Letters from Iwo Jima

I was really looking forward to this second part of the Iwo Jima saga as envisioned by Clint Eastwood. I thought it was the coolest idea - to shoot two movies looking at the same battle from the opposing viewpoints. This one was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and won for Best Sound Editing. Even more I was looking forward to the story as told by the losers... after all, twenty thousand Japanese soldiers died on that little chunk of rock and held off the overwhelming American forces for 40 endless days. The stuff of epic...

I was HUGELY disappointed in this film. Where do I begin? I'll start with the writing (best screenplay?) which I found so loaded with stereotypes as to be almost comical and so obviously written by an American; her surname may be Japanese but it is very clear that her native culture invented McDonald's. There are the repetitive battle scenes straight out of Flags of our Fathers with little change in perspective, all cleverly tied together so that the two movies mirror each other - neither offering any insight into the other. And after a half hour of reading subtitles of uninspired dialogue and watching even talented actors like Ken Watanabe overact all over themselves to give this mess meaning, I was ready to commit hari kari.

Again, Clint Eastwood is a lazy storyteller. I guess I understand shooting battle footage once for the sake of the budget, but could we have altered the camera angles or something? He used the same soundtrack, for heavens sake. Maybe I could have been kinder if I had seen this movie first... but I doubt that there was a need to make it at all. At least Flags had a point. Website here.

Jesus Camp

Documentaries can be borrring. I can tell you that this one is anything but. It's harder to look away from than a train wreck and was rightfully nominated for Best Documentary. Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, who admit to having no previous experience with the Evangelical movement, managed to make a film that walks the most incredible line ever imagined. The religious subjects of their film were delighted with it. And anyone not of that bent will be horrified. As I was.

Jesus Camp follows three intelligent, articulate children (Levi's 13, Rachel's 10 and Tory is 11) as they experience the "Kids on Fire" summer camp in Devil's Lake, North Dakota. Pastor Becky Fischer is the force behind the children's ministry where kids as young as 6 are taught to become dedicated soldiers for Christ. Becky shares, the kids share, their parents share the very passionate beliefs they hold about child rearing and the evils of the secular world(read abortion and Muslims.) The only voice of dissent present in the film is that of Mike Papantonio of Air America as he reiterates our rights of separation of church and state.

These brilliant filmmakers manage to remain completely neutral as they present this material for you. So much so, that of all the folks in the film, only Ted Haggard felt misrepresented (all this prior to his fall from grace.) You can call it what you like, but whipping 7 year olds into hysteria about their need to repent is child abuse in my opinion and was not easy to watch. Still this film puts a spotlight onto a movement in America that is moving more and more into the mainstream. This is an important little film. Official website here.

Flags of Our Fathers

I have a love / hate relationship with Clint Eastwood as a director. On the one hand, I think he has an amazing gift for pulling the absolute best performance out of any actor. On the other, I think he tends to be a lazy storyteller, relying too heavily on those actors. Both his gifts and his flaws are on display in Flags - a moving anti-war film that works despite choppy editing and poor story structure.

Flags of Our Fathers isn't about the battle of Iwo Jima, it's about the famous photo of the flag being raised on Mount Suribachi. The photograph, taken by Joe Roesenthal on the fifth day of the siege on the island, was on the wire service around the world with 18 hours of being taken, and became an icon of victory for Americans. It also launched the six ordinary soldiers caught raising a replacement flag (the first raised was coveted by a high ranking officer) into a weird superstardom. The three who survive long enough to become "the heroes of Iwo Jima" are cast into a propaganda circus, and struggle to make sense of the horrors of it all - war and war machine.

Eastwood gets his performances, most notably from Ryan Phillipe and Adam Beach - who's teary, tender moments are heartbreaking. But it's hard to follow the story as he jumps from narrator to narrator. I got the drift in the end, and it's a good one - that soldiers don't fight wars and become heroes for a cause or even for their country... they fight for the men they eat with, their friends, their mentors. For all it's flaws, this movie puts Saving Private Ryan to shame. Official website (with some nifty history) here.

The Lives of Others

When Pan's Labyrinth lost the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, I was shocked. After all, that brilliant little Mexican offering had already won several technical awards usually reserved for our domestic product. It was a tough call, I'm sure, but I have to agree with the Academy on this one. The Lives of Others is a gem.

Set in the German Democratic Republic (read East Germany) before the fall of the Berlin Wall, the film follows a time in the life of Capt. Wiesler (Ulrich Muhe,) a respected officer of the Stasi (read Secret Police) whose job it is to know everything about the"lives of others." After being assigned to watch a squeaky clean playwright and his actress girlfriend, Wiesler discovers that this investigation has less to do with politics than with the sexual aspirations of a ranking official for the girl. His dedication to his work becomes further eroded as he watches the couple drawn deeper into the intrigue of revolution, and with his involvement comes a terrible choice. Surrender his career or let them slip to their doom.

The Lives of Others is a splendid examination of the paranoia bred of oppression and the humanizing effect of "becoming involved." This message is terribly relevant today, complete with unregulated surveillance, blacklisting, and torture. Ulrich Muhe is amazing, making Capt. Wiesler a character who will be hard to forget. We need more films about people making moral choices. Don't miss this haunting masterpiece. Great website here.

You Kill Me

I have trouble with what passes for comedy these days, which is why you'll note that I don't review many. As the commercial success of films like Borat confirms, what passes for comedy is - for the most part - stupid, mean spirited and in bad taste. So I have to admit to being positively giddy about this little gem of a film. With a smart screenplay, fine direction and a picture perfect cast - this is my idea of great comedy.

Frank Falenczyk (Sir Ben Kingsley!) is a hit man for a low level crime family out of Buffalo. He is also an alcoholic who's out of control consumption ultimately causes him to miss a crucial job. When he's sent to San Francisco to clean up his act, or else, he enters AA and starts the 12-step process with a vengeance. Are you following here? Just inserting an assassin into the culture of 12-step should have you giggling; he's so earnest at the podium trying to explain how his drinking has interfered with his work while the fellow addicts all nod in empathy. Add the romantic interest of Laurel (Tea Leone!) and his gay sponsor Tom (Luke Wilson!) and you have a delightful tale of redemption... well, of a sort. He really does love his work.

John Dahl artfully directs, but this cast of pros including Bill Pullman and Dennis Farina are so obviously enjoying themselves, how could this go wrong? Tea and Sir Ben, both masters of deadpan delivery, also manage a sweet chemistry. I hope these young writers (Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely) keep this kind of comedy flowing. We could all use this kind of laugh more often.... Check out the website here.

Perfume, the Story of a Murderer

Okay, there's strange and then there's uber-strange. You know I have nothing against a little oddness, being a little odd myownself, but... this film takes off into a whole new realm of weird. I think they were aiming for high brow. They missed. I'm thinking a head or two at Dreamworks must have rolled.

Based on a 20 year old international best seller, Das Parfum by Patrick Suskind, Perfume is the story of Jean-Baptiste Granouille, a child of misfortune born in 18th century Paris with an extraordinary sense of smell. Just being in an 18th century city with a sense of smell at all would be a misfortune, but Granouille (Ben Wishaw) pursues olfactory experience with a relish that leads him to become a happy little serial killer. And that's not even the weird part.

A lavish period piece with fine cinematography (you've got to admire when a visual medium actually conjures up smells for you,) with, get this, Dustin Hoffman and Alan Rickman in supporting roles, now that's got to sound interesting. And although there are moments when the film almost saves itself with some good ol' black humor, I'm afraid the descent, if you'll pardon the pun, into bizarre was too much for me. Check out the equally lavish website, where you can purchase a $700 perfume coffret, here.

Zodiac

David Fincher is not my favorite director. Remember Seven? Probably the slowest serial killer movie ever. You could nap during all the aching cop "what's it all mean?" stuff even with Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman. Well, he's done it again. Zodiac is slow - slow to get started, slow to get to the point, slow to reveal why Jake Gyllenhaal is even there. But look on the bright side. It's also long.

Now you think you know that this film is about the Zodiac killer who terrorized the Bay Area in the late 60's'/early 70's, less with his killings as he wasn't all that prolific, than with his taunting encoded letters to the press. You would be wrong. It's really about Robert Graysmith (Gyllenhaal,) his obsession with the killer and the subsequent bestsellers he wrote about his theories. This story is Graysmith's interpretation of the events, so don't start taking notes.

Now I adore Jake Gyllenhaal, but he's wasted here. As are Mark Ruffalo, and Robert Downey, Jr. (who's starting to do the Jack Nicholson thing and only portray himself - as in eternally stoned and cynical.) I'll throw them a bone to say that the Zodiac saga leaves much to be desired in and of itself - what makes it interesting is what's missing - an ending. The film gives us one, if you want one bad enough you'll find it. Even if it's false. (The official website slowed my computer to a crawl, but if you want to, try it here.)