Category Archives: Film Reviews
IR Film Review: MIRROR MIRROR [Relativity]
The first entry into the wrestled world of Snow White enters with “Mirror Mirror” whose tone is mired in a sense of indifference that seems to indicate an idea of style that was undeniably shaped by its leading lady’s sense of comedic proactivity.
Tarsem, known for films such as “The Cell” understands the notion of creating a world but, unlike Tim Burton, has never been challenged to create one that both children and adults can exist in. Over time, Burton has struck more to challenging the audience with how far they can accept Johnny Depp in continually more bizarre characters which is a test all its own. Tarsem understands this but imbalances the progression more often than not in this outing.
The intonation from the advertising seems to indicate a more bubble-gum version of Snow White and yet her characteristics exist in Lily Collins as an almost nether perception where she can be slightly vicious and then overly domestic. The reimagining of the dwarves as maligned forest thieves definitely creates a more edgy perception. However most of the time the narrative simply progresses to the wanton needs of the Queen played with definite fun by Julia Roberts. However it becomes overwhelming so. The idea is not so much seeing the Queen as it is Roberts playing the Queen part. There is too distinct a separation.
Certain moments definitely create the movie at times. One involves the Queen retreating to her mirror domain. The literal immersion reversal from water is wonderfully done and speaks to something much more sinister that could be traversed but never truly is. The other occurs closer to the end in a moment that indeed points to the truly intense aspect of what the film could have possessed. Ultimately in practice though, this is a family film specified as a comedy. Its tendencies however tend to run quite odd as if the tone wasn’t exactly predicated upon. This becomes more than duly aware in the closing credits sequences which by all accounts is quite a strange inclusion indeed. In makes sense in terms of the lexicon of who is involved but seemingly tends to disavow structure and tone of the film itself in one fail swoop.
D
THE ARTIST – Film Review [TIFF 2011]
The resounding impact of “The Artist” is the perception of how retro it is in its personification. Similar in some tones to some other films using pure score, the film here works its magic by simply playing at many times to the metaphor of the silent films in terms of the mindset and psychology that manipulated their production. With a magnificent and inherently English/American supporting cast including John Goodman and James Cromwell, the brunt of the film rests of the shoulders of Jean Dujardin who plays the silent matinee idol George Valentin.
The film uses the notion of silence as an emotional barometer. The score itself seems purely built as sort of an emotional soundwave of what is going on. This is not necessarily different from the perspective of modern cinema to be sure but because it approaches the film from the stylistic perspective of that era and barely strays is what gives it its charm. It never oversteps its boundaries using the parlance of the day against it (which in many ways haunted a little bit of “Melancholia” later in the day because of its intrinsic use of metaphors in dialogue). The emotions never feel forced because they are real for what they are. The narrative itself follows the fading of a star and the rising of another one (again not unlike the literal narrative of “Melancholia”) but is done so with a texture that a star’s life is only reflective of their popularity and the choices they make.
The decision to shoot the film in the 16mm framing format from the early days of film is a very specific one and is used to great perspective especially during a stair scene that is purely and wonderfully structured, written and composed. While many of the narrative devices used are expected in their consequence, it still brings about a sense of nostalgia. John Goodman playing the Louis B. Mayer (or would-be Harvey Weinstein for that matter) has a jovial persona with a business mind that understands the mainstream for better or for worse which here reflects in the transgression of silent films to the talkies. Bernice Bejo (also seemingly a French actor like Jean) has a definitive look that defines a bygone era. With ours such a fast cutting world, the notion of a look held or a moment raised sometimes goes unoptioned in the current film vocabulary.
Returning to Dujardin, he modulates the tone through his character’s up and downs using some genre underpinnings in terms of montage and would-be hallucinations of the character to provide a point. The subtleties exist and play against the structure but the film works because it has reference for its genre, love for modern perception but also a balance of nostalgia which never becomes overplayed. The final moments optimizing the one bit of film score that is recognizable fits the occasion if you know where the music comes from.
“The Artist” is a wonderful experiment that knows exactly what its purpose is. The next step becomes a notion of engaging an audience beyond the film lovers and festivalgoers who truly understand the homage that is being made and how well it has been done. The challenge of cross-engaging the consumer always depends on the emotional connection which the film has in spades.
B
Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark – Film Review
The texture of “Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark” interestingly resides in its foreign film roots, not in its origin but in its actual overtones. Guillermo Del Toro is interrelated as being the tone within which this is based. The American perception causes problems because what transpires in a foreign language feels much more exacting when you don’t realize the actual interpretation. The problem here is that the dialogue is purely interspersed as exposition which makes the characters state the obvious which almost comes out as dumb. The parents, step or not, come out as caricatures. There is no separation from Katie Holmes, the celebity, and Holmes, the actress so it is hard to involve the idea of her character. Guy Pearce, who usually is exceptionally sharp in terms of the kind of projects he selects, seems like a smooth blank slate here but nothing to fill it with except a disinterested more interested in his business than his daughter. The little girl, who sees odd creatures in the basement of their new house, is not bad but again the narrative and obvious exposition take away any sense of foreboding and tension. Balanced within this sense is no aspect of humor creating a lack of any function to the progression.
When a keeper is attacked and killed by these little cretins, everyone thinks that someone else did it but the lack of practicality in this deduction just seems to point to the fact that everyone is at fault for failing to see the final result. When the collision of aggressive creatures and seemingly ignorant humans commences, the resulting empathy is fairly null. The paradox is that when looking at a film like “Pan’s Labyrinth” or “The Devil’s Backbone” shot and progressed in Spanish with possibly similar obvious dialogue, it becomes part of the world. Being so specific to the way that American audiences will not accept certain aspects that might be natural to other countries shows the reasoning that more and more the angle of making pictures is approaching foreign audiences and appealing directly to their sensibilities. “Don’t Be Afraid” ironically might play exceptionally well in Latin American countries simply because our language will then be foreign.
D
