Brokeback Mountain

There's so much to love about this film. First off, the landscape is captured beautifully. The majesty of nature is one reason we'll never lose the theatrical experience for movies. Seeing this film definitely made me long for the time I spent in Montana & Idaho. For all this film is to so many, for me, it's a film about contrasting attitudes and approaches to life. Jack wants to feel his life, be himself, have courage and boldness toward life, take chances. Ennis was traumatized by his father as a child and lived the rest of his life in fear and denial, never knowing what to do with his emotions and needs.

It's almost amazing to me that the Oscars so often get it right. It's such a political game that films, particularly indies, hire year-round Oscar consultants. We are a busy nation, a busy world, and most of us have only enough attention to pay to a few big winners. There are millions of incredible athletes out there we'll never know about because they don't have a gold medal and thousands of great films we'll never discover. So, producers will do almost anything to break the waves. The Brokeback Mountain screenplay, written by the revered best-selling western author Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, was known for many years in Hollywood as the best screenplay never made.

Producers were as afraid of homosexuality as Ennis was. McMurtry said when he read Annie Proulx's short story in the New Yorker, his first reaction was that he wished he'd written it. How had he missed such an obvious facet of the west when he'd written about it all his life? I mean, guys up on mountains alone for months.... But, more than that, I think this is a story a lot of authors missed because it's a twist (pun intended) on a classic fable. The progeny of Romeo & Juliet and West Side Story show young lovers willing to face a small-minded, prejudiced family and society... together. It's the kids against the parents, so to speak.

This is the classic fable modernized, we're now ready to see what it looks like when there's only one real protagonist and he has to, essentially, fight not only a culture frightened of its sexuality, or anything different, but his lover, who embodies more buckling than bravery. This makes Jack all the more courageous and ahead of his time, or maybe it just shows his desperation or naivete. Jack has a focus and desire to be himself that guides his life and will not be silenced. Like Gwen Aruja, the transsexual killed several years ago, he insisted on authenticity and paid for it with his life. They are martyrs, they brought awareness and change, and emboldened others. They're heroes.

It's funny cause even though we're all waiting for the big sex scene, when it comes, it's both shocking and natural at the same time. Man, that's a lot of testosterone. No wonder people find lesbians easier to swallow. I must say, this is one film that, watching it on the small screen, I really longed for a bigger one. When it comes to Heath and Jake romping in the Rockies, bigger is better, and much bigger is much better. Let's get some IMAX in here.

But, I digress. Here's why I think this is a great story, I said it up top, it shows the contrast between a brave man and a coward. Yeah, the bold one gets his face bashed in and the scared little mouse faces his small unlived life for many years, but, who do you sympathize with here? Who do you admire? Jack loved. He lived his life, rode horses he loved and wanted to live his life with a man he loved. He loved Ennis. I totally related to him when he said the line that's already become a cliche, "I wish I could quit you". I've been there, loving someone I wish I didn't. But there's satisfaction in knowing that you are living your life in a full, deep and feeling way and that you can be honest about it.

Someone said to me once that in the end, it's all about the love we felt. Jack was able to feel love. Was Ennis? What did love feel like to Ennis? Did he, in fact, love Jack Twist? In many ways, that's the intriguing "twist" to this film. When we look at Jack, it's clear, he has a certain integrity, despite living, basically, a lie with his wife. Ennis is cloudy. We never know quite who he is or how he feels. Something got turned off, way down, way deep, very early and I get the feeling no one will ever really know Ennis, including himself. Who is this guy? What does his life stand for? What does his life mean? He is just existing. He doesn't want awareness. His life is a process of shutting down.

He loves his daughter and, through knowing Jack, he musters up enough love for her to show up at her wedding, or at least promises to. Now we clap and that endless guitar loop comes up bigger than ever. Ennis smiles at his daughter and agrees to go to her wedding. Wow, what growth. I think of characters like Celie in Color Purple, or even many of the characters in Crash. Maybe Annie Proulx should have thought of that before making all those tacky comments about Crash. I think if anything shortcuts the film, it's the story and character development. We see the emotion come out of Ennis as, literally, retching. So, it's a realistic ending for such a sad, empty man, but, I guess we expect more out of our big Hollywood movies these days.

Hustle and Flow

If you liked Walk the Line and Memphis music, this is a great companion. Here we are in modern, if you call cassette tapes modern, Memphis as we watch a fabulous performance by Terrence Howard depicting a hustler on the lowest rungs of the city. He sells whatever he can: his women, his pride, weed. He's a promoter with the chutzpah of Bill Graham, Steve Jobs & Bill Gates, just with none of the other skills they possess. All he's got is raw drive and raw emotion and when he puts it into a rap, a producer friend layers the track and they go about promoting the song. The song didn't do bad. 3-6 Mafia won an Oscar for it, the first Oscar to ever go to rappers.

While watching this film I thought of lots of things I wish I'd included in my review of Walk the Line. It's about the comments of the director that, although Johnny only spent one night in jail, he wrote about prison extensively, recorded a live album at Folsom and many people think he did do hard time. But what Johnny wrote about are the prisons of our own mind. He was himself tortured by the ghost of his brother who was killed under mysterious circumstances as a child and Johnny suffered from the loss all his life. He had been very close to his brother.

But Johnny recognized all types of mental prisons and I definitely saw them at play in this film. I have known people who lived in the same type of mental prison DJ lives in. The small time hustler, always looking for some little one-up but never really understanding what is needed to make fundamental change that would alter their social status or milieu or the deeper aspects of their personality and soul.

But, the prisons small-time hustlers and tortured artists live in are not really that different from the prisons the unfulfilled housewives and workaholics live in. When I'm in book group, I always hear the women commenting on the trapped, unhappy lives of the fictional protagonists. All the while I look at these women and the walls that bind their own minds and hearts, walls they do not see. I talk to powerful businessmen who are filled with self-importance who never seem to see their lack of heart or courage or creativity or openness. I see people in prison everywhere I look. I used to live in one myself, and probably still do, in ways I don't see. Though at least I talk to people who can, and do, point out my blind spots to me.

We look into our real prisons and see a lot of guys like DJ, born into poverty they'll probably never rise above. But, DJ does try to raise himself and he does accomplish something meaningful, creative, expressive and real. I don't see people for the place they inhabit, I look at them for the distance they've travelled. I look to the efforts they have made to love, to extend themselves, to grow, to change. I look for people who are self-aware, who value self-knowledge, who can talk intelligently about their emotions, responses, childhood, family and who show an understanding of how their life experience has shaped them but moreover, who have shaped their life experiences.

I look for masters of their own destiny, who understand that they are the directors of the film of their life, and that their life is supposed to stand for something, something more than making money and using stuff. DJ, low-life that he is, shows growth, shows some love, some creativity, he's real. He's an unseen, unwanted part of our society but has meaning and redemption in his own life, so who are we to judge?

The commentary track adds a lot and I really enjoyed the film itself, particularly watching how they made the tape. 3-6 Mafia is a platinum selling rap group and represent a lot of what is going on in the south today musically. In many places, music and basketball are the only roads out and there is a lot of hip hop production in almost every city but the south has the best crunk as far as I'm concerned. I happen to love Outkast and the Atlanta scene, but each city has good solid layered tracks which are rich with sound. So check out this DVD.

Fun With Dick and Jane

I definitely had at least as much fun with Dick and Jane as I did with Johnny Cash or Ed Murrow, the subjects of the two films I just reviewed, both of which were Oscar darlings. Comedies always get the shaft (pun intended), but this Dick was Jim Carrey. He's fabulous and the movie was both funny and thought-provoking. The commentary/comedy track was less so, but the self-admitted Hollywood pinkos get most of their shots off in the film, which sets the remake in the wake of an Enron-like company implosion.

Despite the overblown sets and physical gags, there's a serious irony at play here and the barbs are no-holds-barred. A list of world-class cons is thanked at the end and includes such luminaries as Ken Lay, Skilling, Fastow, Koslowski, Ebbers and more. We see the wide pendulum swings up and down in the life of the capitalistic middle class at the turn of the century in America. Lovely and funny as it is portrayed here, it's not easy to watch because it is recent, it is real. Should we be shouting "too soon", like those watching the 9-11 films?

Certainly Enron, Worldcom, Tyco and Adelphia directly and indirectly affected as many lives as the bombers. You can't compare economic disaster to loss of life, but both are real and lasting tragedies. The latter isn't as photogenic, but, it was made so here and I commend Dean Parisot for allowing us to look at losing one's career, house, pride and just about everything else in an easily digestible, entertaining way.

We watch compassionately as this happy go lucky couple who has everything deals with true loss and hardship. The farce doesn't give us anything that rings true except the embarrassment, cover-up and desperation. Robbery dressed as Sonny and Cher or working at Wal-Mart are not options for most, though this concept was beautifully covered before in Albert Brooks' classic Lost In America. Most of us face the less telegenic task of phoning and emailing all day, trying to get careers and lives and security back. But, if you're looking for humor in massive heartache, and we all do... this DVD is true to its name - fun, and well worth watching.

Walk The Line

I walked the line between two streams of thought during this film: number one; why do I have to sit here listening to Joaquin Phoenix instead of the Cash voice and two; Ray was better. Having said that, it's hard for me to not like a musical biopic, even though I'm not a particularly big fan of Johnny Cash or country music. Despite the choice of vocals, I liked this film, particularly its focus on the road shows Cash played with Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and Carl Perkins, all his contemporaries who were then signed with Sun Records in the early 50's.

Once Cash sung for Sam Phillips my interest in watching the Johnny Cash story diminished and my desire to watch the Sam Phillips biopic grew. While Taylor Hackford fleshed out a solid portrayal of Ahmet Ertegun in Ray, this film teased with a scene of Sam Phillips taking Cash from a flat, ordinary gospel singer to the true artist by telling him to look inside and find his true voice. This is when we hear Joaquin launch into such a poor rendition of Walk The Line we wonder why Phillips would have been interested, but then, he got to listen to Cash, no such luck for us.

Why should Cash license for a biopic when they would have clearly preferred the money from the makers of some hemorrhoid ointment, to whom they licensed Ring of Fire for a commercial a few years back? For God's sake, June wrote that about her burning love for Johnny. I mean really, have they no pride? They did give the rights to their music for this film and I can't understand why the performances weren't used. On the whole commentary track, Mangold offered no clue.

But back to Sam Philips, this is the guy who brought us B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and Carl Perkins, in addition to Cash. When you think about what music was in Memphis, and throughout the south, in the early 50's... it was slow dirge gospel in a slow paced culture. We are talking upright basses here. These traveling road shows of souped up music and screaming teens jumping around in gymnasiums were quite a stretch. To this day, we've rarely seen a performer like Jerry Lee Lewis, the guy was truly out there and this film does point to an enormous change in the musical landscape that was happening in that time and place.

I think this was the true birthplace of rock and roll. Maybe Alan Freed coined the term and got radio more involved, maybe Dick Clark was the ultimate popularizer, once it got to TV, but Sun and Sam is the real seed change, as he tells these turned on white boys to tune in and then recorded them, set up shows and let them go. One night in '54 Elvis was recording the same old country tunes in basically the same way they'd been sung forever and got bored, so he picked up a guitar and started speeding up That's Alright Mama. This is when Sam heard what he'd been waiting for. He knew it when he heard it. He recorded it on his two Ampex 350s. And the rest is history. Music was forever changed from that point on. Rockabilly soon became rock and roll.

This film did help me understand the relationship between country and rock in a deeper, fuller way. I hadn't realized that Cash was country music's biggest seller, at least till Garth Brooks, and I didn't find it out from this film, which focused exclusively, unfortunately, on his early years. He is also one of only three artists to be included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Again, that fact, and his unique ability to crossover into so many types of music, was not included in the film or commentary.

The film did help me understand the man, the role of his brother, who died as a child (something he shares with Ray Charles, Elvis and Joaquin Phoenix) and the role that Johnny Cash played in musical history, at least early rock music history. There was too much time spent on the first marriage and the kids, who played no real historical role and didn't do much to help us understand the man, much less the music. His relationship with June and the love and admiration he felt for her was portrayed well and Reese was able to convey some of her strength and spunk.

Although this film has flaws it is certainly worth seeing on DVD. The commentary track adds lots of personal insight from Jim Mangold, who directed and co-wrote the script over a four year period as they tried to get a studio to back this film. With a $28M budget, which is extremely low for a musical with two bankable stars, who were attached, it took four years to get this film made. Ray had not yet come out, and even with the success of this film and Ray, which won many awards and was a hit, it is still incredibly tough to get a biopic financed in any major way. The Janis Joplin biopic with Pink was shelved, as well as the Hendrix biopic with Andre 3000. These are two musicals that would have been fascinating, and it is truly sad that they fell apart. How can you go wrong with Pink and Andre for god's sake.

So, go out and buy this DVD, because, as Mangold points out, that's what you have to do if you like films like this and want to see more, which I do. It's either this or more comic book and video game derivatives.

Good Night And Good Luck

This slow moving, black and white ode to when newsmen had balls is definitely more appropriate for the DVD set. Watching Frank Langella's face 30 feet high is something I don't need to see. Yes, he's commanding as the towering Bill Paley, who did indeed allow Ed Murrow to tackle Joe McCarthy head on, but then you would miss George Clooney's commentary track. I did find it interesting to find out that they put that vapid Rosemary Clooney-like singer in because they "needed a girl".

Clooney also points out that what ultimately took McCarthy down were the Republicans, once he started targeting their heros, like Eisenhower. And perhaps that is what he hopes for here. It is happening. Bush is losing the support of his original backers and this is, increasingly, a problem for him.

You can't help liking George Clooney. No one can. While Paul Haggis, Ang Lee, Philip & Reese skulked around, George was the man of the hour at the Oscars this year, and this movie is the main reason why. George kowtows to no one, when Diana dies, and Gawker Stalker abounds, George is willing to stand up and be counted. He was brought up by a button down newsman dad who taught him to stand up for what he believes and not be afraid to speak out. So, I guess it's not surprising he would make a film glorifying someone like this. Murrow definitely had the same quality.

We live in an age of such ass-kissing phonies that folks just find people with guts refreshing, even if they don't particularly care about the issue at hand. Let's face it, paparazzi annoyance is something the general public does not relate to, but George is still willing to speak out, so he's the darling of Hollywood. I like him too because the fakely self-effacing, affable guy is almost always on the right side of the issue. The issue discussed in the movie ripped at our freedoms in a way paparazzi don't, McCarthy was a Senator and had power, people's lives were destroyed and those in the media were indeed buckling to the red-baiting, turning in friends, changing editorial and artistic product.

He takes on the politicos who rise up on the fears they can monger among the unwashed masses. Gee, if I were studying this in some college class, and I'm sure it will be, although I had some shmuck law professor tell a whole class once that McCarthyism had little affect on mainstream America, the first question they would ask is why is this movie being made in 2005? What is going on today that mirrors this situation? Can you say Rumsfeld, Rove, Bush? Why can't we launch a decent investigation anymore? The GOPs got their big extravaganza... can't we get some fucking public embarrassment big enough for closure here?

These little dribs and drabs with Scooter and the Dissident Generals (good band name) is not cutting it at all. We do need some McCarthy/ Lewinskygate type denouement to galvanize all the right-thinking people who have been on autopilot for the past six years. Unfortunately, we're gonna need something prettier and more interesting than Good Night and Good Luck to do that. It's a good DVD, nice features, had good buzz and press, I recommend renting it, but it's just to old looking and irrelevant feeling to get much color up.

The companion feature discusses the way TV news has changed over the years. Just as money and technology have changed music, they have changed news. News used to stand for truth and objectivity. The American public used to have far less options and far more trust in terms of its news. Straight news is, by nature, somewhat repetitive and dry. Murder, mayhem, weather, war... that stuff never stops, there are only so many ways you can make it interesting, especially when you're competing with 80 channels, blackberrries, iPods, videogames and 70 hour workweeks (should we really wonder why every content company is tanking?)

The stalwart pillars of television are now in hospitals or de-perking from cooking segments. We've got the fake Fox news, right-wing news and now the new, fledgeling Al Franken left-wing news, and the fake news spots I reported on last week.... it's crazy. No one knows who or what to believe any more. I think more and more, people are seeking security in numbers and are turning to search engines and blogs to ascertain accuracy. Murrow lived in an age where he was widely viewed and highly trusted. His word meant a lot in turning the tide against McCarthy, just as Cronkite played a pivotal role in turning the Vietnam War around. I think Clooney wishes for a day when we had figures like this to help us as a society, maybe would like to play that role in real life, perhaps he can.

Open Mics In April

The open mics, hosted by the Rodeo Clowns, have been catching on. Last time there was a great crowd with all sorts of excellent music. It was nice to see a number of local musicians. They will be held on the 9th and 23rd of April from 5-8 (though, last time I left after 9 and there was still lots of people/music) at Blue Chalk Cafe, 630 Ramona St. in Palo Alto. Hope to see you there!

Spielberg Gets Real

The king of fantasy has just signed with Mark Burnett and Fox to do a reality TV show called "On The Lot" which will play like a cross between American Idol and The Apprentice. The idea came from the preeminent film director who is apparently quite a fan of Burnett and Survivor.

As I've said for years now, as the traditional barriers of entry into music recording and film production come down, those in charge of traditional channels will show increasing interest in the next wave of independent filmmakers. I know everyone thinks I'm crazy for making films as a rank beginner, but I know what most people don't; opportunities for gaining visibility and distribution are growing, and will continue to grow. In my film, about Silicon Valley, we see how companies like Google and Apple look for promising young directors. Well, apparently Dreamworks, and probably every studio, has the same idea.

The winner of On The Lot will be given a production deal with Dreamworks. After scouring the country for filmmakers, sixteen finalists will be brought to Hollywood and put into teams for making films in a short amount of time, sort of like CinemaSport. Like Apprentice, each group will choose a leader (director) and prepare a film, I guess in a week, on a particular subject, or perhaps in a particular genre. It will be an elimination game, like all the rest, with the losing team having to lose a member.

The films will be judged by a panel of experts and, of course, the American public, who will start the winner off with a fan base as big as the Idol winners get. Think of all the dough Kelly Clarkson, alone, has made for Simon Fuller and Fox. So, I look forward to this show. Not only do I plan to watch it, but, I'll be entering as well.

Derailed

As this film pulled me in, first with sex, then with suspense, I kept thinking, damn, why can't I get my plots this tight. You really have to hand it to writers who can pull you along like this, as thrillers often do. It's the oldest plot in the book; what happens when you find yourself in a bed of lies? Again, this film uses two of the most frequent, the affair, and embezzlement. Our "protagonist", Clive Owen, is doing both, and this prevents him from seeking help when victimized by a very, very bad man, who works in a group of con artists.

He runs into the too good to be true Jennifer Aniston on a train and becomes, yes, derailed. Everything goes off track once lured. How many times have we seen this? Fatal Attraction and Crimes and Misdemeanors both go deep into the extended life of becoming embedded in living a lie. Clive is still the good guy, despite the affair, because he's so devoted to helping his daughter and has been dealt an unfairly harsh hand. We cheer for him when he kills all the bad guys in the big climax. Hope I'm not giving away any surprises here, but don't the bad guys get it in every film, or at least every big budget, standard Hollywood film, which is exactly what this is.

It's the right formula, two hot stars, a great script, action, violence, blood. Blood is very big now, so big in fact, that I haven't been too into reviewing films lately. The History of Violence wasn't bad but what really are you supposed to say about it? Nice prosthetics there, good blood spurt? Oh, I know I should get real philosophical about why we are so drawn to violence, why so many wars (testosterone). I even took a class once on the philosophy of war (yes, this was the same professor who had the class in Carlos Casteneda, let's not go there). But frankly, I'm much more interested in sex, and since that sells just as well, albeit in different markets, may as well focus on that.

Apparently, this all started a few years ago when a few execs followed some guys into the men's room to get the sort of real focus group experience and the word was all about blood, blood, blood and more blood. If you go to the movies, they'll be redder, I guarantee it. They took all the cute daughter homey scenes out of this one to get more gore in. Now, my teenage son just loves this, he wants us to go and get some prosthetics for our next film and I have to admit, putting fake blood in condoms does sound fun, but no, even if it brings in twice the viewers, it's so cheap and manipulative. Now, I didn't mind encouraging my actors to be more sexual, but that wasn't just to make it more marketable, it's because to me, sex between consenting adults is basically a beautiful thing and violence is about pain.

So, I would like to see Hollywood rely less on violence to move story or at least make it less graphic. They won't do that. There are too many people who need that shock to engage in the film. So, if you like violence, check out this DVD and History of Violence, which has cooler behind the scenes features. They're brutal but, both tight, well-acted stories.