True Detective (Series 1 --2014)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

True Detective (Series 1 --2014) – N. Pizzolatto & C. J. Fukunaga

I have limited myself almost entirely to feature films in recent years even as it became obvious that the long-form TV serial was attracting bigger stars, budgets, and acclaim.  Perhaps David Lynch’s Twin Peaks third series was the turning point, although it still seems easier to pick up the DVD set to watch a series than to try to set my clock to catch it each week.  In this case, the 2014 series of True Detective was available at the local library – I binge-watched the 8 episodes across three nights.  Why? Because indeed it was gripping enough to compel me to continue watching.  And if you want to get the same enjoyment of the series, then I suggest you stop reading now so as not to learn too much (i.e., there may be spoilers below).  The plot is pure pulp, a serial killer detective thriller not unlike The Silence of the Lambs (1991) or Seven (1995).  In fact, the main events at the start of the series do take place in 1995 in Louisiana – but they are recounted by the two detectives, Marty Hart (Woody Harrelson) and Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey), from a future vantage point in 2012.  The first few episodes are part standard detective work and part revelations about the personal lives of both men – Hart is married (to Michelle Monaghan) with two small daughters and Cohle is single with a mysterious past.  Both have their flaws (Hart is cheating on his wife, Cohle takes a seriously pessimistic view of human nature) but I think audience identification would have to be with Cohle, even though the 2012 version we see of him is pretty burned out.  As the men tell their stories, we start to wonder whether they are both telling the truth or whether (in Rashomon-like fashion) what we are learning is biased to suit their own self-interest.  At a certain point, the events on the screen do not reflect the stories being told by Hart and Cohle to, it turns out, the two police detectives interviewing them.  And just like that, in 1995, the case seems solved and there is a bit of focus on Hart’s personal life until we fast-forward to 2002, when things fall apart in the relationship between the two men and the story stops for ten years.  This is where the ability to have 400 minutes (or more) to play with helps to give the story greater weight and depth then might be possible in a two-hour film.  In particular, across six or so episodes, there is a growing sense that the real killer had never been caught and that Cohle is now a prime suspect.  We don’t know for sure whether the burned out Cohle really could be warped enough by the events of his past (which are revealed to be quite harsh) to lead him to a copycat crime (or perhaps he even had some involvement in the original crimes). Returning completely to 2012 and picking up events when the men (who have been interviewed separately) meet up to discuss their encounters with the police (both long since off the force), the final episodes offer an exciting return to detective work with a renewed fervour -- and then we are back to the straightforward narrative of the thriller, in the mode of the first few episodes, expertly edited and directed (by Cory Joji Fukunaga) with great aerial shots of Louisiana and perfect attention to creepy mise-en-scene.  To be honest, however, this felt a bit of a let-down because, no matter how much mystical or philosophical shit Cohle spouts, it can’t help being a genre film in the end rather than something that looked as though it might transcend the genre.  That said, it was a gripping and fascinating ride, extremely well-acted by McConaughey, Harrelson, and Monaghan – and all the unique actors in small parts.  Being on HBO meant sex, drugs, violence, and each episode ended with a well-chosen moody song.  If the detective thriller is your cup of (strong) tea, then this series is highly recommended. 

    

Phoenix (2014)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Phoenix (2014) – C. Petzold

Many are referring to this film as a contemporary film noir (neo-noir) but I’m not sure I see it.  Yes, the plot has strong similarities to the “returning veteran” subgenre, in which somebody like Alan Ladd returns from war to normal society and has trouble fitting back in, although in this case our protagonist is female, Nelly Lenz (played by Nina Hoss), a Jewish survivor returning from Auschwitz to the decimated German society of the 1940’s. This might make the film even darker than the typical noir, in fact.  Clearly, she has trouble fitting in, particularly because her face has been destroyed and subsequently rebuilt by a plastic surgeon.  She doesn’t quite look like herself, so even her husband doesn’t recognise her when she finally finds him.  So, she keeps her identity a secret.  He may or may not be trustworthy and might even have betrayed her to the Nazis.  When he suggests that she pretend to be his lost wife (presumed dead) so that he can apply for her fortune (held in abeyance by the Allies), she plays along (strong shades of Hitchcock’s Vertigo here).  Those that would hail this a noir seem to think that Nelly might either be out for revenge or might truly wish to subjugate herself to her husband, but Nina Hoss’s fragile performance never seems to suggest the former (to me), thus undercutting the noir edge. True, the final scene, a superb culmination of all that has gone before, grants Nelly more power/confidence, but this seems to well up in her rather than be suddenly revealed as a well-protected secret.  A separate strand of the plot also sees Nelly in counterpoint to another Jewish woman, possibly lesbian, who wants to resettle in the new Jewish state to be founded in Palestine, but in this case, Nelly cannot commit perhaps because she is still in the sway of her husband (or at least has unfinished business with him).  Apparently, this is the sixth collaboration between director Christian Petzold and actress Nina Hoss which suggests a back catalogue ready for mining.  

 

The Salt of the Earth (2014)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

The Salt of the Earth (2014) – W. Wenders & J. R. Salgado

The still photographs by Sebastiao Salgado at the heart of this documentary are worth the price of admission alone.  As Wenders intones at the start of the film, they are paintings made of light.  But these photos are also so rich in their complexity (or alternately their simplicity), that they are almost psychedelic in the way they heighten your experience, your understanding of the photographer’s experience of the subject…and something of the subject’s experience as well.  Around these images, other stories are told, mostly about Salgado and his life: he escaped from dictatorial Brazil to Paris and then ventured all around the world, witnessing great suffering in Africa in particular, and then later the serenity of nature.  Although Wenders is but a partner in this enterprise (with Salgado’s son), it is hard not to think about his career and its latest resurgence in documentary films – his vision and worldview are still as rewarding as they once were.  Yet, one can’t help also to think about his contemporary Werner Herzog and what wonders he might have extracted from these images and the complicated ethics of the observer cum participant.  Of course, then the film would have been about Herzog above all else; Wenders wisely stays mostly in the margins, allowing Salgado and his poetic and heartbreaking images to stay in focus.

  

Interstellar (2014)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Interstellar (2014) – C. Nolan

I’m not completely sure it holds together as science (despite the involvement of astrophysicist Kip Thorne) but it (mostly) earns its emotional resonances.  Or I could be wrong on both counts.  Matthew McConaughey plays an ex-NASA pilot turned dustbowl farmer a couple of generations in the future when things don’t look too good for the human race.  Of course, he’s worried about the future for his kids (as we all are).  So, when the opportunity arises to search for a new home world (I’ll keep the spoilers to a minimum), he takes it.  Thus begins an adventure that is probably equal parts Gravity and 2001, with a few other nods thrown in. It can be gut-wrenching in its physical tension but also somewhat incomprehensible in its farfetchedness.  At a certain point (admittedly very late in the film), I simply gave up “believing” and just decided well, OK, then.  Although I’m not sure I was ever fully transported into the world of the film (it would have been a very different experience on the IMAX screen) and this might have been because of the distracting presence of name actors (McConaughey is solid but Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine, and Matt Damon are distracting; Jessica Chastain has too little to do).  Yet for all its loopiness and hokum, it still has enough fascinating moments and technical wizardry (the soundtrack included) to rate as a significant accomplishment.

Whiplash (2014)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Whiplash (2014) – D. Chazelle

I can’t decide which way to start this review:  “Intensity thy name is Whiplash” or “I only thought of Fame once or twice.”  But seriously, this story of a first year jazz drumming student coping with a teacher who evokes the drill sergeant from Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket never lets up.  For anyone who ever had the motivation to achieve something and who felt the pressure to live up to expectations so impossibly high (and therefore probably impossibly stupid), this film’s for you.  J. K. Simmons is smooth, dedicated, and downright nefarious as the teacher and Miles Teller holds his own (and really holds the sticks) as the student.  However, it’s the pacing of the film and the eclectic cutting that really scores – sure there are a lot of drum solos but they are pretty mesmerizing – and then there’s that sucker punch.  Nothing too deep here, unless you want to ponder about whether motivation is made stronger by obstacles or simply wiped out (could go either way, I think).  In any event, this is one film that you shouldn’t miss.

Boyhood (2014)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Boyhood (2014) – R. Linklater

As a piece of high concept art, Richard Linklater’s film is endlessly fascinating:  filmed over 12 years with actors who (by necessity) age across the length of the film.  This provides a definite counterpoint to the usual technique of using different actors to play the same character at different ages – which was never ever believable.  Here, central character Mason (Jr.) ages from 7 to 19, as does actor Ellar Coltrane (who turns out to be pretty solid all the way through, getting more to do as he gets older).  Rather than use this set-up to make something experimental or post-modern, Linklater takes a more or less traditional approach to narrative, following Mason and his family (mother Patricia Arquette, father Ethan Hawke, and sister Lorelei Linklater, the director’s daughter), as they age across 12 years (the film’s working title). As I’m the father of two boys myself, the early focus on parenting resonated with me (although Arquette’s role as a single mom is impossibly harder) and as the kids aged, I felt a distinct sense of anxiety whenever threats were near.  I’ll look forward to this in real life.  The film is sometimes advertised as a nostalgic look at the recent past, featuring music and cultural reference points from 2002 to 2013, but for me it was the common (possibly American) experiences of childhood that were the highlights.  These kids go through some tough times but end up OK. In fact, Mason Jr. ends up pretty cool (influenced by his probably too cool to be true parents).  The script, written by Linklater, tries hard but offers some clunky moments or lines.  As with the Before Sunrise trilogy, you’ve got to suspend your disbelief sometimes to accept that anyone would ever say some of these things – but the feelings behind these lines often still ring true.  A really neat accomplishment.

      

Leviathan (2014)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Leviathan (2014) – A. Zvyagintsev

The gripping and gritty and despairingly realistic tale of Kolya, a poor mechanic in a small coastal town in northern Russia, who is being screwed over by the local mayor. The mayor has pushed through an order to have Kolya’s property acquired by the town for the purpose of building a “communications center” -- but the price to be paid is unfair.  Kolya brings in an old army friend, now a lawyer with connections to a higher-up communist party official, and they decide to squeeze the mayor with dirt they’ve turned up on him (i.e., evidence of corruption). However, in Russia as everywhere else, fighting the power seems destined to fail – things spiral out of control rapidly.  Part of this is due to the copious amounts of vodka everyone seems to be drinking, all the time.  As further misfortune sets in on Kolya, the film raises a number of plausible explanations (or villains) responsible for his plight – but the real culprit sheds light on current affairs in Russia and who really holds the most power.  Incredibly suspenseful with the threat of violence hanging in the air in virtually every scene.

Winter Sleep (2014)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Winter Sleep (2014) – N. B. Ceylan

There is much to chew on in Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s three hour palme d’or winning character study of a rich self-satisfied man too unable to feel empathy for those around him.  Haluk Bilginer fully inhabits the small-minded man (named Aydin, or “Intellectual” in Turkish) who wants to see himself in larger-than-life terms but in fact is the epitome of Sartre’s concept of bad faith.  He pretends not to notice the hardships and dissatisfaction of those around him and his role in their fates.  He allows an intermediary to repossess a TV and furniture from his tenants and to threaten them with eviction. He traps his younger wife into a secluded life where she is unable to pursue her own ambitions and he condescendingly meddles when she tries.  But Ceylan asks more questions than he answers. When the wife attempts to act in good faith by donating money to charity and to others who she thinks are needy, has she done the wrong thing or the right thing?  More than once, it is suggested that she just seeks to assuage her own guilt at being well-off and it seems that hand-outs probably don’t allow the recipient to retain enough dignity to be acceptable.  Apparently based loosely on Chekhov, the themes are mulled over through conversation after conversation, many ending in bitterness.  Through it all, Aydin has his defences up, even as he seems to be acknowledging his own flaws – an easy trick that anyone can play.  Perhaps this is why the title refers to hibernation and Ceylan sets the film in Turkey’s rocky and isolated Cappadocia region; this is a man who has receded into himself, no longer willing to accept that he should act differently or to pay attention to the world around him and the other people in it (aside from his perception of what they are or should be).  Finally, even without all these ideas swirling around, the film would be worth seeing just for the stunning cinematography:  amazing snowy landscapes and cosy fire-lit interiors abound.  And I’m still chewing.

Two Days One Night (2014)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Two Days One Night (2014) – J.-P. & L. Dardenne

When I saw that the latest Dardenne Brothers film had arrived in the mail, I thought “uh-oh”.  Not because I expected the film to be bad but rather because their films are so morally complex and heart-wrenching (often dealing with blue-collar or disadvantaged people in tough situations or at the end of their tether) that I thought it would be a tough watch.  Once again, the Dardennes have come up with a simple moral dilemma and then appear to have sat back and allowed their characters to deal with it.  Specifically, Marion Cotillard’s boss has told the 16 employees at her workplace that they have to have a vote to decide whether to keep Marion at work or to sack her and take 1000 Euros each as a bonus.  So, the movie follows poor Marion as she visits each of her co-workers in turn over the course of a weekend to try to influence them to let her stay. Of course, each person visited has their own issues and a different relationship to Marion.  It also emerges that Marion herself has had a period away from work due to depression and that the foreman has been trying to influence others to vote against her. Yet, somehow the Dardennes find a way to make the story both realistic and uplifting and Cotillard holds her own in a tough part. If you haven’t seen any films by these Belgian masters, you really are missing out -- but you might find that they come too close to depicting the stresses of real life!

  

Night Moves (2014)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Night Moves (2014) – K. Reichardt

Director Kelly Reichardt’s latest film is strikingly photographed in the Pacific Northwest and hypnotic in its droney-rhythms (Reichardt is her own editor).  Jesse Eisenberg’s inhibited performance maintains the minimal approach -- we never really get inside his character, an eco-terrorist.  The same is true of Dakota Fanning’s rich kid – what are her motives for taking part in the destruction of the dam?  Organizer Peter Sarsgaard’s role is a bit more defined and he helps to move the movie (and the other two) along into an almost thriller.  Moral questions abound and despite a few bum notes (would that person actually say/do that?) the film lays them out there for us to consider without much editorializing.  In the end, this seems a movie about a place in space and time (at a certain point in the Earth’s history and in a certain geographical and cultural location).  Reichardt charts things well but the plot seems almost beside the point and the glorious cinematography, artful shots and intriguing directorial decisions captivated me more.

 

  

Inherent Vice (2014)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Inherent Vice (2014) – P. T. Anderson

After seeing Inherent Vice, I feel fully deranged -- and I don’t think this is because I haven’t read the Pynchon novel.  True, there are a lot of characters and details cluttering the film. But I think, more accurately, Paul Thomas Anderson’s unreliable protagonist cum narrator Joaquin Phoenix (as “Doc” Sportello) has simply softened my brain with his mammoth drug-taking and his confused mystery-solving.  Or maybe it’s just me who got confused – despite Doc’s continually expressed befuddlement (Phoenix is a master of the reaction shot), he still solves the mystery.  Maybe with the help of “Bigfoot” Bjornsen (played by Josh Brolin), the LAPD cop who is his foil and antagonist, and maybe just because things happened to work out that way. Did I mentioned this is a comedy? Although there were only a few laugh out loud guffaws in the theatre, I did find myself chortling at Anderson’s well staged routines.  Not all of this is a big drug reference, there’s also a dash of ribaldry, some Owen Wilson, hidden games to play (spot the celebrity relative), and the grooviest 1970 era sets, hair, cultural memes, music, and L.A. vibes that you could ever care to meet.  The film may seem even better when more fully digested as the claustrophobic framing and artful misdirection (camera tight in on close ups, heads cut off from the frame) dissolves and all that is left is the schematic private-eye frame (also used expertly by Altman earlier) and the various elements of the film that directly relate to it, with anecdotes and asides, such as a crazy Martin Short, floating away in the haze. Or maybe there are no asides and everything is relevant – you be the judge, I might just be paranoid or hallucinating.

  

Birdman (2014)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Birdman (2014) – A. G. Iñárritu

Magical realism, if you will, and at its most visceral, guided by endless tracking shots down backstage corridors, starring a man who can move and destroy items with only his mind.  That man is Riggan Thomas (Michael Keaton), an aging Hollywood star who struck success with a series of superhero films (he was Birdman).  Now, he is trying to redeem himself by writing and directing a version of a Raymond Carver short story for Broadway – but everything is falling apart, himself included.  That’s the plot, briefly, but it is difficult to convey the force with which director Iñárritu and the cast throw everything at the viewer.  As the camera glides along, so too do various ideas and associations get thrust into your stream of consciousness. Sure, we think about Keaton as an ex-superhero whose career is winding down and Norton as a possibly intense and difficult to work with asshole.  But questions of truth, performance, reality, and fantasy (not to mention problematic psychological breaks) are never far from the forefront.  Shot in a month with incredibly long takes and then edited in two weeks (if I’ve got my facts right), the result is nothing short of amazing.  Keaton impresses as a man just barely holding on (to everything) and Norton, Naomi Watts, Emma Stone, Andrea Riseborough, and Zach Galifianakis manage to keep the emotional intensity of the picture at a fever pitch in support.  And just when you thought there was no way to end the picture without copping out, Iñárritu teases the audience with numerous possibilities and manages one that works.  A tour de force. 

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) – W. Anderson

During a break from conference action, I went to the latest Wes Anderson film to recharge my little grey cells. Yes, I was in the mood for whimsy. And, whereas Anderson's film certainly does take on the usual playful air -- cramming the screen with eccentric characters and set decorated to high heaven, there's also room for darkness. We're treated to a flashback (1932) within a flashback (1968) told from the vantage point of 1985 about a mythical though reality-based Eastern European country (Zubrowka) that like many others is overtaken by fascism and secret police in the 30s and neglected decay in the late 60s (we don't see too much of the 80s). Anderson uses matte paintings as background and occasionally throws in some old-school animation (the wicked sledding scene) to heighten the fairy tale aspects of the film (after all, we are being told a story). Ralph Fiennes is delightful (and displays excellent comic timing) as Gustave H. the concierge of the titular hotel and Tony Revolori (as Zero, a.k.a. Young F. Murray Abraham) keeps pace. Of course, a host of other Anderson regulars make brief appearances. The whole fanciful creation (not unlike a pasty from Mendl's) comes together as a wondrous miniature reality that deserves further scrutiny to observe the plentiful details that were surely overlooked the first time.