This past weekend I saw three films that really excited me. When I say "excited", I mean I was invested, moved, shocked, and/or genuinely amused by all three.
The first was "Antichrist," an unrated thriller(?) with only two speaking parts. In essence, a couple loses their son to a tragic accident while they are making love. The wife is inconsolable with grief and guilt. Luckily(?) her husband is a therapist, so he takes her to the woods to an isolated cabin to work through it all. Unfortunately, a bunch of unpleasant things happen. The film starts off beautifully, with slow-motion black and white footage of the child's demise intercut with graphic, hardcore sex. The next 45 minutes or so are a totally logical, devastating, straight-forward story. The next 45 minutes is rife with symbolism and artsiness and every time I thought I knew what was happening, I was wrong. The film succeeded in shocking me and surprising me and making me wince. There is more genital mutilation in this film than I've seen in a movie, ever. But I guess that's not saying much. I was engrossed and grossed out throughout. I wouldn't recommend this film to anyone and I didn't enjoy the experience, but it was interesting nonetheless.
The second was "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs." I've read the short book several times to my kids and I really enjoyed it. The movie trailer came out a few months ago and I was angry because of how different it was. It seemed like a totally different story with one element kept it; food falls from the sky. Well, I was right about that much, but after it got universally good reviews I took the family to see it in 3D. The 3D was negligible, but it enhanced the "falling from the sky" effect. The movie was really fun. There were more than a few moments that I found genuinely funny and clever. It was fast and crazy with a few token "learning moments" but I really enjoyed it, much to my own surprise. The last 20 minutes or so was so completely bugnuts bizarre, my wife looked over at one point and physically lowered my hand from my forehead. I couldn't believe the absolute weirdness they took the climax to. But overall, I wouldn't say it deserves any awards, but it was a really fun experience.
The third and final film of the weekend was "Synechdoche, NY." There was nothing fun about this film. It was depressing as all hell, and I was enthralled by it. Like Antichrist, I didn't know exactly what was going on, but the emotional aspect of it came through really strongly. I would have to say it's about a man's struggle to understand life and come to grips with his own eventual death. It is completely unrealistic by design, but I found it to walk JUST outside the line of making sense. I kept watching it going, "that was symbolic of something...not sure exactly what, but I understand the basic gist." For example, one character's house is always on fire, but nobody seems to care and it's never explained. David Lynch is a director who uses surreal touches to heighten a mood, usually nothing else. This film felt totally sure of its structure and I felt like I missed a good deal of the director's intent. With all that said, I was thoroughly engaged and emotionally moved by it. By contrast, Francis Ford Coppola's recent film, "Youth Without Youth" was another surreal, artsy story about life, but I felt completely bored by it. Synechdoche, NY is a film I would highly recommend to those with daring cinematic tastes.
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