The Filmcake

October 19th – October 25th

Sugar & Goodbye Solo - A pair of what might be classified as neo-neo realist movies–although they venture towards the traditional more than some of their predecessors in the genre. Algenis Perez Soto as Sugar in Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s film and Souléymane Sy Savané as Solo in Ramin Bahrani’s film are each recent immigrants (from the Dominican Republic and Sengal, respectively) struggling through the messiness of life in America. One winds his way through minor league baseball in the cornfields of middle America while yearning not for stardom but for stability. The other drives a cab while searching for companionship and dreaming of a flight attendant job. Soto is a non-actor. Souléymane is a newcomer. Both are excellent. Once again, two immigrants illustrate the quintessential American story better than 99.9% of Hollywood film.

The Atomic Cafe - A documentary, composed entirely with archival film, about the arrival of the nuclear age. Without any narration, the film demonstrates the importance of editing in documentary filmmaking. The trio of directors have made a documentary that is sometimes hilarious, sometimes harrowing, and often bewildering. Its as much about public perception as crafted by the government as it is about the actual nuclear warfare the world found itself engaged in. One of the directors, Kevin Rafferty, worked as cinematographer on The War Room and Roger & Me and directed the recent Harvard Beats Yale 29-29.

The Shining - Some Kubrickian horror as a lead up to Halloween. Jack Nicholson is brilliant as Jack Torrance. Shelley Duvall is annoyingly good as well.

October 12th – October 18th

Where The Wild Things Are - Spike Jonze has succeeded in making a nearly pitch-perfect film version of the beloved picture book. It is certainly more a movie about children than it is a children’s movie. Jonze delves into the subconscious of nine-year-old Max (Max Records) and gets down into both the dark and light places of childhood. We are complicated creatures–as kids and as adults. We are vain and mean. We are loving and sweet. We are ugly and jealous. And we are beautiful and giving. These are the Wild Things.

The Wild Things are stunning creations of puppetry and CGI that bring Maurice Sendak’s illustrations to brilliant life. They are both cuddly and frightening. Plush stuffed animals with scary teeth. The puppets were nicely voiced, especially Carol (James Gandolfini) and KW (Lauren Ambrose). Back in the real world, Catherine Keener is wonderful as Max’s mother, Connie. Max’s new kingdom, on the island with the Wild Things, is the boy’s subconscious itself as captured by cinematographer Lance Acord. Instead of Being John Malkovich, this movie could almost be called Being Max Records or even Being Nine Years Old. I think there would be a lot of rewatchability in catching which parts of Max’s real life seep into his dream world.

It is a sometimes dark world, childhood. Often scary. I happen to love when movies take the occasional trip to the dark side. At the same time, I don’t think it at all makes it unwatchable for small children either. Whether or not it can also be classified as a children’s movie, it succeeds for being a well-crafted film. I can’t wait to see it again. Maybe while wearing my own wolf-suit.

October 5th – October 11th

Adventureland- Okay, I’m going to play the dirty old man card and say that I have a bit of a crush on Kristen Stewart. She’s certainly come a long way since playing the little boy in Fincher’s Panic Room. She’s not great in this. Her performance is a little wobbly. Still, she’s absolutely adorable. And I do look forward to seeing what she does in the future. As for the movie itself, it was (with the soundtrack) a lot of nostalgic fun. Good stuff.

September 28th – October 4th

Weather Girl – So, I finally got around to watching this winner of the 2009 deadCENTER Film Festival award for Best Narrative Feature. I missed the screenings at deadCENTER. And, I missed the screenings at OKCMOA later on in the year. But, I did DVR its premiere on the Lifetime network. I was determined to finally get my eyes on it. And, my verdict…

Meh.

It’s not horrible. I’ll give it that. It just seems to reside comfortably in a world informed by network sitcoms. And, that’s not really a world that often interests me. Its too predictable and safe. The filmmaking was fine. The actors were fine (if only Jane Lynch had been given a little more to do, I would’ve been rendered satisfied).

If director Blayne Weaver were to stash this film in his portfolio while looking for a network television directing gig, I think it would serve him well. I just can’t see how one would want to invest so much blood, sweat, and tears into making a movie with a story such as this one. You can have all the “big-name” casting you can get (Mark Harmon), but with a story that refuses to take risks, it doesn’t ultimately matter.