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The Feast of All Saints (2001)
A Badly Directed & Disappointing Waste of TALENT
"Feast of All Saints?" Where...? When...?
Was the Feast of All Saints storyline and theme edited out?
What a waste of a wonderful title! There is never anything in the story that has the remotest connection to the "Feast of All Saints." Nor is there anything in the story about "All Souls Day" which the term is referencing. Why bother to use this title if you never intend to including any kind of storyline or theme about "All Souls Day" or the "Feast of All Saints"?
Embarrassly Bad Script & Amateur Writing
How did they attract such great talent to this clunker? The writing is so amateur--characters that have known each other all their life go into big long speeches about their life history for the sake of the audience. Not at all the way people talk to each other.
What was the Director Thinking?
The directing is equally bad! The forced and overly deliberate style feels amateurish. In one scene, a character is yelling "Take your hands off of me" and NO ONE is touching him! The most badly directed scene however, is the incredibly over-the-top battle scene at the beginning of the film.
Excessive Gore in a Very Fake, Silly Battle Scene
There are so many dead people in the most fake battle scene. It looks like a Saturday Night Live skit!! You can see extras waiting for their cues to walk across camera. Everyone plays their death scene like 4th grade boys--exaggerating every little gasp and twitch. The blood on battle victims is so excessive and carelessly applied it looks like someone used a ketchup dispenser and just squirted straight lines of red on the costumes.
This whole battle scene comes off as the spoof of a really cheesy war movie. You almost expect someone like Will Ferrell and Mike Myers to ride up on a horse and deliver the punchline.
Who in Real Life Would Ever Behave this Way?!
The most ridiculous bit of writing, directing and casting is actually the focus of the scene:
A little girl is standing under the dead body of her hanging father--who is terribly mutilated, and literally dripping blood form his gaping wounds. Even a totally idiot would know he is dead! Yet she is--very monotonously--repeating over and over "Daddy, daddy..." while looking at someone off-screen. She delivered it with about as much believability and passion as you could expect from an non-actor kid that had been repeating the line for the cameras all day.
Even if the poor kid had any acting skills, the scene is completely unbelievable. The little girl wouldn't even BE in the middle of the battlefield after hours of carnage--surrounded by hundreds of dead bodies, while she calmly stands there!! Natural instincts would had the kid screaming and terrified, running AWAY from the bloody carnage!
Are we Suppose to be Horrified or Laugh...?!
One particularly goofy detail, that gives the scene an SNL satire tone, is the father hanging, with a huge hook through his mouth and cheek. He looks like a fish on a hook! The unintentionally funny details, make the whole scene come across as fake and silly.
In Fantasy La-La-Land, Mothers and Daughters are the Same Age!
Another funny detail, is that you see a central character--the little girl's mother--at the end of the scene and in the next scene, that occurs 20+ years later, she looks exactly the same! She is still young and beautiful, and now the same age as her daughter!
I almost turned the movie off right there because the direction and writing were obviously awful--but I tried to stick it out because I wanted to see the Louisiana settings and I like all the actors. I don't know what these fine actors were thinking when they accepted these roles!
Who was the Targeted Audience?
The excessive amount of blood and badly acted violence in the opening scene are weirdly out of place with the soap opera storytelling tone that follows. It is also a strange way to start a movie that, for the rest of the time, seems targeted to romance novel reading females. Weird inconsistency in tone!
Garden State (2004)
DREAMY LYRIC IMAGES - Beautifully used by Storyteller to give us glimpse inside AWAKENING Character
I love the slow, dreamy style of the opening sequence. It immediately draws us into the main character's state of mind.
This film is beautifully and lyrically shot. But it isn't just for style's sake - the unique visuals are essential to the story. It was so cool when I realized that; I couldn't wait to see the movie again!
We see the world through the eyes of a guy who has been over-medicated by his psychiatrist father since he was a kid. The rest of the movie is his awakening from the numbness of a lifetime on anti-depressants. He is just discovering what it is to SEE and FEEL life without the dulling effects of Rx.
It is through this SLOW AWAKENING POV that we experience the world around him. The filmmakers use the unique images and slow lyric pace of the opening sequence to get us inside his POV. Slowly the Rx fog of his medicated existence is peeled away. As the character "awakens" from years of numbness we see the ordinary world through a fresh perspective.
The movie is full of quirky and original characters. I love the off-beat witty humor and unique visuals. So many scenes lingered in my mind - for days after I saw this movie.
Simple moments shine with magic. Scenes are shot in common everyday settings - yet in the hands of the director and cinematographer the ordinary world is beautiful and magical. Shot after shot after shot.
I SO ENJOYED seeing a movie where the director and crew remembered film is a VISUAL MEDIUM. They used every frame beautifully! So many lovely and subtle moments for your eyes to feast on. No talking heads or generic Hollywood sets in this movie. As the studios crank out more and more visually dull formula movies, that just seem to plop the camera down anywhere, I was beginning to think Hollywood had forgotten that film can be an artist's canvas for imagery.
GARDEN STATE reminded me why I feel in love with movies as a child - that moment when the curtains part and the studio fanfare music swells. You get excited about the possibilities.
Garden State starts with fantastic images. It gives you that feeling of anticipation. And you start to worry - will it last beyond the opening sequences?...But then it just keeps getting better and better. I loved the fun, quirky story, unique characters, lines to quote and memorable images.
I loved every frame of this movie. The opening sequence itself is wall-to-wall with poster-worthy frames and images.
BRAVO!!
I am looking forward to watching the careers of the writer/director and the cinematographer. Can't wait for next release.
A FEW OF MY FAVORITE VISUALS / SHOTS:
The main character walks past a ROW of SINKS in a public bathroom and the motion activated sensors turn the faucets on one by one.
Guy and girl on motorcycle (with sidecar! - okay just that is unique) waiting at stop sign for SCHOOL KIDS to CROSS THE STREET. Visually, the kids reminded me of a row of ducklings following their mother.
Main character waking up to sound of answering machine in his ALL WHITE ROOM- tucked tightly into his bedsheets. Visually it is a wonderful metaphor for a STRAIGHT JAKCET. Well done!
Waiter's POV of demanding diners in a snobby restaurant and the behind the scenes activities in the restaurant kitchen where all servers are actors with HEADSHOTS.
The love interest brings him to her house - an embarrassing clutter of small-town decor, which has been taken over by the winding HABI-TRAIL of plastic HAMSTER tunnels.
The Girl's adopted brother (and Criminal Justice Student) is DUSTING for FINGER PRINTS on the families dusty TELEVISION...And later, the love interest's mom shows an embarrassing childhood video of her, which they watch on the TV that still shows DUSTED FINGERPRINTS.
The main Character wakes up on the couch at his FRIEND'S HOUSE and sees in the morning light, a guy in KNIGHT'S ARMOR clunking around in the kitchen holding a gallon of milk.
The 3 main characters running around in MAKE-SHIFT TRASHBAG RAIN PONCHOS when unexpectedly caught in downpour.
The ARK BOAT, that the caretaker lives in, down at the bottom of the ABYSS.
MISTY FOG and LIGHT of swimming pool at night.
I could go on and on...
The Grass Harp (1995)
This movie is a FEAST for the Eyes and Soul!
After watching The Grass Harp I felt I had just experienced a feast! If you are tired of the McDonald's diet of recent Hollywood formula movies than you will welcome this gourmet quality film!
Based on Southern writer Truman Capote's boyhood, the story reveals the nuances of small town life with humor and wit. The lush visuals and lyric pace create a leisure mood befitting the 1930's when life was simpler. The golden sepia tones of the scenes subtly transport us into the memories of Collin, through whose eyes the story is told. The Southern ambiance, social graces and simple pastimes of a bygone era are beautifully recreated in the world surrounding the characters.
I love the barbershop scenes, where locals gather to socialize and get the latest news. You just want to hang out in the shop and shoot the breeze with Walter Matthau and Roddy McDowell. Joe Don Baker is the perfect southern sheriff and his sidekick Ralph (a rooster) adds a hilarious touch of eccentricity to his tough good-old boy demeanor. Charles Durning is hilarious as a self-righteous preacher that can't wait to kick Mary Steenbergen and her brood of a dozen kids out of town.
Piper Laurie is the heart and soul of the movie as Dolly Talbo. The timid and ethereal Dolly has been living under the thumb of her overbearing sister (Sissy Spacek) but manages to create a unique life of meaning for herself. Edward Furlong plays their teen nephew Collin who comes to live with them.
Dolly and her housekeeper (Nell Carter) take Collin under their wing and try to help him adjust to life in this small southern town. As Dolly advises Collin about the girl he has a crush on, she too falls in love for the first time in her life.
Piper Laurie glows like a young girl around the young-at-heart Judge Cool (Walter Matthau). Their scenes together are sweet and heartbreaking.
The movie is beautiful, both visually and emotionally. It is funny, sad, and touching. Don't rush this viewing. Sit down with a glass of wine and savor.
The Grass Harp is a feast for the eyes and soul!