Drive and the Art of Pop Noir

  

Well first lets talk about the fact that I have never heard of Nicolas Winding Refn before in my life. The whole time I was watching Drive I was trying to figure out from the way in which it was shot, whose signature directing style this was but I could never pinpoint any one director. When I Googled the movie I felt sure someone familiar would pop up but this is the first I’ve ever heard of the Danish director. I look forward to seeing what else he can do because if “Drive” is any hint of what’s to come, he’s destined for big things. 

Shot in L.A. in a style owing much to film noir style “Drive” announced itself with a dark and emotional type of cool. It's particular brand of sexiness, and graphic violence along with moments of intense vulnerability never loses continuity. It is at the focal point of this film which is framed with great regard and homage by driving and cars. It is played expertly by everyone, not to say the least by it’s star Ryan Gosling who is just mesmerizing as a nameless character known only as “The Kid”, in how much he can get across the screen by appearing to do so little. The thing I was struck by immediately was the way his eyes can so from an unquestionably dead and defensive coldness to an exposed rawness that evokes both fear and protectiveness on equally convincing levels. The juxtaposition of romantic love and violence in one unforgettable elevator scene was produced at an operatic level. In every shot, in just about every frame of the film, there was a detail that contributed to the building of the story. Nothing was wasted.

The storytelling use of light alone in this movie was done to near perfection. There is a clearly intended although not heavy-handed use of lighting on Gosling in particular from windows and lamps. It is the kind of light that sets up romantic and introspective notions of the "Hero" when in fact there is much about the character still in question well after the story’s end not to say the least of which is his name. It is film with moments of deceptively deep silence with understated and contemplative segues which are pushed and deepened with well composed musical scoring, spare, economical dialogue and explosive but strategic bursts of unsettling violence and rage. 

Albert Brooks who has always been a favorite actor of mine gave an incredible performance as my favorite kind of villain: the kind you almost understand cannot go against his nature. He prides himself on speaking in realistic terms and you might almost believe him except that his bottom-line: power, is immovable. There is nothing he will not do in its name.  I feel that Brooks’ dramatic talent has been passed over so many times by the Academy perhaps because he got his start as a comic actor but for me, it has always been his own unique dramatic information of his characters that makes his comedic performances unforgettable. He has been and is an actor of high caliber.  Veteran actors, Ron Perlman and Bryan Cranston were equally amazing in holding this story to all its promise of suspense, violence betrayal and humanity. I’ve never been a fan of Carey Mulligan but she was fine as the love interest to the driver and mother to the son of her jailed husband also played exceptionally well by Oscar Issac.

The score of the movie was yet another character. The hypnotic, synth based tracks by Kavinsky & Lovefoxxx and College as well as the wonderfully paced score by Cliff Martinez places your imagination somewhere in the mid to late 80s between “Pretty in Pink” and “The Breakfast Club” but this is no John Hughes flick. Drive never makes any overtly clear dedication to nostalgia. In fact there a bit of a perverse irony in watching a movie like this to the sentimental and idyllic sounds of 80’s inspired pop music which I feel may have been intentional. While I feel that Drive is deeply sentimental, it is also unflinchingly dark, drawing you ever closer to some decidedly disturbing element that you never quite understand before setting you adrift again.

"Never ever ever can we fake moves"

My favorite Tribe Called Quest Album: Midnight Marauders

For me, coming of age around the same time that the Native Tongues rose to fame, was like someone coming to me and being like, here's a handful of artists that are as weird and out there as you but they're funky and cool and intellectual, humorous, creative and proud of their culture, the way you were raised to be. 

How the heck does something like that even happen? But it it did! My bff, Vanessa introduced me to the Jungle Brothers "Done by the Forces of Nature" album in the early 90s, probably the summer of '89 and it changed my life! Meeting someone like her, someone who was so open to different modes of expression, someone who wrote poetry and journaled like me and who just liked to hang out and feel the breeze was already huge, but music like this came forth as such a binding extension of our relationship. She was one of the only people I knew who was listening to Teddy Riley and Led Zepplin you know? We just loved a lot of the same things about how music made us feel. When I first heard "Potholes in My Lawn" by De La Soul I was like what-the-hell? But I could appreciate that is was something I had never heard the like of before and I could also appreciate that they were reaching back in their parents album bins to sample music I had been raised with for years like Hall and Oates and Steely Dan. A Tribe Called Quest did the same and I mean as much I loved them, watching this documentary only made me love them more for taking that post Civil Rights era music and realizing it in a new way, and essentially paying homage to it through sampling and transforming it to create that amazing time when for a minute, it felt cool to be who I was at that time, to start my locks with pride, wrap  them in Mud Cloth, rock cowrie shell jewelry, wear a blazer and a neck tie to school just to be contrary, write poetry and share my journal entries with a tight circle of diverse friends. I loved that time of my life.

They other thing I will say about what I saw in Michael Rapports doc is that it seemed pretty easy for these guys, in spite of their intense struggles and disagreements to express love for one another. TBQ was not about the traditional sort of super macho aspects of rap that has become very typified in the definition of it's present culture. They were almost like black male nerds. LOL!! But they could still kill it on the mic! They had such a range of abilities and they didn't seem to limit themselves to one way of expressing manhood. It was just really beautiful to see how Jarobi and Phife talked about their relationship. They have a bond that's just beyond and that I hadn't even been aware of. Ali Shaheed Muhammad seemed to be the quiet, serious one who was caught in the middle of Tip and Phife's bickering since Jarobi quit the group pretty early on. 

I don't want to give too much away but the doc covers not only how the Tribe came together and rose to fame but also about really personal things that are going on in their every day lives. I give a lot of credit to Rappaport for staying out of the film himself, allowing his own clear sentiment to show itself through the way he documents, the way he edits. It was well done, a light handed but focused touch. You know where he comes from. He's not an outsider. There's trust and honesty. 

That being said, I don't know if I feel there needs to be a TBQ reunion album. Maybe they had their time and that time seems to be definitely done. It served it's purpose for me, and those like me who witnessed the Native Tongues emerge at that time. But it was great to be transported to that feeling again and to learn things about it's creation that I hadn't known before. It made me love it that much more and maybe wish that that time could have lasted a little longer. The fact is though, and this fact is clearly made in the film, that if the Tribe wanted to get back together again, to do anything, even just appear together, people are ready to be there to watch and listen. That's how dope they were. That's how much love they put out. 

"The Adjustment Bureau"

"The Adjustment Bureau" is great for many reasons, all the usual reasons that a great movie is great for. It's got great performances by both leading and supporting actors, Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Anthony Mackie, Terence Stamp and more. Beautifully lit, well paced shots and action packed brain scrambling in the tradition of "The Matrix" it delivers even though you kind of already know what its about.

It's kind of unfair how genuinely amazing an actor Damon is, and how scarily attractive at the same time. It's a bit unnerving but fun to watch. And Emily Blunt. Wow. I now realize that aside from Benecio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins, she was one of the only reasons I wanted to see "The Wolfman." You could put a camera on Emily blunt for a full two minutes, not have her say a word and simply through the intense depth and shift of emotion in her eyes, you will have understood and experienced exactly she was feeling. Because she does the opposite of phoning it in. She's there, fully present.

But one of the things I love most about "The Adjustment Bureau" is that it was shot entirely in New York. Everywhere Matt and Emily and Anthony go are place I've been, places I go, places you go if you live in New York. Great places like Union Square Park, The New York Public Library where a great deal of scenes where a great deal of chase in the bureau's network of secret doors is shot, the MOMA and many more. New York is as big a star of the film and any of the cast. I guess it doesn't hurt that Damon's character is a candidate for senate from Brooklyn, my hometown. So they had me at hello.
: )

I Will Follow "I Will Follow"

So when I dragged my butt out of my apt on Saturday afternoon to meet my friend who invited me to see this film at BAM, I thought we were just going to see a movie. I was tired, period just started, the weather as you know was awful, but I went anyway and I'm so glad I did because this was more than a movie. It was a Black People's Brooklyn event! I was born in Brooklyn so, I was clearly supposed to be there. LOL!

My friend went to UCLA with the director of "I Will Follow," Ava DuVerny and was coming out to support her film which screened at BAM late that afternoon as part of the "BAM Cinematek" series. The audience was predominantly black and female and there were press and presenters and a Q&A afterward. I had no idea.

The film, which follows the journey of a middle aged woman who has just lost her Aunt to breast cancer and was a powerful motivation in her life takes place in Topenga California. When DuVernay came on to introduce it, she stated plainly that it was neither edgy or avant garde but just a straight forward semi-autobiographical narrative.

From the opening ten minutes I was hooked. Not only was it wonderfully shot and gorgeously lit, but the characters were refreshingly genuine and engaging in way I was so happy to see for the first time in a long while in a movie featuring people of color predominantly. Women taking care of loved ones in their lives is something that as woman we all know a little about. This film is about one day in the life of a woman, played by Salli Richardson Whitfield who loses a relative that she has sacrificed a large part of life to care for. Now she is struggling with picking up the pieces of that life to start over again and throughout the day she will engage with and fight with and talk and love with family, strangers, lovers and memories alike.

The famous aunt, Amanda Fisher who has passed was a sessions drum player for famous black musicians in the 70s. Throughout the film DuVernay cleverly strings together the theme of music in the relationship between her and her niece. "I Will Follow" comes not only from the Biblical verse in the story of Ruth but also from the U2 song, "I Will Follow." Her aunt makes no small show of her love for U2 and Bono when she struts over to her CD collection and calls out a stream of favorite song titles challenging her niece to see what she "knows about that." I know a lot about that myself and I was thrilled!

The performances by all the actors, even the smallest parts are thoughtful, well rounded and compelling. In particular, I was very moved by the sensitive performances of Omari Hartwick, (I first saw him as Janet Jackson's husband in "For colored Girls"), Blair Underwood, Michole white, who plays the Aunt's Daughter and Dijon Talton who plays her son.

It was wonderful to see black people in life situations that were not indicative only of the disproportionately stereotypical dramas with which Hollywood seems to release the majority of "Black films" on the subject of drugs, single parent families, "baby mama drama" violence and black on black crime. I would urge anyone and everyone to go see this movie but particularly people of color for whom DuVernay asks for the majority of it's support because these are the people for whom the film was made. I was honored to be able to meet and be introduced to her by my friend shortly after the film and the Q&A. It was a great pleasure to stand and chat with her briefly and observe the bright glow of deservedly positive reception her film received.

"I Will Follow" will be released in theaters through limited engagement in March and I urge you to show your support and see this sensitive, moving, down to earth and touching portrait with friends.

Eat, Pray, Gag (with one honorable mention)

This is not about how badly EPL sucked. It sucked pretty bad.I don’t feel the need to expand on that since I suspected with regret that it would be lame after seeing the trailer the first few times. All the signs were there. I’m a pretty avid moviegoer. The signs are rarely ever wrong.Especially when it comes to movies based on amazing books like this one by Liz Gilbert was, which is probably why I went to see it anyway with a friend of mine who made me read the book in the first place. Man, they fucked up everything! Jeez! Although I have to say that the one thing they got right was the character of “Richard from Texas” played by Richard Jenkins.

When you se a horrible movie with one elevated scene, you can learn a lot about what a good actor does. And after years of movie going and obsessive home movie watching, I have learned what veteran actors know that these young, Zac (ECCHHH!!$%$&@!) Efron types don’t and probably never will. It’s why the actors I trust on the screen to deliver often end up being the older ones. Actors from the old school, often with a substantial amount of theater background (and I know this from reading so many old school actors bios) understand that in order to carry off a moment, to make a story real to the viewer, it has to be real for them. They have to draw from a real moment for them. And it takes craft and discipline to give that moment to a camera and yet not give so much that you’re falling apart in your personal life because you cannot close that up again when the director yells cut. You also have to know how to protect yourself.

I was so relieved to see Richard Jenkins’ face in my favorite part of Liz’s journey, the “Pray” part. I saw him for the first in “Six Feet Under”one of my favorite televisions shows of all time. Talk about a cast of actors being vulnerable! That whole show was a big open wound. I was heart broken at the finale and vowed only to watch it one more time with my fiancée who had never seen it before.

The other thing I understand now and which, I have read over and over in actor’s bios is that the best actors know how to listen, and to react. It sounds overly simple but seeing an actor’s face express a reaction is like seeing an invisible collision made manifest in their face and it makes things “real.” When an actor is listening, they’re not sitting around waiting to say their next line. They are working. They are invisibly building an interior world that will hopefully make the viewer believe that yes, this person is suffering, happy, vulnerable, troubled, complicated, mysterious, confused, smart, smug, helpless, guilty, dangerous, layered…

And silences. Silences, pauses, they can be filled with tension, filled with anxiety, with choked regret, with beauty. They can put you on the edge. An actor who can allow those silences to come through in a scene, candidly but with intent, those are masters. One of my favorite lines from “I’m Not There” Todd Haynes’ pseudo Dylan biopic is “Silence, experience shows, is what terrifies people the most.”In pauses between conversations, in silences with oneself, often that’s where real things are happening or where the building blocks are created for the next word, which will complete a fragmented picture and the silence that remains to await action is what brings the scene home. That’s what happened for me in the scene where Richard tells Liz to forgive herself by sharing his story with her. I was open because he was clearly open. It might have been about three or four minutes. It felt like time stopped and opened up a wormhole. That’s what a good actor can do.

That being said, I would never recommend seeing this movie just for those three minutes. Go rent season one of “Six Feet Under” instead, where bad adaptation, bad directing and shitty unimaginative cinematography don’t sabotage a good story and where each actor is used to their fullest potential.

It's a Complicated Mess

See anything familiar? Hm...


I think Nancy Meyers has hit upon a formula here. Smart, rich white female divorcees in their late fifties walk around in their bathrobes eating leftovers and comfort food in the middle of the night, scare their children, the unfortunate and to be pitied products of divorce by having affairs with unlikely men, namely their childrens senior citizen boyfriends or men half their age or both all to a musical score that sounds like Lite FM. And lets never forget a little French music and internet mishaps.

I can accept that many people may have been just as disappointed or disapproving of “Something’s Gotta Give” as I was in “It’s Complicated.” But there was chemistry and believability all over the place in SGG. I could watch that movie all day and have thoroughly enjoyed watching it many times. Diane and Jack breathed life, humor, talent, even romance into every scene of that vanilla set. “Its Complicated” was like a sputtering clunker that never really got started and with two or three of film’s most incredible actors. Well at least one. How does that happen?

I think I was relieved whenever I saw John Krasinski from “The Office” because I then I could laugh genuinely for a second instead of sighing. It was tough. Meryl seemed to be visibly struggling with how to treat the part. Never in my life did I ever think I would see her psychotically waffling in any part unless of course that’s what it called for. In “The Holiday” a movie that is not worth ever seeing unless your into that, I was blown away by how seriously Kate Winslet took a part that she could have easily phoned in for all the script was worth. She raised the bar on a piece of light, mindless fluff and really made me look forward to her scenes in a movie I would never think to see if it hadn't been a free, star studded opening premiere at the Zigfeld. I never dreamed that Meryl couldn’t blow this thing out of the water!

And Alec! He was doing Jack Donoghy from "30 Rock" 89% of the time! The other 21% he was just beef caking and bulldogging. The poor man! I felt terrible for him. If he could get it together for a second I believe he could actually be formidable for more than just his drop-dead good looks and butter melting voice. He’s happened upon a hit role in a hit television series and can’t seem to step away from it! It’s like a safety net and that’s the kiss of death!

There’s nothing really to be said about the rest of the cast, which wasn’t really utilized well at all except as a way to be played off of and “played” by the two major stars although John Krasinski was a welcome little stand out.

Overall the whole thing, which I was looking forward to, just flopped for me. It’s not even a guilty pleasure like “Sex in The City” movies, which I know have their problems but are no different (I don’t care what anybody says) from the television series. I will watch “Sex in the City” and it’s geriatric sexual shenanigan movies for decades. “Its Complicated” was really not that complicated, just a forgettable attempt at another Nancy Meyers formula. I will never see it again.
Oh Alec!

Robin Hood (The Silver Years?)

Okay, with all due respect from someone who used to harmlessly stalk Mr. Crowe (I can't get into it here)isn't he a bit old for this role? Or have we begun to accept a 40 and up Robin Hood since that awful mess Kevin Costner was in?

My favorite Robin Hood will always be Errol Flynn, young, light, handsome, wiry, quick and wise cracking. Of course he was the Robin Hood of my childhood so it's hard to let that image go. I'm not against reinvention of cinematic icons if that's what they are (I love what Ritchie did with Sherlock Holmes this year!) but on first look, this trailer simply feels like Ridley Scott's Maximus from "Gladiator" plopped into the story of Robin Hood and that's just scary.

Russell has the ability to really transform in his roles and I have marveled over his talents in the past but this just sort of feels like the old Grazer, Crowe, Scott, safe reunion. Boooring. I hope I'm proven wrong. I really do. But where movies are concerned, that doesn't happen often. For the most part I've been watching too long and too often, too closely at least at this genre and certainly at this particular teaming.