Due to a combination of work, vacation, and my kidney attempting to extricate itself from my body in a thoroughly unpleasant fashion, I've been fairly remiss from posting lately. In an attempt to catch up on my consumption of popular culture, I spent much of this past weekend watching recent movies. Here is what I've discovered.
The Informant! By Steven Soderbergh
Steven Soderbergh hasn't slept since 1999. That's the only thing that can explain the sheer volume of movies he's involved with at any given time. Like we've seen with other prolific artists however (Stephen King, John Zorn etc), Soderbergh has a tendency to rush through projects, thereby diluting work that would have been better served by more time and patience. I'm pleased to report that The Informant! has not suffered in such a way, and in fact may be my favourite Soderbergh film since 2002's Solaris. The Informant! is the story of Mark Whitacre, a vice-president for a major agribusiness conglomerate who secretly turns over information regarding his company's price fixing policies to the FBI.
What I loved most about this film is the pacing. We know right from the start that there is much more to the story than any one person in the film (with the exception of Whitacre) knows, yet we're happy to be patient, to wait for the film to deliver the "true" story to us eventually. When the pay off finally comes, we're not disappointed. This is a film that revels in it's secrets, and you can almost feel Matt Damon's glee through the screen as he reveals each one to us. I also have to give credit to Marvin Hamlisch for A) Not being dead. Who knew? and for B) delivering one of the best film scores I've heard this year. Amazing music for a highly recommended little potboiler of a movie.
Rating: A-
The September Issue. Directed by R.J. Cutler
Here's how it works: I drag my girlfriend to dozens of avant-garde jazz concerts and zombie movies, and in exchange, she sits me down about once a month to watch films that threaten to crush my masculinity. The September Issue is one of those films. It's ostensibly about the process that Vogue Magazine goes through every year into creating their "September Issue" a huge, phonebook size version of the magazine that sets the tone of the fashion industry for the next year.
In reality it's the story of the relationship between 2 women I had never heard of before: Anna Wintour (the formidable editor-in-chief) and Grace Coddington (creative director for the magazine). In many ways this film is a companion piece to Sasha Gervasi's brilliant Anvil! The Story Of Anvil. Though one film is about the world of high class fashion, and the other is about the world of low class metal, both films are really about the same things: Doing what you love, at all costs. One of the signs of a successful documentary (though this is more of a character analysis than a true documentary)is it's ability to engage it's audience, despite the subject matter. Though one might prefer a more in depth study of Vogue or the industry it covers, The September Issue realizes early on that the more interesting story lies in it's people, not it's pages.
Rating: B
Capitalism, A Love Story. Directed by Michael Moore
Michael Moore movies used to be thought provoking and entertaining. Then after a while they started to become entertaining and thought provoking. Then they just became entertaining. And now with his latest movie Moore isn't even that anymore.
Capitalism, A Love Story is a unfocused vanity piece that decides that the best way to get you riled up about the lies and dishonesty of big business and politicians, is to feed you more lies and dishonesty. If you want to really get into the heart of the recent financial crisis, read the New Yorker.
Rating: D
Where The Wild Things Are. Directed by Spike Jonze
After walking out of Spike Jonze's (Adaptation, Being John Malkovitch) newest film, I could only think of one thing:
I can't believe this got made.
In a year of studios cutting every corner possible, and of scuttling true creativity in the interest of serving the lowest common denominator, the fact that such a thoroughly interesting, entertaining, and unique film could get made is a minor miracle.
This is a completely charming, utterly fantastic movie that I recommend you go see immediately.
I don't think I've ever wanted to hug a movie more.
Rating: A
Pintu Terlarang (AKA The Forbidden Door). Directed by Joko Anwar
If David Cronenberg and Darren Aaronofsky had a baby, and then that baby went to film school, and then moved to Jakarta to make utterly disturbing yet hauntingly beautiful psycho-thrillers, Joko Anwar would be that baby.
The Forbidden Door is the story of Gambir (played by the fantastic Fachri Albar), a sculptor with a terrible secret. Although on the surface he's leading a successful life, messages he receives from a little boy threaten to derail the perfect fantasy he's created for himself.
This film will stick with you for weeks. First of all, the cinematography and art direction would receive Oscar nominations in any perfect world where horribly compelling Indonesian Hitchcockian love letters received such things. As the story gets darker, and more twisted, the imagery of the film gets brighter, more lovely, and more compelling. Even at the films tremendously bloody climax, the sheer beauty of the images on the screen overpower the desperate depravity of the subject matter of those images.
If you like movies that entertain, confuse, and most of all, challenge their viewers, this movie is for you. One of my favourites of the year thus far.
Rating: A+
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