What a week it was for me and watching movies. I saw two films that I am going to put in my top ten movies of 07. One of which is probably the best film I have seen this year, and parts of it I liked more than any movie I have ever seen.
There Will Be Blood
I really didn't read a whole bunch about this movie before seeing it. I knew that Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love) was directing, and I knew it was based on a novel by Upton Sinclair. I also knew it was starring one of my favorite actors of all time Danielle Day Lewis. With that being said I had big expectations, but I had no idea what to expect. When I left this movie I was blown away, but still did not know exactly how I felt about it. After a day, I wanted to see it again, because it is truly one of the best pictures you will ever see. From a directorial, cinematogoraphy, and score standpoint this movie is second to none. I dont know much about Radiohead, but there lead singer, Johnny Greenwood, did the score. I believe this is the first movie he has worked on and he is wonderful. You have to understand this movie is a period piece set back in the early 1900's and all I can say is the look was spot on. You had the feeling watching that you were there. The scenary was beautiful, and PTA has delivered his best movie to date.
The real standout however is Day Lewis. He has blown me away with his performances in the Boxer and Gangs of New York, but this is as good of performance as i have ever seen. The only problem I have ever had with his acting is that it gets a little theatrical at times and sometimes you feel like you are watching a play instead of a movie, but that aside he is as powerful as a performer that I have ever seen. The weird thing about this movie is besides a decent performance from Paul Dano as Eli Sunday, there isnt really even another actor that shares even close to the same time to him on screen. He literally is in every seen which has to be incredible difficult. Another reason why this is such a impressive performance, is the fact that this is not a movie that is trying to tell the standard linear story. There isnt a theme or message that the author director wants you to take from the entire story. Instead they want you to take a look at the character and study him. To derive your feelings about the time, and about the business of oil, and religion, from one man. So Day Lewis has that pressure on him, as the character study of the whole film, and he pulls it out flawlessly. I am comparing his performance to DeNiro in Raging Bull and that is as good of compliment as you will receive from me.
I left the theatre absolutely blown away. I think a lot of people feel like this movie is meant to be a negative look at capitalism as well as religion, in the early 1900s. Please dont look at it that way, instead study the lead character, and follow his struggle with his own demons and the way he lived his life. I think you will take much more out of this film if you do so.
Juno
The next film I saw this week was Juno. I had heard some great reviews but was a little worried about liking a movie that was surely going to have nothing but the happiest of endings. Even though the movie was somewhat predictable, I laughed and smiled throughout which was nice after seeing a heavy movie like There Will Be Blood. It is a great debut story from writer Diablo Cody, and director Jason Reitman (Fast Food Nation, Thank You For Smoking) delivers another solid performance. Juno is a story about a young girl who gets pregnant unexpectedly and decides to have the child and put it up for adoption. The story follows her and what she has to deal with as a pregnant 16 year old girl. I wouldnt say any of this material is new or special, but the story is smart and well written. It is also very funny. THe thing i like most about a movie like this over say a comedy like superbad, is that none of the scenes carry on to long. This is a very well edited movie and each scene serves a purpose and the do not linger much to long trying to deliver joke after joke. I have always said it is isnt the amount of jokes, it is how well you deliver the jokes that you have. I would compare this to a Napolean Dynamite type movie, with a little more heart felt story line.
The other thing I absolutely loved about this movie is the casting. Every single character seems perfect in there roles. From Ellen Page, as Juno, to Michael Cera, as the nerdy bf. I especially loved the casting of the two sets of parents in the movie. Juno's parents, played by Allison Janney and J.K. Simmons, are very funny characters. I also really like the adopting parents played by Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman. Everyone seems perfect for there roles.
I enjoyed this movie and took it just for what it was, a feel good movie, that delivers laughs, smiles, as well as a look at what a young woman has to deal with when confronted with an unexpected pregnancy. This is a movie that you have not seen before though it may feel predictable, you will be happy throughout it all. Plus it has a wonderful Indie feeling soundtrack!
2 comments:
We just saw Juno yesterday and I agree. Great script, great dialogue, appropriately edited, great casting and performances and dealt with rather serious material without laying it on too thick, but also keeping a sense of humor without completely blowing off the seriousness of the material.
Juno was clearly in a fix and was very stress-out about it. I thought they did a good job of letting her use her glib sense of humor as an emotional defense when dealing with others, but when she was alone we saw the real emotions and pressure come out. Very believable and reality-based, IMO.
I think you paint it as a little more feel-good than I thought it was, and that may be a matter of age and perspective on life. I thought there were some very painful moments. Especially when Bateman's character made his big announcement and Juno completely lost it. It really revealed that, despite her outward appearance of happy-go-lucky, clever girl, she was just barely hanging on by a thread and that shift in the situation put her over the edge to where she didn't have any more clever comments or jokes to dance around it - she just broke down.
Some of the little moments really made it a special film in my mind. For example, the scene when Juno first meets the adoptive couple and is joking around and complaining about the nature of being pregnant and says to the adoptive mother, "You're lucky it's not you." You can see the look of pain on the woman's face, the look of discomfort on Bateman's face, because they have obviously been trying to get pregnant and can't. The woman wants to be pregnant more than anything in the world, and here's this kid saying, "You're lucky it's not you." Still, Juno went on completely oblivious to the emotional complexity of what she had just said, never got that she had just rubbed salt in the wound. She may be funny and witty, but she's still just a kid with no perspective on the world. A more heavy-handed approach would have had the adoptive mother go into a crying outburst about how insensitive that was and have Juno feel really bad about what she said. Instead, the writer and director gave the adoptive mother enough depth to be hurt by the comment, but also know that Juno is just a kid who doesn't know any better and not to upset the deal by freaking out. Just a few words and a couple of facial expressions and you get a mountain of information about everyone involved in the scene. It's just superior film-making and it's sad that it is so rare.
Well glad you liked it. I would say that it is a pretty good feel good story even if she is at a breaking point for five minutes, everything works out for Juno, and you never really have any doubts about that. Basically I am just splitting hairs I liked the same things about the movie that you did. TK check out There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men.
Post a Comment