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originally printed 02.10.05 in the Eureka, California newspaper The Times-Standard.
Fat Guys enjoy their coffee and cigarettes on a mystery train during a very long engagment to plot the assasination of Richard Nixon.
A Very Long Engagement
Faulk: Mmm, Audrey Tautou. Possibly the best movie I've seen since this column began, and that's only partly because there is little I can think of that would be more entertaining than staring at Audrey Tautou (as Mathilde) for two and a half hours. Juxtaposing sensuality, innocence and romance against the hell of trench warfare in WWI, the movie follows Mathilde as she struggles with despair and longing for her lost man. It becomes a bit of a detective story, but somehow keeps the viewer from wondering why she doesn't just get over it. Beautifully done.
Rating: XXL
Honorary "Not So Fat Guy", Andy Bird: When Fat Guys on Film James Faulk and Chris Durant asked me to pinch-hit this week while Durant was out of town, they picked the right film for this gros homme classique. Any movie set inthe early 20th centuryis worth seeing and reviewing, in my opinion; a film in a world war setting doubly so. Battle scenes don't mean much by themselves. It's the overall conflict. World social order in violent change, political systems clashing. World wars make for great love stories "A Farewell to Arms" and "For Whom the Bell Tolls," Hemmingway classics set in World War I and the Spanish civil war, and my all-time favorite films, "The English Patient" and "Casablanca" for instance. "A Very Long Engagement", although not as exalted as the latter two films, belongs in this class. This flick is foremost a mystery, but also a romance, drama and war film.
The film's entire two hour, 14-minute run time is devoted to unraveling what happened on a trenched French battlefield on one day in January 1917. This is also a very, very violent film. Artillery and mortar shells in this film seem to have an uncanny knack for dropping right on top of people. And there are bizarre mishaps that cause the innocent and helpless to perish. All of this is effective in portraying the absolute futility of war especially this war, which nobody who is not a historical scholar can even explain what it was about.
Jodie Foster surprised me when she suddenly appeared about half way through the movie, then proved that women in their 40s can still compete in hardcore porn scenes. John Hinckley should not be allowed to see this movie. This movie is beautifully filmed; the period lavishly re-created. And it is about heroic women who avenge their men.
Let's hope this movie has a very long engagement indeed at the Minor. It is exceedingly complex and you will need to watch it at least twice to catch everything and understand how every scene fits. The cuts between scenes are severe and quick. Often you don't know there has been a scene change, then suddenly you are watching a flashback that seems to have no context. Don't worry, however, all the pieces fit by the end of the movie. "Un Long Dimanche ce Fiançailles", its French title, was deemed too American by the courts in France to compete in French film festivals because of its Warner Bros. backing.
The Assasination of Richard Nixon
Durant: Freaking Sean freaking Penn! That guy ...that's the guy. Every time Penn's character gets another kick to the groin, the anxiety spills off the screen and into your head. When I left I felt inspired, I know saying that will have people looking at me funny and crossing the street when they see me coming, but Penn makes you believe. The best disgruntled white guy since Michael Douglas in "Falling Down." I like the arty look to the film too how in some shots no tripod is used and the very last sequence is very '70s-esque. Plus my friend, Amber Kloss, did not end up on the cutting room floor and is the blonde Penn tramples on when he bum rushes the airplane tunnel. Look for her.
Rating: XL
Faulk: I'm beginning to think that besides marrying Madonna, Sean Penn can do no wrong. This movie rocked pants. Blurring chronology, the story is told through an interweaving of narrative threads one that follows Penn before an emotional breakdown, and one after. Penn, essentially, struggles with having failed to achieve the vanilla American dream of a happy marriage with money in the bank. His struggles occur just as the nation is in the throes of the collapse of the Nixon Administration, and Penn once again shows his unbounded talent in a fantastic performance.
Rating: XXL
DVDs
A tribute to Jim Jarmusch he didnt die or anything, we just wanted to watch a couple of his movies this week.
Mystery Train
Durant: This was the first Jarmusch movie I ever saw. It was before "Pulp Fiction" made it cool to do that whole interweaving stories thing. I like the fact that the Japanese in the movie isn't sibtitled, yet you know exactly what they're saying. It's also got a very young Steve Buscemi playing opposite the Clash's Joe Strummer. But it's still no comparrison to Jarmusch's best movie, "Dead Man."
Rating: L/T
Faulk: Sometimes the truth about a place can only be seen through the eyes of a visitor. And the fact is, Carl Perkin is cooler than Elvis Presley as a lead character in this movie. Sloppy but endearing, the movie uses a dank Memphis hotel as the nexus for three stories. It examines the power of American fashion, of being cool and of the cross-cultural appeal of rock 'n' roll.
Rating: L
Coffee and Cigarettes
Durant: This was cool to watch all the way through once, but then all the stories start running together. This is Jarmusch's latest film and has some of todays best musicians, as well some rock 'n' roll greats. The two best stories are the one between Iggy Pop and Tom Waits, and the one with Wu Tangs GZA and RZA with Bill Murray. Everyone plays themselves and at times you think the entire dialog of the movie is improvisation it could be. Still not "Dead Man."
Rating: L/T
Faulk: While the movie was partially redeemed through the performances of Bill Murray, Iggy Pop, Steve Buscemi and Tom Waits, for the most part it left me wondering why I should care. Unlike Robert Altman's "Short Cuts," a similar collection of short stories that had the haunted world of writer Raymond Carver to draw upon, most of these short films had little going for them. Jack and Meg White from The White Stripes make cameo appearances to remind viewers why they should stick with punk rock.
Rating: M
7:00 PM
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