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Reviews
The Flats (2002)
Few films about American youth have this balance of heart, humor, and uniqueness--and a fantastic lead performance by Chad Lindberg
Chad Lindberg gives his finest performance to date as Harper in the Requa Brothers' under-seen film, "The Flats" and to call it outstanding is no exaggeration. He embodies an over-the-top drunk without acting that way. He is profoundly loyal, wise about people and particularly the friendships he navigates, and loves to learn about life through experience using his contagious, magnetic personality. He's also profoundly sad, unwise about responsibility as well as how to handle undesirable conformity and sacrifice, and can be a shameless womanizer. Lindberg always makes the character his, from convincing drunkenness to convincing friendship.
As easy as it could be to pick apart a low-budget debut film like this, "The Flats" is unique. It may have some rough edges in terms of its script (dialogue and forced and/or clichéd events) and some of its peripheral actors, but it's more than the sum of these parts. In terms of movies about American youth, "The Flats" has heart and more closely resembles the emotional subtlety of "The Last Picture Show" rather than trying to be one of the numerous brainless movies about superficial youths living superficial lives in typical cities. And it's not lacking humor either.
These are all characters who come together organically with believable chemistry as a group of close friends but all face a certain isolation: from societal norms, from taking chances outside of them, from family, from finding love, or even from their own heritage and ancestral culture. The film uses its unique geography as another character (also like "The Last Picture Show") as well as its unique subcultures to elevate itself to uniqueness, authenticity, and heartfelt emotion despite its imperfections. This film took me by surprise. Hopefully the Requa Brothers will take another stab at a film, and hopefully Chad Lindberg (who seems usually relegated to roles in either small films like "The Flats" or smaller roles in poor ones) finally gets the chance to show his talent to a larger audience to get the appreciation he deserves.
Tijd om gelukkig te zijn (1982)
"I want to be honest with myself."
Jan Decleir gives a memorable performance as an unemployed, single man in 1980s Belgium in this film with a nuanced visual style and narrative as fragmented and aimless as its main character. He is a fully fledged character who confronts having his life taken out from under him with a balance of jocularity and depression. He finds both humor and frustration in being trapped by an uncaring bureaucracy and by those assimilated members of a superficial society who find easy distraction in superfluous trivialities.
When faced with unemployment, he has "Time To Be Happy" (the film's English title), but also time to think--about himself and about the nature of the society in which he lives. He tries to find connection with a married woman as frustrated with his bitterness as she is by her own marriage. He feels warm nostalgia for the naive optimism of youth with a young student whose future seems just as uncertain; yet another frustration for him to confront. He sees injustice in the nature of a globalized society where distant resources are exploited by cheap labor to supply a lifestyle for an indifferent population. He seeks sincerity but finds little more than cheap platitudes and unthinking quips from his peers. He recognizes his own faults as well as his own helpless victimhood. Ultimately, though, it seems that those further entrenched in society and those who have not taken this time to reflect on themselves or society at large are even more dysfunctional than this man they so carelessly mock as being the dysfunctional one.
This film is a hidden treasure that recalls de Sica (e.g., "Umberto D" specifically) in both its contemplative content and realistic presentation. If you can find it (and you probably can if you scour the internet carefully enough because you likely won't find it in a video store or online renter/retailer), watch it. It will pull in and reward the patient viewer; I also enjoyed the ending. It serves as a reminder that even worthwhile films can easily be exiled to obscurity (but hopefully not completely forgotten--that's why I wrote this review).
Security, Colorado (2001)
Inauthentic in a different way
Dogme 95 and independent film-making in general often seems to stem from a rebellion against the inauthenticity of Hollywood movies. "Security, Colorado" seems to be no exception, but in intention alone. It's inauthentic in a different way, however.
Although the two lead actors are good, their improvisations are not, which could have been remedied perhaps by rehearsal and fleshing out who these characters are and why. Granted, dialogue in real life is not as eloquent as in mainstream films, but it's not always as direction less as in this movie either, especially between lovers and people trying to express themselves to each other.
The improvisation often feels forced as if the actors are trying to further a discussion whose purpose is unclear. It feels more like actors struggling to find lines rather than actors who have fully placed themselves in their characters reacting naturally. There is a difference between actors not knowing what to say to each other and real people not knowing how to talk to each other, and it shows in this film.
The way it's filmed also detracts from any attempt at making a film that feels authentic and realistic. The camera was hand-held, but the shakiness and movement seems to be more than necessary and exaggerated without any reason that serves the film. The automatic focus feature the camera seems to have had did not help either. There were also jump cuts that did not "jump" chronologically but acted as sutures between takes mid-conversation rather than using a long take approach. These seem to be technical deficiencies that did not add anything to the film itself, and they ultimately disrupted any transparency that could have existed.
And as for being a Dogme 95 film, the director blatantly violated the Vow of Chastity by introducing music during the editing process that does not occur where the film does. Usually this is not the case in the film, but it also shows that the intention of those involved in the film-making was not carried out meticulously enough even in making a Dogme film.
Although it seems like a wholly negative review, the film is not entirely without merit. It's still an interesting film, if just for being different, although flawed. We simply don't get enough information to care about any of the characters or their insecurities enough to really be involved in the film. The lead actress, Karen Felber, does save the film with a good performance. But ultimately the film's attempt at showing the complexities of human emotions and relationships falls short and ends up being a meaningless and superficial exploration of those topics and more of a cinematic exercise.