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kristen-johnson2
Reviews
Capote (2005)
Class acting and a beautifully written screenplay...
By now you have, of course, heard of "Capote" as the film in which Philip Seymour Hoffman gave the performance of his career, and took away the Best Actor Oscar at this year's ceremony. So, you don't need to wonder too much about the calibre of acting in this flick. Outstanding, to say the least. Where this movie *really* surprises, is the unique and original handling of the biopic; a genre that is very tired, yet always popular and notable for bringing to light the little known nuances and hardships in the lives of celebrities and people of greatness.
Before going to see this film, I was pretty convinced that "Capote" was just another biopic being thrust out in 2005-2006's new biographical "renaissance" (starting with Jaime Foxx's "Ray"), and most likely following the same formula. You know, a young kid down on his luck, abusive and/or alcoholic parents, or a life changing death of a friend, followed by a dream and struggle to be recognised, and concluding with a suicide or death, helped along by some kind of substance abuse.
"Capote" does not follow this formula in the slightest. After seeing the flick, I'm as clueless about Truman's parents, childhood, adulthood, first kiss and struggle to the top as I was before I went into the cinema. To be honest, I had no idea about Truman Capote. "Great American writers" are, unfortunately, just "American writers" here in Australia, which is possibly why "Capote" got such a limited release through independent movie houses across our wide brown land. But, afterwards? I understand a lot about this man, as much as I know about Johnny Cash after "Walk the Line" and Richie Valens after "Labamba". "Capote" does not thrust facts and draw pretty pictures to illustrate the life of its subject, instead, everything about Truman Capote is delivered via the incredible performances, across dialogue, body language, facial expressions, choice of beverage, etc, etc, etc. This method, of course, leaves a lot of questions unanswered, and facts undiscovered, but leaves you wanting to do a bit of extra-curricular study on a few things it nudges you towards.
A fantastic film, that dances across true crime and psychological behavior, driven almost entirely by superb acting (and not just from Hoffman). Some may find the film moves slowly, but for a movie of its calibre, is quite short. Others may be surprised as the film is not quite what it presents itself as.
Last Days (2005)
Not for Nirvana fans... or film fans
Before I get started, let me say that I'm both a huge Nirvana fan and a huge fan of films. This combination of interests got me really excited when I heard Gus van Sant was releasing a new flick called 'Last Days' based on the last days of Kurt Cobain before his death.
After weeks of waiting, I finally convinced my fiancée' to come and see it with me on "Tight-ass Tuesday" and dragged her the whole way. I'm glad it was Tight-ass Tuesday.
Last Days is beautifully shot and Michael Pitt is brilliant in his role of Blake, based on Kurt Cobain. Kurt's mannerisms, voice, and especially his image are represented perfectly and Pitt should be given a lot of recognition for such a great performance. Credit should also be given for the fantastic job of duplicating the scene of Cobain's death. I've seen the actual photos of Cobain's greenhouse many times, and I can definitely say a lot of work was put into that scene to get it accurate.
However, the film as a whole does no justice to the Cobain/Nirvana legacy and is instead a very slow paced film about a character who is similar to Cobain but isn't.
It's hard to tell what van Sant wants us to think in this movie as we are meant to believe that this is NOT Kurt, but it is Blake. However, many parts of the movie are unexplained and confusing... that is unless you know the story of Kurt Cobain.
Why is Blake wandering through the wilderness? Who is the "Private Eye"? Why is he mumbling? The answers to these questions are obvious if you're familiar with Cobain's story, however if you're not, you will be hopelessly lost in the film. In fact, I was also hopelessly lost in the film as there was more fictionalized material thrown in that wasn't explained.
Ignoring the plot holes, the film also let me down with its extremely slow pace. The audience is forced to watch long shots, like random greenery and bushes and Blake preparing food, for a minute up to five minutes. These long shots are obviously meant to evoke the feeling of boredom, loneliness, uselessness and isolation that the character is feeling, however it leaves the audience feeling bored and yes, a feeling of "wanting to get out" which to some drug addicted rock stars may mean suicide, but to an audience in a theatre, getting out is walking through the exit.
Kim Gordon is fantastic in her role as ... something, we never really find out what exactly she is. She is, however, fantastic and her short scene carries all the emotion in the film. I am extremely disappointed that she, and more characters like her weren't in more of the film.
A lot of people have said that this film doesn't answer any questions about the incident, but asks the same ones again. I disagree with this. This film raises NO questions about the Cobain suicide. In fact, if you hadn't heard of Kurt Cobain and saw this movie, you may be asking... "So... he killed himself? I don't get it". Nothing in the movie is made very clear, but then again, there is nothing really in the movie.
Van Sant, like with Elephant, has presented this film in a non-linear storyline, which I am a great fan of, however using it in 'Last Days' simply results in drawing out scenes that you thought were finished and confusing the order of events. It's also not required. For example, there is a scene where a character sings along to the Velvet Underground's "Venus in Furs" (for about 3 minutes), walks into the kitchen, speaks with Blake and then returns. Later in the film, we see the same scene again, however this time we sit with Blake while he cooks Macaroni and Cheese (for about 5 minutes) and then hear the conversation. Presenting this scene again later in the movie serves no purpose but to extend the running time of the film.
Like with Elephant, I understand that this is van Sant's fictionalized version of events and that there is no point griping about historical inaccuracies. My complaint is, however, if you're going to fictionalize an actual event, the common thing to do is to make it more exciting... not a lot less interesting. In my opinion, Gus van Sant has torn out everything that makes the Kurt Cobain legacy interesting and replaced it with nothing. A movie about the last days of someone before they kill themselves could be made without plastering a real person's image on it, and perhaps that's how the film should have been made.
Elephant did not run into these problems. I thought it was a great film, although it did have some missing elements. My one complaint that applies to both movies is the addition of the gay kiss. I'm not homophobic, however the kiss between the two, seemingly arbitrary, characters in Last Days was not required, and stuck out like a sore thumb. Gus, it's not necessary to make men kiss in all of your movies. In Elephant, on the other hand, while the gay kiss may not have been necessary (as a lot of critics complained) I think it did add a lot of curiosity and a new insight into the characters.
In summary, Last Days is a poor movie, and an even poorer biopic. Film fans should stay away, Nirvana fans should perish the thought. This movie is not about Kurt Cobain, not in the slightest, so if you're a fan of Kurt, DO NOT BOTHER. There is a lot more about this movie that I would like to point out, but I think I've said enough.
Heavy Metal Parking Lot (1986)
Funny, but not "ha-ha" funny
When I read about this flick, it intrigued me as a heavy metal fan, and as a short and indie film fan.
Unfortunately, it isn't exactly the laugh a minute I expected it to be.
It runs for 18 minutes, a lot of which is "montage" shots. The actual interviews are quite amusing if only for the clothing, hair and language.
Possibly the funniest thing is the people saying "Metallica are the best metal band"... funny because Metallica aren't a metal band any more.
Keep an eye out for a Nigel Tufnel lookalike dressed in a zebra body suit, with a distaste for punk and Madonna.