Beginners, The Limey, and the second season of Deadwood are in store for this post. A television show that shows us the beginnings of our society, a movie that shows how the beginnings are always the best, and then a movie in which you can't always tell what is the beginning and what is the ending.
I also want to point you towards you a 22-minute video documentary about Iranian cinema. Iranian films are some of the best movies that international cinema has to offer right now, and this short doc is a great beginners guide to the Iranian New Wave. A couple Canadian guys get to go to Iran and report about the great cinema culture in Iran and how the truths of Iran are so much different than what we see in the media.
Deadwood: Season Two (David Milch, USA, 2005): The first season of this western drama (more of a revisionist western) was more of a tapestry of events that bound together many fascinating people in a quickly-growing lawless town. In the second season things are less of a tapestry of events because many of these people are bound together already, but there is now the issue of annexation into the United States and the foundations of law and order must be put into place. When I say they must grow into a law-abiding town, the actual introduction of government services and laws are the least of their worries. Things like telegraph lines and newspapers do arise and gain importance in the season, but more difficult is getting the residents of the town used to working together to solve problems. The season starts with arguably the two main characters, Al Swearengen (Ian McShane) and Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant), in a physical fight. One is the newly appointed sheriff, and the other is a saloon owner who was the de-facto despot of the town before the show started. For the town of Deadwood to succeed and thrive, those two will need to work together and the season takes that up as one of the many storylines it must weave together.
Rarely does Deadwood have only one thing happening at a time. There are so many characters in the show, and all are such fascinating people played by very good actors. It's one thing to not have one bad performance in the cast, but it's another when there isn't even an average performance. Every single actor is great in the show and the writing for each is always complex and human. The most notorious aspect of the show is the dialogue, which is easily the best dialogue I've ever heard of any television show in my life. It's basically an American version of Shakespearean dialogue but with multiple swear words a minute. The dialogue is both sophisticated and vulgar and there are even more memorable quotes in this second season than the first.
There is so much depth in this show that I wish I had seen it a second time before writing about it. Many of the stories in the second season are very complicated and filled with political intrigue, complete with back room deals, fake-outs, publicizing the private, etc. Not only does it deal with the complicated nature of politics and society, but it also impressively deals with humanity. This is a show that has a fairly pessimistic view towards democratic capitalism in terms of what people sometimes have to do to make it work, but there are always touches of optimism and pure humanity even in the worst of characters. That humanity is what puts this show in a league of its own. To show both the societal and human issues in creating a community is no easy task, and to do it in such a sophisticated manner that never feels preachy is remarkable. The more I think about Deadwood the more impressive and brilliant it becomes.
Grade: A
The Limey (Steven Soderbergh, USA, 1999): Many of the films of Steven Soderbergh have stories that wouldn't interest me much, but it is Soderbergh the stylist that always draws me in. It is his editing especially that takes the front seat for many of his films, and none more so that I've seen than this one. The story is a simple criminal revenge story, but Soderbergh cuts, sometimes randomly, to flashback shots that sometimes last only a few seconds. Many times the images are superimposed onto each other, and they have that flashback quality we're used to but they don't last as long as we're used to. Many times they are repeated throughout the film as well. What is helped by the unconventional editing is the characterization. The dad played by Terrence Stamp who is looking for his daughter's killer is a simple and quiet man. He rarely speaks, and so the mini-flashbacks serve as a great inside look into the man.
Stamp by the way is brilliant. His performance is infectious and whenever he's on screen your eyes will always be on him. He's got the focus and the drive to do what is necessary, but he also has this undercurrent of regret and guilt pertaining to the time he never spent with his daughter. It's a great performance that only adds to the great editing. Crime films that came out in the 90's from the U.S. and the U.K. seemed to be all about the fun of watching crime, but this is one that isn't about the crime or the crime that is about to happen. It's about the people involved and how it affects them. The minimalist style is proof that Soderbergh wasn't trying to make a fun time-fracturing film like Out of Sight, he was trying to make almost an anti-Out of Sight, in which you have one main character and one plot-line. Time is fractured in this film, but it's done beautifully and minimally for maximum affect. Soderbergh is not always master of character or story, but he is always a master of audiovisual control. I'm pretty sure if you put him in the editing room of even the most terrible of motion pictures, he'll find something interesting to do with it.
Grade: B+
Beginners (Mike Mills, USA, 2011): Christopher Plummer plays an elderly man who, shortly after the death of his wife, announces to the world that he is gay. This culminates in a new beginning for him, an almost reincarnation. He changes his wardrobe, his music preferences, and his friends. The movie begins with the death of Plummer's character, and the fragmented structure of the film show us the later parts of his life. It also show us the life of his son Oliver, our primary character played by Ewan McGregor. How does the death of his father which preceded a new beginning affect Oliver? He's going through his own new beginning. Oliver's post-father life finds him falling in love with a girl he meets at a costume party (played by Melanie Laurent of Inglorious Basterds). This movie is about the happiness of new beginnings and the inevitable sadness that follows.
Oliver's romance story is entertaining, but the real crux of the movie is in the story of his father. Christopher Plummer plays the father exactly as you imagine him in your head now if you haven't seen the movie. He's fully rejuvenated and always ready for adventure. The performance is wonderful and I expect some Oscar buzz to come for him later this year. He is gay and gets very involved in the gay community but the film is certainly not a gay issues movies. Coming out as gay usually creates a new beginning for those who do, and but so does falling in love, like Oliver experiences. The way the story starts with the death of the father and then continues having no need to tell a chronological story is refreshing. The audience isn't looking to see what happens, we're looking to see how it happens and what effect it has, the true reasons for enjoying a film. Director Mike Mills infuses much of the movie with quirky insert shots and cute character traits, which unfortunately sometimes are over the top, an example being the very unnecessary laryngitis given to Melanie Laurent's character when she and Oliver first meet. Mills is married to Miranda July (Me and You and Everyone We Know, and The Future), who is a writer-director that has mastered quirkiness and cuteness on film. Rarely do her films feel unnecessarily cute, Mills though has yet to fully control that unlike his wife. This is a film that I would whole-heartedly recommend. It has a lot going for it and despite its flaws it's filled with characters and situations with real truths.
Grade: B+
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