Review: A Serious Man

A Serious Man (2009)
starring: Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Fred Melamed, Sari Lennick, Adam Arkin, Fyvush Finkel
dir. Joel & Ethan Coen

The Coen brothers have been two of the more interesting filmmakers to watch evolve over the years and A Serious Man is another step in that evolution. It may feel like the distant cousin to Barton Fink(1991), or contain some of the same visual style as Blood Simple (1984) and Fargo (1996), but this is a film of a different beast that may deliver one of the more theologically debatable endings in recent years.

The story revolves around Larry Gopnik and his decent into chaos. His wife is leaving him for another man, his tenure may not be approved and a student is threatening to sue over a bad grade. Plus his brother is getting into trouble, his kids are fighting over money stolen from Larry's wallet and every Rabbi that Larry seeks consolation from can't deliver.

The film feels like the story of Job with a new ending that asks the audience to think about our own actions in life. Every scene seems to push Larry further and further into a spiritual hole that he just can't seem to dig himself out of.

The glue to this film is an amazing performance by Stuhlbarg as Larry. You feel the weight of his shoulders as he suffers emotional blow after emotional blow. He's so good if he doesn't get a best actor nomination then I'll have lost as much faith as Larry does in the film.

The one thing that also needs pointing out is the sound design. It's a knockout! Complex, precise, and it adds to the atmosphere more than it has in the brothers past films. Which is saying a lot since all of their films have amazing sound design.

The Coen's have delivered another piece of art that my cause some Barton Fink flashbacks, but feels emotionally like the flip side off the No country For Old Men (2007) coin. This isn't a film for everyone and challenges even the more devout Coen fans. But it's a remarkable and seemingly personal piece of work that comes from the mind of two brothers who do nothing but surprise us time and time again.

9 out of 10

Review: Paranormal Activity

Paranormal Activity (2009)
starring:Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Michael Bayouth
dir. Oren Peli

It was exactly 10 years ago the The Blair Witch Project (1999) opened up and became one of the summers biggest hits. It introduced the movie going public to what would grow into it's own sub-genre. These micro-budget horror films shot in a pseudo-documentary style have become a part of our popular culture and have ranged from a giant monster movie like Cloverfield (2008) to the annoying couple become fish food film Open Water (2003).

Paranormal Activity has had a long and strange journey. The word of mouth from Anne Thompson back in 2007 was great but it couldn't find distribution. There was an offer to remake it, but not release it in the original form. No matter how well test screening did, offers never came in.

They finally secured a deal, with midnight screenings and the opportunity to sign an online petition to have it released nation wide. I'm not sure if it is a publicity stunt, but it seems to be working. The tally is around eight-hundred thousand and rising by the minute. The goal is one million. So everyone will have an opportunity soon.

As for the movie it self, it will be looked at the same way as Blair Witch. Those who got in early before the hype grows out of control will love it. Those who see it after buzz hits the tipping point will hate it. Those who enjoy seeing the process of how a horror film works at manipulating the audience will find it very educational.

Here's the plot: Boyfriend buys video camera to capture strange things happening in the house at night. Camera starts catching weird stuff that slowly grows and grows until the final shot, which is designed to deliver a sharp shriek of fear and an uneasy feeling that all is not well in the world.

It's does contain some forced moments to try and tie the plot together , but Featherston and Sloat make a convincing couple with all of the quirks and idiosyncrasies that make couples lovable and annoying. They're fun to watch and you feel for them as they dig themselves deeper and deeper into the paranormal world.

This is a movie for folks who love horror that isn't about gore but the slow build. Outside of that, it is a fascinating experiment to see a potential model for distribution.

7.7 out of 10

POV: Flicker

Flicker (1991)
by Theodore Roszak

If you are a lover of movies, movie history and a shadow history of film that casts a dark, ominous shadow over the light of celluloid, then this book is for you.

I first picked up a paperback copy back around 1996. Like most things, I was first attracted by the cover. I'm known to pick up any book that features sprocket holes as part of the artwork. I assume it has something to do with movies, though most of the time, it doesn't. This time though, I hit pay dirt. It took about fifty pages for me to find the rhythm, but suddenly I was engrossed. It's so well written and thought out that I'm shocked it hasn't caught on to be a bigger work than it is.

This sucker is an onion, you keep pulling back layers and layers, idea upon metaphor upon theme. I'm always fascinated how I find new and deeper meanings with each read. It makes me wonder if it has to do with me growing older, learning more about film, or both. I'll say both.

The main thread is about Jonathan Gates, a young college bound kid in the late fifties who stumbles upon a small movie theater run by cineaste Clare and her stoned out projectionist, Sharkey. Gates and Clare begin an affair that will lead to the discovery and appreciation of a lost filmmaker named Max Castle. But Castle's films are much more than just b-movies, there is an under-hold, a flicker, a mysterious something that hides underneath his images.

The book is a gothic thriller that uses real movie history as the building blocks for a religious cult that is out to destroy the world. However cheesy it sounds, the book works incredibly well.

I remember trying to track down the rights to it and there was a big legal battle at the time. They ended up at Regency Productions and for a while Darren Aronofsky was attached. The only outcome of that was the most recent printing in 2005 which states Aronofsky's involvement. He has since left the project.

Only time will tell if a great movie will be made from this. There is a great movie in the book, it just depends on who ends up making it. But for now we have the perfection that is the novel and as soon as you've finished the latest political biography, or Stephen King paperback, pick this up and give it a read. You wont be disappointed.