eugenecroc Reviews

Lifeboat (1944)

What if we were all in this lifeboat Today?

[8/10 · 11 October 2007]

OK, YES, this IS one of the greatest chamber-pieces of all time, set on the open ocean no- less, but also... This is a great one for given it to you both as a straight-ahead melodrama, And as a kind-of symbolic deal for where the nation (and the world) was at the time. You know, where people are people, but they represent Kinds of people, or Groups of people. And their actions can be taken for this or that, literal or representative or whatnot. The people in the boat, like the people in the world watching the movie, Were At War.

It's the natural thought-train watching this action to wonder what we'd do in these peoples' positions. How would we treat the German? Each Other?

And if this was bein' made Today, not as a re-make, but as its original Patriotic allegory, who would be in the boat? And what would the characters all represent from today's world- stage? And what would be the message for the American (and world-wide) movie-going public? hmmm.

Great Flick. And Tallulah Bankhead was One Bad-Ass Lady, it looks like. They sure Don't make 'em like they used to.

The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

Saddest, Funniest Journey to the Most Beautiful Non-Destination

[9/10 · 10 October 2007]

This is such a DAMN GOOD MOVIE.

It's this bright, expansive, random, happy, sad, funny, stupid, and wise trip that these 3 brothers take, and I'm not here to give you the play by play. Watch the thing, and you'll see how it's not something that adds up to the sum of its what-not. It's just Not One of Those kinds of movies.

Instead, it's one of those that has to be seen to be believed, and is worlds-better experienced than recounted. It's a Trip. Through the spaces between people, as well as within India.

And Yes, it has much in common with the rest of director Wes Anderson's stuff, visually and thematically and tonally, in the best ways, if you ask me. I think he was really hittin' his stuff on all cylinders in this one.

Just So Much that's implied rather than stated. So Much in the way that people and relationships can be both lamented And celebrated. He just brings So Much to the screen, but always leaves that space that demands the audience step up and meet him on the platform, with our own individual "baggage" we've brought along. It's Great.

And maybe it was the way it was shot and cut and directed and acted, all very subtly, vividly, kinetically...

Maybe it was the way the characters felt really REAL, fascinating and absurd and pathetic and majestic, all at the same time.

Maybe it was because India is so bright and beautiful and exotic, to the tourist's and movie-goer's eyes.

Maybe it was just random enough and specifically-rendered enough to really hit me RIGHT THERE, but IT DID.

I enjoyed this more than any movie I've seen in a long time.

Real Art made with Real Heart.

So Sad and Funny and Just Damn Beautiful.

Hotel Chevalier (2007)

An artful short take on a little sex with the ex

[9/10 · 27 September 2007]

Really a beautiful short piece of enticement, with tone and sight and sound and dialogue all letting you know that there's a story here, while only hinting at the many things that story might be. And it captures a particular feel that lets you in on the situation kind of like a good short story in a book does.

The way the whole thing looks, and the way the action comes across, are pure Wes Anderson at his best. Deadpan. Melancholy. Hurtfully truthful-feeling.

You know they say there used to be shorts before all the movies when you saw 'em in the theatre. Now we get a string of commercials bigger, louder, and stupider than on TV. It would be so cool if more top notch film-makers like these made more stuff like this. Viva Short Film.

And Thank You Especially, Miss Portman, for getting behind in your work.

Your talent and beauty are in a neck and neck race for first place in many hearts like my own.

I'll be there for "Darjeeling Ltd" the day it opens.