The Visitor (2008) Monday, Nov 17 2008

            Sometimes when a film comes to the theaters, there is so little fanfare that the public misses it.  When The Visitor was released I was in Paducah, Kentucky, a place where non-mainstream film gets no notice whatever.  The single single art house theater in town had the annoying habit of showing the same movie for a month at a time.  This meant that only 12 films were shown each year.  Those of us obsessed with film missed most of the art films having either to go to the mainstream theater (there’s only one) or rent from Netflix.  Since most mainstream stuff is crap, I opted for Netflix.  Yet somehow, I missed this one.

            The Visitor is something I call “An Important Film.”  This is a film that says something meaningful and represents the feelings of the part of society that the government always ignores when making laws that apply to everyone.  These films are usually political in nature but not always.

            Walter Vale is a university professor who has become complacent and bored with his life without realizing that he is merely existing rather than living.  When he is told that he must present a paper at a conference, he leaves Connecticut and heads to his old apartment in New York.  Once there, he finds that someone has rented his apartment to a young couple who are, unfortunately, illegal immigrants. 

            These two reignite his life.  But, after getting stuck in a subway turnstile, the young man, Tarek, is arrested for jumping the turnstile, which he didn’t do, and is imprisoned in a detention center in Queens.  Walter tries to get him released with the help of Tarek’s mother, who has come from Michigan. 

            During a visit with Walter at the detention center, Tarek reminds the audience what it used to mean to be American.  Everyone who came to the US was an immigrant.  Now, wanting a better life and coming to this country is a crime.  Not everyone is a terrorist if they come from the Middle East or Northern Africa.

            This is a well made film as well as an important one and one that has required me to add another category to this blog.  Thomas McCarthy has made this a most excellent follow-up to his indie film, The Station Agent.

 

The Visitor

2007

 

IMPORTANT FILM

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Hamlet (the Kenneth Branagh Version, 1996) Tuesday, Aug 5 2008

The problem with anything done by Kenneth Branagh where he is both director and star is that he doesn’t cut any scene that includes himself, as he might if he were directing someone else.  For instance, the soliloquy is too long and makes you so bored that you want to stop the movie and watch a different one.  For entertainment, the soliloquy is bad, however, if you’re a Shakespeare scholar or want to see the scene acted in it’s entirety(few do), it’s fine. 

Kate Winslet is marvelous as the demented Ophelia.   And Robin Williams is inspired as a gay version of Osric.  But let’s get to something I do not understand about some of the other casting.  Why would Branagh choose Julie Christie for the role of Gertrude?  She is dreadful in every sense of the word since I was dreading every one of her appearances onscreen.  She had a terrible habit of taking in huge gulps of air that gave her a strange “heaving breast ” kind of thing.  The only consolation in watching her scenes is the fast forward button.  Sadly, you can only do this in the VHS version, since DVD’s skip through the scenes rather than scrolling through them.  But if you get the chance to do this, the scenes are hilarious. 

Overall this film is terrible but there are some highlights.  If you are really bored and can find a VHS version of it, by all means, watch it.  Fast forward through the bad stuff.  You’ll get alot of enjoyment out of it this way.  But probably not in the way Branagh intended.

HAMLET (1996)

Written by William Shakespeare, Screenplay by Kenneth Branagh

Somewhere Between Boring and Stinky

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Murder Ahoy! (1964) Monday, Feb 18 2008

If you are in the mood for a film that is free of bloodletting and gratuitous violence but still interesting, this film is the one you want.

Agatha Christie wrote many fairly implausible murder mysteries that have endured because of their interesting characters.  The best of these characters is Margaret Rutherford’s version of Miss Marple.  Her facial expressions are so over the top as to be hilarious to watch.  This film contains the best of her particular looks.  While investigating a murder, she is looking for clues onboard a ship used to teach trouble boys to be sailors.  She is forced to hide in the closet at on point, wherein she gives us the strangest array of faces that are so odd you can’t help but laugh.

The film is overall kind of silly but thoroughly entertaining. 

MURDER AHOY (1964)

written by Agatha Christie

Fabulouness on Film

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The Fountain Monday, Feb 18 2008

It seems like every year there is another movie about a man who can’t come to terms with the death of his wife. In 2002 there were three of them, Signs, Solaris and Dragonfly. In these films, there is always some sort of supernatural element that tries to explain the death. As if death isn’t a natural process and part of the human life cycle. There is always the hope that something outside the norm that will bring her back. These films are stupid and are never successful. The Fountain is no exception.

I had high hopes for The Fountain. Rachel Weisz is a great actress and Hugh Jackman is one of my favorite actors. But good acting can’t make this movie good. I didn’t mind that you needed a map to keep track flashbacks and flash forwards. I did mind the ridiculous trip to Shebulba in a bubble Jackman takes in the vain hope that he will find a cure for his wife’s cancer. The plot also gets complicated by the book his wife has written. As viewers, we are supposed to liken her death to a dying star, the the search for the fountain of youth/discovery of the Tree of Life and the possible demise of Spain at the hands of the Inquisition.

Not only is the plot turbid and difficult to follow, the ascent to Shebulba is so over the top that I’m surprised the film was made at all. Does no one have to approve these things before they are made? Surely, someone must have said, “This is a stupid idea and a terrible screenplay. Let’s not waste the money.”

The ascent to Shebulba sequences are pretty to look at but as a whole, they take away from the film rather than adding to it. Strangely, an online synopsis of the film says that the Shebulba scenes are supposed to be Jackman as a 26th century astronaut. No where in the film does it even remotely hint that this is what is going on. Unless, of course, the audience is supposed to know that space travel in the 26th century will consist of loading your giant glass bubble with a living tree and having hallucinations of your wife while trying to finish the last chapter of her book. Then, yeah, he might be an astronaut. No one should expect an audience to have ESP. How are we supposed to know that this isn’t just some sort of spiritual thing taking place in his mind without any clues as to the intended meaning?

 

THE FOUNTAIN (2006)

Written by Darren Aronofsky

Replete with Stinkiosity

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As You Like It (2006) Monday, Feb 18 2008

It is very difficult to ruin Shakespeare. He is, afterall, one of the genuises of literature. And even though I studied Shakespeare extensively in college, As You Like It was not one of the plays I had read. ( I also skipped some of the Histories) But they had the DVD at my local library so I brought it home to watch.

Although Kenneth Branagh is an excellent actor, as a director, he is very hit-or-miss. His Hamlet (I’ll tell you about that later) was plodding and too long although it had some wonderful scenes. As You Like It is similar, with some great scenes and lots of good acting, but is missing something. There is something in the tone of the movie that makes it seem a little TOO tongue-in-cheek. The decision to have Orlando and his brother played by African American actors David Oyelowo and Adrian Lester was too long in coming but they did wonderfully in the acting of the parts. And Kevin Kline seems born to play in Shakespeare’s plays. Bryce Howard is a good actress but the whole scene with Rosalind and Orlando where Rosalind is convincing him to pretend to be wooing her rather than HIS Rosalind was over the top. So was Romola Garai. She is too modern looking to play Shakespeare convincingly and her enormous gaping mouth was distracting.

The final blow was the dance sequence at the end. There was no reason to put in something that took away from the rest of the movie. If the end and the Rosalind/Orlando scene had been different, it might have been a better film. As it stands, it is obvious why the film didn’t do well at the box office. Oh and that epilogue was ridiculous.

AS YOU LIKE IT (2006)

by Willam Shakespeare and Kenneth Branagh

Not Great But It Didn’t Suck

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