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Offret (1986)
another cliché for self-absorbed miserable humorless intellectuals
I love Nykvist's always spellbinding cinematography, and I have liked some other Tarkovsky films, I had no problem with the slow pace or empty shots, actually would have like the whole thing better with none of those annoying people in it. But sorry, I can only explain the misplaced reverence for this film as credit for his earlier work, and respect as his career and life was ending. However, this film is the kind of thing that has made "intellectual" a dirty word in the US. Just what we need - more artful glorification of the cliché that being an intellectual means being a spoiled rotten self-absorbed, self-pitying terminally miserable humorless neurotic, who has it all but does nothing but desperately search for reasons to feel sorry for himself. This film asks deep questions? Sorry but I was only 12 when my intellect questioned and rejected the ridiculous idea of a "loving" all powerful god getting sadistic kicks from demanding "sacrifices". This film limply accepts that lame-brained dark-ages scam of religious oppression with a whimper. But why not when the sacrifice involves every old rich white guy's fantasy of banging his hot young maid! Some sacrifice! Of course he manages to turn even that into a downer - sheesh! Can't be an "art" movie without a topless maid! Class oppression - even making the maids wear uniforms in the 20th Century - is another sickening idea that is accepted without comment or critique. The idea of there being some eco-idealistic message in burning a house is also silly as hell. He obviously had no problem owning a house that would take the energy use of a small country to heat. Guess it doesn't matter if it impresses the neighbors. And people say this is about teaching the next generation to do better? Are you kidding? It's sad that there's an art-house audience for such pap, when Greenaway can't even get a release in the US these days. So... this is the film for you if you're no longer satisfied with depressive navel gazing, and you're so desperate for miserable self-absorption that you'll bend over and stare at your own anus, so then you can complain that something smells bad, and you have a backache too.
Slaughterhouse-Five (1972)
Great book, big ideas, and against the odds a great movie
No movie will ever be exactly like a book, they are different media, it's like expecting Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty to be anything like Disney's. This movie stays true to the spirit and ideas of the book, and adds poetic images, music from genius Glenn Gould, and memorable faces that are at turns ridiculous, ugly, bored, sexy (Montana Wildhack!), wise and poignant. The movie skips around in the time-line of the main character's life, but it is not at all hard to follow because you can tell from visual cues where you are in his life, this is one advantage film has over text.
WARNING: if you expect cool CGI time travel, kick-ass battle scenes or action figure heroics, you will be disappointed. If you have trouble following non-linear films you should really stick with kid stuff like "Ace Ventura 2", and definitely stay away from "Memento" and "Mulholland Drive". And while there are many films nowadays that seem to be non-linear just to be hip, here it is essential to the ideas in the film. By showing us a man helplessly skipping through time, we realize no one has control over time as we pass through the moments of our lives, so don't waste time crying over the past or worrying about the future. I love the scene in which Billy is marched through the streets of Dresden, an exhausted prisoner, but instead of being downtrodden and depressed he chooses to see the beauty of the city and in the innocent faces of children with a smile.
IF you come to this movie with an open mind you will see an intelligent, funny, tragic, and ultimately wise meditation on the absurdities of life, the human condition, the nature of time, and a simple but true way to happiness. But of course as Paul Lazarro demonstrates, wisdom is of no use to the mind unprepared to accept it.
Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)
so this film doesn't stick to a formula - GOOD!
most of the criticisms of this 'flick' seem to be that it isn't all neat and tidy like a typical hollywood product, or even that it doesn't match the formula established in the first 2 parts of the trilogy. if you're judging the movie on how much screen time banderas and hayak get, they arent in citizen kane at all - so does that make it a bad movie? I thank heavens when i see a movie of this scope that breaks the rules and trashes the formulas make it to the screen.
Anyway, I had a blast watching this movie, full of surprises (magic realism meets action movie), beautiful over-the-top imagery and appropriately brutal wicked humor. the plot isn't THAT complicated, and to me the way it unravels is intentionally fevered, it captured the shifting power struggles, deception and corruption that are a part of that seductive culture. the passion for the future of mexico is strong, but to claim this surreal, hilarious, wild ride of a movie is overly-political is ridiculous, although to be expected from americans who prefer to obsess over every detail about kobe and j-lo, and freak out if anyone wants them to pay attention to what's really going on in their own capitols of power.