Thursday, February 24, 2011

Intestinal Fortitude

I met a man who stonewalled me about 'True Grit'. He refused to think that the latest Coen Brothers movie was better than the John Wayne original. Oh Lord, where to start?

First, the introduction we get to the American West through the marvelous set direction and costuming of this latest Jeff Bridges version, is stunning. The bleakness of the local town,with its no frills living and basic justice where the young heroine meets her unlikely hero, is a pared down less than marvelous spot. You know lean persons live here, living lean and mostly mean themselves. No place for a lady and no place for a child.

The Coens have coaxed a performance out of the young actress that winds us up and sets us off on a wild adventure and if you doubt her acting cred or the Coens ability to direct, have a look at her negotiating scene with the Stock and Station Agent. She whirls Jeff Bridges as U.S. Marshal Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn onto a mission that he regrets very quickly but not quickly enough to avoid it.

This 'True Grit' gives you an idea of the hardships and loneliness of that life and the ending is the most exhilarating I have seen for a long time. The film follows the characters through relentlessly and, knowing as we mostly do our own frailties, it is moving to see the natural consequences of their acts several decades later. They never get past what happened to them neither do they deviate from the paths their personalities set them on.

If you really want to see the difference between the two films, have a look at the trailers. One is lean and crisp and the other, well... not. And then just ask yourself whether a law man on a horse would really wear a hat several sizes too small to go about his business.






Click here to see the two 'True Grit' trailers:

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Sad Birds

Every time I ask people about this film they start gabbling. Its either 'great' or 'unspeakably great' or 'so true' etc etc. It made it a Must See but troubling afterward.

I have seen a little of the Ballet world and, while the discipline is greater for dancing, there are similarities with Performance. The exploitation and obvious sexual predation seem less now but this is a whole new era where these things are less acceptable. It was not so thirty years ago. If this film is so true then the Ballet world is stuck back there.

It's not appealing. The self harm and body focus are real and made alarmingly more likely when model ages seem to be going down catastrophically. But the infantilasation and exploitation of the dancers goes right back to Vaslav Nijinsky whose huge talent (which so often goes with great unworldliness) was so used by ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev, he was driven mad. Nijinsky lives in my imagination as the greatest dancer of all time whose skill flickers out dimly from the superb photos taken of him.

We are lucky to have such a high level of this demanding art available in Australia. It treats its adherents with great cruelty but in every audience there is a sprinkling of young girls...really young, all dressed up in tutus sitting by their mothers. Take care, take care. I wanted to dance and the small amount I did was as close to heaven on earth as I have ever felt.


Click here for a trailer of 'Black Swan':