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Watchmen (2009)
Sneaking a "Watch"
"No. Not even in the face of Armageddon. Never compromise."-Rorschach While Rorschach's (Jackie Earle Haley) proclamation may be possible to uphold as a superhero, the refusal to compromise on behalf of the filmmaker in the process of literary adaptation is impossible. As film theorist André Bazin wrote, "Faithfulness to form, literary or otherwise, is illusory: what matters is the equivalence in meaning of the forms." In other words, Bazin is arguing that each medium has its own modes of representation, thus the struggle for formal fidelity is a lost cause and that the main objective is that the adaptation should capture the original work's essence. Bazin continues, stating, "All it takes is for the filmmakers to have enough visual imagination to create the cinematic equivalent of the style of the original." Zach Snyder's ("300") attempt to adapt Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon's "Watchmen" (1986-1987) is compromised but that is the only possible way an adaptation can work as a film. He captures the Bazinian essence of Moore and Gibbon's work, a deconstruction of the superhero mythos, with an aesthetic that also captures much of the style of the original graphic novel (to the degree it is possible in film). Will die-hard fans be disappointed? No doubt, but quite unjustly. Even with Snyder's compromised ending, which ultimately can be interpreted as being more devastating than the climax concocted by Moore and Gibbons (although the film lacks a sequence on par with the opening pages of the comic's twelfth volume), Snyder's ambitious attempt is the best that could be done in a feature film.
For those of you unfamiliar with the story, "Watchmen" takes place on an alternate timeline beginning in late 1985. The United States won the war in Vietnam, Richard Nixon has been elected to third presidential term, and the only man standing between nuclear war between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. is "Dr. Manhattan" (Billy Crudup), a human nuclear bomb who stands on the American side as a nuclear deterrent. The film, like the comic, begins with the murder of Eddie Blake (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), a retired superhero formally known as "The Comedian." While clues point to robbery, the sociopathic Rorschach believes that the death of "The Comedian" could be the beginning of plot to eliminate former costumed heroes. Hoping to foil such a conspiracy, Rorschach warns his former partners in crime fighting: Manhattan and his lover, the beautiful Silk Specter (Malin Ackerman), the Batman-esquire Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson), and the smartest man in the world, Ozymandias (Matthew Goode). Collectively dubbed the Watchmen, the group initially disregards Rorschach's theory. That is until Dr. Manhattan is forced off Earth, making the possibility of nuclear war a near certainty.
This complex story, as readers familiar with the book will attest, is existential that the typical comic book and the film is much the same. Much like last summer's "The Dark Knight," "Watchmen" is not concerned with action scenes and obligatory fights. As the film's antagonist notes in the film's climax, "I'm not a comic book villain," and, like the film, he is not treated as being the product of a fantastic world far outside our own. While Snyder does bring an unrealistic edge to the action sequences (particularly his manipulation of time via cuts and slow motion), these techniques, much like those of Sam Peckinpah, become a means of deconstructing motion...just like a comic book. Instead, "Watchmen" as both a graphic novel and a film favors the approach of making comic book and superhero fans think about the motives and actions in what becomes a study of ethics. In this study, it is only the murderous and sociopathic Rorschach who is able of following any sort of moral code...even if it is demented in its adherence to rejecting compromise.
For the most part, Snyder's direction is precise. His graphical style captures Gibbon's graphics and layout perfect...right down to the book's fearful symmetry. The framing and camera movements mirror those of the book, a treat for avid fans of the book and Gibbon's art. Moreover, Snyder's work with the actors is quite accomplished. Jackie Earle Haley continues his streak of embodying sociopaths perfectly. Patrick Wilson captures the sadness and longing for a greater goal in life, something all retired heroes must face.
The film is not without its flaws. For the most part, the film and Snyder do a fantastic job of drawing out the background of the individual characters and the past of masked heroes in general very well (particularly during the film's opening ten minutes and the beautifully executed credit sequence). However, the one character who seems to receive the short end of the narrative-stick is Nite Owl. Snyder establishes his background, but not to the degree that the others benefit from. In addition, Malin Ackerman's performance, while being far from bad, seemed to be the weakest out of the leads. However, her character is the most clichéd in the book, so perhaps Ackerman just did not have that much to work with.
The most glaring flaw in the film, however, is in Snyder's choice of end credit music. The film, like the book, ends on a relatively quiet scene but it is entirely displaced by a terrible cover of Bob Dylan's "Desolation Row" by My Chemical Romance. While Dylan's version would have been fine and in keeping with the period music used (listen for a Musak cover of "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" in Ozymandia's office) throughout the rest of the film, the cover is loud and obnoxious and seems like it was fitted for an entirely different film than the one just watched.
Snyder has made an adaptation that is as faithful and accessible as possible, a compromise that is ultimately successful. Snyder, to borrow from Bazin's model, not only captures the essence of Moore and Gibbon's novel but also demonstrates a "visual imagination" that creates the impression of Gibbon's layout and graphical style.
There Will Be Blood (2007)
One of the Best Films of the Year
With new TV missing in action, the cinema has provided some excellent jewels to turn to during the coming holiday season. With two of my personal favorites already in wider release, "No Country for Old Men" and "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," I can add one more title to the short list of must-see films: P.T. Anderson's "There Will Be Blood." Having been quite the admirer of Mr. Anderson's work, even through the admirable misfire of "Magnolia," "There Will Be Blood" marks the director's strongest work yet.
An adaptation of Upton Sinclair's "Oil!," "There Will Be Blood" traces the capitalist ambition of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), an up and coming oil prospector. While he begins the film with a certain humility, personally digging oil wells himself and taking on the orphan (Dillon Freasier) of a fallen colleague as his own son, Daniel gradually falls into a state of absolute greed. However, unlike the typical rags to riches story whose fallen heroes often find self-destruction through material goods, Daniel is not driven by money or women. As he venomously discloses to his brother, "I have a competition in me; I want no one else to succeed. I hate most people
I want to earn enough money I can get away from everyone. I can't keep doing this on my own, with these...people." This contempt, like the oil in Plainview's well, slowly begins to bubble to the surface, coming to a full eruption when confronted with Pastor Eli Sunday (Paul Dano). Plainview, attempting to acquire the land in which Eli's family lives, is confronted with the young man's informed business sense is and forced to fund a church for the town. Plainview quickly comes to the realization that like himself, Eli is a charlatan, misleading the town people while attempting to drain the town in his own way. Ultimately, this contempt forces Plainview to sinister means in his continued attempt for absolute success, drawing Sinclair and Anderson's critique of rugged individualist greed to crescendo.
Much has been written about Anderson's cinematic style and his continual citation of Martin Scorsese and, perhaps more frequently, Robert Altman, to whom Anderson served as an assistant and has dedicated the film to. While traces of Altman's "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" highlight Anderson's gritty and, ultimately existentially hopeless, view of the West, the film is perhaps more in debt to the work of Stanley Kubrick. One can sense within "There Will Be Blood" a similar treatment of gradual social alienation that propels "The Shining." While the beautiful cinematography of Robert Elswit re-enforces this reading, perhaps the largest marker of Anderson's homage to Kubrick comes from his use of music, specifically string cues (composed by Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood). Through the clashing echo of strings, Anderson raises Plainview's mental disintegration to a visceral level, pushing the viewer towards the anxiety shared by the protagonist.
Of course, much of Plainview's mental state relies on the performance of Daniel Day-Lewis. Finding himself in a similar role to the sociopathic Bill "The Butcher" Cutting in Scorsese's "Gangs of New York," Day-Lewis's seething performance stands as one of the year's best. From the slow progression from teeth-gritting resentment to the drooling hatred of a junkyard dog, Day-Lewis hits all of his marks perfectly without overplaying the material penned by Anderson. Day-Lewis meets his match with the strong performance of Paul Dano. Casting aside the mute persona he established in "Little Miss Sunshine," Dano brings a tremendous amount of energy to the malicious role of Eli. Through the work of Day-Lewis, Dano, and a strong supporting cast (including Ciaran Hinds), Anderson has yet again proved himself as an actor's director.
Unlike his work in "Boogie Nights," "Magnolia," and "Punch-Drunk Love," Anderson brings a great deal of restraint to "There Will Be Blood." While the film has some of his trademark long-takes, the film, much like David Fincher's work on "Zodiac" earlier this year, contains little style for style's sake. Instead, bringing himself back towards the aesthetic of his superb "Hard Eight," Anderson lets his gift for writing and direction of actors guide the film. Through this intense and rewarding collaboration, Anderson has struck his own reservoir of Texas tea. Let's just hope the success doesn't push him to the same lengths as Plainview's.
Grindhouse (2007)
Grindhouse: B-
Maybe I'm giving the flick a bit of a raw deal, but going in with rather lukewarm expectations, I was disappointed when the end credits rolled. All in all, the trailers were the best part. In terms of the two films, Rodriguez fulfilled the assignment and while his film went on a tad too long, it was a hell of a lot of fun. Tarantino, in typical QT fashion, tried to de-construct the Grindhouse picture and it came off in a lackluster fashion. Yeah, the car chase was great and Kurt Russell has charisma but the dialogue and structure just didn't mesh with the objective of the project. As a friend put it, "It felt like the opening of "Reservoir Dogs" stretched out over an hour and a half with a car chase towards the end." All in all, the "Grindhouse" experience (two movies, fake trailers, and the whole premise of the shift in viewer mode) was a lot of fun and I suggest it to anyone (especially in the light that the DVD issues will be segregated with the cuts and scratches taken out). However, I cannot help but wonder how far we can push post-modernity and ironic viewership until it deflates into itself.
Thoughts?
The Good German (2006)
The Good Homage
The Good Homage A Review of Steven Soderbergh The Good German. by Drew Morton
Rating: B+
When I attended a screening of Steven Soderbergh's latest film The Good German two weeks ago at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica, Soderbergh introduced the film, which was screening on a double-bill with Casablanca, as one Michael Curtiz could have made if there lacked the Production Code. Keeping this as his objective, Soderbergh filmed the project only with equipment available in 1945 while juxiposing this style with explicit violence, nudity, and cursing. The double-bill idea was fitting; essentially, The Good German is a parallel universe version of Casablanca, which both makes the film interesting and ultimately lends it a certain hollowness.
Without delving too deeply into the plot, the film begins with journalist Jake Geismer (George Clooney) arriving in Berlin to report on the peace negotiations following the immediate end of World War II. At the request of Colonel Muller (Beau Bridges), Geismer is paired up with Tully (Tobey Maguire), an American soldier who will be his escort and driver through the fragmented city. However, not long after his arrival, Geismer discovers that "things are not the way they appear to be," as Tully robs him and beats him following the discovery that Tully is both dating his former flame, Lena (Cate Blanchett) and is involved with the black market. Not long after, an American service man turns up dead and Geismer finds himself both in the middle of a murder mystery and within the remnants of his relationship with Lena.
The film finds itself so massively indebt towards the superior films of Curtiz and Carol Reed that one senses an overcomplicated plot as a means of compensation. However, as labyrinthine as the plot becomes, the film is almost solely about its noir style and the actors inhabiting the gritty streets of Berlin, which looks strikingly similar to the streets of Reed's The Third Man. Aesthetically, Soderbergh's black and white photography, credited under his pseudonym Peter Andrews, and the production design by his regular collaborator Phillip Messina, essentially stands as its own character and will probably bear fruits come award time. Soderbergh's Berlin is beautifully haunting, amazingly constructed out of Hollywood backlots and found footage, full of images that linger in the viewer's mind.
Mise-en-scene aside, the film's main attraction is its stars. Clooney takes a mildly-startling turn as Geismer who, while he shares Clooney's charm and sex appeal, completely lacks any physical empowerment. While not as ineffectual as his character in Stephen Gaghan's Syriana, Clooney is beaten probably six or seven times throughout the film and during the climax, is almost frighteningly useless. Sensing this early in the film after ambushed by Tully, Geismer seemingly comes to the conclusion that in order to overcome such obstacles, he must rely both on his charms and power of observation. Blachett, taking the role of Lena, makes the most of her cold-hearted moll, who finds herself sinking into prostitution to survive. The supporting players, most notably Leland Orser turn as Geismer's old friend and Deadwood's Robin Weigert as Lena's "roommate" are also noteworthy.
Conversely, it is Maguire's gear-shifting performance that stands out as one of the most problematic characteristics of the film. Due to his fame as Peter Parker, Maguire comes off as being sorely miscast in the role of the sadistic Tully. His teenaged looks and boyish voice mocks the delivery of his dialogue to a somewhat comical end. However, at the same time, his boyish charm makes the horrible violence he inflicts much more terrifying.
Performances aside, at the end of the film the viewer is left with a bittersweet taste on their cinematic pallet. On one hand, one has just watched a successful and entertaining homage while, on the other hand, all they have watched are a blend of superior films channeled through the interesting notion of "what if there hadn't been a Hays code?" The Good German is Casablanca, literally right down to the last moments. Is this a good thing? Well, the film is not nearly as flat as Van Sant's remake of Psycho, but it does lack both the innovation of a Tarantino homage and substance of greater Soderbergh films, be it a genre homage like Out of Sight or experiment along the lines of Bubble.
Drew Morton is a graduate student at UCLA in Film Studies/Critical Studies department. He is presenting a paper entitled "Twin Cinema: The False Binary of 'Hollywood' and 'Independent' within the films of Steven Soderbergh" at the annual conference of the Society of Cinema and Media Studies in March. Also a writer for the media blog "Dr. Mabuse's Kaleido-Scope," he is also currently editing an anthology on American Independent Film.