Brilliant, disturbing – The Weather Man

“Always fast food. Fast food. Things that people would rather throw out than finish. It's easy, it tastes all right, but it doesn't really provide you any nourishment. I'm fast food.”

I don’t know how to describe, or recommend, the move The Weather Manwithout scaring people away from it. I’m convinced that when I make my list of best DVDs for 2006 this will be on it simply on the merits of the film. It’s easily the best thing I’ve seen in quite a long time.

But it’s also incredibly depressing.

Normally, I dislike movies that are as down as this but somehow, and I’m not sure how, director Gore Verbinski and writer Steve Conrad (not to mention Nicolas Cage in what may be his best performance) have made this an utterly compelling film.

I know Dave Spritz (Cage’s character). I sometimes fear I am Dave Spritz. As Roger Ebert points out, while this is a comedy of sorts (a satire), it’s really a tragedy. That is the arc. However, part of what makes this movie so interesting is the way the script plays with that.

In terms of how the final scenes are presented, such as the style, it feels like a kind of happy ending, almost a Hollywood ending. But once you think about what the ending is, what it means … well, then you see what Ebert means about the story being about a hero who falls from “a low height.”

It is a fall, despite the tone of the ending (which is part of the satirical element).

I suppose what I most like about the film is that it is a story of a man who is average at best (or, as the character Spritz himself puts it, “I’m fast food”) struggling in our contemporary world, one that is predicated on him being exactly that – average at best, fast food.

I should mention the other brilliant performance in the film, which is Michael Caine as Spritz’s father Robert. Caine manages to get most of the best lines and shares the movie's best scene with Cage.

And despite the humour in the film (which is really not that funny as it’s undercut, fittingly I think, by the music which continually reminds us of what we’re seeing), it is Caine’s character who really gets at what the movie’s informing theme is when he refers to “this shit life.”

The movie is about coming to terms with that, rather a dubious accomplishment as the movie suggests.

Tag: Movies, DVDs, The Weather Man, Gore Verbinski, Steve Conrad, Michael Caine, Nicholas Cage

What I’ve been watching

My posts seems to be very light on content and not terribly frequent these days. So it goes when life insists you pay the rent. But …

Earlier in the week I picked up (and watched) Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Anniversary Edition. While I’ve always liked the movie, it does have a few problems (like Mickey Rooney’s Japanese guy – not a great idea).

But you have to love Audrey Hepburn in this. And the quality of this disc seems pretty good so, given the price, it’s well worth picking this up.

I also watched A Very Long Engagement, which I personally like a lot more than Amelie, also directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and starring Audrey Tautou. Unfortunately, I’m not sure I can articulate why I liked it so much. I’ll try to figure it out.

Let’s see … what else? Well, Hustle & Flow was pretty darned good. I also watched The Gift (from 2000), which I liked quite a bit (I like most things with Cate Blanchett).

Also watched Educating Rita (1983) – a pretty film good though not as good as I remember. (I saw it way back when it came out and absolutely loved it. Time has taken some of the glow off for me, though.)

Finally … I’ve watched Cameron Crowe’s Elizabethtown – actually, I watched it twice. Although hugely flawed, I really liked it a lot – probably because it’s a type of movie I’m drawn to and I like Kirsten Dunst. But I do think the movie overcomes its flaws and works to a degree.

While it appears I've not been watching older movies recently (and I haven't), this should change soon. In the "on-deck circle"? Chaplin's City Lights (1931). And Ford's Young Mr. Lincoln (1939). So I'm excited.

Tag: Classic Film, Movie Classics, Movies, DVDs