Hot From the Oven
In a Hollywood moneymaker’s dream come true, superstar rogue Brad Pitt and superstar smileyface Julia Roberts co-headlined a film directed by Gore Verbinski (Mousehunt). The Mexican is a road-movie, a romantic comedy, a folk tale, a crime caper, and, apparently, a complete mess.Michael Elliott of MovieParables says, “There are films which run for 3 or 3½ hours which nevertheless seem to pass in the blink of an eye. The Mexican takes the opposite approach. Its two hour playing time feels more like three.” Phil Boatwright of The Dove Foundation has more basic objections to the film. “Each screwball crisis is highlighted by crudity, profanity and comic bloodshed.” Bob Smithouser of Focus on the Family finds offensive elements aplenty in the film regardless of its complexity. “Sure, the story itself may be interestingly crafted, but that’s like saying the Bates Motel has nice eaves.”
In my own review at Looking Closer, I confess that I checked my watch frequently as the film collapsed. I could almost hear the actors thinking to themselves, “Well, we tried, but we just can’t make these puzzle pieces fit together, so let’s wrap things up and go home.” A kidnapper named Leroy (James Gandolfini of The Sopranos) was the only character worth paying attention to, the only one with dimension. And, in what one critic called that “a spasm of ineptitude”, the writer took him out of the story far too early, a mistake from which the movie never recovers. I also have to agree with David Denby at The New Yorker, who expressed disappointment at the lack of chemistry between Brad and Julia in their few moments together onscreen. “As they continue their Punch-and-Judy act,” he writes, “it’s hard to see any signs of the alleged great love between them (we keep hearing about it) which makes them fight so hard. As romantic comedy, The Mexican is a dud—these two just don’t go together.”
But, looking closer, I have to give the film some credit. Its heart, although barely beating, is in the right place. When was the last time a Hollywood romance dared admit that love cannot survive on good feelings and sex, but requires hard work, commitment, and living graciously with each others’ differences? In an age when the slightest agitation seems to justify breakups, affairs, and divorce, at least The Mexican chooses a more grown-up idea … responsibility.
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Is it possible to write about See Spot Runwithout making dog jokes? This movie, directed by John Whitesell (Calendar Girl), qualifies as the Formulaic Un-Funny Canine Movie of the Month. David Arquette, Michael Clarke Duncan, and several other recognizable stars line up to play second-banana to a hound in a movie that appears to be made for children. But a few critics are asking who is responsible for deciding that grownups get the well-made movies and children can get by on jokes about doggie doo.
Critics are almost unanimous in saying this dog won’t hunt. (D’oh! There I go.) “The slapstick is lame, when not crude,” observes Phil Boatwright of The Movie Reporter. He recommends My Dog Skip as an alternate, and far-better, dog movie for the family. MovieParables‘ Michael Elliott also bemoans the prevalent potty-humor. “It is a shame really because as inconsequential movies go, this one does have some bright moments as well as some character development worth watching … even though the characters resemble cartoons rather than anyone in real life.” Roger Ebert at the Chicago Sun-Times is troubled by the film’s baser qualities as well. “Consider that there was a time in our society when children were entertained by the Lassie pictures, and you can see that the national taste is rapidly spiraling down to the level of a whoopee cushion.” Yet, despite others’ complaints, the family-friendly folks at Preview recommend the film—”Audiences from 8 up will think this film is doggone good fun.”
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While critics in the religious media haven’t yet caught up with it, mainstream critics are expressing disappointment with The Caveman’s Valentine. The film was directed by Kasi Lemmons, whose debut Eve’s Bayou was a critical favorite in 1997. Samuel Jackson stars as Romulus, a homeless man with an erratic and disturbed mind who begins stitching together the pieces of a murder mystery. “Mr. Jackson couldn’t be better,” says Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times, but he frowns upon the film as a whole. “The fine performances and the direction aren’t sustenance enough; the mystery feels undercooked.” Stephanie Zacharek of Salon agrees, saying the film “doesn’t hang together tightly enough as a thriller, and it isn’t stirring enough as a psychological portrait of a damaged person.” But Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times defends the movie. “The engine that makes the story live is in the life of Romulus: in how he survives, how he thinks, how people see in him what they are looking for. To watch Samuel L. Jackson in the role is to realize again what a gifted actor he is, how skilled at finding the right way to play a character who, in other hands, might be unplayable.”
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Critics in the religious media may not have caught The Caveman’s Valentine because they were all lining up to see a religiously funded film about a boxer. And they came out singing its praises.
Carman: The Champion is the big-screen debut of televangelist/gospel-singer-sensation Carman. Michael Elliott at Movie Parables writes that director Lee Stanley “keeps the action moving and is adept at framing the fight scenes. The real success of the filmmakers, however, is how they avoid the trap of overt proselytizing which has been the downfall of other Christian projects. The story stays in the forefront of the film, which keeps the audience involved and interested.” Preview raves as well. “This engrossing drama delivers Hollywood glitz mixed with danger and romance.” Holly McClure at The Dove Foundation also cheers. “This is a real winner! A feel-good story with just the right amount of faith and heart! This movie has touching moments, a great soundtrack, excellent fight scenes, and if parents want to take older kids to see this modern-day-hero, it may make for some great discussion afterwards.”
Matthew Prins, who often writes for The Christian Century and The Film Forum, raises questions about the value of the story, which involves a retired fighter (Carman) being forced back into the ring by a bunch of crooks. At the OnFilm eGroup, a discussion list regarding Christian perspectives of contemporary film, Prins writes, “What lesson have we learned from the story? Carman was put in an impossible position to say ‘no’ to the fight. Carman is never put in a position where he has a true moral dilemma, which makes him a pretty blah protagonist.” But this viewer too noticed the lack of preaching. “I was surprised that O Brother, Where Art Thou? contained more explicitly religious moments than The Champion.” Whatever the case, Focus on the Family declares that the film is “exactly what the world needs more of. Films that depict godly men dealing with real life situations.”
Apparently, “the world” isn’t noticing much yet. As of this writing, my searches at several online review archives did not turn up a single review outside of the religious press community. So it’s probably safe to say that the movie’s audiences so far are predominantly the already-converted. (Question: Why is the lead actor’s name in the title of the movie? Is this a first? Outside of those who watch religious television, is the name Carman one that will draw in audiences? Just curious. If it starts a trend, you might soon buy a ticket to Tobey Maguire: Spider-man.)
Fine Cuisine
If you’re looking for something more edifying than cinematic fast food, do not miss Edward Yang’s Yi Yi (A One and a Two).This Taiwanese epic, currently making its way around the country, is my personal favorite film of the year 2000. It has won several major critical awards, including Best Picture from the National Society of Film Critics (the first time they have so honored a foreign film since Akira Kurosawa’s Ran in 1986.) Unfortunately, because of the ludicrous Oscar rules that restrict foreign countries to submit only one title a year for voters to consider, Yi Yi has been displaced by the far more popular Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as Taiwan’s selection. The Chicago Reader‘s Jonathan Rosenbaum suggests that the major buzz around the U.S. comes from “a growing perception that what’s happening in the world of movies isn’t necessarily what we read about in mainstream magazines or hear about on radio or TV.”
The movie is a personal masterpiece for director Edward Yang. Yi Yiisa poetic and patiently told epic of a Taiwanese family caught in crises large and small, public and personal. Each of the central characters learns something while confessing their private struggles at the bedside of the family’s ailing matriarch. J. Robert Parks at The Phantom Tollbooth was impressed by the sensitivity with which each of Yi Yi’s stories are told. He said that, while it recalls Robert Altman’s multi-plot classic Nashville it surpasses that film in the authenticity of the characters.“There’s an openness to Yi Yi—a willingness to follow each story wherever it might go, a belief that every character is important for who he is and not for what he represents.”
Yang continually emphasizes the strange paradox of lonely people in a crowded city, isolated souls in a huge and social family. No one feels safe enough to share his or her personal troubles unless the listener is—literally—comatose. Perhaps Yang intends to demonstrate the need for family intimacy, for love, trust, and trustworthiness. But I was reminded of Catholic traditions of confession. These people want a listener they can respect, around whom they can be honest, humble, and broken … in private. Frankly, whether or not Yang realizes it, he is revealing their need for God. Who can forget the confessions, the ultimatums, the cries for help exhibited by Sonny in Robert Duvall’s The Apostle? This is the stuff of which Psalms are made.
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Pollock, another film that looks closely at human nature, is Ed Harris’s powerful bio-pic of the American artist Jackson Pollock, whose work became popular and groundbreaking in the ’40s and ’50s. Director and star Ed Harris and his co-star Marcia Gay Harden have earned Oscar nominations for their performances. And rightly so. Harris’s portrayal of Pollock is intense, but not merely extreme; he captures the personality of a quiet, troubled, and sometimes explosive man who, when shown love, finds the strength to focus his energies in a constructive manner. And, tragically, Harris also shows Pollock forgetting the value of the love, distracted by ego and success. Yes, the film is predictable … it’s no secret what happened to end Pollock’s famous career. But Harris uses each episode to show us how these great paintings came to occur, so that when we see them in the future, we will have some idea of what went into them. In the film, Pollock compares his works to fields of flowers, which people should just enjoy without looking for the meaning. But at the same time, it is not hard to see that these erratic explosions are cries, shouts, and statements from the heart of a misunderstood genius.
Other critics in the religious media have not voiced their thoughts on the film yet. I found Pollockto be a riveting reminder of how important it is to possess some of the compassion and courage that Lee Krasner showed in caring for Pollock, in listening to him and enduring his weaknesses. And in Pollock himself I saw the importance of exercising with diligence and responsibility the gifts God develops in us. And I am grateful for how the film deepened my appreciation of the purpose of such wild and abstract art.
Still Cooking
Last week’s edition of Film Forum demonstrated that critics could find little redeeming about Ridley Scott’s Hannibal. But this week, at the online magazine The Film Forum, Artie McGibben argues for a different perspective of the movie. “The film actually does a good job of showing us that we are all sinners. Our differences are only those of degree. Hannibal in fact is the Christ figure in this bloodfest.” She illustrates this with specific plot points, and concludes “although we are all wicked, salvation is possible even for the most destitute of sinners.”Other critics in the religious media caught up with Monkeybone this week. Phil Boatwright at The Movie Reporter was dismayed, observing that, “like nearly every other comedy out during the past two years, it incorporates vast amounts of toilet humor. Although somewhat creative, it is extremely raunchy, with a perverse look at the afterlife.” Holly McClure at The Dove Foundation is also offended. “This is a colorful, innovative and creative movie, that would have been great entertainment for kids had they removed the sex, violence, language, dark themes about hell, and the perverted monkey.”
Side Dishes
Peter T. Chattaway, who writes frequently for the B.C. Christian News, published a front-page article for The Vancouver Sun this month on the ever-popular genre of “end-times movies”. From the famous Christian apocalyptic film The Late Great Planet Earth all the way to The Omega Code and now Left Behind, Chattaway examines the messages and techniques of infamous judgment-oriented movies and considers how these titles stem from thoroughly contemporary and strictly literal interpretations of the Book of Revelation. He writes, “These films are just the latest products of an evangelical subculture that has simmered beneath the surface of mainstream pop culture for at least the past three decades. Ironically, although these films are intended, in part, to give non-Christians an opportunity to learn more about the faith, they tend to dwell on a set of beliefs about biblical prophecies and the end of the world that is highly controversial even within conservative Christian circles.”Chattaway’s article makes me wonder about the responsibilities of Christians in the arts. Is it our job to preach the Apocalypse when the spotlight falls on us? Are we doing the gospel proud by using the Big Screen to scare viewers with threats of judgment? Or should we, rather, be telling stories of God’s grace, crafting art that reveals the design and meaning in the world around them, the possibility of a love that meets their needs, the wild mercy that God can bring about through his children?
Next week: We’ll look at critical responses to Fifteen Minutes, starring Robert DeNiro and Edward Burns, and much more.
Jeffrey Overstreet is on the board of Promontory Artists Association, a non-profit organization based in Seattle, which provides community, resources, and encouragement for Christian artists. He edits an artists’ magazine (The Crossing), publishes frequent film and music reviews on his Web site (Looking Closer), and is at work on a series of novels. His work has also appeared in Christianity and the Arts Magazine.
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