The Inheritance


Synopsis
After the suicide of his industrial tycoon father, Christoffer (Ulrich Thomsen) must return home and fulfill his familial obligation to the business while putting his own marriage and professional life in flux. (Unrated, 2004)


Observations
This film swept the Swedish equivalent of the Oscars, winning for best picture, best director, and numerous other accolades. It’s a very masculine film with some serious Shakespearian undertones. Christoffer is expected to move home to take the helm of the family business. He already has a life away from the family’s steel empire with a beautiful Shakespearian actress wife, Maria, (played by Lisa Werlinder). The sense of duty to the family that Christoffer feels, that brings him back into the matriarchal fold, is a feeling that most Americans find hard to relate to. Though this movie is a masterpiece – impeccable acting, stunning camera work, strong and elegant plot, it just fell flat for me.

I didn’t know whether to hate Christoffer or to pity him, and that direction was pleasantly ambiguous. Was I supposed to see how work slowly erodes our humanity, our family, our friends, our colleagues? Maybe. But I did learn that even Swedish people have brown servants (a nanny and a housekeeper in this film). I think that the final shred of Christoffer’s humanity is destroyed when he assaults the housekeeper. At first this seemed completely out of character, but the more I thought about it, the more I saw it as the ultimate way to prove to the viewer that any piece of the old Christoffer is dead. What was the catalyst for him to attempt the rape of the housekeeper? Her menialness? The idea that she could be paid off? Or good old Shakespearian hubris? You make the call.

If you are interested in a Swedish film, take this time to watch The Seventh Seal by Ingmar Bergman. First off, it will increase your movie knowledge ten-fold because this film is a cornerstone of 20th century American and foreign cinema and gets referenced everywhere. And though it may not make a great date flick, it might make you feel a little smarter to say you’ve seen an Ingmar Bergman film.

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Amazon's entry for The Inheritance

~~Hide and Seek~~ Save your time and money and watch The Shining again or for the first time. Dakota Fanning is super creepy with lots of dark eye make-up, but DeNiro misses the mark completely as the concerned father. This movie is neither supernatural nor original. The best parts are the four alternate endings and the associated commentaries. The endings are only a couple minutes long; so if you make it through the whole movie it's worth your while to check them out. Otherwise, pass on this one. (R, 2005)
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Me And You And Everyone We Know


Synopsis
A divorced shoe salesman meets an eccentric visual artist; neighborhood teenage girls experiment with their emerging sexuality, and much, much more in this debut effort by Miranda July. (R, 2005)


Observations
This is one of my top 5 favorite movies of 2005. I’ve watched it for a second time and was just as enamored as I was the first. Miranda July is amazing as both director and lead actress. Her background as a visual artist brings a unique style to this film. Christine Jerperson (Miranda July) is a visual artist in the movie and the vignettes showcasing her work are unique and heart-warming. Christine is fascinated with Richard Swersey (John Hawkes). His life is one full of loose ends and failed attempts -- but also with genuine affection.

There are a few scenes that are a little weird with his two sons (one adolescent and one grade-schooler). Taken out of context they could have been obscene, but with the careful mastery of the director they make sense and are necessary to the film. I also liked how July let the two neighborhood teenage girls try out their sexuality on their own terms. These teenage girls manipulate instead of being manipulated. Well done!

This film filled my heart with hope for all the quirky, nerdy, neurotic lonely out there. What do we see in each other? What do others see in us? Do any of us really see each other? These eternal questions play out against a backdrop of everyday suburbia.

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Amazon's entry for Me And You And Everyone We Know

Noi


Synopsis
Noi the Albino is a high school slacker with a healthy dose of nihilism in this bleak, atmospheric postcard from our friends in Iceland. (PG-13, 2002)


Observations
Noi is a film where everything, from the environment to the characters, are bathed in the ethereal blue-white light of Iceland. For some reason I identify heartily with these austere Scandinavian movies. Is it the isolation or desolation? I don’t know, but it calls to me.

Noi, the albino is ultra-mega-super alone. Any of his attempts at meaningful connection are thwarted by his own special combination of nihilism and hyper-intelligence. The film has many bright spots of black humor (look for the most unsuccessful bank heist ever), but is at it’s best when it is quietly beautiful. This isn’t a movie that means to prove anything or make any kind of statement; it’s more like a meditative visual display.

For a different slice of Scandinavian cinema, try 101 Reyjavik – a humorous love-triangle movie set in the harsh snow globe of Iceland.

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Amazon's entry for Noi

Eddie Murphy Raw


Synopsis
An hour and a half of stand-up comedy by Eddie Murphy. (R, 1987)


Observations
I remember when this came out and my parents were on serious patrol to make sure that I didn’t see it. They were probably right about that (I was 11). But watching it ten years later as an adult didn’t diminish any of its charms. If you can get past the outfit (purple leather pants, jacket and black leather gloves) and the latent homophobia and misogyny, this is a really funny movie. Though Murphy could not possible look more eighties, his jokes are surprisingly relevant and universal. It was refreshing to be reminded that good stand-up can be timeless.

What happened to this Eddie Murphy?? While watching this many of Murphy’s less, umm, dignified roles come to mind – Pluto Nash, Nutty Professor (I & II), Dr. Doolittle (I & II). Has bourgeois ennui taken Eddie over to the extent that he will sign up for anything if the price is right? Who knows? Though not for the faint of heart, this film is just about as good as stand-up gets.

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Amazon's entry for Eddie Murphy Raw

One Missed Call


Synopsis
Ringu (The Ring) leaps from television to telephone in this Japanese horror flick. (R, 2005)


Observations
The Japanese love to make technology-goes-crazy movies, and this is definitely in that genre. I wonder if that concept speaks to some deep-seated fear of the technology that has begun to encroach on all aspects of our daily lives. We want the technology; we need the technology, but ultimately we fear what we have created.

One Missed Call shows technology out of control. Cell phones getting crazy calls -- premonitions of the owner’s untimely death – then jumping to the next cell phone owner on and on infinitely. O, the horror!

This isn’t that good a movie. It’s not very frightening, bizarre or original. If you haven’t seen Ringu, try that instead. If you want to see something weirder, Japanese style, try Suicide Club for a uniquely grotesque portrait of contemporary technology and its hypnotic societal influence.

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Amazon's entry for One Missed Call

The Brooklyn Connection – How to Build a Guerilla Army


Synopsis
This short documentary follows Florin Krasniqi, a Kosovar nationalist living in New York City, in his quest to provide military supplies to the Kosovo Liberation Army after the death of his cousin at the hands of the Serb-dominated Yugoslavian army. (NR, 2005)


Observations
Florin Krasniqi is a man with a mission – to arm the resistance. Krasniqi is grass-roots at it’s very purest. He hosts fund-raisers; he shops at the local army surplus store, he travels to Pennsylvania to buy guns for “elephant hunting.” Krasniqi writes checks to politicians like it’s his job -- thousand here, two thousand there – all with the intention of raising awareness of the cause of his homeland. It was interesting to watch someone use the liberties we have as Americans to prepare an overseas army. He buys huge guns, then takes them on airplanes (legally sometimes, suspect methods other times) and smuggles them across the Albanian border into Kosovo. Then he raises some more money and does it again.

Though this film covered an interesting person and an interesting situation, it didn’t do it in a very interesting way. The footage was poorly produced; there were no graphics and very little action. And it would have been interesting to know a little more about Krasniqi. How did he get here while his family stayed behind?

Krasniqi is the Harriet Tubman of Kosovo refugees, getting them to the United States after they have fought with the resistance and giving them back-breaking jobs with his roofing company.

It’s always interesting to see someone dangle precariously when faced with moral questions. The filmmaker questions Krasniqi several times trying to figure out how he rationalizes the civilians who could be being killed with the weapons he is working to transport. He claims that he himself has never killed another person, but who knows? Krasniqi and his cronies probably scoff at the American idea of patriotism – bumper stickers, call-in talk shows and front-porch flags blowing tranquilly in the breeze of oblivion. Krasniqi is a different kind of patriot, one who uses his wealth and resources to create an army that will liberate a nation few Americans could identify on a map.

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Amazon's entry for The Brooklyn Connection – How to Build a Guerilla Army

Blossoms of Fire


Synopsis
This is an hour long documentary about the Mexican women of Juchitán located in Oaxaca, Mexico; a primarily matriarchal society, depicting their history, current issues, and social hierarchy. (NR, 2000)


Observations
I was very frustrated with the tone that documentarians Maureen Gosling and Ellen Osbourne chose to take for this film. What could have been a superb use of folk music to weave a fascinating ethno-musicological portrait of these indigenous people turned into a soundtrack for a live-action, brightly-colored Disney-esque tribute to a sunny utopia of big happy brown women. Over and over I was hit in the head with the heavy-handedness of the filmmakers idyllic representation. The sentimental tone of the movie idealized the primarily rural lives of the people of Oaxaca. The happy women selling their wares in the local town square; happy women dancing in giant flowery skirts; happy women planning fiestas and drinking beer. I was annoyed by the insistence of the filmmakers that the lives this community were living were that much different than that of many other successful, rural communities. I was completely unconvinced that this community was a matriarchy. So the women take care of the money – whoo whoo! Feminists Unite! Where were the women that the DVD case proudly declares are in governmental positions? Where are women doctors, civic leaders, social activists? A vague reference was made to skilled midwives – that is hardly a phenomenon exclusive to the Juchitán.

The filmmakers’ choice to include gay and transgendered issues also bothered me. Was I to interpret that the communal tolerance of sexual diversity as somehow tied to this mythical matriarchy? Women leaders make it easier for all to coexist? The movie spends a good twenty-plus minutes listening to painted up men talking about how great it is for them to live in Oaxaca. Though I applaud the rural communities sensitivity to the differences in others, I was confused by the forced inclusion of gay and transgender issues in the documentary. That’s another movie. It was curious to see the gay/transgendered men made up with make-up (there’s even an Avon lady in the documentary) when there was a segment that specifically pointed to the fact that straight men preferred the Juchitán women without make-up. But that's another movie. Or a movie in a different direction.

This film lacks a cohesive vision. The filmmakers spent much time extolling the virtues of the matriarchy without showing it in action. I am happy for the Juchitán women; their confidence, their fortitude, their appreciation of aesthetic. But I think the filmmakers created a sentimental utopia where there was really just a community of rural people struggling to get by.

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Amazon's entry for Blossoms of Fire