Two Great Indie Films, Two Forgettable Films
"Heartbreakers"
starring: Romain Duris, Vanessa Paradis
Alex (Duris)—aided by his sister, Mélanie (Julie Ferrier), and her husband, Marc (François Damiens)—is paid to break up couples, but only those in which the woman is miserable. Mastering many languages and identities, Alex prompts the dissolution of the unhappy unions by seducing (but never bedding) the ladies, reminding them that they "deserve the best"—an esteem boost that gives them the courage to dump their no-good dudes. Completing an assignment in Marrakesh, Alex and his team return to Paris, disastrous finances, and a Serbian bruiser who roughs up the wiry charmer over an outstanding debt.
Economic salvation arrives when a tycoon (Jacques Frantz) offers Alex a tall stack of euros to bend his business principles and end the upcoming nuptials of his daughter, Juliette (Vanessa Paradis), who seems genuinely in love and happy with Jonathan (Andrew Lincoln, better known nowadays for his starring role in "The Walking Dead"), her British investment-banker fiancé. Alex assumes the role of Juliette's chauffeur and bodyguard, driving her around Monaco, where she is supposed to tie the knot in 10 days and he will invariably mix business with pleasure. And of course, like most predictable romantic comedies, he falls for her, she doesn't at first, but then surely does, hi-jinks ensue, misunderstandings happen, etc. Like all romantic comedies the general premise has been done to death, this one just happens to be in French.
Vanessa Paradis is a well-known French actress for her many film roles, as well as for the noticeable gap between her front teeth, and perhaps probably the most notable thing about her: being Johnny Depp's companion for many years (they recently were divorced after a long relationship together that spawned a couple of children). In this film, though, she simply appears absolutely bored to tears, a robotic object of desire for the lead actor, for whatever reason. Her character comes off rather vacant, leaving the viewer to wonder why and what exactly Alex sees in her as a potential partner.
This film was a failure for me.
.........................................................................................
"Lars and the Real Girl"
starring: Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider, Kelli Garner, Patricia Clarkson
written by: Nancy Oliver
directed by: Craig Gillespie
First off, I don't know why it's taken me so long to see this film, because I knew it was an excellent indie film.
This is a film about a life-size sex doll, ordered online for a lonely young man who is painfully shy at his core but also cannot really stand the touch from another human being. But, more so, it is a film that carries a life-affirming statement of hope that leans heavily on its faith in human nature. The acting is perhaps the most superb acting from the entire cast that I've seen in an ensemble in a long time.
Ryan Gosling is near-perfect at Lars, who functions in the world and has an office job, but is also found to sit alone in his dark cabin in the backyard of his brother's house. His mother died years ago, his father more recently. He has a brother, Gus (Schneider) and a sister-in-law, Karin (a great Emily Mortimer, whom I've always loved), who makes it her business to try to include him in their home life, by inviting him to dinner/breakfast every day. He avoids as many interactions with really anyone that he can. And then, one day, at work, a coworker shows Lars that a life-sized vinyl doll can be ordered online, customized to any specifications you want (she even comes with a backstory). Lars does just that, for whatever reasons more implied than explained to the audience, and a few weeks later the package arrives and he no sooner introduces the doll to his brother and sister-in-law over a dinner in their house. Gus, of course, automatically deduces that his brother is simply crazy, but Karin can tell that there is something more to this.
This is the kind of film you watch in awe and then afterwards realize how much of a delight it was as an entire film. It redeems you faith not only in human nature, as portrayed on screen, but also in the film industry's ability to make a great, deep film with lots of heart and good intentions.
.........................................................................................
"Primer"
written, directed, produced: Shane Carruth
starring: Shane Carruth, David Sullivan, Casey Gooden, Anand Upadhhyaya
Carruth wrote, directed and edited the movie, composed the score, and starred in it. The budget was reportedly around $7,000, but that was enough: The movie never looks cheap, because every shot looks as it must look. In a New York Times interview, Carruth said he filmed largely in his own garage, and at times he was no more sure what he was creating than his characters were. "Primer" won the award for best drama at Sundance 2004.
This is an unbelievable independent film that sucks you in right from the start with the dialogue and presentation of its low-budget approach. The four main characters are four male friends who appear to be quintessential nerds/geeks (whatever you'd call techies). They are seeking investors for a machine they are building in their garage. Their dialogue is so involved that you are really convinced they all know exactly what they are talking about, even though you know absolutely nothing about it, you're a bit lost, but still engrossed because you accept the challenge to try to at least half-understand all the science and math of their shop talk.
Abe and Aaron, of course experiment with their new, interesting machine and soon discover its side effect: it creates doubles of each experimenter.
"Primer" is a puzzle film that will leave you wondering about paradoxes, loopholes, loose ends, events without explanation, chronologies that don't seem to fit. Abe and Aaron wonder, too, and what seems at first like a perfectly straightforward method for using the machine turns out to be alarmingly complicated; various generations of themselves and their actions prove impossible to keep straight. Carruth handles the problems in an admirably understated way; when one of the characters begins to bleed a little from an ear, what does that mean? Will he be injured in a past he has not yet visited? In that case, is he the double? What happened to the being who arrived at this moment the old-fashioned way, before having traveled back?
This was one of the most interesting films that I've seen in a long time, and mostly because I was completely lost with understanding their dialogue, but I just didn't care because I was engrossed in trying hard to understand as much as I could, almost like I wanted to be a part of their in-crowd.
I watched this film thanks to the suggestion of another film-buff buddy and I totally recommend it to everyone else!
................................................................................................
"All the Boys Love Mandy Lane"
starring: Amber Heard, Anson Mount, Whitney Able, Michael Welch
Let me first say what I think a lot of people (re: guys) have been thinking every time they see a film with Amber Heard in time: Damn! She looks like a younger version of Scarlett Johansson and perhaps she is the poor man's version of Scarlett Jo. It's really too bad she cannot find better, deeper roles for herself. Oftentimes, she's the supporting actress, clearly there up up the sexuality ante in a film with her presence; or, and this has only happened a couple of times- she is meant to be the next-coming in horror films tradition of beautiful, untouched, oft-blonde screeching, terrified girl running for safety from a crazy villain.
In "All the Boys..." Heard plays the title character, Mandy Lane, who is somewhat of a cast-off version of one of the sisters from "The Virgin Suicides" meaning that she's a teenage blonde so gorgeous and untouched that she holds some mystical power of any man that comes in contact with her, but at the same time, she plays so innocent that she just doesn't get it or understand the sexuality she's oozing out. And the interesting thing about this film is that the director chose a cinematography that makes it look like one of those 1970s exploitation films that maybe you'd see in a Grindhouse double feature.
Unfortunately, the director doesn't give Heard any chance to create a deepness in her character as most of his shots reduce her to gorgeous body parts, oogled and drooled over (re: an ample chest, a strikingly attractive face, and a nice ass that sways perfectly when she walks). That's the most significant flaw of this film, especially as a horror/psychological thriller- Mandy Lane isn't a developed character at all, so when we discover that her nerdy best friend, Emmet, is basically obsessed with her, we don't really get it because she hasn't really been able to provide any sufficient reasons why she would make the ideal partner, other than for purely superficial, surface reasons.
Mandy Lane gets invited to a weekend getaway at a country ranch with her idiotic, yet popular-crowd friends. And that's when it all goes downhill for them, since they were followed there by Emmet, who then terrorizes and picks them off one by one in a hack-and-slash sequence that is predictable.
Sure, there's sexualized imagery that suggests an underlying violence in covetous male desire, but Mandy Lane is nothing more than an emblematic object of erotic obsession (gone wrong). Horror films usually have an underlying message, but this film fails to deliver a decent metaphor worth anything. Still, I find myself mesmerized by Amber Heard whenever I see her on screen. Maybe I'm part of the covetous males.
starring: Romain Duris, Vanessa Paradis
Alex (Duris)—aided by his sister, Mélanie (Julie Ferrier), and her husband, Marc (François Damiens)—is paid to break up couples, but only those in which the woman is miserable. Mastering many languages and identities, Alex prompts the dissolution of the unhappy unions by seducing (but never bedding) the ladies, reminding them that they "deserve the best"—an esteem boost that gives them the courage to dump their no-good dudes. Completing an assignment in Marrakesh, Alex and his team return to Paris, disastrous finances, and a Serbian bruiser who roughs up the wiry charmer over an outstanding debt.
Economic salvation arrives when a tycoon (Jacques Frantz) offers Alex a tall stack of euros to bend his business principles and end the upcoming nuptials of his daughter, Juliette (Vanessa Paradis), who seems genuinely in love and happy with Jonathan (Andrew Lincoln, better known nowadays for his starring role in "The Walking Dead"), her British investment-banker fiancé. Alex assumes the role of Juliette's chauffeur and bodyguard, driving her around Monaco, where she is supposed to tie the knot in 10 days and he will invariably mix business with pleasure. And of course, like most predictable romantic comedies, he falls for her, she doesn't at first, but then surely does, hi-jinks ensue, misunderstandings happen, etc. Like all romantic comedies the general premise has been done to death, this one just happens to be in French.
Vanessa Paradis is a well-known French actress for her many film roles, as well as for the noticeable gap between her front teeth, and perhaps probably the most notable thing about her: being Johnny Depp's companion for many years (they recently were divorced after a long relationship together that spawned a couple of children). In this film, though, she simply appears absolutely bored to tears, a robotic object of desire for the lead actor, for whatever reason. Her character comes off rather vacant, leaving the viewer to wonder why and what exactly Alex sees in her as a potential partner.
This film was a failure for me.
.........................................................................................
"Lars and the Real Girl"
starring: Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider, Kelli Garner, Patricia Clarkson
written by: Nancy Oliver
directed by: Craig Gillespie
First off, I don't know why it's taken me so long to see this film, because I knew it was an excellent indie film.
This is a film about a life-size sex doll, ordered online for a lonely young man who is painfully shy at his core but also cannot really stand the touch from another human being. But, more so, it is a film that carries a life-affirming statement of hope that leans heavily on its faith in human nature. The acting is perhaps the most superb acting from the entire cast that I've seen in an ensemble in a long time.
Ryan Gosling is near-perfect at Lars, who functions in the world and has an office job, but is also found to sit alone in his dark cabin in the backyard of his brother's house. His mother died years ago, his father more recently. He has a brother, Gus (Schneider) and a sister-in-law, Karin (a great Emily Mortimer, whom I've always loved), who makes it her business to try to include him in their home life, by inviting him to dinner/breakfast every day. He avoids as many interactions with really anyone that he can. And then, one day, at work, a coworker shows Lars that a life-sized vinyl doll can be ordered online, customized to any specifications you want (she even comes with a backstory). Lars does just that, for whatever reasons more implied than explained to the audience, and a few weeks later the package arrives and he no sooner introduces the doll to his brother and sister-in-law over a dinner in their house. Gus, of course, automatically deduces that his brother is simply crazy, but Karin can tell that there is something more to this.
She is, they learn, named Bianca. She is a paraplegic missionary, of Brazilian and Danish blood, and Lars takes her everywhere in a wheelchair. He has an explanation for everything, including why she doesn't talk or eat.
The movie somehow implies without quite saying that, although the doll comes advertised with "orifices," Lars does not use Bianca for sex. No, she is an ideal companion, not least because she can never touch him. With a serenity bordering on the surreal, Lars takes her everywhere, even to church. She is as real as anyone in his life can possibly be, at this point in the development of his social abilities. Gus and Karin arrange for Lars and Bianca to start seeing Dagmar (Patricia Clarkson), a therapist, who advises them to allow Lars to live with his fantasy. Dagmar "treats" Bianca and confides in Lars. Nothing is said in so many words, but we sense that she thinks Bianca functions the way pets do with some closed-in people: The doll provides unconditional love, no criticism, no questions.
As we watch this process, we glimpse Lars' inner world, one of hurt but also hidden hope. Gosling's work here is a study in control of tone. He isn't too morose, too strange, too opaque, too earnest. The word for his behavior, so strange to the world, is serene. He loves his new friend, treats her courteously and expects everyone else to give her the respect he does.
How this all finally works out is deeply satisfying. Only after the movie is over do you realize what a balancing act it was, what risks it took, what rewards it contains.
This is the kind of film you watch in awe and then afterwards realize how much of a delight it was as an entire film. It redeems you faith not only in human nature, as portrayed on screen, but also in the film industry's ability to make a great, deep film with lots of heart and good intentions.
.........................................................................................
"Primer"
written, directed, produced: Shane Carruth
starring: Shane Carruth, David Sullivan, Casey Gooden, Anand Upadhhyaya
Carruth wrote, directed and edited the movie, composed the score, and starred in it. The budget was reportedly around $7,000, but that was enough: The movie never looks cheap, because every shot looks as it must look. In a New York Times interview, Carruth said he filmed largely in his own garage, and at times he was no more sure what he was creating than his characters were. "Primer" won the award for best drama at Sundance 2004.
This is an unbelievable independent film that sucks you in right from the start with the dialogue and presentation of its low-budget approach. The four main characters are four male friends who appear to be quintessential nerds/geeks (whatever you'd call techies). They are seeking investors for a machine they are building in their garage. Their dialogue is so involved that you are really convinced they all know exactly what they are talking about, even though you know absolutely nothing about it, you're a bit lost, but still engrossed because you accept the challenge to try to at least half-understand all the science and math of their shop talk.
They steal a catalytic converter for its platinum, and plunder a refrigerator for its freon. Their budget is so small, they could cash the checks on the bus. Aaron and Abe, agreeing that whatever they've invented, they're the ones who invented it, subtly eliminate the other two from the enterprise. They then regard something that looks like an insulated shipping container with wires and dials and coils stuff. This is odd: It secretes protein. More protein than it has time to secrete. Measuring the protein's rate of growth, they determine that one minute in the garage is equal to 1,347 minutes in the machine.
Is time in the machine different than time outside the machine? Apparently. But that would make it some kind of time machine, wouldn't it? Hard to believe. Aaron (Shane Carruth) and Abe (David Sullivan) ponder the machine and look at their results and Aaron concludes it is "the most important thing any living being has ever witnessed." But what is it?
Abe and Aaron, of course experiment with their new, interesting machine and soon discover its side effect: it creates doubles of each experimenter.
"Primer" is a puzzle film that will leave you wondering about paradoxes, loopholes, loose ends, events without explanation, chronologies that don't seem to fit. Abe and Aaron wonder, too, and what seems at first like a perfectly straightforward method for using the machine turns out to be alarmingly complicated; various generations of themselves and their actions prove impossible to keep straight. Carruth handles the problems in an admirably understated way; when one of the characters begins to bleed a little from an ear, what does that mean? Will he be injured in a past he has not yet visited? In that case, is he the double? What happened to the being who arrived at this moment the old-fashioned way, before having traveled back?
This was one of the most interesting films that I've seen in a long time, and mostly because I was completely lost with understanding their dialogue, but I just didn't care because I was engrossed in trying hard to understand as much as I could, almost like I wanted to be a part of their in-crowd.
I watched this film thanks to the suggestion of another film-buff buddy and I totally recommend it to everyone else!
................................................................................................
"All the Boys Love Mandy Lane"
starring: Amber Heard, Anson Mount, Whitney Able, Michael Welch
Let me first say what I think a lot of people (re: guys) have been thinking every time they see a film with Amber Heard in time: Damn! She looks like a younger version of Scarlett Johansson and perhaps she is the poor man's version of Scarlett Jo. It's really too bad she cannot find better, deeper roles for herself. Oftentimes, she's the supporting actress, clearly there up up the sexuality ante in a film with her presence; or, and this has only happened a couple of times- she is meant to be the next-coming in horror films tradition of beautiful, untouched, oft-blonde screeching, terrified girl running for safety from a crazy villain.
In "All the Boys..." Heard plays the title character, Mandy Lane, who is somewhat of a cast-off version of one of the sisters from "The Virgin Suicides" meaning that she's a teenage blonde so gorgeous and untouched that she holds some mystical power of any man that comes in contact with her, but at the same time, she plays so innocent that she just doesn't get it or understand the sexuality she's oozing out. And the interesting thing about this film is that the director chose a cinematography that makes it look like one of those 1970s exploitation films that maybe you'd see in a Grindhouse double feature.
Unfortunately, the director doesn't give Heard any chance to create a deepness in her character as most of his shots reduce her to gorgeous body parts, oogled and drooled over (re: an ample chest, a strikingly attractive face, and a nice ass that sways perfectly when she walks). That's the most significant flaw of this film, especially as a horror/psychological thriller- Mandy Lane isn't a developed character at all, so when we discover that her nerdy best friend, Emmet, is basically obsessed with her, we don't really get it because she hasn't really been able to provide any sufficient reasons why she would make the ideal partner, other than for purely superficial, surface reasons.
Mandy Lane gets invited to a weekend getaway at a country ranch with her idiotic, yet popular-crowd friends. And that's when it all goes downhill for them, since they were followed there by Emmet, who then terrorizes and picks them off one by one in a hack-and-slash sequence that is predictable.
Sure, there's sexualized imagery that suggests an underlying violence in covetous male desire, but Mandy Lane is nothing more than an emblematic object of erotic obsession (gone wrong). Horror films usually have an underlying message, but this film fails to deliver a decent metaphor worth anything. Still, I find myself mesmerized by Amber Heard whenever I see her on screen. Maybe I'm part of the covetous males.
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