Dogs Bark

Our Country - - The Counselor (2013, USA) - - 25 October 2013

Strongly recommended. “What is it you people don’t get about this world?” Cormac McCarthy seems to ask. Is it the persistent brutality of human beings or their incredible ability to isolate themselves from the consequences of that evil?  He may be saying this to the critics who have mostly savaged McCarthy and The Counselor. But of course . . . these are the same people sending you to Iron Man 3.  Oddly, few blamed director Ridley Scott (Alien), suggesting that the grapes aren’t that sour. This is a very talky and hellish movie but it’s hardly boring and the nastiness serves the larger purpose. The acting is great, in particular Cameron Diaz (Vanilla Sky) as the most fatal femme since Wendy Kroy. Michael Fassbender (Shame) perfectly creates the viewer stand-in, cowering at a junction, robbed of choice by his past mistakes. But pick your own path; I think The Counselor is brilliantly depressing.

Recife For Disaster - - Neighboring Sounds [O Som Ao Redor] (2012, Brazil) - - 23 October 2013

Recommended.  Serenaded all day by leaf blowers, I was well prepared for an evening viewing of Kleber Mendonça Filho’s (Recife Frio) interesting film, Neighboring Sounds. Despite this, Julie Newmar is probably a better representative of the upscale gnashing of teeth that characterizes this film. The plot moves inexorably towards a confrontation between the wealth and scrabbling poverty that irritates, even as it’s paid to serve. Mendonça - - a sound man in his own right - - and uncredited editor Pablo Lamar (score by DJ Dolores) create more than atmosphere . . . maybe the stifling air preceding a hurricane. When the storm finally breaks, we’re actually well down the street; however, no one is really safe in this unsustainable world. The actors are all solid, particularly novelist W.J. Solha as the godfatherly Francisco and newcomer Maeve Jinkings as a sleep-deprived housewife. Neighboring Sounds was submitted this month as Brazil’s entry in the 86^th Oscars. Good choice.

Our Time - - Goodbye First Love [Un Amour De Jeunesse] (2011, France) - - 2 October 2013

Recommended.  It took me a while to catch the current but I wound up really liking this movie. Goodbye First Love is a ‘nothing much happens’ kind of movie and the pace is difficult; however, I was reminded of Kelly Reichardt’s beautifully composed first film, Old Joy. Mia Hansen-Løve’s (The Father Of My Children) movie is, of course, about younger joy. You might find Lola Créton’s (Bluebeard) Camille a little too neurotically self-absorbed or Sebastian Urzendowsky’s (The Counterfeiters) Sullivan, a little to stupidly self-absorbed and, by that, maybe also a bit sexist but any first love is outstandingly self-absorbed; we wouldn’t have it any other way. The story, in any case, is in the telling and beauty of this telling is lyric and sweet. The geography of the Massif Central is the third character.  And the final scene, Camille’s hat slowly drifting down the Loire, tells everything. We journey on.