Glorious Absinthe Prostitution This film is crafted of many common narrative elements: The rich cad versus the poor lad for the girl (with the conceit that love is unavailable to the wealthy ‘unreal’ class) The girl who must renounce her love to save her lover (only to lose her own life) The notion of players… Continue reading Moulin Rouge! (2001)
Tag: p2001
Comments first posted in 2001
American Pie (2001)
Jericho, my Butt! A very interesting film given some realities: this is successfully engineered to tap some cultural acupuncture point — and it does so after the first film provided valuable information about what audiences thought funny. The first film was uncentered by design: the idea with such things is to cheaply provide a model… Continue reading American Pie (2001)
American Pie (1999)
Slow Times at Ridgemont Sex jokes are never about sex, instead about class. It is possible to make a comedy that is sincerely about high schoolers, and because they are obsessed with sex, be about sex. ‘Ridgemont High.’ This has no sincerity or charm. It is aimed at the class it makes fun of. Posted… Continue reading American Pie (1999)
Enter the Void (2009)
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)
The Bone Collector (1999)
About Being About This thoroughly mundane film is based on a story woven around a very intelligent idea. Many films these days are written by writers writing about writing. And so it is here. The detective story is a modern invention, invented by Poe and popularized by Conan Doyle’s Sherlock. The notion was invented as… Continue reading The Bone Collector (1999)
Memento (2000)
Skin as Photograph I rate this very high on my scale, primarily for its ambition and intellect. Usually I get annoyed at IMDB comments that report the story as if it were important, but it is here: —Lenny’s home is attacked, wife raped, him injured. He develops this ‘condition’ which has no physical cause. In… Continue reading Memento (2000)
Snatch (2000)
Style, But to What End? This kind of film superficially resembles what I really yearn for: heavy cinematic qualities in the filmmaking. I look for a harmony of vision among how the camera is managed, the edits are composed, the music punctuates the image. Snatch has this, and sustains a pace almost frenetically conducted. I… Continue reading Snatch (2000)
Crash (1996)
Not Sufficiently Extreme ‘Fight Club’ meets ‘Zed and Two Noughts’ meets ‘Bladerunner’ meets ‘Fearless’ meets ‘Leaving Las Vegas.’ I celebrate the intelligent vision of this film. But ‘Fight Club’ wove a more engaging neurosis; ‘Zed’ had a stronger disturbing vision; ‘Bladerunner’ a more thorough sense of programmed sex; ‘Fearless’ more visceral crashes; and ‘Leaving Las… Continue reading Crash (1996)