Crushed by a devastating thoughtless blow, a brilliant artist can no longer create, and although she finds solace in her loving daughter, and aloof husband, her interactions with neighbours and local professionals perspire maladroit dysfunction, and as time passes, repressed creative impulses manifest scorn, imaginatively characterized and robustly contorted, then transformed into bitter confrontation.
An old colleague (Laurence Fishburne as Paul Jellinek) explains how she's become a menace to society, with a particularly astute caricature, which cleverly outwits diagnoses and accusations, hits the nail on the head as it incisively were sir, observant synopses, regenerative calm.
But her husband's taken a more traditional route, and enlisted the aid of mainstream psychiatry, which does produce effective results at times, but is unfortunately ill-equipped for his wife's distemper.
It's a shame that he resorts to seeking outside help considering how strong their marriage appears earlier on in the film.
They're mutually supportive, they pleasantly talk to one another, they're both full of love for their daughter, they seem like a conjugal success.
But they've lost touch deep down, as some playful editing emphasizes, and even though they consistently converse, they do so without saying anything.
If they had just been talking to each other in the concurrent scenes.
Elgie's (Billy Crudup) 20 years of constant work have left him blind to his wife's grief, caused him to forget what she gave up long ago, that she needs outlets, projects, challenges.
Work.
Thankfully the film's quite level-headed even as locales switch to Antarctica.
It's a charming adventurous warm and friendly soul search that concentrates on understanding as it's refined by insightful youth.
Listening.
Where'd You Go, Bernadette? does air grievances as it diversifies Ms. Fox's (Cate Blanchett) portfolio, her exchanges with superkeen PTA neighbour Audrey (Kirsten Wiig) bearing disputatious fruit, her sharp dismissal of a curious admirer suggesting she could be somewhat less anti-social.
But she's totally not PTA, she isn't interested in textbook trajectories, she could likely write a book that no one would understand, with the same ingenious mischievousness found in Ulysses.
Categorically beyond expression, she's still devoted to her loving family, her daughter Bee's (Emma Nelson) sincerest bestie, she's grounded yet requires initiative.
Projects.
Their daughter teaches them to listen and because they're chill they hear what she's saying, finding fun working solutions down the road, realized with core resiliency.
The penguins and sea lions are worked in well.
They just kind of show up and aren't focused on with adoration.
Cutting back the rug to find the sprout is impressive.
As is Bernadette and Audrey's rapprochement.
A feel good family film that isn't cheesy or gross, Where'd You Go, Bernadette? remodels mature compassion.
It's a lot of fun too.
Can't wait to see it again.
Would have chosen a flavour instead of naming the dog Ice Cream (Inception). 😉
With Judy Greer (Dr. Kurtz [mainstream solutions are like Bernadette's Heart of Darkness?] and David Paymer (Jay Ross).
Showing posts with label Architecture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Architecture. Show all posts
Friday, August 23, 2019
Tuesday, August 7, 2018
Skyscraper
Whereas there are many international action films that seem like they're trying to capture an American aesthetic, while working within their own sociopolitical cultural regulations and/or guidelines, Rawson Marshall Thurber's Skyscraper comes across like an American action film attempting to capture that very same Americanized international aesthetic, if that makes any sense, a shout out to the burgeoning Chinese film industry perhaps, which must be releasing abundant raw materials.
Set in Hong Kong, English subtitles are frequently used as Chinese characters speak their mother tongue, which makes you feel like you're situated within an international filmscape as opposed to a global anglofied disco.
Whatevs!
When Chinese characters do speak English they do so to accommodate rather than flatter internationals.
Unreeling at a hectic pace, Will Sawyer's (Dwayne Johnson) character is developed well early on, a humble yet exceptional easy to relate to everyperson who's successfully bounced back from total and complete disaster.
He's so laidback yet competent, a wonderful guy, that I imagine anyone, apart from those who prefer authoritarian bluster,* would be able to place themselves in his shoes and wonder what they would have done in similar circumstances.
But the action starts quickly, rapidly replacing character development as it accelerates, and even though the skyscraper itself (The Pearl) is incredibly cool and a lot of the action sequences stunning, in Die Hard, which also takes place in a multi-storey building, you have lead and supporting characters who become more and more diverse as a flawed hero tries to save lives.
Character development is worked into the action.
Skyscraper's characters are pretty stock good and evil, I'm sayin' it, they're interesting, but not exactly overflowing with complications, a feature of international action films on occasion.
And some of them bite it just as they're beginning to assert themselves.
Take Mr. Pierce's (Noah Taylor) character.
After lounging in the background, he suddenly appears to talk to Sawyer's wife Sarah (Neve Campbell) as she attempts to escape a raging fire, at which point I thought, "great, he lures her and her kids upstairs and they become hostages for the rest of the film. All of their characters are diversified as Mr. Sawyer then desperately tries to save them. That's super Die Hardesque in terms of minor roles taking on major responsibilities"
But no, shortly thereafter Pierce has fallen into the flames, his character development cut radically short, as is that of hacker genius Skinny Hacker (Matt O'Leary), bodyguard Ajani Okeke (Adrian Holmes) and vengeful friend of Sawyer Ben (Pablo Schreiber).
Die Hard's all about supporting roles.
I'm not sure if that's a standard feature of international action films.
It should be.
Sarah does escape and faces a Bellatrix Lestrangey villain later on, the brilliant charitable successful mom taking out both the effeminate man and the headstrong woman (Hannah Quinlivan as Xia) in the process.
Stock stock stock stock stock.^
Hokey even, even if I was happy to see Neve Campbell again. I kept thinking, "who's the new Neve Campbell?", until it became apparent that it was in fact Neve Campbell, whom I haven't seen in anything for years.
She was fantastic in Wild Things.
Perhaps Skyscraper's creators were trying to maximize both domestic and international profits by embracing an aesthetic that respectfully works within global boundaries to generate a stateless hybrid, which is a cooler way to proceed inasmuch as it realistically respects local cultures and may ensure huge profits both at home and abroad.
It's sort of like an entertaining Summer blockbuster that's heavy on cultural respect and has some cool action scenes that could have accommodated alternative gender roles much more sympathetically.
Until you introduce the Die Hard factor and its associated higher expectations.
You situate highly motivated well financed terrorists within a skyscraper and no matter what happens, you're going to be compared to Die Hard.
Die Hard, Skyscraper, is not
Where's the constant improvisation? The mistakes? The personality conflicts? The personality?
It's far too precise.
And visual distractions don't effect auditory senses.
Shaking my head.
Note: Skyscraper's still much better than Die Hard 5.
I'm so worried about Die Hard 6.
Argyle.
*Fictional comedy films featuring stubborn fools who succeed are funny. Real international political events that wind up seeming like comedy films are horrifying.
^It was unbelievably cool in The Deathly Hallows though. I'm almost in tears thinking about how I was in tears when I read that scene so many Summers ago.
Set in Hong Kong, English subtitles are frequently used as Chinese characters speak their mother tongue, which makes you feel like you're situated within an international filmscape as opposed to a global anglofied disco.
Whatevs!
When Chinese characters do speak English they do so to accommodate rather than flatter internationals.
Unreeling at a hectic pace, Will Sawyer's (Dwayne Johnson) character is developed well early on, a humble yet exceptional easy to relate to everyperson who's successfully bounced back from total and complete disaster.
He's so laidback yet competent, a wonderful guy, that I imagine anyone, apart from those who prefer authoritarian bluster,* would be able to place themselves in his shoes and wonder what they would have done in similar circumstances.
But the action starts quickly, rapidly replacing character development as it accelerates, and even though the skyscraper itself (The Pearl) is incredibly cool and a lot of the action sequences stunning, in Die Hard, which also takes place in a multi-storey building, you have lead and supporting characters who become more and more diverse as a flawed hero tries to save lives.
Character development is worked into the action.
Skyscraper's characters are pretty stock good and evil, I'm sayin' it, they're interesting, but not exactly overflowing with complications, a feature of international action films on occasion.
And some of them bite it just as they're beginning to assert themselves.
Take Mr. Pierce's (Noah Taylor) character.
After lounging in the background, he suddenly appears to talk to Sawyer's wife Sarah (Neve Campbell) as she attempts to escape a raging fire, at which point I thought, "great, he lures her and her kids upstairs and they become hostages for the rest of the film. All of their characters are diversified as Mr. Sawyer then desperately tries to save them. That's super Die Hardesque in terms of minor roles taking on major responsibilities"
But no, shortly thereafter Pierce has fallen into the flames, his character development cut radically short, as is that of hacker genius Skinny Hacker (Matt O'Leary), bodyguard Ajani Okeke (Adrian Holmes) and vengeful friend of Sawyer Ben (Pablo Schreiber).
Die Hard's all about supporting roles.
I'm not sure if that's a standard feature of international action films.
It should be.
Sarah does escape and faces a Bellatrix Lestrangey villain later on, the brilliant charitable successful mom taking out both the effeminate man and the headstrong woman (Hannah Quinlivan as Xia) in the process.
Stock stock stock stock stock.^
Hokey even, even if I was happy to see Neve Campbell again. I kept thinking, "who's the new Neve Campbell?", until it became apparent that it was in fact Neve Campbell, whom I haven't seen in anything for years.
She was fantastic in Wild Things.
Perhaps Skyscraper's creators were trying to maximize both domestic and international profits by embracing an aesthetic that respectfully works within global boundaries to generate a stateless hybrid, which is a cooler way to proceed inasmuch as it realistically respects local cultures and may ensure huge profits both at home and abroad.
It's sort of like an entertaining Summer blockbuster that's heavy on cultural respect and has some cool action scenes that could have accommodated alternative gender roles much more sympathetically.
Until you introduce the Die Hard factor and its associated higher expectations.
You situate highly motivated well financed terrorists within a skyscraper and no matter what happens, you're going to be compared to Die Hard.
Die Hard, Skyscraper, is not
Where's the constant improvisation? The mistakes? The personality conflicts? The personality?
It's far too precise.
And visual distractions don't effect auditory senses.
Shaking my head.
Note: Skyscraper's still much better than Die Hard 5.
I'm so worried about Die Hard 6.
Argyle.
*Fictional comedy films featuring stubborn fools who succeed are funny. Real international political events that wind up seeming like comedy films are horrifying.
^It was unbelievably cool in The Deathly Hallows though. I'm almost in tears thinking about how I was in tears when I read that scene so many Summers ago.
Saturday, May 24, 2014
Le règne de la beauté (An Eye for Beauty)
With the passing of the years, conjugal ecstasies having become strictly formal, extracurricular assignations suddenly appear enlightening, to two young architects tectonically seeking closure.
Life goes on afterwards, routines residing in recreational parlance, sports celebrating individual merits receiving spectacular extensions, taking on constitutional communal attributes, as the seasons change.
Denys Arcand's Le règne de la beauté (An Eye for Beauty) is a mature film, shrewdly exercising the interrelationship between stability and desire, focusing primarily on a couple living North of Québec City, the incredible beauty of their surrounding landscape, and the traditions of lifelong friends and family.
Do English Canadians really seem that pretentious?
They certainly aren't eating chicken wings.
People don't shop at IKEA?
How much money do you have to have not to shop there?
The film thematically picks up where L'âge des ténèbres left off, Toronto and rural Québec functioning as counterpoints, reservedly climactic events taking place in Québec City.
There's a chilling moment when Luc Sauvageau (Éric Bruneau) meets Lindsay Walker (Melanie Merkosky) there while his wife Stéphanie (Mélanie Thierry) considers suicide back home for unrelated reasons, trickery in the foreshadow, smashing insomniatic guilt, divine connections abstractly suggested thereafter.
A sub/conscious account of individuality, critiquing while elevating bourgeois attainments, Le règne de la beauté matriculates a reasonable desire, subjugates caution, then exculpates.
Life goes on afterwards, routines residing in recreational parlance, sports celebrating individual merits receiving spectacular extensions, taking on constitutional communal attributes, as the seasons change.
Denys Arcand's Le règne de la beauté (An Eye for Beauty) is a mature film, shrewdly exercising the interrelationship between stability and desire, focusing primarily on a couple living North of Québec City, the incredible beauty of their surrounding landscape, and the traditions of lifelong friends and family.
Do English Canadians really seem that pretentious?
They certainly aren't eating chicken wings.
People don't shop at IKEA?
How much money do you have to have not to shop there?
The film thematically picks up where L'âge des ténèbres left off, Toronto and rural Québec functioning as counterpoints, reservedly climactic events taking place in Québec City.
There's a chilling moment when Luc Sauvageau (Éric Bruneau) meets Lindsay Walker (Melanie Merkosky) there while his wife Stéphanie (Mélanie Thierry) considers suicide back home for unrelated reasons, trickery in the foreshadow, smashing insomniatic guilt, divine connections abstractly suggested thereafter.
A sub/conscious account of individuality, critiquing while elevating bourgeois attainments, Le règne de la beauté matriculates a reasonable desire, subjugates caution, then exculpates.
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