Before Sunset Warner Independent Pictures
Starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy
Directed by Richard Linklater
Rated: R
Reviewed by Aaron Licht
Two young strangers meet on a train, fall in love and wave goodbye just hours later. In nine years, the press is interviewing Jesse (Ethan Hawke) in a hip Paris bookstore. He’s on tour with his new book of obsessions inspired by his brief time with Celine (Julie Delpy) from Before Sunrise (1995). Jesse muses while we’re reminded of poetic moments from the first film. He’s on the last stop of his tour, and the plane back to America leaves in a few hours. In walks his mythic Celine.
This is Richard Linklater’s Before Sunset (2004), a thought-provoking and sincerely funny romantic drama. Linklater has gained popularity with the stoner comedy Dazed and Confused (1993) and the recent Jack Black comedy School of Rock (2003). To his fans, he’s known best for a unique loose narrative structure and philosophical dialogue, as evidenced from his debut feature Slacker (1991), up to the dream-induced Waking Life (2001).
In Before Sunrise, the first film, the two strangers hit it off and have a romantic night together. In Before Sunset, they come together as friends with a short time to catch up. Jesse addresses the surreal feeling of suddenly being together. This is a situation more of us have found ourselves in, even the most cynically romance-straved. How does one take advantage of a couple hours with an old lover? By truly ‘being there’ in each other’s company.
The decade has matured both Jesse and Celine as well as Hawke and Deply’s natural acting. The distinction between actors and characters becomes blurred; Hawke has really written two romance novels. In addition to Linklater, the sequel’s screenplay was co-written by both lead actors.
The Paris locations are stunning, not as a typical exotic movie backdrop but as real, wandering spaces of Paris. The would-be lovers leisurely experience a small cafe, a subdued park and a beautiful boat ride down the canal while the camera follows at their pace.
While a conventional dramatic film is based on a series of conflicts, Before Sunset is freed from this storytelling technique. Despite the unorthodox structure, the pace seldom falters and the viewer remains engaged. The philosophical discussion can be enjoyed on its own terms, philosophizing about astronomy, gun ownership, environmentalism, the apocalypse... I feel these tangential conversations are an effective way to explore the true nature/theme of love. In Waking Life, Before Sunrise co-writer Kim Krizan discusses the importance of intimate conversation as true spiritual connection. Normal chatter can be misinterpreted and doesn’t connect two individuals. When able to share the full power of words, one can extend beyond themselves and connect deeply with another. If this doesn’t sound appealing, skip Before Sunset and head towards another summer sequel.
The viewing context of the film is crucial. Don’t see it with your old drinking buddy, and instead invite that new friend, or the old friend you wish to reconnect with. After the credits roll and you’ve wandered from the theatre, resist the temptation to discuss the film. Don’t discuss the opening montage, great camera movement or minimal editing. The film ends without a conventional climax and resolution, so when we turn to our friend, we’re left in the same heady romantic mood. Keep the spirit alive and enjoy an intimate conversation of your own.
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Coffee & Cigarettes United Artists/MGM
Starring Roberto Benigni, Steven Wright, Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits, Iggy Pop, Cate Blanchett, Jack White, Meg White, GZA, RZA, and Bill Murray.
Written and Directed by Jim Jarmusch
Rated: R
Reviewed by Adam D. Miller
Many of my friends and colleagues are convinced that my love for Coffee & Cigarettes, the latest film by director Jim Jarmusch, comes out of my post-teenage dreams of sharing a cup of java with Tom Waits and Iggy Pop. Watching such an event occur onscreen is undoubtedly the closest I will ever come to realizing such a situation, so of course it is something that will want to relive again and again. In other words, you will likely hear me raving about the film again when it is eventually released on DVD.
Before you get excited about the prospect of seeing Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits, The White Stripes, and Bill Murray on the same screen, I should probably warn you that this is not standard film fare, even for Jarmusch, who has worked with several of these actors before with great success, such as Waits and Benigni in Down By Law, and Buscemi in Mystery Train. Coffee & Cigarettes makes no point of introducing or developing any characters, or telling any story revolving around them. Many would see this as a weakness, but for me, it creates a unique type of filmmaking. The appeal of the film is largely based around the people in it, who mostly play themselves, and their dialogue.
Coffee & Cigarettes took nearly seventeen years to make, which would explain why some of the actors look much younger than they do today. This is most evident in the ‘Twins’ vignette, starring a young Steve Buscemi. The earliest of the films were shot in 1987, including the film’s first paring of Roberto Benigni and Steven Wright. Other clips were shot in 1992, such as the Iggy Pop & Tom Waits film. Many of the other skits were filmed in more recent years.
Like a real trip to the coffee shop with an acquaintance, Coffee & Cigarettes is not without its slow or awkward moments. Certain skits lean towards the dull and lulls in conversation are there. The success factor of a given skit is largely determined by the chemistry of the people involved. With that in mind, the winners here are largely surprising. Who would have thought the skit involving Bill Murray and Wu Tang Clan members RZA and GZA would steal the show? Other highlights include Jack & Meg White of The White Stripes, Iggy Pop and Tom Waits, and Alfred Molina & Steve Coogan. These were the skits that left you wanting more. One wonders if the actors felt the same way?
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Fahrenheit 9/11 Lions Gate Films
Written and Directed by Michael Moore
Rated: R
Reviewed by Cari Crosby
Michael Moore certainly has a lot to say. Over the past two years, he has written, produced, and directed a controversial Academy Award winning film, Bowling for Columbine, which later caused even more of a media uproar when in his acceptance speech, Moore openly criticized President Bush for engaging in a “fictitious war” in Iraq. He also wrote two books (Stupid White Men, and Dude, Where’s My Country?) that both spent a significant amount of time on the New York Times Best Seller list, and has again written, produced, and directed a film that has not only become the highest grossing documentary of all time (beating out the previous record holder, Bowling for Columbine, by more than twofold), but also one that has earned the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, the Palm d’Or.
Fahrenheit 9/11 is Moore’s most controversial film to date, and for good reason. It critically deals with the current U.S. administration and how they handled one of the worst tragedies America has ever had to deal with. Controversy is nothing new to Moore’s films, dating back to his first film, Roger & Me, where Moore played up his status as the “little guy” by trying to expose ugly truths about the big bad corporation, General Motors. In this film he doesn’t go after a corporation, but instead the head honchos of the US government itself. It blatantly accuses the U.S. President of rigging the 2000 election to secure his victory, calls him a bald-faced liar in regards to connections between September 11th and the war in Iraq, and even goes so far as to point out some not-so flattering connections between the Bush family and the bin Ladens. Moore’s points are made in such a way that they pull on all of the emotional strings he can find, making each member of the audience laugh, cry, get angry, and most importantly, be inspired to change the status quo.
What surprised me the most about this film, believe it or not, was how little I was surprised by the information Moore provided. Having already read both Stupid White Men and Dude, Where’s My Country?, very little of the information he provided was new to me. Obviously, the film medium will reach a wider audience, and Moore wants to ensure that this information is accessible to all – especially the voting population within the United States. And yet, it is unfortunate that Moore could not come up with much in the way of new material for the film.
With that said, I do believe this is a film that should be seen, even if you’ve read Moore’s books. The visual representation of the information he provides makes it all the more powerful, though perhaps more likely to be tagged as pure propaganda. Moore has provided a website (www.michaelmoore.com - where else?) with sources backing up the data used in the film, with multiple sources for each tidbit.
See the film. Find your own criticisms, and form your own opinions. Oh yeah, and vote.
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Starring Morgan Spurlock
Written & Directed by Morgan Spurlock
Rated: PG-13
Reviewed by Adam D. Miller
Why do we go to McDonalds? Is it because we like the taste of the McNugget? Is it because we fondly remember their indoor playgrounds? Their cookies and soft serve ice cream? Breakfast? Ronald? Grimace? Remember Grimace?
I was once one of the millions of children that were warped into the McDonalds Mind Machine. The television told me that McDonalds was fun and that if I made my parents take me there I would get a toy with my Happy Meal. I definitely enjoyed McDonalds, and in many ways, I still like the occasional Quarter Pounder with cheese. Of course, as McDonalds is not even a minor part of my diet, I am not the target audience of Super Size Me. The film seems to aim to show obese Americans what they are doing to themselves through the consumption of fast food. As a relatively healthy guy who likes to splurge every once in a while, I can identify with the film’s writer, director, and star, Morgan Spurlock, a man who decided to take a giant plunge into the McDiet.
For years, individuals have attempted to sue large corporations over selling them toxic products, such as cigarettes. Recently, the US senate passed the “Cheeseburger Bill,” which essentially states that fast food chains cannot be sued over selling unhealthy food to their customers. It is up to the customer to decide whether or not they want to continue to buy their food, and most often they do.
Before the “Cheeseburger Bill” came around (and the bill was not introduced until after Super Size Me had already had its early screenings), many of these lawsuits simply never took off. Unless people could prove that it was the fast food restaurants alone that were damaging their health, there was nothing they had to prove.
The brain behind Super Size Me, Morgan Spurlock set out to prove a point. He set out on the seemingly insane task of eating nothing but McDonalds for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, every day for thirty days and record the effects it would have on his health. The film is largely a chronicle of this adventure in fast food, in which Spurlock visits several American cities and repeated visits to various types of doctors and nutritionists, who log his progress.
Over the course of Spurlock’s experiment, the film also looks at interesting aspects of the fast food industry and how it affects Americans. There is a large focus on children, and how school cafeterias are loading them with junk food. It also shows us how they are exposed to thousands of fast food advertisements on a constant basis. Is fast food the new tobacco, or alcoholism? After watching what a McDiet did to Spurlock after only thirty days, doctors who initially expected little to come of it were surprised to find that it was just as damaging to his health.
I was hoping that Super Size Me would put me off of fast food forever. I even had my last trip to McDonalds a day before seeing the film to prepare myself. However, in many ways I found myself craving a Big Mac while watching them on the big screen. Could this be evidence of addictive substances in McDonalds’ image and food? Perhaps I am simply allowing them to win, and my love/hate relationship with McDonalds will continue well into the future. But in this age of heart and liver failure, if people are able to quit smoking and drinking, surely we can all quit McDonalds knowing what it does to the human body.
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The Village Touchstone Pictures
Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Sigourney Weaver, Adrien Brody, William Hurt
Written, Produced and Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Rated: PG-13
Reviewed by Shel Desormeaux
“The world is in awe of love, it kneels at the feet of love.” – The Village
A small, tightly woven group of people lead simple, blissfully sheltered lives in Covington, Pennsylvania. For years, a truce has kept them away from the surrounding woods and the mysterious beings who reside inside them, Those Who Must Not Be Named, until one resident, Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix) steps beyond the border. His boldness leads the community into a nightmare, and threatens to change their peaceful existence forever.
This is Shyamalan: superb directing, great camera angles, odd little details (hint: newspaper) and tension, tension, tension. It’s dark, it’s freaky, the trees whip around rather menacingly, and there are lots of thuds on doors. And yes, the expected plot twist is there, and of course it’s bizarre.
But is it a good bizarre? Well, partly. The first bit is a surprise, and while I didn’t see it coming and that’s good, I was a bit sorry it came, and that’s not good. The last bit of the twist was, sadly, not much of a surprise, and clumsier than what we’re accustomed to from M. Night.
What the film is lacking in bug juice, it makes up for in other ways. M. Night has always been able to cast just the right people, and the highlight here is Bryce Howard, who plays Ivy Walker, the blind daughter of one of the village elders. Howard is a quietly strong actress and what could have been a flaky, hysterical girl is instead a headstrong, resourceful leader. Without saying much more, the film isn’t so much a horror movie as something else: it turns out to be M. Night’s Life Lesson, which is okay, because that in itself is perfectly acceptable if it’s allowed to take root. Yeah. I’m talking in circles. I have to, it’s an M. Night film. Go see it.
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