(500) DAYS OF SUMMER claims to be an anti-love story, a poisoned penned tale about how love really works. Despite some cloying touches of whimsy it mostly hits the mark. Instead of being poisonous, perhaps it will just put you in a light coma. When you wake up you'll be ready for love again.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Tom, initially a sad sack romantic who was raised on movies and pop music to contort his ideal view of love. He meet-cutes Zooey Deschanel -playing the titular Summer- at their shared workplace, a greeting card company. The story follows Tom non-linearly through a 500 day period with Summer. We see many scenes where Tom's ecstasy over being with Summer is paired immediately with his misery over losing her, but not in that order. Tom falls in love with Summer, but Summer can't love Tom the same way. After the break up we continue to see Tom analyze why the relationship didn't last, interspersed with flashbacks to happier times. The free floating nature of the narrative puts the ups and downs of love into stark relief and makes the observations all that much sharper. Including one of the most heartbreaking scenes in the film: a split screen view of Tom's attempt to win Summer back displaying his "Expectations" versus "Reality".
The film works best when it successfully subverts the traditional cliches of an "indie" romantic comedy. Tom is the kind of romantic, sensitive guy who's Joy Division "Love Will Tear Us Apart" t-shirt says all we need to know about the fictional roots of his character. He comes from a long tradition of cynics who secretly hope they will find their own Manic Pixie Dream Girl to save them from the drudgery of everyday life. He goes all the way back to Dustin Hoffman in THE GRADUATE (the final scene of which plays during this film) right up to Zach Braff in his GRADUATE riff GARDEN STATE. However, Summer turns out not to be the MPDG of the film (a first for Deschanel), if anything Tom is the Manic Pixie Dream Boy. Always sketching buildings for an architecture career he won't pursue and generally living his life as if it's a John Hughes movie (mourn ya til I join ya, brother). Summer is, in actuality, just a normal, damaged girl who won't let love in. Eventually, Tom learns his lesson in living a better life not through being with the girl of his dreams, but when he realizes he can't ever have her. Most romantic comedies don't have the two leads stay separated through to the credits.
Gordon-Levitt plays Tom excellently, exuding real joy when he's with his love, and real pain when he realizes she isn't going to love him back. His expressive face and delivery just sell his part perfectly. You want to follow him through his story and you feel the sting of every mistake he makes.
As a few of the directorial innovations make the film entertaining and heartfelt, a dance sequence to Hall & Oates where Tom celebrates consummating his relationship, the aforementioned split screen, and Tom's post break-up fantasy where he plays the part of a lonely man in an homage to European art films. There is a fair bit of quirk that just doesn't seem to fit with the more realistic tone. As if this it was added by Fox ride the wave of JUNO popularity. There's Tom's prepubescent sister, who dispenses sage romantic advice well before her age. Perhaps this was supposed to be a joke about this kind of cliched character, but it's never really makes any kind of subversive comment about that. There's also a whimsical narrator that begins the film, and the kind of erratically pops up throughout. He feels almost completely like an afterthought, as if they found narration from some unaired Pushing Daisies episode they needed to put to good use. The heart of the film though, and how personal it feels overshadow these elements nearly completely. It's a bittersweet story that might be the most biting film about love since ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, a film which would be a great double feature with this one.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Drag Me to Hell
Sam Raimi seems to think he has something to prove. His latest movie, "Drag Me to Hell", is a return to his horror comedy roots after many people seemed to be let down by "Spider-Man 3". Personally, I felt that last film was a lot better than it's reputation, but still suffered from too much bloat. Regardless, his latest effort will most please the majority of his original fan base.
After a tremendous (and loud) B-movie cold opening, "Drag Me to Hell" starts with Alison Lohman playing a bank loan officer who just wants to get promoted. Her boss informs her the only way to do that is to make the "tough decisions". The very first of these decisions is to deny an extension for an old woman (Lorna Raver) on her home loan. Unfortunately for Lohman, this old woman is a gypsy (natch)! Raver puts a curse on Lohman after an extended fight scene in a parking lot that shows Raimi has not lost his touch for horror-movies-by-way-of-The-Three-Stooges film making. From there on in we follow Lohman as she is repeatedly pummeled and psychologically tormented by a goat demon called a Lamia. Anvils are droppes. Eyeballs pop out of cakes and kittens are sacrificed. This goes on at a frenetic pace for three days, after which she will be literally dragged to hell by the Lamia.
The plot is thin, but that's fine, it's not meant to be high art. This movie is an old school morality play in the vein of The Twilight Zone and E.C. Comics, complete with the obligatory twist ending. The difference here is the protagonist seems to be channeling the spirit of Wile E. Coyote. There is even a particularly memorable scene involving an anvil to the head. The pacing is like a roller coaster. The bulk of the film is played like a straight horror flick, with the audience wondering what's just around the corner, complete with a few rather weak "gotcha!" scares. However, these sequences are just setups for when everything goes off the rails. The camera goes all dutch angles and super fast pans, while Lohman gets a nose bleed like a geyser or fights a demon who dances a comical jig to tell her how her soul is doomed.
Lohman and Raver's commitment to play it all straight only make these set pieces all the more enjoyable. And they both take a lot of punishment in this film. Luckily, they aren't afraid to do some pretty embarrassing things for a laugh. Lohman in particular gives a great performance. Her descent from sweet, cherubic farm girl to angry near-sociopath almost makes you think she deserves her fate.
There are some down points to the film. A few of the call backs to Raimi's "Evil Dead" movies seem a bit awkward and forced. (Though a fight with a possessed napkin is pretty fun.) And there is quite a of bit gross out goofiness for a PG-13 movie, but it feels like it could have gone even further with an R.
In the end, Raimi has crafted another gleefully evil movie. One thing is for sure though, somewhere Bruce Campbell must he happy that Raimi has found a younger generation of actors to throw around the room on wires.
After a tremendous (and loud) B-movie cold opening, "Drag Me to Hell" starts with Alison Lohman playing a bank loan officer who just wants to get promoted. Her boss informs her the only way to do that is to make the "tough decisions". The very first of these decisions is to deny an extension for an old woman (Lorna Raver) on her home loan. Unfortunately for Lohman, this old woman is a gypsy (natch)! Raver puts a curse on Lohman after an extended fight scene in a parking lot that shows Raimi has not lost his touch for horror-movies-by-way-of-The-Three-Stooges film making. From there on in we follow Lohman as she is repeatedly pummeled and psychologically tormented by a goat demon called a Lamia. Anvils are droppes. Eyeballs pop out of cakes and kittens are sacrificed. This goes on at a frenetic pace for three days, after which she will be literally dragged to hell by the Lamia.
The plot is thin, but that's fine, it's not meant to be high art. This movie is an old school morality play in the vein of The Twilight Zone and E.C. Comics, complete with the obligatory twist ending. The difference here is the protagonist seems to be channeling the spirit of Wile E. Coyote. There is even a particularly memorable scene involving an anvil to the head. The pacing is like a roller coaster. The bulk of the film is played like a straight horror flick, with the audience wondering what's just around the corner, complete with a few rather weak "gotcha!" scares. However, these sequences are just setups for when everything goes off the rails. The camera goes all dutch angles and super fast pans, while Lohman gets a nose bleed like a geyser or fights a demon who dances a comical jig to tell her how her soul is doomed.
Lohman and Raver's commitment to play it all straight only make these set pieces all the more enjoyable. And they both take a lot of punishment in this film. Luckily, they aren't afraid to do some pretty embarrassing things for a laugh. Lohman in particular gives a great performance. Her descent from sweet, cherubic farm girl to angry near-sociopath almost makes you think she deserves her fate.
There are some down points to the film. A few of the call backs to Raimi's "Evil Dead" movies seem a bit awkward and forced. (Though a fight with a possessed napkin is pretty fun.) And there is quite a of bit gross out goofiness for a PG-13 movie, but it feels like it could have gone even further with an R.
In the end, Raimi has crafted another gleefully evil movie. One thing is for sure though, somewhere Bruce Campbell must he happy that Raimi has found a younger generation of actors to throw around the room on wires.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
It has been said that George C. Scott was very upset with the choices director Stanley Kubrick made concerning his performance in Dr. Strangelove. Reportedly, Kubrick picked Scott's most over-the-top takes for the film, even after assuring the actor he was going to pick more subdued ones. Kubrick's deception was fortuitous, however, because the near cartoonish performance by Scott as General Buck Turgidson is one of the most memorable in the film. With all his joyous mugging and full on war hawk bravado during what should be a sobering moment for humanity, Scott encapsulates what makes this movie a near perfect black satire.
While the apocalyptic events of Strangelove would seem to imply a bleak film, it is actually a pretty gleeful, freewheeling comedy. And no one in the cast seems to be brought down by the impedning End of the World scenario. Kubrick exposes something as absurd as the arms race for just that, complete absurdity. When only a few atomic bombs could single-handedly destroy the world as we know it, it seems like it HAS to be a joke that the world's major powers want to make sure they have more than the other guy. And military men like Buck are in on the joke. Shown through his cavalier attitude to collateral damage and eagerness for the success of the US military, despite the tragic outcome.
The film is ludicrous though out though. The very title itself seems almost an offhand addition. As if the filmmakers were struggling to find one and just chose Dr. Strangelove, because he made them laugh the most during filming. The alternate title to the film doesn't shoot for anything more serious either.
Bringing to mind that title, the characters in the film DO seem to stop worrying about the bomb. While President Merkin Muffley does show the most concern out of all the characters, he really can't bring himself to express emotions any stronger than mild discomfort and anger at the bureaucrats around him.
The bureaucratic fail-safes that keep the calamities going until inevitable doomed climax are all beautifully constructed as well. It's a perfect satire of a system that has so much concern for protocol that it never stops to see if it's being tripped up by it's own red tape. Each safeguard is so cautious that it has another series of safeguards that only make matters worse. The film is so meticulously over-constructed in the way it depicts the real life meticulous over-construction of a bloated war chest a nation uses that it's almost a perpetual motion machine of doom.
Which is why characters like Buck do-and should- slap themselves on the back. They've done an air tight job guaranteeing all their weapons systems work perfectly. As Dr. Strangelove states in regard to the Doomsday Machine at the end of film, a machine that is so complex as to be triggered but then never untriggered is "essential." Of course, it's essential for military men and mad scientists, because they are really only dealing in an abstract war of fear. But translate that fearmongering into reality, and they're at a loss to appropriately assess the problem. So, they just congratulate themselves on a job well done, without thinking of what the job is they've actually done. Which is pretty ridiculous if you think about it.
While the apocalyptic events of Strangelove would seem to imply a bleak film, it is actually a pretty gleeful, freewheeling comedy. And no one in the cast seems to be brought down by the impedning End of the World scenario. Kubrick exposes something as absurd as the arms race for just that, complete absurdity. When only a few atomic bombs could single-handedly destroy the world as we know it, it seems like it HAS to be a joke that the world's major powers want to make sure they have more than the other guy. And military men like Buck are in on the joke. Shown through his cavalier attitude to collateral damage and eagerness for the success of the US military, despite the tragic outcome.
The film is ludicrous though out though. The very title itself seems almost an offhand addition. As if the filmmakers were struggling to find one and just chose Dr. Strangelove, because he made them laugh the most during filming. The alternate title to the film doesn't shoot for anything more serious either.
Bringing to mind that title, the characters in the film DO seem to stop worrying about the bomb. While President Merkin Muffley does show the most concern out of all the characters, he really can't bring himself to express emotions any stronger than mild discomfort and anger at the bureaucrats around him.
The bureaucratic fail-safes that keep the calamities going until inevitable doomed climax are all beautifully constructed as well. It's a perfect satire of a system that has so much concern for protocol that it never stops to see if it's being tripped up by it's own red tape. Each safeguard is so cautious that it has another series of safeguards that only make matters worse. The film is so meticulously over-constructed in the way it depicts the real life meticulous over-construction of a bloated war chest a nation uses that it's almost a perpetual motion machine of doom.
Which is why characters like Buck do-and should- slap themselves on the back. They've done an air tight job guaranteeing all their weapons systems work perfectly. As Dr. Strangelove states in regard to the Doomsday Machine at the end of film, a machine that is so complex as to be triggered but then never untriggered is "essential." Of course, it's essential for military men and mad scientists, because they are really only dealing in an abstract war of fear. But translate that fearmongering into reality, and they're at a loss to appropriately assess the problem. So, they just congratulate themselves on a job well done, without thinking of what the job is they've actually done. Which is pretty ridiculous if you think about it.
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