Answering Emails About Movies, INVICTUS,THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES,AVATAR,and IRENE IN TIME
Monday, April 12th, 2010“I really like your take on Westerns, what did you think of the ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES, starring Brad Pitt? just curious”
This is an old email, so sorry for the delay ATL; I missed this film in the theater, nor did I buy the DVD, but I did see it on AMC last night. I thought Brad Pitt’s performance was very credible; I thought Casey Affleck did a marvelous job, as did Jeremy Renner. However, I understand the Director is from New Zealand, and that shows….the film is not so much a Western but a Chamber Piece, a European Chamber piece.
In fact it maybe the first Ingmar Bergman/Swedish Western, but even more than that, it reeked of Stanley Kubrick’s BARRY LYNDON, more set piece than fluidity. I think Westerns by definition, should be fluid. Even when Brad Pitt beats up the kid, well that is a replay of BARRY LYNDON abusing people.I see it as a permanent B MOVIE, an under card film showing the influence of BARRY LYNDON on Kiwi film makers who try to make Westerns.
“I thought INVICTUS with Morgan Freeman should have been your choice for best film of 2009.”
Dr.M, MIT alumnus
Well Dr M from MIT, the IRENE IN TIME DVD will be out this month,buy it…it is a remarkable exploration of modern American women. It not only entertained me, I learned something from it; it was thought provoking.
As for INVICTUS, when I see a film about South Africa, I want some insight into the unique qualities of that special mosaic, not slogans. I specifically want to know how the white population, outnumbered 5 to 1 by the Blacks(and that is not even counting the Coloreds and the Indians) thought they could maintain control.
For that, to be entertained and informed, please view THE WILBY CONSPIRACY, starring Sidney Poitier, Michael Caine and Nicol Williamson.
Mr. Williamson is magnificent,with the best interpretation of a Boer racist I have ever seen. He explains it all, in one performance, the authority, the arrogance, the menace and the ultimate failure of racism in South Africa.
Nicol Williamson in THE WILBY CONSPIRACY
If you want an accurate portrayal of Mr. Mandela’s courage, don’t look to Matt Damon as a representative of the men Mr. Mandela fought, look to Mr. Williamson. Then you will understand, by the menace of his foes, how great Mandela was and is.
The late Stan Rice(Anne Rice’s husband), once told me that a wet performance by a great actor about history or social events is almost as good, or better, than a dry book by a historian.
Mr. Williamson’s performance is WET.
“Irene in Time, get real, what about Avatar?”
Henry Jaglom’s IRENE IN TIME, in it, there is a scene betwen Victoria Tennant and Tanna Frederick which rivals anything done in THE HEIRESS between Miriam Hopkins and Olivia DeHavilland about what survival skills women need to have when they are in love with reckless men. For that scene alone, it should be Best Film of 2009. I stand by my choice.
As for AVATAR, what can I say, it has grossed 712B dollars, great entertainment. However, James Cameron is a Canadian, and AVATAR is a very Canadian film.
Canadians have a very precious attitude toward indigeous people, mainly because to build Canada, they did not have to fight the greatest warriors in the world, the Apache, or the Lords of the Plains, the Comanche, or Cheyenne Dog Soldiers, or Lakota like Crazy Horse.
Canadians can idealize indigenous cultures because they never had to fight them for the land itself; Americans could not afford to idealize the Apache, they were too afraid of them.
A liitle American fear would have gone a long way in AVATAR.
Kelly and David Proval from IRENE IN TIME, ,
