Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993) – S. Zaillian

Aito is really getting into chess now (he beats me nightly) which reminded me of this solid ‘90s film about a 7-year-old kid (and a whole subculture of kids) playing competitive chess in tournaments. Joe Mantegna and Joan Allen play the parents of Josh Waitzkin (played by Max Pomeranc) who wrestle with the moral quandaries put to them about their son’s social and emotional life and whether fostering his success is more for them or for him. Ben Kingsley and Laurence Fishburne play Josh’s two mentors, the classically trained but conservative taskmaster and the risky bullet player from Washington Square Park, respectively. Writer-Director Steve Zaillian keeps things moving (in his directorial debut) with the requisite tension (if not without some inescapable sports movie cliches). Dan Hedaya, Laura Linney, and William H. Macy show up in cameos.  You probably don’t really need to know anything about chess to enjoy this, but now that we do, the authenticity is discernible.  And after all, the film is based on a true story (co-written by the real Fred Waitzkin) and features clips of the real Bobby Fischer who is frequently name-checked as a future “destination” (for better and//or for worse) in the film.

Jurassic Park (1993)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Jurassic Park (1993) – S. Spielberg

Although I doubt I would have given this 4 stars even thirty years ago when it was new, there’s something about seeing it on the big screen and through the eyes of 9 year-old Amon that added extra value. Sure, the characters are still only schematic nods in a certain direction rather than fleshed out living and breathing humans but they serve the purpose of advancing the plot and creating concern/anxiety where it needs to be created (kids in peril!). Spielberg was always a master manipulator of the audience and his goal here seems purely to thrill -- with any message from Michael Crichton’s source novel about the dangers/risks of using science to interfere with natural processes only noted in passing. The fact that we aren’t fully attached to the characters probably makes it easy for us to stomach their untimely passing when, of course, the genetically re-engineered dinosaurs get loose and wreak havoc (so long Samuel L. Jackson). I had forgotten that Wayne Knight (“Newman!”) is the central bad guy here although his money-grubbing motives seem to pale in comparison to the grand moral failing of David Attenborough, the impresario who set the entire theme park in motion, inviting the cascading negatives events (predicted by Jeff Goldblum’s chaos theoretician) that bring about the premature end of his dream. Sam Neill and Laura Dern play paleontologists/audience surrogates who learn about the park, see the creatures with wonder and then terror. But of course, the whole movie itself is really a theme park ride, filled with animatronic and CGI monsters that provide the jump scares and evil glares that send kids screaming. Now Amon is asking about the sequels but I don’t think so…

The Fugitive (1993)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

The Fugitive (1993) – A. Davis

A big hit in its day (based on the concept of the TV series from the 1960s), this is a Hollywood thriller, no more, no less.  That is not to say that it isn’t very enjoyable – it is! Harrison Ford (in serious/glum mode, not smart alecky) is Dr Richard Kimble, whose wife is killed by a mysterious one-armed man at the start of the film, a crime for which Kimble himself is given the death penalty.  But when the bus carrying prisoners crashes and is then hit by a train, Kimble escapes (hence, the title).  He is pursued by US Marshall Sam Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones) and his team (including off the top of a very tall dam!).  After he comes to his senses, Kimble decides to return to Chicago and attempts to track down the killer, which means sneaking into hospitals to gather evidence which points in a certain direction (no spoilers here).  Whether or not the MacGuffin has further resonance in society (it surely does, these days), the film is superbly edited to produce the right amount of thrills (though not really any dread or true worry for Kimble). You know it is all going to work out and it is fun to see the clues fall into place.  Director Andrew Davis doesn’t seem to have had any subsequent hits, so this might have been one of those lucky times when the stars (Ford and Jones) were properly aligned. 

Calendar (1993)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Calendar (1993) – A. Egoyan

Armenian-Canadian director Atom Egoyan (known for Exotica, 1994, and The Sweet Hereafter, 1997) here explores ethnic identity in the context of interpersonal relationships – but he does it very obliquely, to be sure.  Egoyan himself plays a photographer hired to shoot a calendar’s worth of pictures of ancient churches in Armenia.  He brings his Armenian wife along to translate (for he, himself, has assimilated to Canadian culture and can’t speak the native tongue).  Their driver (Ashot Adamyan), cum guide, an Armenian national, interacts exclusively with the wife (Arsinée Khanjian, Egoyan’s real wife).  This sets up a certain tension between husband and wife, as Egoyan begins to get jealous and petulant (offscreen).  But the scenes of the calendar shoot in Armenia are interspersed with videotape, presumably shot on the trip, being rewatched by Egoyan at some future point (and sometimes rewound or fast forwarded), always with Arsinée as the main focus.  Some answering machine messages start to piece together what this future entails – husband and wife are separated with Arsinée still in Armenia, possibly with their guide.  Another sequence of shots shows Egoyan eating dinner with a succession of beautiful ethnic women who each abruptly ask to use the telephone, leaving Egoyan at the table, drinking wine and eventually writing letters to his wife.  The answering machine again reveals that these women may be actresses auditioning for Egoyan rather than dates.  So, this is largely an experimental feature (at only 73 minutes) with some cognition required to uncover its themes and meaning. To the extent that Armenian identity is what joins and separates the three main characters, this is a very modern and relevant film.  What does it mean to be from somewhere, if you have never learned (or at least not maintained) that place’s language, norms, or culture?  At a base level, this seems inauthentic.  Yet, others may still treat you as a member of that cultural group, for better or for worse.  Egoyan’s film only scratches the surface of these complexities, although its mysteries may reward further scrutiny.

  

The Blue Kite (1993)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

The Blue Kite (1993) – Z. Tian

A quiet film that contemplates how history impacts personal lives, charting a mother and son as they experience China under Mao between 1950 and 1968.  The film is broken into three parts (Dad, Uncle, and Stepfather), representing the three husbands of the central character, Shujuan (played by Liping Lü), and the three great upheavals in Mao’s era, Rectification & the Hundred Flowers Movement, the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution.  Director Zhuangzhuang Tian had to smuggle this film out of China in order to complete the editing and postproduction in Japan and the movie was subsequently banned in China.  Indeed, it takes a very critical stance toward the events of this period, which see the optimistic Shujuan and her husband embracing the new Communist Party of China only to discover later that whispers about “counter-revolutionaries” could be used to send people to forced labour camps.  The Hundred Flowers Movement may have encouraged critiques of the government but these were later used against those brave enough to speak out.  The family is subsequently impacted by Mao’s decision to move the entire country to new collective agricultural techniques during the Great Leap Forward which lead to widespread and devastating famine.  Many died of malnutrition.  Finally, when Shujuan makes the decision to marry a Party elder in order to provide a better life for her rascally son, Tietou (or “Iron Head”), the Cultural Revolution emboldens the young students who make up the Red Guards to attack those seen to be bourgeois or elite.  So, in some ways, the film is a tragedy, but it also speaks to the power of family and community bonds, as the mother and son, and their friends and relatives who share a courtyard in Beijing, weather the chaos of these events (which are not didactically explained – I used Wikipedia later to better understand them).  As dramatic as these upheavals seem, it is hard not to wonder about the coming decades or century, when even more intense dramas may be in store for our children (as a result of global warming, over-population, and their consequences).  Indeed, there are places in the world where upheavals affect personal lives now (Syria or Burma, for example; it is easy to generate a depressing list).  The Blue Kite reminds us not to ignore those who suffer from political decisions (as there but for good luck and good fortune go we).

  

The Last Bolshevik (1993)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

The Last Bolshevik (1993) – C. Marker

Chris Marker’s essay films are a wonder, but I can’t help but feel that I’m missing layers upon layers of insights.  Undoubtedly, Marker has spent enormous amounts of time choosing images, film clips, and the very best words and phrases for the narration in order to pack his essay full of these insights (and information and jokes and opinions).  So, regardless of whether you are really interested in the topic – in this case Soviet director Alexander Medvedkin – Marker’s essays are a marvel that has much to offer to the engaged mind (Sans Soleil, 1983, is probably the easiest entry point to his work). Medvedkin is only the starting place for Marker, of course, and the video takes in the entire history of the Soviet Union, reflecting on the differences between actual reality and the state sponsored images and memories (Battleship Potemkin, portrayals of Stalin on film) that pervaded the culture.  Sure, there are talking heads but they are largely unknown to us, offering only elliptical bits and pieces of some larger tapestry that is impossible to grasp with both hands.  Marker keeps things interesting with his editing technique and by separating the film into two halves (with a cat listening to music during the intermission) and six separate letters from the narrator (presumably but not clearly Marker himself, voiced by someone else) to Medvedkin.  Knowing that Marker himself was a committed leftist helps to see how deeply the end of the Soviet Union and perestroika before it had affected him – he ruminates about the ideals (that Medvedkin also honoured deeply despite having all of his films banned by the authorities) and the actualities that never matched up.  However, Medvedkin never lived to see this, dying in 1989.  Now someone needs to create an essay film about Marker using his own techniques – now that is one that I would really like to see (and probably would never fully comprehend).

The World According to John Coltrane (1993)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

The World According to John Coltrane (1993) -- R. Palmer & T. Byron

Sure, like any other music doco, this features a bunch of talking heads trying to give us insight into a musician who they knew (Wayne Shorter, Rashied Ali) or didn't know (LaMonte Young). But there is enough live footage of Coltrane, and not just clips, to make it worthwhile. Great to see some ecstatic sounds from his final free period.