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Trailer Review: The Kid With a Bike

The Dardennes brothers of Belgium, Jean-Pierre and Luc, have made some of the strongest dramatic films of the last decade. Though they're critically acclaimed in Europe their films have never reached a wide audience in America. This is a shame because the Dardennes make films unlike any others you may have seen. Their newest is The Kid with a Bike.

A Dardennes movie typically features a small cast of characters dealing with a big problem. In essence, they make suspense films. Sometimes the suspense involves crime but the genius of the Dardennes brothers (who always share the directing credit) reveals itself with their skill in fully exploring the moral dimensions of a character's actions. Terrible things are done plainly and quietly, sometimes even off-screen, but the drama can be devastatingly powerful.

The Kid with a Bike was well-received at Cannes last summer (it won the Grand Jury Prize) though there was some grumbling that this was Dardennes-Lite. Maybe, but it still grabs your heart. The story is about a boy who wants to live with his father only his father doesn't want him. A young woman becomes involved with the boy and tries to help him in spite of his troubling behavior. The trailer looks great; all the Dardennes' movies are beautiful visually in the classic French style. The superb cast is headed by Thomas Doret as the Kid with Cecile de France as the woman who befriends him. Jeremie Renier and Olivier Gourmet, who appear regularly in the Dardennes' films, are also present. I can't recommend this film highly enough.

Bob Abernathy

Opens March 16, 2012, Verdict: Must See

Oscar melancholia sets in...

The Oscar race is being overshadowed by the Republican primary contest this year and rightly so (no pun intended - no, really!). The GOP race is getting messier almost daily: today Bob Dole released the first anti-endorsement (against Gingrich) that I can remember ever seeing. Furthermore, it's been a lackluster year at the box office. Since so many people haven't seen the movies ("They stayed away in droves!") they probably won't be interested in watching the awards ceremony either. So look for Oscar night to be a stealth event on the nation's radar. The main reason to watch may be Billy Crystal, hosting again this year.

So what about the Best Picture nominees? I have to be honest here and admit that, like most Americans, I haven't seen many of the films either. The Descendants was excellent but I'd probably have to go with The Tree of Life. It's an enormously ambitious film with two very strong performances: Brad Pitt and Hunter McCracken. Both deserve Best Actor nominations for the film and it is disappointing they didn't get them.

Of the nominated Best Actors, I'd choose George Clooney.

The Best Actress field is competitive. Rooney Mara was very strong in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It's a formulaic thriller but she made the movie worth watching. She also had a short but memorable role in The Social Network as Zuckerberg's girlfriend (remember the opening scene of the movie?) - I hope I'll be seeing her in many more films. She's probably a long shot to win the award this year.

Streep would appear to be the front runner. I know she's a great actress but I'm tired of watching her do impersonations and caricatures. I liked her much better in Adaptation - just playing a part straight without a lot of distracting technique. Ditto for Michelle Williams in My Week with Marilyn and Glenn Close in Albert Nobbs.

Mostly my feelings about the Oscars this year are disappointing. Where is Melancholia and Kirsten Dunst? - Really? Zero nominations? Where is Albert Brooks for Drive? Where is The Skin I Live In? Why isn't Pitt nominated for Tree? What about Charlize Theron and Young Adult? Where is Werner Herzog and Cave of Forgotten Dreams?

Maybe we'll get lucky and the Republicans will be debating that night.

- Griping by Bob Abernathy

Trailer Review: The Innkeepers - Haunted Film Fest

A while back, I had a scary discovery of watching The House of the Devil , Ti West's enjoyable ode to seventies and early eighties horror flicks dedicated to the evil hazards of babysitting. It was a textbook to that type of historical filmmaking.

With the The Innkeepers, he's furthering his studies of that early eighties period. This time moving away from the slashers and studying the haunted house. "Do you know the story of Madeline O'Malley?" Sara Paxton, an employee of a New England hotel asks. A neighbor of Lizzie Borden, O'Malley was a woman who hung herself after her husband left her on her wedding day. Still upset, she haunts the halls of The Yankee Pedlar Inn waiting for her lover. Instead of taking her last paycheck and looking for a new job, Paxton decides to be a ghostbuster and find O'Malley with the help of a co-worker before the place closes. Drifting between rooms and hallways with microphones and headphones listening for whispers from the dead they hear more than a bump. What they see are things that look suspiciously like a film retrospective. The Shining, Amityville Horror, and Poltergeist are projected in different rooms. Old people and children are the top stars. There's a basement not to go into, but then one must. Ti West has put together a wonderful film fest. These ghost hunters will have their pick of top jobs for program directors after this clever idea is over.

Opening February 3, 2012, Verdict: Wait for the Critics

Trailer Review: Moonrise Kingdom - What Kind of Bird are You?

A Wes Anderson movie looks like a Wes Anderson movie. His new one is no different. Careful typography, frontal portraits, ensemble cast, eccentric characters, and color book backgrounds make this bird spotted right away. It's a market he's cornered even though many have attempted to copy (Submarine) unsuccessfully.

The trailer has an ingenious start. Young girls looking in the mirror dressed as birds in delicate costumes before a play to start are interrupted by someone clearing his throat. They turn to face the camera and a boy scout asks them, "What kind of bird are you?" The grey sparrow speaks pointing to each of them answering his question. "No," he interrupts, "What kind of bird are you?" asking the dark feathered face in the middle. A choir sings as the camera focuses on her painted face. Then a plan. Anderson's movies always have a plan. This one involves the boy scout running away from summer camp with a girl. Now everyone must find them. Ed Norton, Bruce Willis, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, and, inevitably and thankfully, Bill Murray are the adults sent to rescue them. The craftsmanship in art direction is all there. From letters written plotting the escape to a tree house sitting atop a thin trunk like a toothpick. The schoolboy setting recalls Rushmore if that movie's protagonist, Max Fischer, was able to go to summer camp in his younger days. This could be a retelling of a pivotal point in that high schooler's memoirs.

And like Rushmore, this movie is missing Owen Wilson. A longtime co-writer and the most frequent of his collaborators, many theories have posited the significance of his involvement. His absence doesn't look to dilute this movie's creative powers. No one will be homesick at summer camp this year.

Opening May 25, 2012, Verdict: Must See

Note: This summer is looking to be one of the greatest. With must sees such as Prometheus, Dark Knight Rises, ParaNorman, and now Moonrise Kingdom. Expect lots of fireworks.

Trailer Review: The Grey - Weather and Wolves

Liam Neeson, like George Clooney, is able to cross between serious art house and big-bang box office movies. The Grey looks like a mashup showcasing his repertoire. Playing someone providing expert protection for oil-rig workers in the Alaskan wilderness, he rides escort on a plane when it goes down in a remote winter wasteland. Suddenly, it's a survival story, with the major threat being not themselves, but a pack of hungry wolves.

The best scene in the trailer is Neeson lying in bed with his wife under white sheets blowing in the wind when the image explodes, sucking her away and Neeson wakes up covered in snow in a blank landscape. This backstory of Neeson with a broken heart, shows signs of a dramatic thread through this action laden flick.

Since Robinson Crusoe, the survival tale has been a storytelling staple. But when it turns from a solo to a group, my favorites are Flight of the Phoenix, about a crashed plane in the desert and Pitch Black, the sci-fi version with a crashed spaceship.

Truth be told, I don't think I can watch this, because being an owner of two dogs, I can't stomach watching wolves get killed. Too close to home. But that shouldn't discourage an open mind. If the drama is effective in making more at risk with the action, then this will be a fun ride. Neeson has the vulnerability and toughness to pull it off.

Opening January 27, 2012, Verdict: Wait for the Critics

Jumping Off

In the continuing saga of the shift (or shaft) in print criticism, The Village Voice has let go chief film critic J. Hoberman this week. Someone much admired and important to the cultural film scene, it's another fallout of a publication jettisoning one of its major assets and reason for reading its papyrus. But it must also be an indication of the desperate economics and dwindling ad dollars being spent in print to not justify the salaries of great writing talent. The studios are moving on too.

My favorite essay was his remembrance for Strangers in Paradise which showed off his critical precision and insatiable appetite for discovering the new when he started. I wish him good luck and hope he lands somewhere safe and warm.

From Lambs to Dragons

"The penalty for rape, as you know, is death. Deuteronomy 22:23-29. I might add that this crime involved two of you and took place at gunpoint. It was also brutal. I will not offend your ears with any details, except to say that one woman was pregnant and the baby died."
   A sigh goes up from us; despite myself I feel my hands clench. It is too much, this violation. The baby too, after what we go through. It's true, there is a bloodlust; I want to tear, gouge, rend. - Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale

If you asked me what the most influential movie of the last 25 years is I can easily answer The Silence of the Lambs. Its shadow is not on filmmakers but our American culture. It forever elevated the serial killer as a ghost rising from the corners of our society to repeatedly murder us. He's become a kind of perverse hero, cleansing us of our sins (Seven), satirizing our consumerism (American Psycho), or being an example of invention (Saw). Where this genre has really flourished is television. From long running shows like Law and Order SVU to CSI and Dexter, there's been an endless string of sadistic killers week after week, year after year, in endless variation. We can't get enough.

What makes The Silence of the Lambs different from the slashers before it like Halloween and Psycho is that the narrative focuses on pursuit of the killer, usually specialists like FBI, instead of the killer knocking off victims one by one for the whole movie. What really separates these films are those in charge of catching them are women. Jodie Foster was a determined acolyte to her boss (Scott Glenn), trying to rise above her working class background, but more importantly, struggling with the discrimination of her gender. In a pivotal scene, Foster helps with an autopsy, but local police object to her presence. This is a man's job. Glenn convinces the skeptics privately that she's alright. Foster is irked she's not included in the argument because she's a woman. After, driving away in the car, Scott explains his actions for excluding her. Foster argues against him. "It matters," she says, "Cops look at you to see how to act. It matters." All Glenn can say is, "Point taken."

I'm attempting to write about this film not because I love the movie (it is well crafted), but I've discovered it has a personal influence on my life. Since getting married, I've realized my wife is addicted to these type of procedurals on TV. She watches Law and Order, Bones, and Criminal Minds on a regular diet. She's been doing this for years (she's watching Law and Order as I write this). I don't object. She can watch whatever she wants. She is a grown-up, but also someone who has a successful career in her field. And she faces ceilings like Foster. My theory is watching these shows is a relief from this specific stress at work. I'm not the only one who thinks or witnesses this. But it's more. We went out to see The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo this weekend which she was hesitant to watch because of the much heard rape scene. She didn't like it. What she did like was the revenge. She whispered to me she loved the punk Elisabeth Salander (Rooney Mara) - "so cool." But what made her jump out of her seat was at the end after Salander strikes the serial killer with a golf club and he's crawled out his dungeon to escape. She grabs a gun, cocks it, looks into the eyes of her investigative partner (Daniel Craig) she's just rescued and asks, "Can I kill him?" Craig nods and she's running out the door to finish him off. She squealed with delight.

The original Swedish title of Dragon Tattoo was "Men Who Hate Women". Are you connecting the dots? Is their a deep psychological pain being exorcised by these movies? A gender's religious purge of all the anger boiling underneath? The strangest curiosity of this genre is most of it is written or directed by men. In Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale", the males controlled and centralized their direct power over women to second class status stripping them to cattle. The masters create a collective lynching (Particicution) where the women kill a convicted man of a brutal crime with the same cold-blooded punishment. Justice done. The masses satisfied. The authority keeps power.

It's not a surprise that Hannibal Lecter's emergence coincides with a generation of women entering the workforce and pushing to try and take the commanding heights of our society. The Silence of the Lambs runs long and deep into this century. But Foster has changed. She's gotten rid of the pant suit and perfume for a leather jacket, mohawk, and nose rings. Abused, her anger is a lot more fierce and focused. The killer is always caught. But at the end of the movie, Lecter calls Foster from a pay phone somewhere tropical. "Have the lambs stopped screaming?" he asks, then he floats away into the jungle to kill his next victim.