Cinephile Club

Movie of the Month - May 2008

There Will Be Blood

Genre: Drama

Writer: Paul Thomas Anderson (and Upton Sinclair)

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Release: 2007

Running Time: 158 minutes

Awards: Movie was nominated for Academy Awards "Best Picture."  Won "Best Acheivement in Cinematography" and "Best Performance by an Actor in Leading Role."

Premise: Inspired by Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel "Oil!," Turn of the century oil speculator hits paydirt and shows the ugly side of capitalism -- man's unquenchable greed and thirst for power.

Significance: Upton Sinclair is famous for his novels dealing with the heavy social injustices brought on with the industrial revolution.  The essence of There Will be Blood is a social critique -- highlighting how man's greed and thirst for power ruins not only those around them, but also the individual.  Current movies rarely provide such a powerful subtext, partially for fear of being preachy and turning off the audience.  But, this movie succeeds on this front.  The cinematography made this movie, while the soundtrack was an important vehicle for enhancing the visual -- even if it sounded at times borrowed from the hit TV show Lost.

The movie fell short, however, on a number of fronts.   While Daniel Day Lewis' performance won him "Best Actor," did we not essentially see the same character in "Gangs of New York?"  The movie was way too long -- pushing three hours -- which inevitably leads to questions regarding editing.  Most importantly -- the underlying story, related conflict, and main character development was weak.  While the underlying message is a powerful one, the movie failed to provide the emotional roller-coaster, conflict-resolution, and audience "buy in" that makes a great story. 

Other worthwhile links:

* IMDB profile

* Wikipedia profile

* AllMovie.com profile

Movie of the Month - April 2008

Juno

Genre: Comedy

Writer: Diablo Cody

Director: Jason Reitman

Release: 2007

Running Time: 96 minutes

Awards: Movie won "Best Original Screenplay" at Academy Awards.  Was nominated for "Best Picture", "Best Director", and "Best Actress" for Ellen Page.

Premise: Teenage girl gets pregnant and learns about life and relationships with her new "status."

Significance: Anyone calling this a movie about teenage pregnancy has completely missed the point of the movie.  The pregnancy is nothing more than a vehicle to provide an important contrast across several different relationships.  Case in point: there is not one moment in the movie where Juno evaluates or considers her pregnancy.  As such, those looking for a pro-life/pro-choice agenda in the movie will not find one -- because there isn't one.

Similarly, while the protagonist is clearly an intelligent, sharp-witted, and proactive, young female -- leaving some to believe this is movie has a feminist agenda -- that is also not the case.  Juno by the end sees that she needs both her Dad and her best friend, Pauly.  More importantly, the career-driven adoptive mother's struggle is that despite her career success, her life is dominated by wanting to be a mom -- clearly not a feminist point.

If anything, the movie highlights that people and relationships are not always what they seem.  Through the story, the heroine realizes that her best friend is also her "soul mate."  She realizes that her quirky and off-beat Dad and step-mom, are actually "good" people.  The adoptive parents have the biggest character change in the movie, with the soon-to-be Dad swinging from hip to shallow and selfish, while the soon-to-be-mom swings from cold to warm and loving.

Boiled down, this is a simple, feel-good, love story.  The heroine realizes that her best friend, that she has taken for granted, is someone she loves.  Overlayed on this simple, heart-warming story is witty dialog and significant character development -- providing much more depth then the typical teen comedy -- like "Knocked-Up" or "Napoleon Dynamite".  In fact, it is without question one of the best movies of the year and one of the best comedies to come in years. 

Jason Reitman, with this movie, has established himself as one of the great young directors in Hollywood.  Diablo Cody has also seen meteoric rise in her stock, although it will be interesting to see how she follows up with such immediate initial success.  Every life probably has one good movie in it, and Ms. Cody apparently borrowed heavily from her own life in creating Juno.  As such, her next endeavor will be crucial for determining is she is one-hit wonder or one of the next great screenwriters.

Other worthwhile links:

* IMDB profile

* Wikipedia profile

* AllMovie.com profile

Movie of the Month - January 2008

Chinatown

Genre: Fear/Thriller 

Writer: Robert Towne

Director: Roman Polanski

Release: 1974

Running Time: 131 min.

Awards: Oscar Award for "Best Original Screenplay."  Nominated for Best Picture and Director. 

Premise: A private investigator in 1930's/1940's Los Angeles is brought into a web of deceipt and corruption that extends to the highest level of local government.

Significance: This movie is considered a masterpiece in film-making and of the "Film Noir" genre.  The movie underscores America's invisible class warfare, effectively having the tragic ending signal that the rich and powerful will always be victorious over those seeking what is fair and just.  This movie also has arguably the most significant role played by icon Jack Nicholson.  Important subtext and symbolism include:

* Chinatown - the title reference of the movie is to the protagonist's own experience, where a previous career as a detecive was wrought with futility dealing with the "different set of rules" that dominate in a foreign place, like Chinatown.  This title and previous experinece foreshawdows a similar tragic ending for the protagonist in the climax, which not coincidentally, ends in Chinatown.

* Light - the movie was shot in hues that reflected the harshness of a desert-like LA in the midst of a drought -- it accentuates the struggle for the precious resource of water.

Other noteworthy links:

* wikipedia profile

*IMDB profile

* All Movie profile

* FilmSite.org profile

* comments from the writer