A Year of Movies is over. Now: morewertzler.com

Lost, Season Six
2/2/10 - 5/23/10

Full thoughts here.

The Limits of Control
3/14/10

I’m terrible at analogies, so I often repeat the only successful one I’ve ever thought of: When vegans bake cakes, they don’t just take out the eggs—otherwise the cake would turn into a soggy mess and collapse on itself in the oven.  Instead, they replace the eggs with applesauce, and the cake turns out looking like a cake.  Somehow, Jim Jarmusch has found a way to remove the eggs and still come out with a delicious dessert in The Limits of Control—though he removes any semblance of plot or story, he still ends up with a fascinating film.

It sounds counter-intuitive that such a movie would be remotely enjoyable or entertaining.  I’ve seen countless student films that use all of the same noir-thriller tropes as Jarmusch employs here (suited criminal with quirks, allegorical anecdotes, “patient” editing styles).  But what they lack that Jarmusch brings is a confidence behind the camera to create a mood that envelopes the viewer.  (They also lack name-brand talent that can pull off aimless dialogue.)

Honestly, I’m not sure what Jarmusch was trying to say with the film, but I’ve got a few ideas.  The fun comes from trying to solve a mystery that might not even be there.  It’s not a question with a straight-forward answer, but a meditation on storytelling that requires much audience participation.  But if you put a lot into it, you’ll likely get a lot out of it.  (That being said, I’ve found my closure and won’t be thinking about it for quite some time.)

The Fourth Kind
3/2/10-3/8/10

Yep, this is how I started the last month of this blog.  Not a very good way to keep the momentum going.  I’ll admit it, I’m a sucker for media that blurs the lines between fact and fiction, but let’s face it: Orson Welles did it best, and everything else is just clever marketing.  Because once you’re inside the theater, the studio has your money and it doesn’t matter how unbelievable the hoax actually is.  I really just feel bad for the leading actors who weren’t even credited in an attempt to create an air of truth.  (Even though their acting gave the secret away within minutes.)

Dave Chappelle’s Block Party
2/27/10

I’ve written before about how frustrated I get with most contemporary American documentaries.  In short, they too often condescend, oversimplify, forgo subtlety, and play off of the audience’s greatest fears.  And most of the time, the filmmakers are simply activists with cameras and money for an editor.  Because we are, for some reason, infatuated with this formulaic approach to non-fiction film, the personal documentary has fallen by the wayside.  And gems like Dave Chappelle’s Block Party go nearly unnoticed, even with all of the star power and artistic integrity attached to the film.

Block Party is the one doc I keep coming back to and rewatching, simply because of how good it makes me feel.  Michel Gondry captures an incredible amount of genuine happiness and excitement that shines from start to finish.  If my memory serves me, this movie came out shortly after a long break from Chappelle’s hit Comedy Central show, after which the media portrayed him as having a mental breakdown and going to Africa to escape the perils of show business (or something like that).  To see him having a good time—on his own terms—gives the doc a subtle undertone of renewal and rebirth that only comes in the aftermath of such an event.  Though the movie never once mentions Chappelle’s past, its presence is felt throughout.

On top of all that, Gondry does an amazing job of reaching out to the audience and bringing them into the community that Chappelle creates over the course of 4 days.  Laid over the backdrop of an all-star lineup that includes Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Dead Prez, Common, The Fugees, and so many other talented artists, it’s near impossible to not come away from this movie without a smile on your face.  And that’s no small feat for a doc these days.

2/15/10

Because I can’t seem to find any information about this film online, I’m posting the first photo from Google Images that comes up when I search the director’s name.  I wonder if I’ll be able to remember which secret movies I’ve watched once I’m allowed to talk about them?  T-minus a little more than a month until press conference.

2/14/10

Total insanity, coming your way this spring.  (By the way: Little more than one month left until I reach the end of this year of movies.)

The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call-New Orleans
2/11/10

If you haven’t seen it, don’t read this.  It just deserves to be seen on its own.  It will help if you are either: a) Familiar with the life and work of Werner Herzog (including but not limited to eating his shoe and pulling Joaquin Phoenix from a car wreck on Mulholland Dr.) or b) Familiar with the life and work of Nicolas Cage (including but not limited to his performance in Snake Eyes and Wicker Man, and his consistent ability to get cast despite his filmography).  Only then will you be able to fully appreciate how completely absurd and awesome (in the truest sense of the word) it is that Herzog and his cast essentially ventured into the realm of parody.

It’s certainly not for everyone, but The Bad Lieutenant totally blew my mind wide open.  Its release could not have come at a better time, as we are knee-deep in the repercussions from the 2007/2008 WGA strike, leaving us with more god-awful, unoriginal “entertainment” than ever before.  And Werner Herzog is not afraid to let us know just how embarrassing our national cinema output really is.

I’m just as astounded by Herzog’s massive middle finger to the industry as I am the performances of Nic Cage and company.  The casting is brilliant, and lends a strange sense of earnestness to the film—we are so used to seeing them in over-the-top movies that it’s never quite clear whether or not they are in on the joke.  Because of this, Herzog is able to simultaneously use the very tropes he so openly criticizes, and walk the fine line between laugh-at and laugh-with.  This film was never meant to be taken at face value, but its unapologetic nature makes it more powerful than any straightforward critique of American cinema could be.  Beware, future filmmakers: This is how we look to the world.

A Serious Man
2/11/10

Given that I can barely sit through one feature length film in the comforts of my own home, it’s a rather remarkable accomplishment that I was able to keep engaged for 4 and a half hours in a hot, crowded theater full of people who chew with their mouth open.  But the Coen Brothers, who started off this double feature at the Castro, delivered with A Serious Man, combining the tried and true elements of their most successful films with new experiments in storytelling for one of their most memorable movies this side of the millennium.

The Coens rarely tell a “new” story (I myself am on the fence as to whether there are any new stories in the first place), but they consistently prove that certain methods of storytelling, when used well, will give rise to an engrossing tale time and time again.  Rock solid characters, strong writing, an impressive cast and purposeful direction—when expertly combined—will deliver a stunning final product, even if the story is (quite literally) as old as the Bible.  The formula seems so simple, but rarely is it so well realized as in A Serious Man.

It’s worth noting how great the trailer is for this movie, and how perfectly it fits with the tone of the film.  It not only serves as a preview, but also complements the movie as a whole.  What you know going into a movie effects the experience as much as what you eventually see on screen, and had the trailer been traditionally cut, I don’t know that I would have enjoyed the feature as much.  In the spirit of the movie I’ll be ending this write up n