Exactly what it said on the tin

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The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, 2012

Ok, I’ve seen the movie twice now so here is something really banal-sounding I wanted to share with no-one: I could just write: “Well, it’s a Lord of the Rings-film, what do you expect?”, but that would be too easy. And what’s more, I recently posted that under a comment by the brilliant Nora on Facebook, only to be corrected by someone, who argued: “everybody has to stop comparing this to Lord of the Rings. it’s a different story, lighthearted and funny. it’s not about the fate of the world […] but about dwarfs who want to return to their treasure and their village. pce out”. Pce out indeed, I can’t argue with the last part of that (because that’s the story) but I’ve got some problems with the first half. [I just noticed that this post is really starting to be bitchy and whiny… get to the point already!]

The film is oozing gravity. The simple plot of the return of the dwarfs to their old home is completely lost in heaps of pathos and hundreds of profound-looking faces. And it is actually about the fate of the world, if we believe Gandalf and creepy Galadriel. And the story is not lighthearted at all. The dwarfs are constantly running away from creatures that try to kill them and some scenes are really unpleasant, especially everything Gandalf does in the lair of the goblins. (What’s wrong with you, Gandalf? Slitting open bellies and very nonchalantly knocking off a goblin’s head you have just severed from its body? Tarantino would be proud!)

Still I enjoyed the film. [Probably the right time to say that.] Not so much because of the story, rather
in spite of it. All these pledges of allegiance to the Aragornesque dwarf king and bonding processes and acts of melodramatic heroism are not my cup of tea.
I enjoyed it because of Ian McKellen (just lovely), Andy Serkis (brilliant) and Martin Freeman who does his very best to draw our attention away from the fact that he has got no motivation whatsoever to go on that journey by being a bloody good actor. (No need to say that he is a hundred times better than Elijah Wood, is there? [Here I go again, comparing LotR and The Hobbit, I just can’t help it])

Maybe all the things I have criticised are not at all bad, and now that I’ve written them down my complaints seem rather petty and unimportant to me. There is something behind all of that, that I really hated: the camerawork. By that I don’t mean CGI, 3D and HFR (which my inner tech-nerd is really excited about. It actually makes a huge difference!). I mean the images themselves, the mise en scène, if you pardon the poncy expression. Why is there always someone in the frame whose face tells us how we have to understand the scene? Oh, Gandalf looks concerned, oh that dwarf’s expression tells me that this anecdote is going to be really important for the rest of the film. And why the swooping shots at the beginning? Of course it looks nice but you don’t have to shove our faces into it! And all the heroic moments and reconciliations would be a lot less cheesy if they were not always taking place at dusk or dawn, dramatic lighting included.

Well, this has been therapeutic! It feels bad ending this entry like that, so let me just say that I am looking forward to the next two films and repeat that I also enjoyed this one. That bit at the end was just a little bit of unfiltered rage. It’s late, you know.

P.S.: Am I the only one who felt that the bromance between Fili and Kili is a bit … weird? Yes? Ok, I’ll shut up then.

Hwæt!

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Hwæt!

I recently started doing little amateurish drawings and as christmas is coming and I don’t have any presents for anyone, I decided to turn some of them into christmas cards thus punishing everyone for their sins (what a good christian thing to do!).
This one here has the title: Beowulf shows us his favourite daisy.

On the [Rail]road with Buster Keaton

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Last night I was at the Vienna Filmmuseum and watched three the last films of Buster Keaton. A brilliant episode of The Twilight Zone [it’s called Once upon a Time, watch it, watch it now!], a very strange short written by Samuel Beckett [just called Film] and this little gem here, which is probably going to be in my list of favourite films for a very long time:

Oh great!…Oh no!

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Awake (Created by Kyle Killan), USA, 2012

After a car crash the world of detective Michael Britten splits into two: in one of the two worlds, his wife is dead but his son is alive, but if he goes to sleep and wakes up again, it’s the other way around. In both worlds he goes back to work while seeking advice from two shrinks, who both try to convince him, that the other world is nothing but a dream. The cases he has to solve in both worlds are all connected through some details, which gives Michael a huge advantage over his colleagues.

So, we have got thriller, mystery, drama, fantasy, parallel worlds… it seems like a lot for one TV-show and it probably is. In the end you’ve got episodes that focus on the police work (they are nice but not very different to anything we are used to from the countless other cop-shows), some that focus on the pains of loosing someone in your family and letting go (add to that the conflict of seeing the person you think you have lost every second day. These episodes are really very good.) and strange in-between-episodes that try to be both and usually fail. Oh yes, there is also a conspiracy going on in the background, which is completely lost in between all of this until it is crammed into the last few episodes.

However you have to remember that the show was cancelled halfway through its first season, which is probably why some things just feel rushed and underdeveloped. Or you could just see it as a partly successful attempt to create a complex story with interesting characters while not explaining everything and leaving room for thought.

So, yes, you should watch it, even tough you’ll probably be disappointed by some aspects of the show. But… well, you ARE hard to please, aren’t you?

Whisky for Optimists

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The Angel’s Share (Dir.:Ken Loach, SP.:Paul Laverty) UK/FR/BE/IT, 2012

I guess I would have never watched that film, had I not won the tickets for it. So I should probably thank the almighty chance that I did (even if it was after what seemed like hours of speeches and boring pseudo-reflective trailers on “the past, present and future of cinema)

The plot of the film is rather simple: Scottish troublemaker Robbie gets one last chance to get his life back on track or it’s off to prison and good-by girlfriend & newborn son. During his community service he becomes good friends with Harry, who introduces him to the fine and delicate world of whisky. When Robbie hears of the discovery of a very rare and valuable barrel of whisky, he thinks he has found the perfect way out of his misery: together with three friends he is going to steal the barrel.

Don’t be fooled by the apparent simplicity of the story. The first half of it is actually a very well constructed portrayal of Robbie’s messed-up life, without ever being sensationalist or overly dramatic. The acting is really good throughout the film, I was especially impressed by a scene in which Robbie, who has just become a father, is confronted with a guy he had once beaten up severely and his family. The only thing I really missed was a female character with some complexity. The plot-driving-girlfriend and Robbies kleptomaniac co-worker are both a bit shallow.
The second part of the film is quite different to the first. There is lots of humour (although sometimes it’s a rather broad one, and there’s one running gag i grew tired of really quickly), some nice suspence moments and a naive optimism you wouldn’t suspect by just watching the first half of the film.

There is a strange, unsentimental and very positive notion of humanity running through the film. Sometimes that may strike you as a little strange (e.g. if some random woman, you have never seen before offeres to let Robbie and his girlfriend live at her flat for a while) and almost american-dream-like but in the end the lightness of the film just drags you along and you can leave the cinema with a smile on your face – at least I did. Which is rare, I guess.

Oh and one more thing: it makes you want to drink whisky. So good marketing, everyone, well done!