Archive for October, 2006

The Science of Sleep

Published
by
Chalupa
on October 23, 2006
in Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Independent, Romance and Stop-motion
. 2 Comments

This is another one of those long-awaited movies. The Science of Sleep stars Gael Garcí­a Bernal (Motorcycle Diaries, La Mala Educación, Y tu mamá también, Amores Perros) and is directed by Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and many music videos). So if you’ve seen Eternal Sunshine or some of his music videos, you probably have an idea of the kind of off-the-wall genius and humor this man possesses.

Bernal plays Stéphane who has just been tricked into moving back home by his mother, who owns some apartments. He then meets his neighbor, Stéphanie, whom he almost immediately falls in love with. Meanwhile, his mother has hooked him up with a job at a calendar company where he’s supposed to be able to utilize his artistic abilities. This couldn’t be farther from the truth, however, his co-workers more than make up for it. Despite all of this excitement and drama, Stéphane has just one problem. He has problems seperating reality from his world of dreams.

I think my favorite parts of the movie are Stéphane’s dream sequences. In them, Stéphane is a host for a popular TV show where he performs music, has guests, talks about all kinds of intellectual things and has a time machine. His whole attitude is different, which makes the whole fantasy world that much more believable. He’s loose, he’s free, he says what he wants, he does what he wants. In this dream land, Stéphane can be the person he wants to be with nothing holding him back. It’s in this dream land where he can evaluate his relationships and work out the “real” problems he has. In the dream land, Stéphane is refined, articulate and intelligent. In the real world Stéphane is sometimes forgetful, says the wrong things and sometimes comes off as a little crazy.

I like to think this is the way we all are to one extreme or another. Everybody has had at least one experience in their life where they wish they could have said something else or done something else. I like to think, this is just a little to the extreme. Another aspect I really liked in this movie was the variance of language. It takes place in France, but throughout the film you hear the characters speak in English, French, and Spanish.

This is definitely one of those “art films” so if you’re not into those kinds of movies, maybe you won’t like this. I loved it, but this is a genre I enjoy. I’ve also seen numerous other works be Bernal and Gondry, so that helped influence me to see this as well. There is also some nudity/almost nudity and language that might offend some of you. Other than that, I gave this film 5 stars on netflix.

Employee of the Month

Published
by
Chalupa
on October 19, 2006
in Comedy, Romance and Work
. 0 Comments

Last night Liz and I saw Employee of the Month. Mainly because we hadn’t seen a movie in forever, Dane Cook was in it, and neither of us wanted to see yet another Lassie remake.

Other than Dane Cook, the movie also starred Dax Shepard, Efren Ramirez, Andy Dick, Brian George, Harland Williams, Sean Whalen, Danny Woodburn, Tim Bagley and Jessica Simpson. Notice how I put Simpson last? Yeah, that wasn’t a mistake. I read that the director/producers had Dax Shepard die his hair blonde because he looks a lot like Dane Cook and they didn’t want the audience to get them mixed up. Personally, I think he looks a lot more like Zach Braff than Cook, but that’s just me. Efren, or “Pedro” as he will forever be to me, played Shepard’s sidekick and Dick, George and Williams all played Cook’s friends at work.

The plot happens to be centered around a membership-only-mega-buy-in-bulk store with a slogan, “We buy in bulk cause it’s our God-given right!” They even chant it at their softball game. So all these people are at work and Cook is obviously the cool guy at work. His arch-nemesis just so happens to be Shepard who has also been the employee of the month for the past 17 months. If he makes it one more month, the grand prize is a newish car. However, a monkey wrench has been thrown into this head cashier’s gear works. A hot new cashier has just transferred and rumor has it she likes employees of the month. So now Cook has a little motivation to make an effort at work. Surprisingly, he actually turns himself into an exceptional employee, but of course, hurts his friends in the process.

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you the ending of this movie. I think it should be quite obvious. Even though there were some pretty funny parts, the movie was a bit lame and boring at points. I think Vince Vaughn sums it up quite well for us in his cult-hit Swingers. I’m going to do some super paraphrasing here so I hope you can follow. This movie was PG-13. All we really wanted to see was the R-rated guy save the day and get the girl. Does that make sense? I hope so. If not, you really should go watch Swingers. Just remember, if you get a girl’s phone number wait two days to call her. It’s the industry standard.

Half Nelson

Published
by
nathanshorb
on October 11, 2006
in Drama, Drugs, High School and Independent
. 1 Comment

Half Nelson is all the rage in the indie film circuit right now. Remember that hunk in the Notebook? His name is Ryan Gosling, and he’s in this one too, except now he’s a young, hip inner city teacher.

Yes, a movie about an inner city teacher. You’ve seen it before, right? Coolio and Michelle Pfeiffer, or Stand by Me or Stand and Deliver or whatever all those other inspirational movies are titled. This one’s different. Why?

Because this inner city teacher is addicted to crack and cocaine. His life is a mess, and while he still seems to be impacting his students, it’s not the clean, neat, tidy, sweeping success story we’ve come to see too often (which, I’ll be the first to tell you, is quite rare and unrealistic outside of Hollywood).

There is so much to unpack in this movie it is unbelievable. That, I believe, is what is so commendable. The writers and directors successfully intertwined layer upon layer of rich themes to explore. You could watch it over and over and each time discover more to talk about.

The teacher strikes up a friendship with one of his female students (who finds him high and overdosed in the bathroom). So now we have two worlds colliding: a rich young white drug addict trying to tell a poor black teenager to stay away from drug dealers. So not only do we see the contrast of cultures, the awkward explosion that occurs when different worlds intersect, but we also have a hypocrite trying to teach kids, sending mixed signals. (Romans 2:21 “You, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself?”)

The interaction between people is another highlight, a study of relationships. Every scene is a dialogue between two people, the girl and the teacher, the girl and the mom, the girl and the drug dealer, the teacher and the girl, the teacher and his coworkers, the teacher and the drug dealer, the teacher and a woman. It’s a powerful example that what we do impacts others.

What is most striking, though, is the study of change. The teacher tells his classes that history is change; it is two opposing forces pushing against each other until one becomes the majority and stays the majority until the minority pushes back and takes over. It is a gridlock, an arm-wrestling match. And while he relays this to his students, we see his life of addiction spinning wildly out of control. He knows he must change, but this gridlock keeps him from it. (Romans 7:23 “I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.”) The minority force that wants to change cannot take control.

Many people are using a vague ending to draw conclusions that I think are overly optimistic. They are turning it into an inspirational movie filled with hope without a whole lot of ground to do so.

To me, I see a bleak picture of a life filled with addiction. I see the depravity of man, a force so strong that no will of his own can cause change. And at the risk of overspiritualizing things, it points to a need for a different agent of change, one outside of ourselves that is powerful enough to become the majority force. (Romans 7:24,25 8:2 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.)

So anyway. It’s well done, the soundtrack is great, and it ends up being pretty meaningful. I’m recommending it to you.

And Ryan Gosling is a hunk.