"George Washington" isn't about the first president of the United States. The free-floating story centers around a group children in North Carolina during one summer, after which their lives will be changed forever. We meet these kids and their families: there's George, Buddy, Nasia, Vernon, Sonya (the sole non-black child in the group). Buddy has broken up with his girlfriend, Nasia, and suspects his best friend, George, is dating her now. George, who's father we see in jail, unexplained ("I love you so much, sometimes I can't even breathe"), lives with his Aunt Ruth and Uncle Damascus. We learn that Damascus is nervous around animals.
Ten minutes into the film we get a premonition of what's to come. I kept waiting for "it" to happen as I knew it would, and as it did, it indeed made me grimace (three times, in fact). The inevitable tragedy isn't quite what I thought it would be and while it is one of the central events in the film, after it's over the film doesn't lose anything.
Damascus works at what seems to be a junkyard, with some others, Rico being a character we get to know. During one conversation Rico has with Buddy, Buddy laments his lost love and Rico gets as much out of this conversation with Buddy as Buddy gets does from him. Buddy says, "I miss having her around, being able to talk to her about my feelings and stuff," and it's one of those perfect moments in the film where the inflection is just right. It's where a film like this really shines. The actors bring every ounce of their person into their roles, which isn't to say they merely play themselves.
We are told, almost casually, after a while within the film that George's skull never fully developed and remains soft, has to stay dry and that he needs to wear a helmet to protect his head. We learn a lot of interesting things like this, or like when we learn that Buddy has to sing to his mother to help her go to sleep. That's it. Just a little nugget of information that may or may not be important later in the film.
An amazing scene at a pool that's so effortless and gliding defines the movie's tone. It appears as if it's just another event to David Gordon Green, the first-time director, but the delicate care he gives the scene and the slight distortion makes it wonderful. Like the "it" in the film, it doesn't serve as the basis for the story, it's just an incident that takes place within it.
In the way Green handles one scene, in which someone confesses to haven been molested by a dog, he doesn't allow for any slight bit of comedy, in a scene that in another movie could be made uproariously funny. It's almost a miracle. And the would-be morbidity in the next scene still seems weird, but remains a nice gesture, nonetheless.
There are funny moments of strange truth that would, in another context, be laugh-out-loud funny, but here it makes us smile and nod with recognition. It's that kind of movie full of realizations about the characters and we identify with them because we see ourselves in them. The teens may ruminate more than we'd expect someone of that age to, but it's a kind of honesty and purity that only young people have.
I've heard some people say that the film is sort of Lynchian, but this escapes me. I admire Lynch greatly and both Lynch and Green use their artistry magnificently, but, at least for me, in very different ways, for different purposes.
There are numerous similarities between "George Washington" and Malick's "Days of Heaven." The black and white stills at the end of this film recall the opening black and white stills in that film. There is also narration by a young girl, Nasia, very characteristic of "Days of Heaven." Also, like Malick, Green shows his characters, in segues, being. We simply observe them as a transition from one scene to the next. Unlike Malick, who has made only period movies, Green has set his film in the present, but never lets that affect his film in a negative way or in a way that may date it regrettably. The characters talk more here than in Malick's films, and Green isn't quite the philosopher Malick is -- it seems more like he waited for profundities to appear, rather than instating them himself -- but he's just about as good as a visual storyteller. The look is clear, dreary, bright, sunny, white and sensual.
When the film was over, I had a few questions but ambiguity is rarely done so right. Roger Ebert said about "Magnolia" that it was the kind of film he loved -- leave logic at the door. Well, this film isn't really challenging on a logical level, but on a stylistic one it's important to open up and let the movie flow over you.
The movie has sentiment, but is devoid of that fascist sort sentimentality that makes a mess of movies. I like that we're given the opportunity to feel for ourselves. (Remember the scene in which I said Green allows no comedy? Well, that's not true, he just handles it in such a way that allows it to be either hilarious or deadly serious or both. I saw it as serious.) There are no cues -- musical or otherwise -- that inform us when to feel what. It's also great to see black life shown in a non-stereotypical way. This never seems like a "black movie," it's a movie that happens to feature a predominantly black cast not constrained to the clichés and rules of "black movies," and that's something we deserve more of.
Early in the film, Nasia says that in her friends she sees goodness. And with the way in which Green filters his story and his ideas through his characters, when we watch this film, we see the goodness in ourselves.
****
Ten minutes into the film we get a premonition of what's to come. I kept waiting for "it" to happen as I knew it would, and as it did, it indeed made me grimace (three times, in fact). The inevitable tragedy isn't quite what I thought it would be and while it is one of the central events in the film, after it's over the film doesn't lose anything.
Damascus works at what seems to be a junkyard, with some others, Rico being a character we get to know. During one conversation Rico has with Buddy, Buddy laments his lost love and Rico gets as much out of this conversation with Buddy as Buddy gets does from him. Buddy says, "I miss having her around, being able to talk to her about my feelings and stuff," and it's one of those perfect moments in the film where the inflection is just right. It's where a film like this really shines. The actors bring every ounce of their person into their roles, which isn't to say they merely play themselves.
We are told, almost casually, after a while within the film that George's skull never fully developed and remains soft, has to stay dry and that he needs to wear a helmet to protect his head. We learn a lot of interesting things like this, or like when we learn that Buddy has to sing to his mother to help her go to sleep. That's it. Just a little nugget of information that may or may not be important later in the film.
An amazing scene at a pool that's so effortless and gliding defines the movie's tone. It appears as if it's just another event to David Gordon Green, the first-time director, but the delicate care he gives the scene and the slight distortion makes it wonderful. Like the "it" in the film, it doesn't serve as the basis for the story, it's just an incident that takes place within it.
In the way Green handles one scene, in which someone confesses to haven been molested by a dog, he doesn't allow for any slight bit of comedy, in a scene that in another movie could be made uproariously funny. It's almost a miracle. And the would-be morbidity in the next scene still seems weird, but remains a nice gesture, nonetheless.
There are funny moments of strange truth that would, in another context, be laugh-out-loud funny, but here it makes us smile and nod with recognition. It's that kind of movie full of realizations about the characters and we identify with them because we see ourselves in them. The teens may ruminate more than we'd expect someone of that age to, but it's a kind of honesty and purity that only young people have.
I've heard some people say that the film is sort of Lynchian, but this escapes me. I admire Lynch greatly and both Lynch and Green use their artistry magnificently, but, at least for me, in very different ways, for different purposes.
There are numerous similarities between "George Washington" and Malick's "Days of Heaven." The black and white stills at the end of this film recall the opening black and white stills in that film. There is also narration by a young girl, Nasia, very characteristic of "Days of Heaven." Also, like Malick, Green shows his characters, in segues, being. We simply observe them as a transition from one scene to the next. Unlike Malick, who has made only period movies, Green has set his film in the present, but never lets that affect his film in a negative way or in a way that may date it regrettably. The characters talk more here than in Malick's films, and Green isn't quite the philosopher Malick is -- it seems more like he waited for profundities to appear, rather than instating them himself -- but he's just about as good as a visual storyteller. The look is clear, dreary, bright, sunny, white and sensual.
When the film was over, I had a few questions but ambiguity is rarely done so right. Roger Ebert said about "Magnolia" that it was the kind of film he loved -- leave logic at the door. Well, this film isn't really challenging on a logical level, but on a stylistic one it's important to open up and let the movie flow over you.
The movie has sentiment, but is devoid of that fascist sort sentimentality that makes a mess of movies. I like that we're given the opportunity to feel for ourselves. (Remember the scene in which I said Green allows no comedy? Well, that's not true, he just handles it in such a way that allows it to be either hilarious or deadly serious or both. I saw it as serious.) There are no cues -- musical or otherwise -- that inform us when to feel what. It's also great to see black life shown in a non-stereotypical way. This never seems like a "black movie," it's a movie that happens to feature a predominantly black cast not constrained to the clichés and rules of "black movies," and that's something we deserve more of.
Early in the film, Nasia says that in her friends she sees goodness. And with the way in which Green filters his story and his ideas through his characters, when we watch this film, we see the goodness in ourselves.
****