CAN A MEDITATIVE MOVIE TRANSCEND THE MUNDANE?
TO THE WONDER
I’m still thinking about Terrance Malick’s striking film that’s set to open at Cinemas Palme d’Or on April 26. Early reviews have been mixed and will not help generate a big box office. But that said, if you are already familiar with Malick’s philosophical, spiritually themed films then you will not be disappointed by this extended mediation that resembles nothing more than a Psalm of longing, loss and finally love in all it’s aspects. I was buoyed by the ideas, images and sounds (including the music) that convey an inexorable desire for connecting with a spiritual reality that surrounds the mundane ordinariness of our imperfect world. Let go and bathe in the images of light generated by Malick’s beautiful movie that affirms we are merely spiritual being having a human experience of love. Raw and real, it’s not a sequel but certainly a companion piece to “TREE OF LIFE.”
The story is simple. Marina (Olga Kurylenko) and Neil (Ben Affleck), meet in France and move to Oklahoma to start a life together, where problems soon arise. All this is more than metaphor. When Marina befriends a priest (Javier Bardem) and fellow exile struggling with his vocation, Neil renews a relationship with a childhood sweetheart, Jane (Rachel McAdams). Enigmatically bold and lyrical, the film allows for emotion, disappointment and grace. Intimate voice-overs covey a parallel reality that is timeless and deeply human. In its simple, gorgeous beauty, hard questions are not answered. But if there’s a lesson learned, it might be found in the mindful moments during which we realize heaven is pressing down on us in all directions. And finally, that the universe is a love story.
For me, this is Malick’s tightest film since “BADLANDS.” His movie is already divisive; ignorant, cynical critics may deride, but there’s solace, comfort, beauty and truth here that’s rare to non-existent in mainstream American cinema. Recommended.
OBLIVION
If you haven’t seen sci-fi in a while, this derivative film may enthrall with its eye-candy visuals. Predictable but engaging in the first half, it takes a left turn and finally ends making no sense. I felt like I was on a theme park ride that was hastily finished when the money ran out. But my biggest question as the story unfolded and planet saving Tom Cruise went through his paces: Have I just paid for some goofy Scientology propaganda? This film, devoid of originality or wit, was directed by Joseph Kosinski, who also guided the massively disappointing, but highly hyped “TRON: LEGACY.”
NEW FOR HOME VIDEO
EARTH FROM SPACE
Awestruck is the only word to describe the most common reaction to this beautiful two-hour documentary. Everyone on earth should see this visualized tone poem that looks at our home planet as a living cell. Certainly among the most compelling of all NOVA productions, I was humbled, exhilarated, enthralled and inspired to see clearly for the first time the incredible connectedness and integration of the various natural, near miraculous, systems that maintain our planet. Satellite technology and high-resolution imagery make reality far more fantastic than any sci-fi fantasy. This is not a now familiar ecological warning video, but rather a celebration of the powerful engines that generate the raw stuff of life itself. I was especially transfixed to see time-lapse images of the entire Antarctic continent and the dance of storms and clouds and seas that drive so many linking sub-systems necessary to our collective survival. I could not help but think of the most common portrayals of the Dance of Shiva. Highest recommendation. PBS. Blu-ray.
GANGSTER SQUAD
Against my better judgment, I was entertained by this highly stylized, violent, cartoonish, period parody of hard-boiled noir that’s somewhat based on actual events. Set in Los Angeles during the late 1940s, the movie recreates elements of the battle between Brooklyn born thug, gang-boss and wanna-be celeb Mickey Cohen with a secret gang of LAPD loners and outsiders who are hell bent on shredding Cohen’s grip on the vice profits of drugs, guns and hookers. Weak writing and cardboard characters do not help, but the production design and cinematography make up for a multitude of weaknesses. A fine cast delivers beyond the shallow screenplay. Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Nick Nolte, Emma Stone and Sean Penn (as Cohen) share star billing. Warner Bros. Blu-ray.
KILLING THEM SOFTLY
Andrew Dominik did a great directing Brad Pitt in the little seen, but beautifully rendered pseudo western “THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD.” Here, the Australian director misfires with a brutal, extremely talky, atmospheric, sometimes darkly comic, low life gangster drama that is meant as a metaphor for the politics of capitalism and American business practices. A wonderful cast (Richard Jenkins, James Gandolfini, Ray Liotta, Scoot McNairy, Ben Mendelsohn, and Vincent Curatola, Max Casella, Trevor Long, Slaine and Sam Shepard) is wasted on a movie hardly anyone will see. Slow-motion bullets through the head do not enhance the already ice-cold, cynical theme – however well-crafted the imagery. The story slowly unfolds as three stupid guys rob a mob protected card game that causes a temporary collapse of the local underworld economy. Pitt is a mob enforcer who tracks down the pathetic dumb thieves and kills them to restore order to the illicit gambling trade. Anchor Bay. Blu-ray.
Comments? RobinESimmons@aol.com
