“The strange images capturing
a sense of being completely alone in this world are mind-blowing.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Feminist filmmaker Nina Menkes’s bizarre and enigmatic documentary
is about a mysterious young, orthodox Jewish woman (Tinka Menkes, the director’s
sister) searching for her roots in Jerusalem. The woman is alienated
from her Jerusalem community and drawn into the spirit world, as a voiceover
from the “other side” bounces forth lines from the Book of Job, some Hebrew
singing and ominous pithy utterances such as “He who descends to the pit,
will not come up again.” Though her name is never mentioned, if one can
believe the title, the heroine would be named Zohara. She shaves her head
and ventures outside her dreary bare apartment and treks off in an aimless
manner past her unconcerned neighbors and out to the desert and desolate
Arab territories in the wilderness. Her voyage is unique to her disposition,
but one can’t help feeling her alienation and sense of exile. Supposedly
returning from the desert cleansed, she once again returns to her Jewish
community in Jerusalem and seems if possible even more isolated than before
her journey. There seems to be no way out and no God or person to offer
any help.
The personal short film (only 38 minutes) was made for under $6,000,
has no dialogue, but the strange images capturing a sense of being completely
alone in this world are mind-blowing.
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“He that hath the missis and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are
impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or disruption.”
_________________- Francis Bacon, “Of Marriage and Single Life”
There Will Be Blood, the latest film from Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia), travels down a dark and morally questionable road…but at least it’s the scenic route. Five minutes pass before a word is spoken by Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), the relentless focal point of our story, but we feel as if we know him already. This stubborn and determined man has found traces of oil while mining for silver—and though he’s suffered a terrible leg injury in the process, Plainview seeks confirmation of his discovery before medical attention. The year is 1898, and it’s all downhill from here. Thirsty for more oil in the midst of a rapidly developing industry, this wouldn’t be the last time our subject puts fortune before family and personal well-being.
The family in question is a small one indeed, consisting of Plainview and his young son, H.W. (Dillon Freasier). In many respects, he sees the boy as a partner and successor to the throne, teaching him tricks of the trade as time passes. As their success increases, Plainview and son eventually receive word of a potentially oil-rich property in Little Boston, California, on the ranch of the Sunday family. The money-hungry informant is none other than young Paul Sunday (Paul Dano)—and under the premise that they’re simply quail hunting, the Plainviews infiltrate the Sunday ranch to dig around a bit. Paul’s brother Eli (also Paul Dano) sees through the Plainview’s plot, shrewdly attempting to raise the price after Daniel proposes a sale to his father. Eli has his own plans for the money: to procure funding for his own little project, the Church of the Third Revelation.
One truth becomes painfully clear as the story unfolds: There Will Be Blood is a tale of obsession and gradual self-destruction. Daniel Plainview declares himself a family man with H.W. by his side, yet his ulterior motives may soon prove otherwise. His measured, self-assured speeches convey a sense of respect and admiration for colleagues and competitors, but such an initial observation couldn’t be further from the truth. Daniel Plainview is a selfish man to the bone, but we can’t help but watch his exploits with a certain sense of empathy. We’ve all got a bit of Plainview inside us…it just depends on how deep we’re willing to dig.
With strong performances from top to bottom, There Will Be Blood roars to life with intensity and a strong atmosphere. Daniel Day-Lewis deservedly won the Oscar for Best Actor for his turn as Daniel Planview, bringing a ruthless energy and vigor that anchors the film perfectly. Paul Dano is also excellent in his dual role as the Sunday brothers: Eli is a purely theatrical zealot, every bit as passionate about his “business” as Plainview himself. The Oscar-winning cinematography by Robert Elswit (Magnolia, Good Night and Good Luck) is equally impressive, creating a dusty, dreary backdrop that suits the film well. Jonny Greenwood (he of Radiohead fame, who also scored Bodysong) provided the film’s excellent soundtrack—and the end result isn’t just haunting, it’s the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future rolled into one. It’s not very often that so many factors blend so well together, creating a film that’s more than just the sum of its parts, but There Will Be Blood truly fires on all cylinders.
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Presented on DVD by Paramount Home Entertainment, There Will Be Blood arrives in two separate releases: a barebones one-disc release and a two-disc Collector’s Edition. Even the latter doesn’t exactly cover all the bases, though fans can look forward to a solid technical presentation and a handful of basic bonus features. It’s not quite the home-run treatment that past Oscar winners have received—but the film’s the real selling point, and there’s no doubt that There Will Be Blood is one of 2007’s very best. Let’s take a closer look, shall we?
The Bush administration, skewered indirectly in V for Vendetta, gets the full frontal treatment from writer-director Paul Weitz in American Dreamz, an often hilarious parody of contemporary American life.
Not only does the current White House come under fire (although in the end it's rather affectionate fire) in American Dreamz. Weitz, who co-directed that insane vision of contemporary American teen sexual appetites, American Pie, also takes aim at the U.S. public's captivation with fame and celebrity at the expense of real issues. In his film, worries about Iraq and terrorism and the national debt take a back seat to the pressing American issue of who will be the next winner of the big American Idol-style TV show American Dreamz.
Politics and showbiz collide in the film as the president's chief of staff (Willem Dafoe) cooks up a scheme to make the president, whose poll numbers have fallen off a cliff, regain his popularity by appearing on American Dreamz during the ratings-grabbing final night of the season. It's the night when the winner of the year-long talent competition is named by toothy, WASPish host Martin "Tweedy" Tweed (Hugh Grant), a national TV star who in reality hates the thought of doing one more season of the hit show and sitting through its awful acts. No wonder. This year's talent crop includes an immigrant cantor from Israel who does rap, an immigrant Muslim terrorist-in-training from Afghanistan who sings Broadway show tunes and a "white-trash" barmaid from Padookie, Ohio.
"Do you think it's dignified?" asks President Joseph Staton (Dennis Quaid) upon hearing he has been booked for American Dreamz.
You couldn't have begged for a better stand-in for George W. Bush than fellow Texan Quaid, who comes by his twang naturally and looks quite a lot like the president, although better. Marcia Gay Harden is even more of a ringer for Laura Bush, right down to the hairdo. She's startled on the night after her husband's re-election to discover he has taken a new-found interest in reading the newspaper. Not just any newspaper. All newspapers, even the Canadian press. And books. Mountains of books. Suddenly their White House bedroom is flooded with piles of newspapers and books. As the president plows through them he often looks up, the surprise of discovery on his face as he uncovers some new fact. Did you know, he asks, that there are three opposing ethnic groups in Iraq?
THE SET-UP for American Dreamz is sometimes amusing but, sadly, more often heavy-handed and labored as it parodies the White House and Americans who are caught up in the fame game. A big part of the problem is that Weitz has designed his script so we laugh at these people rather than with them. They're played for fools, which doesn't draw one into his film.
The klutzy Omer (Sam Golzari), the Broadway musical-loving novice terrorist who is sent to the United States, as much to get him out of Afghanistan and out of the hair of his handlers, is a buffoon.
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Mandy Moore's Sally — "the best karaoke singer in this county in Ohio" — fears she doesn't have the talent to win on American Dreamz. And besides, she knows she has a weight problem. Her idiot boyfriend William Williams (Chris Klein) tries to console her, but really just wants her to hurry back to him, breathlessly telling Sally that he has just been named assistant manager of plumbing fixtures. The next step up, he says brightly, is to become the manager of plumbing fixtures.
FORTUNATELY, Weitz pulls himself out of the hole as American Dreamz builds steam on its truly offbeat and funny situations. He bounces between what become four principal subplots.
Omer arrives in America as the house guest of distant relatives, the Rizas, whose gay son Iqbal (Tony Yalda) has installed his own curtained stage in the basement to practice show tunes and whose dream is to make it onto the American Dreamz show.
President Staton, sensing there's something more to the news than the capsules he has been fed in his daily briefings, throws away his daily prescribed dose of "happy pills" and becomes a loose cannon, which makes his chief of staff panicky.
Sally, with the prodding of her mother (the always wonderful Jennifer Coolidge) and the machinations of her new agent (Seth Meyers) girds for her shot at long-dreamed-of stardom. Fortunately, her naive boyfriend is just back from Iraq with a wound and can be used as a sympathy prop.
Martin, all but gagging over some of the acts he has to pass judgment on, slithers around the edges, unctuously using his fame and good looks to go after whatever he wants with the clear-eyed certainty that he can get it. He's the slimy character you love to hate . . . and then love, whenever he gives a goggle-eyed look to some truly terrible performers he's judging.
After a stumbling start, Golzari's Omer becomes a wonderfully simple and sweet man who finds himself stuck in a very tight predicament, caught between two worlds. As he becomes increasingly popular with the American Dreamz fans, his terrorist leaders arrive from Afghanistan with a dangerous, world-shattering assignment. "Are Americans to blame for America?" he wonders.
Moore shows two sides of Sally, too, which makes her human but is also a tough balancing act. There's the sweet-faced perky singer with a weight problem that the public falls in love with. But there's also the grasping, All About Eve side of Sally that craves stardom at any cost. A scene in which we realize she's using her boyfriend for her own ends, planning to dump him when he's no longer needed, stings. That's especially true because Klein plays William as a trusting, gentle soul who only wants to give his love. It adds a note of poignancy to the film's black comedy.
IN THIS stew of stars-in-their-eyes vipers, it's no wonder that the often addled and dim-witted President Staton comes out looking sympathetic and rather good. At least he means well. And he's definitely trying to become a better person and a better president. "Things that were once black and white now are a little gray seeming," says the man who has been assured that he has been hand-picked by "the Lord" to be president. He becomes a sort-of strong hand on the rudder of the wacky doings going on in American Dreamz.
mjanuson@projo.com
/ (401) 277-7276
****
American Dreamz
Starring: Hugh Grant, Dennis Quaid, Mandy Moore, Sam Golzari, Chris Klein, Willem Dafoe, Seth Meyers, Marcia Gay Harden, Jennifer Coolidge, Tony Yalda.
Rated: PG-13, contains adult themes, profanity.
After graduating from high form in Harlem, gifted drummer Devon Myles (Nick Cannon) wins a exhibition to join the marching band at Atlanta A & T University. Personally selected by bandleader Dr Aaron Lee (Orlando Jones), Devon quickly proves himself as the most crack and seditious member of the drumming team. His position in the group is threatened by a fierce kill with drum troop ruler Sean (Leonard Roberts) and his exaggeration with tether dancer Laila (Zoe Saldana) suffers when Devon incites an on-field fistfight with a against band. As the college marching league together championship approaches, Devon must supervision his aptitude and his aspect if he’s to put cooperate his be involved in in serving Atlanta A & T trouncing the fantastic Morris Brown College combo unite.
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From the dimness of the provocative The Accused comes Jodrell’s first feature, also dealing with unite loot. Furness (excellent) plays Asta, a self-reliant barrister and biker who breaks down while travelling alone utterly the outback. The garage mechanic’s daughter Lizzie (Buchanan) has been gang-raped by a group of close by hoods, and is trapped in a ’she asked looking for it’ conspiracy of silence. Asta takes on Lizzie’s case, finding herself in a vicious altercation with the sheriff and the rest of the male community. Furness handles her role with calm ability and bald-faced skill; and where The Accused manipulated sensation, this avoids the gratuitous voyeurism of including the ravish scene. Working by allusion, it succeeds in astounding undeniably the to be honest note, responsibly, movingly, and all the same rivetingly.
As if more smoking gun were needed, “I Love Trouble” stands as until now further proof of how hard it is to make a souffle, as superbly as to successfully re-initiate the faultless entertainment of the time-honoured movies today’s filmmakers so revere. A Cary Grant-Audrey Hepburn vehicle some 30 years too late, this ultrapolished unrealistic suspenser serves up mild romance, soothing suspense and equable humor. But the toplined duo of Julia Roberts and Nick Nolte in a spiffy parcel make through despite passable pleasure that Disney can parlay into solid summer B.O.
Filmmakers Charles Shyer and Nancy Meyers display a sympathetic and understandable nostalgia for the newsroom classics of the 1930s and George Cukor’s “Adam’s Rib” and “Pat and Mike,” Alfred Hitchcock’s “North by Northwest” and Stanley Donen’s “Charade.”
But having one’s taste in the right place is not a substitute for originality and zest, both of which are in relatively short supply in this luxuriously appointed yarn of a rugged, legendary scribe who meets his match in a beautiful young cub reporter.
Nolte plays Peter Brackett, a Windy City columnist in the Ben Hecht tradition who’s coasting on his reputation at the Chronicle now that his first novel is out. A notorious womanizer, boozer and cynic of the old school, Brackett is temporarily forced back onto the beat as punishment for his laziness and finds himself scooped by competing Globe newcomer Sabrina Peterson (Roberts).
Story inquestion involves the derailment of a passenger train in which several people are killed, but it quickly builds into a case of corporate intrigue and subterfuge involving missing briefcases, microfilm and something called LDF, a genetically produced hormone that makes cows produce milk much more quickly.
After vying to outdo each other for some time, Brackett and Peterson (who, in good old newspaper fashion, call each other by their last names) agree to team up on research while still filing separate stories. But they continue to bluster about their lack of sexual attraction.
The chase leads them to rural Wisconsin, Las Vegas — where they marry in an act of self-defense against a bad guy — then back to dairyland, where the quickly estranged couple must prove their love by trying to save each other’s lives in perilous circumstances reminiscent of any number of romantic thrillers of the past.
Nothing that happens is very surprising, including the outcome, meaning that the film mustrely on its moment-to-moment charm to seduce the audience. Roberts and Nolte do their share, but Meyers and Shyer, who co-wrote the script, with Meyers producing and Shyer directing, have given them more in the way of ticklish situations to contend with than sharp repartee and fizzy dialogue. The goings-on seem lacking in wit and inspiration, tolerably entertaining but far from effervescent.
Pic’s most exceptional elements are its top-drawer production values. Dean Tavoularis’ production design is lush and evocative, especially in its newsrooms and the climactic chemical company set that evokes Frank Lloyd Wright’s Wisconsin Johnson Wax building.
John Lindley’s subtle, appealingly dark lensing not only displays the settings to lustrous effect but provides the stars with glamour lighting unusual in this day and age. David Newman’s score helps the proceedings seem less overlong than they are.
Dale Delorenzo