obscure movie pick of the week: Old Joy

In an effort to produce something more dependably regular here on art under your nose, I plan on routinely recommending a lesser known film weekly. I'll try my best to give you a good reason why you should waste your time and perhaps money on these fantastic works of cinema, usually by posting a past review I've written of the film.

To start off... This week, I was finally able to catch up with Kelly Reichardt's third or fourth film (depending on who's counting) Wendy and Lucy, an amazing little film that really packs a punch. It reminded me of how great Reichardt's previous film was. Released in 2006, Old Joy was in my personal top 10 of films from that year (a year filled with fantastic cinema like Pan's Labyrinth, Children of Men, and Half Nelson). Both films contain similar themes of anti-materialism and alienation presented in very distinct ways that reach you very differently. Both are highly recommended.

Below I've included a short review of Old Joy, which I wrote shortly after seeing the film in theaters.

Why you should see it:

What a deeply touching film this is! A movie about the refreshing nature of our youth, as well as male camaraderie and the eventual separation between friends (and that's just one of its many themes), Kelly Reichardt's Old Joy is one of the most tragic films of the year as well as one of the best. A film that definitely stays with you, with a powerful thought provoking message that's surprising for a film lasting a mere 76 minutes.

Such a timely film, Old Joy is the story of two men who at one point were more than friends, overly-close "bonding men" of sorts, but now have grown apart; one of them choosing a more stable/traditional married life (and expecting a child) while the other continuing with the hippy, carefree ways of his youth. As they go on a road trip in search of a more scenic destination, the subtle tension between the two steadily increases leading to more than a couple thought provoking conversations amongst the two friends, as well as a stunning climax of great restraint and depth. Perhaps the film is more geared towards men, but it's themes of separation in a bitter, indifference-promoting world, and later themes of helpless alienation are universal.

Now, this is not a movie for everyone! This is a very minimalist, if not flat out slow, film along the lines of Malick or Antonioni. And as with many of those directors' films, most of the audience in my theater was restless throughout, laughing as they left the auditorium in bewilderment. I've said it before and I'll say it again: these people just don't get it! They're too accustomed to today's overly explanatory films that when they're forced to do a bit of the work themselves they're lost and don't know how to "read" the film (movies are a form of literature after all), thus labeling it a boring or pointless exercise. And so the lazy cinema from Hollywood today has once again ruined new and inspired cinema for the masses. . . sigh . . .

If you enjoyed last year's masterpiece The New World, or any other such "slow" films, then Old Joy is definitely the 2006 indie release for you.

killing two institutions with one (celluloid) stone

I recently caught Tony Gilroy's new film (his 2nd) Duplicity (his 1st, Michael Clayton is stunning), starring Julia Roberts and Clive Owen, and it's another case in which I can't for the life of me get it out of my head. Most at first, like myself, would be fooled into thinking it's merely a fun caper-film, a-la the Ocean's series. A throwback to the sexy, fun spy films of the sixties (To Catch a Thief comes to mind). And Gilroy is certainly guilty of fashioning the film in this vein; it's slick and witty style is nothing new, no matter how well it's done. But don't allow the film's flair to distract you. Behind Roberts' glistening teeth and Owen's chiseled jaw-line is a great scathing critique of not only (more obviously) American capitalism and big corporations but also of a far older institution. One that at times is far more transparent and falsely grandiose: marriage.

While Duplicity's main characters are not married, they do claim to love one another exclusively with the same "good intentions" (for the future) and intimate commitments any loving couple would have for one another. The problem is they don't trust each other. Without ruining the ending, to make a long story short... money is the root of nearly all evil. It ruins everything! Including any decent relationship, turning it into a simulacrum of a impossible ideal. Put your trust in money and it will only leave you lost, lonely, and depressed.

Keep this in mind when going into the film (viewing it more as parable then reality) and I guarantee you'll appreciate it alot more.

putting on a show

Normally I wouldn't post something so specifically about myself, but I think this calls for an exception. And normally I wouldn't re-blog something, but seeing as how this one concerns me specifically, I thought it appropriate.


There are very few times when I have been more proud of myself. It was a great, nerve-racking (to the point of losing 10 pounds) accomplishment...

http://elegantsips.tumblr.com/post/87730514

"a painting has a life of its own, i have to let it live"

[wrote this a while ago but never quite finished it the way I wanted... figured I'd finally just post it anyway]

Many artists, from Pollock to Warhol to Basquiat, spoke (perhaps facetiously) of a particular state of mind they got into, a zone, a place where they ceased being artists and taped into something else, something unexplainable and very different. Some argue this is a metaphysical or ethereal place the artist is pulling from, when an artist is no longer thinking of his art nor is he an artist but instead merely a tool for something that already exists (be it somewhere out there in the ether, in a parallel universe, etc.) to be transcribed and communicated for others to look at, ponder, be enlightened by, and enjoy. Their work is "meant" to change the world (at the risk of losing credibility, it's kind of like in that recent mediocre movie by M. Night Shyamalan).

Others think these people are taking crazy pills. And some fall somewhere along the middle.

And so, the question arises (as it did at work, in my case, one inspired afternoon): What do you think? Are these moments of unexplained artistic genius moments in which the planets align and we gain a glimpse into an another universe; are they simply products of a night of drug induced hallucinations; or do these moments fall somewhere in-between, unconsciously grabbed from a collective subconscious otherwise untapped by and hidden from the masses?

I, for one, fall somewhere along the middle. I believe we are what we create and vice versa (what we create is a product of who we are). We may not be aware of it but even when we get lost in something we love (be it art or even another human being) it explains chapters worth of who we are and what we truly care for, live for, and yearn for. Perhaps these artists are taping into something which we might’ve been better aware of earlier during our childhoods, but is now clouded after years of disillusionment as we've grow older and colder.

Pollock and his contemporaries have always been a general point of interest and perennial favorite of mine. No matter how new or daring contemporary art gets I always go back to them.

Now I turn it over to you:

1. Check out the video below (listen, particularly)...

2. Think about the above...

3. Let me know what you think...




"sometimes i lose the painting... "

if i were the academy. . .

Best Foreign Language Film: 4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile (4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days) or Ano em Que Meus Pais Saíram de Ferias, O (The Year My Parents went on Vacation) (I have yet to see The Class, Gomorra, or Hunger)

Best Animated Feature Film: WALL.E ( a given, it's Pixar)

Best Original Score: Alexandre Desplat, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Art Direction: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (the academy got this one right)

Best Editing: The Dark Knight

Best Cinematography: Paranoid Park

Best Adapted Screenplay: Doubt

Best Original Screenplay: The Wrestler (though I have yet to see Synecdoche, New York)

Best Supporting Actress: Viola Davis, Doubt (however, I wouldn't by any means consider Penelope Cruz a bad choice)

Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger (sure he HAD to win considering his death, but I'll be damned if he didn't deserve it)

Best Leading Actress: Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married (a tough one, especially considering I haven't seen Frozen River or Wendy and Lucy)

Best Leading Actor: Richard Jenkins, The Visitor (subtle brilliance)

Best Director: Cristian Mungiu, 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days

Best Picture: 4 luni, 3 săptămâni şi 2 zile (4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days) or WALL. E

Full list of actual winners here.

fun with russian constructivism!

moma, new york. 12-08.

it's a tough job, but. . .

"This is the WORST art collection ever!"
-art appraiser, on a collection including mostly Romero Britto's "art".

month-late ruminations on the year in film, 2008

Probably the worst year for film this decade. . . What a terrible year in film!. . . After such amazing releases in 2007, 2008 was a proverbial nosedive in originality and progress. . .

I've been reading and listening to statements very similar to those in the past few months. And I don't blame those who said them, I'm one of them! The year was filled with mediocrity and disappointments. Releases from storied, respected studios, actors, and directors left me disillusioned; and the year was filled with countless forgettable and uninspired performances.

Case in point: the abysmal, self indulgent Changeling from the legendary Clint Eastwood who for the past two decades, up until this point, has been continually producing some of the best cinema this side of the Atlantic. His first and much hyped film of the year was nothing short of tedious. And not only was Changeling a pointless bore, including an eye-rolling, calculated one-note performance from Angelina Jolie, but Eastwood's second release Gran Torino, while an improvement, was terribly acted and overly manipulative. As appealing as Eastwood was on screen, let's just hope Gran Torino is not the swan song many see it as for his acting career.

Eastwood, however, wasn't the only respected director to crash and burn in '08. Both the Coen Brothers and Fernando Meirelles released high-profile misfires (to varying degrees) with Burn After Reading and Blindness, respectively. Even foreign cinema had its slip-ups with the mediocre yet inexplicably highly praised French thriller Tell No One and the better, yet cliche and predictable, German Nazi era drama The Counterfeiters which undeservedly one best foreign film at last years Academy Awards. And even with the release of and subsequent hysteria over Christopher Nolan's masterpiece of the superhero sub-genre The Dark Knight, there was still a plethora of over-hyped and overblown distractions like Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk.

Some more of 2008's disappointments (most of which I didn't even bother to see):
Australia
The Spirit
The Reader
The Lucky Ones
Quantum of Solace
The Secret Life of Bees
W.
The Promotion

Nonetheless 2008 did have its fair share of near-great films as well as two films I could honestly say are bonafide masterpieces (my top two below).

I make a top 30 each year and this year is no different. So far I have 24 films on my list of the best of the year, the first six of which I consider severely flawed in some way or another. It excludes quite a few like Gomorrah, Waltz With Bashir, Wendy and Lucy, Synecdoche, New York, and Man on Wire which are on my wish list but have yet to see.

24. Cloverfield
23. Last Chance Harvey
22. Son of Ranbow
21. Be Kind Rewind
20. Blindness
19. Valkyrie
18. Ne le Dis á Personne (Tell No One)
17. Gran Torino
16. Burn After Reading

When you've got films like those so high on your list, you know somethings wrong.

15. Die Fälscher (The Counterfeiters) - I would've preferred for the suspense to have been a bit more refined but frankly using the past to represent the present is done so well here that I can't really complain. This film says almost as much about the evils of ruthless American style capitalism as it does about the Nazis. The lead, Karl Markovics, isn't brilliant but beyond sufficient, carrying the film when needed on the rare occasion that the screenplay fails. As opposed to most films, I'd love to see a (heavily ironic) American remake of this, although keeping with the original's subtlety.

14. Rachel Getting Married - The best example of cinéma vérité since the last Dardenne Brothers' film, I felt as though I was present for every minute of it.

13. Frost/Nixon - I'll echo here what I said on my Twitter. . . While no best picture, Frost/Nixon is certainly riveting and thought provoking. I would love to see the original stage-play version. Ron Howard, however, is still dead to me.

12. Vicky Christina Barcelona - It's Woody. . . in Spain?. . . I'm there.

11. Funny Games - A great remake of a great film from an amazing director. The fact that its a remake adds another layer of genius. Michael Haneke does it again.

10. Paranoid Park - It doesn't hit you until far after you've left the theater. This is a tragic, haunting portrayal of contemporary American youth, and a brilliant one.

9. Slumdog Millionaire - Not as good as the hype would suggest but just barely. This is a crowd-pleaser with brains. The one film I wanted to see again the most.

8. The Visitor - Poignant and touching, this is quite an amazingly powerful little film. Sure it can be a bit formulaic, pretentious and/or sentimental, but it's particularly effective at pulling our heartstrings when and where it counts. It opens our eyes and our hearts to the fact that more is lost than gained from America's current stance on immigration.

7. Ano em Que Meus Pais Saíram de Férias, O (The Year My Parents went on Vacation) - The horrors of war and conflict need not be images of open wounds or piles of bodies. This portrait of Brazil in 1970 told through the eyes of a 12 year-old boy is a brilliant, touching, deliciously Red testament to the power of a good story. The best Brazilian film in years.

6. Doubt - Leaves you with more questions than what you came in with and it's all the better for it. Sure it's a filmed stage-play, but why mess with success? Powerful stuff.

5. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - An ambitious and grandiose, yet flawed masterpiece. This is a very old-school approach to telling a sweeping, epic story. The film is inhibited by the restraints of it's own source material, but Fincher takes it as far as anyone ever could. Not to mention, it sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the rest of his impressive oeuvre. Deep down, I love epic, meaning-of-life movies like this one; this is one of the best I've ever seen.

4. The Dark Night - enough has been said (and repeated).

3. The Wrestler - Surprised me with the scope of its message and symbolism as much as its exposing intensity and intimacy. This is the most American of films released in '08. . . and the most touching.

2. WALL.E - What a gamble. What an ingenious risk Pixar has taken this time, making one of the darkest, most amazingly poignant animated films ever. I didn't think it possible for Pixar to top last year's fantastic Ratatouille with yet another complex adult tale told simply threw what's typically considered a children's medium, but they just might have with WALL.E. It's tale is told rather simply (essentially a silent film for more than half an hour) but its themes, message and implications are very profound. And above all else there is a unrelenting heart at its core sans sentimentality that really hits the film's layered messages home. A must-see for any lover of film, art, life.

1. 4 luni, 3 săptămâni şi 2 zile (4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days) - My only 5-star (perfectly) rated film of last year. Technically released in 2007, that year's palme d'Or winner was released here in the States in early 2008. I can still remember the feeling of this film slowly but surely creeping up on me as though taking me by the neck, slowly tightening, not letting go until long after it was all over. "Intense and gut-wrenching" doesn't begin to adequately describe this film. It is effective in ways I never knew film could be.

designer ketchup or disposible pop art?

Taken while waiting for lunch today (with Bianca's camera phone).

alan moore is a raving lunatic, but i'll still listen

Author of the Watchmen and V for Vendetta (among other comic book classics) raves on about the overall failure of today's movie industry and somehow gets into American politics via superhero mythology... hmm.

He does make some interesting points along the way. Well worth your time.

I particularly loved this condensed load of genius: "The more money that’s involved in a project the less imagination there will be in the project, and vice versa. If you’ve got zero budget, you’re John Waters, you’re Jean Cocteau, you’re going to make a brilliant film."

Not 100% true, but close enough.

www.totalfilm.com/features/exclusive-why-alan-moore-hates-comic-book-movies