As we ready ourselves for (White) Oscar Sunday...
I am hoping to post #10-6 sometime Saturday evening, #5-2 Sunday late morning/early afternoon, and #1 (along with details on the annual "best picture-themed food dishes" meal we throw each year.
Stay tuned. For now:
#14 Love and Mercy
Let me first get out of the way that I am FASCINATED with Brian Wilson. Really, how could you not be?
By now you may know that following the mega-successful Pet Sounds, Wilson found an intense amount of pressure trying to create a follow up to compete with Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Adding to the pressure of living up to the Fab Four: infighting among the group's members, a severely strained relationship with his manager/father, and of course, copious amounts of psychedelic drugs ingested. He would go on to start acting irrationally, and eventually suffer a full-on nervous breakdown.
An easy parallel here is Kendrick Lamar and Kanye West. I have little doubt that Mr. West pushed back So Help Me God/Swish/Waves/The Life of Pablo because he knew he could not match Kendrick's social/musical juggernaut To Pimp a Butterfly. This of course caused him to act erratically--(what else is new?) constantly delaying the release date, changing the album title 4 (why? Everyone knows Swish was by far the best) times, picking fights and falling apart publicly on Twitter, and, most recently, declaring to the world that he is $53 million in debt.
...I'm just saying.
The movie actually boasts two Brian Wilsons as it hovers over two key points in his life and development as an artist: young, talented, extremely fragile Pet Sounds era Wilson, portrayed by Paul Dano, and slushy-brained and confused older Brian Wilson, portrayed by John Cusack. Both performances nail it, but for my money, Dano is a little bit stronger.
Some of my favorite scenes are when Paul Dano is shown conducting the orchestra for Pet Sounds, or showing song ideas to his father Murry, trying so hard to win him over that it hurts. When he plays him the beginnings of "God Only Knows", the #1 hit-minded Murry rips him apart.
Ultimately, two father figures drive the action, the second being "Dr." Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti), Wilson's legal guardian in his later life. We pick up with older Brian Wilson at a car dealership, buying a new ride and asking out car saleswoman Melinda (Elizabeth Banks). He is heavily medicated and business/personal decision-controlled by Landy, but once he meets Melinda, it forces him to try and start thinking for himself again.
Fellow Minnesotan Bill Pohlad's portrait brings us in for a closer look at both Wilsons: tortured, misunderstood and fighting for freedom. Most geniuses are misunderstood (just ask Kanye), but it's hard to watch one who's so restricted by those closest to him. Exaggerated or not, this is a very well-told story.
#13 Amy
Amy Winehouse, like the others of her "Club 27" brethren, fought hard against her demons and ultimately lost. Despite her absurd talent, she was always a little more Cobain/Joplin/Morrison than she ever was Adele. Within her tale is a history of self abuse, overcompensation, and the need to find a way to deal with being under the spotlight at all times.
But before all that, there was a sweet young girl from London, England who could sing the hell out of some tunes. Footage of her singing at young talent contests and adolescence sleepovers prove that she has had the pipes for years and years. Despite all this, there always seem to be a little bit of darkness lingering under the surface. Amy was often drawn to sadder songs. Before long, she was getting approached by clubs, talent agencies and producers at a faster trajectory than anyone could possibly deal with. Like fellow London-ites the Specials once sang "Too much, too young."
Many blame the self-destruction on her relationship with Blake Fielder-Anything-But-Civil. It goes without saying that the majority of Back to Black is about him and it's not as if their insane dynamic helped things. But what about her controlling and money-hungry father Mitchell, who famously said she was fine and allowed her to walk out of rehab and refuse help when she desperately needed it?
This was the beginning of the end. Director Asif Kapadia allows us to see what the evolution of what would ultimately be the lasting images we have of her: cameras catching her stumbling drunk in her trademark white tank top and high heels, cameras catching her flipping them off, cameras catching her smashing Fielder-Civil's face in, cameras catching her covering her face. Kapadia doesn't hold back on this point, and what we come to see through interviews and footage is that the public simply would not leave her alone. The British tabloids would park outside of her apartment and perch, waiting to nail her with a minimum of probably 50 camera flashes.
How could anyone deal with this? How do you rehab (pun definitely intended) your image when the public is this relentless?
This documentary is unique because did opts to use audio from interviews and voiceovers over old footage and never once utilizes the common talking-heads construct of most documentaries. The viewer is pulled apart and antagonized right there alongside her, and it's totally heartbreaking. Another incredible talent we lost way too soon.
#12 Anomalisa
Oh, Charlie Kaufman...what would we do without your thinking man's movies?
Last time we heard from Mr. Kaufman, he was guiding P.S.H. (R.I.P.) through an existential crisis of the worst kind as theatre director Caden Cotard in the mind-boggling Syndedoche, New York. Seven years later he's back, with the much lighter, still plenty psychologically-challenging Anamolisa. When I say "much lighter", of course, I mean "much lighter for Charlie Kaufman". Dude doesn't do light. This film, too, provides a major existential crisis--it's just much easier to digest.
Michael Stone (David Thewlis, Lupin from Harry Potter) is a marketing guru who slogs from business convention to sterile hotel as a keynote speaker. We pick up with his travels in Cincinnati, where he goes into his usual routine--kick off shoes, hang up dress clothes, surf hotel TV channels, visit minibar, call wife and son back home. It's easy to tell that he is both exhausted and bored to tears. After a meet-up with an old friend at the downstairs bar goes all please-keep-your-voice-down-no-need-to-be-so-upset, he trudges back upstairs and, on a whim, knocks on a door. This leads him to Lisa (Jennifer Jason Leigh), and something about her sticks. They set off on a 24 hour-encounter (along with Tom Noonan as multiple other characters) that starts out as tender and (quite) touching, and ends as something else altogether.
That's all I can say without giving you the whole thing. Kaufman's first foray into animation worked for me. It wasn't his best, but the same thing that happens with all his movies happened again here--you find yourself pondering it for days, weeks, even months later. I'm still trying to make sure I grasped it entirely. There is one audiovisual trick/theme that that you'll be able to pick up on probably 10 or 15 minutes in, but the other major one comes much later and it is far more subtle. When you finally pick up on it, Anamolisa becomes, though somewhat tragic, an ultimately rewarding experience at the cinema.
#11 Ex Machina
In the not too distant future, a programmer named Caleb (Domnhall Gleeson) wins a trip to spend a week shadowing reclusive tech genius Nathan (Oscar Isaac). Said hacker is played by Domnhall Gleeson, the ex-eldest Weasley sibling who is having a huge year. On this remote island, Nathan is experimenting with artificial intelligence.
It is under these circumstances is that Caleb is introduced to Ava (Alicia Vikander). Immediately, Caleb is obsessed. Beyond having clear emotions and feelings, she is sympathetic and drop dead gorgeous, (especially for a robot). Each time that Caleb and Ava meet, director Alex Garland titles it numerically, i.e. "Meeting #2" and "Meeting #4". The technology that Nathan is working on is well past groundbreaking, but Caleb can tell that something is off. Something about the whole thing doesn't feel quite right. Eerie, even. And he'll soon come to figure it out. If you have any familiarity with the Bible (my knowledge is mostly limited), Caleb, Nathan and Ava are their names for a reason. And that's all I'll say.
All three performances are fantastic, but none more so then Oscar Isaac as the isolationist, erratic, misunderstood inventor, turning to alcohol and violent outbursts when the sheer enormity of what he is doing hits him, or when it is even hinted at that he is "playing God".
(The title Ex Machina comes from the Greek concept of "Deus ex Machina" which translates to "God in the Machine". It's used a lot in ancient Greek theatre as a time when a problem is suddenly solved by an powerful intervention).
Anyway, he deserves a best supporting nod, no question, if not for his dance moves alone.
The conclusion of Ex Machina is equal parts compelling and scary. "Whoa. Wait. What?" you'll say. You'll want to rewind it to make sure you didn't miss something. And you should.
Will it take a Deus-ex-Machina sort of scenario to finish this thing on time?
Only one way to find out!
'Til next time...
No comments:
Post a Comment