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Reviews: "O Brother" And Others
You won't see a stranger, more inspired or more charmingly off-kilter movie than O Brother, Where Art You? from the blessedly weird Coen brothers (Fargo, The Big Lebowski, The Hudsucker Proxy.)
This one is making both best and worst lists of major critics, which isn't surprising, since it's utterly bizarre and responding to it requires a particular kind of humor and sensibility. It's title comes from a 1942 Preston Sturges movie, Sullivan's Travels. The opening credits announce that O, Brother is based on Homer's "The Odyssey," but this isn't a retelling of Odysseus's voyage so much as it is a jazzy riff on it, and on some good old-fashioned American "values," like the twin loves of God and country.
Set in Mississippi during the Depression, "Brother" follows three escaped and hotly-pursued convicts (George Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson) as they set out to dig up some buried treasure before a new dam floods its burial place or the evil (possibly satanic) sheriff catches up to them. It's a much more good-natured trip than the one Odysseus took, though anybody who remembers the classic will have fun spotting all sorts of familiar characters popping up here, from muses to sirens to the cyclops (in the form of John Goodman.)
The Coen brothers are at their most unnervingly original here, and while they don't appear to be taking themselves seriously, they do have ambitions in this nostalgic portrait of (barely) pre-mass media, high tech, politically correct America, and of the Southern streak of moral and religious high-mindedness that still crops up in American politics and Washington debates over values, morality and culture. Clooney and his two dim-witted associates managed to stop off at a radio station to make a few bucks crooning and unknowingly launch a smash single. T-Bone Burnett deserves kudos too, for assembling a terrific old-time bluegrass/country soundtrack, some of it antique and some contemporary.
Clooney is edgy at first in this strange role, but eventually gets comfortable with it and is terrific as the undeterrable, brave (and yes, innocent) wanderer in search of his treasure and his lost family, getting past one hurdle after another on the way.
Be prepared for a movie that like Crouching Tiger is nothing like traditional Hollywood fare. Bravely inventive, it doesn't move in a straight line. It probably helps to have a strange streak if you go see this film; maybe leave your straight friends behind. But this holiday season, let's give thanks for the Coen brothers, for whom no character, major or minor, is anything less than memorable. Weirdos pop up from every direction all through this movie, including a brilliant Charles Durning as the foul-tempered governor who turns to pop culture to save his political career (a prescient commentary on conventional political hypocrisy and moral posturing about kids).
Crouching Tiger, which we mulled over in this space last week, is one of the most original movie in years, and it held up beautifully the second time around. (Though I offer a warning: you may find when some moviegoers are on unfamiliar ground, they laugh nervously during the eerie choreographed fighting scenes, which are a real surprise).
Unbreakable, also discussed previously here, also holds up as an amazingly dark, well- made movie, true to the superhero comic- book genre which inspired it. It might have Bruce Willis' best-ever acting performance, and it's one of those films that really captures the imagination.
As for the rest of the stuff at the megaplex:
I thought there was something off about Cast Away, even though most critics wet their pants over Tom Hank's Robinson Crusoe scenes. Perhaps it was the pointlessly sappy ending sequence, or maybe I couldn't quite get past wondering if there were still anyplace in the world where a human being could languish unnoticed for four years by people, boats, satellites or other machines (a consequence maybe of working for Slashdot).
Tom Hanks seems stuck in this kind of character, the decent, take-what-comes heroic everyman. Watching this movie -- at times beautiful, even wrenching -- I couldn't get the astronaut, the prison guard and the dutiful soldier out of my head, or remember exactly which one had wound up marooned in the South Pacific Island. If Fedex really had guys like this, we wouldn't even have to wait overnight. But the whole drama for Hank's character isn't really survival, it's getting back to Helen Hunt. For me, this was a monumental flaw.
Still, among it's high points was a nightmarish, skillfully animated plane crash that made you feel as if you were inside the cabin as it hurtled into the sea.
State and Main is David Mamet's biting Hollywood satire, a knowing and unsparing romp in which a beleaguered film crew tries to shoot a movie in what appears to be a hick Vermont town. The L.A. slickies vs. the gullible locals who are smarter than they appear is hardly a fresh idea, but Mamet's skewering of the film industry is great fun. William Macy plays the monomaniacal, manipulative and sleazy director with great enthusiasm.
What Women Want is a vehicle for Mel Gibson to break out of the action genre with the help of the aforementioned Helen Hunt, who really needs to play somebody -- just once -- who isn't in such deadly earnest. It's a solid B movie whose premise is that a macho male acquires the ability to understand women because he can hear their thoughts (a gift bestowed him after he is hit by lightning, perhaps a metaphorical message). To me, this idea is a bit creepy, but the movie was pleasant enough, like eating a vanilla ice cream cone. A painless way to kill a few hours, but it could easily go on the "can miss" list.
All The Pretty Horses is actor/director Billy Bob Thornton's game rendition of the terrific novel by Cormac McCarthy. This is an end-of-innocence, coming-of-age, buddy/road trip movie, the story of an unassuming Texas kid (Matt Damon) who heads to Mexico for some adventure in the late 40s, and finds plenty. The movie is beautiful but hollow; it has an epic feeling, but really isn't very dramatic. The end result is more pretentious than powerful. It's too long, seems to circle around forever without quite landing anywhere. It lacks the edge of the book and somehow, it's tiresome to be reminded all the time that we used to be a purer, simpler nation. We know. So what? Soda used to be a nickel and milk used to be delivered to your backdoor.
I liked Proof Of Life, the Russell Crowe adventure flick, a lot. This movie, about the exploits of an Australian "k & r" (kidnap and rescue) specialist sent from London to save Meg Ryan's husband from South American guerrillas who have kidnapped him and are holding him for ransom is restrained and realistic. The local scenes (shot in Ecuador) are beautiful, and Crowe, as good as he was in Gladiator handles the role of the last ethical hero perfectly.
Perhaps the worst movie of the season so far is Sean Connery's Finding Forrester, a insipid, politically-correct tale about a reclusive writer and a brilliant minority kid from the Bronx. The movie has about every dumb cliche regarding race, class and writing that you could stuff into a movie. Even Connery can't save this woofer, make it worthwhile seeing, or keep you awake for all of it.
So how do you think this season is shaping up? I'd say it's better than average. But notice the strange and atypical absence of natural disasters, war flicks or futuristic Armageddon movies full of computer-generated FX and evil geek programmers spying on us and plotting the end of the world. (Some of you may have already seen those great trailers for next summer's anticipated Spielberg blockbuster about an AI kid. That'll give us plenty to talk about.)
I just wanted to mention that _Proof of Life_ was shot in Ecuador, not Honduras.
I should know, the movie was based on the kidnapping of Thomas Hargrove, my Uncle, outside Cali, Colombia.
You can read my Uncle's testimony to Congress at
http://www.g21.net/narco.html
But yes, the negotiation scenes were extremely realistic -- they were based on video that my cousin (who has a film degree) shot of the actual kidnapping negotiations.
The rest of the movie was, shall we say, heavily influenced by the needs of Hollywood.
Interestingly, they had originally planned a much fuller romance between Ryan and Crowe (and had shot love scenes, etc) but in test runs the audiences laughed at these parts!
Ken McKinney
kenmckinney@email.com
That was one of the questions answerd in "the memo". If I remember correctly.. the marketing folks were a little concerend about the fact that the plane crashed.. of course it had to in order to advnace the plot. They did make sure that the crew was portrayed as heroic though- and they made sure that the crash was not caused by a crew error.
:-)
Also... since the marketing group was involved.. the benefits of having the company essentially "co-star" in a major film were incalculable. The writers initially selected FedEx because the entire operation of the company is extrememly tine-sensitive. If your priority over night package is not delivered by 10:30 am then you do not have to pay for the shippping and the company does not make any money. I think that played a huge part in the development of Hanks's character.. he's a task master that constantly watches the clock and suddenly he's alone on a deserted island where he suddenly has "inifinite" time. No deadlines... nothing.
I have not seen the film yet, but everyone that I know who has seen it said that the company was portrayed in a "goood light". The operations in Moscow are really not htat bad though.. that was another thing they had to do in order to advnace the story though.
As far as performance goes, the production guys count every minute. The sooner you can get the sort completed, the sooner the truck or plane can leave- and the sooner your packages can be delivered. I have spent some time in the hub here in Memphis and when the sort is going on you do not have much time to think. It's extremely fascinating to watch though... several thousand men and women scrambling around moving packages and all the automated sorting equipment. If you ever get an opportunity to tour one of the hubs (try to do it if you ever make it to Memphis- that one is the largest) take it. You have to go around 1:00 in the morning though
From my experience, FedEx is very "people oriented" and I believe that the upper management does care about the employees. I've been very happy wrking there for the past few years. The majority of the people I work with have been with the company for over 10 years. A few of them have "three digit" employee id's which means that they have been there since the beginning. Several members of upper management started out as handlers in a hub or one of the stations so they know what it's like to be shoving boxes around in the freezing cold or summer heat. If I remember correctly, the current CEO of FedEx Express (the airline & my employer) (Fred Smith is the CEO of FedEx Corporation- the holding company) stated out as a handler in a hub while in college. of course, there are some bad things... it is a huge corporation after all. But over all, I think it's a great place to work.
I went to go see Cast Away with my boyfriend and some friends a few days ago. Having been at college and away from TV and magazines, and myself not much of an entertainment buff, I didn't even know what the film was ABOUT when I walked into it.
In fact, my boyfriend and Ihad gotten tix for Cast Away a few days before that, and seeing a whole bunch of FedEx stuff and Tom Hanks yelling at people, we were like, "What the heck?" and theatre-hopped over to How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which was what I'd REALLY wanted to see anyway. (BTW, that was cute. Real cute.)
*Caution: This post contains SCADS and HORDES of SPOILERS! Don't read this if you've not seen the movie. It'll ruin it for you.*
Anyway, Cast Away. Immediately I saw that the romantic aspect of Helen Hunt was going to be a huge factor. The whole time Hanks was on the island, I kept thinking, "But what of his girlfriend? What about her?" Big letdown for the audience to see her already married with a daughter when Hanks gets off the island and back into Memphis, but I think the tragedy of that was an excellent theatrical device--the audience wanted to see more. More, what would Mr. Everyday American Hero Hanks do? "Just wait for what the tide brings in", and then some rather vague ending as a redhead in an old pickup in Texas flirtatiously gives Hanks some directions. Okay. That was the ultimate "WHAT the HECK!?" for all of us. The movie ends with a shot of Hanks squinting slightly under the sun, looking into the camera, presumably into the direction that the redhead's truck, bearing the cryptic tri-ringed gold wings of some sort, as she heads back to her ranch. What the HECK? Can anyone give me some sort of analysis on that?
Next off, I missed it, and I'm sure I could come up with answers somewhere but where was this movie filmed?
Last of all...I'd really like to know what they did to Mr. Hanks' diet. I realize actors have to gain and lose weight often at the whims of their directors, but Hanks started off as a pink, slightly pudgy FedEx worker, and by the time the ship picked him up he was lean and tanned. Quite a dramatic change, if you ask me. Anyone know what kind of diet they put the man on? I want it.
I LIKED this movie. Not having any hype beforehand helped a bit, I suppose--I came away from it mostly satisfied. The scene I'll likely be having nightmares over for the rest of my life will be the plane crash--watching the ocean rushing up at you from the cockpit, huge and black and menacing, at a horrifically WRONG angle--that was outright terrifying. I have to FLY to get back to college. *shiver*
Angry IT woman in big clompy boots. And talking lint!.
The mis-spelling took place in the original articles I saw.
All Those duly offended rightly deserve the most profound apologies.
An artist of merit of course deserves to have their name spelled correctly, and I certainly apologise for any anguish, agony, or dishonor felt by his expert, knowledgable, and caring fans because of the mis-spelling.
As a final note, I shared the material because I felt it was worthwhile. The karma points are not that important.
Really.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
As a Chinese myself, I can testify that Crouching Tiger was definitely not inspired by Matrix - the fighting style and storyline is typical of Hong Kong TV shows probably since TV programs were produced there. I grew up in Hong Kong in the 70's but as a kid I've seen re-runs with people flying around and where the heros/heroines were idoits when it comes to expressing feelings!. While I do think that the fighting sequence was cool, I found it over done and the film was really lacking in story. I think the movie can be summed up in six words: "it's all about an unpredictable teenager". As far as movies with teenagers possessing destructive powers, I think the X-Men was way better! One last anal observation: I found the historical timing in the film all wrong. The story was supposed to be around 200AD (according to the movie, Green Dynasty sword was supposed to be crafted around the Han Dynasty and then lost for 400 years). But Beijing was nothing more than a village (if even that) until the Mogolian controlled China and made it the capital city(1300 AD). And then the clothing and hair style in the movie was of Quing Dynasty (1700 AD). I know this is a mood point, but I was still rather expecting more from a famed director such as Ang Lee. As a side note, I saw Chocolat the day right after I saw Crouching Tiger. I had a much, much more enjoyable time with Chocolat than with Crouching Tiger, and I am surprised it is not mentioned by Jon at all. It has a great story and the filming was done beautifully. Maybe I'm getting old, but I find myself looking for a story in a movie rather than cool fighting sequence. Just my .02
I don't think Crouching Tiger was inspired by the Matrix; both films had the action choreographed by Yuen Woo Ping. You might remember him from such films as Drunken Master, Snake in the Eagle's Shadow and oodles since. It's not available yet over here, but I'm really, really, really looking forward to it.
On the subject of O Brother Where Art Thou (the only film mentioned to have been released thus far in Ireland), I've got to echo the opinion of millions; the Coen brothers (like Ang Lee) can do no wrong. The only question is whether I'll see all these films in the cinema, or whether the US DVDs will be available first.
"true to the superhero comic- book genre which inspired it." Do you actually read comics, let alone superhero [a which is co-copyrighted by both Timewarner and Marvel Enterprise] comics. Take the popular, and by popular I mean it had a movie and it sells well by comic standards [around 20,000 issues a month]. In UNCANNY X-MEN, X-MEN, and the many biproducts of Marvel trying to oversaturate and waterdown the market with by increasing number one issues for speculator frenzy, the main characters spend half their time explaining their super-powers and their mysterious past and the other half is spent explaining how they defend a world that fears and hates them. Imagine reading a copy of X-MEN, where every 10 panels we hear Storm explain how she was a thief in Cairo when she was a teen working for the devious Shadow King, and how she lived in Africa and was thought to be a god by the local tribes. Storm can be substituted for Wolverine and his mysterious past with Project Weapon X and Captain America, or Rogue's past with Mystique and how she cannot touch anyone. At the end of every battle, Cyclops or Jean Grey will say, "they hate us, yet we defend them!"
Does this sound like a good comic to you? It's called an art driven comic, where they let the artists take the headlines and hire some hack writer to do the job, or sometimes great writers who really aren't that great [See Scott Lobdell and Chris Claremont]. How does a movie get inspired by shit like this? It doesn't. UNBREAKABLE was a slow paced movie with a 'surprise' ending [from the maker of SIXTH SENSE, how could we not expect this]. And Jackson's character tries to tell me those superhero comics are highbrow literature? Fucking christ, those comics he showed me are the FULL HOUSE of comic books. Serious comics aren't about superheroes [few exceptions such as Miracle Man or any of Alex Ross's future stories]. If you want to read the only good superhero comic on the market, pick up AUTHORITY. Don't get me wrong, there are great comics. TRANSMETROPOLITAN and PLANETARY by Warren Ellis are great. POWERS and JINX by Brian Bendis are excellent too. There is also Grant Morrison's INVISIBLES [the comic that really inspired MATRIX [ie. the MATRIX was a blatant ripoff and gave absolutely no credit with the parallel plot], but with better dialogue.
But I don't know, I could be wrong about all this. But I think I am of some authority since I used to buy over 50 comics and month and see about 60 movies a year in theatre.
Gaelen
If you look at my profile you might figure out that I work for the airline prominently featured in castaway. ;-)
Just before the movie was released we got this lengthy memo with detailed annswers to common questions about the movie. Apparantly FedEx did not pay to be in the film but the marketing folks did work closely wth the writers and such. They also pointed out all of the "errors" in the film (such as Tom Hanks's Character drinking wine while jumpseating- you can't get anywhere near a FedEx plane with booze). Many of the extras in the scenes filmed in Memphis were "real" FedEx employees. Fred Smith, the CEO had a brief cameo also.. I gues sit was when Hanks's character returnned home or something. They also auctioned off the clothes that Hanks wore during the FedEx shots to raise money for the United Way.
Anyway, I have not seen the movie yet. I'm just sitting here bored on a Sunday morning and felt like blabbing.
Happy New Year
Here are some links to some reviews and interviews on NPR (in RealAudio format) that might be interesting to follow up on:
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"