Reviews

Art happens when humans communicate some part of the human condition to other humans. Whether it's futility, love, loss, humor, or tragedy, true art has a lasting impact rooted in genuine emotion.

Such is the case with Makoto Nagahisa's 'And So We Put Goldfish in the Pool.' A distinctive debut short film with a signature voice, 'Goldfish' follows four fifteen-year-old girls who we come to understand profoundly within the 27-minute running time. Nagahisa has a brilliantly light touch, straining the girls' monologues through a series of kinetic montages not unlike 'Run Lola Run.'

The group deals primarily with the doldrums of small-town life, but Nagahisa wisely doesn't patronize. Even the off-the-wall moments of comedy and magical realism he employs don't feel as much like a cinematic construction as they do a whimsical illustration of the onset of angst.

There is a period in all of our lives when we haven't grown up yet, and we'd like to, but we're still deciding whether or not it's a cool thing to do. Many films have explored this highway of early pubescence, but 'Goldfish' is so fresh and original in its take that it threatens to leap off the screen and take you on an adventure.

Maybe, as the ending suggests, suburban frustration is part of the adventure of life. After all, the rest of the film tells us it can be just as vibrant as what we dream will come next.

First off, the reason so many people hate this movie isn't because it doesn't end with a neat little bow, whatever that means.

It's because nobody in this movie acts like a real person.

Claire, the main character leaves her middle school or late-elementary school aged son by himself 80% of the time after her husband, his father has disappeared. Did she ever once think that he might just run away? I mean, that'd be pretty emotionally distressing, right? But thank God the script dictates that he doesn't run away, so it's fine.

The girl who can laughingly be called the antagonist is a complete cliché. I can't tell you how many times I've seen the young mistress type in a movie or television show. They always have one distinguishing characteristic, but she's got two - and both are stupid. One is that she's an art student. Her "art" is literally light fixtures that look like they were bought at Pottery Barn, and piles of sticks. Her other distinguishing characteristic is that she thinks she knows what's best for Claire and her husband - yet another motivational cliché typical of awful writing.

I saw "Rings" the other day, and I have to say, the only thing "Claire in Motion" has over "Rings" is that its lead actress gives a slightly better performance. Slightly.

When you're worse than "Rings," you're one of the worst films ever made. I think that's my new bar. There's "Rings," and then there's "Claire in Motion," and then... I'm not sure how you can get worse than that. Maybe "After Last Season" is technically worse, but not by much.

A film like 'Blue Valentine' could learn a lot from a film like 'Lake Tahoe.' Whereas that film tries to give us a sympathetic side to its characters through dialog, this film gives us that same emotional investment through pure and simple film making. The film has no pretensions. The teenage Juan (Diego Catano) is depressed. Why? At first, we don't know. The watchful eye pieces together clues throughout the excellent 81-minute run time, and by the end, a careful viewer knows Juan's plight down to a T and completely falls in love with his character and the relationship between him and his brother (Yemil Sefami).

Juan's day is only made worse when he crashes his car into a telephone pole and has to spend most of the day looking for the distributor. Along the way, he meets a kung fu devotee (Juan Carlos Lara II), a beautiful teen mother (Daniela Valentine), and a crotchety old mechanic with a wonderful soft spot for animals (Hector Herrera). These characters are not just quirk for quirk's sake. They are quirk for Juan's sake.

If you are a person who enjoys watching three-dimensional characters interacting in a beautiful place, then director Fernando Eimbcke ('Duck Season') has made the perfect film for you. The perfect balance of comedy, tragedy, and character study is 'Lake Tahoe'. Eimbcke also inserts a kind of treatise on film making in this movie in a strange and thrilling way. This movie will be remembered because it is minimalist without being mini-brained.

I would recommend this film to everyone I know.

If ever there was a perfect film that defines the romantic relationship for the 21st century, Derek Cianfrance's 'Blue Valentine' is that film. We begin at a secluded ranch house where a little girl is trying to find her lost dog. We then see her father (Ryan Gosling) comforting her. Enter mom (Michelle Williams), the concerned mother who tries to balance work and her child's needs. Seems like a generally happy household, right? Wrong. Though they may not want to admit it, Dean and Cindy's marriage has been on the rocks for years. Dean decides to take his wife to a sex motel that ends up being more like a Star Trek motel to try to rekindle the way they used to feel about each other. The reason for their bickering is unclear until the flashbacks that have been following the main plot line give you a full understanding of why things have deteriorated so. You see them meet each other, fall madly in love, and then experience… well, you'll have to see it yourself.

Personally, I think this is the tragic romance to end all tragic romances. Films will try to beat it, but they will have to work long and hard before they can eek out an ounce of the genuineness with which this film tells its story. Ryan Gosling's performance is one with a true everyman quality while allowing for a full-fledged, interesting character and a brilliantly realized character arc. Michelle Williams does the same. She delivers this role with so much raw truth that you almost forget that it's Michelle Williams and not just an average woman. I would not be surprised at all to see both of these superb talents get nominated for Best Actor Oscars, along with Derek Cianfrance for Best Director and the writing team for Best Original Screenplay.

It's heartbreaking, it's deeply moving; it will have you laughing, crying and singing its praises. Even though the MPAA seems to have a beef with truth in filmmaking, it's hard to imagine this film not being discovered over time and being recognized for the infallible masterpiece that it is.