"A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer." Ralph Waldo Emerson
As more university students riot in London over Conservative government grant funding cuts (some linking arms in fact to protect not damage police vans against 'rogue' anarchist protestors) the Metropolitan Police warned that "the game had changed" and that Britain entered a new era of protest. Waiting for Superman - the new documentary by Davis Guggenheim (of the Al Gore doco An Inconvenient Truth) is released in the UK this week. It doesn't have the 'bluster' of a Michael Moore doco and is all the better for it as the footage speaks for itself. And what graphics there are prove both witty and downright depressing, highlighting the lack of education in American schools. Latest Washington D.C. school chancellor Michelle Rhee has one of those faces that seems to naturally consistently smile - though probably not to the extent of ameliorating the enemies she's made in shaking up the existing system and closing down ill-functioning schools. Teachers can gain tenure in two years "as long as you keep breathing" (the quote is not hers) and thereafter is impossible to fire them. There's much cause for optimism, though, in the many schemes that are now opting out of the old ways.
Without that education, the role models for most kids moving into adulthood are those of the other films released this week - all focussing on violence and endurance. Not that the latter quality is necessarily negative only that unless one has an all round education the quality that is most likely to emerge and be misconstrued is 'gung ho' not endurance.
When Denzel Washington's Frank Barnes (stalwart engineer) leaps from the roof of one railcar to the next in Unstoppable , he's not doing it for the helicopter news teams, or to prove his masculinity. It's a calculated risk in order to stop the driverless, out of control freight train (based on actual events of 2001). Which begs the question are intelligence and education necessary for bravery?
Kids nowadays are too often given the impression that 'street savvy' is more useful than education. The characters in Tony Scott's film (scripted by Mark Bomback) rather uninterestingly divide into the hard working man versus the out-of touch corporates. Thrilling and (as you'd expect) expertly crafted, everything in the film suggests depth and detail without really delivering. We know no better than to accept the freight train physics on offer (wouldn't it be great to have a DVD interview extra with technical details of the actual event and interviews with long-serving engineers?) And though in a Hollywood pic you kinda expect denouement cut-ways to crowds cheering on the heroes, it does the suspense of Scott's direction somewhat of a disservice. Andrei Konchalovsky's Runaway Train became a metaphor for the juggernaut of human existence - its characters psychological throttling each other in the engine cabin. Tony Scott's train could have been a meditation on man and the machine in an age when the cogs have barely the finance to be oiled let alone managed. The irony of Unstoppable is that it stops while the inertia of its heroes is taken solely for granted.
Riffing on F Scott Fitzgerald's "there are no second acts in American lives", Jason Massot's doco Road to Las Vegas is immediately arresting showing an Alaskan 5-kid Afro-American family arriving in Las Vegas penniless (living out of their car) and 4 years later, after trials and tribulations, surviving with a roof over their heads thanks to "metal girl" breadwinner Vanessa on a wage of $22 per hour when the average is $5. What you don't get,though, is more of a sense of that time or a real sense of place. One longs to hear similar stories and see more moments such as when husband Maurice discovers a bird's nest in the woods - entering an existential world rather than seeming sentimental.
Fritz Lang's classic Metropolis with its newly discovered footage is a highly recommended DVD Christmas gift (if only to then borrow it from the friend you just gave it too;)
George Clooney's sniper in The American (much anticipated from director Anton Corbijn, Control) hopped off the train of life long ago. "I don't think God's very interested in me" says Clooney 'the photographer' to Abruzzo local priest (Paolo Bonacelli) (of the tiny village Castel del Monte) who's befriended him. This mountainous region east of Rome is a world away from even such a small metropolis. Respected critic Roger Ebert felt it harked back to European cinema, "Here is a gripping film with the focus of a Japanese drama, an impenetrable character to equal Alain Delon's in Le Samourai ( Jean-Pierre Melville). ["Bourne meets Antonioni!" is not a marketer's dream tagline"] quipped NYC's Village Voice.
Well, it's a film beautiful to behold - think minimalist Bond movie (Martin Ruhe's cinematography) yet akin to Unstoppable it entices the viewer with detail when the bigger picture isn't really there. Wim Wenders and Bertolucci spring to mind and one is somewhat disappointed. The psychological momentum is all thanks to Clooney's skill at brooding (plus Corbijn's in eliciting those qualities) and the gorgeous girls with guile- Italian prostitute Clara (Violante Placido) and his fellow sniper Mathilde (Thekla Reuten): a very seductive Euro-cine film without classic dialectic qualities. And though the girl you've been sleeping with cinematically wasn't quite a Clara, it won't put you off trying to find one. Whether she'll be the deadliest of the species only time will tell. Very subtle music score by German singer-songwriter Herbert Grönemeyer.
The film grossed $13.1 million opening US weekend ahead of Machete $11.4 million.
In many myths and folk tales, a hero is a man or woman (the latter often called a heroine), traditionally the protagonist of a story, legend or saga, who commonly possesses abilities or character far greater than that of a typical person, which enable him or her to perform some truly extraordinary, beneficial deed (a "heroic deed") for which he or she is famous. These powers are sometimes not only of the body but also of the mind. Heroes are typically opposed by villains. He is a man distinguished by exceptional courage and nobility and strength. I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom. - Bob Dylan
If Robert Rodriguez's Machete (Danny Trejo in the lead) crossed just one more Hollywood border trope it might even be up there in the art house league alongside video artist Tracey Moffat - so consummate is Rodriguez's film craft (director/writer/producer/editor). If you don't enjoy female bitching empowerment/male blood and guts bonding then it's probably not quite your cup of tequila tea. Those left, will grin and chortle as hypocritical Texas senator (repub/dem) McLaughlin (De Niro) hops about, thinks he's home free then gets machine gunned and electrocuted. Or Lindsay Lohan as kidnapped web nympho/daughter April of duplicitous businessman Booth (Jeff Fahey). Or Steven Seagal on webcam till he emerges in the final showdown dressed like the local bar's Chairman Mao lookalike winner. Then there's Cheech Marin as the uber broad church Padre.....what's not to lik...
Gregory Crewdson's new show at the White Cube (West End) Sanctuary shows B/W photos of the long derelict overgrown backlots of Cinecittà studios, Rome. Fascinating photos but are they 'art'?
Mayor Gallery in London has an intriguing show of Christine Keeler images, Daily Mail, The Independent
Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2010 returns to its original ICA home after decades exiled elsewhere. There's much to ponder here (at least 75%) that could easily be the work of a future famous Mr/Ms X/Y. Has anyone been so humorously obvious as Greta Alfaro (In Ictu Oculi) and filmed live vultures devouring a dinner table ;)? New Contemporaries video artist Laure Prouvost shows Charlie(Nov 26) - she seems to be following in the footsteps of Godard whose latest, Film Socialisme, is as intriguing as he always was in piecing together our fragmented existence (released around May, 2011 by New Wave) .
Into Eternity (ICA until Nov 28) is an elegiac yet sobering meditation on nuclear waste disposal. Nobody really knows the future...
Apichatpong Weerasethakul's (of Uncle Boonmee) Syndromes and a Century also plays the ICA (Dec 4/8) as well as some Tarkovsky and other gems...
If George Clooney's Clara's not your type then feisty Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) will definitely give you a workout. If you weren't overwhelmingly gripped by Part II of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy The Girl Who Played With Fire, final installment The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest plays better - perhaps because it works better as a self-contained thriller. Directed by Daniel Alfredson, 'the Section' is a rogue outfit of psychiatrists, politicians, lawyers, still operating after 30 years, whose sole aim is protecting Soviet defector Zalachenko (who raped his daughter Salander hence her mental hospital incarceration to keep her mouth shut). It's great for the Swedes to have a world-wide hit on their hands - all those great unheralded actors getting showcased and the rest of the production team etc etc. And though it's all little more than a very slickly produced thriller, the fact remains that 'Sections' still probably exist in every world democracy. David Fincher is to remake Dragon Tattoo for Hollywood.
Great French theatre/opera director turned cineaste Patrice Chéreau gets a DVD release of an early film (usually only ever seen on TV at 3am) Flesh of the Orchid - (screenplay by Chéreau and another French cinema legend, Jean-Claude Carrière) based on James Hadley Chase’s 1948 psychological thriller. Is Charlotte Rampling’s Claire another victim of society's repressions or a victim of her own making?
Hanif Kureishi had his short story Intimacy adapted by Chéreau: "Patrice seemed interested in the power of impersonal sexuality, in passion without relationship, in the way people can be narcissistically fascinated by one another's bodies and their own sexual pleasure, while keeping away strong feeling and emotional complexity....Patrice and I talked about keeping the camera close to the bodies; not over-lighting them, or making them look pornographically enticing or idealized…The point is to look at how difficult sex is, how terrifying, and what a darkness and obscenity our pleasures can be." Chéreau's Persécution (from last year's London Film Festival) still has no UK release planned. Plus ca change...
Small DVD outfit Bluebell Films also release actress Jane Birkin's Boxes - that reeks of the mid-70's or 80's but is in fact 2007. An illustrious cast conjure the ghosts of Anna's (Birkin) past. Not for all tastes this film.
Peter Blake has witty current work at Waddington's that most certainly helps one see the world differently outside the gallery: Homage 10x5: Blake's Artists
Maya Hewitt's modest nocturne is at Bischoff/Weiss.
Opening today at the BFI Gallery is The Yvonne Rainer Project (VIDEO interview here) - one of America's most groundbreaking choreographers. Showing for the first time in Europe is her provocative 2002 installation After Many a Summer Dies the swan: Hybrid. Associated film programme.
The real hero is always a hero by mistake; he dreams of being an honest coward like everybody else.- Umberto Eco
[ADDITION to last post]
Another impressive 1st writer/director feature from Axiom is Kyle Patrick Alvarez' Easier With Practice (based on a Davy Rothbart short story) following two brothers, Davy (The Hurt Locker's Brian Geraghty) an unpublished writer who drags his sibling along (Kel O'Neill) on his 4 month gig across middle America. Easier to believe than it seems, Davy falls 'in love' for an anonymous caller with whom he regularly starts having phone sex. Alvarez won the Someone to Watch award at the 2010 Independent Spirit Awards as well as his film (one of the first shot on the digital RED camera) being nominated for Best First Feature.
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