Screen Alert: Inglourious Basterds - Basterdizing History (In A Good Way)

*SPOILER WARNING*

Major spoilers discussed throughout the entire post.

Last Sunday, after a rave review from Zombie and mounting curiosity/excitement throughout the summer, I treated myself to an early morning screening of Quentin Tarantino's latest film, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS. I was glad I went early, because even though it was before noon, there was not one seat to spare in the theater. It's no surprise BASTERDS opened at nearly 38 million.

For those who (somehow) don't know, BASTERDS is treated to Tarantino's signature over-the-top yet slightly humorous (at times) violence. Set in World War II, BASTERDS might just be the most acceptable setting for the gore that Tarantino rewards audiences with. The increasingly visible Brad Pitt (or am I the only one who feels like he's been popping up in movies a lot more in recent years) plays Aldo Raine, a U.S. Army lieutenant who assembles a squad for one reason and one reason only, "killin' Nazis." The hook? The squad is comprised entirely of Jewish soldiers, and to them, the war is personal; they're out for blood.

BASTERDS is one of Tarantino's most linear films, if not the most linear. Sure, he still jumps around a little here and there. While certain characters don't meet up until almost the last hour of the nearly three hour picture, everything seems to be happening chronologically, for the most part. However, my interest now isn't so much to review the film - you can find a ton of reviews online, many of which praise BASTERDS - but to analyze a key part of the ending.

To set the final scene, the orphaned Shosanna Dreyfus owns and operates a movie theater in France. The sole remaining member of her Jewish family, she has a deep rooted hatred for SS Colonel Hans Landa, the man responsible for her family's death. When she finds out that her theater has been chosen to host a premier of a new Nazi propaganda film, she concocts a plan. Burn the theater down with over 350 Nazis - including the top man himself, Hitler - trapped inside.

As the action built, I found myself starting to squirm in the seat. She had such a good plan. Top it off, the Basterds got involved. Overkill (literally). But how, I wondered, was Hitler going to escape sure death? I've been so programmed by historical fact that it never once crossed my mind that Hitler might... dare I say it... die onscreen from anything other than the suicide we know he actually went from. Then, it happened. Eli Roth - "The Bear Jew" stormed Hitler's balcony while the fuhrer was watching the movie and shot him. Dead. To pieces. Not only had Hitler been killed, but it was an unceremonious death. He stood up, got shot, and went down. It was only when The Bear Jew shoots his corpse that we even get a close up on Hitler.

Wow. Hitler killed on screen. I hadn't seen it coming. Then I got to thinking, has that happened before? I've seen some films based on his actual last days - like the amazing DOWNFALL - but I can't recall any movies where he's been blown away like that. I thought it was great. Yes, we got to see Hitler get his, but more than that, my expectations were completely shattered. I honestly wonder now if we can expect to see more movies do this - blatantly buck historical fact for a more gratifying ending. Part of me definitely hopes so. I was apparently way off on my expectations with BASTERDS' loyalty to certain historical facts (not that I thought the film was rooted in accuracy in any way). For the ending I didn't see coming, Tarantino gets my kudos (if he ever wants it, that is).

Screen Alert - Just Another Love Story (written/directed by Ole Bornedal)

Jonas is out on a drive with his wife and family when his car breaks down in the middle of the road, sending the swerving car behind him into an oncoming traffic and its driver, Julia, into a coma. This is where the love story ('bizarre' doesn't even begin to describe it) begins in Just Another Love Story by Danish writer/director Ole Bornedal (Nightwatch).

Just Another Love Story is anything but.

Feeling partly responsible for her accident, Jonas goes to visit her in the hospital. Forced to fib in order to see the girl, Julia's family mistakes him for the boyfriend she met abroad. Unable to find an easy out of this white lie, Jonas plays along and pretends to be the absent lover. The role-playing stops, however, when the now-blind Julia wakes up with amnesia and the two fall in love.

This is where the film absolutely excels - as an offbeat and disturbing love story. The relationship between Jonas and the handicapped Julia is oddly endearing, and you can't help but want to see the two of them come together - while at the same time you're disgusted by the way he's betraying his loving family. The characters are deep and feel very real.

The movie starts to stumble when it strays away from the titular love story; the film takes lots of twists and turns when Julia's checkered past bubbles to the surface, throwing everything from murder, diamond smuggling, and abusive boyfriends to a masked mystery man and the South Asian mafia into the mix. A lot of this (read: most of this) works well, and when it does the movie is a very cool, edgy thriller. By the end of the film, though, it starts to feel a little too twisty - the final scene in particular (hinted at in the somewhat misleading U.S. poster) feels unnecessary and tacked-on, but it's easily forgotten because everything preceding it was so solid.

While the mystery aspect didn't click with me as much as the incredibly engrossing though off-kilter romance, Just Another Love Story is a great movie that comes highly recommended.

**** out of *****.

Just Another Love Story is currently playing in Manhattan at Cinema Village.

Screen Alert - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Curious, Indeed

Screen Alert is a short, irregular segment highlighting noteworthy films that we saw during advanced screenings. Keep an eye out for these cinematic gems when they hit theaters.

After much thought, I decided to put Brad Pitt’s latest film on Screen Alert. THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (in theatres December 25th), starring Pitt as the titular character, a man born as an 84 year old baby who ages in reverse, is as much a historical epic as it is a love story. Covering everything from love to life, death, birth, acceptance, death, age, death, and the progression of time, the film raises and attempts to answer a number of deeply thought provoking questions.

Probably the most interesting question, at least to me, is how a child who looks like an arthritic 80 year old when he’s celebrating his 7th birthday gains acceptance, first in boyhood, and then at every other stage in his oddly destined life. At nearly three hours long, BENJAMIN BUTTON has plenty of time to dissect not only the answer, but the question. With a sweeping biopic such as this, it’s inevitable that certain parts of the character’s life simply won’t be addressed or will be glazed over. Button is no exception, but I’m confident in saying that as an audience member, I felt as though the biggest points I wondered about were all touched on at some point or other. Life and death, as all of the characters openly recognize – Benjamin in fact grows up in an assisted living facility, which I thought was a brilliant choice – is an ever going cycle that cannot be fought. Benjamin, though unique in how he experiences those inevitabilities, openly acknowledges that he cannot compare it to a normal life, as he has only seen it through his own eyes. Life and death are accepted by everyone in this picture, as is Benjamin’s condition. Ultimately, the question in the film is love, not whether it’s real – for, ask anyone in Benjamin’s world, and they will tell you that it is unquestionably so – but how many times we are fortunate enough to experience it.

Arguably the most interesting element of the picture – one that the producers willingly recognize – is the logistics behind Button’s reverse aging. “He’s 30 years old now, but he should look… how old?” or “OK, he looks like a tween, but he’s showing signs of his true age (70) in what ways?” I found myself trying to work out the math a few times during the picture, and I can guarantee I wasn’t the only one doing that. Granted, with pretty-boy Brad Pitt playing the protagonist, the filmmakers are going to want to get as much mileage out of his face as possible. For the most part, I think they were pretty true to the logic of the film. I did wonder if he de-aged a bit too quickly at one point, but after a little math, was able to convince myself that the timing worked out. Furthermore, all the while Benjamin is aging down, everyone around him is aging up. As Cate Blanchett’s character recognizes at one point, she and Benjamin are aging from opposite ends and “meeting in the middle.” The middle, though, in Benjamin’s universe is nearly a lifetime long, as he finds acceptance and companionship the entire time.

Visually, the picture is quite beautiful. The make-up artists who worked on Pitt – he’s on-screen the entire time, not once substituted for an older or younger actor (except a baby) – brought a new level of effects to film makeup, and if they don’t earn an Oscar for their work, I don’t know who will. The digital shooting captures a warm, often sepia feel that’s quite inviting.

My primary gripe, and it’s not really a small one, is that Benjamin Button – as the producers also recognized – is the kind of character that writers will receive an endless bombardment of studio notes for. He’s completely passive. With few exceptions at all, he goes through life observing and reacting, and for that reason, the movie, especially in the beginning, dragged on a bit too long for me. The strength lies in the reversal of the age (at 16 he look 70, and at 70 he looks 16), but watching any other boy have his first drink, his first sexual encounter, his first wife would be nowhere near as engaging. BENJAMIN BUTTON gets away with a lot based on the ingenuity of the protagonist’s situation. Nevertheless, those of you looking to see a movie where the stakes continually raise, where the action and the character drive the plot forward, where the main character takes the horse by the reins and steers the picture will be disappointed.

I was also turned off by the fact that the story was set against the backdrop of Hurricane Katrina. While New Orleans was a perfect setting, the decision to end (not a spoiler at all) with the levees breaking did not add anything to the story for me, and actually grounded this otherwise gripping fantasy in something much more tangible and immediate, and that killed some of the magic for me.

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON hopes to be a breath of fresh air, a reminder to Hollywood that the industry can and should support historical epics. It works visually and is interesting enough to sustain its running time (though a shorter version could have worked, too). Depending on your mood, this can be an overwhelmingly powerful film on love and life well lived despite what seem to be insurmountable obstacles, and the acting and make-up are top notch. A real head-scratcher, BENJAMIN BUTTON’s weak spot (to those who think it has one) will inevitably come from its meandering pace and observant, inactive protagonist. Ultimately, this is a Screen Alert (though I’ll forgive you this one time if you wait for DVD), because though it can be slow, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON is an example of an epic biopic that all writers should study.

Screen Alert - The Wrestler

Screen Alert is a short, irregular segment highlighting noteworthy films that we saw during advanced screenings. Keep an eye out for these cinematic gems when they hit theaters.

A little while ago, Onyx, Zombie, and I had the great pleasure of attending an early screening of THE WRESTLER, starring Mickey Rourke, directed by Darren Aronofsky. I went into the picture a little skeptical; I'm not really a fan of WWE style wrestling, like, at all. I was more attracted to the film for its director, as I think REQUIEM FOR A DREAM is a truly beautiful picture.

Damn am I glad we went to that screening. Other than a few sometimes difficult to watch, gruesome wrestling scenes, I couldn't take my eyes off the screen. I got so much more out of the story than I had anticipated. The writing, I thought, was as strong as anything else to emerge this year, and I will definitely be scouting the script in the next few months to come.

Mickey Rourke - whom I have been a mild fan of, at best - was a thoroughly engaging washed up pro wrestler. I felt quite deeply for him as he tried to get his life, his career, and his relationship with his daughter back on track. What's more, he was a very down-to-earth protagonist. Often, I find that a character who faces a potentially life threatening or career ending obstacle will face it head on, not so much because they're brave, but because they're arrogant and stupid. Rourke's character, on the other hand, deals with a dangerous health risk in a smart, level-headed way that only increased my support of him. On top of it all, Rourke's performance is, in my opinion, outstanding, worthy of an Oscar nod.

I was blown away by this little gem. You do not have to enjoy or even like wrestling to get behind THE WRESTLER. When it gets its wide release in January (limited release in December), I strongly urge you to go see it. This, unlike many gambles we've talked about, is a $12 sure bet.