Lars von Trier comes off in this documentary exactly as you'd think
he would -- arrogant, abrasive, caustic, bull-headed, and
uncongratulatory. But he gets his mentor, avant garde filmmaker
Jorgen Leth, to make some damn fine short movies within the
strange constructs he proposes. The man's oddball industrial film
"The Perfect Human" gets re-shot in Cuba using split-second cuts,
then in a poor village in the Near East, then as a cartoon by Bob
Sabiston of "Waking Life" fame.
Equally interesting is the tug of ideas between von Trier and Leth as
the former assaults the latter in some stylistic and disciplinary
skirmishes. One would expect Leth to say something like, "Yo,
Lars, wasn't 'Dogville' punishment enough?" But the elder
statesman is perfectly game in this engaging meta-film.
My grade: B+
Screened: Jan 1
Wes Anderson's stylistic eccentricities finally got the better of him.
His premise here -- an oceanographer sets out to capture a rare
shark, while simultaneously getting to know his estranged son -- is
interesting, but there's no meat on it. Instead of the pathos and
character progressions that graced "Rushmore" and "The Royal
Tenenbaums," we get brief sketches and all-too-clever dialogue
that exists in a vacuum without a tether to the plot. It seems that
wit came first, story second.
That's not to say "The Life Aquatic" is a failure. Surprisingly Owen
Wilson, as the long-lost heir, finds depth that certainly wasn't there
on the page. It's one of the best performances he's ever given.
Cate Blanchett and Anjelica Huston also attempt to inject feeling in
underwritten roles, while Bill Murray, whose cool demeanor and
determined rakishness must anchor the picture, seems to be doing
a two-star impersonation of his five-star "Lost in Translation"
character.
It's when the film turns serious in its final third that you see where
Anderson's vision could've melded more successfully. But by then
the people onscreen are too paper-thin to inspire devotion.
My grade: B-
Screened: Jan 2
Production designer Rick Heinrichs is the real star of this film. His
imaginative sets can be credited for about 85% of the wonder and
amusement that "Lemony Snicket" conjures. The two kiddie leads,
saddled with mouthfuls of corny dialogue, get credit for about 9%.
The last 1% goes to Jim Carrey in full ham mode, but even part of
that 1% -- lets say, 0.5% -- goes to the costume and makeup
team who turn him into a variety of oddball characters more
interesting than his performance. He should stick to drama, and
kids should stick to Pixar.
My grade: C+
Screened: Jan 20
This goes to show why release dates are so important. Had "The
Woodsman" been released in, say, September or October, we would
definitely be looking at an Oscar nomination for Kevin Bacon (and
certainly Kyra Sedgwick, who's better here than she's ever been).
Nicole Kassell's film is a tiny masterpiece that deserved an audience
it had no chance of ever reaching.
"The Woodsman" doesn't plumb the same recesses of pedophilia
that "Happiness" did, but it certainly puts the day-to-day struggles
of a recovering addict (the terrific Bacon) in a more understandable
and empathetic context. As his equally scarred girlfriend, Sedgwick
gets extra points for finally turning her hissy resilience into a
satisfying, heartbreaking character study. For a movie that deals
with the cringe-worthy topic of child molestation, the performances
certainly make it feel lived in.
My grade: A-
Screened: Jan 22
