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March 4, 2010
SHORT THOUGHTS ON THE ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEES
Short Thoughts on the Academy Award Nominees:
AVATAR - It is what it is: a three hour spectacle that I have no interest in seeing again. Sigourney Weaver, adding humor and pathos, was a welcome presence because the Na'vi themselves were kind of dull noble savages. Their world, however, was anything but dull, and the 3D and the IMAX made it an enchanting experience, even if it was caught up in a pretty standard anti-imperalism narrative (the DANCES WITH WOLVES comparisons are appropriate). So while every beat of the story and its characterizations were familiar, the visuals brought it to the level of a really awesome documentary about space that you might see in a planetarium. If it wins the Oscar, it will be the ironic equivalent of a movie that is nothing like it: AMERICAN BEAUTY. We look back at its 2000 victory and wonder why; AVATAR will certainly be surpassed by better, more inventive movies that share its visual flourish. It's like a Cecil DeMille movie without the camp, but I found myself wanting the camp.
THE BLIND SIDE - Here is what this movie is saying, and sadly it is why some of its audience liked it: if poor African Americans could only get on board with the spunky upper-class ethos of white people, they would just be fine. Because other than its central virtuous manchild, all the people of color in this movie are repulsive stereotypes: at one point we see they are smoking weed and drinking malt liquor and talking about raping white teenagers around illegitimate children. I imagine the real Michael Oher story is one of nuance, complexity, and troubling projections about race, class, and culture. The movie whitewashes all those to tell a neat story about a rich white woman who teaches a black kid how to play football (literally; there is a scene when she tells him how to be an offensive tackle). It's inspiration is drawn from that, and the most troubling feature of the story - true and fictional - is breezed over in a hamfisted way: Oher ultimately went to play for a university for which his foster parents were consistent boosters. I really have no problem with this last fact - the family practically raised Oher for three years, they should have some say in where he goes to college - but the way the movie artlessly deals with it suggests that you should be suspicious. Sandra Bullock's performance is pedestrian at best, embarrassing at worst, and I say this as a begrudging fan: she was really quite good in 28 DAYS. But Bullock lacks the innate charm of a southern woman and broadcasts her confidence in actorly gestures. She succeeds because the story gives her offensive stereotypes to react to: the African American community with no perceivable values who, apparently, are there because they aren't enough like Bullock or Tim McGraw. It is unfortunate that this film will endure as a monument to an undeserving actor and a troubling "inspirational" tale.
DISTRICT 9 - This inventive, highly political alien movie worked for audiences because it established its premise quickly and effectively, putting us in an alternate universe that we never once questioned. Neil Blomkamp has made the first realistic alien movie, using the documentary style to good effect. The movie is fascinatingly bureaucratic, only enhancing the realism, and that commitment draws in much of its absurdity. But showing how ill-equipped contemporary diplomacy is to handle outsiders or "threats," we're left asking questions about the implications of any foreign policy. My issue with the movie is its protagonist - "Wikus." I couldn't stand him. He bugged the crap out of me. He distracted me. I kept wanting him to go away, and his central presence made the movie difficult to watch. But that strangely adds to the integrity of this piece.
AN EDUCATION - Carey Mulligan gives a tour-de-force performance, making her a breakthrough star and eventually (perhaps) an icon. The iconography she fits into loves her: Audrey Hepburn, the early 1960s, the yet-to-come British Invasion. But mostly the movie is an anecdote to all those "manic pixie dreamgirl" flicks in which quirky romance leads to a freeing sense of individual perspective. This drama, more kitchen sink than soap opera, eschews such conventional readings. Peter Saarsgard is equally great - his Americanness makes him out of place even as his charming personality helps him to fit in: it's inspired casting. I loved the details of this movie: the dog races, the Oxford bars, and the papers by teenage girls about Jane Eyre. I didn't much care for the ending which, without spoiling too much, turns a denouement into the kind of conventional theatrics that the movie usually avoids.
THE HURT LOCKER - Jeremy Renner is the other breakout star of the year, and I've liked him even when he's been in awful movies as diverse as SWAT and NORTH COUNTRY. THE HURT LOCKER gives him a role he's born to play, and I wonder whether he'll ever be able to play anything but: a jockish, slightly thoughtful dude who is only happy when he's in some kind of immanent danger. THE HURT LOCKER is driven primarily by the performances of Renner and Anthony Mackie (who deserved a nomination but stupidly didn't get one), and the overt political commentary that has produced a number of forgettable movies about Iraq is gone here. Kathryn Bigelow treats the film as a character study under duress, and it works as such. That said, I wasn't as entranced as most audiences: it was fine piece of craftsmanship and a nicely intimate portrait, but nothing particularly profound or fascinating.
INGLORIOUS BASTERDS - Here is my favorite of the nominated films: like all Tarantino movies it is in love with movies, but this one is brash and bold enough to make the movies a means of liberation and history. My only complaint is that it isn't long enough: we needed another scene of the Basterds wreaking havoc in France. All the polyglots are remarkable: not only Christoph Waltz but also the many German and French speakers who make up the other heroes and villains - every beat they hit is just right. Tarantino takes two of his loves - World War II action movies and Sergio Leone Superhero Spaghetti Westerns - and maps it onto a historical terrain; the result reminds of the virtues and glorious excesses of both (their music, their revisionist history, their archetypes, their killer dialogue).
PRECIOUS - Didn't see it . . .
A SERIOUS MAN - It's probably my least favorite Coen Brothers movie other than the two in between THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE and NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. I've noted before that the Coens are experts at diving into a dialect and a sub-culture and putting their own joyfully weird spin on it. A SERIOUS MAN, however, is a prolonged exercise in nihilism, both implicitly and explicitly, and in many ways this very, very Jewish movie resembles that most famous of Hebrew tales of suffering: the book of Job, with its endless suffering and backseat religious commentary. The Coens sit us through every painful moment: ineffectual Rabbis, Lawyers who need retainer fees, and (of course) a really stiflingly filmed Bar Mitzvah. It's the one Coen brothers movie that I've appreciated more than liked.
UP - I saw UP at a drive-thru with my girlfriend on a beautiful summer evening. So obviously I was in a good mood. I laughed the whole time - it's one of two Pixar movies that captures the goofy, go-for-broke charm and imagination of Disney flicks (RATATOUILLE is the other). The opening scenes are wistful and sad and go places that animated films uses don't.
UP IN THE AIR - I do NOT understand why everyone is freaking out about this movie or about George Clooney's performance. I've heard that Clooney is vulnerable, which means that this is the first movie he's made where he's allowed himself to look older than normal. But, come on . . . George Clooney is from Wisconsin and has two unglamorous sisters? And I found his "job" a bit disingenuous: every scene sounded scripted to give Clooney the winning shot. The best scenes involved the two females: Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga, but the worst had Clooney brazenly praising the airline industry. Even the final revelations didn't make this shallow; you leave thinking that American Airlines is an awesome company.
That's it!
| By Andytown | 6:41 PM
Comments
Good thoughts. We talked about it a little before, but you nailed my opinion exactly on Up In The Air--well done, but really pretty sterile (and a little too cute for its own good).
I think I agree about A Serious Man, but, really, I'm just as baffled by this movie as when I saw it. I have no doubt that it is a good film. I'd be hard pressed to think of a movie this decade that alienated me more than this one, though.
Andy, I don't understand why you disliked Wikus so much. I thought his presence was one of the more inspired aspects of District 9. He was such a refreshing change of pace for a science fiction action hero. I guess I was just really charmed by the things you probably found grating.
Posted by: Bill Irvine at March 5, 2010 2:32 PM