The Girl on the Train

Well, I suppose there comes a time in every new reviewer’s life when he or she must give a movie a poor review. So here goes…

The Girl on the Train is based on an actual occurrence in 2004 when Marie-Léonie Leblanc, a French 23 year old, faked being the victim of an anti-Semitic attack. Sounds like it’s going to be interesting right? But somehow André Téchiné manages to take a true story rife with possibility and turn it into a boring, 2 hour slog.

The lie about the attack is the only thing lifted from the actual events of 2004. To me, this should have been the meat of the story, but instead the lie and its aftermath are jammed into the last quarter of the film. Everything that comes before it is a slow, poorly-paced build where I imagine we were supposed to be getting a feeling for Jeanne (the Leblanc character) and the motives for her impending crime. But I, personally didn’t at all. I had no feeling for who this character was or why she felt compelled to perpetrate such a fraud.

The score was heavy handed. Dramatic and ominous, it continually eluded to an impending tragedy that never came. This serves as a good allegory for the film itself. As my friend Leah, who was watching the film with me, said: “Maybe French people think just having a boring life is tragedy enough”.

I have looked at some other reviews and a lot of critics think this is a great movie. Have any of you seen it? What did you think?

Thanks to Leah and Laura both for sitting through this with me (and for the burritos!). We saw this at Cinema 123. Check out my Theatre Map for the location.

The White Ribbon

As you may have seen, The White Ribbon won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. And it damn well should have. I saw it on Friday at Film Forum and it was a masterpiece.

My friend and I got there 15 minutes before the movie started and we were lucky we got tickets: the house was so crowded we ended up having to sit in the second row. But even slumped down in my seat to be able to see the whole screen I was totally engrossed for the whole 144 minutes.

The film takes place in a little German village just before the breakout of WWI. And just as Germany (and the world) are about to loose a certain innocence forever, so do the village’s families through the film’s progression. It is a litany of seemingly senseless cruelties. The audience, like the characters, is forced to shoulder the burden of the ambiguous who and why.

The lack of a score or soundtrack added both to the ominousness of the film as well as setting the time period. The only music heard was, on a couple occasions, the singing of a church choir during services and once the in-adept playing of a pump organ by a schoolteacher.

The director, Michael Haneke (who also wrote the film) did an amazing job building tension by having action happen just outside of the camera’s reach. In one scene children are marched into the dining room to receive whippings for disobeying their father. We watch them file in and then the door closes, leaving us behind. As an audience member you can only sit there, staring at that door, waiting for the first crack of the cane, the tension building as if we were the ones anticipating the lash.

Wednesday I’ll be seeing The Girl on the Train. And, if I can squeeze it in, tomorrow I’ll catch the 1977 horror flick Hasu at IFC.

Thanks for reading. Don’t forget to post your movie suggestions on the Suggest a Film page. Also, if you’re on Facebook (so, if you’re breathing) you can become a fan of our Facebook page. Just search for My Movie Year.

Up in the Air

This week’s picture: Up in the Air, the latest from Juno director Jason Reitman. I watched it alone at the lovely little Cobble Hill Cinemas.

Essentially the movie asks What’s the point of it all? Answers Who cares? and then asks But seriously, what is it?

George Clooney’s character, Ryan, spends 90% of his time on airplanes and hotels, traveling for his job (which happens to be laying people off). And he likes it that way, finds solace in his isolation and the mass-manufactured faux-hominess of La Quinta Inns. Then (of course) romance steps in and brings everything into question. But just when it seems the story is going to be lost to a love-saves-all happy ending, reality swoops in and snatches it from the fire.

The timeliness of Ryan’s job as a professional axe-man is at moments all-most painful: watching grown men cry and ask what to tell their kids made me squirm in my seat (and made my heart beat faster, imagining losing my job in a time like now).

Visually, this is a film of landscapes: not just the plentiful aerial footage of sweeping farmland, mountain ranges, cities, and highways but also the manufactured environments of airport terminals and hotels and, in a particularly moving scene, the desolate landscape of a de-cubicled office, it’s electrical hubs laid bare, all that’s left of the now-jobless people who once plugged in their laser printers and Ikea lamps there.

The surprisingly lo-fi heavy soundtrack was also notable. I was particularly pleased with the inclusion of an Elliott Smith song, “Angel in the Snow”, which is a personal favorite of mine. Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings, Sad Brad Smith, and Charles Atlas also make appearances.

Next week: The White Ribbon and possibly Eyes Wide Open at the New York Jewish Film Festival (hey, I said at least one movie a week). Hit up the suggestions page if there’re other movies you think I should check out.

Broken Embraces

Tonight I saw the first movie of my one year experiment: Pedro Almodóvar’s  Broken Embraces. I saw it at United Artist East on 85th st. and 1st ave. with my lovely roommate (and longtime family friend) Cathy.

Not surprisingly the movie was beautiful. The scenery was breathtaking and the colors were rich and intense. Particularly stunning was a 2 minute shot of a blind man running his hands over a television screen that was playing a video of the last kiss he shared with his lover. The screen is grainy and luminous and the hands are strong and touching with their dirty finger nails.

The story, with its plot driven somewhat by the importance of one’s work but ultimately by the intricacies of relationships and the things they drive us to do,  seemed like it could have been written by John Irving (though not as epic as his novels).

Penelope Cruz proves again that she’s not just gorgeous but also a fabulous actress.

Not sure what’s on the docket for next week. I’m considering Up in the Air or The White Ribbon. I’d love suggestions if there’s something you think I should see.

I really don’t know a whole lot about film and this is a new style of writing for me so I appreciate your patience while I get warmed up… if anyone is actually reading this that is.