Moments out of time , with plot or thematic
spoilers for the respective films.
Since this is a longer post, I’m putting it in the body of the blog rather than the “comments” section. Hope that’s okay.
Unfaithful, dir. Adrian Lyne.
The “scene in the train”: Connie Sumner remembers, during her train ride home, her first act of infidelity. As she recalls the details of their lovemaking, we see her reaction reflected in her face and body language: fleeting moments of lust, excitement, shame, fear, embarrassment, desire, and fulfilment. It’s a complex, convincing, and compelling scene, confidently carried off by Diane Lane as Connie. If only the rest of the film had lived up to the richness and shading suggested by this bravura sequence.
Road to Perdition, dir. Sam Mendes.
I
loved this film; can I nominate the whole film? No...?
*Connor (Daniel Craig) and John Rooney (Paul Newman) at a meeting, the morning after Connor’s taken it upon himself to – seemingly in a fit of impetuosity – kill Finn McGovern and his crew. Connor, cocky and glib, blithely starts to explain/apologize away the events of the previous evening. But Rooney Senior is in no mood to dismiss the deaths of several good men. Erupting in anger, steely-eyed and voiced, he progressively reduces his son to stammering, chastened, and suitably belittled awkwardness. It’s a
magnificent scene, superbly written and performed. It sketches, in a few deft strokes, Connor’s character. And shows, in a few equally telling moments, the sheer force and strength of John Rooney’s will. This film has a towering performance by Newman; less often commented on, is the excellent one by Daniel Craig.
*The whole sequence in which Connor’s killed: the preliminary phone-call to Nitti; then the long shot following Mike Sullivan (Tom Hanks) into the hotel where Connor is in hiding. The man at the lift entrance, knowing what to expect, silently stands aside; Sullivan purposefully strides down the corridor, removing his gun from his coat with a practised and anticipatory stretch of his arm. Connor is in an all-white bathroom. The shooting is heard, rather than seen. Then, as Sullivan exits, the bathroom door swings open, and we see in its mirror, Connor bathed in red, his blood splotched against the white tiles and tub. Music, cinematography, and direction all work in unison, creating a sequence of terrible beauty.
*One miniscule scene, that no-one else seems to have commented on: Sullivan and Mike Jr. are both staying/hiding at a farm belonging to a kindly couple. Sullivan’s been shot, and nursed back to health by his son. Now in recuperation, he sits on the porch and watches as Mike Jr. helps the elderly farmer at his work. Also watching from the porch, the farmer’s wife notes of Mike Jr., “He dotes on you, you know...”. But Sullivan
doesn’t know it. For him, it’s a moment of realization and recognition: that the love that he has for his son, is returned. Hank’s flicker of surprise, consideration, then acceptance, gratitude, and bittersweet emotion, are all there and gone in a couple of seconds: a startled glance (not quite a double-take), two beats while the comment registers, then the rueful smile. It was an understated, but moving moment; and in a film
filled with memorable scenes, that one stayed with me for a long time.
All or Nothing, dir. Mike Leigh. [post adapted from one posted in Sept 02]
The fight between Penny and Phil Bassett: For the first three-quarters of the film, life for the Bassetts is bleak, bleak, bleak. Although both are working and (just) financially afloat, their emotional lives are utterly impoverished. Penny (Leslie Manville) waits in impotent despair when her bullying, overweight teenaged son screams at her, while her husband Phil (Timothy Spall) says nothing to stop it. Phil himself is the very picture of a loser: shambling, stoop-shouldered, lank hair hanging over his face, - he has the dogged, hopeless demeanour of a man who only asks to be left alone. After a thoroughly depressing hour with these characters, Leigh then challenges us to empathise with them. - And amazingly, against all odds, somehow succeeds. A medical crisis in the Bassett household acts as a catalyst for a long-overdue confrontation, the crux of the film: a long, uninterrupted scene in which Penny and Phil, in a searing sequence of accusations, recriminations and regrets, ask each other – and themselves - some painful but necessary questions. In a flood of honesty, anger, and catharsis, Penny and Phil fight their way through to understanding, love, hope, and a kind of grace.
Secretary, dir. Steven Shainberg.
Finding oneself; finding your “soul-mate”, learning to trust, to love, to give, and to receive. So simple; and yet so hard.
Secretary is a strange, challenging, and touching film; and perhaps the most courageous and difficult scene is one in which E. Edward Grey (James Spader) asks Lee (Maggie Gyllenhaal) to bend over his desk, lift up her skirt, and remove her panties. We aren’t sure what E. Edward’ll do; neither is Lee. The character, and film, asks that we trust them.
More compelling than the physical actions during that scene, is its emotional nakedness: E. Edward is conflicted, unable to acknowledge and articulate his needs; Lee is beginning to recognize and accept hers. At this pivotal moment, the balance of psychological power decisively shifts.
Heaven, dir. Tom Tykwer.
Philippa (Cate Blanchett) has been arrested for – so she believes – the murder of the drug dealer responsible for her husband’s death. In the interrogation room, she discovers that her bomb instead killed several innocent people – a janitor, and a family with children – instead. In a single close-up, her face expresses shock, grief, guilt, remorse. Tears flood her eyes, and she begins to cry.
The rest of the film - slight, and uncertain as to what it wants to be, doesn’t live up to the promise of that scene. But what promise...!
(
Yun-fat, I also remember that you loved the opening shot of the film.)
Great question, many interesting answers. Thanks,
shroom.
And a Happy New Year to my fellow Milkplusers!
-copywright.
Question of the Week
This week's "Question of the Week" is inspired by an a yearly feature that used to appear in the magazine
Film Comment, called "Moments Out of Time." The writers of the magazine would highlight individual moments or scenes from particular films, films which didn't even happen to be good, that were something special, whether they were a key moment in the film, an amazing moment, something sublime, transcendent, hilarious, etc. etc. For this week's question, I thought we could do something similar. Again, the one comments post per person rule has been waived so that we can create another comprehensive list of our own 2002 "Moments Out of Time." Just remember, be descriptive, evoke why these moments are important to you and the film they come from.
As always, the "Question of the Week," is open to all blog members and non-blog members, so don't be shy.
My Top 10 List: Version 1.0
Well, I’m fairly confident that I will not be seeing any 2002 releases between now and January (going to
Gangs of New York on Thursday), so I figure it’s time to make my preliminary Top 10 list (of course, you guys know me, and I can’t just stop at 10) for this year. This is only a preliminary list because many 2002 films (
Adaptation,
Chicago,
25th Hour,
The Hours etc., etc.) will not be released in Madison for a few weeks, or even a few months. So, some time in the future, this list will be superseded, unless every remaining movie from this year, that I haven’t seen, really, really sucks, which I doubt.
For me, 2002 was a fairly good year for the movies, in general, but unlike last year, with
Mulholland Drive, or 1999, with
After Life, no one movie has yet to completely seize my imagination, emotions, and intellect. In fact, the movie that I have penciled in as the top of 2002 so far, has remained in that position since late March. Well, here goes:
Honorable Mentions
Quite a list of films any of which I would heartily recommend:
About a Boy (d. Paul & Chris Weitz),
Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (d. Zacharias Kunuk),
Bowling for Columbine (d. Michael Moore),
The Devil’s Backbone (d. Guillermo Del Toro),
Far From Heaven (d. Todd Hayne),
I’m Going Home (d. Manoel De Oliviera),
Kandahar (d. Mohsen Makhmalbaf),
Last Orders (d. Fred Schepisi),
Little Otik (d. Jan Svankmajer),
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (d. Peter Jackson),
Lovely and Amazing (d. Nicole Holofcener),
Manhunt (d. Melanie Middien & Alia Yunis),
Monsoon Wedding (d. Mira Nair),
Panic Room (d. David Fincher),
Punch Drunk Love (d. Paul Thomas Anderson),
Sex and Lucia (d. Julio Medem),
The Son’s Room (d. Nanni Moretti),
Spirited Away (d. Hayao Miyazaki),
24 Hour Party People (d. Michael Winterbottom),
Waterboys (d. Shinobu Yamaguchi), and
What Time Is It There? (d. Tsai Ming-liang).
The Runner’s Up (in alphabetical order):
Bloody Sunday (d. Paul Greengrass)
Late Marriage (d. Dover Koshashvili)
The Lady and the Duke (d. Eric Rohmer)
Minority Report (d. Steven Spielberg)
The Piano Teacher (d. Michael Haneke)
Secretary (d. Steven Shainberg)
Spider Man (d. Sam Raimi)
Time Out (d. Laurent Cantet)
Y Tu Mama Tambien (d. Alfonso Cauron)
And the Current #1 Movie of the Year Is....
The Argentinean movie
La Cienaga (d. Lucretia Martel), which I first saw at the Wisconsin Film Festival. You literally watch a upper-class family decay before your very eyes, sinking under the oppressive weight of the humidity into an incestuous stupor. The atmosphere is so corrupt, that the tragic end doesn’t really feel like much of a surprise. A must see for the atmosphere, as well as some of the most naturalistic performances by children that I’ve seen in a long time.
By the way, if anyone is interested, I think the worst film of the year, by far is Todd Solondz’s
Storytelling (which was actually the first 2002 release I saw); it wrestled its title from the abysmal
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell by virtue, well I don’t know if that is the right word, of its pretentiousness
The Hours is a well-made, respectable film which put me intermittently to sleep. It moves from decade to decade at an inexorable, never-varying pace. It is acted by an impeccable cast (most notably Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman), all operating on the same level of low-level anxiety which rarely achieves dramatic heights. It can't be seriously faulted--well, except for the horribly monotonous score by Philip Glass--but neither did it come within light years of blowing me away. It will be a magnet for women and gay men, however.
