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Fall Movie Review Roundup: Flash, Synecdoche, Slumdog
SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK (B-)
"Willfully abstruse" is the best way I can describe Synecdoche, NY, a title that - like the film - seems designed to baffle. The great Charlie Kaufman wrote and directed, and this is his least accessible film, which is really saying something. It's a shame, too, because I was totally on board for the fascinating and funny first hour. But then things go cuckoo bananas. What's it about? Ahhhh....I don't really know how to summarize the "plot," because I'm not entirely sure what happens. And I didn't really enjoy that sensation the way I do with a David Lynch movie, probably because I don't think Kaufman is as talented a director. I hate to shit on a challenging film at a time when movies are content to be lazy and stupid, but you're not gonna get a great deal of enjoyment out of this. Anyone who tells you he or she has it figured out is likely wearing a beret and wrong. It's the kind of film that demands to be seen more than once...and yet, I probably won't see it again.
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (B)
Hey! America! Calm down! Just calm it down! For some reason, there is one of these movies every year - a sweet, slightly above average, entertaining little movie that critics and the public can't stop jizzing all over. Last year it was Juno. This year, it is Slumdog Millionaire, a film I can pretty much guarantee will get the most undeserved Best Picture nomination since...Juno. Danny Boyle directs, and as with all of his recent films, it looks awesome but left me shrugging.
The plot is fairly ridiculous - Indian kid goes on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and goes all the way to the top prize. But how does he get there? How did this...slumdog...know all the answers? We'll see him interrogated and tortured (really?) by the powers that be to find that out, and for each answer we flash back to an event from his life and learn how he acquired the pertinent information. It's a cute enough idea for a movie, but man, it sure does get old. Every single question corresponds to a life event. "How do I know about such-and-such? Well, sit back and I'll tell you a story..." Over and over and over again.
I might have been more involved in the dude's story if the role wasn't filled by the blank-faced and dull Dev Patel, who is blown out of the water by the adorable kid who plays his role as a boy. As soon as that little boy started growing up, my interest withered. I honestly believe that a lot of the reason people are going so nuts over this thing is because it has a really fantastic Bollywood musical number over the end credits. It really sends you out with a smile on your face. But is what comes before it really all that special? Let's calm it down, America.
Let's calm it down.
FLASH OF GENIUS (B+)
By contrast, nobody got all excited over this little movie, and that's a damn shame. It's a tough sell, I'll grant you. On the surface, it's the true tale of the man who invented the intermittent windshield wiper. "Finally this story will be told on the big screen!" screamed no one. But it's actually a pretty powerful testament to believing in yourself. When the car manufacturers steal his idea and pass it off as their own, Bob Kearnes (the typically excellent Greg Kinnear) devotes his entire life to setting things right, no matter what happens to his marriage (to the lovely Lauren Graham), his family, his health, even his sanity. You may find yourself getting just as frustrated with Kearnes as those around him. He's not a particularly likable character. But by the end, I found myself extremely moved and on the edge of my seat. It comes together like a great sports movie, but it's not so simple. You'll be just as conflicted as you are excited, and that's a feeling I haven't had too often at the movies. Oh, and my old fuckbuddy Alan Alda has a great little role. This is a good one.
Hah, nice. Haven't seen any of these, but I did just come off a week of
SLIFF, where I have taken in 16 programs since Monday evening (most of them
features). My favorite of the fest was a gem called YESTERDAY WAS A LIE,
which is a Pynchon-ish film noir, an alchemical thinking man's FIGHT CLUB,
but a love story that factors in quantum mechanics and no linear structure.
The soundtrack rules and Chewbacca (or the 7' tall actor that played him,
anyway) is in it. Not only my favorite of the festival, but probably my
favorite of 2008, and perhaps one of my new all-time favorites (we'll let a
few more than 48 hours go by before we make that call for sure).
Did you mean "abstruse" instead of "obtuse"? If so, I'm with you all the
way. It's been said before, but it seems like Kaufman benefits from having
a Spike Jonze or Michel Gondry to help him get his ideas across. That
said, it is fascinating to see this unfiltered (if that is the word)
version of what he wanted his movie to be. I also saw "The Wrestler" at
SLIFF last night, but it sounds like I enjoyed it a bit more than Rob.
Which is odd, because there's no single storyline in the film that hasn't
been dealt with before. But the sense of authenticity, the great
performances, the tracking shots, really set it above your typical movie
for me. Not sure how well it will do when it reaches mass audiences, but I
thought it was very compelling.
Rob,
I think a MAJOR (all caps!) disagreement would be if I didn't like it, or
if I hated it.
Huh. Well, I've yet to see any of these as well. I missed Slumdog at
STLIFF because it conflicted with something else I saw. I did, however,
get to see -- Wendy and Lucy, which was maybe boring but I found something
sweet about it's meandering "story" -- Sweden's Let the Right One In is a
great little film about a vampire girl and a young boy that never quite
goes where you expect and when it does is quite satisfying --This
documentary called Dear Zachary is the best doc I've seen all year, and yet
somehow isn't on the short list for potential oscar nominees -- Waltz With
Bashir, which is an odd combination of Documentary and animation, and it's
haunting -- O'Horten, a too-sweet and sad story about an old man learning
to live after retirement -- and I think I'm more in Rob's camp on The
Wrestler too. It's good, but wholly unremarkable in terms of the film
itself. The acting is another story; I thought Rourke was fantastic
(though I think his comeback already happened with Sin City), and I liked
Marisa Tomei, but Evan Rachel Wood has apprently been to the Marcia Gay
Harden school of acting, which teaches you that crying and yelling is the
way of emoting. Overall I thought the whole thing was GOOD, but I'd love
to hear why you think it was so breathtaking -- I'd also love to know why
you didn't like The Brothers Bloom, which I caught at the fest, and which
will likely be in my top five of the year; I just adored that whole silly
thing, problems and all.
-M
Saw the trailer for Synecdoche and thought....hmmm....a movie I'd like to
kill myself to? Sorry. I'll pass on this one.
I like the Juno to Slumdog comparison, as it seems accurate. Having seen
Juno, I thought it was nice and uh... nice? Some laughs, some heartfelt
moments, some teenagers banging. And nice. Slumdog, then, which has movie
reviewers wetting their pants like a Depends commercial, appears like it
will leave me with the same warm feeling, not unlike apple pie or the touch
of a woman. I'll have to see it to say I saw it, but that doesn't mean I'm
going to freakin love it like so many others.
In short, the movie would likely be better if he was a Price is Right
contestant and he and Bob Barker did flashbacks to a grocery store where he
learned how much Dawn dish soap costs.
Sorry for posting such a lame question but how bad is the torture scenes in
Slumdog Millionaire? I really, really want to see it--the trailer alone
chokes sappy me up. But torture is something that I will literally walk
out of theater for--I really don't have the backbone for it. I can stand
Godfather gunplay, but not Hostel-style (or so I've heard) "now I'm going
to do this" exacting torture. It sucks for me because I've missed out on
Last King of Scotland and Syriana because of it. I would sooo appreciate
enlightenment on this! Please help a mother out...
Okay, I saw Slumdog Millionaire and the torture wasn't unbearable to
watch--if anything, seeing the overwhelming poverty and slumdog life was
much tougher to stomach. I was so psyched to see this movie that I was a
little disappointed that your review and notes were more spot on that I
expected.
Rob,