Vigo, Truffaut, Melville and...Woo?

The very idea of a film remake would have likely disgusted Vigo, Truffaut, Godard, and Melville. A film, in their eyes, should be a fresh take on old ideas, bringing new insights and wonderful images onto the screen - but it should also pay simultaneous tribute to those before them who have laid the framework and been the prototype for brilliance. Take, for example, Vigo's stunning L'Atalante (1934), a film that so inspired Francois Truffaut at the impressionable age of 14 that he later made the equally great The 400 Blows. Both were influential in their own right - Vigo's film, the epitome of poetic realism, laid the basic groundwork for film noir and even French New Wave cinema, while Truffaut's film later became the jumping-off point for the New Wave. Both presented wholly original techniques, ideas, and storytelling, but paid homage to the ideas of the greatest artists before them (the Lumiere brothers' influence on Vigo is unmistakable, and the influence of Vigo's films saturate nearly every frame of Truffaut's work).

Take a look at a shot from a scene from L'Atalante:


And then the homage paid to Vigo by Truffaut in The 400 Blows - a film which refrains from being derivative while still honoring the brilliance to come before it:


It's almost exactly the same shot, but into two different movies! Two phenomenal, completely different (well, not completely different) films.

And then I read this, from the AV Club:

"Woo is looking to 'line up A-list talent' to star in English-language remakes of Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samourai and Woo’s own 1989 breakthrough The Killer. That Woo wants to put his own, slow-motion-dove spin on Le Samourai isn’t all that surprising—he’s long spoken of Melville as a huge influence, and he’s openly talked about his desire to remake it."

Admirable as it is to desire to make an homage to the greats to come before you, I literally want to vomit at the thought of a remake of Le Samourai. It is one of my favorite films, a controlled and gorgeous masterpiece, which, much like Psycho before it, has absolutely no need to be remade. It's like saying: "Hey, I just bought a new car, which just so happens to be running perfectly, but I'm going to take it into the shop to have the engine fixed."

If you consider Melville to be one of your influences, Mr. Woo, then I would suggest spitting on Melville's grave before you remake Le Samourai. It would probably be more respectful to him and his work when it's all said and done.

The most overrated films of 2009

I really only have three overrated films I want to talk about, so you know to avoid them. Or so you can argue with me. Keep in mind this is not a discussion of the worst movies of the year.
I don't want to make any enemies, but I don't really consider Avatar to be a movie - it feels more like it belongs in an amusement park, where viewers can "ooh" and "aah" at the screen instead of marveling at its storytelling aspects. It's important for a movie to be visually pleasing (or at least coherent - and Avatar is), but its even more important that the film be imbued with real characters and emotional storytelling. We should learn something about the human condition from movies, and Avatar doesn't do that. The story is melodrama at best, eye-rolling at worst. Should it win Oscars for visual effects? Definitely. Does it belong as a Best Picture Nominee among films like The Hurt Locker and Up? Definitely not.

George Clooney is a great actor when he's not playing someone like himself. Ryan Bingham in Jason Reitman's Up in the Air is too cool, too suave, too charming, too...Clooney. Conversely, his performances in Syriana and Michael Clayton were both remarkable. Michael Clayton riffed off of Clooney's star power; in the film, Clayton was charming and cool-headed on the outside, but on the inside was a deeply damaged individual. You could sense that. Up in the Air, however, felt phony and manipulative to me. Was Clooney's performance good? Yes, but that's because he was essentially playing Clooney. The dialogue felt pithy, the characters one-dimensional. For some reason I felt exploited by Reitman's condescension of Bingham, who is essentially paid to fire people from their jobs. Why are all these rich actors and directors (Reitman, Clooney, Farmiga, etc.) wagging their fingers at Bingham, a man who exploits misfortune for his own gain? Aren't they sort of doing the same thing?

Finally (and I hate to do this), I have to bring up issues I had with Lee Daniels' Precious. Before I say anything else, I want to clear two things up: (1) Yes, the performances are all incredible - some of the best of this, or any, year. Mariah Carey, Mo'Nique, and Gabourey Sidibe are all extraordinary actresses, and I would love nothing more than to see them all rewarded for their devastating performances. (2) I hate to rag on a movie that has done so much from so little, but I have to. The movie is powerful, yes. But Lee Daniels' heavy-handed direction do the film no favors. The strange scenes of Precious' fantasies are carelessly mishandled. What purpose do they serve? We know Precious has dreams of having a better life than she does. Who wouldn't, living in the conditions she lives in? You don't have to tell us that. It's as if the movie is screaming at us, telling us "HEY! LOOK AT HOW BAD THIS GIRL HAS IT! DOESN'T THAT SUCK?!" Perhaps a more naturalistic approach would have made the film more powerful. Hell, Daniels was halfway there with the grainy camerawork. All he had to do was sit back and let the camera and those in front of it do the talking. With such powerful actresses, a film can speak for itself. It doesn't need a director to help slap us in the face.

Top 10 Films of 2009

For my first post in QUITE some time, I'm going to be discussing my picks for the ten best films of 2009.

10.) (500) Days of Summer, directed by Marc Webb
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1022603/Why it's on the list: It's the best romantic comedy in many, many, MANY years, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors due to his stunning range of roles. The film is a little corny at times, yes, but we care deeply about the characters, and the film makes us laugh and feel in equal parts. And that doesn't happen too often in movies today.
Best scene in the movie: The dance sequence to "You Make My Dreams" by Hall and Oates. Awesome.

9.) Observe and Report, directed by Jody Hill
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1197628/
Why it's on the list: Oh, yes, I will take some heat for this. But hear me out: Observe and Report is a film which flaunts almost all film conventions: it has an unlikeable, borderline hateable "protagonist," a borderline despicable love interest, and a story about a deeply disturbed, ticking psychosis time bomb of a man. It's not what we're used to seeing in movies these days. Maybe I just watched it on a good day, but I found it totally refreshing and hilarious. The key to the film is the comedy. Without it, Hill would have created an entirely depressing film devoid of redemption. But the laughs validate the film, lifting it out of the depths of what is otherwise a really, really f-ed up movie. The final, surreal scenes of the film have drawn comparisons to Scorsese's Taxi Driver, and I don't think that's too far of a stretch. Both films depict deeply deranged men living in their equally deranged worlds, but do it on different terms. I won't say everyone will like it (you probably won't, maybe not even on your most open-minded day), and I won't say it's politically correct (cause it's definitely not), but it's something that ruffles up the feathers of Hollywood, and the mere fact that it got made is remarkable in its own right.
Best scene in the movie: Character actor Celia Weston puts forward a phenomenal performance playing Ronnie's (Seth Rogen) mom. If you're looking for a touch of warmth or human emotion in Observe and Report, it's here. There's not much...but it's here.

8.) Broken Embraces (Los abrazos rotos), directed by Pedro Almodovar
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0913425/
Why it's on the list: As much a story about life as it is about movies, Broken Embraces is a film full of beauty, both in its story and in its visuals. Combining the excitement and intrigue of a thriller with a touching but ultimately tragic story, Almodovar employs some of Hitchcock's techniques of suspense and voyeurism to create a gorgeous - and, yes, sometimes creepy - film. Penelope Cruz is in top form here (as usual), but isn't quite reaching the heights of her astonishing performance in the otherwise okay Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
Best scene in the movie: An elegaic scene on the beach near the end of the movie. Blanca Portillo, playing Harry Caine's producer, is phenomenal. The film belongs to her.

7.) A Prophet (Un Prophete), directed by Jacques Audiard
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1235166/
Why it's on the list: Stunningly detail-oriented and naturalistic (quite the opposite of Broken Embraces), Un Prophete pulls no punches with its violence or with its harshly-drawn characters. The film is not quite glamorizing crime nor is it dismissing it, but you can be sure it will stick with you. Malik is truly a three-dimensional character: one who learns and grows, but whose violent tendencies and instincts plague him until the last frame.
Best scene in the movie: The equal-parts-frightening-and-touching final scene of the movie. Gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. Yeeeeeeesh.

6.) Up, directed by Pete Docter
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1049413/
Why it's on the list: Cliche, cliche, best animated film in years, blah, blah, blah. Point is, if you haven't seen Up yet, you need to. It's hilarious, touching, and the sequence of the film depicting Carl and Ellie's marriage and lives contains more thought, beauty, and story than 95% of the films released in 2009. That's no joke. Pixar has some incredibly talented storytellers working for them, who know how to inject inherently artificial characters with real personalities. Think about how absurd it is to care for animated characters. Caring about a character played by a flesh-and-blood actor is understandable - actors are mirroring reality. Caring about an animated character implanted in an artificial reality is near-impossible. But Pixar does it time and time again. WALL-E in 2008, Up in 2009...hopefully they continue the streak into 2010.
Best scene in the movie: Already told you. That sequence is a tear-jerker.

5.) Fantastic Mr. Fox, directed by Wes Anderson
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0432283/
Why it's on the list: Besides having directed one of my favorite movies of all-time (The Royal Tenenbaums), Wes Anderson has a knack for composing some off-kilter films that aren't afraid to give us even more idiosyncratic characters. However, this isn't where the strength of Fantastic Mr. Fox lies. Four disctinct features make it such a remarkable film: (1) Its stop motion animation which can be considered nothing short of revolutionary, (2) Its voice work, featuring George Clooney, Meryl Streep, and Willem Dafoe, among many, many, others, (3) Its celebration of difference and individuality which is too often ignored in modern films, and most importantly: (4) The fact that it made me like Jason Schwartzman, who played my favorite character - Mr. Fox's son, Ash. Bravo, Wes Anderson. I never liked Schwartzman until now.
Best scene in the movie: Hard to pick just one, but the scene featuring Bill Murray as Badger and George Clooney as Mr. Fox cussin' at each other was hilarious.

4.) Adventureland, directed by Greg Mottola
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1091722/
Why it's on the list: A poignant and nostalgic film, Adventureland caught me completely off-guard. It's very funny, but contains much truth about human emotions (or more specifically, teenage emotions). It perfectly depicts the awkward transition phase between college and adult life (yes, I am avoiding the phrase "coming-of-age"), and Jesse Eisenberg plays awkward more sincerely and MUCH less annoyingly than Michael Cera. Eisenberg transforms his character James into an honest three-dimensional character, avoiding the self-aware quirks of the characters Cera tends to inhabit. Mottola and Eisenberg know how to create pathos, and do it well, without being abrasive or fake.
Best scene in the movie: Any one with the combined trio of Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, and Jesse Eisenberg.

3.) Inglorious Basterds, directed by Quentin Tarantino
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361748/
Why it's on the list: It's the most brilliantly written film of the year, and also contains my favorite performance of the year, by Christoph Waltz as Colonel Hans Landa of the SS. Perhaps the most self-referential contemporary director, Tarantino rewrites history and does it with wit, humor, and absurdity. "This just might be my masterpiece," says Lt. Aldo Raine at the end of the movie. Yeah, Tarantino might be the most condescending director working today, but he sure wasn't wrong when he wrote those words.
Best scene in the movie: The very first one, when Landa interrogates a farmer who is hiding Jews in his home. The slow build-up of tension and looming dread is wince-inducing, and if that scene's not proof enough of Waltz's acting ability, then I don't know what is. Thankfully, Waltz has been casted in more movies that should hit American shores. Which is good, cause he is the man.

2.) A Serious Man, directed by Joel Coen
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1019452/
Why it's on the list: Joel and Ethan Coen can do no wrong in my mind. They composed two of the greatest films of all time, Fargo and No Country for Old Men, and now A Serious Man can be added to the list. As many have pointed out, this is the kind of film you get to make after you've won an Oscar. Some say the film is a modern-day retelling of the Book of Job, as Larry Gopnik battles with his faith and his family for his sanity. A Serious Man is a film which deftly explores religion and the existential crises it invokes, and it's also one of the most beautifully photographed films of the year (thanks to long-time Coen collaborator Roger Deakins).
Best scene in the movie: The final scene, with Larry's son transfixed on the tornado. It's a scene that will rock you to your core. You don't have to ask what it means or what it symbolizes - it's what you take from it that matters.

And the best movie of the year...
1.) The Hurt Locker, directed by Kathryn Bigelow
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0887912/
Why it's the best film of 2009: The Hurt Locker is extraordinary. It is not quite an art-house film and not quite a summer blockbuster, but never before has a film drawn such deep and real characters from so little. It doesn't need to be said, but Jeremy Renner is phenomenal in his role as a bomb defusal expert, and the supporting cast is just as good, with cameos from Ralph Fiennes and Guy Pierce, among others. The tension in the film is nearly unbearable, and not just thanks to the editing and performances, but from the screenplay. The stakes are so much higher when we're given characters to care about - you don't want to look but you can't tear your eyes from the screen. Everything from the beautifully gritty cinematography to the heart-stopping editing is remarkably orchestrated by Bigelow - she doesn't miss a beat. It is, simply put, a perfect film, in every way. Perhaps most importantly, it doesn't let politics get in the way of war; there is no take-home message except for the quote which opens the movie: "The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug." And there's really nothing else you need to know.
The best scene in the movie: Saying every scene is the best scene is sort of a cop-out, but the meticulously constructed bomb defusal scenes are A-MA-ZING. Seriously. They may not revolutionize suspense, but they have figured out the formula for it. Suck it, Hitchcock.