Friday, October 20, 2006
i have been complaining recently about how disconnected i feel from movies meant to speak to my demographic. Close followers of this blog know how I feel about Garden State. I find wes anderson movies cute but artificial, and the self conscious narrative of Adaptation to be emotionally hollow.
Then I saw the squid and the whale.
I firmly believe this to be the most beautiful movie I have seen. I know it is a little short, and falling prey to 80s nostalgia is dangerous, but I see myself in all of the main characters. Watching the children pick up the bad habits of their parents like everyone reflexively lying to paint themselves in a good light was very poignant while being understated. The movie manages to generate genuine emotion without usual devices that divorce movies from the experiences of reality. If you haven't seen the movie, I highly recommend it.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is electric in Pumping Iron. I think the famous premise about his psychologically intimidating Lou Farigno is a bit of a fabrication. We are set up to see that occurance by the director's use of the interview about his intended psychological warfare; however, the actual precontest breakfast seems to lack any notable change in Farigno. ("Theory dictates what we can observe." --A. Einstein). Arnold's infectious confidence absolutely make the movie. That and the fact that I am TAing Anatomy right now, and bodybuilders are a fun place to play "spot the serratus anterior." For those curious, serrati anterior are those little muscles that run horizontally under the armpit which are only visible in exceedingly well-defined men between thier pecs and lats. they originate on the ribs and insert in the scapula.
Then I saw the squid and the whale.
I firmly believe this to be the most beautiful movie I have seen. I know it is a little short, and falling prey to 80s nostalgia is dangerous, but I see myself in all of the main characters. Watching the children pick up the bad habits of their parents like everyone reflexively lying to paint themselves in a good light was very poignant while being understated. The movie manages to generate genuine emotion without usual devices that divorce movies from the experiences of reality. If you haven't seen the movie, I highly recommend it.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is electric in Pumping Iron. I think the famous premise about his psychologically intimidating Lou Farigno is a bit of a fabrication. We are set up to see that occurance by the director's use of the interview about his intended psychological warfare; however, the actual precontest breakfast seems to lack any notable change in Farigno. ("Theory dictates what we can observe." --A. Einstein). Arnold's infectious confidence absolutely make the movie. That and the fact that I am TAing Anatomy right now, and bodybuilders are a fun place to play "spot the serratus anterior." For those curious, serrati anterior are those little muscles that run horizontally under the armpit which are only visible in exceedingly well-defined men between thier pecs and lats. they originate on the ribs and insert in the scapula.
# posted by 8yearoldsdude @ 10:07 PM 
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I agree with you about The Squid and the Whale. We seem to have the same taste in movies! Other than Adaptation, which I seem to have enjoyed more than you, I agree with all your takes.
I first saw Pumping Iron as a sophmore in high school, when I was on a road trip with my rowing team. Recently, I bought a copy of it for $2.98 in a Wal-mart clearance bin. To be certain, it has a lot of unintentional comedy, because the clothes and the hairdos worn by its subjects, and in part because so many body builders on som elevel just LOOK ridiculous. Having said that, their love of their sport is infectuous, and some of the subjects are oddly easy to identify with, and, by the end of the movie, one is surprisingly caught up in the outcome of the contest. To be certain, sometimes we laugh at the characters, but so what? The best episodes of Mystery Science Theater are the ones where the underlying movie has some real merit. Sure, its a cheesy movie, but I don't know anybody who has seen it and not enjoyed it.
I first saw Pumping Iron as a sophmore in high school, when I was on a road trip with my rowing team. Recently, I bought a copy of it for $2.98 in a Wal-mart clearance bin. To be certain, it has a lot of unintentional comedy, because the clothes and the hairdos worn by its subjects, and in part because so many body builders on som elevel just LOOK ridiculous. Having said that, their love of their sport is infectuous, and some of the subjects are oddly easy to identify with, and, by the end of the movie, one is surprisingly caught up in the outcome of the contest. To be certain, sometimes we laugh at the characters, but so what? The best episodes of Mystery Science Theater are the ones where the underlying movie has some real merit. Sure, its a cheesy movie, but I don't know anybody who has seen it and not enjoyed it.
We should talk about the Squid &co. sometime; I disliked it ardently and I wonder now if there wasn't something I missed.
I saw it a while ago so it's hard to remember to what I reacted so badly. I think I found it pat. And oppressively masculine. It's one of those movies -- Fight Club also comes to mind -- that is interested solely in the crisis of masculinity in modern times; fine, but it focuses on it to the exclusion of a complex representation of a woman. Given the otherwise worthwhile subject matter, this seems a particularly bad omission. Isn't the crisis of masculinity inextricable from the "the rise of the woman"?
The films replace complex female characters with two-dimensional figures that play directly into male fantasy. Helena BC (abbreviations to eschew embarrassing spelling errors) as the aggressive, over-sexed submissive; Laura Linney as the whore/mother -- with an emphasis on mother and only a sprinkle of mostly hypothetical whority; and Anna Paquin -- well, let's not even start in on that one (An irritating, but not critical, side note: all of the female characters in FC & tS&tW are given their only "complexity" in the shape of a particular sexual idiosyncrasy).
The creation of female fall-guys for our male anti-heroes just serves to worsen the castrated-male-myopia these films try to analyze and, if not excuse, then at least forgive. Unless the film is styled to be highly subjective (Fight Club) and, even in that case, the examination of alienation (alienation from an idea of a person rather than an actual person) is bound to be shallow. Of course we're alienated from people we imagine to personify our fears. Let's see a movie that really examines male malaise rather than merely demonstrates it. Matador and Breathless come to mind, but with some reservations. Maybe Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind?
That said, I did love the look of the Squid & Whale -- the quality of the film and the atmosphere. I thought the final shot was almost perfect.
(I'm certainly in lock-step with you about Wes Anderson & Adaptation. Haven't seen Garden State but I've sourly already formed a negative opinion based on its inoffensive soundtrack).
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I saw it a while ago so it's hard to remember to what I reacted so badly. I think I found it pat. And oppressively masculine. It's one of those movies -- Fight Club also comes to mind -- that is interested solely in the crisis of masculinity in modern times; fine, but it focuses on it to the exclusion of a complex representation of a woman. Given the otherwise worthwhile subject matter, this seems a particularly bad omission. Isn't the crisis of masculinity inextricable from the "the rise of the woman"?
The films replace complex female characters with two-dimensional figures that play directly into male fantasy. Helena BC (abbreviations to eschew embarrassing spelling errors) as the aggressive, over-sexed submissive; Laura Linney as the whore/mother -- with an emphasis on mother and only a sprinkle of mostly hypothetical whority; and Anna Paquin -- well, let's not even start in on that one (An irritating, but not critical, side note: all of the female characters in FC & tS&tW are given their only "complexity" in the shape of a particular sexual idiosyncrasy).
The creation of female fall-guys for our male anti-heroes just serves to worsen the castrated-male-myopia these films try to analyze and, if not excuse, then at least forgive. Unless the film is styled to be highly subjective (Fight Club) and, even in that case, the examination of alienation (alienation from an idea of a person rather than an actual person) is bound to be shallow. Of course we're alienated from people we imagine to personify our fears. Let's see a movie that really examines male malaise rather than merely demonstrates it. Matador and Breathless come to mind, but with some reservations. Maybe Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind?
That said, I did love the look of the Squid & Whale -- the quality of the film and the atmosphere. I thought the final shot was almost perfect.
(I'm certainly in lock-step with you about Wes Anderson & Adaptation. Haven't seen Garden State but I've sourly already formed a negative opinion based on its inoffensive soundtrack).
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