Synecdoche, New York

Charlie Kaufman, 2008

5/5

This is one of those films that after you process, it, it changes you. You want to tell your other movie-lover friends to go see it so you can gauge their reaction. They ask you “what’s it about?”. That’s the challenging task. “Okay, so it’s about a struggling playwright played by Philip Seymour Hoffman”. They reply “That’s it? That sounds kind of boring”. Your brain rattles, trying to come up with a better way to describe the film. “Okay, so it’s about a struggling playwright who works on an ambitious project after getting substantial funding and is able to recreate a miniature New York inside a massive warehouse that he purchases”. Closer. More descriptive, but no, that’s still not it. Maybe this is just another one of those films that you say “Just go see it.”

Synecdoche is one of those films sort of difficult to really discuss upon first viewing. It almost demands rewatching. The attention to detail, the exhausting carefulness that Kaufman clearly puts into his film. It’s one of those films that after looking back on it a few days later, there’s a dream-like quality to it. There is lingering imagery. Life and death. The fear of death, the neverending clinging to one’s mortality. Hypocondria, paranoia of being ill or falling ill. Parental pressures, the fear of losing your family or struggling to live without your family by your side. Career insecurities, self-doubt on the creative level. It’s also an examination of the American marriage, or at least a focus on a fading relationship. Complacency, marital boredom. Love lost, wandering eyes, jealousy. Kaufman is a genius when it comes to taking everyday life and completely manipulating it. Sometimes he is just toying with it slightly, with a minor hallucination. At others he is bending the world in different shapes and forms. He is an artist with a lot to say, and there’s not enough room in the massive warehouse to store it all. Hoffman’s Caden character is one of the more complex characters to come out of 21st century cinema. As he seems to grow more and more disconnected from reality, his artificial world seems to grow more elaborate. There are certainly people out there who will watch a film like this and pick it apart. It’s a complicated film. At times probably over-complicated. But that’s sort of what Kaufman has done with his screenwriting, so why would he not do the same thing while sitting in the directors’ chair? Nobody but Kaufman could conceivably make a movie quite like Synecdoche. He turns parts of upstate New York and New York City into an urban mind-field. The final result is some kind of surreal hybrid of Vanilla Sky, Being John Malkovich and Adaptation. And who wouldn’t want that?

Mesrine: Public Enemy #1

Jean-Francois Richet, 2008

4/5

          Part Two of the Mesrine films (sequel to Killer Instinct), Public Enemy #1 is a continuation of the story of Jacques Mesrine. Mesrine continues to elude police, successfully rob banks, and uses his quick-wit and charm to attract beautiful women. 

          A satisfying and consistent sequel to the original. While Part one possessed more story, Part two certainly provides more action. The film jumps head-first into the action within the first twenty minutes. Very effective, erratic cinematography through suspenseful street-chases. Vincent Cassel continues to be chameleonic in his role, with his mood changing as quickly as his disguises. Mesrine, who is consumed by the fame, becomes complacent with it. His hunger grows for something MORE than notoriety, something more than glory. His unpredictable, violent nature becomes radicalized and begins to shift into a more political mind-set. His ideals shift from anti-establishment to a more anarchistic motivation. He even turns on the press, the one loyal force that had always embraced him. But the women on the other hand, always embrace him. His charismatic abilities have a magnetic ability with the women who are looking for the bad-boy. It takes him little time to seduce Sylvia Jeanjacquot, even in disguise.

          The final moments are a book-end conclusion, with an expected call-back to the opening scene in Part One. The fact that it's seen in a different perspective gives it a fresh feeling. Mesrine is the "French Robin Hood", "The Man of  Hundred Faces". In the end it's quite clear that he was a danger to society, a clear sociopath. But the fascination with a notorious criminal is clearly a global phenomenon. 

Pontypool

Bruce McDonald, 2008


3/5

          Grant Mazzy (Stephen McHattie) is a lifer alcohol-fueled disc-jockey who drags himself into a snow-covered dreary studio to do his night shift - expecting it to be a very typical broadcast. He soon realizes the impending blizzard has also brought something else with it, a mysterious virus that has an immediate sweeping effect on the small town of Pontypool. Soon enough it makes its way to the Studio where he is left with limited resources, company, and the facts on what is causing it. His two producers, Sydney Briar (Lisa Houle) and Laurel-Ann Drummond (Georgina Reilly) look to him for guidance, and he is left to rely on his experience and quick-wit.
          This film is rather refreshing given the already over-saturated pool of zombie films. It's a twist on the genre that I have not seen before, and was quite surprised and impressed when it revealed itself. I really liked the bleak colors used and the look of the aged studio with its paint-peeling walls and long neglected decor. McHattie and Houle really stood out in their roles. The filmmaker really played with audio which seems to be a less-traveled road where zombie film-makers tend to rely more on heavily stylized gore. There is a scene in the first act where Grant Mazzy pulls over on the side of the road after he drops his cell phone on the passenger-side floor. A woman who he believes is his daughter knocks on his door and he immediately realizes is a hallucination. As she disappears there is an ambient, repetitive voice that echoes for about 10 seconds or so. The subtlety of that moment haunted me and stuck with me more than any other single moment in the film. McDonald was able to hold onto that technique though, and it continued to play out through the rest of the film in slightly varied incarnations.
          You serve as Grant Mazzy's invisible companion over the course of the night. Grant Mazzy is lonesome yet approachable. He seems heart-torn but remains a curious intellectual. You later end up dealing with the same level of uncertainty as he is, where the frantic speculators make phone calls to the studio which ultimately turns into actual physical bodies OUTSIDE the studio doors. You need to feel comfortable with Grant Mazzy because he's all you got. And it's not so bad.

Mesrine: Part 1 - Killer Instinct

Jean-Francois Richet, 2008


5/5

If Scarface and A Prophet had a baby, it would be Mesrine. The comparison may be a bit misleading, because this film is on a different level than Scarface. It's one of the best gangster films I've ever seen. Its the biopic of Jacques Mesrine, a real-life notorious French gangster. The setting is in the late fifties through the late sixties. Vincent Cassel plays Jacques Mesrine, and its the best performance I've seen from him. All of the acting in this film is spot on. There a noticeable Scorcesian sense of grittiness. Cinematography is perfect. Not one bad shot in the film, and the scenery in France, Spain and Canada only added to the overall beauty. I really enjoyed the opening of the film with the split-screen multi-angle shots. Because the film's timeline spans across a decade, there are some sudden jumps but it always remains fluid. It doesn't dumb itself down for the audience, one of my favorite qualities of foreign films. Jacques Mesrine is a fascinating character. There is a warm-hearted innocence to him early on in the film but that quickly washes away and gives way to a dark, depraved core. He doesn't mind blood on his hands, and develops a distorted set of principles. He is abusive, doesn't respect women, and is over-compensating for his fathers pacifistic dynamic he had with his mother. I won't detail any of the film because I do not want to give away any plot points at all. I can't wait to jump into part two. Had no idea it was a two part series until the final credits started rolling.