Films that resonate

Two films that have stuck with me for some days have almost nothing in common.
No Country For Old Men had images that stuck fast, something that I have experienced with previous Coen brothers films. I think taking my kids to see Barton Fink in 1991 may have been a mistake, but I like to imagine that they would be able to recall images from that unique film. Because I love the McCarthy book that this current film is based on, so watching it was a double pleasure. And such a literal screenplay! For an Aussie there was a lot that was familiar in the sparse Western landscapes and the evident battles to scratch a living from a dry, harsh landscape.

But what stuck? Javier Bardem is a chilling villain. An 'Other' that looks, sounds and moves like an alien. An outsider who blasts the fabric of society to shreds. It's hard to watch, harder not to watch. And then there's the humor. The drama/humor mix is classic Coen and took me on a road trip I won't easily forget. 5 stars Margaret!

By contrast, Southland Tales makes Donnie Darko look like Mary Poppins. The director has gone psycho with an apocalyptic story that is ambitiously pretentious, eccentric, wild, colorful and amazingly graphic. It doesn't really work but then again I'm not sure it should. After all, The Rock stars as a man who goes out to Kansas somewhere and travels through a rift in the time-space continuum. And comes back. And has no memory. And we see him hitch up with Sarah Michelle Gellar as a porn star. Now that's worth seeing the film for alone. There are amazingly fantastic bits, religious cant, the war on terror, big brother real and imagined and more pop cultural and media references than I could ever comprehend.
I wouldn't recommend this film to people unless they thought Leaving Las Vegas was hilarious, and believe that life really is a farce.

Blade Runner Final Cut

I have seen Blade Runner more times than any other film. Having taught it for nearly 20 years I know every line in 3 versions. Now we have one more. I can see why. With DVDs and freeze-frame some of the mistakes must have really annoyed Ridley Scott. So, only 4 replicants are now on earth, the stunt double is not so obvious when Zhora dies. And most importantly, the sound is now all encompassing. It fills the theater: you hear the rain gushing down; engines and machines roaring and whining; the whole cacophany in all its range and scope. Very impressive. The print seems brighter even though the smoky haze seems ever present and the soup below is as murky as ever. There's a little more clarity to the details and the externals of the buildings are crisper and more visible.

Seeing it on the big screen was a big experience. It still looks, sounds and feels good. And relevant.