Motifs in 2011 Cinema: Disillusionment.

Perhaps because it’s one of the youngest artistic forms, cinema is often assessed in much different manner that literature, or the visual arts. We discuss it in terms of genre, not in terms of thematic offering. Comparing, for example, Corpse Bride and Up because they’re both animated leads to some dubious discussion especially when – like any art form – thematic elements examined in cinema and the way different filmmaker address them make for some stimulating discussion. Motifs in Cinema is a discourse, across nine film blogs, assessing the way in which various thematic elements have been used in the 2011 cinematic landscape. How does a common theme vary in use from a comedy to a drama? Are filmmakers working from a similar canvas when they assess the issue of the artist or the family dynamic? Like everything else, a film begins with an idea - Motifs in Cinema assesses how the use of a single idea changes when utilised by varying artists.

- Andrew K.
Disillusionment.

One of my favorite songs says "disillusion takes what illusion gives" and this couldn't ring truer than it does while looking back at the cinema of 2011. The last decade was characterized because its up and downs were more extreme than anything else in the past. When things got bad, it meant war, terrorist attacks, pandemics, severe economic crises, social revolts, harsh weather changes and natural disasters etc. When things got good - if they ever did - it seemed like the world was closer to unity. Not so surprisingly, most of the good came in direct response to the bad, with entire countries uniting to help out a smaller nation in need, technological and scientific breakthroughs and perhaps naively in the promises made by a series of politicians who for a split second seemed like they would be able to change the world.
The movies of 2011, more than before, focused on how all of the good eventually let us down, how racism, intolerance, war and corruption just might've won the battle.

In Meek's Cutoff - perhaps the most aggressive political commentary of 2011 - Kelly Reichardt questions the Obama administration's lack of direction. Her story of wandering pioneers might not seem like a straightforward "movie" in the sense that it never worries about being entertaining and has no regard for plot. However embedded in its desolated landscapes lies the greatest story never told: how people abandon everything precious to them for an ideal that might never materialize. Realizing these people are lost isn't as heartbreaking as the delusional nature of the man leading them (played with astonishing charisma by Bruce Greenwood) who is more keen on preserving his public image than on acknowledging his flaws and how he let his people down. Meek's Cutoff cleverly uses history to make a point out of the cyclical nature of our universe.

This cyclical nature is repeated in Drive a film that takes place in a Los Angeles that seems to have never moved past the Reagan era. A labyrinth of decay surrounded by neon lights, Nicolas Winding Refn's tale questions what happens when society has lost all signs of latent humanity. L.A. here becomes the ultimate symbol of disillusionment, a city where people once came to dream (there is nary a sign of Hollywood glamour, we only see the menial tasks performed by stuntmen and strippers) but now are in deep search of a hero.
That the hero they get is a morally ambiguous macho figure speaks more about how the icons of valor are thought of as primitive creatures that predate the times we live in.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo then gives us a hero(ine) that fits more in our times. Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) might not be Homer's idea of a savior, but in these times when corporations deal with our private information, she gets the Julian Assange badge of honor for "criminal heroism". When and how exactly did telling the truth and trying to make things right by way of immorality became a sign of courage might be a task more adequate for sociologists, but we'll take our salvation in any way it comes, right?

Although salvation makes no sense when thinking that a single epidemic might invalidate all of our moral codes. In Contagion we saw how an illness not only destroyed lives but shook survivors as well. What is the point in trying to preserve any signs of humanity when we commit the greatest acts of inhumanity against ourselves?
Steven Soderbergh's masterpiece was a chilling reminder that globalization is making us stronger only by giving us a false sense of unity, when in fact countries seem to wish they could erect walls to contain their own troubles without ever recurring to "friendly neighbor" behavior. That we see so many people in the movie trying so hard to contain the pandemic and have them fail so miserably is both horrifying and somehow relieving. Does it make sense that the end of times is then becoming the hedonistic poison of choice to so many people?

The Tree of Life wasn't without loss of illusion, in fact the entire premise circles around having a son realizing he'll never satisfy his father. On a larger scale, the film is also an essay through which Terrence Malick tries to satisfy a supreme power (the ultimate father figure) by trying to find the very essence that created him. It would be facile to blame daddy issues for all that's wrong in the world (despite what Freud would prefer) but The Tree of Life pulled off the ultimate hat trick by offering us a second chance, perhaps those who have faith will find solace in an afterlife. The rest of us are stuck down here mesmerized by the way in which our hopes reach for the sky only to crash with irreverent violence.

Drive ****

You'll have to go to PopMatters and read my review though.

Guys and Classic Dolls.

Head over to PopMatters and check out our list of the Best Male Performances of 2011. Since you're already there, also make sure to read my review for Design for Living.

Sheet-y Saturday: Best Posters of 2011

 Where we take a look at the year's best posters.

10. The Ides of March
How do you get two of the handsomest men in the world in the same poster without recurring to silly face offs and awkward floating heads? You throw in a clever nod to duality via one of the most notorious magazines of our times. If only the movie had played with this duality in the same way, it would've been a real stunner.

9. One Day

This truly unbelievable picture does justice to Henri Cartier-Bresson and the iconic "The Kiss" by Alfred Eisenstaedt, in how both of them seem to really have captured something unique in time. The synergy between Annie and Jim Sturgess in this picture is sexy, romantic and aches with something that resembles nostalgia. Their feet seem to be in movement, as if this kiss can only happen in this instant, because their feet are moving them somewhere else immediately. Extra points for the exact measure of tongue to make this tasteful and not tacky.

 8. Meek's Cutoff
The poster captures the single most breathtaking moment in the entire movie, which is a lot, coming from a movie where every scene demands to be paused and examined for their sheer beauty. Gotta love the fact that the illustrator alludes to both the era during which the movie takes place (the faded palette) and is also a wink to postmodernism.

7. Albert Nobbs

Simple. Straightforward. Concise. 

Works as a more effective art piece than the actual movie.

6. Drive

The font! The hot pink! The greasy look in Ryan Gosling's face! The vertical text!

Don't you just want to drop everything and go listen to synthpop the minute you see this poster?

5. Martha Marcy May Marlene

Like the cover of a 60s LP, the images are haunting and warm. We see the juxtaposition between the women (it's the same woman actually) and are reminded of summer haziness. The semi open mouth an invitation for a kiss, maybe? A song about to come out?

Then there's that male figure in the background. A lover? A threat? No other poster summed up its movie's mood and psychological dilemma better than this.

4. Shame

The covers are both repulsive and inviting.

The simple title feels more like an ironic proposal than an accusatory statement.

Are you in?

3. Melancholia
Like Millais' Ophelia, Lars von Trier's Justine looks at us from what looks like it will be her watery grave.
Kirsten Dunst's eyes seem fixed on her beholder but then we notice there is something reflecting on the upper right. It's the title planet set to crash against our own. Justine's intention then seems to change, she is no longer looking at us announcing her fate, she's lovingly looking towards the skies, accepting her new beginning. She's marrying the night, indeed.

2. Jane Eyre 
Haunting and creepy like a 19th century cameo, this poster best captured the phantasmagoric qualities of its source material and the elegance with which the film version updated it.

1. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
The teaser is movie star power at its best and rawest. Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara look at us directly, his arm over her as if trying to conquer Lisbeth Salander's intensity. Without even smirking her hand is on top of his arm, it is she who's in control. The final one-sheet took this concept to the next level, like Jane Eyre's, this poster also has something that resembles romantic melancholy. The story after all isn't merely about a tarnished journalist and the bisexual goth hacker, it's a deep love story about people coming together when they least expect it to. The darkness that surrounds them is nothing but a misstep. Like the haunting tagline reminds us, secrets only are revealed when their time arrives.

How about you? What were your favorite posters this year?

Short Takes: "The Ides of March" and "Rampart".

Oren Moverman was clever enough to cast his The Messenger star Woody Harrelson in Rampart: a character study that seems more obsessed with turning Woody's character into an iconic movie villain, than to actually study his character...

Set in 1999, just after the Rampart controversy sent the LAPD down a hole, the film has Harrelson play Dave Brown; a corrupt cop who has his way regardless of who he has to step on. This makes him a true movie monster and presents Harrelson with the difficult task of adding a human layer to a character that could easily become caricature. This he does beautifully; whether he's sucking on a woman's foot, beating a handicapped man or stealing from thieves, he adds a certain something that gives us a better idea of who this man might be and why he's struggling so much to preserve his decadent lifestyle.

What he doesn't give us, and this might be the screenplay's fault, is a look at what might've turned him into such a despicable creature. It's obviously not necessary to have something like this spelled out to you in a movie, but every character in Rampart feels like it was created specifically for the scenes they're in.

Woody does his best to elevate the movie from being a scenery-chewing fest but the truth is that all the rage in Dave results more frustrating than compelling.

One has to wonder why did George Clooney decide to direct and star in The Ides of March when he could've easily just ran for office. This film adaptation of Beau Willimon's Farragut North (which itself had been loosely inspired by Howard Dean's 200a campaign) works on an almost superficial level because it has a clear agenda, which doesn't allow its viewers to "think".
Clooney stars as Mike Morris, a Democratic candidate in the middle of a primary election that could have him become the next presidential candidate. Ryan Gosling plays Stephen Meyers, his loyal and cinematically idealistic junior campaign manager. When Meyers learns that Morris has a dark secret involving - of all things - an intern (played by Evan Rachel Wood) he has to decide whether to be loyal to his employer or to his morality. Which one wins isn't really important as much as it is to see Clooney execute a fine campaign ad for himself by reminding us that he will be the kind of man who, as his character says, believes in the religion of the US constitution.
By making his "villain" a Democrat, Clooney reassures us that no political affiliations will stand in the way of the common good and it's obvious that he feels best identified with Meyers (if he'd been younger he probably would've played him). Even if the film is extremely dull, Clooney has some truly inspired directorial moments (stylistic bookends, clever visual tricks, superb casting, you must see Marisa Tomei giving a delicious star turn here!) but more often than not he foregoes them to chase clichés that would work best in the insipid All the King's Men remake from a few years back, too bad he let his political interest come between him and the religion of filmmaking.

Grades:
Rampart **
The Ides of March **

Get the Lowdown on the BFI Film Festival!

London plays host to the British Film Institute (BFI) Film Festival every year. And every year the pick of the so-called ‘best’ new films to come out recently get special screenings as the biggest names in Hollywood descend on the English capital for a two-week movies extravaganza, which is currently in full flow. 

Week one saw the likes of Jade Law, Seth Rogen, Ralph Fiennes and Joseph Gordon-Levitt turn out to tread the red carpet. The premiere of Law’s new movie 360 got proceedings off and running, but of all the new films 2011 has yielded so far, this is not one that is likely to live long in the memory. That’s because the plot – a romantic drama involving 10 intertwined love stories – has, quite frankly, been done to death in recent years, although Anthony Hopkins does at least do his best to bring a touch of class to the film. 

Law may have stolen the limelight on the opening night, but it’s the combination of Rogen and Gordon-Levitt in 50/50 that has so far impressed most. The duo have been receiving gushing praise for their roles in the story of one man’s struggle to come to terms and stay alive after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. It’s poignant yet funny and fantastically uplifting. There are some who even think it could do well when the Golden Globes and Oscars are dished out. 

 And so we arrive at week two of the BFI Film Festival and all eyes are now on George Clooney and Tilda Swinton over the coming days when The Ides of March and We Need to Talk About Kevin respectively get an airing.
Clooney directs and stars in The Ides of March, a political thriller packed with intrigue lies and backstabbing. Clooney may be relatively new to this directing lark, but he seems to have got the hang of it already, while his acting skills remain as sharp as ever.
As for Swinton, her performance in We Need to Talk About Kevin, Lionel Shriver's award-winning novel, is so compelling that many are tipping it to be crowned best film at the BFI London Film Festival Awards on October 26, which is the climax of the cinematic festival. John C Reilly also shows his versatility as he and Swinton play parents with a troublesome relationship with their son, who embarks on a killing spree in a high school.

Battling it out with We Need to Talk About Kevin in the best film category is 360, The Deep Blue Sea, The Kid With A Bike and the much-anticipated Shame, the story of a 30-year-old addicted to sex from British director Steve McQueen. It’ll be a close call between Shame and We Need to Talk About Kevin for the coveted title, but the latter shades it for us.
Two people who already know they’ll walk away with silverware at the BFI Film Festival are David Cronenberg and Fiennes as the duo will both receive the BFI Fellowship for their sterling service to the film industry down the years. Cronenberg directed films such as the The Fly and History Of Violence, while Fiennes has appeared in a host of successful movies, including Schindler’s List and several of the Harry Potter franchise.

- This has been a special guest post by Vue.

Crazy, Stupid, Love. **

Director: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa

Cast: Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone

Analeigh Tipton, John Carroll Lynch, Jonah Bobo

Josh Groban, Kevin Bacon, Marisa Tomei

Despite how generic its title made it sound (just a bunch of adjectives and a noun thrown in together), Crazy, Stupid, Love. seemed promising because of the people who star in it and the men behind the camera. The film contains none of the loony excitement of Ficarra and Requa's I Love You Phillip Morris. which isn't a perfect movie by any means but still thrives with something that makes it feel truly alive. Of course, it's not like they have to repeat a style on every movie, that would certainly limit their artistic blooming, but their work in this film seems stilted to say the least.

The screenplay, written by Dan Fogelman, works as Magnolia lite; we meet several characters living in Los Angeles whose lives get intertwined and united by the universal subject of love.

Carell plays Cal Weaver, a sad-eyed man whose life turns upside down after his wife Emily (Moore) confesses she cheated with one of her co-workers (Bacon) and asks for a divorce.

Cal becomes an even more tragic figure and spends the nights away crying at a hip bar where he catches the eye of the womanizing Jacob Palmer (Gosling) who has just been rejected for the first time in his life by a young, lively lawyer called Hannah (Stone). Perhaps seeking to atone for the sin committed against his masculinity, Jacob decides to "Miyagi" Cal and turn him into a womanizer.

While it can be said that Cal and Jacob share the main plot, the peripheral stories around them are what truly make the film work better than it should.

Cal's son Robbie (Bobo) for example, plays perhaps the film's most romantic role as he engages in a battle to win the heart of his babysitter Jessica (the wide eyed Tipton whose smile evokes a young Shelley Duvall) who is 4 years older than him.

Perhaps the movie works best when it occurs as individual vignettes, say Cal's crazy one night stand with insane teacher Kate (Tomei playing a dignified version of batshit crazy) is joyous to say the least and the always fantastic Moore turns Emily's scenes of quiet sorrow into complete acting courses.

Yet as it travels from Jacob's James Bond-ish house to Hannah's own disastrous affair with a sadsack colleague (played with enough douche baggery by Groban to make us root for Jacob) we realize that Requa and Ficarra can not, for the life of them, juggle smartly with so many characters.

The film feels as if they forget about some of their characters and then upon remembering their existence try to make them do something funny, cute or silly, as if to say "hey I'm still here". The plot has some serious time conundrums and you might find yourself surprised to realize that one year has supposedly gone by in the movie when it ends. Even if the performances are charming (Emma Stone's giant laughter is deemed to overthrow the reign of Julia Roberts') the film never feels particularly crazy, stupid or even romantic.

During the most inspired sequence in the running time, all the characters come together through a divine intervention that would've made Moliere giggle, during a single moment the entire film comes together perfectly and its theme of universality clicks as we realize that yeah, we're all on the same boat when it comes to lámour.

However the film keeps on going after this and the spark of magic it obtained is reduced to a series of preachy "we all can change and be forgiven" moments where once again the pain of individuality becomes too tedious to watch.

Sheet-y Saturday.

Where we take a look at posters for upcoming features.

Unlike the rest of the planet I don't want to have Ryan Gosling's babies but I'm loving the old-school masculinity he brings to this new poster for Drive.

Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn who won the mise-en-scene prize at Cannes the film is a throwback to B movies and macho films so the poster embodies this effectively. Gotta love the unashamedly tacky pink font and Gosling's dirty look. I wasn't a fan of Refn's last film but this one seems quite promising.

Is this really the best they could come up with? They should've at least tried to do something like the cup and two faces psych trick. This is just so blah.

Kudos to whoever decided Keira Knightley's delicate frame looked so big it seems she can kick Viggo and Fassy's asses.

What's your take on these? Crazy to see Keira kick some Freudian ass?

Sheet-y Saturday.

Where we take a look at posters for upcoming features.

What is it about George Clooney and posters that just screams perfection? This one-sheet for his newest directorial effort not only borrows ideas from Time magazine iconic covers, it also creates a creepily attractive creature half-Clooney, half-Gosling that tempts and scares us.

Have you seen the promotional shot for the film that shows Clooney in an Obama-esque poster? This movie sure brims with promise, doesn't it?

Sheet-y Saturday.

Where we take a look at posters for upcoming features.

Well, gimme some, some, some o' this in a bun.

Aren't these two just truly gorgeous? This movie promises to be a superb comedy (just look at the cast!) and even if the poster isn't especially memorable, it takes a cue from the Love and Other Drugs school of "if you got 'em, flaunt 'em".

Now this, we probably won't even get to see but the poster is a work of art. It gets you curious and makes you want to know what¿s going on with the faceless man, the classic font and the overall feeling of melancholy transmitted by the image.

Then you see it's from the man who directed The Death of Mr. Lazarescu and things just click.

What are some of your favorite Romanian movies?

Blue Valentine ***

Director: Derek Cianfrance

Cast: Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams

Mike Vogel, Faith Wadlyka, John Doman, Ben Shenkman

Blue Valentine is essentially a twee remake of Revolutionary Road, they both explore the courtships and eventual destructions of two marriages.

In this case it's Dean (Gosling) and Cindy (Williams) who rushed into marriage after an intense love affair and eventually come to terms with the fact that they've become strangers to each other.

The film is edited so that we see the past and present at the same time. Through some ingenious cuts we see the intensity of their initial romance and the decay with which their marriage begins to crumble years later.

This technique, while aesthetically pleasing, provides the film with its major flaw, given that the audience immediately realizes that this was never going to lead to anywhere good.

Their romance is based on lies, youthful inexperience and a life altering twist that takes away some of the 70s-style realism director Cianfrance seems to be aiming for.

It doesn't take an expert to realize that their relationship was doomed from the moment they met, yet the film naively tries to surprise us and them, into discovering how bad things can go from one moment to another.

The editing therefore becomes like a way of torture and Cianfrance reveals a deep pessimism about the idea of love that we have learned from the movies.

His deconstruction of film romance is well intentioned but fails on the grounds that he eventually makes the plot feel absolutely redundant.

The film then is rescued by its two leading actors who give masterful performances. Williams infuses Cindy with a dislikability that few actresses would play with.

As a young adult we see her live joyfully and give in to the irresponsible delights of discovering love for the very first time. It's a pleasure to see Williams turn Cindy into someone who should know better but chooses to go for the fairy tale.

When we see the way she's turned out to be a few years later, Williams has aged in front of our eyes. Her joyful Cindy has become a bitter, resentful woman who is in so much pain that we can almost see it pour out of her skin.

Gosling first plays Dean like the Prince Charming every indie girl dreams of: he plays the ukulele, wears fantastic clothes and has an easy job that helps him pay the bills without compromising his artistic potential.

Later we see he has become a pathetic little creature who loves his wife so much that he's forgotten to love himself. Watching Gosling and Williams play off each other is a delight and their most dramatic scenes ache with a tender acidity that makes us ignore Cianfrance's intention to take this simple tale out of proportions.

Blue Valentine suffers because like its characters it feels like a jaded movie that should've known better. Williams and Gosling provide it with the bleeding heart it needs and resents.

Sheet-y Saturday.

Where we take a look at posters for upcoming features.


Everyone and their mom have discussed the poster for the new version of Jane Eyre and truth be told they have every reason to do so.
A wonderfully rich mix of using images, text and color to deliver a message, this simple cameo-like one sheet really makes me want to see the movie.
Mia Wasikowska seems to be out of The Piano and Michael Fassbender's gorgeous face forming like a mist of sorts in her makes for a great way to highlight the ghostly in the romance that fills this story.


I have to confess I am not a fan of either Ryan Gosling or Michelle Williams (I don't hate them either or anything) but I'm really curious about what the hype surrounding this movie is.
I love how raw the picture is and I am really curious about that NC-17 rating!

You dying to see any of these romances?

Sheet-y Saturday.

Where we take a look at posters for upcoming features.


Slumdog Millionaire pretty much killed my excitement about anything related to Danny Boyle, at least for a while. See how smug they make him sound with the whole "Academy Award winning" thing when for this movie I would've loved to have him mentioned as "the director of Trainspotting and Sunshine".
The movie itself makes me lazy but this poster is superb. The colors are terrific and the hourglass figure is so subtly paired with the tagline that you might miss it at first.


I have no idea what this movie will be about and I probably won't have any interest in watching it once I do.
But aren't these two just beautiful?

Excited for any of these? Do you too feel Oscar killed Danny Boyle's cool factor?

Lars and the Real Girl ***

Director: Craig Gillespie
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer,
Paul Schneider, Patricia Clarkson, Kelli Garner, Nancy Beatty

"You are who you love. Not what loves you."
Charlie Kaufman

Lars Lindstrom (Gosling) is a 27 year old who lives in the garage of the house he shared with his recently deceased father. The main house is inhabited by his brother Gus (Schneider) and his wife Karin (Mortimer) who worry about Lars' constant loneliness.
One day Lars knocks at their door to introduce them to his girlfriend Bianca, a human size sex doll he purchased after a guy from work showed him the website.
Not knowing how to react to this, Gus and Karin seek help from Dagmar (Clarkson), the town's psychologist who tells them to let Lars exorcise whatever demons he has and play along with his delusion.
Before long they have also seeked help from all the townspeople, who are so fond of Lars that they follow along and treat Bianca like a living human being.
And then before our very eyes, a movie about a sex toy turns into a beautiful romance about how being different has nothing to do with right or wrong.
To avoid making a story that would fall into Farrelly brothers territory, the filmmakers and cast tap into a state of utter sincerity that make everything plausible.
Gosling's performance is a thing of pure beauty, he gives Lars a soft voice, a heartbreaking smile and a blink now and then, which seem to give him confidence that he isn't dreaming.
Lars is a man who has suffered much and is so delicate that human touch causes pain, which is why Bianca, who he can manipulate at his will, becomes the perfect companion. With any other actor you would've doubted Lars' real intentions and expect some sort of betrayal after you trusted in him, but with Gosling you find yourself within the character.
Mortimer is particularly moving as she evolves from a nosey young woman into someone who has found intense love for others within her impending motherhood.
Schneider makes his best to try and play the skeptical, proud older brother, but he can never hide the pain and guilt that make him feel responsible for his little brother.
And while everyone in the ensemble is terrific, Beatty as the wise and brutally honest Mrs. Gruner steals every scene she's in.
It is she who reminds the church elders of their flaws in order to let them accept Lars for who he is.
Gillespie's ethereal direction avoids falling into extreme indie territory and all of his elements recall the places where Frank Capra set his tales of problematic, but ultimately hopeful redemption.
But the film would be nothing without Nancy Oliver's detailed, wonderful screenplay. She makes you believe in fantasy beyond the sexual connotation originally intended for Bianca.
Her script, a product just as much as the doll, reminds us that life constantly shows us new perspectives on even the worst things.
Her fantasy extends into a time and place where people not only help each other, but in the realm of acceptance, company and understanding also have become to deeply love each other.
If a plastic doll can move you to tears and inspire compassion, just imagine what the grumpy downstairs neighbor might do!