Little Children
Sarah (Kate Winslet) and Brad (Patrick Wilson) meet on a playground in a suburb of Boston just as their marriage is entering a difficult period. They feel an immediate attraction. Little Children chronicles how people who are stuck in a staid, lifeless marriage struggle when they develop extra-marital romantic feelings, unexpectedly standing before a temptation they thought only other people could yield to. The interesting part of the Little Children, however, is not this main plot, but the story of the other characters that show up in the community of Sarah and Brad: a man who had been in prison for exposing himself to little children, a crazy ex-policemen who makes it his mission to protect the community from this “pervert,” the mother of the “pervert” who tries to get her son’s mind off children by finding him a wife through newspaper ads;
Babel
With Babel Alejandro González Iñárritu has established himself in my eyes as one of the most innovative filmmakers of our times. For Iñárritu and his longtime writing partner, Guillermo Arriaga, life is not a cakewalk. The basic sensibility running through Love is a Bitch, 21 Gramms and now Babel is deep pessimism: at any moment life can turn into a horrible tragedy. Babel tries to flesh out that heartbreak is not the special fate of one country or a people but rather the universal human condition. People are struck by tragedy independent of whether they live in the U.S., Morocco, Japan or Mexico, for example. Iñárritu keeps you on the edge of your seat because you don’t know how much tragedy will unfold before your eyes. The camera travels back and forth between these four countries and Iñárritu surprises you more than once showing you perspectives on everyday life that you have not seen before. The film is heavy, but it is a rewarding experience not to be missed.
When the Levees Broke
Spike Lee is no Ken Burns. His “documentary” about the human tragedy that unfolded during and after the Hurricane “Katrina” hit the Gulf Coast is not unfair but unbalanced. Lee’s cause is noble one. He wants to draw attention to the suffering experienced by the residents of New Orleans even a year after the catastrophe. The moviemaker Lee has a great eye for ordinary Americans who in front of his camera can act out their justified rage about the failures of the Federal government. But letting individual victims provide an oral history of their plights cannot explain exactly why the response of the Federal government was so poor and why the Federal government has not made good on its promised to rebuild New Orleans. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is the chief villain in Lee’s morality tale. Yet not a single FEMA representative is interviewed to present their side. The Major of New Orleans (Ray Nagin) and the governor of Louisiana (Kathleen Blanco) blame the Federal government for everything, but it becomes quite apparent that they are not completely without fault for why New Orleanians suffered so much.
Lee does not have the guts to ask the tough questions that any impartial person should ask: Can all parts of New Orleans be made safe with levees so that the city will not be destroyed again or should people receive big subsidies to move inland? I would have liked Lee to ask the Berkeley engineering professor, who provided the chief scientific report a why the levees broke, whether the city should be rebuilt at all with federal money. If the house I lived in all my life and love is destroyed by a flood, I am not the best witness to answer the question whether it is safe to rebuild the house on the same site. Lee’s film is a great promotional film for the plight of the Katrina victims. It does not come close to being a definitive account of how and why Katrina could destroy the fabled city of New Orleans that will never be as large as it was before the flood.
Nobel Lecture: My Father’s Suitcase
Sometimes the lecture by the recipients of the Nobel Prize for literature are superb (e.g. Guenter Grass) and sometime they are quite disappointing (e.g. Heinrich Boell). Just read the Orhan Pamuk gave in Stockholm a few months ago after receiving the 2006 prize. It is a great read. Try it…
By Orhan Pamuk:
Two years before his death, my father gave me a small suitcase filled with his writings, manuscripts and notebooks. Assuming his usual joking, mocking air, he told me he wanted me to read them after he was gone, by which he meant after he died. ‘Just take a look,’ he said, looking slightly embarrassed. ‘See if there’s anything inside that you can use. Maybe after I’m gone you can make a selection and publish it.’
Continue ReadingThe Queen
The trailer for The Queen turned me off, but friends and critics insisted that I watch The Queen. “It is a really great movie,” the said. The first scene already felt much less staged and invented than the dialogue between Tony Blair and Queen Elizabeth featured in the trailer. The film is not great. What it has going for itself is a spectacular performance by Helen Mirren. Her performance single-handedly carries the movie forward and manages to plaster over a great deal of its fundamental flaws. The film focuses on the week after Princess Diana’s death and depicts how Tony Blair, just appointed Prime Minister, helps the Queen fix a public relations disaster that was making the Queen widely unpopular. The film portrays the private conversations of the Royal family. But the Royal family almost certainly did not tell the filmmakers what they, did, said and felt during that week. Hence script feels like a wild speculation of what went on in the minds and hearts of the Queen, her husband, the queen mother and Prince Charles. The Tony Blair of movie comes across as little puppy rather than a politician with some gravitas that we know from TV. I think people like the film so much because they enjoy seeing the private life and thoughts of the Queen, even if its is largely invented. Most people seem to be able to believe, unlike me, they are watching what the royals truly think and feel.
Postscript Feb 11, 2007: An interview with the director in Slate confirms that my critique of The Queen was right the money.
Continue ReadingSupersize Me!
In the tradition of pre-modern pharmacists who would test remedies on their own body, Morgan Spurlock decides to eat at McDonalds three times a day for a month and let a battery of doctors keep track of how his body would react to such a diet. I knew that McDonald’s was not good for you: A nutritionist warned me 5 years ago that one should never east fast food although it tastes often so good. But the film documents just how bad fast food is and why it is a significant contributor to the obesity epidemic that is striking the United States. After 30 days on a McDonald diet, Spurlock gained 15% body weight and his organs were showing clear signs of sickness. The doctors who are monitoring his health during the 30-day period counsel him to immediately stop the experiment. The movie is a bit slow, but anyone with children should see this film.
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Girl with a Pearl Earring
Over the years I have seen many small reproductions of Vermeer
Continue ReadingA Holiday Card from Britney Spears
Britney seems to have discovered that motherhood and applepie is not as fun as singlehood and panty-less partying with Paris Hilton. The two girls are learning to upstage even Madonna, the mother of all self-promotion. It is fascinating to watch how newspapers all over the world are covering the two little Lolitas from the United States as if they had no one in their own country to talk about. Here are Britney’s holiday wishes for the world, found on britneyspears.com.
Watching Entourage
I am waiting for the fifth season of 24 to come out on DVD December 5th. In the meantime, I am watching the first season of the HBO comedy Entourage on the Stairmaster, trying to lose a few pounds. The show gives you a look at the day-to-day life of Vincent (Vince) Chase, a hot young actor in modern-day Hollywood, and his entourage. He’s brought with him from their hometown in Queens, NY: manager Eric, half-brother Drama, and friend Turtle. The producers claim that
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