Crazy Heart - STEPHEN SANSOM

Since I was about sixteen years old, I've had an ongoing, rigged list of 'male movie characters that I intend to emulate.' The list is decidedly un-prejudiced toward a character's moral universe - James Bond is on the list. But others include both Wayne and Garth, Indiana, Sherlock, and at the vigorous age of twenty, I added The Dude. Ever since, Jeff Bridges has held a special, nirvana-esque place in my heart as an actor who can somehow convey a flawed yet perfect man (sc. 'dude') unlike any other.

Perhaps it is on account of the similarities between Bridges' character for the Coen brother's and Bad Blake, the washed up drunk of an has been country singer, in Scott Cooper's Crazy Heart that this movie had such an impact on me. They're both independent, have loyal friends, and don't take life seriously. Yet Bad is like Lebowski if The Dude had picked up a guitar, gotten ridiculously famous and wealthy, and then lost it all in a bourbon haze. The Dude is pure, untainted southern California stoner. Bad is a train wreck of four failed marriages, alcoholism, and most egregiously, musical impotency and a misplaced muse.

Crazy Heart is a film about a musician. But it is also a film about music, with scenes devoted to Bad with his guitar, including several three to five minutes of blissful Willie-country live performance. Music is beautiful, transcendent, but is also ugly and regretfully ephemeral. Bad hasn't written a new song in three years, and just like that silence when a guitar string stops its vibrating, Bad is on the verge of disappearing into sonic nothingness. It is only when he meets Jean (played my one of my top five, no, top three, the helplessly lubricious Maggie Gyllenhaal) that he begins writing again. She brings a vision of permanence into his life: she as a kid, a painful marriage in her past, and a life in Santa Fe. With this permanence comes the image of a 'self' he can call his own. He begins writing, falling love with her and her son, tying up loose ends of past marriages, and things begin looking up.

Anyone who watches this film will be struck by its reality. There are no flashbacks to fill in the painful blanks of the past. And there shouldn't be. Like live music, we are the sounds that surround us: the guitars, laughter, chatter, clinking of bottles - we are the people who experience the show with us: the young, old, happy, sad. The meaning of the show, the memories that stick with us, are created in the moment. Crazy Heart records this moment with striking clairity. And just like I will always return to Highway 61 Revisited andThe Golden Band to relive those musical moments, I'll think of this movie of music, pain, and hope as a gem in Jeff Bridges crown, worn begrudgingly by an actor who has never sought the life-altering Bad Blake limelight. I hope you'll dig it too.

This blog post is dedicated to the dedicated Kyle, whose encouragement got me to sit down and just write.

He Came, He Saw, He Conquered & The Carter Documentary

In one, Alen Yentob, the creative director for BBC, follows a hip-hop star through the build-up to a performance at Glastonbury. In the other, QDIII, the son of Quincy Jones, sits with a hip-hop star on a tour bus and in a five star hotel in Amsterdam. The hip-hop stars have left their 'hood' and found footing in Europe for different reasons. Ultimately, both push an American dream and a brand by making music first and 'ruling the world' second--just in very unique ways.

One collects Richard Prince and Andy Warhol. The other collects the styrafoam cups that have held his cough syzrup. One speaks hesitantly about life as a 'gangster'. The other lives life as a 'gangster'. One meets with the President of the United States to talk basketball. The other, if president, would legalize all narcotics, lower gas prices, legalize prostitution in five states, and do away with child support laws. One hired Frank Gehry to build his basketball arena and government housing for his neighborhood back home. The other is bidding on Frank Sinatra's Plymouth. One used the documentary about himself to promote his non-profit and his own brand. The other used the documentary about himself to promote his brand and has now sued the producers of the documentary for breach of contract, breach of covenant of good faith and fair dealing, unfair business practices, fraud, invasion of privacy and injunctive relief.

Lil Wayne and Jay-Z are really different people. They both rap and they both seem to be intelligent dudes that work really, really hard on making music that they are proud of. I don't know exactly why they are both so interesting though. Both documentaries played heavily on poor kid from the ghetto becomes millionaire. I'm not sure if that is what makes their story interesting though. It's not so much about the 'pursuit of happyness' for either of them. They both just want to be 'huge'. Lil Wayne sells a million records in a week and immediately responds by saying the next record will sell five million. Jay-Z is asked about his business interests and he says he wants to change the way culture looks. I think this might be what is interesting. They define cool. Thet are the ones telling us what is coming next. Sociologists spend a whole lot of time trying to describe reality and show how culture moves. These two guys, using very different methods, tell culture how to move. They really might be right when they refer to themselves as kings.

The Room - Tine 'Real Talk' Fjeldstad

It is rare that the presence of an audience around me in a cinema excites me to any level, it is after all supposed to vanish as the film elevates me to higher dimensions of escapism. This was not so much the case with The Room; the best worst film ever made. Not that the film itself didn’t elevate me to unknown levels of something (of what I have to admit I am not sure), but the audience is what made this particular Saturday evening unforgettable. The film is so awfully unintentionally ridiculous that it is well worth a watch in any circumstance, but if the chance presents itself to see it in a cinema: TAKE IT! If for no other reason that you get to lob plastic spoons at the screen as often as you like (in reality you lob them at the people in front of you, but it is one of the social advantages of this film that they will simply love you for it). Before I go any further, let me just say that this film is not for those of a strong feminist constitution; and that is simply because you are a woman.

The plot is simple enough – man and woman are engaged (mostly because he provides her with financial security), woman cheats on man (because she is evil), man saves boy next door from a drug-dealer (it’s ok, he’s going to prison), and, amidst it all, people the man and woman don’t know are eating chocolate of each other in their apartment.

Tommy Wiseau is the man behind this unforeseen success, a man with a strong vision, an indefinable Eastern European accent, a degree from an unnamed acting academy, unparalleled face-muscle density and the entrepreneurship to sell unknown numbers of fake leather jackets to fund his vision. He directed, produced, and, most importantly, starred in this rapidly rising gem on the cult-film-heaven. His interpretation of Johnny, the loving fiancé of the bitchy (such language is necessary in this case) Lisa, is, in short, indescribable. If most adjectives in my description come in negative form it is because words would never do The Room justice. I will however do a brief attempt to describe some of the prolonged and ‘tasteful’ sex-scenes that inspired many contorted facial expressions among the audience (and on the screen for that matter), as well as a mass-walkout: It looked something along the lines of a close-up shot of the rear end of a horse running – in slow motion. Considering this, along with pointless scenic shots of San Fran, an incredibly unsexy adulteress, a very sexy best friend in double denim, a lot of boys having a lot of fun tossing a ball to one another wearing cycling gloves or tuxedos, as well as mother that proudly proclaims she has breast cancer without ever mentioning it again, it is no wonder the film has risen to great heights of viewer participation. Just be sure to memorise the lingo and be ready to shout any of the following at appropriate moments:

Spoon! Cancer! Who the f*** are you? Hi Denny! Bye Denny! Cause you’re a woman! Unfocus! Alcatraz! Sestosterone! I put my evil inside you! You are tearing me apart Lisa!

Meanwhile, in San Francisco…

This film will have to be seen to be understood. I can safely say this though; The Room has changed my life – for the better.

Goodbye Lenin - Cage

Wolfgang Becker, in this movie, has non-obnoxiously linked together a bunch of characteristics of a 'fun' film with a lot of seriousness. In my opinion, this makes for the most enjoyable movies.

'Telling' history is always contentious and biased. You've got my 9th grade American History textbook vs. 'The People's History of the United States'. Then there is Genesis vs. 'The Origin of Species'. Not to mention, 3000 years or so of the white male/the victors vs. 50 years or so of a feminism/marginalized account. 'Goodbye Lenin' is an attempt at a re-telling of the fall of socialism and its impacts in East Berlin, specifically. The point is that history not only happens in ways we don't always want it to, but history also is not always told in the way we want it to be told. Becker, the lead actor Alex, Rick Bragg, and I agree that sharing a narrative of history is more fun and more meaningful when it is sensationalized in a way and simply made more personal. This is the first characteristic of movies I like that this movie encompasses.

Alex's mother, a staunch socialist, is in a coma for the fall of the Berlin wall. When she comes-to her world as she knew it no longer exists. The doctors tell Alex that if she experiences too much shock or stress that she will fall back into her coma or die. The ensuing action depends on Alex's adeptness at re-creating a world for his mother that no longer exists--a world that he fought and protested against and thought he hated. This is one of the most fun premises on which to make a movie. This is the second characteristic of movies I like that this movies makes use of.

When Alex's mother gets bored she demands that Alex set up a television for her to watch. Were she to watch a current news program she literally might die. Therefore, Alex and his aspiring film-director comrade take it upon themselves to tell Alex's mom, carefully how 1989 'really' happened. Son of Rambow, Broken Embraces, Be Kind Rewind, Sullivan's Travels, Cinema Paradisio, The Big Picture, Boogie Nights, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Adaptation, are all movies that I really like. These are all movies about making movies. I think it is a way for 'film-school' directors to substantiate either how serious or un-serious they take themsevles. I think it is also a really fun way to tell a story or to show how they, themselves like to tell a story. Watching Alex and his friend tell the story of how they wished the events of 1989 had occured is really fun. This is the third characteristic of movies I like that this movie does really well.

After a series of really good cover-ups, Alex finally falls asleep on the day his mom decides to get up and walk. As she makes her way through a foreign land that is her westernized kitchen, the homosexual neighbors moving in, and the Coca Cola advertisements outside her apartment, she makes it to the main road in time to see the statue of Lenin being airlifted out of East Berlin. As the sun sets, Lenin, although rigid like a statue, seems to nod towards Alex's mother in a final goodbye. As Lenin is drawn out into the sunset, Alex and his sister are there to catch their mother. Hollywood has done a lot of harm to cinema but they have done a lot of cool things as well. Sunset, cathartic slow-mo is almost always lame/sheshish/kitsch/poofter, but is simultaneously almost always enjoyable (depending on how cool the rest of the movie is or was). This is the fourth characteristic of movies I like that this movie does really well.

The final thing about this movie that is really likeable is that the seriousness of 1989, the seriousness of family-lies, the seriousness of losing a family member, the seriousness of mixing cultures, the seriousness of oppressive regimes, is not lost in the 'cool'/'fun' stuff that movie makers can do. In fact, I think it is enhanced in this movie. At some level it seems really necessary for us to contextualize all this 'serious' crap that surrounds us and to do this with humor or whatever works well in movies. Something about the characters being on a screen makes it easier to do. So when we tell a story in an unapologetically biased way, or enhance the importance of unique/seemingly-un-special parts of day-to-dat life, or see how someone goes about deciding how to do the things they do, or put a sunset in slow motion, we put the percieved seriousness of life in perspective. A movie that does this is almost always a movie that I like.

The Blind Side - Tim

The Blind Side

With only one day to go before the Academy Award nominations are announced, it seemed appropriate to watch The Blind Side, for which Sandra Bullock has won this year's Golden Globe for Best Lead Actress. 2009 was Bullock's most successful year, from a box office point of view. She is also one of the most ambivalent actresses in Hollywood. One moment she stars in great films like Speed, A Time to Kill or Crash; the next moment she somehow ends up on the sets of movie mishaps such as Speed II, Premonition and, most recently, All About Steve, for which she received her second Golden Raspberry nomination.

In the case of The Blind Side, Bullock plays Leigh Anne Tuohy, a copybook Desperate Housewife: $18 salads with the girls from the country club in between driving the kids from school to football/cheer-leading practice and all the while looking amazing in white Capri pants. Into this supposedly perfect life stumbles Michael 'Big Mike' Oher, an underprivileged black kid from the poor part of whatever racist town in Tennessee they live in. 'Big Mike' truly deserves his name and turns out to be a pro-football player but he is also shy, insecure and has some learning disabilities. Leigh Anne decides to take him under her wing. If you have detected parallels to Precious I cannot blame you.

It is not necessary to elaborate any further on the plot as it is mind-numbingly predictable. And I mean the kind of predictability that enables you to mouth entire sentences before you hear them. Sandra Bullock, who is in just about every scene, delivers an alright performance - but by no means exceptional. It thus remains a mystery what she got that piece of gold for. Oh, I know, she put on a Southern drawl. Yep, always an award-guarantee, that funny talking, darn tootin'.

As a principle, I do not quit films before the end. Perhaps I hope that something at the end will suddenly make me appreciate a film that hitherto was a joke. As you would expect, this rarely is the case, although I must admit that it was worth sitting through the tedious last hour of The Mist to see the end. To put it mildly, I would not have put up a fight if someone had called me during The Blind Side with the prospect of meeting up at McDonalds Leicester Square to go scum-watching. As much as I like seeing Bullock in tight white pants: I got bored. Yes, even of Sandra Bullock's moneymaker!

Apart from the predictable plot and cheesy music, it was also the lack of originality that bothered me. Obviously the films is original to some extent because it is based on a true story, and as I found out later, follows it quite accurately. However, the theme of the underprivileged black kid is stale and much better implemented in Precious. For a film that wants to show us ambivalently how a superficial soccer turns philanthropist and a kid from the hood remain innocent, there is a lot of black/white painting. The teams 'Big Mike' plays against are always evil and their players racist. Overall it seems like everyone is racist, even teachers. Meanwhile the black kids in Michael's hood are - wouldn't you know it - jobless and crack-dealing Gs who want to 'tap' that foster mother of his. As Michael enters the scene, the lives of the Tuohys seem to revolve around nothing but him: How he needs to pass an exam, practice football and buy a proper shirt. Not once do we see them engage in an activity that has nothing to do with Michael, which makes the film lose credibility.

To leave on a good note, the interactions between Bullock and Quinton Aaron (Michael) are rather moving and I felt strangely reminded of Ryan being accepted into the Cohen Family in The OC. Talking of which, if The OC isn't too kitschy for you, than neither is this. Yet, bear in mind though that an OC episode is a half an hour long. This film is two hours of Hollywood at its worst (kitsch).
With regards to tomorrow's nominations, you are probably wondering whether Sandra Bullock should be nominated for an Oscar. Is a nomination necessary? About as necessary as it was to make a sequel to Speed, if you ask me.