Jacob's Ladder

Jacob’s Ladder (1990) dir. Adrian Lyne
Starring: Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Pena, Matt Craven, Macauley Culkin

***½

By Alan Bacchus

Before Shutter Island, there was Jacob’s Ladder, a comparable but much superior version of a man’s psychological troubles haunting him, causing him to see all sorts of demons, ghosts and other grotesque creatures. Whereas in Scorsese’s silly and contrived melodrama it was Leonardo Di Caprio’s long dead wife who plagues his mind, in Jacob’s Ladder it’s the Vietnam War which is on trial here.

Jacob Singer (Robbins) is a Vietnam vet trying to find answers to a series of frightful hallucinations and dreams he finds himself in. The film is manipulative, fractured and structured as a series of dreams, flashbacks, and alternate realities. Adrian Lyne’s direction and frightful situations he places Singer and us, the audience in, make for a wild ride. It’s a real mind fuck of a film and tough to place in a genre - part psychological thriller, part political paranoia, part horror, part war but in the end, ultimately, it’s a sad tragedy about the gentle mind of a man manipulated and destroyed.

We first meet Jacob Singer in Vietnam – smoking up with his Nam buddies, enjoying the camaraderie of soldiership. But when a sudden attack hits their camp something takes over their bodies. Jacob’s company start convulsing rapidly as a powerful unknown force strikes at their brains. We then cut to Singer waking up from this dream. He’s back home traveling on a New York subway train. Even when he’s not dreaming surreal people and events happen to him at random. Whether it’s a train of creepy demons that almost hits him in the subway, or an un-anaesthetized brain operation in a decrepit mental hospital, his life is a waking nightmare.

Singer’s wife is the lovely Jezebel (Elizabeth Peña). She’s a supportive and loving partner but when Singer’s surreal flashbacks and hallucinations move into his domestic life their marriage starts to crack. But Singer also had a previous life with another wife and three kids one of whom (played by Macauley Culkin) died tragically in a car accident. Singer frequently flashes back to Vietnam as well. All of these flashbacks seem so real to Singer we never know which is reality and which are hallucinations. With the help of his surviving Vietnam platoon-members Singer uncovers a government conspiracy about secret drug testing and psychological experimentation. But it isn’t until the very end do we really know what is going on in the head of Jacob Singer. It’s not a “Sixth Sense” twist shocker, but it does put the entire film into perspective and provides poignant closure.

“Jacob’s Ladder” puts style and substance on equal ground. The film looks fantastic. Adrian Lyne perfects the mood and atmosphere from the outset. The subway scene is a tremendous sequence, capped off with the haunting image of a demon in a subway car watching Jacob as it speeds away in the distance. The house party dance sequence is simply magnificent set piece. Starting off with the Lady Marmalade pop anthem it’s an innocent dance party until James Brown kicks in, the strobe lights starts, people’s heads start convulsing wildly, then his girlfriend appears to be getting banged from behind by a demon with a tail.

The film was made in 1990 and it has that late 80’s, early 90’s look of the British commercial generation (which includes Tony Scott, Ridley Scott and Alan Parker) - long lenses, underlit interiors with strong backlighting, and the ever-present hazy smoke-filled rooms. The result compliments the dreamy haze of Singer’s life.

Adrian Lyne is an interesting director. He’s only made nine films in 30 years – and only six since 1983’s hit “Flashdance”. Yet each of his films have been successful in one way or another. He should be getting more work than he does. Maybe he’s picky, or enjoys taking his time with his projects. He hasn’t made a film since 2002’s “Unfaithful” and his next film is still unknown. His career is as mysterious and thought-provoking as his films. “Jacob’s Ladder” is one of his best.

Jacob's Ladder is available on Blu-Ray from Maple Pictures in Canada

13 Tzameti

13 Tzameti (2007) dir. Gela Bubluani
Starring: George Bubluani

**

By Alan Bacchus

A couple years ago, 13 Tzameti, the first film from director Gela Bubluani, a Frenchman of Georgian heritage, seemed to gain instant cult status. It had the aura of controversy, a sick and twisted story of suicide games, Russian roulette, shot in stark and bleak black and white. Bubluani shows good promise with some salacious subject matter, but the film is so heavily weighted on a premise which is much too precarious to support a full fledged feature film.

A quiet unassuming labourer (Sebastien) is doing work on the roof of a young woman living with her grandfather in a quaint country home. He’s a nosey eavesdropper whom we catch spying on them and listening in on their conversations. He overhears of a package to arrive which could lead to a grand sum of money. One day, the grandfather dies suddenly of a drug overdose. Despite the work he’s done, since his employer has died he will not receive payment. Instead Sebastien takes the package in hopes of getting rich. There’s no money inside, but a note with detailed instructions – a veritable breadcrumb trail into the unknown. Unfortunately, the package turns out to be Sebastien’s pandora’s box.

Sebastien is lead into a game where he is the participant – a high stakes underground game of Russian Roulette – 40 men are gathered by a group of high-stakes bourgeoisie gamblers seeking the highest thrill – a civilized “Fight Club” There is no escape for Sebastien, he is part of the game for good. The contestants stand in a circle, load a bullet, spin the chamber and cock the pistol. Unlike “traditional” Russian Roulette, like we’ve seen in, say, ”The Deer Hunter” where the person is forced to shoot themselves, these contestants shoot the person beside them. Round by round goes by eliminating a few people at a time. Eventually it comes down to 2 people. The winner will receive a large sum of money.

There are a couple of fundamental faults with the film. The writer/director hangs his hat on the premise and the sole image of a group of men pointing guns at each other – aka a ‘Mexican standoff’. Indeed the first time we see it, it’s startling. But the one trick pony uses up its cinematic energy quickly, as each subsequent firing scene is the same as the previous. We know Sebastien will make it to the end – and most likely win and we know all the other characters will be killed off. So, therefore, there’s no suspense. And to bring back the comparison to “The Deer Hunter” – whose Roulette scenes tower in comparison – we are emotionally invested in those characters because they are voluntarily shooting at themselves. There’s a choice to make. The Tzameti men have no choice or even a strategy, its blind luck for them and the gamblers. Once they’re in, they’re in for the long haul. And so, as I said, all suspense and tension is zapped from the story.

Bubluani never even tries to sympathize or get to know the other characters - the “Deer Hunter” had about 2 hours of character development before unveiling its roulette scenes. It’s all played without emotion or self-reflection. Bubluani was so enamoured with the roulette, he forgot the simplest rule of filmmaking – tell a good story. Unfortunately, there is no story here.

That being said, I’m curious to see what the director’s next films will be. If he irons out some kinks in his work, there may be a good filmmaker here. Use your own discretion.

The Shining

The Shining (1980) dir. Stanley Kubrick
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Scatman Crother, Danny Lloyd, Barry Nelson, Phillip Stone, Joe Turkel

***1/2

By Alan Bacchus

Despite it’s stirling reputation as one of the greatest horror movies ever made, it’s a difficult film to penetrate, admittedly a difficult film to enjoy on first viewing. For mepersonally, it took a couple of viewings to appreciate it, maybe one more to enjoy it, and definitely one theatrical screening on a 35mm print to truly get the full experience of the film.

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to host a big screen presentation of the film on a rather faded 30 year old print. But it was the theatrical aspect ratio of 1:85:1 rather than the 4x3 full screen home video format we can only see today, and so from that perspective it was like watching a brand new version of the film. In addition, despite the age of the print, the sound was in pristine shape, and in the darkened theatre with the big soundscapes booming into our ears, it was more intense than I had ever experienced.

Some people may have forgetten, or, for those who weren’t even born then, may not even know, that The Shining was critically drubbed upon it’s release. Here's the Variety one-liner, "With everything to work with, director Stanley Kubrick has teamed with jumpy Jack Nicholson to destroy all that was so terrifying about Stephen King's bestseller." It was even nominated for 2 Razzies – Worst Actress (Shelley Duvall) and Worst Director (Kubrick) – What?? It’s true.

The opening is especially displeasing from a mainstream audience point of view. The celebrated helicopter shot during the opening credits is accompanied by a rather morose and disturbing musical synthesized musical piece by Wendy Carlos. And most of the introductory scenes are paced and performed with an oft-putting robotic detachment even more extreme than the most inpenetrable parts of 2001: A Space Odyssey or Barry Lyndon.

But it's all part of Kubrick's grand plan to put the audience in the psychologically damaged shoes of his characters - Jack Torrence, the alcoholic father with severe writer's block, the meek Wendy Torrence, Jack's feeble wife who quivers with fear when confronted by Jack's inner demons, and Danny, the tormented son whose only friend is Tony, the man who lives in his mouth.

Variety is right about Nicholson's jumpiness and his transformation into his deranged psychopathic childkiller. It's too quick, in fact, he's never even established as someone remotely grounded or human. But Wendy's arc is tremendous, and specifically Shelley Duvall's grand portrayal. Despite her meeks characterization of Wendy, her transformation into the heroic saviour of her son in the end is awe-inspiring. We all know how tormented Duvall was by Kubrick during the making of the film, and it's all on screen. Specifically the finale starting with her baseball bat confrontation with Jack and the battle in the bathroom wherein, the film's famous line is uttered, 'Here's Johnny.'

At the screening we also received the kind participation of Steadicam operator and inventor Garrett Brown who took part in an hour long Q&A about the film via Skype. His affable nature and great sense of humour warmed up that cold Toronto day. He confirmed many of the legendary stories of the production. The long arduous shoot, Kubrick’s reputation as a surly, bitter old man, and his notorious perfectionism. Brown recounted his frustration at trying to keep Shelley Duvall’s head in the exact centre of the crosshairs of his frame as he was following behind her for many of those lengthy meandering shots. Brown did admit that the dramatic sound effect of Danny's big wheel rolling on the floor contrasted by the quiet carpeting was a 'happy accident' and the result of Brown's camera and microphone placed mere inches away from the ground during the scenes. Brown did confirm that most of the crew were agonized by Kubrick's methodology, but that he strangely continued to hold a good relationship with the director. Brown was even asked to shoot both Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut, but due to other commitments couldn’t take part.

Despite those critiques from years past, history has been good to Kubrick. The film was a financial success and the man just seemed to be a creative step ahead of everybody else that even those surly critics warmed up to it. Though the film is quite not a masterpiece, but it’s a wholly unique auteur horror flick, terrifying and hypnotic.

Old Joy

Old Joy (2006) dir. Kelly Reichardt
Starring: Will Oldham, Daniel London

***

By Alan Bacchus

A good friend of mine and DFD contributor Blair Stewart said of “Old Joy”, some films are served better by a short running time. Specifically if “Old Joy”, which only runs a scant 76mins, were 10 mins longer would have seemed like an eternity.

It’s remarkably simple – Mark (Daniel London) is a comfortably married 30-something, with a child on the way. Kurt (Will Oldham) is his old friend from childhood, who lives a carefree, bohemian, almost transient existence. They decide to go on a camping roadtrip in the Oregon mountains in an effort to respark a friendship which seems to have gone in two separate directions. Their destination is a derelict natural hot springs spa somewhere off the map, a place literally and metaphorical Mark needs to go in order take the next steps in his life.

Very little happens. I think I get it, the journey serves as a way for Kurt to break Mark out of his bottled self-control. Until the duo reach they’re journey Mark questions Kurt’s directions, phones home to his wife to report on his trepidations with following Kurt blindly without a map. For Kurt, it’s all an exercise, a grand plan of sorts to open Mark’s mind the world outside his own personal needs, goals and petty problems. All of this inferred – we don’t know what problems Mark has, or if he has any at all. It doesn’t matter though, because Mark represents us, the audience. For all the city or suburban dwelling yuppies Will Oldham’s free-spirited worry-free lifestyle is not a threat but a guide toward freedom.

Oldham – who is also folk musician Bonnie Prince Billy – who plays Kurt, is the perfect muse for Mark. Physically, his unkempt beard and straggly balding blond locks immediately seems threatening to Mark’s conservative lifestyle. As the two embark on their journey we feel as if Kurt is leading Mark into a disaster waiting to happen.

If there were a climax it would be the natural spa bath Mark and Kurt take together. Both naked, completely vulnerable in the desolateness of the environment, Kurt moves out of his bath and gives Mark a massage. It’s not sexual, but the contact has a delicate imtimacy which clearly makes Mark uncomfortable. In this short scene Mark’s discomfort gradually dissolves sending him into the transcendental state, Kurt was seeking for him.

Writer/Director, Kelly Reichardt, one of the stars of a new brand of American independent filmmaking – a stripped down raw, ultra-low budget aesthetic merging social realism with Dogme 95, but remaining wholly American.

I certainly disagree with how many critics have praised "Old Joy" as a masterpiece,While admirable, it doesn't really add anything more than any other contemplative roadtrip film. The result is the same with them all - the act of the journey is more important than the destination. This seems to the point of "Old Joy", distinguished solely by it's insistance on avoiding making its point.

Inception

Inception (2010) dir. Christopher Nolan
Starring: Leonardo Di Caprio, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Ken Watanabe, Cillian Murphy

***

By Alan Bacchus

My first thoughts on Inception were mostly disapppointment, with a nod of admiration for the risky attempt to tell such a far-out complex and epic action film - not based on any previous material. The Matrix would be the best comparison of a similarly flawed film, but with enough gusto and cinematic awesomeness to hold my attention. But I just couldn't help being overly critical. Films like this with such attention around it, require extra scrutiny. On the second go 'round on Blu-Ray, it's a much easier film to watch, but only a little bit less frustrating.

So, I've added a half star to this silly arbitrary rating system and adjusted my first review only slightly.

In the body of work of Christopher Nolan, if we call the trio of Memento, The Prestige and now Inception, a ‘puzzle trilogy’ of sorts, Inception is the biggest and most ambitious of the bunch – a retooling of Philip K. Dick’s alternate reality stories (ie. The Matrix/Dark City/Total Recall) realm of virtual reality sci-fi. It’s a very big film, too big for it’s own good perhaps, a jenga tower of high concept ideas and sci-fi scenarios which miraculously manages to hold itself together but not without severe strain on its joints.

At times it’s audacious, thrilling and visually inventive and at many other times, tedious plot driven exercise in style which can barely keep up with its own inventions. It’s Nolan’s most ambitious but also his weakest film.

Leonardo Di Caprio plays Cobb the leader of a group of near future thieves of sorts who enters people’s dream to extract valuable information to use for nefarious purposes. After their latest job goes wrong Cobb finds himself working for the same Japanese businessman, Saito, he was stealing from in a new and more dangerous game of corporate espionage. Cobb’s mission, should he chose to accept it (oops wrong movie), is to enter the mind of the son of a corporate CEO to implant the idea of dissolving his company thus allowing Saito to take over the market. And.. breathe.

The first hour of Inception features the fine actors struggling to get through the dense informational dialogue establishing the rules of Nolan’s near future fantasy world. Virtually every word out of the actors' mouths explains either the rules of dream travel or the details of the intending heist. Long-winded pronunciations among the characters are read out with breathless pace in order to the keeping the running time down and to quicker get into the meat and potatoes of the film. And with so much information, there is absolutely no room for character or any relationships between the characters. On the second viewing this exposition was less bothersome, as I found myself oggling the visuals as opposed to comprehending the dialogue.

Cobb is the only one with any emotional through line, unfortunately Di Caprio is handed down yet another tortured soul character, a widower whose wife committed suicide, a death blamed on him and thus unable to return to his country and be with his kids, it’s dull depressing stuff - the latest in a decade long series of ultra heavy unhumourous roles for Di Caprio.

Despite the strenuous exposition, Nolan’s due diligence has a purpose and it’s all groundwork laid down so we can understand the last hour and a half. The plan of attack Cobb’s crack of team of dreamscapers come up with is rendered logical. Though with every new rule or concept we learn about dreamworld threatens to topple down Nolan’s precarious house of cards.

Though it’s not a traditional action film Nolan crafts a number of action sequences to keep the fire burning under the asses of us the audience and the characters. Unfortunately the chases and gunfire feel more a perfunctory humdrum exercises, action filmmaking 101 with little flare or ingenuity we expect from such an ambitious film. The opening sequence is strangely poorly shot and the final snow base sequence comes out of left field, it feels like we’re plopped into ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’, ‘Where Eagles Dare’, or ‘G.I. Joe’.

Where Inception succeeds best is in the execution of the last hour which plays out like a traditional movie heist movie. The choosing of the individual men and women of expertise, the forger, the chemist, the architect set up a triple decker dream within a dream sequence, which Nolan miraculously makes sense out of.

The main set piece action scene taking place in three spheres of reality all occurring at the same moment is truly heartpounding and the stuff of inspiration. The denouement is classic Nolan, the rhythm of editing, music and the obtuse open-ended question mark we’re left with has the same cinematic cadence as the endings of Memento and The Prestige. It doesn’t work as well as those other movies, because, well, it’s the third time round.

I think we can consider Nolan tapped out of this genre, at least for now. Otherwise the repetition would start to stink like Brian DePalma self-thievery. And so, despite much of the praise from audiences and critics, Inception is thrilling but highly flawed, sloppy, but ambitious enough to command my attention, two, three and likely many more times over.

'Inception' is available on Blu-Ray and DVD from Warner Home Entertainment

How I Ended This Summer

How I Ended This Summer (2010) dir. Aleksei Popogrebsky
Starring: Grigoriy Dobrygin, Sergei Puskepalis

***

By Alan Bacchus

When the Russians do tragedy, it’s very tragic. In this austere festival film, we’re in the point of view of an affable and truly bored Russian meteorologist student Pavel stationed in the frigid and lonely Arctic circle for the summer. When he’s not following the orders of his hardass boss Sergei he spends his days (nope, there’s no nighttime) like an immature child, listening to his I-Pod, playing video games and goofing around with anything he can find in the area.

But when Pavel receives some tragic news about Sergei, the fear of Sergei’s rage prevents him from relaying the message. From there it’s a battle of Pavel’s psychological fears, needlessly avoiding Sergei, which obsessantly manifests itself into a life and death cat and mouse chase around the base.

It’s sparse affair, one of those slow burners, complimenting the endless days and mind-numbing isolation with a similar cinematic style. A languid pace with cold and stark wide shots emphasizing the effect of the environment on it’s characters. That sort of thing.

It’s not quite a Tarkovsky world though, as the one key story beat is enough to fuel some surprisingly strong internal and external conflict, which snowballs like a Greek Tragedy into something as emotional, cathartic and wholly satisfying.

As mentioned, after establishing the tempestuous relationship of the workmanlike curmudgeon and the carefree student, the shoe drops when Pavel receives the untimely news about Sergei's family. But why doesn’t Pavel tell Sergei. It’s this moment of miscommunication which by cause and effect snowballs into Pavel’s madness. It’s not hard to understand Pavel’s fear. His immaturity, social inhibitions and complete fear of authority causes Pavel to delay telling his boss the news. Careful choices of words in the dialogue and the reactions of the actors to each other makes this all believable.

Eventually Sergei learns the truth, which causes an even greater disruption between the two. Pavel flees Sergei, thinking he might kill him. Will he or won’t he? He probably won’t but because we’re in Pavel’s now deranged point of view we understand his paranoid flight to safety.

At all times we’re sympathetic to Pavel, we identify with his innocence and naivety and immaturity and so his downfall in the third act, which is partly accidental, is completely heartbreaking. The two actors Grigoriy Dobrygin and Sergei Puskepalis, got well deserved recognition, co-winning the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for Best Actor.

'How I Ended This Summer' was the November DVD of the Month from Film Movement Canada. Click HERE for more info.

Back to the Future

Back to the Future (1985) dir. Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Crispin Glover, Lea Thompson, Thomas F. Wilson

****

By Alan Bacchus

BTTF is one of those films that transcends time, a movie of pure cinema pleasure. A film which technically is not immune to the father of time, hell the special effects seem rudimentary in a 1980’s kind of way, but there’s so much joy and love of cinema storytelling, it's destined to remain a classic in the tradition of King Kong, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Wizard of Oz, Jaws, Star Wars.

I mean, check out the perfectly appropriate character names, such as Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and George McFly (Crispin Glover), father-son characters complete opposites of one another in personality and ambition but who manage to some closer together and bridge the generation gap via the time travelling Delorean.

Looking back on all three pictures recently on Blu-Ray I'm struck by the blockhead sense of obviousness of what is going on. The parallels and repetitions of action across time and generations are made none too obvious, but herein lies the fun and shear joy of the process. Zemeckis sets up all his jokes, gags, and all the cross generational connections with a strange blatancy, but a tone consistent to the artificiality of the Hill Valley Town. We know Hill Valley is not a real city, but a obvious studio backdrop. But it creates an insular world closed off from anything else going in the real world – kind of like an old studio Hollywood fantasy world – were we are free to let go of our expectations and accept the films’ rules of engagement.

And so none of this would succeed if the Zemeckis/Gale script weren’t iron clad tight. Time travel is a tough beast to crack, and even Zemeckis himself admits writing the screenplay was not fun, but once everything fits together and the rules established, most of the heavy lifting is done.

The second key to success are the lead actors, Christopher Lloyd, Crispin Glover and of course, Michael J. Fox. And really, what courage shown by Zemeckis, Spielberg, Kennedy/Marshall and the studio for biting the bullet on Eric Stoltz, who was originally cast as Marty and who shot for 5 weeks(!), which is about a quarter of the movie, before deciding to scrap most of it and start fresh with Fox (who was moonlighting after Family Ties wrapped). This is what deep pockets and go-for-broke cutthroat Hollywood attitude will get you, the balls and guts to cut loose your lead actor and reshoot the entire movie.

These films were made between 1985 and 1989, during, arguably the greatest period in film scoring in cinema history. Apart from a handful of films like Back to the Future the great scores of the 80’s is just about the only trend we can cling onto from the 80’s. And Alan Silvestri’s music for Back to the Future is still magnificent. A bold sound elevating what could have sounded like a quirky coming of age sci-fi rom-com into pure big blockbuster entertainment. I’d even go as far to say the Silvestri’s score of Back the Future 2 is even better.

The sequels have just as much pleasure as the memorable original. Part 2, which contains almost none of the resonant qualities of character and romantic and heartfelt reflections of generations past, but taken as an purely plot driven exercise in style, Part 2 is a thrill ride. Going into the future produces some decent though mostly kitschy fun predicting where technology might head to, but doubling back to the alternate present and even back into the first movie in 1955 from a different point of view is one of the once-in-lifetime strokes of genius. Part 3 serves to develop Doc Brown’s character only, but it’s connections to parts 2 and 3 make the entire journey across three films worth while.

"Back to the Future Trilogy" is available on Blu-Ray from Universal Home Entertainment

Black Swan

Black Swan (2010) dir. Darren Aronofsky
Starring: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Natalie Portman and Barbara Hershey

****

By Greg Klymkiw

I am breathless, speechless and frankly, so knocked on my ass as I attempt to write this, that I fear that no words will ever adequately describe the elation I feel at having experienced what might be the best movie of the year, the decade and possibly one of the best pictures of all time.

I love this movie to death!

Is it that obvious?

With Black Swan, Darren Aronofsky, the brilliant director of Pi, Requiem for a Dream and The Wrestler, has etched in stone his right to be called one of the greatest living film directors in the world. This is such a passionate, sexy, suspenseful, artful and wildly melodramatic movie, that even now I'm obsessed with seeing the picture as many times as possible.

Even one more viewing will do in order to pinch myself to see if I am dreaming how utterly stupendous it is.

I suspect, I'm not dreaming, however - Black Swan feels like it is exactly the sort of film we'll all look back upon as a milestone in cinema history.

It's Powell/Pressburger's The Red Shoes meets Mankiewicz's All About Eve meets Verhoeven's Showgirls with heavy doses of Polanski's Repulsion - and then some!

Aronofsky etches the unforgettable tale of Nina (Natalie Portman), a ballerina driven to achieving the highest level of artistry; brutally encouraged by crazed impresario Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel), thwarted by her possessive, narcissistic mother (Barbara Hershey), terrified at the prospect of failure exemplified by an aging prima ballerina (Winona Ryder) and most of all, facing the threat of extinction by Lilly (Mila Kunis), an earthy rival with less technique, but greater raw passion - something Nina desperately needs to wrench from the depths of her soul to move beyond mere technical virtuosity.

The strongest comparison point is the aforementioned Powell/Pressburger 1948 masterpiece The Red Shoes, a staggering, highly influential motion picture - the stunning ballet sequences were a huge inspiration to Scorsese for the staging and mise-en-scene of the Raging Bull boxing matches. Powell/Pressburger wanted to make a movie that captured dance the only way motion pictures truly could - not from a proscenium, but on stage - as close to the action as possible.

Aronofsky follows suit with Black Swan and in some ways he matches the Powell/Pressburger approach with considerable aplomb. Where Aronofsky's approach differs is in his use of movement. Powell/Pressburger favoured exquisite compositions from a mostly-fixed camera position with the occasional dolly or crane shot, but often creating movement through delicate montage. Aronofsky, on the other hand, moves and swishes his camera with a sort of controlled steadi-cam abandon. I say "controlled" as this is no mere display of annoying shaky-cam techniques - the handheld movements are gorgeously composed and not a single move feels out of place, indulgent or downright sloppy.

In Aronofsky's mise-en-scene, the camera floats and glides with calculated abandon. In fact, I'm rather embarrassed to admit I caught myself - several times - rocking back and forth, to and fro and in a state of amusement-park-ride bliss. In fact, I've never seen dance sequences on film that inspired me to move in my seat as the image unspooled. I seldom move - period, but that's another story and significant only in that Black Swan compelled me to not remain static and slumped into my chair. And this was not only the case with the dance scenes, but with virtually every moment in the picture.

At times it compels one to literally jump from one's seat during set-pieces of slam-bang suspense. Other moments inspire one to sit forward, eyes up to the screen and literally on the edge of one's seat - at times, in mouth-agape awe at the sheer genius of the filmmaking and at others, because the action is so thrilling that to sit back becomes near-impossible. And then there are the numerous cringe-inducing moments where one squirms and sinks into one's seat, clinging for dear life as the picture deals with the grotesquely painful physical injuries and deformities that dancers - especially ballerinas - are prone to; split, oozing toenails, dislocated joints and other such gnarly realities of the dancing trade. I have not uttered the words "Jesus Christ" so many times in one picture - in utter disgust at witnessing the physical torture these women endure. Nina in particular is afflicted with an obsessive streak to the point where she scratches at her shoulder blades and leaves blood and pus-oozing open sores. And worse, to stop herself from scratching, she continually cuts, trims and buffs her nails to a point where her fingertips, fingernails and cuticles are a raw, pulpy mess.

Jesus Christ!

And the melodrama: O, the melodrama! Some consider melodrama a dirty word. Well, anyone who does is a total knot head. It's a completely legitimate genre. There's bad melodrama and there's good, if not great melodrama. Black Swan is in the latter category. O, glorious melodrama! This great movie, replete with catty nasties of invective hurled with meat cleaver sharpness, literal cat fights, mother-daughter snipe-fests, masturbation, lesbo action, anonymous sex in nightclub washrooms and delicious over-the-top blood-letting, all add up to one motherfucker of an ice cream sundae with not one, not two, not three, but a barrel-full of maraschino cherries globbed with pools of glistening syrup on top.

The performances in Black Swan are perfectly pitched to the heights of melodrama that the film itself achieves. Miss Portman captures her character's intensity and frigidity with such perfection that Nina's gradual soul wrenching ascent/descent takes on the heft of pure tragedy. She commands the screen with such assured bravado that it's probably safe to suggest that hers will be the performance to beat in the year's upcoming awards season. Mila Kunis is gorgeous and sexy. Her chemistry with Portman crackles with the sheer electricity of opposites attracting. Winona Ryder delivers an exceptionally mature tragic portrait, full of bile, resentment and tragedy - a worthy successor and rival to the suffering bitch goddess Susan Hayward. Barbara Hershey wanders through the Grand Guignol territory of those immortal Robert Aldrich heroines of the 60s and drags us deep into the demonic bilge barrel of great movie harridans. And last, but certainly not least, Vincent Cassel is one sexy beast - the perfect ballet impresario: one part genius, one part cocksman, two parts Mephistopheles.

Some critics have referred to Black Swan as "The Red Shoes on acid.". They couldn't be more wrong. The Red Shoes is already on acid.

From my vantage point, Black Swan is pure crack cocaine, and as such, inspires more and heavier doses.

Mutiny on the Bounty

Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) dir. Frank Lloyd
Starring: Clark Gable, Charles Laughton, Franchot Tone, Eddie Quillan, Dudley Digges

****

By Alan Bacchus

High seas adventure cinema par excellence. Three big screen versions of this story have been made and there’s no doubt this version is the best. Five Academy Awards nominations including a winner for best picture doesn't lie, but watching Clark Gable in his prime squaring off against Charles Laughton is undeniably powerful and exciting cinema.

It's 1789, the Fletcher Christian (Gable), is scouring the port for sailors and midshipmen to pilot the HMS Bounty, a King's ship assigned to a mission to Tahiti. It's two year expedition, a lengthy journey which frightens some, but it's the Captain, William Bligh (Laughton) who strikes the fear of God in the men.

Bligh lives by the code of leadership by fear. Fear of the brutal punishment which Bligh continually inflicts on his men. Whether it's whipping with a cat 'o' nine tails or keel hauling, the crew take beating after beating. Christian watches in horror but knows Bligh's orders are condoned by the laws of the King. After arriving at Tahiti and enjoying three months of tropical bliss, once back on the ship Christian just can't take it anymore and fights back against Bligh, engineering the most famous mutiny in sailing history.

Charles Laughton and Clark Gable are a terrific match. Two of the great adversaries ever on film. One American, arguably the biggest star in the world, and the other one of Britain's best actors. Though Laughton is shorter and considerably less handsome, he is an imposing presence on screen. It’s interesting to note Clark Gable using his usual American accent to play a Briton. Strangely it doesn’t matter. All it takes is Gable’s personification of honour and poise which makes him believable as an upper classman of Britain.

It was a big production then and even 80+ years later the production value is still stunning and realistic. The castoff scene for instance which launches the Bounty is staged magnificently by director Lloyd, full of epic grandeur. If anything many of the Tahiti scenes, shot on a sound stage with rear projected palm trees, look fake and betrays the realism of the sailing sequences.

But in all versions of the story, and this one included, the weakest moments all seem to be the Tahiti sequences wherein the crew of the Bounty make stay on the island for 3 months collecting fruit, sunbathing in skimpy bathing suits, bedding the native women and in general living high on the hog. While this sequence in this picture is unabashedly sentimental and conflict free the period of rest is necessary for the audience. For when the crew eventually gets back on the ship and into the cauldron of punishment from the Captain it seems even more intense and cruel. And thus, the eventual Mutiny in the second half becomes even more cathartic.

The fact is when Bligh and Christian are on board together at sea, it’s a cinematic dynamo of tension and conflict. The actual mutiny scene seems to come as an afterthought, and based on the intense build up, the scene is, if anything, under whelming. Despite the faults of the 1962 version, the calmer more reluctant muniteer as portrayed by Brando and under the direction of Lewis Milestone executes his mutiny with more panache , but at nearly 3 hours, it's simply too long to hold our attention before this scene. At 130 mins, the 1935 seems just right.

'The Mutiny on the Bounty" is available on Blu-Ray from Warner Home Video

127 Hours

127 Hours (2010) dir. Danny Boyle
Starring: James Franco, Lizzy Caplan, Treat Williams, Amber Tamblyn

***½

By Alan Bacchus

There seems to be a trend recently of filmmakers challenging themselves with self-imposed cinematic constraints. Rodrigo Cortes’ Buried as the most extreme (and successful) having shot an entire film in a coffin. For Danny Boyle the challenge here is to make a film set almost entirely in a claustrophobic gorge, with one character trapped in between the rocks.

The main hurdle for Boyle is not the location or the isolation of his character but making the film entertaining when the audience knows exactly what happens. For those who don’t know, don’t read on, for those who have been tracking the film since it was announced we know it’s the true story of Aron Ralston a mountaineer/adventurer/thrill seeker who accidentally fell into a gorge and got stuck in between the rocks for 127 hours before committing a shocking act of self-surgery to get himself out. As such, can this film be entertaining knowing exactly how it plays out and where it will go? Thanks for Danny Boyle’s supreme storytelling skills the answer is yes.

The film opens with a typically energetic Danny Boyle sequence, a very bright and colourful split screen sequence representing the fast paced lifestyle of Aron. We then watch Ralston at home gathering his gear for his next adventure, a solo bike ride in a Utah canyon. Extreme closeups of Ralston’s procedure tells us he’s done this before, and that the speed with which he prepares means he also taking for granted the extreme danger of his endeavour. His carefree attitude will literally crash down when a slip of the foot causes a boulder to land down on top of him jamming his arm in between the rock face.

Boyle and his co-writer Simon (Slumdog) Beaufoy carefully craft the character from Ralston’s actions. Ralston approaches his predicament with intelligent logic and a bit of trial and error. He lays out his possessions in front of him to see what tools he has to work with, measures out his foot and water supply, along with a few cries for help which he knows will go unanswered.

By the 20mins mark when Ralston gets trapped Boyle appears to have cornered himself cinematically as well. What can Boyle possibly do to keep our interest up before he frees himself? We know it’ll take 127 hours, we know how he escapes, and so the suspense would appear to be zapped from Aron’s various attempts at escape. And so here is the genius and creativity of Boyle. Like Hitchcock self-imposing restraints in Lifeboat or Rope, and even Rodrigo Cortes equally brilliant Buried, Boyle creates a number of thrilling sequences involving the small details of Ralston’s predicament which have life-threatening stakes. For example, early on Ralston drops his knife on the ground, out of reach, the retrieval of which makes for a very tense sequence.

Boyle and Beaufoy cheat a little bit as well, giving Ralston a video camera to talk into and thus narrate his inner thoughts. Boyle flashes back to thoughts of his childhood like his life flashing before his eyes. Under anyone’s else direction these scenes could have betrayed the intensity of Ralston’s isolation. But seeing Ralston’s parents, girlfriends etc lay a solid foundation of emotional attachment to his character that we desperately want to see him escape.

And then there’s the amputation sequence which we all know is coming, and which Boyle effectively teases us with in a number of ways. Boyle spares us little and leaves almost nothing to the imagination. It’s James Franco though that sells the pain to us, and it’s his resolute desire not to die that gets us through this harrowing sequence. Once out, Boyle, who always has had a terrific ear for music, lays in a fantastic Sigur Ros track to convey the jubilee of Ralston’s release. A beautiful cathartic feeling overwhelms us which sends the film out with a bang in a way few filmmakers can do better.

127 Hours is graphic and you will likely find yourself with hands covering your eyes, but with your fingers slightly open to peak through. Because while it's wholly disturbing, it's like a trainwreck, mordidly fascinating and attractive at the same time. Cudos to Boyle for choosing this film as his follow-up to Slumdog Millionaire, a modest, small scale production, but also a demanding and risky cinematic challenge.

Knight and Day

Knight and Day (2010) dir. James Mangold
Starring: Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Peter Sarsgaard, Maggie Grace, Viola Davis

*1/2

By Alan Bacchus

I was completely prepared to applaud James Mangold, the adaptive director of varied genre projects such as Copland, Walk the Line and 3:10 to Yuma, for succeeding in elevating this reportedly old turnaround studio script into a surprise hit. Unfortunately Knight and Day is as stale as it’s title, an uninspired low rent action comedy featuring two actors and a genre way past their prime.

Tom Cruise is Roy, who, in the backstory, is a rogue agent, set up with some kind of double-cross over a North By Northwest-style maguffin, a new fangled device which can save the plane from the energy crisis. We catch up with Roy getting on a plane and being charming to fellow passenger June (Diaz). It’s a rouse though, an attempt to distract her from assassin-style killings he’ll commit in the cabin. After Roy guides the plane by himself to safety, he finds himself reluctantly teamed up with June for the rest of mission, evading the CIA agents and the all other bad guys.

Tom Cruise smugness is consistently annoying, playing a super spy who kills people with impudence and engages in all kinds of death defying action without seemingly being in any real danger. There’s a helluva lot of gunfights, most of them trying really hard to be fun and creative with the gun handling. Jobn Woo style whirling dervish gunplay and crazy stunt work make the action more like Cirque du Soleil acrobatics than anything else. And Cruise’s calm confidence is so overkill we never believe his life is in jeopardy.

But of course, this is ‘comedy’ so we’re supposed to check our rational minds at the door and enjoy the ride, right?

But Knight and Day ultimately fails because Diaz and Cruise just aren’t funny, or maybe it's because the line or situations aren't funny. It's hard to tell. Is the moment when Tom Cruise, rides a motorcycle along side Cameron Diaz's hijacked car, jumps onto the hood, cracks a funny line about her yellow bridesmaid dress then fires his gun at the baddies trailing behind him funny? Not even the affability of Will Smith could save this one. Maybe Eddie Murphy back in his Beverly Hills Cop days. All other action one-liners ring like lame attempts at this buddy comedy 101.

We can’t even rely on the action scenes to push us through the comic lameness. The action scenes are overblown and under directed. This film needs to be made by Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay, with funny young people like Shia Leboeuf or Joseph Gordon Levitt, or James Franco. A much better film of the same ilk, but with much less star power and hype is Shawn Levy’s Date Night. But that film works solely because of the comic timing and chemistry of Tina Fey and Steve Carell.

Little moments like the steroid-induced massive double Uzis which Cruise brandishes in the warehouse shootout scene demonstrate that Mangold is simply the wrong guy to make this film, or at least made it 20 years too late. This failed picture fizzles out like a bygone Stallone vehicle from the early 80's/90’s.

‘Knight and Day’ is available on Blu-Ray from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

Swing Time

Swing Time (1936) dir. George Stevens
Starring: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers

***1/2

By Alan Bacchus

The Warner Bros four-pack (The Gay Divorcee, Top Hat, Swing Time and Shall We Dance) acts like a four part time capsule of one of the legendary eras of the studio system - the Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers song and dance team. Three of the pictures were directed by the same man, Mark Sandrich and this fourth one, Swing Time, arguably the most celebrated picture of the bunch, directed by the great George Stevens.

As usual there’s a scheme and a whole lot of disreputable behaviour going on. Lucky Garnett (Astaire) is mostly despicable in his journey, playing a gambler who needs to make $25,000 in order to appease his father in law to be to marry his daughter. After he moves to New York he meets his dance partner Penny (Ginger Rogers) who holds the key to his success as an dancer in the big city, Problem is he falls in love with her thus complicating his desire to make money and his obligation to go back home and marry his girlfriend. And so, there's a whole bunch of scheming, Lucky lying to Penny, his girlfriend, and himself and at the same time gambling his way into debt. Also, his unconditional hatred for Ricky Romero the latino bandleader is slightly racist.

As traditional for these types of movies in the 30's, it's classic screwball plotting taking us through the silly hijinx in between main dance set pieces.

It takes 30mins before we see Astaire and Rogers in action, and when they get going, they are both electric. Astaire's effortless style makes him look like he’s floating on air, gliding across the dance floor with ease and elegance. There’s also a clever smirk on his face, a cocky look and recognition of his immense talent. And Rogers, she's nimble and athletic and doing it all in heels.

These films aren’t really traditional musicals, but dance pictures with the occasional song. In Swing Time we don’t get a song until 25mins in and a second until the very end. But there's four stunning dance set pieces, each one distinct and unique and a classic in the annals of cinema history.

The final ballroom set design is magnificent and the stuff of the great Bubsy Berkeley pictures. Stevens stages the last numbers with great pizazz, dressing the set with a great black staircase and a luscious sparkly walled backdrop. And the reflective floor is perhaps borrowed from Berkeley's trademark design - and who knows maybe even borrowed from another Warner Bros set.

The Bo Jangles number is the best though, deservedly celebrated, Astaire's performance, a stunning solo tap dance backed up by three different shadow versions of himself projected as giants in the background. And we barely even notice that Astaire is in blackface.

"Swing Time" is available on DVD from Warner Bros Home Video via the TCM/Warner Astraire-Rogers Collection

The Sorceror’s Apprentice

The Sorceror’s Apprentice (2010) dir. Jon Turtletaub
Starring: Jay Baruchel, Nicolas Cage, Alfred Molina, Theresa Palmer, Alice Krige

**1/2

By Alan Bacchus

The celebrated Mickey Mouse segment from Disney’s Fantasia serves as the jumping off point for this latest Bruckheimer/Disney production. It’s the same team that made the National Treasure series (Turtletaub/Bruckheimer/Cage), and so it’s commercial critical, and creative failure is one of the surprises of the summer.

The Fantasia segment serves only as an inspiration for a story as opposed to modelling a feature out of the story or tone of the original. In fact when the Fantasia scene does come in the narrative of this new version, it feels unnecessary and takes us out of the film.

About 4 or 5 writers construct a brand new mythology, not established in any previous story, or video game. Nicholas Cage plays Balthazar Blake a sorceror who apprentices under Merlin in the Middle Ages, when the evil Lady Morgana (from the same Arthurian story) Merlin, Blake fights her off and imprisons her and her fellow evil sorcerors in a nesting doll, each layer representing a trapped villain. Before death Merlin transfers his power to a ring which can only be unlocked by the one Prime 'Merlinian'.

It takes Blake thousands of years before finding the Prime Merlinian in modern day Manhattan, a pathetical physics geek Dave Stutler (Jay Baruchel). After overcoming his reluctance Dave becomes Blake’s protege, learning the skills of a sorceror like a student learns kung fu from mentor. On the loose is Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina) who desires to unlock Morgana from the nesting doll and spread evil around the world, etc etc.

Half of this synopsis is told to us in a shamelessly expository flashback sequence along with a very simple recitation of the backstory in voiceover. Most movies try to hide this type of dry description of information, and so the laziness by the screenwriters in this film is oft-putting at the start.

It’s the same kind of action-comedy formula as most of these Disney action adventure movies. The battling-buddy dynamic of Cage and Baruchel never finds it’s groove. Baruchel’s affable geek schtick is less annoying than other roles, but his heart just doesn’t seem to be in this one. The romance between he and his gal-pal is perfuctory, and there’s never any real urgency to fight evil or save the girl.

Cage doesn’t have much to work with either. He’s only given a couple of good lines – a crack about pointy shoes is funny, and is smartly reused throughout the film. But he just doesn’t seem to have been able to let loose and chew it up like he’s done so well recently in Bad Lieutenant or Kick Ass.

At least a star and a half in this review is due solely to the production design and special effects work – a perfect blending of good old fashioned practical in camera effects, magnificent real world production design, and sparing use of CG and blue screen. The real Manhattan locations helps give credibility and believeabilty to this world as well. The special powers and weaponry used by the heroes and baddies seems kinda plausible and admirably never go over the top. A decent featurette on the Blu-Ray shows off everyone’s enthusiasm for this old-style brand of filmmaking.

Unfortunately, someone forgot about the story and character, both of which are underwhelming and sadly muted, thus wasting one of better looking films we’ve seen this year.

The Sorceror’s Apprentice is available on Blu-Ray and DVD from Walt Disney Home Entertainment

Waking Sleeping Beauty

Waking Sleeping Beauty (2009) dir. Don Hahn
Documentary

***

By Alan Bacchus

It may seem odd that even though I despise those ‘Little Mermaid-Lion King Era’ Disney pictures of the early 90’s I was still attracted to the story behind the making of these films. The corporate story of Disney from its fall from grace in feature animation to its triumphant rise under Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg is given feature documentary treatment in ‘Waking Sleeping Beauty’.

The title refers to a quote from Katzenberg upon being hired by the company, the need to recapture the magic touch of Uncle Walt, who died in 1966, just as the company was moving in the direction away from animation and into theme parks, TV and other ancillary ventures.

The start date is 1984 with the hiring Michael Eisner from Paramount and Frank Wells of Warner Bros to run the company. Along with Roy Disney, the sole mainstay from the Uncle Walt era and Jeffrey Katzenberg who would become the celebrated ‘saviour‘ of the animation, they form the trinity of characters for the film. There’s enough TV coverage for Hahn to use to visualize the hoopla around this event, much of it from a 60 Minutes segment conducted by Diane Sawyer.

We all know the persona of Michael Eisner, not an actor, but a man with a persuasive enough voice to make him the public figurehead of the new Disney. Jeffrey Katzenberg is characterized as a money-maker who is quoted as saying, he doesn’t to win the Academy Award but the Bank of America Award.

Early on we get to see early footage of a young Tim Burton, John Lasseter and other future star filmmakers working as animators under the old regime. Hahn depicts the youthful animation division as a ragtag bunch of kids holding together the legacy of Disney with duck tape and chewing gum. The lowest point for everyone was the overly budgeted failure ‘The Black Cauldron’ and the usurping of the throne by Steven Spielberg and Don Bluth with their new animation collaboration, "An American Tale". But slowly, by the hand of Katzenberg, the hits start rolling in, ‘Oliver & Company’, ‘Little Mermaid’, “Beauty and the Beast’, and ‘Aladdin.’ But by the time their biggest hit, “The Lion King’ rolls around the money making machine starts showing signs of wear and tear behind the curtain. Hahn cleverly demonstrates the ego clashes between Roy Disney, Eisner and Katzenberg by intercutting their own filmed introductions to their movies, a childish competition to be bigger than the other. With Katzenberg increasing his public persona higher than Eisner’s we’re told this is the impetus for the breakup of the once mighty trio. Knowing a second wave of Disney resurgence with the merger with Pixar, post Katzenberg, his departure doesn’t have much gravitas, but it’s the death of the unassuming peacemaker Frank Wells which provides the emotional cap.

Unfortunately, since Eisner is still with the company we don’t get to hear from him outside of the canned interviews, soundbites from news stories and other publicity-policed segments. In fact, none of the non-stock interviews are shown on camera. We only hear their voices, identified by pop-up graphics. This decision was most likely made to avoid any potential stodginess which might result from documentary formalities, but it comes at the expense of being able to see the facial expressions and mannerisms of the film’s central characters. At one point one of the animators tells us the soul of an animated film is in the eyes of its character - a severe bit of ironic failure which Hahn unfortunately fails to see.

And overriding everything is the silent hand of Disney guiding this film. Don Hahn, producer of ‘The Lion King’, and longtime Disney employee narrates the story. His voice is not that compelling and he’s not even much of a storyteller, but his rise from lowly coffee fetcher for the Disney’s cherished animators of old in the 60’s to the producer of the most successful classical animated film ever made certainly gives him the authority. But with this, inevitably, a celebratory back-patting feeling arises. Hurray for us. The film never goes beyond the information it’s meant to convey. The lack of personality from their subjects means the film never rises to the artistic heights and pathos of say, ‘The Kid Who Stayed in the Picture’ or 'An Inconvenient Truth.' And so I couldn't help but think how Davis Guggenheim or Brett Morgen would have served this material.

"Waking Sleeping Beauty" is one of three 'Disney Documentaries' available on DVD from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. The others include "Walt Et Grupo" and "The Boys"