Top Ten Thursdays: Cool Movies

Cool is such an distinct word when it comes to film.  What makes a cool movie?  That is a question that could have a distinctly different answer contingent on the person.  Furthermore, so many factors go into a film being cool whether it be soundtrack, characters or quotability it is a distinct mixture that results in a successful cool movie.  This list will cover my personal choices for the hippest of the hip in film and remember that when it comes to cool, everything must be chill.

10.) The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly (1966)

This is easily the coolest western to date, and the shootout is an exercise in how to edit.

9.) Chungking Express (1994)

A surrealist love story, Wong Kar Wai's film is as cool as it is honest in its approach to finding love in a technologically distancing world.

8.) Easy Rider (1969)

If it were not enough that this film is a veritable who's who of 60's coolest actors, the soundtrack is a historical document of the era.

7.) The Long Goodbye (1973)

Robert Altman's neonoir redefined what it meant to be a cool detective via the laid back performance of Elliot Gould.

6.) Hardboiled (1992)

Violence rarely justifies a cool movie, yet when it comes to John Woo's films, something about shootouts in hospitals overrules the previous statement.

5.) The Big Lebowski (1998)

Sometimes the coolest thing a person can do is abide.

4.) Breathless (1960)

When it comes to cool, the pentacle of french filmmaking runs circles around every other story of foreign love to date.

3.) Pulp Fiction (1994)

Any movie that incorporates a scene just to have Christopher Walken provide a monologue is in its own category of cool.

2.) Le Samourai (1967)

When you read the description of this film it would be hard to believe in its hipness, however, this lone wolf story is about as cool as they get.

1.) Cool Hand Luke (1967)

Please refer to the film's title for any questions.










Honorable Mention

The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Withnail and I (1987)
Mystery Train (1989)
True Romance (1993)

Chopping Wood and Shooting Prostitues: Revanche (2008)

I am starting to realize that a trend exists in European cinema that appears to have began around the mid-nineties with emotionally and visually jarring films such as La Haine.  This style of cinema is one that adheres to gritty and often brutal stories of the underworld of Europe and often portrays such narratives with little concern for viewers comfort.  These often urban films are different from their film noir predecessors in that they are not emotionally detached from their subject, but instead very much involved in their story to the point that one viewing this type of film begins to empathize with a character even if they are completely detestable.  Gotz Spielman's Austrian thriller Revanche is such a film, however, unlike its predecessors; it takes the urban experience and forces it to collide rather chaotically with the rural and suburban world.  The result is a poetically abrasive film about people moving in and out of the dredges of society and the relationships they share that are both life affirming and life changing in the process.

The film focuses directly on Alex (Johannes Krisch) a recently released convict who has found employment as a bounder/errand man for the owner of strip club and brothel.  While working at the establishment, Alex begins to formulate a relationship with one of the employees, a Ukranian prostitute named Tamara (Irina Potapenko).  Their relationship, while secretive appears to be working, until Alex's boss takes a personal likening to Tamara, offering her a job as a high end escort.  Realizing his boss's ulterior motives Alex hatches a plan to rob a bank and flee to Spain with Tamara.  This occurs simultaneous to the film depicting the relationship of grocery store employee Susanne (Ursulla Strauss) and her cop husband Robert (Andreas Lust) whose marriage has been rather rocky after the realization of Robert's infertility issues.  These two narratives seem distinct were it not for the fact that Susanne and Robert's closest neighbor is Alex's aging father Hausner (Johannes Thanheiser).  The robbery that Alex undertakes appears to be successful, despite taking Tamara along with him for the heist, however, due almost entirely to chance Robert is the person on duty during the robbery and approaches Tamara out of suspicion while Alex is committing the robbery.  When Alex still wearing his robber's mask returns to his car he finds Robert questioning Tamara and in a fit of panic forces Robert to drop his weapon and lay on the ground.  After Alex and Tamara make a getaway Robert shoots at the car in an attempt to blow the tires, unfortunately, his gun misses and hits Tamara in the head.  Realizing that the cops will search for him Alex ditches his car and heads to hideout at his father's house under the guise of helping him with some large scale chores, the biggest of which is his cutting of wood for the fireplace.  During his time there he realizes that Hausner's neighbors are indeed Susanne and Robert whom he recognizes instantly as Tamara's killer.  Alex then spends the rest of the film plotting revenge on Robert, which in Alex's eyes means death.  However, Alex certainly does not shy away from the opportunity to sleep with Susanne as a point of revenge.  This portion of the film is lengthy and drawn out purposefully, but as it ends we witness Susanne using her infidelity as a guise for successful pregnancy, while Robert unknowingly confesses to Alex his guilt upon accidentally murdering Tamara, which leads to an unspoken forgiveness.  In fact, Alex seems to be free of any association to the robbery were it not for Susanne's discovery of a photograph of Tamara in Alex's possession, which leads her to piece all the events together.  She realizes though that to turn Alex in would be to forfeit her newly rejuvenated relationship with Robert, something she cannot bear to do.  As such the film closes with Alex picking apples up outside his father's house continuing in his life with a fresh start, even if the new life came at a dire cost.

Revanche is spectacular in its unconventional approach to a revenge film.  This is a revenge narrative with an incredibly slow burn.  Compare Revanche to a film like Taken in which the character is all out in his actions and scenes are incredibly violent and occur frequently.  The violence in Revanche is minimal, but the threat of it is ever present.  The unusual nature of this plot can be tied directly to the fact that ethically speaking Alex does not have a justifiable reason to seek revenge.  In the case of Tamara's death, it was a legitimate accident and one that could have been prevented had Alex simply told Tamara to wait for him while he engaged in his theft.  This leaves the viewer in an interesting scenario, because they cannot simply support Alex's decision.  Reading the film in such a way makes actions like his involvement with Susanne all the more intriguing.  His decision to take advantage of her sexually is unusual, but somehow manages to seem more appropriate as a means of revenge than killing her or Robert.  It is as though he is making a mark for Tamara, without destroying anything.  In fact, as the film implies he could very well be responsible for Susanne's pregnancy.  If this is the case than Alex has delivered the ultimate form of revenge and only himself and Susanne will be aware.  Furthermore, Alex's continual chopping of wood becomes a sort of penance for his misdeeds and an attempt at meditation on his life up to this point.  In the end, Alex is left to accept the error of his ways and engage in a life that assures loneliness, but also the impossibility of reoccurring heartbreak.

I had the pleasure of viewing Revanche on 35 mm print.  It is certainly not feasible to do so for everyone, thankfully the folks at Criterion released a bluray version that is probably almost as nice.

For Your Awareness: The Silent House (2010)

I have often noted to my friends that the horror genre is in dire need of continual innovation if it is to ensure any staying power in contemporary cinema.  Currently it seems as though the Paranormal Activity franchise is the only horror film series to get this memo, along with a recent Uruguayan release called The Silent House.  A considerably short horror film given its 89 minute run time, the brilliance of this foreign horror film is that it contains on continuous shot that spans over the course of 72 minutes.  Drawn out shots are nothing new particularly given the magnificent feat that was The Russian Ark or John Woo's famous 2:42 scene from Hardboiled.  However, incorporating the rather tedious film style to suspenseful filmmaking is a completely different story.  The Silent House manages to do so with utter brilliance and careful composition.  At times it is easy to predict a moment of shock given that the camera pans off for a lengthened time, but even the most veteran of film goer will find themselves anxiously waiting a moment of horror, because in this film the horror is drawn out and the viewer is never finds a moment of relief.  There is one particular moment that you will not see coming and many that you will, but I can assure you without a doubt that it will scare the crap out of you.  If the sheer horror of the film were not enough, the plot is rather complex and certainly leaves the viewer with a larger amount of questions than answers, which is amazing given its rather short run time.  I am going to shy away from elaborating anymore on this as it is very much an experiential film and one that needs to be seen sooner rather than later, particularly given its upcoming American remake that will assuredly fail to do it justice.

You Don't Know Me, But I Know You: The Lives of Others (2006)

The cinema of post-World War II Germany is bleak and desolate.  It displays its expressionist roots, without the faint promise of redemption.  Think most specifically of Fassbinder's nightmares that are often gritty, painfully distant and sparse in dialogue. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's directorial debut The Lives of Others adheres to this style of filmmaking, but manages to rekindle the glimpses of humanity that had long disappeared from German films.  She is Wim Wenders, but with a tighter focus on reality and a connection to human experience more indicative of Italian Realism.  The Lives of Others is a rather predictable film that still manages to suspend its viewers placing them into dueling worlds in which they are constantly confused about what group represents good and evil, a divide of ideals that is as thick as the wall that divided Germany in the era depicted within the film.

I am going to dance around the rather lengthy and multifaceted plot, because to explain it in too much depth would be to rob viewers of an intensely emotional movie that is almost entirely predicated on character evolution and regression.  With that being said, the film focuses the majority of the narrative on two individuals the GDP lieutenant Hauptmann Wiesler (Ulrich Muhe) whose professional job entails him interrogating dissidents to the GDP, as well as planting and monitoring surveillance setups for possible political dissidents.  The other portion of the narrative focuses on Wiesler's current subject, the famous playwright and previously outspoken political rebel Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch).  After attending one of Dreyman's plays Wiesler suspects Dreyman of political subversiveness and demands to be allowed to monitor him.  Wiesler's higher up dismisses this claim at first, but agrees to allow him access after one of his superiors shows interest in Dreyman's girlfriend and main actress Christa (Martina Gedeck).  Dreyman shows much enthusiasm for his job and is determined to nail Dreyman with insubordination as soon as he finds evidence.  However, as Wiesler comes to discover Dreyman, and his associates are experience a rather unfair living because of the GDP and the simple act of living proves unbearable.  Without expanding further on the plot, Wiesler comes to realize that his actions are inhumane and that his spying is leading to the downfall of an arguably innocent man.  What follows is a both tragic and redemptive film about personal choice and being honest in the face of unseen judgment.

The Lives of Others is preoccupied with voyeurism.  It is both a film about watching those who are unaware of a gaze, as well as the ethical dilemna of enjoying a film about invading privacy.  What Von Donnersmarck does is creates a film where the viewer both condemns and partakes in voyeurism creating an ethical dilemma for the viewer.  We, as viewers,are appalled by the actions Wiesler and his men undertake, yet at no point did I feel as though I should stop watching the film, in fact I eagerly anticipated each of his discoveries and applauded him for using his infiltration to attempt to mend the problems that arose.  However, it raises the question as to whether or not such an invasion of privacy is appropriate, particularly in the wake of ever-increasing government infiltration into our daily lives (Think the PATRIOT Act).  The question than becomes whether Wiesler's good actions justify his voyeurism, because he is inevitably invading privacy to do so.  Or to make it more relative to daily life, is it justifiable for our government to tap are phone calls and hear our most intimate secrets, purely on the belief that one out of every thousand conversations could prove to be a national threat.  I by no means am attempting to provide and answer, but am simply applauding The Lives of Others for bringing the question about so eloquently.  It is a film that displays a quest for answers, but only provides the viewer with questions.

The Lives of Others is the reason blu-ray players exist, but a copy immediately.

I Have Seen Beauty Thrive In The Most Fragile Of Places: The Secret of Kells (2009)

Prior to seeing this film, I had held an opinion that the only people producing spectacular children's movies these days was Pixar.  However, I this spurt of ethnocentrism was been corrected upon viewing the English version of The Secret of Kells.  Relying very little on CGI, this animated film instead creates a world of vivid watercolors and dark chalked out nightmares that rival the big budget films of Hollywood animation studios.  Furthermore, the film brilliantly combines very simple commentary on the wrongs of destroying the environment with deep pondering on childhood and the loss of innocence to create a movie that is enjoyable for both children and adults.  Next to Wall-E and the works of Hayao Miyazaki, The Secret of Kells is the most prominent thing to happen to animation since Toy Story.

The film is rather simplistic in its plot given its nature.  However, simplicity by no means implies an uninteresting film.  In fact this is a rather well perfected coming-of-age tale, complete with a disapproving parental figure, a "grass is greener" belief, and even the sting of loss necessary for proper maturity.  The film itself follows one Brendan (Evan McGuire) as he longs to become a master illuminator in his village.  His Uncle Abbot Cellach (Brendan Gleeson), however, finds the act of illumination to be futile in the face of a Viking attack which will, undoubtedly, destroy their village.  Fortunately for Brendan, a famed illuminator visits the village and teaches him his own techniques, some of which include his venturing outside the village walls, where after a near death experience he meets Aisling (Christen Mooney), a sprite who claims to own the forest.  What follows is a battle between Brendan's desires to become one with the natural world and his Cellach's forceful protection, which inevitably leads to a loss of not only the forest, but Cellach as well when he sacrifices himself to help Brendan pursue the power of the image.

It is the idea that words and ideas can prove more powerful than actions that drives this film.  A simple message that is easily grasped by children and appreciated by adults.  It is obvious that Cellach represents the oppressive nature of warfare, while Brendan and his mentors represent people of thought and compassion.  Brendan learns while working on manuscripts that he is inextricably tied to the natural world and that no amount of brick walls can protect nature from intruding, as Aisling proves when she uses the wind to free him from the tower.  As many great thinkers come to realize, change often requires destruction.  Cellach is unable to appreciate the power of the natural world to change things until it is far to late, and in a sobering moment looks upon Brendan's illuminations and cries at their beauty.  It is in this loss, however, that Brendan realizes that he must commit his soul to proclaiming the gloriousness of beauty and infuses himself into his work.  Brendan's own Book of Kells posits a rejuvenation and rebirth of the world, remind the viewers that even after the most devastating losses one can grow and begin again.

This is a beautiful film.  It is what children should be watching as opposed to half the crap that is released these days.  However, it is certainly a great movie for adults as well, and I would recommend watching it on Netflix or grabbing a Blu-ray copy before it undeservedly falls to the wayside.

White Walls, Bloody Knives, and Self-Voyeurism: Aftermath (1994)

There exists a realm of cinema particularly for the disturbing and morbid.  Sometimes this is executed brilliantly, as in Audition, while in other cases it is simply glossy big budget gore with no purposes like in The Human Centipede. Nacho Cerda's short film Aftermath is something in between.  It is disturbing and bizarre, yet in it's drawn out cinematography and lack of dialogue the film manages to be something grotesquely beautiful.  It exists as a social commentary set amidst a horror film and the beauty is that the viewer is only made aware of this in the closing scenes.  It tempts its viewers to stop watching, only to remind them that in even the most degrading visual culture exists in a society that actually subjects living humans on a daily basis.

The film is short, but packs a punch.  It follows two pathologists partaking in what appear to be normal autopsies.  However, it is quickly made clear that they are not performing their jobs with any regards to ethics or respect for the corpses.  The two men destroy the corpses, mangle organs and remove organs for their own edification.  It seems as though this will constitute the entire film, until one of the pathologists is shown carrying the corpse of a woman into the autopsy room.   What follows is a series of profane acts between the man and the woman's corpse, which end with an act of necrophilia.  As if to add finality to the act, the pathologist takes the woman's heart home and feeds it to his dog.

From the onset I found the film problematic, it involves acts of dominance that theoretically constitute rape.  However, it is apparent as an entire piece that it serves as a metaphor.  The pathologists being patriarchy, capitalists or whatever power structure one finds themselves a victim.  With their phallic knives, possession of crucifix and unquestioned control over inanimate bodies they are a force which literally cannot be challenged.  What separates this film from others of the nature is the element of voyeurism throughout.  In one rather notable scene, the pathologist photographs his act of necrophilia, allowing himself to not only subjugate the dead woman, but to later revisit the pictures and reaffirm his actions, an interesting premise in a society that provides visual, literary and audio reaffirmation of corrupt acts by those in power.

The film is an interesting endeavor.  I cannot outright recommend this movie though, but those who enjoy the grotesque films will find this one refreshing in the midst of some rather terrible movies with similar plots.