02/13/2003 Entry:
"News, Oscars and Recent Viewings"

Work has been nuts.

It has come to my attention that Magnolia Pictures has picked up Lucas Belvaux' three film set La Trilogie for distribution. Each installment will open two weeks after the previous one. I urge all readers to go and see all three of these wonderful films, which would stand on their own as great but when viewed together are something really extraordinary.

Second, how about those Oscars. I don't really have much to say. Chicago? WTF is up with that (OK, I haven't seen it.) If Jack Nicholson wins best actor it will be a travesty. It was nice to see Daniel Day-Lewis nominated in the main category instead of supporting, but I almost wish it had been the other way around since the supporting category is so much less competitive. Spirited away gets a deserved nomination it will sadly not win. Can we please give Scorsese the best picture this time? Pretty please?

And now on to some movies.

I saw a Korean film called Take Care Of My Cat some weeks ago at Film Center. It was the story of five girls graduating from high school and trying to maintain their friendship afterwards. It was very nicely acted and shot, with some really cool uses of text on screen to drive home the way that these girls use text messaging on their cell phones as a primary form of communication. Everything was pointing to this being an actually great film until the last third or so, in which some plot twists are introduced which seem to have the purpose of making the film more "interesting" but in actuality they just ruin the mood of the whole thing. What had been driven by subtlety and personality becomes driven home with a sledgehammer, which is a shame because I was really enjoying myself up to that point. Still this was the first film from director Jae-eun Jeong who also wrote it, and the signs are promising for better things looking forward. It also continued a long line of fine fine films from Asia I've been seeing recently, which seems to be a hotbed of interesting work.

Speaking of which, I didn't find Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke quite as enjoyable as Spirited Away, but it was still really great. Was this film marketed to kids at all on its release? I was pretty surprised by the amount of graphic violence in it what with the limbs and heads flying everywhere and whatnot. I still had that same sense of creativity and fantasy that Spirited Away had, but I think I preferred the latter's innocence and charm. I'm dying to see the rest of his work now, and word has it Region 1 DVDs will be created for all of these this year. Oh, and while I would never recommend watching a dubbed version of a film over a subtitled version, the English translation of Mononoke is laughably bad, although there was some interest in it just to see the subtle ways they change the dialog around. I didn't watch the whole thing, I just saw some bits.

Sitting around alone one night I found myself watching Sergio Leone's classic western The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly on Turner Classic Movies. I had never seen it widescreen and it was kind of a revelation. Some really amazing framing going on there, a lot of wide angle distorted closeups while people hang back on the other side. What an ending too! Watching Eli Wallach run around the graves, that Ennio Morricone score blaring away, the final gunfight, and the last gag as Clint Eastwood rides off. Just totally entertaining, and I can't believe he made that movie for only a million bucks. Amazing. Also, if you want to see something truly astounding, take a look at the IMDB entry for Ennio Morricone. In 42 years he has composed the music for 464 films, and been nominated for five Oscars without winning! A lifetime acheivement award Oscar for this man. Please!

A re-viewing of Russian Ark was not quite as revelatory as the first one (and not helped by being hampered by projection issues) but still immensely enjoyable. I found myself even more just falling into the trance of the steadicam wandering through room after room. My Russian history is fairly non-existent and I don't even know whats going on half the time. But as far as I'm concerned, you could just turn off the dialog and this film would be just as great. I was heartened to see a huge crowd come out for this at 1:30 in the afternoon on a Sunday. Music Box holds 800 people and it was about 2/3 full, many of those old Russian couples.

I had heard some really glowing reviews of Lynne Ramsey's Morvern Callar and was disappointed when it appeared for two weeks around Christmas then disappeared. Oddly enough it returned and I was able to go catch it. I was less taken with it than many seem to be. I didn't really feel a lot of emotional attachment to Morvern, especially through the first act. As it progressed I took to her a little more, especially in the final reel where she emets the agents and gets her payoff. I have a feling that has to do with the fact that she seems really happy and fill with joy during these scenes, whereas in the beginning she is just miserable. I understand her boyfriend killed himself and everything, but she seems like the type that had always been miserable and unhappy. I was actually much more taken by her friend played by Kathleen McDermott, even more so when I found out this was her first acting role. Technically there was a lot to like about the film though. Lots of interesting shot choices and cinematography. There is a device used in several parts of the film where Morvern is listening to music on her headphones and its blaring out full bore, then the sound starts pulling back and all you can hear is the tinny fuzz of the music as if you were standing next to her on the bus. It was really cool and effective, especially during the ending, which was truly awesome and almost made up for everything that had come before it.

I think there were a couple more in there, but I really have to go.

Replies: 4 comments

I'd definitely give Daniel Day Lewis the Oscar for Best Actor, even though his was definitely a supporting role. I have a feeling the Academy might give Best Director to Scorsese, but I sure wouldn't count on it winning Best Picture. "Chicago" has that all wrapped up in my opinion. I haven't seen it either and really don't want to, but I bet the Academy voters will be all over it. Posted by Scott B. @ 02/16/2003 11:55 AM CST

Apart from the always mesmerizing Samantha Morton, Morvern Callar didn't do much for me. Maybe I would have liked it more had I not recently seen Ratcatcher. Quick complaints: The Lanna character seemed like she belonged in some Lukas Moodysson film (and for the record I really like his movies). I really wish there were subtitles. It came across like some improvised euro DV or dogme film at times. I still can't figure out what song was played briefly twice (the second time was when she was walking away from the sleeping Lanna). I know the song very well from some other unknown place but looking over the sound track didn't help me identify it. Her walking through the supermarket near the beginning and the book deal scene near the end were probably my favorite segments. In any case, as a long-time cineblog reader I demand that you put Ratcatcher somewhere in the top 20 spot of your Netflix queue. I can't stress how much better that movie is. Also, I don't know if you ever read Ebert's reviews, but do you ever notice how often he is wrong about basic plot points? They usually aren't earth shattering errors, but they pop up enough to make me wonder how much attention he gives to the movies. For example, in his Morvern review he writes: "After she actually sells the novel, she uses the publisher's check to buy them both a package holiday in Spain..." That's wrong, isn't it? Posted by skeeter meter @ 04/12/2003 08:03 PM CST

re: Take Care of My Cat On first watching, I too felt slightly let down by the last part of this otherwise wonderful film. But I loved the first part so much, I ordered the Korean DVD (subtitled and apparently all region) anyway. After a re-watching, I found myself far less bothered by the ending. After another re-watching, I decided I love this almost unreservedly. ;~) MEK Posted by Michael Kerpan @ 05/06/2003 11:55 AM CST

realy crazy Posted by kortenbrede @ 10/07/2003 04:36 PM CST