I know we are more than halfway through the year on the calendar, but in Hollywood terms, we have barely reached the halfway point in the 2007 movie calendar (the Fall is the 'serious film season' after all!)
So here's a look at the highlights and lowlights of my movie year (post-Oscars).
First the bad news:
'300' == what a puerile, juvenile, and completely offensive treatment of history! I don't know what to be more offended by: the disrespect for historical figures (here the enemy is not just demonized--they are literally turned into monsters (if I were Persian, I'd be really pissed!)/ Or the adolescent sensibility towards sex and marriage: sex in the depiction of the Greek oracles as naked, nubile, drug-addled babes -- who are being groped, even licked, by pustule-covered, leprous old priests (sublety is definitely NOT in the vocabulary of Frank Miller); marriage in the relationship between the main character and his wife: "Have your way with me, Spartan! -- not like those boy-loving Athenians!!")
But even more offensive is the movie's glorification of war and battle: totally out of touch with this country's mindset, three-plus years into this Iraq fiasco. Get a clue, you clueless punk director! (Zach somebody)...
Now for the good news, my provisional TOP TEN:
Foreign films:
Indigenes (France/Algeria) -- a compelling WWII film in a season of many.
The Lives of Others (Germany) -- a worthy Oscar winner.
Once (Ireland) -- now THIS is the summer movie to fall in love with! So much more genuine than last summer's indie darling: Little Miss Crap-shine.
The Wind That Shakes the Barley (UK) -- this movie makes all the same parallels to our 'war on terror' , and makes them more effectively, than the obvious and simplistic "Goya's Ghosts."
U.S.:
Breach and Zodiac -- see previous post.
Sicko -- Michael Moore does it again! (and I never thought much about health care before. Now I am prepared to say "The French do it better!").
... and the BEST MOVIE I've seen so far this year ???????
LA VIE EN ROSE (France)
Anyone who doesn't know the story of France's favorite singer might not believe everything that happens in this movie, but it's all true! It makes "Ray" and Johnny Cash's life look like a cakewalk! And anyone who compare this movie with those two is quite simply an idiot (I'm talkin' to YOU, A.O. Scott!)
The haters out there might say this movie is as much a mess as Piaf's life--but it's chaotic for a reason: and it works! The sequence where she learns of a lover's death is priceless. And you learn more about Paris from this movie than in all the other disappointing, so-called love letters to that city that have reached our shores this year ("Avenue Montaigne"; "Paris, Je t'aime"; "The Valet"--I've seen them all).
Marian Cotillard Rules!
La Vie En Rose?
ReplyDeletePul-leeze! This is a very depressing movie.
Even though it ends well, all is not well, Shakespeare notwithstanding. Did she have a child or not?
I have yet to see Sicko, but it may be far better than this Rose based on “other” reviews. To date I would vote for “Lives of Others,” or even “Black Book.”
But you are still my favorite Foreign Film Guy.
john s. -- you must be one of those 'haters' I referred to! "Ends well?" She dies a slow and painful death! Sit through it a SECOND time, and you'll see: Piaf was Shakespearean, alright-- a tragic figure to be sure.
ReplyDeleteThe only flaw I could see in the movie was the actress who played Marlene Dietrich (not convincing at all).
And Piaf DID have a child.
Thanks for reading!!