No Country for Old Men (2007) - Joel and Ethan Coen - Revisit

Continuing on my Cormac McCarthy kick. I am revisiting the masterwork, No Country for Old Men, the Coen Brothers's 2007 Best Picture winning adaptation. I am not going to bother writing a full fledge review on this picture. Every last one of you know how I feel about this film. But the fact is that nearly three years after it came out I am still completely enthralled in the story and the relentless tension of this film. The scene between Chigurh and the gas station attendant is a perfectly crafted scene and is a beautiful example of what this film is all about. Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin and Tommy Lee Jones are perfect as the three principles and so is the film as a whole. That is all.

The Road (2009) by John Hillcoat

-Suppose you were the last man on Earth.
-How would you know that. That you were the last man on Earth?
-I suppose it wouldn't be something you knew. It'd just be something you did.


These words never come to fruition in either Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize winning novel or John Hillcoat's fantastic adaptation. But, for one reason or another in this brief scene between The Man (Viggo Mortenson) and Eli (Robert Duvall) we understand what is really at stake in the lives of these dying people getting by on this dying planet. When surviving is to be the last man on Earth, a title that only God would know, what good is survival? What good is a trip to the coast? We don't really know what the point is, all we know is that its all that matters.

John Hillcoat's film is nearly flawless as a film, and looks stunning. The only real complaint to be made against the film is that it lacks some of the poetic punch McCarthy's novel contains. This, however, is not anything against the film just a difference in the mediums of film and literature. The fact that he was willing to take on (what most consider to be) the greatest novel in the canon of one of, if not the greatest American author working today is a feat in itself. But, the fact is, that the novel doesn't offer a lot to film for a mainstream audience which causes the film to feel disjointed at times because there are not the long passages of the man describing the journey on the road, it just shows them traveling briefly before moving onto the next important scene with action or dialogue in it.

I highly recommend seeing this picture. However, I would suggest seeing it before reading the novel if you plan on doing both. If you have already read The Road just keep in mind that you cannot do the same things on film that you can do in a novel and you will appreciate Hillcoat's vision of McCarthy's masterpiece novel.

  

Desired but not needed Adaptations: Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie

Somewhere on the seam that lies on the border between April and May a friend of mine was about to graduate from the same university from which I graduated in December. As we sat and allowed the light from 2008's Iron Man to glow on our faces, we discussed some of the classes he had taken in the semester that I missed. The one that we kept coming back to was American Novel.

At one point he said, "Aaron, I don't usually like contemporary literature, but I couldn't put this book down. I think you'll love it." I asked him what it was and he ran upstairs and brought down a copy of Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie. A book that I took a while to get to, but when I did, I devoured. It is a novel about a rock band called Coyote Springs, made of five American Indians. Three Spokane Indians (from Washington) and two Flathead Indians (from Montana) It is hard to describe some of the happenings in the novel, it is an enjoyable though not always...kosher...read.

Its about stories. Its about desire. Its about sex. Its about friendship. Its a powerful book with the kind of dialogue that would make any cinephile salivate. The film could be visually stunning, though it wouldn't have to be. It could be an intimate portrayal of these young people's lives and the way that their lives were able to rise and fall with the times and circumstances. This is a film that I would like to see made. But if it never comes to fruition: worse things have happened.

A Beautiful Mind by Ron Howard

Ron Howard is 56 years old. He played Oppie in The Andy Griffith Show and Richie Cunningham in Happy Days, he also happens to be a very capable director. With several Oscar Nominations under his belt and one win he has proven that just because more people know you as "Oppie" or "Richie" than your real name means nothing.

His 2001 film, A Beautiful Mind, is his Oscar darling, it may not go down as his masterpiece, but its the one that got him the hardware. It follows the life and hardships of Nobel Prize Winning economist and mathematician, John Nash. Played by Australian hot-head Russell Crowe, in one of the finer moments of a very solid career. The film is not perfect, as so few films are, but it has a heart, and her name is Jennifer Connelly. At the center of all of Nash's problems is the fact that he can't just be a menace to himself, because he has a wife that loves him more than she can figure out the reason for.

The chemistry between Crowe and Connelly with the direction of Howard and the graceful writing of Akiva Goldsman create a very good film. It is not, however, the cinematic achievement that I want to talk about. At the true center of this film is a nugget of fearful truth. The film faces mental illness in a way that few films do, and love in the face of illness. The quality of a woman who loves her man in the face of adversity and stays by his side through one of the hardest situations that a person can be put through. So, while there is some legitimate criticism about this film, manipulation of the audience, etc from a cinematic perspective. Its true. It is a flawed film. That being said, most films are flawed, there is a rare gem of perfection. But its what this film shows us about love and family and illness that makes it a picture worth watching and remembering.

Greenberg by Noah Baumbach

    You like me more than you think you do.
  
    Hurt people, hurt people.


These are the two enduring quotes from Wes Anderson pal, Noah Baumbach's fourth film Greenberg. The film is a departure, of sorts from his previous two films, The Squid and the Whale and Margot at the Wedding in that the film isn't about children. On the surface. Roger Greenberg, played masterfully by Ben Stiller, is a 41 year man child. And his part-time lover, Florence, a 25 year old college grad who has now spent as much of her life since college as she spent in college, seems very well put together on the surface, but, she has some growing up to do herself.

While the film is named after Roger, one could argue that Florence is the centerpiece of the film. In Florence the audience is able to see themselves; and, in Roger we're allowed to see what Florence is in danger of becoming if she isn't able to save herself--and possibly Roger--from the ruts of their lives. Roger is a bitter man who always has a deep seeded guilt that he was the one who killed his band's chances of making it 15 years before.

Roger takes this anguish out on everyone he loves. Florence. Ivan. His brother. He wasn't willing to show up for his mother's funeral out of fear that he would have to face his former friends and bandmates. He also has a tendency of exploding on people as he gets truly close to him.

Greenberg is a film that is an incredibly awkward film. It has some truly hysterical moments and some touching and poignant scenes. Ultimately, I believe that the film has a message that says that we all have to grow up at some point. It won't be fun. But, the longer that a person puts off this inevitable moment the more difficult it becomes to do it without suffering major consequences. I believe that the film is loved by the people that admit to liking it; but I believe that when the film says "you like me more than you know," is a little wink to those in the audience that didn't enjoy the movie. Because, Noah Baumbach knows, as well as I do, that the movie caught the hearts and minds of the audience, whether they "liked" it or not.

  

Bad Lieutenant - Port of Call: New Orleans by Werner Herzog

Since the 1970s Werner Herzog has been one of the jewels of world cinema. With classics such as Aguirre: The Wrath of God, Stroszek and the remake of F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu. Herzog has blessed audiences around the world with unforgettable cinematic experiences for decades. His Psycho-Realist style is fairly unique to him, though other filmmakers have made films within Herzog's style it seems that he has stuck to it as if it were a genre and not just a style within the broader scope of cinema. In 2005, Werner Herzog expanded his horizon's making his first, truly, American film--while I concede that Stroszek is close, it is much more of a German film--the documentary Grizzly Man, since then his last four features two documentaries and two narrative's have all been truly American films.

On the flip side of this film is the outstanding Nicolas Cage. Throughout his career, Cage has made some very (very x's you choose) bad decisions. However, when Cage is at his best is when everything around him is going wrong. In his classic roles from Moonstruck, Leaving Los Vegas, Bringing Out the Dead, Adaptation and The Weather Man Cage sneaks his way through a life that could be better, though for some reason he can't make it so. In Herzog's newest film. Bad Lieutenant - Port of Call: New Orleans Nicolas Cage is allowed to be just that. He is a lieutenant in the New Orleans police department in the aftermath of the devastating Hurricane Katrina. He and his partners have gotten used to the "cowboy" style that was afforded to them by the near martial law status of the city during the days after the devastation. And, a back injury causes him to get into worse habits than he had already had.

Equipped with every non-alcoholic vice that I have ever heard of, Cage sleazes his way through the seedy underworld of New Orleans. As the film unfolds we are allowed to see the this man and everyone around him both at their best and worst. We are able to see corruption and redemption over and over again. In many way Herzog's film plays like a comedy of errors as we are left in disbelief with what we see, and the consequences for the actions taken. The Psycho-realism and Cage's man-on-the-edge persona are a match made in cinematic heaven.

This is a film of vice and should be watched as such. That being said, it is also a vastly entertaining crime film that will keep you guessing and shaking your head from start to finish.

    

Needed Adaptations. Anything by Charles Dickens.

This adaptation is quite different from the last few that I have done. In that, I am avoiding making a statement about which piece of literature should be adapted. Charles Dickens, is perhaps, the greatest British novelist of all-time. He is, also, perhaps, the greatest Non-Russian novelist. Though many may argue Jane Austin or George Eliot for British novelists, and many may argue James Joyce as greatest non-Russian novelist. I don't care. I will cross that bridge and have that discussion when it comes.

In any case. It makes no difference. The fact is that Charles Dickens wrote classic after classic and one of them must be adapted; but in a very specific way. Some of my readers may be aware of my...misunderstanding...(?) of the American filmmaker Tim Burton; however, this is a project that I think must be tackled by the quirky goth kid who brought us Beetle Juice, Sleepy Hollow, Sweeny Todd and his greatest film, Big Fish. But, to do Dickens's characters justice, this must be done in Burton's signature, stop-motion style animation.

What Tim Burton did as producer with the cult-classic, Nightmare Before Christmas and director in The Corpse Bride truly add a different dimension to the stories being unfolded on the screen. Think about the jagged edges, the gothic characteristics, the allegorical looks of Dickens' characters. This could be done with makeup, but its not the same. I would like to see Tim Burton's animation team take on Charles Dickens and the novels that I keep coming back to are Oliver Twist, though it has been adapted several times, successfully, already and Tale of Two Cities which has a bright and boring BBC adaptation made about it.

Once again, leave your feedback, recommendations and arguments in the comments section. I am really looking forward to hearing any ideas that are not mine.