#83 of 2010: The Curse of the Cat People

"Oh Kay, we're gonna do the short, short version":

Mr. Golly Gee/Dad (still attached to spurned, cursed dead wife) has effectively domesticated his former office buddy/new wife, or she has domesticated herself to the point that you wouldn't know anything about her past life as a working gal if you hadn't seen the previous film. They have an imaginative and solitary daughter, Amy, and in raising her, Dad takes his characteristically simplistic approach (play with other kids = happily normalized life, tell me what i want to hear = i've taught you a lesson, incredible truths = lies). There's a somewhat underdeveloped and maudlin interwoven storyline about an aging actress (with something akin to alzheimer's) and the daughter who struggles to care for her. Simone Simon is as charming as ever, and her singing to/interaction with Amy is a highlight of the story, alongside the young character's personality and openness to the world. The plot climax during a blizzard on christmas is a bit too much.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Curse_of_the_Cat_People

#77 of 2010: Cria Cuervos

like "spirit of the beehive", "cria cuervos" is a movie about pivotal events during childhood, stars Ana Torrent as the central character, and allows children to be complex and/or uncomfortably (though realistically) amoral. the later film also echoes the earlier in the way that it treats fascism and political turmoil as secondary to the more immediate experiences of family life, but makes sure to demonstrate a strong connection between the socio-political situation of the time and the behavior of the adult characters, which in turn seems to offer insight into the behavior of the children. one thing I could have done without was the flash-forward adult Ana appearing on screen in several highly contrived scenes (she is basically a speaking bust that seems to be answering the unasked question "what was your childhood like?") where she explains how she felt at age nine. this could have been included to introduce some instability into the narrative, call into question what we've seen. after all, if the movie is taken as the telling of memories by the adult Ana, we can assume that a good deal of it is confabulation, and that would somewhat explain scenes like the strange mash-ups of arguments between parents, where the girl Ana circles and observes in a way that tells us that the scene is not literal, not meant to be understood as "what happened", and that the camera is not acting as a witness, but as a "mind's eye". still, i feel that the subjectivity of the visuals- the fact that we are meant to see the movie as a look into Ana's mind- was clear without the adult version applying her overarching conclusions retroactively. it might have simply been the lines in these scenes that i didn't care for, or the fact that a woman staring into a camera as if she is being interviewed by a psychologist (who happens to be more interested in studying What People Say About Childhood than Childhood Itself) is not as visually stimulating as seeing what a little girl thinks. regardless, the movie as a whole is a successful (moving, articulate, beautiful) argument for the differentiation between inexperience and innocence. watch it, and relish "porque te vas".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cría_cuervos

#76 of 2010: The Celebration

"The Celebration" has been languishing in my DVD queue for months, hovering near the top but always being postponed in favor of a more recent recommendation. its turn finally came, and i was thoroughly blown away by it. i found out as the opening credits played that the film was the first movie made according to Dogme 95 requirements, and i was impressed with how polished and cohesive (in comparison to my only other experience with Dogme filmmaking, Korine's "Julien Donkey Boy") the whole thing turned out to be. i've said it before and i'll say it again: few things fill me with more admiration than financially resourceful executions of engaging visual storytelling. solid creativity can function on any budget, and this film exemplifies how much you can do with a bit of precise editing, some murky lighting, fantastic acting, and impeccable direction. the dream/drunk sequence towards the end was probably the most moving, most spot-on depiction of semi-consciousness that i have ever seen. also, while the plot revolves around tragic victimization, blatant/uncomfortable confrontation, and the struggle towards recovery within a family, it never feels like the "movie version" of something that happens in real life; it feels like the "real life version" (this from the perspective of someone who's never experienced anything like the film's premise first or second or even third hand). as a viewer, you're included as a guest at the table, you're a bystander trying to figure out how or if- once a horrendous act can no longer be ignored or denied- it might be possible to keep on existing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Celebration

#75 of 2010: Together

besides the oblique jabs which consist of the inclusion of a "crazy hippie aunt" or "weird psychic/naturopath", i feel like movies in general shy away from critically examining political and social liberalism in a serious way (i'm not counting outright satires like Allen's "everyone says i love you"). bucking that trend (as i perceive it), "Together" offers a sizable helping of pros and cons concerning practices like communal living, political sexuality, and liberal parenting. Though aspects of radical counter-culture are introduced as stark theoretical oppositions to mainstream family values, the narrative allows a much more complex exploration of the left-leaning continuum to take place. By the still-uncertain (but happy anyway) denouement, we've gotten to know left-wing counterparts to every right-wing stereotype: the protective parent, the self-serving hypocrite, the political evangelist, the sheepish proponent of the most idealistic version of hir beliefs (in place of the right's "american dream" of freedom to prosper is the left's ideal of "harmonious equality" in which the group prospers because of the altruism of its members), and so on. all this anthropological/sociological documentary (the zooms, quick turns, and handheldiness of the camera work are reminiscent of early, possible-to-presume-unscripted reality shows) is part of a complete narrative package, with interesting and interwoven plot lines and a really great brother-sister-parallel-yelling-at-significant-others scene. the subtitles on netflix's disc were definitely shoddy, but who doesn't love listening to Swedish, even if there are big holes in the translation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Together_(2000_film)