Review: The Science of Sleep

Michel Gondry is an artist of fantastic talent, both as a director and a writer. The Science of Sleep, the story of Stéphane Miroux’s (Gael García Bernal) losing battle with reality, does an absolutely superb job of making you feel as though you’ve not slept in weeks. As the film progresses, the characters and situations get harder and harder to make sense of, ultimately leading to a complete breakdown between Stéphane and Stéphanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg.) What’s most interesting, at least to me, was the way in which Gondry explores Stéphane’s mental state. The more worn down and tired he gets, the less effectively he is able to deal with his father’s recent death and his frustration with Stéphanie. I won’t really go into detail because I don’t want to destroy all of the surprises…

Visually, The Science of Sleep could be a continuation of Björk’s “Human Behaviour” video. (Remember, the one where she is eaten by a giant teddy bear?) The plot is interspersed with trippy dream sequences that look completely hand made. It’s beautiful, textured and rich but also conveys the artistic styles of the characters. And it makes the film seem more like an art installation than major motion picture. It had this cool, white-lit look that conveyed a gallery to me, for some reason. Coupled with the dreary, white stone walls of Paris, the movie felt like it was a trip into a European art museum…which is probably what being inside Michel Gondry’s brain is like.

Anyway, there were a few shortcoming with the plot. I’m assuming that Gondry chose to spend more time on the amazing dream sequences than he did on the writing because there were gaping holes and things were sometimes hard to follow. This is beyond what would have been necessary to get across the disjointed atmosphere of Stéphane’s world. I really, again, can’t explain specifically, but there were a few times where you just have to assume that you knew what the characters were talking about because it really was not at all clearly exposed beforehand. Oh, and some of the sentences are in at least three languages, so have fun with that! However, I would still watch it over again and it very well may end up back in my Netflix queue in the very near future.

3 stars for being beautiful and thoughtful! Minus 1 for being a tad hard to follow!

Update: Added a link to Björk/Gondry’s video. Sorry, it’s YouTube – her QuickTime gallery has only a crappy low res version.

Review: Marie Antoinette

Did you see Lost in Translation? Did you like it? If you did, consider yourself a shoe-in for Marie Antoinette because it’s the exact same ambiance just transported back 200 years and moved half a planet West. This makes it sound like the film was boring. And I won’t lie, there were times when it was. But in the way that Coppola’s other film was boring: the boredom of reality. What you see in Marie Antoinette is not a retelling of a dramatic moment in time or a period piece about romance or tragedy. You see random days in the life of a girl made queen, of an outsider in a strange culture.

What’s more than the ambiance of feeling is that of vision. Holy hell. This film is a visual overload: mirrors and silk and flowers and velvet and fondant and….. Many reviewers mentioned how you would be absolutely dizzied by the endless layering of beauty. They were not exaggerating. It was like a pastel Moulin Rouge in broad daylight. My new HDTV is arriving tonight and I’m absolutely watching for a second time just to see what the set can do. It’s that kind of experience.

And the soundtrack! Aphex Twin and Siouxie and the Banshees in one place? Yes, sir…you are right. Little anachronisms like this made for a quirky vibe that lent itself to life at Versailles under Louis XVI.

What I like most about Sofia Coppola’s films is the way they are so repeatable. She does not force you to follow one emotional path through from start to end but instead lets you create whatever feelings you want by filling your mind with nuanced glances and deafening silences. Marie Antoinette reminded me of visiting a gallery full of sublime art…so good that you will visit again and again just to uncover what else you can possibly draw from what’s on display.

In short, unless you are looking for a film that does the storytelling for you, you’ll love it. 4 stars!

Review: The Black Dahlia

A few minutes in and I had to descibe to my brother what film noir is because The Black Dahlia is a pretty excellent example of the genre. However, more generally, it’s not really an excellent movie. The characters seemed a little blank and the plot didn’t exactly come together in a grand sweep of genius…more like the story’s key points were shaken up in a hat and then randomly arranged as the “conclusion.” I guess you get that with the tale of an unsolved murder. Redeeming qualities: Scarlett Johansson in old Hollywood style, Hilary Swank looking decidedly less manly than usual and a few (unintentionally) hilarious lines. Well worth watching if you are in the mood for a good old fashioned detective story. Josh Hartnett pulls off the jaded cop thing well, Aaron Eckhart is fantastic and who doesn’t like the 1940s aesthetic?

About a holiday break…

First off: I need to stop eating *burps* because I’m going to be rockin’ an Ethiopian-stylee pot belly in about five seconds if I don’t. Seriously. *looks disdainfully at empty leftover macaroni and cheese bowl*

I’ve had a very good break thus far. It’s been a lot of doing nothing bolstered by knitting and playing with Clyde/Nintendo. Tonight, I actually got myself out of the house. Twice, really…I went for pizza with Hoover this afternoon and then to Dusty’s for wine…er, film night. Keith had us watching M by Fritz Lang. I don’t like old movies all that much, but this one was okay. Definitely made the most of what limited post-production technologies were available. I’m an editor, what can I say? It was a bit preachy at times and full of silent film “acting,” so you had to weed through that to get to the underlying human drama. Bonus points for gorgeous restoration in black and white.

Tomorrow I depart for shopping in Erie with my mom, sister and Flora and then I return home for an early birthday dinner. 23! I’m old. Then, on Friday, I’m heading back to Bellefonte to drop off Catface Meowmers before heading to Philadelphia to visit the always-phenomenal Lindsie. That will be ridiculously fun…galleries, shopping and fine dining smothered in a creamy booze sauce. MMMmmm…

Yeah, I’m tipsy. Yes, I should go to bed. Must remember to call Beth tomorrow…

V for Vendetta and other things…

I just finished the film mentioned in this post’s title, so do forgive me if I’m in a strange mood as I write. You see, it’s left me feeling more than a bit like blowing something into very tiny pieces. That and my last 36 hours or so. To recap:

1. Arriving home from an otherwise lovely weekend (and that was a real weekend, not my normal Friday/Saturday variety), I received a note from my landlord. This note stated that the pervasive smell of pot has been bothering my neighbours and since it’s been ’emanating’ from my apartment, could I please cease? Being as I’ve not smoked pot in said home, I was rather perplexed and not just slightly offended. Especially since mention was made of calling in the police. Update: the pothead is actually the man at the end of my hall and this can be chalked up to a misunderstanding x12.
2. At work today, all computers I interacted with decided that they were, in fact, not computing. This carried throughout the entire time I was present, even spilling curs-ed behaviour into the lives of my clients. Thank you, computer gods, high atop your steel and glass temples in Sunny Cupertino.
3. I have an ever-increasing sense of being utterly trapped under the weight of my own usefulness. This is intentionally vague. Apologies.
4. While cooking dinner (because, yes, I did eventually make it home) two born again nut jobs decided that they were going to interrupt my cooking to preach at me about how important their finding of Jesus was. Despite the fact that finding Jesus in Puritan-America is hardly a task requiring any major type of search party, they seemed convinced that this was something of utmost import. Therefore, I must be informed about it. Also, oddly, I was instructed to pray for them. Clearly, asking the self-defined agnostic for his prayers is the way to go.

And that, friends, is where we are now. Incidentally, I give V for Vendetta four whole stars! Go, movie, go.

Review: The Prestige

I will tell you right now that anything involving the Thin White Duke is already an instant hit with me. Case in point: I actually think The Labyrinth was a great film and not just a bizarre relic of 1980s cokedoutness.

You remind me of the baby
What baby? The baby with the power
What power? Power of voodoo
Who do? You do
Do what? Remind me of the baby

I mean, come on! Look at him:

< /tangent>

All of that said, David Bowie plays Nikola Tesla for like fifteen minutes in The Prestige, which I saw last night. With the stakes raised by his cameo, did the rest of the movie deliver?

Yes. Er…I think so. It was beautifully costumed and really well acted, this I know for sure. Everytime I think about the film I really want to say I loved it but something holds me back. To me, it was really a story about villainous scoundrels and that should spell a success in my head, right? But it doesn’t. I’m left feeling like something didn’t quite make sense.

I don’t want to spoil the ending here or really any of the story. That being said, though, I had the plot twists figured out a good twenty minutes before the climax. Leaving the audience feeling deflated when they realize that things were exactly as they thought is not a good way to make fans. PERHAPS, THOUGH, this is the whole point?! I’m putting this idea together now as I type, so bear with me:

In the film, the characters are constantly coming back to this idea that the magician becomes nothing when the audience learns the mundanity of his methods; that we don’t actually want to know even when we are trying to figure it out. Perhaps Christopher Nolan (director) was trying to make us feel like his characters(‘ audiences)?

Regardless, don’t do that. Seriously, Mr. Nolan…if that’s what you actually did. Thank you.

Verdict: See it in the theatre. Rent it to watch with a friend that hasn’t. Don’t buy this DVD because you’ll watch it maybe three times. ¡Tres estrellas!