McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)

Director: Robert Altman

If this film is a deconstruction of the western genre, then this might be the best genre deconstruction ever committed to film. It subverts many traditional notions of the genre, but more impressively, it's a film that feels like a unique and great film on its own, irrespective of the statements it might be making on the western genre. It definitely subverts the myths of the western on purpose, most significantly with the lead character McCabe who initially comes into this Pacific Northwest town looking like a legendary gunslinger, but is slowly unwrapped and revealed as a man who is less a mythical figure than just a real human being. In keeping with the subversion of gender tropes in the western genre, Mrs. Miller, the madame of a group of prostitutes, comes across as quite business savvy, much more so than McCabe who seems to be taking advice from her on how to run his brothel. In this film it is the woman who influences the man.

Altman also uses the rain, the gray skies, green trees, and the fog of the Pacific Northwest setting as a way to make the film feel a bit off. It creates a naturalistic atmosphere for the film while also giving us something much more unique than the typical blue skies and endless barren flat landscapes of most westerns. That natural, and even ethereal, tone of the film is one of the most impressive elements of the film. Altman lets his setting breath, his actors emote naturally, and films everything with an unobtrusive eye. On top of that is the amazing acoustic soundtrack by Leonard Cohen. The importance that soundtrack has to the melancholic feel of the characters cannot be understated. McCabe's melancholic feelings are what truly make the movie for me. His character is such a thoughtful and subtle attack on our concept of masculinity, and his private soliloquy's to himself, especially regarding his feelings towards Mrs. Miller, provide some of the greatest moments of the film. The film does so much (there's even vilification of the no holds-barred free enterprise system) while feeling completely natural. McCabe & Mrs. Miller is a naturalist film all the way, and that's why it's amazing it does so much while doing so little.

Grade: A

Chungking Express (1994)

Director: Wong Kar-Wai

When you think of a film from Hong Kong, you usually think of police thrillers, because those are the types of Hong Kong movies that have achieved success all over the world. But in this film, Wong Kar-Wai takes that idea and turns it on its head. He tells two stories that are just barely connected, each about a police officer in the bustling urban jungle of Hong Kong, but the two police never get involved in shootouts and the film isn't some frenetically paced action film. Instead, both stories are existential stories of the difficulties of finding romantic emotional connection in an urban world. Hong Kong is a place that has a dense population in which you'll see a sea of people either way you look, but this film looks at the paradoxical effects that has on finding real emotional connection in such a dense world.

The first story is more of a noir film with a similar tone to Blade Runner complete with existential mysterious characters, but the second film switches it up completely and is more of a screwball romance influenced more by Jean-Luc Godard with its quirky, loveable yet flawed characters and its guerilla-style down and dirty filmmaking. The second story takes more than half the running time and is more satisfying as a whole and really overshadows the first (this would be more of an issue if the first story took up more running time, but it doesn't). The first story establishes the idea of finding connection in a disconnected place, and the second one takes it all the way, creating a full romance that is entertaining but also one that has the characters actually taking action and trying to do something about the dissatisfaction they have (the frequent use of the song "California Dreamin'" in the second story establishes the idea of yearning for a new experience just so well). This is definitely a film I'll be coming back to, the second story is just so visceral and affecting on so many levels, and I feel like I'll see a lot more in that first story when I see this one again.

Grade: A-

Battleship Potemkin (1925)

Director: Sergei M. Eisenstein

 One of the important thing this film does is make you think about the difference between filmmaking as art and filmmaking as propaganda. Can a film that is obviously propaganda be considered art? Battleship Potemkin gives a lot of credibility to the "yes" side. It's a film that is explicitly revolutionary propaganda recreating a rebellion by a Russian battleship against their Tsarist officers. But it's also a very powerful film that used film editing in a way that was never used before, and those techniques only made the film much more powerful. The film is above all a testament to the power of film as an art form. It's a great example of what film really can do and the extraordinary power it can over those who watch it. Film can inspire and it can excite and Eisenstein was one of the first who really took advantage of this power (Joseph Goebbells also learned this power from this film, reportedly).

While the film is known more for being influential, especially in its editing techniques most famously displayed in the Odessa steps sequence, there are many great things about this film that still stand the test of time. The film is only about 70 minutes long or so, so the film doesn't try to build characters as people, what it does is create symbols within the characters. There is no individual, everyone represents the group, and if everyone rose up together against oppression, freedom can be won. One of things I liked most about the film is its message that soldiers are not just pawns of a government. They are citizens of their country like everyone else, and so they have the ability to rebel against their commanding officers and stand side-by-side with their non-military brethren. Sure the movie is famous more for its influence, but even today, almost 90 years later, it is still a powerful piece of work.

Grade: A-

Heartbeats (2010)

Director: Xavier Dolan

 This is really a minor film that gains most of its memorability due to the sleek and sensual filmmaking on display. The film is about two friends, one male and one female, who both fall in love with the same man. It's a predictable story with not a lot going on, but the story becomes involving and gains emotion due to Xavier Dolan's lush photography, slow motion scenes, and sumptuous colors. The movie also uses talking heads that talk about their experiences with love, and when you combine those with the story of the film it helps the film speak to the power of love. Love is one of those emotions that can overpower an individual to the point where it takes over their whole mind and body, it's an emotion that has a real hold over people, and the film speaks to that power.

In the film we see love threaten to destroy a very close friendship, and this ends up being the case even when that love is over something that doesn't give any love back. Even unrequited love has an immense power over people in a way that really makes no sense, but there is no rationality in love. The story of the film is limited and I never really thought about the plot at all in this film, but Dolan still manages to get these sentiments about love across. I greatly enjoyed and admire this film, but I would recommend the filmmaker as one to watch more than I would recommend the film. Dolan is certainly a filmmaker who has big things ahead of him (he was amazingly only 22 when he made this film) and I will be keeping a very close eye on his promising future.

Grade: B+

The Newsroom: Season One (2012)

Creator: Aaron Sorkin

 If I were to extrapolate Aaron Sorkin's political/cultural views from this series and compare them to my own, they would compare fairly favorably. I have very few qualms with Sorkin's political views and agree wholeheartedly with most of them, yet I still have a big problem with this show, and that's because those views are never proven or argued. Sorkin's ideas and views are broadcasted loudly and literally to the audience. This is a television show that does not show, it tells. There are some great moments of wisdom from Will McAvoy or the other characters, but they only work as moments independent from the narrative. That's why the opening scene of the show went viral in our world (the blind nostalgia of that moment actually makes it one of the few things I actually don't agree with Sorkin on). It worked great as an individual scene, but in that sense it's no different from The Daily Show, which does much of what this show wants to do without the illusion of trying to be an actual drama.

While Sorkin was almost never subtle in shouting his hopeful and sometimes naive ideals there were a couple of moments that seemed to actually take place in the real world and show the difficulties of attempting to be righteous. The main one was the episode in which McAvoy goes extremely hard on a homosexual black Rick Santorum supporter, insulting the man on national television, and in the same episode Olivia Munn's character breaks journalism ethics in the pursuit of what she thinks is the truth. That episode showed that you can try too hard to make the world a better place, and that good intentions do not always result in good results. It was easily the best episode of the season in a season filled with just odd moments in which the news team would seemingly travel into the future and get information that they would use in their news reports, Sorkin was trying to make a statement on how the news should have been covered, but he was doing so frequently with the benefit of hindsight. All I've talked about so far pales in comparison though to the ambivalence I felt to the personal stories of the characters. I did not care at all if whatever-his-name got with whatever-her-name or vica versa. The relationships had almost nothing to do with the main goal of the news organizations to do the news better, not literally nor thematically (see the recently reviewed Broadcast News, or even The West Wing, if you want to know what I'm talking about). Having said all of this though, it's not a show I'd recommend, but it's a show I will continue to watch because I am deeply invested in the subject matter of the news media. And even though I like Sorkin much of the time, I also very much enjoy criticizing him.

Grade: C-

Broadcast News (1987)

Director: James L. Brooks

 If you describe a movie to me as being a Hollywood workplace romantic comedy with a love triangle, I probably won't go in expecting to love it. Mostly because it's just a tired formula that Hollywood has done over and over again only because it's a consistent moneymaker and not because there's any artistic merit left in the genre. That's why I was enormously surprised at how much I loved James L. Brooks Broadcast News (also because Brooks himself doesn't have the greatest track record). In this film the workplace is a broadcast news station, but it's more about the people who work in the news than the news itself. But that's why it works. The people provide the emotion, and you get very quickly attached to the characters. There is subtle commentary on the "showbizification" of broadcast news, but the brilliant thing is that it's never broadcasted (pun intended), and instead it's all subtle and fully at the service of the characters.

The three main characters (each played brilliantly by Holly Hunter, Albert Brooks, and William Hurt) are perfectly realized. They each stand for something bigger than themselves, but are still real individuals. Hunter plays a working woman who is successful in her professional life, but struggling in her personal life (think Liz Lemon). As we go through the movie both strands of her professional and personal life are connected together, and at the end of the movie the ethics and principles of her career are actually brought full circle into the romantic conflict in her personal life. It's truly brilliant writing that captures both ideas and emotion. Even though the film is a Hollywood romantic comedy, it still finds a way to be unconventional. You'll find a happy ending in the movie in which things work out to a degree, but it's not the traditional happy ending you would expect. The film makes the statement that while things may not go your way the way you want them to, they will still end up going your way.

Grade: A-

Cosmopolis (2012)

Director: David Cronenberg

 It's not everyday you leave a movie theater confused on whether or not the movie you just watched was a brilliant masterpiece or psuedo-intellectual soulless crap. But this is close to what happened when I finished watching Cosmopolis. It's a movie that is mostly just all conversations, and some very odd, nonsensical ones at that. For example, there is one in which two characters talk about rats becoming the new world currency. My dilemma became "is there legitimate meaning behind all this dialogue or is it all just a fake attempt to try to say something meaningful without actually showing it?" After putting some thought into it, and admittedly giving  Cronenberg the benefit of the doubt, I lean towards actual intellectual rather than psuedo-intellectual. But even if you don't quite understand the concepts and conclusions of the economic and existential conversations, you understand the film because of Cronenberg's direction.

The movie can definitely be defined as soulless, but I'm not sure that's a knock against the film because it suits the subject matter quite well. The film is an examination of a soulless man, a man who has become so cold and distant due to his very sudden rise and fall in wealth and class, which has isolated him from the rest of the world, something that Cronenberg captures extremely well with the many claustrophobic scenes in his limo. He is now experiencing a new feeling of loss, which seems to catapult into an existential yearning for his past, something familiar. The whole movie is him trying to get across the city to go to the barbershop where his family used to get haircuts. Robert Pattinson was made to play the main role. All the negative criticism his acting received for the Twilight movies is a positive in this film. His distant, expressionless performance matches perfectly with Cronenberg's almost-robotic direction.  I'm still not completely sure of what it all means, especially the last scene which appears to turn the film on its head a little too much, but I think Cronenberg got across exactly what he wanted to get across. The feeling of non-feeling.

Grade: B+

Red Hook Summer (2012)

Director: Spike Lee

 There are very few well-known black filmmakers working in Hollywood, or even the independent scene, in America who actually take on serious issues that affect the black community. Spike Lee is really the only one I can think of who has achieved some success. There are many who want Lee to diversify and take on other subjects, but I cherish his films because there is no one doing what he's doing. Lee's new film is just another example. Red Hook Summer is vintage Spike Lee. It's an independent film set in Brooklyn taking on issues like race, religion, poverty, and gentrification. It's style is spontaneous, improvisatory, and almost television commercial-like at times. His style makes his serious themes easy and even fun to digest, and that's why he's such a beloved filmmaker.

The film is about a low-income community that is being over-run with middle class white Americans. It's a community of people that have gotten the short straw for their whole lives and there's no hope for their future. In a community such as this you'd think the local church has a large congregations, but this is not true. Clarke Peters (from The Wire) plays the local reverend and in between his fiery topical sermons that lay out Lee's ideas, we see him trying to increase the congregation and struggle to get people to attend his church. Religion is usually the main source of hope for low-income and poverty-stricken people, so it is a bit befuddling at first he has such a hard time. But by the end of the movie, due to a late twist that is honestly a little too unexpected, you know why the church is having such a hard time. I don't want to spoil it, but I think the film raises a great point with the events of the third act, though I think the first two thirds of the movie are a little meandering and don't lead in at all to the third act. The movie isn't the most focused, the most thought-out movie, but a lot of effort went into creating a spontaneous feel that reflects real life and also actually taking on important issues that affect a specific community.

Grade: B

Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)

Director: Benh Zeitlin

 The American independent movie has become a genre unto itself. They're usually comedic films with some drama mixed, stylistically bare and low-key, and usually starring young 20-something year old people dealing with "relatable" human issues that speak to the modern day. But here comes Beasts of the Southern Wild to give American independent cinema a jolt of life. It's a film filled with magical realism and a folksy but lyrical tone. It's set in a island off the coast of Louisiana in a small community with no connection to the outside world. They are self-sufficient and proud of it. Our lead character is actually the opposite of the cultured, privileged, whiney college graduate whose trying to learn how to function in the world that we see in so many American independent films. Our lead character is Hushpuppy, a six-year-old girl who is learning to come to terms with how nature works. It's a coming-of-age story, only the person who is coming of age is only six years old.

When stripped from the lyrical camerawork, the historic mythology, and the cultural tics the film is essentially about the spirit of individualism and a celebration of independence. It can be construed as a libertarian movie, but even if you're not a libertarian the film will still ring true because the independence of the characters comes from a distrust of others that I think all of us can understand. People leave us, whether it's voluntarily or through death, and we all need to get used to that just as Hushpuppy learns. While the movie never explicitly references Hurricane Katrina it does call back to it quite obviously and the effects that it had on the people who called that area home for so many years. The movie humanizes those who stay behind with their homes during a hurricane, because it emphasizes the importance of a place called home, especially in a community that gets no support from the outside world. As you can tell there's a whole lot of allegorical analysis that can be done with this film, but I still believe that the reason this film is powerful is because of the journey of Hushpuppy as little girl trying to make sense of the world. Beasts of the Southern Wild does something that should be impossible. It combines childhood imagination and naivete with the very adult qualities of responsibility and independence.

Grade: A-

The West Wing: Season One (2000)

Creator: Aaron Sorkin

 Spending my summer interning on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC seemed like a good time to start watching this loved and popular Aaron Sorkin show about the minutiae of daily life in the west wing of the White House. There are a handful of main characters, all of whom work for the President of the United States. In true Sorkin fashion the characters are definitely idealistic, but the show recognizes that the world they occupy is not a world of idealists. I was most impressed with the fact that the show is not afraid to display the characters struggling to get things done the right way. It's the ultimate conflict between compromise and principles (Sorkin's new show The Newsroom mostly fails at this, but more on that in another post). Throughout the season the main arc seems to be this battle between playing it safe to stay alive and taking risks by doing the right thing. It's a conflict that's been present for as long as politics has existed and Barack Obama is proof that it's definitely still a huge issue today.

One of my best ways the show displayed this conflict was the personal issues of the staffers. Sam Seaborn loved a call girl, and even though there's nothing wrong with that, it's still going to be a problem because of how it might be viewed by the press. Another great thing the show did is make sure the personal stories and personal relationships of the characters were focused on the effect they had on the job they were doing. This is a show about the job these people are doing first, and the people who have the job second. We see the negative effects the time and energy the important job has on the personal lives of the characters (though I wish we would have seen more of this). While the conflicts in the job is shown very well, I do think the characters are a little too-good-to-be-true. This is most evident when it comes to President Bartlett. There are a few moments where he does things that make him out to be some Gandhi-like figure. There is a scene early in the season in which the President lets his emotions get the best of him and almost orders an attack on hundreds of innocent civilians, and I would have liked to see more of that side of the President. But I will say one thing, all of the characters on this show are incredibly likable, and because you enjoy spending time with these people it makes it so much easier to watch the show. You'll know what I'm talking about when the season-ending cliffhanger occurs and you find your heart beating a million times an hour.

Grade: B+