Return to other movies | Dean's Home Page.
SUMMER 2003 MOVIE REVIEWS
Dean's rating scale: **** Exceptionally good, ***Quite good indeed, ** I liked
some things about it, but found it to be something closer to average,* Not
recommended.
I need to point out that I am not really as critical as my reviews sometimes sound. Generally, anything two stars or better is something I have enjoyed, and even those to which I only give one star have some aspects I find redeeming, though obviously less so than others. Anything with less than a star (that is 0 or 1/2) is a nearly absolute thumb’s down. Four stars are given less often and only to those that have most moved me, most effectively depicted believability and/or given me the most food for thought.
|
**1/2 |
|
|
**** |
|
|
** |
|
|
*1/2 |
|
|
**** |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
American Splendor – It’s another average-guy-gets-his-15-minutes-of-fame
movie. We can’t get enough of
these. And this time, it’s not
really an average guy, but sort of a frumpy, angry and cynical cross between
Homer Simpson and George Kastanza, but with
uncompromising honesty and something more than a self serving agenda. The movie itself is sort of an odd cross
between documentary and dramatic portrayal of real life characters in cartoonish form.
Harvey Pickar writes the story of his dull,
pathetic, frustrated life as a cartoon that gains a popular following, so much
so that it leads to a theatrical play about his life, television appearances,
and ultimately to this movie. The real Pickar narrates and others of his highly quirky friends
appear at times side by side with the people who portray them, among them his
wife, portrayed brilliantly by Hope Davis, who is nevertheless somewhat miscast
by her beauty. Though Pickar’s cynicism and honesty demanded the level of
darkness in this film, there’s almost enough gentle humor and spirit to
balance the mood, but not quite. It errs a bit too much toward the former. (Kids, teens, and adults – more than
sufficiently entertaining for many of us, but for others it may be a little too
angry, slow and depressing) **1/2
Capturing
the Friedmans – Garnering many a four-star rating from reviewers, I would also
have to concur about this one.
It’s a deeply disturbing documentary portrait of a family
disintegrating under allegations of pedophilia against the father and son. It’s matched by a disturbing portrait
of a community’s rush to judgment due in part to the possibly exaggerated
claims of witnesses and the trumped up charges of law enforcement
officials. The subject matter is likely
distasteful to many, and in any case, it’s not the sort of film you would
want to view on a bright summertime day – though it seemed appropriate
for the dismal rainy one when I saw it.
One might consider the film as either the height or the depths of
reality programming and voyeurism -- much of the film is captured on video by
the family themselves -- but the content is more of investigative journalism,
both from the outside looking in and from the inside looking in. We are no longer surprised at the extent to
which people are willing to air their dirty laundry – no matter how
despicable, but in this case, we see mainly human vulnerability and fragility
on display. I do not judge
documentaries as much for their educational or even their entertainment value,
but more for whether adequate attention is paid to a full range of the possible
perspectives and to whether the portrait attempts and achieves fairness and
completeness. The producer takes the
story about as far as he can, permitting the family, the witnesses, and the law
enforcement officials to tell it.
Through four decades of home movies, and the personal accounts of
family, we learn a lot about them, and we are sometimes lead to extrapolate
from circumstances as to what contributed both to allegations and to alleged
behaviors, but no matter how much is revealed, the producer leaves us with some
questions eerily unsettled. (Kids
– unsuitable subject matter for most; teens and adults – disturbing
to some, but generally devoid of explicit sexual content) ****
Secret Lives
of Dentists – Quite depressing
yet oddly amusing, or “different weird”, as the person behind me
described it, we see a different take on an old theme, suspicions of infidelity
-- this time from the perspective of both an archetype sensitive male and his
macho alter ego. The alter ego first
appears as the strangely hostile patient (Denis Leary) of the dentist (Campbell
Scott), who later sees him as the masculine side of his own character and a
counselor for how to deal with the stress of his wife’s possible
betrayal. Whatever humor the film
possesses is centered in this ever-present sleaseball
character hanging over the dentist’s shoulder. Sleaseball,
or “slime bucket” as the dentist’s daughter put it, is
Leary’s typecast, and most folks will recognize him in his element. The seasoned actress,
Hope Davis, who portrays the dentist’s wife and a dentist in her own
right, seems to be the hot item of the season, given the simultaneous release
of American Splendor. I thought she deserved more
recognition for her performance as the daughter in About Schmidt, but apparently all the work she’s
getting now is recognition of that.
Unfortunately, the film weighs a little too much toward the depressing,
and although there are some novel takes on old themes, some of the film’s
devices seem a little too familiar. Most
importantly, it’s hard to relate to or care about any of the characters,
probably even if you are a dentist, given that everybody is just a little too
odd or inexplicable. Still, the film
features some interesting role reversals and is sufficiently strange and
curious to maintain your interest, even if the principle plotline doesn’t
deviate far from the ordinary. (Children
– possibly okay for some, but includes expletives; Teens –
okay) **
Swimming Pool -- (English and French) --
A British writer of mysteries and detective novels is sent by her publisher to
his summer cottage in France for some restful quiet, ideally as an opportunity
to churn out another best seller. She
unexpectedly ends up sharing the home with the publisher's wild and promiscuous
daughter, who provides food for thought in the writer's latest novel. Although the film is quite slow off the mark,
gaining steam only in the second hour, the best part is discussing it afterwards
with friends in possession of inventive minds who can speculate wildly as to
the significance of the film's various inexplicables. Lacking such inventive minds, and perhaps by
yourself, you are unlikely to ponder the full range of possibilities, but your
friends are sure to have some different takes on it. This discussion quotient is the film's
principle asset, because some things are seemingly designed to throw you, and
do not make altogether much sense. You
may as well fill in the blanks afterward as you like. The pace won't capture the imagination of
everybody, but there's almost enough here to please an average enthusiast of
mysteries. (Kids -- probably not, due to
the slow pace and some adult subject matter; Teens -- some will be bored,
others will be satisfied.) *1/2
Winged Migration
– Offering an amazing bird’s eye
view of the world, this nominee for Best Documentary awes its audience both
through its ground-breaking photography and through the often amusing antics of
migrating birds. Although it lost the
Oscar to Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine, it
seems clear at least that a lot more effort went into this collaborative effort
by French filmmakers and others from various European nations. The filming is so amazing that it’s
difficult to believe that no special effects were used to produce it, as is
stated at the beginning of the film – although they don’t seem to
be counting some brief animated graphics of birds flying over a digital global
map. The secrets to the filming are not
revealed, but I suspect that most people come away wondering how it is possible
to capture such extraordinary sights and sounds at close range without
disrupting the birds themselves. At
dizzying heights, you are flying along with the birds as if the camera is
strapped onto one of them, hearing at times only the gentle sounds of their
wings flapping. You follow the paths of
dozens of species as they migrate across seven continents, and you watch their
struggle to survive in the face of everything from avalanches and collapsing
glaciers to oil slicks, hunters, and attacks by other animals and birds. In some respects, the filming surpasses
anything I’ve seen on National Geographic or the Discovery Channel. With only limited narration and a gentle new
age sound track, it is not so much an educational effort as it is soup for the
spirit. It often feels a bit like
listening to relaxation tapes, and some people with higher velocity blood may
quickly yield to yawning, but I found that on the few occasions when my
interest briefly waned, the moment was quickly followed by something the birds
or the photographers would unexpectedly do to amaze me. One couple got up before the movie was over
– which is only 80 minutes – but for bird watchers and photographers,
this would have to be required viewing.
For the rest of us, after seeing this film, we may be more inclined to
count ourselves among those folks in the future. (Children, teens and adults with more patient
attentions spans will be very pleasingly rewarded) ****
Return to other movies | Dean's Home Page.