Film review: Chasing Amy - moral rumblings

I turned this film off four years ago when I first tried to watch it. I wasn't prepared for the explicit sexual discussions.

This time, cringing as I plunged in, I found that the crudity did serve something of a point and I actually discerned how Kevin Smith's stated Catholicism comes into his film-making.

The exploration of coping with someone's past rang really true; it was authentic and well acted. The hypocrisy, the well intentioned lies and the sometimes irrational, unshakeable misery was well portrayed.

I disagree with Smith in some important senses; yes, being upset about someone else's sexual exploits is likely to spring from fear and insecurity, but I disagree with the conclusion he takes from that. I don't think promiscuity and depravity should be seen as the given and necessary elements of sexual politics. Holden SHOULD have moved on from her past and SHOULD NOT have been so hyocritical and unloving by treating her as a 'slut'. However, maybe the answer is that we take seriously the intimacy involved in sex and ask whether chastity and fidelity might be genuine and good options to take. It almost seems like Alyssa thought so, in the end.

The ending is well managed and the dialogue throughout is accomplished. Holden and his friend's latent homosexuality is clumisily done and cheapens the film a little, but that's only a minor flaw.

The strange thing is that this film will actually confront almost anyone who watches it, no matter their sexual politics; 'conservatives' for its explictness and expose of hypocrisy and 'free lovers' for its seeming endorsement of some of the misery and shortcomings of sexual licentiousness (sp).

I'm going to be careful who I recommend it to but 8/10.

 

Film review: The Good Thief: good... for a heist film

I don't like heist films; I wouldn't have watched this if it hadn't been the only film on at the right time. But this is a fresh version of a tired genre, and even if you don't follow (or enjoy) the complexities of crime plots (like me) you are likely to get a lot from this film.

Visually, it is constantly interesting. Monte Carlo is depicted in all its harsh beauty - the sun, the garish night, the ocean, the sand. Each scene ends in a lingering pause, like the afterimage one gets on one's vision after turning away from something bright. I like the effect.

Early in the film and then again later on Leonard Cohen's 'Boogie Street' is played, and this is worth the admission price alone for me. It is one of my favourite songs, and it suits the mood so perfectly - the washed up gambler, who won't let go of his youth despite being nearly seventy. In fact, Nick Nolte would make a good Leonard Cohen in a film, on the strength of his performance in this one -- but most strikingly he actually resembles W.H. Auden. I insist that when a biopic is made of Auden's life (hmmm, I wouldn't lay money on that) Nolte is cast in the lead for at least the declining years - a grizzled, straight face with mischief.

Despite the strength of Nolte's presence, he mummbles his lines and maybe it's just me, but I missed a lot of them.

One cannot forget to mention the Russian-American lead Nutsa K something, who is incredible as a seventeen year old rescued from the streets. Sexy, sad, profound all at once. My vote for Next Big Thing.

6/10

Film review: Ali G is better than this

This film is watchable but terribly cliched. I am going to choke if I ever have to see another film about an unlikely hero saving a community centre of some sort, ascending to power only to leave behind the girl he really loves... groan.

I suspect Ali G has been done over by Hollywood producers. In 'real life' - I mean, on his TV show - Ali G shows wit, satire and brilliance that is only hinted at in this film.

Don't judge Ali G by this film.

Film review: Boys Don't Cry - Chloe Sevigny is enchanting

I'm not as entranced as everyone else by Hilary Swank's transgender performance as Teena Brandon. Perhaps that's because Chloe Sevigny's performance knocked me out as Laney, the thoughtful girl stuck in redneck heartland. She's beautiful, ambivalent and complex.

More could be made of the brilliant title, and the song by the Cure, of which a (mediocre) cover appears in the jailbreak scene.

The direction is by turns simple and striving, and Peirce fails to capture me. I'm not sure why, because there aren't many false notes; but the voice of the film is disjointed. The fulness of Teena is never quite captured.

I'm glad the story isn't overly sensationalised or dramatised; it sits well as a realist piece with occasional notes of comedy and suburban drama.

6.5/10

Film review: A Mennonite Reflects on the film Witness

As a Mennonite laying claim to cousinhood to our fellow Christian pacifists, the Amish, I found it interesting to finally see Witness.

Mennonites are actually referred to in the film - we're the ones five miles away with telephones who have sold out to technology.

I'm glad that my compatriot Peter Weir had some genuine understanding and empathy with the Amish and didn't just play them for laughs. However, whether it was his doing or someone else's, there are these disappointing all-American patriot impulses that come through in the film's depiction of Det Book (Harrison Ford) and his relationship with the Amish.

Do the Amish want or need him to defend their honour when the blonde guy is splattered with icecream by the bully? I don't think so. What would have been much more interesting than an all-American intervention on the side of the 'goodies' to belt up the 'baddies', would've been a growing appreciation by Book for the Amish path of non-resistance. What does it actually mean for someone to turn his cheek to the enemy? This is something we are denied seeing because Book can't keep his hands to himself.

Of course, the film is not meant to be an apology for the Amish and especially not pacifism at large. Indeed, the Amish path is better named 'quietism'; for many Mennonites including myself, our response to violence and the world is not withdrawal, but faithful incarnation AND suffering witness - ie standing in the way of the tanks, so to speak.

In terms of sexuality, Weir is to be applauded for not having Book and the lead female take a 'roll in the hay' - that would have been so disappointing. But incredibly Weir avoids this mundane scenario (name five films where the two leads DON'T have sex?) and gives us some insight into the difficult response of denial.

Unfortunately, it is Book who does the denying. The Amish woman is the one who bares her breasts to him and it is Book who reacts morally... perhaps this is very clever in its complexity of character; but to me, the Amish woman is seen behaving just like any other woman would when spending several nights in the country with Harrison Ford. If the film had shown her more aware of the gravity of what she did (according to her own moral code) or if Book had realised the gravity of what he did in refusing sex with her, I would have been satisfied with the sexual politics of the film. Instead, we have what can be understood as a triumph of the status quo - American liberal democracy - where the hero courageously respects the individual's moral choices and doesn't interfere, even though he thinks differently himself. But maybe I'm being a too harsh on good old Peter, and I am glad he made it to Hollywood.

Film review: The 25th Hour: A mixed film but well worth watching

The trajectory of this film is difficult to trace. It's complex and perhaps muddled, but has many powerful scenes.

Edward Norton's hateful soliquoy about everyone and everything in the world of post9/11 New York is funny and telling. It's not easy to fit it into his character as seen in the rest of the film, but it's still good to watch.

The view from his friend's apartment of Ground Zero is a stunning piece of cinematography; there is a haunting epic undertow here that asserts itself at several points.

And just in case anyone was getting uncritically patriotic... there is the ambiguous and brilliant scene at the end where Norton's father tells of what could have been, setting forth a whole life on the run, and there is an amazing sense of seeing a whole film within a film in the space of five minutes. I like this Deluzian opening up of the narrative space.

Norton's annoying in this film; he's like a mistimed Woody Allen runs into an unstylish Patrick Bateman. But his girlfriend Naturale is a strong and entrancing figure; Anna Paquin is a teasing and entertaining teen; and Phillip Seymour Hoffman is always so good.

I like the character reversals and gaps also; the ambiguity of people is well depicted. One minute they're saying something; the next, when pushed, they say something else...

Worth watching. 7.5/10

Jude - Winterbottom and Winslett at their besst

Jude captures the bleak poignancy of Thomas Hardy's world. I agree with Roger Ebert when he said in his review of this film that Hardy was not a reformer but a mourner. I think this is a good way to approach his work - like The Cure, to make an unlikely comparison.

It is a brilliant film, composed carefully and creatively and scripted very well. The visuals are always interesting. Winslett is superb as Jude's lover, Sue. In fact, she creates one of the finest female roles ever seen on film - her character is funny, wise yet naive and a beautiful, deep soul. She brings to my mind Jane Gallagher from Catcher In The Rye.

It's difficult to adapt a novel which spans such a long time to film, and the disjuncture at times could be seen as a weakness. However, I'm more prepared to see it as a good representation of the passage of time.

This film has left me with a heartache. 9/10

Film review: Naked: Genesis-Revelation

Watching this film ten years after its release (I was 12, so forgive me for missing it) I have come to understand some of my favourite films and filmmakers a little better - for this is surely a landmark film that has influenced so much alternative cinema since.

I'm reminded particularly of Hal Hartley's films - a stranger/old friend returns and awkward, dysfunctional situations arise, in which the entirety of the world is confronted. Like Henry Fool, Johnny is an arrogant big talker philosopher tramp with a tendenancy toward sexual misconduct. Both are profound; Johnny in a whining way and Henry in a heroic way.

Think Tyler Durden as a skinny guy on speed. Think Holden Caulfield losing all compassion and hope ten years on.

Jeremy, the other male character, is another rapist, this one without any redeeming features. The character is so similar to Christian Bale in American Pscyho; perhaps Mike Leigh was influenced by Easton Ellis's book.

I was entranced and sickened by this film. Whatever Leigh's intent, thankfully it had some positive impact - I came away angrier at sexual abberance, the abuse of women and the gilding that goes on with these sort of issues in most Hollywood depictions.

9.5/10

Film review: IGBY: STOP COMPARING HIM TO HOLDEN CAULFIELD!

I was disappointed. This film has none of the character of The Catcher In The Rye. It shares plot similarities and some thematic similarities but it is a film with a strikingly different tangent.

While Holden Caulfield is a compassionate sixteen year old disgusted by the world he sees around him and miserable because he cares too much, Igby doesn't care about anything. While Holden has a delicious, quick witted ironic sense of humour, Igby has only occasional flashes of wit.

Holden tries to rub out all the swear words at his sister's school. I can just picture Igby doing the opposite - writing them there in the first place.

And yes, they are both lustful, but Holden's is an ambiguous sexuality that is beautifully portrayed - he mourns the loss of innocence involved in sex. He feels sorry for the prostitute and he tells her to get dressed. He tolerates Sally for a little while, but wouldn't have slept with her. In contrast, Igby is a nihilistic Valmontian figure (or potentially, when he grows up to be his brother Ollie) who has sex with whoever whenever.

Let me issue a statement from Jerome David Salinger, 'This movie's goddamn nasty. If there's one thing I hate, it's nastiness. Holden's about as similar to Igby as Jesus is to Pat Robertson.'

I don't hate this film, but it irks me all these comparisons to the greatest novel ever written.

Film review: The Sweetest Thing: False Virtue

Perhaps nothing sums up American popular culture and morality better than the false virtue of 'anything but...'. 'Anything but penetrative sex' for those dating; 'anything but nudity' for films.

Alas Cameron Diaz nude is the only thing that could have saved this unwatchable film, and it doesn't happen.

Film review: Spider: elegantly disturbing

Spider achieves everything Cronenburg seems to have intended. It is an accomplished and beautiful looking film. One will, however, inevitably ask 'Why?' 'Why make it?' And for the viewer: 'Why watch it?'

As an incursion into an insane world, it weaves well the past and present and the subjective world which in truth we all live in.

Such is the realness of this depiction that there is hardly a redemptive glint to be found. The exercise is taken for its own sake. Which is perhaps refreshing or perhaps nihilistic.

I like the visuals, the dark industrial landscape of memory and experience. This is so well achieved that it is inspiring, potentially uplifting despite the overwhelming opposite trajectory of theme.

The performances are powerful, although sometimes Fiennes looks like he's trying just a little too hard.

7.5/10, with a 'BUT' attached.

Film review: The Quiet American: A complex meditation in the epic mode

The Quiet American is a challenging and beautiful film about a British journalist, American medico and Vietnamese woman caught in the three way struggle of French, Communist and 'third way' forces in 1950s Vietnam.

The filming is beautiful - each frame is carefully shot with an epic, exotic progression. The dialogue is witty; the score appropriate.

I haven't read Graham Greene's novel on which the film was based, but the literary strength of his work was still evident to me: here is not a heavy handed 'message' film, but a subtle, delicate film which interweaves the personal and political. When and when not is detachment a moral response? What kind of action is moral? And just when those questions might be resolved for the viewer, Noyce makes a final twist of the knife to question even those hard won conclusions.

9/10

Film review: The Titanic - There's no underestimating the public's taste

The Titanic has the benefit of a superb cast - Kate Winslett and Leo Di Caprio are very capable actors, although Billy Zane is a little suspect - and a usually interesting director, James Cameron.

Alas James Cameron should stick to big guns and robots. The script is weak and the direction is unoriginal. Popular directors trying to make a 'serious' name for themselves seem to think that making a three hour film will do the trick... but usually it only stupifies me.

Big, dumb, Hollywood... need we say any more?

5/10

Film review: can't trick me - poor scripts show through any sfx you can throw at us

By the time I saw this film, it had been hyped up for over a year and discussed in three sermons. (Christians like to think they're 'cool' and engaging with contemporary culture.)

I found the script so appallingly cliched that it was barely watchable. Add to this the fact that it rehashes a whole lot of ideas written years ago by Phil Dick, William Gibson and others, and we have a major boredom alert. (For me, that is. Everyone else seems to love it.)

Film review: The Myth of Redemptive Violence

This a film flawed by its simplistic acceptance of the myth of redemptive violence. Man kills man. Dead man's son grows up to wreak revenge... It's interesting that both Scorsese and American Beauty's director went down this path for their most recent films - Road to Perdition is uncannily similar in theme, motivation, and tone to Gangs of New York.

The Shakespearean ambivalence - saving his enemy's life - is believable, I think - or at least beautiful. But all this honour amongst greedy, violent men? Hmmm.

Think Cormac McCarthy, but not as smart. Think a story that could have been lifted from a B grade western given an incredible sprawling Scorsese treatment. With the welcome addition of political complexity - this isn't just about individuals; it's about much larger, more difficult powers and movements. The Irish were mistreated and they in turn persecuted the blacks who were being protected by 'the natives'. The truth is, no-one comes out clean.

Cameron Diaz is charming, beautiful and has a presence in this film. Leo wasn't at his best, but neither was he bad. And Daniel was very fine.

Film review: Unintentionally hilarious

Theology aside (I'll get to that later) this is an apalling film. The score is absurdly overwrought - one gets the sense one is watching Days of Our Lives or some other daytime soap. The script is atrociously cliched. The actors themselves seem embarrassed about the film and its ludicrous plot.

As for its theology... what can I say but, only in America? Funny that the antichrist has a (Russian?) accent. Funny that the antichrist is attempting to disarm all the nuclear weapons in the world. Funny that he's attempting to feed the third world. Funny that his personal immorality is used to dismiss his public actions. Funny that the American president got raptured. (Must've been a Republican?)

Rapture theology twists a couple of marginal verses from different parts of the Bible (Thessalonians and Luke!) and then cuts and pastes them into the Revelation of John to come out with this patriotic, right wing, no-brainer conspiracy theory.

Shame on you Tim La Haye. Shame on whoever directed this tripe.

Film review: Man From Elysian Fields - Deeply flawed yet steeply endowed

The last half hour of this film redeems what was a bleak nearly funny and nearly moving start. Perhaps its suffers from an unsympathetic producer or music director, because the narrative and the mood is confused. Mick Jagger is great in this film. The twists and complexity of character revealed toward the end lift the film from the quagmire and I was at last moved in the Dostoyeviskian ending.

If it's 'fresh', it's ambiguously. As a writer, I like to see films about other artists and to anyone of a similar mind, I think there is a worthwhile story of art and morality just beneath the fluffed direction and script. 6.5/10

PS: Has anyone else noticed the strange co-incidence of names between 'Luther Fox' and the 'Luther Fox' in Tim Winton's acclaimed novel, Dirt Music ? I feel sure there must be a common source behind both...

Film review: Celebrity - One of Woody Allen's Best

Celebrity is a very underrated film. It is full of the wit and neurosis which has made Woody Allen famous, and offers a bigger picture than normal - perhaps not having himself in the film encouraged Woody to look past his own belly button.

The ensemble cast give, without exception, fine perfomances. Judy Davis is frustratingly enchanting as an indecisive, low self esteem Annie Hall type who cannot accept good luck.

Kenneth Branagh has Woody's expression and demeanour down pat. His character is constantly hilarious and evil.

The circular structure of the film is particularly poignant, so true to the way we live our lives waiting for the next break.

Let's stop bagging one of the US's finest film-makers. Or at least, bag him for forgettable comedies like Jade Scorpion (2001) and Small Time Crooks (2000), not this accomplished classic.

8.5/10

Film review: Kiss or Kill - A fast paced, stylish and intelligent thriller

As an Australian, Kiss or Kill is my favourite Australian film. It is a taut stylish thriller -- indeed, it is the end of the thriller genre, because it has taken the genre to its perfect extreme.

The jagged Fellini jumpcuts are just part of the fresh, jolty style. The dialogue is improvised, and although the actors end up swearing annoyingly often, this technique adds an exciting realness to the script.

There are touches of humour in here as well as moments of bleak perversity. Overall, it is easily Bennett's best film, sort of what he was trying to redo in the disappointing Tempted. Exciting viewing -- sharp, fast and to the point.