• year's end round-up

    From septimus_millenicom@q.com@21:1/5 to All on Fri Dec 25 13:24:07 2015
    There hasn't been many good films lately. Hou Hsiou-Hsien's
    _The Assassin_ is uninspiring. I haven't read the source
    material, which might have helped, but to what end? In
    interviews Hou seems focused on evoking the past. The
    music, set design, and costumes are supposed to be authentic.
    That's probably laudable, but of limited interest to me.
    _Flowers of Shanghai_ is a revelation because it is
    more than that; it brimms with intelligent observations
    about human interactions in any era. _The Assassin_ feels
    more cloistered despite its outdoor settings. It is also
    unnecessarily obscure (apparently the swords woman that
    Shi Qi duels with is the king's wife, that exposition is
    left out of the final cut for no reason). In my view, the
    lead actress is bland and miscast. The fights are furtive
    and inconsequential; the kingdom is doomed. The film
    reminded me of Bresson's _Lancelot of the Lake_, but lacked
    the latter's iconoclastic conviction.

    I'm glad Michael Almereyda's _The Experimenter_ is widely
    praised and seen. The screenplay is inventive but the
    cinematography hardly compares to those in his best films,
    like the Shakespeare adapations which boast dazzling background
    details. _The Keeping Room_ is an interesting take on
    the Civil War, with 3 Confederate women (one of them a
    former slave) pitted against deserters from Sherman's
    march to the sea. Brit Marling plays a gritty frontier
    woman who farms, hunts, and defends her homestead from
    the marauding drunken murderers and rapists. (It would
    be more interesting and daring to have depicted the
    men as soldiers instead of deserters.) Apart from the
    usual but worth-repeating lesson that the only thing
    worse that fighting a war is losing one, the film also
    brilliantly illustrates the dark side of self defense
    with guns. Sensational as ever even in minor films,
    Brit Marling would have been an inspired lead actress
    in _The Assassin_.

    Watching the disgusting _Gone Girl_ makes me feel like
    taking a shower afterwards (and rewatching Techine's
    _In the Name of My Daughter_, also about a missing woman
    but rendered with such grace and humanity, for cleansing).
    Not even Fincher's own _Seven_ is this vile.

    I wish I understand why Kristen Stewart is so highly
    praised in _The Clouds of Sils Maria_. Juliette
    Binoche though is out of this world as the aging
    diva alternating between boundless self-confidence
    and self-doubt. I'm beginning to think that the
    title of "greatest actress of all time" is hers to
    lose.

    Finally, what would the award season be without
    Jessica Chastain films? This year she only has
    two, both in supporting roles. The surface beauty
    of _The Crimson Peak_ is breath-taking. Chastain
    was offered the Mia Wasikowska lead role but
    opted for the evil sister, which she plays with
    great discipline and reserve; only at the very
    end does she let her emotions out. On Charlie
    Rose the two actresses and Tom Hiddleston (dashing
    and creepy as he is in _The Deep Blue Sea_)
    discuss the film, and when Rose asks her about
    given the choice of roles she gracefully deflects
    the praise to the younger Wasikowska. Chastain
    is even more disciplined in _The Martian_.
    The film will probably win a handful of oscars
    for its affirmation of American self-reliance values,
    but has questionable editing (the myriad side
    stories are juggled badly) and shot (the 3-D
    cinematography looks obviously layered and
    artificial). Ridley Scott's _Prometheus_ is
    a far better film. Anyway, Chastain plays the
    commander of the space mission. An ex-military, she
    would not let a shred of sorrow or emotion mar her
    command even when she discovers that her terrible
    error has left Matt Damon stranded. She gets to do
    some cool stunt work, flying around in zero G, but
    it is her beautiful voice that is the true special
    effect of the film.

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