ZEBRAS IN AMERICA EPISODE 125

This week we delve in to the new Eric Andre/Lil Rell road movie (we both loved it) and much more. 

Enjoy...

Zebras In America · Episode 125

ENTERTAINMENT: "TWO LANE BLACKTOP WITH NEIL HAMBURGER"

Entertainment is a fictional story but it has more than a few strands of reality in its DNA. In the film Gregg Turkington plays a semi-fictional version of himself - an "alternative" persona/stand-up comedian (or "anti-comedian") who delivers strange one-liners to unsuspecting audiences. Through the course of the film we watch Turkington's "Neil" travel across the American west coast doing the "chitlin' circuit" of small bars and comedy clubs while trying to maintain his sanity. While on tour he reconnects with his cousin "John" (John C. Reilly) and tries to reach out to his daughter that we never actually see (throughout the film he leaves her cryptic voice messages).
When Neil isn't on stage telling jokes, he's a quiet and almost unlikeable person. I wouldn't disagree if some folks referred to him as an alternative anti-hero, but to me Neil is the epitome of the "sad clown" (it's no coincidence that Neil travels with an actual clown - played by Tye Sheridan - as his opening act). This archetype isn't anything new but the team of Rick Alverson, Gregg Turkington & co-writer Tim Heidecker put a refreshing spin on the idea of the sad clown. Comedians are sometimes sad, insecure & depressed. Entertainment just hammers this home in its own unique way. Behind every joke that Turkington/Neil delivers is a layer of sadness and/or extreme negativity. Anytime Neil isn't performing on stage/in character he refuses to be funny or tell jokes which plays off of the idea of entertainment as a job. Being a stand-up isn't "fun" for Neil. It's his 9 to 5. He isn't "on" 24/7 and doesn't feel the need to be the "funny guy" all the time just because he's a comedian (I often hear stories of stand-ups hating to be asked to tell jokes or to "be funny" when they're on their own personal time). Actually, Entertainment puts the occupation of a stand-up comedian/entertainer on the same level as an office worker or retail associate. I'm not trying to belittle the job of an office worker or retail worker (I work in an office myself), but there's a common misconception that all comedians live super fun lives when in fact their job becomes just as redundant and at times pointless as sitting in an office cubicle.

Any independent and/or struggling artist should be able to appreciate this aspect of film (for me, Entertainment made up for the disappointment that was Inside Llewyn Davis).

Depression, hopelessness, sadness, loneliness and the (sometimes) pointlessness of communication are some of the main keywords & themes that come to mind when I think of Entertainment (as someone who has grown to hate small talk, I appreciate how well Alverson deconstructed the idea of people saying shit just for the sake of saying shit to kill time or make up for silence). Alverson's use of small talk & repetition (courtesy of John C. Reilly's "John") is pretty masterful and it really highlights the stunted level of communication that humans sometimes have.
This is a dramedy in the truest sense (Not a dark comedy. There's a difference between the two). Entertainment is very disorienting (I mean that in the most positive way) as it transitions seamlessly between comedic moments and depressing moments. One minute Neil is on stage delivering his stand-up material, and the next minute he's sitting on the edge of his bed in a shitty motel room in the middle of nowhere questioning his existence (and the score just adds an extra layer to the film's disorienting nature).

Visually, this is Alverson's most polarizing film to date. Not to downplay his previous work, because I've enjoyed them all (I consider The Comedy to be one of the five best films of the decade), but this is the first Rick Alverson film, in my opinion, to feature memorable standalone imagery. Not only does he make use of the southwest American landscape that serves as the backdrop for the film, but he sprinkles in the perfect amount neon lighting and other bold colors (there were shades of that in The Comedy but Alverson went all out in Entertainment). For a visual reference, imagine a film that falls somewhere in between Upstream Color, the cinematography of Tim Orr and a Harmony Korine-directed Cat Power music video (Upstream Color costar Amy Seimetz makes a brief appearance in Entertainment). And I know this is cliché but Stanley Kubrick seemed to have a subconscious influence on all the polarizing hallway shots in Entertainment (often times in entertainment we get these scenes of an almost paralyzed Turkington standing in a hallway zoning out like Jack Nicholson in The Shining).
Besides Alverson's own films (specifically The Comedy), I'd put Entertainment in the same cinematic vein as other road movies like Kings Of The Road (another road movie that deals with depression) & Vanishing Point. In fact Rick Alverson referred to Entertainment as "Two Lane Blacktop with Neil Hamburger".

I could go on & on about how challenging & unique Entertainment is (and it certainly is) but this film touched me on a personal level which is more important than any critical praise I could ever give. I'd be lying if I said I haven't been questioning certain of aspects of my own life (work, the environment I live in, my health, etc) much like Neil. I guess you could say I'm going through a super light existential period in my own life, so seeing a movie like Entertainment, which centers around someone going through their own (deeper) existential crisis, is going to have an impact on me.

Entertainment also features the type of humor I appreciate with jokes like:

Why did Madonna feed her baby Alpo brand dog food? ...Because she had no choice. It's the only thing that came out of her breasts.

Or 

What was Elvis Presley's worst release?

...The ejaculate that produced Lisa Marie Presley.

While jokes like that may come off as stupid to some of you, I find shit like that hilarious.

I don't always like to compare movies like Entertainment to their predecessors but if you're a fan of The Comedy (and other recent "challenging"/deconstructive films like Upstream Color or the cinema of Yorgos Lanthimos) I can almost guarantee that you'll enjoy Entertainment.

THE STRAIGHT STORY: NEBRASKA (Alexander Payne's Nebraska @ NYFF)

I don't think I’ve ever anticipated an Alexander Payne movie in my life. His stuff just really isn't my thing. He makes these slightly edgy, yet quirky, R-rated dramedies for a generation of people I don't really relate too. He's got that Coen brothers pass where he can kinda make any movie he wants and film society critics, young baby boomers & old gen x-ers will blindly praise it. Maybe when I'm in my mid-40's I'll get it, but for now - meh. The ultimate reason that I decided to see Nebraska is because I didn’t want to only see two movies at this years' New York Film Festival (Bastards & Only Lovers Left Alive) having missed a bunch of movies due to not being able to make Toronto this year.

Election and Laura Dern's performance in Citizen Ruth are the only things that Payne is associated with that I’ve ever really liked. I thought Sideways was overrated long before it was cool to think that, The Descendents was "ok" and I haven't seen About Schmidt since it first came out over a decade ago. But I’ve always had respect for Alexander Payne as a person thanks to his participation in the Z Channel documentary. It was in that film that I came to learn he was a true cinephile. It’s becoming rare these days to find cinephile filmmakers who aren't annoying & obnoxious like Quentin Tarantino or even Nicolas Winding Refn (someone I actually have love for). Its beyond frustrating to be at a Q&A with a director who clearly knows very little about the artform that they participate in. I understand how busy things must get once you become a filmmaker, leaving you with little personal time to catch up on movies, but didn't you at least watch a lot of movies BEFORE you started started making them? There's still a rare breed of filmmaker out there that knows more about film than Quentin Tarantino & Nicolas Winding Refn combined but you'd never know that (unless you read about them, actually listen to a director's commentary on a DVD or watch a film like Z Channel) because people like Richard Linklater, Steven Soderbergh, Alexander Payne, Jim Jarmusch and a few others don’t spend all their time making movie collages (as opposed to actual movies) to show off how much cinema knowledge they posses.

What sparked my interest in Nebraska was hearing about Bruce Dern's award winning performance at this years' Cannes film festival. Cannes always shows love to underrated performances, usually given by American actors, that don’t ever get recognition from the more popular award shows like the Oscars or Golden Globes. There's been a fairly eclectic mix of American award winners at Cannes over the years - Forest Whitaker (Bird), James Spader (Sex, Lies & Videotape), Samuel L. Jackson (Jungle Fever), Sean Penn (She's So Lovely), Benecio Del Toro (Che), Tommy Lee Jones (The Three Burials Of Melqiadas Estrada), etc. Now that I've actually seen Nebraska I can safely say that Dern deserves all the praise he gets along with co-star; June Squibb (she honestly steals the show in my opinion).
After doing a little more research I came to find out that not only is Payne's latest film shot beautifully in black & white but it also co-stars the always underrated Stacey Keach, Bob Odenkirk AND Will Forte, who is probably the funniest human being on the planet right now and he just so happened to have given one of the most slept-on comedic performances of 2012 in Tim & Eric's Billion Dollar Movie (just a heads up - Forte's character in Nebraska is a fairly straight forward/straight-laced guy which is pretty out of character for him). Actually, I was subconsciously reminded of Tim & Eric through the coarse of the film as both Odenkirk & Forte are regulars on that show.
I'm also a sucker for a good road movie. And a black & white road movie at that?! Forget about it. Has there ever actually been a "bad" modern black & white road movie? Nebraska falls in line with other great, eerie, modern road trip films like; Stranger Than Paradise, Kings Of The Road, Juha, Paper Moon, Alice In The Cities, etc.

Clockwise from Top Left: Alice In The Cities (Wim Wenders), Paper Moon (Peter Bogdonavich), Kings Of The Road (Wenders), Stranger Than Paradise (Jim Jarmusch)

Nebraska has a lot of good stuff going for it - road movie, good cast, a subconscious connection to one of my all-time favorite tv shows, beautiful cinematography, etc. The end result is a solid film that lies somewhere in the upper tier of Payne's filmography - In my opinion it's better than Sideways & The Descendents but not as good as Election or Citizen Ruth (remember, I think Payne's recent work is a bit overrated so take my ranking of Nebraska with a grain of salt). The performances are great and the vibe is comically eerie. Some scenes in the film felt like what America would look like from Bela Tarr's perspective, shot with the same camera that was used to make Werkmeister Harmonies.

It's evident that Payne set out to make a smaller, more personal film this time around by casting Bruce Dern in a film set in Nebraska (Payne's home state) which couldn't be any more opposite than his previous film which was set in Hawaii, starring George Clooney. So no matter where this may "rank", Nebraska is probably his most personal & mature work to date...

In Nebraska, Bruce Dern stars as "Woody Grant" - a grumpy retired old man, probably in the very early stages of dementia or alzheimer's, who suddenly receives a letter in the mail telling him he's won a million dollars (clearly this is a scam but Woody is too old to understand). In order to claim this so-called prize money he has to travel to the headquarters in Lincoln, Nebraska from his home in Montana. After multiple attempts to get there on his own (like Richard Farnsworth in The Straight Story, Woody can't drive), his son; "David" (Will Forte) offers to drive him. Part of me questioned David's motivation at first - If your aging father, whose clearly not all there, suddenly told you he won a million dollars in the mail would you seriously go along with it to the extent that David did by actually driving him from Montana to Nebraska just to entertain him? Perhaps David wanted to spend time with his father. Pretty early on in the film we know there's no damn prize money but we're just so happy to see our lonely old anti-hero, who might remind us all of a dad, grandfather or uncle, motivated to not just get up off the couch but to take a trip somewhere before its too late.

Or maybe like Michael Haneke did with the videotapes in Cache, perhaps its Alexander Payne himself who sent Woody the letter telling him he won a million dollars.

Once word gets out that Woody is a "millionaire", old friends & family members suddenly come out of the woodworks to reclaim money that they supposedly loaned him years ago.

Clockwise from top left: Paris Texas (Wenders), The Straight Story (David Lynch), Broken Flowers (Jarmusch), About Schmidt (Payne)

Nebraska has tons of humor but there's also quite a few moments of deep reflection and plenty of touching moments. This almost felt like Payne was taking another stab at making About Schmidt with a few variations. Both movies deal with retirement, loneliness, reflecting back on life in old age, etc. And like Nebraska, About Schmidt is also a road movie about a slightly unpleasant, although likable, anti-hero. 

What I liked most about Nebraska is that this was the first time Alexander Payne REALLY let his inner-movie nerd out by referencing and paying homage to so many movies (on purpose and by accident) while still making a film that's all his own. Bruce Dern's performance in Nebraska carried the spirit of quite a few past performances given by aging, iconic American actors on a road trip through Anywhere USA: Jack Nicholson (About Schmidt), Harry Dean Stanton (Paris Texas), Bill Murray (Broken Flowers) and of course Richard Farnsworth (The Straight Story). And likewise, June Squibb's performance in the film is reminiscent of Jim Jarmusch's aunt in Stranger Than Paradise or the grandmother in Raising Victor Vargas.

A movie snob like myself always seems to be drawn to films outside of America but Nebraska fills me with a little bit of pride (mixed with a little bit of embarrassment & cynicism) about my homeland. Nebraska has it's share of cliches & predictable moments but it was still an enjoyable film...

THE PUFFY CHAIR: JOHN CASSAVETES' INFLUENCE ON GENERATION Y

If you enjoy the films of John Cassavetes and say the words; "like" & "dude" an excessive amount of times then there's a good chance you'll love The Duplass Brother's feature film debut; The Puffy Chair - a part road movie comedy, part relationship drama that takes us from Brooklyn to Atlanta. Ever since the start of that mumblecore scene (courtesy of Funny HA HA) critics, cinephiles & film festivals like SXSW & Sundance have given praise to Puffy Chair-influenced works like; LOL, Dance Party USA, Hannah Takes The Stairs and other pointless films about broke Brooklyn & Portland hipsters wandering around aimlessly wearing ironic t-shirts they found in thrift stores while listening to hip indie pop music, saying “like” in between every other fucking word that comes outta their quirky little mouths and I honestly never got what all the fuss was about. And this isn’t some misguided rant towards hipsters or the kinds of brooklynites that live off the L & G train lines. These films, that show a lifestyle I have no interest in seeing on the big screen, just aren't any good. They’re quirky for the sake of being quirky and get mislabeled as "real" or cinema verite when it’s just lazy half writing & sloppy improvising. I guess I kinda respect the filmmakers of the mumblecore movie scene for picking up some cameras and just making movies without concerning themselves with all the roadblocks that would cause a person to not wanna make a movie in the first place but I don't wanna listen to dialogue along the lines of; "um, well yeah, ya know" or "like uh, like, I dunno" for 90 minutes (seriously, you think I'm exaggerating to make a point but listen to the dialogue in a film like Quiet City and tell me I'm lying). And what's more frustrating is that these films somehow manage to get mentioned in the same breath as legitimate filmmakers like Spike Lee, Terrence Malick, Jim Jarmusch, Mike Leigh & John Cassavetes.

My biggest gripe with the Mumblecore genre, which I've never really expressed in my writings until now, is that it’s more commonly associated with my generation (Y) instead of the films that really should be like; Rushmore, Welcome To The Dollhouse, Ghost World, Half Nelson, Elephant and other films that paint a better, somewhat deeper and slightly more complex picture of people born in the early 80's.

But The Puffy Chair is one of the FEW mumblecore films worthy of praise & comparison to a legendary filmmaker like Cassavetes. I have no problem with The Puffy Chair being a defining Generation Y movie. It’s more than evident that Mark & Jay Duplass spent some time studying Cassavetes' work. The abrupt opening scene of the The Puffy Chair where our two main characters (Josh & Emily) go from having a sweat boyfriend/girlfriend moment to one of them storming out of the apartment is almost like a reworking of the scene in Cassavetes' Faces when John Marley & Lynne Carlin are sitting at the dinner table laughing hysterically one minute then exploding at each other the next. The way the camera in The Puffy Chair momentarily goes in & out of focus or zooms in on something way too close is reminiscent of the camerawork in Cassavetes' Shadows or The Killing Of Chinese Bookie.

Faces (1968)

It was Ray Carney’s praise of The Puffy Chair that sparked my interest. Not to say that because a film critic like Ray Carney likes something means that I should too but he’s a notorious snob and picky about what he likes. What would a snob who spends his time over-analyzing the works of John Cassavetes, Mike Leigh & Carl Theodor Dryer be doing loving something like The Puffy Chair? To my surprise it turned out to be one of my favorite films of 2006. I actually hadn’t seen or even thought about this film in a couple of years but when it came up in conversation a few weeks ago I was immediately reminded of how much I love it. I don’t normally like to quote other critics but Ray Carney hit the nail on the head when he wrote about this film:

The Puffy Chair gives us the real McCoy, the real thing, the way life and love and romance really, truly are. 

If you walked in on the middle of a scene in The Puffy Chair you might think you were watching a documentary along the lines of A Married Couple (ESPECIALLY during the arguments & blow-ups). I know its beyond cliche to talk about how "real" an indie film is but there's a genuine realness to The Puffy Chair that we don't see in many films today. The two main actors in the film (Mark Duplass & Katie Aselton) are married in real life and I imagine some of the heartache, joy, growth, pain & love from their real life relationship seeped in to the film. This goes back to that Cassavetes influence I spoke about earlier. All of his personal work had a serious documentary-like feel. It’s almost as if Duplass & Aselton weren’t even acting. Certain moments in The Puffy Chair felt like b-role footage that we weren’t supposed to see of a real life couple arguing off camera.

The Cinema of John Cassavetes isn't the only appropriate comparison to The Puffy Chair. In 2005 Sideways was its most commonly associated with and/or compared to film. I guess that’s somewhat understandable as both movies are partially comedic, partially dramatic, indie road movies but there’s a clear generational difference between the characters, dialogue & scenarios in both films. For people my age or younger who don’t identify with the wine tasting, vineyard visiting, divorced, mid-life crisis aspects of Sideways, The Puffy Chair is the perfect answer for you.

Although it’s technically a comedy, The Puffy Chair falls right in line with other stuff like All The Real Girls, Flannel Pajamas, Blue Valentine and other examples of modern cinema verite about young-ish love where a relationship is put to the ultimate test. These are the kinds of films where we wonder if the couples we've been watching for the last 100 minutes are going to last. The Puffy Chair is not without a few seriously touching moments (Josh's speech at Rhett's "wedding") explosive arguments and important moments between fathers & sons. I'm always a sucker for a good road trip movie (Alice In the Cities, Roadside Prophets, I Travel Because I Have To, The Brown Bunny, etc) and The Puffy Chair delivers. Along their roadtrip Josh & Emily pick up Josh's brother (Rhett) who joins them for the rest of the trip, get sidetracked along the way for various reasons, and they also come to discover that the puffy chair Josh thought he was getting off eBay isn't quite what he expected.

This is the perfect introduction to the Duplass Brothers' filmography. The only problem is nothing else they've done comes close (in my opinion) so you may be a bit disappointed with their later work. The Duplass Brothers do grow as filmmakers with each movie (I don't wanna totally shit on their post-puffy chair work) but I almost wanna recommend that you watch The Puffy Chair last in order to appreciate it even more. I thought Baghead bordered on being pointless, Jeff Who Lives At Home has its moments and Cyrus, they're first film using actors outside of the mumblecore scene, was ok and surprisingly touching but still not as great as The Puffy Chair.

BORING MASTERPIECE: OLD JOY

Man, Mark, you really hold on to shit - Will Oldham

When Old Joy came out in 2006 I wasn't a fan because I didn't really relate to it. Its a film about growing up and I wasn't there yet. I was 25 with hardly any responsibilities outside of rent and a few bills, no kids, no girlfriend or wife and most of my friends were pretty much living the same lifestyle. Fast forward 6+ years later and suddenly everyone’s married, growing beards, having/planning kids, buying homes and they aren't as available to hang out like before. Now my life revolves around prescription meds for my transplanted kidney, finding new gray hairs on my face, going to the gym, complaining out loud about bad Huffington post articles, living with my girlfriend, making serious plans for the future & trying to maintain a lot of my close friendships through phone as everyone is moving away.
Living in New York City can makes things even worse sometimes. Everything from buying a pack of gum to taking the subway feels like some grind or a hustle. It’s difficult to relax, it’s expensive so you don't always have the money to get away from the craziness for the weekend (partially what Old Joy is about) and without fail I start thinking about work early Sunday evening when I should still be enjoying my weekend. These are all the thoughts that Kelly Reichardt's quietly brilliant film bring out of me.

Old Joy is a ½ buddy, ½ road movie about two friends that reunite for a weekend of camping. Its one of the many somewhat recent post-Gus Van Sant looks at Portland Oregon and how cool & progressive it apparently is (Wendy & Lucy, Cold Weather, Portlandia, etc). This film is SUPER indie as its not only somewhat influenced by Van Sant, but its produced by Todd Haynes, scored by Yo La Tengo and co-stars folk singer Will Oldham.

“Mark” (Daniel London) is a stable home owning, married man with a baby on the way. “Kurt” (Oldham) is is still trying to hold on to that bohemian, limited responsibility lifestyle of the 90’s he once had. He doesn’t have a job or any solid source of income, close to living in his van and is essentially coasting through life. It’s clear Mark & Kurt haven’t seen each other in a while and there’s some tension that’s been built up between them over the years (Mark is somewhat uncomfortable & agitated around Kurt). For Mark, this road trip is a mini-vacation to get away from his responsibilities & everyday life (once he becomes a father he won’t be able to get away as much). For Kurt, this getaway is a chance to reunite with an old friend and bury some of the unspoken tension between them. Throughout the film Kurt picks up on the tension & discomfort and in one scene he breaks down and expresses his sadness about how they’re friendship isn’t what it used to be. By the end of the film the hatchet is buried but Reichardt still leaves things pretty ambiguous (especially on Kurt's end). In the final moments we see Kurt kind of aimlessly wandering the streets of Portland with no real destination.

Although there is tension this is a peaceful story full nature, silence & meditation. Old Joy has an anti-Bush tone that I appreciate very much (towards the beginning of the film Mark is listening to what appears to be a political debate on Air America radio which goes on for about 10 minutes). There’s also quite a few scenes I can relate too like when Kurt is told his favorite record store has closed and is now a juice bar (in the last six years my favorite record & video stores have closed in both my hometown of Amherst, Massachusetts and in New York City where I currently live).

Obviously nature plays a big part in Old Joy. Yo La Tengo's score, which is perfect, isn't the only important soundtrack to this film. There's plenty of music-less moments where wind, the chirping of birds & the crackling of branches play just as big a role as Yo La Tengo's music. Old Joy has a soothing quality that makes you wanna stay in and watch it on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Or it will inspire you to wanna go out for a hike.

The end of Old Joy always makes me a little sad. Kurt is a bit more complex than he appears to be. Sure he comes off laid back & carefree but there's a sadness to him too. Not only is he on the verge of being homeless but he's a pretty lonely guy. Kurt represents that friend you don't exactly feel sorry for but you do wish he'd get his shit together. And its not as if you're better than him just because you may have a bit more stability in life either. You almost hate that you worry about him so much because on one hand he's your friend but on the other hand there's only so much you can do because you have to take care of yourself (and in Mark's case he has a baby on the way). I do still love the fact that Reichardt makes Kurt somewhat independent. Although he's clearly broke at no point does Kurt ask Mark for money. Reichardt reminds us about the importance of friendship and how easy it is to slowly lose contact with friends. Sometimes a simple lack of communication can build up and lead to unnecessary tension.

Wendy & Lucy

Kelly Reichardt’s 2008 film; Wendy & Lucy was what ultimately got me to revisit Old Joy. I appreciated the fact that it was a genuine look at broke young people today. The final moments of Old Joy, where we see Kurt lost & coasting through life, kinda blends in to Wendy & Lucy. Will Oldham plays a character in Old Joy who's on the verge of homelessness and at the beginning of Wendy & Lucy he plays a character who is homeless. The characters are different but there's still that connection being that they're both played by the same actor under the same filmmaker. We commonly associate older, middle-age adults as the face of the poor & struggling. But due to the economic issues in this country over the years, people my age and younger are going broke long before they have families to feed or mortgages to pay. College students are either graduating with crappy job prospects or staying in school to get their masters or doctorates for hopes of getting a better job yet find themselves in the hole with student loans. Baby Boomers & Generation X have plenty of defining films while Generation Y have very little. Wendy & Lucy is one of the few great looks at the problems younger generations face. Yes it’s true that the faces of Kelly Reichardt’s work are white, hippie & bohemian but that shouldn’t discourage anyone who doesn’t fit that description (like myself) to appreciate her work. She’s one of the few filmmakers to bridge the Gap between Generation Y & Generation X (which Kurt & Mark are clearly a part of)

Old Joy deserves applause simply for the fact that it could have EASILY gone in a million different directions - Two friends go out in to the woods to rekindle their friendship. This could have easily turned in to a thriller where they get lost in the wilderness and have to survive in the harsh surroundings thus putting their friendship to the test. Or there could have been some deep dark life changing secret Kurt is keeping from Mark. Instead, Reichardt took the anti climactic route. This film serves as an alternative to stuff like Gerry, 127 Days, The Edge or Into The Wild.

HUSBANDS

Nothing says true friendship like John Cassavetes' masterpiece; Husbands - a dramedy about three best friends who mourn the sudden loss of their friend in an unconventional yet manly way. At this point in my life I feel it's in John Cassavetes' all-time top three (along with Faces & A Woman Under The Influence). And nothing says chemistry like the performances of real life friends; Cassavetes, Peter Faulk & Ben Gazzara - a genuine rat pack in every sense of the term that could probably out drink and out party Sinatra, Martin & Sammy any day of the week. Husbands transcends age, era, race, upbringing, etc. Although Husbands centers around three forty-something year old upper-middle class family men, I still relate to so many things in the film. When I use to watch Husbands at the age of 21 & 22 I enjoyed it very much but I was still watching it at a distance. I couldn't fully relate to it at that point in my life. I had no responsibilities, bills, a family, nothing. It was like watching my father and his friends on film. But a decade later in my 30's (still maintaining the same group of close friends) I see elements of myself and my buddies in the characters in Husbands more & more (the same can be said for a film like Old Joy as well, which may be written about sometime early next year). Anyone who has that regular group of best friends that you've; gotten drunk with, laughed with, gotten in to trouble with, kicked out of a bar together, argued with then made up without talking an hour later can all relate to Gus (John Cassavetes), Archie (Peter Falk) & Harry (Ben Gazzara). My favorite aspect about Husbands is that it deals with grown men temporarily abandoning their responsibilities (jobs, family, money, etc) and going on an international bender for a few days to deal with the unexpected loss of their friend and fourth member of their group. This is a fantasy most adults would love to experience (minus the dead friend part) yet reality sets in and you realize you can’t just exactly up and run away to have a good time. But Cassavetes makes that fantasy of running off and saying; "fuck the world" for a few days a reality. And what makes Husbands such a reality is the very ending where we see his character (Gus) coming home from his multi-day drunken party where he's met by his (real life) son in the driveway saying; "DAD! oh boy. you're in trouble!" as if to imply no matter how long you take a break from reality to have a good time, you still have to come home and face your responsibilities at some point. Husbands is very much a "guys movie" - the three lead characters are loud & rambunctious, when you watch the film you can almost smell the beer, cigarettes & sweat and it's the one prominent Cassavetes film without a strong female presence. This isn't to say that women can't enjoy husbands (although I imagine most women who watch this will be laughing, rolling their eyes & shaking their heads at the same time as it will remind them of all the embarrassing & annoying things their boyfriends, husbands, fathers, brothers and other male loved ones do), but it's still very much a guys movie in the same sense that Steel Magnolias or even Morvern Callar (one of my favorite films actually) is very much a female film. Forget Spike TV or a Vin Diesel action movie - Husbands is a real mans film. Now…the one prominent female presence in the film DOES leave a lasting impression (with the exception of the three women Gus, Archie & Harry pick up in the last half of the film). In one of the film's most famous scenes, Gus' wife stand up to him (with a knife) to the point where she exposes him and he runs away from her like a scared child after trying to be a tough alpha-male.

Husbands has so many real, genuine & funny moments that sometimes you'll think you're watching B-role footage or bloopers (I mean that in a good way). Its difficult to pick a favorite scene...



Up 'til Husbands (excluding Too Late Blues & A Child is Waiting) Cassavetes was more accepted by Europeans than Americans. What's funny is that Cassavetes was never really a fan of the French art-house scene that accepted him. He genuinely thought Americans would embrace his films in the same way they would accept other American filmmakers like Robert Altman (who had minor "beef" with Cassavetes back in the day), Hal Ashby, Nicholas Ray, Sam Fuller, Coppola & even Kubrick! This is the kinda delusional thinking that you have to love. Anyone who knows anything about cinema knows Cassavetes’ style was progressive, ahead of its time and would be more accepted by Europeans (some Americans appreciated him, but still…). But you have to love & respect Cassavetes for giving American audiences credit and assuming they wanted to see something new & different (only in the last decade have Americans REALLY embraced his work thanks to the Criterion box set of his five critical works). Husbands wasn't Cassavetes' biggest "crossover" or "successful" film (both; Faces & A Woman Under The Influence were nominated for multiple academy awards) but it was still nominated for a golden globe (best screenplay), Cassavetes and his crew landed on the cover of Life magazine...

John Cassavetes was also able to get some decent national promotion, most notably on the Dick Cavett show, where the drunken, immature, childish tone of Husbands spilled over in to real life making for one of the most memorable talk show appearances of all time. I don't know if their behavior was staged or not but this was brilliant and really conveyed what Husbands was all about (notice how annoyed Cavett gets as the show goes on)...


The dick cavett show - cassavetes, falk, and... by Ali_La_Pointe

With a few exceptions, I doubt a progressive film like this would get the same kind of national exposure today. Husbands isn't exactly "counterculture" but it still came out around the same 1969/1970 game changing era as other important (mostly counter culture) films like; Easy Rider, IF..., Two Lane Blacktop, Z, MASH and The Conformist (which is overrated to me, but still...). We all know the 70's were the greatest years of cinema and it makes sense that the decade started off with these important works.

European cinephiles (who were/are mostly leftists) in the early 70's felt a little betrayed by Husbands as it focused on everything they kinda despised at the time - the upper-middle class, loud ignorant drunken Americans, etc. This was probably Cassavetes' most "American" film. Whenever you read about Husbands on the festival circuit before it was released in theaters (especially in Ray Carney's “Cassavetes on Cassavetes”) you'll more than likely read stories of Cassavetes, Falk & Gazzara arguing with angry European audiences at Q&A’s who felt Cassavetes "sold out". The film wasn’t in black & white and there was no jazzy soundtrack (minus the opening credits). European's love of John Cassavetes always made me scratch my head because as a person he was pretty much the epitome of what Europeans typically dislike about Americans (loud, at times obnoxious, drunk, etc). Maybe that's part of the reason he made Husbands - to distance himself from a scene he disliked. What many Europeans (still to this day) don't realize is that Cassavetes thought stuff like Godard & Bergman (which he took a quick jab at in Faces) was "faggy" or "artsy crap". But to this day he’s STILL loved in Europe (on my first quick trip to Paris his name came up quite a few times when I was nerding out with a bunch of my Parisian cinephile buddies). Husbands is a pretty realistic portrayal of how men can handle the loss of someone they love. We all know those traditional expectations that are put on males since birth - don't cry, "be a man", "be tough", etc. And this film shows that (what's funny is that something tells me that wasn't even what Cassavetes was trying to do and even if he was it wasn't his main goal). It's clear these are the things Gus, Archie & Harry were told when they were kids and it stayed with them in to adulthood. Instead of crying or mourning at their friends funeral they turn in to irresponsible children, suddenly decide they wanna go to London where they drink gamble & hook up with random women because they don't really know how to mourn, express sorrow or deal with non-traditional manly emotions. All three actors have their moments to shine, but in my opinion Ben Gazzara gives the standout, award worthy, performance - he's the loudest of the bunch (how could he NOT be with a voice like his) and we get more in to his personal life than any of the other three characters. Anyone who reads anything about John Cassavetes should know he had a habit for editing & RE-editing his films to the point where he had two, three, sometimes four versions of the same film (this was the case with Killing Of A Chinese Bookie, Faces & Love Streams). Husbands was no exception. According to Cassavetes he made three different versions of the film in which each of the three actors comes off as the lead. Apparently Cassavetes went with the Gazzara version. There's very few films that remind me about the importance of true friendship. And what's funny is that the few films that DO aren't even masterpieces. Say what you want about Shane Meadows but A Room For Romeo Brass is one, Wes Anderson's debut; Bottle Rocket is another as well My Bodyguard (the one film in the bunch that I WOULD actually consider somewhat of a masterpiece). These are films that show the joy, hilarity, trials & tribulations of having real best friends (even if they aren't exactly the most realistic at times). But in my opinion Husbands is probably the greatest film about friendship (especially among men).
The beautiful thing about Husbands is that it's the perfect introduction film for someone looking to get in to his work (in my opinion).

MORVERN CALLAR

A female's presence in a (good) road movie is either non-existent (most road movies involve men on some journey to find themselves due to some mid-life crisis or a divorce...There's too many examples to name) or in the form of a small girl partnered with an older man (Alice In The Cities, Paper Moon & Lolita). There's the occasional exception like Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise but generally speaking, it’s true. Women can have a mid-life crisis or go through some devastating event that can make them wanna hit the open road and never look back too (and please don’t say Thelma & Louise. I said GOOD road movie). I guess it was up to a woman (Lynne Ramsay) to bring some legitimacy to the female road movie genre with her sophomore feature; Morvern Callar - a road movie full of planes, trains & automobiles that takes us from Scotland to Madrid to the Spanish desert, then back to Scotland. The style of Morvern Callar is like Claire Denis in her prime (there are moments in Morvern Callar that do remind me of Nenette & Boni and Beau Travail) meets Andrea Arnold's Red Road (and I'm not just making that comparison because they're all female directors). Morvern Callar has the same realistic tone as her first feature; Ratcatcher (most of the cinematography is handheld, the dialogue is very natural and comes off non-scripted and all the moments just seem genuine) yet the atmosphere is a lot more dreamy (but not super David Lynch dreamy). The film's dreaminess is due to Samantha Morton's detached and slightly "off" lead performance, the use of slow motion, minimal dialogue and the soundtrack courtesy of music from artists like Broadcast, Aphex Twin & Boards Of Canada (which is music that you'll pretty much always find on heavy rotation on my iPod). Much like Olivier Assayas, Ramsay is another indie/art house director who doesn’t get enough recognition for her ear and use of great music (both original and pre-existing) in her films. Ramsay also pulled off a very dreamy style without it being so Malick influenced like her 90’s work. All of her early student films, as well as Ratcatcher, were straight outta the school of early Terrence Malick whereas Morvern Callar seemed more of her own style. On a side note, Ratcatcher also remains Ramsay's one and only “gritty” film (I mean how can a film with garbage and rats in almost every scene NOT be gritty?). There was more of a focus on (natural) beauty in her later work starting with Morvern Callar and she doesn’t shy away from showing things that are still kinda unattractive to see on the big screen as far as leading ladies are concerned. Throughout the film we see Morvern (Samantha Morton) prance around her apartment in "granny panties" with unshaven legs and squatting to pee in the bushes.

Morvern Caller represents the Lynne Ramsay that I miss so much. There IS a plot (a pretty straight forward one), but this film is more about the atmosphere. Going back the soundtrack for moment, not much is said (compared to more traditional movies) in the first 10-15 minutes of the film (I mean, there's a lot of background talking and noise but not much of it is really important or key to the story) so we rely heavily on the score. There's other moments like Morvern walking through a noisy rave with annoying techno music playing but she has her headphones while walking through the crowd not talking to anyone, or the scene where she hooks up with a random stranger in his hotel room yet hardly anything is said between the two of them. These are moments where music makes up for the lack of dialogue...

Morvern Callar is a rather unique take on dealing with the death of a loved one. The film starts on Christmas morning moments after Morvern's boyfriend (James) has just committed suicide on their kitchen floor leaving behind an unpublished book with instructions on what publishers to mail the book to. Instead of freaking out, Morvern is in a bit of a daze. Not even in shock. Its more along the lines of she doesn’t really care/hasn’t fully processed the fact that her dead bloody boyfriend is laid out on the kitchen floor. She follows his instructions on what to do with the book with the exception of one little change - she takes his name off as the author and puts her name on it instead. To me, this move on Morvern’s part was her way at getting back at her boyfriend who left her (maybe there were some unfinished things left between Morvern and James or maybe she felt cheated not getting that chance to say goodbye). Two interesting things about Morvern's boyfriend is that at no point in the film does she ever tell anyone he's dead (with the exception of one moment where she blurts it out to her friend but no one hears it) and just from a few lines spoken about James from the supporting cast we get to know him pretty well (he's kind of a gloomy, dark person...I guess that all adds up to him committing suicide, huh?). We get that James was still a pretty good boyfriend. Before killing himself he left behind personal Christmas gifts that Morvern seemed to really love (one of which is a personal mixtape titled; “music for morvern”, and the other is a leather jacket that she wears through the first third of the film which kinda reminds the audience of James’ presence even though he's dead). Instead of mourning, she cleans out James’ account (he left behind his bank card for her) and goes about her regular routine (she goes to a party, goes to work, hangs out with her friend, etc). She eventually uses her boyfriend's money and takes her friend (Lanna) on a vacation to Madrid. While on vacation Morvern and Lanna having a falling out between taking drugs and hooking up with random guys (we come to find out that James cheated on her with Lanna). Morvern ditches her in some random Spanish desert to meet up with two book publishers who're interested in her boyfriend's book (well...Morvern’s book now). As it turns out, the book is really good and she strikes a six figure deal. Over night she goes from being a broke grocery store clerk to having over $100,000 in her bank account. With that money she continues to travel (after making peace with Lanna) and the film ends on a rather open/subjective note with Morvern waiting at a train station platform. Besides Morton's detached performance (she's always great in my opinion) Kathleen McDermott (Lanna) is also a delight. Her performance is natural, cute, funny and according to the actress herself (on the special features of the DVD) the character she plays isn’t that much different from her real self.

Subtlety is another one of Ramsay's strengths with this film. At first glance Morvern Callar doesn't fit in with other classic road movies but when you take a step back and think about it for a minute you'll see that it has just as much sex, drugs & rock n' roll as other classic road movies like Two Lane Blacktop or Easy Rider. You also forget about the whole name change/book publishing part of the story up until the very end (the only time Ramsay addresses this is at the very beginning & end with one quick mention of it in the middle). By the end of the film its almost like; "oh yeah, I forgot she stole her dead boyfriend's manuscript and put her name on it.

Almost all of the films put out by Palm Pictures (minus Time Of The Wolf) are either about music in some way or it plays a major role in the film - DIG (a documentary about the rivalry between The Brian Jonestown Massacre & The Dandy Warhols), Demonlover (Sonic Youth), Stop Making Sense (Talking Heads), etc. I really can’t stress enough about how important music plays in Morvern Callar. This is one of my favorite recent discoveries (easily one of the 50 best films of the last decade) and I'd recommend it to just about anyone without reservation (something I usually have to do with most films I really like these days). My tagline for this film would be "an artsy chick flick that men can enjoy." Besides Claire Denis and Andrea Arnold (who I’m starting to feel is somehow spiritually connected to Lynne Ramsay as far as style is concerned), fans of Marina De Van (another progressive female director) and last year's I Travel Because I Have To (a similar premise to Morvern Callar except told from a male's perspective) will love this.

GERRY: BORING MASTERPIECE

Gerry, Gus Van Sant's improvisational/non-scripted film about two friends named "Gerry" (played by Matt Damon & Casey Affleck) that get lost in the desert trying to find "the thing," was the starting point of his best period of work. Between 2002’s Gerry through 2007’s Paranoid Park, with two other great films in between (2003's Elephant and 2005's Last Days), Gus Van Sant wasn’t the Good Will Hunting/Finding Forester director people were starting to get use to. Film snobs like me are always quick to call an “indie” filmmaker a sellout at the first sign of them making a film that can be enjoyed by more than 10 people. When Van Sant took a break from his style seen in earlier films like Mala Noche, Drugstore Cowboy & My Own Private Idaho and made award winning/money making films like Good Will Hunting I imagine many people slapped him with the "sellout" label. Usually when filmmakers abandon their indie roots they rarely look back (David Gordon Green, Kevin Smith, John Singleton, etc). But to our surprise Van Sant did the reverse, tasted mainstream success (including a few Oscar & MTV movie award nominations) and went back to his low budget, indie roots. Like I already said before, Gerry was totally improvised, had long continuous uninterrupted shots and to this day is probably the most experimental thing he's done. Furthermore, it’s the most low-key and least preachy of the three films in the loose trilogy it belongs too (Elephant and Gerry being the other two in the trilogy). All three films; Gerry, Elephant & Last Days are based on real life deaths centered around young people. While Elephant was a loose retelling of the Columbine shootings and Last Days was a loose retelling on the final days of Kurt Cobain, Gerry is based on the real life story of two friends that went for a hike in the desert, got lost, almost starved and one of the friends ended up killing the other one. Compared to Columbine and Kurt Cobain's suicide, a random story about two guys who get lost in the desert seems like pretty small news (no offense). Ironically, Gerry kinda got the same treatment upon its release - while Elephant & Last Days were nominated for all kinds of awards (Elephant won best picture at Cannes), Gerry was kinda forgotten about pretty quickly. Maybe there shoulda been some kind of a transitional film between the more traditional Finding Forester and the experimental, Bela Tarr influenced Gerry. Perhaps some fans weren’t ready for such a radical change.

similar shots used in Van Sant's 'Gerry' (2002), 'Elephant' (2003) & 'Last Days' (2005)

I imagine some of you are asking what the “thing” is I mentioned at the beginning of this write-up that brings Damon & Affleck to the desert in the first place. In the first twenty minutes of Gerry, Affleck & Damon keep mentioning the “thing” (a clear example of the improvisation in the film). They never get specific but I imagine its some kind of national landmark, hot spring, totem or some kind of outdoorsy attraction for hikers.

If you're gonna do improvisational films (or a film with no script) sometimes the best thing to do is cast real life friends with genuine chemistry like Damon & Affleck (or at least actors who’ve worked with each other on a regular basis). All the dialogue spoken between Affleck & Damon in Gerry, which at times IS a bit too mumbly, familiar and inside jokey, still seems real & genuine. There's even a quick moment when Affleck is clearly holding in laughter yet Van Sant (Affleck's close friend and next door neighboor) keeps the scene in. But still, this isn’t a film about two friends dicking around in the desert. There's genuine moments all throughout Gerry where our two lost main characters express fear, despair, dementia and even hallucinations towards the end. The first third of Gerry is a little confusing because although Damon & Affleck are very lost without any water or food, it doesn’t seem to faze them whatsoever. But after a couple of days go by, reality sets in and they take things seriously until the final moments of the film when one of them dies. Although this is based a true story, a common analysis among fans of Gerry are that Damon & Affleck are the same person (ala Ed Norton & Brad Pitt in Fight Club). *SPOILER ALERT* In Gerry, Damon is pretty much the stronger one while Affleck is essentially the weaker one (there’s even a scene when Affleck starts to cry out of frustration and Damon gets upset and tells him to stop). In the end Damon survives while Affleck dies. It’s many people’s belief that when Damon strangles Affleck in the end, he’s killing his weaker side in order to survive. This scene rings familiar to the final moments in Van Sant's Last Days after Blake/Cobain commits suicide and his ghostly self rises up and leaves his dead human body behind.

To people with a better understanding of film, have a long attention span, don’t easily fall asleep or love The Brown Bunny (there’s many similarities between the two films), Gerry is an underrated masterpiece that needs a second chance. I'd raise my eyebrow if someone said this was one of the 50 best films of the decade or something like that, but it is on the short list. Although this film is kind of under the radar it’s pretty easy to come by. Maybe give it a chance after a few cups of coffee.

TIFF 2012 HIGHLIGHT #5: SPRING BREAKERS

Harmony Korine is a lot smarter than people give him credit for. He may never appeal to the widest of movie audiences but he does know how to make the kind of movie that sounds too good to pass up. Just listen to plot of Spring Breakers - Three young girls rob a chicken shack with a realistic looking water gun (and a hammer) to get money to go on spring break in Miami. The robbery turns out to be a success, they go to spring break and have the time of their lives but end up getting arrested after they’re caught with a bunch of cocaine on them at a party. To the girls' surprise they end up getting bailed out by local drug kingpin/rapper: "Alien" (played by James Franco in an amazingly awesome performance) out of the kindness of his heart. As it turns out Alien is just a nice guy and has no ulterior motive for bailing the girls out other than wanting them to stay, hang out and have a good time with him. Due to Alien's gangster lifestyle some of the girls are frightened of the world they're being exposed too (guns, drugs, strippers, thugs) and over time two of the girls leave and go home (one actually gets shot in the arm from Alien's drug rival played by Gucci Maine). But the two girls who do end up staying with Alien are loyal and gung-ho. Together they decide to retaliate against Gucci Maine in a Scarface style shootout finale. There's a cameo from professional wrestler Jeff Jarrett, James Franco sings a Brittany Spears Cover and performs fellatio on a gun. This film will also probably get mentioned in the same breath as Pussy Riot because the girls wear a similar ski-mask style outfit towards the end of the film (but if I’m not mistaken Spring Breakers was in post production long before the Pussy Riot business). Harmony Korine fan or not, are you honestly gonna tell me you aren't the least bit curious to see this after what I just told you?? Even train wrecks (which some people may consider this film to be) can be fun to watch, right? Oh and just to be clear I don't consider Spring Breakers a train wreck at all. I thought it was great. At first you may think the person responsible for such a ridiculous sounding plot must be insane but in my opinion this was all carefully crafted by Korine. And when you actually watch the film and how it was executed you'll see it was done with care and wasn't just randomly slapped together in an effort to get some cheap shock value. There's a maturity in Korine's post-Julien Donkey Boy work that gets better and better with each film.

If you're gonna see this movie for anything (or need another selling point) see it for James Franco and his show stealing, K-Fed/Riff-Raff inspired performance (I'm not a fan of Franco, K-Fed & Riff-Raff, but the fact that I get to laugh at all them rolled in to one character makes me happy). His sinister yet goofy platinum filled grin will be embedded in your mind long after the movie is over. And sadly I have to report there is no Werner Herzog cameo. Actually, had Werner Herzog been cast in this movie it would put Spring Breakers on a level of awesomeness that no one would be able to comprehend so maybe that was a good thing. These days with the rise of all that random cartoon network/Tim & Eric-esque humor, Harmony Korine's style seems to be a little more accepted & appreciated by people than it was in the 90's (I guess that makes Gummo & Julien Donkey Boy ahead of their time?). Having James Franco as well as Skrillex involved in this movie may expose Korine to slightly wider audience.

This film isn’t without a few faults I have to nitpick at. For some reason I’ve been extra critical of my current favorite directors and their most recent work these days (Lynne Ramsay/We Need To Talk About Kevin, Todd Solondz/Dark Horse, Michael Mann/Public Enemies, etc) and Harmony Korine is no exception. I have two beefs with Spring Breakers. First is the repetitive dialogue - For a 100 minute movie there’s about 20 minutes worth of an actual script in the film. The characters constantly say the same lines over & over to point where it gets really annoying. I enjoyed Spring Breaks a lot but part of me felt like it coulda easily been 30-45 minutes long (then the other part of me quickly checks that negative part and I’m reminded of how awesome Spring Breakers is). With the exception of Trash Bumpers, Korine has been doing nothing but short films for the last couple of years. Is he just having a hard time adjusting back to the feature length format after all these years of doing shorts? My next issue is the soundtrack. This is more of a personal problem, but whatever. I don't like dubstep music and Spring Breakers is chock full of that shit courtesy of Skrillex. But what's weird is that it goes perfectly with the movie so that creates a strange paradox for me. I also hope Harmony Korine is done with his obvious parodying of materialistic, gangsta culture now. We've seen it in his Cat Power Music video and his last two short films. Don't get me wrong it was fine in Spring Breakers but at this point to continue down that path is like beating a dead horse. We get it: mixing predominantly "white" things with stereotypically "black" things is ironic and funny. Let’s move on.
But putting all that aside, I’m sure you guys reading this had already made this film a priority on your must-see lists half way in to reading this write-up.

SPRING BREAK!




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BADLANDS

I tried to keep the 1950s to a bare minimum. Nostalgia is a powerful feeling; it can drown out anything. I wanted the picture to set up like a fairy tale, outside time, like Treasure Island. I hoped this would, among other things, take a little of the sharpness out of the violence, but still keep its dreamy quality - Terrence Malick

For the last two months I've been a writing machine churning out stuff for all three sites at the same time (PINNALAND, The Pink Smoke & Flud). Coincidentally half of the stuff I've written about has been Terrence Malick-related in some way (The Thin Red Line, Ratcatcher, Tree Of Life, The films of Jeff Nichols and the multiple references to George Washington). Anyone who's a fan of Lynne Ramsay, early David Gordon Green and Jeff Nichols should know that the quote above about nostalgia speaks volumes about Terrence Malick's influence.Whenever you read anything on Ratcatcher, George Washington, All The Real Girls or Shotgun Stories it's a safe bet that Malick's name will be dropped at least once along with the word; timeless. Besides the music, haunting voice-over narration (depending on the movie), characters frolicking in tall fields of grass and that overall dreaminess, what Ratcatcher, George Washington and other similar films set in the country or rural areas like Gummo, Undertow (also directed by Green), Ballast and Shotgun Stories have in common is their timeless feel. What I mean by timeless is the "look". These films almost look as if they could take place in the 1950's or today with the same exact settings, dialogue and wardrobe. The pickup trucks in Shotgun Stories and All The Real Girls look as if they came right out of Badlands. The simple white t-shirt & jeans worn by the actors in George Washington and Undertow (both films set in the present) look like they came right off of Martin Sheen's body in Badlands which is set in the 1950's. The characters in Ballast, Shotgun Stories and All The Real Girls have the same drawl and lingo as the characters in Badlands. Ratcatcher is the one unique film in the bunch in that it takes place in another country (Scotland) yet still has the same feel as an American film set in the south. Malick is kinda right in that nostalgia can distract the viewer. By keeping everything minimal, not constantly calling out what year it is and setting the story out in the country where you don't see modern architecture or new cars (still with the occasional, subtle nod to the period in time the story takes place) the audience won't feel the need to focus on unimportant details. I'm sure certain parts of the south still look as if it was untouched since the 1950's. 

Terrence Malick is one of the few directors around that still shows the laid back poetic side of the south and shies away from stereotypical shit like overalls, skipping rocks and other ignorant preconceived notions people may have about the south. 

Notice the similarity in the music used in this scene from Ratcatcher (1999) and the voice-over in George Washington...

Badlands is also known for its cinematography and use of the "magic hour" throughout the film...

Badlands, Terrence Malick's feature film debut, is based on the true story of fugitive lovers; Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate. In the film, "Kit" (played by Martin Sheen in a performance that rivals Apocalypse Now) and "Holly" (played by Sissy Spacek in a performance that's reminiscent of her role as Pinky in the first half of Altman's 3 Women) go on the run and have a mini killing spree (all the killing was done by Kit) after Kit murders Holly's father. Kit may be one of the most unique characters Terrence Malick has ever crafted as he's a somewhat detached, sociopathic child trapped in a grown man's body. For a film that's partially about murder, Badlands is pretty light and dreamlike. I guess the lightness and dreaminess of the film comes from the music and the beautiful cinematography. Badlands is told from the perspective of Holly (a somewhat naive teenager) through voice-over narration that would soon become a staple in Malick's films. But unlike everything Malick has done since the late 90's, the voiceover in Badlands, which is still airy & dreamy, actually has structure and chronicles their day to day lives instead of random poetic phrases and quotes like in The New World and The Tree Of Life. The sudden change in style of Malick's voice-over narration between his work from the 70's and 90's always intrigued me because there was no progression. After his first two films with their more narrative style he "disappeared' for two decades then resurfaced with a new found use of subconscious/existential voice-over that influenced stuff like George Washington. And speaking of influence, Badlands also had its share of somewhat random/odd moments that influenced future random/odd moments in films like All The Real Girls (the dancing clown scene is very similar to the scene where Sissy Spacek & Martin Sheen dance together) and the overall work of Harmony Korine (certain scenes in Gummo have the same randomness as the scene towards the end of Badlands where Martin Sheen is charming the police officers). Jamie Bell yelling and playing in the rain in Undertow is reminiscent of Martin Sheen playfully yelling and running through the woods with his riffle. I'd say Badlands is one of the more quietly influential influential films of the last 40+ years. 

Badlands also features a rare cameo by Mr. secrecy himself; Terrence Malick (that's right, not even the most private of directors can resist making a cameo in their own movie).

BORING MASTERPIECE #4: ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA

My presence at the 2011 New York Film Festival wasn't as dominant as '09 (life during wartime, trash humpers, the white ribbon) or 2010 (uncle boonmee, another year, black venus and certified copy) since i pretty much saw everything a month earlier in Toronto. However there were still a few films that slipped through the cracks while i was at TIFF which i managed to get tickets for at NYFF like 'A Dangerous Method' (which i STILL wasn't able to see due to a scheduling conflict with a Portishead concert i forgot about on the same night) and 'Once Upon A Time In Anatolia' (i still have yet to see Andrea Arnold's recent adaptation of 'Wuthering Heights' which is still haunting me). Even though I saw 'Once Upon A Time In Anatolia' back in October (which ended up on my Top 10 of 2011), I needed time to process everything. It was a lot to take in. Watching 'Once Upon A Time In Anatolia' is kinda like watching a great game of chess, soccer or even baseball, while others would say watching this "boring masterpiece" is like watching paint dry (oh and btw, I'm not a fan of baseball, soccer or watching chess. I was just trying to make a comparison). It may seem boring at first, but it all pays off in the end (in my opinion).
What makes this film so mind blowing (to me at least) is that the characters in the film are kinda going through the same exact thing as the audience that's watching the movie. On one side of the movie screen you have a group of characters slowly getting frustrated after driving through the rural backwoods of Turkey all night trying to find something that may or may not even be where its supposed to be. On the other side of the screen, you have a theater full of people watching a slowly paced 150+ minute film that doesn't necessarily spell everything out for you all the time and it doesn't hold your hand every step of the way. Its easy to get frustrated while watching something like 'Once Upon A Time In Anatolia'. You may start to ask yourself; "Where is this going?!", "Whats the point of all this?" or "Why am I sitting through this?!" Like any boring masterpiece, you need patience to sit through this.
In 'Once Upon A Time In Anatolia', a man has just confessed to a murder. Now he has to take a group of police investigators and a medical examiner to the place where he buried the body. The only problem is that the murderer cant quite remember where the spot is, which leads them on an almost 24 hour search for a dead body. Although that's the basic plot, there's much more to it. Director; Nuri Ceylan took what could have been a typical "cop drama" or police thriller and turned in to an exploration of self reflection, patience, the factors that could bring a man to kill another man (at the end of the film we get enough hints as to why the murder was committed) and yes...the film is also an exploration into the soul of man (as corny as that may sound). Although the film is filled with police, tension and a few moments of aggression, not once is a gun drawn (...i think) and we actually never even see the murder take place yet I never stopped paying attention or lost interest. This film offers so much to the viewer. If you're a fan of beautiful imagery and shots of countryside landscapes, there's plenty of that in the film...
Because there isn't as much dialogue as you'd expect from a 2 1/2 hour film, a lot of the film's tension and eerie atmosphere is carried out through the intense glares and stern facial expressions of the actors. Its almost like they're looking straight in to someone's soul...
And even though this film wont exactly raise your pulse or make your blood pressure go up, there's still a few eerie scenes and shots that will stay with you long after its over...

What also makes this film so unique is that even after the mystery is resolved and the dead body is finally found (which IS a pivotal scene reminiscent of other great scenes of discovered dead bodies like 'Boyz N Tha Hood' and 'Stand By Me'), the film still continues and lingers on for another good 40+ minutes or so. In most murder mysteries the discovery of the body or the discovery of who did it (which isn't the case with 'Once Upon A Time In Anatolia') or why the murder was committed is essentially the pay off/climax. Once those elements are solved the rest of the film wraps up fairly quickly. In 'Once Upon A Time In Anatolia' we get a little background and character development into the medical examiner (through old photos we learn about his past) and we also learn a few things about the murdered man's family.
The presence of women in 'Once Upon A Time In Anatolia' is also something to take note of. In this almost all-male cast, the few female characters are made out to be more like mysterious figures as opposed to actual people (the scene where the young girl brings the police food and the final scene where the wife identifies her husbands dead body are prime examples of this). In fact, there's only one line of listenable dialogue from a female character (outside of the muffled phone conversation one of the men has with his wife over the phone).
I've already read reviews and overheard comparisons of 'Once Upon A Time In Anatolia' to the work Abbas Kiarostami (specifically 'The Taste Of Cherry') as well as Tarkovsky. Its pretty easy to quickly compare this film to Kiarostami's work, but outside of 'Certified Copy' and 'The Taste of Cherry' (which, like Once Upon A Time In Anatolia, also centers around death and men driving through rural areas looking for "the meaning of it all") his work, although mostly fiction, is almost documentary-like.
I'm almost embarrassed to say, but 'Once Upon A Time In Anatolia' is the first Nuri Ceylan film that I've ever seen (that's right, I haven't even seen 'Three Monkeys'). But if there's ever been a film that's gotten my immediate interest in a director, this would be it. I'll be exploring the rest of Ceylan's work in the near future.