Specter of Reason

This was a bit of a shocker for me, for a couple of reasons. Before I tell you why, let me introduce the film.  DON'T BOTHER TO KNOCK (1952) was directed by Roy Ward Baker and stars Marilyn Monroe, Richard Widmark, Elisha Cook Jr., and Anne Bancroft. It's a tight, well-polished and gripping psychological thriller with noir leanings. The whole story takes place during a single night inside a hotel. Monroe plays a troubled young woman whose uncle (Elisha Cook Jr.) works the elevator. He got her a babysitting job for a well-to-do couple staying at the hotel. She's obviously troubled, for reasons yet unknown. From the start, and as the story develops, we are gradually and subtly given more and more reasons not to trust her. Meanwhile, Widmark plays a pilot also staying in the hotel. He's on the outs with his girlfriend (Bancroft), who sings in the hotel nightclub. Needless to say, the two storylines intersect, and the fun is seeing how it will happen and how it will turn ou...

Great films invite multiple interpretations, so it is no wonder my take on Martin McDonagh's masterpiece, The Banshees of Inisherin , is unique. I don't see it as an allegory for the Irish Civil War. I don't see it as an indictment of an insular and parochial way of life. Instead, I see it as an existentialist portrait of the resilience of the human spirit in the face of life's absurd fragility. In fact, the best way to understand the film may be by comparing it to another tragicomic film also set in the early 20th-century--a film that, like Banshees , is about a milkman and a fiddler in a small village trying not to buckle under the weight of cultural strife. I'm talking about Norman Jewison's beloved classic,  Fiddler On The Roof . I have been wanting to write about these two films for some time. Today is the day, in part because the Oscars are tomorrow and Banshees is my favorite for Best Picture, and also because yesterday we lost Chaim Topol, who performed ...

Todd Field's acclaimed and enigmatic  Tár  manipulates sound, images and even time itself in unconventional ways, immersing us in the labyrinthian mind of its plagued anti-heroine. Though the line between reality and perception is blurry, some events seem unquestionably real:  Lydia Tár uses her position to exert a toxic power dynamic over women near her, both professionally and personally; she alienates herself from all the women in her life, including her closest friends, her family and even herself; she spurns one of her closest protégées, a young woman named Krista, who eventually commits suicide; Lydia Tár loses her chance to conduct Mahler's Fifth Symphony, which was to complete the Tár-Mahler cycle and cement her place in music history; and finally, she loses her family, her professional position and esteem, and her self-respect.  That is the broad outline of the layered, complex story, but it fails to capture what makes the film so intriguing and perplex...

I will be the first to admit that  Avatar: The Way of Water  is not a great film, or even a very good one. While the visuals are often stunning, the dialogue and characters are rarely compelling--and sometimes downright problematic. The film propagates patriarchal tropes and appropriates Maori and Native American culture in superficial ways, and all at the expense of character development. To top it off, the plot is full of holes. And yet, on a thematic and emotional level, it sometimes works. At the very least,  the power-hungry, Tulkun-hunting Captain Mick Scoresby (Brendan Cowell)  is set up to become a formidable villain in the next installment. More than that, Payakun may be the most sympathetic adaptation of the character of Moby Dick in film history. (Unfortunately, that says more about the inadequacies of prior film adaptations than it does about Cameron's film.) In the end, James Cameron has established a viable connection to one of the greatest works in Ame...

This post contains spoilers for The Rise of Skywalker and other films in the Skywalker saga. Having enjoyed The Last Jedi more the second time around, I decided to rewatch The Rise of Skywalker after only seeing it once back when it was in the theaters. I'm glad to say I enjoyed the final episode even more the second time, as well. I am quite impressed with how J. J. Abrams was able to pull it all off. Not only did he create a fast-paced, action-packed adventure story, but he also connected so many plot and character threads with abundant humor and emotional depth. I think it is one of the most satisfying Star Wars films of all and a powerful end to the saga. And yet, it is often rated as one of the worst. I'm trying to understand why. A lot of people complain that the movie is too focused on a lot of running around trying find things that don't really matter. I don't think that's a fair criticism. It's an adventure story, after all, and every aspect of it is c...

It took almost three years, but I finally rewatched The Last Jedi . I enjoyed it more the second time, which isn’t saying a whole lot. I don’t hate the movie, but I don’t love it, either. Some of it works terrifically well, while other parts are frustrating and disappointing. As a stand alone movie, I think it's pretty good, but not great. As the second part of a Star Wars trilogy, and as the eighth episode of the nine-part Skywalker saga, my view is a bit lower. The reason is the way it handles one of Star Wars ’ central themes: destiny. Like Luke and Anakin before them, Kylo Ren and Rey both have to struggle with the question of destiny. In The Force Awakens , Ren kills his father in an effort to fulfill the destiny of following in Vader’s footsteps, and Rey is confronted with the question of her own destiny when she finds Luke’s light saber calling to her. Destiny is central to both of their inner conflicts, so the second part of the new trilogy should have added new complica...

My thoughts on Midsommar haven't evolved much since I saw it the other day, but they won't go away, either. I've enjoyed having ideas and images from the movie float around in my mind, but I don't think I'll be satisfied until I share my thoughts on them.  <SPOILERS AHEAD> Director Ari Aster has said he was trying to make "a big operatic break-up movie." Midsommar is certainly that. Sentencing your boyfriend to death is perhaps the most operatic break-up imaginable. What makes the movie work so well, for me, is how deeply we are drawn into Dani's plight. It's not that she simply needs to get rid of her manipulative, toxic boyfriend. No, she needs to understand what he has been doing to her. She needs to grow to the point where she is emotionally capable of breaking up with him. That's why Florence Pugh's performance is so central to the success of the film. She brings us up from the depths of emotional trauma, through maddening maz...

This post contains spoilers for Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi. It's great that  The Last Jedi  continues to make the franchise more inclusive, but I am not ready to sing its praises. The fact is, Episode VIII is primarily about two white men: Kylo Ren and Luke Skywalker. Yes, there are a handful of strong women and people of color, but their development in the film leaves a lot to be desired. At the beginning of the film, Poe Dameron is a headstrong, independent and overly optimistic pilot who doesn't like to follow orders. He wants to lead the Resistance in its fight against the First Order, but his dramatic conflict in the film is not with anyone in the First Order. It is with Leia, who censures and demotes him when his insubordination results in an extreme loss of life, and who even shoots him when he attempts a mutiny that almost kills the entire Resistance. He needs to learn restraint and humility, though there is little evidence that he overcomes his lim...