A couple of weeks ago a letter arrived at our office asking if any of us would like to be a judge for the Independent Spirit Awards. Since it included a free three months subscription to Netflicks I thought “Sure, why not?” Most of my time lately has been spent pouring over the submissions sent in to RIIFF and, sad to say, I don’t get to the theaters very often. Being a judge seemed like a good way to catch up on the indies that I may have missed. So far it’s been a mixed bag. One of my favorites is “Old Joy” by Kelly Reichardt. The lackadaisical pacing of the story captures the spirit of Portland. I remember that, at times, living in the city reminded me of a muddy river: endless and slow. Things did change and time ticked forward, but it seemed that the spirit of living there could never really keep pace with the city’s transformation. I felt a connection to the main characters Kurt and Mark, and I didn’t really mind that nothing significant happens in the movie. Because the story unfolds in such an quiet manner, the small frissures developing between the two characters become more poignant.
6 comments:
Well Adam, seems like you and I could use an little theatrical R&R. We've both been screening films on DVD lately...
G
You might agree with John Updike.
Hey GRZ, that's some pretty focused criticism. I don't necesserily agree with your assessment of the use of the "unburdening one's self" plot device. But what do I know, I grew up in the "Whack Shack."
Love ye...
I just read the John Updike link that Christian left in his comment. And then I went back and reread your review of Old Joy. You said that because the story is so quiet the characters become more poignant. Just wondering what you thought of the J.U. interview...as a film person.
Corny-
You told me all that banging was from hanging up pictures. I guess I should have know better...all your posters were stuck to the wall with tape.
-GRZ
“But you don't see many that give you the sense of a really coherent moral world. The old films sort of hung together as sermons.”
The old movies could also be really tedious, like a long-winded sermon on a warm Sunday morning. They could also be very stiff and morally rigid, so in some respects I agree with Updike’s comments. But I don’t necessarily go to the movies to be given moral instruction; I also go to be entertained or to experience something new. I think it’s important that filmmakers take risks with their stories, even if those risks might alienate them from an audiences. Yet, I also think that part of taking risks is considering the consequences of your actions. There was a film that was submitted to our festival- I won’t give the title because it is still in consideration- that deals with a girl’s incestious relationship with her father. Not exactly light fare. In one scene, she and her girlfriend and playing around and one thing leads to another and they end up kissing. It’s made very obvious that this is more than just an innocent peck on the lips. What’s disturbing to me is that these movie characters are being played by two real pre-teen girls. It makes wonder if we’ve replaced morally rigidity with an obession to get things as “real” as possible. There is a powerful scene in the 50’s classic “Night of the Hunter” starring Robert Mitchum. He plays a deranged preacher who tries to seduce the wife of his former cellmate in order to learn the whereabouts of a hidden money cache. He ends up killing the wife and stalking her two children after they witness him comitting the act of murder. Before he kills the wife, there is a scene where he is sitting at her kitchen table playing with a sharp knife. The two children come in and Mitchum asks them menancingly, with a glint of lust in his eyes, if they’d like to play with the knife. Given the context of the movie and the evil that assails the two kids, it doesn’t take much to understand what that knife really symbolizes. It is a scene that requires imagination on the part of the audience, but is explicit without having to watch Mitchum actually drop his trousers. In the quest for realism in modern cinema, imagination is often discounted. Stark detail has become the standard of authenticity. I don’t agree that cinema is under assault by mass media; but it is being influenced by it.
Post a Comment