The Bourne Surpremacy
This is one the best action based dramas I have seen in a long time. The sequel is dramatically better than the first film in the franchise, The Bourne Identity. Call it a James Bond movie for the adult mind. 007 is not a real human being and his employer, the British secret service, is not a real bureaucratic organization. Unlike real humans beings James Bond does not fall in love with any of the beautiful women he has “relations” with. One exception: Once Bond does fall in love with his female counterpart (Diana Riggs) and gets married. But conveniently his wife is killled on the way to the honeymoon so that James is “free” for another beautiful woman in the next movie. The British secret service similarly is a fictionalized organization in which every employee like a good soldier works toward a common goal. Jason Bourne, by contrast, fell in love in the Bourne Identity and he works for an fractionalized and infighting CIA.
Sideways
Some time ago I came to the conclusion that film is the highest art form for it can combine all means of communication: words, pictures and music. It comes closest to how we actually experience life and in the hands of a competent director, movies can make you forget completely your own reality for two hours. Watching Alexander Payne’s Sideways reaffirmed my conviction that film is the pinnacle of art. Payne is one of the masters of contemporary cinema. He picks excellent novels and then turns them into fantastic motion pictures. Sideways just like his previous masterpiece About Schmidt reaches deep into the human heart. Two college buddies who have seen better days spend seven days touring the wine region around Santa Barbara, California. Jack is about to get married in a week and his old buddy Miles, who is deeply depressed over his failed marriage, wants to take Jack out for a week of prenuptial fun. On the surface, Jack in his happy-go-lucky way seems to be the polar opposite of Miles and his pessimistic approach to life. But both of them are joined at the hip in their ability to screw things up for themselves. While Mile’s notion of a fun week means tasting a lot of good wine and playing some golf, Jack is eager to revise his buddies plans in unpredictable ways. Jack diagnoses on the second morning of their weeklong journey that both of them badly need to get some action during this week. Joining them for a week in California is richly rewarding because Payne embellishes the California landscape with beautiful drama and music. If you are a wine connoisseur, this is definitely a movie you will savor.
Before Sunrise
After watching its sequel Before Sunset, I wanted to see the first part of the story. A young American (Ethan Hawke) and a young French student (Julie Delpy) meet in a train. She decides not go on to Paris as planned but step out of the train with him in Vienna and spend the evening together before his plane takes off for America. Now we follow them on a romantic adventure through Vienna. Before Sunrise is both better and worse than its sequel, Before Sunset. It is better because the director paced the movie much more effectively and used the glorious architecture of Vienna to surround the narrative with a romantic canvass.
Before Sunset
Do not read this review before reading my review of its predecessor film “Before Sunset.” Nine years ago two young people spent, we are told, an amazing night in Vienna togehter. To play with fortune they did not exchange phone numbers but promised each other to meet on a particular day six months later in Vienna. He goes to Vienna, but she does not show up. Later he feels compelled to write a book about this amazing evening they enjoyed in Vienna. Now he is on a tour promoting the book and the last stop in Europe is a reading in a small bookshop in Paris. At the end of his reading she is suddenly standing in the back of the audience. He only has a little bit of time before his limo is scheduled to take him to the airport. She agrees to his proposal to go to a cafe and catch up… Before Sunrise is almost perfect.
Last Tango in Paris
Even good acting (Marlon Brando) cannot save a script that has no depth and a director who lacks an eye for how to pick stories that are worth telling. If one is confused in one’s head (as writer or director), it does not make for good art to let confusion take over the story. The film likes to come off as being intellectual, but it’s creators lack intellect. Five out of the 130 minutes are truly moving: Roughly two thirds into the movie, Marlon Brando sits in front of the coffin of his dead-by-suicide wife and shows off his genius as an actor. From then on the film is again terrible. The film end’s with the line, “He is a madman.” Ostensibly, Marlon Brando’s character is meant, but one wonder’s about how much grip on reality both the writer and director of this film had themselves. Insight is what is terribly missing here.
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Unlike Gladiator, Russel Crowe’s earlier historical action movie, the drama in Master and Commander” is quite dull. I was so bored after the first hour that I needed to rest a day before I could watch the second hour. Why did I continue at all? Well, Britain became the world’s greatest power in the 18th century by virtue of its navy. As a piece of historical sociology, the film has some splendid moments depicting the social organization of an British warship. Because of the enthusiam of the ship’s doctor for collecting species on the Galapagos Islands, we also get a sense of how important natural history was to British science from the 15th to the 19th century. Unfortunately, the film’s educational ambitions are frequently thrown over board.
On the Waterfront
This movie directed by Elia Kazan holds up even 50 years after its making. Labor unions in America no longer enjoy the power they did after World War II when their struggles with management made the front page of newspapers almost every day. If the movie were made today the corrupt union boss would be replaced by the corrupt Enron manager. But what would remain is the dramatic struggle between the many decent people who are exploited by the few, but don’t seem to be able to overthrow their exploiters until a few muster enough courage to do so. Marlon Brando delivers one of the most moving acting performances I have ever seen.
In America
A young Irish family emigrates to Manhattan to start a new life. But first the old life has to be left behind, and this proves to be harder than anticipated. Although death seemingly looms behind every corner, life struggles mightily to get back on its feet. This is a wonderfully perceptive film. Jim Sheridan (the director) has the touch of a poet. The two young actresses playing 10 and 8 year old sisters are pure gold.
21 Grams
How do you feel when your heart is failing you, but you don’t know if a donor heart is found in time to save your life? How do you feel when your husband and two little children are killed by an inattentive driver only a few blocks away from home? How do you feel when you find out that your new lover has the heart of your late husband? In this meditative film, the director explores these deeply emotional questions with determination and with an interesting narrative strategy that breaks the linear flow of time. Sean Penn shows that he can also play mild characters with great dramatic force. The expressiveness of his character lies precisely in using the body and not words to articulate the meaning of the situation. For the most part our hearts beat regularly and Penn is able to remind us of this fundamental rythm. And one day it will stop.
Cold Mountain
This Civil War movie works because it is has historical depth and employs a love story very effectively. Instead of going overboard with passion, the lovers take cautious steps toward each other and just as they allow themselves a kiss and the dream of a life together, Inman (Jude Law) is forced to join the army and fight in the war. Ada (Nicole Kidman) is left behind in the Cold Mountain region, waiting day after day, year after year, for Inman’s return. Despite all the hardship they individiually encounter, their hearts do not want to turn cold. Inman deserts from the army and tries to find his way back to Ada and the beauty of Cold Mountain. Love in this film is put in modest clothing and that’s what renders it interesting to watch.
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