#100 of 2010: Paris, Texas

The incredibly slow trickle of narrative disclosure made the first hour of "Paris, Texas" a little tough to get through, but after all is said and done, I think the pacing of the film can be considered one of its most notable achievements. It starts out a garble that we see through "the brother's" eyes, and the tension of what will happen if or when Travis (Harry Dean Stanton) comes back into the life of his son, Hunter, competently propels the garble on through the first forty minutes. By the time Hunter says "Goodnight, Dad" twice, I began to wonder if there was any story left to tell. Or rather, I knew there was story left to tell, but judging from the opening half of the movie, I had my doubts as to whether or not it would get told. At precisely 1:02:01, everything starts all over again, with the simple gesture of walking backwards on the other side of the street. From this point on, I was enamored. The remainder is speckled with little vignettes that keep you watching and listening- fully attentive to what is being shown and said- because your brain figured out early on that here, there's no reward for guesswork.

One of my favorite scenes was the one on the bridge. On first viewing, it seemed completely interruptive (i didn't mind), and now that I skim it again, I see the significance in showing Travis walking at night, then cutting to him walking (in the same direction) across a bridge over some highway in the low light of what could easily be taken for early morning: after learning that there might be a way for him to find his long-lost wife, he walks all night, quickly, without giving much notice to his environment. Still, it isn't the narrative implications that get me about this scene. It's the way the sound (an audio parfait of footsteps and traffic buzz and some echo-y orating within the scene, topped off with that bending and twanging guitar soundtrack) and the visual composition (tracking Travis, who's centered in the shot, as he glides over the bi-directional river of head- and tail-lights) combine and fluctuate and culminate in Travis slowing down as the shot overtakes the orator (who turns toward him without lowering his volume), and the guitar drops back while we listen (along with our main character) about how "none of that area will be called a safety zone. there will be no safety zone. i can guarantee you the safety zone will be eliminated. eradicated." The orator turns back towards the highway, Travis softly touches his back as he walks around him, and the camera let's our main character walk on without it.

ps, Hunter is great. Not like a "great kid actor", but a real kid who doesn't seem like he's on film.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris,_Texas_(film)

#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

#69 of 2010: Veronika Voss

the story itself and the exceptional acting certainly deserve praise, but the most striking thing about this film is how poignantly it reverses the light=good/dark=bad convention. though Fassbinder chose to shoot "Veronika Voss" in black and white and the story is built largely on the darker, more desperate and disturbing facets of humanity, i don't think it can be considered "neo-noir" for the simple fact that so much of the film is blindingly white- which in this case represents lack, unease (even torture), corrupt power, and decay. like Rembrandt's "hundred gilder print" depicting Christ with the greatest dimensionality possible for the medium (while the "bad guys" are punished by being made lightest, their forms constructed from the fewest and thinnest lines, barely worked on by the artist or visible to the viewer), Fassbinder shows the good people and places of this film in vibrant shadow and modulated light, while the rotten characters gleam. Robert and his extraordinarily devoted (though in no way inferior or dependent) girlfriend Henriette are the self-actualized, affectionate, honest, compassionate ones, and their truthful and openhearted interactions take place in spaces lit like this:

playing for the other (nasty, opportunistic, self-centered, avaricious) team is Dr. Katz, who swindles and makes addicts of Veronika and two elderly Holocaust survivors (who are probably among others not dealt with in the scope of the film). her office/home/trap is completely whitewashed, effecting the feeling that the only comfort or hope or life it can offer is contrived, flattened, and completely fake- and it is also inescapable. everything falls under the terrible whiteness' power, from the palm tree in the white hall

to Veronika herself, all bleached and washed out and sickly, even as she sparkles with the coldness of jewelry and ostentation.

the cleanliness and orderliness of her doctor's corruption eventually drains Veronika of even fake, drug-induced life, and one of the palest frames is the one that displays her demise.

I was stunned by this film on so many levels, but i'll refrain from going into any more of them and simply recommend that you watch "Veronika Voss" for yourself.

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

#67 of 2010: The Body Snatcher

the nice thing about basing a movie off a short story (written by Robert Louis Stevenson, no less) which is based off historical events is that, as long as your screen adaptation knows where to cut and not to add anything significant (which this one does), you can focus on acting, lighting, camera setups, suspense building, music, etc. and if you DO focus on these things as much as you should for not having to spend the time coming up with a new story, voila! the movie is a creepy, shadowy thrillride/success! at every place where this film could have soured, it was its sweetest: the first murder to provide a body doesn't just happen, and it doesn't happen sloppily, and it isn't without enormous emotional significance for the viewer; rather, the entire scene is expertly crafted for the utmost suspense and gravity. mr. karloff's greedy eyes find his victim as she crosses paths with his recent guest. as the camera (playing his eyes) tracks her, we are fearful, but still have hope that this is just a temporary whim in his desperate mind. we keep repeating, "he wouldn't, he wouldn't, someone would notice, someone will know, he wouldn't" until his cab clops behind her into a shadow and her voice stops. "the body snatcher" is the kind of horror film that respects humanity enough to base the inspiration for our terror in reality. each death is heavy, and the emotions that conscienceless slasher movies would exploit are instead put to good use in confronting the malice that greed and "ambition" bring about in the real world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Body_Snatcher_(film

#58 of 2010: The Lives of Others

netflix was right, i do give it that many stars. what a totally absorbing film brimming with narrative convolutions (which tighten up the suspense without feeling too contrived, except in the way that certain interactions between characters are contrived and based around a "subject/audience" relationship). besides being a studied observation and commentary on oppressive political systems (aren't they all), the movie also handles a very wide array of topics {art-making, patronage, patriotism, and ambition [good and bad kinds, for the sake of creative fulfillment and for its own sake]} in micro- they are dealt with to the extent that they fit into the specific story being told, which is one hell of an emotionally/historically dense slice of life. Ulrich Muhe is INCREDIBLE as the listener/interrogator, and his character's dual/opposing roles in the name of state security exemplify the kind of provoking dichotomies that arise less-than-manageably from the premise. there are clear villians here, and- in a move which movies with clear villians don't usually make- "Lives" exposes those men who would be tagged "evil" in more epic histories as simply immature, infantile even: hungry for attention and praise and control for no reason but to fan their little teenagesque egos. . . with disproportionately tragic though entirely possible consequences. watch this one, but maybe not right before bed.

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

#54 of 2010: Leon: The Professional

Sure, it's an action flick, plus a kid-in-trouble-saved-by-reluctant-loner storyline. that hybrid in itself is not what makes this film incredible. what DOES, is, well, it's frenchness: this is the international version of what was released in america as "the professional", and is, intact, much more emotionally rewarding than the puritanized iteration. yes, it is disturbing to watch a reedy preteen girl participate in contract killings. yes, it is somewhat uncomfortable to hear this young girl engage in a conversation with her older, male guardian which amounts to her asking him to sleep with her. but this movie is not an example of the creepy oversexualization of young girls that takes place in american media and retail. this is a 12-yr-old girl character in a crazy situation acting like a 12-yr-old girl in a crazy situation (p.s. i would be in love with Leon, too). that the movie had to be cleansed of this character's chance to demonstrate her inner thoughts (and learn from the response she gets) for the american release is a perfect example of the hypocrisy and oversimplification that have always allowed good, accessible, human art to take a backseat to low-brow feel-goodism in this country. thank you, The French, for being so ok with puberty, and for being willing to present uncomfortable images so that all the bad we bring to the table as viewers may be swept aside by the excruciating (and redemptive) depth of your characters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Léon_(film)