Celluloid #29

In Theatres

Rachel Getting Married (2008) Demme - Kym is allowed to leave rehab to attend her sister's wedding. The wedding itself is the most multicultural/postracial gathering you will probably ever see, and in a way rings false. Also, this film is trying so hard to be cool. The lead singer of TV on the Radio is the groom, and random musicians are around to play music all throughout the film. That being said, I actually did enjoy this film. I'm a sucker for family drama that rears its head at special occasions, and the two lead performances by both Anne Hathaway and Rosemarie DeWitt are quite good. There isn't a ton of plot, and many scenes are just drawn out observations of wedding activities...dancing, eating, awkward toasting, etc., but nonetheless pretty and was worth my $3. 4/5

Slumdog Millionaire (2008) Boyle - A young man from the slums appears on the Indian version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" and is one question away from winning the maximum amount. There is controversy over whether he is cheating or not, and the film itself turns a bit gimmicky by showing scenes from his life to demonstrate how he happened to know the answers. Primarily this is a love story. A story about fate and people destined to be together. Not exactly my favorite type of story or portrayal of love, but since you are asked to suspend disbelief fairly early on, I just went with it. The ending gets really sappy, to almost vomit-inducing degree and is salvaged in my mind by the ironic-seeming dance number (I don't think I'm spoiling anything...) I think the praise for this film is a bit extreme, but a fun movie anyway. 3.5/5

Zabriskie Point (1970) Antonioni - Oh man. This out of print film from Antonioni was not very well received upon its release, and its easy to see why. For the most part, it feels like a generic throwaway film from the 1970s...essentially a road movie with bad dialogue. However, there are stand-alone scenes, often that have nothing to do with the plot that remind you that Antonioni is still at the helm. An old cowboy sitting alone at a bar. Sex scenes in the sand. Long takes of alien desert landscapes. Also, this ending is right near the top of this list for most satisfyingly bizarre endings (keeping company with Herzog's Stroszek) 3.5/5

In Home

Encounters at the End of the World (2007) Herzog - Herzog's Antarctica documentary about the scientists who live on that hostile continent. Of the one thousand inhabitants, most seem to come from the United States, and all seem a little off. Herzog is still obsessed with the terror inherent in nature, and still keeps his camera on interviewees for longer than one is comfortable with. It's nothing new in his repertoire. 4/5

4 Little Girls (1997) Lee - A Spike Lee documentary about the civil rights struggle in Birmingham during the early 1960s. The film centers around the events of the 16th Street Baptist Church and a bombing that resulted in the deaths of four girls. 4/5

In a Year with 13 Moons (1978) Fassbinder - A very personal film for Fassbinder about a man who undergoes a sex change to attract the attention of the man he loves. There are some terrifying scenes in a slaughterhouse, one involving auto-erotic asphyxiation, and plenty to emphasize a profound sense of loneliness. 3.5/5

2008 Highlights

Films Released this Year

A Christmas Tale (Desplechin)

Let the Right One In (Alfredson)

Man on Wire (Marsh)

Milk (Van Sant)

My Winnipeg (Maddin)

Synechdoche, New York (Kaufman)

Films New to Me This Year

After the Wedding (Bier/2007)

the Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Dominik/2007)

Devils on the Doorstep (Jiang/2002)

Double Life of Veronique (Kieslowski/1991)

the Face of Another (Teshigahara/1966)

La Strada (Fellini/1954)

Le Samourai (Melville/1967)

Mean Streets (Scorsese/1973)

Rififi (Dassin/1955)

Shadows (Cassavetes/1959)

the Silence (Bergman/1963)

Woman in the Dunes (Teshigahara/1964)

A Woman is a Woman (Godard/1961)

Art Garfunkel Memorial Reading List (July - December 2008)

With only about a week left in the year, it's time for another summary of the books I have completed in the last six months (which worked out nicely symmetrical: 35 books for each half-year)

1. the Quick and the Dead - Joy Williams (July 4)

2. the Collected Stories - Amy Hempel (July 6)

3. Labyrinths - Jorge Luis Borges (July 16)

4. Other People's Children - Lisa Delpit (July 15)

5. Midnight Movies - Jim Hoberman (July 18)

6. American Pastoral - Philip Roth (July 27)

7. the Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald (July 24)

8. Snows of Kilimanjaro - Ernest Hemingway (July 28)

9. the Killer Inside Me - Jim Thompson (Aug 3)

10. the Talented Mr Ripley - Patricia Highsmith (Aug 11)

11. My Sister's Hand in Mine (Collected Works) - Jane Bowles (Aug 12)

12. Pick-Up - Charles Willeford (Aug 16)

13. Down There - David Goodis (Aug 24)

14. the Real Cool Killers - Chester Himes (Aug 27)

15. the Beautyful Ones are Not Yet Born - Ayi Kwei Armah (Aug 27)

16. Jakob von Gunten - Robert Walser (Sep 3)

17. Zazie in the Metro - Raymond Queneau (Sep 11)

18. Giovanni's Room - James Baldwin (Sep 17)

19. Hopscotch - Julio Cortazar (Sep 28)

20. the Widow - George Simenon (Sep 28)

21. In Youth is Pleasure - Denton Welch (Oct 5)

22. In Dreams Begin Responsibilities - Delmore Schwartz (Oct 7)

23. Wonderful Wonderful Times - Elfriede Jelinek (Oct 12)

24. Franny and Zooey - JD Salinger (Oct 19)

25. the Ruined Map - Kobo Abe (Oct 23)

26. Amok - Stefan Zweig (Oct 26)
27. Up Above the World - Paul Bowles (Oct 29)
28. Housekeeping - Marilynne Robinson (Nov 9)
29. Best African American Essays: 2009 (Nov 15)
30. Tidewater Tales - John Barth (Nov 19)
31. Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters & Seymour: an Introduction - JD Salinger (Nov 28)
32. 2666 - Roberto Bolano (Dec 14)
33. Whatever It Takes - Paul Tough (Dec 14)
34. Nine Stories - JD Salinger (Dec 20)
35. the Glass Bees - Ernst Junger (pending)

Highlights for the year: Raise High the Roof Beam... (Salinger), If on a winter's night a traveler (Calvino), Snows in Kilimanjaro (Hemingway), Zazie in the Metro (Queneau), the Sheltering Sky(Bowles), the Killer Inside Me (Thompson)
Favorite Nonfiction: Against Interpretation - Susan Sontag; Women, Race, and Class - Angela Davis
Total Books read in 2008: 70; approx. 216,000 pages

Celluloid #28

In Theater

Boy (Shonen) (1969) Oshima - Oshima films are a little difficult to come by, so I was excited to see that the PFA is showing several of his films this month. Boy is a bizarre film about a family in which the mother and the older son both try to get hit by cars in order to claim insurance money or payoffs. This is the sole means of income for the family, but the father, especially, likes to spend money like he has a lot. Sometimes "Boy" also likes to pretend he is an alien and a few times he tries to run away without success. The film is really beautiful, interspersing black and white scenes and occasional monochromatic shots. The scenes in Hokkaido (in the snow) are really lovely. It's also worth mentioning that the music was composed by a Japanese avant-garde artist and is quite striking. 4.5/5

In Home

Aliens (1986) Cameron - The original was far superior, and Cameron just has to get those one liners in...Ripley is found 57 years later and her company questions whether the aliens really existed. Bill Paxton is a douchebag. Paul Reiser is an even bigger douchebag. Ripley agrees to return to the hostile planet to destroy the aliens and figure out what happened to the colony who had settled there. Lots of rehashed bits from last time, but still a worthwhile sequel. 3.5/5

Eastern Promises (2007) Cronenberg - A young unidentified Russian girl dies giving birth. The midwife comes across the girl's diary and wants to get in translated in order to find clues to locate relatives. The diary is connected to some shady dealings with the Russian mafia leading to a ridiculously violent ending. 3.5/5

Europa Europa (1990) Holland - Solomon is Jewish and has to flee Poland at the outbreak of WW2. He loses his brother and is sent to a youth camp for Stalin communist youth where he becomes indoctrinated. When the Russians are attacked, Solly has to lie to save his life and claims he is a purebred German. All the while, having to keep his circumcised penis hidden...3.5/5

Shock Corridor (1963) Fuller - A reporter on the hunt for a Pulitizer Prize gets himself admitted to a mental institute in order to solve a murder. Unfortunately, the crazies begin to rub off on Johnny and he starts to believe that his girlfriend is really his sister whom he has impure thoughts about. She approves shock treatment therapy. 3.5/5

In News

*John Krasinski (aka Jim from "The Office") has directed and reportedly acts in a film version of David Foster Wallace's Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

*Michael Winterbottom has new film being released very shortly called Genova

Celluloid #27

In Theatres

A Christmas Tale (2008) Desplechin - In a basic summation, this film feels like a cross between The Royal Tenenbaums and the Swedish film, The Celebration. Dysfunctional family drama abounds. Junon is dying from blood cancer and can only prolong her life with a bone marrow transfusion. Her son Henri (estranged, kinda a bastard, and played by the main character in Diving Bell and the Butterfly) and Paul, her bitchy daughter's crazy son are the only two who are eligible to donate. That's the main drama, but side stories involving affairs and fistfights also pop up. Abel, the old man/dad/grandpa is awesome, wearing his pants well above his waist and listening to free jazz. The movie is in French and I would guess that some aspects didn't translate completely, especially Elizabeth's monologues, but overall an enjoyable, if somewhat disturbing film. 4/5

In Home

Black Snake Moan (2006) Brewer - I'm really not sure how you are supposed to view this film, or what you are supposed to take away from it. On one hand I want to treat it like an exploitation film, but there are too many moments that I think are meant to be sincere. Anyway, Rae is a nymphomaniac, supposedly as a result of being molested as a child. Lazarus is a blues guitarist and singer whose wife has left him for his younger brother. He takes Rae in when he finds her beat up and left for dead on the side of the road. Many times she seems almost possessed and has fever visions, so Lazurus chains her to his radiator. Religion plays some unclear role, and Justin Timberlake plays the other half of the fucked up couple. 3/5

Blood In, Blood Out (1993) Hackford - I figured it was time to see this apparently oft-quoted dramatization of Latino life in East Los Angeles. This movie is about as melodramatic as things get and the dialogue is so ridiculous (saying something in Spanish, then directly saying the same exact thing in English) plus it clocks in at 3 hours! Two brothers and their half white cousin grow up together in East L.A. as a part of the Vatos Locos gang. One is an artist, but wastes his talent with heroin; one joins the marines to avoid jail time and later becomes an undercover cop. Miklo, the cousin, goes to San Quentin twice and gets in deep with race wars while incarcerated. 2.5/5

Chungking Express (1994) Wong - A brokenhearted young man, given to excess and obsession meets a woman involved in drug smuggling. He is a cop and unaware of her livelihood, decides to fall in love with her. In the second story, also involving a cop who has been recently dumped, a young deli counter girl who likes to listen to loud music develops a crush on him. The film is simple, but energetic and pretty. The two love stories avoid cliches and the pop music is used well (all though I probably never need to hear "California Dreamin' ever again). 4/5

the Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005) Jones - A modern day western directed by Tommy Lee Jones. A crooked border patrol agent accidentally kills Melquiades, an illegal immigrant. His young wife is bored and spends her free time hanging out with Mexicans. Pete is Melquiades (the deceased) friend, and in a streak of vigilante justice, captures the border patrol agent and takes him on a journey to Melquiades hometown to bury him. 3/5

Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995) Solondz - I love this perfectly awkward film. It has to be a cult classic...Dawn Wiener and her outfits, lines that you should feel a little bad for laughing at like "I'm gonna rape you at 3 o'clock" and the "dignity speech." Steve Rodgers is such a tool, middle school sucks, and suburbia is absurd and painful. 5/5

In News

*I think John and I might be the only two people interested in this, but Bruno Heller has been in talks about bringing HBO's Rome to movie theatres in the form of a film to pick up where season two left off

*Scorsese is directing a new film called Falcon's Tale having to do with cops, drugs, the FBI..typical Scorsese fare (especially since the screenwriter of The Departed is also on board for this project)

*Guillermo del Toro is apparently working on a stop-motion animation adaptation of Roald Dahl's The Witches