Junebug

I finally saw Junebug. I liked everything about it, except that I find it hard to believe that a man who does woodworking as a hobby only owns one screwdriver.

Watchmen

When I walked out of Watchmen I thought it was, eh, fine. Visually, very true to the novel, but I have never actually finished the novel. I thought, I'm not really the target audience.

But as time goes by, I notice my response has become more and more negative. By the end of the week, I will become enraged at the mere mention of the film.

These are some of my questions.

When Rorschach drops articles in voice over, I like it, because he's reading from his journal, where people often use shorthands ("Dead dog in alley today" vs "I came across a dead dog in the alley today..." or something. Or whatever). When he does it in dialogue, it sort of makes him sound like Cookie Monster.

Do these people have some sort of superpowers or not? I thought they didn't (obviously with the exception of Dr. Manhattan) but they appear to. I mean, if I'm supposed to understand the story as a critique or dismantling of traditional superhero notions, why do I still have to accept that they will win every fight (or be just fine after plummeting two stories in a flaming building) for the simple reason that they are the protagonists?

Why are so many of the thugs who get beaten to death in bloody slow motion Asian? Is it because we won the Vietnam war?

Am I meant to feel any sympathy at all for Holis Dan/Nite Owl or Laurie/Silk Spectre? I find them so entirely repellent, from the visually unsettling scene in which they balletically beat a group of thugs to death with their bare hands to the even visually ickier scene in the hovercraft, of which the less said the better.

Actually, I take that last part back. I think the sex scene was my favorite part of the movie, because it was the only time I knew where I stood, which is neck deep in irony. From the soundtrack (can you tell I'm rolling my eyes right now?) to the utter lack of chemistry between the actors, it's embarrassing and kind of hilarious.

I don't know, maybe I'm wrong. Lots of people liked it. (Charlie? Prove me wrong? That's what the comments are for...)

Movies About Movies

I saw this and immediately began to wonder about your favorite films that are essential about the experience of cinema.

Below are a couple of mine. Post yours here so I can watch them all and co-opt your opinions as my own.

The Muppet Movie

Sullivan's Travels

Rear Window

And The Ship Sails On

Fringe

Butterflies are creepy and intimidating. I've always thought so.

I just decided to catch up on Fringe, having missed the last six or so episodes. The first scene I see is this poor guy lacerated to death by a herd of sharpened butterflies.


I feel so vindicated.

Also, does this amazing sweater have an Intarsia color-work killer whale on it?



Sigh.

Happy-Go-Lucky

Let me just say right now before I start in on all my thoughts about Mike Leigh and what has happened with Mike Leigh over time, that I'm deeply in love with Sally Hawkins. I love her pretty face and her funny teeth and that odd twitchy thing she does with her breath. I loved her in Fingersmith, and in Persuasion, and even though I might have forgotten she was in Tipping the Velvet, I am sure I loved her in that as well.

In Alma, Michigan, where I went to college, there were just two pathetic video stores (in one, I had a fight about The Godfather with the clerk and was too shy return), but the Alma College Library had one wall of amazing movies. This is where I discovered a delightful movie called Life is Sweet, which introduced me to the following: David Thewlis, Jim Broadbent, Timothy Spall, Jane Horrocks (maybe you remember her as Bubble on Absolutely Fabulous? If you are reading this and you have not seen Little Voice, please go add it to your queue right now) and Mike Leigh.

Early in his career, Mike Leigh made a bunch of movies (many for TV) that were just about perfect as far as I'm concerned. In particular I am thinking of Meantime and Life is Sweet -- these little movies expose the ordinary lives of ordinary people, most of them middle class or poor, who are naive and optimistic, cheerful, pathetic, racist, charming, sincere, conniving, funny, tired. The dialogue is mostly improvised, and the actors are amazing - Meantime was one of very first movies of both Gary Oldman and Tim Roth, as well as Alfred Molina. I loved these movies because they made me see both the good and the bad in ordinary people, and they left me feeling hopeful, believing in a sort of basic humanity that could make life worth living. This sounds like hyperbole, but it's pretty much how I feel.

Then I saw Naked, or rather, started to see it. Naked is a weird exploration of sex and power and rape, and it's probably a good movie, but I just wasn't compelled enough by the story to endure all the horrific images. So I turned it off. Since then, Mike Leigh has made a lot of other quite good movies, and I have seen some of them: Vera Drake, Topsy Turvy, Secrets & Lies. The ones I've seen have been solid movies, but sort of weighty and important. None of them have been, for me, quite the revelation those earlier movies were.

Happy-Go-Lucky is the Mike Leigh movie I have been waiting for. There is no major conflict/conflict resolution, no Big Issues, just an almost (but not quite) impossibly optimistic person, living her pretty good life. It is a two-hour defense of cheerfulness. When you meet Poppy, you might think she is not a great teacher, because you might think she is a pushover, who gets by on charm with her students and everyone else. Poppy's classroom is chaotic and colorful. But when it comes down to it, when someone (her driving instructor, Eddie Marsan) pushes her too far, she is very capable of drawing a line, always with compassion.

The only weak point in the movie is a way-too-easy scene with a counselor (/love interest), who psychoanalyzes a young boy in about ten seconds flat. "Why are you angry? Draw me a picture. Why is your mother's boyfriend in a different room? He hits you? That's not very nice." But even that character subsequently won me over with his awkward first-date flirting.

I've just discovered that a BUNCH of Mike Leigh's early movies are instant-watchable on netflix. This is very good news.

p.s. You can watch a tiny fuzzy version of Meantime right now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgFLbDkXeuQ