So, best intentions, and all that stuff. A little movie talk, to get things rolling - again. I saw "The Departed" yesterday, this being a movie I had no intention of seeing until the weight of critical praise forced me into action. You see, one of the best movies I saw in 2005 was - bad dubbing and all - "Infernal Affairs", the Hong Kong precursor of Scorsese's latest wade into the annals of American crime. I so enjoyed "Infernal Affairs", with it's twisting loyalties and belief systems, with Andy Lau's tortured good bad guy and Tony Leung's even more tortured bad good guy. I had never seen either actor before, only learning after the fact that they are Asia's Clooney and Pitt or - aiming just a little higher - Redford and Newman. Great flick.
So, "The Departed". Good movie, but no "Infernal Affairs". It's Scorsese, so it's given more credence than it might otherwise, and Jack Nicholson is great - but he's still Jack, and I think his persona is now so larger than life that even a talent as prodigious as his cannot overcome that. DiCaprio is also very good, Damon less so. I am baffled over why Mark Wahlberg is getting such good play for this - good but not great - while Alec Baldwin shows yet again why he really is one of the cinema's best. Ray Winstone and Vera Farmiga were great, and Kristen Dalton, as Jack's Mrs., is too damned sexy for words.
But that ending. "Infernal Affairs" ends with the hero dead and the non-hero turned good getting away with his past crimes, although they led directly to the death of the hero and a lot of other guys, good and bad. Here, the bad guy ends up just as dead as the good guy, and before that, unlike the Andy Lau character's genuine doubt about his place in the crime world and good-guy leanings, the Damon character turns on Nicholson only for his own self-preservation. This is perhaps a truer glimpse into the criminal mind, but it isn't nearly as satisfying a cinematic experience.
And then, that last shot. As the Damon character lies dead or dying on the floor of his apartment, a rat walks across his window sill, with the golden done of the Massachusetts state capital building in the distance. So, in a movie about rats, our last image is of a rat in front of the place where politicians hang out. Geez, Marty, was a sign too subtle for you? I felt embarrassed for him. I hope this isn't the one that finally lands the Oscar, although based on early returns I suspect it will be. Imagine that clip at an AFI tribute.
Proving, of course, that moviegoers are if nothing creatures of the moment, within weeks of its release, 27,074 voters on IMDb have given "The Departed" an average score of 8.5 out of 10, making it the 55th greatest movie ever made (although the actual list gives a score of 8.3). Better than "The Maltese Falcon" (56), "Reservoir Dogs" (63), "Singin' in the Rain" (67), "Some Like It Hot" (75), and a whole bunch of other great films, like, for example, "Raging Bull" (81). There are certainly flaws with this list (aptly summed up by the fact that "The Shawshank Redemption" is considered the second greatest film ever made by these voters), but it does say something about how quickly this movie has been acclaimed as a work worthy of careful consideration. When, in truth, it lacks the depth and humanity of the original. It's second rate Scorsese, which still makes it better than most everything else out there, but let's stop pretending he's saved the cinema.
* * * * *
On the subject of great movies, my ten favorite films seen this year, in chronological order by release date, are:
The 39 Steps (1935)
Laura (1944)
Alphaville (1965)
The Conversation (1974)
Ran (1985)
Jackie Brown (1997)
Donnie Darko (2001)
Dirty Pretty Things (2003)
The Rage in Placid Lake (2003)
The House of Flying Daggers (2004)
If the rest of the year goes well, I'll have at least 30 more movies to consider in putting together my year-end top ten. In addition to "The Departed", this weekend I watched "Fun with Dick and Jane" (the remake, hardly worth mentioning) and "Just Like Heaven" (lot's of fun, with a side-splitting line in the last act from the ever reliable Donal Logue).
So, "The Departed". Good movie, but no "Infernal Affairs". It's Scorsese, so it's given more credence than it might otherwise, and Jack Nicholson is great - but he's still Jack, and I think his persona is now so larger than life that even a talent as prodigious as his cannot overcome that. DiCaprio is also very good, Damon less so. I am baffled over why Mark Wahlberg is getting such good play for this - good but not great - while Alec Baldwin shows yet again why he really is one of the cinema's best. Ray Winstone and Vera Farmiga were great, and Kristen Dalton, as Jack's Mrs., is too damned sexy for words.
But that ending. "Infernal Affairs" ends with the hero dead and the non-hero turned good getting away with his past crimes, although they led directly to the death of the hero and a lot of other guys, good and bad. Here, the bad guy ends up just as dead as the good guy, and before that, unlike the Andy Lau character's genuine doubt about his place in the crime world and good-guy leanings, the Damon character turns on Nicholson only for his own self-preservation. This is perhaps a truer glimpse into the criminal mind, but it isn't nearly as satisfying a cinematic experience.
And then, that last shot. As the Damon character lies dead or dying on the floor of his apartment, a rat walks across his window sill, with the golden done of the Massachusetts state capital building in the distance. So, in a movie about rats, our last image is of a rat in front of the place where politicians hang out. Geez, Marty, was a sign too subtle for you? I felt embarrassed for him. I hope this isn't the one that finally lands the Oscar, although based on early returns I suspect it will be. Imagine that clip at an AFI tribute.
Proving, of course, that moviegoers are if nothing creatures of the moment, within weeks of its release, 27,074 voters on IMDb have given "The Departed" an average score of 8.5 out of 10, making it the 55th greatest movie ever made (although the actual list gives a score of 8.3). Better than "The Maltese Falcon" (56), "Reservoir Dogs" (63), "Singin' in the Rain" (67), "Some Like It Hot" (75), and a whole bunch of other great films, like, for example, "Raging Bull" (81). There are certainly flaws with this list (aptly summed up by the fact that "The Shawshank Redemption" is considered the second greatest film ever made by these voters), but it does say something about how quickly this movie has been acclaimed as a work worthy of careful consideration. When, in truth, it lacks the depth and humanity of the original. It's second rate Scorsese, which still makes it better than most everything else out there, but let's stop pretending he's saved the cinema.
* * * * *
On the subject of great movies, my ten favorite films seen this year, in chronological order by release date, are:
The 39 Steps (1935)
Laura (1944)
Alphaville (1965)
The Conversation (1974)
Ran (1985)
Jackie Brown (1997)
Donnie Darko (2001)
Dirty Pretty Things (2003)
The Rage in Placid Lake (2003)
The House of Flying Daggers (2004)
If the rest of the year goes well, I'll have at least 30 more movies to consider in putting together my year-end top ten. In addition to "The Departed", this weekend I watched "Fun with Dick and Jane" (the remake, hardly worth mentioning) and "Just Like Heaven" (lot's of fun, with a side-splitting line in the last act from the ever reliable Donal Logue).
posted by George @ 8:13 p.m.
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