The Screening Room

Tideland

Date of first viewing: Saturday, June 16, 2007

Location: Home
Format: DVD

Once again I find myself giving 5 stars to a movie most people hated. Yes, this film is over the top, but so are all fairy tales, aren't they? We tell kids stories of witches who capture little children and bake them in the oven, but since stories like that happen "a long time ago in a kingdom far, far away" we don't find them as unsettling as this modern-day fairy tale. To those who thought the events were too horrific for a child actor to depict, I ask exactly what did you see that was so horrible? No one was murdered; the deaths were accidental or caused by the characters' own negligence. No one had sex with a child, although many seem to be interpreting a couple of kissing scenes with the retarded Dickens as pedophilia. I found Pan's Labyrinth (which I also loved) to be way more violent and disturbing, yet most folks raved about that one.

In fact, rather than being about death and violence, I found the main theme of Tideland to be all the ways that humans attempt to *escape* the reality of death, whether through heroin vacations or chocolate or taxidermy or vivid imaginary worlds. The real violence in Tideland doesn't occur until the very end of the film, when Gilliam visually depicts the end of the child's innocence the moment she sees that the wailing character in the darkness is not the triumphant dance of her friend but the agonized stagger of a stranger blinded by her friend's actions.

I think viewers expected a film like Pan's Labyrinth in which the lines between harsh reality and imaginary escape are clearly delineated. But in Tideland, the whole world is a freakish fairy tale, and Terry Gilliam is the perfect guy to tell it.

Oh, and one more thing. To all those who were bothered that the little girl was obviously *acting*, isn't that the point? From personal experience, as a child who had a vivid imagination, the only times I wasn't acting were when I was asleep.

The Fountain

Date of first viewing: Friday, May 18, 2007

Location: Home
Format: DVD (Oh how I wish I'd seen this on the big screen when it was first released.)

I can't remember ever having such a purely visceral experience watching a movie. From the first stunning image I began to cry and by the end of the film, my body was wracked with sobs. It wasn't sadness that brought on the crying, but an almost unbearable elation! My point is that this movie is not something to figure out with the logical mind. Like the practice of meditation, it's not a concept to be grasped intellectually, but an experience to be felt by letting go. Letting go. Letting go. Each moment, letting go. Which is ultimately the point of this gorgeous masterpiece, is it not?

Protagonist

Date of first viewing: Monday, April 30, 2007

Location: Kabuki Theater
Format: Big screen

I just saw this film at the San Francisco International Film Festival. It left me glowing. At first, this documentary reminded me a little of Errol Morris's Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control, in that it tells 4 seemingly different stories. But the charisma and sincerity of the four subjects as they relate the dramas of their lives, combined with gorgeous puppetry and elements of Euripides plays create a delicious, warm stew of human motives and emotions. I left the theater thoroughly satisfied.

Golden Door

Date of first viewing: Thursday, April 26, 2007

Location: Castro Theater
Format: big screen

Beautifully shot, leisurely paced, short on dialogue and unnecessary exposition, combining meticulously researched realism with profoundly surreal images, this film was the glorious opener to the 2007 San Francisco Film International Festival. Don't expect quick answers or lots of action. Instead, relax into this film, allow yourself to savor each moment, let the images penetrate your unconscious, and you will be roundly rewarded.

Phantom of the Opera (1925)

Date of first viewing: Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Location: Home
Format: DVD

The Phantom of the Opera (1925)The Phantom of the Opera (1925) After a day of watching classic horror films, this silent movie left me breathless. Like a moving painting, a story told in shadows on the wall, beautifully-timed orchestration, a heroine like a porcelain doll you don't know whether to protect or smash, a hero (villain?) with as much pathos as the elephant man, humor and terror and opera and ballet and a grand chandelier falling from the ceiling.

Such a poignant image: the deformed face of the unmasked phantom juxtaposed against a statue of Apollo on the roof of the opera house as he overhears the woman he loves plotting her escape from him.

It's a beauty and the beast story gone tragically wrong, which is just right for a cold, gray November day.

The Mummy (1932) , Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), The Invisible Man (1933)

Date of first viewing: Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Location: Home
Format: VHS & DVD

Universal Horror Films
What could be better than watching The Mummy with friends on Halloween night, a log crackling in the fireplace, hot mulled cider on the stove, popcorn and candy, and a pizza on the way? How about recuperating the next day with 4 more* classic horror films? It's gray outside and all I want to do is curl up in my chair with the remote and be afraid.

Count Dracula: To die, to be *really* dead, that must be glorious!
Mina Seward: Why, Count Dracula!
Count Dracula: There are far worse things awaiting man than death.

Henry Frankenstein: Look! It's moving. It's alive. It's alive... IT'S ALIVE!

*The 4th film is Phantom of the Opera, a masterpiece which deserves its own separate entry.

The Constant Gardener

Date of first viewing: Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Location: Home
Format: DVD

Based on the previews, I wasn't looking forward to this film but felt compelled to see it before the Academy Awards. I'm so glad I did. I think Meirelles fell in love with Kenya, and his vibrant, thrilling palette invites us to fall in love too. A gorgeous film. I think the studio did it SUCH a disservice to promote it as a fast-paced thriller. The trailers I saw use mainly the slick-looking blue/gray London scenes, which are a small part of the film, rather than the gorgeous super-saturated Kenyan scenes. Based on those trailers, it looks to be just the usual cold-blooded spy thriller. It is no such thing, and I think the audiences that went to see it or rented it based on the trailers were the WRONG AUDIENCES for the film! WHY OH WHY DO STUDIOS MAKE THIS MISTAKE???

Rent (2005)

Date of first viewing: Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Location: Lowe's Metreon with Mark
and Friday, December 2, 2005 at United Artists Metro Theatre with Sonia and Anna
and Monday, December 19, 2005 at AMC 1000 Van Ness with Michael
and many more times on DVD

RentWOW! I’ve seen "Rent" on stage 4 times and listened to the cast album over and over. But the movie blew me away! The director used the medium of film well to highlight things in ways that can't be done on stage. “Tango: Maureen” was brilliant. “Santa Fe” done in the subway was a hoot. "Today 4 U" and "La Vie Boheme" were exciting, and Tom's reprise of "I'll Cover You" had everyone in the theater in tears.

To me, skipping "Contact" was a blessing. It's my least favorite part of the show. In fact, I’ve always found the last half of the show to be thin and unfinished somehow. In the film, plot points are fleshed out in ways that give the relationships more meaning. I LOVE the additional details of Joanne’s and Maureen’s relationship. And unlike a previous reviewer, I thought the use of montages were effective.

A problem of the stage show is too much explication and not enough action. The film adheres to that old saying, "Show; don't tell." In the movie, quite a bit of the sung explication is replaced with visual sequences. We don't need to hear Roger sing clunky lyrics about how Mark lives for his work and detaches from feeling alive because we can see it for ourselves. And still, all but a handful of songs remain fantastically intact.

I did miss "Goodbye Love." On the other hand, I didn't realize I missed it until I came home and played the album. The film also replaces quite a bit of the sung dialogue with spoken dialogue. It was weird at first, but after a while I realized how much more effective this technique is for a wider audience. The first time people see "Rent" on stage, they miss quite a bit of important information because the words are sung so fast and the performers’ diction is not always great. Speaking the words eliminates this problem. The story is not "dumbed down." The delivery of the story is simply more accessible. Not everyone has the patience of a Renthead to go back time after time and pick up what they missed.

Better Luck Tomorrow (2002)

Date of first viewing: Saturday, November 08, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

School of Rock (2003)

Date of first viewing: Saturday, November 01, 2003

Location: AMC 1000 Van Ness

28 Days Later (2002)

Date of first viewing: Friday, October 31, 2003

Location: Red's house on Halloween
Format: DVD

More Halloween horror. This one really freaked Michael out!

From Hell (2001)

Date of first viewing: Friday, October 31, 2003

Location: Red's house on Halloween night
Format: DVD

The Vanishing (1988)

Date of first viewing: Saturday, October 25, 2003

Location: Home, with Michael
Format: DVD

The VanishingScary movie #2 this week. Yeah, chilling, creepy, logical, all that. But I guess I had heard so much hype about this movie that the terrifying ending was just not as awful as I thought it would be. Maybe because it was so inevitable. The sociopath is relentlessly cold and calculating in his crimes while warm with his family. I found the film to be more depressing than gripping.

The Ring (2002)

Date of first viewing: Saturday, October 25, 2003

Location: Home, with Michael
Format: DVD

Halloween is coming. It's scary movie time. "The Ring" is Scary Movie #1. Except it wasn't that scary. And it wasn't that good, despite Naomi Watts. Too many broken links and bits of illogic. And Naomi Watts wasn't that good. She could have been any blonde-haired scary movie actress. Too bad. Now I see on IMDB that The Ring 2 is in production, also starring Naomi Watts. Maybe some things will be explained. But maybe no one will care anymore.

Julien, Donkey-Boy (1999)

Date of first viewing: Wednesday, October 22, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

Disturbing, raw, difficult. Normally, I would write off this kind of movie as pretentious (or "artsy fartsy," as Julien's father would call it.) Certainly exploitive - of people with disabilities. But then, what films don't exploit people, and why shouldn't disabled people get their few moments of fame? Anyway, this morning I can't get the images out of my head. There is something really compelling about the absolute raw honesty of this movie. And speaking of Julien's father, I found him to be even MORE disturbing than the Dennis Hopper character in Blue Velvet. Because of the naturalness of Werner Herzog's performance, I didn't feel like I was watching a performance at all, but a deranged guy being secretly filmed in his bedroom. Creepy.

Down With Love (2003)

Date of first viewing: Saturday, October 18, 2003

Location: Home, with Michael
Format: DVD

Cute, frothy, retro fun. Great colors. A mere wisp of a story.

The Quiet American (2002)

Date of first viewing: Sunday, October 12, 2003

Location: Home, with Michael
Format: DVD

One of the WORST examples of VOICEOVER NARRATION!! Why oh why do they do it?!? Don't tell us how we should feel! Make us feel it! Generally, voiceover narration should be used sparingly. There are brilliant examples of effective voiceovers: "About A Boy," "Adaptation," "Fight Club," "The Opposite of Sex." In these movies, the narration doesn't explain what the audience can clearly see for itself on the screen. Instead, it provides a counterpoint to what's on screen or reveals the inner workings and obsessions of the narrator's mind.

Anyway, suffice it to say, this Academy Award nominated film is NOT RECOMMENDED, despite Michael Caine.

Dopamine (2003)

Date of first viewing: Saturday, October 11, 2003

Location: (Metreon. Snuck in w/ Michael after previous movie. Don't tell!)

Lost in Translation (2003)

Date of first viewing: Saturday, October 11, 2003

Location: The Metreon with Michael

Kids (1995)

Date of first viewing: Thursday, September 18, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

Swimming (2000)

Date of first viewing: Saturday, September 13, 2003

Location: Michael's house
Format: VHS

XX/XY (2002)

Date of first viewing: Sunday, August 24, 2003

Location: Home, with Michael
Format: DVD

25th Hour (2002

Date of first viewing: Saturday, August 23, 2003

Location:With Michael & Jan at Jan's house
Format: DVD

The Unbearable Lightness Of Being (1988)

Date of first viewing: Monday, August 18, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

Holes (2003)

Date of first viewing: Sunday, August 17, 2003

Location:United Airlines Flight 64 to San Francisco

HolesWow! I never thought I'd enjoy so many Disney movies. And especially not in the same year. This movie is funny and clever and suspenseful. The plot is a little confusing at times, but the characters are great. Sigourney Weaver is truly evil as the detention camp warden. Jon Voigt is hysterical as her assisant, Mr. Sir. Henry Winkler plays the main character's schlumpy dad; Eartha Kitt plays the mysterious Madame Zeroni; Patricia Arquette (who I love because her teeth are like mine) is the vengeful Kate Barlow. But the character I loved the most is Zero, played by newcomer, Khleo Thomas. My only regret is that I missed the first part of the movie and parts of the dialogue whenever our pilot decided to make announcements. And, of course, the picture quality was pretty crappy on the plane. I'd love to see this again in a decent theater.

From Justin to Kelly (2003)

Date of first viewing: Saturday, August 09, 2003

Location: United Airlines Flight 59 to Hawaii

Take a cheesy yet perfectly fun musical like Grease, cross it with a cheesy yet perfectly fun TV show like The Love Boat and then update it Britney Spears-style to eliminate any traces of melody or humor and you're left with the dreck called, From Justin to Kelly. Okay, I knew it would be awful. But after becoming an American Idol addict this year, I just had to see for myself what the first 2 winners of the show were up to. Poor kids. Maybe Kelly Clarkson sold more albums than Madonna this year. But where will she be when the next Madonna album is delivered? Will anyone even remember her name?

How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days (2003)

Date of first viewing: Friday, August 08, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)

Date of first viewing: Saturday, August 02, 2003

Location: Home, with Michael
Format: VHS

Orgazmo (1997)

Date of first viewing: Saturday, August 02, 2003

Location: Home, with Michael
Format: VHS

Oooo, I'm in trouble for watching this naughty thing about a naive Mormon missionary boy in L.A. whose martial arts talent lands him a role as sex superhero, Orgazmo, in a porn flick. By Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the Southpark guys: you know it's gotta be rude. Ron Jeremy is funny as Jizz Master Zero. (Well, maybe it's just his name that's funny.) Is it true that you have to pay to get married in the Salt Lake temple?

Laurel Canyon (2002)

Date of first viewing: Friday, July 25, 2003

Location: Home, with Michael
Format: DVD

Frances McDormand is hot. I liked the feel of this movie and watching Frances McDormand running around in teen-age boy T-shirts. It's by Lisa Cholodenko, the same woman who did High Art, which I loved. I wasn't as crazy about this movie. I guess the plot wasn't as compelling, and the writing was a bit heavy-handed, or as Michael would say, clunky, in places. But overall, I thought it successfully captured the atmosphere of the place and the sexual tension/frustrations among its characters.

SLC Punk (1999)

Date of first viewing: Monday, July 14, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

Love Liza (2002)

Date of first viewing: Sunday, July 13, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

Pirates of the Caribbean:The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

Date of first viewing: Saturday, July 12, 2003

Location: United Artists Emery Bay Theater with Michael

Pirates of the CaribbeanI'm in love with Johnny Depp all over again. His pirate, Captain Jack Sparrow, is hilarious. This movie is funny in all the right places and exciting and scary and visually amazing. Keira Knightley is gorgeous. The skeleton pirate crew is spooky. So much fun, I didn't want this movie to end!

Intacto (2001)

Date of first viewing: Friday, June 27, 2003

Location: Home, with Michael
Format: DVD

One Hour Photo (2002)

Date of first viewing: Monday, June 23, 2003

Location: Red's house
Format: DVD

One Hour PhotoThis could have been a typical psycho thriller. The story has been done over and over. Lonely person idolizes someone who represents an ideal and slowly admiration becomes obsession. Friendliness devolves into stalking. Repressed anger erupts into full-blown psychosis. The end is usually fraught with screaming and running. Sometimes there's blood. The psycho ends up either dead or remains at large looking for his/her next victim. But One Hour Photo is not a typical thriller. It's quiet and deliberate, and in its understatement is scary as hell.

Nevertheless, it's not the plot that interests me so much as what the film has to say about documentation -- the things we record and preserve -- and how the artifacts of our lives can be mistaken for the actual substance. Sy says, "If pictures have anything to say, it's this: I was here, I existed. I was young and happy and someone cared enough about me to take my picture." That's probably true. On the other hand, "Most people don't take snapshots of the little things. The used Band-Aid, the guy at the gas station, the wasp on the Jell-O. But these are the things that make up the true picture of our lives. People don't take pictures of these things." "Nobody takes a picture of something they want to forget."

And even though Sy knows how pictures only tell part of the story, he still allows himself to be seduced by the pictures of the "perfect" family. The family he didn't have. The family he wants to be a part of. Uncle Sy. He buys an old high school photograph from an antique dealer so that he will have a picture of a "mom" to keep in his wallet. His story is all about what is shown and what is hidden. The surprise ending is heartbreaking. He says, finally, to the police chief, "All I did was take pictures..." And in a way, that's all any of us do, no?

I'm a fraud, I thought to myself last Sunday at the meditation retreat. And then I smiled. Even chuckled. I'm a fraud. See the things I am showing you? See how I present myself in public? See what I choose to publish on this web site? Pictures. Only pictures. Even the wasp in the jello would be only a fraction of the story. And ultimately, none of it matters. Because, finally, the story itself is an artifact. Even if you could include the whole world in a moment, a second later the edifice crumbles. Reality cannot be preserved.

Our pictures, our snaphots, reflect our lives. But our lives themselves, our bodies and personalities, our beliefs and histories, are only shadows of what is eternal, aren't they? And what is eternal is change. There is freedom in knowing that your own life is the ultimate lying snapshot. That you are no more real than a photo. That the only way to be truthful is to acknowledge the fraud. To not believe in the fraud. Yet at the same time, to live it as fully as you can. Because even if all we are is pictures, we can be beautiful ones, can't we?

Road to Perdition (2002)

Date of first viewing: Saturday, June 14, 2003

Location: Salt Lake City w/ Mom & Dad
Format: VHS
and also sometime last year at the Shattuck Theater in Berkeley

I wasn't thrilled by this film when I saw it in the theater last year, and I'm still not impressed by it. I find it tedious. Will Terry disagrees. Here is our e-mail exchange:

Will: Cool balloons....the road to perdition rocked!

Beth: The Road to Perdition was artificial, overly ornate & precious, took itself way too seriously, and what was up with the American Beauty soundtrack? Oh, wait. Did you see American Beauty? Road to Perdition used the exact same cinemagraphic techniques. But American Beauty was about artifice and superficial appearances, so those techniques worked. Road to Perdition should have been grittier, not so stylized. The camera angles started to become soooo predictable in their cleverness after while.

Will: Damn...that there road to perdishon was bitchin...

Hmm... which sibling was dropped on his head and which one takes herself way too seriously?

Monsters Inc. (2001)

Date of first viewing: Saturday, June 14, 2003

Location: Salt Lake City w/ Mom & Dad
Format: VHS

Tuck Everlasting (2002)

Date of first viewing: Friday, June 13, 2003

Location: Salt Lake City w/ Mom & Dad
Format: VHS

Catch Me If You Can (2002)

Date of first viewing: Thursday, June 12, 2003

Location: Salt Lake City w/ Mom & Dad
Format: VHS

Die Another Day (2002)

Date of first viewing: Thursday, June 12, 2003

Location: Salt Lake City w/ Mom & Dad
Format: VHS

Who cares about Pierce Brosnan and Halle Berry? We're waiting for Madonna. Thankfully, her part is just big enough to add spice and small enough for her not to suck.

The Guru (2002)

Date of first viewing: Saturday, June 07, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

Finding Nemo (2003)

Date of first viewing: Saturday, May 31, 2003

Location: The Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley with Michael

Finding NemoYeah! Fun Fun Fun! And did I mention Fun? P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney. Marlin, a clown fish who can't tell jokes, (Albert Brooks) must find his son, Nemo, who has been captured by deep sea diving dentist, P. Sherman, before Nemo becomes gift to the dentist's headgear-wearing fish-killing niece. Marlin is aided by Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), a fish with short-term memory loss, Bruce (Barry Humphries a.k.a. Dame Edna), a shark in recovery from eating other fish, Crush, a 150-year old sea turtle surfer dude, and others. Of course, it's Disney, so you can't escape a certain amount of family values sappiness, but the hilarous jokes and quick timing make up for it.

Cinema Paradiso (1988)

Date of first viewing: Friday, May 30, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

8-1/2 (1963)

Date of first viewing: Sunday, May 25, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

Saw it because I "should." Okay, now I've seen it.

Metropolis (1927)

Date of first viewing: Saturday, May 24, 2003

Location: Home, with Michael
Format: DVD

Another "should" movie. Getting my dose of cinema history. Also, Madonna history. After all, the set for her video, "Express Yourself," was based on this film, so of course I forced Michael to watch it afterward.

Singles Ward (2002)

Date of first viewing: Sunday, May 18, 2003

Location: With Mom & Dad in SLC, UT
Format: VHS

Two Weeks Notice (2002)

Date of first viewing: Sunday, May 11, 2003

Location: Home, with Michael
Format: DVD

The same schtick Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant are famous for. But this is the first time they've done it together. A good combo. Cute.

Identity (2003)

Date of first viewing: Saturday, May 10, 2003

Location: The Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley with Michael

Standing in the Shadows of Motown (2002)

Date of first viewing: Monday, April 28, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

Birthday Girl (2001)

Date of first viewing: Wednesday, April 16, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

Ice Age (2002)

Date of first viewing: Sunday, April 13, 2003

Location: Home, with Michael
Format: DVD

The Last Picture Show (1971)

Date of first viewing: Saturday, April 12, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

Opening Night (1977)

Date of first viewing: Monday, April 07, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

Opening NightI LOVED this movie. So why has it taken me so long to write about it? (Writing this Tues 8/26/03.) I rented it after seeing All About My Mother, since Almodovar lists this film and Gena Rowlands as inspirations for his movie. Vivid, colorful, emotionally wrenching, and spooky as well. Gena Rowlands getting beaten up by her invisible ghost girl is brilliant.

A Woman Under The Influence (1974)

Date of first viewing: Sunday, April 06, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

Having a mini Gena Rowlands fest, inspired by seeing All About My Mother.

Network (1976)

Date of first viewing: Saturday, April 05, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

I'm mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take it anymore!

Bend It Like Beckham (2002)

Date of first viewing: Saturday, April 05, 2003

Location: The Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley with Michael and Jan

Bend It Like BeckhamA definite crowd pleaser. I don't normally enjoy these "feel good" types of movies. Count me in the tiny minority of Americans who didn't fall in love with My Big Fat Greek Wedding. But this one has enough salty humor in with its sugar to keep me interested and laughing.

Blood Simple (1984)

Date of first viewing: Wednesday, April 02, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

Blood SimpleThe Coen brothers' first movie. A young Frances McDormand. A bizarre plot that moves slowly but deliberately and builds in intensity and complexity until the end. What could be better on a Wednesday night?

Tommy (1975)

Date of first viewing: Tuesday, April 01, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

TommyApril Fool's Day. Am I a fool to have enjoyed this movie? I've been reading many of the viewer critiques on IMDB, and it seems that most die-hard fans of The Who find the movie to be a big disappointment. Well, I like The Who when I hear their stuff on the radio, but I've never owned an album, and I mostly had a ball watching this outrageous psychedelic trip of a movie. The first few scenes are overly melodramatic, and the young boy Tommy leaves me cold. But once Roger Daltry takes over, the thing flies. The Church of Marilyn Monroe is fantastic. Tina Turner as the Acid Queen ignites the screen. Elton John's Pinball Wizard is campy fun, and Jack Nicholson as A. Quackson, Mental Health Specialist, is a scream. The visuals are insane: Ann-Margret as Tommy's mother rolling around in baked beans and chocolate, the Acid Queen's hypodermic-needle-robot-thing (what else to call it?) that encases Tommy, the weirdly touching story of Sally Simpson, I could go on and on. Something that differentiates this movie from a rock opera like Jesus Christ Superstar, which predates this movie by 2 years, is that the film plays like a string of independent rock videos. Each song is separate, distinct, and melodic. There aren't many "connecting" bits of "talk singing" between songs as there are in most operas, and being a member of the MTV generation, I appreciate that. No one can call me a snob!

All About My Mother (1999)

Date of first viewing: Sunday, March 30, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

All About My MotherFinally! A fantastic film. Colorful, crazy, heartbreaking. Almodóvar calls it, "screwball drama." Taking elements from All About Eve, A Streetcar Named Desire, Opening Night, and probably other films I don't know about, this movie explores the ways in which women "act," and in so doing portrays them as thoroughly authentic, not in spite of the artifice, but in some ways because of it."

Two quotes from the movie sum it up: The character, Agrado, a transexual woman listing the sums of money she has paid to modify her body, concludes that every penny was worth it because, "You are more authentic the more you resemble what you've dreamed of being." And Pedro Almodóvar's dedication at the end of this film, "A Bette Davis, Gena Rowlands, Romy Schneider... A todas las actrices que han hecho de actrices, a todas las mujeres que actúan, a los hombres que actúan y se convierten en mujeres, a todas las personas que quieren ser madres.  A mi madre."" (Translation: To Bette Davis, Gena Rowlands, Romy Scheider... To all the actresses who have played actresses, to all the women who act, to men who act and become women, to all the people who want to be mothers. To my mother.)

Thematically, All About My Mother reminds me of another of my all-time favorite films, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which also deals with issues of artifice and authenticity and is also emotionally deep and moving, despite it's flamboyant surface. This is one of the few films I will see again.

8 Mile (2002)

Date of first viewing: Saturday, March 29, 2003

Location: Home, with Michael
Format: DVD

A disappointment. Eminem shows that he can act, I guess, although he portrays a character based on himself. Even Madonna did well portraying herself in Desperately Seeking Susan. And Kim Basinger is the best I've seen her as his white-trash mother. But the story is formulaic and ultimately forgettable. Eminem won the Oscar for Best Original Song this year. It's catchy, but I don't think it was better than the nominee from Chicago. Whatever.

Y Tu Mamá, También (2001)

Date of first viewing: Tuesday, March 25, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

Sex sex sex and more sex. Two horny teenage boys go on a road trip with an older woman who has left her unfaithful husband. On the way, each boy has sex with the woman and also reveal to each other that they've both had sex with the each other's girlfriends. More substance than a movie like American Pie, but not much more. (The title, Y Tu Mamá, También, is a line from a scene in which one of the boys brags about all the women he's had sex with, "and your mama, too.") Intelligent.

Moonlight Mile (2002)

Date of first viewing: Tuesday, March 25, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

Mostly sharp and intelligent look at the grief of a family after the murder of their daughter/fiance. Susan Sarandon is terrific as the irreverent mother. Jake Gyllenhaal does his usual Jake Gyllenhaal thing. Unfortunately, the movie falls apart into sappiness at the end. And I had such high hopes.

White Oleander(2002)

Date of first viewing: Tuesday, March 25, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

Shimmering blonde women. Too pretty to be taken seriously. A beautiful blonde teenage girl goes through a series of terrible foster homes, mostly run by beautiful blonde women, after her beautiful blonde mother is imprisoned for murdering her boyfriend. Finally, in an attempt to separate from the legacy of her mother, the girl dyes her hair black and adopts a goth girl look. Boy, that'll show 'em. Shallow yet entertaining. Ultimately forgettable.

The Pianist (2002)

Date of first viewing: Sunday, March 23, 2003

Location: Salt Lake City Film Society Theater with Michael

The PianistMichael and I escaped from the current Iraqi war on CNN to a Salt Lake City theater showing war-torn Warsaw in the 1940s. Later the same night, Adrian Brody won the Best Actor Academy Award for his portrayal of Jewish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman in this film. I am too emotional and tired right now to describe this movie further. It is horrific. It is worth seeing. But it is only a movie, and since it is a true story that happened years ago, we know the outcome from the start -- unlike the true story happening in the world right now. What will be the outcome of our story?

Diva (1981)

Date of first viewing: Friday, March 14, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

Storytelling (2001)

Date of first viewing: Wednesday, March 12, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

The Shipping News (2001)

Date of first viewing: Tuesday, March 04, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

Sexy Beast (2000)

Date of first viewing: Sunday, March 02, 2003

Location: Home, with Michael
Format: DVD

I actually kind of liked this movie. For a gangster movie, it was sweet. Not all the violence -- but the relationship between Gal and his wife, DeeDee. Also, Ben Kingsley is positively terrifying as the crazed gangster, Don, who is sent to "persuade" Gal to do one last job. You're probably groaning, not that old storyline again. But this one ends up in a way you'd never expect.

Pi: Faith in Chaos (1998)

Date of first viewing: Saturday, March 01, 2003

Location: Home, with Michael
Format: DVD

I LOVED this movie. I'll have to add it to my favorites list when I make one. It's freaky weird, and the black and white style reminds me of another freaky weird movie that I enjoyed called The American Astronaut. It's one of those movies where you just have to go along with the premise and trust that the film will be faithful to its own crazy logic. IMDB.com describes it thus: "Dark, hyperkinetic movie about a paranoid mathematician searching for a key number which will unlock the universal patterns found in nature." In many ways this movie also reminded me thematically of the book, Bee Season, even though the two are very different in style and tone. Still, the ending of Pi is like the ending of Bee Season taken to the extreme.

The Cat's Meow (2001)

Date of first viewing: Sunday, February 23, 2003

Location: Home, with Michael
Format: DVD

Enigma (2001)

Date of first viewing: Saturday, February 22, 2003

Location: Home, with Michael
Format: DVD

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)

Date of first viewing: Monday, February 10, 2003

Location: Shattuck Theater in Berkeley

Was Chuck Barris really a CIA hitman? Who cares? It's just fun to watch George Clooney as the CIA operator and Julia Roberts as another spy convincing toying with Barris in yet another bizarre script by Charlie Kaufman.

Human Nature (2001)

Date of first viewing: Sunday, February 09, 2003

Location: Home
Format: Pay-Per-View

About Schmidt (2002)

Date of first viewing: Sunday, February 09, 2003

Location: California Theater with Michael

So what's all the hype about?

Sunshine State (2002)

Date of first viewing: Saturday, February 08, 2003

Location: Home, with Michael
Format: VHS

Lantana (2001)

Date of first viewing: Saturday, February 08, 2003

Location: Home, with Michael
Format: VHS

Six months later, I don't even remember what this movie was about.

The Hours (2002)

Date of first viewing: Monday, January 13, 2003

Location: Lowe's Metreon Theater
and also Monday January 20, 2003 at 1000 Van Ness

The first time I saw this movie, I wept the entire way through. I think I had just seen my therapist. Plus I had just started having cramps. After the movie ended, I headed for the ladies' room, locked myself in a stall, and sobbed. There were no thoughts in my head. There was no analysis of the film or attempts to relate it to my own life in a rational way. Just this physical, aching grief.

The next day I couldn't remember a thing about the movie. People asked me if it was good, and I honestly didn't know. My reaction had been so intensely personal that I just could not deconstruct the film with any objectivity. So I had to see it again. And you know what? I think this movie is almost flawless. The music, acting, plot structure, colors, and just... I don't know. I'm not a film critic. I don't have the language. And I think trying to desribe it in any more detail would be ridiculous. Jonathan Safran Foer, describing writing his book, Everything Is Illuminated, said that if he could have summed up what he wanted to say in a few words, he wouldn't have written the book. Like Foer's book,
The Hours
is exactly as long as it needs to be and has exactly the structure it needs to have. I can't summarize it.

Unfaithful (2002)

Date of first viewing: Saturday, January 11, 2003

Location: Home, with Michael
Format: VHS

Who can understand a woman who would have an affair with a strange book guy when she's already married to Richard Gere? Some people just don't appreciate what they have. Anyway, this movie is sexy and scary and a good lesson for anyone thinking of cheatin'!

Minority Report (2002)

Date of first viewing: Friday, January 10, 2003

Location: Michael's house
Format: VHS
and Friday, June 13, 2003 on VHS in SLC with Mom & Dad

I really should have seen this on a big screen when it was in theaters because it's all about the special effects. It definitely wasn't worth seeing twice on video. But Dad hadn't seen it, so I joined him.

MAJOR SPOILER ALERT: I have a huge beef with the basic premise of this movie. Given the stated rules of how the precogs operate, that they only see premeditated murders in advance and that they don't see crimes of passion until right before they happen, there is no way Agatha could have seen Jon Anderton kill Leo Crow 36 hours beforehand. All Lamar Burgess does is set Leo Crow up in a hotel room with pictures of kidnapped children. Then Crow just sits there and waits. Waits for what? Waits for Agatha to see something that's not even in the mind of Anderton until Agatha sees it? It's circular. If it were an Excel formula, you'd get an error message and have to fix your mistake. Too bad there isn't logic checking software for the plotlines of movies.

Chicago (2002)

Date of first viewing: Tuesday, January 07, 2003

Location: UA in Berkeley with Michael
and Sunday, January 12, 2003 at the Metreon with Mark Peters
and Saturday, January 25, 2003 at the UA in SF with Ruby, Susan F. & Tomi

This movie is the darling of my year! I could watch it a zillion times and not get tired of it! I can't wait for the DVD! The cast sparkles! Richard Gere twinkles! Renee Zellweger could be a young Shirley MacLaine! Catherine Zeta Jones -- that voice! Queen Latifah -- ditto! And oh, John C. Reilly breaks your heart! The first time I saw this -- on my birthday -- I hugged myself the whole time, I was so happy!

So, okay. Coming out of the clouds a bit... there's no way for a movie to capture the dazzle you feel watching the stage show from the 10th row. Movies break up the action with close-up shots and quick cuts -- especially if the cast includes actors for whom this is the first time dancing or singing professionally. Even still, most of the cuts are smooth, the transitions from "reality" to "stage" brilliant. My biggest disappointment, if I can really call it that, is that Rob Marshall's choreography is so different from Bob Fosse's original. I miss those knock-kneed pigeon-toed dance steps. But this complaint is truly minor. I wouldn't even bring it up if I didn't love this movie so terribly much that I wish it could be perfect.

Mulholland Drive (2001)

Date of first viewing: Monday, October 22, 2001

Location: Embarcadero Cinema with Michael

MAJOR SPOILER WARNING: If you want any surprises at all, do not read this review before seeing the film. I mean it. I'm not only going to talk about what happens, but how to interpret it. (Of course, I could be wrong. But I'll never admit it.) Plus, unless you've seen the movie, a lot of this probably won't make sense anyway.

Michael and I saw David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive" last night, and I have just finished reading nearly all the reviews from the Internet Movie DataBase. They are filled with words and phrases like, "incomprehensible," "utter confusion," "inchoate," "maddening," "irrational," "indecipherable," "impenetrable," and my personal favorite, "devoid of all logic whatsoever." Edward Guthmann, from the San Francisco Chronicle, asks, "Is the second half Betty's nightmare, or is the first half Diane's wish-fulfilling dream? Is neither one real?" And then, "Can it ever be explained? Probably not." Most critics, if they attempt any explanation at all, seem to go for the dream idea. Stephanie Zackarek at Salon.com seems to hint that she gets it but isn't telling. Roger Ebert, however, states emphatically that "'Mulholland Drive' isn't like 'Memento,' where if you watch it closely enough, you can hope to explain the mystery. There is no explanation. There may not even be a mystery." He's...well...he's just wrong.

I'm not saying that I have the definitive explanation, (even though I think I do) but
I just don't think the film is as complex as everyone is making it out to be. If you've seen any David Lynch movies in the past, you know his favorite themes: Good vs. Evil and especially Evil Disguised As Good. The first Lynch movie I saw was "Blue Velvet," roughly 15 years ago. Last night, I came away from "Mulholland Drive" with déjà vu. Here's "Blue Velvet" all over again, complete with melodramatic, campy acting,
hit-you-over-the-head Good vs. Evil plotline, and even Roy Orbison tune played at Key
Moment, ("Blue Velvet's" "In Dreams" vs. "Mulholland Drive's" Spanish version of "Crying") transplanted to 2001 Los Angeles. With that in mind, it is not hard to find the angels and demons upon whose shoulders the plot twists.

The bridge between the first part, which seems fairly linear, and the second, which is driving moviegoers crazy, is the seemingly benign little old couple who are seated
with Betty on the plane when she arrives in L.A. at the beginning of the film and who
crawl out of the demon's paper bag and drive her to suicide near the film's end. Take the last half hour of the film, put it before the first two hours, and you have an almost clear-cut story of Diane Selwyn, a hardened and bitter Hollywood actress, continually frustrated in her career and love life, finally making a deal with the Devil. When she pays the hit man to murder her unfaithful lover Camilla, she doesn't realize she's getting way more than she proverbially bargained for. This point is driven home by the hit man's sinister laughter when she asks him what the blue key opens. The laughter is a warning not to delve too deep or ask too many questions, or she'll find out more than she wants to. Of course, since this warning comes near the end of the film, we, the audience, have no sense of foreboding and go right along with her in her Nancy Drewish attempt to discover the mystery of Rita in the first part. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Once the little old couple has driven Diane to suicide, they escort her into her new "perfect" Hollywood life as Betty -- an alternate life in which she has everything she wants. Life is beautiful and pure. She, not Camilla, is the actress everyone wants. Camilla, having stumbled away from an auto accident, has amnesia, and is therefore a blank slate for Betty's fantasies. (When Betty asks her, during their [by now widely publicized] sex scene, whether or not she has done this before, Rita can only answer, "I don't know.") The young director who had an affair with Camilla now has a cheating wife and mafia guys (also working for the Devil it seems) breathing down his neck. His mother, who was unkind to Diane at the director's party, is now Betty's nurturing landlady. Betty lives in a beautiful apartment. She has all the money she could want (in Rita's purse. Wink wink.) All she has to do is live her new life, not delve too deeply, and her beautiful illusion will last. Innocent and naive, she is as devoid of memories of her former life as Rita, who we later learn is actually Camilla. But, like Pandora's or Eve's, Betty's shiny world begins to fall apart the more she tries to help Rita discover her identity. There are warnings: Betty's aunt wanting to call the police, her psychic neighbor, Louise Bonner, warning her to stay away from Rita, the men waiting in the car outside Diane's apartment. But Betty ignores all the warnings about Rita, who is finally her undoing.

It is Rita who leads her to El Club Silencio, where "No hay banda!" There is no band. The sound is illusion. The singer, Rebekah del Rio, collapses during her performance of "Llorando," (Roy Orbison's "Crying") and yet the sound of her voice continues. The two women cry together in their aforementioned melodramatic style, in some way knowing that their time together is short, and Betty starts to shake as if she is coming loose from her world. She is. Suddenly she discovers the blue box in her purse - the box to which Rita has the blue key (I'm not even going to get into THAT symbolism) and which Rita will innocently open, shattering Betty's beautiful illusion forever. Only after the box is opened do we, the audience, get to see Betty's former life as Diane, and what led up to the first 2 hours of the movie.

"Mulholland Drive" is full of threads, many of which are underdeveloped -- probably as a result of Lynch's having to cut the script down from a TV series to a 2-1/2 hour movie. But I don't think there are any true red herrings. What happened to the detectives from the scene of Rita's accident in the beginning of the movie? Would they have played a bigger role? Who are the mafia-type guys who insist on the young director choosing their new "Camilla Rhodes" -- a blonde woman who looks nothing like the original Camilla -- or the Cowboy, or the monster behind the dumpster at Winkies? Are they agents of the Devil? What about the hit man whom Diane paid and who shows up in Betty's world to retrieve the Black Book? And is Mr. Roque, (played by the actor who also played the dwarf in the Twin Peaks dream sequence) the man who holds the director's purse strings, the Hollywood Devil himself? The movie would suggest it.

I suppose you could also look at the first part of the film as a long Wizard of Oz-type dream in which all of the people from Diane's real life show up altered, changed in her favor. I suppose Diane could have dreamed about the man in Winkie's who relates his dream to his friend (or therapist?) before discovering the evil out back and falling over dead. She does look up and see him as she's making the deal with the hit man. But there are just too many other scenes in which she is not present: the men in the diner, the director in the meeting with the mafia guys, Camilla/Rita's accident, her aunt going back for her keys, the director finding his wife in bed with Billy Ray Cyrus and pouring pink paint on her jewelry, the director's meeting with the Cowboy, the director speaking to the landlord of his small apartment and his telephone conversation with his assistant, the mafia guy's meeting with the man in the chair, and on and on. But the scene that argues the most strongly against the dream theory is that of the two old people cackling hysterically in the taxicab after they have left Betty at the airport. Their laughter is a clue for the audience that all is not as sunny as it seems. It is not, however, a clue for Betty, who continues on as happy as a blind clam. Therefore, it clearly could not be part of her dream.

I could probably make more connections between the first and second parts if I saw this movie a second time. But I'm not sure I want to. Granted, the film is lush, visually and musically, and the acting of Naomi Watts, the actress who plays Betty/Diane, is incredible to watch. She transforms herself so thoroughly, it's hard to believe that it's the same person playing both Betty and Diane. And there are certain scenes, like the old people cackling as they run out of the paper bag, that tickled me because they seem like the weird kind of thing I would think up. But the film is at least a half an hour too long. Some of the acting seems uselessly stilted, in that weird David Lynch sort of way. And overall, the point that the film seems to be making -- there is evil in the world, specifically Hollywood, especially under seemingly benign surfaces -- is not at all original. Especially for Lynch. Maybe the real point is that underneath his textured, twisting, and often confusing plots, David Lynch's ideas are actually pretty shallow.

For a really interesting film about memory loss and identity, (besides Memento, which is more fun than thought-provoking) check out Hal Hartley's "Amateur." Click here for Michael's (very short) review of "Amateur." Aw heck, click here to go to Michael's homepage, from whence you can check out all his dang movie reviews. He's way more prolific than I.