Friday, August 19, 2005
Movie Recommendations: Broken Flowers and Grizzly Man
I watched two exceptional movies this week. The first, Broken Flowers, Jim Jarmusch's first movie since Coffee and Cigarettes, stars Bill Murray (need I say more?), Sharon Stone and Jessica Lange, among others. Truth be told, the movie runs more on a poker-faced Bill Murray's little twitches and smiles than on any other performer or even the script. Briefly, Bill Murray plays an over-the-hill Don Juan (in the words of his current girlfriend) who gets a mysterious letter (presumably from one of his former lovers) informing him that he had a son he never knew of. Encouraged by his Ethiopian friend (the first Ethiopian character in a Hollywood movie?), Winston, Murray takes off on a journey into his past and into the lives of his ex-flames. What follows establishes why Murray is one of the, if not the, greatest actor of his generation. Rotten Tomatoes gives it an 89% freshness rating.
Grizzly Man is Werner Herzog's newest movie. Herzog is, along with Stanley Kubrick, my favourite director. If Herzog makes a movie, I watch it, which was why I went to watch this one. Even by Herzog's standards though, Grizzly Man is an unusually brilliant film. It tells the bittersweet story of Tim Treadwell, who made the news for having spent 13 summers with the grizzlies of Katmai National Park in Alaska. Unfortunately, the 13th summer ended with Treadwell and his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, being attacked and eaten alive by hungry grizzlies. Herzog uses over 100 hours of footage shot by Treadwell himself to recount the story of a complex and compelling character (following in the footsteps of Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre in that sense). In fact, if it weren't for a baseball cap covering the lens, Treadwell may have managed to film his own death. The audio track of the attack exists, though Herzog spares us the agony of listening to it.
It's easy for us to dismiss Treadwell as yet another tree-hugger who somehow got it into his head that the bears were his friends. Herzog's genius, however, is that he doesn't glorify Treadwell and neither does he mock him, despite Herzog's instinctive cynicism. Besides a glimpse into the mind of a very tortured soul who thought the grizzlies were his escape from humanity, there are also moments of almost indescribable beauty (remember Aguirre?) in the film that alone make it a must-see. And if you still think a documentary cannot be a must-see, here's Roger Ebert's take on the movie. And Manohlia Dargis's. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 93% freshness rating.
While on the subject of messing with nature, have you been following the news of the project to 'Pleistocene re-wild' the U.S. plains?
Grizzly Man is Werner Herzog's newest movie. Herzog is, along with Stanley Kubrick, my favourite director. If Herzog makes a movie, I watch it, which was why I went to watch this one. Even by Herzog's standards though, Grizzly Man is an unusually brilliant film. It tells the bittersweet story of Tim Treadwell, who made the news for having spent 13 summers with the grizzlies of Katmai National Park in Alaska. Unfortunately, the 13th summer ended with Treadwell and his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, being attacked and eaten alive by hungry grizzlies. Herzog uses over 100 hours of footage shot by Treadwell himself to recount the story of a complex and compelling character (following in the footsteps of Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre in that sense). In fact, if it weren't for a baseball cap covering the lens, Treadwell may have managed to film his own death. The audio track of the attack exists, though Herzog spares us the agony of listening to it.
It's easy for us to dismiss Treadwell as yet another tree-hugger who somehow got it into his head that the bears were his friends. Herzog's genius, however, is that he doesn't glorify Treadwell and neither does he mock him, despite Herzog's instinctive cynicism. Besides a glimpse into the mind of a very tortured soul who thought the grizzlies were his escape from humanity, there are also moments of almost indescribable beauty (remember Aguirre?) in the film that alone make it a must-see. And if you still think a documentary cannot be a must-see, here's Roger Ebert's take on the movie. And Manohlia Dargis's. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 93% freshness rating.
While on the subject of messing with nature, have you been following the news of the project to 'Pleistocene re-wild' the U.S. plains?
