Archive '06 - Three Colors (Movie Review)

THREE COLORS (BLUE / WHITE / RED)

While I dont put too much stake in coincidences, I try not to just write them off, especially when it involves a core philosophy and the theme of a great movie. The idea is that we're all interconnected in sometimes surprising ways. Is that not why were here on My Space. While it may only be some good friends reading these words, its possible that someone whose life story I could not imagine may come across them as well.

As frustrating as the internet can be, as more of us get connected, we as humans become more interconnected. I joined My Space because I received an E-mail from my friend, Paul, informing me that he had a page. Id been thinking of blogging for some time, and here the opportunity presented itself. That same evening I re-watched a film called Red, which is about these very ideas.

I did not watch it because this idea was on my mind. Its the 3rd part of The Three Colors Trilogy and I had already watched Blue and White not long before. I had planned to see the film before I knew that would be the day that I would join My Space, thereby establishing the exact kind of connections alluded to in the film.

The late Polish director, Krzysztof Kieslowski, released his trilogy in 1994, shortly before the internet changed all our lives. The Three Colors are based on those of the French flag. Blue representing liberty, white representing equality and red representing fraternity. Each film is visually dominated by its title color, but that only the most basic level of these extraordinary films. Roger Ebert has observed that each overturns the conventions of a different film genre. Blue being an anti-tragedy, White being an anti-comedy and Red being an anti-romance.

Blue is about a French woman (Juliette Binoche) who has just lost her family in a car accident, yet refuses to allow herself to grieve, instead withdrawing from the world. Has she liberated herself from grief through isolation or would coming to terms with her loss offer liberty? White is about a Polish man whose wife (Julie Delpy) has left him. Dejected and humiliated, he's determined to either win her back or take revenge, either way reestablishing equality.

In Red, a Swiss model (Irene Jacob) forms an unlikely bond with an older former judge who is eavesdropping on his neighbors. Their age difference prevents them from falling in love, but what of the younger judge who's life seems to parallel the older? Does this seemingly endless possibility of interaction represent fraternity or is more needed? Also fascinating is how the three films manage to subtly and not so subtly interact with each other.

While Blue is my favorite of the three because of Binoche's heartbreaking performance and a powerful score, its Red's message that most resonates (White, a fine film in its own right, does not equal the brilliance of the other two.) Kieslowski pursues his themes with such precision that the films improve with repeated viewings. They work as human dramas, but also, on a much higher level, they embrace the larger human story.

Archive '06 - The Benefits of Joementum (Political Opinion)

After a long election day and a hearty victory celebration, I couldn't be happier with tonight's election results. It sent the right message, not just for the Republicans, but also to the Democrats.

Although Dems have retaken the House, it was not by a large margin. There was no mandate, but instead a divided government in which both parties will now have to work together. This is a good thing.

The number one issue remains the War on Terror. We should not have to choose between an incompetent Bush Administration - who, through sheer stubbornness, has managed to turn a necessary action in Iraq into a complete debacle - and the more extreme left-wing Democrats who, just as stubbornly, refuse to recognize the threat of Islamo-fascism.

Enter Joe Lieberman, one of our most decent and thoughtful public officials. His win tonight diverted the Democratic Party from a leftward slide that could have made it a permanent minority party. The Connecticut race was a symbol for the far left. Had Lamont won, they would have used that result as a lever to pressure Hilary, Obama and other moderates into weaker (and unelectable) positions on national security.

Lieberman's win is a win for the traditional Democrats in the Truman / JFK mode and a defeat for the Al Sharpton / Michael Moore wing. Not good news for out-of- control Bush who would rather be facing easily dismissed lefties. Hopefully the new Democratic leadership will work with Republican moderates like John McCain to keep Bush in check and pursue a more productive course in Iraq.

I strongly believe that the American people are basically moderate who lean a bit left on some issues and right on others. The extreme partisanship that has poisoned Washington is not healthy. Perhaps tonight's results will force at least a type of cooperation between the parties. The stakes are too high not to.

Archive '06 - In Support of Israel (Political Opinion)

Yesterday in Chicago, I was one of 5,000 who gathered to voice our support for Israel during this time of war (with Lebanon). It is not a war Israel chose to fight, but it is a war they must win. Would we tolerate regular rockets hits on our towns or the kidnapping of our soldiers? That these launches and kidnappings took place on territory that Israel withdrew from in the name of peace only makes the situation crystal clear. It should lay to rest the lie that violence against Israel is about the occupation. It is and has always been about Israel's right to exist.

One fellow was carrying a sign that, for me, perfectly encapsulates the whole Middle East crisis. On the sign were drawings of two baby carriages and two men with machine guns pointed at each other. One was an Israeli soldier and the other an Islamist terrorist. The soldier put himself between the carriage and the terrorist, while the later used another baby carriage to protect himself from the soldier. A quote from former Israeli Prime Minister, Golda Meir, read "We will have peace when the Arabs love their children more than they hate ours."

As I will always clarify when I write on this subject, I have nothing against Arabs as a people or the religion of Islam. It is only the radical Islamists who use violence and terror that I consider the enemy, not just of Israel or the U.S., but their own people.

I, like most supporters of Israel, not to mention it's government, would like to see a peaceful Palestinian state. But how can Israel continue to justify withdrawal from territories when they're used as launching grounds for attacks. The Palestinian people are victims, not of Israel, but their own radical leaders. A few years ago, I thought we were close to a peace agreement, but now it seems another generation removed.

It was comforting to see so many brave the hot Chicago day to attend the rally. Israel has always been a great friend of the United States and rallies like this show that American support is widespread. We gathered to pray for peace and for victory because the former is impossible without the later.

This article nicely sums it up.
http://jewishworldreview.com/0706/prager071806.php3

I'll end with a link to the lyrics of Bob Dylan who in 1983, wrote Neighborhood Bully, which remains as biting and true today as it was back then. http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/bully.html

Archive '06 - A Taste of Kink (Concert Review)

Saw Ray Davies, lead singer of The Kinks at the Taste of Chicago 4th of July concert. (What? You thought this post would be about something else?)

I generally try to avoid the Taste on the 4th because of the mass of humanity, but Davies is pretty much the last of my rock n roll heroes still living that I had not yet seen perform (Elvis Costello, you're the only one left!)

My friends and I thought we'd be consigned to the lawn, but happily much of the crowd was there only for the opening act, My Morning Jacket. They were fine - basically one power ballad away from becoming the Goo Goo Dolls. When they finished, half the pavilion emptied out and we made it to the fourth row.

The Kinks might be the most underrated of the great sixties bands. Even though they inventing the power cord and the rock opera, Ray and Dave Davies dont get the credit of their peers. Of course, as part of the British Invasion, their peers were The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Who.

The concert was fun, despite the absence of some of my favorite Kinks tunes. Everyone was shocked that he didnt do Lola, but other classics were there: Where Have All the Good Times Gone, All Day and All of the Night, You Really Got Me. Also, a few obscure gems from their creative peak: 20th Century Man, Low Budget, and best of all an acoustic Sunny Afternoon.

Half the show was devoted to Ray's new album, Other People's Lives. Definitely quality material, but as he kept saying, "you can't escape from your back catalog." Davies' genius is for writing about other people's lives. Unlike the universal appeal of other great songwriters, his songs are usually about simple pleasures, very working class and very British.

Their first rock opera, Arthur or the Decline of the British Empire is about a middle aged man just wants to smoke a cigar, sit in a comfy chair and probably doesn't even like rock music. It also pre-dated The Who's Tommy by a few months.

That Davies wrote like a bit of a cranky old man when he was in his twenties makes seeing him in his sixties not quite so jarring. The concert was solid, but I can't rave about it. I can only suggest that you check out The Kinks' classic albums like Face to Face, Something Else, Village Green Preservation Society, Arthur, Lola vs. Powerman and the Money-go-Round and Muswell Hillbillies.

Archive '07 - Bicycle Review (A Midsummer Night's Dream)

This review originally appeared on the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation’s “Roll Film” movie review site (http://www.biketraffic.org/content.php?id=219_0_6_0). Each film was also reviewed by my CBF colleague, Greg Borzo, who focused more on the bike content.


WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

3 Wheels

It's difficult (though not impossible) to screw up Shakespeare. When a filmmaker has the greatest words of the English language to fall back on, an engaging viewing experience for the audience is just about guaranteed. The pertinent question for a Shakespeare adaptation is: Does the director's own vision enhance the text or just rely on it?

In the case of Michael Hoffman's 1999 film A Midsummer Night's Dream, a fresh perspective is achieved by updating the play from ancient Greece to late nineteenth century Tuscany. This creates both a sufficiently dreamlike atmosphere and allows for the introduction of bicycles into the action. The bikes here provide two functions. First, as a way to transport Shakespeare's mismatched lovers into the magical forest and, ultimately, as a source of great amusement to the fairies, who can't wait to see what those crazy mortals will come up with next.

The special effects are low-key but effective. My only real complaint is with the somewhat bizarre casting choices made in an attempt to assemble star actors. The most egregious offender is Calista Flockhart who, as the tortured Helena, mugs and preens as if she were still on her goofy TV show. Stanley Tucci, an actor best known for playing uptight corporate types, is an odd choice for the mischievous fairy, Puck.

Kevin Kline was great as Hamlet in the mid-eighties, but when his Dream character, Bottom, is turned into a donkey, both the makeup and performance seem a bit too subtle. The inherent comedy of this donkey-headed character being seduced by the fairy queen, Titania, is lost when this preposterous pairing is meant to be touching. It also doesn't help that Michelle Pfeiffer, though she looks the part, can't really sell the dialogue. Miscast as the film is, this is still one of Shakespeare's most beloved comedies, and it’s far more intelligent and entertaining than most contemporary romantic comedies.

I would be remiss in my critical duties if I did not point you to the significantly better 1968 version of A Midsummer Night's Dream starring Helen Mirren, Judi Dench and Ian Holm. These great actors bring a degree of depth and fun to the proceedings lacking in the 1999 film, though the newer adaptation certainly has the edge in the special effects department. (The fairies in the 1968 film are unevenly covered in green paint.)

Hoffman's A Midsummer Night's Dream never reaches the brilliance of Roman Polanski's Macbeth, Akira Kurosawa's King Lear adaptation, Ran, or Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet, but Shakespeare's tragedies have always been more cinematic than his comedies. Hoffman's Dream is more like Mel Gibson's Hamlet or the mid-nineties version of Twelfth Night—just good enough to wet our appetite to seek out the true greatness of Shakespeare on our own.

Archive '07 - Bicycle Review (Jour de Fete)

This review originally appeared on the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation’s “Roll Film” movie review site (http://www.biketraffic.org/content.php?id=219_0_6_0). Each film was also reviewed by my CBF colleague, Greg Borzo, who focused more on the bike content.


JOUR DE FETE

2 1/2 Wheels

One can look at Jour de fête in one of two ways. In the context of film history, it’s an important moment in the evolution of comedy, as it marked the debut of France’s most acclaimed comedic innovator, Jacques Tati. Judged on its own merits, it’s leisurely, pleasant and droll, eliciting the occasional smile, but never a full belly laugh.

Tati plays the high strung mailman, Francois, who delivers the mail by bike in a small French village that would have been considered old-fashioned even at the time of its 1947 release. Francois has a dream – to deliver the mail like the Americans do – by helicopter. This, and all the other tidbits he’s picked up about life in the far away United States, he’s learned from the movies. His jealousy and begrudging admiration for the American way lead to both slapstick efforts at modernization and anti-American tirades that surprisingly evoke a G-rated Borat.

Here, art and reality intersect because Tati, like his character, also covets American progress, but in the area of filmmaking itself. While France had produced excellent dramas like The Rules of the Game and Children of Paradise, French audiences looking for great comedy had to look towards the States. Tati’s vision was to take the American silent physical comedy and update it for the sound era.

He would achieve critical acclaim in the ’50s when he developed and portrayed the character of Mr. Hulot, the mumbling innocent who would constantly do battle with everyday objects. In each subsequent Hulot film, these battles would become more elaborate as he questioned what kind of progress modernization truly achieved.

Hulot was a direct inspiration to England’s Rowan Atkinson, whose Mr. Bean character brought Tati’s brand of comedy into the ’90s. His other clear disciple is Jerry Lewis, who also favored involved physical gags based on the inability to use everyday objects. Lewis lacked Tati’s subtler qualities, but one thought I had after viewing Jour de fête was that I now understand why the French so admire Jerry Lewis.

Tati also had technical innovations in mind, which were probably pretty neat in 1947 and are considerably less so today. Jour de fête is a black-and-white film that occasionally and strategically introduces color to the frame. The colors tend to be blue and red, which is usually applied to the French flag as well as other areas of the screen Tati wishes to call attention to.

Sound is also handled in an unusual way. The dialogue is muted (and was added after filming without much attention to dubbing) and sound effects are brought forward on the soundtrack. The purpose is to allow the sound to enhance the physical comedy.

What would have enhanced the physical comedy more would have been more of it. While its relaxed look at the quaint village is, well, relaxing, it’s only at the end, when Francois makes it his mission to single-handedly modernize the French postal service (all on his bicycle by the way) that Jour de fête starts to build some energy. Ten minutes later, its over, and its place in film history secured despite not being all that funny.

Archive '07 - Bicycle Review (Messenger)

This review originally appeared on the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation’s “Roll Film” movie review site (http://www.biketraffic.org/content.php?id=219_0_6_0). Each film was also reviewed by my CBF colleague, Greg Borzo, who focused more on the bike content.


MESSENGER

1 Wheel

I imagine the story behind the making of Messenger to be more entertaining and interesting then the film that was actually made. I must imagine it because little information is available about this deservedly obscure little project.

Aspiring writer/director, Norman Loftis, had a seemingly inspired idea – remake the Italian neo-realist classic, The Bicycle Thief, but have it set in a poverty stricken American ghetto to humanize the plight of young African-American families who have been left behind by society to an environment filled with crime and hopelessness. Like then unknown filmmakers, Kevin Smith or Robert Rodriguez, he would scrounge up a few thousand dollars, some cameras and some friends to bring his vision to the screen.

Unfortunately, Mr. Loftis forgot one thing. You have to have some degree of talent to make a good film. None is evident in the final product, which resembles the kind of home movies now typically shown on YouTube. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume his intentions were noble. Perhaps he didn’t envision a film filled with racist stereotypes of black ghetto culture, but that’s what he’s made.

Messenger’s plot faithfully follows the original Bicycle Thief in most details. One major exception is the protagonist is no longer accompanied by his son, but instead, by his pregnant wife. As in the original, we follow a poor man at the end of his rope. He uses the last of his savings to buy the bike required for his new job as a messenger. When his bike is stolen, he must confront his own morality in deciding how far he’ll go to provide for his family.

That leads to the other major difference between the two films. The hero of The Bicycle Thief is portrayed as a good man whose circumstances test him. Richard Barboza plays Messenger's title character as a thug ready to beat or even shoot anyone he feels threatened by. Its possible to bring such a role to life in a way the audience can relate to, but Barboza can’t act, which makes his character completely unlikable.

Of course Vittorio De Sica, who directed the original also used non-actors. This only works if you have a strong director to bring some authenticity out of the non-actor, something Messenger sorely lacks.To give some credit, however, I must admit there was one line of dialogue that I found clever and enjoyed. After the messenger’s bike is stolen, he gets in a cab and orders the driver to chase the thief. The driver responds, "What, do you think this is the movies?"