ONCE

This week’s movie:

ONCE

Perfect!

It has occurred to me that, of late, my recommendations have been getting – shall we say – wordy. That is, long. I sometimes have a tendency, when I can’t think of what to write, to start off in an arbitrary direction (like now) and approach it from another angle. It also occurs to me that a lot of you don’t have time to waste and so, are not reading my post. I understand – you mainly want just enough information to decide whether or not this is a film you want to watch. So, I’ve decided to get this part over right at the beginning and let you go with your day – and for anyone that wants to stay, I tell you WHY you should watch this film.

VERDICT: Yes! You should definitely see this film! You will love it! You will adore it! It will make you feel all warm inside and make you want to call your best friend that you haven’t seen high school. Go out and rent it or buy it today! It’s one of the best movies of the year (2007 not 2008)!

Of course, if I didn’t think you should see it, I wouldn’t be writing about it here – after all, this is not a movie “review” site, it’s a movie “recommendation” site. You should see this film because it does four things really well.

Many of you may not know this about me, but I’m a part-time musician. I’ve been one for a long time. There was a time, back in college when I was seriously considering going full-time and making a go at it. I chickened out – it’s tough trying to make a living playing music and I opted for the easier route. I have a very house in New Hampshire. I suspect that if I had chosen to make my living playing music, I would instead be living in a refrigerator box behind Wal-Mart.

I had exposure to music at a fairly early age, thanks to music lessons that my parents gave me, and although I never really took to the accordion, I used it as a gateway drug to more serious instruments like the guitar, piano, organ, etc – and I have been playing music ever since. Why? Because once you do it, like a drug, you get addicted to it – you want more, I know this first hand. I also know that there are times, when you get people together to play music, whether you’re playing for yourselves or in a performance, when magic happens! It may happen for just a second or for a whole performance and it might not happen often – but it does happen. It’s when everything comes together in an unexpected way – where the result is greater that the sum of its parts and it’s like falling and you want to capture that feeling and bottle it – but you can’t. You want it again and again and so you keep playing. Every musician knows what I’m talking about – that’s why you do it. It’s not for the money – there are easier ways to make more money!

The first thing this movie, ONCE, does is a better job than any film I’ve ever seen at recreating that exact moment when the magic happens. It’s not easy to do, but they were able to do it because the actors portraying the musicians performing the music – are the actual musicians who wrote, performed, and recorded the music. The magic isn’t recreated for the film, it filmed while happening. The two main characters, we never know their names (they’re know just as “guy” and “girl” in the credits), are played by Glen Hansard (guitarist/singer for the Irish band “The Frames”), and Markéta Irglová (a Czech composer and musician). They’ve recently recorded an album of music together titled “The Swell Season” – 5 of these songs are featured in the movie.

The second thing this movie does very well is capture that exact moment when two people fall in love – every scary, exciting, heart-breaking moment of it. We see it happening before our eyes and we want to screw ourselves right into this picture and give somebody a nudge or something – for truly, no two people were made for each other more than these two. Alas, things are never that easy. Besides being a film about the making of music, it is one of the most romantic movies of the year.

The third thing this movie does really well is to show the process of creating music. This is not an overly dramatized version of the process. We see how they teach each other the songs, bargain a rate for studio time, recruit other musicians for a band… You never doubt for a second that real music is made in exactly this way – it is.

The fourth thing this movie very well is dispel the idea that good movies require huge budgets, recognizable faces, and months of shooting. This is where Hollywood generally goes wrong. You’ve got nothing if you don’t start with a great story. Filmed in 17 days for less than $150-thousand, this movie took my breath away. This film was obviously a labor of love and not of money – still I hope the film makes a go-jillion dollars for their efforts. It hasn’t yet – so far it has netted less than $10 million – still pretty good for the original investment. Now if I can get all of you to rent or buy it …….

Here are 10 more reasons to see ONCE:

1. This movie made me want to call up me mates from my original band (some whom I haven’t seen in years) and get together for another go.
2. Your jaded heart, covered from life with scar tissue, will feel new and vulnerable once again.
3. It’ll make you want to be a better person. It sounds funny but it’s true – perhaps for no other reason than to deserve the kind of chance at a life story that these characters have.
4. Real love expressed through music. It’s not a new concept – but where has it been lately?
5. It’s a musical. If you hate musicals – it’s not that kind of musical. It’s a musical in the sense that it features musicians playing music under circumstances where they normally would. That is, people don’t spontaneously break out into song and dance in the middle of the street with an orchestra in the background. This is closer to The Commitments (BTW: Glen Hansard was also in The Commitments), but really, this is a new kind of musical – one I hope to see more of.
6. They say only love can break your heart – love and this movie!
7. After seeing this film you’ll want to make contact, touch somebody. Perhaps you’ll call up some old friends and meet in a bar somewhere and talk about the old days when life seemed simpler and the future held so much promise, and maybe you’ll play some tunes on the jukebox and have some frosty ones, and maybe soon the old days won’t seem so far away, and maybe the future really isn’t immovable, like you thought, and maybe, just maybe, you realize that anything is possible and that you’ve got another shot at it after all.
8. Never underestimate the power of a great song to reach inside of you and ……..well, do just about anything. The right song, at the right time, with the right people – it’s a powerfully emotional experience. No wonder so many people are talking about this film.
9. Why do I seem to be pulling out all the stops to get you to see this movie? I really liked the film. It has universal appeal and I think you will like it too.
10. Markéta Irglová – she had me at “hello”.

Age Appropriateness: A lot of people tell me that they have children and can only watch movies appropriate for the whole family. I understand this and so will start to include, in this section, what you need to make that evaluation.

For some god-unknown reason, the MPAA has rated this film R (for language). This is the sort of thing that convinces me that they’re “a bunch of mindless jerks who will be the first up against the wall when the revolution comes.” If I find out that the R rating has prevented any teenager from seeing this film, I will make it my personal vendetta to hunt them down and make them pay.

There is a somewhat better service called Common Sense Media that takes into account both positive and negative aspects of the film and weighs this against the “kind” of child you have. They’ve rated this film ON 13+. This means that it is highly recommended for children 13 and older, maybe appropriate for younger children depending on …… The only negative aspect comes from the matter-of-fact use of profanity – not a lot of it, just natural for the environment )it is after all a realistic depiction of a place and time) – so if your child can deal with that, any age could be appropriate.

ONCE scores a 98% on the tomatometer. Obviously, one critic was in a bad mood that day. Many many film critics love love this movie. You can read Roger Ebert’s review here. You can read Michael Phillip’s review here.

ONCE is not enough.

Enjoy.

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PARIS, TEXAS

This week’s movie:

PARIS , TEXAS

The tall man walked out of the desert.

When I was in junior high school, I wrote a short story that began with this sentence. When I wrote it, I thought it was pretty deep. The man later goes on to rob banks but I thought the opening was pretty good. Years later, in a college writing course, I wrote a short story that began with …..

A solitary robed figure emerged from the desert….

I thought the opening line was so good, that I wanted another shot at it. This time the man has amnesia. He can’t remember who he is, or why he was in the desert, and he robs only one bank. I’ve been thinking lately that I might try writing it again. Maybe this time, the man robs a bank THEN escapes INTO the desert. He wanders about for years – lost – until the statute of limitations runs out, then …….

Bearded and tattered, the solitary man emerges from the dessert.

There’s something compelling about this concept. It’s not just me. A few years back, reminiscing with an old high school friend, I brought up this story that I wrote. He told me about a story he wrote that started out almost exactly the same way. A year or so ago, talking to a friend about this film I just saw, PARIS, TEXAS. He hadn’t seen it but told me about a short story he’d written in which a man staggers out of the Sahara Desert and falls dead. The people in the village who find him try to fit clues together to figure out what happened to him. Why is this idea so universally compelling?

Because after he comes out of the desert, anything can happen. As an opening line, it ranks up there with “It was a dark and stormy night.” It sets an atmosphere but gives away absolutely nothing about what’s coming next. It says, a man has spent some considerable time in the desert, undergoing great hardship, with nothing but his own thoughts to keep him company. It’s not a new concept. Virtually every religious system has some story about a prophet, who wanders the desert seeking enlightenment. The process goes something like this: wander the desert; let starvation, dehydration, and sun stroke ravage you until you are near death and begin to hallucinate; wait for a very good vision, then get the hell out of Dodge. If you survive- you get to be a prophet. If you die – well ……probably not. Literally speaking, you can go anywhere from here – the possibilities are endless. No wonder religion has gotten so much mileage from this story.

So, if I ever decide to rehash the old opening line, here are some possible follow-up storylines.

1. Man walks out of a desert and into a Starbucks. He orders a grande Latte decaf and a scone, then walks back into the desert – disgusted by the rampart commercialism rife in the civilized world. He prefers the desolation of the wilderness – even though you can’t get a good scone worth a damn.

2. Man walks out of a desert and into a wading pool – drowns.

3. Man walks into the desert - unites legions of Bedouin tribes in attempt to overthrow British occupation. In a huge climatic battle, he ….what? ……Lawrence of what?

4. Man walks out of a desert and into a wading pool – drowns – walks back into the desert – unites legions of zombie Bedouin tribes in attempt to overthrow British occupation.

5. A young man walks across the desert accompanied by two droids. They’re in search of the legendary Jedi warrior, Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi in order to learn the ways of The Force. He needs the old man’s help to avenge the death of his father, but little does he know that …..what? What do you mean, “Star Wars”? OK, maybe a bit – not entirely per se, but maybe it resembles it just a little.

6. A young man walks out of the desert, accompanied by two droids, and into a Starbucks to get a double Moccachino and a scone. He needs to find and acquire the services of a starship pilot and his wookie, but little does he know ………..oh shut up!

7. A man walks across the desert to find the tomb of the Pharaoh. He finds it but accidentally unleashes a curse that animates the Pharaoh’s mummy. The solitary figure of a mummy emerges from the desert and into a Starbucks for a chai tea and a scone. “Damn good scone!” he thinks.

8. A man walks out of a Starbucks and into the desert. After a few days of no water and no scones, he says, “Bugger all this.”

9. A man walks out of the desert and into a Piggly Wiggly. He buys up their entire stock of sun-block and heads back. “Damn! This is one big beach!”

10. A man walks into the desert. After nearly a week, he is near death and he thinks, “Why do I have to always walk? Walk Walk Walk! What? I don’t rate a camel at least. A camel would be nice. I could eat a camel.” Just then he stumbles upon united tribes of zombie Bedouins. He begs them for water and a scone to eat – but they say, “We don’t have any scones. What do we look like? Starbucks?”. When he says, “Bugger all this!”, they fall upon him, mistaking him for an occupying British oppressor.

Director, Wim Wenders, is widely regarded as one of the greats. There’s an entire unit devoted to his work in most film schools. This is pretty remarkable if you consider that his entire reputation is based on essentially two feature films. Oh, he’s made lots of films – but really, only two of them were worth a damn (I’m not counting some of his recent documentaries on music, including the very excellent Buena Vista Social Club.). One of the two is Wings of Desire, highly recommended by this site. The other is this week’s movie PARIS, TEXAS. Both of these films exist on a plane that sits well above 98% of all other films. I’ve already discussed Wings of Desire in a previous article, thus I’ll focus my comments on this week’s movie. So, what is it about?

The solitary figure emerges from the desert.

We see him wandering the Mojave Desert. We see his gulp his last few drops of water. He stumbles into a truck stop/diner and collapses. He’s treated but they can’t do much for him – he’s not talking. They find a phone number on him – it’s his brother – who flies out to pick him up. His bother hasn’t seen or heard from in four years. Has he been wandering the desert for four years? His sneakers look like it. We don’t know – we don’t know anything at all about him. We don’t know WHY he’s been wandering the desert, or where he’s been, or why he’s wearing a necktie. All we know is that something terrible happen four years ago and it’s been troubling him all that time. Whatever it was, caused him to disappear, his wife to leave their (then) 4 year old son with the brother and then the mother disappeared.

His brother brings him back home where he is reunited with his son. Little by little, he begins to open up and we start to see clues about what might have happened. The genius of this film is that you unravel the mystery a little at a time. The man (his name is Travis), at first you think that he’s a little slow – maybe he was out in the desert just a little too long – but he’s not. He’s thinking – he has a lot on his mind. The final scene where he tracks down and confronts his wife – and the rest of the story is revealed is perhaps the most dramatic heart-rendering and masterly filmed scene in the history of cinema.

The film doesn’t judge Travis. It doesn’t decide if he’s a good or bad man, or if the decisions he makes are correct. It just says “the story is what it is and - you decide”. Someone people in this story will get a raw deal, others may get a second chance, and still others may get some peace. What more could you want in a film? (I’m sorry – but no one gets shot in this film, and nothing blows up.)

Wim Wenders has had a long love affair with American roots music. The film’s soundtrack is by Ry Cooder, whose haunting slide guitar background perfectly describes the desolate backdrop of the American Southwest better than words, more accurate than words.

Advisory: None. There’s nothing particularly offensive in this film. There’s no sex or violence. However, because of the slow but deliberate pace of the movie, small children (or impatient adults) will soon lose interest.

So – go out and rent this movie. It scores a 100% on the tomatometer. It scores 100% because they’re no allowed to rate higher. This film makes Steven Jay Schneider’s book, “1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die”. In fact, it makes most film critics’ “must see” list. And, if you need more affirmation, you can read film critic, Roger Ebert’s, review here.

PARIS, TEXAS – It’s so good, that if it weren’t already in English, they’d make an English language remake of it.

Enjoy.

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L'ICEBERG

Movie of the week:

L’ICEBERG

I thought I’d give you all a break this week.

I know I’ve been featuring “borderline” movies lately. I’m sure you know what I mean. The kind of movie recommendations that threaten to alienate all my readers by saying “you should watch this movie ……. because I liked it ….. even though most people I know didn’t …….” Movies which you need to have just the right disposition or that particularly black sense of humor to enjoy. That may be true but if you do have those qualities, these is some great movies! So, I thought I’d give you all a break this week by recommending a film that anyone can enjoy without any effort.

OK Frank, what’s the catch? Does it have a subliminal psychotic undercurrent? Does everybody get eaten by hedgehogs at the end? Does everybody talk backwards so that all of the dialog at the beginning of the film corresponds to the scenes at the end and vice versa? I can see by the title that it’s about an iceberg but I don’t …………wait a minute! There’s a “L’” in front! It’s French, isn’t it?!

HA!! You’re wrong! It’s Belgian, not French…….although the language is indeed French. However there’s almost no dialog at all. Now I know when you view the trailer below, there’s all sorts of dialog, but ……………..well what the hell else are they suppose to put in a trailer? The trailer contains nearly all the dialog in the film. Also, even if you don’t bother reading the subtitles on the very few lines that do come up, you wouldn’t miss anything because the dialog is superfluous. In this sense, it’s very akin to films like Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times or the films of Jacques Tati like Play Time or M. Hulot’s Holiday. Those are older films and I was convinced they just didn’t make comedies like that anymore, but fortunately I was wrong.

First of all, it’s funny. Every scene is a setup for a visual gag that, although you may see it coming, is hilarious none-the-less. Although the setups may not be as elaborate as Play Time (that would be hard to do at any rate), they’re enough to make you laugh …..all the way through, and for the right reasons. The physical and visual comedy here has a firm footing in the circus. Film-makers writers and actors, Fiona Gordon and Dominique Abel did indeed pay their dues in performance and the circus. This is where you need to be able to tell a story without words. This is their first feature film and they stuck to the very basic principles to tell a very simple story. This is a smart strategy because it ages well. Verbal jokes eventually get dated eventually, but slapstick clowning is eternal.

The story? Why it’s the simplest story in the world, one that has happened to all of us at one time or another. Fiona, middle-aged wife and mother, is the manager at a fast food restaurant. One night, as she’s closing shop, she’s accidentally locked overnight in a walk-in freezer. By the time they find her in the morning, she’s a Popsicle but otherwise physically OK. However her whole outlook on life changes. First, she comes to realize that neither her husband nor her children noticed that she was gone. Second, she acquires a fixation on all things cold – especially an iceberg. She has visions of an iceberg which she obsesses over in much the same way that Richard Dreyfuss obsessed over the mountain in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. She even makes a living iceberg sculpture with her bed sheets. When an opportunity presents itself, she’s off on a quest. Hilarity ensues. ……and face it. The best comedies are indeed the ones in which hilarity ensues.

L’ICEBERG is a simple story, simply told. It’s beautiful …….it’s funny ……….it’s art. What’s more, it’s a film that the whole family can enjoy together. With so little dialog, this could be an easy way to introduce your friends and family to the fascinating world of foreign language movies.

“But, Frank ……you’ve said again and again that this movie is funny. How do we know it really is funny? After all, you thought Little Otik was funny.” Well ……..it was! Watch it for yourself and tell me I’m wrong. “Maybe, Frank, you could compare it to some classical comedies?” OK, I’m not at all sure what ‘classical’ comedies are – so I’ll compare them to the top 10 comedies as listed by the Internet Movie Database (IMDB). So here are 10 ways L’ICEBERG is like or unlike other top IMDB comedies.

1. Dr. Strangelove: L’ICEBERG does NOT have Peter Sellers playing multiple roles and it doesn’t blow up the world at the end (Damn! I just gave the ending away!).
2. Amelie: Amelie is set against the backdrop of Paris, the City of Light. L’ICEBERG is set against ……….er ………. ocean? But both feature a female lead character.
3. Safety Last!: Oh my god! I just realized – I’ve never seen this movie. Excuse me while I go and give a quick watch. ………………………………… thanks for waiting. Just as I thought - not as funny. (wait! Which one is not as funny?)
4. Juno: This doesn’t belong on this list!!!???? It hasn’t even been released to the theaters yet.
5. Monty Python and the Holy Grail: No fair! No film is funnier than Monty Python and the Holy Grail. But never-the-less, L’ICEBERG is still damn funny!
6. Hababam sinifi sinifta kaldi: ????????????????????????? What the hell?
7. Modern Times: L’ICEBERG is a lot like Modern Times ………except for the futuristic machinery ………and the political commentary ……………and Charlie Chaplin …………………. and all that no icebergs.
8. Singin’ in the Rain: L’ICEBERG is not a musical. For many of you, this is a great advantage. However, L’ICEBERG has an inner song that Fiona hears. The mating song of icebergs! If you listen carefully on a still night, you can hear them sing. “Crack …..crack …….melt …….melt”
9. Kind Hearts and Coronets: Personally, I didn’t find this movie all that funny. A bit funny, yes – but not top 10 level funny! L’ICEBERG, on the other hand, is definitely top 25 funny – maybe even top 17 funny.
10. Forrest Gump: What the …..? Who the f#*k made up this list!!!!

OK, I get it. These are the best comedies, the best films that ARE also comedies. That’s not the same as the funniest comedies. L’ICEBERG, on the other hand, is among the funniest comedies. It has an innocence that’s refreshing. It almost makes you want to go to Belgium.

Enjoy L’ICEBERG. Crack, crack, melt, melt.

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