Carnage (Roman Polanski)

When my son was in second grade, he was in a schoolyard fight and came out on top. I was horrified when I learned about it. We were in West Texas, a land of machismo and guns, and I had been fighting my own battle and against violence: T was allowed to carry sticks only when they weren't used as weapons, and toy guns were (initially) banned. My feelings became more complex when I learned more details from the cohort of second grade teachers. By their account, once they disrupted the fight--pulled T off the other kid-- they checked for injuries and then questioned each boy independently. T, a smart but not a standout student, came alive when they asked him about the incident. After first informing them that his parents did not condone fighting, he fired a litany of humiliations and sly bullying that he and others had suffered from the other boy since kindergarten. He then concluded with the simple statement that he couldn't take it any more. Based on his eloquent defense and their own knowledge of each boy's character, the teachers decided punish not T but the other boy.

I don't remember ever discussing the event with the boy's parents, though we did later carpool and socialize. That anecdote, however, became part of the narrative I would tell when someone wanted to know about T. And as much as I told the story to illustrate his rhetorical prowess, I also admired his willingness and ability to stick up for himself.

I relate this story now because it resonates with the themes in Carnage, Polanski's adaptation of Yasmina Reza's play, God of Carnage. In it we are introduced to two pairs of parents dealing with a similar situation and similar reactions. Then, within the confines of a Brooklyn apartment, we watch as each parent admits to and/or rejects each of those reactions and feelings. In the process, we also witness the exposure of the faultlines of their marriages and the fragility of their values. It's a brutal and uncomfortable --even more so than on the stage because the audience is brought so close in.

Great performances by all four actors.
Recommend

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (Tomas Alfredson)

Pretty darn good remake of the 70s television mini-series based on the LeCarre novel.  Of course, transforming the tale into a 2-hour feature movie requires much condensing, and I found the first 45-minutes very confusing.  Once, however, all the characters are introduced and the main plot elements laid out, the film was a great thriller.

Great good shots emphasizing the nature of constant watching and being watched.  I especially liked the opening Budapest shot.

Recommend.

The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius)

Great movie that revisits the transition from silent films to talkies (and then on to the dance extravaganzas) by focusing on the conventions of each. As the camera switches between the actors and the embedded film's audience, we become aware of what causes us to react and why.  For a silent film, it's not the clever dialogue but the juxtaposition of images or the exaggerated expressions that convey the characters' emotions.  The music also does much of the work, but I found myself resisting the way it tried to manipulate my reactions.  Most importantly, though, the film demonstrates how the interplay between the lack of talking and the intertitles can be ambiguous. For instance, what is it that goes "Bang" in the penultimate scene?

Sound only appears twice in the film: during George Valentin's dream, when he can hear everything but he has no voice, and then briefly at the end, when he and Peppy Miller are dancing for a film (a la Rogers and Astaire) and we hear him speak two or three words. 

Interesting note: this is the second film of the season that looks at the earliest period of film history (see my comments of *Hugo*).  Makes me wonder if the convergence is coincidental or the leading edge of a phase.

Recommend

Hugo (Martin Scorcese)

There are not many films we'd go out of our way (as well as pay extra) to see in 3-D. However, because I'd liked Selznick's graphic novel for children, The Invention of Hugo Cabret and because Martin Scorcese is the director, we decided to make the extra effort.

First, regarding the 3-D. When we're shown George Melies's filming in his pre-WWI studio, the 3-D works to stupendous effect. Apparently he shot through fish aquariums in order to achieve underwater effects, and when the process is filmed, the 3-D is absolutely enchanting, capturing perfectly the dream state that Melies sought. The rest of the time, the 3-D is either superfluous or distracting. It made the characters feel much more cartoonish than the book suggestions (or even the film requires). It provides a false sense of depth--too often the foreground and/or background are blurry, forcing the eye to remain exclusively on the child actors who are lovely to watch but their acting range was rather limited). In fact, when we see a famous scene that causes early film-audience members to leap from their seats--they are trying to avoid a train that's rumbling towards them--the flatness of THAT film (which isn't translated into 3-D) fails to cause a sympathetic reaction in tonight's audience. Considering how perfect the 3-D was for specific segments of the film, I would have loved to have seen Scorcese imitate The Wizard of Oz and film the non-Melies scenes without the 3-D and reserve the 3-D for the Melies studio segments.

Otherwise, this is a lovely homage to Selznick's novel and to Melies.

Recommend.

A Dangerous Method (David Cronenberg)

A Dangerous Method has all sorts of promise--the early years of psycho-analysis, the birth and dissolution of Freud and Jung's friendship, David Cronenberg--but none of that promise survives the drab script or Keira Knightley's atrocious acting.

Recommend with great reservation.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (David Fincher)

I so much liked the Swedish Girl (2009), that I fully expected to be disappointed by the American remake.  Not at all.  The novel is rich enough that Fincher was able to pull different narrative strands and create an equally entertaining and engrossing film.

Recommend.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (Guy Ritchie)

As long as you don't care to catch all the details--and the ride is so much fun that I don't mind--then the latest film capturing the investigations Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson is a great evening.  Both Robert Downey, Jr., and Jude Law are terrific, and there's not a second of downtime.

Recommend.