Chris 2010 Viewings #40: The White Ribbon

OK, so the backlog is cleared. So I'm ready to embark on the bold movie-watching experiment discussed here: to only watch movies I am virtually certain that I will love. None of this namby-pamby taking a chance on something that I might like B.S. Very few video store customers these days browse and take chances, so I won't either! I don't know why I didn't think of this before.

The object is to get me enjoying movies again, instead of the oh geez do I have to, I'd rather listen to music/read/eat/watch my kids sleep/go to sleep myself response that the idea of watching a movie has occasioned in me for almost a decade. But also to write up the results here on the blog, which can be as much as a deterrent to watching movies as watching the movies themselves. So, because I am fundamentally lazy, I will be borrowing a page from the Dude Movies book penned by our beloved K-Cog (not that he is lazy, he writes a blog called Sloth after all). The page dictates that all of my Moviepalooza (as I have informally dubbed the Experiment) reviews will be written in template form, for lack of a better expression I am too lazy to remember.


Movie: The White Ribbon (2009, Michael Haneke)

Credentials (why it seems like a sure thing): Haneke directed two of the best films of the 1990s, Code Unknown and Caché, and even his misfires are of interest. This one won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, so seems to not be one of the misfires. Nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar, but did not win, which is another plus as the Foreign Film Oscar winners tend to be the blandest of the nominees. Seems to be about creepy, if not outright evil, kids - always a good time at the pictures. Trailer and clips I've seen are in drop-dead-gorgeous black & white.

Stolen Plot Synopsis: Strange events happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years just before World War I, which seem to be ritual punishment. The abused and suppressed children of the villagers seem to be at the heart of this mystery.

Results:

Not Caché-caliber, but very little is, in this viewer's opinion. The theme seems to be the seeds of fascism and extremism, how a succession of small (and not-so-small) sins, as well as the absence of a reliable moral compass, eventually lead to a torrent of evil. In this case, we only see the initial manifestation of the evil, with the historical timeframe of the tale virtually guaranteeing that many of the children in this village will become Nazis. The White Ribbon documents the creeping unpleasantness that penetrates the calm before the storm.

Lest this make it sound like a dry history lesson, it should be emphasized that the events themselves are entirely fictional, and - it is strongly implied - unreliable, being the hazy memories of the town's schoolmaster, at more than a half-century's remove. Haneke does have the streak of a didactic scold to him, which showed itself nowhere as much as his love-it or hate-it assault on the movie audience and its appetite for screen violence, Funny Games. In his best work - and I'm lumping The White Ribbon in there - this tendency is tempered by a moral and narrative ambiguity that poses many more questions than it raises. As a result, viewers seeking a cut and dry story that ties up its loose ends will find Caché and The White Ribbon immensely frustrating. But not having all the answers makes these two films infinitely more unsettling and thought-provoking, not puzzle films exactly, but ones that leave themselves open to multiple viewings and, most importantly, infinite re-considerings of the moral questions that the films pose.

This is a creepy, creepy movie. The children are perfectly chosen - a couple of dud child actors in there and all of the disturbing ambiguity and atmosphere that Haneke creates here would go up in flames. But they're perfect: convincing, and hard to accurately read. When the schoolteacher confronts the town's minister with his theories, the scene would be outright ridiculous if these were Village of the Damned-type embodiments of evil. Haneke's work is more nuanced and troubling than that.

Conclusion: A strong start for Moviepalooza, with another new movie (and Oscar nominee!) on deck next.

Wendy's Films of 2010 #29: Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)

I was slightly perplexed by this movie. It seemed to have all the components of a great film; one to inspire hope, to effect change, to shove people out of their comfort zone. But somehow I didn't feel incredibly drawn into its story. I felt like time was crawling and halfway through thought it was almost over. Just when things start to go right for Precious (Gabourey Sidibe), they go wrong again. It felt relentless to the point of losing purpose. Sure I cried, I felt angry; I was happy that she had such strength and optimism, but I didn't walk out with that feeling of having watched a really great piece of cinema.

I found out that the film was nominated for several Oscars just hours before seeing it and felt confident that the performances of Sidibe and Mo'Nique would be powerful, and they were. Sidibe is instantly likable, and I immediately sympathized with her character's awful state of being. There were other aspects of the film that I really liked, especially the fantasies Precious experiences in times of particular hardship. I was pleasantly surprised at the inclusion of a central character's same-sex relationship, and was glad that all the problems weren't neatly tied together. I really wanted to love this film, but unfortunately it seemed to lack something, or perhaps it had to much.

Julia watches another Movie

Julia is our resident Osteopathic practioner at 10 Regina Street North and she has been known to watch the occasional movie. Here is one of those films!

Doubt (2008) (Dir: John Patrick Shanley)

What do a priest, a Mother Superior, and a door-to-door salesman have in common? Apparently none of them make a comfortable transition from Stage to Screen.

I was quite looking forward to “Doubt,” which boasted shovelfuls of Oscar, Golden Globe, and Critics’ Choice nominations both for acting and for adapted screenplay. Perennial heavyweights and personal favourites Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman never really got into character for me. I felt the way I did watching Dustin Hoffman shuffling around in the televised version of “Death of a Salesman;” he never really was Willy Loman, just Dustin Hoffman trying hard to make you think so.

Perhaps this is an issue of the difficulty of trying to make a play, even a really successful and award-winning one, a Film. The dialogue felt stiff and uncomfortable, and kept Streep and Hoffman (er, Phil, not Dusty) from really breathing life into their characters. As well, I found certain cinematic effects (wonky camera angles! gusting wind and rain!) heavy-handed and ultimately distracting. When it was over (did I mention it felt long?), I half-expected people to burst into my living room and jump to their feet, applauding and shouting “Bravo!!”

Overall, I was too distracted by its stilted, staged feel to really care about the interesting—and timely—themes “Doubt” was trying to address, and that’s a shame, because probing into the Catholic church, with its dark secrets and its messed-up gender and power dynamics, should make for captivating, thought-provoking film.

Chris 2010 Viewings #9: The Informer

US, 1935. Directed by John Ford. Starring Victor McLaglen.

When we first bandied about this idea of watching and blogging as many films as possible in 2010, two things popped into my head. First, I would try not to watch films I'd already seen before so that most of my reactions could be fresh; at that point I'd already watched two old favourites (the W.C. Fields pictures) and since then I have rewatched a film I last saw roughly 20 years ago with new context that I didn't have at the time. Spy Kids 3 is my daughter's fault, and that kind of thing will be unavoidable. Second, I would try to watch as many films as possible this year that I'd long put off; movies I know I should see but have always put off for one reason or another.

First up in this category was John Ford's The Informer. There's no question why I always put this one off - it was well-reviewed at the time (the New York Film Critics Circle awarded it Best Picture of the Year in one unanimous ballot). But time has not been kind to the film's reputation. In spite of filmmaker Samuel Fuller declaring it his favourite film of all time, many reference books label it as unworthy of Ford's later work. Ford himself dismissed it as "without humour" when interviewed by Peter Bogdanovich.

Set in 1922 Ireland, during the war of independence, The Informer chronicles several hours in the life of Gypo Nolan, a frequently drunken lunk who was kicked out of the IRA for going soft and refusing an order to execute a prisoner. Penniless and depressed that his true love has to eke out a living as a prostitute, Gypo is handed a dilemma when his best friend Frankie sneaks back int0 town on a foggy night, in spite of the £20 reward being offered for information leading to his capture. £20 is enough to secure passage for Gypo and his best gal to a new life in America, so he turns informer. Alas the first thing he does is buy some liquor, breaking open the floodgates of his conscience and he must spend the evening helping the local IRA honchos figure out who the stool pigeon is without giving himself away.

Gypo, as played by Victor McLaglen (who won an Oscar for his work), is a force of nature, an unforgettable movie character. In spite of Ford and screenwriter Dudley Nichols' obvious condemnation of Gypo's actions, he maintains our interest and sympathy because of the irrepressible humanity he projects, while all of the IRA men are dour, interchangable characters.

The photography of Joseph August deserves special mention. The Informer was extremely low-budget for a studio A-picture, and all shot on a miniscule soundstage. Yet one never feels it because of the noirish shadows and thick fog surrounding the action. The fog is especially powerful, especially as Gypo begins to feel closed in, where anything could be lurking only a few feet away and anyone could be watching him.

Lacking humour it may be, which does make it stand out a bit from Ford's other work, and arguably is a debit, especially with an ending that can charitibly be called overbaked. But it's a powerful work that holds the attention from beginning to end, generating considerable suspense both in the sense of wondering what will happen, but within ourselves asking what do we want to happen?

Mike the Boss - Films of 2010 - Film the Sixth: Notes on a Scandal

(Dame Judi gets ready to kick some albino ass in Notes on a Scandal)

Notes on a Scandal (2006) (dir: Richard Eyre)

One of my pet peeves in cinema is over narration. It tends to be used by incompetent story tellers to advise the audience of what is happening in the film rather than usual character dialogue and visual imagery. It is a cop out and an insult to the viewer. Having said that, I do believe narration can serve a purpose if it has context within the film and that is the case in Notes on a Scandal which uses the pretext of Judi Dench reading from her diary to advance the story throughout the film. It works, but I still wish that it had been used a little less as much of the narrating is not needed.

This film was filled with Oscar nominated acting performances as Cate Blanchett and Dame Judi tear up the screen with a great bit of histrionics. The basic plot is this: Blanchett plays an art teacher who has 2 kids at home (one with Down's Syndrome), is married to an older man (Bill Nighy, who is also excellent) and feels unfilled for no real good reason at all. So she decides to bang a 15 year old student at her school. Dench, who is a crazy cat lady living on her own and is the school's resident battleaxe, finds out and uses this knowledge to worm her way into Blanchett's life. As we come to realize that both characters are completely self-delusional the chaos, mayhem and melodrama gets cranked up to a fever pitch.

The acting is top notch and Blanchett looks gorgeous in the film. The story and character motivations left me a little dry and I did have problems with the giggles during what surely were supposed to be the most dramatic of the scenes but that may be my failing. Folks looking for their usual Britflick fix will do well with this film as they likely have a greater tolerance for this kind of thing.