A Night at the Opera

I've watched a couple of Marx Brothers films (the one in the fake country, the one in the country house), but neither have come close to being as funny and brilliant as this one. It's as if all the classic jokes are told for the first time all in the span of an hour and a half. When Groucho is on screen, it's one- liner after one-liner, constantly interrupting all the "serious" actors. And you can barely keep up with him -- you're finished laughing at the first joke while he's through telling the second one! When Chico enters the picture, the brothers engage in extended comedic dialogue -- witness the contract scene, which while not a leg-slapper has wordplay that rivals the Who's on First skit. What I wasn't aware of (or had forgotten from the previous films) was the musical talents of at least two of the Marx Brothers. I knew Harpo played the harp, but that he and Chico also played the piano, and marvelously at that, was a surprise to me. The film is daring in that it pits musical numbers, and not just the individual talents but full-blown ensemble singing and dancing pieces, against the comedy. At first, you're not sure if this juxtaposition works, but when Harpo plays a most haunting, and not-at-all-silly, composition on the harp, it doesn't matter anymore. (And that little number Chico plays on the piano -- gosh, that sounds awfully like the music in the Coconut Grove dance in Singin' in the Rain, hmm?) There's actually a plot to this film, and real romance, but of course also Groucho bidding for the attentions of Margaret Dumont, their ever-present foil. And although basic, the plot works. It effectively gives the film a grounding and provides context for some of the sillier numbers (like, baseball in the orchestra pit!). Until I see a better one, this remains my fave film of theirs.

year: 1935
length: 96 min.
rating: 4.0
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026778/combined

National Treasure

Pfflbt. What's the point of renting a Sean Bean film and seeing only what a big waste of time it was for him? It's not really "his" film but he's the main villain, so that smarmy, sultry swagger should be front and center. I'm guessing he was required to hold back, this being a Disney film. In fact, everyone's holding back including the screenwriter and the star, Nicolas Cage. The plot is intriguing, historically patriotic (which is great for the kids watching), and kinda funny, but it moves too fast and glosses over big chunks of history -- such as telling the history of the Freemasons in about 15 seconds. (Also, why would a Freemason give secret data to a non-Mason? Isn't that grounds for something more horrible than dismissal?) As you can guess, the main gist of the tale is finding THE secret of the Freemasons. It's a treasure hunt complete with clues, clever deductions and skeptics. Certainly fun to watch the solution unfold, with or without a consistent plot, but I wouldn't go out of my way to find it. If anything stands out, it's Diane Kruger (her German accent is adeptly explained within seconds of her appearance). Her natural, empathetic acting is a bonus in this sort of girl-tags-along-and-becomes-girlfriend role. One has to wonder why she was so bland in Troy.

year: 2004
length: 131 min.
rating: 2.0
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0368891/combined

Northfork

On the strength of one of my Netflix Friends (a very cool feature of the service, if you ask me) ratings I rented this film. I knew this was bare-budget independent filmmaking and I knew that the Polish brothers focus on "Americana," in particular ways of viewing America we're not used to. (Their first film was about conjoined twins and their love affair(s) in Idaho.) As a result, I figured this would be spare in terms of dialogue and full of expansive vistas. How right I was. But it edges into your heart as you watch it -- your sympathy and empathy for the characters grows -- and that's a little strange because the film is a little strange. Its structure seems almost non-existent at first, until you realize that you've understood what's been happening for some time. Essentially the tale of a town about to be swallowed up by an impending dam's lake, the characters are all searching for something they feel they need to do before it's too late. The urgency is what keeps the film moving forward, but the pacing (and those vistas!) are what give it its flavor. Besides, I'm more and more impressed with James Woods. First he was great in The Virgin Suicides and now he glues this entire movie together. He has the best lines, specifically during the meet-and-greet outside the dam and in the cafe scene. Nick Nolte is surprisingly excellent as well, although I am more and more convinced that he's just playing himself. Which is kinda scary. My favorite part of the film was the band of misfits who befriend the child. They all have strange names and are lacking something important: Happy has no hands, Cod doesn't speak and Flower has no hair. Why would messengers from heaven have failings? Perhaps the most interesting enigma in the film.

year: 2003
length: 103 min.
rating: 3.5
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0322659/combined

The Notebook

All women should take their husbands/partners to this movie, if only to ask "so, do you love me THAT much?" On the surface, the film seems like a conventional young love story, but it is interspersed with a similar tale of unrequited love, only this is between an elderly man and the wife who can't remember who he is anymore. He reads a beautiful story every day to her, trying to bring back her memories. James Garner and Gena Rowlands play the husband and wife, and they are the main reasons to see this film, as they effortlessly bring these characters into our hearts. The movie is based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks, and it follows it religiously (I think there was one scene which I didn't remember from the book). The sappy romance-novel part of the book is handled graciously in the film (except for Noah carrying Allie up the stairs with his pants down around his ankles -- yeah, right) and the trajectory of the young couple in love is more than adequately rendered by Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, both relative newcomers to the film industry (McAdams was the meanest girl in Mean Girls). They have a palpable chemistry together, and effectively play their different acting styles off each other, making their characters more believable. If there is a flaw, Gosling doesn't always make visible the depth of his character's feeling. His character is supposed to be taciturn, but you'll see how this is somewhat unbelievable as the film continues. The best scene does belong to him, though -- the scene next to the car as she is about to leave him a second time. McAdams' reaction is that of every woman if the man she loved revealed this.

year: 2004
length: 124 min.
rating: 3.5
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0332280/combined

Narc

The things I will watch in the name of complete coverage -- all genres, all types, all moods. This film has an extended scene of a three-week-old dead guy in a bathtub with his head shot off. Crime scene, cops with handkerchiefs over their mouths, a blasé medical examiner, and all you can think is -- get me away from this room!! Horrific just reading about it, right? Well, that's the tenor of the film. And if you want gritty, if you want to see what being a narcotics officer or inner-city cop might be like, or just what the world we try and ignore is like, than this is your film. (Hey, and it's set in Detroit, too.) It's produced by the team of Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner, which might be surprising to some. It's somewhat surprising to me, Cruise backing this kind of film, a film that is never going to make it big, chiefly due to its grittiness. The film uses some obvious set-ups (e.g., one cop can shoot, the other can't, the lead character's wife is upset about him taking on another job), but makes subtle differences that keep it interesting. Ray Liotta is fantastic, as usual, although still doing his freak impression. Jason Patric is restrained, which often in his case is just plain boring, but here works to great effect. I'm not sure what the intent of the film is -- illustrating the difficulty of being a cop, meting out justice even if not by the rules, the residual effects of being a narc -- but the mood of it does the job. The twist ending doesn't hurt either.

year: 2002
length: 105 min.
rating: 3.0
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0272207/combined

Napoleon Dynamite

As a friend of mine says, "this film makes Rushmore look like a big-budget feature." It's a good analogy. Rushmore was a quirky, independent comedy, and so is this film. But there's one large difference. In too many spots in this film, I was thinking "um, was that supposed to be funny?" Even worse, things that are clearly supposed to be funny only elicit weak smiles. This is almost certainly due to the film's odd flavor. A geeky teenage boy, named Napoleon Dynamite for some unknown reason, is growing up in a small, boring town in Idaho surrounded by characters almost as odd as he is. Napoleon himself is a strange mixture of apathy and confidence, with a generous dollop of up-yours-ness. My most facile description of the plot is that it is like watching many stale rejects of Saturday Night Live skits. (This is especially true during interactions between Napoleon and his Mexican friend.) So, did I like anything? Sure, with caveats. There is one excellent scene towards the end which I can't say anything about, however it doesn't make the whole film worth it. It was impressive that they got Lazlo from Real Genius to play the weird uncle. And I'll give it marks for the inventive title sequence, which bodes well for what you're about to see and then lets you down.

year: 2004
length: 86 min.
rating: 2.0
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0374900/combined

Nine Queens

Heist films are nearly always a blast to watch for one reason: trying to figure out who's conning whom. In my experience, it's important early on in any heist flick to pick the least likely person who will walk away with all the money, if only to enjoy seeing how they're going to weave the story around that person believably. This film creates some good scenarios using tried- and-true formulas, but unfortunately, you know absolutely who the winner will be when you're about 2/3 of the way through. They use a far too obvious plot twist, and your attention immediately shifts to that least likely person again. Still, it's fun to watch if only because it has a clever script (I loved the recurring "I'm not a crook" line) and some fantastic acting. But I gotta ask: how come no one ever offers them a drink anywhere they visit? Their hosts are partaking, and not once are they asked if they'd like to also. Kinda stood out.

original title: Neuve Reinas
year: 2000
length: 114 min.
rating: 3.0
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0247586/combined

Nowhere in Africa

I can see why this film won the Oscar last year for Best Foreign Film. (I just go ahead and put all those that were nominated on my list, hoping that they'll be released at some point in the States.) Actually, I'm going to quote the reason for it winning an award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (no, I've never heard of it either): "For its unusual narrative and historical perspectives on the international reverberations of World War II." That, on top of the heart-wrenching, but not over-played, emotions of the main players. A Jewish couple and their child emigrate from Germany to Kenya shortly before Kristallnacht and stay there throughout the war. It is a long film, but never plodding or dull. I couldn't help but think how it would feel to be forced to leave your homeland, live in another country so very different and hard to understand, and then have to decide whether to return to the country that ousted you, never knowing if you could trust it again. How much lonelier can you feel? It's clearly easier for the child, who grows up a daughter of both cultures, and all the wiser for it, but it's vastly more difficult for the parents. You cannot help but smile through your tears during the last scene and realize what an unbelievable distance these characters have traveled, in kilometers and in their hearts, since they first came to Kenya.

original title: Nirgendwo in Afrika
year: 2001
length: 141 min.
rating: 3.5
IMDB link: http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0161860/combined

The Night of the Hunter

I'm hesitant to give this film any kind of rating. I feel compelled to give it a higher rating because of its honest depiction of child abuse, but I had some trouble following the tale or enjoying the overly theatrical acting. I did like the fact that it was a quirky set piece (the river the children escape on flows in five different directions, kind of like they're boating in a Jacuzzi) and I thought Lillian Gish was the tops as the compassionate foster mother at the end, but it was simply way too weird for me to really enjoy. Robert Mitchum plays a fake preacher who marries rich widows, but he's picked the wrong woman this time because she doesn't know where her husband hid the money. He tries to force it out of the kids, who do know, but they prove stronger than him. In fact, the scene I thought was best occurs when the authorities finally take him away and the boy he has abused goes into a tantrum and desperately wants to give him the money he's held back for so long. And won't accuse his stepfather in court. Which is the evidence of child abuse -- the controller is hated by the abused but also embodies the one person that the abused needs to receive love and acceptance from. The cycle of control is something that's very hard to stop. (And if you want a heartbreaking and particularly well-written book on the subject, I heartily recommend A Hole in the World by Richard Rhodes, the autobiography of his childhood.)

year: 1955
length: 93 min.
rating: 3.0
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048424/combined

Not of this World

I always find it difficult to rate foreign films. Sometimes I tend to rate foreign films more highly because I expect a film that makes it to this country to be amazing or else it would never have been picked up for distribution. It's hard to keep the preconceived notions out of my head! However, this recent Italian film stands on its own. The story is of a nun who accidentally finds a baby and spends the film trying to find the mother. The film, at its core, is about her relationships -- to the baby, to the supposed father, to her order, and to the mother when she does find her and talk with her. It's hard to describe this latter scene as anything other than beautiful. It makes you feel lonely and alone, but also makes you feel at peace, as when you've finally figured something out that's been bothering you for a long time. I wish they'd make more films like this in this country -- quiet, contemplative, character-driven studies. With films like this, it's easy to recognize the craft as art.

original title: Fuori dal Mondo
year: 1999
length: 100 min.
rating: 3.5
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0172477/combined

No Man's Land

What a great story. What an awful story. It's great because it is adept in showing us how inhuman war really is, and manages to even be funny in parts. It's awful because it has one of the worst final images of any war film I've seen. Two men, a Bosnian and a Serb, are at a stand-off in a trench in No Man's Land with another Bosnian who has been placed on a mine that will explode if he is moved. The press and the UN come to "help" yet the men themselves are secondary to the greater goals of informing the public and fulfilling world-mandated roles. The ending should make you wonder why we (the Americans, the world) were there in the first place, what we were meant to be doing there, and most importantly of all, what happened to the Bosnians and the Serbs when we left.

original title: Nicija Zemlja
year: 2001
length: 98 min.
rating: 3.5
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0283509/combined