The Mystery of Mazo de la Roche - 2011 - Maya Gallus
Here is the story of a Canadian author I’d never heard of, who was immensely popular and then faded into obscurity. She was intensely private and lived with her sister-cousin all her life; they even adopted two children together. But while there is a lot of room for speculation about this somewhat eccentric woman, it seemed to prove impossible for the filmmakers to actually find any new areas to explore. Though not for lack of trying, it would seem; even her own daughter did not seem to know a thing about Mazo, nor was she ever allowed to know about the circumstances of her adoption.
While at first intriguing, there seems to be just not quite enough to really flesh out the story. While private and mysterious, its not as if she was up to much other than writing her millions of novels, so the film starts to drag a little bit and become frustrating, as there is no answer to the mystery. But otherwise it is well crafted and gives the viewer a good idea of what it is possible to know about Mazo de la Roche.
I’ve been putting off writing this for a couple of days, ‘cause I really couldn’t muster up enough feeling to sit down and write, just as I couldn’t seem to muster up any feeling for any of Keyhole’s characters. If I wanted to make the film sound really appealing, I’d say it was like if The 6th Sense was a 1930’s existentialist gangster movie. HOWEVER, The whole film felt a little like Guy Maddin saying “oh look at my arty ghost movie, isn’t this clever?”
It is one thing to make the laws by which the characters operate hard to figure out, its completely another to make them totally indiscernible and then on top of that to fill your film with misleading non-sequiturs. Which I might have forgiven, if anyone in the film had even been likeable. But just about everyone was an annoying caricature.
Rusalochka (aka The Little Mermaid) - 1976 - Vladimir Bychkov
What do most normal people do if they decide to spend a quiet friday evening in? They probably don’t watch a demented Soviet adaptation of the Little Mermaid, I can tell you that much. Perhaps demented isn’t the right word, but whoever made this certainly had no qualms about completely changing the original story… which would have been fine, if they hadn’t made it a half-musical (is this a particularly Russian thing or a 1970’s thing? Throwing in two or three songs over the course of the movie that don’t really blend with the film but someone thought that a song would hold the audience’s attention better?)
I fully blame Tumblr for exposing me to this one; you see one animated gif of an intriguingly blue-haired girl completely out of context, and a few (questionably legal) hours later you’ve tracked down the entire film.
But I shouldn’t be too hard on Русалочка, its sort of charmingly naive and incredibly literal, but in a cute way. The pieced-together aspect of its sets and costumes is kind of adorable (things range from early medieval to late renaissance in appearance and often look like they’re made out of cardboard, but it somehow works because of the fairy tale atmosphere).
I shouldn’t wait so long before writing these, it’s been several days since I watched it and now the film is a bit of a haze in my mind. But I enjoyed it in a simple, clear-cut way that is much easier to write about than something like Stalker. Ivan’s Childhood is a good, well-paced war film with an amazing protagonist (the titular Ivan) that also has touches of the stylistic flourishes Tarkovsky would later be known for. However, at this early stage (his first feature film) these flourishes feel a lot like they could belong to a Bergman or Fellini film (not that I’m complaining! They are really great to watch and elevate it from being a mere film about the loss of innocence during wartime). This definitely helped to win me over to being pro-Tarkovsky.
I never know quite what to make of Tarkovsky. Is he brilliant, or is he just too vague and slow and weird? I typically come away from his films thinking that I liked them, but with some lingering doubt in the back of my mind (The Mirror was amazing, but Nostalghia left me cold, so it’s been a while since I’ve managed to come back to watching one of his movies).
Stalker is vague and slow and weird, but it uses all those things to great advantage. The theme of being in a place where the laws of nature no longer apply is one that always appeals to me a great deal (see books: House of Leaves and TV: Lost), but is so difficult to pull off convincingly. The amazing set pieces set the tone but the lack of special effects leave most of the tension up to the mind of the viewer. As odd as it is, Stalker wants to be both a sci-fi film and some sort of metaphysical meditation. It’s a little much at times, but it makes for one very intriguing film (and the Chernobyl parallels - an event that wouldn’t happen for another 7 years - are truly chilling).
This movie has been given the most attention ever since, oh, i don’t know, Twilight or something (though it bothers me how everyone is calling it the next Twilight because the two have virtually nothing in common). So its pretty futile for me to yap away about it because that’s what every first-world human being is currently doing. Suffice to say I liked it (quite a lot in certain parts), but I didn’t love it. I’m sure the books expand on the critical/satirical undercurrents, because overall the film is pretty tame in that department (despite being so rife with opportunity!) The bland directing is compensated for by everyone’s stellar performances (even Lenny Kravitz… totally loved Lenny in this movie, what is THAT about?)
Also it was a little tough to get used to, but I could ignore the lighting fast editing and shakeycam (both of which are a little wearying, but maybe that’s because I’m an old person). I didn’t think I’d say this, but maybe I’ll finally get around to reading the books, the movie seems as though it is just skimming the surface.
Alright! My female-filmmaker watching streak continues… not that this one was my choice (stupid oscar pool grumblemumble). So really, is it some kind of rule that if you are a lady director you also have to star in your own movie? Because this is a trend that is pretty hard to ignore. I am trying to think of exceptions to the rule but I’m drawing a blank (except for Julie Taymor, but after the Spider Man musical debacle I’m not sure she’s who I should be turning to. Oh! What am I saying, Lynne Ramsay was not in We Need to Talk About Kevin, so there’s her).
So, right. Friends With Kids. I will save you the trouble of seeing it and just ask you to imagine a version of When Harry Met Sally where everyone has babies. Then you can populate it with all your favourite actors from TV, but instead of their usual selves they are mean and shallow and unhappy. You’ve got that in your head? Good, I just saved you $13. You’re welcome.
So it would seem that I am trying to watch more films by contemporary women filmmakers, and this one is my favourite so far (not that i’ve actually managed to watch more than three). I was really starting to feel as though “slice of life” is my least favourite film genre (and one ladies seem especially prone to falling into? am I right in making that assumption?) but The Future manages to feel a little like a slice of life but with a lot of magic realism stirred in. Plus, there’s an adorable talking cat and a Beach House song, so that’s an easy way to win me over. The whole thing is kind of sad and charming without being pretentious or snobby the way these “I’m a cool 30-something filmmaker” movies can sometimes be. Miranda July knows how to make a movie about ennui without having it fall into the self-pity trap.
I came down very sick very suddenly last night, so I thought instead of wallowing in my own self-pity I would wallow in someone else’s. Tiny furniture is about a film studies graduate who’s just been dumped and moved back into her mom’s house (an incredibly swanky Tribeca loft).
But like, life is so hard, you know? Tiny Furniture is from the auteur school of “this is a movie about me and my boring life, but you’re gonna think its interesting ‘cause I made a film about it.” Except this one hits too close to home; This movie is about a girl who graduated the same year I did, and who tries to make movies (except in reality Lena Dunham is only a year older than me and now she has her own HBO show, so WTF is that about?) What saves this one is the wonderfully crisp cinematography (something more DIY movies about me lack) and the occasional bit of witty dialogue.
The other problem is that nobody is likeable; they are all self-described assholes, my favourite being her emotionally crippled but stunningly beautiful best friend, who behaves in a way that I think would be me in an alternate universe where I had lots of money and grew up with neglectful parents. “Let’s just take an ambien and watch Picnic At Hanging Rock or something.” Haha, Classic Bizarro-Mina.)
All that being said, I’m still probably going to watch her show.
There’s probably a good reason I don’t review movies for a living (okay, LOTS of good reasons) and right now that reason is We Need To Talk About Kevin. If this were a real review, I would have to talk about how well made it is, and how the non-linear story structure is so much more powerful and blah blah blah. But I’m just a little too shaken up right now because We Need To Talk About Kevin is TOO well made. It just does it’s job too well, and I’m mad at it now. “You can’t be mad at a movie, it’s not something you can BE mad at” you will say but you know what? You’re wrong, because you probably haven’t seen it. I would have been able to stomach a movie about the Holocaust better than I did this movie.This kind of personal, knowable evil? I can’t. I just can’t do it. And yes, I brought this on myself. I am fully aware of that.
Incidentally, I may be a little too sensitive. As the credits rolled, the two ladies I was with said “Eh, it was alright.” I didn’t really respond to that, but what was in my head was “WHAT? How do you not want to cry (literally) and vomit (hopefully figuratively) at the same time? How has your womb not shrivelled up and died in order to prevent any future attempts at insemination? What is wrong with you?” Then we descended into the subway, where an old woman was pushing a baby carriage with a cloth covering the top. From inside, there was the insistent sound of a dog barking. “He doesn’t like the sound, it frightens him!” she croaked as we walked past, wide-eyed and suppressing our giggles. I felt a lot better after that.
