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October 07, 2004
Rashomon, All The President's Men
Rashomon is a wonderful film, and the fact that everyone is aware that it is a wonderful film makes me not want to write about it, because I feel like there's absolutely nothing new that could possibly be said after half a century of theorists and critics writing about it. It really shows how a relative storyline can only be effective if it serves some sort of underlying theme. Hero, the 2002 Chinese film that just got released, is a failure in my mind because the whole "what is real, what is not" is just a stupid jigsaw puzzle. You might as well not watch the movie till the very end, when the "correct" version of events is finally revealed. Whereas in Rashomon, each story serves a purpose, a greater theme, a more important cause. Each character tells his version for a reason, that all comes back to a central point elaborated upon at the very end. Excellent stuff.
*****/***** (five of five stars)
All The President's Men - I saw this because I'm getting geared up to see Primer this weekend, and the director/writer says over and over in interviews that he was most influenced by this movie starring Redford and Hoffman. I've never read the famous book, but the film does a great version of taking you through their journalistic pursuits at a whirlwind speed. I see what the Primer director is after - event after event without letting up, without giving you a chance to really stop and breathe and think about what's going on, and that could either be good or bad. See, when a movie is based primarily on reality, I often wonder why a narrative fiction was chosen over a documentary. Because this is so close to recent events and the truth that accompanies them, it's hard to imagine that everything took place exactly as presented. And because the film doesn't do much to imbibe it with any philosophical deeper levels that would come with a fictional account, it's mostly a historical fiction piece with event after event. The acting was great, and some of the scenes were cool - who doesn't remember Deep Throat in the parking lot? The ending threw me a bit - just ending with a bunch of newspaper articles being typed up rather than showing the events. I have a feeling that the director feels that we already know the ending to the story, and don't need to see it. But I think we do need to see it - especially us young 'uns who weren't around to remember it! I want to see Woodward and Bernstein have their come-uppance; I want to see Nixon get impeached through newsreel footage; I want to see them win the Pulitzer! I understand the decision, but I'm not big on it.
**** / ***** (four out of five stars)
Next up: Mash, The Deer Hunter, and Deliverance (hell, I just don't think it's right that so many people reference scenes out of this movie without having seen it!!).
Posted by nick at October 7, 2004 02:31 PM