Seriously Good...

Prior to hitting up the Cumberland last night I wasn't sold on the idea of going to see A Serious Man (the Coen Brothers new cinematic offering). The previews made it look as though it was going to be another film that you sit through in silence (with the odd uncomfortable chuckle) and end up appreciating later when you've had a chance to mull it over. Needless to say, after the whole Visage debacle at TIFF I was a little apprehensive about another "artsy" film-going experience so soon. But I have a friend to whom I promised last night's movie choice and thusly I found myself squished into a packed theatre in Yorkville, apprehensive but prepared for my movie-going experience.

I should have known better. After Fargo and No Country for Old Men there should have been no doubt in my mind that they could pull it off. And they did. The Coen brother's style and control effortless crafts the suburban nightmare of Larry Gopnik, middle-aged physics proffessor, into a thing of wonder and hilarity. Though it could easily have become predictable and sad as they piled misfortune after misfortune onto one man's shoulders, the Coens manage to avoid the obvious laugh and go for the slightly less commercial one, simultaneously cutting the tension and allowing us to sidestep the growing feeling of sympathy one begins to experience on Larry's behalf.

Now there is one thing about this movie that I didn't like, and it's really more of a criticism of myself than anything else. I don't speak Yiddish. I think if I did there were a lot more jokes (which our compatriots in the theatre were laughing at) that I could have enjoyed had I known more Yiddish than "Naches" (Joy) and "Goy" (non-jew). That said, if you have some time, check this movie out.

It's seriously worth it.

Visage: the miss-spent youth of moi

I've been plugging TIFF to anyone who will listen (for those of you "not in the know" TIFF is the short form and this year's re-brand of the Toronto International Film Festival). I love having the opportunity to see little-known but critically acclaimed films in larger venues and with much less effort than it would normally be possible to. I love standing in line with other "cinephiles" and chattering about black and white films that make us all think we're cool. I LOVE that guy who's always behind me on the escalator afterwards, telling the girl he brought what she should think about the film in pretentious intellectual speak he has no business using.

I love it all.

So when Matt asked if I wanted to see a film this week I jumped. We're both trying to curb our spending heading into the pricey months (November through February) and so we settled on one film that we were both looking forward to. Unfortunately that film ended up being the Franco-Thai produced film Visage by filmmaker Tsai Ming-Liang.

Upon revisiting the film in my mind there are certainly elements of it that in retrospect were quite good. The film definitely didn't suffer from a lack of talented actors as all gave fairly nuanced performances, but the way the shots were constructed just made it impossible to sit through. Each shot comprised approx. 6 minutes (give or take) and was usually framed from such a strange angle that it was difficult to get any feel for the setting or context. What's more, the film consists of minimal dialogue and even fewer scenes which include an exchange of any kind. I'm fairly sure that the longest of these consists of the almost exclusively Thai speaking lead Lee Kang-sheng and French actor Jean-Pierre Léaud volleying directors' names in an aping of actual conversation.

All in all I was pretty upset and very disappointed that this was the one film I have the time and money to see. I'm proud that we branched out but I think next year I'm going to see something I can actually find a trailer of. That is two and a half hours of my youth that I'm not getting back...