Film: The Red Balloon (1956) & The White Mane (1953) Double Feature
Date: 11/26/07
Place: Nuart, Santa Monica

Thanks to celebrating a new DVD release by Janus, I got to see my favorite short film of all time: The Red Balloon. It's French; it's practically silent; it's close to perfection. Directed by Albert Lamorisse, who is also famous for inventing the board game Risk, he cast his son as the precocious little boy who befriends a balloon. I remember watching this on rainy days as a child. My parents watched this as children. With adult eyes the poverty of urban Paris during the 1950s is much more evident, as well as how cruel children can be to each other. Seeing it on the big screen doesn't break any illusions. That balloon gives a fantastic performance. On a completely restored print, you don't see any strings.

The White Mane is Lamorisse's earlier short. These are by no means 10 minute quickies, but cinematic novellas of 30+ minutes each. Like the Red Balloon, but in b&w and with a horse, a poor boy befriends a wild stallion and the film culminates in a bittersweet existential conclusion. The photography could be a nature film and the over-dubbed soundtrack is simply charming. Again, Lamorisse gives a lesson to the aspiring filmmaker that a story doesn't need a lot of dialog or fancy camera work to make it work - it just has to be real.

The Nuart gave everyone a red balloon to take home after the screening. Out on the streets we were all children. If that's not the definition of magic at a movie house I don't what is.

Labels: film journal

Film: American Gangster
Date: 11/11/06
Place: The Vista

First off: I love love love The Vista theater. I worked in a one screen movie house just like it in high school, except where we lacked in uncomfortable seats, a sub-par sound system, a cracked screen, and stale popcorn, The Vista excels in. The technical quality of each film they screen is always superb. Even the cheesy pre-show reels worn down from show after show make me smile every time. And the Vista is the best place to go for an opening night. You will not find more dedicated fans all crammed up together and applauding the screen every chance they get.
On a Sunday evening the Vista is the perfect refuge from a hectic weekend where I can just snuggle up with my date. At this point, does what I'm watching even matter?
Yes. Of course it does.
So me, my man, plus The Vista's Sunday showing of American Gangster was the perfect equation. But American Gangster is not a perfect film. It's the popcorn fare that makes film snobs scratch their heads and wonder when the big boys will pull their heads out of the sand and attempt to make movies that matter. Like the string of gangster films released right after The Godfather, AG will be forgotten soon. It's entertaining, well acted, and well shot but just not that special. I was thankful to see director Ridley Scott give up the dreaded bleach bypass shaky camera look his brother likes so much (see Domino) and get back to traditional period cinematography. This is a crime drama in the '70s so mustardy-green tones dominate an already high contrast look. It's nothing innovative, just effective. In fact that could be applied to every aspect of the film, including Denzel's performance -- Effective, yes. Innovative, no. I will admit again, I am really starting to respect Russell Crowe as a fine, fine actor. Here he pulls off the Charlie Bronson style-action and gets to have those touching vulnerable moments. I love a good gangster flick and AG follows all the standard genre conventions. It also touches down in cliche-town quite a bit. Crowe's vulnerable when he's fighting for custody of his son. That's right: good cop, bad father. Denzel Washington as Frank Lucas is the ultimate bad ass. He does bad, bad things (drug trafficking, war profiteering) but gets the cleverest lines and falls in love with the prettiest lady on screen at first sight. Josh Brolin shows up as the crooked NYPD detective we're supposed to condemn more than Mr. Frank Lucas the drug-running, murdering gangster. How do we know Detective Brolin is going to hell? Well, he's got no respect for the system he skims off of so greedily, plus he smacks women around and he shoots a dog. The life of Frank Lucas was controversial and revolutionary. He was a bad man but he stuck it to whitey at a time when whitey needed it stuck to. For this, I am grateful to the film for exploiting that part of the '7os and throwing"Across 110th Street" into the soundtrack. More than just another drugs will kill ya tale, American Gangster gets to let the public know about how Frank Lucas and one cop brought down a very corrupt NYPD. Does this matter in the scheme of things? I'll watch Scarface and The Public Enemy a couple more times and get back to you.

Labels: film journal