The Language of Movies

A response to Francis Davis's Afterglow: A Last Conversation with Pauline Kael.

Now here is a woman that gets it and is not afraid of telling the public how she gets it. Known for her witty, opinionated, and poignant reviews, Pauline Kael has made a mark on the art of being a critic. Her writing evokes the enthusiasm that she has for the movies that she reviews, whether she likes them or not. While reading Afterglow, it was easy to see why Kael had such a fan-appeal and is considered one of the most influential film critics of her day. This enthusiasm and profound insight, often not writing much about the movie itself, gave the public something else – a candid opinion.

Kael was not afraid of addressing the issues that everyone else tried to avoid in particular movies. Having only been talked out of writing a review just once (she was going to write a review for “Deep Throat”), she enjoys writing about the eroticism in films because as she puts, “half of the reason that people become interested in movies in the first place is sex and dating and everything connected with eroticism on the screen.” Moreover, I particularly enjoyed the comment from her that followed when she said that “I felt that not to deal with all that [eroticism] in its most naked form was to shrink part of what’s involved in being a movie critic.” She defines herself, as well as her career, as being able to address all aspect of the movie and as a result, she provides meaningful insight on even the most “untouchable” of topics.

After finishing this book, I honestly felt like I had just had a conversation with my own grandmother, or just listened to her while she talked - I felt touched by and appreciative of the knowledge and insight that Kael expressed. Her words are poignant and her stories memorable. Also, for an 80-year old woman suffering from the end stages of Parkinson’s disease, she was not remorseful but rather, full of light and her memories of films are still astounding. My only regret while reading this book was that I did not know many of the films that she referenced to and as a result, felt a little lost at times.

Overall, Kael demonstrates that she is a good critic and I think Zinsser would agree. She is knowledgeable, passionate, and she provokes us – providing insightful truths and excitement - using our own language, “the language of movies.”

A broken guitar and a borrowed piano

"Once" Film Review

The story is a simple one. The film-making closely resembles a home-video in its quality. The raw, inexperienced acting creates a desire for subtitles. This is the independent film “Once,” directed and written by John Carney. However, these simplistic, unrefined elements in conjunction with the powerful music combine to create a musical that stands apart from others in its genre.

“Once” begins with Glen Hansard (“Guy”) as an Irish busker, playing his guitar for small change on Grafton, Dublin's famous shopping street. Markéta Irglová’s “Girl”, a Czech immigrant, peddles roses on this same street. Intrigued by his music, Girl stops to talk to Guy and they start up what appears to be a quirky but natural conversation. He tells her he works at a Hoover repair shop; she says she has a broken vacuum cleaner. This common bond over vacuum cleaners extends to other aspects of their life, including their personal relationships - his former girlfriend deserted him to move to London and the father of her toddler has gone back to the Czech Republic - they both have had loved ones walk out on them. Music is their other bond and this defines their relationship. It is this love of music and the creation of music, together, that create the rest of the story. Simply put, the story is of two strangers meeting, foraging a friendship, and through that friendship, music is created.

Despite the fact that the film looks as if anyone with a video-camera could have shot it, there is an honest quality about it. This film was produced with a low budget (approximately $160,000) but Carney uses this to his advantage in making the film more intimate and real. The scenes and settings are not anything too elaborate or high-tech, but in fact, for some of the places, they are shot in friends’ homes. For instance, the music party scene was filmed in Hansard’s own flat with his personal friends and family playing the partygoers and/or musicians. Overall, the effect of such a simplistic style is taking the focus off the surroundings and placing it directly on the characters and their music.

With the focus now placed on the characters, Carney was adamant about having characters who could sing well and previous acting experience was not a requirement. And so casted to play “Guy” and “Girl” (never introduced or named until the final credits) were musicians Glen Hansard (of popular Irish rock band The Frames) and Markéta Irglová (a 19-year old Czech immigrant) as the fictional struggling musicians. Because of this deficiency in experience, the dialogue between the characters was indistinct and created the need for subtitles. Despite this, their modest, down-to-earth performances and on-screen chemistry enhance the story, which has an improvisational, straightforward feel.

It is the music, above everything else, which highlights this film. It overshadows the inaudible dialogue between the characters and is what creates the movement in the story. The music is folksy and familiar but, at the same time, powerful. This is a musical that lets the music dictate. In one of the more memorable scenes, Irglová, having just composed lyrics to Hansard's music, pours her heart out in song as she walks around the streets of Dublin at night, wearing only her pajamas and slippers. The music in this film does more than just convey words and sounds – it portrays emotions, passions, and makes no apologies – it is real and sincere.

In lieu of the others in this genre, “Once” attempts, and succeeds, to create a film that moves with its music – music created from a broken guitar and a borrowed piano.

"Criticism is a serious intellectual act" - William Zinsser

After wading through the big words and pompous tone of William Zinsser’s “Writing About the Arts,” a chapter taken from his book, On Writing Well, there is good advice to be had about being a critic and creating one’s own voice – it just takes some ego flaunting, on behalf of the author, to get there. It is pretty clear from the text that this is a man that knows what he is talking about (and he almost comes right out and announces it) and at the same time, this is a man that takes himself and his “art” a little too seriously.

The saying that “everyone is a critic” would surely be an insult to Zinsser as he believes that in order to be a critic, one must possess a “special set of skills and a special body of knowledge.” Moreover, he is presumptuous in assuming that every writer, at some point in his career, wants to be a critic. To some extent, everyone is really a critic as each person has his own opinions but whether he is an educated critic is the question. The author makes a strong point in emphasizing that a good critic needs a strong background in the medium that he is critiquing. The idea is to be able to draw on other examples in support of the ones being given and give additional information to the reader as part of the education process. Essentially writing a critique is educating the reader as to why this film may or may not be worth it to see or why this book is a best-seller – a good critic can evoke an opinion from the reader as a result of his words.

Despite his seriousness and stuffiness, I did draw the most from this idea of being able to provoke a response from my readers as a result of my critique. This is an area where I want to be able to improve in my writing as having a voice/opinion of my own becomes necessary. Whether it is right or wrong, I want to become more opinionated in my writing and when I can get this voice, I can better be able to draw responses from my readers. However, at the same time, I want to be able to entertain with my words and so when Zinsser says that “criticism is a serious intellectual act,” someone needs to tell him to lighten up because when it becomes too serious, the critique loses some of its humanity.

So, should we see it?

New York Times Critical Defense: "An Opera for a Crowd Unfamiliar with Opera" by Steve Smith (Tuesday January 22, 2008)

Link to review: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/arts/music/22dica.html?ref=music

For a tale as old as time, it does not cease in being brought to life again and again. First published in 1740 by Madame Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, the story of “Beauty and the Beast” has been told for hundreds years, starting with the written word and then being adapted for film, stage and now performed as an opera. In his review of this opera, Steve Smith opens by describing the audience attending such a show as his title implies that this opera is for those who do not know opera. Based on the audience, he could not be more accurate as he describes “few appeared to have reached their 10^th birthdays.” This was an opera designed for children and while the audience was fairly attentive, Smith neither seemed blown away by the show nor thoroughly disgusted by it. This indifferent attitude is carried throughout the review, leaving the reader with muddled impression of his overall opinion.

After giving background information on the composer of this opera, Vittorio Giannini, and the origin of his opera, Smith continues by commenting on the score of the opera as clever and well-paced though, at times, too many syllables are crammed into some of the lines. Moreover, for someone that does not know operas (like the children), the music resembled popular Disney songs thus leaving one to potentially interpret that there is something child-like about this opera. As a music critic, Smith draws authority but then again, for something that is designed for a younger audience, this music score would be appropriate as the audience can more easily connect with it.

In response to the performances, Smith again was not very opinionated. As he describes, the Beast, played by Michael Boley, was pitchy at times but enthusiastic and Beauty, portrayed by Maija Lisa Currie, was promising as an actress and singer. Throughout the review, Smith’s choice of words was not very convincing in giving the reader an accurate picture of the overall performance. Though he claims that the diction in the show was excellent, his diction is not. The lede is strong and captivating but the kicker, while connecting back to the lede in its reference to the audience of children, does not give the reader a sense of whether this tale is worth going to see.

From reruns to reality - is there an end in sight for the WGA writers' strike?

Tuesday night. 9 pm. A new episode of America’s favorite pill-popping MD, Gregory House in another medical mystery diagnosis, is to be aired on Channel FOX. The TV is turned on and what is being shown, with much disappointment, but a rerun of the cynical doctor of “House, MD.” As a result of Writers’ Guild of America’s (WGA) strike, no new episodes have been written for this show and many other shows, resulting in many reruns, loss of viewers, and most importantly, loss of several millions (if not billions) of dollars in the film and TV industry.

Beginning November 5^th, 2007, the WGA has been on strike because, among the many proposals from both sides regarding the new contract (as the old contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers – AMPTP – ended in October of 2007), there are several key issues of contention for the writers including DVD residuals; union jurisdiction over animation and reality program writers; and, perhaps most importantly, compensation for today’s newest media – shows and programs written and made for the Internet, digital cable, “On Demand,” etc. Summary, the strike is about money and who deserves more.

Now entering into its 12^th week, negotiations between the WGA and the AMPTP have been minimal and irresolute. After the modest Golden Globes “press conference” in early January, the industry is itching to come to a compromise that works for the writers, directors (the DGA also joined in on the strike), and producers but who is going to budge first?

The screenwriters do deserve a cut of the ever-growing digital technological “pie” as without their words and creativity, the public is condemned to viewing and listening to Ryan Seacrest’s personal anecdotes on “American Idol” or, better yet, the rough-and-tumble action of “American Gladiator” – two both intellectually stimulating shows that the American audience has been forced to watch as a result of the lack of new programming. So from reruns with the ever-contemptuous Dr. Gregory House to trashy reality TV with the sarcastic music producer Simon Cowell, will the strike ever end?

One can only hope as many TV plots were left at cliffhangers and the public needs to know if the “Desperate Housewives” can put their lives back together after the tornado. The reality is that thousands of jobs and millions of dollars have been lost and still there seems to be little progress. So, if not for the viewing audience, but the families of those jobless, the strike needs to end and a compromise needs to be made if the film and TV industry is going to survive another day. If not, the American public is going to need a new hobby.

Related Articles:

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/arts/entertainment-writers.html?scp=2&sq=WGA+writers+strike

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/08/business/media/08strike.html?scp=7&sq=WGA+writers+strike

“Atonement”: Two figures stand by a fountain

Two figures stand by a fountain. A child witnesses. And so begins a series of misunderstood events that ultimately lead up to the devastation of three lives in director Joe Wright’s “Atonement,” based upon the bestselling novel by Ian McEwan. Wright and screenwriter Christopher Hampton do a marvelous job of depicting and remaining faithful to the film’s source, with few changes. Due to childish misunderstandings, it produces dire consequences in this sad, romantic drama whose title’s significance does not come to life until the last few minutes of the film.

The story begins at the Tallis estate in Southern England in the summer of 1935, 13-year old Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) witnesses an erotic exchange between her older sister, Cecilia (Keira Knightley), and the housekeeper’s educated son Robbie (James McAvoy), whom she also has a crush on, at the fountain. Her resentment grows. Later that evening, a terrible crime is committed and Briony tells the police it was Robbie. She witnesses him do it - or at least convinces herself that it was him - and thus sentences all of their fates because of her childish immaturity.

As a result, the rest of the film traces the impact of her false testimony, as Robbie goes to prison and later, war, and as Cecilia continues to love him. Cecilia, now a war nurse, has never forgiven Briony (played in later years by Romola Garai and then Vanessa Redgrave) for her false accusations and Briony now has to deal with the consequences of her crime. It is up until this point that the plot is moving along at a good pace but once Robbie goes off to war, the story bounces back and forth between France and England. It lacks the direct character interactions that give it its energy (i.e. interactions between Cecilia and Robbie, Cecilia and Briony, and Briony and Robbie) as seen in the first hour.

Keeping the pace of the film is the dissonant musical score, composed by Marianelli, which makes use of the typewriter as a percussive instrument and such is the opening of this film. Beautifully arranged, the effect of using the typewriter as part of the score is profound because it highlights the artistic nature of this film – writing as the creation of fiction (Briony uses her typewriter in creating her plays and stories). Though, at the end of this film, the viewer is also made aware of the power of writing as bridging fiction and reality as the older Briony uses her writing as a means of portraying the truth/reality in her eyes.

The cinematography and direction of the film also complement the duality between fiction and reality as some events in the film are shown twice. This is an effective approach because it helps the viewers to see both sides of the story and understand what Briony mistakenly believes is occurring. In addition, there are some quite remarkable camera shots, notably the scene on the beaches in Dunkirk as the viewer is transported into the desperation and hellish nature of war.

The potential was there for this to be a memorable romantic epic because of the stunning cinematography, music, and cast, but because of the pace, it just never seems to get there completely. Overall, this film is beautifully constructed and performed but the ending is a disappointment because the significance of the title is only now addressed and soon forgotten once the viewer leaves the darkened theater.