"DOWN BY LAW" AND HOW TO GET BACK UP AGAIN...

Now, having met Allie and got to know his philosophy slightly better, we jump forward a few years and see what he may become when he grows up. And as if to break the mood of deep philosophy of the previous film, we see quite clearly that the result needn’t be tragic or very thought provoking… Down by law is qualified as one of the “coolest comedies” ever, with an even cooler cast – and if you ever thought that there could be no such thing as a truly funny minimalist comedy, well, prepared to be proved wrong.
Zack (played by legendary musician Tom Waits) is a DJ. He is basically very much like Allie Parker from Permanent Vacation all grown up. The only trouble is that he is lacking slightly in Allie’s maturity and his girlfriend has had enough of his attitude and kicked him out of their flat. Jack (John Lurie) is a pimp. But again, he has no great ambition and drifts through life, things seem to be going well, he’s cool, he’s hip… Various hitches and “setbacks” later, these two misfits will end up as cellmates in jail. At first, their great similarity means that they rub each other the wrong way, but this soon transforms into something akin to “brotherhood”; while goading each other and bickering nearly constantly, they are deep down good friends. Things change dramatically when they are joined by a third cellmate: Roberto (Roberto Begnini). Roberto can only speak very broken English, phrases of which he religiously writes down in his “phrasebook”. Unlike his cellmates, he is anything but “cool”, he talks constantly and can be best likened to a well-meaning Labrador. But just as his cellmates are trying to decide whether to like him or loathe him, something unexpected happens: a chance for escape presents itself and our three cellmates grab at it… The question is, will they be able to put their various differences to one side and escape in one piece?
It’s part of Jarmusch’s originality that after setting out a certain thing, a certain outlook on life in a quite sober way in one film, he can turn around and use it as a mainstay of comedy in another film… Although I must admit I somehow suspect that later on in life Jarmusch decided that the comedy side of the “cool” attitude to life was more important than its philosophy because in quite a few films I have seen he puts a “cool” character and a “totally uncool” one side by side – or portray a character trying to be cool but actually not really managing… As you can imagine, this a typical “clash of characters” film, with Roberto Begnini providing the comic contretemps to the ultra-cool Zack and Jack. It is rather telling that, ok warning, a small spoiler, that at the end of the film Roberto is the one who is “successful” as in he is the one who actually manages something concrete, Jack and Zack however will, shall we say, continue to drift to unsure futures in pretty much the same way they were at the beginning of the film…
In all the Jarmusch films I have watched, one thing that always strikes me greatly is the attention to detail. Since this is a minimalist film with minimum points distracting from the main story, the small details naturally gain great importance and one can sit back and savor a cleverly planted gesture or expression from one of the actors or a prop of some description, cleverly inserted into the foray… And again – I cannot say this often enough – something should be said about Jarmusch’s cinematography, this time even more striking in black and white…

FOR A LARGE, HAPPY SLICE OF LIFE, STEP ON BOARD THE "MYSTERY TRAIN"

If you had nothing but the DVD edition of this film that I own, and more specifically the blurb on the back to go on when researching this particular film, you might be a tad confused. The DVD cover explains that the film successfully combines a Japanese ghost story, an Italian romantic-comedy, a Brit that causes utter confusion and trouble (nothing new there then!) and Elvis Presly. And although this is, admittedly, a mighty confusing concoction, it is a very neat summary of what goes on in this film. See, this is the beauty of films like this. Life, real life, actually does successfully combine elements like this. It’s just that we are often so lost in our own strand of the story that we see nothing but what surrounds us personally and not the big picture. Mystery Train is not only one of the single funniest films I have ever had the pleasure of watching, it is also a rather stunning “slice of life” with a slightly deeper message hidden down below…
Our story takes place in Memphis, Tennessee. A young Japanese couple disembarks from a train; they are here to sightsee; the young man’s hair and dexterity with his Zippo lighter alone tells us what great fans they are of a certain lost age. Sun studios, Graceland and the excitement of actually being there engulfs them both; our young hero however is, as was anyone worth knowing back in The King’s day, ultra-cool. His girlfriend, like a lot of women I know, accuses him of being cold and unfeeling. After a day’s sightseeing they settle into a small hotel in the town center for the night before continuing. At just about the same moment, a young woman from Italy (Nicoletta Brasci) who is accompanying the body of a loved one back to Italy has found out, much to her distress, that she has to stay in Memphis overnight. She finds a small hotel in the center of town, where a young woman is in the middle of a fight with the hotel’s night clerk who only has double rooms left and refuses to have her stay in one at half price. The young Italian will agree to be her roommate and will then have to listen to endless stories about her English boyfriend, nicknamed Elvis, how they broke up and how she’s leaving him and leaving town… Before she has a strange brush with a ghost that is… Lastly, again at the same time Elvis (not the singer, the afore mentioned British boyfriend played by the ultra-mega charismatic lead singer of The Clash, Joe Strummer) is in a bar, getting very drunk and waving a gun around. It will be up to his colleague Will Robinson (played by Rick Aviles, who is not best-known for lead parts but who you will have seen in smaller parts in classics such as Carlito’s Way, The Godfather III and Ghost) and his “brother in law” Charlie (played by Steve Buscemi, another “staple” of Jarmusch’s – not that I am complaining) to calm him down and get him out of trouble… Well, that’s the plan, anyway. The night is preparing for many strange stories and adventures, and they will come together in the strangest, most unexpected way…
The first thing I noticed about this film is that the location was, in fact, the same as Down By Law. You may think that this would take away from the feel of the film but in fact it does not. Because the whole point of the film is a sort of permanence of locations. We wander round and around the streets of Memphis, crossing the same streets and sometimes even copying the same shots as a couple of minutes ago while the story changes and advances… This in, itself, is a rather beautiful thing: I sometimes stop to wonder at how many people in total must have walked on the same streets as I have… Mind-boggling thought, no? This is also the ultimate “strands of life” film, because the three stories do come together in the end, but ironically, neither of them are aware of it… Another funny little quirk of living on this planet; for all you know, the stranger next to you might be a potential best friend or the love of your life, you may actually never know…
Jarmusch makes no bones about the fact that this film is about music. Good music, from back in the day… The soundtrack will have the toes of viewers of a certain generation tapping, think Elvis, Roy Orbison, Charlie Parker… Yeah, you know what I am talking about… And lastly, but by no means on earth least, I must give a standing ovation to one of the best comic duos I have ever seen. See, Joe Strummer is not the only musician on board. The night clerk at the hotel (where, you will doubtless have guessed, all three “stories” end up) is played by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins (best known for his classic tune “I put a spell on you”) and the bellhop assisting him is played by Cinqué Lee. Apart from the obvious practical part they play in advancing the story, their various interactions and conversations are inserted into various places in the story (like small side dishes between main courses if you will) and constitute some of the categorically funniest dialogues I have witnessed in my 28 years on earth. I promise you, remembering them alone still has me giggling. They are so funny that sometimes we see the same dialogue twice (remember that all three stories are occurring at once, so sometimes as the information we gain about the “background” puts a whole new slant on a dialogue we thought was something completely different) but that doesn’t matter, it’s STILL funny…
In short, another touching and sensitive slice of life from Jarmusch; yes there is a lot to think deeply about, but at the same time there are plenty of instances to laugh, just like life itself… Watch this one if you watch none of the others… Mind you, I have a feeling you will be converted after watching this one anyway… =)

ESSIE SPEAKS OF SLICES OF LIFE.

I know. Not only does that title sound gruesome (or alternatively as if this week's theme is either butchery or cooking) but neither is the case. It isn't the technical term for the type of film I am talking about this week. If any of my lecturers are reading this (though the chances of that happening is minimal) I appologise and promise to brush up on my genres. Moving on; these two films don't have anything in common thematically, cast-wise or in fact technically. But they do share a certain something. Both, albeit in different ways, portrays a "slice of life". They choose to do so in two very distinct ways; while the first film, Amores perros (now a cult classic) uses a non-linear timeline to flash back and forward in time and connect the three stories; Jim Jarmusch's Night On Earth does it in a good deal calmer manner, presenting five stories that are happening at the same time. And I do realize this update is slightly shorter than usual, however, Inaritu and Jarmusch are such great directors that I didn't feel comfortable just pushing a third film in willy-nilly. No, I am confident their talents will be more than enough to regail you for the week.

happy viewing!
Essie

JUST ANOTHER "NIGHT ON EARTH"

Great minimalist director Jim Jarmusch once asked, I have read, why, if life hasn’t got “themes” and “storylines” films should be obliged to have them. This statement could well be the recipe for disaster in the hands of a novice or someone who wasn’t quite sure of what they were doing. In the hands of Jarmusch, however, it becomes the starting point for some of the most original and beautiful works of art in cinematic history. Now, a lot of you probably know that Jim Jarmush is a minimalist. And as such, not all his works are exactly easy to watch. Night on Earth however, is a comedy. It is, in actual fact, a sensitively filmed series of short stories that come together to make a story of a short space of time cut out of one night on planet earth… Doesn’t that actually sound a bit like what life is to you? It sure does to me…
When starting filming, Jarmusch makes his point of inspiration particularly clear; on the wall there are five clocks. You know the types; they usually have them in massive multi-national corporations and show the times in all the big capitals and important cities in the world. Here we have Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Rome and Helsinki. It is seven p.m. in L.A., ten p.m. in New York, 4 a.m. in Paris, 4 a.m. again in Rome and 5 a.m. in Helsinki. Just at this same moment, five taxi drivers are driving along in five cities. Corky, a sassy young lady cab-driver in L.A. has just picked up a big Hollywood casting agent from the airport; Helmut, a migrant from Eastern Germany to New York whose driving skills have a lot to be desired, has picked up his first customer ever, Yo-yo, who wants to go to Brooklyn; in Paris, a young cab-driver from the Ivory Coast has just about had enough of the two arrogant and drunk dignitaries in the back of his cab, in Rome a hyperactive and slightly quirky cab driver is heading off to pick up a priest from one of the city squares and in Helsinki gruff looking driver Mika has just picked up three rather drunken friends and is wondering how to get them home and, more to the point, where he should take them. What follows is funny, touching, surreal or maybe just plain weird. But it is all simply part of a night on earth…
I spoke about Turkish minimalist director Nuri Bilge Ceylan a few weeks back; this is a totally different take on the genre. Or “type of film” as it were. There are no prolonged silences (and some of Jarmusch’s films contain those by the cart-load, but not this one) and general air of sadness. Jarmusch has somehow given what is, to me anyway, the essence of the night in a big city. It is in those small hours when all the good folks are in bed, the weird, the bad and the slightly mad become more and more conspicuous. There are no distractions; we can concentrate on their stories. And this is what these films are largely about: concentrating on one thing. Of course this is a large risk as the stories take place only in the cabs, in some of the cases there is dialogue, but in a few cases one or another of the characters carries the entire weight of the segment in a monologue. This is why, no doubt, Jarmush opted for actors such as Winona Rider, Roberto Begnini (one of his staple cast – I am not a massive fan of Begnini but here, the part fits him like a glove. He is actually one of the actors who has a monologue and not a dialogue so his task is tough, but credit where it is due, I cannot imagine anyone doing a better job of it), Isaach de Bankolé and Beatrice Dalle among others… This is for those of you who want something simple and beautiful. True, the stories don’t “come together” as it were in a magnificent climax but they peacefully co-exist and are definitely part of a whole… Like life. Real life.

AND THE THINGS THAT MATTER; LOVE, LIFE AND DOGS : "AMORES PERROS"

I have to admit, chances are you have seen this one. It is a masterpiece by Mexican director Alejandro Gonzales Inaritu and is cited in a lot of respectable sources as one of the best films ever made. I am not quite sure how one would qualify “the” best film ever made, but the breath-taking sequences, insightful, sensitive and yet exciting storylines and the way the characters lives clash together for one life-changing instant definitely makes it a contender in my book. Sometimes, an event is much like a pebble thrown into the water. The ripples it causes may end up hitting a distant shore and changing things the pebble or the thrower had never imagined… Here, funnily enough, it all starts with (or culminates in) a car-crash…
There are three parties to the car crash, two cars and one old homeless guy who lives with his dogs and witnesses it. In one car, there is Octavio, his beloved Rottweiler Coffee and his best friend ??. Octavio’s life is a bit of a mess, he lives with his brother, his brother’s wife and his mother in a tiny house. This in itself is a difficult situation but he is also in love with his brother’s wife – they are actually having an affair… He dreams of making enough money so they can run away with his little nephew, and Coffee is the goose that lays the golden eggs – because Octavio enters him into dog fights where Coffee is a little too good for his own good and his masters… In the other car is Valeria, a famous model. She is driving back from the new house her boyfriend has hired for her; he has left his wife for her and a wonderful new life with just him, Daniel, her and her beloved dog Richie is opening up in front of her… Or rather it was until the crash came along leaving her with potentially career-ruining scars… And then there is the old man. He lives alone with the street dogs he has rescued over the years. And as other witnesses run to save the survivors of the crash he concentrates on dragging Coffee out of the car. He takes him home and nurses him back to health. Little does he know that his new friend is going to change his entire life, dragging him back to something he should have finished 20 years ago…
This film is very, very clever. Like a lot of films of the same kind, it starts off showing snippets of various characters. It’s quite a mystery figuring out who’s who, but then again I find that kind of thing very amusing. It is told in three chapters, and although every chapter focuses on one of the stories I told above, the other stories creep in too, around the periphery… We watch the crash three different times, and as a spectator it is fascinating to gage how, us the amount of information we hold increases, the impact and importance of the crash also seems to increase… The editing is also clever, although the story cuts from one strand to another, sometimes quite dizzyingly; the cuts are all very, very cleverly done – I would go as far as saying an example to be held up for good editing.
Art imitating life or life imitating art? Hard to say really, isn’t it? One thing I do know though is that it is always touch and go when various artists try to closely copy life; I don’t mean in a Hollywood sense – they just do whatever the heck they like and expect us to just assume it’s real – but when it tries to make it really realistic… Here, it doesn’t feel like a film at all. We just watch dogs and owners (and the dogs are very much in the forefront of the story) go through life, much as if it were just a dramatic slice of life… Definitely worth your time…

ESSIE SPEAKS... TURKISH

And no, before you panic, I am not changing the language of my blog :)
It's just that... Well... I have lived in Turkey for most of life. It is the country I have grown up in. Coincidentially its cinema is doing really well these days, so I decided to give it a little plug on the blog. I reckon I'm entitled. Now, with the possible exception of Faith Akın these are not films, directors or actors you will have heard of, however, I reckon you have got to know my taste in films over the last few years so you can probably bring yourselves to trust me... right? :)

happy viewing!
Essie

NOW IT'S TIME FOR A LITTLE JOURNEY: "IM JULI"

Ok, I got you with the German title, didn’t I? Well, the thing is, a Turkish film doesn’t necessarily mean a film in Turkish, right? It could also mean a Turkish director – in this case Fatih Akın. Mr. Akın is actually quite well known around Europe, but more so in his native Germany. Mr. Akın is the son of one of the many Turkish families immigrated to the country. He grew up there and was honored at the Berlin film festival with a Golden Bear, but his films are always somehow connected to Turkey – sometimes they even take place in Turkey – but they usually have more to do with the Turkish minority living in Germany. Im Juli is a wonderful, touching film about love, fate and adventure. It is one of his better known films – and for good reason.
Daniel is a teacher’s assistant who lives in Hamburg. He is shy and quiet, his students don’t take much notice of him, in fact adventure doesn’t even figure in the periphery of his life. But on the last day of term, things begin to change. A mysterious and beautiful stranger (Juli, who he actually passes every day on his way back from work without noticing) sells him a ring. The ring is, apparently, an ancient Mayan lucky charm, in the shape of the sun. She also gives him a flyer to a party and tells him that if he goes there, he will meet the love of his life, who he will recognize thanks to the sun motif. Daniel doesn’t believe in this but goes to the party anyway – and guess what, the charm works! Coincidence brings him face to face with Melek, a girl of Turkish origin on her way to Istanbul. She is looking for a place to stay, one beer leads to another and Melek ends up staying over at Daniel’s place (as in she sleeps there – literally not metaphorically)before heading off to Istanbul. All Daniel knows is that she will be meeting someone in Ortaköy – a neighborhood in Istanbul near the Bosphorus bridge in one week’s time. Daniel then makes a big decision. He is going to drive down to Istanbul, be there on Friday and see Melek again. This impromptu journey to follow his fate will prove more adventurous and will teach him more than he had ever, ever bargained for.
The thing I liked the most about Im Juli is how real all the characters are. None of them are perfect, dashing or overly moral. That is, I think, what makes the massive coincidences Akın has sprinkled along the film easier to stomach. It is, for all intents and purposes a road-movie. The two “things” of the movie are the characters and the road. The film is born out of their interaction. And some of the coincidences, I have to say, are a little… You know. I mean yes, the main idea of the film is fate, that some things were meant to be, that you have to travel a long way sometimes just to learn a simple lesson. And I am not averse to a few coincidences; I mean I love Jim Jarmusch and I also loved Slumdog Millonaire, the film that kinda became the reference point for such films in modern times, but still… Mind you, Akın chose the right place to place the coincidences, the route takes us largely through the Balkans, an unpredictable an exciting place, with a warm and unpredictable populace. So I mean OK, overall the background has sort of been prepared. They are not unbelievable in themselves; there are just rather a lot of them. But I mean, one sympathizes so much with poor Daniel, and get so into his quest to find his destiny and his true love, by the end you are ready to overlook all that and are just rooting for him to succeed. So yes. A good’un. It’s the kind of thing you watch with your girlfriends over a box of chocolates. And by the way, if nothing else it is relieved to see a (believable) bewildered man being taken advantage of by women for a change. Maybe not a typically Turkish movie in a lot of ways – but still Turkish enough to be able identified as part of the family. An interesting experience, I think you’ll like it.