Film Reviews: April 2009
24 City (24城记)
Watch the trailer here or the whole film here
Set in a military ordnance factory turned modern apartment complex in Chengdu, 24 City captures the nostalgia of people living on the edge of society. Jia Zhangke’s latest film unfolds through interviews that blend fiction and documentary, and delves into the gap between young and old created by the earthshaking history of recent decades.
The film is tastefully artistic, focusing on the beauty of still objects, or what Jia describes as “ignored realities.” His intimate camerawork alternates from typical arm’s-length shots to extreme close-ups; discontinuous editing is used to discover the poetic side of the forgotten past – and the mundane present. Impressive acting from Lü Liping, Chen Jianbin and Joan Chen deserves even more credit than Jia’s poignant narration. They are utterly believable as factory workers struggling to find their identities within a rapidly evolving society. The film has been criticized – not unjustifiably – for not targeting the domestic market, but 24 City is definitely one to watch. WG
Crossing Over
Watch the trailer here
Like Crash and Babel, Crossing Over adopts the separate-but-intersecting-stories structure to follow immigrants trying to obtain legal status in America. But unlike its predecessors, this film won’t go away with an Oscar. Hopefully, it will simply just go away. The last thing we need is another canned story of stereotypes that oversimplifies serious issues like immigration. Crossing Over (starring Harrison Ford) attempts to universalize the difficulties faced by immigrants in America – rich from New Zealand or poor from Mexico – by telling their stories of sorrow and struggle with the same shallow quality. What unfolds is thoughtless overgeneralization. Each character is a blatant ethnic stereotype, and the film insultingly flattens inequality and human suffering to fit into the neat dramatic structure and two-dimensional frame of a movie. This kind of forgettable consumption is truly disturbing, especially since these social issues are rarely given the kind of honest public attention they need. BF
Watchmen
Watch the trailer here or a rough copy of the whole film here
Fans beware. One of the most innovative comics of the ‘80s has been reincarnated as little more than noir-wannabe stylized violence. To be fair, it’s impossible for Watchmen (directed by Zack Snyder of 300 fame) to stay true to the original concept. The1986 series was designed to highlight its unique medium – a self-reflexive “comic about comics” that was more about the telling of the tale than the tale itself. Transplanted into film, it’s little more than a story of apocalyptic doom set in a cold alternate world where superheroes are abused and manipulated by the government and the press. In the comic book, Doctor Manhattan (Billy Crudup), the only superhero with any obvious powers, is an introspective, lonely outcast. Here, he is stripped bare of his psychological complexity and reacts with nihilistic numbness to victims and enemies alike. The three-hour film is all spectacle and no emotional depth – which is why we get bored. The most memorable moment is when Silk Spectre turns to her lover and says: “Nothing ends. Nothing ever ends.” Dead on, Silk Spectre. BF