gcameron Reviews

Midnight Run (1988)

Approaches perfection within its genre

[6 October 2000]

Okay, a few things about "Midnight Run" have dated. It's got the inevitable '80s car chase, with five million cop cars pursuing De Niro and Grodin while they scream in anger at each other. It's also amazing how many felonies De Niro commits in the course of the movie without ending up spending his life in jail. But these plot points are part of the genre, and as long as we are willing to suspend disbelief a bit, it's not a problem.

On to the good things. The De Niro/Grodin chemistry is obviously very good -- this is probably De Niro's most successful comic performance, although he mostly plays the straight man. An absolutely first-rate supporting cast -- including a hilarious Joe Pantoliano as well as Dennis Farina as a mob boss and the sublime Yaphet Kotto as an ever-more-put-upon FBI agent -- gives "Midnight Run" a richness of texture that puts it head and shoulders above other movies. I love the way these characters live out their roles with style and grace -- note De Niro's "inside joke" for Yaphet Kotto after stealing an FBI car.

Structurally, the script is excellent as well. The plot is very intricate -- it juggles 3 separate groups of people pursuing De Niro and Grodin (the mob, the FBI, and a rival bounty hunter) while continuing to develop the relationship between the two leads in distinct stages. Things do lag a bit in late Act II -- I could have done without the scene where Grodin and De Niro pose as FBI agents looking for counterfeit money -- but it's a minor quibble. Two superb dramatic scenes (the one where De Niro talks to his ex-wife, and the last scene in which he says goodbye to Grodin) round things out.

Budding screenwriters take note: if you want to study a film that's a first-rate example of the 3-act Hollywood movie done right, check out "Midnight Run." Anyone else, just watch it to have a good time.

Sanjuro (1962)

The master in a lighter mode

[21 September 2000]

Sanjuro is not one of Kurosawa's great films, but it shows him relaxed and having fun, deconstructing the jidai-geki (samurai film) genre with tongue firmly in cheek.

The film lacks the meticulous visual style of Yojimbo, but it is very well photographed, with some extremely fluid cinematography and those effortlessly artful group compositions that only Kurosawa seems to be able to do. The plot is a little exposition-heavy, but it's always swift-moving and never comes close to taking itself seriously.

Watching Toshiro slice apart all those enemies in the various battle scenes with nary a bloodstain in sight, I did find myself wishing the folks at Toho had sprung for a few squibs. But all is set right in the brilliant final swordfight, which is worth the price of admission.

Hamlet (1996)

This is the real thing...

[8/10 · 16 September 2000]

...warts and all. Whether it be called a "film" or a "filmed play" is questionable (the fact is that "Hamlet" is a long, somewhat ungainly, occasionally redundant play that is in some ways more suited to reading than to viewing all at once), but Branagh's uncut "Hamlet" does justice to Shakespeare. The whole thing is here, and (mostly) very well acted to boot -- and the completeness of the text will render unwatchable such butchered, "Shakespeare's greatest hits" versions as the 1991 Zefferelli/Mel Gibson film.

It is a travesty that Branagh was not at least nominated for an Oscar for his performance in the title role. He approaches the scenes as a musician would approach a difficult passage -- controlling his instrument carefully, building up to climaxes upon certain words, deftly combining externalized gestures with inner emotion. As Ebert has noted, Branagh dares to pull out all the stops in the big moments. Compared to him, Olivier's respectable performance seems to me rather stiff and recital-like, while Gibson's is like a pop keyboardist tackling Rachmaninov's 3rd Concerto.

Even better is Derek Jacobi's magnificent performance as Claudius. It is the best piece of Shakespearean acting I've ever seen on film, and once of the best performances in any movie. Watch his monologue in the chapel, or the inner agony he exhibits when asking Britain to bring about "the present death of Hamlet." Given the full text to work with, he restores Claudius from a two-dimensional bad-guy to one of literature's greatest and most complex villains.

Children of Paradise (1945)

Ah, Baptiste...

[25 August 2000]

The mime sequences are my favorites, particularly the scene in the second half ("L'homme Blanc") when Pierrot, played by Baptiste, is trying to get into the ballroom. The gaslight, the silhouetted dummies that, seen through the window, swirl about in their dance... something about this scene captures the atmosphere of the 19th century for me. This is the Paris of Chopin, Hugo, Ingres. "Les Enfants du Paradis" brings it to life.

I find the conclusion rather abrupt. Lacenaire is forced, for the sake of the plot, into an action that doesn't seem in character for him. Frederick LeMaitre -- the most winning, purely charismatic character in the movie -- drops out in the final scenes, and his arc feels unresolved. I am not sure if the 6 main characters' stories are tied together into any meaningful conclusion or revelation. Perhaps they aren't intended to be.

Still, there is much to admire in "Les Enfants du Paradis." It is a triumph of atmosphere, of evocation of setting; and it contains two immortal performances, in the characters of Baptiste and LeMaitre. Those whose decry it as a warmed-over "Film d'Art," a pusillanimous, cobwebby production rightly swept away by the New Wave, miss the point: it exists outside its time and place in film history, and evokes a deeply romantic sensibility with great charm, and also intelligence.

Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)

I liked the dubbed version

[14 August 2000]

I'm a huge (new) Miyazaki fan who has only seen English-dubbed versions of his films -- Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, and now Kiki's Delivery Service. I don't know for sure, not having seen the Japanese-language version, but I think Disney has generally done a great job with these dubs. The voice talent is first rate -- Kirsten Dunst, Janeane Garofalo, Phil Hartman... what's not to like? I don't know whether the Japanese version has the cheesy introductory pop song, but then cheesy pop songs are a staple of anime anyway.

I guess it's a double-standard that I, who would never dream of watching a dubbed version of a film by Kurosawa or Ozu, can enjoy the work of Miyazaki in such fashion. But maybe live action and animation just aren't the same in that respect. Anyway, Kiki is a delight in any language, although I still think Totoro is Miyazaki's most perfect film.

Time Bandits (1981)

A wonderful film, perhaps Gilliam's best

[21 March 2000]

I have mixed feelings about many of Gilliam's other films -- I felt "Brazil" was a bit too disorganized and too self-consciously Orwellian, while "The Fisher King" never quite nailed the quirky tone it was attempting -- but Time Bandits is a pure delight. Though at heart a lightweight children's film, it contains moments of great wit and also visionary beauty; and it carries on the spirit of Monty Python, from which Terry Gilliam and two of the film's actors (John Cleese and Michael Palin) came.

I wish more special-effects blockbusters had the imagination that "Time Bandits" has. While some of the jokes are hit-and-miss, the baroque world Gilliam creates is entirely convincing -- from the bizarre, foreboding "Time of Legends" to the idyllic Mycenae where, for a brief moment, young Kevin finds true happiness. David Warner is hilarious as "Evil," the villain who wants to introduce microchips and lasers into Creation. The late David Rappaport gives a wonderful performance as Randall, the avaricious leader of the dwarves, while Kevin, the boy, is altogether appealing (perhaps George Lucas should have studied this film before casting Jake Lloyd for "Phantom Menace").

To my mind, "Time Bandits" is the most purely "Gilliamesque" of Gilliam's films, and his best to date.