Stream of consciousness warning. The following have NOT been edited or checked for relevance.
SOME OF THE FILMS I WATCHED (IN ORDER) DURING OUR TOFINO GETAWAY
THE WEATHER MAN
Very good film. Not at all what I expected (thanks Rob). A very good slice of an interesting and authentic life. Authenticity, the thing that most contemporary pictures lack in almost every frame.
HEIGHTS
I was wrong about Heights. I thought I didn’t like it. Although it’s flawed and “over processed” in the writing, it’s actually pretty good. It does, however, take itself a bit more seriously than I think it probably should.
THREE TIMES
A stunning work each and every time. I prefer café lumiere and Millennium Mambo, but the first third of Three Times brings Days of Being Wild immediately to mind (and that’s a very good thing). The last third is very Mambo-esque. The silent film section in the middle relies a bit to heavily on politics for its drama (for me), but it’s still incredible to look at. I’m not sure the middle third brings enough to the overall film to warrant its inclusion over a more interesting possibility. If the intent is to create something bigger in the mind of the audience than the three parts individually provide, I did need a bit more from the middle section. But it’s still a fucking champion film.
SIDEWAYS
Still funny. Thomas Hayden Church is one hell of a character. The script is paced incredibly well, the comedy and drama so well parceled out. If you fast forward the “academy” moment (and YOU HAVE TO), that whole pinot grape speech section with Miles and Maya speaking in ridiculous unrealistic arch poetic “after school special meets General hospital” language, it’s a great film. I’m not crazy about the split screen montage, but that section is so minor and thankfully short.
FORTY SHADES OF BLUE
When you make a film, so many elements have to fall into place to make it a good one. Good casting, good performances by well cast talent, good script, good locations, good weather, good technicians, and good decisions made at good times. This film definitely features some good performances by a cast that, although they are almost perfect in their onscreen performances, are generally miscast. Also, it doesn’t really add up to much, emotionally, until the wife of Rip Torn’s character’s son arrives an hour and twenty minutes in. A watchable film, but, because this is exactly my “type” of film on the surface, I was hoping for more.
C.R.A.Z.Y
This is a Canadian coming of age film. One of the best Canadian films on this subject in any language. Better than Mon Oncle Antoine? Perhaps...
LONESOME JIM
I had heard bad things. They were wrong. This is a much better, a much much better version of Garden State. It’s Garden State, New Waterford Girl, Trees Lounge and The Celebration all wrapped up and delivered in shaky Dogme style by Buscemi. Oh, it also features an interesting drug character (very difficult to pull off today), a cross between Jack Black in Jesus’ Son and Brad Pitt in True Romance.
NO DIRECTION HOME
Bob Zimmerman is cool. A really great candid rock n’ roll hurricane. Could have used WAY MORE 1966-2006 and WAY LESS 1950’s and early 1960’s. Amen.
THE CONSTANT GARDENER
Constantly boring. Never surprising. Couldn’t they have spent all of these millions on medical aid for Africa instead of making some ham-fisted thriller that tells us nothing we don’t understand 100% completely already about how the bad drug companies and the bad governments are out for money, even third world money? Wow. That’s shocking. They’re out for money? Write a cheque to some humanitarian organization and please DO NOT make any more movies like this.
LIE WITH ME
Boring softcore Canadian porn with significantly less gravity/meaning than regular softcore porn, and more cheese than a block of cheddar melted on top of a super size volume of the very worst/best of teen angst poetry. Words cannot describe how absolutely meaningless this film is. But they are all we've got.
DISTANT
Turkish Grand Prix winner at Cannes 2002. Istanbul looks great in the winter. Chilly. The director, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, is a fan of Ozu and Tarkovsky and it shows. It’s not quite The Return, but it’s a VERY well photographed, slow moving, interesting character sketch in a Chekhovian fashion (pass me the Samovar). The inner life of the characters is reflected in the faces of the actors in long still shots. There is very little dialogue and very little that I didn’t love. The director and the notes on the back of the box claim that the film is funny, but I didn’t laugh. I loved it without laughing. Also, I could have used a lot more from the female characters. There were many opportunities to illuminate these interesting Turkish women. This film was shot almost entirely with available light. Fucking beautiful photography. Nuri says he tries to find a “golden point” for the camera. I love this term. There’s one place that the camera belongs for each scene, and only one place. It’s nice to hear somebody else say this.
THE DAY A PIG FELL INTO THE WELL
Hong Sang-Soo is interested in many of the same things I find interesting here and in most of his films. The complicated nature of this film, the way that the characters are related to each other, makes it tough to get during the first few viewings (this is my second).Much isn't revealed (cleared up) until the last quarter of the film. I'll need another couple of passes here.
WOMAN ON THE BEACH (saw this here in Vancouver not in Tofino)
Hong Sang-Soo's latest is almost his best. Turning gate retains the title, but wow...it was close. The first 3 quarters of this film find Sang-Soo in Kieslowski territory. Although, as usual, there is a writer/filmmmaker at the heart of the story, and there are two distinct halves of the film, the poignancy rating is high. The dialogue is almost Godard, the concept Kieslowski, but the framework is standard Hong Sang-Soo. If it wasn't for the ending (which I will not give away here), this would be a perfect film, adultery, love triangle(s), beaches, and coincidences. Top notch.
