Showing posts with label Lauren Bacall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lauren Bacall. Show all posts

Thursday, October 2, 2014

DOGVILLE (2003)

Like some kind of Biblical fable about a secret angel showing it's weakness to a group of humans in order to judge their compassion DOGVILLE is the story of a frail woman, Grace (Nicole Kidman), who wanders into the small "town" of Dogville in need of help.  I say town in quotes because its only got like 15 people living there, all on one street.  Anyway, Grace is penniless and looking for shelter.  The townsfolk, somewhat reluctantly, take her in and even after it's discovered that she's wanted by the Law they keep hiding her.  To earn her keep she does odd jobs for citizens of Dogville.  Then things start to take a more sinister turn. 

Before you take it upon yourself to watch DOGVILLE you're first going to need to gird your loins.  The runtime is nearly 3 hours and that's just ridiculous because this story could have easily been told in less than two.  Next (and this is the biggest thing) is there isn't an actual town or sky or trees or anything.  The entire movie is filmed on a single "black box theater"-style stage with the imaginary street and houses and plants and everything drawn out on the floor.  Outside of a few minor set pieces (a desk, an organ, a bed, etc.) the entire film is in your head.  That's an interesting experiment, but it gets old quickly and just comes off looking cheap and pretentious.  Next is the camerawork that seems, by the way it's always teetering around and never standing still, to be taken by somebody wearing Google Glass.  After that is the editing which is just all over the place.  I don't even have any idea what was going on there...was it taken from multiple takes with absolutely no consideration for continuity or flow?  One moment a person will be laying down (cut to the next angle) and literally 0.0001 of a second later they're sitting up.  It happened so flagrantly that it had to been on purpose.  The acting by the impressive cast was good for the most part, but there were a few that seemed not up to their normal standards, so I'm guessing once again: the stiff acting was done intentionally for some kind of artistic reason?

I didn't dislike DOGVILLE.  I'm all for filmmakers taking chances and trying something new, but a lot of the stuff that went on here went right over my stupid little head.  I did take issue with the excessive run time.  I liked the story (even though I didn't really understand what the point of the whole thing was), but it was just too long-winded and the characters too unbelievable.  That last act took forever and how dumb could that main guy be?!

Interesting watch for the braver film lover, but I think most people will be totally unamused.

Saturday, August 9, 2014

KEY LARGO (1948)

Bogart versus Robinson with an all-star supporting cast!

World War II vet Humphrey Bogart travels to Key Largo to visit the family (father: Lionel Barrymore, widow: Lauren Bacall) of one of the soldiers he served with.  The guy was killed in battle in Italy, so Bogart is hoping to give them some closure.  The family owns a hotel and even though it's off season the entire hotel is rented out...by one mysterious, unseen guest and his hoodlum crew.  There's some tension in the air, but things seem to be going alright, until a hurricane warning is issued and the coppers start snooping around.  Next thing you know some bad shit goes down and it's up to Bogart to do some quick thinking or ain't nobody gettin' out alive.

Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore, Claire Trevor, Harry Lewis (doing an impersonation of Richard Widmark in KISS OF DEATH), Marc Lawrence, William Haade, Dan Seymour and Thomas Gomez all directed by John Huston...how cool is that?!  I really enjoyed KEY LARGO, especially the scenes with Robinson holding court and being an asshole.  Yeah, the film has some blemishes (the outdoor shots by the dock were obviously shot on a man made pool and not the ocean, boom microphone reflection, dead body moving, visible wires used to pull the palm trees during the special effects shot, etc.), but the acting out shadows all of that.  Edward G. Robinson is wonderful as the aging gangster who's too proud to realize that his brand of gangsterism is over and he's now a dinosaur.  On the other end is Humphrey Bogart as a ex-military guy with personal demons who has to use his wits save the day.

Good story, great supporting cast (it's always a joy to see Lionel Barrymore), quick pace, hilarious facial expressions by Robinson.  KEY LARGO is a must see.  And "No." I don't consider it to be a film noir even though I often see it listed as one.