Breathless, Breaking the Waves, and All About My Mother are some of the movies from this week. The first two are masterpieces and if you read the reviews of those films will have you read about why the famous jump cuts in Breathless actually add to the subtext of the movie and why Breaking the Waves is one of the best examples of an great ambitious film done on a small budget while also featuring one of the best performances of all time. Also in this post is what I believe to be two of the most under-appreciated films of 2011.
All About My Mother (Pedro Almodovar, Spain, 1999): I always enjoy watching Pedro Almodovar's films, and I also always respect his talent immensely, but his films are not always the most memorable for me. I don't come away from them thinking about much, and as time goes on I don't find myself pondering about themes or subjects in his films. It may be a taste issue, or it may also be the fact that I need to think less about the movies and more about the man behind the movie and the complete filmography. My thoughts on this film are a bit similar to my thoughts on Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. I would probably now grade Women a bit lower than I have in the review that is linked because unlike All About My Mother it is not emotionally affecting or touching. This one is certainly very effective in gaining empathy for its characters. Per usual with Almodovar's more famous movies, All About My Mother is a movie in the same style as old Hollywood melodramas, but it subverts the old Hollywood style by casting not only women in lead roles, but even a transsexual (also Penelope Cruz plays a nun that gets pregnant). The story of the movie is centered on the accidental death of the son of the lead character, and her journey to fulfill his last wish of finding out who his father was. One of the strengths of Almodovar, and something that is done especially well in this film, is navigating through comedy and tragedy seamlessly. It's a light women's melodrama in which anything can really happen.
The characters are fully realized and treated with the utmost respect. All characters, who are mostly women, are complex and real people. That's one of the main reasons I respect Almodovar's film so much, he creates women characters who are real women. It might be because he's gay, but he definitely does not sexualize them or treat them as objects ever. Overall, this film is very humanist, in that it respects humans of all types, even the pregnant nun. Wonderful and joyous are probably the best adjectives for this movie because All About My Mother is very easy to digest. It's really no wonder that it got so much acclaim from critics and Hollywood types here in America. While I can analyze how the movie treats characters on the fringe of society compared to other movies, the movie itself does not do much analyzing of its characters. I don't know if the movie works perfectly as a whole, but individual scenes and individual characters in this movie are very emotionally affecting. They can sometimes make you laugh out loud, or even make you cry.
Grade: B
Beats, Rhymes, and Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest (Michael Rapaport, USA, 2011): My expectations for music documentaries are not too high, because the ones I've seen have not been much more than either historical information on the artist or live performances (keep in mind Gimme Shelter is one I have not seen). But Beats, Rhymes, and Life is one that does not just give you background information on A Tribe Called Quest, but it also gives us an inside look at a long-standing feud between two members of the group. That feud between Phife Dawg and Q-Tip is the crux of this story and sets it apart from most other average music documentaries. Basically, the documentary is a chronological history of A Tribe Called Quest. The first part is about the origins of the group and at the same the origins of a new type of hip-hop. Once the movie gets past the third album and the later days of the group when they disbanded, the movie obtains a new focus on the fascinating feud between Phife and Q-Tip.
Many musical groups have had feuds between members that have ended the group, and A Tribe Called Quest is no different from those. Because this documentary is (or was at first) "authorized" by the group, Rapaport had access to members of the group and behind the scenes during their reunion tour. This access provides the audience with some intimate moments and details about the personality conflicts and clashes between Q-Tip and Phife. One moment caught on tape during their reunion tour towards the end of the film is especially filled with tension. Once the movie is finished telling the background of the group the feud and conflicts become the focus, and that's when the documentary becomes compelling in a way that is unlike the very few music documentaries I've seen. We don't get as many details about certain members of the group and certain times in the groups history that seem like they might be important, but that allows Rapaport to focus everything on the personality conflict that is without question the most important part of the history of the group. One of the parts I hoped they would have spent more time on was how they created their music, there are a few minutes of Q-Tip shopping for records and recording that is very fascinating but I wish there was a bit more of that. If anything you'll like the movie purely the absolutely fantastic animated opening credits sequence that is a work of art on its own. Then there's the A Tribe Called Quest songs sprinkled throughout the movie that are guaranteed to have you bopping your head the whole way through.
Grade: B+
Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard, France, 1960): Roger Ebert once said that a modern movie is one that came out after Breathless. The influence of this French New Wave landmark has been studies and talked about by many. The handheld cinematography, the location shooting, and the jump cuts are just some of the ways this movie influenced filmmaking all over the world, especially Hollywood filmmaking. But much has been said about all that and on my second viewing of the movie I now want to look at this movie without thinking about its place in cinema history. Jean-Luc Godard has a famous quote where he said that all someone needs to make a movie is a girl and a gun, and Breathless is basically using that exact idea to make a feature-length 90-minute movie. There is no high concept plot, and nothing really amazing that sets the story apart. You've got a guy who's kind of a rebellious bad boy who also happens to be a ladies man. He goes after an American woman who isn't as rebellious as him, and at the same he also gets involved in a shooting crime and so he tries to avoid the police at the same time.
The man, Michel, lives his life without worries and takes risks. He is the epitome of what young people feel like. They feel rebellious, and they feel cool while they're being rebellious. The movie embodies the cool and rebellious nature of Michel perfectly through its cinematic language. That free flowing handheld camera work and time-splitting jump cuts that were so influential also perfectly capture and reflect the personality of Michel. As you watch the movie you can understand easier how Michel feels when he speeds down the highway in his convertible car, or when he goes from girl to girl proclaiming his love. Because the movie itself is so rebellious and refuses the conventional language of cinema the audience can feel what Michel is feeling. The Breathless cinematic language also helps in the authenticity of the movie and the down-to-earth feeling that Michel oozes out. The movie seems to combine fiction and non-fiction, using a filming technique that is more suited to documentaries, and so the movie feels completely real.
No conversation about the movie is completely without mention of the brilliant Jean Seberg, who plays the woman who is the subject of Michel's love. She's the one who seems to be going through an existential crisis, she seems to be caught between two worlds, the free flowing world of Michel and the steady professional world around her in which she is less free but more stable. She never seems to know if she should commit to Michel because she doesn't know if she wants to be free but unstable, or closed down but stable. Michel's perception of love is also one that young people seem to have, which is a perception that love is something that develops fast and must be acted on quickly and passionately. Godard never seems to judge Michel's character, but he does judge Michel's perception of love, which you can tell by the tragedy that unfolds at the end of the movie which is all a result of that unstable love. Rebellion and the instability that may stem from that are big themes throughout this film, and it's all brilliantly portrayed through the style of the film. Breathless is a film that lives and breathes, and that feeling it gives epitomizes everything about the French New Wave, but also it's own characters.
Grade: A
J. Edgar (Clint Eastwood, USA, 2011): I reviewed this movie for the paper, and you can read that here. That particular review is one of my favorites of this last semester, so I urge you to check it out. It is a shame that J. Edgar has been so panned by critics, because it really is a movie that deserves to be discussed. Personally I think it's better than any movie Eastwood has done in the last couple years. As a character, Hoover is immensely fascinating, and someone who deserves any and all attention he gets. The movie doesn't get everything right, but what it does get right is done very well. Biopics are limiting in the sense that they try to capture a whole of a life and try to give it all one theme and one message, which is impossible. With those constraints in mind, Eastwood did a admirable job of getting this man's life into one film and connecting many disparate elements into a whole.
Grade: B
Breaking the Waves (Lars von Trier, Denmark, 1996): Many lesser-known filmmakers have big ambitions, but never get the money or the resources to be able to execute those ambitions the way they want. More famous filmmakers usually are famous because they don't have huge ambitions that will test the seriousness of film. When I talk about ambition, I don't mean special effects or revolutionary technologies, I am talking about epic studies of big issues like life, god, and death. Many films look at these issues, but they do so in small ways that don't reflect the size of the issues being presented. Certainly The Tree of Life is an exception, because it is a huge film tackling large issues and has a big director who was able to get a lot of resources to make sure his vision is created the way he wants. With Breaking the Waves, Lars von Trier has figured out a way to create epic stories about big issues in a way that does not require tens of millions of dollars. Breaking the Waves is an epic two-and-a-half-hour long movie about faith that centers on only a few characters in a few locations and is shot with a handheld camera pretty much the whole way through. It's that rare film that is ordinary and small on the surface, but completely ambitious underneath.
Emily Watson gives what I believe to be one of the greatest performances of all time in this film as Bess, a faith-driven obsessive woman who loves her husband so intensely, that she will do anything for him after he has an accident that leaves him paralyzed, and she believes it is God's will for her to do what she is doing. She belongs to a Calvinist church in a very secluded area of Scotland. This church believes that women in general have no place to speak during church services and do not belong at funerals. It is a strict church, and one that easily casts Bess out when some of the more intense and sexual aspects of the movie come into play. It all serves to show how the whole world is against Bess but she herself believes intensely that God is listening to her and paying attention and that she is doing the right thing. One of the best displays of Watson's acting talent is when she is praying to God, during which she also plays the part of God replying to her prayers in a stern way, like a parent would to a child. Those scenes reveal so much about Bess and are so captivating to watch. Even when the church banishes her, she still prays to God, and the relationship she has with God is vital to your understand of Bess.
Because of the intense faith that Bess has, what happens in the movie can be utterly devastating and completely intense. Bess is a woman who is more of a girl who is filled with innocence, love, and faith, but the things she goes through are so incredibly sad. That is until the end. The ending of this film is an unexpected yet absolutely brilliant touch, and after that is when we see that this film is not a condemnation of blind faith, but actually a condemnation of the organization of religious authorities, and is actually a celebration of the saint-like Bess who believes in God despite the church's reservations about her behavior. Those who seem crazy can sometimes be correct in their faith, and ironically that's how most religions came to be, even though some religious organizations would excommunicate or accuse of blasphemy to those who seem crazy in their faith like Bess. One of the other marvelous things about this film is that it is so large and brilliantly simple, that the movie doesn't have to be seen as a big ode to spirituality by everyone. To some it could be one of the most intense love stories put on film, because of everything Bess does for her husband. These kinds of stories are rare, and execution of these big ideas like this is even more rare. But von Trier uses handheld cameras to create something totally unique. Breaking the Waves is a film that will leave your body stunned and your mind busy.
Grade: A
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