And the work which has become a genre unto itself shall be called: 'Cowboy Bebop'

Over break, I rewatched the anime series, Cowboy Bebop, and once again I was incredibly impressed by it. I wrote about it after I finished watching it here, but I feel like I got even more out of it on the re-view. Much like Volume 2 of The Invisibles, it's a deceptively simple show, that gets you hooked with cool visuals and music, and then leaves you reeling at the end, where the very ideals that it seemed to espouse earlier in the series are revealed as something that we should definitely not aspire to.

One of the most interesting things about the series to me is the fact that it's essentially flawless. Whereas American shows evolve and change as they go along, with new characters and plots being developed over the course of the series, this series either was, or seems to have been, perfectly planned out from the beginning. In the opening credits, we can see images that we won't be given the context of until the final episode. Spike's backstory, as well as Faye and Jet's, is all there from the beginning, it's just that we don't find out about it until the series progresses. Much like The Office, the creators of the series seem perfectly in control of what they're doing, and each element seems to tie into the ending somehow. Even though I think Twin Peaks and Buffy are better shows, they are definitely flawed, and have lapses of logic that this series lacks. There's no confusion about character motivations or emotional arcs, it's all perfectly laid out. That's the advantage of a limited series, and the advantage of knowing where you're going from the beginning.

For most of the first season, the characters on the show are pretty emotionally closed off. They go around doing the cases and never seem to really be in any danger, or even particularly involved in what's going on. The cool music is playing, they fight some people, if they get the bounty, good, if not, whatever. Only in Ballad of Fallen Angels do we get hints of what's to come, not just plot wise, but also in terms of character relations. After Spike falls from the church, we find out that Faye has saved him and nursed him back to health, thus making her a parallel figure to Julia, as evidenced by the flashback structure at the end of the episode. This episode is the first time in the series that we find out that Spike can be hurt, and we see a foe who is too much for him, not to mention the fact that Faye also gets into serious trouble.

However, this episode is something of an anomaly, mostly stuff develops under the surface. As the season goes on, the Bebop gradually forms into something of a family. Whereas it was once just Jet and Spike, soon Ein, Faye and Ed join up, making the ship into something of a family, with Jet firmly in the father role, taking care of a little kid, and two teenagers, or grown up children, Faye and Spike, who basically do what they want, and ignore the logical advice that he gives them. It's played pretty much implicitly, but by the end of the season, they, with the exception of Spike, are all much closer than they would ever admit to each other. Spike remains emotionally removed from his new "family," a trend that continues as the series goes along.

The first season ends with a two part episode, Jupiter Jazz, which brings things back to Spike's past and the show's "mythology," but the B plot in this episode is just as important. First, this is an incredible episode. The music is probably the best in the series, particularly in Faye's story, when she goes to a film noir inspired bar, and hears Gren's saxophone solos. It's an incredibly moody sequence, as she sits there, alone at the bar, very Blade Runner. The other great musical cue is the music box song, and the song at the end of the two parter. Other than the final two episodes, this two parter is really the highlight of the series.

Everything is set in motion when Faye leaves the Bebop, and steals the money out of the safe. This is not uncommon behavior, she's known to come and go on her own, but Jet suspects that something is wrong, and says they should go look for her. Spike instead decides to follow a mysterious lead about the reappearance of Julia, and goes off to pursue his past.

Jet could easily have let Faye go, but instead he suspects she may be in danger, and as a result goes after her. What he doesn't know is the reason that Faye left, which is revealed in the scene with Gren, when she says she is afraid she's getting too close to them, and wants to leave before she reaches a point where losing them would be painful. While we don't know it at the time, the reason for Faye's evasiveness stems from the loss of Matsumoto that came right after she was removed from cryo freeze, three years prior. She was stuck with an enormous debt, which made her fear staying in one place, becasue staying in one place could lead to her getting forced to pay up for her past. Faye's debt is more than just a physical one, because she does not know what happened to her in the past, she is constantly on the run, and unable to settle down. She avoids any meaningful relationships and instead just drifts along. The crew of the Bebop are the people she has been the closest with since Matsumoto, and the thought that she might really care about them frightens her away.

However, she winds up in trouble when Gren shackles her, and locks her in his apartment. Over the course of the two episodes, we see Jet doing detective work, and eventually he finds her, and brings her back home to the Bebop. He says that he went after her because of the money in the safe, which she reveals was only $20,000, a very small amount, certainly not worth all the effort he went through. While neither of them says it outright, it's pretty obvious that Jet went after Faye because he cares about her, and did not want her to leave their ship. Faye knows this, and so does Jet, and at the end of the episode, they share a moment and grow closer. This paves the way for a different type of ship in season two.

On the other hand, we've got Spike, who is also running away from his "family," and for a similar reason as Faye did. Spike too has unresolved issues in his past, and rather than trying to live in the now, he's just biding his time, and waiting for an opportunity to find Julia and kill Vicious. In this episode he hears about something called code name Julia, and rushes off to investigate it. He finds Vicious, but gets shot, and misses his chance to find out about his past. In the second part of the episode, he finds Gren dying and tows him into space and sends him off to Titan. That's one of the most beautiful images of the entire series, a great moment. However, this episode is typical of Spike's behavior throughout the series. He shows no concern for Faye, his current comrade, but is willing to do anything to track down Julia. This is something that's a parallel to the end of the series, when Spike once again passes up the good things he has in the present to go after something he had lost.

The second chunk of the series is largely about coming to terms with the past and finding your place in the world. While this was also present in season one, it comes to the fore here, as the stakes are raised and the differences between the characters become much more apparent. While there's still a lot of screentime devoted to being cool, it's no longer really the focus of the series. The series takes on some heavier issues. All four characters are confronted with people from their past, and are forced to choose between lives they once had and a life on the Bebop.

The person who has the easiest choice is Jet. In the episode Black Dog Serenade, Jet goes after the terrorist who was supposedly responsible for Jet losing his arm. However, as the episode proceeds, he finds out that it was in fact his partner who did it, and Jet's partner kills Udai Taxim, and then allows himself to be killed by Jet. Earlier in the episode, Jet had rejected an offer to return to detective work, and when he kills his partner, he basically rejects the life he once had. The person he thought was his best friend had betrayed him, but rather than linger on it, Jet returns to the Bebop and firmly commits to his life there.

Back in season one, Jet had confronted an old girlfriend, and rather than trying to keep her with him, he let her go off to a new life. This combined with fighting Udai Taxim, creates a story that's parallel to Spike's relationship with Julia and Vicious. Jet was able to let go of his past, as shown when he tosses the watch into the water, and was not consumed by revenge. Spike cannot let go like Jet did, and as a result he can never be happy on the Bebop. In the second season, we see Jet getting closer to both Ed and Faye, and really notice him as the father of the ship. He cooks the meals and always brings his "family" together for dinner. Even if they don't have much food, he puts in an effort, and makes the best of the situation he's in, and in this way, his cooking parallels the way he lives his life. He may not have been given gourmet ingredients, but he sees Faye, Ed, Spike and Ein and lets them be his family and the people he cares about. Jet is the character who's most secure in his situation and there's never any doubt that the Bebop is the place he wants to be.

Unlike every other character on the show, Ed does not have a tragic past holding her back. She is not trying to get back to a place she once was, she's more of a drifter, and the Bebop is just a stop on the way. For most of the series, Ed doesn't seem to have any objective, but in the episode "Hard Luck Woman," we find out a bit about Ed's past, and the fact that she has a father. In the episode, Ed goes to a convent, where she had stayed for a while before going to the Bebop, and there, finds a message from her father. So, she puts out a bounty, which draws the Bebop to her father.

Now, Ed's story sort of contradicts what I consider to be the point of the series, the idea that trying to get back to the past is a bad idea, and that the people you're with and care about become your family. Ed does much the same thing as Spike, but it works out for her. I think the thing that makes Ed and Spike different is that Ed is happy whever she goes, and she feels that she has done enough on the Bebop. She may be going after her father, but she's also just moving on to something different. Much like with the convent, she enjoyed living there, but the time came to move on. I'm not sure whether Ed is going to her father, though that's what's implied, but maybe it's just to find out what happened, much like Faye needed to do in the same episode. She needs to confront her past for herself, and then make a decision. But, Ed has much higher hopes than any of the other characters, her spirit has not been broken. I see a bright future for Ed.

The second season sees the start of a new major arc, one that parallels what happens with Spike, and that is the tale of Faye's past. Over the course of three episodes, we find out what was only hinted at in season one, that Faye was alive roughly in our present, but got in a crash, and was cryo-frozen, only to awaken in 2068, deeply in debt, with only Matsumoto as a friend. Matsumoto worked at the cryo-freeze place, and says he fell in love with her while she was in cryo. She completely trusts him, and is in love with him, until he's "killed," at which point she is put further into debt, and begins to drift aimlessly, which she does until the Bebop picks her up.

What's important about Faye's story is that, like Spike, she is held back by her past. As we see in 'Jupiter Jazz,' she is afraid of committing fully to her life on the Bebop, because she's scared that she'll get betrayed again, like she was by Matsumoto. The only person she can remember who ever cared about her turned out to be just using her, and she has committed to never getting used like that again. It's notable that in 'My Funny Valentine,' when she's telling her story to Ein, and finds out that Spike was listening, she's annoyed. She doesn't want them to know about her past, or maybe she's scared that telling them would mean she'd really have to confront what happened to her, rather than run away from it more.

In 'Speak like a Child,' we see Faye once again running away, this time when a mysterious package arrives for her. She assumes that it's somehow related to her debt, but it is in fact a beta tape, with images from her past. I just have to give props to this episode, for the hilarious riff on beta vs. VHS, which would seemingly have no place in the story, but is pulled off quite well. But, that's not really the core of the episode. We see Faye at the dog tracks, throwing her money away, the same place she was when we first met her back in 'Honky Tonk Women.'

One of the subtly developed things throughout the series is the relationship between Faye and Jet. I don't consider it a romantic relationship, though he does love her, and she probably loves him as well, and possibly, in the space after the series, they could become romantically involved. However, in the series itself, I see it more as two people who were emotionally closed up, allowing themselves to be close with someone else for the first time in a long time. In 'Speak Like a Child,' Jet is at first annoyed and very casual about the tape, but when he sees Faye is on it, viewing the tape becomes a mission. He's angry at Spike for destroying the machine, and then goes to Earth to track down a Beta player. He sees this as an opportunity to help Faye, and it's his mission to do that.

When Faye sees the tape, she gets an insight into her past that evaded her for a long time. I love the section where she's cheering for herself, and talking about all the things she hopes she has, the whole series is about this longing for a better past, while drifting aimlessly through the present, and it's jarring to see young Faye, who clearly has a lot of hope about her future. She's not resigned to a miserable existence, and I think seeing that tape is part of what starts Faye's turnaround. After this episode, she becomes more concerned about her comrades, and about making her life better.

In 'Pierrot La Fou,' we see her expressing real concern for Spike, and ultimately saving him at the end of the episode. Because they are so close and essentially family, she goes to help him, even though she says she won't, and that's signifficant. 'Pierrot La Fou' also raises the stakes, Spike is no longer invulnerable, and his near death experience there is a rehearsal for the end of the series.

'Hard Luck Women' is a milestone episode for Faye, in the same way that 'Real Folk Blues' is for Spike. It is here that she is confronted with her past, and forced to choose between building a new life in the future or trying to get back to what could have been. She meets the old woman, who knew her years before, and again, runs away. She is perhaps afraid of finally finding out who she was, because doing that would mean she'd no longer have an excuse for the way she lives her life. However, after running away, she returns to where her house used to be, and in an absolutely dazzling sequence, we see Faye of different ages running up the hill to her majestic house, only to flash to the present and see that it's nothing but an empty lot, a pile of dirt. Faye draws a box in the dirt where her room used to be, and sits in it, and that's where the episode ends. So, Faye has finally found her past, and discovered that it's all gone.

This leads to the critical moment of change for Faye, that comes in 'The Real Folk Blues,' when she returns to the Bebop, and says that she had no other place to go, by extension revealing that they are her family now, and that she's not just passing through, the Bebop is her home. Much like Jet did, Faye has confronted her past and found her home. She is comfortable with them, and opens up more at the end of the series.

Probably my favorite scene in the entire series is when Faye finally opens up to Spike, and in tears, begs him not to go fight Vicious. It's notable because it's the only time we ever see any of the crew emotionally open up, and really say what they feel. Jet does not want Spike to go, but he tells Spike this by saying it's not worth throwing his life away, rather than saying I really care about you, don't go. Faye does just this, she finally opens up to Spike, and tells him that she got her memories back and it didn't make a difference, because she was already home, on the Bebop. The brilliance of this scene is the way it completes both Faye and Spike's character arcs. Both of them had spent the whole series trying to get back to their pasts, and resolve the issues surrounding the past. Faye finally did, and after finding her past, she realized that the home she was trying to get back to didn't exist, it was really the Bebop, where she'd been all along. The past doesn't matter, but she can't convince Spike of that, and he's off to make the same mistake she made, and run away from the people who really care about him. Faye sees an earlier version of herself in Spike, one who will also fail where she once did.

There's speculation that Faye doesn't want Spike to leave because she's in love with him. That's possible, but I think it's more likely that she just sees him as part of the ship family, and doesn't want him to leave for that reason. They have grown close, and she does not want him to die.

After Spike leaves, Faye and Jet are left on the ship together. Now, earlier in 'The Real Folk Blues,' we heard Spike talking about a woman who made him feel alive again, and Jet clearly is thinking of Faye when he says this. So, Jet has been reinvigorated by his time with Faye, and I'd imagine that the two of them go on as Spike and Jet did, back in the beginning of the series. When Jet thinks Faye has gone at the end of 'Hard Luck Woman,' he eats a lot of eggs, and to Jet, food is synonymous with human feeling. So, the eating is an attempt to get a piece of himself back that he has lost when Faye and Ed left. Then, in 'The Real Folk Blues I,' we see Jet and Spike alone in a bar, drinking and talking about how much they miss Ed and Faye. Faye has realized where her place is, and that will make Jet happier than anything else. After the initial sadness over Spike's death, I'd imagine they'll be quite the team.

Finding your home is what the series is about, and that's even reflected in a very small side story in 'The Real Folk Blues I,' the part where we see the host of Big Shot and his mother. His mother is sitting on a bench in the airport, angry because her son hasn't come to pick her up, and she says she doesn't want to be a hindrance to him, if he's not even going to pick her up, she's very angry. However, then we see her son, and it turns out that she has been waiting in the wrong place. It's not a problem for him to be with her, he wants her there, and this makes both of them happy. They've found their home, and that's together.

For Spike, finding his home is much more difficult because it's a place that doesn't exist anymore. For most of the first season, we see Spike as pretty much an invulnerable, very cool guy, the character most representative of the show's jazz aesthetic. Nothing phases him, and he's always slightly removed from the action. Only when we see him encounter someone from his past does he become emotionally connected to what's going on. The first occurrence of this is in 'Ballad of Fallen Angels,' which sees Spike emotionally present, and is also the first time Spike is physically injured. In this episode, we gets hints of Spike's past, during the falling from the church montage, an absolutely incredible sequence. At the end of this sequence, for the first time, we see doubling between Faye and Julia, the two women in his life. Spike imagines himself being cared for by Julia, but when he wakes up, he finds out it's Faye.

What does this tell us? First, it's Spike quite literallly living in a dream. As he talks about at the end of the series, with his eyes, he's spend most of his life in this dreamlike haze, and this is a great example of it. He's not connected with what's happening to him in the present, he's more involved in this memory of Julia, and that ties intoo the end of the series when, rather than staying with Faye and Jet, he goes off after something he lost and can never find again, this memory of what he once had.

The next big thing for Spike is 'Jupiter Jazz,' where he again chooses to go after something from his past, rather than their current comrade, Faye. Over the course of the second season, we see Spike becoming more and more reckless, and gets into more dangerous situations. In 'Wild Horses,' he's almost killed, and doesn't seem to care. In 'Pierrot La Fou,' he goes after Pierrot, despite having been defeated by him earlier, and against the advice of Faye. He doesn't consider what's practical, instead he follows a desire for revenge and an outdated moral code. Because Pierrot beat him, Spike cannot stand to let him go, he must defeat this foe in battle. This tendency is parodied in the brilliant 'Cowboy Funk,' where Spike meets someone who's just as stubborn as himself, Cowboy Andy. In the end, it's not even about fighting the terrorist bomber, it's about showing Cowboy Andy that Spike is in fact that the better cowboy, even if that means allowing a building to blow up.

We've seen Spike's stubbornness, and the damage he's been taking, but it doesn't all hit home until 'The Real Folk Blues,' where all the pieces of Spike's past that have been developing over the course of the series finally fall into place. We find out that Spike faked his death to escape the syndicate, and hoped to leave with Julia, but Vicious stopped Julia from meeting him, and held her hostage since. For Spike, faking his death has become in some respects a real death, he cut himself off emotionally, almost putting his life on hold, waiting for Julia to return. He doesn't make an effort to connect with others in the present, because he can only remember being alive in the past.

Spike finally does meet Julia, but the past that kept him alive now comes back and before they can even really spend time together, Julia is killed by the syndicate. For Spike, this is devestating because the one person he was living for, the only thing keeping alive is now dead. This ties into what the Indian guy says, when he talks about stars supporting each other, and if one star dies another might also. Spike goes back to the Bebop, but only to say good bye. He lets Jet serve him one last meal, and Jet knows that he's probably going to die. Jet says it's not worth doing this for a dead woman, but Spike says he's doing it to find out if he's alive. Spike has been dead so long, the only way he thinks he can return is to confront the person who "killed" him before. Jet understands Spike's code, and respects what he has to do, even though he clearly thinks it's the wrong decision, and if he had his way, Spike would stay on the ship, because even though they fight sometimes, Jet and Spike are very close, and the loss of Spike will be tough to take. Still, Jet never comes out and says what he's feeling.

Faye does, she opens up to Spike and for the first time, the two of them share everything with each other. Faye, who has resolved the issues with her past, begs Spike not to go, but just like Faye had to go to the house, Spike feels he needs to go to Vicious. Spike here says that he's always had one eye in the past, the physical manifestation of Spike's unwillingness to fully devote himself to the people on the Bebop. Even though he missed Ed and Faye when they left, it wasn't in the same way that Jet did. Spike is a drifter, while Jet is someone who can have a home and be happy with it. But, back to the Faye scene. Spike rejects Faye's good advice here, and in doing so, rejects the home that he has on the Bebop. Faye realized that the Bebop is the only place she can go back to, it is her home, not this place she vaguely remembers from the past. Spike can't make that realization, he still sees the Bebop as a stop along the way. That's the difference between them, Faye does find her home, Spike never does. That's why Vicious says that Spike will come to him, because he now has nowhere else to go.

So, Spike goes to Vicious, and in one of the definitive action sequences of all time, takes out a bunch of syndicate operatives. He gets to Vicious, they fight, and both die. It's fitting that this trio, Julia, Spike and Vicious, should all end up dead, because they were all already gone to some extent, it was only the physical body that was carrying on. Without Julia, life is meaningless for both Spike and Vicious, so they allow themselves to fight to the death.

The end of the show demonstrates the futility of revenge, but that's a rather obvious lesson. The more important idea it presents is the idea that Spike, the cool, hip, hero of the show was in fact horribly misguided in his attempt to get revenge. There's no idea that this is a noble sacrifice, something that had to be done. Instead, it's selfish, Spike has abandoned his family, the people who love him, as much as Julia ever did, in favor of once again trying to reach for something that isn't there, and now that Julia is dead, can never be again. What does killing Vicious accomplish? Nothing, it won't destroy the syndicate permanently, and it doesn't give Spike a new start. It's Spike's old fashioned morality, the feeling that he can't let someone one up him that drives him to do this, it's purely selfish.

However, it may have been something he had to do. Spike was so damaged, unlike Faye, he may never have realized that his place was on the Bebop. If he had stayed, he may have become more depressed and detached from the world. He was ready to die before Julia died, so with Julia dead, he'd certainly be even more willing to go. In the end, as the song over the end credits says, Spike finally was free of his past, and with the death of Spike and Vicious, we see the end of an outdated moral code, that says you have to seek revenge. Jet lets the man who took his arm go, while Spike can never forgive Vicious. Jet lives, while Spike dies.

It's notable that the series, which at first idolizes Spike, at the end disapproves of what he does. Audience sympathy is definitely with Faye and Jet at the end, or at least mine was. I was really annoyed that Spike went after Vicious and let himself die, when he's got people who really care about him right there. This disapproval of Spike is a huge change from the beginning of the series, where we see Spike as this impossibly cool guy, who never gets hurt, and can never be phased. At first, you'd think Spike's lifestyle is what the creators are espousing, but at the end it's far from it. There's a shift from valuing emotional detachment and cool, to valuing emotional connections, and concern. It's subtly done, and doesn't really hit you until that scene with Faye, but it's there the whole time. To me, Spike is someone you are in awe of at first, but as the series goes on, you realize all his flaws, the calm center that is Jet becomes a much more admirable character.

The song at the end, which talks about finally being free, it's not just about Spike. Jet is free of his emotional restrictions, and may be able to have a deep and meaningful relationship with Faye. Faye is free of her emotional "debt," and the burden of her past. She is ready to start moving towards the future. The Bebop will carry on, without Spike, because while Faye and Jet dealt with their past and found their home, it's something Spike could never do. Rather than living in the present, he kept reaching for an idealized past, and in this show, the longer a character lives in the past, the shorter their future.

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On Music

I was listening to some Beatles recently, the albums Sgt. Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour. What struck me about these was the way they were incredibly experimental, and yet extremely popular. These albums were breaking new musical ground, but rather than doing it in obscure genres, they worked with songs that were easy to get behind, and enjoy, either as just catchy pop songs, or as a work of art. I could almost compare it to someone like Quentin Tarantino, who's making really personal, arty films, that are also easily enjoyable by a mass audience.

When you compare The Beatles to rock today, most notably radio successful rock, what immediately comes to mind is the fact that The Beatles is so much more pop. The most popular bands on the radio are either pop punk, which I just don't enjoy, and certainly doesn't aspire to be anything more than a catchy riff, and a decent chorus, or angry rock, from people like Linkin Park or System of a Down. Angry rock is probably my least favorite genre of music. You're successful musicians, what have you got to be so angry about? But, that's not even my main problem. It's more the fact that it just doesn't sound good. It sounds harsh and nasty, whereas music, even dark songs, should have some beauty in them. So much of radio rock today has no beauty.

The Beatles had really beautiful songs that did rock, but also were successful on an artistic level. They were more ambitious than any popluar band before or since. Which isn't to say that they're the greatest band of all time, though a good argument could be made, it's just that the great music being made today, and what's popular isn't in line.

On a semi-related note, something that really bothers me is that popular music today is basically two genres. We've got rock and we've got hip hop/r&b. I love all kinds of music, and listen to a wide variety of stuff, but I often find myself wanting an even bigger variety. One of my favorite albums of all time is Lovage: Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By, a fabulous album of lounge/trip hop songs that is also completely unique from anything else out there, except perhaps the song "I've Been Thinking" on Automator's new Handsome Boy Modeling School album. That song and the album are an example of an updated version of the sort of songs that were popular in the pre-rock era, singer driven, but surrounded by interesting instruments, just really cool songs, and notable, in the fact that they're not guitar driven. Ever since the creation of rock and roll back in the 1950s, the vast majority of popular music has been guitar driven. Now, there's the exception of hip hop, but that's its own thing, that I'll touch on later.

Because everything is guitar driven, it's tougher for people to adapt to an album like Lovage. It has choruses, but rather than instrumental hooks, it has bass lines, and instrumental samples to construct the melody. Lovage has a level of sonic experimentation that only the best rock can match. You don't know what to expect from song to song because The Automator throws a variety of beats at you. When rock took over, the use of different instruments, other than the guitar, generally fell out of favor.

Now, there is electronic music, and I do love it, I love the combination of electronic with different real instruments the most. Electronic stuff is just another resource, and the best bands take advantage of everything. One of the reasons I love The Polyphonic Spree is the vast variety of instruments they work with. You get a great variety of sound from them, and it makes them really interesting to listen to.

I guess what I'm saying is, don't just rely on guitars, make songs that use all sorts of instruments, and don't be limited by the dictates of a musical genre. The Beatles certainly weren't.

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Top Actresses

When looking at film, I usually look at the director. I would call a movie David Lynch's Mulholland Drive, Wong Kar-Wai's 2046 or Richard Linklater's School of Rock. I consider the director the author of the movie, and the one person most responsible for creating the film. However, there are some other people who are also critical, and can completely change the way the director's vision is put into practice, and these people are called actors. A really good actor can take a bad movie and make it good, or a good movie and make it great. Witness Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Carribean. This is a servicable action movie, but his performance as Jack just owns, and makes the rest of the movie so much better.

So, here's some of my favorite actresses. Not coincidentally, a lot of them have worked with my favorite directors. I think a big part of liking an actor/actress for me is their choice of scripts, because if you're doing great acting in a bad movie, I might notice it, but if you're doing it in a great movie, I'll definitely pick up on it.

Julianne Moore - Her relationship with Paul Thomas Anderson has given us two great characters, but she does great work in pretty much every role I've seen her in. As part of the Magnolia ensemble, she plays a dislikable character, but makes her human, and understandable, even in the midst of crisis. She's great in The Hours, as a 50s housewife, desperate to escape the confines of her suburban existence. She has probably the toughest role in the film, having to spend almost all her time acting with a kid, and she pulls it off.

Naomi Watts - First off, her performance in Mulholland Drive is one of the most awe inspiring performances ever. The audition scene, where she goes from goofy 50s character to brilliant actress, the change in character between the first and second half, all the while staying on one emotional arc. She gives the movie its heart, the thing that Lynch's very similar Lost Highway lacks. Just watch her in Club Silencio, completely silent, but her face tells you everything you need to know. 21 Grams is another great performance, again in dark and tormented mode. Her recent role in I Heart Huckabee's was more comedic, and she excelled there too. The bizarre ads, the bonnet, great stuff.

Natalie Portman - Obviously, being in Star Wars doesn't hurt her in terms of gaining my appreciation, but acting wise, the Star Wars films are by far her least work. Even though it was ten years ago, and she's done a lot since, she's never topped the brilliance of her work in Leon: The Professional. The relationship between Leon and Mathilda is one of the most interesting in film, and it really affects me emotionally. Her work in Cold Mountain was the highlight of the movie, and Garden State was her best performance since Leon. In Garden State, she was so full of life, she was the energy in the movie. Closer was more great work, and I'm really psyched for her slate next year, which includes Episode III and V For Vendetta. Throw in Mars Attacks! and Heat, and she's already got one of the best resumes in the business.

Maggie Cheung - She's only done a couple of movies in English, but that doesn't preclude her from being a great actress in my eyes, and if you've seen In the Mood For Love, you'll know she's brilliant. That's one of the great subtle performances, with each gesture seemingly perfetly calculated to convey the feelings of loss and longing that she has. She's great in Hero as well, once again teaming with Tony Leung. Despite dying so many times in the movie, each one still feels emotionally relevant. She steals Ashes of Time, with a wordless performance that is the emtional centerpiece of the movie. And in 2046, just the glimpse of her brings back a rush of emotions. I'd love to see her do some work over here, since she speaks great English, and is unquestionably one of the best actresses working in the world today.

Nicole Kidman - Of all the people on this list, I'd have to say that my favorite is Nicole Kidman. Despite being a massive star, she takes on a lot of really challenging roles, in movies that people aren't going to see. She works with very challenging directors, and is chameleonic in her acting skill. She steals Eyes Wide Shut, and in only a couple of scenes, puts her shadow over the whole film. In Moulin Rouge, she sings beautifully, and keeps an emotional center amidst a lot of visual craziness. The Hours is another performance in which she's barely recognizable, and completely becomes a character. But, her best performance is in Dogville. The car scene at the end of the film is chilling. Working with no props, no set, she still makes you believe that everything is really happening. And next, she's teaming up with one of the world's best directors, Wong Kar-Wai, in a film that I seriously need to see.

So, that's it. Five great actresses, all beautiful, but more importantly, all people who can really get into a role. If I see that one of these people is in a movie, even if it's a movie that looks rather crap, I'm much more likely to give it a look. Good acting is all about becoming someone else, and these people can pull it off, most notably Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts.

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Dogville (11/26/2004)
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Moving Through Space and Time

One of the things I think most people don't recognize about the world is the fact that time is another dimension. That's why when you "go home" on a break, even if you're back in the same physical location, it's not really the same place because when you left, the place didn't stop. This is most evident when you go back to school. I didn't really this break, but last year, when I went back to Rye Neck, I was so evident of the fact that the physical place hadn't changed, and yet it was completely different. So much of a place is actually the people who are there in a specific time. When I go home on the small breaks, and none of my friends are there, Mamaroneck has a completely different character than it does when everyone is home.

What's the point of this? It's that you can't waste time wanting to go somewhere you used to be, because you can never get back there. Time passes and things change, and you lose the good along with the bad, but it's better that way, because without the passing of time, we'd all be stuck in the same situation forever, and maybe things aren't as good as they used to be, but there's still the hope that they'll get better in the future. The cool thing about life is it really is never too late to change things, there's always a chance to start fresh, and once you make things better, the bad things in the past seem much less bad.

Chungking Express

Chungking Experess is a film by director Wong Kar-Wai, one of my personal favorite directors. Wong Kar-Wai is an auteur, and like David Lynch or Tim Burton, all of his films takes place in a similar universe, and touch on similar themes. With a WKW movie, it's not so much the story that's important, it's the characters and visual style. Almost all his movies have the same basic plot, lonely people yearning for love, but it's done in different ways.

Chungking Express was the first film I saw by Wong Kar-Wai, and while it is a lot like his other stuff, it's also something of an anomaly, in that it's by far the most upbeat of his films. The characters may be unhappy at times, but there's a sense of optimism throughout the film, accented perfectly by the music throughout.

The film has two parts. The first one is good, but it's a bit less engaging than what comes later. The best part about the first part is the shooting style. The fabled "Chungking shot" is used brilliantly, and it adds a great sense of atmosphere to things. I love the blonde woman and He Qiwu's meeting in the bar, and the scene with the pager at the end. However, after you watch the film, that's not what sticks with you, it's the second half where the true greatness lies.

The second half is about the interaction between Faye and Officer 633, a customer at the fast food stand where she works. There are two reasons that this sequence is so great. First is Faye Wong, who's amazing. There are certain people who might not even be great actors, but when they're on screen, they're just magnetic and you can't help but love the character. Spike from Buffy is a great example of this, as is Samuel L. Jackson in most of his roles, and even Mary-Louise Parker in Angels in America, and Faye is definitely one of these people. She's got such an infectious energy and optimism, almost single handedly she makes this sequence unique among Wong Kar-Wai's stuff. If you compare her to the female agent from Fallen Angels, they're in basically the same situation, but she handles things very differently. She sees the glass as half full.

Faye is complimented by great use of music. Some say that 'California Dreamin' is used too much in this movie, but I never get sick of it, and it says so much about Faye's state of mind. I love her dance with the ketchup and tongs to the song. It shows how she brings this joy to where she works. I also like the fact that the characters within the movie hear the song too, and it's used as a plot point. The other great musical moment is the montage to the Chinese version of 'Dreams,' where Faye hangs out in 633's house. It's just so full of life and joy, fitting the character and the movie.

Tony Leung is something of the straight man to Faye, but he gets some good material. I like the talking to inanimate objects in his house, notably the towel. I also love when he says, "I'm becoming more perceptive," despite not noticing all of the many changes that Faye has made to his house.

WKW does some of his best stylistic stuff here. I don't think it's as strong visually as Fallen Angels is, but some shots are just gorgeous, notably the two still people/fast motion around them shots, first with Faye looking at Tony, and second with Tony at the jukebox in the California restaurant. I also love the scene where Faye puts the fan on her face, self consciously trying to make herself look cooler.

I love the ending of the movie, it's the most unashamedly upbeat ending of any WKW film. Fallen Angels and Happy Together both have sort of reluctant happy endings, but this one is just completely upbeat.

Faye: "Where do you want to go"
Tony: "Wherever you want to take me."

And then 'Dreams' hits, it's great, and such a perfect ending. WKW knows how to end a movie, as evidenced by the brilliant closing shot of Fallen Angels, which rivals this. Is this his best movie? I'm not sure, Faye is definitely the best character, but Fallen Angels has a lot of great stuff too. Regardless, they're complimentary pieces and both equally great. See them.

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Fallen Angels (12/10/2004)
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Angels in America

Over the past couple of days, I watched the HBO miniseries Angels in America. It's a six hour thing, that aired earlier this year. The first notable thing about this is the cast, which includes Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson and one of my favorite actresses, Mary-Louise Parker. Also, it's directed by Mike Nichols, who directed the recent film, Closer, and way back in 1966, he directed The Graduate. The man is 73 years old, and he directed a six hour miniseries and a two hour film in the same year, both of which are very much in touch with how young people today behave. They're both based on plays, so he probably didn't have a huge role in setting the story direction, but the fact is, he gets how people interact, and it feels natural. He's still in touch with what's happening with people today, unlike directors like Woody Allen or Martin Scorcese, who no longer attempt to do movies set in the present.

I really liked Closer, but it felt very theatrical, particularly at the beginning. There were a couple of scenes that were filmed in an interesting way, notably the beginning, and the scene with Alice and Larry in the private room, but it was really an actor's showcase. I thought the acting in the movie was phenomenal and it was a strong story, but it didn't feel very filmic.

However, with Angels in America, Nichols makes a very visual film that surpasses Closer, and is just a really impressive piece of filmmaking. The movie's about a bunch of people in 1985, and the way that AIDS affects their lives.

The most interesting character for me was Harper. She's the wife of a closested homosexual Mormon, and spends all her days alone at home taking pills. As a result of the pills, she has these bizarre hallucinations, accompanied by a "travel agent," a mysterious character who turns up to talk with her. She was a semi-crazy character, but she was always played as the sane one. We're present during her hallucinations, so her view of the world, and her frustrations are more relevant to us than Joe's remoteness. I love the sequence in Antarctica, which looks great, and says a lot about her character's state of mind.

Throughout the whole film, I love the mixture of supernatural elements with the mundane. We're never quite sure where the character's hallucinations end and the reaity of the world begin. In the beginning of the movie we see Pryor and Harper wander into each other's hallucinations, which is the first hint that there's some kind of actual supernatural activity going on in the world of the story. Later, when Pryor and Hannah both see the angel, we get the idea that there really is a higher purpose at work behind the scenes of the story. I like the fact that despite the presence of fantasy elements, the story remains emotionally real. Very few works are able to, or even attempt to balance reality and fantasy in the way that this one does. The angel is used symbolically, but without being so obviously symbolic as to make it ridiculous. There's both the literal level and the metaphorical level.

The miniseries reminded me of Preacher in a number of ways, most notably in the fact that the thing that throws everything into action is the fact that God has left heaven. When Pryor speaks before the angels at the end of the movie, and says that if God comes back, they should sue him, it's the equivalent of the saint of killers shooting God at the end of Preacher. Also, the idea that Pryor is imbued with this power, and has a mission to save humanity ties in with what happens in Preacher. Both series have essentially the same theme, which is, you can't rely on God to save you, you have to out and take control of your own life. This is notable in the characters of Hannah and Lewis. Lewis first abandons Pryor, but realizes, it's his duty to stand by him during his illness. For Hannah, it's the fact that morally, she's obligated to save Pryor, even if she disapproves of his lifestyle. Preacher has the same idea, that you must live by your own moral code, and alwyas uphold that.

I really liked the way that the story of Hannah and Pryor came together at the end, and the parallels between the two of them. Their dynamic was really interesting, and I like the theme the movie presents there, the idea that where normally people see only stereotypes, if you look a little deeper, you can find connections. Both Pryor and Hannah would in theory hate each other, but when they actually meet and talk, they realize they have a lot in common, and a lot to learn from each other. This is a counterpoint to Louis, who, even though he clearly has a connection with Joe, is unable to come to terms with the fact that he's dating a Republican and a Mormon. He sees people in terms of labels, rather than seeing the people as they actually are.

It's interesting that Louis is consistently presented as at least an annoying, if not outright dislikable character. He has a lot of liberal guilt, and an inability to see past his principles, to see the people themselves rather than the stereotype he has in his head. That's ultimately his failure, when he sees the disease in Pryor, rather than Pryor himself.

This series brought to mind my favorite TV series of all time, Twin Peaks, a number of times. The obvious way was in the interaction between quasi-mystical figures and ordinary people. The use of the angel and the travel agent recalls the Man from Another Place and the Giant. Also, the angel herself brought to mind the end of Fire Walk With Me. I don't think they pull off the use of the archetypal angel image as well as Lynch did there, but it works well. I love the black angel at the end of the movie.

Are there flaws in the movie? Yeah, I'd say that Roy Cohn isn't really necessary to the plot, and his story doesn't tie in that much with everything else that happens. I suppose thematically there's connections, but so much time is spent with him, and it just sort of ends on its own, when you expect to connect a bit more with the main story. I suppose the medicine is crucial, but was that worth the creation of an entire plot? Everything else seemed so tightly knit, I guess that made the Roy Cohn stuff seem unconnected in comparison. Also, I get that it's a movie about AIDS and the gay community, but it was a bit odd that every single character, with the exception of Harper was gay. There were a lot of hints that Hannah was a lesbian, and I'm glad that wasn't explored. I suppose that also might be connected to the fact that I wanted Harper to get a happy ending, and there was no one there for her to love.

But, I did love Harper's last speech, about the souls rising and filling the hole in the ozone layer. I also liked the way she delivered it directly to the camera. Also, the 1990 coda was really well done, and gave you a sense of hope after all the bad stuff that happened during the movie. There was such a sense of friendship and love, it showed that all the bad stuff really was worth it.

So, a great production, amazing acting, especially from Mary-Louise Parker and Justin Kirk, top notch effects and direction. I think the best testament might be that unlike almost all other TV miniseries, nothing here seemed like filler, and if I could have, I'd have watched the six hours straight through. It was compulsively watchable, and I just kept wanting to go on.

In the Mood for Deleted Scenes: The Coda to Wong Kar-Wai's 60s trilogy

Continuing the journey into blog obscurity, I'm going to take a look at the deleted scenes from a film that very few people saw, in relation to a film that hasn't even been released here in the States. However, it's a great film, and the deleted scens add a lot to the universe of the story, the 60s Wong Kar-Wai verse.

In the Mood For Love is all about the unrequited love between Chow and Su Li-Zhen. They are neighbors, each married, and their spouses are having an affair. This puts them in an awkward position. Clearly, both of their marriages lack passion, with everyone consumed in work and alienated from each other. Chow and Su Li-Zhen grow closer together, as they try to first solve the mystery of whether an affair is going on, and then acting out how they think the affair came about. In the second half of the film, they're brought together writing a martial arts serial, at Chow's secret apartment, apartment 2046. The thing I like about this section of the film is the ambiguity. We're not sure exactly what's up with the two of them, except for the fact that they're clearly in love, and belong with each other, except that neither of them can pull the trigger, which leads to the ending, where Chow goes off to Singapore, having missed SLZ's calls to him, saying that she'd like to go with him. Three years later, Chow is in Cambodia, speaking his secrets into a hole, unable to reconnect with SLZ.

For all I knew, the next chunk of their tale was in the film 2046. Here, we follow Chow, who is living an extreme bachelor lifestyle, a reaction to the opportunities he missed with SLZ. Chow has put SLZ on a pedestal, and can't see past her. He becomes involved with a number of women, but can't allow himself to love them. At the end of the film, we're led to believe that he'll continue on this path for the rest of his life, doomed to a life of unhappiness because he had the chance for love in the past and missed it. He'll forever be trying to get to 2046, where you can find lost memories, and nothing ever changes.

However, that was not the end of the story. I was going through the In the Mood for Love DVD bonus features and found some deleted scenes. Now, WKW shoots a ton of stuff for each of his films, so I was expecting some pretty crazy stuff in the deleted scenes section. What I was not expecting was a coda for the whole story, but that's what I got, about 15 minutes of footage that answers almost all the questions you have left after 2046. Now, is the footage canon in the world of the story? I'm not sure, but I feel like it fits in with what came before, and thematically it's right there with 2046.

The first deleted scene is "Postcards." In this scene, we hear a radio broadcast, in which Chow sends birthday greetings to SLZ. Later, SLZ gets tickets to Singapore from her boss, and goes there. While there, she seeks out Chow, but ends up having dinner with Ah Ping. It's pretty clear that she is still in love with him, and if he was there, she probably would have finally said how she felt, it's just he wasn't, so another moment passes.

The second scene, chronologically is "A Lost Encounter," which occurs directly before what is now the end of In the Mood For Love. While in Cambodia, Chow runs into SLZ, and asks her if she called him before he left for Singapore, which she did. She says she can't remember. Here, we see Chow reaching out to her, but she rejects him, and it probably leads to the lifestyle we see him leading in 2046.

The 70s is my favorite of the deleted scenes, and is a coda for both films. At the beginning, we see a woman looking to rent SLZ's apartment. SLZ has stayed alone in Hong Kong, while her husband and son have gone abroad. She'll stay there until she sells the house. When the woman leaves, we find out that the house has already been sold, but SLZ is staying there anyway. Then, we find out that the woman is actually Chow's current girlfriend, and she wants him to go to the apartment and confront SLZ, because she thinks that he is still obsessed with her. Lulu, the woman here, is the same as Bai Ling in 2046, someone who loves Chow, but he still can't commit to her. She is trying to make him confront the past, but he can't do it. He's too scared. However, eventually we end up back at the noodle bar, where SLZ and Chow first met. She sees him emerge from the smoke, and they stare at each other, but we never hear what they say to each other. The scene cuts, and we find out that SLZ is ready to move on now. She tells her husband she's coming to join him, however, she's clearly profoundly sad.

What happened when they met in the noodle bar? I'd imagine they both desperately wanted to say everything they felt, but ended up just making small talk, or possibly not even talking at all, and just staring at each other. It's clearly not something good, SLZ did not get closure, so much as give up her dream. It clearly still haunts her, and she is far from happy. Tony will continue in the same pattern until he's too old to get girls anymore, at which point, he'll spend the rest of his life alone. Bit of a downer ending, that.

I love these scenes because the one thing I felt 2046 was missing was Maggie Cheung. She's glimpsed, but I needed just a little bit more, and this gave me that, though I still desperately want to see the Maggie Cheung robot scene, which will hopefully turn up on a Criterion release of 2046. I'd love to get another coda, from the 2046 deleted scenes.

Another thing to love about the scenes is we get a glimpse of a new time period, the 70s. I love the look of Mood, but it's something WKW has covered a lot, so it's really cool to see the 70s, as seen by WKW. Tony Leung has some awesome glasses, and Maggie Cheung looks really cool, with an awesome coat. When you see them together, separated by the steam, it's beautiful. I'd love to have seen more 70s stuff, it feels much more now than the 60s stuff, which seemed very removed from today, style wise. Emotionally, it's all timeless stuff.

The other scenes tell you a lot as well. It's painful to watch these two people destroy themselves because they can't tell the truth, but their awkward attempts to broach the subject are all too real.

So, in an ideal world, you'd watch Days of Being Wild, then In the Mood for Love, the n 2046, then the In the Mood For Love deleted scenes, and hopefully one day, the 2046 deleted scenes.

Extra note, there's a deleted scene in which Chow and SLZ meet in 2046 and have sex. I think it was a wise choice not to show this in the film, because that wasn't what their relationship was about there. But, in the context of the whole tale, it makes a lot of sense. It would be logical that they get close enough to let their guard down, at least once, which makes all the more painful when they can't connect later. As Chow says at the end of 2046, in love, timing is everything, and they missed their time, so both of them are going to spend the rest of their lives trying to get back to the place they once were, trying to get back to 2046.

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2046 (1/4/2005)
2046 Screening with Wong Kar-Wai (6/16/2005)
Wong Kar-Wai Day (8/3/2005)

What's happening now?

Over the past couple of days, we've been doing a lot of filming on the movie. We've been working really quick, because people always have to go, but it works well that way. It cuts out the waiting around and procrastinating time and keeps us on task. I feel like we're definitely making an arty film, in the sense that the shot composition and cutting is unconventional. I'm definitely influenced by Wong Kar-Wai, just because I've been watching so much of his stuff recently, and it's so innovative, it inspires my own stuff in the same vein. Yesterday, I said Mystic River was good, but not great, and I think one of the reasons for that is the fact that it didn't really inspire any creative ideas in me. The best films that I see always have me thinking about new ways to tell stories and make films. Mystic was great on its own, but it wasn't inspiring in that way. WKW, despite the fact that his films are certainly flawed, is so inspiring in creating a new visual language, I just love watching his films. Particularly on Fallen Angels, there's shots that just leave me in awe, and make me want to create things on that level. So, I'm having a lot of fun doing that, it's new filmmaking territory for us, and I'm really enjoying creating new stuff.

Other awesome news is that The Polyphonic Spree are playing two shows in New York in February, so I'm going to make the return to see them. They were incredible live and I'm really psyched to see them again. It's going to be a hassle to make it back during the week, but it's doable, and definitely worth it.

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Mystic River

I watched Mystic River yesterday. I feel like it was a classic example of a movie that's made really well, with a strong plot, solid acting, but just doesn't feel like it's that important to the people making it. Most great movies have a story where it feels like the person had to tell it, a story that is very close to them personally. Tarantino's films are a great example of this, he's clearly in love with what he's doing.

Mystic River is well made, but it doesn't feel inspired. I can forgive a lot of flaws in a movie if you can feel an excitement that went into making it. Mystic River feels almost effortless, which also means it doesn't feel too personal. There always seems to be a distance between the filmmaker and his characters. I'm not saying that every film has to be ripped out of the director's soul, but the best ones usually are ripped from at least the mind of the director. This didn't feel that way.

One thing I did find really interesting was the moral stance of the film's ending. Jimmy has just killed one of his best friends, and his wife tells him to forget about it for the good of their family. I find this repulsive, and it's tough to tell where the film stands on the issue. It's sort of a Rorshach at the end of Watchmen dilemma and that was really interesting. I would have liked to have seen that explored a bit more, but by that point it felt like the film was over, so it would have been tough to keep going on.

Maybe I'm being a bit tough on the film. It was a solid two hours of well made entertainment, certainly not a bad film to watch, but I've been on such an auteur kick lately, it's tough to watch a film that doesn't seem so personal for the director.

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Top 10 Films of 2004

I've been working on filming the movie, and it's going really well. It's definitely an improvement over everything I've done in the past, and as long as each one we do keeps getting better, it's good. It's unfortunate that we're always under time pressure, since I'd love to spend more time working on shots, but it's just not plausible. As is, there's some great shots, but I feel like we could be doing more with each frame, but are sort of limited by the time we can spend on each scene. But, it's a learning experience, and getting the story conveyed is the most important part of the process, and I think we're definitely doing that. Plus, I'm having fun along the way, which is also critical. It's just cool to see stuff I imagined being acted out in reality.

So, I've seen pretty much all the movies I really wanted to see that came out in 2004, which means it's time to drop the year's top ten list.

10. I Heart Huckabee's - The black bag sequences in this movie just owned, and were some of the most original cinema I've ever seen. I love the fact that the movie focuses on an intellectual, philosophical dispute, and the way that the events of the movie lead to an intellectual rather than plot-based resolution. I can relate much better to someone who's got a crisis of thought rather than a real pressing physical crisis. Uniformly great acting, particularly from Mark Wahlberg and Naomi Watts, and the Shania Twain cameo was genius.

9. Shaun of the Dead - It's not as good as Spaced, the TV show by the same people, but that doesn't mean it wasn't really good. There were some hilarious bits, but throughout the film, there was character development, and actual attention paid to making the characters change, rather than just getting in gags or forwarding the plot. The end gets a bit too much like a conventional zombie film, but particularly in the first half, this is a really entertaining, smart and funny film.

8. Hero - The colors alone made this a phenomenal film, but the looping narrative structure and some great action sequences gave it a real epic feeling, capturing the mythic nature of old American westerns. It doesn't hurt that two of my favorites actors, Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung are in the film either. This is how an action movie should be shot, as a showcase for phenomenal cinematography and production design. The green sequence and the leaf fight were notable highlights.

7. 2046 - Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung appear again here, but this one's most about Tony, who puts in the best performance of his career. Now, technically this film doesn't come out here until 2005, but it was made in 2004, so it's on the list. I talked a lot about this a few days back, but it's one of Wong Kar-Wai's best, and that's saying something. His use of the sci-fi storyline was inspired, and the sadness of the film was profound. Every single frame had something interesting visually, and I love the ties to WKW's previous works. I feel sort of guilty about ranking this so low, since it was a brilliant film, but there was just so much good stuff this year.

6. Oldboy - Damn, Asia, you don't stop making great films. Now, this film was released in 2003 in Asia, and won't be released here in 2005, buut I saw it it this year, so it's on the list. After seeing Kill Bill I, you might think there's nowhere left for the revenge film to go, but Chan Wook-Park disproves that with this incredible film. This is a film that just pops, with brilliant frames and great use of music. The one take tracking shot in which Oh Daeseu fights a whole gang of people is the sort of thing that makes you say "Respect." The prison sequence is another really dazzling piece of filmmaking, and the ending leaves you thinking. This film is just so alive and popping, it's amazing. There's supposedly a remake in the works, but watch this, because other than Kill Bill, it's been a long time since I've seen an action movie this good.

5. Dogville - Yet another foreign film, this one's from Denmark and director Lars Von Trier. Three hours long, taking place on a stage with chalk outlines instead of sets, you may say, "That doesn't sound very entertaining." Well, it is very entertaining, and it's also brutal and thought provoking. This is a slow build film that draws you into a sort of funk and then jolts you out of it with a morally ambiguous ending that makes you wonder just how much Von Trier hates people. Nicole Kidman gives probably her best performance here, and the rest of the cast does a great job of giving the feeling that this stage is not a stage, but in fact, a fully functioning town.

4. Garden State - A film that hit me at exactly the right time, and is pretty personally relatable, so I may be a bit biased in my liking of it, but that doesn't take away from the great direction and writing of Zach Braff. I love the way the beginning of the film uses all sorts of wacky visuals to bring you into the world, and then segues into a more character focused story. I like the fact that this isn't a really plot driven film, the events come out of the characters. I even love the ending, which is consistently knocked. Maybe it's because I'm not jaded enough, but I think it makes sense for him to give it a try with Sam, the one person in his life who he has really connected with. That's more important than getting back to working in a restaurant.

3. Kill Bill Volume 2 - A very different film from Volume 1, so different that I was a bit disappointed on the first viewing, since the film was so completely different from what I was expecting. However, upon seeing it again, I really loved the film. It's Tarantino's most mature film, and also full of incredible pop moments, notably the training sequence and the trailer fight. The buried alive sequence was another highlight, one of the best uses of sound in a film ever. I love how the ending throws everything that's come before into question, and humanizes all the characters involved. Volume 1 is about the gradual cartoonization of the bride, two is about the humanization of all the characters. Rather than fighting mythic yakuza leaders, she's fighting the bouncer at a strip club, and an old man. David Carradine owns in this movie, it's one of the best performances of the year. The ending is a catharsis, and then the credits bring back all the great moments from the duology, a final glimpse at the world that Tarantino created. The two films together are an astonishing piece of work.

2. Before Sunset - From an action packed, pop style spectacular we now move to two people talking for eighty minutes. That's it, but the conversation is riveting, and the suspense in this film is more than you'll get from any horror movie. Linklater perfectly captures the feelings of regret that people have about things that were done or weren't done in the past. Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy completely inhabit their characters, slipping back in after a nine year gap. The beginning of the film, you can tell that they feel an awkwardness and want to get deeper, but are stuck on the surface. It's not just the lines, it's the delivery and physical mannerisms. I love the way this film seems to be much more cynical than Sunrise, but is in fact full of the exact same romantic spirit of its predecessor, even more so, as the ending shows. The ending is so simple and yet it left me smiling for a long time after leaving the theater. This film is not only brilliant, it makes its predecessor even better. Richard Linklater is on an unparalleled role in recent years, and these two films, Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, contain everything that's unique and exciting about his filmmaking.

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - It's been a while since this one came out, but it's still brilliant. This film was a perfect fusion of visual technique with story, using the effects to emphasize character emotion rather than replace it. Gondry is a visual master, I love the run down feel of the technology, and the mundaneness of it. The dinky Lacuna Inc. is the most Philip K. Dickian thing ever filmed. This is one of Kaufman's best scripts, so emotionally real. Jim Carrey gives by far his best performance ever, so low key and real. Jon Brion provides another great score, which gives the film a vaguely nostalgic feel throughout. The way that the narrative structure is used to gradually reveal plot developments to us is so brilliant, and the show offy structure never overwhelms the story at the heart of the film.

What a year it was. America got a bit served, with only four films in the top ten, but maybe that means we have to kick up our game a bit.

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Richard Linklater Day (7/22/2005)
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Filming and V For Vendetta

In the past couple of days, we've been doing filming on the Ricky Frost movie. It's going really well. We've been a bit rushed, but we're getting enough footage, and more importantly, I feel like we're actually making a film rather than just a series of shots. There's actual character development, and acting, which is sort of a first for one of my projects. We've been working using the script as a guideline, but not neccessarily referring to it for every line, instead using a bunch of improv, which is awesome. I've written on him a bunch of times here, but Wong Kar-Wai has really changed my view of how to construct a film. Rather than writing a script and just filming it, it's much more interesting to actually construct the film during the filming, because then you're actually making a film rather than a script. While I'm not opposed to planning ahead, sometimes it's better to just let your actors mess with stuff, and go with how it feels on the spot. I could definitely see the appeal of working without a script, and just going with what feels right at the time. It would take a lot of time, but in an ideal world, that would be the way to make films.

Hitting up the internet, I saw some really cool news today, and that's that Natalie Portman is going to be playing one of the lead roles in the V For Vendetta movie. This brings together one of my favorite actresses and one of my favorite comics of all time. V is probably the most politically significant comic ever published, and surpasses even 1984 in its depiction of a dystopia. It's written by Alan Moore, and is part of what is generally known as his "holy trinity" of brilliant works: Watchmen, V For Vendetta and From Hell. The comic is incredibly relevant, and I hope there's no shying away from embracing a building destroying terrorist character as a hero. Natalie has been on a bit of a role lately, with great performances in Garden State and Closer, ad hopefully she'll pick it up a bit for Episode III. I think V could have a bit of a Leon dynamic, because she'll be playing the innocent girl being trained by older man whose an expert in violence. The story has a lot more scope than Leon, and if done well should be something on the level of Brazil.

However, considering the track record of Moore adaptations, combined with the quotes from the producers, and the fact that the director is basically a no name, I'm not getting my hopes up too high. From Hell wasn't an awful movie, but it lacked basically everything that made the book one of the greatest literary works of all time. From Hell is a history of civilization from the beginning of time to the present, a work full of magic and loss, all told in a really compelling way. The movie is a murder mystery, and if you've read the book, you already know the murderer. And, the less said about "LXG" the better.



The teaser poster looks pretty good, and is basically the cover of the graphic novel. What bothers me is this quote from producer Joel Silver: "With V for Vendetta, the Wachowski Brothers have created an uncompromising vision of the future driven by a totally original superhero."

First, the Wachowski brothers did not create the uncompromising vision, that would be Alan Moore and David Lloyd. Second, just because it's based on a comic book that doesn't make V a superhero. It's not that inaccurate, he does have a uniform and a mask and cape, but I really hope this isn't a movie that is just about V being a hero, because it's a lot more complex than that. V isn't even a character so much as an idea and I hope that's preserved in the film. Also, considering today's political climate, I hope that the creative team keeps the strong political content of the book, and doesn't turn it into an action movie. Natalie Portman signing on is a good sign, but I'm still not sure how this is going to turn out.

However, regardless of whether the film is good or not, the book will still be there. The good thing about From Hell and LXG is that they're so bad, I practically forget they're based on a book. Also, with comics, you'll always have the original visual intact. When you see a movie based on a prose book, the images of the movie will replace the images you had in your head when you were first reading the book, and you can never get those original images back. But, with V, I'll always have the book right there.

The other good thing about this is it indicates that people are moving beyond strict superhero stories in adapting comics to the screen. Sin City was a big step, and this is another one. Even if the movie's bad, this will provide the outside world with another reference point for comics, so when you say Alan Moore, you can say, the guy who made V For Vendetta and people will get it.

One thing that bothers me is the fact that more and more Alan Moore stuff is being adapted, but still no one's even attempted to make anything based on Grant Morrison's works. Grant is just as good as Alan, and I would kill to see a Flex Mentallo or Kill Your Boyfriend movie. I'd actually love to make a Flex Mentallo movie, it's one of the very few things I would rather make than an original story. Flex is in many ways the ultimate superhero story and it deserves to get wider exposure, as does Grant. Alan is getting there as a household name, but basically no one has heard of Grant Morrison. He's got a lot to choose from, hopefully once they run out of Alan, we'll start seeing Grant movies.

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Creative Projects (8/28/2005)
Respect Films (1/10/2006)
V For Vendetta (3/17/2006)

Going to 2046

So, after much anticipation, I finally got my all region DVD copy of Wong Kar-Wai's new film 2046. The film surprised me in a lot of ways. It's got almost everything you'd expect from a WKW film, but also a lot of new elements, and particularly in the ending, this film feels different from most of what he's done before.

First, the film is goregous. Visually, WKW is unparalleled, it's not just the way he shoots, it's the entire mise en scene. The future stuff is phenomenal, but even in the 60s scenes, he creates really stylish environments for the characters to move in. Check it out...




The most interesting element for me was the sci-fi stuff. First, I love sci-fi, second, it's the most unique thing about the film in the context of WKW's career. While the 60s stuff is great, it's much more in tune with the rest of his work, whereas the sci-fi things look completely different from what he's done in the past, and the way he uses the sci-fi story is absolutely genius. The whole 2046 world is so perfectly tied in with the rest of the plot, and the metaphor behind it says everything about Chow.

One thing that surprised me was how much the film was tied in to In the Mood For Love. I'd heard that it was the same characters, but 2046 wasn't really a sequel. That's completely off. This film requires In the Mood For Love to really get it. The motivation for Chow's character comes from the events of In the Mood For Love, and to really understand what he's going through, you need that context. I would not reccomend seeing this film without seeing In the Mood For Love. However, having seen ITMFL, it was awesome to get a followup on the character, and to find out what's happened to him as a result of ITMFL. Another great moment was the return of Lulu from Days of Being Wild. Seeing her, combined with the music from Days brought back a lot of memories and added a history to this film that was really interesting. This film unites those two previous 1960s films into a trilogy that is connected within the story universe. It also gave the film a history that deepened the experience. It made the film fee like it wasn't just a two hour story that began and ended where the film began, it was an entire world that stretches for years, and we only see a little piece of it. It's a subtle distinction, but that this does is give the film so much more meaning. There's no feeling of resolution, or even beginning and ending within the film, it's a piece of lives, some that we've seen before, others that we haven't, it's a peek into another world.

My favorite part of the film was the introduction of 2046 in a rush of images from that world. You're given a tantalizing glimpse of many lives within this world, and a rush of astonishing images, and for a moment, you see Su Li Zhien, from In the Mood for Love, the very reason for the whole world of 2046. One of the coolest things about this sequence is the way it very quickly plays out the story of Chang Chen and Lulu. We see a jealous glance from him in the 60s, then in the 2046 segment, we see him angry as the robot Lulu has sex with some guy, which then leads us to the 60s again, where we see that Lulu has been stabbed. It's a great intertwining of the two stories. Now, I will admit that this sequence bothers me a bit because it's so full of interesting footage, and you get the feeling that there's hours of this stuff cut out of the finished film. This film has now joined Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me as the only film where I really need to see cut scenes from it, because there's clearly a ton of stuff cut out, including some stuff with Maggie Cheung as a robot that I'm really annoyed wasn't in the final film. I feel like in the same way that the FWWM cut scenes could make a nice little coda for Twin Peaks, some additional footage from 2046 could bring that story to a close. Maybe it'll turn up, if Criterion does a DVD, I'd imagine we'll see it.

The other phenomenal sequence was the story of the robot Faye. The return of the telling a secret into a hole motif from ITMFL was great. The whole story of Faye was heartbreaking. She was very convincing as a robot, and I loved the symbolic signifiance of the story. It applies to Faye/Chow in 2046, and also ties into Chow's relationship with Maggie Cheung from ITMFL. My favorite part of this story was when Faye decides to go to Japan in the present, so Tony tries to write a happy ending, in which the robot would presumably meet up with the person that she loved in the past, however, she just rides on the train, in a never changing state. The brilliant device of the intertitles showing how many hours have passed and nothing changed, for both the robot and Tony says so much. Tony is the robot Faye, despite the fact that there is someone who loves him, he cannot commit to her because he's still in love with Maggie, so he'll spend the rest of his live on this train, constantly changing, and yet everything's still the same. He gets together with other women, but he spends his whole life waiting for Maggie, never able to let go of her.

Chow calls 2046 the place you go to recapture lost memories, where nothing ever changes. 2046 is the hotel room where he and Maggie wrote their martial arts serials in ITMFL, and it's the place where the happiest time of his life occurred. However, in this film, he loves in room 2047, but is constantly getting involved with the women who live in 2046. He, like the Japanese man in his story, has left 2046, and can never get back there, though for this entire film, he tries to recapture it. In his story, he creates 2046 as a perfect place, where he could get Maggie back, and recapture that moment, but as it says at the end of ITMFL, that moment has passed and nothing that belongs to it exists anymore. He says love is all about timing, and he missed his time, and he's going to spend the rest of his life on that train just going through the same thing, never letting himself be as happy as he was. 2046 is the last year before change, and he's in 2047, it's impossible to get back to where he was.

This film stood out from WKW's other stuff in its pessimism. I suppose Days of Being Wild ended on a down note, but it had some good times along the way. This film is all about trying to get back to a past that can never be, and as a result, Chow ends up hurting everyone along his way, most notably Bai Ling. This film ends on a really downnote, ITMFL ended pretty low, but there was a sense of a new beginning, that the moment had passed and those people were moving on, but here, we only get the sense that Tony will drift further into depression, and that his life will never get better. There's none of the feeling at the end of Fallen Angels, of finding warmth amidst all the darkness, there's only the cold darkness, and we get the feeling that Chow has been utterly destroyed. He can only dream of a world where nothing changes and he can recapture his memories, because he'll never get back there.

I think it's notable that all of WKW's 60s movies end on a rather down note, whereas his present trilogy (Chungking, Fallen Angels, Happy Together) all end with a great song, and a sense of hope. The world of the 60s really is gone, and it was an era of change for all involved, through the films WKW is trying to return to an era that has been destroyed, something that's echoed in Chow's story.

I love the way this film ties together a lot of WKW's previous work. I feel directors like Tim Burton and David Lynch have a universe that most of their films take place in and WKW goes one step further, by explicitly connecting the films into one larger story.

Like most WKW films, the movie's been growing on me ever since I saw it. I went in expecting a bit more sci-fi, and a bit more Maggie Cheung, so there was a bit of disppointment, so I think I need another viewing to really evaluate it. I know Fallen Angels, on the first viewing I liked it, second viewing, it clicked and I loved it. I really feel like there's a whole other film out there with the footage of 2046, and that's something I'd love to see one day, but most importantly I really want to see that Maggie Cheung footage.

However, the use of the Maggie Cheung footage within the film was expert. WKW puts the audience in Chow's state of mind, by providing us with glimpses of the character, but never the reunion that both we and Chow want. That moment truly is gone, and she exists only in faded, blurry memories. Her story continues somewhere else, she too is probably unhappy, dreaming of what could have been, but she's chosen a family life to distract her, while Chow has chosen a bachelor lifestyle. I've got to give props to Tony Leung for this performance, I'd say his best in any film. You completely get his state of mind, and feel what he feels throughout the film. Considering what he does in the film, it's tough to make him sympathetic, but Tony pulls it off. WKW films work because the actors are so good that he can do whatever he wants with the camera and we still get the emotions.

So, a great film, and a summation of much of WKW's previous work. Rarely has a film been so geared to an "inside crowd," because this one requires a lot of previous WKW knowledge to really appreciate. However, as a part of the inside crowd, I loved it, and would highly reccomend it once you get through In the Mood For Love. The sci-fi stuff is perfectly integrated with the rest of the material, creating a really satisfying whole, with more layers than I could pick up on one viewing.

Related Posts
In the Mood for Love: The Deleted Scenes (1/9/2005)
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2004's Best Albums

2004 saw the release of some damn fine albums, I've only gotten to a small fraction of what's been released, but there were some good times. Generally speaking, especially with smaller artists, it takes a while after an album has been released for me to actually get to it. But, here's five albums that were released in 2004 that were amazing.

1. The Polyphonic Spree "Together We're Heavy" - The Beginning Stages was an amazing album, but this follow up goes way beyond that, adding so many musical layers to the already great sound of the spree. The album has a great opening, and flows really well. It's tough to isolate standout tracks because every single one has merit. 'Hold Me Now' and 'Two Thousand Places' are probably the best individual tracks, but in the context of the album 'We Sound Amazed' and 'When the Fool Becomes a King' just own.

2. U2 "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" - Their best album since Zooropa, it's an album without a single bad song, and 'City of Blinding Lights' and 'Miracle Drug' are some of the best songs they've ever recorded. U2 has a way of producing musical moments that are just unparalleled, the use of the guitar and the vocal combined in such a way that they perfectly compliment each other, and soar together.

3. Handsome Boy Modeling School "White People" - Mulholland Drive is to David Lynch as this album is to Dan the Automator, it combines elements of everything he's done in the past into one of his strongest works. It's got a ton of guest stars, a bunch of genres and it all works. It's astonishing that one album features Mike Patton, Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Julee Cruise and Cat Power. The best tracks are 'Class System,' 'I've Been Thinking' and 'Breakdown.' Never before has an album so nimbly hopped across genres.

4. Phoenix "Alphabetical" - Difficult to place in a genre, they've got both dance and rock elements, but end up sounding like a rock version of Daft Punk. The album is great, and they're my favorite new artist discovery of 2004. 'If Not With You' and 'Everything is Everything' are the best.

5. Air "Talkie Walkie" - Air's first album was brilliant and this one is also. It's very similar to the first album, but that's not neccessarily a bad thing. I love the feeling of the music, it always conjures up pink clouds in a perfectly serene sky. 'Cherry Blossom Girl' and 'Venus' are two standout tracks.

Good bunch of albums, those. Check 'em out.

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So, This is the New Year (And I Don't Feel Any Different)

Thanks Death Cab, for providing with a cliched emo type intro for this year of blogging. I find my relationship with cliche really interesting. I will always point out if something is cliche, and frequently I'll use that as an excuse to ridicule it, perhaps rightly. I could drop the cliche livejournal right here, because I've read a bunch of them, y'know, a lot of whining about how I have no purpose and need to make a change, it's a classic, but even as I ridicule it for the cliche, I can really relate to what is being said. I think we're all searching for the same things, it's just whether you express that in a cliche way or in a unique way.

I'm reminded of a scene from the end of Six Feet Under's second season. Nate and Brenda are breaking off their engagement and having a big fight about it, and she's yelling at him, saying, "Don't throw the ring at me, that is so cliche," which says so much about the character. Despite the fact that she is breaking off an engagement, she's still concerned about not being cliche, which makes it great when Nate just throws the ring at her.

I look at some people, and I just see a cliche, I feel like I can break down everything about them, but the thing is, they all seem to be really happy. At college, I can see stereotypical Frat guy and he seems to be having a great time. Should he feel guilty that he's just a stereotype, or is he beyond worrying about being original, and instead just worries about having fun while he's here in the moment.

Lately, Jordan's been on about the breakthrough he made to live in the now, as discussed in the book, The Power of Now and other places. I'm sort of ambivalent on it, because at once he does seem happier, but the very idea of living just for the now seems to imply neglecting plans for the future. I have a lot of big things that I want to do, and while they frequently get thwarted, I do have goals and a mission in life. I think you can enjoy the ride that is life, but the ride should have some destinations, rather than just being an aimless procession forward through space, living purely for the moment.

I think an essential question is, would I rather be happy and unaccomplished or accomplished and miserable? I feel like being a filmmaker would make me happy, but you look at someone like Kurt Cobain, he achieved a popularity beyond his wildest dreams, and yet he still commits suicide. What more could he want, what is it that he couldn't have? To some extent, it feels like the best art comes out of desperate feelings, and unhappiness. So much of Buffy clearly comes out of Joss Whedon and the other writers' personal problems. If they were happy, would there be a series? Probably not, in fact the series began largely as a way for Joss to come to terms with high school and basically rewrite his experience back then. It's not a stretch to compare playing D&D to the slaying that the nerdy Buffy characters do. As he became more successful the issues under discussion changed radically. Buffy and co. became more powerful and in control of their lives, and, most notably on Angel, had to deal with vast power infastructures that they struggled to co-exist with. You can see the issues that mattered to Joss change as he became more successful.

That's why I think it would be hard for someone like Morrissey to remain relevant. Happiness and success would ruin his image, and reduce his ability to connect with unhappy, unsuccessful people. It astonishes me that Wong Kar-Wai has been married for 17 years, just because his films are about an emotional longing that can never be filled, yet he seems to have filled it in his own life. I guess part of writing is to create characters, and use them to explore aspects of your personality that you might have filed away and left in the past.

So, I know that my theoretical movies or TV shows would probably contain a lot of emoitonal angst and longing, and if I was happy, would I be able to create? I think I would, but it would be a different type of work. I know this is a vast generalization, but you can tell there are certain filmmaers who clearly own life, and have never had any problems. People like Michael Bay, it doesn't seem like they've went through a lot of problems in their personal life, whereas Alan Ball or Whedon clearly have been through a lot of stuff, or they're just really good at faking it.

But, in the end, I think that I would take unhappiness if it meant accomplishment. Making films, making art, is more important to me than simply going through life happy, because out of that creation, even if I have to go through some bad stuff to get it, would come a deeper happiness. Kids are happy because they don't have deep desires, they are content with very little. The older you get, the more it takes to be happy. In Dogma, there's a speech about how faith is like a glass of water. When you're little, the glass is small, so it's easy to fill, but the older you get, the bigger the glass gets, and you need more water to fill it. While this may apply to faith, it also applies to happiness, and I know I need a lot more to be really fulfilled and deeply happy than I did when I was younger. But, this might actually be a good thing because it forces me to do things I wouldn't have done before, and it expands my world.

That's why it's worth it to be a little bit unhappy, because in the long run, if you're content with things as they are, you're not going to make them better. Life has to give you little nudges of unhappiness to get you to change things up. Eventually, you can't ignore the problems, you confront them, and hopefully you resolve them. A lot of the time, it's just recognizing the problem that's tough. Once you do, it's not as tough to find a solution.

Ammendum

Yesterday, I did a post on 2004 and I forgot what may have been the event of the year, meeting and talking with Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy! He went to Wesleyan, so he returned to screen the musical and do a Q&A. He did about an hour of discussion in the cinema, then went to this reception, so I stood near him, and he talked for two more hours, by the end it was about ten people and him, and he just kept answering any question people shouted out. I've met a bunch of celebrity type people, but no one was ever as cool as he was. To be able to meet the guy who created 256 episodes of brilliant television was an honor, and the fact that he was so cool made it even better.

So, despite forgetting it yesterday, this was one of the best events of the year, right up there with the Spree.

Related Posts
Reflecting on 2004 (12/31/2004)
So This is the New Year (And I Don't Feel Any Different (1/1/2005)

Reflecting on 2004, the year that is almost gone.

So, technically it's New Year's Eve right now, and that prompts me for some reflection on 2004. It's been an astonishingly quick year, by far the fastest of my life. I feel almost like time is breaking down, because I can remember so many moments from this year like they just happened. This year, I feel like not that much actually happened. A bunch of issues from earlier sort of came to head, and were discussed this year, but overall, it's been more of a year of reflection than a year of creation. I don't remember too many really big events from this year that were great, more moments and feelings from times.

If I had to pick out one event from this year as my favorite, it would probably be seeing The Polyphonic Spree live. Who are The Polyphonic Spree, you ask? Well, here's a couple thousand words:





They are a 25 piece rock band, with trumpets, harp, flute, timpani, nine part chorus, keyboard, sax, trombone, guitar and more. Both their albums are brilliant, especially their most recent, Together We're Heavy, but nothing can prepare you for the wall of sound coming from 25 musicians all wearing robes and all completely into the music. It was so loud you could actually feel the music moving through you, and it was just overwhelming to hear not only the 25 people in the band singing, but also the couple hundred people in the audience singing the lyrics back at them. Seriously, check out their music. They do the sort of stuff that can make even the most cynial person break out into a smile upon observing the sheer joy of their music. I'm hoping they'll be back in New York soon, because it seriously is the best concert I've ever been to.

I went to a couple of other concerts that were pretty awesome as well. I saw Aimee Mann and Morrissey. Obviously, they were not quite as joyous about life as The Spree, but both were great live, and they were really good shows. Next year, I'm hoping to get to U2, Doves and maybe some other people. I'd really like to see something that isn't a rock band, but is more techno club stuff, like Daft Punk, Air or Moby. I like to go to a bunch of different type of concerts. Back in high school, I only went to Ska punk concerts, and while they were good, it gets boring after a while. Like, I'd love to see a rap show, or a hard techno type thing, just to mix things up. I guess if you really like the music, it's no problem going to similar things, but if I'm only a casual fan, I like to mix it up. Like, I bet there's not that many people who went to both The Spree and Morrissey.

What else happend in '04? I saw the Buffy musical, which is one of the greatest things ever made. The whole sixth season is brilliant, and this is really the center of it. The songs are great, but more importantly, it fits perfectly into the whole. I've seen it eight times or so, all this year. I've probably seen that more than any other piece of fiction this year.

I'm trying to think of something I did that doesn't involve just watching something else, but it's tough. We made the movie, Tabula Rasa, which I really liked. It was fun to make, and came out well. Was it up to what I originally imagined? Not quite, but nothing's ever going to be, and now, with some distance, I can enjoy it for what it is.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again, this year felt like the Amnesiac to 2003's Kid A, or the Zooropa to 2003's Achtung Baby. It had its merits, but it feels more like what came before than a complete reinvention. It was more a remix than a new song. I really need to do some new stuff, I'm not sure what, but something.

I feel like I've got the routine of college down, in the same way that around junior year, I got the routine of high school down, and this is comforting, because I know what to expect, but it's also distressing because out of chaos can come redefinition. But, when you're in the chaos, it's not good. People always choose the stable, safe route, rather than taking a risk that could pay off, but could also lead to disaster.

Related Posts
Reflecting on 2004: Ammendum (12/31/2004)
So This is the New Year (And I Don't Feel Any Different (1/1/2005)

Looking to '05

So, a couple more days and 2003 will join years 1-2003 in the been there, done that catergory, which means we've got a new year to look forward to. Many major events will happen in 2005, most notably I'll start up my third decade of life, as I turn the big two-oh. What other major event happens on that day, May 19, 2005? Why, it's the release of Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, the final Star Wars movie ever. Talk about the end of an era, as my teen years draw to a close, so does the saga that has shaped me more than any other piece of fiction I've ever run in to. When I was a young lad of three or four, I saw Star Wars, and was hooked on films from then on. I made it through the dark era of the early 90s, the boom time of the Special Editions and the backlash of the prequels. It's been a great run, and I'm not happy to see it come to a close, but I am really excited about seeing the film itself. In fact, it ranks number one on my most anticipated films of 2005:

1. Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith - As I said, this one's very close to my heart. It probably won't be the best film of the year, but I'm still psyched to see it more than any other, and it probably will be one of the best theatrical experiences. I think the prequel trilogy so far has been good, but it can't compare to the original trilogy, nothing can. However, this is the story I've been waiting for since the 80s, and to finally connect the two will be quite something. It's the end of an era here.

2. Sin City - The trailer is a thing of beauty, it perfectly captures the look and the feel of the books, which are brilliant. The Yellow Bastard left me in shock staring at the final pages, and I want to see that done in film. The cast is great, the look is completely unique, and the movie feels totally differnet from anything else ever released. Even if this fails on some levels, it's going to look so good, it'll at least be entertaining to watch.

3. The Fountain - Darren Aronofsky's long rumored "post Matrix" sci-fi project seems to finally be filming, and may actually be released in 2005, here's hoping. I'm not really sure what the plot is, but it has something to do with the fountain of youth, and seems very Philip K. Dick/Grant Morrison. Aronofsky's already one of my favorite directors, so combining that with a story that's like one of my favorite writers, awesomeness potential is off the charts. I think this is going to be the film that elevates Darren from an already high level to celluloid God. We shall see.

4. 2046 - I'll actually be seeing this one in the next couple of weeks, on a Chinese all region DVD, but it'll also be released in the theater, and I'm hoping to get there as well. This is by the great director, Wong Kar-Wai. I've now seen all his other films, and this one looks like it's got the potential to be his best. Extremely stylish, a great cast, and his always great direction should put this over the top. I'd like to see it crossover and make it to the mainstream, in addition to the art cinemas, becuase Wong's style is something that needs to get out there into the cultural consciousness.

5. A Scanner Darkly - Richard Linklater's next, an adaptation of the Philip K. Dick book, done in the animation style of Waking Life. I liked the book a lot, and based on Waking Life, Linklater is clearly a PKD fan. Linklater has done a lot of movies talking about odd stuff, but he's never really done a sci-fi movie, so this should be interesting to see. It'll almost certainly be better than the recent string of awful PKD adaptations that have bombed theaters. Linklater is one of the best filmmakers working today, and he's coming off his best work yet, Before Sunset, so this will be crucial in seeing if he can do more than just talk.

6. Serenity - Joss Whedon writes and directs a film based on his cancelled series, Firefly. I've only seen three eps of Firefly, but it's got a lot of potential, and it's going to be really interesting to see Joss step things up to a feature film after so many years in TV. I'm hoping for a really arty film, rather than a mainstream action type movie, but we'll see. If this is a success, maybe we'll see another Buffyverse project.

7. Charlie and the Chocalate Factory - Tim Burton's next. I was a bit hesitant about this, but the trailer is so over the top, I've got a better feeling. It's definitely a return to classic Burton in terms of ridiculous visual style, after the toned down Planet of the Apes and Big Fish. This'll probably turn out to be his best film since Mars Attacks.

So, those seven should be pretty solid, and hopefully some other stuff will turn up as well. Still no sign of new David Lynch or Paul Thomas Anderson, but maybe by 2005, they'll have started up a new project, and maybe we'll even see some new filmmakers dropping great films, or existing ones stepping up their game. So much potential in a new year of stuff. It is good.

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The Office: The Christmas Special

So, throughout the run of The Office, it's been a notably downbeat series. The characters have been forced to compromise their ideals, gone through lots of embaressment, rejection, and sadness. Calling the first two series comedy is really inaccurate, it's more of a tragedy, the rise and fall of David Brent, as well as the gradual destruction of Tim and Dawn. So, after these two seasons of awful tragedy, where's left to go, further down, or perhaps, life isn't that bad after all.

For most of the Christmas special, we see a David resigned to his fate. He's been fired, but he still clings to his friends in the office, and relies on them for his social interaction. He tries to make himself into a hero, and is constantly forcing Neil to be a heavy. However, despite his front, he is getting gradually destroyed inside. His public appearances are degrading, and leave him depressed. Things get worse when Neil bans him from the office, and he asks his co-workers to have a drink with him, but no one responds, prompting Alice to tell him that none of them really like him. In the series, it would probably end there, in an awful awkward moment, but here, Tim steps in and offers to have a drink with David. Tim has always been a good guy, and that gesture clearly means a lot to David. Rather than having his self confidence destroyed, Tim steps in, and is a friend for someone in need.

Most of the Christmas special is just build up, and catching you up on what's happened with the characters in the time since the series. It's not as tight as your average episode of the series, which isn't to say that it's bad, it's just not designed to be as funny.

In the Florida scenes, we see the effects of Dawn's choice in the second series. She chose Lee because he could provide for her, but here, they end up sitting around Lee's sister's house, caring for her baby. Dawn looks desperately unhappy, and Lee has become lazy and content to just sit there and mooch off his sister. Also, she has given up her dream of being an artist. This is crucial because the dream was what kept her going, and now she has no hope for the future, things will be the same as they are forever.

So, when she goes back to see Tim, she's reminded of what she's lost. He is sad that she's given up her dream of being an illustrator, a dream that he supported. This is emphasized the most during the party when Tim says it's a shame that Dawn gave up the illustrating, and Lee says she could only make money at it if she was good, thus destroying both her self confidence in her art, and her hope of being an artist.

Tim in the special seems to have found a kind of equilibrium, and despite still being annoyed by Gareth, he is almost content in his position at the office. He still is clearly in love with Dawn, but doesn't let the fact that he doesn't have her get to him.

So, the special, and the entire series build to the Christmas party sequence at the end of the special. This sequence is massively important for both Brent and Tim and Dawn. For Brent, it is a critical turning point. He's said that he was going to bring a woman to the party, and Neil reveled in questioning about this, pointing out the obvious fact that he has no one. So, as the party begins, we see Brent waiting for his blind date to arrive. His two previous dates had gone awfully, so he's not expecting much. However, when his date does arrive, she's nice, and we finally see Brent let down his guard. He walks by Finch and Neil, but rather than trying to impress them, he spends the entire party alone talking with her. Rather than trying to be the center of attention, he's content to just talk with her. He's no longer putting on a show, he's just being himself. Things go well for Brent, and we don't know if their relationship will go anywhere, but the thing is, he had a good night, and for the first time in the entire run of the series, he's really connected with someone.

This is followed up by a critical moment for Brent. He passes by Chris Finch, who makes a joke about David's date, and rather than laughing along with it, as he would have before, David tells Chris to "fuck off." Here, David is faced with a choice between his past and his future. Finch was his idol, and represents the old Brent, in that he is always concerned with having a laugh, and being the center of attention, rather than considering people's feelings. In rejecting Chris Finch, he rejects the old version of himself, and thus, we're left with the feeling that he has changed, and has gotten a new set of priorities.

While this is good, the real highlight of the party sequence is Tim and Dawn. At the beginning of the party, they're hanging out together, and having fun, but there is clearly a lot being left unsaid. One of the most notable scenes is when they are winding up Gareth, and Lee comes in and explains that they're making fun of him. Lee has come in and destroyed one of their favorite activities. Eventuallly, Lee and Dawn leave, and Tim is left at the party alone.

Probably the best scene in the entire series is when Dawn opens the secret santa gift and sees that it's a set of paints from Tim. In giving her the paints, Tim is giving Dawn back her dreams, and as his note says, telling her she should never give up, because just the act of having the dream will keep her going when things are bad. Seeing the paints overwhelms her because it makes the differences between Tim and Lee so clear. For Lee, the painting is a waste of time and impractical, but Tim recognizes that it makes her happy, and thus is important.

This leads to the brilliant payoff, where we see Dawn walk into the party and her and Tim finally kiss. This is such a perfect scene, the music, the way it's shot and the moment itself. The characters have been through so much bad stuff, it makes their embrace even more powerful. This is the feeling that practically every filmmaker who's ever made a romance film is going for, and I don't think it's ever been achieved as well as here. The fact that Dawn and Tim make it together gives hope to both characters, and changes the office from something of a prison to a place that might not be great, but it's not important, because they have each other now.

At its heart, the series is about coming to terms with your situation in life. Tim at first is almost angry about being in the office, and wants to get out, but by the end, he realizes that his job might not be great, but that doesn't mean his life isn't great either. Dawn may never make an artist, but the fact that she has someone who will support her through whatever she does makes the bad stuff she has to face insignificant. And Brent may not be an entertainer, but in the end, he has people who apperciate him, and he realizes that there's more to life than having a laugh.

When they take the picture at the end, I get the feeling that this is the last time Brent will be at the office. There's a sense of closure, like he doesn't need to impress them anymore, and when he's not trying as hard, he actually gets a laugh. Similarly, Tim no longer wants to leave so desperately. He's content where he is, and while there may not be great things in his future, there will be happiness. It's all about realizing that life may not always be great, but there's always some good to be had, some fun along the way, and by the end, each of the characters have found peace.

I'll just say that the first time I watched the special I liked it, but didn't really get it I guess. On the second viewing, I was really affected by everything that happened. The Tim/Dawn and the change of Brent at the end hit me on a more emotional level than they had on the first viewing. I loved the darkness of the show on the first go, and the second time through, it was more the light at the ending that really hit me.

There's so much depth and many layers in the series, all developed in such a short period of time. The series isn't exactly a comedy, or a drama, or a romance, it's all three, and none at all. It's just a story that's really well told.

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