Losing track of time in Christian Marclay’s The Clock

Posted on July 20, 2012 by popgoddess

The Clock, on display through August 1 at Lincoln Center, is a mesmerizing 24-hour video installation composed of film clips that register the exact time at every minute. Created by Christian Marclay, The Clock is a large-scale formal exercise that also feels organic, a film that recalls the earliest motion pictures, typically short series of images without plot or narrative, while forming its own absorbing narrative.

It takes a few minutes, quite literally, to adjust to the rhythm of the film, which is more leisurely than I anticipated.  I expected each clip to last just a beat, so that I wouldn’t have time to register the content of the scene, to recognize the films or actors. But sixty seconds is actually a pretty long time on film, much longer than a single beat. Each minute in the film contains scenes or images from a handful of movies, some showing/mentioning the actual time, others marking time more generally – characters exclaiming that they’re late or looking at watches that we don’t actually see.

After the first ten minutes or so, I stopped looking for the time in each scene and starting noticing other aspects, like the music, mood, setting. And then I noticed that, while the film may not have conventional plot continuity, it has its own thematic continuity.  In the three hours that I watched (about 1-4pm), there were groupings of scenes featuring drinks, meals, trains, brown-paper-wrapped packages. Marclay ratchets up the tension in the package sequence through editing and score, until it ends with an image of a package exploding. It seems like Marclay does this on a roughly 15-minute cycle: he uses thematic/visual similarities, editing, and musical scoring to build mini-narratives, with their own internal suspense and climax. I imagine that all the thematic cycles form a meta-narrative over the 24-hour length of the film, but of course, I’d have to watch the whole thing to be sure. (If the film is ever released on DVD, I think it would make for a cool home screening / film-geek slumber party!)

Speaking of film geeks, certainly part of the fun of The Clock is to pick out the actors and films we recognize. And that seems to be Marclay’s intent, since he doesn’t just use obscure, little-known movies. He uses Hollywood classics and new favorites, silent pictures and foreign films. We see a lot of Johnny Depp in the real-time movie Nick of Time, Christian Bale in 3:10 to Yuma, Judy Garland in The Clock, Gregory Peck in Twelve O’Clock High, James Bond movies, and, curiously, a lot of Nic Cage in National Treasure. I also wonder, though, if the film works on a purer level if you’re not a movie buff, if you’re not pulled out of its reality every few moments by a jolt of recognition.

Or perhaps Marclay uses our familiarity with these movies to make thematic connections among seemingly unrelated films, allowing us to create new narratives. The purpose of the montage isn’t to disorient the viewer by decontextualizing visual images, but to put the images together in a way that creates a whole new organic context. It’s almost as if all these films, across genres, languages, and time periods, are telling one larger story about the human experience. The Clock comments on our relationship with time, the commodity that can never be replaced. Marclay takes our obsession with it – spending it, saving it – to the extreme, making the passage of every minute explicit on screen. And that hyper-awareness allows us to let go of it somehow: even though I was aware of the time at every moment, I able to lose track of it, to lose myself in the communal yet intensely personal experience of cinema.

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Celeste Holm brings maturity and warmth to All About Eve

Posted on July 18, 2012 by popgoddess

Celeste Holm passed away on Sunday, and if the name doesn’t ring a bell, then watch All About Eve immediately. In a film ridiculously full of amazing performances, Celeste Holm radiates warmth and intelligence as Bette Davis’ friend Karen.  Holm is always observing, listening, subtly reacting to those around her. Karen’s transition from affection to skepticism in regards to Eve Harrington is especially compelling because Karen is Eve’s first mark, the one who initially brings Eve into their circle. Holm conveys Karen’s initial reluctance to distrust Eve, the sense of betrayal, and finally, a sort of detached amusement at Eve’s machinations.  Especially poignant is Karen’s almost indulgent awareness of her husband’s infidelity with Eve. She sees it coming, but she doesn’t try to stop it. While we may not agree with Karen’s decision, Holm manages to portray it as the mature, confident choice, the choice of a woman who’s smarter than her husband and knows he’ll come back to her once he realizes his mistake. Only Celeste Holm could pull off that combination of superiority and pragmatism with such grace and humor.

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Singin’ in the Rain Sparkles at 60

Posted on July 16, 2012 by popgoddess

I thought I’d seen Singin in the Rain too often to notice anything new about it, but the beautifully remastered 60th anniversary print proves me wrong.  Each frame is sharper, and the details sparkle.  For the first time, I noticed the glittering emeralds in Cyd Charisse’s bracelet, the jeweled straps on Lina Lamont’s shoes in the opening scene, and the way the feathered skirt of Lina’s dress flutters so gorgeously around her at the Dancing Cavalier premiere.

Speaking of Lina, I have to say that over the years, I’ve grown uneasy with the film’s attitude towards her.  Don often threatens her with physical violence, grabs her by the arms, shakes her. I also think her humiliation at the end of the film is excessive; yes, Lina is mean and scheming, but some of her scheming is reasonable, since she’s trying to protect her career in a fickle industry.  The film suggests that Lina gets too uppity; she’s manageable when her (male) co-stars, directors, and producers can laugh at her supposed stupidity and lack of talent, but when she starts to outmaneuver them, when she attempts to assert control, they humiliate her and cut her down to size. For me, Lina’s treatment is the one sour note in an otherwise joyous film.

Singin’ in the Rain is a movie about the movies, and it highlights the artifice inherent in filmmaking as well as the pure imagination of the artists and filmmakers. On one hand, Don can’t express his real feelings for Kathy without the artificial trappings of a movie love scene in the song “You Were Meant For Me.” In “Good Morning,” on the other hand, Don, Cosmo, and Kathy’s imaginative play turns raincoats into dresses, matador capes, guitars, and dancing partners. Then there’s Cosmo’s priceless bit with the dummy in “Make ‘em Laugh,” in which the dummy stands in for an overeager suitor, dance partner, and adversary. No matter how many times I’ve seen it, I always laugh out loud when Cosmo throws himself up from behind the couch, as though the dummy has tossed him in the air. The title song, with its ecstatic choreography, shows us how Don’s inner reality, his happiness in love, shapes his perception of his external circumstances; it may be pouring rain, but “from where [he] stand[s], the sun’s shining all over the place”  Splashing about in puddles with his umbrella, Don calls to mind a grown-up Christopher Robin, another character with a powerful capacity for imagination.

Singin’ in the Rain excels at mining humor from the filmmaking process, as it does in its presentation of the love scene from The Dueling Cavalier.  Following comedy’s rule of three, the film presents this scene to us three times:  first, Don and Lina shoot it as a scene from a silent picture – their angry verbal exchange totally contradicts the love scene they’re playing; second, they try to shoot the scene while wired for sound for the first time, resulting in hilarious difficulties with the microphone; finally, we watch the scene at the premiere of the film, with the image and the sounds disastrously out of sync. By reiterating the love scene, the filmmakers establish our familiarity with it, so that the humor stems from the disjunction between how the scene plays out each time and how we know it actually should be.

Singin’ in the Rain encapsulates the moviemaking process in a skillfully layered sequence for the song “Would You.” First, we see Kathy recording the song in the studio; we cut to Lina recording it as well, painfully off-key; cut to Don and Lina filming the song for The Dancing Cavalier, with director and crew hovering about and Kathy’s voice on the soundtrack; then the camera closes in on Lina, the color drains to black-and-white, the soundtrack pops and crackles, and we’re watching the scene as it would actually appear in The Dueling Cavalier; finally, the camera pulls back out and we’re watching Don, Cosmo, and studio chief RF Simpson watch the scene.  Multiple layers of process and viewership, all condensed into one stunning sequence.  Much like the film itself, which combines satire, humor, and affection into one joyous ode to Hollywood.

Note: For more on Singin’ in the Rain, check out my earlier post about the film and my article on The Artist, which discusses the connections between that film and Singin’ in the Rain.

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Thor: Much Ado About Boring

Posted on July 10, 2012 by popgoddess

Okay, it’s unfair of me to say Chris Hemsworth is boring without even watching Thor, so I gave it a go. To be honest, my interest in the movie actually has to do with Tom Hiddleston, who is gleefully diabolical as Loki in The Avengers.  Sadly, even Loki is less interesting in the humdrum Thor, and I still think Hemsworth is kinda without.

I assume the filmmakers were trying to make Asgard look completely otherworldly, but it’s CGI’d to the point of non-comprehension. Maybe it looks better in 3D? I doubt it; you know how I feel about 3D. The film doesn’t take the time to tell me anything about Thor’s gang of friends on Asgard; I was worried that Rene Russo would go the entire film without saying a single word; and Natalie Portman is ridiculously unconvincing as an astrophysicist. The only time she’s convincing is when Jane’s making googly eyes at Thor. And why does she fall for Thor, other than that body, those eyes, the anachronistic renaissance fair manners? Again, the film doesn’t take the time to tell us. All their interactions feel generic and even incomplete: at one point, Thor refers to one of Jane’s scientific theories, which  we’ve seen her discuss with Erik Selvig, but not with Thor. I guess we can assume that either Erik or Jane mentioned it to Thor at some point, but the narrative gap feels lazy to me. In fact, most of the film feels sort of lazy, lacking any sense of urgency or vitality. I guess the good news is it’s not all Chris Hemsworth’s fault; oh, Kenneth Branagh, I expected better!

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Teen Wolf: A Werewolf and his Scooby Gang

Posted on July 9, 2012 by popgoddess

Yes, Teen Wolf is on MTV, but you should still give it a chance.  Give it a chance because the show, now in its second season, shares the winning combination of humor, horror, and high school with other great shows like  Buffy, The Fades, and Veronica Mars (instead of the supernatural/allegorical horror of the other shows, VM is about the horrors adults inflict on children – betrayal, abuse, murder).

Right from the first episode, Teen Wolf demonstrates a confident knack for humor and even hints at future character development.  Like Buffy and VM, it takes advantage of its self-contained high school setting to build upon recurring characters who evolve over time, adding texture to the show.  I have to say that Scott, the titular teen wolf, is actually the least interesting character. He’s sort of the bland center around whom more interesting characters revolve, namely his motor-mouthed best friend Stiles (a hilariously engaging Dylan O’Brien) and classmates Jackson and Lydia.  I sort of groaned when Jackson first appeared onscreen, because I expected the model-handsome Colton Haynes to be a wooden actor (I know; there I go, making unfair assumptions) and Jackson to be a dim-witted, one-dimensional bully. Happily, I was wrong: Haynes has more range than I expected, and Jackson, with his perfectionism and need for admiration, is more than just Scott’s antagonist – he’s a shrewd instigator, rival, and occasional ally.  Jackson’s ex-girlfriend Lydia is a combination of Buffy’s queen bee Cordelia and super-smart Willow, hiding her formidable intelligence from her peers so that she can be the most popular mean girl (Stiles even has a Xander-esque unrequited crush on her).  Lydia is also hiding some strange werewolf bite-related experiences she’s having, setting up the most intriguing character arc of this season.

One of my favorite episodes of last season is “Night School,” in which Scott and his friends are trapped in their high school and terrorized by a vicious werewolf. It’s the best example of how the show delivers solid scares while also retaining a certain lightness, a sort of self-aware humor. It’s also the first time I saw the potential for Scott and his circle to coalesce into their own version of Buffy’s Scooby Gang.  I’m a bit concerned that the show may have lost some of the first season’s light touch; this season sometimes feels overheated, teetering into melodrama. But I’m willing to give Scott and his Scoobies the chance to prove me wrong.

Update: Sadly, season 2 does not redeem itself  – overly melodramatic, weird editing, lost threads in character development. I hoped things would turn around with the episode “Party Guessed,” which actually has some great, dream-like editing and explains the Lydia-Peter connection. But that episode is an exception, and any potential for Lydia is just squandered.  The most annoying part of the season is that while practically every other character is becoming a werewolf or other supernatural being, the writers seem to forget that Scott is a werewolf – he hardly ever uses his enhanced hearing, speed, sense of smell, etc. in any of the dangerous situations he’s in. Bad writing, and very disappointing.

I still recommend season 1, though.  Just pretend season 2 doesn’t exist.  We’ll add it to the list of disappointing things of which we do not speak: the Matrix sequels, Star Wars prequels, Veronica Mars season 3, Friday Night Lights season 2.

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Singin’ in the Rain: Watch it in theaters on July 12!

Posted on July 6, 2012 by popgoddess

Seriously, buy your tickets now to watch this glorious musical in theaters next week at a special 60th anniversary screening, courtesy of Turner Classic Movies:

http://www.fathomevents.com/classics/event/singinintherain.aspx?d=7/12/2012

If you’ve never seen Singin’ in the Rain before: lucky you, watching it for the first time on the big screen! And if you’ve already watched the film: trust me, it gets funnier and more delightful every time. Even though it’s tough to drag your eyes away from Gene Kelly any time he’s dancing onscreen, try to pay special attention to Donald O’ Connor this time around.  His comic timing and delivery are impeccable, and his loose-limbed elasticity complements Kelly’s virile athleticism perfectly. I actually think O’Connor has better chemistry with Debbie Reynolds than Gene Kelly does; I have an alternate version of the movie in my head, in which Kathy and Cosmo are the romantic pair, instead of Kathy and Don.

It’s nearly impossible for me to answer the question, “What’s your favorite movie?” But for sheer joy on celluloid, Singin’ in the Rain is at the very top of my list. So go experience it for yourself:

http://www.fathomevents.com/classics/event/singinintherain.aspx?d=7/12/2012

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Prometheus: Wait, haven’t we seen this already?

Posted on June 21, 2012 by popgoddess

Spoiler Alert: In keeping with director Ridley Scott’s spoiler-phobia, I should say that if you want to avoid spoilers completely, you probably shouldn’t read this post till after you watch Prometheus.

Spoiler-free technology note: I watched Prometheus in 3D, and this was the first time it didn’t ruin the film for me. I usually find that 3D messes with proportion and perspective, so that I can’t get a sense of the sizes of things in relation to each other and people look like little video game figures projected onto a backdrop. In this film, objects seem tangible and textured, and people appear to be fully integrated into their environments. I still got a headache, and I still prefer 2D (I know, I know, I sound like the Luddites who scoffed at the development of talkies) but if we’re stuck with 3D, then I hope Prometheus represents the direction the technology is moving in.

I’m not an expert on the minutiae of the Alien franchise, but since I just watched Prometheus and re-watched the 2003 director’s cut of Alien, here are my thoughts about the connections between the two films: there are some indications that Prometheus is a direct prequel to Alien – the moon that the Prometheus lands on seems to orbit the same ringed planet that the Nostromo approaches to investigate the mystery transmission in Alien.  The transmission itself, “more of a warning” rather than an SOS, as Ridley puts it,  sounds like it could be Elizabeth Shaw’s final transmission from the Prometheus, in which she warns against coming to look for them because “there’s only death here.” But then there are the inconsistencies: in Alien, Dallas and Lambert find the space jockey strapped into the pilot seat of his ship; in the new film, however, he (if it’s meant to be the same character) chases Elizabeth onto the Prometheus and is killed by the alien there. Also, the Nostromo is ten months from Earth, while the Prometheus is more than two years away from Earth.  Since Ridley Scott himself is cagey about the relationship between the two films (we can now take his frequent comment that they “share some DNA” rather literally based on the genetic revelations in the new film), I suppose we can all make what we want out of the inconsistencies/ambiguities.

If the inconsistencies are meant to suggest that the events in Prometheus are not direct precursors to the events in Alien, then, frankly, that makes Prometheus kind of unnecessary and redundant. Elizabeth Shaw’s desire to meet our Maker(s) lacks urgency and isn’t a particularly compelling impetus for the plot.  That leaves us with just another sci-fi horror flick that, to my taste, veers too far into gross-out horror, as opposed to the minimalist, suggestive approach of Alien. And finally – this is where Prometheus feels really redundant – can’t filmmakers find something interesting other than motherhood to say about female characters? The only thing the writers could think of to give context to Elizabeth’s search for humankind’s creators is her own inability to create life?  Unimaginative and reductive – as though a woman is defined by her ability or lack thereof to have a child. It’s especially unimaginative and repetitive if Ridley Scott does want us to connect this film with the Alien franchise, since Aliens(albeit with James Cameron directing) already highlighted the themes of motherhood and protective maternal instincts in the face-off between Ripley and the Alien queen-mother.

 

 

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Snow White and the Huntsman

Posted on June 12, 2012 by popgoddess

Snow White and the Huntsman is visually stunning, with plenty of magical creatures that evoke Guillermo Del Toro’s creations.  Sadly, the writing and acting undercut the visual spectacle.  Kristen Stewart wears the look of nauseated unease that she has in all her films, and her limited range as an actor is especially apparent when Snow White gives a speech meant to inspire her supporters to rise up against the evil queen. The scene falls flat, thanks to uninspired writing and Stewart’s forced performance: she doesn’t seem to truly believe what she’s saying, and she’s unable to convey the necessary sense of power.  Stewart showed promise in Panic Room, and I like her performances in offbeat fare like Adventureland, but she’s miscast as the damsel in a romantic period piece. She’s most believable as a no-nonsense, rather awkward tomboy, and although there’s room for those qualities in this film’s take on Snow White as an occasional warrior, the writing and Stewart’s limited range keep her from really committing to that choice.

I can’t shake the impression that Chris Hemsworth is kind of boring; that’s why I didn’t watch Thor, and his performance in The Avengers didn’t really convince me otherwise. He reveals some personality and wry humor as the Huntsman, but, during a speech meant to reveal his character’s backstory, Hemsworth’s performance is rather shallow.  Charlize Theron is more successful as Ravenna, the evil queen. The film suggests that her evilness stems from a sort of psychosis and an obsession with the idea of female victimization in a patriarchal, hierarchical society. Theron has fun with this dark backstory, although Ravenna’s malice can feel forced at times.

The film offers up a who’s who of British character actors in the roles of the dwarves, including Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, and Toby Jones. In contrast to the lead performers, they’re skilled at imbuing a single word or look with meaning, menace, or humor, while making it look effortless.

Snow White and the Huntsman is visually compelling, but its narrative and writing are less intriguing. I know it’s unfair to compare a two-hour film with the long-form television format, but all the talk about Snow White being the rightful heir just because her father was king feels simplistic when compared to the multiple claims to power, complex scheming, and backstabbing that unfold every week on Game of Thrones.

 

 

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This Means War: Love Among Spies

Posted on June 7, 2012 by popgoddess

The romantic-triangle comedy This Means War is glossy, occasionally engaging, but ultimately empty. Chris Pine and Tom Hardy, in competition for the most bee-stung lips, also compete for Reese Witherspoon’s affections. I wish the film had more scenes like the one in which Lauren and Tuck (Witherspoon and Hardy) meet for the first time on a blind date: their interaction feels genuine, with a charming sense of discovery between two people who are instantly attracted to each other and are delighted to find that they also like each other.  Even Lauren and FDR’s (Pine) first meeting, though stagy and dated (scoping out girls at the video store – so 90s), is redeemed by a shout-out to The Lady Vanishes, an early Hitchcock gem.

Classic film-buff aside: I would argue with Lauren’s assessment of The Lady Vanishes as second-tier Hitchcock; it may be lesser-known, but it’s not a lesser film. It’s not as rich and complex as Notorious, but then, very few films are. To me, The Lady Vanishes feels distinctly British, more whimsical than studio-era Hollywood masterpieces like Rebecca and Notorious.  Now, Saboteur – that’s second-tier Hitchcock, if you ask me.

Okay, back to the lesser film at hand: any possibility for genuine interaction and emotional connection devolves into gimmicky one-upmanship between Tuck and FDR. It’s too bad, because Witherspoon and Hardy especially show hints of how well they might have played off each other with a more interesting script. After the obligatory action shenanigans, which squander Til Schweiger’s charisma and talent, the film settles for the equally obligatory, normative heterosexual pairing, with Lauren choosing one suitor over the other. It’s interesting to note that this film, for all its frank sexual language and make-out sessions, is actually much more conventional than a similarly-themed 1933 film, Design for Living, in which Miriam Hopkins, unable to choose between Fredric March and Gary Cooper, decides on a ménage á trois.

 

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The Woman in Black: Harry Potter and the Haunted House

Posted on June 7, 2012 by popgoddess

The Woman in Black boasts genuine scares and class-act performances by Ciarán Hinds and Janet McTeer, not to mention Daniel Radcliffe looking all pale and Victorian. Director James Watkins knows how to set the creepy mood and ratchet up the tension till it’s almost unbearable.  Very little blood and guts here, mostly good old-fashioned bumps in the night. As entertainingly scary as the film is in the moment, however, it doesn’t have much staying power. After I watched The Ring, I imagined a rotting girl crawling out of my TV for months afterward. I found the woman in black easier to dismiss from my imagination, perhaps because, unlike more effectively haunting films like The Others, The Woman in Black doesn’t have much going on underneath its gothically eerie surface.

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