a new direction

Today I was thinking about the lack of effort put into this project. I have come to view a 'review' of a film as more of a burden than a pleasure and think that it is time to add another layer to The Movie Club for Kids Who Can't Read Good. I think we should make it a group collaborative effort. I propose, in addition to what we are already doing, we get together and all watch a film together and then discuss the film immediately after. This requires each of us to gather information before viewing the film to create the most knowledgeable and intelligent discussion. We have all gone in different directions and I know mine is aimed at film, but I think all of us would have great insight on each film and cause each other to defend and alter our own view of a film. It would be cool if we could each then contribute to a full synopsis of the film and, maybe I am going out on a limb here, post it on this site. Tell me your thoughts.

Kicking and Screaming (1995)

As a college student hoping to never enter the real world, Noah Baumbach’s directorial debut speaks directly to me. A Generation X comedy, Kicking and Screaming, follows the four postgraduate friends contemplating the next steps. Grover’s plans are pulled out from underneath him as his girlfriend decides to study in Prague, Otis finds himself incapable of flying to a Milwaukee grad school only one time zone away, Max cannot find anything better to do than crossword puzzles and sleeping with Skippy’s girlfriend and Skippy, completely lost, returns to school for another year but cannot bring himself to do any of the work. Chet, a tenth year permanent student, only imparts paraphrased wisdom upon the four lost postadolescents as a roaming camera smoothly captures the actors’ witty conversations; Baumbach has identified influence in the loose and experimental Jean Renoir. Lacking a strong narrative web, Kicking and Screaming relies more on the characters and subtleties which is evident in Criterion’s supervised release that includes a crossword puzzle of notable quotes from the film. The connective tissue of this film is the relationship between Grover and his girlfriend, Jane. Suitably, the film uses five strategically placed flashbacks instigated by black and white stills of Jane which prompts the action. The final scene, stylistically intact with the rest of the film, resolves the narrative beautifully as each enters the world, kicking and screaming.

8 - steven

Viridiana (1961)

Luis Buñuel’s Viridiana was a controversial, irreverent vision of a group of beggars exploiting a vacant manor owned by a virtuous, novice nun. Viridiana leaves her Catholic convent in order to visit with her remaining family member, her forlorn, fervent uncle played by Fernando Rey. After a failed seduction, drugging and rape, the dejected uncle hangs himself with his adopted maid’s daughter’s jump rope and the estate is inherited by a contemplative Viridiana. In fear of losing her Catholic values, Viridiana cares for beggars in an effort to change the world around her despite her callous brother. "You can't save everyone," he tells her after purchasing an abused dog from an oblivious owner which is proceeded by another equally abused dog. An instinct to do good is inevitable vain and calamity certainly overwhelms. In one notorious scene, the rampant beggars indulge in a feast accompanied by Handel's "Messiah" and reenact Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.” After destroying the dining hall, the beggars attempt to rape the hospitable Viridiana and, ultimately, a wager is needed to remedy the situation. Long-exiled Buñuel creates a sly ‘fuck you’ to his native Spanish government and the Catholic Church. Although banned in Spain, Viridiana gained worldly recognition and went on to win the prestigious Palm d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Viridiana is not so much an attack on religion as an institution, but, rather, an indirect attack on its futile functionality in connecting repugnant souls.

10 - steven

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008)

I think that Michael Cera is such a naturally comical actor and he asserted that in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. Unfortunately, that's about the only thing I enjoyed in this film. And maybe some of the music. I was somehow led to believe that there would be some substance, depth, and charming quality to this film, but all I found was forced humor, over acting, and a heaping pile of ridiculous jokes targeting the easily amused and recreational film goers. Each scene tries to outwit the next with the same desperate joke one after another. Dim-witted, incompetent, or absent-minded characters, band mates and Tris, or the humor that comes along with this are not appealing to me in the least bit. Regrettably, this film is getting placed near the other worthless attempts at a comedy mixed with a sweet and magical meeting.

4/10 - steven

The Brown Bunny (2003)

For the most part, the first 70 minutes of Vincent Gallo's deeply personal film, The Brown Bunny, are about as boring to me as the life of a motorcycle racer traveling solo across the country. Often five (plus) minutes go by without a peep in an isolated country side containing just a bit of windswept hair. Bud Clay, played by Vincent Gallo, creates a suffocating atmosphere of loneliness and loss as he juggles his sexual tendencies between prostitutes and his lover. Gallo's pretensions are mostly concealed by a reflective, poignant, and emotional story, but this only reveals itself toward the dying minutes. The final scene tries to give retrospect and make up lost ground, but, unfortunately for Gallo, a BJ could not fully redeem this film. There isn't much more to say as there isn't much here.

6/10 - steven

Gummo (1997)

Harmony Korine's directorial debut can be characterized as a hyper realistic view of unrelated vignettes depicting a poor white-trash population recently struck by a tornado. In its wake, the tornado leaves a small populace acting on impulse often in a juvenile and immature way. Making up about half the film are aged montages paired with a detached narrator serenely speaking of suicide, homophobia, prostitution, sexual abuse, euthanasia, or one of the many other issues covered in this film. The other half loosely follows two boys on a quest to rid the town of feral cats profiting at a local butcher shop with the mutilated animal carcasses slung over their shoulder in a garbage bag. Other single scenes include a drunk man(Harmony Korine) hitting on a gay midget, a man prostituting his Down Syndrome sister, several drunk men wrestling with a chair, and two boys 'killing' another boy with bunny ears in a junk yard in which my favorite line is spoken with absolution by a 7 year old cowboy. "It smells like a pile of bullshit!" Gummo is a beautifully shot, idiosyncratic, bleak, and sometimes humorous examination of a community stuck in a spiral of all kinds of bullshit.

6.5/10 - steven

Kids (1995)

Kids follows a sexually active, substance-dependant teen, Telly, as he tries to deflower any and every virgin he meets. He submerses himself into this lifestyle with a group of equally aimless friends. Chloë Sevigny’s character, Jennie, is the extent of depth in this film. She mistakenly finds that she contracted HIV from Telly in her first sexual experience and spends the rest of the film reacting and attempting to prevent another demoralizing blow to a young woman. There is a lot of raw and shocking material that crosses new controversial boundaries and offers brutal visions of a life misled. Though an honorable attempt at an important issue, this film misses what it may have been aiming for. Harmony Korine’s script focuses too much on the excesses and not enough on the characters involved, thus leaving the film shallow, rather disturbing, and overall ineffective.

5/10 - steven

Good Will Hunting (1997)

This film was rather overwhelming to me. I didn’t know quite how to take it. I previously had some familiarity with Gus Van Sant and I knew it got some national recognition through the Academy Awards. Being the auteurist I am, I expected a Van Sant work I had seen before like his later films - Elephant, Gerry, and Paranoid Park. This made me rather skeptical at times and left me expecting something that I was not getting. Once I put this preconception aside, I found this to be a deep and profound film, not that other Van Sant works are shallow and superficial, because surely they are not. There were some very potent scenes. One that particularly stands out to me is Williams’ lengthy monologue in the park which is full of realization and vindication. The scripting of Damon and Affleck is full of intelligent ideas, powerful dialogue, and deep characters which converge to form an intellectual film about self-realization and abandonment. Although it was easily predictable, Good Will Hunting had a compelling impact on me.

9.5/10 - steven

Nói Albinói (2003)

Nói Albinói is a coming of age story set in an isolated fishing town in western Iceland. There is everything you would expect in a story like this – teenage love, defiance in education, intellectually gifted teenager, family problems, and death. Even though this is such an overused template, Dagur Kári finds a way to take this film a step further and single itself out there amongst the plethora of films similar to this. It just may be the fact that it’s a teen angst film set in a remote western Icelandic fiord that does this; nonetheless, it accomplishes a difficult task of removing itself from the mundane troubled-teen film genre. The lifeless little village where Nói resides has fleeting glimpses of a happier tomorrow, but only after disaster and utter obliteration of his family, friends, and town is he able to attain his View-Master’s promised tropical paradise. A story of rebellion, misdirection, and realization, Nói Albinói is one for the isolated and lonely at heart.

7.5/10 - steven

Bottle Rocket (1996)

I have come to be an avid Wes Anderson fan and all that there is in his style-over-content approach to filmmaking. I had yet to see his earliest film and it’s about time. The same techniques used in all his recent works can be referenced back to this first movie. It comes with everything we’ve come to love in Wes Anderson - static cameras, overhead close ups, side tracking shots, Mark Mothersbaugh and pop soundtracks, and a slow motion ending. Both Luke and Owen Wilson make their debuts on screen and Owen begins collaboration with Anderson that includes Rushmoreand Royal Tenenbaums as well; another definitive of Anderson works - repeated cast and crew. Bottle Rocket gets by with a certain quirky charm and has a refreshingly appetizing feel to it. I recommend this if not just to gain an appreciation for a consistent director who over time produces fresh and genuine work.

7/10 - steven