Dogs Bark

Take Me to the River - - The 400 Blows (Les Quatre Cents Coups) - - 26 October 2007

An Essential. There are several obvious reasons why writers like Hemingway considered The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to be the first great American novel. One is that, like The 400 Blows, it puts forwards the very modern claim that only a juvenile delinquent can duck the clutches of this wretched world and remain pure -- because of their moral compromise, grownups are the enemy. In both stories, Antoine and Huck run from adult authority, right to water’s edge, begging the reader/camera to send for them. François Truffaut, the auteur most fluent in the language of America, is apropos this comparison. Truffaut, along with Godard’s Breathless, initiated the New Wave as a reinterpretation of classic Hollywood plots.  The 400 Blows was a priceless gift to America and to film, demonstrating how a literate assembly of image, dialogue, and human expression could transcend entertainment and authentically represent the self.

Semper Fi - - A Few Good Men -- 29 Mar 2007

The other day I was grumbling through traffic and dirty snow when I got cut off by a Escalade, belching grime and a bumpered quote, 

“For those who fight for it, Freedom has a flavor the protected will never know.”

What flavor is that exactly, diesel smoke? But if you Google it, you’ll find the source of the quote . . . a Vietnam-era, retired Marine named Tim Croft. After the 1968 Tet Offensive, Croft says he wrote the line on the back of a C-ration case and gave it to a reporter, where from there, it passed to the right-wing canon.

The Siege of Khe Sahn is deservedly one of the finest moments in the history of the US Marine Corps. And if Croft had left his quote presumably intent upon rewarding death before dishonor, he’d have my respect. However, and unfortunately, Lance Corporal Croft goes on to say on the website that the real motivation preceded the battle.

“On this particular Christmas Eve I heard a broadcast on Armed Forces radio and learned the "Clintonites" were marching on our Capitol protesting against us! I could not believe what I was hearing. Here we were fighting for freedom and these low life commies back home were fighting against us. I was dazed. I just could not understand it. I was hurt to my soul, angered, and disgusted. (This motivated me to write a message on a C-Ration case.)”

And he’s lost me in an Arkansas minute. We’re back behind the SUV. He has revealed that this quote ain’t about dead Marines. It’s about hurt feelings.

In A Few Good Men, when asked why she likes the defendants, Lt. Cmdr. JoAnne Galloway (Demi Moore) says,

“Because they stand on a wall and say, ‘Nothing's going to hurt you tonight, not on my watch.‘“

It’s a moment in the film that is overlooked, set against the pounding of Nicholson’s signature quote. It actually bookends one of the lines delivered by Corporal Dawson at the end of the movie when he’s asked why they are being punished.

“We were supposed to fight for the people who couldn't fight for themselves.”

Meaning the Marine they accidentally killed. Those two lines are the heart of the play, which was based upon a story told to Aaron Sorkin, by his sister, a real-live JAG lawyer. Not the Nicholson line.

In fact Col. Jessup is just another hurt Marine. You people just don’t appreciate us. We deserve better. We’ve earned more respect than that.

The first quote above comes out of love and is, not accidentally, spoken by woman. The second one comes out of humility. You can’t fight for me if you think me inferior to you. And you can’t sacrifice yourself for people you don’t love.

So here’s the truth that you have to handle -- here’s the real Code. You can’t protect what you don’t love. You don’t defend the Country or the Flag, you defend us. And if we’re not worthy of your respect, don’t bother. If you don’t love what you protect, you ain’t a Marine, you’re just a grunt. At best, you’re a mercenary and guess what? No one thanks a mercenary. Yeah, we do need the Marines and I sure don’t want Hillary, or Demi Moore, or maybe even John Kerry on that wall. But I sure as hell don’t want, or even need, Nathan Jessup. We need somebody that loves us.

Not everybody can handle it. It’s a tough job. It’s for the Few.

Soft Like Butoh - - Horrors of Malformed Men - - 23 Oct 2007

Recommended. So I asked Dog Brain who lives in Tokyo, is there just so much cultural disjoint between Japan and America that everything the other does appears weird? He said it’s like the pendulum . . . are you on or under it? But this is all beyond Teruo Ishii’s Horrors of Malformed Men. The movie’s just as crazy to the Japanese. Cult director Shinya Tsukamoto claims the ending made him laugh hysterically and weep with sadness . . . simultaneously. Even more twisted, the 40-year ban of the movie in Japan is not based on either the raving, bare-breasted women or the flesh-eating crabs; they felt the movie was insensitive to the handicapped.  One gets the feeling that the Japanese Government just threw up their hands.  Nonetheless, and unlike a lot of schlock, this is a grossly entertaining movie.

Eight Seconds into the Sunset - - Junior Bonner - - 22 Oct 2007

Recommended. Don’t expect gunplay; this is just a nice, non-violent movie. It foreshadows helmer Peckinpah’s final days, the mockeries of fame and alcohol just beginning to ruin him. Robert Preston’s Ace Bonner and Steve McQueen in the title role, make this a gentler version of the downfall than either Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid or Sam’s actual debasement. Ida Lupino, tough and lovely as always, gentles up the broncos as McQueen’s mother. Ironically, the film was shot at a real rodeo in Prescott AZ, just years before the valley was subdivided into ranchette hell, as predicted by the story. Lucien Ballard provides a steady lead on the camera. More Peckinpah regulars, Ben Johnson, and Dub Taylor, and newcomer Bill McKinney, earn their pay in key parts. This was Preston’s last go-round at playing a cowboy. He was overlooked again by the Academy . . . but don’t you.

A Fever in the Heart- - The Painted Veil - - 17 Oct 2007

Recommended. While the pestilence of anger rages on the surface, a weak pulse of love continues and a bad marriage recovers into a good life.  This is the center of The Painted Veil, an old story but retold nicely here by director John Curren. Using the unreal landscape of Guangxi Province, d.p. Stuart Dryburgh (The Piano) quotes the title, recalling the evanescent scroll paintings that symbolize China. The Oscar-worthy score by Alexandre Desplat sweeps over the wide shots but retreats politely when required.  Excellent support is given by Toby Jones and the astonishing Diana Rigg in key roles. Edward Norton and Naomi Watts add to their considerable luster, with strong, graceful performances. Neither character seems really English and way modern but this is not historical fiction, just a love story.  The redeeming quality of compassion, tempered by sad wisdom. An old story from an ancient world. 

Cornwall Hillbillies - - Straw Dogs - - 2 May 2007

Strongly recommended. I haven’t seen Straw Dogs since it first came out and wondered how it would hold up. Like its protagonist, it did very well. The stumbling tension between Dustin Hoffman’s American mathematician and the tormenting English village louts is superb. Adding to the discomfort is Susan George as the perfect little Brit-tart. By the time the violence erupts, you have been taken for quite a ride. This movie was very controversial, in the day, largely for an ambivalent and highly disturbing rape. But the voyeuristic tone of the assault is perfect, drawing the audience into its guilt and shame. Lovely. Hoffman’s violent transformation in the final battle also caused Peckinpah some critical slings and arrows. However a close watch suggests that this is really a parable about just war, one in which all else had failed and the objective is preservation, not punishment.

Still Life in Grey - - Elephant - - 11 May 2007

Recommended. Be forewarned, this effective film is not Natural Born Killers. Nothing much happens and even the shooting is without much splatter and no story resolution. However, Van Sant seems to be saying something else here. The fixed point of view, hyperwide exteriors, and endless tracking shots all quote Antonioni and he even lingers on a photographer, as he randomly “shoots” the high school students going about their day. There is repeated, banal dialogue from various points of view, converging upon the attack. Like Blow Up this movie seems to see violence as just another long hallway in a meaningless institution. No moral here, just an observation. This making the killings more horrible, more real, and, ultimately, more disturbing than any teen slasher flick.

Pot's On, Gas Up High - - Hustle and Flow - - 4 Jun 2007

Recommended. I loved this movie. Sure its improbable and dense with hearts of gold but so was The Harder They Come and a dozen other classixploitation movies about solid beats and 6-inch heels. The killjoys can go watch Soviet industrial films. The ensemble acting of Howard, Manning, Anderson, Qualls, and Henson is such a pure joy that it almost over shadows the individual job of each actor, the befuddled hurt of DJay, Nola's coltish caution, and the sweet, soul pride of Shug. DJay's opening monologue about dogs is alone worth the rental. Add with Skip Pitts's guitar, juicy Memphis dumpsters, and Isaac Hayes's growl and you got the best mix of 70's cheeze and 90's dirt. Right on!

Way Off Key - - Notes on a Scandal - - 15 May 2007

Not recommended. This is a rather silly movie and a waste of three talented actors. Of them, Bill Nighy, probably has the most to work with, given the task of depicting the delicate balance of a likeable man who is losing everything, while desperate not to panic. Cate Blanchett plays a similarly conflicted soul, but one so completely without honor as to lose us entirely, minus the distraction of her spectacular body. But it is Judi Dench that takes the most execrable turn. The aged predaceous lesbian? Please. This stereotype ONLY exists in the mind of a very homophobic and lazy writer, which, given the evidence of Closer, Patrick Marber is not. So what went wrong with this regrettable mess? The only really enjoyable moment in the film, was Dame Judi in her bath, raging about yuppie loneliness. But then I’m a pervert, I guess.

Position and Assumption - - Secretary - - 30 May 2007

Recommended. This movie is for anyone who thought Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf should have gotten it on. The movie combines its two protagonists in a lush style reminiscent of Beauty and the Beast. There's something wrong with this guy. James Spader is not Alan Shore in this movie, as I expected, but a much more conflicted character, despite moments of rich humor. Slowly Maggie Gyllenhaal goes from a self-mutilating mouse to a she-wolf, insistent of her propers. So we have the philosophical heart of this fairy tale, that relationships are about control, who has it, who gives it up, who demands that it be taken from them, and the sexy nature of the giving and taking of charge. Despite what you've been told, this film is not about S&M; it's about romance. And to the many women in my life who insisted I watch this movie, I promise not to use it to hurt you . . .much.