comoc Reviews

Closer (I) (2004)

Dreams and delusions

[10/10 · 1 April 2005]

Is love a disease? a delusion? A timeless question as important today as ever. We accept this premise, but what other diseases can exist in our minds? Is there a spectrum of possibilities beyond the debilitating sort that are legally certifiable?

Without telling us any answers, without subtext leading us to believe in a solution, this film analyzes fear and doubt in a particularly common variety. Does love exist? Must it be pure? True?

The film is excellent in every infinitesimal aspect that I'm aware of. Script, Cast, Performance, Photography, Sound, Direction. It's all I can do to write my praises.

The trip was almost more than I could bear. Which is everything this should be.

Meet Joe Black (1998)

Warms up well

[7/10 · 10 March 2005]

This film begins with big Hollywood (hollow wood) glamour, and perhaps more than a bit uncertain in its characters. But it warms up -- gradually but surely with each scene -- into a movie to fall in love with. One falls in love with the boundless freedom and power of these characters' lives. One falls in love with Claire Forlani, as always. And one falls in love with the performances of Hopkins and Pitt, as always.

But what is it about, this film? We must recognize its devices. Forlani's character is engaged to marry the wrong man. Hopkins' character is very rich. Death enters their lives with a profound and sincere interest in Susan (Forlani).

There's no reason to presume that Pitt's character, immortal Death, has never been in a human body before or has never been in love before. Perhaps the last time was three hundred or three thousand years ago. We only know it was not recent -- it's uncommon to him. We know (presumably) that if he has taken on the mortal coil before, it could not have been in the life he chose this time. We know that love is -- this time, or always -- new to him. What can we know about the existence of the character Death? We know that the immortal played by Mr Pitt covets the mortal embrace of life, of Susan Parrish.

The film reminds us how life can be lived, and another loved, to make immortals jealous of our mortality.

The Heart of Me (2002)

Sisters and their men

[9/10 · 9 March 2005]

Beyond the beautiful photography and brilliant performances in this fine film, it brings us an intimate view into one of this life's great challenges. Having almost stepped into Ricky's shoes myself, this story clears away the fog of imagined outcomes to reveal the most essential, critical and invariable costs with their likely and possible consequences.

These three characters, the husband Ricky, the wife Madeleine, and the sister Dinah, live lives well examined, know well the agony and the ecstasy of true love, of loving without reservation, and that life is short and then we're gone forever. That true loves makes the gods jealous of our mortality.

Perhaps there is a marriage of reason, and then an affair d'amour. But there's much more than that. Ricky loves Madeleine, and then he loves Dinah. Both are wonderful, brilliant women with whom any man could be truly content and more than that, in love.

But this is their lives: this situation has much more depth than a simple love triangle, or a man lacking reason. It is the force of life, the river that runs through us when love flies. It's about choices, yes. But it's about one's life. Can Ricky choose to not love Dinah? Can he live the rest of his days not having known the outcome? How does one choose such a thing? How does one decide? That's why we need this story. To illuminate the road ahead. Is love with Dinah more than love with Madeleine? This is the question, perhaps in real life. And this story will help.

The film steps through the traversal of events in quick succession, depending on our keen understanding to comprehend what may and may not possibly be happening to each character.

On a much smaller note, in this writer's opinion this film contains one of the most beautiful images of any. A quick little profile shot of Helena Bonham Carter in profile, wearing some clown makeup. For the briefest moment, one may find one of film's finest flowers.

Security, Colorado (2001)

What is emotional starvation?

[9/10 · 8 March 2005]

Andrew Gillis' film is great for its intimate documentation of one person's struggle to understand, find, and discover the love- energy, the river that makes his protagonist feel the "rock'n'roll" of her life.

Everyone's in love with the brilliant and genuine Karen, played by Karen Felber, but who has what she needs? The means for a life of emotional energy, la vida. In time Karen finds that her own emotional depth, vitality and wealth are not balanced by her beau, Paul, played by Paul Schneider.

Karen's painful walk through frustration and split, search and development are transcendent in the casting of Karen Felber in the leading role. One can have little doubt that the life of this film is made possible by Felber's comprehension and delivery.

The things we say, struggling to grasp ourselves and our spiritual lives can be live or morbid, laughing or tearful, or just sobbing.

The emotional life that Karen needs may be perceived but not met by Paul. Does he not have the capacity or the understanding? spirit or words? gravity? or the will to accept and give freely and openly? Karen and Paul break-up and then come together in the emotional energy she needs. until she wakes to wonder if, to know that it's not the thing she needs to live.

She searches her world, looking for something, perhaps she's not sure what. She knows what she feels, and is certain in it.