The Academy wanted to give the Best Director Award to a woman and so here comes this movie directed by James Cameron's ex-wife made in the same year he's in contention too and they definitely don't want to see him up there with another "Top of the world!" moment and it's a Serious Movie about a Serious Subject (it's not "Point Break") and that's it, award goes to...
You don't have to be a veteran of anything to be able to criticize all the bone-headed activities of these three Americans running around Iraq. From what I understand, only the location scout deserves praise here, because it appears that Jordan, where the exteriors were shot, does resemble Iraq.
I'll leave the big stuff (characterisation, plot, common sense) to others. I want to focus on something small: technique. After the first scene with the broken robot (I did like the robot video POV), we're back at the "barracks" (or whatever it's called nowadays) where the soldiers sleep, the soldiers engage in conversation and the camera is still hand-held and we're still seeing jump cuts. Only five minutes into the movie and I'm already put off, because I want these techniques to "express" something, and here their use is just dishonest, a means to give the scene a cheap "tension" that's undeserved, and that the actors could have carried off on their own, thank you very much...
This forces me to wax nostalgic about "Breathless" (1960) where the jump cut and the hand held camera meant so much in a movie that was able to be anti-Hollywood (quirky plot structure and low-budget) and an homage to Hollywood (gangster movies and the star system) at the same time. In "Breathless" the technique was new and exciting (and, yes, a little mystifying) but here we're looking at something straining to be authentic in a pseudo-documentary sort of way.
So don't watch the Academy Awards for the awards. Watch it for the dresses or the jokes or something else important. I watch it for those old-movie montages: I love to try to identify every damn one-second clip, and I get upset with myself when I can't...
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It's very refreshing to hear someone that wasn't wild about Hurt Locker!
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about my moving to NY next year (looks like Brooklyn) and then the idea that the gang would most likely all be around... We should go on monthly "Costa Movie Journey" field trips to screen new movies! I'm sure Mike, Tom, Rob, everyone would be into it.
I just watched Battle of Algiers for the first time today in my film class. I enjoyed it... That's definitely one that stays with you. I think the concept of using non-actors is an interesting one. The italian directors really produced some amazing performances...
When you have a minute - or when it's over - post a list of the films screened for that class. It'll be like a "to-do" list for the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteAnd before you graduate, buy one of Camille Paglia's books and get her to autograph it for you!