Encounters At The End Of The World - 2007 - 4½ Stars

Subject: Antarctica and the people who work there

Director: Werner Herzog

All the Herzog films I've seen have generally been about the individual's struggle against society. Antarctica is therefore the perfect place for him to film - there is a 'society' there at the McMurdo base, filled with souls who've fled normal life, and then there's the vast wilderness that surrounds. Herzog not only manages to film the beauty and strangeness of Antarctica's natural wonders, but he's also able to get some insight into what kind of people decide to come here. In doing so, he asks much larger questions about the animal kingdom, human civilization, and humankind's place in societies and on the planet.

One thing Herzog does in this film that he also did in Grizzly Man is that he either dupes a subject, or finds an unwitting one - he puts a moment in the film where it appears as though the subject thinks the camera is off. This makes the person appear quite awkward and bizarre. It's rather unfair of him to do this, but I can guarantee that Herzog does not care.

Blue Valentine - 2010 - 4 Stars

Actors: Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams

Director: Derek Cianfrance

What's there to say about Blue Valentine? Don't watch it with the person you love.

Gosling and Williams play a married couple on the verge of disintegration, while alternately portraying their meeting and eventual union. The film is generally low-key - the stakes are small, but they're also the biggest stakes that most of us will face.

One thing I like about this film is that it (mostly) doesn't happen in New York or Los Angeles, and it's not about two artists or two actors or an actor and an artist, or a writer and another writer. I wouldn't say it's about 'real people; either, but sometimes I think the film industry feels that New York and LA have a monopoly on relationships disintegrating into petty bickering and glowering hatreds.

Cobra - 1986 - 7 Million Stars

Actors: Sylvester Stallone, Brigitte Nielsen

Director: George P. Cosmatos

I wanted to give this 8 million stars, but I felt that was a bit extravagant. Where to begin with Cobra? Its 80s pop soundtrack where, after killing a terrorist, the music opines that the title character has been 'workin' too hard'? Its place in the pantheon of a proud tradition of films that endorse Fascism? (Dirty Harry and Boondock Saints come to mind immediately, I'm sure there are many others). From its opening sequence where a bunch of weirdos click axes and claw hammers together in some sort of unexplained ritual, I knew this was going to be one of the greatest movies of all time, and it delivered. Cobra is a Stuffed Crust pizza with extra cheese - the director wastes no opportunity to be ham-fisted (or should that be cheese-fisted?). I could discuss this movie forever, but it's one I definitely should have seen 15 years ago. I try not to say this about anything, but when it comes to a film like Cobra, I don't think they quite make them like they used to.

Family Nest - 1977 - 4 Stars

Actors: Laszlone Horvath, Laszlo Horvath
Director: Bela Tarr

Does anything not depressing come out of Eastern Europe? That area of the world seems to be a leader in misery per capita. I'll save my reader(s) an Iron Curtain pun.

Family Nest is perhaps the most 'realistic' movie I've ever seen. Three generations of a Hungarian family, due to housing shortages, is forced to live in a tiny apartment. Each member has separate interests. People want to move out but they cannot, so what can they do?

Aside from a scene that feels exploitative, Family Nest evokes Cassavetes at his best. Characters talk but they rarely listen. Characters express their needs knowing full well the people listening cannot possibly meet them. Recommended for anyone who wants to check out a Tarr film without having to sit through all of Satantango.

Hidden Fortress - 1958 - 4½ Stars

Actors: Toshiro Mifune, Misa Uehara

Director: Akira Kurosawa

I sometimes wonder why most of Kurosawa's great films take place during the same time period in Japanese history. I suppose I don't know enough about Japanese history to say - most of my knowledge of the time period was cribbed from the beginning of the instructions to Nobunaga's Ambition. Still, there's a combination of lawlessness and terror during this period - fief rulers are concerned only with conquering other fiefs, and the average person suffers; towns are empty of young men, bandits and deserters rule the roads, and food shortages seem to be a constant problem.

Hidden Fortress, besides being an enthralling film, looks at how class distinctions can subsist even after rule of law has broken down. Our two 'main' characters are lowly vagabonds, lorded over by the authoritarian Mifune. The two constantly bicker and believe they are conspired against at every turn - they look to betray Mifune whenever possible. Regarding Mifune's conspiring, they turn out to usually be right and yet are usually hilariously wrong. I won't give away any more than that, except that I have absolutely no idea how Kurosawa managed to film the opening ten minutes of the film.

Paranoid Park - 2007 - 3½ Stars

Actors: Gabe Nevins, Taylor Momsen

Director: Gus Van Sant

Note: Minor Spoilers Ahead

What's most interesting to me about Paranoid Park is that it easily could have been a forgettable genre movie. It's not going to be the sequel to Gleaming The Cube, but there's the skateboard element, the unfortunate circumstances element, the 'will he or won't he' element. The script would need some touching up - everyone in this movie actually talks like a teenager, which makes them awkward and mumbly.

Still, Van Sant tells the story all out of order, he leaves out many elements that another film would include, and a possible climax happens near the beginning of the film. I'm not sure if I would be so forgiving towards another director for doing this, but the characters are the focus regardless.

Black Swan - 2010 - 4 Stars

Actors: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Why is monomania the subject du jour of films? We've got two of the top three contenders for Best Picture last year heavily featuring it (Black Swan, The Social Network). All four Darren Aronofsky films I've seen have featured it - whether one wants to call it monomania or obsession, I don't know. Aronofsky characters are internally driven to seek out the one thing that seems to make them forget that they are imperfect and human.

Black Swan both manages to avoid gimmickry and remains compelling even if the main character is (outwardly) not. There's some trademark Aronofsky moves which are still novel despite being used more often in other films - frequent cutting, a camera being affixed to a person so it follows them around. I don't know what to say about the larger themes, because I'm really trying to resist the interpretation that this movie is about Method acting and art generally. Regardless, the thing I'll most likely take away from this is Natalie Portman's performance - it's completely fearless.