The Last Hobbit Film and Two Others Worth Seeing
"Frank"
starring: Domhnall Gleeson, Scoot McNairy, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Francois Civil, Carla Azar, Michael Fassbender
directed by: Jon Abrahamson
written by: Jon Ronson and Peter Straughan
It's hard to come to terms with never becoming a genius, especially at something you are so passionate about, something say, like music (or any of the arts, I suppose). It is harder still, to be included in a project with one of those said geniuses. To be a genius, it could be argued leads to insanity, leads to a need/want for solitude and/or isolation, leads to feelings of nobody understanding you. The film "Frank" is an interesting look and study into the toll proximity to the likes of a genius can take on people of lesser skill. It's a cruel thing to be so close and yet so far away.
We meet Jon Burroughs (played by Gleeson) as he works in an office and gets ideas for songs while walking home from work, burrows himself in his bedroom at his parents' house to put the song idea in a track before he loses his creative juices. His aspirations are to be an artsy music pop star and he takes a gig sitting in for what can only be described as a hipster, pretentious, misunderstood art band, performance art piece, one night because their keyboardist tries to kill himself in the ocean and is institutionalized (later we realize most of the members met during stints in a mental institution). Everything about the band screams hipster and pretentious, all the way down to their unpronounceable name to their avant-garde approach to songwriting, but with particular attention paid to the frontman, Frank (played by Fassbender), who wears a giant, fake, cartoonish papier-mache oval-shaped head at all times (since he was a teenager, to bed, in the shower, etc.). Frank is the genius spoken of earlier. He waxes philosophical with Jon when the band holes up in a cabin to produce their debut album, which Frank never really seems satisfied with and the recording goes on and on for months (11+). Frank is a volatile man, at times, but also kind-hearted and prophetic, wanting everything to be perfect.
Jon starts off feeling like just a replacement, but over time his confidence grows and he feels more and more like an important piece of the band, feeling like he was picked specifically by Frank, which means something to him. Jon becomes less considered with figuring Frank out and understanding Frank's inner thoughts, which seems to be Frank's message by wearing the fake, oval-shaped head. Jon instead begins to exploit Frank and the bands grandiosity, using technology and social media (re: Twitter) to gain followers before playing a breakthrough gig at SXSW (which doesn't go as planned).
Jon is the audience proxy to understanding Frank, but when he loses his desire to understand Frank, Jon becomes rather unlikable and the film transitions into something else. It's like watching a family break apart, even though the band never becomes anything bigger than its parts. It's not a story of fame ruining things for everyone involved, but perhaps the idea and desire for fame and notoriety and the effect that has on people.
Fassbender does a fantastic job underneath the giant head. His performance relies on physicality and voice modulation. What could have turned out to just be a joke, is actually quite heartfelt, perhaps because the screenwriters based it on their memoir of touring with a real-life performance artist named Frank Sidebottom, who wore the same fake head. The character in the film is also loosely based on musician Daniel Johnston who suffers from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
I really enjoyed this artsy indie film that truly has heart and tells a great story.
...............................................................................
"One Day"
starring: Anne Hathaway, Jim Sturgess
directed by: Lone Scherig
written by: David Nicholls (his own novel)
The film stays quite true to the novel by the same name, thanks in large part to the author also writing the script. But perhaps where he fails is in editing his own words (something I am guilty of as well, when I write and then read my own material, because let's face it, although we can be our worst critics, we are also our own biggest fans).
"One Day" charts out 20 years of a relationship/friendship and all the ups and downs it and the two people go through for 20 years- some years they are together, some years they are not, but we still get a glimpse into their lives on one specific date (July 15) each year.
It starts off in 1988, when Emma (Hathaway doing her best to speak with a British accent) and Dexter (Sturgess) falling into bed together on the evening of their graduation and then splitting and going their separate ways in the morning, although at the end of the film, we discover neither of them really wanted to say goodbye and yet, it is still a wonder they kept in touch for 20 years. Infatuation weighs heavy on the suitor's minds. The two are a study in contrasts. Emma is quite nerdy, yet in a sexy way; and Dexter is a guy looking for attention and laughs, as he becomes a "famous" TV personality, better known for being obnoxious than anything else.
Where the book laid out their 20 year courtship in a beautiful, almost poetic, but not too sappy way, the film fails to convey the same story, coming off a bit too rushed and more fill-in-the-blanks. With a movie you want to show AND tell. With a book, more can be left to the reader's imagination, hence the pleasure we get of immersing ourselves in the story, because we get to create the world in our own heads.
Emma is the character that goes through the most growth throughout the 20 years, and is therefore the sympathetic character. We are left to wonder what exactly Emma saw in Dexter for all that time, though, as they seem to be quite the unlikely couple. Although, the film does kind of speak to the people that never really seem to change and end up living the same mistakes over and over again, without leaning from them and changing patterns. It's funny, because as a writer I keep all of my journals, of poetry, all the way back from when I was about 18 or 19 years old, through all the different girls and relationships, hard times in my life and it's interesting to read, but also a bit sad and depressing, because I can recognize a lot of the same complaints and musings now matter what relationship I found myself in or circumstances in my life, which definitely make me wonder: is it me? Has it always been me? What am I learning about myself over the past 15 or so years? And when will I learn?
I still enjoyed the film because these are the type of stories I enjoy, but I think (500) Days of Summer is a better and more interesting take on relationships and lessons learned.
...........................................................................
"The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies"
starring: Ian McKellan, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Ken Stott, Graham McTavish, William Kircher, James Nesbitt, Stephen Hunter, Orlando Bloom, Evangeline Lilly, Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee
directed by: Peter Jackson
starring: Domhnall Gleeson, Scoot McNairy, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Francois Civil, Carla Azar, Michael Fassbender
directed by: Jon Abrahamson
written by: Jon Ronson and Peter Straughan
It's hard to come to terms with never becoming a genius, especially at something you are so passionate about, something say, like music (or any of the arts, I suppose). It is harder still, to be included in a project with one of those said geniuses. To be a genius, it could be argued leads to insanity, leads to a need/want for solitude and/or isolation, leads to feelings of nobody understanding you. The film "Frank" is an interesting look and study into the toll proximity to the likes of a genius can take on people of lesser skill. It's a cruel thing to be so close and yet so far away.
We meet Jon Burroughs (played by Gleeson) as he works in an office and gets ideas for songs while walking home from work, burrows himself in his bedroom at his parents' house to put the song idea in a track before he loses his creative juices. His aspirations are to be an artsy music pop star and he takes a gig sitting in for what can only be described as a hipster, pretentious, misunderstood art band, performance art piece, one night because their keyboardist tries to kill himself in the ocean and is institutionalized (later we realize most of the members met during stints in a mental institution). Everything about the band screams hipster and pretentious, all the way down to their unpronounceable name to their avant-garde approach to songwriting, but with particular attention paid to the frontman, Frank (played by Fassbender), who wears a giant, fake, cartoonish papier-mache oval-shaped head at all times (since he was a teenager, to bed, in the shower, etc.). Frank is the genius spoken of earlier. He waxes philosophical with Jon when the band holes up in a cabin to produce their debut album, which Frank never really seems satisfied with and the recording goes on and on for months (11+). Frank is a volatile man, at times, but also kind-hearted and prophetic, wanting everything to be perfect.
Jon starts off feeling like just a replacement, but over time his confidence grows and he feels more and more like an important piece of the band, feeling like he was picked specifically by Frank, which means something to him. Jon becomes less considered with figuring Frank out and understanding Frank's inner thoughts, which seems to be Frank's message by wearing the fake, oval-shaped head. Jon instead begins to exploit Frank and the bands grandiosity, using technology and social media (re: Twitter) to gain followers before playing a breakthrough gig at SXSW (which doesn't go as planned).
Jon is the audience proxy to understanding Frank, but when he loses his desire to understand Frank, Jon becomes rather unlikable and the film transitions into something else. It's like watching a family break apart, even though the band never becomes anything bigger than its parts. It's not a story of fame ruining things for everyone involved, but perhaps the idea and desire for fame and notoriety and the effect that has on people.
Fassbender does a fantastic job underneath the giant head. His performance relies on physicality and voice modulation. What could have turned out to just be a joke, is actually quite heartfelt, perhaps because the screenwriters based it on their memoir of touring with a real-life performance artist named Frank Sidebottom, who wore the same fake head. The character in the film is also loosely based on musician Daniel Johnston who suffers from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
I really enjoyed this artsy indie film that truly has heart and tells a great story.
...............................................................................
"One Day"
starring: Anne Hathaway, Jim Sturgess
directed by: Lone Scherig
written by: David Nicholls (his own novel)
The film stays quite true to the novel by the same name, thanks in large part to the author also writing the script. But perhaps where he fails is in editing his own words (something I am guilty of as well, when I write and then read my own material, because let's face it, although we can be our worst critics, we are also our own biggest fans).
"One Day" charts out 20 years of a relationship/friendship and all the ups and downs it and the two people go through for 20 years- some years they are together, some years they are not, but we still get a glimpse into their lives on one specific date (July 15) each year.
It starts off in 1988, when Emma (Hathaway doing her best to speak with a British accent) and Dexter (Sturgess) falling into bed together on the evening of their graduation and then splitting and going their separate ways in the morning, although at the end of the film, we discover neither of them really wanted to say goodbye and yet, it is still a wonder they kept in touch for 20 years. Infatuation weighs heavy on the suitor's minds. The two are a study in contrasts. Emma is quite nerdy, yet in a sexy way; and Dexter is a guy looking for attention and laughs, as he becomes a "famous" TV personality, better known for being obnoxious than anything else.
Where the book laid out their 20 year courtship in a beautiful, almost poetic, but not too sappy way, the film fails to convey the same story, coming off a bit too rushed and more fill-in-the-blanks. With a movie you want to show AND tell. With a book, more can be left to the reader's imagination, hence the pleasure we get of immersing ourselves in the story, because we get to create the world in our own heads.
Emma is the character that goes through the most growth throughout the 20 years, and is therefore the sympathetic character. We are left to wonder what exactly Emma saw in Dexter for all that time, though, as they seem to be quite the unlikely couple. Although, the film does kind of speak to the people that never really seem to change and end up living the same mistakes over and over again, without leaning from them and changing patterns. It's funny, because as a writer I keep all of my journals, of poetry, all the way back from when I was about 18 or 19 years old, through all the different girls and relationships, hard times in my life and it's interesting to read, but also a bit sad and depressing, because I can recognize a lot of the same complaints and musings now matter what relationship I found myself in or circumstances in my life, which definitely make me wonder: is it me? Has it always been me? What am I learning about myself over the past 15 or so years? And when will I learn?
I still enjoyed the film because these are the type of stories I enjoy, but I think (500) Days of Summer is a better and more interesting take on relationships and lessons learned.
...........................................................................
"The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies"
starring: Ian McKellan, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Ken Stott, Graham McTavish, William Kircher, James Nesbitt, Stephen Hunter, Orlando Bloom, Evangeline Lilly, Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee
directed by: Peter Jackson
"The Battle of the Five Armies" picks up where "Desolation of Smaug" left off: Smaug the dragon has burst free into the air, and descends onto the helpless people of Laketown in a blitzkrieg of fire. Bard becomes the natural leader of the traumatized refugees, who straggle around dazed at the destruction of their homes. Meanwhile, the Dwarf contingency, along with Bilbo, hole themselves up in the Mountain, protecting the treasure, most of the dwarves uneasy about the increasingly paranoid leadership of Thorin.
The real story is about greed, what Tolkien termed "dragon-sickness," and when Jackson focuses on that aspect, "Battle of the Five Armies" finds its footing. It's a strong theme, Shakespearean in scope, perfectly exemplified in one nightmare sequence in which Thorin, lost to "dragon-sickness," greedy and jumpy, finds himself sucked into a monstrous whirlpool of thick molten gold. Everyone who has read the book knows that Thorin loses it once he has the gold under his care, but Jackson imagined it in a way that is surreal and visceral.
When the battle finally comes, it is tremendous. Armies swoop towards one another across a vast plain, each group displaying their own intricate maneuvers and battle strategies, wielding their own specific weaponry, making one think it could be a deleted scene from John Woo's "Red Cliff," or that a fussy Middle Earth equivalent of John Keegan had been a consultant on the film, providing information on how the dwarf infantry worked, and how the elves moved in formation. The sequence is an enormous pantomime of carnage that somehow maintains its sense of spatial relations and emotional tension (there is a terrific standoff between Thorin and the head Orc on a sheet of ice near a treacherous frozen waterfall).
Peter Jackson has devoted an enormous part of his life to the creation of these films, and taken all together they are a major accomplishment. "The Hobbit" may have been better served by being a single film: by forcing the action to be condensed into a single through-line, the storytelling would have more urgency, there would be less room for any "fat" on the story, there would be no detraction from its overall themes. The world-building aspect of the films is thrilling, and there are spaces created in all three of "The Hobbit" films that are unforgettable.
The real story is about greed, what Tolkien termed "dragon-sickness," and when Jackson focuses on that aspect, "Battle of the Five Armies" finds its footing. It's a strong theme, Shakespearean in scope, perfectly exemplified in one nightmare sequence in which Thorin, lost to "dragon-sickness," greedy and jumpy, finds himself sucked into a monstrous whirlpool of thick molten gold. Everyone who has read the book knows that Thorin loses it once he has the gold under his care, but Jackson imagined it in a way that is surreal and visceral.
When the battle finally comes, it is tremendous. Armies swoop towards one another across a vast plain, each group displaying their own intricate maneuvers and battle strategies, wielding their own specific weaponry, making one think it could be a deleted scene from John Woo's "Red Cliff," or that a fussy Middle Earth equivalent of John Keegan had been a consultant on the film, providing information on how the dwarf infantry worked, and how the elves moved in formation. The sequence is an enormous pantomime of carnage that somehow maintains its sense of spatial relations and emotional tension (there is a terrific standoff between Thorin and the head Orc on a sheet of ice near a treacherous frozen waterfall).
Peter Jackson has devoted an enormous part of his life to the creation of these films, and taken all together they are a major accomplishment. "The Hobbit" may have been better served by being a single film: by forcing the action to be condensed into a single through-line, the storytelling would have more urgency, there would be less room for any "fat" on the story, there would be no detraction from its overall themes. The world-building aspect of the films is thrilling, and there are spaces created in all three of "The Hobbit" films that are unforgettable.
But that magic something is missing in "Battle." There are glimpses of it, glimpses of true poignancy and emotion: the friendship between Thorin and Bilbo, Bilbo turning back to look at the row of dwarves standing in the doorway, the last conversation with Gandalf, and the final moment of the film. These moments are lovely; these moments are presented concisely, strongly and openly. There, there is the story.
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