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Filmbrain's Screen Capture Quiz: Round 16, Week 11
That's Lord of the Ring Ringo Starr's gardener trimming the grass carpet with a pair of chattering teeth in last week quiz, which of course comes from Richard Lester's overly silly but wonderful Help. While perhaps not as anarchic or groundbreaking as A Hard Day's Night, it is a bit funnier, with at least a half-hearted attempt at a storyline, thin as it is. This was one of those movies that was a staple on Channel 9 (WWOR) back in the 70s, and though I'd seen it about 20 times, it wasn't until I saw it on the big screen (in Tokyo of all places) that it really worked its magic on me.
A quick digression before this week's quiz, to be filed under: 91 minutes I'll never get back. Though it's been justifiably flogged to death everywhere else, I just wanted to toss out this brief description of The Happening in lieu of an actual review, for writing one would probably take longer than M. Night did on the screenplay: A misanthropic thriller that advises us to stay far away from each other, uses mood rings and Cabbage Patch Dolls as it's pop-culture hooks, and includes lines such as "You know, hot dogs get a bad rap" and the oh-so-R-rated expletive, "Cheese and crackers!" That's all you really need to know.
This week: one for the ladies! An actor you've most likely seen from both sides now, so that butt shouldn't be terribly unfamiliar. Name the film. Submit your answers to this address. Good luck!
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June 18, 2008 in Film | Permalink
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Hey Filmbrain, I have to take issue with your very casual attack on The Happening, a film that for all its faults has some incredibly interesting ideas at its core and deserves more than a smug, passing glance. I didn't find the film "Misanthropic" at all. The Happening purposefully transcends hatred, revenge, and spite almost entirely, focusing on the panic of nature and its brutal defense mechanism vs. the panic of human beings under direst. If anything, this film sees mob mentality, guilt, and selfishness as the real destructive forces at work, not advocating people to "stay far away from each other" (the old lady at the end of the film is the ultimate example of how devastating isolation can be), but that we shouldn't sacrifice our personal freedom of expression or analysis in the face of such an event. As for your complaints about the mood rings, cabbage patch dolls, and "cheese and crackers" (admittedly a ridiculous line), these elements are so minute and almost trivial, momentary representations of characters' personalities that really didn't make or break the film for me. The Happening, above all other things, seems to me to be a thriller where the victim is the bad guy, where the wind in the trees represents a fluid chalk line for those trespassing and violating the codes of nature. In Shyamalan's world, people have done this to themselves (pollution, global warming, war, we could go on and on), and like the ending of Romero's Diary of the Dead, asks whether or not we deserve a second chance.
Posted by: Glenn Heath | Jun 20, 2008 2:24:44 AM
Glenn--I have not seen the film, but if I understand you correctly, the film suggests that humans may deserve extinction. Sounds "misanthropic," no?
Posted by: Ed Graham | Jun 20, 2008 1:50:27 PM
Ed -- Asking the question "do we deserve a second chance" doesn't necessarily mean that humans deserve extinction. The Happening shows our stubborn resistance toward grasping the global implications of our actions, and asks how many injustices toward nature will it take for the human race to learn our lesson. With global warming, the War in Iraq, and the countless other important issues on the table, I think it's a valid question. As with Romero, Shyamalan isn't saying humans deserve to be killed off, but since in his mind we've put ourselves in this ecological position (because of power, greed, hatred), he asks how are we going to deal with it? My main point with the prior post was to illustrate why The Happening deserves a bit more respect and analysis than many critics, including Film Brain, are willing to give. And yes, I would recommend you see the film, since I believe to it be much more nuanced than many think, at least in terms of ideology more so than execution.
Posted by: Glenn Heath | Jun 21, 2008 12:38:15 AM
I liked the misanthropic drift of The Happening. It reminded me of population overshoot and collapse, and how humans are likely to have a die-off sometime. Why not in New England? Too bad Shyamalan didn't speculate what would happen to real estate prices after nature's revenge.
Posted by: fdr | Jun 22, 2008 4:22:10 PM
I can't believe I didn't get this.
Posted by: Erin | Jun 30, 2008 1:15:30 AM
FDR, yes! It would be just like pre-Giuliani NYC!
Posted by: Erin | Jun 30, 2008 1:17:59 AM
