Scan and Pan
Friday, June 04, 2010
Review: Revanche (Austria, 2008)
Writer/director Götz Spielmann spins a sublime tale of tragedy, guilt, revenge, and forgiveness, while exploring the theme of responsibility and loss creating a potential space for growth. He takes an approach that can best be described as minimalist. Dialogue is sparse, and much of the film plays out slowly and quietly in longer takes, contrasting the profit-driven big city with the cooperation of the natural world, as well as a criminal and a policeman both burdened by overwhelming guilt. The simplicity and glacial pacing could doom a lesser filmmaker, but Spielmann successfully forges a compelling drama out of those elements.
From the grittiness of Vienna to the dignified grace of the rural Austrian landscape, the naturalistic 16mm cinematography of Martin Gschlacht is deceptively understated yet strikingly beautiful. Production designer Maria Gruber creates an equally naturalistic atmosphere with her sets. As part of Spielmann's mimimalist approach, there's no musical score, only some diegetic music in certain scenes.
Johannes Krisch makes an impact as Alex, portraying him as a complex, conflicted man who shows that he can be more than just a hardened criminal, but who must ultimately come to terms with his responsibility for the tragic events in order to move on. Irina Potapenko is believable as Tamara, detailing the soul killing nature of her work and how it contrasts with her relationship with Alex, without descending into the usual clichés of such a role. Andreas Lust and Ursula Strauss both deliver quite good performances as the guilt-ridden policeman and his caring but frustrated wife. Solid performances also come from Hannes Thanheiser as Alex's grandfather and Hanno Pöschl as the sleazy brothel owner.
Revanche isn't a film for everyone. Although it earned an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film in 2009, I dare say it's one of those films that you'll either love or hate. I didn't know what I thought at first, but once the end titles rolled, I realized I had been under its spell all along and it left me with much food for thought. Count me in the 'love it' camp.
[4.5 out of 5 stars]
The US Blu-ray from the Criterion Collection features a stunning transfer, full of subtle detail and even striking depth of image at times.
Ex-con Alex (Johannes Krisch) works as a bouncer in a Vienna brothel, where he carries on a secret romance with Ukrainian prostitute Tamara (Irina Potapenko). He wants to take her away to Ibiza, so he plans a bank robbery to fund their escape together. The robbery goes tragically awry, and small town policeman Robert (Andreas Lust) and his wife Susanne (Ursula Strauss) are sucked into its wake.
Writer/director Götz Spielmann spins a sublime tale of tragedy, guilt, revenge, and forgiveness, while exploring the theme of responsibility and loss creating a potential space for growth. He takes an approach that can best be described as minimalist. Dialogue is sparse, and much of the film plays out slowly and quietly in longer takes, contrasting the profit-driven big city with the cooperation of the natural world, as well as a criminal and a policeman both burdened by overwhelming guilt. The simplicity and glacial pacing could doom a lesser filmmaker, but Spielmann successfully forges a compelling drama out of those elements.
From the grittiness of Vienna to the dignified grace of the rural Austrian landscape, the naturalistic 16mm cinematography of Martin Gschlacht is deceptively understated yet strikingly beautiful. Production designer Maria Gruber creates an equally naturalistic atmosphere with her sets. As part of Spielmann's mimimalist approach, there's no musical score, only some diegetic music in certain scenes.
Johannes Krisch makes an impact as Alex, portraying him as a complex, conflicted man who shows that he can be more than just a hardened criminal, but who must ultimately come to terms with his responsibility for the tragic events in order to move on. Irina Potapenko is believable as Tamara, detailing the soul killing nature of her work and how it contrasts with her relationship with Alex, without descending into the usual clichés of such a role. Andreas Lust and Ursula Strauss both deliver quite good performances as the guilt-ridden policeman and his caring but frustrated wife. Solid performances also come from Hannes Thanheiser as Alex's grandfather and Hanno Pöschl as the sleazy brothel owner.
Revanche isn't a film for everyone. Although it earned an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film in 2009, I dare say it's one of those films that you'll either love or hate. I didn't know what I thought at first, but once the end titles rolled, I realized I had been under its spell all along and it left me with much food for thought. Count me in the 'love it' camp.
[4.5 out of 5 stars]
The US Blu-ray from the Criterion Collection features a stunning transfer, full of subtle detail and even striking depth of image at times.
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Review: The Road
Music video director turned film director John Hillcoat (To Have & to Hold, The Proposition) creates an unusually intelligent post-apocalyptic drama. It's an impressively visual film, yet the images exist only to illuminate the story's world. Not once do they distract the viewer from the subtle character drama at the heart of the film. Hillcoat expertly uses the camera to tell the story in a series of vignettes as the man and his son travel across the landscape. In some ways, it can almost be described as a Biblical narrative. There's an intensity flowing throughout the film that captures you and draws you in as if you were hypnotized.
Having never read Cormac McCarthy's novel, I can't reliably say just how faithful the screenplay by Joe Penhall (Some Voices, Enduring Love) is to it, but from the plot described on Wikipedia it sounds like it's at least broadly faithful to it. A major theme explored in the film is keeping one's humanity in the most inhumane of situations. How does one stay human when mere survival is a miracle and others descend into monstrous brutality? As bleak as the story is, it carries within it the fire of what it means to be human. Although we never learn what triggered the apocalypse, clues can be interpreted as either nuclear war or perhaps a comet strike, but the ambiguity suits the story.
The imaginative but very believable world of The Road is brought to life by cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe (Vicky Cristina Barcelona, The Twilight Saga: New Moon), production designer Chris Kennedy (To Have & to Hold, The Proposition), costume designer Margot Wilson (The Thin Red Line, The Proposition), the visual effects teams, and the digital colorists. There's not a single wrong note in the look of the production, and the visual effects are entirely seamless.
The overcast skies and monochromatic color scheme conspire to cast a constant gloom on the screen, while the sets (including shooting locations in Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Oregon, and Washington State) and costumes look lived in rather than artificial. The minimalist score by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis (the Australian musician, not the British writer) matches the tone of the story while lurking in the background.
The cast is brilliant. Viggo Mortensen delivers a searing performance as a man who's lost his world and the woman he loves, yet struggles to survive so he can protect the most precious thing he has left, his son. Mortensen is one of those actors who doesn't seem to have a bad performance in him, and he speaks volumes here with his eyes and facial expressions. Kodi Smit-McPhee is a find as his son. It's usually asking a lot for a child actor to carry a major role in a serious, bleak even, drama. Smit-McPhee does it. He's believable, dramatic yet understated, and completely sells you on being wise beyond his years in refusing to surrender his humanity.
The stellar cast also includes Charlize Theron as the wife and mother of the two main characters, an unrecognizable Robert Duvall as an old man they meet on the road, Michael Kenneth Williams as a thief, Garret Dillahunt as a member of a cannibal gang, Guy Pearce as a character described in some places as the Veteran, and Molly Parker as the Veteran's wife.
The Road is an outstanding drama. It has a lot to say about the human condition, while being graced with some fine performances and a believable post-apocalyptic environment. It will linger with you long after the final credits roll.
[4.5 out of 5 stars]
The Blu-ray sports a very good transfer with a high amount of fine detail and a subtle but healthy grain structure, providing a rich, film-like quality.
A man (Viggo Mortensen) and his young son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) travel across the landscape of post-apocalyptic America, a world of barren wastelands, dying forests, dead wildlife, abandoned cities, and gangs of roving cannibals. The man is determined to head as far south on the east coast as he can, with the hope of finding something better.
Music video director turned film director John Hillcoat (To Have & to Hold, The Proposition) creates an unusually intelligent post-apocalyptic drama. It's an impressively visual film, yet the images exist only to illuminate the story's world. Not once do they distract the viewer from the subtle character drama at the heart of the film. Hillcoat expertly uses the camera to tell the story in a series of vignettes as the man and his son travel across the landscape. In some ways, it can almost be described as a Biblical narrative. There's an intensity flowing throughout the film that captures you and draws you in as if you were hypnotized.
Having never read Cormac McCarthy's novel, I can't reliably say just how faithful the screenplay by Joe Penhall (Some Voices, Enduring Love) is to it, but from the plot described on Wikipedia it sounds like it's at least broadly faithful to it. A major theme explored in the film is keeping one's humanity in the most inhumane of situations. How does one stay human when mere survival is a miracle and others descend into monstrous brutality? As bleak as the story is, it carries within it the fire of what it means to be human. Although we never learn what triggered the apocalypse, clues can be interpreted as either nuclear war or perhaps a comet strike, but the ambiguity suits the story.
The imaginative but very believable world of The Road is brought to life by cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe (Vicky Cristina Barcelona, The Twilight Saga: New Moon), production designer Chris Kennedy (To Have & to Hold, The Proposition), costume designer Margot Wilson (The Thin Red Line, The Proposition), the visual effects teams, and the digital colorists. There's not a single wrong note in the look of the production, and the visual effects are entirely seamless.
The overcast skies and monochromatic color scheme conspire to cast a constant gloom on the screen, while the sets (including shooting locations in Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Oregon, and Washington State) and costumes look lived in rather than artificial. The minimalist score by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis (the Australian musician, not the British writer) matches the tone of the story while lurking in the background.
The cast is brilliant. Viggo Mortensen delivers a searing performance as a man who's lost his world and the woman he loves, yet struggles to survive so he can protect the most precious thing he has left, his son. Mortensen is one of those actors who doesn't seem to have a bad performance in him, and he speaks volumes here with his eyes and facial expressions. Kodi Smit-McPhee is a find as his son. It's usually asking a lot for a child actor to carry a major role in a serious, bleak even, drama. Smit-McPhee does it. He's believable, dramatic yet understated, and completely sells you on being wise beyond his years in refusing to surrender his humanity.
The stellar cast also includes Charlize Theron as the wife and mother of the two main characters, an unrecognizable Robert Duvall as an old man they meet on the road, Michael Kenneth Williams as a thief, Garret Dillahunt as a member of a cannibal gang, Guy Pearce as a character described in some places as the Veteran, and Molly Parker as the Veteran's wife.
The Road is an outstanding drama. It has a lot to say about the human condition, while being graced with some fine performances and a believable post-apocalyptic environment. It will linger with you long after the final credits roll.
[4.5 out of 5 stars]
The Blu-ray sports a very good transfer with a high amount of fine detail and a subtle but healthy grain structure, providing a rich, film-like quality.
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