Sunday, March 05, 2006
Some Pre-Oscar Thoughts
In a few hours, the bloated annual extravaganza known as the Oscar Awards will begin. Thoughts naturally turn to some of the good movies of the past year. It doesn't hurt to re-recommend a couple of very good movies that have been featured on this blog before: Grizzly Man and Syriana.
I agree fully with Reuben's earlier take on Grizzly Man. There is just one important thing he forgot to note: the Richard Thompson soundtrack. Werner Herzog and Richard Thompson in one movie. How can you not watch?
My feelings about Syriana are mixed. On the one hand I greatly admire the filmmakers' decision to present a complex story in all its complexity. On the other hand, I can't shrug off the feeling that the movie is lacking in artistry. For a movie with so much high-stakes action, Syriana is surprisingly unmoving. I got the feeling that I had seen an Important Movie but not Great Cinema. The movie does a terrific job of drenching itself in cynicism (subsequent viewings clarify this further), but for this reason it reminded me at once of Sidney Lumet classic Network, which I think manages to be Important and Great Cinema. Interestingly, at a certain level of abstraction, Syriana and Network are commenting on the same issues.
I also urge all readers to watch Munich, which is unlikely to win best picture but is at least nominated, unlike the above two. I am no fan of Spielberg, but here the director has managed to avoid his trademark sentimentalism. Spielberg has also avoided his other failing: that of trying to tell a macro-story through narrow focus on unrepresentative micro-characters. That's because this story — of the operations of the secret Israeli hit squad sent to eliminate the killers of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics — is compelling enough as a story of just five men. The movie isn't without its flaws, but I believe it outdoes Syriana. The transformation of Eric Bana's lead character as he works his way through the assassinations is masterfully shown. Only two scenes stood out as too unsubtle: one where a Palestinian operative is given token screen time to "explain" their side of things, by means of an unconvincing plot twist, and one right at the end of the movie when the camera sweeps across the Manhattan skyline to focus on — you guessed it — the WTC.
Well, I'm off to watch the show and I hope Jon Stewart makes it exciting.
I agree fully with Reuben's earlier take on Grizzly Man. There is just one important thing he forgot to note: the Richard Thompson soundtrack. Werner Herzog and Richard Thompson in one movie. How can you not watch?
My feelings about Syriana are mixed. On the one hand I greatly admire the filmmakers' decision to present a complex story in all its complexity. On the other hand, I can't shrug off the feeling that the movie is lacking in artistry. For a movie with so much high-stakes action, Syriana is surprisingly unmoving. I got the feeling that I had seen an Important Movie but not Great Cinema. The movie does a terrific job of drenching itself in cynicism (subsequent viewings clarify this further), but for this reason it reminded me at once of Sidney Lumet classic Network, which I think manages to be Important and Great Cinema. Interestingly, at a certain level of abstraction, Syriana and Network are commenting on the same issues.
I also urge all readers to watch Munich, which is unlikely to win best picture but is at least nominated, unlike the above two. I am no fan of Spielberg, but here the director has managed to avoid his trademark sentimentalism. Spielberg has also avoided his other failing: that of trying to tell a macro-story through narrow focus on unrepresentative micro-characters. That's because this story — of the operations of the secret Israeli hit squad sent to eliminate the killers of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics — is compelling enough as a story of just five men. The movie isn't without its flaws, but I believe it outdoes Syriana. The transformation of Eric Bana's lead character as he works his way through the assassinations is masterfully shown. Only two scenes stood out as too unsubtle: one where a Palestinian operative is given token screen time to "explain" their side of things, by means of an unconvincing plot twist, and one right at the end of the movie when the camera sweeps across the Manhattan skyline to focus on — you guessed it — the WTC.
Well, I'm off to watch the show and I hope Jon Stewart makes it exciting.
