Hero

In the opening shots of Hero, Nameless passes thousands of soldiers and slowly enters the palace of the king of Qin. As he advances, he is told  to stop 100 paces from the king. Otherwise he would be killed.The number of men, as well as the immensity of the space between the man and the king give Hero an epic look from the start. Also, the predominant color is grey, matching the stones of the palace, suggesting that this story is an ancient story, a true epic.

   Over the last few years, the king has grown paranoid, fearing three deadly assassins who have been waiting for the chance to strike. If no one gets near the king, he figures, no one can kill the king. If anyone is to approach the king, he must first kill one of the three assassins. Nameless claims to have killed all three.

First we flashback to Nameless' story. He tells of how he killed Long Sky who was supposed to be one of the finest spearmen of China. Director Zhang Yimou shows us the first of many wonderfully choreographed duels. Each one has some specific characteristic which sets it aside from the others. This one takes place in the rain. There are beautiful shots of falling drops, including one spectacular slow-motion shot of Nameless lunging forward, shattering the raindrops into pieces. A blind man sits in the corner plucking away at his harp, following the rhythm of the fight. Hero is full of such rich details that make watching it a joy. 

Nameless continues to tell of how he turned Flying Snow and Broken sword (who were a couple) against each other and so came to be only 10 paces from the king. This is an amusing story, which  contains a lot of passion, lovers, betrayals, murders, and a fantastic sequence in which Nameless teams up with Snow to protect a calligraphy school from thousands of archers. Together, they swats away arrows like flies. Meanwhile, inside the school, the calligraphy students and their master calmly continue their work.

 However, the king sees through this tale, and proclaims it a lie. He tells his own version of the story in which Nameless conspired with all three assassins to get close to him and kill him. Finally, Nameless confesses (what seems to be) the truth which is an interesting mix of the first two versions. Towards the end, Yimou finds a surprising, thoughtful and inspiring way to seamlessly move beyond this specific story to make claims about the sacrifices one has to make not just to be called a hero but  to be a true hero. Roger Ebert said "a film like 'Hero' demonstrates how the martial arts genre transcends action and violence and moves into poetry, ballet and philosophy." I wholeheartedly agree. That is why I love Hero.

Other Thoughts

- Red is a prominent color in the first story Nameless tells. This is the most emotional of the three. Blue is the dominant color of the king's version of events. He sees the assassins who wish him dead as calm, strategic people who would not be so reckless as Nameless suggested. White is the dominant color of Namless' second story. That's why I think it's the truth. Also, even though he previously lied, it was only to get near the king. Now that he's 10 paces from the king, he doesn't have to lie.

- Slow-motion is used in an inventive way. It seems to add weight to the character's movements. For example in one duel, as Snow swings her sword, it creates a strong wind that sweeps up thousands of yellow leaves. It's ingenious, not to mention gorgeous. 

- Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon uses a similar structure, telling 4 different versions of one event. Although it is more philosophical it is as entertaining as Hero and is worth watching.

Verdict- 4/4
Hero (2002) PG-13 1h 39 min.

Before Sunrise

Jesse meets Celine on a train. They get out at Vienna. They spend the day together. There is nothing more to know about the plot. 


The character Celine is someone I had never seen before in a movie. She's like a female version of a young and paranoid Woody Allen. Julie Delpy has a peculiar way of delivering her lines with confidence and at full speed that make her seem like she actually has something to say, ideas that she absolutely has to convey. But then she ends her sentences with a question like "no?" or "wasn't that a horrible thing to say?" as if to challenge Jesse and the audience to argue with her, to contradict her opinions. then she laughs maniacally to show that she is confident and fully aware of her ideas (maybe even of their craziness) but she will continue to speak her mind anyway. French, good looking, confident, intelligent, neurotic and completely aware of it. She's irresistible.

 Jesse (Ethan Hawke), has differing opinions on God, love, relationships and all the countless things they talk about, but he shares that same spirit of curiosity as Celine, that need to express his ideas to someone else and receive some feedback. Jesse wants to talk with Celine, exchange meaningful ideas, create conflict because, as Celine says, "There's a lot of good things coming out of conflict.'' People need to challenge their beliefs, to know why they hold them and how to defend them. Even when Celine and Jesse reach the wrong conclusions (in my opinion),  at least they have the right attitude towards life. So, even though there is no melodrama, no sex, no violence, no artificial plot developments, Before Sunrise manages to be one of the most exciting movies I've ever seen. The reason being that the poetry of every day life, the poetry of a simple conversation (or as Celine put it "All those mundane, boring things everybody has to do every day of their fucking life") is so much more interesting than any crap Hollywood can come up with. 

However, the thing that makes Before Sunrise truly special is the dialogue. With bad dialogue, this would have been a painful film to get through. Richard Linklater, the writer/director, has the rare talent of understanding the way that people talk. Jesse and Celine have conversations that I feel I've had in some form. It sounds simple, but some writers, no matter how good they are, or how great their story is, just cannot make their characters talk like real people. Quentin Tarantino, for example, writes hilarious dialogue full of pop culture references, but in real life, no one ever asks what a quarter pounder with cheese is called in France.


 

Verdict- 4/4 

Before Sunrise (1994) R 1h 35 min. 

Drive

Autumn is the time when, every year, the movies most likely to be recognized for awards season are released. Last year, one of the names that was often mentioned by critics as one of the best movies of the year and likely Oscar contender was Drive. Usually, these two factors are very good signs that I will like a movie. I'm thinking specifically of The Social Network which I would not have seen had it not gotten a September release and critical acclaim. I heard  the performances in Drive  were top notch, the music was beautiful, and it was a visually striking film. I could not have been more eager. Then I saw it. I was incredibly disappointed. I did not like it one bit. However, I was perplexed because the performances were great, the music was thrilling, and it was one of the most visually exciting movies I had seen that year. I couldn't exactly place my finger on the problem, so I waited and rewatched it when it came out on DVD to see if I could find it.

 Again, there was much to be admired, starting with the incredible opening car chase through the streets of Los Angeles which has to be one of the best I've ever seen. The scene was shot from inside the car, so the audience can get close to the driver and see how he performs his job (to drive criminals to and from the crime scene) under pressure. This opening suggested to me that the movie would focus on the driver, get to know him better. It also suggested an action packed movie. However, after this one scene, all attempts are dropped at trying to figure out who the driver is and he becomes almost completely un-relatable which really frustrated me because I could see this movie had real potential. Also, the action is almost completely abandoned something I wouldn't have been bothered with if the movie hadn't been marketed as an action thriller and had that confirmed in the very first scene.

Shot of L.A shows balance of blue and orange

Driver

Nicolas Winding Refn, the director, is color blind. According to him, he can register only high contrast, bright colors. As a result his movies are visual beauties unlike most films. The most prevalent colors in Drive are blue and orange. Together they work wonderfully. Refn wisely uses the contrast of the two colors to make both the left and right side of the screen call  attention to themselves simultaneously thus creating visual tension. It's also interesting to note that as the film goes on and gets incredibly violent towards the second half, the (warm) orange overtakes the (cool) blue until the final shot of the film (once the conflict is resolved) when it returns to fill the whole screen.

 the antagonist before the final confrontation with Driver

after the confrontation. last shot of  Driver

But this time I was able to pinpoint many specific problems that kept me from enjoying the movie. Most noticeably were the unexpected (and in my opinion out of character) acts of extreme violence from the driver that seem to fit in more nicely with the looney tunes than in a live action drama. During these scenes, laughter filled the theatre. Everyone recognized the rivers of blood were out of place. There is a way to deal with extreme violence ( see Kill Bill or any other Tarantino movie) this was not it. In the most violent scene of the movie, the driver savagely stomps on a man. However, afterward there's a shot of the drivers back. He's heavily breathing from the effort and the bright gold scorpion on his jacket seems to be moving, alive and ready to strike again. Looking at that shot apart from the movie, I loved it. It should be one of the reasons why I ought to like the movie. But when I saw it as part of the movie, I was so put off by the violent act that came before that I wasn't able to enjoy it.

The other thing that really bothered me about Drive was the fact that it's dialogue and story  are minimalistic to an incredibly frustrating degree.  Refn started with a meager 80 page script from which he cut 60 percent of the dialogue.That essentially left him with a short story from which he created a movie that spans 1 hour and 40 minutes.  felt that I needed to know more about who the driver is, about his personality and his intentions to care about him. I get that Refn wanted a "man with no name" Clint Eastwood type of hero, but he gave so little information about the driver that he came across as confusing  instead of mysterious.  Bottom line is that Drive is a wasted opportunity. It was a movie that had potential. It has a lot to admire, but it's flaws make it  much too hard to like.

Verdict- 3/4
 Drive (2011) R 1 h 40 min

Like Crazy

"I’m a-thinkin’ and a-wonderin’ all the way down the road/I once loved a woman, a child I’m told/ I'd give her my heart but she wanted my soul/But don’t think twice, it’s all right"- Bob Dylan

Boy meets girl. Boy likes girl. Girl likes boy a little too much.  Girl's visa is revoked forcing her out of the U.S and forcing them into a long distance relationship. The special charm and originality of Like Crazy comes not from the plot which has, in various forms,  been repeated several times, but from the way the material is handled through the performances, the (naturalistic, often improvised) dialogue and the techniques it uses to manipulate time (generally useful for a film that spans several years.)

The girl, Anna, is played by Felicity Jones a young British beauty who is bound to become a star. Anna is an eager, young, romantic, writer. She is so deeply in love that she is willing to risk losing her visa to spend a few more months with her beloved, Jacob (Anton Yelchin.) He is the more rational, less outwardly emotional and overall the more mature of the two. He still loves her but is more careful and reserved. He warns her that what she plans to do is dangerous. He gets her an engraved bracelet. "Patience" he counsels. She ignores his pleas. In an ingenious montage that lasts less than a minute, the movie speeds through those two months and cuts right to the instant when Anna is told that she cannot go back to the U.S. This is one of the movie's strength; that it knows how to fast forward to what is essential. It also does one peculiar thing concerning time. It uses small jumps in time, moving characters around the frame slightly and creating an unsettling effect of before and after, harmony then chaos. It is unsettling but powerful.

Time moves forward, their lives go on. Anna meets Simon. Jacob meets Sam. She is played by Jennifer Lawrence. Her few minutes of screen time here impacted me more than her 2+ hours of playing the lead of The Hunger Games. Sam is a person, not a plot device, never just "the other woman."  Lawrence is a terrific actress, she made The Hunger Games bearable, even likable, but the script gave her almost nothing to work with. "The Hunger Games" is an example of a movie with a great initial  idea that became a missed opportunity at the end. Like Crazy is just the opposite. It takes an ordinary idea and elevates it through extraordinary filmmaking.

PS- stinger (post credit) scenes are a big phenomenon right now. All Marvel movies have one, The Avengers even had 2. I believe Like Crazy has a stinger, although it is in a less traditional form. The  closing song is the stinger. Listen to the lyrics, and stay until the end because it could change the way you interpret the movie.

Verdict- 4/4
Like Crazy (2011) PG-13  1 h 30 min


the movie made me think of this song.