Adventures From My Netflix Queue: Departures

broderic on May 10, 2010

Departures (Okuribito) was the 2009 Oscar winner for best foreign picture. I was browsing my Netflix recommendations to fill out my queue to the “recommended” six movies when I saw this. I remember wanting to watch it after reading the blurbs for the movie as I prepared the ballots for my Oscar pool, so I added it to my queue. This may have been several weeks ago since it takes me at least three weeks to watch one DVD received from Netflix. Luckily, I had this DVD for a couple of days before watching it. I am glad I did because it was a nice movie. I’m not sure if it was the better of the five nominees, but I was moved by it.

Departures is about a cellist who has to move back home to the country from Tokyo after the orchestra he played in disbanded. He moves into the house his mother left for him when she died. The one which was his father’s coffee house, but turned into a corner bar after his father left his family. He moves back with his wife who dutifully followed him but is inwardly disappointed in this setback.

In his hometown, he searches for a job and the only one he finds is that of a casketeer (?), they prepare the bodies of the recently departed before their funeral. It is not a very respectable career as he finds his friends and his wife embarrassed for him. Yet, as he goes about learning the customs, he finds an inner peace that allows him accept it and an inner strength that to prosper at it. His wife doesn’t and she leaves him only to return if he decides to find a new job. His boss convinces him that he was meant to be a casketeer (?). He finds, through the acceptance of the job, what it means to live.

This movie shows the dignity that is extended to the recently deceased in the meticulous preparation of the body. This is expressed through the casketeer (?) trying to make the body beautiful for their families. The lowly work is elevated once the casketeer (?) goes through the elaborate ritual. The families who enlist their services are grateful to them because it makes their last goodbyes just a bit better. The respect shown to the bodies is reflected back at them for the work that they do.

Reconciliation happens for the couple when she comes back to their house to tell him she’s pregnant. She begins to accept her husbands job as she sees that he is suited for it and that it is a dignified career. She finally accepts his work when he must prepare the body of his estranged father. She grew to love him all over again watching the ceremonial preparations of the body. It makes him human and a man.

The death of his father allows him to put to rest his past. He doesn’t at first want to go, because he doesn’t remember his father, but his wife and his co-workers cajole him to go. There he finds that although they never saw each other for over thirty years, his father still had thoughts of him in his heart. He prepares his body, his wife loves him, and they share this moment for them and for their future.

I’ll admit that I shed a few tears in this movie. Watching it brought back memories of the days leading up to my father’s funeral. Dignity is extended to the dead and it is acceptable to know and celebrate them. When we can accept it, we can accept death as a part of living. It is paying respect to the dead that we can go on living for the future. It is for the past, a way for looking towards the future, and an acceptance of our present.

4 of 5 stars.

Kick Ass

broderic on April 21, 2010

Kick Ass is much better comic movie than I thought it was. I was reading Twitter and reading Roger Eberts tweets defending his trashing of the movie. It was basically the internet telling the old man to STFU because his views were too old. I couldn’t believe it. You can’t tell Ebert that his views are too old. I got to watch this movie.

So I had some expectations. I’ve already thought The Dark Knight was overrated. I was expecting more of the same.

Except it was different. Hard to explain. But I think it was very much steeped in comic books and comic book movies. Didn’t take the medium too seriously. Adam West as Nic Cage made me laugh. There was some music I recognized from some other movies.

I think I want to watch it again.

4 of 5 stars.

Greenberg

broderic on April 6, 2010

Somehow I’m trying to express my views on the Noah Baumbach film, Greenberg. I doubt I’ll get this right.

Greenberg stars Ben Stiller as the eponymous main male character trying to re-establish himself after being released from rehab. He house sits at his successful brother’s house in LA for the weeks his brother is away on vacation in Vietnam. He establishes a a rapport with his brother’s personal assistant, and they begin a slow-step, tango of a relationship that’s dysfunctional and redeeming. It’s just another indie film plot.

Now I state that Stiller is the main male character, but the personal assistant played by Great Gerwig is every bit the main character, too. She’s the second lead and it is through her that we learn of him. I would almost say she’s the lead. The film opens up following her story and it takes 20 minutes before we get to Stiller. All the while you wonder what is up with this girl. She’s a personal assistant, a glorified gopher, but it pays the bills and allows for the partying till dawn lifestyle she finds herself with.

These two find each other. Real quick and real sudden. And real. It had the audience gasping. “No way!” Very interesting if you think about it. I kept wondering how they each felt about the other. She would’ve just expected? He would’ve wanted it? Where did that come from?

The movie goes by just as every indie movie goes. Not much action, but plenty of character development. Stiller’s character gains something from her, but I don’t she gains anything from him except for companionship. She may understand him, but that understanding wasn’t built on seeing who he is, but who she is. She accepts him because he finally accepts himself.

I thought the early part of the movie was slow and uninteresting. The later part got to be better. Perhaps it was because the amusing scene when Greenberg confronts the youth. It really is scary on how he nails the fear and the awe inherent at looking at the next generation.

Decent movie for the time I was in the theatre.

3 of 5 stars.

Hot Tub Time Machine

broderic on April 3, 2010

Hot Tub Time Machine, a title of a movie in search of a story. The movie just wasn’t that good for film looking to break through the fourth wall with it’s nudge-nudge wink-wink. It wasn’t enough that John Cusak besmirched his 80s cool character status or even Craig Robinson not being funny, but Rob Cordry eating up entire scenes that was an effrontery.

Of course, I went to see this after hearing CapSwell’s short terse acknowledgement of it. I never know with that dude. It sounds good, but it may be bad.

This. This was bad.

2 of 5 stars.

Alice In Wonderland

broderic on March 26, 2010

About a week ago, I had caught Tim Burton’s rendition of Alice In Wonderland in Disney 3D. I don’t know what the difference but 3D doesn’t seem so cool if you don’t shoot it in stereo like Kirk Cameron did Avatar.

Did you know that it was rated PG? I didn’t. There’s some hacking and slashing at the end plus that hooka smoking caterpillar that make it seem less children-y and more teenage-ish. Except that the Alice story has been in the public domain for a long time now that there are plenty of dark interpretations of it. Let’s just say bringing really young kids to it can set a parent up for some seat squirming.

Or it could set them up for boring. Alice in Wonderland relies on Tim Burton’s hoary tricks at ghoulishness and on Johnny Depp’s weirdness. I couldn’t get past either and wish that the film ended sooner than it did.

But it didn’t end soon enough for me. And I blame Disney. They’ve churned out nothing but rehashes of their intellectual properties. I wish someone would make a better Alice tale rather than the sad suits of Disney.

2 of 5 stars.

She’s Out of Your League

broderic on March 18, 2010

She’s Out of Your League makes explicit the conceit of the Macho Chick Flick: “How does he end up with her?” It’s right there in the title. A hottie, 10, hooks takes out the nerdly 5, they hit it off, and believe that they are right for each other. Will they believe to make it right? Will their friends spoil it? Are they really meant for each other? And can a 5 make himself into an 8 to get close enough to dating a 10?

Of course, it rom-com land, they end up together. The reason to watch is to find out what their obstacles are.

I like Jay Baruchel. He starred in the underappreciated Apatow tv show, Undeclared. It reminded me of college at the U, and that was 7 years out ten years ago. Yet, he is pretty much annoying here. He’s too nerdly. No girl would dig that. When you think of him that way, then he was perfect for the role.

This movie falls into the Apatow, guy rom-com except that it didn’t have any of his repertoire company except for Baruchel. I kept trying to figure out which character would be played by an Apatow member. There’s a Jonah Hill/Seth Rogan guy, the fast talking friend. There’s a Jason Segal role and a Paul Rudd role. It seemed like the producers scrimped on the stars and with second rate actors.

Alice Eve is attractive. But she’s not the hottest girl out there. I wonder if that was the way it was supposed to be.

2 of 5 stars.

Shutter Island

broderic on March 6, 2010

Shutter Island is Martin Scorsese doing his thriller thing. It is based on a Dennis Lehane novel as if that means anything to you. Lehane did a few novels that have been turned into movies perhaps you’ve heard of Mystic River or of Gone Baby Gone. He’s a man of New England, and Scorsese is a man of New York. How does this affect any thing? I don’t know but my review is suddenly going off the rails into a different reality…

Shutter Island is about two federal marshals conducting a manhunt on the eponymous island mental institution looking for an escaped patient. She was supposed to have disappeared without a trace. The wardens have no idea what happened.

Unfortunately, it may take you awhile to figure out what the twists and turns in the movie’s plot. Or if you’ve watched a lot of movies, you’ll expect the unexpected.

Scorsese works in a genre that seems out of his interests. But, he did do the Val Lewton retrospective for Universal. And he does bring some of the extraordinary creepiness that was trademark of Lewton. In fact, the strangeness of the film reminded me of The Curse of the Cat People. It’s not what it seems which was the same for both films.

One thing: don’t watch with your psychiatrist mom she’ll know everyone’s crazy and complain that it’s just like work.

3 of 5 stars.

Seriously? Comic books?

broderic on March 5, 2010

I am surprised that the Pulitzer people deem comics worthy of serious consideration of an artform. They’ve given a Pulitzer to Art Spiegelman’s Maus and lately they’ve awarded the Pulitzer for fiction to an otaku. Since I am myself a comic book fan, I’m glad that they do think it worthy of praise. So I searched out the one Pulitzer winner dealing with comic books and men in tights, Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.

It’s the story of the infancy of the comic book industry in the United States. It covers the beginnings of the super hero genre from the introduction of Superman to the first twilight of the industry in the Congressional hearings into juvenile delinquency in the 50s. It the story of two cousins who embark on a blaze of creativity bringing into being several superheroes. It is the story of immigration and assimilation into the United States as all stories of the populace of the American people is really about. It is the story of Jews in America, and the story about escaping who we really are. They are looking for their own übermensch — the Golem or Warsaw, an alien from the planet Krypton, the un-imprisonable Escapist — to do battle with the Germans.

The plot follows Josef Kavalier as he escapes the Prague ghetto before its demise by the Nazis, flees to America, and becomes a comic book artist. The plot also involves Sammy Clay, Josef’s cousin and collaborator, and Rosa Saks the bohemian girl in love with Josef.

Kavalier and Clay begin with their super heroes a few months after the introduction of Superman. They create the Escapist, the super hero who cannot be confined by any jail, box or ropes. He fights to free people from injustice, and at the time he fights the Nazis. He is Kavalier and Clay’s Jewish super man. They also created Luna Moth, a sensual lady crime fighter, inspired by Rosa Saks. These two super heroes are their most famous creations.

Kavalier is the artist. He sees the potential artistry in the comic book medium, and he attempts to break out of the squares of the format. Clay is the prolific writer. He has plenty of stories to tell. He writes all their stories. Brothers by their pen, they create what becomes legend. They mix with the early comics industry making friends and making legends.

The book is written like Kavelier and Clay were real comic creators. Mixing the real New York city in as part of the milieu. Gotham. Metropolis. Empire City. America.

I really liked this book. The comics creation part early was the boring stuff. The story afterwards of the two creators is the important interesting part of the book. It wasn’t they who created art, but art created them. They lived their lives open and free in reaction to being comic creators. It makes me want to be a creator myself.

A-

The Wolfman

broderic on February 20, 2010

Following the myth of The Wolfman, I should wait until the next full moon to write up my review. Except that if I did, I would wake up and find that I don’t remember anything about it. A week later and the story is the same. I don’t remember anything about The Wolfman.

Of course, if you had seen it, you’ll think that the curse would be infinitely terrible. That the fiancée of your dead brother mauled by a supernatural creature would fall for you. That your issues with your dad would turn out to be really big issues.

3 of 5 stars.

Adventures From My Netflix Queue: The Ramen Girl

broderic on February 6, 2010

Watching the weather and seeing the snow come down in bunches, it’s best to stay in doors. I’ve got nothing better to do, so I pop my latest Netflix into the DVD player. It’s early for this DVD almost a week and I’ve just put this in — a new record.

Today’s movie is The Ramen Girl. It has been in my queue for a year now always the bridesmaid but never the bride. I keep pushing in down, but since the movie stars the late, Brittany Murphy, I figured I would have to honor her memory by finally watching her flick. No disrespect to her and her memory.

The Ramen Girl is about Murphy’s character going to Japan to follow a boy who then dumps her. Stuck in a foreign land what is she to do. One night in the rain she follows her tears to a ramenya. There she tastes heaven and decides that she should be a ramen cook. The rest of the film is about her learning to cook ramen.

The best part of this film is that it explains the mystery of ramen. You think it’s all about the noodles, but really its the broth. I’ve got plenty of ramen in my cupboard, but I don’t really want the packet broth. If I can make a decent broth, those square dry ramen noodles may almost taste good.

So, Murphy attempts to become a ramen chef. It is hard life made even harder by the her lack of understanding Japanese. But she does learn. Little by little. Not Japanese, but ramen and the broth. Eventually, she gets to become the successor to her sensei, and learns about ramen.

After the movie, I had a bowl of arroz caldo. Not ramen. But I don’t think I do a good broth just yet.

3 of 5 stars