I watch movies every week and then write down my thoughts. Read my previous reviews!
My rating is simple, Watch It, It Depends, Skip it.
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| Knight of Cups - It's a little too much Malick. |
Knight of Cups (2015)
Buy Knight of Cups
Written by: Terrence Malick
Directed by: Terrence Malick
Starring: Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Natalie Portman, Antonio Banderas, Teresa Palmer, Imogen Poots
Rated: R
Plot:
A writer explores the depths of Los Angeles and Las Vegas with six different women.
Verdict:
This is something many won't like because it's difficult to categorize. It's not a movie, it's a collection of images set to music. I watched it for two hours, and while I'm familiar with Malick's work, I still have a difficult time telling you what this movie is. The plot summary makes it seem much more coherent than it is. Despite the loose narrative, it's mesmerizing. There is a distinct craft in creating this expressionist movie and the end result not being terribly bad.
It depends.
Review:
The first Malick film I saw was The New World (2005), and I did not like it on the first viewing. The second time, I was mesmerized. It was a fusion of story, nature, and documentary. It was one of, if not the first movies I saw that was art, and it became my new favorite movie.
I've seen all of Malick's movies, and I liked his previous film To the Wonder (2012). It felt like a natural progression of his style, but I completely understand why many didn't like it. It was cerebral, minimalist, and experimental, but above all it was visual. You didn't see the story, you experienced the after effects of events. Memories and events reach the screen as they pop into a character's head. This is what I expected from Knight of Cups and it's what I got.
The movie was in post-production for two years, which is an unusually long time. That might be explained by the fact that there was no script. Christian Bale had no idea what he'd be doing on any given day of filming or what the movie was even about. All of the scenes were improvised. He and Natalie Portman spent more time recording voice over than their scenes.
Bale's lines in voice over directly quote the 1678 Christian allegory The Pilgrim's Progress. While it may take inspiration from the allegory, the structure is so loose it's difficult to make direct connections.
The title refers to the tarot card. From wikipedia, if the knight of cups is upright, it represents romantic change and new excitements. It can mean invitations, opportunities, and offers. The Knight of Cups is a bringer of ideas, opportunities and offers. He is constantly bored, and in constant need of stimulation, but also artistic and refined. He represents a person who is amiable, intelligent, and full of high principles, but a dreamer who can be easily persuaded or discouraged.Reversed, the card represents unreliability and recklessness. It indicates fraud, false promises and trickery. It represents a person who has trouble discerning when and where the truth ends and lies begin.
This applies to the film, though I can't quite piece it all together.
This is the same style as To the Wonder. Scenes are images of characters twirling on screen. It's stream of consciousness caught on film with voice over conveying thoughts.
This is anything but a typical movie. While there's so little dialog, you still know whats going on. You know Bale is wandering aimlessly, and the way this is filmed conveys his disconnect with the world and people. He's searching.
It seems arbitrary, but if the movie truly was it would make no sense. A lot of craft has gone into this, but the simple summary is that Christian Bale slowly walks through a two hour movie. It's engrossing in a sense, but I can't help but long for something to happen. I want something that ties all of these images together at the end. I want more.
This movie is the result of stripping a story of structure and of narrative progression. Distill it to just a few images of emotions and interactions, take away all dialog, save for just a few lines and words, but provide a musical score that plays throughout. That is this movie, though it is not a movie in any conventional sense. Malick himself has said he prefers actors don't speak.
If I hadn't seen To the Wonder, I would be more likely to recommend this. It's a type of film experience you need at least once, but unfortunately not twice. To the Wonder makes better use of this style with a story that fits better.
Malick filmed this back to back with Weightless which could come out next year... or later. Who knows. I hope it isn't more of the same.
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| Citizenfour - Frightening... and true! |
Buy Citizenfour
Directed by: Laura Poitras
Starring: Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, William Binney
Rated: R
Plot:
A documentary with Edward Snowden who leaked classified documents about global surveillance.
Verdict:
This follows Ed Snowden before and during the period when he released classified information revealing that the U.S. government was indeed spying on everyone despite their denials. He's admirable. A lone figure trying to stand up to the massive government, but did he succeed?
Watch it.
Review:
It was unsettling to realize the U.S. government tracks everything it's citizens do. This documentary opens with various officials point blank denying such a fact. Does it really make us safer?
The filmmaker is on a watch list due to making films about the American war in Iraq and Guantanamo.
It's amazing that Snowden is willing to sacrifice everything, despite knowing the repercussion, just to make the knowledge available because it violates the Constitution. How disappointed is he that most people feigned outrage, then continued on with life. What can be done? The people outraged have no power to change the situation.
We hear Snowden's thoughts as the announcement and aftermath unfolds. This isn't a recreation after the fact, which makes it even more powerful. It's crazy how calm he is as the NSA positions multiple construction trucks outside of his house and freezes his bank accounts.
Snowden handed over classified documents and broke the law, but when officials lie to Congress and the people it's an unstoppable machine. There was no way the general public would ever find out unless someone broke ranks. The sheer power the government has is staggering. They are unchecked. They continue unchecked.
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| Synchronicity - Underdeveloped. This is a good rough, rough draft. |
Watch Synchronicity on Netflix
Buy Synchronicity
Written by: Jacob Gentry, Alex Orr (story)
Directed by: Jacob Gentry
Starring: Chad McKnight, Brianne Davis, AJ Bowen
Rated: R
Plot:
Set in the future, physicist Jim Beale (Chad McKnight) creates a time machine and must travel into the past.
Verdict:
The wooden acting reinforces the underdeveloped script and ham-fisted dialog. The actual concept isn't complex, but the script is too cumbersome to follow. We're left with style and mood which can't carry a film.
Skip it.
Review:
I like time travel movies. If it's time travel, I will watch it. This occasionally causes me to fall into the trap that is Synchronicity. I rue the day I saw the ad for this film.
It has a promising start despite the obvious lack of budget. The dialog is stilted, but it's earnest in creating a sci-fi film noir vibe. This movie, and the music, escaped from the eighties. I like the eighties, but as the movie progressed, the credit earned from the eighties vibe quickly dissipated.
It's obtuse and not because of the science, but but because of bad writing. The incredibly flat acting heightens the bad writing. You have to wonder if McKnight is reading cue cards. His love interest is a horridly underdeveloped character. This has the typical time travel trope where what we saw happen in the beginning is influenced by time traveler Jim. The twist is this isn't time travel, it's dimension hopping. Jim traveled to an parallel world.
Jim thought he was guiding a single timeline, but he was wreaking havoc across multiple worlds, each with their own Jim Beale. Each is almost indistinguishable from the initial world we see. These worlds can only support one Jim, otherwise the plot would have no tension or point. When two Jims are in the same proximity, one of them experiences vomiting, headaches, and eventually blacks out. In the end Jim lucks out and hops to a world where his double has already died so he gets to live. Apparently his double is called John Bain, but I don't know why.
I don't know how or why this movie was made. It instills hope in wishful filmmakers that you're project too could actually be made no matter how bad. And that's a compliment.
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| Ugetsu - A strong, haunting story. |
Buy Ugetsu
Written by: Matsutarō Kawaguchi (adaptation), Hisakazu Tsuji (idea), Akinari Ueda (stories), Yoshikata Yoda (screenplay)
Directed by: Kenji Mizoguchi
Starring: Masayuki Mori, Machiko Kyo, Kinuyo Tanaka
Rated: --
Plot:
Stories of love, war, ambition, and family intertwine, set during Japan's civil wars.
Verdict:
I love the story in Ugetsu. Two men so focused on their own goals, despite the civil war surrounding them lose what should be the most important to them, their families. The moral tale is clear, chasing money or fame ends in ruin.
Watch it.
Review:
Genjuro is a successful potter while his neighbor Tobei wants to be a samurai. They both go to a nearby town, and while Genjuro is successful selling his wares, Tobei is rejected as a samurai.
When an army raid their village, Genjuro's only concern is his kiln and making more money. Both men are focused on achieving their goals of money and fame. They leave their wives behind, claiming it's for their safety, when it's really just selfishness. Tobei helps Genjuro sell pottery and buys armor with his money. Both men experience success, but it's short lived. They realize their victories are mere illusions when they pasts confront them.
The leads both got what they want and soon realize it's unfulfilling. This is an impressive movie to be from 1953. The story doesn't feel dated, though it's very much a cautionary moral tale. Fame and fortune alone didn't corrupt these men. The problem was that their desire was so strong, their families didn't matter. It's a heartbreaking conclusion that I don't want to spoil. Neither men can undo what's been done, and they only have themselves to blame.
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