It's been a LONG time since I've posted movie reviews in this thread, so I figure I should catch up.
For the most part I've seen a lot of BAD and DISAPPOINTING movies, but there were a couple of good ones in there too...
The highlights (of the good and bad I've seen recently):
Synecdoche, New York
When I like Charlie Kaufman, I LOVE Charlie Kaufman.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is in my top 5 movies of all time. It's visionary, brilliant, clever, and honestly touching.
Adaptation is another favorite of mine, one that goes into the mind of the obsessed writer and drags the audience along with it.
Being John Malkovich was one of the first movies to introduce me to absurd intellectual cinema.
However.
When I DON'T like Kaufman, I find him absolutely miserable. The first movie to introduce me to this phenomenon was
Human Nature, a strange meandering self-indulgent flick with unlikable characters following ambiguous motives. This was the first movie to convince me that perhaps the unfettered Kaufman is not exactly a good thing.
And then I saw
Synecdoche New York. I was looking forward to this film. Quit a bit, actually. The last Kaufman film that I had seen was the aforementioned
Human Nature and I was looking forward to something that would be reminiscent of his whimsical earlier works. And with the brilliant cast (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Michelle Williams, Hope Davis, Emily Watson, Dianne Wiest) I thought that this MUST be great!
Boy, was I wrong. What started out as a slice-of-life struggling drama with compelling characters slowly disintegrated into a meandering theater metaphor for the predestined, bleak human condition. Laden with swollen symbolism and muted overtones,
Synechdoche was nothing but pretentious, long, painful, and self-indulgent. I want that time back.
I would LOVE for those who liked this film to chime in (Fortunato - I AM CALLING YOU OUT) because I simply do not understand how this miserable showing could be palatable.
1/5 - Points for good performances and some decent direction and imagery. But overall turgid and disappointing.
...
Tideland
Good GOD how long I waited for a Gilliam production to resurrect my favorite director in my eyes after the
Brothers Grimm debacle... But this was not that film.
Gilliam is a favorite director of mine. With the exception of the occasional lemon (*cough*
Jabberwocky), his films are pure cinematic brilliance. Imaginative, whimsical, visionary, funny- from fractured children's fairy tales (
Adventures of Baron Munchausen and
Time Bandits) to well-done scifi (
Brazil and
12 Monkeys) to British humor (Monty Python!), he has always been a successful director in my eyes.
Which is why
Tideland was a particular blow to my senses.
The movie opens with Gilliam appealing to the audience, explaining that this movie was an exploration into the inner child and that he discovered that his inner child is a little girl. Charming, no?
Well, not so much so when the story unravels to this little girl's world of neglectful junkie parents, filling heroin needles for her father, disconnect between life and death, and a pedophilic relationship with a retarded farm boy - THIS is Gilliam's inner child?!?!
Gilliam took the story from Mitch Cullin's book of the same name, framing the adaptation with nods to Psycho and Alice and Wonderland. The parallels are interesting, but ultimately it is unclear to my what appealed to Gilliam about this wretched little tale. I had a really difficult time trying to figure out why - WHY he would do a miserable movie such as this and the only answer I can come up with is that this is Gilliam's true opus. And Gilliam is a disturbed, disturbed man.
This movie is painful to watch. Painful. And not in a good way.
1/5 - Extra points because it's undeniable that he IS a skilled director. This movie was beautiful. Truly gorgeous... But the subject matter, plot, story, characters... was just not enjoyable to watch.*
*I have to note that I don't generally write off movies that are "not enjoyable to watch." Visitor Q is a perfect example of a film that revels in the discomfort of the audience but I think is a brilliant piece of groundbreaking cinema... I draw a line between the two because there ARE movies that can turn discomfort and bleakness into beauty... With
Tideland there is just bleakness and miseryy.