Friday, January 18, 2008
Notes on DVD Nodding from the Futon
Dratted virus. I hope this thing passes soon. Dr. Faustus and Robert Altman's Vincent and Theo are basically fever dream movies which don't do well with real fevers, I have concluded. Not good choices.
My sometimes habit of nodding cinematic intake is exacerbated when I am not well, i.e., I will fall out, chapter back and fall out again. Documentaries work better because there isn't usually an obvious arc and spoilers when you resume consciousness.
Therefore, I worked my way through two solid nonfiction features during this infirmity so far.
The Ritchie Boys is a swell little film that gives us well documented view of an otherwise not widely known aspect of WWII, such as Watermarks, Paragraph 154, or Fire on the Mountain did. In this case its the story of early war refugees, most of them Jewish who were inducted or joined the Army and were assigned roles primarily as POW interrogators and were trained at Camp Ritchie, Maryland. The passion and intelligence of these men recollecting on their experiences is unforgettable. Two gentlemen in particular, Guy Stern and Fred Howard are exceptionally intriguing as they tell of coercing German soldiers to give information by threatening to send them back to Russia. Stern would come in as a Russian General and this would terrify soldiers to submission. (So why do we waterboard?) Howard also tells an exceptionally moving tale of bringing Marlene Dietrich to visit German POWs. And...well, I can't spoil the last anecdote they have to share, but let me say, it is worth the duration of the film alone, but mostly it should be watched because you will feel richer for spending time with these men in their twilight telling their amazing stories from a perspective unique and extraordinary.
The Outsider both documents the work and life of Independent director James Toback and the 12 day shoot of a film called When Will I Be Loved I've been intrigued with the encounters I have had with Toback's films in the past, notably, Two Guys and a Girl and Black and White, but I can't say I've love or admired his work. He is a helluva character -- he has as an extreme a personality as many of his protagonists have: hedonist, compulsive about many things, notably gambling. There is an interesting, if not intentional structure that happens in this film, the first 2/3 seems to canonize Toback, even with his warts, but the last three interview sections put him into a kind of perspective. Ron Rotholz, his producer seems to be the only person who can tell Toback why his films are not and probably not ever be commercial. Norman Mailer, Toback's great artistic hero, is wonderfully curmudgeonly in his segment. But the closing dual interview with Toback and Harvey Keitel (in dark glasses) is great stuff indeed. In the seventies and early eighties, it seemed like directors (in films like Bad Timing and Toback's Exposed) was brought in to close up the movie bringing new energy to the film like a relief pitcher in a clutch series game. That is what happens here. He is blunt, honest, with at least all of the intensity he brings to his acting.
posted by well-executed buffet at 9:30 PM
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