Ajami

Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani 2009

Cinema verite on the mean streets of Jaffa.  Powerful storytelling.  Superb acting and directing – throughout the film, wonderful little moments that gave layers of depth to the characters’ lives.  I read somewhere that in the international release, there is no way for people reading the subtitles to know whether the characters are speaking Arabic or Hebrew.  This is a shame because a lot of insight and nuance comes through the interplay between the languages.  Still it’s totally worth checking out – expect to see it in a lot of major festivals, and in theatrical release in Europe (and maybe even America).  FFR’s Fall 2009 Favorite Film Seen in the Theater.

* * * Chocolate Birthday Cake * * *

by tamuz bar, october 16, 2009.

thank you.

Katzelmacher

Rainer Werner Fassbinder 1969

If I say it’s hypnotic, rather than boring, I think you’ll catch my drift.  The film lulled me into a kind of mesmerized catatonic state during which I am said to have laughed and drooled at all the appropriate moments. Stylish lowlifes walk in and out of a handful of frames – the railing in front of the building, the tavern, Elisabeth’s dining room, Rosa’s bedroom – often with the intention of lackluster copulation. Eventually a foreigner enters the picture and the Germans welcome him with not-so-open arms.

The King of Comedy

Martin Scorsese 1982

This is an awesome movie.  First of all it’s Robert DeNiro like you’ve never seen him before. Or maybe you’ll think it’s how he always is. Both are kind of true, but the thing is that here it is just so fun to watch him, and Scorsese gives him everyone and everything to work with – a pitch perfect Jerry Lewis as a late night talk show host, incredible sets and costumes, brilliant delusory scenes, 80’s Manhattan, and a superb supporting cast including a young and disturbingly sexy Sandra Bernhard (that’s fucked up people.  See this movie). Fucky Film Review Film of The First Half of October. Special thanks to Nay Nay Von Nay and Mr. A.O. Scott for reminding us to see this.

Duplicity

Tony Gilroy 2009

Opens with a brilliant slow motion brawl on the tarmac between the rival executives played by Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson. What follows is a tangled love story between two ex-spies played by Julia Roberts and Clive Owen.  Their problem is that they are fundamentally unable to trust each other.  The movie’s problem is that it doesn’t give us enough reasons to care one way or the other. This is especially disappointing given the obvious on-screen chemistry between the leading actors.

John Adams [TV]

HBO Miniseries

Directed by Tom Hooper

If this doesn’t get you singing Oh Beautiful for Spacious Skies in the shower nothing will. Laura Linney, who generally sometimes gets under my skin a little, was born to play Abigail Adams. I liked a lot of the choices that were made – especially in terms of which historical and personal episodes in the Adams’ lives the writers chose to focus on. I didn’t like the crooked camera work in the colonies. I liked Paris and Amsterdam. I liked Paul Giamatti as John Adams, Stephen Dillane as Jefferson, Tom Wilkinson as Franklin, David Morse as Washington, and Sarah Polley as the Adams’ daughter Nabby.  I also liked the understated relationship between John Adams and his cousin Samuel in the first few episodes.  The end trails off a bit, as biographies tend to – it’s tough to get around that.

W.

Oliver Stone 2008

W. doesn’t really feel like a movie exactly. More like an expensive and well-acted E! True Hollywood Special extended reenactment. The supporting cast is poppy and great – Thandy Newton as Condi, Scott Glenn as Rummy, Jeffery Wright as Colin P., Elizabeth Banks as Laura, Dreyfus as Cheney and my favorite, Bruce McGill as George Tenet.  Josh Brolin was OK but not inspired. I liked the dynamic with W’s father George H. Bush, even if it was overplayed. Same for the security meeting ahead of the war with Iraq, where everyone gives their big speech. I would have appreciated some creative license to sex it all up a little, like maybe Condi and Ari Fleischer sweating it out on the ranch.

12 Angry Men

Sidney Lumet 1957

Sidney Lumet is to directing what Gregg Maddux was to pitching.  The whole movie takes place in the jury room, yet it feels like a movie, rather than a filmed play, because Sidney Lumet does the little things very very well – especially lighting, the subtle use of camera movement and directing actors for film. He’s a smart filmmaker who (with a few exceptions) doesn’t take big risks, but doesn’t make many mistakes either.

Mon Oncle d’Amerique

Alain Resnais 1980

It’s a pretty original film. The director is very good at mixing media — splicing the main narrative thread with a talking head scientist going on about human behavior, metaphorical and abstract landscape cinematography, and life size rats walking into scenes with the actors. Some of the film’s philosophical probing comes at the expense of emotional depth and character development, but for the most part it walks the line and offers a captivating contemplation on the impact of sociology and behavioral psychology on our ideas about love.

Inglorious Basterds

Quentin Tarantino 2009

It’s not really about the basterds at all. I liked that. It has two scenes that go down as two of the all time greatest – the opening at the French dairy farmer’s house, and the one in the basement of the cafe.  QT brought new tricks to this film, especially as a dramatist and great director of actors.  The performances are tense, restrained, full of empathetic emotion that bubbles over the surface. There were also hints of this in Kurt Russel’s role in DEATH PROOF; BASTERDS confirms that Mr. T is entering into a new phase in his filmmaking.