Hello Blogging My Old Friend

Wow! I hadn't realized how long my hiatus was until I started working on this post. Thankfully, I've got the whole interweb thing figured out and finally working so I will not be away for so long again. Can I just say I really missed you?

So much has happened, too much really, that I'm just going to focus on the films shown at my eponymous movie club. I'm really trying to take it back to my original intention so we are alternating between older/classic films and more modern fare. This year, I'm also trying to focus on a different genre each month and choosing a film that perfectly encaptures it.

Where we left off:

"The Apartment" (1960)
Director: Billy Wilder (Seven Year Itch, Sunset Blvd., Some Like It Hot, legend)
Starring: Shirley MacLaine, Jack Lemmon, Fred MacMurray
Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Art Director, Best Editing. Nominations: Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Cinematography, Best Sound

"The Apartment" is one of my favourite movies. I can remember seeing it when I was fairly young (big shocker) and didn't know what it was about. Now, it amazes me that this movie was made at all and I wonder if it could still be made successfully today. What would it be rated? Surely not the PG it received from the Hays office.

"I'm too old for that sort of thing, I mean; in a VW."

Bud (Lemmon) is a young man trying to work his way to the top at work. Unfortunately, he's a bit misguided and lets executives use his apartment for their trysts. When his boss Mr. Sheldrake begins to use it, he brings over the colourful and carefree elevator operator Bud likes named Fran (MacLaine). Soon it becomes apparent that this scheme isn't going to work out and Bud must come to terms with the consequences of standing up for the girl of his dreams and potentially losing his career.

"The mirror is broken."
"Yes, I know. It makes me look the way I feel."

"The Apartment" is full of the typical bon mots we expect and love from Lemmon and MacLaine and McMurray (of My Three Sons fame) is deliciously evil as a boss and lover with few morals or ethics. It is a must see for fans of comedy and the actors, as well as a must for those who place a high emphasis on award wins.

"Tomie" (1998/1999)

Director: Ataru Oikawa

Starring: Miho Karro, Mami Nakamura, Yoriko Doguchi

I saw this movie for the first time after the cover art caught my eye at Blockbuster. It is the kind of movie you watch and when it's over ask yourself, "What the heck just happened?" I couldn't have told you the story or what it was about other than there was a head in a bag and it grew a body (as if you need to know anything more than that!). I must have watched it three times and could never say more than that! If you like it, there are also several sequels of varying success. Watching this again with the club made me feel a bit silly. The plot is not nearly as absent as I remember, but the film is still an easy entrance to the world of modern Japanese horror films and perfect if you have a group with members who are uncomfortable around anything scary.

Tsukiko is a troubled young woman who can't remember what happened in her past to make her so. She seeks the help of a psychiatrist who through hypnoses uncovers a name- Tomie. Who Tomie was and why she is haunting Tsukiko becomes the core of the movie. At the same time, a detective is investigating a rash of serial murders that also uncovers the name Tomie. A young man has the aforementioned head in the bag and talks to it. It talks back. I won't give away more for fear of ruining it, but the identity of the killer, Tomie, and what happened to our heroine as a child are all revealed.

Perfect for lovers of Asian cinema and Japanese horror especially. Also good for anyone looking for a good mystery with a bit of blood in it.

"The Searchers" (1956)
Director: John Ford (Grapes of Wrath, Stagecoach, How Green Was My Valley)
Starring: John Wayne, Natalie Wood, Vera Miles, Jeffery Hunter
Awards: DGA nomination, AFI #1 Western, AFI Top 100 Films #12

To agree with AFI is a bit redundant, but this is my favourite Western as well. It showcases the quintessential Wayne hero/curmudgeon and is beautifully shot, acted, and written. What else would you expect from the grandfather of Westerns, Ford?

"Ethan, I gotta ask you and Martin to take a ride to the State Capital."
"Is this an invite to a necktie party, Reverend?"

Shortly after Ethan Edwards (Wayne) comes home from the civil war, his brother's ranch is attacked by Indians (sorry P.C. people!) and everyone is killed except his youngest niece who is kidnapped. Ethan forms a search party and spends years looking for her. Finally, he finds her, all grown up, and played by Natalie Wood in what would normally be an embarrassing performance. Having lived with the Comanche for so long, can she be rescued?

"That'll be the day."

"The Searchers" is a long movie, but one with enough weight and importance behind it to make the time sail by. The male actors really shine as does Miles, as the young woman in love with a member of the searching party. The film holds true today with its themes of racism, family, and war. A must for Western lovers, but seriously; if you're a fan of Westerns you've probably already seen it. Otherwise, it is simply a must see for everyone.

[side note: A great drinking game- Drink every time Wayne says something snarky or acts like a smart ass. You'll be pleasantly buzzed before the end of the first reel.]

"La Haine (Hate)" (1995)
Director: Mathieu Kassovitz
Starring: Vincent Cassel, Hubert Kounde, Said Taghmaoui
Awards: Best Director (Cannes), Best Editing, Film, & Producer (Cesar Awards), Best Young Film (European Film Awards), Best Director & Film (Lumiere Awards), Empire Magazine 100 Best Films of World Cinema #32

Mathieu Kassovitz made a name for himself by making films that addressed social and political subjects in a youthful and fresh way. Most American movie goers will know him as the love interest in "Amelie" and I encourage you to seek out his French films as well.

"Jusqu'ici tout va bien..." ("So far, so good...")

Centering around the race riots in the Paris ghettos, "La Haine" follows the lives of three friends during a 24-hour period. The trio represent an almost unlikely alliance in France: Vinz- Jewish, Said- Muslim, and Hubert- African/French. Each responds slightly differently to the riots and police brutality effecting their community. They both try to go about their day as normally as possible and try to find someone to blame for the beating of their friend Abdel. The ending is one that you will talk about for years to come and the conversation that stemed from this film was one of the best in the clubs history.

"La Haine" doesn't pretend to have the solution to Frances difficulty, not does it delve to deeply into what caused this horrific level of hate amoungst the haves and have nots, the white protestant and everyone else. It does give you something to think about. The film regained the spotlight again in 2005 after Kassovitz criticized then Home Office Minister Nicolas Sarkozy (now President) made racist comments following another bout of riots in and around Paris. The transcripts of those conversations is priceless!

They Say You've Got True Grit

***** (5 stars)

I'm not sure the Cohen brothers could do wrong if they tried. Sure, they had a bit of a bobble in the early 2000s with "Intolerable Cruelty" and "The Man Who Wasn't There", but it seemed more for them to prove to themselves whether or not they could step outside their comfort zone. They could not. Since their first film "Blood Simple", I have been a fan, and with their latest effort, they tackle the classic Western and a classic film at that.

"True Grit" is based more on the book by Charles Portis than the 1978 John Wayne classic (the only Oscar win for the actor). It tells the story of Mattie Ross (newcomer Hailee Steinfeld), a precocious 14-year old set on avenging the death of her father at the hands of infamous criminal and dim wit Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin). To aid in her quest, she hires washed up drunkard Reuben "Rooster" Cogburn (Jeff Bridges), a U.S. Marshal with the titular aplomb. Wandering in and out of the hunt is Texas Ranger LaBoeuf (pronounced LaBeef) who's been tracking Chancey through several states, played by the impressively moustachioed Matt Damon. Through Mattie's determination and hard will, and Rooster's knowledge of the underworld of Arkansas, the two will embark on a treacherous and often funny adventure towards revenge and redemption.

The film is a casting agents wet dream. Steinfeld is a revelation. I may use that word too often, but her performance is really something to see. She is truly deserving of her SAG nomination and in any other year would have surely garnered a Golden Globe nod as well. How someone so young (she was 14 when shooting the picture) could deliver a performance that is so confident and assured amidst Titans of the industry is impressive. That she does it with humour as well left me gobsmacked.

Jeff Bridges is competing against himself this weekend (see my review of "Tron:Legacy" here). He channels his inner Dude (a figure in many ways most resembling him in the real world) and infuses his Rooster with a sense of humour about himself and an inner desire to do good even though he would rather be drinking and sleeping. The verbal tet-a-tete's between him and Damon are some of the best acting scenes in recent memory. He is at the top of his game and stands a chance of becoming the 4th male to win back to back acting Oscars (Spencer Tracy, Jason Robards, and Tom Hanks before him). He missed out on the Globe, but they can be a fickle bunch. Perhaps they didn't like that this was a remake of sorts. Who knows! I'm keeping my fingers crossed he gets nominated.

Damon comes off with the kind of chutzpah that first attracted us to him in "Good Will Hunting". He is the underdog amongst underdogs. Whether being bested by a young girl and a drunken old man or the criminal that is constantly alluding him, he has a strong determination to see this quest through and collect the reward he has been chasing for months. We aren't sure if we are supposed to like LaBoeuf or if he is a sort of anti-villain; someone to get in the way of Mattie's ultimate goal. Through his actions, we find that he is a man of honor and true grit as well.

In the final showdown between good and evil, Chancy has met up with a gang of petty criminals and thieves led by Lucky Ned Pepper (a hardly recognizable Barry Pepper). [side note: Where the heck has Barry Pepper been and what is up with directors making attractive men so much less so?] It is a moment that is both climactic and reserved. The point is not in the action but in what said action sequences represent. It is a defining moment for each character. 

Long time collaborator Roger Deakins brings together both the expanse of unsettled early America and the intimacy between characters with his cinematography. Can we get this guy an Oscar for Pete's sake?!

I was weary about this movie, the original being one of my favorite Westerns of all time; but in the ever capable hands of the Cohen brothers it is a thing of beauty. My father remarked that it is much more in keeping with the novel than the earlier film. I haven't read the book but I will take his word on it. What is evident is that this movie stands alone and outside comparison with the Wayne version. They are almost different entities and are completely different films. I hope this movie does well and we can usher back an age of the Western, the undoubtedly American genre of film that I thought "3:10 to Yuma" would have done in 2007. Of course, that was also a remake so maybe the point is we need new Westerns. Someone call Clint Eastwood and tell him to quit making his political films and get back to business!