Criterion Corner-DVD/Blu-ray Reviews
Entries from August 2014
THE MEXICAN NEWER
WAVE
By Raymond Benson
At
the turn of the Millennium, several film directors from Mexico were gaining
attention and acclaim—guys like Alfonso Arau, Alejandro Gonzales Iñárritu,
Guillermo del Toro, and this year’s Oscar-winner as Best Director, Alfonso Cuarón
(for Gravity). Cuarón’s
career trajectory has been, for me, the most interesting of the bunch. He broke
into the international scene with the 2001 coming-of-age drama, Y Tu Mamá
También, and followed that with, of all things, the megahit Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,
which, I argue, is the best of all eight Harry Potter movies. The terrific
dystopian thriller Children of Men followed
that, and then came Gravity.
Other
than the superb handling of each specific film’s material, there isn’t much
similarity between these pictures, and yet it’s apparent that Cuarón
brings an auteur sensibility to his work. This is most evident in the more
personal Y Tu Mamá También, a film Cuarón
made in his native Mexico with no Hollywood studio in sight. The director and
his brother Carlos Cuarón claim in the terrific new extra of recent
interviews about the making of the film that the picture is not
autobiographical. However, a much of the world in which our two high school-age
protagonists exist is similar to the more middle-to-upper-class upbringing the
Cuaróns experienced.
Tenoch
and Julio (honestly played by Diego Luna and Gael GarcÃa
Bernal), are typical, urban, horny hormone-raging teenagers ready to graduate
from school and step out into adulthood. But for that to happen, a rite of
passage must occur to shake the boys out of decidedly vulgar adolescence,
mischief-making, and carefree attitudes.
Enter
an older unhappy married woman, Luisa—Maribel Verdú, in a tour de force performance—whose tragic
secrets motivate her to recklessly accompany the boys on a road trip to “the
beach.†The journey is a rite of passage for her, too, but the teens don’t know
this. What happens on that trip will change the two boys’ lives forever. In
essence, the film is a frank and modern Summer
of ’42 meets Jules and Jim. In
fact, Y Tu Mamá También does seem to be
inspired by the French New Wave—not only Jules
and Jim but also, as revealed by the Cuarón brothers in the
documentary, Godard’s Masculin Féminin. The detached, omniscient voice-over
narration in Y Tu Mamá evokes these 1960s classics in a more contemporary context.
And, like Godard’s films, Y Tu Mamá contains commentary on the then-current
political situation in Mexico, when the ruling party of 70-plus-years was voted
out. The upheaval, while not directly affecting our three characters, is
constantly in the background.
The
film is also sexually explicit. The picture was released in the USA unrated,
which means it otherwise would have received the problematic NC-17. The raw
naturalism of the sex scenes is indeed shocking, but without it the movie would
not have the impact that it does. As it is, Y
Tu Mamá También packs a punch. The Big
Reveal about Luisa at the end of the story can possibly change in an instant a
viewer’s reaction to the film up to that point. Along the way, you will have
laughed, cringed, laughed some more, and observed a loss of innocence as it
often occurs—unexpectedly and with deeply emotional prices to pay.
All
three leads are exceptional. Cuarón was fortunate to
employ actors who courageously bared their souls—as well as their skins—to make
this truly remarkable, highly recommended film.
Criterion’s
new, restored 2K digital film transfer is gorgeous (the cinematography is by
the great Emmanuel Lubezki). The Blu-ray features a 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master
Audio soundtrack. Extras include vintage and new behind-the scenes
documentaries featuring the director, cast, and others; Carlos Cuarón’s
very funny short film You Owe Me One (2002),
a new interview with philosopher Slavoj Žižek
about the film’s social and political aspects, and deleted scenes.
This one’s a keeper.
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RETRO-ACTIVE: THE BEST FROM THE CINEMA RETRO ARCHIVES
“THE FOUR
FEATHERS†(The Criterion
Collection)
On
DVD and Blu-Ray
By
Raymond Benson
Based
on A.E.W. Mason’s classic 1902 adventure novel, The Four Feathers had been made three times before this definitive version
of a “British Empire Adventure Film†was released in 1939. Produced by Hungarian-born but UK-based
Alexander Korda, one of the great filmmakers of British cinema, and directed by
his brother Zoltan Korda, The Four
Feathers represents the best of what England had to offer during its day,
as well as the epitome of the kind of yarns spun by Kipling and his ilk.
In
vivid Technicolor and sporting a cast of hundreds of ethnic extras, the picture
captures the grand Victorian era of the British military and takes place mostly
in Africa some ten years or so after the fall of Khartoum. The story is simple (albeit somewhat
improbable): a young officer (John
Clements) is accused of cowardice by his associates and fiancée after he
resigns his post on the eve of a major deployment to take back the Sudan. Setting out to prove the opposite, he
disguises himself as a mute Arab so that he can “make a difference†from the
inside of the enemy camp and show his “friends†what he’s really made of. At one point, his rival in love, portrayed by
the excellent Ralph Richardson, is struck blind by excessive exposure to the
desert sun—and our hero must help him trek across the country to safety, all
without saying a word or revealing to the man that he’s his old colleague.
This
particular version of The Four Feathers would
be an impressive film if made today, but for 1939, it’s a masterpiece (the
recent 2002 version doesn’t compare). With its tremendous logistical challenges and
extreme conditions on location, the picture is a marvel to behold. It also contains tons of what are now
familiar clichés of British Empirical tales, mostly embodied by the humorous
performance of overly stately C. Aubrey Smith—and this, too, is a testament of
the film’s influence. The picture is
also a timely (and embarrassingly hilarious) lesson in how racism was taken for
granted during its day.
The
new Criterion edition, of course, looks gorgeous in a high-definition
restoration. At that time, Natalie
Kalmus (the wife of Technicolor’s inventor, Herbert Kalmus), was forced upon
filmmakers as “color coordinator†if one wanted to use the process, and she had
total control over its application. Whether it was appropriate or not, Natalie went for bold, vivid colors;
in this case the result is happily spectacular.
The
audio commentary by Charles Drazin is interesting, but the true gem of the
extra features is the interview with Zoltan Korda’s son, David. He sheds light on the lives of the amazing
trio of brothers—Alexander, Zoltan, and Vincent—who became one of the most
important British film families in its history. There is also a vintage documentary short about the Kordas’ studio,
London Films, which features rare footage of Zoltan in action directing The Four Feathers.
Just
about any Criterion Collection release is a must-have. This is one has that quality in spades.
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BY RAYMOND BENSON
“TIE ME UP! TIE ME
DOWN!†(1990;
Directed by Pedro Almodóvar)
(The
Criterion Collection)
FIFTY SHADES OF
ALMODÓVAR
By Raymond Benson
Over
twenty years prior to the popularity of Fifty
Shades of Grey, acclaimed and eccentric Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar
delivered to the world a kinky morsel of bondage-love—Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (original Spanish title: Ãtame!). The director had just come off the international success of his 1988 picture, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown,
which earned an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. While the
filmmaker’s early ‘80s films are certainly of note, it was Women that thrust Almodóvar into the
mainstream consciousness.
However,
when it came to releasing his next film in the U.S. in 1990, Almodóvar
was met with some resistance from the MPAA ratings board. The dreaded X rating
was threatened, forcing Miramax, the film’s distributor, to sue. The film was
eventually released “unratedâ€; however, it was this lawsuit that prompted the
MPAA to change the stigmatized X to the more consumer-friendly NC-17. (Henry and June became the first U.S.
film to be released with the new NC-17 rating. Ironically, the NC-17 rating
wasn’t an improvement. The stigma remained and the media in many areas of the
country continued the policy of refusing to advertise NC-17-rated movies.)
The
picture does give you a pretty good barometer on judging the level of
sexually-explicit scenes in the cinema. It’s pretty shocking—however, intelligent
adults in the audience might recognize that Almodóvar is pulling a
fast one on us—which is very much a stylistic signature trait of the
director’s. We just didn’t know that in 1990.
Tie Me Up! Tie Me
Down! is
a comedy, a dark one at that, but I’m sure many people might see it as
offensive and misogynistic, especially in the wake of recent events such as the
Cleveland, Ohio kidnappings, enslavement, and ultimate rescue of three women in
2013. That’s essentially the plot of the film, except it’s only one woman in
the picture.
Antonio
Banderas plays Ricki, an unbalanced, violent, but charming mental patient who is discharged from the institution.
Why? Who knows—he should never have been let out. Anyway, he has a fixation on
a Marina, a former porn actress now making B-movies (courageously played by
Almodóvar favorite Victoria Abril). Like in
William Wyler’s 1965 film, The Collector,
Banderas kidnaps his prey—and isn’t very gentle in going about it—and keeps
Marina a prisoner in her apartment. Ricki’s goal is to “get her to love him†so
they can be married and have children. At first, she is naturally repulsed,
terrified, and resistant. Until he can trust her, Ricki binds her to the bed
whenever he has to go out. This goes on for some time until finally Stockholm
Syndrome sets in and Marina actually does
fall in love with her captor. I won’t spoil the ending, but let’s just say
that things turn out in Almodóvar’s typically
bizarre way.
Feminists
hated it.
What
they might have missed was the fact that Almodóvar intended the
piece to be like the B-movie that Marina is making within the story. He wanted
to make a “Roger Corman movie.†Thus, much of the picture has the trappings of
a cheap horror film. Even Ennio Morricone’s score is sinister and nervy—and
this is the clue that Almodóvar wants us to
laugh at the situation. Banderas’ Ricki is so
utterly likable (as well as handsome, hot, etc.) that we are fooled into
ignoring the seriousness of his crimes. Marina’s reactions to him also become
unbelievably tolerant, despite the fact that she is his captive. It is this
heightened unrealism that is the key
to not only Tie Me Up! but also much
of Almodóvar’s work. In other words, this is theatre of the absurd. Go with the flow
and you may come out of it enlightened by notions of human sexuality and
relationships that you might not have considered before. Besides, the two
central performances are so winning that you can’t help but stay riveted to the
screen. Banderas, in particular, has never been better.
The
restoration is gorgeous, colorful, and sharp, as it was supervised by both
Almodóvar and his brother, executive producer
Agustin Almodóvar. Extras include a brand new documentary
on the making of the film, featuring current interviews with the director,
Banderas, Abril, and others involved in the production. There is also a new
interview with Almodóvar collaborator and Sony Pictures Classics
co-president Michael Barker. A 2003 conversation between Almodóvar
and Banderas is included, as well as footage from the film’s 1990 premiere
party in Madrid. The included booklet contains a piece Almodóvar
wrote about the picture, a 1989 interview with the director, and a dialogue
about the film between filmmaker Wes Anderson and critic Kent Jones.
So
get out the handcuffs and rope, settle down with your significant other, and
have yourself a kinky old time with Tie
Me Up! Tie Me Down! Adults only please!
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