing musical ever made. And that's a high recommendation indeed from moi!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
BACK to the movies!
Enough with the travelogues, I've got movies to review!
The Dark Knight
I'm not damning it with faint praise to call TDK the best Batman movie ever made. No doubt director Christopher Nolan has turned this franchise into something much more than just a very good comic book adaptation (he proved that with Batman Begins). But here he has created an unsettling, exhilarating future of moral ambiguities, impossible choices, and damaged individuals. At the center of it all, of course, is the black hole of amorality that is Heath Ledger's Joker. He is so frightening because he doesn't believe in anything! It is a searing portrayal envelopes the movie the way both Daniel Day Lewis' Daniel Plainview and Javier Bardem's Anton Chigura did, to cite two recent (Academy award winning) examples. And yes, the late Heath Ledger should join their ranks in Febraury 2009, as Best Actor! (Don't try to ensure a win by promoting him as a 'supporting actor' Warner Brothers!)
Two more observations: After seeing the movie you will also understand why Katie Holmes took a powder on the sequel (Maggie Gyllenhaal got the most out of the role, but I would have liked to have seen what either of the other of the other two actresses up for the part would have done with it: Emily Blunt and Rachel McAdams, because let's face it, they are more in the Katie Holmes mold).
Brideshead Re-Revisited
To anyone old enough to remember the "original" classic, 11-part British ITV production (seen in the States on PBS in 1982), two questions immediately come to mind:
1) WHY?
2) Could anyone in the cast possibly live up to -- let alone surpass -- the original actors??
After sitting through Julian Jarrold's 133-minute adaptation at the River Oaks theater, I still have no anwser to the first question. The second answer has a somewhat more satisfactory answer. First, the pace feels like a Cliff Notes version of Evelyn Waugh's story: Oxford, then Brideshead, Venice, back to Oxford, Morocco, back to Brideshead, etc. etc. If you didn't know better, you'd swear they had high-speed rail in the 1920s. Sure, all your favorite characters make an appearance (Bridey, Cordelia, boorish American Rex Mottram), but all of the nuances and small pleasures of the book are lost. My favorite line, for instance, didn't make the cut:
Julia: "Oh Bridey, don't be so Jesuitical." (I love that line!)
What is shocking is what little impact many of the actors have in their respective roles: Matthew Goode (as Charles Ryder) is little more than a cypher -- vaguely resembling a young Jeremy Irons is not a qualification for starring in a movie! Emma Thompson fares little better: no, she does not get the screen time that Claire Bloom had to fully-develop her character, but in the scenes she does have she does not acquit herself well (at all). Bad director, maybe? And the guy who tries to compete with the great John Gielgud as Ryder's memorably wacky father? His performance simply falls flat.
What does work? Not surprisingly, Ben Whishaw is an effective Sebastian (he played Bob Dylan, after all!) But the only true improvement is the actress who plays Julia Flyte. Hayley Atwell brings all the youthful insecurity, guilt and confusion to her character that I seem to recall the original actress (Diana Quick) masked with a cool British veneer, until the very end.
The second greatest performance in the film actually makes a repeat performance: the grande dame Castle Howard reprises its role as Brideshead. And the Yorkshire mansion hasn't aged a bit!
Full disclosure: been there!
The Dark Knight
I'm not damning it with faint praise to call TDK the best Batman movie ever made. No doubt director Christopher Nolan has turned this franchise into something much more than just a very good comic book adaptation (he proved that with Batman Begins). But here he has created an unsettling, exhilarating future of moral ambiguities, impossible choices, and damaged individuals. At the center of it all, of course, is the black hole of amorality that is Heath Ledger's Joker. He is so frightening because he doesn't believe in anything! It is a searing portrayal envelopes the movie the way both Daniel Day Lewis' Daniel Plainview and Javier Bardem's Anton Chigura did, to cite two recent (Academy award winning) examples. And yes, the late Heath Ledger should join their ranks in Febraury 2009, as Best Actor! (Don't try to ensure a win by promoting him as a 'supporting actor' Warner Brothers!)
Two more observations: After seeing the movie you will also understand why Katie Holmes took a powder on the sequel (Maggie Gyllenhaal got the most out of the role, but I would have liked to have seen what either of the other of the other two actresses up for the part would have done with it: Emily Blunt and Rachel McAdams, because let's face it, they are more in the Katie Holmes mold).
Brideshead Re-Revisited
To anyone old enough to remember the "original" classic, 11-part British ITV production (seen in the States on PBS in 1982), two questions immediately come to mind:
1) WHY?
2) Could anyone in the cast possibly live up to -- let alone surpass -- the original actors??
After sitting through Julian Jarrold's 133-minute adaptation at the River Oaks theater, I still have no anwser to the first question. The second answer has a somewhat more satisfactory answer. First, the pace feels like a Cliff Notes version of Evelyn Waugh's story: Oxford, then Brideshead, Venice, back to Oxford, Morocco, back to Brideshead, etc. etc. If you didn't know better, you'd swear they had high-speed rail in the 1920s. Sure, all your favorite characters make an appearance (Bridey, Cordelia, boorish American Rex Mottram), but all of the nuances and small pleasures of the book are lost. My favorite line, for instance, didn't make the cut:
Julia: "Oh Bridey, don't be so Jesuitical." (I love that line!)
What is shocking is what little impact many of the actors have in their respective roles: Matthew Goode (as Charles Ryder) is little more than a cypher -- vaguely resembling a young Jeremy Irons is not a qualification for starring in a movie! Emma Thompson fares little better: no, she does not get the screen time that Claire Bloom had to fully-develop her character, but in the scenes she does have she does not acquit herself well (at all). Bad director, maybe? And the guy who tries to compete with the great John Gielgud as Ryder's memorably wacky father? His performance simply falls flat.
What does work? Not surprisingly, Ben Whishaw is an effective Sebastian (he played Bob Dylan, after all!) But the only true improvement is the actress who plays Julia Flyte. Hayley Atwell brings all the youthful insecurity, guilt and confusion to her character that I seem to recall the original actress (Diana Quick) masked with a cool British veneer, until the very end.
The second greatest performance in the film actually makes a repeat performance: the grande dame Castle Howard reprises its role as Brideshead. And the Yorkshire mansion hasn't aged a bit!
Full disclosure: been there!Upcoming reviews:
Tell No One (France)
La France (France (naturally) 2007)
Heads-up for Houston film lovers:
Aurora Picture Show outdoors!
Saturday, August 23, 8PM
Menil Park, 1515 Sul Ross
FREE Admission In collaboration with The Menil Collection, Aurora presents a selection of early 20th-century short films directed by artists like Fernand Léger, Rene Clair and Hans Richter.
"Bring your blanket, picnic, and your avant garde-loving dog!"
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
9 Things I Love About New Mexico ... and one, not so much
August 4, 2008 --
I have just returned from another trip, this time to attend my
But first I spent 3 glorious days in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and from the moment I crossed the State line, I knew it would be an 'awesome' trip...for the following reasons (I threw in one movie reference at the very end to keep this post legit):
# 9. 75 mile-per-hour Speed Limit -- gotta love that.
# 8. Those cool yellow license plates (the new ones are even better: they've added a burnt orange balloon!)
# 7. Coyotes (the furry, 4-legged ones, not the ones smuggling immigrants over the border). One crossed my path while I was searching for a gas station off the highway.
# 6. Two Margaritas in high-altitude Santa Fe are the equivalent of 3-1/2 margaritas at sea level! (that made those $8.75 'Silver Coin' margaritas at The Shed taste even better!)
# 5. At the Santa Fe Opera, even the coffee is good (and cheaper than water!) [More about this experience later.]
# 4. Sharing a breakfast table on my B&B's patio with a cute blonde Aussie named Amanda. [Note to self: plan upcoming post entitled "10 Things I Love About Australia" #1: Naomi Watts.]
# 3. Chatting with the Brooklyn-born owner of an upscale Italian restaurant a block from my B&B. How upscale? It bills itself as a "fragrance-free restaurant" -- you are literally denied admittance if you are wearing perfume or cologne! That, and the $16./glass of Montepulciano make it 'upscale' in my book. It was here where I also met and chatted with....
# 2. ... a real live Opera Star! You might not have heard of Gwynne Howell, a 70-year old Welsh bass-baritone, but he has been on the stage for decades, and I first heard him in Houston in the production of Benjamin Britten's Billy Budd (I saw a different production of Billy Budd in Santa Fe). He and his wife could not have been nicer when I interrupted their dessert to gush. (The waiter tipped me off, but I had to figure out which character he played). He was doing Figaro in Santa Fe. It makes me wish I could have gone out more and run into the Number One Thing I Love About NM.....
# 1. Deborah Domanski's bare midriff! (She would necessarily be attached to it if I ran into it).
Like me, you may never have heard of this young mezzo soprano, but when she made her first appearance in last Friday's production of Handel's rarely-performed Radamisto at the SF Opera, I knew my vacation -- and the fourth-row seat I bought two weeks before -- had been well worth it. I can best describe her as the opera world's version of Mary-Louise Parker. The outlandish, Turkish-inspired costumes in this production not only accentuated her lithe waist, it made it a featured performer! [A rare pleasure in opera, if you're familiar with the average weight of opera singers.]
Now that Anna Netrebko went and got herself pregnant, Deborah D. possesses, hands down, the finest waist in all of Opera!!
But don't take my word for it: read what this dude had to say about her: “The lovely mezzo-soprano Deborah Domanski (replacing Christine Rice, who withdrew from the production because of illness) sings the courageous Zenobia with luscious sound and lyrical refinement.” – Anthony Tommasini, New York Times
If you still think I'm exaggerating, check out these photos:
And the one thing I didn't like so much about NM ...
I knew checking into the Silver Saddle Motel for my last night in town -- across the street from Santa Fe's only strip club (the prosaically-named 'Cheeks') -- was going to be an adventure, but the lobby had a signed picture from Clint Eastwood (circa Spaghetti Western Clint) so how bad could it be? What I did not expect was my 3am wake-up call to be the sound of breaking glass and some woman shouting every Spanish curse word I know (and some I probably don't) at her male companion (john?) who threw her out of his room. All I could do was pray the sound wasn't coming from my rental car parked outside. The next morning I surveyed the damage: every window on this poor guy's Pontiac Grand Prix was completely smashed-in, and it was parked two spots away from mine!
Yikes.
I'll leave you with a more pleasant memory:
Now do you understand why I love opera??
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