June 2003 Archives

I finally got to see the 2001 blockbuster The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Mind you, I really enjoyed the books when I read them oh so many years ago, both the trilogy and the prequel, The Hobbit, but it wasn't a burning desire of mine to see the movie, to the aghast astonishment of a few of my friends! I read some very funny reviews of the movie and DVD, from more disinterested bystanders, and it just didn't seem all that special to me. But I did finally watch it, and I'm glad I did. But I wasn't so bowled over that I made sure I saw the second part, The Two Towers, in the movie theater! I'll be glad to wait for that DVD, due in August 2003.

Probably not necessary to go into much depth with the story, as you either know it, and have watched this, or don't know and don't care (one of my daughter's favorite sayings, "Don't know. Don't care."). Suffice to say a hobbit, a little fellow with big feet, gets dropped the responsibility of bringing The One Ring, a ring capable of unspeakable power, to the Council to see what they might want to do with it. The party of hobbits runs into some mighty strange fellows, all of whom would like to separate the ring from whatever is attaching it to Frodo's body.

They are also advised by the Wise Grey Wizard, Gandalf, played with stoic ferocity by Ian McKellen, who I was so impressed with in the movie Gods and Monsters. They manage to extricate themselves from a few close jams, and along with Aragon, finally get to the Elf HQ and deliver The Ring. There they are volunteered for the even more dangerous journey, to bring The Ring to Mt. Doom, where it can finally be destroyed. This journey will be chronicled in the following two movies, just like the books.

It took a little while to get into this movie. I don't know, I'm just not into hobbits and dragons and wizards, oh my. But they do a good job of keeping the pace up, with a minimal amount of mumbo jumbo, and I was just getting involved when the DVD started skipping and I had to give up. When I finally got the replacement DVD, I just jumped to approximately where I ended, rather than start over, so it took me a little longer to get into it. But both times I did, and was generally swept along by the interesting characters and story.

I did have two major problems with the movie, and it isn't entirely my own fault. In both cases, outside sources put the buzz in my ear and I wasn't able to shake it. In the first case, it was a review of the DVD in the magazine The Perfect Vision. It was a very funny review of someone who was not at all taken up by the Lord Of The Rings phenomenon. And he kept calling it a "Pointy Hat Wizard" movie, where it seems like one damn thing after another happens. And yup, that's a nice synopsis of the action - too succinct!

The other was when someone who saw The Two Towers in the movie, and noticed that they kept up the swooping camera. I hadn't noticed it during my first aborted viewing, but then I couldn't shake just how many times they did, in fact, use the swooping cameras. From wizard towers to forests to long fields and mountain tops, they use swooping cameras. Almost dizzying, in fact. Reminded me a little of the long shot of the Enterprise in the first Star Trek movie, where it felt like, By God, you were going to appreciate the hard work of the special effects crew if it was going to kill you!

But I still think it is a good movie that can be easily watched by any fan of film, even if you aren't into "Pointy Hat Wizard" movies. The filmmakers do an excellent job of sweeping you along, and you might even forget it is all about hobbits and elves and wizards, at least for a little while.

No Man's Land is the 2002 Foreign Language Academy Award winning film from Bosnia-Herzegovina, by director Danis Tanovic. It tells the story of a Bosnian and a Serb caught between the two lines, and unable to convince either side to let them out. It is an interesting take on the "War is Stupid" theme, and shows in a nutshell just how crazy that ugly conflict got.

Chiki is part of a relief squad being led through the night and fog to the Serbian lines. They decide to halt until the sun comes up and, you guessed it, they find themselves right in the middle of the two lines, in No Man's Land. The Bosnians open fire with rifles and a tank, blowing Chiki into a trench that bisects the front lines. He's lightly wounded in the shoulder, but can't make his way out in the day time, due to the trench he is in being heavily mined. He decides to hole up until nightfall and make a break for his lines then.

Nino, a greenhorn, and a veteran are sent from the Bosnian line to check for any survivors. When they don't find any, they drag the body of Chiki's comrade into the trench and place a weight sensitive mine underneath it. The mine will blow up if the body is moved - a great joke "invented" by the veteran soldier. Chiki breaks up their little party, killing the vet and wounding Nino, although he can't bring himself to finish Nino off.

Chiki then makes Nino get up on the top of the trench stripped to his shorts waving a white flag, which brings down some artillery on them for their troubles. They both get quite a shock when it turns out Chiki's comrade Sera isn't dead after all, but severely wounded. But of course, due to the nature of the mine, they can't move him. So this time they both get out of the trenched, stripped to their shorts and waving the white flag. Both sides call in the UN forces to help out.

The head of the UN forces (played by the only familiar face in the movie Simon Callow) tells the local UN forces to back off, but the French head of the squad takes matters into his own hands and tries to help out. It all escalates when a reporter gets involved, and in the end it is a lot of noise and smoke signalling nothing.

It's a real nice movie, with some excellent sound work. The unknown (here anyway!) actors really pull their roles off, bickering and fighting like both sides did in the war. The movie avoids easy answers, like them becoming busom buddies or something, for a very low key ending. I'm not sure why it won the Oscar though, as I found both Amelie and Lagaan to have much more personality and verve. This was a very workmanlike movie, and it did what it set out to do. A good rental, even if the DVD is devoid of extras.

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover is another visual and cerebral feast by one of my favorite iconoclastic writer/directors, Peter Greenaway. I have reviewed his earlier The Draughtsman's Contract here on Brightness and I found this movie to be as visually absorbing and nearly as confusing as his first work. This one was even more disturbing in its combination of sex and violence, covered with a patina of respectibility.

Helen Mirren plays Georgina, The Wife of The Thief, Albert Spica (the magnificently voracious Michael Gambon). They often come to the French restaraunt bankrolled by The Thief and run by The Cook, Richard Borst (Richard Bohringer). While there one evening, Georgina catches the eye of The Lover, Michael (Alan Howard). They then begin a torrid love affair while in the restaurant, meeting up in the women's bathroom, the kitchen and outside. The Cook approves of the affair, as he too realizes what a boor Albert Spica is, so he does his best to conceal the lovers from the ever beligerant Spica.

Of course, eventually Albert discovers the affair and through some very brutish methods, uncovers where they've hidden out. He exacts a terrible revenge and comes away feeling much better. But Georgina finally breaks free from her own chains tying her to Albert, and, together with The Cook, bring together their own horrifying revenge, truly a dish best served cold.

This is one offbeat movie, and not for the squeamish. Torture and sadism play no small role, while sex and violence permeate the entire film. It is brilliantly filmed, as each room is given its own lighting - the kitchen is washed with green lighting, the dining room a riot of red and gold, while outdoors is bathed in a cold blue. There's all kinds of action going on in every scene, and I'm sure you could watch it a dozen times and pick out new things going on in the background.

All the main actors put on superb performances, especially the over-the-top bravura acting job by Gambon. His voice rides through nearly every scene, and it is impossible to take your eyes off of him. The ending is just too bizarre and needs to be seen to be believed. While this isn't a movie for everyone, if you're in the right off-kilter mood, you'd be hard pressed to find a more interesting movie.