Dredd (2012)

I still remembered the awful Judge Dredd (1995) with Sylvester Stallone. So I was kind of suspicious of this film that reminded me a bit of the terrible G.I. Joe saga. In short, I was not ready for Dredd, one of my favorite action films of 2012. In retrospect, I regret that I missed the chance to see it in 3-D in the theaters. In a sort of compensation, the Blu-Ray/DVD pack comes with a nice array of extras that, if you are a little bit like me, you will devour afterwards if you really enjoyed the movie.

Actually, the plot is not very original to say the least: in a futuristic American society characterized by rampant chaos and crime, the policemen have evolved into “judge, jury and executioner” all in one. In one of his missions, Judge Dredd is trapped by a drug-dealing gang inside a mammoth residential building with more than 200 levels and thousands of inhabitants.

The situation reminded me of The Raid: Redemption (2011), an amazing Indonesian film that broke the limits of what you could show in body fight scenes. We do not see those scenes here. What we do find in Dredd is a superb use of the slow-motion tool and a hypnotic soundtrack, both a terrific combination that succeed stylizing and somehow subduing the gory violence of the film.

The arid main character is accompanied by a female rookie officer that adds a very welcomed human touch to the whole thing. Much like any other superhero that upholds “society” values of law and order to the extreme, the almost robotic features of a character like Judge Dredd remind us of the prescience of comics and science fiction imagining an authoritarian model to be implanted in the future, a model that has started to become closer than ever to become a reality since 9/11.

Based on a British comic inspired by fascist iconography, Dredd is not an actor’s vehicle. In fact, Karl Urban as Judge Dredd is covered with a full-size helmet all the time and, at the most, his acting is reduced to mouth gestures of repulsion and loathing. Filmed in South Africa and directed by Pete Travis, Dredd is full of violence but is always surprising and stunning… just the way that a B-Series movie should be.

Sex, violence and the missing chapter in "A Clockwork Orange"

Watching the Blu-Ray extras of A Clockwork Orange, I found out that the original book by British author Anthony Burgess — that I never read, sorry— included a final chapter where Alexander DeLarge, the terrible character that is interpreted by Malcolm McDowell, personally decides to “choose” good over evil. Being the whole story a denunciation of modern governments trying to brainwash convicts to forcibly turn them into model citizens, this is an important part of the plot to say the least. 

Apparently, in the face of the wide criticism that the movie attracted in 1971 for its alleged glorification of violence, Burgess defended the Stanley Kubrick movie publicly in his country but, in private, he always felt bad because the movie did not include the ending he originally conceived. Moreover, Burgess detested violence himself and the book was a manner of coming to terms with his own feelings on the topic since his first wife had been herself a rape victim.

Doing some extra research on the topic, I found out that the film script had been based on the U.S. edition of the book and the American publishers had originally convinced Burgess to print the book without the "redemptive" final chapter. When Kubrick belatedly read this chapter he agreed with the American publishers and, for better or worse, he discarded it. 

Now, I understand Kubrick’s decision. The film seems perfect as it is, with its ending celebrating the main character tendencies to sexual excess and violence being restored after he is brainwashed in reverse to his original state, denouncing also, in a very funny way, the overt manipulation of the public opinion by the political power through the media. In terms of the violence and how it is being portrayed though, there is a big question mark here, and the question of course is… was this the right thing to do? 

Apparently, even Kubrick got scared with the reactions to the film in England, when violent acts by teenagers supposedly “inspired” by the movie started to happen here and there. Even more reason to concern was added by the threats that Kubrick’s family started to receive in that time. Finally, the director decided to prohibit further exhibitions of the movie in the UK, and this was a decision that was upheld until his death in 1999. For years, the movie became a legend in England, only accessible by pirate video copies or imports brought-in by travelers. 

I have always felt fascinated by A Clockwork Orange. Now that I saw it again, I guess I may never be able to see another film with such sense of wonder. Not only because of the hypnotic first-person narration by Malcolm McDowell, the perfect position of the camera in every take, the abundant humor and sarcasm we find, and the amalgam of grandiose music, clothing and mise-en-scene that predicted the future in so many ways but also because, being so politically incorrect, maybe a movie like this also precluded its futuristic social portrait of sex and violence of becoming a reality. 

Feminists got encouraged by movies like this. And they were right to be. There is an absolute macho perspective in regards to the sexual liberation of the society depicted in the film. Automated bars where patrons had to milk the breasts of naked women sculptures to obtain drugged cocktails that incite adrenaline rushes might be impossible today, but were totally conceivable years ago. 

Kubrick himself never intended to put reins to this twisted vision of the future, maybe just for fun, maybe to provoke and excite its audience, or maybe to incite contradictory feelings to a point where we do not have another choice but questioning ourselves. When after his treatment Alex is shown to the public to demonstrate that he is incapable of hurting anyone, for instance, he is presented in a stage next to a gorgeous naked woman, feeling immediately sexually aroused. Interrupted by the neutralizing pain that he has been conditioned to feel, he is unable to touch her. When this is done though, the woman remains at the stage longer than expected, happy to exhibit her beautiful body and bowing to the applause of an ecstatic audience that includes us, the spectators. 

Also, even if the Singing in the Rain scene is the most famous rape scene in the movie, Kubrick inserts another sequence where a big-breasted, attractive woman is about to be raped amid giggling comments and jokes. These days, not even a genius like Kubrick could get away with a scene like this.

Maybe we should thank old Kubrick for that.

January 10, 2013 

La cara oculta / The Hidden Face (2011)

La cara oculta (The Hidden Face) es una coproducción hispano-colombiana estrenada en el 2011 que ahora se halla disponible vía la suscripción digital de Netflix en EEUU. Dirigida por el colombiano Andrés Baiz con una sensibilidad más europea que americana, las cosas maduran aquí de forma lenta pero contundente. La historia gira en torno a una pareja en la que un joven director de orquesta español (Quim Gutiérrez) decide tomar un trabajo dirigiendo la Filarmónica de Bogotá, hacia donde se muda con su chica (Clara Lago) para luego alquilar una hermosa casa de campo que fue construida por una familia alemana emigrada. 

La película comienza con el desconsolado novio viendo un video mensaje en el que su chica le da la despedida diciéndole que jamás intente buscarla. Buscando refugio en el licor, el director conoce a una guapa mesera (Martina García) con quien poco a poco intenta olvidar a su ex-novia, entablando una intensa relación física. La chica se muda a la casa pero siente que en ella hay una misteriosa presencia que, por momentos, la hace sospechar que vive en una casa embrujada. 

Bueno, ésta es sólo la mitad de la trama, y lo demás se desenvuelve como una segunda película mucho más animada, en la que, con un nuevo punto de vista, revisitamos lo que ya habíamos visto. Un giro inesperado y bienvenido que le da nueva vida a un film que no parecía prometer demasiado. Aunque de actuaciones solventes, quizá la producción debió tomarse más tiempo entrenando a Quim Gutérrez para sus escenas al frente de la orquesta. Estas débiles escenas atentan contra una credibilidad duramente trabajada por unos jóvenes actores en roles que, en general, parecían demandar más años y experiencia a sus espaldas. 

A condición de que no vea el tráiler, que de manera incomprensible estropea la sorpresa clave de la película, la trama de La cara oculta logra no sólo entretener, sino que nos hace reflexionar sobre los límites que los humanos nos imponemos --o deberíamos imponernos-- para la ambición y la venganza. 

Super 8 (2011)

Movies, movies... I watch all the movies I can. Many of them are movies that I have seen before and, I find myself surprised having very different reactions. I see movies not only on theaters but from Netflix, Redbox, libraries, cable... sometimes I devour three or more movies per day. So, I decided to write short reviews trying to catch up with my voracious viewing habits, so that at least I leave some sort of record.

I decided to begin with Super 8, an entertaining movie directed by J.J. Abrams.



A group of kids is on a hurry trying to make a Super 8 movie --the more accessible film format prior to the popularization of video recording-- to participate in an amateur movie contest. When the group starts to film in a train station, they witness a spectacular accident that is inadvertently recorded in the film, revealing a supernatural edge to the whole situation. Much like the bunch of teen friends that we typically find in Spielberg movies, Super 8 makes a good job of mixing a science fiction plot with typical teen issues and holding the spectator entranced for a good part of its running time. The young actors do a terrific job but the subplots regarding the adults are kind of lame, and the same can be said about the monster/alien and the clumsy military intervention that follows. The spectacular special effects come to the rescue though, and you may say that you had a good time before the final credits start to roll. In many regards Super 8 feels like a homage to the summer blockbusters of the 70's and 80's that attempted to turn the cinema into a sort of mindless, massive entertainment with simple plots and amazing special effects to draw multitudes into the movie theaters. This is no Jaws though, or E.T. which felt real and genuinely moving. But Super 8 is very entertaining if you do not expect to find too much depth. But who is expecting it, anyways!

It was about time, Django

Django Unchained (2012)
Directed by Quentin Tarantino 

Django Unchained left me speechless. There is too much here to pretend that this is just another Tarantino trick. This is a transcendent movie in many ways, way more than Inglorious Basterds,  a movie that felt a little like a clever idea taken too far to get a few laughs. Though Django is said to be based on a comic book and the language and the details may not be — actually are not — historically accurate, its exaggerated, bigger-than-life characters feel as real as they can be, and the plot moves relentlessly, though irregularly, in the construction of the black hero myth that Hollywood vehemently has denied audiences so far. The plot line is almost impossible: a German dentist named Schultz (Christophe Waltz) turned into bounty hunter in the pre-Civil War days rescues a black slave (Jamie Fox), provides him with his liberty papers and turns him into a professional partner before helping him to locate and rescue his wife from slavery. This pursuit takes these characters to the American South, where we meet an array of powerful white plantation owners, one of them interpreted by Don Johnson, who provides the best and funniest performance in his career. The other one is of course Leonardo DiCaprio, who is completely transformed by the role, a sophisticated and mild-mannered all-business gentleman with a bad temper, who enjoys being inhumanly cruel with his “niggers” whenever he deems necessary. Samuel L. Jackson is almost unrecognizable until he starts to speak –or curse, but he creates an unforgettable character as the servile black man who enjoys the power from the white man, and who reassures his own grasp to this power with his cruelty to other black people like him. The movie is incredibly entertaining and fun but it has harsh scenes that might not be easy for some, especially those who have not been educated in the pleasures of Western mythology by Sergio Leone’s sweaty hysterics and heroic music –or by Sam Peckimpah’s gut-wrenching violence. In addition, you may find moments where the editing seems to have been made in a hurry, carelessly. Incredibly, these are followed by instances of amazing clarity, where the images seem divinely inspired, absolutely satisfying for the movie lover. More than a film, this is an over-the-top, subversive celebration of cinema and freedom that is probably as important and radical as The Birth of a Nation (1915) became almost a hundred years ago.

On Mencken's 132nd Birthday

HENRY LOUIS MENCKEN 

September 12, 1880 - January 29, 1956



Puritanism. The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy. 
 
All government, of course, is against liberty.

All men are frauds. The only difference between them is that some admit it. I myself deny it. 

An idealist is one who, on noticing that roses smell better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup.

For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.

If a politician found he had cannibals among his constituents, he would promise them missionaries for dinner.

If I ever marry, it will be on a sudden impulse - as a man shoots himself.

Immorality: the morality of those who are having a better time.

In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican.

Temptation is a woman's weapon and man's excuse.
 
Adultery is the application of democracy to love.

It is hard to believe that a man is telling the truth when you know that you would lie if you were in his place.

It is not materialism that is the chief curse of the world, as pastors teach, but idealism. Men get into trouble by taking their visions and hallucinations too seriously.

Love is the delusion that one woman differs from another.

Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who would want to live in an institution?          

The only really happy folk are married women and single men.

No matter how happily a woman may be married, it always pleases her to discover that there is a nice man who wishes that she were not.

 *     *    *

 

Águas de Março de TOM JOBIM

Un poema con vida propia que podría escuchar indefinidamente. Si siguen leyendo encontrarán lo que me parece que dice la canción en español.  


 YOU TUBE -  VIDEO

É pau, é pedra, é o fim do caminho
é um resto de toco, é um pouco sozinho
é um caco de vidro, é a vida, é o sol
é a noite, é a morte, é um laco, é o anzol
é peroba do campo, é o nó da madeira
cainga, candeia, é o Matita Pereira
É madeira de vento, tombo da ribanceira
é o mistério profundo
é o queira ou nao queira
é o vento ventando, é o fim da ladeira
é a viga, é o vao, festa da cumeeira
é a chuva chovendo, é conversa ribeira
das aguas de marco, é o fim da canseira
é o pé, é o chao, é a marcha estradeira
passarinho na mao, pedra de atiradeira

Uma ave no céu, uma ave no chao
é um regato, é uma fonte
é um pedaco de pao
é o fundo do poco, é o fim do caminho
no rosto o desgosto, é um pouco sozinho

É um estrepe, é um prego
é uma ponta, é um ponto
é um pingo pingando
é uma conta, é um conto
é um peixe, é um gesto
é uma prata brilhando
é a luz da manha, é o tijolo chegando
é a lenha, é o dia, é o fim da picada
é a garrafa de cana, o estilhaco na estrada
é o projeto da casa, é o corpo na cama
é o carro enguicado, é a lama, é a lama
é um passo, é uma ponte
é um sapo, é uma ra
é um resto de mato, na luz da manha
sao as aguas de marco fechando o verao
é a promessa de vida no teu coracao

É pau, é pedra, é o fim do caminho
é um resto de toco, é um pouco sozinho
é uma cobra, é um pau, é Joao, é José
é um espinho na mao, é um corte no pé
sao as aguas de marco fechando o verao
é a promessa de vida no teu coracao

É pau, é pedra, é o fim do caminho
é um resto de toco, é um pouco sozinho
é um passo, é uma ponte
é um sapo, é uma ra
é um belo horizonte, é uma febre terca
sao as aguas de marco fechando o verao
é a promessa de vida no teu coracao

É pau, é pedra, é o fim do camino
é um resto de toco, é um pouco sozinho
///É pau, é pedra, é o fim do caminho
é um resto de toco, é um pouco sozinho

 YOU TUBE -  VIDEO

Aguas de Marzo -  (Español)

Es un palo, una piedra, es el fin del camino
es un resto del juego, un poco solitario
un pedazo de vidrio, es la vida, es el sol
es la noche, es la muerte, es un lazo, el anzuelo
es el árbol del campo, el nudo de la madera
cainga (?), lámpara, es Matita Pereira
Es madera del viento, es caer de un precipicio
Es el misterio profundo
es lo quiera o no quiera
es el viento soplando, el fin de la ladera
Es la viga, es el vano, es la fiesta en la cumbre 
es la lluvia lloviendo, la conversa de la rivera
de las aguas de marzo, es el fin del cansancio
es el pie, es el suelo, la marcha en la ruta
pájaro en mano, piedra de la honda

Una ave en el cielo, una ave en el suelo
es una corriente, es una fuente
es un trozo de pan
es el fondo del pozo, es el fin del camino
un rostro de disgusto, que es un poco solitario

Es una astilla, es un clavo
es una punta, es un punto
es una gota goteando
es un relato, es un cuento
es un pez, es un gesto
es una plata brillante
es la luz de la mañana, es un ladrillo (?)llegando
es la leña, es el día, el final del camino
es la garrafa de caña, una estilla en la carretera
es un proyecto de casa, es el cuerpo en la cama
es un carro descompuesto, es el barro, es el barro
es un paso, es un puente
es un sapo, una rana
es un resto del arbusto, en la luz de la mañana
son las aguas de marzo cerrando el verano
es la promesa de vida en tu corazón

Es un palo, una piedra, es el fin del camino
es un resto del juego, es un poco solitario
una cobra, un palo, es Joao, es José
una espina en la mano, es un corte en el pie
son las aguas de marzo cerrando el verano
es la promesa de vida en tu corazón

Es un palo, una piedra, es el fin del camino
es el resto del juego, un poco solitario
es un paso, es un puente
es un sapo, una rana
es un bello horizonte, una fiebre terciana
son las aguas de marzo cerrando el verano
Es la promesa de vida en tu corazón

Es palo, una piedra, es el fin del camino
es el resto del juego, es un poco solitario
///Es palo, es piedra, es el fin del camino
es el resto del juego, es un poco solitario