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Reviews
Kama Sutra: The Art of Making Love (1994)
An Unexpected Pleasure
Penthouse videos aren't normally my cup of tea. But a production manager from Time-Warner plunked a very eclectic set of videos in my lap that included not only KSP, but also Madonna and Chattanooga Choo Choo. Quite a mix, eh? I was expecting the usual come-on, but instead was pleasantly surprised: from the sumptuous fire on water opening shot, the body landscapes, and the calm narrative that actually helped me pace my attitude, I found this piece to be surprising good. One word of WARNING: don't confuse this offering with the Penthouse Kama Sutra Pleasure's DVD, which is the usually junk you'd expect from a men's magazine. If you do get the VHS, skip through the first 12 minutes and 45 seconds of mindless dreck of Penthouse previews, sit back with your love, and enjoy. This video was made for her, as well as you.
Le grand bleu (1988)
tis strange
and amazing to see this movie displayed on my housemates wall with a vivid LCD projector, for I had stumbled upon a verse that started off with:
"I was a dead man"
"my mind had already gone to that black water"
...
I won't bore you with the details -- it's just a happy coincidence of the ending scene. Execpt -- or so I've been told -- the verse was based on a real life and actually had a *happy* ending. Its striking how both visions were so alike.
Quite a primal memory that this movie touches on. My limbic system was submerged in pure joy.
Hamlet (2000)
More awkward than surreal
The advantage that Kurosawa had, when doing Ran, was that he didn't have the baggage of the English language to deal with. So, he didn't have to preserve the brilliant flowery prose of Shakespeare's King Lear. Instead, he could tell the *story*. In my opinion, the best place for the original prose is sitting in the Globe Theater back in 1600, when the streets had open sewers, people bathed infrequently, and the only perfume available was the language. At least, with Branagh's Hamlet, the words were spoken as clearly as the original, with crisply enunciated syllables. With the 'Noo Yawk' version, with the slurred indistinct pronunciation, is was like listening to a bunch of blues musicians attempting to play Bach. No thanks! Why go halfway?
Of course, going halfway could add a touch of surreal quality. But it wasn't surreal enough, in this version. The locations were familiar enough to be distracting but too mundane to add grandeur. The scene with the ghost, in Hamlet's apartment was a joke! Completely unbelievable. Why not choose a setting in keeping with the etherial quality of the original play? The Guggenheim after hours? A subway tunnel? A sped up times square with a slowed down 1 on 1? I don't care! Anything but a normally lit apartment with clutter to distract the attention.
Speaking of clutter, what's up with the all the camera's and video equipment? Is this supposed to pass for an inside joke? Some kind of smug self reference to modern times? To me, it was a distracting gimmick. This reminds me of what a soundtrack composer said about his use of bagpipes. He was scoring a TV show with a a really bad actor. So, when the actor appeared on screen, the soundtrack would drop in bagpipes. That way the audience would be thinking "hey! those are bagpipes!" as opposed to "hey! this actor really sucks!" Back to Hamlet: whenever there was a staging of cameras, I was thinking about the gimmick -- not the story. With all the gimmicks, I found it nearly impossible to suspend disbelieve in this movie.
The sound design was also distracting. I could care less about the ambient noise; I want to hear the dialog! It was bad enough that the actors were speaking ancient English with modern American accents. But I had to pick it out of a wash of street noise, as well. It turned into a hearing test; very irritating.
My assessment is that the director used a classic story to create compelling visuals -- as opposed to using compelling visuals to tell a story. Acting and staging came in a very distant second. Considering how hard it is to botch Shakespeare, I give it a 2 out of 10.
Absolute Power (1997)
E.G. Marshall "This is really terrible" ...
Clint Eastwood "I agree."
Who am I to argue? Was it the unbelievable writing? The soporific soundtrack? Or perhaps the clumsy product placements? But, when it came time for E.G. and Clint to utter those apt phrases, my finger instinctively started for the eject button.
You know, some movies are so good that they're baaad. And, some movies that are so bad that they're good. This one was merely annoying.
The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000)
If sincere storytelling is out of style ...
... then so is this movie. But somehow, Redford gets past my cynical barriers to deliver yet another experience that runs deep. Yes, the plot and direction are predictable. So what? This is a mythical tale.
If this was about golf, I wouldn't be interested. Unlike Redford, who describes himself as an environmentalist, I don't consider golf courses to be very 'natural'. As a kid, I played plenty of golf. But now I see it as the opposite of nature: as a herbicide laden terraformed playground for a privileged few. I prefer real nature, embodied in real wilderness -- what's left of it.
Yet, I love this movie.
Perhaps my judgment is colored by Robert Redford's role in Jeremiah Johnson, which I saw as an impressionable teen. Both Johnson and Junuh grapple with that long shadow of solitude. My life would be very different without Jeremiah Johnson - it had that kind of impact.
If I was to draw any comparison to Redford, it would be a writer: Ernest Hemingway. Both speak very simply; using few words with great impact.
Qaamarngup uummataa (1998)
uplifting
Perhaps some people may find this movie a little too sincere. I, however, was moved deeply. Maybe it was the combination of seeing "The Whole Nine Yards" earlier that day, which treats the killing of other people as a comedic device. Cynical and sly, that one -- a little dose of tobacco for the soul. I hope that I never get so old and sophisticated to be untouched by a parable that treats life as precious, to complain that it was over told. Heart of Light is breath of fresh air!
In & Out (1997)
In and Out in 60 seconds
I wish it was that short. But no. It took me 20 minutes to realize that all the jokes where going to be very sweet and cloying -- with an unrelenting soundtrack laying on a thick syrup of mirth. So, I left for some air. Perhaps another shot at The Fight Club will do the trick to dispell the Treacle.