Celluloid Harlot

Cinema Thoughts. Cinema Love.

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We All Deal With Things in Our Own Way

For some reason, this weekend, I was inadvertently drawn to books and movies about mental health. Not that I had any idea that these actually WERE about mental health (save for the bad-ass funny book that I’m reading by Jenny Lawson that everyone should read because it’s awesome), but I was apparently drawn to them.  

One movie I watched was The Beaver with Mel Gibson, co-starring and directed by Jodi Foster. This was a strange movie for me to pick up for a couple of reasons. First, the mental health point I made above, but also because I’m not a Mel Gibson fan. That said, I haven’t been this pleased with a Mel Gibson role in ages. He really did something different and difficult and he took it head on. Well done, Mel. The public seemed to have the same “stay away” factor that I did since it was considered a box-office flop when it was released in 2011. It may have been a hard-sell for Hollywood but I’m a little different.

I enjoy movies where people feel a little off and alone in their off-ness. A good portion of the world feels this way (including me at times) and just hides the shit out of it for fear of people thinking they are weird or attention-seeking. Sometimes, some of us are just a little off. I’ve never been shy about my issues with depression and experience with therapy and meds. Personally, I feel like everyone can benefit from one or both. I’ve had conversations with people about how if they just put Xanax into our drinking water the way they do fluoride then it would be a much calmer and happier world. True story. But I digress.

The Beaver is about a business man who has been less than successful in both work and home due to crippling depression. No matter what he did, be it medication, therapy, or self-help books, he was lost and all he wanted to do was sleep. His wife decides she doesn’t want him to be around the kids so she kicks him out. While sadly throwing his things into a dumpster, he finds a beaver hand puppet and takes it with him. In a humorous scene of drinking and poorly executed suicide attempts, he wakes up the next morning to find the puppet on his hand talking to him. And the beaver has a cockney accent. And it’s coming out of his own mouth. The beaver says he has come to save him. Stay with me here.

Throughout the film, he finds success at work and home…with the help of the beaver. For some reason, having this beaver speak for him, makes him more alive, a better parent and husband, a better CEO, and, for lack of a better word, more normal. While you want him to succeed and grow beyond this stage he has found himself in, you see that he isn’t actually getting better with the beaver, but is only falling deeper into his personal discourse and is hiding behind the beaver.

I wouldn’t call it a dark comedy; more a drama with funny points. The pain and discomfort surrounding his family is palatable. His wife wants to be supportive with his current “treatment” but she wants their old life back. His oldest son is keeping track of and fighting all of the similarities that he has with his father so he doesn’t turn out the same way. Their youngest son has finally reconnected with his dad, but is it really a connection when it’s a different personality that can only be expressed through a hand-puppet? The unthinkable happens before the melancholy ending but it strangely all comes together without the need of a big red bow.

This was a unique approach to mental health in film. You can’t just have a movie about mental health and say, “look at this happy ending! Everyone is ok!” OK is subjective for anyone who is dealing with mental health issues and this film addresses it. The Beaver is heartbreaking but hopeful. It shows how everyone is affected, especially those around the person dealing directly with their demons. I thought I was sitting down for a comedy but it turned out to have a very serious message. Bravo to all involved for tackling it the way they did.

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The Good Son

*Although written before, it is with heavy heart that I post this after the tragic death of Nick Cave’s son. I felt the photo above was a necessary tribute to the man and the father. 

The tide is turning as far as the rock doc genre goes. Thankfully, musical artists are coming up with more unique ways to feature themselves on film. Here we have 20,000 Days on Earth. It goes beyond the idea of a glorified music video or behind the scenes of a tour. Films like this and The National’s Mistake for Strangers (which you might see reviewed next month) are among some of the most intriguing rock docs of late. Although Madonna’s Truth or Dare will forever be one of my favorites as I am a child of the 80’s, it has nothing on what Nick Cave has shared in this doc with his adoring fans.

I was fortunate enough to see this film the same week that I experienced him live at the Buell Theater in Denver. It was one of the greatest concerts I’ve ever seen in my life. It wasn’t just a live show it was an experience. There is a depth to his performances as he brings the audience in the world, or rather he invades theirs by breaking down that fourth wall and corrals himself through the waves of sweaty bodies and hands. Truly a life changing and moving experience which I recommend to anyone as it might make them immediate fans.

With that said I didn’t know that I could be moved any further or welcomed any deeper into this amazing man’s soul. Then I saw 20,000 Days on Earth. The viewer is not only invited into his life but into his mind. To be truly invited in to any artist’s mind is a blessing. Nick Cave found two amazing directors for their first-time feature to show him in a way that potentially no others could have.

Directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard find a natural balance between real and unreal to express all that make us who we are: myth, memory, love, and loss. Originally invited to work on promotional footage for the new record, the footage was to compelling for them not to expand on. Thus, 20,000 Days on Earth was born. Although it is a fictious 24-hours in a day in the life setting, the film follows him through the studio, therapy sessions, surreal conversations with friends, and even time with his children.

His past is featured with a few token conversations that take place in a car. As a visual representation of “driving” through his mind, Cave is driving and one of his friends is in the back seat. An unscripted dialog between the two brings forth a certain intimacy that the viewer is experiencing sans directive camera shots. Ex-Bad Seed, Blixa Bargeld and fellow Aussie singer and one-time collaborator, Kylie Minogue, discuss their past work and relationships together. Treated as a fly on the wall, the viewer gets an intimate view of two friends with a history.

Long-time musical-collaborator, Warren Ellis, is prominent in the film. They seem to work together on everything and it shows him in a mildly humorous light. Watching them not only create but perform together is particularly touching.

In lieu of a Q and A style that most rock docs tend to take, you get many direct answers and history from Cave via a session with psychoanalyst Darian Leader. He discusses his early years and how they still influence him to this day. Continuing further into more direct discussion with Cave is where he goes through his archives and starts talking about old pictures and other personal items. Again, the forth wall seems to be broken down and you are walking around a friend’s home while they tell you about their life.

One thing that really stood out to me was his expression of love for his wife. This woman changed his world and you can see it in his face and feel it in his words. You come to realize that every sweet word that he has written about love has always been about her. He wouldn’t be who he is without her and you start finding yourself thanking her for his work and his overall existence.

Overall, this film is a treat. It’s both exciting and overwhelming at the same time. The beauty that is Nick Cave is revealed in what seems to be the most intimate way possible. I felt like I was invited into someone’s heart and mind, lead through their deepest thoughts and fears. To be able to witness the process and reasoning behind someone’s personal work on this level is astounding. If only all artists could share their gifts so deeply.

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How Does It Make You Feel?

I’ve readily avoided Lars Van Trier because I prefer to not want to slit my wrists at the end of a film on a regular basis. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate his work and what he does. When a filmmaker can evoke such visceral emotions in me, they are clearly doing their job and doing it well. That said I’m a highly empathetic person so that feeling stays with me and it’s hard to shake.

I had high hopes for Nymphomaniac for a variety of reasons. Although I was still prepared to walk out of the film disappointed or reaching for the kitchen knives, neither happened. In fact, this is my favorite of his films and I bought it as soon as it was released. While evoking said emotions with this film, I found that the aftermath was even more glorious. Getting different people’s perspectives on the ending and the story entirely was phenomenal. He was able to bring out different emotions and different opinions from different people. There was no flat interpretation. He is a true artist.

The film starts with our protagonist, Joe , played by Charlotte Gainsbourg, on the ground clearly attacked. Seligman played beautifully by Stellan Skarsgard (a Van Trier favorite), finds her and takes her in. He wants to know her story and that is where our ride begins.  We learn Joe’s history of being a nymphomaniac (don’t call her a sex addict) from a very young age. She was always curious and always wanting more. She gives each man a letter, as she can’t necessarily remember any of the names because they were so many.

As the film moves on, her escapades multiply as she is willing to do anything to orgasm. As a teen, she is told that sex is better when there is love and she refuses to believe it. Enter Shia Le Bouf as Jerome who took her virginity and essentially created the mentality for her that an emotional connection is nothing and never needed. Growing from competing with her friend on a train to shag as many men as possible, in any way, into having scheduled days of men coming in and out of her flat every hour, you see the emptiness inside of her grow. She never truly knows what she is looking for as she clearly isn’t looking for love.

Jerome returns to her life later on and she falls in love with him. She isn’t able to sleep with him ,though, because he is engaged to someone else. As time passes, she finds him again and finally has her chance to have sex with love in the mix. The first volume brings us to a climactic end where she has lost her orgasm and it seems loved ruined it.

Volume Two opens with Joe and Jerome as a family. Although she has a child and a husband, she can’t help but want more to find her orgasm. She is willing to do anything include abandon her child at home alone to visit a sadist, J, coolly played by Jamie Bell. Jerome gives her an ultimatum that if she leaves to seek this out he will leave taking their your daughter in tow. She sadly kisses her daughter goodbye as she is unable to resist the compulsions.

The whole time, she is telling the story, you can see that she is lost. She is working off of a compulsion. It is something she has accepted along the way constantly referring to herself as a bad person. Seligman constantly comes up with reasons on why she isn’t. A retired priest, he even has Bible verse to support her lifestyle and try to keep her from feeling down.  

The shock of the end, that I won’t spoil here, is what brought so many different opinions to the table afterwards. It seems my level of empathy for the characters brought much sorrow and placed no particular blame on anyone. While speaking with other friends about the film, I found that the level of empathy not only affected your response but also your personal history and how you were able to relate to the characters. Anger, sympathy, or down right empathy is what I found from other’s reactions. One of my favorite things to talk about is film. This particular feature will bring a conversation out of every viewer. It’s not one that you can just walk away from and say, “oh, that was great,” or “that movie was terrible.” There is a lot to be discussed and I do hope that you also are able to have a few frank conversations about this not-so-subtle film.

My biggest, and honestly, only, complaint about the film is the accents that were attempted by Le Bouf and Christian Slater as her father. I don’t really know why they couldn’t just be American but it is what it is. If you can get past their poor interpretations you will at least walk away from an thought-provoking film that will have you talking for days.

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Check out Pale Crow via Cellar Door Books to see me in print and read other great things from local writers.

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We Can’t Be Perfect All The Time

Terry Gilliam is one of my favorite directors. He battles with Federico Fellini for my beloved top spot of directors. They are very similar in that you need to watch the background, you need to watch their films over and over again so you can get the whole story, and they are their own entity. There is no one like them. That said ̶ Gilliam’s newest endeavor, The Zero Theorem, kind of broke my heart.

Opening on a futuristic city, the look is very “Terry Gilliam.” No one could ever say that you didn’t know when it was one of his films. Even looking back at the Fisher King, it is tamed down but you can definitely tell it is one of his as he injects that mainstream gem with his style. He takes a step further than he has before with people working with tablets and game controllers, relating to today’s world of tech-mania. Our protagonist Quoin (Christoph Waltz) is an introvert. He doesn’t feel joy anymore and he wants to work from home so he may simply keep to himself and get his monotonous work done. To do this, he has to get approval by “Management,” another common theme with Gilliam that echoes his masterpiece, Brazil.  

His supervisor invites him to a party to meet with Management where he says he can discuss it with him himself. The party scene is phenomenal as Quoin (and the viewer) is overstimulated and uncomfortable. His comment on the selfies-obsessed world is spot on. Everyone is at the party and no one is really truly interacting. He meets Management (an interesting cameo played by Matt Damon) and Management tells him he’s nuts. He goes home thinking there is no way for him to get out of the office. The next day, he’s been informed that he got his wish and that he’s been recruited to work on a special project, to find the Zero Theorem.

The problem with The Zero Theorem isn’t that Quoin has been given an impossible problem. The problem is that it was a poorly executed story. Visually stunning, this film is lacking anything that makes you really want to know what happens. A slow start can be acceptable if it picks up at some point. An hour and a half into the movie isn’t an acceptable amount of time. The set-up is too long. There is so much back story that could have been covered but wasn’t. The present story just drags. My biggest pet peeve, and a sign that a film isn’t good or at least doesn’t make sense, is when one of the characters is actually telling you what is going on through his dialog. I don’t mean he is narrating in the first person, I mean he is telling the other characters about what you are seeing and this shouldn’t be necessary. Yes, dialog is part of the story but it shouldn’t be telling you what you need to know directly.

In Gilliam’s defense, there is potentially a four hour version of this film out there that makes more sense and brings all of the jagged pieces together as a beautiful fresco. In no way would I ever break up with Gilliam as one of my favorite directors. There is no director out there whom I feel has always produced perfection with no failures. There is so much potential and so much heart here. It’s clear he loved this film with how hard he worked to get distribution. That said, he has expressed a desire to revisit the (more than once) failed attempt at Don Quixote again. If this is what he is presenting to try to get that chance and a budget, I’m afraid he will be sorely disappointed.

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I Love Your Giant Head

I didn't completely know what to expect when I started the film, Frank. I knew that at least pieces of it were funny, thanks to the trailer, but I avoided reading about it before I watched it. It was such an interesting concept; I didn’t want anything to taint the viewing experience. I did, however, research after watching the film and was amazed that not only the character but the story was based on a real person. Frank is an interesting character; not only on film but in reality.

We open on a young man, Jon, who fancies himself a songwriter. He has so much passion and tries so hard. You’d love for him to be successful but it’s clear, he won’t be. He encounters a band on the beach as they are watching their current keyboardist trying to drown himself after a turbulent radio interview thanks to a fight between band mates. The Soronprfbs (don’t try to pronounce it, no one can which just adds to the humor) ultimately ask Jon to fill in as a keyboardist seeing as how this one, well, clearly can’t perform. Though he is excited, he really has no idea what he is in for, just that he knows how to play C, F, and G.

Jon is thrown into the gig, not knowing the songs, and meets Soronprfbs’ front man, Frank, as he walks on stage complete with a giant papier-mâché head. Another fight explodes during the performance, thanks to bandmate Clara, and the set is over. He is done. He goes home. Frank later invites him to be in the band full time and off they go.

Frank’s obsessive, yet brilliantly unique musical tendencies keep them practicing for months, much longer than anyone expected, but they finally record an album. It’s perfect, they are done, and then they are faced with the tragic suicide of their manager. A series of events following the suicide leads them to the South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival as Jon takes over as manager. Though the other band mates are skeptical, he talks Frank into the gig and stepping out of their tiny comfort zone to hit it big.

Now, SXSW wouldn’t seem like the end for many but this is where the road gets turbulent. The rest of the band abandons ship, as the other members don’t support the idea, and Frank’s hidden anxiety comes to the surface causing him to run away. The group is disbanded, Frank is missing, and Jon is left alone to reflect on how he may have singlehandedly destroyed the band and maybe even the man.

The performances are exceptional. Michael Fassbender plays Frank with such ease. Considering you don’t see his face through 99% of the film, he clearly did a great job getting the character across. I was curious as to how he would sufficiently play a character that you cannot truly “see” but he manages the role brilliantly. At one point he starts verbalizing his facial expressions (as he never takes the head off, not even to shower) and it’s quite endearing. His mannerisms and voice are very telling and you find that his difficulty with anxiety is what fuels his need to hide his true self.

Maggie Gyllenhaal and Domhnall Gleeson wrap up the main characters as Clara and Jon, respectively. Gleeson is endearing as the struggling musician and Gyllenhaal challenges his kindness with hate. Ultimately you see that Clara loves Frank and only wants to do what’s best for him. It seems he’s the only person that matters in the world to her and she knows him better than anyone else; even behind the mask.

It’s a dark comedy that definitely has its laugh out loud moments but there is so much heart in the story, you can’t help but ache for Frank. In all honesty, it seems to be an interesting take on a film about mental health and how different people deal with the issues that they have. It shows the character of Frank as he tries to blend in with the world but apparently needs a mask to feel comfortable enough to do it. It worked for him, for a while, but then he was taken out of his comfort zone. That concept is hard for anyone, much less someone with anxiety or any other mental health difficulties. It does stray from the original story but I think it works for the film. It keeps it simple and leaves you with a good amount of hope for the characters at the end.

The closing song “I Love You All” is an impromptu track that shows the genius ability that Frank has to create something out of nothing. It has been in my head for the last week and I can’t shake it. Guess I need to buy the movie.