Unlike the obnoxiously forced quirkiness that's supposed to pass as charming in Zach Braff's "Garden State," Miranda July's offbeat-yet-sincere world comes from an honest and uncorrupted place. This first feature is incredibly strong and adept, which is not surprising considering July's generally high caliber video and performance art. Her direction of children is as good as anything since David Gordon Green's "George Washington," but unlike Green July entrusts her young actors enough to project her own personal and comic sensibilities on them to create a more cohesive and stylistic story. John Hawkes does an incredible job of being a credibly wounded person who is able to bring touching and humane comedy to his role. July is a great actor simply by being herself in her representation of ultra-lonely- wannabe-artis- with-day-job Christine Jesperson. This portrayal is particularly amusing because her art, while endearingly sincere, can easily be construed as a parody of much of July's video work. As the title suggests "Me and You and Everyone We Know" is one of those multiple character pictures with interweaving stories, but be assured this is the first of those people-interlocking pictures I've seen in a long time that doesn't make me balk disgustedly (at the cheese factor of course). On a final note, pretty much everything I read about this film pre-viewing made a huge deal the teenage/adolescent sexual content. Its quite possible that I'm too young or too liberal to understand this, but I will say that July's treatment of teenage sexuality does not come of as risqué or scandalous or anything more noteworthy than the fact that July is willing to treat youthful hanky-panky in the same manner she treats emotional content: with utter heart on sleeve frankness. In my opinion this is truthful than any of that extreme shock bullshit Larry Clark is trying to sell you.
Reviews
5 Reviews
The Holy Girl
(2004)
Visually beautiful but could have been better
11 May 2005
Warning: Spoilers
Martel's sophomore effort proves her to be as exciting a visualist as the Dardenne brothers and Almodovar (who snags an executive producer credit on the pic). 'The Holy Girl' is technically brilliant in almost every respect, the film is generally comprised of static, densely layered, close ups that provide an engaging intimacy with the actors. The use of purely diagetic music is blatantly self conscious, yet it works wonders for the picture.
Parochial student Amalia lives in a family owned hotel with divorcée mother Helena. A medical conference fills the hotel up with doctors, including the bizarrely enigmatic Dr. Jano. Both Amalia and Helena wind up inappropriately vying for the married man's affections for very different reasons.
The film's beginning is cold and confusing, and the characters aren't really accessible until about a half our in. The film's mysterious and difficult elements are consistent and become a nice asset later on. Is. Jano's indiscretion with Amalia limited to the crotch-push at the Theremin performance or was there something more?
While 'The Holy Girl' has semi-interesting characters, and a semi-interesting story, it could certainly have been more so. The superb cinematography can only carry the film so far. At some points the film is simply boring. Martel certainly has the vision and talent to be on par Lynne Ramsay, but she's not quite there yet.
Parochial student Amalia lives in a family owned hotel with divorcée mother Helena. A medical conference fills the hotel up with doctors, including the bizarrely enigmatic Dr. Jano. Both Amalia and Helena wind up inappropriately vying for the married man's affections for very different reasons.
The film's beginning is cold and confusing, and the characters aren't really accessible until about a half our in. The film's mysterious and difficult elements are consistent and become a nice asset later on. Is. Jano's indiscretion with Amalia limited to the crotch-push at the Theremin performance or was there something more?
While 'The Holy Girl' has semi-interesting characters, and a semi-interesting story, it could certainly have been more so. The superb cinematography can only carry the film so far. At some points the film is simply boring. Martel certainly has the vision and talent to be on par Lynne Ramsay, but she's not quite there yet.
Cocksucker Blues
(1972)
Excellent Stones doc
11 May 2005
Warning: Spoilers
I used to think that 'Gimme Shelter' was the end all, be all of Rolling Stones documentaries. The Maysles' film is undeniably heroic, but its shine and polish, its squeaky clean view of the Stones as consummate professionals utterly belies the fact that road life with the skinny brits did involve a good deal of sex, drugs, and a bit of rock and roll too. Filmed during a tour to promote my personal favorite Stones record, 'Exile on Main St,' 'Cocksucker Blues' is a grimy, sordid foray in the behind the scenes workings of the Rolling Stones machine.
Gloriously filmed in both color and black and white super 8, and artfully presented with a strong focus on non-diagetic audio tracks, 'Cocksucker Blues' is no simple document of events, but a solid work of art in its own right. The haphazard filming style during performances is more kinetic and subjective than the Maysles' lens and suits the jarring, hell-bent nature of the music.
The craziness of tour life is captured in some particularly amazing and unforgettable scenes. The kook, nearly suicidal fan, whose baby's been taken away due to mom's acid habit, the primitive and forceful disrobing of women on the plane while the band cooks up a beat to go with it, and the junky sound man all create a subterrainian truthful texture to the Stones experience that was most likely not available to the Maysles brothers.
Gloriously filmed in both color and black and white super 8, and artfully presented with a strong focus on non-diagetic audio tracks, 'Cocksucker Blues' is no simple document of events, but a solid work of art in its own right. The haphazard filming style during performances is more kinetic and subjective than the Maysles' lens and suits the jarring, hell-bent nature of the music.
The craziness of tour life is captured in some particularly amazing and unforgettable scenes. The kook, nearly suicidal fan, whose baby's been taken away due to mom's acid habit, the primitive and forceful disrobing of women on the plane while the band cooks up a beat to go with it, and the junky sound man all create a subterrainian truthful texture to the Stones experience that was most likely not available to the Maysles brothers.
Them!
(1954)
Bazookas! Flamethrowers!
5 May 2005
Man may mastered the atom but can he handle the consequences? This momentous and irrevocable change in world history can only lead to one thing: giant carnivorous ants! This freak of the nuclear age becomes a worldwide crises that can only be overcome by the cooperation of the scientific community and the army....maybe.
'Them!' is one of those great cold war anxiety sci-fi films of the fifties that goes to great lengths to glorify the military while not so subtly denouncing the A-bomb. Talk about your noble white guys! The studios put their hunkiest actors in uniform and create a blonde, gleaming grinned G. I. Joe archetype. Almost everything about this picture seems like it was made specifically for adolescent boys. The fetishistic use of flamethrowers and bazookas is so awesome that it makes you want to go into the backyard and torch your toys with a can of hairspray and a bic like you used to.
The giant ants themselves get a good amount of screen time after an appropriate build-up and work pretty spectacularly as visuals. The ultra-apocalyptic fuddy duddy scientist cryptically references the Bible constantly, and there's a great scene where the nation's top brass are assembled to sit in for a lecture on ant behavior.
This is a great picture and any classic science-fiction fan should definitely check it out.
'Them!' is one of those great cold war anxiety sci-fi films of the fifties that goes to great lengths to glorify the military while not so subtly denouncing the A-bomb. Talk about your noble white guys! The studios put their hunkiest actors in uniform and create a blonde, gleaming grinned G. I. Joe archetype. Almost everything about this picture seems like it was made specifically for adolescent boys. The fetishistic use of flamethrowers and bazookas is so awesome that it makes you want to go into the backyard and torch your toys with a can of hairspray and a bic like you used to.
The giant ants themselves get a good amount of screen time after an appropriate build-up and work pretty spectacularly as visuals. The ultra-apocalyptic fuddy duddy scientist cryptically references the Bible constantly, and there's a great scene where the nation's top brass are assembled to sit in for a lecture on ant behavior.
This is a great picture and any classic science-fiction fan should definitely check it out.
Save the Green Planet!
(2003)
Damn the Man
4 May 2005
Warning: Spoilers
Warning: Possible Spoilers
While 'Save the Green Planet' does a nice job of combining humor, horror and science fiction elements it is, in its heart, a frustrated lashing out against society and extreme revenge fantasy against every shitty boss you've ever had.
The twist-turney ending and perpetual question of whether Kang is actually a malign alien or not is enjoyable but somewhat predictable. The systematic torture of Kang takes center stage and is the most meaningful part of the film. This is Jeong's pop-punk MTV inspired "screw you" to the establishment. As Kang's trials become progressively more brutal it does not matter if he actually is an alien; there is nothing alien about his pain. And just as MTV, pop- punk, and alterna-Hot Topic culture are run by Kang-centric business outfits, Lee Byeong- Goo's unhinged fury is driven by a counter culture that ultimately let him down. His efforts are not an altruistic attempt to save the earth, but a misguided jaunt in bully comeuppance.
'Save the Green Planet' is a film where genres cross but never successfully mix. The detective angle, science fiction intrigue, comic falderal, and gory horror are all handled excellently, yet are isolated in specific microcosms within the film. The film is certainly satisfying when broken down to its individual elements and influences but fails to coalesce into the brilliant genre crossing stew it could have been.
While 'Save the Green Planet' does a nice job of combining humor, horror and science fiction elements it is, in its heart, a frustrated lashing out against society and extreme revenge fantasy against every shitty boss you've ever had.
The twist-turney ending and perpetual question of whether Kang is actually a malign alien or not is enjoyable but somewhat predictable. The systematic torture of Kang takes center stage and is the most meaningful part of the film. This is Jeong's pop-punk MTV inspired "screw you" to the establishment. As Kang's trials become progressively more brutal it does not matter if he actually is an alien; there is nothing alien about his pain. And just as MTV, pop- punk, and alterna-Hot Topic culture are run by Kang-centric business outfits, Lee Byeong- Goo's unhinged fury is driven by a counter culture that ultimately let him down. His efforts are not an altruistic attempt to save the earth, but a misguided jaunt in bully comeuppance.
'Save the Green Planet' is a film where genres cross but never successfully mix. The detective angle, science fiction intrigue, comic falderal, and gory horror are all handled excellently, yet are isolated in specific microcosms within the film. The film is certainly satisfying when broken down to its individual elements and influences but fails to coalesce into the brilliant genre crossing stew it could have been.
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