2 Days in Paris / Two Lovers

I'd read a review of 2 Days in Paris, Julie Delpy's directorial debut, which described it as being rather Woody Allen-like, and it really is an apt description. I know Delpy mostly from starring in Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, which I happen to think are two of the most romantic movies of all time, so it was great to see her onscreen again. She strikes me as eccentric and kooky but down-to-earth at the same time. Her boyfriend in the film (played by Adam Goldberg) reminds me of so many neurotic people that I know, so it was kind of fun to watch him blunder his way around. The movie ranges from cringe-inducing to neurotic and messed up, but kind of sweet and decent, too. I really liked it, but when we lent the film to a friend, who admittedly has the opposite taste in movies than we do, he said he had to turn it off after fifteen minutes because he found the characters too whiny. A chacun son cinema!

The same friend recommended Two Lovers by James Gray to us, and so logically it would follow that we wouldn't like it. Actually, Joe thought it was just okay (though he was under the impression it was going to be a RomCom and it wasn’t), but I found it surprising and not too affected. I was surprised when the Joaquin Phoenix character, who seems a bit like Marty, a guy who lives with his parents and seems socially awkward, goes out to clubs and breaks with the best of them. Well, I guess that was the main surprise… besides the fact that the film paces itself out beautifully, takes its time with it. Gwyneth Paltrow gives more depth in her bad-girl portrayal than I’ve seen in some time. Isabella Rossellini, who is always wonderful, plays Joaquin’s mother wonderfully. The scenes are quiet and well-observed. Both these films ended up being paired well together in very opposite yet kind of complimentary ways. Nice!

Happy-Go-Lucky / The Wrestler / The Fountain

I'd heard way too often that Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler was a pretty good film, which is the perfect way to ruin a film with high expectations. For example, Joe and I started watching Happy-Go-Lucky, Mike Leigh's latest, which we’d also heard was a good film. After ½ an hour, we decided not to continue. We found ourselves rather annoyed by the main characters, especially Sally Hawkins with her continuous cackle. Same as with the whimsical music that kept popping in. I may return to it, however, as I’ve heard that the beginning of the film is a bit of a misstep for Leigh, and I'm a fan of his earlier works.

The Wrestler, in spite of all my preconceptions, surprised me. It struck a good balance between gritty realism and Hollywood storytelling. It seemed heartfelt, and its excellent script was not too maudlin when it had so many opportunities to be. Mickey Rourke is great as an excellent ex-wrestler trying to make a come-back after a heart attack takes him out of commission. And we get a peek into behind the scenes of the world of professional wrestling, which seems way stranger than anything I could dream up, like stapling one's opponent with real staples. Whoa! Director Darren Aronofsky seems to be back on track after his strange and fantastical flop, The Fountain.

We actually hadn't seen The Fountain prior to seeing The Wrestler – well, not more than twenty minutes before giving up on it – but we were so impressed with Aronofsky’s latest that we thought we'd give it another shot. I can't say I regret doing so, if only because I haven't seen anything so outlandish in quite some time, but it was really, really, really, um, strange. Not in a good way. New-Agey and sentimental and poorly acted. I'm glad that The Wrestler followed, because I might have written Aronofsky off, otherwise.

Moon

The first thing I noticed about Moon is that for a science-fiction film, the set is very human. The machines looked used and duct-taped together, and have sticky notes posted to them with instructions like "kick me". The living quarters are a comfortable mess. It's so much more realistic than those super art-designed classics that we all know and love, and which are often alluded to in the movie. For instance, the computer named Gerty (voiced by Kevin Spacey) is calm and soft-voiced, but it isn't evil or malicious, though of course you expect it to be. Sam Rockwell gives a brilliant, understated yet anguished performance as a man who's about to finish a three year solitary mining contract on the far side of the moon. Clearly, three years of solitude is too much for a man! Duncan Jones has made a really wonderful film... with no hyperbole, Moon was the best new movie I'd seen in quite a while, a quiet, humanist sci-fi tale.

Bloody Sunday

Paul Greengrass's Bloody Sunday was a revelation in docudrama. It's riveting, gritty, chilling, sickening, but not in the least bit exploitative or overdone. In 1972, during a pro-I.R.A. civil-rights march in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, 27 unarmed civilian protesters were gunned down by the British Army, and 13 killed. Though Greengrass is obviously on the side of the Irish-Catholic demonstrators, he presents two contrasting points of view throughout the film. We see the protestors, ordinary Irish folk, lead by Ivan Cooper, their member of Parliament (a wonderful performance, full of gravity, by James Nesbitt); and we see the under-trained soldiers in British Army preparing for the confrontation, their anxiety, their disdain for the Irish “hooligans” and their confusion going in. The events are presented simply but deftly, building with tense emotion to the imminent clash.

The camera is handheld, but most importantly, not too hand-held, avoiding the jerky motion-sickness-inducing motions of The Blair Witch Project but lending the aesthetics of documentary film. And there is no music throughout, just dense soundscape and overlapping dialogue. Bravo! There is nothing I hate more than inappropriate or overdone music.

Until the end, anyways, when it faded to black and the credits started to roll. Oh no, I thought, there’s going to be a U2 song now. And there was! It took me a moment to realize that the song was, what else, Sunday, Bloody Sunday, and then I remembered that I used to love this song when I was a teenager and was really into U2. But now, I have trouble taking U2 seriously after they became ironic rock stars, then at some point, seemed to lose the irony.

But that's such a trivial digression. Bloody Sunday reminded me of every civil rights movement in history, of Kent State, Tianenman Square. It's an amazing feat of filmmaking, and having seen it, I might reconsider seeing United 93, Greengrass’s portrayal of the events of 9/11 and the plane that didn’t reach its target (though I’m still not convinced of the necessity of that film's existence). Bloody Sunday, however, is a completely necessary film, an outrage, a challenge, an impassioned shout for justice. See it!

The Cove

One of the most talked about documentaries on the film circuit this year opened in theatres this week, and having found ourselves with a rare afternoon off, Joe and I of course went to go see The Cove, a documentary about a small, carefully-guarded lagoon in Japan, where over 20,000 dolphins are killed every year. The press about this film has been overwhelmingly positive and I have to add my voice to the accolades, and my most sincere urging to go see it. It’s not only an activist film, but a taut, harrowing thriller. It teems with passion, and rarely did I feel that it was showboating or soapboxing.

Joe, a staunch vegetarian, ranted afterwards about people who are horrified that anyone could eat a dolphin, but who are happy to eat cows or pigs, to which I had no reply, since I might be counted as one of those people. And sure, I could see his point, being a lapsed vegetarian myself (but oh, the bacon...!). On the way home from the theatre, I had a craving for a Vietnamese salad roll with shrimp and sliced cold pig (why not call it what it is?), which I got at a great little take-out place on Jean-Talon Blvd. It was delicious! But I recognize that I should at least be extremely picky about the animals that I do eat on occasion, which I mostly am. What constitutes “extremely picky” would constitute a whole other discussion, rather than a simple digression. But I digress... I hope this doesn’t distract from the issue at hand!

Most people I’ve spoken to don’t want to see this film. I, too, had hesitations. I could imagine the horror of a dolphin slaughter perfectly well, and didn’t want to have to see it.
However, I can say that The Cove is not needlessly violent, and there is only the one main slaughter scene, the crux of the movie. The Cove is more about the efforts of Ric O’Barry (Flipper’s trainer-turned-activist) and the filmmakers to expose the secret slaughter, and the espionage aspects of the narrative certainly are tense, but it's great storytelling as well. By the time the slaughter is finally captured, we are well-prepared for it, and on the side of O’Barry and the film team. The Cove is really well-made and passionate documentary, and needs to be seen.