Change Your Image
Hayes230
Reviews
Saltburn (2023)
The Untalented Mr Ripley
Nope, nope, nope - didn't take too long to start wondering if it was going to be a disappointment, but I decided to persevere to the end so, at the least, I could offer an authentic criticism. This was quite annoying from end to end. It makes me reconsider the intelligence of Rosamund Pike and Richard Grant for getting involved in it, but maybe the money was good. I would just say that people should watch "Angels and Insects" for better taboo drama. The lead - Barry K - is weird looking - like he is always in the process of swallowing really tart grapefruit. I think the story could have been saved if Jim Carey just made it a comedy romp.
What else can I say other than if this is released for sale, it should only be released on Betamax.
The Holdovers (2023)
Spit out the Remy
I had a prep school experience very similar to this fictional school, but my years there were about 6 years later. Still, it depicts the atmosphere very well from what I remember. We even had a smelly, cynical isolated teacher/master like "Paul" - but the man is not a misanthrope, certainly not, since his passion is educating others to history... as much as he complains about his students. I can go on about the accuracy of the school depiction, but I would do better to remark about the atmosphere of the film itself. It makes me want to revisit Hal Ashby material. The relationships certainly feel like Harold and Maude or Nicholson and Quade in The Last Detail with that gritty dust pop feeling of real-reel film and lighting. Not everything is a throwback though - the close-up of the young Morman boy's sad expression after losing his glove (or worse, a mitten) reminds me of Wes Anderson shots and pathos. I also appreciate that the film doesn't just body-slam-judge every white student. The long haired quarterback is simply a nice guy without conceit - he just happens to be fortunate. So there is much to appreciate in the film, but what leaves me puzzled is the Remy Martin swig. Paul's drink of choice is Jim Beam throughout the film - a common liquor to say the least. At the end when he is at the perimeter of the school property and ready to leave his safety zone for good, he swigs the Remy and spits it out. Is this referring back to some historical action? Or is has he found the elevated taste of privilege to be insipid? He speaks of honor throughout the film. Is stealing the bottle honorable? There comes a moment when lying to save a friend is acceptable, and so stealing an object such is the Remy is also acceptable and necessary. I hope this film does well with awards. Maybe other directors, producers and studios will return to constructs like this one.
Nebraska (2013)
Going Home
I had little knowledge of this film other than that it was by Alexander Payne. I appreciate what he's doing and expected that I would enjoy "Nebraska", and I did. I was not prepared for Black and White. When I realized that the film would be B&W, I had to reset my expectations -- sort of take a breath. I think it is my same response if a film is subtitled; there is compact that needs to be reached before undertaking the experience. One more thought about the Black and White is that it is not this incredibly rich depth of field or contrast. There is no intense contrast in the light or shade - this isn't "Elephant Man" or "Raging Bull" B&W. Everything is washed out a little... fatigued, much like the Wintertime setting, or the desolate flatness of much of the landscape. It's as though the settings are a flat canvas for the portraits. So the allusion to fatigue, Winter, the mundane absurdity of survival are all in force, but there's something more about it than just survival. It's about "having survived" and there isn't much left or much purpose to carry on... yet they do.
Payne is at his best with journey/road ventures, whether to wine country, or Winnebago trips to Denver or drives to the plains of Nebraska. There is a stark banality to the humor at times. The acid tongue of the mother (June Squibb) is particularly funny but painfully real. Many points of humor are set up very early and pay off very well.
Many extras (with lines) appear to be locals from either Billings of Hawthorn - real people. Bruce Dern is very believable, and in many ways I think he acts so well that he doesn't seem to be doing much. I suppose he'll be nominated for awards, and no doubt deserves recognition, but for me the best acting was the mother, June Squibb. I would hope that she's nominated for a Best Supporting Actress. My only mild misgiving with the film is the ending. Somewhere near the end there is a great line about the father's vulnerable nature (not just in his twilight, but always). The force of that line deserves something a little more cathartic than the ending offered. Maybe "About Schmidt" was on my mind.
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
More credit owed to the child actors...
I give this film a 9 because over the many years since it was introduced, I can always easily re-watch with the same regularity as films like The Godfather, Chinatown, Network, The Shining, The Big Lebowski, Jean De Florette or The Double Lives of Veronica, Cool Hand Luke. It's a monument.
I believe that the rating on IMDb is very close to what it should be, but the one area of credit that is deserved and should be reconsidered are the child actors. Their names should appear at least in the top third of all the listed actors for this film. They have to establish and carry this film into the greater sphere where it fulfills itself.
Granted, the top tier of actors are the top tier, but Joe Pesci's role, or Danny Aiello's role is minor in comparison to the young actors. And if the list of actors followed the coherence of "top tier" first, Jennifer Connelly would be at the top along with Pesci and/or Burt Young... and for that matter, if Burt Young is listed early-on, so should James Russo.
So - this isn't a review so much as a reminder to anyone that appreciates this film to remember the work of the young actors.
Das weiße Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte (2009)
The nemesis is someone you know.
This reminds me of Jorge Luis Borges' ability to misdirect his audience with facts, histories, that simply aren't true. I've read an adequate sample of the reviews and I find that many if not all draw conclusions (call them "suspicions") about the film using the backdrop of real history - the audience is necessary to conclude this film.
I don't think there is any lesson or allegory in this story whatsoever. The entire story and all that it insinuates about the future serves the art and philosophy of film, not history. The reason for my opinion is the Narrator. I don't want to pepper this review with spoilers, so I will just describe what the narrator is: an omniscient, omni-prescient that provides an early caveat that his memory is dim. The audience is NOT transported to some view outside of the narrator's own recollection or design. No scene plays out without breadcrumbs from the narrative. The "evil" in this story is the ambiguity of its source, the narrator. Worse, the narrator's "dim" memory may just be his way of NOT saying that he himself is the nemesis.
I find it especially wry that one of the last scenes discusses how the towns-people, the rumor-mongers, fall into fevered conjecture about the events that transpired, not unlike the reviewers of this film. This gives the film a palpable sense of Borges and my conviction that we have all been duped by Haneke. Haneke's own words: "Every argument is powerless against feelings. But every interpretation is also correct, because it occurs in the mind of the recipient -- in your mind, in this case. In that sense, you have contributed to the film -- hopefully." Everyone seems to project history on this story. Keep in mind that this film is even more fictional than, say, "The Titanic". At least the The Titanic was based on a real event in history. The White Ribbon is based on a completely fictional village. Even so... we all knew what was going to happen to the ship, but we didn't know what was going to happen to the village - not to worry; there's an archetype, Nazism, to ride like a hobby horse.
The Narrator is speaking to the audience. Whenever he fails in providing a fact it is not because he doesn't remember, but it doesn't suit the construction of the fable. The narrator is outside of the fable alongside each of us.
Who committed all these acts? Who withholds the answers? Who is telling the story? The nemesis.
Any allegory in the fable is complete misdirection; what matters is the psychology of projecting it on each viewer; every ambiguity, every unsolved (undisclosed) puzzle, propelling every individual to make sweeping statements, grasping. I know that I am correct... after all, Haneke says I am. Quotation taken from Der Spiegel interview.
The Freshman (1990)
One of the best American Comedies Ever.
The skill of this movie is how well conceived each character is. If you know the movie well, you can rapidly list in your head at least ten characters because each are so memorable; and considering that all these characters shared only 100 minutes of film - that's something. This is a combination of having well written characters suited to their actors - even the shipping stevedore Leo, aka Big Leo (they are synonymous) ranks as a strongly established character. Add to the mix a quick-paced story with a charming ending and what you have here is a comedy that ranks with "The Awful Truth" or "A Night at the Opera", and of course Rodolfo Lassparri would agree with the latter comparison. Back to character development: think of the bit roles and what the actors did with their few moments on film: the Aunt, the Professor, Bert Parks singing "Maggie's Farm" wearing a Tux and a Sombrero? Warped. Brilliant. The Bert Parks element of this movie may go unnoticed by generations to come, but for mine and for me I think it's great that he may be best remembered singing "There he is, your Komodo Dragon...", because, truly, will footage of the Miss America Pageants from the 70's hold water like this film should? I gave this film a 10 because it is a 10, and the rank of 6.4 (currently) is misapprehension.
Place de la République (1974)
I can almost smell the tobacco resin and the diesel exhaust.
I really enjoy this document. I don't know if I find it fascinating or melancholic or charming... not sure what it is. I like looking back into a world that I didn't know in the first place; yet somehow I feel nostalgic for it. It might be the little things that have changed about all of us: there are smokers, no cellphones, well worn clothing, plain (or less adorned) figures, all somehow charismatic whether brash, jovial, sullen, spent and nebulous. These are people "apres le deluge", war survivors, immigrants, country folk in the city, vamps, authentics. I especially liked the consistency of some of the replies, and Malle's alarm at how many people living near La Place are ill. This film will change like a memories do - watching it from 2007 is a different experience than in 1974 or 1984 or the year after Malle's death. This movie was a service to his country and to all. There is no threatening bias to the document. It may be beyond current historians to even dare to make something like this today; they all seem so bent on imprinting everything with smarmy moral equivocations ala Ken Burns. I would like to see this experiment continued - perhaps someone like Gondry should take to the street again.