I grow increasingly irritated with my new blog template. I can't view the dashboard at the top of my page, amongst other issues. I am contemplating just building my own template over a period of weeks and using that. I realize that this will involve learning more html than I ever wanted to know, but the many hours I spent trying to move my pages bar to underneath the title section yet ultimately failing have given me a substantial leg-up in the learning process.
I have had a bit of free time lately and have thus been enjoying some new books and movies. My friend Captain Zissou beat me to the punch on reviewing The Royal Tenenbaums, but I would like to offer my two cents in case anyone is looking for a movie recommendation. The Royal Tenenbaums is a fantastic movie. It's quirky, witty, funny, and dramatic, but it's very subtle. The material is kind of heavy as it is about a fairly dysfunctional family, and I was initially hesitant to watch. The material is quite dark, but Anderson works so lightly with it that we can come away from it without an aftertaste of depression . . . which is all I have experienced lately with Thomas Hardy. If TRT was a wine, I would label it as a Riesling. If it were a coffee, it would be the Ethiopia Sidamo. Basically, it's a great Wes Anderson movie and I am happy to have watched it. I am a fan of all the main actors in this movie - especially Gene Hackman, Anjelica Hustin, Gwyneth Paltrow, and the Owen brothers (especially pre-AT&T ads). I think people either love Anderson or they do not, but everyone should give at least one of his movies a shot. If you aren't sure where to start, I would personally recommend The Darjeeling Limited (2007). TRT could probably be considered more mainstream, but Darjeeling is so exotic. Both are equally impressive if you are into cinematography.
If you like Wes Anderson movies, Hemingway, introspection, staying awake late into the night (or all of the above), you must seriously consider also viewing movies by Sofia Coppola. I am not an expert, as I have not seen all of her movies. But I can recommend two of them: Lost in Translation and Marie Antoinette. If we speak, you and I, at least somewhat regularly I have probably already mentioned my appreciation of these movies many times. But I would like to reiterate that appreciation.
At first glance, Marie Antoinette in particular seems like a very poor choice, as far as movie-making goes. I mean, the DVD box / posters are hot pink and turquoise. Everything screams "fifteen-year-old girls will love this movie." And I am sure they do. The first time I watched MA, I found it difficult to take it seriously. I had rented it and was watching with a friend of mine who was staying with me for the weekend. We would both watch solemnly for five minutes, and then laugh in intervals. In retrospect, I think that the unintended humor comes from the strange and unexpected music / accent / color choices and minor historical issues in the movie. After my guest left town, I still had a day left on the rental and decided to give it another go. I liked it much better the second time. I've watched it many times since and I enjoy it more and more. Marie Antoinette should not be approached as a costume drama or strict, biographical film. It does not succeed on either of those counts, nor is it meant to. The purpose of the movie isn't really to focus on the historical context of the extreme class dichotomy in France in the years leading up to 1789, though I do think that watching everything crash and burn at the end as (unseen) peasants revolt, after watching two hours of the high life at Versailles, is a rather sobering experience. I don't really think that the goal of the movie is to examine the economic and political wholesale value of aristocratic women (and women in general) in early modern Europe (and the world), either.
So what is this movie about, you ask? I think it's just a great movie with great cinematography, beautiful set design, excellent editing, and solid acting. Yes, I think that Kirsten Dunst was good in this. I'm not kidding. MA, in my mind fulfills this role: It is the opposite of the chic-flick which continues to promote unrealistic female expectations of dating, marriage, men, and our Disney-fed obsession with being royal circa 1655. What actually happens in MA is that the girl is ill-prepared for marriage, ruling a country, motherhood, and the like, because of these unhealthy expectations and assumptions of what true womanhood, humanity, and effective government really is. True womanhood isn't about being sold into marriage for the purpose of propagating the clan and letting the men do all the thinking for you. True humanity isn't the French aristocracy running the country into debt throughout the last hundred of its existence in order to maintain etiquette and f'ed up societal expectations. We could go on and on about these issues, but I digress . . . basically what we have here is that there is absolutely no reality occurring within Versailles. And we can examine that through the eyes of a foreign princess who had it rough at the time. This makes for an interesting movie. Lesson to be learned from history: Do not expect people to perform well under pressure when they have been raised primarily to follow near-pointless court etiquette and spend francs rather than to RULE THE COUNTRY ADEQUATELY. Lesson to be learned from the movie: Maybe we can find an emo and sympathetic note in Marie Antoinette and other historical figures like her, and maybe it can actually be somewhat interesting at the same time.
Critics of the movie say that it is too sympathetic with regards to Marie and that the historical inaccuracies are unbearable. Uh, since when has any movie been historically accurate? I just don't even think that the movie is coming close to attempting this. It is a poem, a painting, a work of impressionism. And a powerful, beautiful one at that. Why does everything have to be so serious for us to enjoy it? I think that Marie Antoinette's story as portrayed in this movie is rather touching and introspective, and I could say the same for many movies which do not appear to be particularly realistic, yet turn out to be quite relevant to our lives because the characters are relatable. With regards to the choices in wardrobe: It works for me. The color palate of the film is very aesthetically pleasing, if not historically accurate. Accents: Weird at first, but who cares? Marie Antoinette was Austrian, not French. And do you really want to hear Jason Schwartzman with a French accent? The same issue occurred with The Man in the Iron Mask, and we all know that movie was classic (not apologizing). Music: It's awesome. Personal. Bold. I think it's on par with Wes Anderson's sound-tracking capabilities. I rest my case in defense of Sofia Coppola's work here. In the words of the New York Post: "Coppola works in weird ways, but the real Versailles was so much weirder."
Now for Lost in Translation: Bill Murray (Bob) is genius. Scarlett Johansson (Charlotte) is for real. And the story? It doesn't really get much better. It's one of those movies where you think nothing is happening, but everything is happening. I emphasize: Everything that is relevant to our lives is occurring within this movie. It's about relationships between people. Is marriage too hard? Who am I? What am I doing with my life? Why am I in Tokyo? And should I have another glass of whiskey? I ask myself these questions on a daily basis, and so do Bob and Charlotte. The best part about this movie is that Bob and Char do not force their relationship, as they probably would in real life. In the words of the inimitable James Blunt, "I don't think that [Bob will] see her again, but [they] shared a moment that will last till the end." In short, you're beautiful. I don't think Lost in Translation is as hated-for-no-reason as Marie Antoinette, so I don't really need to defend it further. Here is what I think you should do, if you are still reading, reader: You should watch Lost in Translation (preferably with me, because I will bring a bottle of whiskey and my own personal copy) late at night and when the credits roll you should tell me what you think Bob whispers to Charlotte at the end. Also, the soundtrack is awesome.
If Wes Anderson was a girl, he would probably be Sofia Coppola.
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