be_free Reviews

The Aggressives (2005)

Beautiful human portraits

[8/10 · 18 April 2007]

I agree with one of the former commentators that this is a good movie, but I don't agree with her recommendation that you have to be a lesbian (or in the alternative gender and sexual community either at for that matter) to enjoy this movie. I'm a black Swedish/American 41 yo heterosexual male myself.

The theme of the movie is about six 20-something women of color that identify themselves as "aggressives", a sub-genre in the "butch" category of lesbians. Sort of. Throughout the movie the women try to define what "an aggressive" is, but as often is the case in areas of subcultures, there is no defined or obvious answer.

As the movie moves along you realize that the answer is not at all important, but the stories coming out of the question about what an aggressive is, are. The strength of the this non-storyline movie is the honesty and the nakedness of these young women's stories, and we get a good sense of where they are coming from, what they are going through, and how they deal with the world from their perspective.

They of course all have unique stories and have their own unique personalities which is way more interesting to learn about than elaborating solely on how they express or don't express themselves sexually. Or what (specific) gender orientation they subscribe too. Since we're dealing with quite young women, my guess is that these are things that are prone to change with time as they mature and evolve.

In the middle of the movie one woman says, "being aggressive is basically about who wear the pants in a relationship". Towards the end of the movie however, the same woman says "aggressive - I used to be really excited about that word. Now, just call me Kisha" (her name).

What I get out if it is, don't get too hung up about labels, be who you are, and express yourself in a way that you are comfortable with. A message I think anyone can identify with, especially a person who have ever felt that they are different. Ironically enough, I think most of us have.

The Weight of Water (2000)

Mystery with a Norwegian rage theme in this suspense thriller

[7/10 · 12 February 2005]

This is a film about suppressed emotions and the effect of how negating your true self can poison the human intellect. The Weight of Water is most likely what most Americans would consider a slow film, which generally is not a good thing. Reviewing from the point of view of a Swedish/American, I see it differently. The first thing that strikes me is how well the Scandinavian mindset and attitude is captured. It's almost to the point of parody when you're told the harsh life of the main character played by Sara Polley, in one of the film's two intermingled stories. Sarah Polley, however, does such an excellent job portraying a young Norwegian woman in lack of affection and the longing for her brother whom she loves dearly, that I let me get drawn into her world. This is where the movie excels and Polley carries the film so well just be being very believable, that it let's me forgive the not so great acting by some of her counterparts. Don't get me wrong; the acting keeps a high quality throughout. The problem is that these are very ambitious and pretentious quarters. The acting necessary to make this type of late 1800 reality drama believable is nothing your average American actor can pull through. It requires honesty and an innocence that is hard to come by, not less fake. Polley is stunning, and both beautiful, transparent, and scary. It is quite rare experiencing a movie that allows for such nakedness, sparse dialogue, interpretation of glances, gestures, and untold suggestions. I'm also surprised how well it works. Kudos to Catherine Bigelow for pulling this through.

Polley/the young Norwegian woman is in the center piece of an ancient murder mystery investigated by the other of the film's two main character's, in the settings that takes place in the modern time of the film, Catherine McCormack. McCormack is also doing a decent job portraying a photographic journalist who's investigating the old murder tale to write about it in a magazine. It is primarily McCormack's character's experience of the unfolding of the 1873 murder tale we as an audience get to see. During this, Catherine's character has qualms about her own relationship to a famous poet played by Sean Penn. Sean does a decent job enough to portray a selfish and uncompassionate writer, but unfortunately the dynamic between Penn and McCormack does not work very well. Overall, the modern story part of the film is less convincing than the 1800 one, although there are some obvious and some not so obvious parallels between the two. The modern story part of the film is where it is weakest, and almost feel redundant to me. This, without anyone doing a terrible job really. It's just that the pretentiousness doesn't work quite as well here. In the midst of it all, we have a bikini skipping Elisabeth Hurly who plays the part of a combination of an admirer of Penn's character's poetry work, and a sex tease. There is a bit of more complexity to her character in the mix, but Hurley does not manage to balance it well. The result us that she mostly annoying, although she's probably only doing what she is told. To put a more interesting twist to it, Hurley should have been to exchanged with a more subtle beauty who's sexuality is not posted on the bulletin boards. Penn's potential attraction to Hurley's character is what the parallel story's untold emotions revolve around. Here, the subtleness is less subtle, and it's interesting to see how these famous names does not manage to carry it's side if the film as well as the lesser known names in the 1873 murder tale part of the film. Josh Lucas also has a part playing Penn's character's brother, and Hurley's character's boyfriend. Lucas' character is opposite in temperament and looks of Penn's. Good looking, light hearted, playboy-ish. Where McCormick and Penn - who really just seem to need to get out more - take everything dead seriously, Lucas's characters smile aware of his brother's temperament and the potential hardships of young parents with small children who work too much and never gets out.

Going on a trip on a sailing boat, and working at the same time, would be "almost like a vacation". These are among the first words that open the movie and you realize early it is not going to be an ordinary vacation. This early realization, the calm tempo, and the strained emotions of the films main characters, is what keeps the movie suspense, despite its slow tempo. Then it has the usual ingredients necessary, the questions. Who did what, and why? What are the motives behind people's actions? Who is good, who is bad? Thankfully Bigelow does not comment on it, and let the film speak for itself. It's no big mystery, it's more of a study of human nature.

While Polley carries the 1873 part of the movie with her sensitive acting and expression, McCormack saves the modern part. She looks haunted enough for me to stay interested, and her good intentions manage to keep the plot of the acceptable side of what could otherwise have been embarrassingly banal.

If you're looking for a slightly different movie with some suspense, some people you recognize, and at the same time are willing to get exposed to a type of acting and story telling you might not be used to, I recommend The Weight of Water. Despite my perhaps harsh words, I give it a strong 7 out of 10 since the bottom-line is that I stayed interested through the entire movie, and enjoyed it a great deal.