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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 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"