DVD - A Safe Place

Part of Criterion's BBS Productions box set, A Safe Place is Henry Jaglom's debut feature, and all I can really say about it is this - I didn't get it. It appears to be, roughly, about a woman's relationships with the men in her life. I mean, that's the closest thing to a plot I can figure out. A Safe Place is definitely the most experimental (other than the insanity that is Head) of the BBS films, and, because of that, feels completely out of place. It feels like a film school undergraduate project that happened to be shot on 35mm and star Orson Welles and Jack Nicholson. I've never seen any of Jaglom's other films, but, I can tell you that starting out with A Safe Place doesn't excite me to see more.

DVD - Drive, He Said

Jack Nicholson's directorial debut is a kinetic burst of late sixties/early seventies zeitgeist. From the get go, Drive, He Said, evolves out of sports film into protest film, into romance film. William Tepper is Hector, a basketball player who is involved in an affair with Karen Black's Olive. She's married to a professor at the college that Hector plays ball for, and he seems completely oblivious to what's going on. While this is happening, there is a simultaneous story going on of Hector's roommate, Gabriel (Michael Margotta), who is trying to lead a campus revolution while dodging the draft for Vietnam.

Nicholson really tries to shove as many ideas as he possibly can into this film, and somehow manages to do so, without becoming preachy. The film keeps a steady pace, which is appreciated as a film like this could end up meandering VERY easily. The acting in it can be questionable sometimes, but with great cinematography and a sense of urgency, Drive, He Said, feels like an important watch, especially when focusing on films of the period. It reminded me, a lot, of Haskell Wexler's Medium Cool.

DVD - The King Of Marvin Gardens

Part of Criterions fantastic BBS Productions box set, The King Of Marvin Gardens stars Jack Nicholson and Bruce Dern as estranged brothers David and Jason Staebler, who reunite in Atlantic City on the verge of Jason closing a real estate deal, and moving to Hawaii to make another deal. As David spends time with Jason and his girlfriends, Sally and Jessica (Ellen Burstyn and Julia Anne Robinson, respectively), they traverse the desolate frontier that is Atlantic City in the off season, all while trying to allude the police and the "associates" of Jason's business partner Lewis (Scatman Crothers), and figure out their places in a world that is changing around them.

While I felt like it was a little slow, Bob Rafelson's intimate character drama is excellently acted, with Nicholson, Burstyn, and Dern all standing out. You really get the sense of a group of people in their mid to late thirties who haven't really done a whole lot with their lives. Among each other, they are important, even if alone they aren't. The King Of Marvin Gardens is a great meditation on right and wrong, ambition, and facing reality.

DVD - Hotel Monterey

Hotel Monterey explores an aging Manhattan hotel in the 1970's, along with, sometimes, its occupants. Akerman trains her camera on the hallways, lobby, elevators, and various rooms in the hotel.

While this would, ultimately, work better as a series of stills in a gallery, rather than a film, there are interesting moments in it, but its hour long run time (completely silent) is prohibitive for almost anyone except hardcore fans of observational cinema. There are moments that definitely peak interest, such as a group of elderly women who sit in the lobby, or rooms that are captured with their occupants in them, but this is the kind of film I wouldn't recommend unless your into staring at the same thing for long periods of time.

DVD - News From Home

It is the late 1970's and Chantal Akerman has just moved to New York. Through locked off shots of the city in a wide variety of locale's, and voice over of Akerman reading her mother's letters to her over this period of time, the audience is given a sense of the kind of varied emotions a parent goes through when their child not only leaves home, but ventures across an ocean to a new, mysterious place.

News From Home can be incredibly slow at times, with long shots of the city (anywhere between two and three minutes long, probably having been shot on 100' reels of 16mm). It's the letters from Akerman's mother that put the film in perspective and give it a life. Otherwise it's just a bunch of shots of New York City, and, for the most part, not always interesting ones. The film is interesting, to a point, but it should really be about half of its running time, or less.

DVD - La Chambre

This is the synopsis from Criterion's website - In Chantal Akerman’s early short film La chambre, we see the furniture and clutter of one small apartment room become the subject of a moving still life—with Akerman herself staring back at us.

That pretty much sums up the film. It's multiple 360 degree shots of Akerman's apartment, for about ten minutes. Not much else to say.

LA Film Forum Q&A with Marilyn Brakhage

This is a long, but interesting, discussion with Marilyn Brakhage that was done at an LA Film Forum presentation of Stan Brakhage's work. She states, in the first segment, that Criterion is prepping a second release of Stan's films, which is great, because the first release they did is still one of my most prized DVD's.

DVD - If...

The 1960's were a time of hope and experimentation, and the idea of taking down the old systems, both in the US and abroad. Lindsay Anderson captures some of the spirit of the 1960's in England in his film If...

The film stars Malcolm McDowell, in his feature debut, as Mick Travis, a rebellious young teenager who attends a preparatory school in England. He and his friends could care less about all of the posturing and formalness that the school is trying to force down their throats, and do all they can to break away from it (even with the knowledge that they will be punished for their actions, and punished more and more severely the more they do). Mick is determined to live life his own way, though, and not give into his "masters".

If... is like a record of the final breakdown of the general acceptance of this upper class attitude in England. After this period, people of this class would never see the kind of respect they had always had, and people like Mick would be the one's to usher that in. If... is the perfect counter cultural movie for its time. It isn't preachy, it doesn't try to solve every problem. It simply presents a world and a time as its disintegrating.

DVD - Permanent Vacation

God bless the Criterion Collection. They've put so many films into my hands that I would not have normally had a chance to see without digging through used VHS bins, or buying pirated copies on eBay. God bless Netflix as well, of course, since that is where I get most of my Criterion's, as I can't afford to go out and just buy whatever they put out.

I recently got the Criterion DVD for Jim Jarmusch's film Permanent Vacation, his debut feature after having graduated from NYU's film school. Vacation stars Chris Parker as Allie, a young New Yorker with no particular hopes and dreams. Allie is the kind of kid who has no job, no distinguishable friends, and no direction in life. Even the girl he seems to share an apartment with is never identified as a girlfriend, or even a friend. Is she even real? Allie goes through his days dancing to jazz and blues records, talking to anyone who will listen, going to movies, walking around aimlessly, and creating mischief.

Jarmusch's feature, while owing to other films before it, could be seen as a blueprint for a lot of the American "indie" films that would come out after it - the dreamers dream. I mean, as an artist, who wouldn't just want to exist in a world where all of your bills are magically paid for, and yet you don't have a job to speak of. A world where everyone you meet has the potential of being your friend, and the streets are always empty. A world where all there is to do, or that needs to be done, is to laugh, love, and dance to your favorite music. Jarmusch, and those that followed him, may have defined the perfect American dream.

Did I like Permanent Vacation, though? Can't say I did, can't say I didn't. It's one of those stories that just unfolds in front of you. You have to take it at face value, because there really isn't anything greater going on than what you see on the screen. It was enjoyable, for me, to see it, because Jarmusch is a constant favorite of mine. I don't recall ever having seen a Jarmusch film I didn't like, so, ultimately, I guess I'd have to say that I did like it. It has a lot of the problems that no budget independents d0 - poor lighting, bad sound, questionable acting. What you get, though, is an incredibly interesting slice of this kids life, and an extremely interesting document of New York City, circa 1980. On the DVD is a program called Kino 84: Jim Jarmusch, shot for German television, that focuses on Jarmusch, Permanent Vacation (which was a hit in Germany), and Jarmusch's new film (at that time) Stranger Than Paradise. On the program, Tom DiCillo, who shot both films, talks about how much New York changed in just four years, and even Jarmusch points out a location (a decrepit building that Allie goes to visit), that had been raised and replaced with a huge apartment complex.

I always love seeing a director's first work, even if they aren't that good, and you can really tell how Permanent Vacation was already seeing Jarmusch cement a lot of his style. The film has a lot of those stationary camera shots, shots within shots, and that kind of ambling dialogue that is especially heavy in some of the early Jarmusch films.

The Quandary of Criterion Blu-Ray

Eventually, I suppose, everyone will get a new High Definition TV, and Blu-Ray DVD player. I mean, you'll have to at some point. But, right now, a lot of people don't have them, and I am one of those people. Beyond the fact that I was rooting for HD-DVD over Blu-Ray, I don't have 400 bucks for the player, and even if I did, I don't have a 1000+ bucks for the High Def TV to hook it up too.

Here in lies a quandary for me. Two films I love will be coming out in November on Criterion in both standard def DVD and Blu-Ray (both for sale at the same price). One of them, Bottle Rocket, I already own (from the previous non-Criterion release). The other, Chungking Express, I was not incredibly happy with the transfer on, so I decided to put off buying it in hopes that there would, eventually, be a DVD with a better transfer available. So, do I go ahead and buy the Blu-Ray editions, knowing that I can't play them until I get a Blu-Ray player and high def TV (which could be another year or more away)? I don't want to spend thirty bucks a piece on the standard def dvd's (even though a Blu-Ray player will still play them), knowing that eventually I will get a Blu-Ray player, but I also don't want to buy two DVD's (of movies I really love) and see them sit on the shelf until I get the money to buy the proper equipment to play them on. There's the other option, which is, simply, wait, but I'd really like to see these new editions, and see how they're presented at 1080p, and there are other movies, as well, that I would love to either buy, or at least rent, in Blu-Ray.

I guess what it comes down to, ultimately, is I just need to start saving up those pennies...

Margot At The Wedding

Margot At The Wedding is Noah Baumbach's latest film. Some of you may know Noah, primarily, from The Squid and the Whale, but he has several well made films in his catalog, including Kicking and Screaming, his debut, which is now available on Criterion DVD.

Margot (Nicole Kidman) is a New York writer who, along with son Claude, is on her way out to the country for her sisters wedding. She doesn't approve of the man she's marrying, and, honestly, doesn't care for her sister very much either, but is going to get away from her husband, whom she is no longer in love with. When she gets to the large, Cape Cod style house, we meet her sister, Pauline (played by Baumbach's wife, Jennifer Jason Leigh), Pauline's daughter, and her soon to be husband Malcolm (played by Jack Black), a "super smart" guy who, basically has amounted to nothing.

As the film clips along, the tension between Margot and everyone else rises substantially. Margot is one of those people who is eternally unhappy, and, not only completely unable to experience happiness herself, but she also seems to find it a necessity to make sure those around her are unhappy as well. Baumbach has written Margot with an acute awareness of how the character's personality is like a surgical instrument in the hands of a psychotic maniac - always slicing away at everyone else, while she's completely unable to focus on solving any of her own problems.

The film also shares a little bit of its focus with her son Claude, who, unfortunately, ends up being a bit of a cliche mash up of other indie film characters. We see Claude face a lot of situations, but he never really does anything beyond what you would expect him to do.

Jennifer Jason Leigh, as Pauline, delivers a fantastic performance as the sister who has never particularly accomplished anything, and simply drifts through life, attaching herself to whatever comes along, which, in this case is Jack Black's character, Malcolm. Black turns out a decent performance, considering he doesn't rely on any of his trademark schtick.

The film is quite amazing, really, in the way it portrays such a messy side of family togetherness, neurosis, and selfishness. My only problem with it is that Baumbach (or perhaps a studio exec?) doesn't always allow us to let it all sink in. Cuts are made VERY quickly in this film, to the point that, sometimes, a cut to the next scene happens directly after a punchline or a reveal. The film doesn't give you any time to take in what has just happened, and, in doing so, feels like it is moving at the pace of a bullet train. You feel that, by the time your done, you've been on a bit of a roller coaster ride, with your eyes closed, so you have no idea what just happened. It is taut, but maybe a little too taut...

All in all, I would definitely recommend Margot for Baumbach fans, but, not for Kidman fans or casual film goers. For instance, my Mom asked me if she would like it, and I told her no. The main reason I told her no was the fact that Baumbach's humor is extremely dry and razor sharp, but there's also other little Baumbach twists of the arm, like Margot's masturbation scene, that would probably make my mom feel incredibly uncomfortable. So, the verdict is, go watch The Squid and the Whale. If you don't like that, there's NO WAY you'll like Margot At The Wedding.