Like Anna Karina's Sweater

Back, and to the left

Filmbrain is having a difficult time understanding the overwhelming negative response to Oliver Stone's Alexander. Though an admitted Stone apologist, he genuinely found the three-hour epic extremely entertaining, and far better than other recent sword-and-sandal ventures. Sure, the casting is a bit odd, but the resulting performances are far better than expected. Filmbrain paid close attention to the screenplay which, while perhaps a bit purple at times, was not as puerile as others have claimed. Still, Ptolemy's (Anthony Hopkins) "Alexander was never defeated, except by Hephaistion's thighs" is a bit cringe inducing. The politics of the film are quite interesting. Several right-wing journalists have accused Stone of hypocrisy -- if Alexander's invasion of the Middle East was justified, why not Bush's? This argument is not even worthy of discussion, but the film goes on to show how Alexander was (to some) a benevolent despot who was quite generous in his victories. However, like Bush, he suffers from not having a well thought-out exit strategy. (Perhaps Stone's decision to portray Alexander as a confused bisexual was a way of ensuring the right didn't embrace him as one of their own.) Those who accuse Stone of turning the film into a leftist polemic due to its openly gay themes need to relax a bit. Even the posse of Greek lawyers has dropped their case against the film. Alexander is not one of the year's greatest films, and maybe not much more than a guilty pleasure, but the combination of giant film + giant theater + giant popcorn on a rainy Monday resulted in a rewarding movie going experience. Even the hodgepodge of odd accents and occasional scenery chewing didn't take away from this cinematic delight. Oh -- an aside to the fellow film patron who seemed to be enjoying himself a bit too much during Rosario Dawson's nude scene -- next time, wait for the DVD, ok?)

Filmbrain's Screen Capture Quiz: Round 3, Week 2

Filmbrain received an overwhelming number of responses for the first week of round 3 -- welcome all first time participants! Somebody wrote in and suggested that links be provided to all the earlier screen quizzes for the benefit of the new players. An excellent idea. After the jump, below, you will find a list of links for the past 21 screen capture quizzes. An interesting phenomenon occurred last week -- an almost identical number of submissions for Capturing the Friedmans (the incorrect answer) and Buffalo '66 (the correct answer). The confusion is understandable, and Filmbrain wishes he could take credit for a clever trick, but it was purely accidental. This week's quiz may seem difficult, for there must be thousands of films with pie scenes. However, if you notice what the diner is having with the pie, the answer should be violently obvious. Send answers (and pie recipes) to this address. Good luck!

The Last Temptation of Kevin Spacey?

Whenever Filmbrain is feeling a bit self-abusive, he buys one or more of the many screenwriting magazines that are published each month just so he can be reminded of how sadly pathetic the art has become, and what passes for great screenwriting these days. Page after page of articles that basically say the same thing -- follow the rules, remain formulaic, have a concept, grab them by page three, don't write characters the audience hates, etc. etc. Between all the sycophantic gushing and hearty back-slapping there's very little in the way of genuine criticism or screenplay analysis, though there are plenty of pages dedicated to the busine$$ -- articles such as "Show Us The Money!", "Remakes: Why Waste Time With Originality?", or "How Do I Get A Damn Manager?!" Then there are the motivational articles ("Believe Your Way To Success!") or tips from the screenwriter of the Rollerball remake on how to write a great action scene. Of course, no issue would be complete without reading about the various six-figure spec script deals for films about talking pies, King Arthur on a skateboard, or the highly original "three childhood friends decide to rob a bank". Sigh. Ben Hecht, Billy Wilder, Budd Schulberg -- where are you when we need you most? Excuse the slight off-topic rant. Yes, there are still some wonderful screenwriters out there, but apparently few of them are interesting enough for these publications. Occasionally there will be a worthwhile article, such as the one in the latest issue of Creative Screenwriting about the Bobby Darrin biopic acted, directed, and produced by Kevin Spacey, Beyond the Sea. (According to the article, Spacey was a co-writer of the screenplay, but IMDB doesn't list him as such, giving sole credit to Lewis Colick.) Filmbrain's first exposure to Spacey was in 1992's Glengarry Glen Ross, and it was remarkable how he was able to hold his own against such greats as Pacino and Lemmon. That same year he gave a wonderfully creepy performance in the otherwise forgettable Consenting Adults, and two years later showed his talent for dark comedy in Swimming With Sharks. 1995 was his breakout year -- both Se7en and The Usual Suspects were mega-hits, and it was his performance in both that helped those films achieve their great success. He ran hot and cold for the next couple of years until his Oscar winning performance in American Beauty. But then....what happened? He did back-to-back feel-good films (Pay it Forward, K-PAX), and a few films that were outright bombs, or simply forgotten (The Shipping News, The Life of David Gale, The United States of Leland). How and why did this interesting, hugely talented actor continually wind up in such duds? When Filmbrain first heard that Spacey was going to do the life story of Bobby Darin, he was excited -- it seemed a perfect role for Spacey, and he's a good singer to boot. But as a director -- that's another story. His first and only other venture behind the camera, 1996's Albino Alligator showed that he had a modicum of talent, but there was nothing remarkable about it. Judging by the article, he seems much more comfortable this time around, though the scope of the project is far larger than a tiny hostage film. The article tells how Spacey wanted to do this project for years, even back when Barry Levinson was going to direct it. Having finally acquired the rights in 2000, Spacey spent the next few years doing the research as well as desperately trying to find funding for the project. Though Filmbrain wonders if Beyond the Sea will be anything beyond a typical biopic, there is a quote from Spacey in the article that got Filmbrain's attention (and was the original inspiration for this post): "Well, if there are two movies that were guideposts for me in developing this movie, they would be 8 1/2 and All That Jazz." If Spacey is true to his word and has managed to channel a bit of Fellini and Fosse, Beyond the Sea could be one of the most interesting movies of the year. However, Filmbrain's inner, cynical voice keeps repeating - Sylvia, Man on the Moon, Bride of the Wind, A Beautiful Mind. . . Will this be the film that re-propels Spacey to the top, or will it be his downfall? We'll know in a couple of weeks.

Tokyo Story

What happened to Alain Corneau? Back in the 1970s, he directed the sublimely dark Série Noire, easily one of the best French films of the decade (and one that badly needs to be resurrected). Best known in the states for 1991's crowd-pleasing, Tous les Matins du Monde, his films have gone from the hard- to the soft-boiled. (Filmbrain has yet to see the 1995 James Gandolfini/Alicia Silverstone vehicle, Le Nouveau Monde.) When Filmbrain heard that Corneau had adapted Amélie Nothomb's autobiographical novella Stupeur et Tremblements, he was curious, to say the least. Would he be able to turn this brief first-person narrative into a successful film, and would he be able to make Nothomb's Japanese characters be something other than the ridiculous caricatures that they are in the novel? The answer is no, and no. Fear and Trembling (as it's called here) is an autobiographical account of Ms. Nothomb's experience working for a large Japanese firm in Tokyo when she was twenty-one. Though hired as an interpreter, she was never given any work of that sort, and the story chronicles her downward spiral from coffee girl to toilet cleaner. The entire novella is set in the office, and the story is told primarily through interior monologue -- there are only a few scenes of actual dialog. This is the first (and major) problem with the film -- about 70% of it is voiceover, and actress Sylvie Testud is simply reciting verbatim the lines from the book. Filmbrain is a hardly a Robert McKee acolyte -- he believes that voiceover can be wonderful in the right hands (read: Scorsese) -- but using it to the extent that Corneau does (he wrote the screenplay as well) shows either laziness on his part, a lack of creativity, or simply a case of a book not suitable for filming. The end result is more like a book-on-tape, with pictures. It's a very flat film in this regard, and the only saving grace is Testud's performance, which is quite good, even beyond her ability to speak near-perfect Japanese. (She was awarded the César for best actress this year.) Unfortunately, this isn't the only the problem with the film. There is another, more complicated issue. When Amélie first arrives at the company, she is introduced to her boss, Fubuki, an untypically tall, beautiful Japanese woman that Amélie immediately adores. Though things seem fine at first, it's not long before they wind up in a Hegelian master-servant relationship. And though Amélie is continually on the receiving end of humiliation and scorn, she still defends and admires Fubuki. While this is a theme that has been explored successfully in other films, the problem here is that Fubuki, like all the bosses in the film, are nothing more than caricatures that are brimming with stereotypical behaviors that border on being racist. They scream and grunt at Amélie, psychologically and physically menace her, and even threaten her when she refuses to eat a piece of chocolate -- and they do all this with glee. Amélie Nothomb was born in Japan, and spent part of her childhood there. It was her love of the country that took her back there at twenty-one. As she says in the book, she wanted to be Japanese, and this is her justification for submitting to all the abuse. "Anyone else in my situation would have quit. But not if they were Japanese. ... I would survive. I would do what a Japanese would have done." Yet if she so adores the country, its culture, and its people, why paint virtually every Japanese character as a sadistic puppet? While it might work in the novel for comic effect, it's a bit disconcerting on the screen. Being a foreigner in a Japanese corporation can be a harrowing, frustrating experience (Filmbrain worked at one in Tokyo, years ago), and it's clear that Ms. Nothomb landed in a particularly tough environment. But does that justify her often grotesque portraits? Filmbrain doesn't wish to come right out and accuse the film of being racist -- that's rather pointless. Corneau takes Nothomb at her word, and the film seems guiltier of ignorance than malicious intent. (Filmbrain is curious to know if those that found Lost in Translation offensive feel the same way about Fear and Trembling.) It is interesting to note, however, that the only scene from the novella not present in the film is one in which a fellow European (a Dutch man) is shown in an embarrassing light -- he has bad body odor from excessive sweat. Was Corneau not comfortable with this scene, or did he feel it just wasn't necessary? Fear and Trembling hasn't been released in Japan (it did play at one festival), and one can only wonder if it ever will. Regardless of whether or not you find the film racist, offensive, or simply exaggerated for comic effect, it is the dependency on and overuse of voiceover that ultimately destroys it. Perhaps Corneau's intention was to build the film around Sylvie Testud's performance -- but even that is not enough to make the film particularly interesting. The novella can be read in about the same time it takes to watch the film. Filmbrain's advice? Read the book instead. Filmbrain would love to hear from others who have seen the film.

Filmbrain's Screen Capture Quiz: Round 3 Begins!

Welcome to the start of the third round of Filmbrain's weekly screen capture quiz. There are some slight changes this time, including bigger and better prizes, but more on that in a moment. First matter of business -- the results of Round 2. Last week's quiz was Filmbrain's attempt to trick you, but very few fell for it. Though the scene does indeed come from the 1965 Bollywood classic Gumnaam, the capture comes from the opening of Terry Zwigoff's Ghost World, which finds Thora Birch watching it on television while dancing around her room. A wonderful opening to a wonderful film. Both Aaron H and Paul M correctly identified the film, and given that Filmbrain hadn't thought of how to end the contest in case of yet another tie, he has decided to award them both with the prize. Congratulations to the two of you! Now on to Round 3! For this round, there will be twelve weeks of screen captures (instead of ten). At the end of twelve weeks, prizes will be awarded to the individuals in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. In case of a tie, there will be run-off rounds until there are three clear leaders. Quizzes will be posted each Wednesday morning at ~7:00AM (GMT -5). Given that there are entrants from around the globe, there is no need to worry about answering first. Entries are accepted until the following week's post goes up. The exciting news for Round 3 is that the good folks at Zeitgeist Films have graciously donated a selection of DVDs from their impressive library as prizes. Since 1988, Zeitgeist has been a distributor of some of the best independent features and documentaries, and their collection boasts films from such greats as Abbas Kiarostami, Guy Maddin, Agnes Varda, and Francois Ozon. Their documentaries include the recent hit The Corporation, as well as Derrida, and Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media. Winners will be allowed to choose titles from their home video catalog, as follows: 1st Place -- 3 DVDs of your choice 2nd Place -- 2 DVDs of your choice 3rd Place -- 1 DVD of your choice. All screen shots will come from films released on DVD that are in Filmbrain's personal collection. (Hint: Jerry Bruckheimer will be associated with none of them.) At least one of the twelve will come from a Zeitgeist film, so check the site for clues. For the first quiz -- an easy one, just to get the ball rolling. As always, send guesses to this address. Good luck!