Posts
DAY 1
The first day started off with a misfortune: I was made aware that I had to skip The Orphanage (El Orfanato) because of a recent deadline of one of my projects. Pity. The name Guillermo del Toro looked promising even though he only presents it; and one of my friends, after seeing the movie, described it as the cinematic equivalent of the video game Sanitarium. Creepy indeed. Maybe she can contribute using the comments section.
Anyway, to the movies.
Elite Squad (Tropa de Elite) , my very first film in the festival, was like a welcome gift. I had my expectations fixed on a slow-paced semi-documentary film about police corruption (which isn't necessarily a bad thing) but instead I was greeted with one of the bravest movies I have ever seen with the complexity level of The Departed and the same dynamism as City of God (Cidade de Deus). It tells many parallel stories that eventually wind up at the problem of illegal drugs and drug trafficking in Brazilian slums. It's insoluble, we see, because the police force is a part of the problem itself. Among them bribery, extortion, cooperation with dealers, manipulating evidence and numerous other shenanigans that I won't give away here are common. While Rio de Janeiro is a perfect setting to tell this story for obvious reasons, (like the considerably high crime rate) Brazilian police is not presented as an exception but rather as an example. The target of criticism is the police, regardless of the nationality. The message is universal.Enter BOPE, 'Special Police Operation Batallion', an infamous military-like organization that has but one purpose: to eliminate drugs and dealers from the streets of Rio de Janeiro. As opposing to the intricate police force schemes we have seen in roughly the first half of the film, BOPE officers are like cyborgs without emotions, malfunctions or pity. We watch them being trained in a series of boot-camp sequences that closely resemble the first half of Full Metal Jacket with less humor and more shouting, and in the end we see them come out as cold-blooded maniacs. At times, the whole thing looks like an anti-militarist critique but the camera's admiration towards these characters is undeniable. It's this contradiction, along with the bravery with which the idea (and facts) of police immorality is handled, that saves Elite Squad from being 'just another cop movie' and pulls originality out of a typical concept.
The visual quality also helps. The shaky camera, focusing more on closeups than wider shots puts us right in the middle of all the violence and action and creates a unique sense of thrill. Some scenes are especially effective; like the controversial torture scenes or final scene where the gun seems to be mercilessly pointed at the audience itself. Hard, even to look at. Captivating and disturbing. The cinematography is stark and realist, somewhat inferior to the stylized visuality of City of God but powerful nonetheless.
It's interesting to observe the filmmakers in certain countries to focus on national issues and then channel those common concerns into new cinematical styles. Recently, Romanian directors, knowingly or not, created something that can be called the beginnings of a 'Romanian Neo-realism' when they all started telling stories from the reign of Ceaucescu; stories they were not able to tell back then. Their styles were surprisingly similar. Brazil's problem seems to be crime and violance and that's what the best works of Brazilian cinema seems to be revolving around nowadays.
8/10DAY 2
There's nothing like a lively Friday evening with two wonderful movies and good food in between them (Actually, even without the movies, good food is a miracle by itself. Salutations to the first chefs of the world, who transformed a primary human need into a respectable art form. Also to the inventors of fire. And the wood ovens.)
An American Crime from 'American Independents' is a truly disturbing movie to say the least. It tells the story of a real American crime that took place in the state Indiana in mid 60s, in which a young girl was tortured to death by a mentally unstable woman and not far away from the eyes of everybody else who lived in the same neighborhood.
The idea that "a lot can happen in the middle of nowhere" proved to be quality thriller material when Fargo came out in 1996, which was also telling the story of a real but hard-to-believe crime. Indeed there are lots to explore in seemingly desolate parts of America, and 'what' happened in this specific story is indeed 'a lot'. But to me, the key scene in the whole movie is when the prosecutor asks one of the children from the same neighborhood why they too were torturing Sylvia Likens t
o which the child replies "I don't know". What makes the story (and therefore the movie) so uniquely disturbing and horrifying is not the psychopathic mother (let's face facts, we have many psychopaths today and many slasher movies to match them), nor the specific details of the torture she implemented but the fact that everybody else went along with it. It happens in a small neighborhood, probably suburbs where nearly everyone is aware of what's going on but choose either to ignore or to participate. Why? Tough question. It definitely has some links to the Milgram Experiment: 'obedience under pressure' conducted in Yale University also back in 60s, because it's mostly children or younger adults who contribute to the tortures; individuals to whom Gertrude Baniszewski is an authority figure. They comply, because they believe responsibility for their actions are not theirs but Gertrude's. But that's not really enough explanation as to why these normally peaceful characters turn into torture machines when they are together and have a common victim.
It's partly because the victim is 'legitimate'. Gertrude feels she doesn't have to look after her anymore since her family failed to send the payment she supposed to receive for it. Others feel it's legitimate because Gertrude says so. It's also because they see the reflections of their own sins on Sylvia Likens, who is as pure and guiltless as a young girl in her age can get. Their unorthodox sexual desires, insecurities, jealousies or maybe the inner evils that I fear is present in everyone surface as she enters their lives. Her calm, obedient and solemn character makes her even more vulnerable and expedites her abuse. The fact that she's an outsider is another factor, which inevitably reminds me of the xenophobic and abusive townsfolk in Dogville. There should definitely be a name for this syndrome.
The motives of those who choose to ignore are much easier to explain: They simply don't want trouble.
If the film would realize that its power lies within this idea of inner evils and not lose time with other drama conventions (like the confrontational scene at the end or the escape sequences) it would've been remarkable. Then instead of watching a solid movie about a disturbing crime, we would've watched a unique masterpiece that tells the story like no other. The experience would be similar to that of Requiem For A Dream, 2:37 or even Dogville. But from time to time, it lingers too much around side stories (such as the high school romances) that are not really related to the real horror that took place in Baniszewski house. Characters also aren't really well done, with a Sylvia Likens that appears to be the dictionary definition of 'innocent'. Same with Gertrude Baniszewski for 'evil' and Jennie Likens for 'victim'. No real dimensions for any of them. Still, it's much superior to the likes of The Girl Next Door by Gregory Wilson which also tell the same story (or a similar one) in an even more conventional way.
We were fortunate enough to have the director Tommy O'Haver with us in the screening . He was asked why the movie's name was 'An American Crime' to which he replied "Because it's a crime that took place in America" A more serious and less smartass answer would be "Because it's just a crime and not really an exception which makes it even more frightening". When you call the movie 'An American Crime' instead of something more fancy, you reduce the whole thing to ordinariness. Another commentator had focused on the word 'American', which was stupid, and accused Americans for "making the world a weird place to live in". Thankfully, some of this uncontrolled anger was lost in translation and O'Haver answered calmly that every nation has their own psychopaths and United States unfortunately is not short of them.
7/10
Sukiyaki Western Django from the 'Mined Zone' was a bag (or rather a sack) full of surprises, twists, turns, homages and hilarity, loosely based on the 1966 spaghetti western Django by Sergio Corbucci. It marks my first time with the cult director Takashi Miike and I can say that the whole experience has been overwhelmingly fun. It's basically a western flick with Japanese actors, talking English with Japanese accents. Even if you laugh at nothing else (which is quite improbable) their Johne Wayne lines will get you. The script, which is full of "ain't"s, "come again?"s, "mighty fine"s and many other classical western phrases, is also suitable for making a serious American western without changing anything in the dialogue. When a comedy material is that restrained and downright funny at the same time, you can't help but admire.
One of the biggest credits should go to Quentin Tarantino who, with flawlessly hilarious acting, sets the perfect tone for the movie at the very beginning and puts you in the right mood to absorb all the jokes that the film has for you later on. His persona as a cult director who is fond of B movies, westerns and films from far east also contributes. His interest in this film is not surprising, considering his fondness of the genre, director Takasi Miike and of Django, from which he himself was also influenced when directing the infamous ear-cutting scene in Reservoir Dogs. After bringing two far eastern movies The Protector (Tom Yum Goong) and Hero (Ying Xiong) to the attention of the western world, it's interesting to see him acting in one, instead of presenting.
Absurd comedy seems to be getting more and more dominant as 21st century progresses. The genre has its roots in legendary films like Monty Pythons, El Topo (which is another film I've seen in this festival), Brazil, Blues Brothers and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, the late absurd comedies seem to splitting into two opposite directions. On one side you have the quality material that is closer to British humor (i.e. Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, Breakfast on Pluto, Me and You and Everyone We Know, Palindromes) and on the other you have the countless number of movies that assume they are being hilarious by making fun of certain genres or classics without realizing how big failures they themselves are (i.e. Austin Powers Series, Johnny English, Epic Movie, Date Movie, Scary Movie, Meet the Spartans). Despite the endless homages present in Sukiyaki Western Django, it falls under the former category because of the quality and maturity with which these amusing reverences are presented. The difference between parody and mockery, between homage and farce is the fact that former ones tend to love the material they are satirizing instead of looking down on them. The recent Robert Rodriguez & Quentin Tarantino collaboration Grindhouse works uniquely because of the very same reason.
Sukiyaki Western Django is always smarter than you, especially if you are a movie buff and thinking you've seen them all. After Tarantino's 'introduction', the movie opens with a scene ideantical to the opening of Yojimbo (or For A Fistful of Dollars) with the rival gangs and a silent, charismatic hero character stuck in the middle of them. That caused an instant disappointment in me, because I'm into neither Kurosawa's nor Leone's version of the story and I thought I had stumbled into another unnecessary remake; only to be silenced when one of the gang leaders shouted "Don't play Yojimbo with us!". I won't give away anything else in order not to strip you from the joy of discovering them yourselves; but I can say this: whatever films you might have seen, the characters in this movie have seen them too. It's an interesting dynamic to watch.
Miike obviously doesn't care about the rules of the convention and tells the story in the way he thinks is the best. The result is a monument of originality and a hurricane of laughter that does not calm even after the end.
8/10
An American Crime from 'American Independents' is a truly disturbing movie to say the least. It tells the story of a real American crime that took place in the state Indiana in mid 60s, in which a young girl was tortured to death by a mentally unstable woman and not far away from the eyes of everybody else who lived in the same neighborhood.
The idea that "a lot can happen in the middle of nowhere" proved to be quality thriller material when Fargo came out in 1996, which was also telling the story of a real but hard-to-believe crime. Indeed there are lots to explore in seemingly desolate parts of America, and 'what' happened in this specific story is indeed 'a lot'. But to me, the key scene in the whole movie is when the prosecutor asks one of the children from the same neighborhood why they too were torturing Sylvia Likens t
o which the child replies "I don't know". What makes the story (and therefore the movie) so uniquely disturbing and horrifying is not the psychopathic mother (let's face facts, we have many psychopaths today and many slasher movies to match them), nor the specific details of the torture she implemented but the fact that everybody else went along with it. It happens in a small neighborhood, probably suburbs where nearly everyone is aware of what's going on but choose either to ignore or to participate. Why? Tough question. It definitely has some links to the Milgram Experiment: 'obedience under pressure' conducted in Yale University also back in 60s, because it's mostly children or younger adults who contribute to the tortures; individuals to whom Gertrude Baniszewski is an authority figure. They comply, because they believe responsibility for their actions are not theirs but Gertrude's. But that's not really enough explanation as to why these normally peaceful characters turn into torture machines when they are together and have a common victim.It's partly because the victim is 'legitimate'. Gertrude feels she doesn't have to look after her anymore since her family failed to send the payment she supposed to receive for it. Others feel it's legitimate because Gertrude says so. It's also because they see the reflections of their own sins on Sylvia Likens, who is as pure and guiltless as a young girl in her age can get. Their unorthodox sexual desires, insecurities, jealousies or maybe the inner evils that I fear is present in everyone surface as she enters their lives. Her calm, obedient and solemn character makes her even more vulnerable and expedites her abuse. The fact that she's an outsider is another factor, which inevitably reminds me of the xenophobic and abusive townsfolk in Dogville. There should definitely be a name for this syndrome.
The motives of those who choose to ignore are much easier to explain: They simply don't want trouble.
If the film would realize that its power lies within this idea of inner evils and not lose time with other drama conventions (like the confrontational scene at the end or the escape sequences) it would've been remarkable. Then instead of watching a solid movie about a disturbing crime, we would've watched a unique masterpiece that tells the story like no other. The experience would be similar to that of Requiem For A Dream, 2:37 or even Dogville. But from time to time, it lingers too much around side stories (such as the high school romances) that are not really related to the real horror that took place in Baniszewski house. Characters also aren't really well done, with a Sylvia Likens that appears to be the dictionary definition of 'innocent'. Same with Gertrude Baniszewski for 'evil' and Jennie Likens for 'victim'. No real dimensions for any of them. Still, it's much superior to the likes of The Girl Next Door by Gregory Wilson which also tell the same story (or a similar one) in an even more conventional way.
We were fortunate enough to have the director Tommy O'Haver with us in the screening . He was asked why the movie's name was 'An American Crime' to which he replied "Because it's a crime that took place in America" A more serious and less smartass answer would be "Because it's just a crime and not really an exception which makes it even more frightening". When you call the movie 'An American Crime' instead of something more fancy, you reduce the whole thing to ordinariness. Another commentator had focused on the word 'American', which was stupid, and accused Americans for "making the world a weird place to live in". Thankfully, some of this uncontrolled anger was lost in translation and O'Haver answered calmly that every nation has their own psychopaths and United States unfortunately is not short of them.
7/10
Sukiyaki Western Django from the 'Mined Zone' was a bag (or rather a sack) full of surprises, twists, turns, homages and hilarity, loosely based on the 1966 spaghetti western Django by Sergio Corbucci. It marks my first time with the cult director Takashi Miike and I can say that the whole experience has been overwhelmingly fun. It's basically a western flick with Japanese actors, talking English with Japanese accents. Even if you laugh at nothing else (which is quite improbable) their Johne Wayne lines will get you. The script, which is full of "ain't"s, "come again?"s, "mighty fine"s and many other classical western phrases, is also suitable for making a serious American western without changing anything in the dialogue. When a comedy material is that restrained and downright funny at the same time, you can't help but admire.
One of the biggest credits should go to Quentin Tarantino who, with flawlessly hilarious acting, sets the perfect tone for the movie at the very beginning and puts you in the right mood to absorb all the jokes that the film has for you later on. His persona as a cult director who is fond of B movies, westerns and films from far east also contributes. His interest in this film is not surprising, considering his fondness of the genre, director Takasi Miike and of Django, from which he himself was also influenced when directing the infamous ear-cutting scene in Reservoir Dogs. After bringing two far eastern movies The Protector (Tom Yum Goong) and Hero (Ying Xiong) to the attention of the western world, it's interesting to see him acting in one, instead of presenting.
Absurd comedy seems to be getting more and more dominant as 21st century progresses. The genre has its roots in legendary films like Monty Pythons, El Topo (which is another film I've seen in this festival), Brazil, Blues Brothers and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, the late absurd comedies seem to splitting into two opposite directions. On one side you have the quality material that is closer to British humor (i.e. Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, Breakfast on Pluto, Me and You and Everyone We Know, Palindromes) and on the other you have the countless number of movies that assume they are being hilarious by making fun of certain genres or classics without realizing how big failures they themselves are (i.e. Austin Powers Series, Johnny English, Epic Movie, Date Movie, Scary Movie, Meet the Spartans). Despite the endless homages present in Sukiyaki Western Django, it falls under the former category because of the quality and maturity with which these amusing reverences are presented. The difference between parody and mockery, between homage and farce is the fact that former ones tend to love the material they are satirizing instead of looking down on them. The recent Robert Rodriguez & Quentin Tarantino collaboration Grindhouse works uniquely because of the very same reason.
Sukiyaki Western Django is always smarter than you, especially if you are a movie buff and thinking you've seen them all. After Tarantino's 'introduction', the movie opens with a scene ideantical to the opening of Yojimbo (or For A Fistful of Dollars) with the rival gangs and a silent, charismatic hero character stuck in the middle of them. That caused an instant disappointment in me, because I'm into neither Kurosawa's nor Leone's version of the story and I thought I had stumbled into another unnecessary remake; only to be silenced when one of the gang leaders shouted "Don't play Yojimbo with us!". I won't give away anything else in order not to strip you from the joy of discovering them yourselves; but I can say this: whatever films you might have seen, the characters in this movie have seen them too. It's an interesting dynamic to watch.
Miike obviously doesn't care about the rules of the convention and tells the story in the way he thinks is the best. The result is a monument of originality and a hurricane of laughter that does not calm even after the end.
8/10
3 comments:
First of all, I should point out that I liked being referred to. Very much indeed. :)
On to The Orphanage. I really do believe you should get your hands on the movie, because even though I was prejudiced against the film because of its genre at the beginning (and you know how hard it is to overcome MY prejudices) I quite enjoyed it. Horror films of our times, to my belief, are either like anatomy lessons or cheap tricksters that try to scare you with crashing music or sudden appearances on the screen. The Orphanage on the other hand, really gets you tense just by its plot, and has a beautiful ending that leaves an aftertaste just like Pan's Labyrinth. (well, its director does present The Orphanage afterall.) Even though, at one point or another, an inner voice whispers "corny!" while you watch the movie, the experience is a nice one on the whole.
By the way, I believe that happens to be my first movie review, aside from the conversations you and I have after a screening.
I should also point out that I read your blog not only for the sake of our close friendship, but also for your witticism while presenting the reviews.
Keep up the good work! :)
Thanks for the contribution and encouraging comments. If you ever plan to write more reviews on movies, let me know. Maybe we can place some of them here :)
Maybe the top page that I have read this week :)
Post a Comment