hamlet2b Reviews

Happy Feet (2006)

happy feet and appreciating difference

[8/10 · 24 November 2006]

Happy Feet may not please some fundamentalists. Its underlying message is to question orthodoxy, oppose the hierarchical paternalistic church and deity, and to embrace diversity. The message is delivered deftly and some of our more somnolent brethren may not pick up on the "subversive" message. Mumble is just not "penguin", and is shunned as a sinner, despite being born "that way". He tries to change but he can't. His mother wants to accept him the way he his, but his father sides with authority to shun his son. Sound like anything? What's another word for "happy"?

The film is visually stunning in IMAX and I highly recommend seeing it in that format. Robin Williams shines in all his roles. A great film for the whole,"accepting" family.

Stage Beauty (2004)

another "liberal" film

[7/10 · 3 January 2005]

This is an entertaining romp with caricatures rather than characters. Billy Crudup tries valiantly to portray the innately feminine and comes across only slightly less campy than a drag queen. He does convince us, however, that he doesn't know who he is. Rupert Everett is over the top but great fun to watch. Tom Wilkinson is stellar, as usual.

My objection to this film and to others like it, is that they present a façade of acceptance for what is gender-bending and homosexual. But in the end they trick us, and the films' hidden message is essentially one of a morality tale: where nature re-establishes its decreed and rightful order, and men are men, women are women and sex is hetero. The evangelical right won't see this film, cheated of knowing that is is actually "on message"!

House of Sand and Fog (2003)

A shakespearian tragedy

[10/10 · 2 January 2004]

This is a tragedy of the epic variety. Some viewers have criticized the plot as implausible. I believe it is not only plausible, but a perfect vehicle for the conflict that unfolds. The house is both the metaphorical future and past to it's two protagonists and hence becomes worth dying for. Yes there are two protagonists, Kathy and Col. Behrani, who have equal moral claims to the property. As the story plays out, with the looming destiny of a Greek tragedy, we are treated to some of the finest cinematic performances this year. Run, don't walk to see this film.

Elephant (2003)

welcome to film 101

[2/10 · 17 October 2003]

This film feels like a student's experiment. After following a dozen students around every nook and cranny of a school...we are ready to scream "we get it already!" Anticipating the horror to come, I was hoping this device would make it more palpable and real. But, alas, it failed and did the opposite. Despite being non-actors the students are clichés, to the point I was wondering if it was supposed to be a joke: The jock and cheerleader, the three anorexic valley girls, the nerd, the hirsute schizoid frump...they're all there. We only get a hint of why the two assassins decide to blow up their classmates...until one guy decides to let the principal have it ("you should have listened to us when we said we were being bullied!") before really letting him have it. Totally ridiculous. And the kiss in the shower...was that for Van Sant's titillation, or was that to allude to the boys being taunted as sissies (as at Columbine)? Incredulous.

When the massacre finally comes we are so anaesthetized that the scenes of blood and exploding body parts has no more effect than the previous scenes of picking up food in the cafeteria. The dispassionate, objective view didn't work to increase the horror as it has in other more successful movies; here it seems like a "mocumentary". And please...you hide in a freezer instead of running down the stairs and out the door just beside you?

So, in case you didn't get my opinion...this film stinks to high heaven.

Amen. (2002)

The Eyes of God

[9/10 · 24 June 2002]

The challenge for Kurt Gerstein after the war, in the hands of the allies, and for Costa-Gavras in this film, is to convince us that he, Kurt Gerstein S.S. officer, was bravely acting as the "eyes of God" in watching the holocaust unfold before his eyes. It is hard to believe that a man of conscience could actively participate in something he found so entirely heinous. But the amazing work of Gavras and Ulrich Tukur who plays Gerstein succeeds. It is very difficult to play a noble and virtuous man and not become a saintly characature. Tukur succeeds in rounding out a believable character who inspires us to believe in man's innate goodness. Indeed Tukur pretty much has to carry this film and he does. Kudos. Mathieu Kassovitz as the young Jesuit priest is not as strong but his character is less central to the story.

This film is very powerful. In it's veiled presentation of the holocaust it manages to convey the horror with as much emotional impact as any previous film dealing with this dark history. The real sorrow, for me, is to watch our protagonists struggle believing that "if only the world knew" there would be an outpouring of outrage that would put a stop to the atrocities. Unfortunately these good men don't seem to grasp the darker side of human nature that can turn a blind eye. In the final chapter a brilliant plot twist brings home the horror in the most personal of ways to all of those Vatican "diplomats".

A powerful, horrible and beautiful film.

Soft Shell Man (2001)

A fine profile of a benign narcissist

[10 June 2002]

This was a fine film and a good study of a benign narcissist. Alex has clearly suffered some major trauma, not just the recent witnessing of dead people trapped in a shipwreck under the Indian sea, but something primordial that we, and he, can only guess at. For this, despite his immaturity, he remains sympathetic. He is not the blowhard narcissist or manipulator, but rather the childlike one. He tries to make everyone love him, and in so doing, loses all their love. At the same time the film was ingenious in showing how those around him use his narcissistic vulnerability. They are attracted to his eternal youth, bring him into their lives, and spit him out when he is unable to follow through on their demands. In other words it takes two to tango. It is too simple to see the other characters as having been disappointed by an immature man. My heart really went out to this fragile man trying to negotiate the terrain of an emotionally tumultuous world. No wonder he wanted to flee to the dark and silent ocean bottom.