August 31st --
Yes, the summer is officially OVER!
Time to recap the movie season, and I have to say, it was a GOOD summer at the movies! (A statement I rarely make).
Here are my Top Seven movies of the summer:
1. INCEPTION
2. TOY STORY 3
3. THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
4. SALT
5. WINTER'S BONE
6. IRON MAN 2
7. ROBIN HOOD
I know what you're thinking: "Winter's Bone? WTF? That doesn't sound like a summer movie!" Trust me: another Sundance darling, it is this year's Frozen River -- a gritty, unsentimental look at 'rural' America (as seen through the lens of a indie filmmaker, that is). Sure, that has proven to be a recipe for disaster (just look at the misbegotten Junebug or the ouevre of David Gordon Green). I've never been to the Missouri Ozarks, so I cannot vouch for Winter's Bone's authenticity, but this film adheres to its vision from the start -- in the same way last year's Gone Baby Gone brought you into the heart of South Boston. It just feels right. Newcomer Jennifer Lawrence deserves the lion's share of the credit for carrying the movie with her lead performance.
Speaking of indie filmmakers, Lisa Cholodenko defies all expectations with her latest: The Kids Are All Right. As a lesbian raising a family with her partner in real life, one would expect her to make an affirmative, totally-positive portrait of this new nuclear family: two lesbians raising well-adjusted teens who are the product of an anonymous sperm-donor. One would be wrong! Instead, she gives us a warts-and-all look at confused teens whose relationship with their parents is exactly like a 'traditional' family's, i.e., dysfunctional. The fault lines between a couple (the excellent duo of Annette Bening and Julianne Moore, the two bravest actresses working today!) who have settled into a comfortable (boring) marriage are also exposed when the teens decide to invite the sperm donor into their lives.
This is where Hollywood takes over: the donor looks NOTHING LIKE David Crosby!! (a Melissa Etheridge reference, in case you don't know). Played to perfection by Mark Ruffalo, he is a cocky charmer, "pleased with himself" (as one of the moms comments). But he is as confused as the rest of the family as to the role he is supposed to play in this family dynamic.
SPOILER ALERT (in RED):
It was uncomfortable watching one of the Mom's fall into a heterosexual relationship with him. Together with another scene I won't reveal, it left this hetero viewer with the uneasy impression that lesbians can switch teams with ease.
That aside, it is ultimately a much bolder statement to make that this same-sex marriage is just like all other marriages -- a minefield of shifting emotions that survive or fail on the commitment of two people. (He says confidently, having never been married).
I won't dwell on the 3 obvious blockbusters on my list, other than to say Angelina Jolie stands alone among actresses who could pull off a role like SALT. Originally written for Tom Cruise, I can't even think of a male actor working today (other than Daniel Day Lewis) who could have brought the ambiguity required to make this somewhat preposterous story believable. I, for one, was genuinely convinced that the filmmakers pulled the rug out from under its audience midway through this Bourne-like juggernaut of a movie. But just how preposterous is this story of a network of Russian spies living ordinary lives in America? (It wins the award for topicality, hands down).
Nobody can pull the rug out from under an audience like Christopher Nolan , director of the summer's most-talked about movie: INCEPTION. I feel like I am the last blogger to weigh-in on this movie (according to A.O. Scott's New York Times story, I am). Let me come down firmly on the side of the film's supporters, for while the movie falls short of the mind-blowing thrill of The (original) Matrix, the intricate puzzle Nolan creates is always gripping to watch. Marvel at, really, for it is a tour de force of storytelling (that has always been his strong suit).
SPOILER ALERT (in RED): Sure, this particular story left me with more questions than answers (Did they really need SIX people to enter that guy's head? How was that one dude able to change his appearance? And what's with all the snow? -- I lost track of whose dream we were in at that point). Questions aside, the show-stopping set-piece of the film is a half-hour sequence that deftly intercuts between three separate dreams (maybe four). Time slows down as you go down each level, so each sequence runs at a different speed. As you watch a 20-minute sequence on one level, the top level dream is only running for 2 seconds. Nolan's gift is that the viewer never gets lost: as the action escalates on two separate levels of storytelling, Nolan repeatedly returns to a van slowly falling backwards over a bridge into a river, thus grounding the audience in a sort of 'present.' Needless to say, it is the longest two seconds in film history. But it is brilliant!
I'm glad I am not the only person to recognize the film's similarities with DiCaprio's previous release, Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island (I just cannot articulate it as well as A.O. Scott: "In both films Mr. DiCaprio plays a troubled professional with a shaky grip on reality and an unresolved, guilt-tinged relationship with his vanished and beloved wife.") That wife is played stunningly in each film by Michele Williams and Marian Cotillard, respectively. The plot twist in Scorsese's film was a tad obvious -- especially to anyone who remembers the silent German classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (and I know film buff Scorsese certainly does!).
Nolan, on the other hand, introduces a subtle feeling of doubt before the big finale, but the possibility that is implanted (incepted?) in the viewer's brain by Cotillard's character in no way diminishes the impact of the final shot. Not since Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker (1979) has a last shot packed such a wallop (Scorsese may be the only film buff to catch that obscure reference!). In Stalker, that was because after 2 hours and 40 minutes of watching nothing happen, suddenly something happens!
Inception is a mere 2 hours and 22 minutes, and the satisfying final twist has its own logic to it: like Nolan's true 'masterpiece,' Memento, the movie couldn't end any other way. I don't see that as a cop-out, or a contrivance, as much as a payoff -- a reward for going along this far down the director's rabbit hole.
