A Passage to India (1984)

Nominee

Even David Lean, the director who brought such cinematic classics to the screen such as Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia, is not able to withstand the curse that is eighties cinema. This film based on the E.M. Foster's novel by the same name may attempt to grapple with the some of the socio-political, and racially important topics of a specific era, but fails to truly tell a compelling story based on a number of failed components of the film.

For starters, Miss Quested, the woman who charges a local Indian man for supposedly sexually assaulting her, is a completely baffling character. Perhaps it is my own lack of empathy towards people who are portrayed as wispy and confused, but she was utterly frustrating due to her idiocy throughout. She causes so much trouble for no apparent reason besides that she is 'overwhelmed' by being in a foreign land. 

In addition, the editing of the entire film was stilted and repetitive. It got to the point where I was counting down to the next shot and hitting it exactly every time. This kind of comfortable formula is tiresome, particularly in an almost three hour film. 

The acting was also rather melodramatic, with the exception of Peggy Ashcroft, who was quite compelling as one of few level headed characters in the whole story. And although  I love Alec Guinness, this now dated performance reads as rather insensitive. You cannot tell me they could not find an Indian actor to play Professor Godbole, especially in a story that is about British/Indian tensions.

Overall: I think Lean may have hoped this to be another sweeping exploration of place such as Lawrence of Arabia or Doctor Zhivago, but ultimately it just did not have the story to support the visuals. It was just a rather long, awkward film. We're going to treat this like Godfather III, and pretend this did not happen. So go watch Lean's other work instead! Happy Watching!

Atlantic City (1981)

Nominee

Now here is a film that finds its footing in the exploration of person and place, as opposed to a narrative. We do not descend upon this New Jersey beach city to be told a story, but instead discover the aging gangsters, and young dreamers that make up this city in transition. And as the city struggles to justify the old and the new, so do the characters stumble through their awkward interactions.

Burt Lancaster plays Lou Pascal a former Mob bodyguard who finds himself living with just the memories of times past and regrets that he never achieved anything to make his mark. Living next to him in his apartment complex is Sally Matthews, played by Susan Sarandon, who has come to Atlantic City to get away from her past, but her family and their problems catch up to her. Their two lives become entangled and as their confusing relationship unfolds a basic human fact is discovered: People in transition are in constant motion, and will leave as fast as they come. While those who have remained stationary for so long, become synonymous with place. 

Overall: Both Lancaster, and Sarandon do a solid job in the film. And although it's perhaps not a great film, it is a a rather nice exploration of innately human dynamics. Not a bad watch. 

Towering Inferno (1974)

Nominee

It has been almost a year since I last posted and in that time I successfully completed my undergrad! While I am looking forward to new exciting things I am so very happy to once again have some time to watch films for pure enjoyment.

I think two things I value most in great films are their timelessness and exceptional special effects. However these two forces are constantly at odds with each other, for although the effects may have been extraordinary for their time they later have a tendency to date the film. I mean, even films from a decade ago now look, well, old. Don't get me wrong films can overcome this dating issue by their sheer impact on the industry or cultural scope. (Think King Kong (1933) or Lord of the Rings) However, this particular film does not achieve that, which is unfortunate because it had a lot of potential.

Take for instance the cast: Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway, William Holden, and Fred Astaire, just to name a few. I was floored when I saw this line up by the sheer magnitude of what they could accomplish. Not to mention the film is scored by John Williams! Perhaps all this good karma was negated by the suspicious number of wife murders also in the cast (OJ Simpson and Robert Wagner, I am looking at you). But more likely it probably was the horrible script writing, coupled with the a 165 minute run time.

Ultimately, the film turns into a nearly three hour advertisement for what not to do in a fire while in a skyscraper. The dialogue is stilted and underdeveloped making the characters, well, stilted and underdeveloped. And when these flat melodramatic characters haven't garnered your empathy their deaths end up laughable.

I do applaud the film for the spectacle it must have been for the time, but this was the same year as Godfather: Part II, and Chinatown, I expect complexity and intriguing plot lines.

Overall: As my sister said: "This film could probably be used in schools as a prolonged advertisement for fire safety." But, as long as you know to stop, drop and roll, and that you are supposed to leave a building when the fire chief tells you, feel free to skip this one.

The Butler (2013)

                Any medium of expression may be used to provide a venue for catharsis of the collective imagination. Our nation's history, although proud, is also riddled with fading memories of extreme violence and segregation, making it of the utmost importance that these topics are engaged in the mainstream media today so that the necessary discussions are neither lost nor forgotten. Lee Daniel's The Butler takes on the momentous task of grappling with recent black history through the eyes of Cecil Gaines, a man who serves on the White House Staff through many a presidency, and his son Louise, who joins various black empowerment movements against the counsel of his father.

The film accomplishes a number of things worth lauding, but ultimately comes up a little short. The positive aspects can be seen in the acting of this ensemble cast, the reflection of the themes in the editing, and the honest brutality with which it addresses its content. With Oprah reemerging into film, and names like Forest Whitaker, Terrence Howard, Vanessa Redgrave, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Lenny Kravitz, Robin Williams, Alan Rickman, and Jane Fonda,  the viewer expects skillful performances, and they are delivered. Whitaker gives us Cecil with a strength and subtlety that makes him incredibly accessible to the audience, which is precisely what he needs to be. The film rides on our understanding how fragile his circumstances are: he serves his country faithfully, but his country does not serve him. This is echoed visually through crosscutting throughout the film, as the imagery frequently juxtaposes Cecil and his son. In one instance, Cecil sets the table for a White House reception, while his son is abused at a diner for refusing to sit in the section designated for blacks.  This cruelty, particularly when interlaced with the refinement of life in the White House, is quite striking, as is much of the imagery throughout the film of the violence that was instigated against the African American community. Daniels has shown in both this film and his 2009 film, Precious, that he is willing to push the limits of his audience to provoke real emotions in them.

Yet, the film was also not without its shortcomings. For one, it suffers from the classic issues faced by all bio pics. The screenplay was, overall, not exceptional. Relaying just the necessary details, it merely results in predictability and falls quickly into an easily identifiable narrative pattern. In addition, the way the movie depicted the presidencies seemed rather gimmicky. Feeling akin to  Forrest Gump, the presidents are only there to place time period, in essence becoming somewhat superfluous to the actual plot. Which in turn makes the film feel unnecessarily long.

Overall: I applaud the film for attempting to engage an important topic through extraordinary circumstances. However, the writing just did not match the magnitude of the film itself, and the shots  were formulaic to the bio pic genre. This is a film that needed to be made but was not groundbreaking in its approach. This story deserves to transcend into historical importance but this film may not have been the vehicle for it.