Vampires Vampires Vampires

What We Do in the Shadows is a terrible title for a good movie. Just try saying it five times fast: What we do in the shadows what we do in the shadows what we do in the shadows whatwedointheshadowswhatwedointheshadows.

Fortunately, the film manages to surpass this difficulty to become a very funny entry in the documentary/mockumentary category. It's also a time-warp episode back to when Twilight was hip.

It was a long time ago.

The film features Peter, Viago, Deacon, and Jermaine from Flight of the Concords as vampires who live in a house together in New Zealand, and have agreed to be followed around by documentarians. Refreshingly, their vampirism is the traditional, centuries-old, pale, burned by silver type. You know, the one where they can transform into bats.

Much of the humor revolves around their inability to pass as humans.

I don't know, they look fine here, very human

Confronted by demons they thought had long passed them by -- an ex-lover, an ex-lover who is literally old, and their memories -- they seem to be constantly meditating on everything and nothing at all, and occasionally getting into bat fights. It's half comic, half thoughtful, with a lot of blood.

As the foursome delve into the town's social scene and practice their many hobbies developed over centuries, it becomes clear that, actually, what they aren't trying to do is be human: what they're trying to do is be happy.

With the blood.

There's also a bit of a werewolf rivalry, but I won't give it all away. I'm just relieved that someone finally revived a genre that was, well, a bit dead.

What We Do In The Shadows: 3/4 stars. Mind the gore.

After Sunrise: An (Abridged) History of Richard Linklater

Given that this year Richard Linklater is up for an Oscar, it seemed like the perfect time to review his original hit, Before Sunrise*.

The premise of the film is that Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) meet on a train: she's going to Paris, he to Vienna, and then back to America. It's a meet-cute, but because at the time they were both pre-stardom indie actors, it feels natural to believe that one is traveling, the other a student, and that they could meet in this way. It helps that Jesse and Celine play off one another perfectly--he's a little jerkish, while she's a little bit of a head-in-the-clouds.

After spontaneously taking a liking to one another, Jesse convinces Celine to depart the train with him at Vienna, and they decide to spend the day together. The film tracks these hours, and partly in consequence, partly by choice, is shot in a very interesting way. There are multiple long takes focusing on the pair's conversation in the train, the streetcar, and as they wander around the streets and bridges of the Austrian city. Fittingly, the film was shot on location.

*You could argue that Dazed and Confused was his original hit, which is perfectly legitimate. But Before Sunrise is the movie that originated his trademark style.

Stuck together in a strange city, the plot revolves around Jesse and Celine's conversations, which regard both the beautiful scenery and themselves. They share their lives, and in so doing become more intimate as a couple at the same time as they become familiar to the audience. Yet these dialogues often take you out of the movie--not because of the context, but rather the content. As the pair meditates on their futures, it causes you to contemplate your own future.

This effect is particularly acute given that the film was followed by Before Sunset and Before Midnight, films where Hawke and Delpy reprise their roles nine and eighteen years later, respectively. With this foreknowledge, their mentions of ten and twenty years into the future echo more strongly than they would have otherwise. Linklater no doubt recognized this. Indeed, in creating this triptych, Linklater created a precursor for what so far is his most acclaimed film: Boyhood.

While the setup of Boyhood is quite different to that of Before Sunrise--the former revolving around a young boy growing up, rather than tracking the relationship of a couple--it fits a similar theme: coming-of-age. (As well as, notably, sharing an actor: Ethan Hawke.) Both films are attempts to track life as it is lived, in real time, or if not 'real' time then real enough, a day condensed to one hundred and ten minutes, a childhood relayed in three hours.

Paradoxically, what feels most precious about both movies are the quickly-passing moments of spontaneity and intimacy. It's a look, a kiss, it's not knowing you are happy until you've thought about it afterward. By combining realism with a degree of fiction and synchronicity, Linklater has memorialized on film the feeling of nostalgia. It burns sometimes, but it has such a lovely view.

***

Before Sunrise has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It was released in 1995.

Boyhood has a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It was released in 2014, and is currently nominated for Best Picture.

Romancing the Stone

I am literally a month late with this. Christmas is so far behind us that if you turned and looked over your shoulder it would just be a speck on the horizon. Nevertheless, I have to review The Family Stone. It's a family movie, but not a movie for families--no, this is a movie about a family.

Everett Stone is the eldest son of the Stone clan, and his mother's favorite: Sybil, played by Diane Keaton, has promised him her mother's wedding ring for his future wife. And he seems to have found that wife--or, at least the girl he takes home to his mother. Unfortunately, the moment that Sarah Jessica Parker meets the Stones is also the same time that everything goes to, well. You know.

Sarah as Meredith appears to be everything the Stone's aren't: polite, clean-cut, prudish. She's also deeply, deeply unhappy, and wields an armor of self-assurance as though to ward against all possible heartbreak. The Stones notice this.

What I love about this movie is how unabashedly inappropriate it is. The Stones make no bones (ha!) about the fact that they don't like her for Everett. (Sybil and sister Amy, played by Rachel McAdams, are particularly adamant on this fact.) Meanwhile, Everett is of little to no help, and seems just  as confused as his family to find Meredith in his life, despite the fact that he plans on marrying her.

Her relationship crumbling, her mental health in shambles, Sarah-as-Meredith then proceeds to fall in lust ... with Everett's younger brother, Ben. (Played by Luke Wilson. But honestly, how could anyone not fall in lust with Luke Wilson?) Just to pile it on Everett meets Meredith's sister, played by Claire Danes, and seems to fall in love instantly. The only person not enjoying a moment of personal romantic fulfillment is Amy, until her high school crush shows up. It's a hell of a show.

The Family Stone is not an award-winning movie, and it doesn't aspire to be. But despite the crazy plot twists and the insane romantic machinations there is something so true about it that you can't help but watch. Like, yes, of course Luke Wilson's character eats pot brownies with his dad! Of course!

Sarah Jessica Parker's performance is the other best aspect of the film. Meredith is a workaholic and too anal, and too unhappy, to be likable. As Ben says to her, "You have a freak flag. You just don't fly it." Her decision to fly that freak flag, to give up the ghost and just be herself, is what propels the movie from mediocre to having a slim margin of greatness. She's is a testament to the fact that you don't have to be lovable to be loved, and despite having on paper the most unlikeable character, Meredith is the one you end up rooting for.

Conversely, the disappointment in all this might just be Everett. Dermot Mulraney's normally striking reticence works against him here, and we're left with a main lead who is barely noticeable against the backdrop of such a strong supporting cast.

The Family Stone came out in 2005, has a 51% on Rotten Tomatoes, and you can very much find it online or on DVD.

***

Addendum: if you would prefer a non-Christmas themed family movie, check out City Island (2010). It has some of the more humorous notes and stars Andy Garcia. Win-win.

Top 10 romantic Christmas movies

I'm not saying that this is the definitive list of every Christmas movie ever made, but I am saying that.

10. Children of Men

Clive Owen shines as a shepherd in this tale of proto-Christianity. If you're afraid of police states, best move along.

9. You Kill Me

A bit of an overlooked gem, You Kill Me combines Polish hitmen with Buffalo, N.Y. The results are predictably combustible. (Featuring Ben Kingsley and Tea Leoni.)

8. Mr. & Mrs. Smith

There are probably better ways to celebrate Christmas, but do you want any of them?

7. The Family Man

The only Nicolas Cage film I will ever endorse. Also featuring Tea Leoni.

6. Cold Mountain

The tale of Inman traveling home to Ada is not exactly a Christmas story, but oh, how it burns.

5. The Cutting Edge

Two figure skaters, one toepick.

4. Christmas Story

Finally! you think. A real Christmas story. But have you stopped to consider how subversive it truly is? No? Go watch it again.

3 1/2. Elf

Had to fit this in somewhere.

3. Die Hard

Snape had never looked so good, Bruce thought to himself.

2. Sleepless in Seattle

Split as it is between Christmas Eve and Valentine's Day, I'm going to have to dedicate this movie to the entirety of the month of January. It deserves it.

1. It's a Wonderful Life

We've finally come down to it: the best Christmas movie ever. Summarized as boy meets girl, boy marries girl, boy attempts suicide; and, along the way, discovers the true meaning of Christmas. Sometimes we call them the best because they are.

Folks, Jimmy Stewart:

And a very happy holidays, from my family to yours.

Falling Upwards

It's finally December! The season is well underway, and I am incredibly excited for my favorite holiday, Christmas.  In honor of that, for the month of December I will be covering only holiday movies. (For everyone who does not enjoy the holidays ... why are you here?)

Possibly my favorite holiday movie, if not one of my top five favorite movies of all time, is Serendipity (2001). Set in the early aughts, it raises the question of what would happen if you met an amazing stranger ... and then you never saw them again?

That's what happens to Jonathan and Sara.

After a meet-cute over a pair of gloves in a New York department store, the pair quickly discover that not only are they both not single, but they are both incredibly attracted to one another. I mean, you saw that picture. You can probably feel the fireworks from here.

Now, Jonathan is of the mind to exchange numbers, I quote, "just in case."

"In case of what?" Sara asks.

"In case of life."

Sara isn't so sure. She wants to believe in fate, in destiny. And so they part, never to see each other again. Or will they? (Cue the music.)

Just a reminder that this is what John Cusack looks like.

There is a coyness, a quickness, to Serendipity. Let us get you in on the joke, it says. It doesn't hurt that Jeremy Piven is in high form as Jonathan's best friend, Dean, obit writer and general scoundrel.

As Jonathan and Sara take their respective paths in their search for love, the film's constancy actually derives from their friendships--Jonathan's with Dean, and Sara's with her best friend, Eve. These relationships with people who have known them longer than any romantic attachment are the heart and soul of the film. Without them the plot might feel like a cheap deck of cards, easily tipped over.

Yes, Serendipity can be silly--but that's a part of the magic. We're all fools in love, it says, but you can be a fool if you want to be.

And that is what this is all about, right? Love. That beautiful and multi-varied thing. And maybe the source of it is chemistry or biology or something precise that can be pointed to. But maybe, as Serendipity suggests, maybe it's not. Maybe it's luck, or chance, or taking the early bus that day, and you won't know until it has landed straight in your lap, having fallen out of the sky.

Where does this leave Jonathan and Sara? Well. You never know.

Lightning could strike.

Have a good night and once again, happy December.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for Keanu Reeves

This week it's time to embrace the weirdness: narcolepsy, denim jackets, the one-two punch that is River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves, and Idaho.

I'm referring, of course, to My Own Private Idaho (1991). Directed by Gus Van Sant, this is a movie that you'd swear makes you feel the chill through your windbreaker.

Gorgeous.

Phoenix and Reeves play Mike and Scott, two friends who hustle for cash and sleep, in Mike's case, anywhere and everywhere: gardens, the back of motorcycles, empty roads. His narcolepsy is the complicating element in his pursuit to find his mother, a journey which leads them from Idaho to Italy, and back again.

As Mike and Scott orbit around each other among bards and blank landscapes, the film becomes steadily more dream-like. It's just not a dream you've ever had before, or maybe one you've had so many times that you've forgotten how it ends. 

Does this look like a face to you?

Part of this is indubitably due to Gus Van Sant, whose track record for strangeness is high--he also directed Elephant, and, funnily enough, Good Will Hunting--but without Phoenix I feel the effect would be incomplete. 

His narration and unrequited love for Scott guide the film into what it is: a meditation, a novel, and a weird, strange masterpiece.

To sum up, in My Own Private Idaho not much happens, but what does happen--well, it's pretty interesting. So check it out. Embrace the weirdness.

Till next week.

Whiplash

Whiplash is the kind of film that you sit through white-knuckled, waiting to know what happens next. Miles Teller plays Andrew Neyman, a young drummer wunderkid--or, depending on the moment, not so wondrous. His ambition is to be the next Charlie Parker.

What follows is a chamber piece about what's inside of Andrew's head. We follow him as he is discovered by his college's most famous jazz director, Terence Fletcher, played by J.K. Simmons. It is not so much a discovery as a revealing, a veil lifted. 

Terence is mercurial and demanding and thrilling. Even as he tears Andrew down, there is a sense that his means will be justified by his ends. The push-pull relationship, heightened by the soundtrack,  translates into drama calculated to surprise.

There's no doubt that Whiplash is a good movie. Better, if you've ever played percussion. And yet there is one glaring flaw that cannot be overlooked: that is, there are no women in this film.

Of course there are actresses. There is an orchestra player and a lawyer and even a girlfriend. But there are no women. At no point are there two female people onscreen at the same time, much less speaking to one another. Andrew's mother is denoted by her absence, his girlfriend by her silence.

It is as though, encased in his own drama, there is no room in Andrew's head for much of anything besides Terence and his drum set. Fine. This is, after all, a movie about a boy.

But aren't we tired of art house films about boys?

Aren't there better things we could be spending our time on? If boys, why this type of story, with this perspective? Do we really have to accept this kind of under-the-table misogyny in our art? Can it even be art if it ignores half the audience? For that matter, where are the men? Terence isn't one. If it's a coming-of-age film there are no models, no real-life Charlie Parkers. There is no final exam, no test, no pass.

Leaving the theater, I wondered if in this alternate universe Andrew Neyman would ever grow up. Maybe. Maybe not. It doesn't matter. Whiplash could have been a great movie, but instead it settled for being a good one.