blindspot

Blind Spot 23: Giovanni’s Island

| Rachel's Reviews

There are some movies that have universal appeal. They move people of all races, backgrounds and religions. Then other films have more of a regional appeal, which can be valuable. While placating audiences is not a good thing, I also believe not every movie needs to be for every group. In today’s Blind Spot pick we have a movie, Giovanni’s Island, that I have a feeling appeals to the Japanese in a way that doesn’t translate super well to American audiences- or at least this American.

When I first heard about Giovanni’s Island I was hopeful it would be a new Grave of the Fireflies but unfortunately it comes across like a lightweight copy of Fireflies more than an update. It has some powerful moments and beautiful animation but it never really connected with me.

Let’s start with the positive. The animation directed by Mizuho Nishikubo is wonderful. The fantasy sequences with a ‘galactic railroad’ are particularly strong.

It also has some moments of genuine heart. The story is about two brothers, Junpei and Kanta who live on an island in 1945 Japan. The early parts of the movie show them frolicking happily around the island, going to school, meeting new Russian families including a girl named Tanya and trying to find enough food. They have a father, a nare-do-well uncle named Hideo, an old-school fisherman Grandfather and a teacher named Sawako. All of these characters play out basically the way you think they will.

The island ends up getting taken over by the Russians and the Japanese get sent away to camps. This causes the boys to go on a journey to find their father and survive the war. There are moving moments but even those can feel a bit heavy-handed and played out.

The dubbing is also incredibly bad. They don’t even bother to translate the Russian or all of the Japanese. It is extremely lazy, so I would watch it with subtitles instead.

I can imagine in Japan this piece of their history is very important and so they may be more forgiving of this films flaws. It has a nice heart to it and like I said the animation is amazing, so it is not a total loss. It wasn’t awful just nothing special either.

The music by Masashi Sada, with a mixture of Japanese and Russian themes,  is another standout.

The ending of Giovanni’s Island feel particularly mawkish and ham-fisted, but I can see how it would mean a lot to the Japanese. It was just too much for me. I’d recommend watching Grave of the Fireflies instead.

Blind Spot 22: Donnie Darko

| Rachel's Reviews

It is time for this month’s blog entry for the Blind Spot series and today we are looking at the cult classic Donnie Darko! So get your black rabbit suits out and let’s talk about this unusual film.

Donnie Darko is directed by Richard Kelly and stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a disgruntled teen who keeps having visions of the future accompanied by a giant black evil rabbit. It also features Jena Malone, Patrick Swayze, and Drew Barrymore.

There are a lot of things I liked about Donnie Darko. First, I liked how it captured a feeling of teenage angst. As a teen I remember feeling that everyone was doing things wrong and if they would just listen to me it would be better. This feeling was compounded by the fact that most people seemed to see teenagers as inherently stupid and annoying. A movie like Donnie Darko validates those feelings and tells teens to follow their instincts and that adults are not always right. This is empowering. 

Second, Donnie Darko is bold and uses imagery and symbolism without feeling the need to explain everything to death. It gives the viewer the opportunity to explain the images they are seeing in their own way- for us all to have a discussion.

My take on the narrative is that it is about mental illness. He spends a lot of time with a shrink that isn’t very helpful. She validates his experiences but doesn’t help provide a solution. Then you have a self-help speaker who is complete BS and other voices claiming they can solve Donnie’s severe psychosis. As his anxiety for the future grows the more desperate he grows until he becomes dangerous. Such is often the case with untreated or poorly treated mental illness.

It reminded me a little bit of what happened to me after I had a panic attack. All of the sudden the idea of bad things became something that would cause panic because I’d already experienced that happening before. Depression and anxiety are literally seen as a black cloud over Donnie and I can confirm that is how it feels.

Also when you are in the midst of a panic attack or severe mental break it feels like the world is going to end, which is a theme of the movie. You both dread and pray for this ending because anything is better than how you are feeling during these episodes.

There are some things, however, I didn’t like in Donnie Darko. My main problem is it can be a bit self-indulgent at times telling us things we already know just to introduce a cool visual or reiterate an already stated point. 122 minutes is far too long for this film and it feels repetitive after a while. It would have worked better if it had the 92 minute run time of this year’s equally abstract A Ghost Story.

I also think sometimes it bites off more than it can chew. It tries to comment on science, religion, politics, mental illness, divorce, teen sexuality, bullying, time travel and more. These many messages can leave it a little muddled and confusing.It’s also very cynical so unless you are an angsty teen who needs that angst to be understood I don’t think you will connect emotionally with it (which I think it wants you to do). I certainly didn’t have an emotional bond with the film.

Still, I admire the risk taking and what it has to say about mental illness. It’s got problems but overall I’d still recommend Donnie Darko.

Overall Grade- B

It is an R rating mostly for language

What is your take on Donnie Darko? I’ve heard all kinds of theories, which I think is a fun part of the film.

 

Blind Spot 21: Manhattan

| Rachel's Reviews

I went into this month’s Blind spot pick, Manhattan, with kind of low expectations. Despite it being a well regarded film amongst critics and film snobs nobody I know seems to like it much. So perhaps it was these low expectations that left me feeling surprised at how much I liked it. Manhattan is a funny look at how we ruin things by idolizing them. Whether it be relationships, sex, art, literature or even New York City itself, when we place things on a pedestal we take the joy out of what we are admiring.

I can see why many don’t like Manhattan. It has Woody Allen’s classic mannerisms which can be annoying to some. It also has him in a relationship with a 17 year old which can be awkward especially with Woody Allen’s own background.

My favorite part of Manhattan is the script. It shows how ridiculous we are when we love something (or are infatuated). This scene I particularly loved when the group of pedantics are criticizing everything they think is ‘overrated’.

There were a lot of scenes like that which made me laugh and could have been easily criticizing modern internet culture today  just as much as New Yorkers in 1979. These people are trying so hard to appear smart that  it is funny.

Manhattan is also a beautiful movie with amazing black and white photography. I think it is even more stunning than Annie Hall. I don’t know if I can think of a Woody Allen film that looks as good. Maybe Midnight in Paris but this might be even better.

We also see this idolization with Meryl Streep’s character who was Woody Allen’s ex but left him to be with a woman. She looks stunning in this film but she is writing a whole memoir on her relationship with Allen. This is definitely Allen puffing his own ego up but it is also about how we place past relationships on a pedestal and puff them up to protect us from new pain.

My only big problem with Manhattan is I never felt invested in the romance with Mariel Hemingway. She is so sincere and he is more than a little creepy. I think that is intentional but it also wasn’t as funny as scenes with Diane Keaton and others.

In the end Manhattan is about looking at things in our lives the way they really are and taking off the rose colored glasses. But not only that- it shows how silly we all are with those glasses on.

If you would like to purchase Manhattan click here

Overall Grade- A-

PS I didn’t even think of the fact I watched Manhattan on 9/11. How perfect 

Blind Spot 20: Metropolitan

| Rachel's Reviews

If you followed this blog last year you may recall my constant praise of a film called Love and Friendship. This is based on a novel called Lady Susan by Jane Austen and is adapted and directed by Whit Stilman. So, for the 2017 Blind Spot series I decided to watch one of Stilman’s other popular films called Metropolitan. After viewing it, I still like Love and Friendship best but Metropolitan was  an enjoyable watch.

Metropolitan is about a group of young Manhattan socialites out on winter break from their first year in college. They gather together after a debutante ball as a group called the ‘Sally Fowler Rat Pack’ named after the girl whose apartment they use for parties.

The movie is more like a filmed play than a movie. It has a small cast and most of the time is spent in small rooms having or recovering from parties. It’s like Dinner with Andre in the way it is about people just talking more than any kind of plot.

There’s Tom, Nick and Rick who are all rivals for the ladies and have differing back stories. And then you have Jane, Sally, and Cynthia as the girls of the group.

But my favorite is Audrey who loves Jane Austen and defends Mansfield Park to her supposedly sophisticated friends. This is a great scene because he is critical of the characters in Mansfield Park for doing the same thing that the Rat Pack is doing.

Like I said, there’s not a lot of plot here so if that is going to bother you than you won’t like it. Plus, these are definitely people with first world problems with a tone and feel that is very much  a creature of its time. If this same script was written now it would be full of politics, social justice posturing and at least one gay character, which would be fine, just different.

The main purpose of the movie is to examine manners and rules as seen through the lens of the elites. This is why Jane Austen is a helpful foil as that was the purpose of most of her writings. For example, the theatrics in Mansfield Park were considered taboo for good society and the characters ask themselves what is taboo now? What are the lines that can’t be crossed? When do you lie out of common courtesy? And when is lying wrong? When is a person a friend you must be loyal towards and when are they a tool in the social ladder? These are questions the script addresses

Overall I enjoyed Metropolitan and I think the script by Whit Stilman is outstanding. My only flaw with it is sometimes the characters could be a little hard to relate with. I wish he had allowed a few more moments of humanity and warmth amongst all the social pandering. Nevertheless, it is definitely worth a watch and a good movie with a cracking script!

Overall Grade- B+

Blind Spot 19: The Boxer

| Rachel's Reviews

One thing we sometimes forget in the world of movie blogging is that most movies land right in the middle. They are neither masterpieces or garbage. They are just good, solid enjoyable films. Such is the case with this month’s blind spot pick- The Boxer.  It didn’t wow me but it was a decent watch.

The reason why I included The Boxer in my blind spot picks for 2017 is it is directed by Jim Sheridan and I absolutely loved his movie In America which I saw for the first time last year. I also love his film My Left Foot, which like The Boxer stars Daniel Day Lewis. It was kind of perfect timing because just this month Lewis announced his retirement from acting following his next film. He will definitely go down as one of the all time greats and he shows it here in The Boxer.

Going into The Boxer I was under the wrong impression that this was a traditional sports/boxing movie narrative and it’s not. It’s more of a mob movie with a small boxing element.

It stars Daniel Day Lewis as IRA member Danny Flynn who is released from prison as the film opens. He decides to open a boxing gym but gets back involved with the IRA hoodlums despite his attempts to stay on the straight and narrow. He also reconnects with an old girlfriend named Maggie (Emily Watson) who has her own ties to the IRA. The two have great chemistry and most of the movie is about their relationship.  There really is only one major boxing sequence and even that is more important for the mob it inspires than for the actual boxing.

I suppose what keeps The Boxer from being great is the story is pretty pedestrian and nothing happens that is very memorable. It’s the kind of movie you watch and then have trouble remembering a few days later. Maybe part of the problem is also this type of story has been told so often that it feels pretty played out?

That said, it is well acted and directed, so worth a watch. It’s just the script that could have been a little more memorable.

Overall Grade- B- (a mild smile worthy for the performances and direction)

Blind Spot 18: Paths of Glory

| Rachel's Reviews

It’s interesting that this month’s blind spot pick, Paths of Glory, just happens to be the second movie I’ve watched this month featuring World War 1 and a No Man’s Land scene. Of course the other film, Wonder Woman, is completely different but it is still a random coincidence as there are not that many World War 1 films made.

Paths of Glory is directed by the great Stanley Kubrick and is a very interesting war movie. In some ways it feels like Hacksaw Ridge combined with Catch 22. I hated the book Catch 22 because it was so cynical. I get the point of the book is to be cynical, but I needed something to latch on to and bond with. It was a very unpleasant experience that was supposed to be funny.

Anyway, I feel Paths of Glory takes this cynical attitude and also  give us intriguing characters that we like spending time with. It’s not a satire like Doctor Strangelove but it does have a cynical sad tone to the events of war.

Starring Kirk Douglas, Paths of Glory, is set in World War 1 and tells the story of a division of French soldiers who are commanded to go on a suicide mission to attack the German stronghold called the ‘Anthill’.

Colonel Dax (Douglas) tries to convince the superiors to hold off the attack because of the heavy casualties and lack of benefit but they insist upon it. The attack goes forward and a group of soldiers refuses to leave the trench. The men are then ordered to fire upon their fellow soldiers, which they refuse without a written order.

The leader, General Mireau, is enraged at the men and blames them for the attack not working. At first he wants to court martial 100 men but 3 are eventually chosen to face trial and execution.

It is this section that Paths of Glory moves from being a war film to a courtroom drama and it is also where you get some of that Catch 22 type of cynicism. It makes sense, after all, when what they are doing to these 3 men is extremely cynical. Taking 3 men’s lives because they wouldn’t turn on their own men shows how twisted war can get.

Paths of Glory is a great film. Somehow Stanley Kubrick manages to mix these two sides together so well. The war scenes are as captivating and disturbing as anything we get in modern war films. And the scenes with the 3 soldiers are sad with a hint of social commentary. It all works.

The cinematography by Georg Krause is a master class using shadows and light in a way only possible with black and white. This is not a film that takes war lightly- the way say Michael Bay might today.  Paths 0f Glory manages to get emotion in every shot even amidst the chaos of Ant-Hill.

The acting is also really strong throughout led by Kirk Douglas. He’s fantastic as Dax who is a hardened soldier with an unsentimental love for his men. He’s basically a good person and a good military man at the same time- a tough balance to pull off.

All the other performances are unknowns to me but they did a great job. I particularly liked a scene where a minister comes to take the men’s last confession. The dialogue and acting was superbly executed.

I only really have one nitpick with Paths of Glory. It’s just that it is hard to get fully immersed in a story about the French army when everyone speaks English without French accents (at least most of them). I wish they had spoken in French with subtitles or at least had an accent.

Other than that, Paths of Glory is a classic for a reason. It gives the viewer a lot to think about without beating you over the head with its cynicism. It’s very well made and acted and over all a great film that I highly recommend.

Overall Grade- A

BLIND SPOT 16: FROM UP ON POPPY HILL

| Rachel's Reviews

Sometimes people think I have seen every animated film but in truth there are many I haven’t seen. Particularly in anime I have many holes. Well, this month for my monthly blind spot series I am checking a Studio Ghibli film off of my bucket list. Today we look at the 2011 film From Up on Poppy Hill.

This movie was directed by Gorō Miyazaki, who I still think was treated way too harshly for Tales from Earthsea which I enjoyed. However, this film is a definite step up for him as a director. It was written by his father Hayao Miyazaki but it reminded me the most of Isao Takahata’s film Only Yesterday. Both are films about the simple stories of every day people.

From Up on Poppy Hill will not be for everyone. Some will find it’s rather mundane story to be boring. I like slice of life films that let you walk in others shoes so I found it quite charming. It does not have supernatural characters or exciting events like many of the more popular Studio Ghibli films but sometimes I like gentler more calming films.

This tells the story of Umi and Shun. They are teenagers going to a boarding school who begin a sweet little relationship only to find out they are connected in unexpected ways. They are both children of single mothers and Uni’s mother is gone abroad most of the time. It is easy to see why these two are drawn to each other and have a connection.

At the same time there is an old building on campus where various clubs and organizations meet. The school wants to tear down the building and redevelop it into something new. The students meet and voice various ways to stop this from happening. Some are anarchists, some are more democratic and some want to protest. The girls suggest they fix up the building so that there is less reason to tear it down, which is what they do.

The animation From Up on Poppy Hill is gorgeous. I loved the watercolor feel to everything and the way the characters were designed in such approachable ways. There was nothing acerbic or strange like other Studio Ghibli films. This is just an extremely gentle, peaceful film.

There are some flaws with From Up on Poppy Hill. The music is a little too ever-present and a bit overbearing at times. Also the story does fall into melodrama on occasion but I didn’t mind that. It worked for the kind of story it was. After all, life can get melodramatic at times! Especially when you are dealing with love and romance!

So I would definitely recommend you watch From Up on Poppy Hill. It’s a sweet, simple movie about likable people growing up and figuring out who they are. I enjoyed it very much and it is beautifully animated to boot.

Overall Grade- B+

Blind Spot 15: 8 1/2

| Rachel's Reviews

I am going to start off this blind spot review with a bit of a controversial statement:

You can be a film fan and dislike classic films

Just because something is on the Criterion collection and heralded as a masterpiece doesn’t mean you have to like it.  Some film snobs may disrespect such a view but honestly to heck with them. No film should be so sacred it is immune from criticism.

Such an introduction may give you a hint of what I thought about Federico Fellini’s masterpiece 8 1/2. I respect it but I didn’t really care for it. Shocking, I know but let me try and explain.

Let’s start out with the positives. It cannot be denied how great this movie looks. The cinematography is inventive and beautiful and I enjoyed watching it on that level. Often the shots feel like they were taken by a little person with the camera looking up at the character.

There are also many dream sequences that are effectively surreal and feel like dreams.

The critic Alan Stone said about 8 1/2 ” I celebrate it. A filmmaker who prefers ideas to images will never advance above the second rank because he is fighting the nature of his art. The printed word is ideal for ideas; film is made for images, and images are best when they are free to evoke many associations and are not linked to narrowly defined purposes”  It’s an interesting philosophy about film, which I often use to defend Terrence Malick and his image-over-plot films.

So with all that said why did 8 1/2 not really work for me? I think the main problem is Fellini isn’t making an image over story film. I think he not only wants to tell a story, he wants you to sympathize with the narcissistic womanizer he has created as his anti-hero.

8 1/2  is about a man named Guido (Marcello Mastroianni) who is a famous Italian director. He is being pressured by the studio to make a sci-fi film but he is artistically stymied and frustrated. As he suffers from “filmmaking block” we get an endless parade of women in his life. There’s his wife Luisa, mistress Carla, an ideal woman, a prostitute from his childhood, nuns, friends, an actress named Claudia, the list goes on.

The film just assumes a man like Guido could get so many women in his life but it never gives any reason why. Is he just good in the sack? Is he a charmer? He certainly doesn’t seem to be. He treats them horribly and even in his fantasies wants to do nothing but whip them. What on earth?

I have a feeling Alejandro Inarritu loves this movie because Birdman has so much of 8 1/2 in it. I didn’t like Birdman, and I didn’t really like this. I found both pretty misogynistic and self-indulgent and not in ways that interested me despite how pretty they looked.

The overall message of the film is I guess about the creative thinker and how sometimes inspiration just doesn’t come. Such a narrative can be quite compelling like when Karen Eiffel deals with writers block in Stranger than Fiction. But at least there I felt something for her but in 8 1/2 I really didn’t care for Guido.

Plus, the creative output he gives in the dream sequences, while beautifully shot, were never really that inspirational or stunning that on their own merits I wanted him to create the art. So I wasn’t really rooting for the man or his art.

Terrence Malick in Knight of Cups has a frustrated artist depressed by the depravity of Los Angeles and Hollywood but I felt for him because the art he imagined in the surrealist sequences was gorgeous. Plus, the female characters who come into that film felt like real, genuine women, not stereotypes.

Frankly, I finished 8 1/2 and said to myself “did I miss something?”. Despite looking nice it didn’t seem that special or interesting or compelling, and yet I’ve heard all these praises. Maybe it is a film that will grown on me over time? I’m not sure but it didn’t do much for me on this watch.

When it comes down to it I didn’t enjoy the experience of following Guido on his fantasies and narcissistic delusions and I found no compelling reason why any of these women were attracted to him or involved with him. It just didn’t quite work for me. Oh well.

Still, it does look great so I will give it that.

Overall Grade- C+

Blind Spot 14: THX 1138

| Rachel's Reviews

This month for my blind spot pick we are diving back into the mind of George Lucas. After watching Attack of the Clones and Indy 4 I lost faith in the guy to tell a good story. So this month I decided to check his debut film THX 1138 off of my list. Who knows maybe I’d like young George better than old George?

thxYou know what I think I do! THX 1138 isn’t a perfect sci-film but it is solidly entertaining and very unique.

THX 1138 is set in a black and white dystopian world. (It feels a little bit like Tron but more stark). Every part of the people’s lives is controlled including mating and emotions. They all kind of work in these giant factories and have brief names like SEN and LUH. By changing out his drug, LUH is able to convince THX to have sex with her.

thx5The couple is then chased by an agent named SEN and the entire corporation that runs the world and forced to separate. I don’t want to give any more of the story away for those that are spoiler sensitive.

thxThe acting is pretty great especially for a George Lucas movie (who is notoriously bad at working with actors). I particularly liked Robert Duvall, Donald Pleasance and Maggie McOmie as the 3 main leads.

Visually the movie is stark, glaring and always interesting ot look at. That is probably it’s greatest strength.

thx4There are some problems, however, with THX 1138. I found the story to be kind of hard to understand at first. It does not take any time to give backstories or explain the world or the character motivations at all. The dialogue is also very simple.  It’s really a movie all about the visuals and the overall broad mess.

For those sensitive there is also a fair amount of nudity in the film, so be aware of that. It is only 95 minutes but it felt longer than that.

But problems aside, if you want to watch something that is different, that a million people could all get different interpretations on give THX 1138 a shot. I think you will really enjoy it.

 

Overall Grade- B