martes, 25 de octubre de 2011

Scene City #3: The Tree of Life (Malick, 2011)




Most movies are content with dealing with formal narratives while aspiring to tell a compelling story. They usually let their characters dictate the story’s themes but “The Tree of Life” lets its themes dictate the characters. Here we have a film that contemplates existence through the prism of an ordinary family life and pulls us in through the beauty of nature to contemplate our own.


Movies rarely get more ambitious than “The Tree of Life” and also, rarely more polarizing. The reactions from the audience at my screening were mostly of frustration and tedium and even though it won the coveted Palme D’Or at Cannes, the movie was met with both applause and boos in equal measure. I’m not a huge fan of Terrence Malick (I think “The Thin Red Line” is one of the most exhausting and dullest war movies ever made) but I admire the craft of his movies even though most of the time they feel like meandering philosophical statements. “The Tree of Life” starts with whispers and an amalgam of scenes from a family in the fifties, the cosmos and an extended sequence on the creation of life on our planet that includes dinosaurs (this sequence my baffle viewers who don’t see a connection with the rest of the story).


“The Tree of Life” is a beautiful and haunting work of art. Whether it works or not as art depends entirely on the viewer but there’s no denying that Malick pours himself into the picture and dares to take the audience on an astonishing journey, the journey of life itself. The actors embody perfectly their roles (except for Sean Penn who wanders aimlessly through the movie; Penn himself wasn’t satisfied with his role and the final product since he feels it fails to represent the beauty of the script). So divisive is the movie that even Penn fails to grasp Malick’s intentions but I was so moved by the family scenes that I started to wander into my own childhood and my love for my mother, father and brother (feelings evoked by empathy towards this memory, even though it’s quite different from mine).


It’s rare to find spirituality in a multiplex but “The Tree of Life” is a communion for the believers. It’s a soaring work that goes deep in its humanity and delivers a transcendental experience. It’s by far my favorite movie of 2011.




miércoles, 12 de octubre de 2011

Scene City #2: A Better Life (Weitz, 2011)




There are almost 50 million Latinos living in the United States (it is estimated that by 2050 they will represent 30% of the total population); many reside after crossing illegally and seeking jobs as gardeners, construction builders, kitchen staff members or even as maids for the rich. The issue of illegal immigration has become a hot topic in almost every election (especially in the state of California) but “A Better Life” isn’t trying to make any political statement in the matter. It wants us simply to empathize with a father desperately trying to raise his son and give some stability to their dire situation. The father, named Carlos Galindo, is played by Demian Bichir in a powerful and mature performance; there’s no denying that although there’s a sense of regret on taking his family across the border, he has always tried to give his son a good example in life (definitely tough for a teenager growing up in a rough neighborhood where the gang related violence has taken over).


“A Better Life” was directed by Chris Weitz and it proves how he is able to create intimacy and drama in a story that could’ve easily become a Hallmark movie filled with forced sentiment. Weitz made this film after “New Moon” (yet another terrible chapter in this atrocious series) and I hope he continues making this kind of cinema since big blockbusters don’t seem to suit him (he was also responsible for the economic fiasco of “The Golden Compass). The movie gets the Latino culture right and plunges us in authentic locations. It also introduces tension after Carlos’s truck gets stolen forcing him to do what he can to get it back. The final scenes in the movie are powerful and the speech Carlos delivers to his son is heartbreaking.


“A Better Life” isn’t preachy and avoids being corny thanks to its fantastic performance. It’s definitely a movie that might open the eyes of many people in the audience (especially American ones).





lunes, 10 de octubre de 2011

Scene City #1: Melancholia (Von Trier, 2011)




I try to watch every movie with an open mind but some movies trigger uneasy thoughts in my subconscious way before I even watch them; “Melancholia” is one of those instances when a director’s personality hovers so intently over his work that it’s impossible to review it objectively. I dislike Von Trier (and it doesn’t have anything to do with his silly antics at the Cannes Film Festival); its mostly because every one of his movies (at least the ones I’ve seen) feel like some sort of shared therapy session and we can almost pinpoint when his characters stop being themselves and become catalysts for Von Trier’s prejudices. It’s what I like to call “The Chaos Reigns Von Trier Rule of Thumb”.
“Melancholia” is about the end of the world. In Von Trier fashion, there’s a stylish prologue that confirms the doomed fate of its characters and the movie is divided into two chapters, the first one focusing on Justine (Kirsten Dunst’s character) and the second one on her sister Claire (played by Charlotte Gainsbourg, who apparently didn’t mind working again with the director who made her appear in scenes of genitalia mutilation on his previous film). The first half of this movie takes place at Justine’s wedding party, with the usual assortment of character actors who make an impact even though we might, just as well, call their appearances mere cameos. I confess a certain fascination with these scenes even though Justine’s depression seems contrived at every turn. The second act turns Justine into a catatonic wreck, while subtly (or maybe not so subtly) suggesting some sort of clairvoyance psychic nonsense to her character.
Kirsten Dunst won the best actress award at Cannes and, to be fair, Dunst shows maturity in her role even though Von Trier doesn’t give her much to work with. The impending doom scenes drag down until we find ourselves just waiting for the damn planet to hit Earth already. Since the characters are miserable in virtually every scene, the end feels more like a relief to both its audience and its players. “Melancholia” is a movie designed to be discussed by those who really admire Von Trier’s body of work (and, astonishingly, he seems to gather a large following). For haters it offers no hope or redemption, no sense of purpose or reason; it’s conceptually within the boundaries of Von Trier’s continuous self exploration. In other words, it’s just another pretentious bore.