sbrizzi Reviews

Prizzi's Honor (1985)

Genius

[10/10 · 5 July 2009]

The humor in Prizzi's Honor comes from the everyday humanity of its characters juxtaposed with the fact that the family business entails killing people, so, like in the funeral business, death is discussed (and dealt out) matter-of-factly. The screenplay sparkles throughout, character- driven and organic despite the many plot twists, with a masterful consistency of style. Its point of view is completely amoral, which maybe makes certain 21st century viewers uncomfortable.

Anjelica Huston is a force of nature in the film -- by turns defiant, vulnerable, manipulative, sexual, heartbroken, and innocently delighted. Every moment she's on screen she delivers absolute raw conviction.

The film suffers slightly from the need to condense a novel's worth of material into 2 hours, and maybe certain plot points and motivations could have been a little more developed. For example, Kathleen Turner is strong and believable, but it would have been great to see a little deeper into the darkness and contradictions of her character.

The cast of supporting characters seems to embody facets of John Huston's persona and his dry, macabre sense of humor. William Hickey's performance as the Don is a spectacle unto itself. "Have another cooooookie" LOL. John Randolph (the Jeffrey Tambor of the '80s), Lee Richardson, and Robert Loggia are all flawless.

Fascinating to see Jack Nicholson play completely against type, as a simple-minded and earnest character. He pulls it off brilliantly, although it's a bit puzzling that the Don would entrust him with running the business -- again, probably something that fell through the cracks when adapting the novel.

How weird that none of the online reviews or comments mention the time period. They obviously had a lot of fun with it -- at first it seems to be the 1920s, as Anjelica Huston mentions that as a decorator she does "Art Deco" (a term that I believe was coined well after the actual period in which it was in vogue); then Kathleen Turner tells Jack Nicholson her car is an Excalibur, which is an '80's car made to look like something from the olden days. Later they're driving a Ford van from the '60s. Anjelica at one point goes to meet an informant in full-on Alexis Carrington drag, but most of the sets and costumes are '40s film noir inspired.

The Ceremony (1971)

Weddings and Funerals

[7/10 · 17 May 2009]

Probably less of a political allegory than it's made out to be in several reviews I've read, although Oshima's jaundiced view of Japanese society does come through loud and clear. To me it was more of a human story, seen through the eyes of the childlike innocent Masuo, about the strange and fascinating relationships that develop within a powerful, patriarchal, and (literally) incestuous family. The movie starts out with a brief conversation about what it means to be a relative, "just someone you see at weddings and funerals", which reveals itself to be deeply ironic. The narrative largely unfolds around a series of family ceremonies in which the lives of central character, Masuo, and his cousins Ritsuko and Teramichi intertwine thickly and darkly. Much has been said about the famous scene in which Masuo is made to go through with a wedding to an absent bride (featuring the tallest wedding cake ever seen on film), but for me the most memorable scene was when Grandfather gives Aunt Satsuko to grandson Teramichi to initiate him, as Masuo, who is obsessed with her, looks on. Akiko Koyama as Satsuko becomes an otherworldly being before our eyes as she gently directs the process. One of the most perfect and beautiful sex scenes I've seen. In the end it is masterfully echoed in a scene between Masuo and Ritsuko, but with a disturbingly different connotation -- actually referring back to young Masuo's belief that he can hear the cries of the baby brother he says was buried alive when he and his mother fled Manchuria. Like most or all Oshima films, The Ceremony goes off on tangents, backwards and forwards in time, from realism to hyper-reality, and drama to comedy (particularly with a certain nicely/oddly placed spurting-blood effect), and maybe doesn't hold together as well as some of his other work, but it's definitely ambitious, brilliantly acted, brimming over with ideas, wise, bleak and despairing but also playful and darkly comedic.

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

Good Spirit Half Baked

[5/10 · 3 September 2006]

I'm disappointed that audiences are so easily wowed. This movie has some very funny lines and situations, some excellent acting, and a nice madcap sense of humor, but it's also very sloppy in places, blithely contriving a number of unlikely plot twists.

Steve Carell is pitch-perfect, particularly in the early scene where he describes his suicide attempt to Olive. Toni Collette is also good in a blah role. Abigail Breslin is a great find: totally believable and great at turning on the tears. Alan Arkin is funny but something's a little off in his performance; his foul mouth is a good idea but it feels contrived -- he's not senile, so it seems like his behavior should come across as motivated by anger or manipulation. It's odd that the family gets shocked by his language -- they must be used to it, and should have developed a mechanism for dealing with it. Paul Dano also feels surfacey, actory and inauthentic -- again, a wonderfully conceived role, but his performance needs something. Some kind of vulnerability maybe. Greg Kinnear on the other hand looks and feels the part and totally drew me in. His performance in the opening scene is possibly the best thing in the movie. The part is a bit one-note, but he transcends. Also there's an outstanding performance by Paula Newsome as Linda, the bitchy grievance counselor. Beth Grant is very good as the pageant official, and Matt Winston is perfect as the pageant MC.

Some people have complained about the family smuggling Grampa's body out of the hospital, but I believed they might do it, although they might have come closer to getting caught. But the lack of any real grieving beyond a few moist eyes strains belief and makes the family seem pretty callous. And the police officer picking up the porno mags in the back of the van but not noticing a great big sheet-covered body also feels unlikely.

Steve Carell running into his ex-lover and the Proust scholar who stole his thunder in a gas station somewhere in the Arizona desert is possibly the most contrived plot point in the history of film. And Paul Dano suddenly finding out that he's color-blind and Steve Carell somehow knowing that this means he must give up his dream of being a pilot -- and telling him so! -- runs a close second. Also Dano's reaction, immediately throwing a tantrum and giving up his vow of silence, doesn't seem realistic. I imagine it would take time for him to accept that everything he's been striving for has been lost; he wouldn't just take an adult's word for it.

There are many more such moments throughout the film that make me feel that the filmmakers should have spent a little more time on the script; messy little moments that took me out of a film that I wanted to like. Very irritating.

The production design is just outstanding. The very lived-in suburban house, Greg Kinnear's dad-wear, Paul Dano's angry-teenager art, everything is done with accuracy and style. The whole look of the Miss Sunshine Pageant is perfect. Gaudy, grotesque and hilarious.

That Olive's routine turns out to be a stripper's bump and grind is pretty great. I didn't see it coming and it totally made sense. It was nice that they teased it by showing Arkin teach her to do the tiger move early on, but again it should've somehow been established why no one else in the family had ever seen her practice. The pageant itself is wonderfully staged -- very realistic, up to the point where the whole family gets up on stage -- another feel-good moment unearned.

Another quibble: it's mentioned that the family is from Albuquerque, but I didn't get any sense of a regional culture from the way they spoke and acted.

I did like Steve Carell's anecdote about Proust, that the part of his life in which he struggled was the best part. And I also liked Greg Kinnear's line that the only losers are people that don't pursue their dreams because they're afraid of failing.

A fairly enjoyable movie but it could've been so much better.

Grizzly Man (2005)

Treadwell yes, Herzog no

[7/10 · 11 October 2005]

Timothy Treadwell was a true American original, choosing to live a life of danger, discovery, and childlike wonder, during a time in history in which personal freedom was (and is) being increasingly curtailed. He explored how to live as a human amongst wild animals, by the rules of the animals. He discovered a great deal about himself, the state of the human psyche, the state of the planet, and much more, and documented it and shared it with style and heart.

A star-struck and envious Werner Herzog posthumously wags his boring finger at a man who lived his life on the edge and had something original to say. Much like what he did in his doc on Klaus Kinski.

Maybe it's fortunate that Herzog decided to lend his name to this project, allowing it to reach a wide audience, but rather than letting the movie to unfold on its own terms, he constantly and maddeningly injects his own schoolmarmish persona.

At one point Timothy goes on a hilarious rant against all the people that have in any way obstructed his mission. This is clearly Timothy just letting off some steam, and not something he would have ever made public. And it's really funny stuff. But halfway through it Herzog starts accusing Timothy of being paranoid and biting the hand that feeds him. He simultaneously steps all over a wonderfully funny monologue, and utterly misses the point. He seems weirdly competitive with Timothy, and of course gives himself the last word.

I also found Herzog's moralizing over the audio of Timothy's death rather hypocritical. He has no problem listening to it himself, but then turns around and sanctimoniously states that the tape should be destroyed. I think a strong case can be made that Timothy would have wanted that audio to be heard. In the course of the movie he repeatedly says "I would die for these bears," and that his death was captured on tape I don't think was an accident. Similarly, the decision to reveal Timothy's death at the very beginning of the film seems like an unfortunate concession to supposed good taste, and takes away from the rich drama of how Timothy's destiny unfolded.

At the end of the film, over a close up of a bear's eye, Herzog tells us he sees nothing but primitive instincts in the eyes of these animals, as if he's made some big discovery, as if there is anything the least bit perceptive about that point of view, as if we didn't walk into the theater with that preconception. The great thing about Timothy is that he chose to look at reality through a personal prism, opening doors of perception and taking us on a journey to a place we've never been. And Herzog sits there going "no, reality is just boring old meat and potatoes."

But despite Herzog's best efforts to turn this into a film about himself (and maybe to some extent because of it) Timothy's spirit shines through, making this an unforgettable movie.

A History of Violence (2005)

Lovely but lacking

[7/10 · 8 October 2005]

Beautifully acted and staged, but I think it falls a bit short in terms of what it's trying to express. The opening scene is a classic, masterfully paced, with a Spaghetti Western feel. The first act of the film seems to be setting up some complex and fascinating questions about our relationship to violence and the nature of identity. But these themes are then largely abandoned, as the film becomes an extremely well-crafted and entertaining, but not particularly thought-provoking, gangsters and guns thriller. William Hurt I would go so far as to say was delightful, and I've honestly never liked him in anything before. Ed Harris is outstanding too. Garish product placement though: a certain box of Honey Bunches of Oats appears so often that it really should have been given some lines. Also poor Maria Bello displays her naughty bits in one of the more gratuitous nudie shots in the history of the cinema. Mr. Mortensen (good throughout, though not as outstanding as Jeremy Irons in Dead Ringers) shows his bottom more appropriately...