Catching up with this entry....
Okay, just to catch up with some stuff:
The car is sold! She was loaded on an enclosed carrier and shipped to Michigan. The new owner is exactly the kind of owner I was looking for and promised to give her a good home. I think a GT TIAL and full motor rebuild is in the works for her...DAMN, you're looking at MONSTER power at that point, like SEVEN HUNDRED HP or thereabouts. He'll keep me apprised on his progress. Driving her down the street for the last time and watching the carrier drive off was like saying goodbye to a very good friend. The new car love affair has certainly blunted my sadness abit.
Re. movies, you all know how much I love esoteric symbolically laden transcendental flicks that require 100% concentration and participation on the part of the viewer, but my favorite movies this year didn't fit this mold. In terms of this last batch of Oscar flicks, I have some gripes:
The Reader: Slow and plodding, and as theDiscourser mentioned, I neither cared for nor wished to identify with any of the characters. But re. the emptiness and confusion at the end; my wife and I discussed this at length afterwords. Most if not all Holocaust subject films make the attempt to discover or uncover or reveal certain "truths" or "meaning" about a certain aspect of the systematic slaughtering of millions. "Life is Beautiful" was a lesson in courage, "Shindler's List" put on display quiet heroism, "The Pianist" destroys all illusions about so called inherent humanity, etc,etc. But in "The Reader", the film-maker made no attempt to reveal any truths....none....and that was his intention. The viewer is left feeling empty. At several points in the film, he gave it away:
Lena Olin's character was asked "what did you learn?" with her experience at the death camps and she responded "Nothing...there was nothing at all to learn". Hanna Schmidt was asked twice, once by the tribunal and again after years of incarceration by Feinnes character. The tribunal asked her "Why? How could you?" and she gave NO answer that came close to satisfying anyone's desire for meaning and closure. And after years of incarceration, she was asked again "What have you learned from all of this?" and her response resonated with Olin's, "What is there to learn? The Dead are still Dead". And I suppose that was the point. Move on and live your life. The past, however devastatingly tragic it might be, is still the past. You've survived. And the last scene of the movie typifies this sentiment; Fiennes character unburdening himself of his past and making his first steps at repairing his relationship with his daughter...all of this juxtaposed against Hanna Schmidt's grave.
"Slumdog Millionaire" was certainly NOT the best film last year. In my opinion, it wasn't even the best Indian film last year! But I get why it won. I see most Hollywood garbage like I see fast food: easy, brainless, dumb, and yummy. No effort is required by the viewer, you just open your mouth and say "AHHHH", and they feed you greasy yet delicious fat fried food. The hook with Slumdog is that the American 18-35 yr.old demographic will taste it and think "Wow, this tastes like a double cheeseburger!" and not realize they've just eaten steamed vegetables. The movie is soo appealing that most American's won't even realize they've watched a tiny small budget foreign film, experienced a different culture, and cheered on lead protagonists who were Muslim. "Foreign" to Hollywood are: the night shots in Budapest in some explosion ridden spy-movie, the bad guys, the bad prison guards, etc. And can you name any movies with attractive likable Muslim leads except perhaps last year's "Kite Runner"? So I understand why it won...but it wasn't the best film last year.
My favorite films last year surprised even me. I loved "Vicky, Christina, Barcelona". Penelope Cruz, Scarlett Johannson, and Bardin (the serial killer from "No Country for Old Men") what more can I say? Such a smart film. And I loved "The Dark Knight" and "Ironman"....yes, big budget Hollywood films, but I'm a sucker for anything Comic and both both these movies were AWESOME. "La Misma Luna", a Mexican film about the immigrant experience...soo cute and heartwarming. And my favorite film last year was...and I'm actually embarrassed to admit this..."Wall-E". I loved everything about his film, it was pure magic for me, just absolutely brilliant...and certainly NOT for kids.
Anywayz, gotta go.
The car is sold! She was loaded on an enclosed carrier and shipped to Michigan. The new owner is exactly the kind of owner I was looking for and promised to give her a good home. I think a GT TIAL and full motor rebuild is in the works for her...DAMN, you're looking at MONSTER power at that point, like SEVEN HUNDRED HP or thereabouts. He'll keep me apprised on his progress. Driving her down the street for the last time and watching the carrier drive off was like saying goodbye to a very good friend. The new car love affair has certainly blunted my sadness abit.
Re. movies, you all know how much I love esoteric symbolically laden transcendental flicks that require 100% concentration and participation on the part of the viewer, but my favorite movies this year didn't fit this mold. In terms of this last batch of Oscar flicks, I have some gripes:
The Reader: Slow and plodding, and as theDiscourser mentioned, I neither cared for nor wished to identify with any of the characters. But re. the emptiness and confusion at the end; my wife and I discussed this at length afterwords. Most if not all Holocaust subject films make the attempt to discover or uncover or reveal certain "truths" or "meaning" about a certain aspect of the systematic slaughtering of millions. "Life is Beautiful" was a lesson in courage, "Shindler's List" put on display quiet heroism, "The Pianist" destroys all illusions about so called inherent humanity, etc,etc. But in "The Reader", the film-maker made no attempt to reveal any truths....none....and that was his intention. The viewer is left feeling empty. At several points in the film, he gave it away:
Lena Olin's character was asked "what did you learn?" with her experience at the death camps and she responded "Nothing...there was nothing at all to learn". Hanna Schmidt was asked twice, once by the tribunal and again after years of incarceration by Feinnes character. The tribunal asked her "Why? How could you?" and she gave NO answer that came close to satisfying anyone's desire for meaning and closure. And after years of incarceration, she was asked again "What have you learned from all of this?" and her response resonated with Olin's, "What is there to learn? The Dead are still Dead". And I suppose that was the point. Move on and live your life. The past, however devastatingly tragic it might be, is still the past. You've survived. And the last scene of the movie typifies this sentiment; Fiennes character unburdening himself of his past and making his first steps at repairing his relationship with his daughter...all of this juxtaposed against Hanna Schmidt's grave.
"Slumdog Millionaire" was certainly NOT the best film last year. In my opinion, it wasn't even the best Indian film last year! But I get why it won. I see most Hollywood garbage like I see fast food: easy, brainless, dumb, and yummy. No effort is required by the viewer, you just open your mouth and say "AHHHH", and they feed you greasy yet delicious fat fried food. The hook with Slumdog is that the American 18-35 yr.old demographic will taste it and think "Wow, this tastes like a double cheeseburger!" and not realize they've just eaten steamed vegetables. The movie is soo appealing that most American's won't even realize they've watched a tiny small budget foreign film, experienced a different culture, and cheered on lead protagonists who were Muslim. "Foreign" to Hollywood are: the night shots in Budapest in some explosion ridden spy-movie, the bad guys, the bad prison guards, etc. And can you name any movies with attractive likable Muslim leads except perhaps last year's "Kite Runner"? So I understand why it won...but it wasn't the best film last year.
My favorite films last year surprised even me. I loved "Vicky, Christina, Barcelona". Penelope Cruz, Scarlett Johannson, and Bardin (the serial killer from "No Country for Old Men") what more can I say? Such a smart film. And I loved "The Dark Knight" and "Ironman"....yes, big budget Hollywood films, but I'm a sucker for anything Comic and both both these movies were AWESOME. "La Misma Luna", a Mexican film about the immigrant experience...soo cute and heartwarming. And my favorite film last year was...and I'm actually embarrassed to admit this..."Wall-E". I loved everything about his film, it was pure magic for me, just absolutely brilliant...and certainly NOT for kids.
Anywayz, gotta go.
posted by supergoober at
5:13 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home