6/27/2005: Views: Quick takes
Quickie reviews of other movies I've seen recently, less wordy than usual.
Adaptation
Meryl Streep and Nicolas Cage in a surprisingly well-done dual role make this one more than watchable. Add in an exotic orchid theme and a unique storyline that twists and turns when you least expect it and you've got a movie that loops and layers onto itself and keeps you intrigued. Chris Cooper's almost over-the-top part is a bonus.
American Splendor
Biopic of cartoonist Harvey Pekar that's both funny and sad, and somehow inspiring through, or maybe because of, the apparant mediocrity of Pekar's life. Multimedia and animation help make for a more interesting movie than most, and Paul Giamatti of Sideways does another outstanding job.
Coffee and Cigarettes
An odd movie that feels more like a film school exercise, this one is a series of conversations in black & white between unlikely people held over, oddly enough, coffee & cigarettes. Steven Wright and Roberto Benigni discuss a dentist appointment; Steve Buscemi shares his Elvis theory with twins Cinqué and Joie Lee; White Stripes Jack & Meg White muse over Nikola Tesla; Alfred Molina & Steve Coogan clash over genealogy and the stereotype phony Hollywood personality, respectively; and Bill Murray shows up to wait on Wu Tang's RZA and GZA (and it works). One of the odder pairings is Iggy Pop & Tom Waits, who are brilliantly uncomfortable with each other. Cate Blanchett gives the best performance here, playing both herself and her cousin who's jealous of Cate's success. The end piece with Bill Rice and Taylor Mead is superb.
ExistenZ
Jennifer Jason Leigh plays a superstar virtual reality game designer who goes inside her newest game with Jude Law in this one that bends reality like nobody has since Philip K. Dick. Another David Cronenberg movie that will keep you guessing until you give up and just go along for the mind-warp ride. This one has some unique effects and ideas, and maybe the idea of video games as the most successful and elite entertainment form isn't as futuristic as it seems. 
Gummo
The single most messed up movie I've ever seen. It randomly highlights various adolescents in Xenia, Ohio, a small town devasted by a tornado 20 years earlier. Their activities range from cat-killing for profit to pimping out a retarded sister to worse. What we end up with is a combination of art-school damage and a punk rock kind of mentality that's out to shock, and it does. This movie will replace at least eight of your top ten most disturbing film moments. If you have a sick itch this one will scratch it good, and it will stay with you. Chloe Sevigny is the only "name" in this, and she doubles as costumer.
Harold and Kumar go to White Castle
This one's almost like watching Beavis & Butthead, in a good way. It's just silly enough to keep you watching even as it gets goonier & stupider. It's a refreshing break from the usual Hollywood "youth" comedy in that the title characters are Asian and Indian but they're as all-American as their typical WASP contemporaries, if not more so, which means they have to put up with getting hassled for being ethnic as well as nerdy while on their all-night quest for miniature burgers. Neil Patrick Howser ("Doogie Howser") appears as himself, apparently trying to lose his reputation as the squeaky clean teen brainiac.
Lost in Translation
Sofia Coppola wrote this with Bill Murray in mind and we're lucky he agreed to do it. Murray is an acting has-been who's still big enough in Japan to do a booze ad, and he captures the isolation and alienation of being alone in Tokyo perfectly. His typical low-key humor is subtler than usual, and often funnier, and perfectly balanced against the movie's melancholy undertone. Scarlett Johansson is also good here as a kindred soul to Murray - at least for a few days.
Punch-Drunk Love
Adam Sandler steps far away from his usual goony roles in a brilliant story of a loser "with issues" but who is mostly hanging in there for appearances. Bullied by his sisters and taken in by phone sex scammers, he falls for Emily Watson and is stunned that she feels the same. The kind of movie that you'll love if you are sick of predictable, formula films.
Session 9
Not a great movie about a team of asbestos removers working to renovate a former insane asylum who get caught up in the myth and spirit of the place. What makes this one worthwhile is the building itself: it's filmed on location inside Danvers State Mental Hospital in Massachusetts, and the eerieness of the huge abandoned facility makes it as mysterious and intriguing a character as any of the players. Also interesting is the fact that it's an all-male cast. A second tier storyline was removed (wisely) but it left some gaps in the big picture, as if they just cut scenes without bothering to do any rewrites to make up for it. They also cut one of the best shots from the movie as a result, but left it in the trailer.
Sideways
Everything you've heard is true: this one's terrific and it proves casting doesn't have to be formula to work. Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church are so good, and so opposite, and together illustrate the silent desperation of midlife crisis for those not on the Most Successful lists with empathy and spot-on humor. Sideways is also refreshingly non-PC - not only do they drink & drive here and there, but for these guys, the cardinal sin is to drink & dial.
Spider
Ralph Fiennes gives a spectacular and very unglamorous performance as a middle aged schizophrenic going into a new halfway house. His reality is shown to us as he lives it: jumbles of present and past, reality and memory, all skewed by his (and our) attempts to reconcile and understand his past. Miranda Richardson does equally well in each of the three roles she plays - she does them so well it isn't even apparent they are all her until the credits roll. Spider gives us the most startlingly accurate depiction of living inside schizophrenia possible short of a personal visit there, and offers a compelling story and mystery to boot. Once again David Cronenberg proves he is the master of the head-game genre.
The Station Agent
An antisocial dwarf played by Peter Dinklage inherits an abandoned train station and moves in, hoping for a quiet, uncomplicated life but is harassed by eccentric but mostly well-meaning neighbors. He slowly forms an uneasy friendship with two of them, but as things get more comfortable for these emotional cripples, they carry more potential for emotional danger. The movie has slow, easy pace that complements its characters and their stories.
