Furious on Film 09.20.07: Issue 106
Posted by Arnold Furious on 09.20.2007
The original fast talking female journalist, the newest Philip K Dick adaptation, the bluest joke ever told and 80s nostalgia UK style.
Furious on Film 09.20.07: Issue 106
The original fast talking female journalist, the newest Philip K Dick adaptation, the bluest joke ever told and 80's nostalgia UK style.
Before we start this week I'd like to remind everyone why it's taken so long to get back to reviewing films. Here below lies a list of links to the Furious on Film top 100 directors column. The one that took a huge chunk out of my life but earned me more positive feedback than a bundle of WCW reviews. Be warned though, this is a long read.
Thanks for reading, thanks for taking the time to email me and thanks for your continued support over the past hundred odd columns. I'll keep writing them if you keep reading them.
This week I have the following cinematic delights for your reading pleasure;
His Girl Friday, A Scanner Darkly, The Aristocrats, the History Boys
It's one of those really lightweight weeks where I've been enjoying some comedies. Unintentional, of course, as my rentals arrive as Lovefilm.com sees fit. This is what they've given me to play with this week.
His Girl Friday (1940)
EXPECTATIONS Howard Hawks (#48) made my top 100 directors and he's in charge of this boat. His Girl Friday followed Bringing Up Baby so you know Hawks and star Cary Grant work well together on comedies. The screenplay comes from Charles Lederer who also wrote Oceans Eleven, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Mutiny on the Bounty. The source material was a play from Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. Hecht did a lot of screenwriting but this is MacArthur's most famous work. The 1924 play ended up being made into a movie on four occasions. In 1931 it was made by All Quiet on the Western Front director Lewis Milestone as the Front Page, the same name as the play. It was made again in 19774 by Billy Wilder as the Front Page this time reverting to the original concept of the reporter being a man and the vehicle starred Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon. It was also remade in 1988 by Ted Kotcheff (thus wrecking the run of awesome directors) and re-named Switching Channels. This version I'd actually seen and didn't realise it was a remake. This version starred Burt Reynolds and Kathleen Turner. I actually liked it when I saw it but now I realise why I thought it was good. It's just a total knockoff of a far better film. On the upside Christopher Reeve is quite exceptional in Switching Channels as an updated version of Ralph Bellamy's character in His Girl Friday.
TRAILER It's not a trailer in the conventional sense and runs for 10 minutes.
PLOT Walter Burns (Cary Grant) is the editor of a New York City newspaper who learns his best reporter, and ex-wife, Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell) is planning on re-marrying and moving to Albany. Her new fiancé Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy) doesn't realise that Burns is a schemer though and allows his wife to be to write one final story on the forthcoming execution of convicted murderer Earl Williams (John Qualen). Burns spends the rest of the day trying to keep Hildy in New York while Baldwin gets increasingly desperate to leave while he still can. In the midst of this duel for a woman's affections Williams shoots his way out of prison and only Hildy knows where he is. Suddenly they have the biggest story of the year to go with their love triangle.
OPINION This is such a great script. Some of the dialogue is brutally dated. I can't even remember some of the terminology that kept popping up but it's safe to say some of these words haven't been in circulation since about 1941. Although the language that has survived is incredible. The quick fire one liners and sharp back and forth comments between Burns and Hildy makes the film. At times it's hard to keep up because they're talking SO fast and the insults are being traded at such speed that you have to wind back and make sure you've not missed something great by laughing over it. This is not a film that has a joke and then waits for the audience to stop laughing about it. If you laugh at something you miss the next gag. Like practically every scene in the press room at the courthouse where the reporters trade one liners for kicks and report back to their respective offices frequently talking over each other. It's bedlam at times but it's all working towards setting up some serious gags down the finishing straight. In fact some of the phone calls made during the frantic final act are hilarious. Especially from Cary Grant as he starts threatening to kick girls in the teeth and never again hire anyone with a disease. Grant is superb throughout though with some magnificent comedy timing and Rosalind Russell is a great choice to appear opposite him. She's quite happy to join in the verbal jousting with aplomb. Check out the trailer and see how the dialogue flows but it does so at an insane speed. A metaphor for the newspaper business. Everyone has a lot to say and not much time to say it in because there's a deadline coming up but ultimately hugely important news stops being important as soon as everyone knows about it. Even Hildy's relationship with Bruce. As soon as she's told everyone she's getting married and leaving the newspaper business it's old news and she's back to writing. Journalism takes hold of you, eats at you and won't let you go. Some people go as far as to choose death over another deadline. But not in His Girl Friday because no matter how dark the humour sometimes gets it's never that bad.
BEST BIT I'm torn. Here's my two favourite bits; 1. Burns sends out his prettiest staff member to distract Bruce. His description of Bruce "he looks like that film actor Ralph Bellamy". If that was improvisation then my hat is off to Cary Grant. 2. When the police nab Williams the reporters all dash to their phones and despite having witnessed the exact same thing provide four drastically differing accounts of it as he's lead past. I had to rewind it twice as I laughed over the joke the first two times.
RATING - ****1/2. It's one of the great comedies and testament to Cary Grant's skills as a comedy actor. Hawks direction is tight and drives the plot forward as every aspect is advanced in every scene driving us towards resolution of the triangle and the news story. It's satisfying, cynical and hilariously funny.
A Scanner Darkly (2006)
EXPECTATIONS Director Richard Linklater (#74) made my top 100 directors count down. I saw the preview of rotoscoping in 2001's Waking Life. A film about philosophical awakenings and the dreamlike state the mind can enter before death, which is fairly weird viewing material. The rotorscoping, adding of animation over filmed scenes, seemed a little gimmicky. Now consider the other side of the coin. It's been about a decade since I read Philip K. Dick's "A Scanner Darkly". It was one of those college books that I read along with 2001: A Space Odyssey, Dune, Shakespeare's The Tempest and assorted philosophy that had nothing to do with my course at the time. College is a good time for expanding the mind because you're in a position where you're open to new things and that seemed like a good time to be reading. That was about 12 years ago, which is pretty depressing. My first concern with translating A Scanner Darkly from book to film would have been the surreal nature of the novel. There's a lot of drug use and hallucinations. I've seen this done on film before but it's almost always for comedic effect; Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas for example. "Somebody's giving booze to these goddamn things", "dog fucked the Pope, no fault of mine" or "get some golf shoes, impossible to walk in this muck". That was the challenge faced by Linklater. Make A Scanner Darkly as serious and drug addled as it needed to be without resorting to that level of ridiculousness.
TRAILER
PLOT Agent Fred (Canoe Reeves) is given his latest mission; to spy on known drug user Bob Arctor and find out any relevant information on the drug Substance D or any plots he may be involved in. One small problem for Agent Fred. He is also Bob Arctor. As Arctor spies on himself he notices how weird his life is. He lives with two deadbeats; Barris (Robert Downey Jr) who he doesn't trust and behaves an awful lot like Hunter S Thompson and Luckman (Woody Harrelson) a more conventional slacker/stoner. He also observes Arctor's platonic relationship with Donna (Winona Ryder) who supplies him with drugs. Through the eyes of his friend Charles Freck (Rory Cochrane) we see another side to the situation. Insanity taken to a dangerous new level. Everyone is wasted and heading towards doom.
OPINION It's amazing how well this has translated to the screen. It's gained a sense of linear narrative that isn't always present in the book. Dick's daughters were on set during filming giving the adaptation a sense of approval. I think the actors all fed off that. And what a cast it is! Reeves has been Hollywood gold for some time now and is coming off the back of the Matrix trilogy and Constantine. He's definitely cool. Downey is on his way back after a horrible run of misfortune brought on my personal abuse, making him ideal for the subject matter. His last two movies before this were Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Good Night and Good Luck. He's got Ironman coming up so he's hot property too. Harrelson has been quite quiet since the late 90's but he's still a name actor. Winona has also been quiet since the late 90's but has appeared in enough stuff that she's instantly recognisable. Rory Cochrane meanwhile will always be one of my favourites from his time on Dazed and Confused and Empire Records. So the cast has a great pedigree and they click extremely well. Especially Downey Jr and Harrelson who seem to get a kick out of playing character roles as opposed to the main star and bounce off each other as a result. I was thrilled that Linklater included a lot of scenes where Arctor interacts with his house mates as these were the best in the film. It was weird for me to see A Scanner Darkly occasionally drop down into stoner comedy when a lot of the material it deals with is really highbrow and important. The scenes with Arctor around the house and especially featuring Luckman gives A Scanner Darkly that lightweight vibe but it's merely a buffer to break up the heavy scenes that surround those of comedy. A Scanner Darkly deals with a number of important themes. The idea of a police state, the concept of individuality, the construction of reality and the boundaries of self abuse. It's heavy stuff and were it not for the comedy in between it could easily dominate proceedings and make it hard to cope with. To his credit Linklater didn't make this his first rotorscoping project. Waking Life comes off as experimental and paved the way for this. The very nature of Waking Life gave it the chance to be disjointed and have different looks for different scenes. Now an experienced Linklater was in a position to know what worked best. He took this look and gave it to A Scanner Darkly. As a result it comes off as polished and visually engaging. So not only are you presented with interesting and funny dialogue but also with a changing visual style that gives A Scanner Darkly a different vibe to almost any other drug movie ever made. It's sadly not the complete package and doesn't have the kind of A to B satisfaction that you get from his best work (Before Sunrise, Dazed and Confused, School of Rock) but it's innovative enough for that not to matter. And it's a good adaptation. It's not often that happens but Dick has fared well in adaptation before with Blade Runner, Total Recall and Minority Report.
BEST BIT There's a great scene where Barris points out he's left the door unlocked to get surveillance on anyone who might be breaking into the house. When they return he realises he wasn't actually taping anything and even if he was they could have stolen the recording. The group come to the conclusion that police have planted drugs in the house and now Arctor will have to sell up immediately and leave. It's drug paranoia at its absolute best.
RATING - ****. A surprisingly good adaptation and an unexpected gem. Although I should probably learn to trust directors with vision like Linklater. He's working on something called Boyhood as we speak that he started shooting in 2001 that features characters actually aging and he'll keep working on it until 2013. That is just crazy but hey, I'm not doubting him after this one.
The Aristocrats (2005)
EXPECTATIONS I saw Sarah Silverman telling the Aristocrats when I was surfing around on YouTube. It made me laugh so much that I went straight over to Lovefilm.com and stuck this on top of my rental list. I'd heard the concept before. A bunch of comedians tell the same joke. I thought it'd probably get repetitive and dull. I opted out. Having seen the joke done I opted back in. Director Paul Provenza is making his debut here. As a result he committed a slight error by interviewing Terry Gilliam for the film and not paying attention to the sound levels thus ending up with unusable footage. Schoolboy error Provenza!
TRAILER
PLOT The documentary discusses a long circulated joke among comedians called "The Aristocrats". The set up and punchline are always the same but the material varies from one comic to another.
OPINION The reasoning I always have behind liking a comedy, which this essentially is, would be whether it made me laugh and the Aristocrats did. So it's immediately thumbs up because it achieved what it was gunning for. It's certainly not for everyone but the foul nature of the material is suited to my sense of humour. In fact I saw the whole thing as a challenge laid down from on high by the Gods of comedy and told my own version of the joke at the pub the following night. Generally the Aristocrats joke contains a family act that's vulgar, incestuous, scatological and has paedophilia and bestiality. Because it's meant to be shocking and offensive it sometimes features racism and other touchy subjects. Constructing a joke based on that isn't that hard. The idea though is keep it fresh and keep it going as long as possible. It's apparently been told for an hour or longer by certain comedians. The longest version available on YouTube clocks in at 25 minutes. During the documentary various comedians talk about the joke but not everyone tells it. The discussions about the joke and why it's funny are actually quite time consuming. While I appreciate what Billy Connolly and Whoopi Goldberg have to say they're just there as name stars. They don't really contribute anything to film. In fact whenever a comedian isn't doing their version of the joke the film drags something fierce. However there are many versions of the joke and they're all funny. My personal favourites include Sarah Silverman, Stephen Wright, Bob Saget, Kevin Pollak telling it as a Christopher Walken impression and the South Park version. I believe these are all available on YouTube so you can track them down for yourselves and enjoy. It'll save you having to watch the movie that's for sure. Once you get a handle on the joke there's really no need to see the entire film where they talk about it because it doesn't really fill in the history or anything. Just a bunch of personal memories. We don't find out exactly where the joke came from and who first told it and why. It's just seen as a warm up gag that comedians tell to each other. The only good thing about the Aristocrats in terms of variety is that a variety of people tell the joke. Carrie Fisher tells it including the great line "my mom was a golden shower queen". Penn and Teller tell the joke with Teller providing various prop work with a coke bottle. There's a mime, a card trick and a psychical comedian. And the joke varies with each telling. It's almost a pity they couldn't get an even more diverse number of people involved because whenever someone unusual pops up (Carrie Fisher, Kevin Pollak etc) it seemed that much funnier because they had dignity and respectability and yet the same foul setup spewed forth. Sadly there are too many comedians telling the joke. I could have lived without Carrot Top for example. I think that's a common view. Basically if you cut the film down to 10 comedians/other folks telling the joke it probably would have made a tight 30 minute short. As it stands it's overlong and doesn't provide much outside of filthy laughs. But it's still funny.
BEST BIT You can blame Sean Shannon for this line, which I think was the most offensive in the entire film; "Three women of color, they go into this agent's office. He says, "What do you do?" She goes, "Well, my sister plays the cello. She plays Chopin's third movement, in B minor. I lie on a chaise lounge, naked, reading sonnets from Shakespeare, and my third sister; she makes a painting very similar to Decroix's 'The Girl'." He says, "Wow, that sounds good, what do you call this act?" "Oh, we're Nigger Cunts".
Variation on a theme you see.
RATING - ***. It's funny because it's offensive and it's given me a lot of ammo for telling offensive jokes. If you're offensive enough you don't even need a punchline. Although I found when telling the joke that people do actually laugh at the "Aristocrats" punchline, which I never thought was funny at all.
The History Boys (2006)
EXPECTATIONS Everyone who's seen this gives it rave reviews it seems. It's also extremely English and that's become part of my campaign as an Englishman; to try and watch films that deal with issues in my own country instead of spending my life mentally Stateside. Which shows again in this week's subject matter. Three of my four films are American. The director here is Nicholas Hytner who's well known for his theatre work but also directed the Madness of King George and the Crucible. It comes from the Alan Bennett play. He's been a major player in English theatre since the 1970's. He also wrote Prick Up Your Ears and the Madness of King George.
TRAILER
PLOT At a Sheffield public school in the early 1980's there are a number of promising students. In order to get them into the better universities the school's headmaster (Clive Merrison) hires former Oxford scholar Irwin (Stephen Campbell Moore) to ensure the boys learn something beyond the rambling life lessons they're presently receiving from Mr Hector (Richard Griffiths).
OPINION The cast for the History Boys comes directly from the stage so naturally they have great chemistry from the off. All of the boys seem close especially womanising Dakin (Dominic Cooper), religious Scripps (Jamie Parker) and camp Jew Posner (Samuel Barnett). The class does suffer somewhat from having a lot of stereotypes. There's the fat kid, the Asian kid, the black kid and the rugby player for example. It's like the aim was to make the class easy to remember and it does work so I guess I can overlook that flaw. Besides the kids are nowhere near as important as their inspiration and Richard Griffiths is on fine form here. He's had some interesting roles over the years; Uncle Vernon in Harry Potter, Dr Albert S Meinheimer in Naked Gun 2 ½, Henry Crabbe in Pie in the Sky but this is probably his most well defined big screen performance since Uncle Monty in Withnail & I. And once again here he's playing a homosexual who has a way with words. Mr Hector has a rather bad habit of touching his students while offering them rides home on his scooter. This isn't exactly a secret and it's about to force the pedagogue into early retirement. That doesn't stop him providing the kids with an almost magical array of learning materials. Especially the French lesson where Dakin visits a whorehouse but on the arrival of the head master it becomes a war hospital to explain why Dakin has no trousers on. In another scene Scripps and Posner act out a scene from Brief Encounter to see if Irwin is on the ball enough to notice. Some of the younger actors performances do come direct from the stage complete with extremely overblown mannerisms. Samuel Barnett is particularly guilty of this as his character is the most flamboyant but thankfully in a key scene where Hector talks about the joys of reading he reigns that in. Unfortunately what should have been a great high school movie, albeit a melodramatic one, takes a turn for the worst when seemingly out of nowhere a love story develops between Dakin and Irwin. As if the film hadn't been gay enough with Posner and Hector as two of it's more central characters. Didn't they have girls in Sheffield? This all leads to a pretty unsatisfying ending with an uncalled for scene tacked on the end of that where they do the Animal House thing of telling the audience what happened to everyone involved when they grew up. It's a needless add-on as the true denouement of the film lies in whether or not the students make it into Oxbridge colleges. More worryingly from the point of view of a script is there's no conflict within the class. Are we lead to believe that nine 18 year old kids all get along despite their different backgrounds just because they're all gunning for Oxbridge? No, the conflict is between everyone and the headmaster. Which is cliché in of itself. "I can't wait to get that crusty old Dean". But then this won a bunch of Tony awards as a play so who am I to argue the content? Besides it works on a number of levels despite its failings and Richard Griffiths turns in a truly memorable performance.
BEST BIT "How do I define History? It's just one fucking thing after another". A truly great line butchered for all the TV and radio adverts thus rendering it unfunny. It's funny because it's SO crude in such a refined situation but removing the "fucking" just eliminates the comedy.
RATING - ***1/2. Hit and miss but more hit than miss. Bennett's script is strong and Griffiths' performance is exceptional. The dialogue does feel a little too polished and everything is a little too neatly wrapped up by the film's conclusion. It remains a worthwhile viewing experience.
NEXT
Jean Renoir's La Grande Illusion, Chocolat, Letters from Iwo Jima and Baise Moi.
