Top 10 2013

What a year! I still haven't seen half of the movies I would like including Her, Wolf of Wall Street, The Hobbit and Inside Llewyn Davis to name a few, but the movies I have seen are ample evidence to demonstrate that this was an unusually rich year for cinema. Numbers one and two are set, but I could easily replace the rest with any of the "honorable mention" movies. They're all that good. Anyway, my top 10, as it stands now: 

1. Upstream Color- It starts as a horror movie with a hint of sci-fi and some straight out fantasy elements. It's also kind of a crime thriller and a detective story,  but ultimately, Upstream Color is a romance. It’s about a man and a woman’s difficult journey to trusting one another so completely that their identities become inextricably linked, as the movie’s wonderful poster suggests. Kris and Jeff have it hard, but once they connect, its a joy seeing them work together in perfect unison. The movie boasts a fearless performance by Amy Seimetz and by writer/director/composer/cinematographer/star Shane Carruth. I knew it was something special the first time I watched it, but like many great films it really came alive the second time around. This one’s an instant classic. It’s reputation will only grow with time.

2. Before Midnight- Devastating. After nine years of uncertainty, Julie Delpy Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater finally revealed that Jesse did miss his plane. What Midnight shows us is a couple, not on a one day tryst, but simply on one day of the countless they have now spent together — albeit one day in which the relationship is tested to its very core. Like its predecessors, the film has some brilliant use of setting, this time ancient Greece, and it has some of the greatests, most naturalistic dialogue ever written for a film. It also has the most chilling and horrifying scene of the year, the epic 30 minute fight that serves as the climax to the movie. Hopefully, this is not the last chapter in the series, and if the movie’s closing line is any indication  (“it must have been one hell of a night we’re about to have.”) then I think we’ll be seeing these two lovers again at least once more. 

3. Gravity- An avant-garde box-office hit in 2013, the year of the unbearably lame Hollywood blockbuster, who would have thought? Only Alfonso Cuaron could have done it, but not without the help of master cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki — who also shot Cuaron’s  harrowing Children of Men and the sublime Tree of Life — and the always beautiful Sandra Bullock — here displaying amazing physicality and vulnerability which is all the more impressive considering that she’s alone onscreen for most of the movie. In space, life is impossible, the opening titles inform us. Bullock’s Dr.Stone has only one goal: to come back safely to earth so as live life how it was meant to be lived. Pure and simple, this is a humanist survival tale told with elegance and grace. It’s perfect. 

4. Stories We Tell- The less you know about this one the better, but I promise it will change the way you look at documentaries forever. What begins as the story of the director’s mother transforms into a story about the director herself, until it finally becomes about our need to construct stories out of our own lives to make sense of them. Through this highly personal, moving tale, Sarah Polley somehow manages to show how stories are universally important to each and every one of us.  That’s no small feat, and this film deserves all the praise it can get for pulling it off. 

5. Ain’t Them Bodies Saints- Ruth and Bob love each other, but there’s one little problem. He's is in jail and she has to constantly live with the fact that she was the one who committed the crime that put him there; She also has to raise their child, conceived shortly before dad went to prison. Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck are two of the most talented and underrated actors working today. Here, they give stunning performances playing a couple separated by fate yet unwilling to give up hope of reunification. Each little moment in the film builds up to the couple's eventual meeting, which is one of the most profoundly saddest scenes I’ve seen. The movie is also a Western, lovely to look at. 

6. Monsters University- Friendships take time and hard work to develop and strengthen. Mike and Sully’s was no different, but their relationship was so solid in the original Monsters Inc, it was easy to assume that they had always been best pals. MU takes that assumption and shatters it to pieces in its opening minutes, and that takes guts. Anyone accusing this movie of being lazy and formulaic is just plain wrong. Also, it comes with a short, The Blue Umbrella, which I could easily place by itself at number 3 or 4 on this list.

7. Frances Ha- Frances, a twentysomething college graduate, hops from couch to couch, trying to make a life and a home for herself in NYC. Greta Gerwig is brilliant. If you don’t laugh during this movie, I can’t help you. Also, it was shot in black and white, like New York always should be. Here’s the marvelous trailer, which captures the spirit of the film: 

8. The Grandmaster- Words are inadequate to explain any film, but that applies doubly to any film directed by Wong Kar Wai, so I’ll leave you a clip. That right there is how you shoot an action sequence! 

9. Like Someone in Love- The exiled Iranian master Abbas Kiarostami proves again why he’s considered one of the world’s best filmmakers. This time around, he’s in Japan, shooting Tokyo in that roaming melancholy, deeply affecting way he shot Tuscany for 2010’s Certified Copy. A call girl, a professor and a mechanic get into a Volvo... The whole movie, as Jeffrey Overstreet claims, seems like the setup for a joke, and it is indeed very funny, but also unbearably sad. Kiarostami’s characters inhabit a super-technological, completely commercialized dreamscape that works wonders for their careers, but heavily impares their failing quest for love. "Isn’t everything we do in life a way to be loved a little more?” So said Celine in Before Sunrise. That’s  all these three want; they just have to find the right way to go about it. 

10. The World's End- Englishmen. Friends. Beer. Wright. Pegg. Frost. Action. Aliens. Apocalypse. Starbucks.  If any one of these appeals to you — except the last one, naturally — I guarantee you’ll love this film. 

Honorable Mention- The Bling Ring, Stoker, From up on Poppy Hill, 12 Years a Slave, Rush, About Time, Blue Jasmine, Pacific Rim, To The Wonder, Side Effects, Warm Bodies, Prisoners, Mud, Frozen. 

12 Years a Slave

Early in 12 Years a Slave, Solomon Northup, a free man who has been betrayed, kidnapped and sold into slavery, stands up to one of his cruel masters. He was willing to quietly labor until he found some way to escape, but there was a limit to the amount of abuse he would take. On one particularly hot day, Solomon refuses to follow the unreasonable demands of his master which leads to an ugly fight that ends up with Solomon turning the whip on his tormentor. Immediately afterwards, Solomon is told by another slave-driver — seemingly kinder, more rational, and for that reason all the more disturbing — to stay put, because maybe his life could be spared. Out of fear of death, Solomon obeys. He is hanged, but doesn’t die. In a tight closeup, his feet are shown grazing the thick mud beneath. His neck doesn’t break. He doesn’t choke. He simply hangs there breathing slowly and heavily. Director Steve McQueen pulls back to show this in an almost unbearably long take that lasts for a few minutes and long shot that allows the audience to see everything going on around Solomon. Solomon weakly flails about, but slaves and owners alike continue with their day. Only one woman, a  slave, approaches him to comfort him and offer him water. The rest have seen this before, and they would probably see it again long after Solomon has gone, so they continue with their daily routines. Children, also accustomed to the sight, play in the background.

Solomon's life story is fascinating, more than most, but the story of slavery the same for all. It is the story of a race's  survival under the face of unspeakable cruelty, ignorance, and indifference. Solomon is at once a unique individual and a stand in for all slaves.  The first shot of the movie is of a line of slaves on a field, awaiting instructions for a hard day of work. The message is clear. Solomon is far from the only one going through "a difficult time these past years," as he puts it once he’s free — in fact, many of them had to endure a whole lifetime of difficulty. For Solomon it was 12 years a slave, but for many more it was closer to 70 years a slave. McQueen rarely lets you forget. That’s the point of the film. Through this vivid, sickening, necessary portrait of slavery, McQueen makes sure no one ever forgets the atrocity.

After this episode, Solomon is sold, beaten, and humiliated countless times. His new master, Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender), takes perverse pleasure in breaking slaves, and twists law and religion for self justification. These slaves are property, he tells himself over and over. If he stopped believing it for a second, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself, so he screams it with all of his might. Years pass, shattering Solomon's spirit and hopes of reuniting with his family. Towards the end of the film, he is instructed, at gunpoint and the threat of death, to whip a fellow slave, the closest person he has to a friend. For a second, it seems as if Solomon will rise up and fight like in the beginning of the film, but he sadly gives in. The movie all too effectively shows how a barrage of sustained abuse can lead a person — even one as decent and morally upright as Solomon Northup — to succumb and commit any number of atrocities to survive.

After the grueling test, Solomon’s face is drained from all joy, pain and passion. Chiwetel Ejiofor’s eyes tell us all we need to know. McQueen knows this, and gives his actor a heartbreakingly beautiful closeup that might just be the best shot in one of the most visually stunning films of the year. 

At this point in the story, as the answer to an unspoken prayer, a good man appears. He is played by Brad Pitt, who does a wonderful job with the small, though crucial, material he is given. In his first scene, he argues with Epps, saying that in the eyes of God, and whether black or white, what’s true and right for one is true and right for all. Afterwards, he hears Solomon’s story and writes to his family to set him free once and for all. Many critics feel this turn in the story jarring and out of sync with the rest of the movie, but it is rightfully earned, and a relief. 


Without the familial reunification the film would have been too bleak to bear, so McQueen gracefully delivers the poignant and necessary scene. But the movie doesn’t end there. Titles let us know that Solomon kept fighting the rest of his life to end slavery. Slavery might be over, but it is real and present in the film and reminds us all sorts of violations against humanity continue to happen around us. We must not forget.

Verdict- 4/4
12 Years a Save (2013) 2h 13min. R

Random Thought.
-Steve McQueen is British. Few directors operate at his level, but why was it not an American director who first tackled slavery in such a meaningful way? 

Ain't them Bodies Saints

The opening shots of Ain't them Bodies Saints show a man and a woman arguing in the middle of a rugged desert landscape, somewhere in Texas. Ruth (Rooney Mara) is upset with Bob, and she begins walking away from him, quietly whispering "I don't want to go to jail." Bob (Casey Affleck) stands back for a second, collects his breath, catches up to her, and whispers back a few words of consolation. She repents, and they embrace as she lets him know that they're going to have a child together. The movie cuts to the couple, peacefully resting in their car as Bob caresses the belly of his pregnant wife. The prospect of a bright future thrills them both. He gets out of the car, and things take a turn for the worst.  

The details of Bob's crime are left intentionally muddy. The film is not particularly interested in presenting a neat plot, or of focusing on the action. Instead, audiences are left to their own devices to actively think about what's going on. The ambiguous, sparse storytelling, which focuses on quieter moments, lends an aura of solemnity and dread to every scene of the movie. 

The story feels like it could be the climax (or rather, anticlimax) of another tale. Soon, although its not clear how, Ruth and Bob find themselves in a gunfight against the police.  I immediately thought of Badlands and Butch Cassidy. Both are films which end with a couple of criminals facing off against the authorities, and both great films to which Ain't them Bodies Saints compares favorably. The protagonists of those films die for their crimes; Bob and Ruth seem to be going the same way, but their story has just begun. 

During the shootout Ruth injures a police officer. Bob decides they have had enough and taking the blame for the crime is sentenced to 25 years in prison while his wife remains free to raise their child. Here, the film enters a magnificent segment which intercuts Bob's elegiac letters to his beloved wife, promising a magnificent reunion, with scenes of her giving birth and raising their daughter. 

Rooney Mara, giving yet another breathtaking performance, exudes a maternal warmth in the scenes with her on-screen daughter that gives the illusion of hope for her little, fragmented family unit. She kindly and patiently waits for Bob, all the while collecting his letters as treasures. The illusion, however, is broken, as she is told her husband escaped from jail. With one painful glance at the camera Mara lets the audience know that Ruth has given up the pretense of a peaceful resolution to her troubles, but she trudges along as best she can, putting up a strong front for her now four year old daughter. 

Meanwhile, Bob takes a circuitous path back home, coming across some dangerous criminals along the way, who, according to Skerritt, Bob's criminal mentor (and silent guardian of his wife and child), would like to see him dead. Skerritt meets Bob and warns him to stay away from Ruth who seemed to have her life in order, at least until the moment of Bob's arrival back in town (about which she finds out through another of his letters). But Bob, after years of idealizing his eventual encounter with his wife, cannot obey. 

All strands of the story come together in a beautiful, heartbreaking conclusion that sees Bob's wishes fulfilled. It is a near-perfect ending to a near-perfect film. 

Verdict- 3.5/4

Ain't them Bodies Saints (2013) 1h 36min. R

Random Thoughts:

- The movie reminded me of Upstream Color, another movie about a doomed romance. Incidentally, David Lowery, who directed Ain't them Bodies Saints, was the editor of Upstream Color. 

- This is one great looking film. On par with the work of Terrence Malick who directed Badlands. 

- Keith Carradine, who plays Skerritt, warns Bob not to return home, but he did not say it in thunder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmYdYti-obg

Warm Bodies

"Am I the only one?" asks R, a lonely, average teenager who just happens to be stuck in the body of a zombie. Right off the bat, it's clear that Warm Bodies is no ordinary zombie flick. Two things distinguish it. First, its a comedy,  not another mindless action movie. Second, it twists the conventions of the genre to tell a story from the point of view of the zombies, showing the creatures as sympathetic, misunderstood beings who have forgotten what it means to be human. 

R doesn't remember how he was killed and became a zombie. He just knows that he somehow ended up in an abandoned airport which the zombies have turned into their residence. R walks around, studying his fellow comrades, occasionally communicating through monosyllabic words, grunts, and shrugs. That's standard zombie fare, but Warm Bodies immediately goes deeper to find out the inner workings of its protagonist.Turns out, as we find out through voiceover, R is nothing more than an average, awkward teenager who has a little trouble with getting his words out, especially to the girl he likes. 

During a hunt for food, R comes across Julie, the beautiful daughter of a crazed general (John Malkovich), and immediately falls for her. Instead of eating her, and after conveniently eating her boyfriend, he saves her from the other zombies and hides in his home. 

 It was a great choice to have R be a teenager as the film draws a neat parallel between a teenage boy's clumsy attempts to talk to a girl with his state as an illiterate zombie. The film also gets a number of laughs out of this as R desperately tries, and sometimes fails, to “not be creepy, not be creepy” (as he repeats to himself) in front of Julie. 

At first, R is too shy to even say a word, which poses a problem for the poor, terrified Julie. R's solution: music. Whenever he can't find the words, R trusts that some old album will communicate his feelings for him. Guns N' Roses' "Patience" plays, for example, when R tries to find a more direct way of communicating with Julie. Another great use of music is Bob Dylan's "Shelter from the Storm," which plays as R gets Julie to stay with him for a few days in the abandoned airplane he calls home. Too obvious, perhaps, but you won't hear me complain about a well-placed Bob Dylan song in a good movie. 

But they can't stay in paradise forever, so Julie goes back home only to find that her father is planning one final attack against all zombies. R, however, won't let her go and follows her into the last remaining human city. Together, they must stop their respective clans from annihilating each other. Sound a little familiar? the Romeo and Juliet references are laid on just a little too heavy for my taste, but they never become too bothersome.

At one point, Julie's best friend complains that she would like to find a cure in the internet for her friend who has fallen in love with a zombie. In this phone-less, internet-less, post-apocalyptic world, people are forced to rely on older technologies. R has an obsession with old vinyl records while Julie loves to take photographs with old film cameras. When they're together, they're not glued to their smartphones; instead they must contend with the fact that they have to talk to each other. It’s a refreshing change of pace to see a modern day romance without the hassle of digital technology. 

On top of that, Warm Bodies is also a decent zombie film with scary "boneys” (a class of skinless, brainless, zombies) providing the film with perfect antagonists and an excuse for humans and zombies to join together behind R and Julie to extinguish them. It’s a neat, sentimental ending that conveniently resolves everything, but the movie earns it. 

For a film about miscommunication, Warm Bodies gets its points get across extremely well, not only through R's internal monologues, but also through the visuals such as R’s red bright sweater that distinguishes him from his colorless zombie peers, and a lovely montage sequence set to Bruce Springsteen's "Hungry Heart" as Julie and R fall in love. This is one of the year’s best as well as the best zombie movie since Shaun of the Dead. 

Verdict- 3.5/4
Warm Bodies (2013)  1h 38min. PG-13

Random Thoughts
-The Perks of Being a Wallflower (a superior film) is featured in the trailers at the start of the DVD. These two films would make a terrific double feature. 

-Zombie psychology 101: It’s a nice detail that the closest zombies come to dreaming is by eating human brain and stealing the memories of the victim. Tough world, thinks R. That issue, he simply shrugs off

Pacific Rim

It's rather wonderful for a huge blockbuster to focus its attention on relationships, not romantic endeavors, that would be cliched, out of place, and drive away the target audience, but relationships between brothers and sisters, fathers and sons, friends and colleagues. Every character in the movie has a counterpart. All characters, at some point, come to realize that working alone is foolish and that the only way to defeat the giant beings attacking our dear planet Earth is to stand together. Simplistic, perhaps, but powerful nonetheless.

The movie begins by quickly telling the story of how giant beasts attacked the earth. In a spectacular opening shot, we see a beautiful night sky and hear a narrator saying that he used to look up at the stars every night wondering if there were other beings out there. But he admits he was wrong. As it turns out the "kaiju," as the beasts are called, came from the sea. As he reveals this, the shot transitions from what seemed as stars moments ago to show that those white specks are instead bubbles of air deep within the pacific ocean. Instants later, a kaiju comes soaring up towards San Francisco to devour the Golden Gate bridge. For a while, all seems lost.

To battle the kaiju, humans created "jaegers," giant mechanical warriors that can be linked to the mind of its pilots. Pacific Rim would be worth it simply to see the breathtaking design of the jaegers which are made to look like hybrids between World War II fighter planes and Transformers. Each jaeger, however, requires two pilots to control  since a jaeger is too big for one mind to control. 

As a result, director Guillermo Del Toro is able to anchor the massive un-relatable struggle between titanic creatures to the growing relationship between pilots who must share thoughts and memories while connected to their jaeger, particularly Raleigh, a veteran, though young ace pilot who lost a copilot while connected to him, and Mako, an eager, brilliant, student of jaegers who longs to prove herself as a pilot. Charlie Hunman infuses Raleigh with his usual, effortless charm to make a character who could have easily been a Tom Cruise-style arrogant maverick pilot into an immensely likable character with unexpected gravitas due to his past tragedy shown on the prologue of the film. 

Raleigh (left) and Mako (right)

This isn't a movie of humanity defending earth. Instead, like The Matrix, it is a movie about a defeated people struggling for its survival. This gives most, if not all, characters in the movie deep cynicism since few actually believe they can defeat the kaiju. As a result they are divided and mistrustful, especially a young Australian jjaeger pilot, Chuck Hansen, and a black-market kingpin, Hannibal Chau, played wonderfully as a coward-with-tough-guy-exterior by Del Toro regular Ron Pearlman (aka Hellboy). One learns how to cooperate with is peers and becomes a hero for humanity; the other gets eaten by a baby kaiju.   

Hannibal Chau

Other key relationships include one between a couple of scientists, used mostly for comic relief, trying to figure out the best way to defeat the kaiju as well as the relationship between Mako and her surrogate father Marshall Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) who also serves as the leader of the resistance and a unifying link among all characters. Idris Elba has such a commanding presence that by the time he gives his obligatory "today we're canceling the apocalypse" speech, I had to restrain myself from cheering and joining him in battle. 

Idris Elba

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the battle sequences of Pacific Rim, which I admire, but Matt Zoller Seitz explained it best in his review:

Nitpicks aside, though, the fights are astonishing. They split the difference between classical filmmaking and the blurrier, more chaotic modern style in a way that made me appreciate the virtues of both. Some of the whirling action has a geometric beauty that's faintly Cubist, and each fight contains surprises: a tactic you haven't seen yet, a power you didn't know about, a complication you didn't see coming.

He also takes a beautifully crafted paragraph to praise some of Del Toro's gorgeous visuals: 

There are many shots so striking that they could have served as the poster image: A Jaeger tumbling into an abyss, its E.T. heart pulsing; a little girl's red shoe in a grey ash-heap on a rubble-strewn street; a kaiju unfurling kite-like wings; a one-eyed kaiju-body-parts dealer named Hannibal Chau (Ron Perlman) stalking through wreckage, his steel-tipped dress shoes jangling like cowboy spurs. A simple shot of Elba's character taking off a helmet is infused with such emotion, thanks to its placement in the story and the sunlight haloing the actor's head, that it would have made John Wayne cry.

"If I were nine years old" Seitz writes, "I would see Pacific Rim 50 times." I agree, but, like him, "I'll have to be content with seeing it a couple more times in theaters and re-watching it on video." 

Verdict- 3.5/4

Pacific Rim (2013) 2h 11min. PG-13. 

Random Thoughts:

- I am convinced that Idris Elba should be the next James Bond. 

- Every time I see Idris Elba in a movie I think of his 40 degree day speech in The Wire. Warning, it contains strong language. 

- Iron Man 3 and Man of Steel were like 40 degree days. Pacific Rim, thankfully, was closer to a 60 degree day. 

Sofia Coppola

1.Lost in Translation- Bill Murray plays Bob Harris an actor past his prime who is perpetually worn down by life. He is in Tokyo, shooting a commercial. Constantly, he argues with his wife over the phone and easily becomes frustrated at the instructions of his director. It's not that he doesn't love his wife or enjoy his work, but simply that they take their toll. Scarlett Johansson is Charlotte, a recently graduated philosophy major who spends her days in thought, wandering (while wondering) around her hotel room while her hotshot photographer husband goes on photo-shoots around Japan. Bob and Charlotte both need a breath of fresh air. During a sleepless night, they find their way to the hotel bar where they happen to find each other. Theirs is not a physical attraction. What draws them together is their shared loneliness suggested by the title of the film. If something is "lost in translation" then there is not one but two misunderstood parties. The title, taken more literally, may also explain several encounters between Bob and virtually every Japanese he meets in the strange city of Tokyo (the most amusing being a scene in which Bob's director seemingly screams  at him for minutes and the translator only takes a second to relay the instructions in English). Bob, approaching Charlotte, tells her he's staging  a prison break: "I'm looking for, like, an accomplice. We have to first get out of this bar, then the hotel, then the city, and then the country. Are you in or you out?" Together they escape their monotonous routines to discover an enchanting city filled with skyscrapers, video arcades, karaoke bars, and thousands of bright, colorful billboards. Lance Acord's cinematography captures the lively of lights and colors that catch the eye of the main protagonists. When we first see Bob, he is on a cab arriving at Tokyo and rubbing his eyes with his hands as if to make sure what he's seeing is real.  

Coppola is fascinated by Tokyo and explores it with a roaming camera that never seems to settle on a single aspect of the city because it is in love with it all.  In the hotel, during the course of their daily lives, Charlotte and Bob are confined. She is usually framed against large windows, curiously looking at, but rarely engaging with, the world outside. He just sits on his bed or in his bathtub, looking at the camera while thinking he has seen it all.They spend a few days together, exploring, then they say goodbye at the hotel. As Bob is leaving Tokyo he spots Charlotte walking down the street. He runs out of his cab to give her a proper farewell in the streets of Tokyo where their relationship flourished. He hugs her. They take a moment, a much needed breath of air, then whisper a few private, unheard words to each other, and bravely part ways to continue with their lives. It's heartbreaking to watch them part, but at the same time it is a very hopeful ending since it leaves both characters reenergized and ready to go back to their families. Lost in Translation depicts the loneliness of a man, late in his career and that of a woman, just beginning her life. Through the other, these two individuals find the cure to their loneliness. All of Coppola's films deal with loneliness. Lost in Translation is my favorite because it provides a brief respite from it. 

2.Somewhere- The movie opens with the static shot of a winding road in the desert. A Ferrari flies by the camera and races off into the distance. It makes a turn offscreen and repeats the same motion whizzing past the camera once more and disappearing from view far away. This happens 5 times, in one continuous shot. The car then comes to a stop and the driver gets out. He is nowhere and he knows it. Johnny is a wealthy movie star, living the dream. During the movie people go up to him just to get a glimpse at what the life of a star is like. In reality: pathetic. Johnny lives alone in a hotel where he parties constantly and sleeps with every woman he sees. All of his activities are geared to give him pleasure but he takes none. His daughter comes to visit him for the summer. Elle Fanning gives a brilliant performance as Cleo, an astute girl who is forced to take care of her screwed up parents. In a wonderful scene, Cleo orders the ingredients she needs to make dinner for her dad, instead of simply ordering the hotel's room service. But in the end she's just an 11 year old girl and ends up breaking down in one of most harrowing scenes Coppola has ever shot. It is in her that he finds purpose. In the last shot of the film, Johnny gets out of his Ferrari, drops the key and starts walking. Finally, his life is going somewhere. 

3.Marie Antoinette- Early in the movie, Marie is taken to the Austrian-French border where she is separated from her friends, stripped from her clothes, and even made to leave her pet dog behind. In France, she discovers strange customs and hostile people that threaten and isolate her from the rest of the world. Versailles (in which Coppola was given permission to shoot) is portrayed as the most extravagant prison ever constructed. Marie spends her days (rather, her life)  wasting her time in a never-ending rave. A few great montage sequences show Marie burying herself in mountains of clothes and rivers of champagne. On the surface it's enthralling for both her and the viewer. If only it could make her happy. In another magnificent sequence, Marie takes a retreat to a home built to her by her husband, Louis XVI. With gorgeous natural surroundings and bathed in pure natural light, the scene looks like something from a Terrence Malick movie. Kirsten Dunst is absolutely luminous, always showing the humanity in an unfairly despised historical artifact. That's all Marie Antoinette ever really was to the people around her, a thing. What makes the film so painful is the inevitability of the story's conclusion. Thankfully, Coppola spares the audience the execution, taking the film right to the point of the people's initial revolt but no further. Coppola allows Marie Antoinette to leave her story with some dignity as she is able to charm masses one final time. 

"I want to rob" Nicki (Emma Watson)

4.The Bling Ring- The movie is a snapshot of today's celebrity obsessed youth. It follows the story of a group of teenagers who decide to rob the houses of their favorite celebrities. They take their money and their clothes and start living the lives of their idols. Mark, a loner who at the beginning of the movie was just looking for a friend, confesses that he had over 800 friend requests on Facebook after word of his exploits had gotten out. He accepted them all, because why not?The only thing these egomaniacal kids want is to be the stars of their own universe. Take, for example, a scene in which the group of friends sit at the beach. Coppola never shows the sea, only her hypnotized subjects staring intently into their phones unawares of the beauty surrounding them. In another instance, Mark spots Kirsten Dunst at a party. An excited Rebecca (the ring leader who first thought of the robberies) calls out that they have to take a picture. Do they take a picture of Miss Dunst? No. Instead they take a picture of themselves which had me wondering whether Rebecca even notice Kirsten Dunst or her friend speaking to her. None of the characters in the film seem to have any sort of conscience. In fact, they seem to think that its their right to break into the homes of "Lindsay" and "Paris" as if they were simply visiting a friends house. Chloe, a member of the "bling ring" as they were named in the news, gets drunk at a party and later causes a car crash. The following days no conversion occurs in her. Instead, what she does is brag to her friends about the alcohol content in her blood which the police told her was off the charts. Not all blame can be placed on the kids. Each has either absentee parents or deeply troubled, equally shallow "role models" in their lives. The most appalling of these is the mother of Emma Watson's character, Nicki, who gives her daughters Adderall for breakfast and follows a disturbing New Age religion based on the movie The Secret. While Leslie Mann's performance is often hilarious it prompted me to ask how far off the mark is it really? According to critic Richard Roeper, Coppola toned down the character of Laurie whose real-life counterpart is the subject of a "reality" TV show. Some critics complain that Coppola is too at home in this world and is too compassionate on these kids. On the contrary, I think The Bling Ring goes past merely observing this "MVP lifestyle" to become an impressive example of sharp yet subtle social critique 

5.The Virgin Suicides-  Sofia Coppola's first feature film begins by telling you exactly how it will end. The Lisbon girls all committed suicide. The film gains its power not from keeping you guessing as to what will happen next, but in building the conditions that will drive 5 beautiful (some, including the narrator, would say "perfect") young girls to suicide. Coppola is a master of tone and here she creates a deeply unsettling vibe within the Lisbon's home that makes the suicides seem sadly inevitable. At the same time, Coppola keeps the Lisbon girls at some distance and instead of immersing the viewer in their home, she keeps him at arms length, always from the point of view of the narrator who speaks as "we," the group of neighboring boys who never got over their naive teenaged obsession with the Lisbon girls and still think of them as angelic beings even after death. “What are you doing here, honey? You’re not even old enough to know how bad life gets.” That’s a question posed by a psychiatrist to the youngest of the Lisbon girls. Essentially, it is a question that could be asked to most of Coppola’s characters (Charlotte, Nicki, Marie Antoinette) who find themselves in such troubled states. “Obviously, Doctor,” the child answers, “you’ve never been a 13-year-old girl.” Cecilia was the youngest of the Lisbon girls as well as the first to commit suicide. I only place The Virgin Suicides fifth since I have seen it only once and am not yet sure what to make of it. It is not last because it is the least worthy, but because it is the most challenging. Although this is Coppola's first film, I recommend it only after having seen a few other of her films beforehand. A more detailed review forthcoming. 

Regardless of the ranking, I love each and every one of these films and hope Sofia Coppola will go on to make many more. She is one of the finest filmmakers alive. It would be a shame to let her pass without giving her the recognition she deserves. 

Verdict- 4/4 for all of her films. 

Virgin Suicides (1999) 1h 37min. R

Lost in Translation (2003) 1h 41min. R

Marie Antoinette (2006) 2h 3min. PG-13

Somewhere (2010) 1h. 37min. R

The Bling Ring (2013) 1h. 30min. R

Random Thoughts

Here's a great, though excessively harsh, article on how to make a Sofia Coppola movie: Its a list that begins with "1. Start with a seemingly vapid lead. 2. But remember she’s actually just misunderstood" and then goes on to “5.whatever the case may be, she’s trapped” and then all the way to "25. Distract the audience with bright lights” and “29. Use a modern pop score no matter what. NO MATTER WHAT.” which is something I failed to mention. Quentin Tarantino may be the only filmmaker to rival  Sofia Coppola in terms of assembling a great sound track filled with modern pop songs that seem to fit perfectly with the scene they’re placed with. Listen to this: 

Upstream Color

Upstream Color starts as a mystery, quickly veering into horror territory. As it continues it becomes a sci-fi film, then a romance and partly a thriller, never settling on one genre, and concluding as sort of a detective story. Upstream Color is one of the most wildly imaginative movies I've seen. 

The most effective and disturbing aspect is the horror/ sci-fi segment, vaguely reminiscent of Martha Marcy May Marlene, a powerful, though unfortunately titled, movie about a girl haunted by her past in an abusive cult. Kris (Amy Seimetz), a young independent woman, is abducted, we don't know by whom, and subjected to physical and psychological terrors that are hinted at by some striking visuals, but that never become too explicit. Mind controlling worms are implanted in her. She is then made to memorize large passages of the novel "Walden" by Henry David Thoreau. After "the thief," as the credits call the kidnapper, makes sure she is completely subordinate to him, he makes her sign away all of her money and leaves her, broken. He isn't seen again. 

At one point, Kris undergoes involuntary surgery to remove the worms. She has the operation next to a piglet that is also being operated on because of worms. Somehow, they become linked for the rest of the film. There is an overabundance of light filling every frame as well as numerous jarring jump cuts, making Kris's experiences seem like a dream. Are they? I can't say, but she's not the only one who goes through such nightmarish episodes. 

Occasionally, Shane Carruth, the director/cinematographer/editor/star of the film (yes, he really did all of those jobs) will cut to a farm full of piglets. Each piglet seems to share a link with a human. As an unnamed farmer passes by each unique pig, Carruth gives us glimpses of the lives to which the piglets are attached. The farmer, simply known as "the selector" walks around his farm and observes his subjects unseen, threatening, almost the opposite of the benevolent angels of "Wings of Desire" who never intervene directly but always work wonders. For the most part, however, Carruth sticks with Kris (and her corresponding piglet) who works as a stand-in for all the lost souls who are going through the same ordeal. 

Kris meets Jeff (Carruth) when she is released into the world. They both seem lost and disconnected, but are attracted to one another. Both appear to be compatible to the core, "perfect" for each other. The courtship is fragmented, shown only through the bare essentials, not even containing any full scenes: when Jeff first saw Kris, when they first talked and went out, Jeff's proposal. These are all strung  together to make a comprehensible whole out of fragmented pieces. Kris and Jeff drift together through their wonder-world which no one else seems to inhabit. They take trips together, come to know one another. They get married and buy a house. All without interacting with the outside world. 

As they grow closer together and begin to share childhood memories, Kris and Jeff realize that they have lived through exactly the same circumstances. As they realize that their memories, and thus their identities, might not be their own, they become defensive and fight often. It is implied, though not explicitly shown, that Jeff went through a similar kidnapping/hypnotization as Kris as he has the same physical and psychological symptoms she does. Eventually, they come to fully realize what it means to be a couple and begin working together as a unit. 

As a romance, Upstream Color achieves what "To the Wonder" should have done, giving hope that a healthy relationship, although always in need of delicate care and constant attention, may survive. In the final minutes of the film, they search for the one who entrapped and manipulated them. I don't wish to spoil it, but the thrilling, uplifting ending redeems and enhances the tough initial sequences of the film and brings the difficult story to an immensely satisfying conclusion for those willing to sit through to the end. 

Verdict- 3.5/4 

Upstream Color (2013) 1h 36min. No Rating 

Random Thoughts

-the sound design of the film is striking. Scenes and shots are interconnected not by visual cues, but by sounds which is  unusual. At times, dialogue is almost inaudible while ambient sounds of rustling leaves and flying birds overtake the soundtrack in an almost musical way, never becoming distracting or unpleasant.

-Kris reconstructing the puzzle at the end is fitting since her past job, as the movie briefly shows, was as a film editor whose job it was to splice different pieces of film together into a coherent whole

-"Walden" is a novel that celebrates independence and isolation. Whoever abducted Kris and Jeff wanted to instill in their minds the idea that the only acceptable way of life for them was a lonely existence. Ironically "Walden" ends up becoming the clue that most helps the couple to work together. 

Superman

I'll keep this short, Man of Steel is not a very good movie. It is dark, slightly depressing, full of dizzying action sequences, and it interpreted one of the most important characters, Jonathan Kent, in a deeply problematic way. Basically, he did not want Clark to embrace his identity as Superman, a misguided idea for which he died when it was not necessary. However, the movie does have its redeeming characteristics mainly in its depiction of Jor-El which gave Russell Crowe a chance to shine. He's even better than Superman himself.

However, the best thing about Man of Steel is that it inspired several critics to revisit the much maligned Superman Returns, a film that I have loved since its release in 2006 and one which I admire more now given the recent wave of superhero films. Here are the links to a couple of my favorite pieces.

The first is a video essay by Matt Zoller Seitz and Ken Cancelosi which is particularly helpful in showing the links between the Christopher Reeve movies and Superman Returns:

VIDEO ESSAY: DEEP FOCUS: SUPERMAN RETURNS, Angel of America | Press Play

The second is an article by The Bitter Script Reader that explains, as the title points out "Why the world needs 'Superman Returns'" and argues, in part, that Superman Returns is an important father and son story:

http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/opinions/why-the-world-needs-superman-returns.php

Verdict- 2.5/4 Man of Steel (2013)
              3.5/4 Superman Returns (2006) 

Before Midnight

Richard Linklater waited nine years to make the much anticipated third installment of his "Before" series. The first, "Before Sunrise," told the one-day love story of twenty-somethings Celine and Jesse who meet on a train and spend a day in Vienna. "Before Sunset" follows them nine years later when the two coincidentally reunite in Paris, where Celine lived and Jesse was on tour for his novel. The last we see of them is in Celine's apartment as she whispers to Jesse one the most tantalizing final lines in movie history, "baby, you're gonna miss that plane," the plane to the U.S where Jesse's wife and kid lived.  

Did Jesse miss his plane? Did he leave his wife to stay with Celine? Have they been together all this time? these were the questions on the minds of fans who had been waiting nine years for the revelation. Accordingly, Linklater begins with a shot of two pairs of feet. One seem like a man's legs, the other are a little bit more slender. Perhaps it's Celine and Jesse walking side by side as they always seem to do. Linklater holds on the shot and slowly pans up to reveal Jesse, but he's not with Celine. He's dropping off his son at the airport since the kid is supposed to go back to his  mother in Chicago. No mention of Celine. Linklater purposefully conceals her fate by dragging out the first scene of the movie. He understands what his audience wants to see and what it needs to see. With this scene, Linklater establishes seemingly trivial elements that will become significant later in the film while at the same time teasing his audience, carefully controlling its emotions.

I smiled during the first scene. It proved to me that Linklater was in complete control of a series that at times seems extremely improvisational. Then I smiled again at the payoff. Of course Celine and Jesse have been together all these years. They even have beautiful twin daughters, and, on the surface, their lives could not seem better.  

On the car in their way back from the airport, Celine and Jesse talk. They warm up the audience, slowly brining it into their lives once again. They begin by talking about inconsequential things. They argue about whether or not they should stop at the ruins, whether they should wake up their twin girls, and about Jesse eating, "stealing" using Celine's word, his daughter's snack. This lures the audience into the rhythm of the conversation. Linklater relaxes the audience as he shows that Celine and Jesse (as well as Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke) still have the same chemistry and artistry with words they exhibited in the first two movies. The initial scenes of the movie are almost overwhelmingly charming and beautiful, the perfect way to disarm a cynical audience before the abrupt and rather brilliant tonal shift that occurs on the last third of the film, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Celine and Jesse are staying at the guest house of a friend and mentor of Jesse's. Here, "Before Midnight" tackles some problems that are absent from the first two films, mainly what happens when Celine and Jesse interact with other people, other couples in particular. At times, their group of friends seem like members of the audience starstruck as they watch Celine and Jesse engage in conversation. In a truly inspired segment, Celine pretends to be Jesse's bimbo trophy wife, something that supposedly all men want. Most of the time, however, the other characters provide contrast and balance to Celine and Jesse and their ideas of love and marriage. At one point of the conversation, the characters talk about love in the digital age and whether any modern relationship can survive a lifetime The conversation meanders through all sorts of topics, but, as always, it comes back to love and the  the idea of  a "one true love." A widow gives a moving speech about her husband. She believes they were somehow "meant" to be together. Most of the other guests almost take it for granted that they will split up at some point. Celine and Jesse, both painfully well acquainted with divorce, tend to side with the majority. Linklater does not take sides. He merely observes his characters and lets them express their opinions fully. 

The first film took place in Vienna, and the second in Paris. The settings reinforced the themes and moods of the films.   Vienna was an unknown place of beauty that Celine and Jesse could discover together. Paris was Celine's home ground, a place where reality could easily invade Celine and Jesse's conversations.This time around, Celine and Jesse find themselves in Greece, a not-so-subtle hint at the aging, crumbling relationship explored throughout the film. The sights of the ruins are spellbinding, and there is enough open space for Celine and Jesse as they walk and talk through endless tracking shots. Linklater pares down his style (an accomplishment considering how elegant and concise the style of the first two films was) to make it appear naturalistic, almost invisible. There is no "moody" lighting or "fanciful" camera movement, only Celine, Jesse and their words. 

These words are sometimes charming, often brutal, always enthralling. Celine and Jesse have come to know each other so well that they know which buttons to push, which words will do most damage. Celine viscously attacks Jesse's ex-wife and, to the slight detriment of her character, expresses wishes that Jesse would abandon his previous commitments to be with her; Jesse tries to rationalize everything while seeking to turn simple, straight forward conflicts, into intellectual discussions, something he knows will aggravate his highly emotional (some would say paranoid) wife. 

Even after a devastating fight (that takes up 30 minutes of screen time) mostly concerning the ramifications of Jesse having left his wife and kid, Jesse concludes by saying that he still loves Celine and that he will continue to make sacrifices for her because he truly loves her and is committed to make their relationship work. Will their relationship continue? The film ends in an ambiguous, although slightly hopeful, note that at least suggests Celine and Jesses's adventures are far from over.

Verdict- 4/4

Before Midnight (2013) 1h. 48min. R 

Random Thoughts

-Way back in "Before Sunrise" Celine and Jesse met because they were both trying to escape the loud arguments of a German couple. Now, 20 years later, they have become that couple. Here's a great piece about it by Linda Holmes: http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2013/05/23/186226960/before-midnight-jesse-and-celine-are-older-now-and-so-are-we

- This is, without a doubt, the best film I have seen this year.