The Cleansing Timing is everything. I saw this in a stressed state, looking for escape. I saw it in a grand old theatre with large, excellently tuned equipment. I saw it not knowing anything at all about it. And I loved it. Yes, I know people do not like Nic Cage. And I know many… Continue reading Knowing (2009)
Tag: p2009
Comments first posted in 2009
Adaptation (2002)
Abject Folding I am writing a book about “folding” in film. That’s a term I have coined to describe all the parallel levels that have become part of the film vocabulary, among them self-reference, reflection self-aware irony and timeshifting. I love these films. They are always about ideas and many are incredibly sophisticated in concept,… Continue reading Adaptation (2002)
Adam (2009)
Stuttered Beginnings I found this to be offensive in that mild way that occurs so often. Storytellers sometimes have to make decisions that cost the viewer something — the worst kind of cheat because it pushes the pain onto the unwitting. Is it a net good to show a newsphoto of a girl over her… Continue reading Adam (2009)
Action Boys (2008)
Dorm Room Trifles I saw this at the Melbourne International Film Festival. It was fantastic in large part because it was new. I saw it paired with “Theater of War,”, whose idea was that little people enable unhealthy societies. That film presumed that structure in film and theater was what powered narrative in individuals and… Continue reading Action Boys (2008)
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
The Pamela Urge I saw this with ‘Borat’. It didn’t work for me. Neither comedy did; the reasons seem related. If you put distance between something and it’s source, then you have opportunity for low humour. The closer you get to the original or the reference, the sharper you have to be on both sides… Continue reading Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
Gone Baby Gone (2007)
Baby Arrives I love it when I am wrong, and someone that I think doesn’t matter surprises me. Ben Affleck put together some snappy lines in “Good Will,” but that project was so ordinary in form it self-destructed. His acting is generally silly. There isn’t a role he hasn’t deflated. But here he does three… Continue reading Gone Baby Gone (2007)
Visual Acoustics (2008)
Speaking Space Here’s more about the challenge of architecture and cinema. It is not trivial, the problem of what spaces mean in films? What narrative role does it play? What vocabulary is relevant? This film is rather mundane in most ways. It is a biography of a fellow of influence. He’s quirky, but always in… Continue reading Visual Acoustics (2008)
A Separate Peace (2004)
Parallel Branches Some books seem natural for high school study. They need to be simple to read, but contain enough ambiguity and analogy to show students that real literature is more than a plot. If the book is set in high school, so much the better. I think the existence of this market niche is… Continue reading A Separate Peace (2004)
A Girl’s Own Story (1984)
Her Very Own I recently watched “In the Cut,” and found its connectives strange and exciting. So I went to this to see them when young and raw. Supposedly, this is Campion’s first long form film. It didn’t quite work as a film the first time because it is so fractionated. Her earlier “Passionless Moments”… Continue reading A Girl’s Own Story (1984)
A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
Remote Brits I watched this recently, and also saw it when it was new. At the time, I suppose it was funny. Now I do not, and I think perhaps it is because the center of gravity for humour has changed. Each of the Pythonista’s had a particular strength. Together, they were terrific, or at… Continue reading A Fish Called Wanda (1988)