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Reviews
The House That Jack Built (2018)
Hello all you happy people
I'll preface by saying that I'll never be able to hear 'Fame' again without picturing Edgar's wife from Men In Black being drug down the road face down behind a van. So thank you Lars for that. I think he has a penchant for Bowie. If I recall correctly the closing credits of Dogville were set to 'Young Americans.'
Lars von Trier's latest outing definately lived up to the hype it was generating. This was a truly disturbing movie. There are not too many visuals that have plucked a raw nerve in me like seeing that boy's contorted face in the freezer did. Lars Von Trier has always been a provocateur valuing shock alongside philosophy. I've heard several analysis of this movie and one that I think makes a lot of compelling points is that the film is somewhat autobiographical. Almost as if Von Trier is speaking through Jack making an arguement for the value of his life's work.
I watched this movie in succession with the Fritz Lang classic 'M' and I thought that was a very interesting Juxtaposition seeing two very different types of madmen portrayed. The killer Hans Beckert in 'M' is horrified at his latent tendencies but acts compulsarily. He loathes the hand that has been dealt him in life but sees no way out. He is, dare I say, a somewhat sympathetic character. I also thought of Alex from 'A Clockwork Orange.' He takes immense pleasure in what he does and relishes his violent outbursts. He waits for his next chance to partake in depravity almost like a teenager waits for the weekend to cut loose. Whereas Beckert from 'M' partakes in depravity almost as a salve/medicine to ease his suffering. I think Jack is somewhere in between them. In the scenes where Jack commits his crimes he doesnt seem to be enjoying himself or apalled by himself but almost as if he is doing an obligatory task. He feels like his 'art' is the only way he can reach the world and that the world would be lesser without it. I think Lars probably feels similar. Arrogant? Yes, but isn't that what film is? Seeing the world through the eyes of different people. I've seen most of his filmography and found all of them very compelling/interesting although not always agreeable. A big difference between Lars and a lot of other film makers is that Lars takes these subjects, feelings or ideas that we as a public are fascinated with and realizes them so fully and so viscerally that we recoil not only from what we are seeing but from ourselves for being engaged. 'The House that Jack Built' is the kind of movie that will make the true crime buff not as excited to watch that serial killer documentary on the history channel. At least until the experience wears off and we can slip back into sipping our cans of 'Depravity-Lite' again. I think that's kind of powerful. The only other movie that I can think of off them top of my head that had that effect on me was Michael Haneke's 'Funny Games.'
But the film definately raises the question on the fundemental elements that must be in place to facilitate art. Is there anyone who would say that Poe's 'The Raven' is not an important entry to culture? There is no love in it. Only despair and torment. I think art for me is creative observations of facets of humanity as a whole. Even the parts we don't like to think about.
Christopher Robin (2018)
Hello all you happy people
I didnt grow up watching Winnie the Pooh so maybe some of the nostalgia was lost on me, but I did enjoy watching this movie. It was fun, whimsical and I loved the banter from Pooh and Eeyore. I liked the way the characters would say something that would make you laugh but then make you think as well. I will definately be adopting some of the phrases Pooh uses into future conversations.
I'd never really thought about it before but each of the inhabitants (excluding Pooh) of the 100 acre woods represents a different necessary emotion in Christopher Robin (very similar to Inside Out) Pooh being somewhat of a neutral combination of all of them. He just kind of lays back and let's things happen to him. He gets upset, sad, scared, happy, etc. but never drifts far away from his comfortable medium temperament. He is obviously the role model of the film having figured out that doing nothing often leads to the best something. Which is fitting when it concerns using your imagination and/or enjoying and spending time with your family but it felt kind of odd to try to use it as a message for someone's career.
In the beginning of the movie adult Christopher Robin was almost villianized for spending a weekend hard at work and sacrificing family time. I thought it was admirable that he was so desperately trying to make sure they didnt have to make any cuts in staff at the office. The "solution" shoehorned into the end of the film to tie it all together made no sense. Giving the employees a paid vacation would cost more than they would make from selling those same employees luggage. And lowering the prices on the luggage a bit...did it really take hours of figuring and a breakthrough to come up with that? Also I dont think that there are any fathers out there, no matter how particular, that when asked by their daughter to read them to sleep would pick up a book on edwardian history. It felt like they almost made him into a caricature of the idea they were trying to portray.
But like I said I did enjoy the movie just thought it could have been a lot stronger than it was. Was it just me or did anyone think that it would have been better if Pooh and friends were depicted as internalizations of Christopher Robin (which I always thought they were) and only he could see them? I think that would have been more interesting and also would have made for some funnier gags. Then at the end of the movie they could have become visible to Madeline, almost like he was passing the torch like Andy does at the end of Toy Story 3. Although to be fair the funniest scene in the movie to me perhaps was when a cab driver, pedestrian, and police officer share an encounter with the talking animals.