***Spoilers***
My friend Dave train hopped to chicago and convinced my mom and myself to go watch this movie last night at the theater in the Glen. What we have here is an exciting experiment in the creation of strong characters. Many commentors have noticed and commented on the angry side of ND and this might be the sparking motivational pivot of his character. He is definitely the most angry "dork" character we have seen on the silver screen. An emotion which is definitely consistent with the character. Side note... his anger is also somewhat benign but still genuine... he doesn't swear, but there is almost always a scowl on his face, an unwaving clenching of forehead and eyebrows.
This movie takes another step for mankind on the lunar surface of the subject of banal environments. A timely enterprise considering the recent success of many "reality" TV shows. It is interesting to see America coming to terms with certain parts of itself. Tell me what do you know about Idaho? - or for that matter, most of the other states of this country Americans share? - The comedy emanates not only from Heder's character, but also from the quirky environment he must navigate.
It seems as though "retro" is always approximately 20 years in the past, (and antique is about 50 years in the past) what is wonderful about ND is this Idaho landscape which is rife with 80's (hence retro) culture, but which is actually current for the time 2004-2005 (the time setting for the movie).... THE COMEDY in this is the TRUISM that much of "brand spanking new" cultural artifacts usually take about 20 years for them to reach this lessor traveled / lessor lived in parts of the USA. (As someone who spent 6 years living in Iowa (Iowa City) I can attest to this phenomenon.) - SO what comes across as being current and hip (in the recent "celebration" of retro culture) - (i.e. VH1's I Love The 80's, Artforum 40th Annivesary double issue (March/April 2003) focusing on the 80's) these are just a few note-able examples.))) ... IS in actuality the way places such as these more or less actually appear today in 2004. - This is fairly ingenious marketing and cultural cultivating. So for those of you who are confused about the time-setting of this film, hopefully this clears it up for you.
We will always be fascinated to glimpse the past and re-live the now outdated society of the spectacle past. In 2020 will we be watching "I Love The 00's", and in the program they will reference "I Love The 80's"??? - Computers and technology are increasing our ability to produce and archive much media, text, and ideas, and increasingly we are becoming a more reflexive society.
With the recent successes of such middle American environs such as "The Simple Life," "X-games" "Jessica Simpson and the Newlyweds" "American-IDol" more and more we see portrayal of "everyday Americans" culture which these days has become the source of much material for Television, Movies, entertainment, Jeff Foxworthy is coming back with a new sit-com. Etc.. This is the goldrush of the 2000s, digging into our own psychies, our own cultural traditions, environments. The Reality TV fascination. SOmehow ND- is perfectly nested in this current fashion.
The opening credits roll over an assortment of fabric patterns (which is an surprising 2-Dimensional way of creating a sense of setting) - and the text of the credits is handed to us spelled out in food on plates, using mustard, etc... These sorta DIY (Do It Yourself) hands on, and also edible, credits ease the audience into the setting of the film, and also reflected I comment I made in the car on the way to the movie which was "You are what you eat, you eat what you see," We see moves (consumption through viewing)... (Ask Dave... strangely enough who has also used similar crediting techniques in his own video/film project... search for "Table Scraps")
Yo. SO dude, okay then we have this sort of dragging of the action figure behind the school bus, the line is something like, "hey Napolean, what are you going to do today?" - N: "I'm gonna do whatever I darn feel like doing" - or something (someone help me out here with the exact quote...) And that pretty much sums up what we see in the movie. What Napolean feels like doing, given his existence in this environment. Nature and Nuture are both convening on this young man in the most remarkable ways.
There is some great comedy and the cutting of scene and jumping from one scene to the next used to good effect. some scenes are cut short and quickly while others are sort of drawn out to the last possible moment, characters never breaking... this contrast of quick cut, long cut, keeps your attention because it makes you pay attention to every detail, because you don't know if the scene is going to be a quick cut, or a long drawn out one. An example of the quick cut is the mini-narrative of the introduction of Pedro's bike, cut to the bike, cut to the ramp jump, cut to slapstick ND. bang bang bang bang. (film students take note)
New things on film. Have we ever seen a tether ball in a movie?? maybe.. the main character in a thrift store?.. hmmm... The main character of a movie working in a huge "industrial?" chicken coup? Comparisons to Revenge of the Nerds, Rushmore, are a given. But this movie is striving for everyday-ness... a possible connection with Spellbound, without the national spelling bee attention and possible recognition or "Spelling Skills" as Dynamite would put it. Not as dark as Gummo.
I like a movie that gives me some new ideas to play with. I am not sure what these are in particular with ND, but i think that there are some there. Something to do with the motivation for N's anger?- Maybe not so important, yes this movie claims "he's out to prove he's got nothing to prove." Sounds like Seinfeld. - question is does he prove nothing??? I they failed... Napolean Dynamite (Jon Heder) & Jared Hess have definitely proved something.
I give this movie 8.25 out of ten.
further: if you liked this movie that i would recommend seeing America's Funniest American by little known actor director genius PAUL RUST.
My friend Dave train hopped to chicago and convinced my mom and myself to go watch this movie last night at the theater in the Glen. What we have here is an exciting experiment in the creation of strong characters. Many commentors have noticed and commented on the angry side of ND and this might be the sparking motivational pivot of his character. He is definitely the most angry "dork" character we have seen on the silver screen. An emotion which is definitely consistent with the character. Side note... his anger is also somewhat benign but still genuine... he doesn't swear, but there is almost always a scowl on his face, an unwaving clenching of forehead and eyebrows.
This movie takes another step for mankind on the lunar surface of the subject of banal environments. A timely enterprise considering the recent success of many "reality" TV shows. It is interesting to see America coming to terms with certain parts of itself. Tell me what do you know about Idaho? - or for that matter, most of the other states of this country Americans share? - The comedy emanates not only from Heder's character, but also from the quirky environment he must navigate.
It seems as though "retro" is always approximately 20 years in the past, (and antique is about 50 years in the past) what is wonderful about ND is this Idaho landscape which is rife with 80's (hence retro) culture, but which is actually current for the time 2004-2005 (the time setting for the movie).... THE COMEDY in this is the TRUISM that much of "brand spanking new" cultural artifacts usually take about 20 years for them to reach this lessor traveled / lessor lived in parts of the USA. (As someone who spent 6 years living in Iowa (Iowa City) I can attest to this phenomenon.) - SO what comes across as being current and hip (in the recent "celebration" of retro culture) - (i.e. VH1's I Love The 80's, Artforum 40th Annivesary double issue (March/April 2003) focusing on the 80's) these are just a few note-able examples.))) ... IS in actuality the way places such as these more or less actually appear today in 2004. - This is fairly ingenious marketing and cultural cultivating. So for those of you who are confused about the time-setting of this film, hopefully this clears it up for you.
We will always be fascinated to glimpse the past and re-live the now outdated society of the spectacle past. In 2020 will we be watching "I Love The 00's", and in the program they will reference "I Love The 80's"??? - Computers and technology are increasing our ability to produce and archive much media, text, and ideas, and increasingly we are becoming a more reflexive society.
With the recent successes of such middle American environs such as "The Simple Life," "X-games" "Jessica Simpson and the Newlyweds" "American-IDol" more and more we see portrayal of "everyday Americans" culture which these days has become the source of much material for Television, Movies, entertainment, Jeff Foxworthy is coming back with a new sit-com. Etc.. This is the goldrush of the 2000s, digging into our own psychies, our own cultural traditions, environments. The Reality TV fascination. SOmehow ND- is perfectly nested in this current fashion.
The opening credits roll over an assortment of fabric patterns (which is an surprising 2-Dimensional way of creating a sense of setting) - and the text of the credits is handed to us spelled out in food on plates, using mustard, etc... These sorta DIY (Do It Yourself) hands on, and also edible, credits ease the audience into the setting of the film, and also reflected I comment I made in the car on the way to the movie which was "You are what you eat, you eat what you see," We see moves (consumption through viewing)... (Ask Dave... strangely enough who has also used similar crediting techniques in his own video/film project... search for "Table Scraps")
Yo. SO dude, okay then we have this sort of dragging of the action figure behind the school bus, the line is something like, "hey Napolean, what are you going to do today?" - N: "I'm gonna do whatever I darn feel like doing" - or something (someone help me out here with the exact quote...) And that pretty much sums up what we see in the movie. What Napolean feels like doing, given his existence in this environment. Nature and Nuture are both convening on this young man in the most remarkable ways.
There is some great comedy and the cutting of scene and jumping from one scene to the next used to good effect. some scenes are cut short and quickly while others are sort of drawn out to the last possible moment, characters never breaking... this contrast of quick cut, long cut, keeps your attention because it makes you pay attention to every detail, because you don't know if the scene is going to be a quick cut, or a long drawn out one. An example of the quick cut is the mini-narrative of the introduction of Pedro's bike, cut to the bike, cut to the ramp jump, cut to slapstick ND. bang bang bang bang. (film students take note)
New things on film. Have we ever seen a tether ball in a movie?? maybe.. the main character in a thrift store?.. hmmm... The main character of a movie working in a huge "industrial?" chicken coup? Comparisons to Revenge of the Nerds, Rushmore, are a given. But this movie is striving for everyday-ness... a possible connection with Spellbound, without the national spelling bee attention and possible recognition or "Spelling Skills" as Dynamite would put it. Not as dark as Gummo.
I like a movie that gives me some new ideas to play with. I am not sure what these are in particular with ND, but i think that there are some there. Something to do with the motivation for N's anger?- Maybe not so important, yes this movie claims "he's out to prove he's got nothing to prove." Sounds like Seinfeld. - question is does he prove nothing??? I they failed... Napolean Dynamite (Jon Heder) & Jared Hess have definitely proved something.
I give this movie 8.25 out of ten.
further: if you liked this movie that i would recommend seeing America's Funniest American by little known actor director genius PAUL RUST.