First list of 2009. This is, as you probably gathered, is a list of my fave movie directors. This one is going to be a bit different, though. The top 3 are in order, after that, there is no particular order. Enjoy!
1. Woody Allen 2. M. Night Shyamalan 3. Ingmar Bergman 4. Clint Eastwood 5. Quentin Tarantino 6. Tim Burton 7. Kevin Smith 8. Spike Lee 9. Alfred Hitchcock 10. John Huston
To be honest, even I'm surprised that it took this long for me to post this particular list.
This movie put me in a weird mood when I saw it. Here again, it was another film that I would have liked to have seen with someone. However, trying to get people in my age bracket to come with you when you say, "Let's go see the new Woody Allen movie" is pretty difficult. But what can you do?
The movie is about 2 friends who go to Barcelona for a summer. To make a long story short, they meet an artist, and both of them fall in love with him. However, they deal with their love for him in very different ways. Throw in a neurotic ex-wife to the mix along with a beautiful backdrop in Spain.
Let me put another bias on the table: I'm a big Woody Allen fan. Ever since college, I've liked his work. Oddly, I came to know his work through his prose rather than his films. But I digress.
In the film, Woody goes back to exploring relationships, boundaries in relationships, morals and ethics, and the like. Additionally, he addresses the issue of passion, and the consequences of acting according to said passion. This, however, has another side. Just as there are after-effects of acting on passion, so there are consequences for not doing so. Allen addresses this quite matter-of-factly. It seems as of he is not making value judgements here, but I believe he is.
The artist is played by Javier Bardem. He won an Oscar for his performance in last year's "No Country For Old Men." And he deserved it. (That film was also last year's Best Picture.) Another good job by this actor. That's pretty much all I can say about his performance.
The bigger story, for me, is Scarlett Johansson. She makes a great muse for Allen. they seem to work very well together. I've enjoyed their other collaborations ("Match Point" and "Scoop"). She plays a free spirit, and plays it well. I've known people like her character, and she pretty much portrays them nearly flawlessly.
Like I said before, this movie put me in a really weird mood. I wasn't exactly sure what to make of it. Actually, I had the same reaction when I saw Allen's "Melinda and Melinda". I wasn't quite sure what I was expecting, and I wasn't quite sure how I felt about the outcome. This movie raises some quite profound questions (listed above). I have definite ideas about relationship boundaries, and I consider myself to be a fairly passionate person. Allen is a master at making me think. I don't find myself agreeing with him and his worldview often. But he does make a great point at the beginning of the film when he introduces the character of Cristina (Scarlett Johansson). Her character believes that suffering is simply a part of living passionately (a paraphrase).
This film, like the others I've seen recently is worth seeing, if only for the dialogue factor. That is the great conversations that will emerge as a result of seeing the film. The that guy factor does not disappoint either (Kevin Dunn, who played John Candy's brother in "Only the Lonely").
Acting: A- Directing A That Guy Factor: C+ Overall: B
This blog marks the end of a hiatus. This blog has had many incarnations, some successful, some not so much.
Despite the title, I hope to not do much complaining. Most of this blog will be reactions and lists, thoughts and ideas.
This blog will probably not intoduce anything new or be very deep. In fact, most of what's on here will probably be quite inocuous and/or inane (to most of you anyway).
But, who knows? Maybe it'll give you something to talk about while you're bored.
