Tomorrow Never Knows One of our next great filmmakers, yet another South American, makes a film about French filmmaking. That once great tradition was compromised in the sixties by a burst of non-sustainable creativity that ate itself. A decent enough metaphor is that cinema overdosed on introspective drugs. Now we get a film that both… Continue reading Enter the Void (2009)
Tag: 2000s
Films released in the 2000s
2046 (2004)
Gloved Hand If Welles, Tarkovsky and Kurosawa are the three past masters. Greenaway, Medem and Kar-Wai are the three greatest living filmmakers. All three weave incredibly deep and personal stories which bleed into the act of their creating the film. Each create striking images that resonate deeply, far beyond mere metaphor or exposition. Each worry… Continue reading 2046 (2004)
Anatomy of Hell (2004)
The Grace of Stupidity, the Beauty of Blood Some of us are more nimble than others at being and some of us hide it well, but it is the human condition to be stupid. We all are and that’s that. The best we can hope for is to find those that do it gracefully. Make… Continue reading Anatomy of Hell (2004)
Poirot, Appointment with Death (2008)
The Gathering Christie invented so much, and much of that has found its way into the film vocabulary. As with Conan Doyle, one can hardly work on her material without taking chances. Part of the risk is readers who will be upset with the translation to film. But others, like myself, may be annoyed not… Continue reading Poirot, Appointment with Death (2008)
Junebug (2005)
July This is ostensibly a movie in the old, Cassavetes tradition. I’m not a fan of Cassavetes, because he wasn’t very good at being himself. But what he indicated was a certain honesty, a sure translucency of character, beings so open that we inhabit them instead of watching actors do so. And that’s what this… Continue reading Junebug (2005)
The Business of Strangers (2001)
The Disconnected. So much of life consists of invisible missed opportunities. Usually, they are invisible because what we see appears so competent that it seems only natural that it be as it is. This is such an opportunity. Our two characters here are presented competently. Everything else in the project is acceptable. It has a… Continue reading The Business of Strangers (2001)
Keeping Up With the Steins (2006)
Unsacred Feather Suppose you are a fairly powerful man in TeeVee, and have some standing in the movie world. Suppose also that you have been a poor father to a son that is fairly incompetent at life. He wants to become a filmmaker, and you have big ideas for him that work against his abilities.… Continue reading Keeping Up With the Steins (2006)
Appalossa (2008)
Shifty Sometimes you can see the notes of the writer in a film. It is as if he or she sat down with the intent of accomplishing certain things and wrote a story. But instead of the story, we still see the unerased list of goals. When the writer isn’t a real writer, but an… Continue reading Appalossa (2008)
The Amityville Horror (2005)
The House I don’t know why writers and filmmakers so often miss the point. The genre is the haunted house movie, and it exists for a very good reason. The most primitive fears are not of things or people but of situations. Of situations, and the ones we remember are fears of places. It isn’t… Continue reading The Amityville Horror (2005)
A Single Man (2009)
Julianne’s Floating There’s something offensive about this, and it is a rather delicious experience finding out what it is. Of course, there is the feint, the whole business about gay love being unremarkable. Even ten years ago, most of the American public would have struggled a bit with this. But already it is a non-issue,… Continue reading A Single Man (2009)