Film Reviews: Inside Out and 45 Years
Mar. 19th, 2016 11:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatSaw two wonderful films today, one courtesy of HBO and one a "for your consideration" DVD, provided by a friend of mine. Both were nominated for and obtained various awards and critical accolades. Although that hardly matters to me, mainly because I've long since learned that art is a subjective thing. Then again, most things are.
1. Inside Out is the award-winning animated film by Pixar (aka Disney). It's about the emotions inside us, in particular an eleven-year-old girl whose family has moved without warning from Minnesota to San Francisco, and her struggle with the move.
An important caveat, before we go any further, at the age of eleven I moved from my home in Pennsylvania to one in Kansas. Across country. What I went through, while different in some respects, was also quite similar to Riley's experiences in the film, except I had a younger brother to commiserate with at the time. Moving from one state to another at that age is extremely painful. And the distance from Kansas to Pennsylvania is roughly the same as it is from Minnesota to San Francisco. It's like moving to a different country and a different culture. You lose the friends you once had, they're gone. And you're thrust into the middle of a new school, new people, new neighborhood...with a whole new language and mindset. I remember being terrified, and trying desperately to put a happy face on the whole thing. My brother got sick the first day of school and had to be sent home. I was a bit more stoic and pushed my way through. Ironic, considering he fared better than I did...in various ways, in part because he was three years younger and it's easier to move when you are in the second grade than when you are in the middle of fifth grade. Note to crazy parents everywhere? If you want to move kids, do it before they reach their teens.
Anyhow, the movie was quite clever and well written. Creating an entire world of metaphorical goodness inside the head. Islands of personality. An imaginary friend called Boingo, who is half elephant, half cat, half seal or dolphin...because animal things were all the rage when Riley was a little kid. Each of the five emotions jockeying for control -- with Joy controlling everything and pushing the other emotions to one side. Insisting Riley must be happy all the time, she can't be sad, or disgusted or fearful or angry...although she begins to slowly realize that all the emotions are equally important in order to create personality and keep Riley whole and sane.
My only quibble with the film is the animation was...rather run of the mill. I've seen much better..
the art just wasn't up to the quality of the writing. Oh production wise it was, but on a creative scale, it was rather disappointing. There were bits and pieces I thought that were quite good - such as the deconstruction of the emotions in the danger zone, where the go abstract, fall apart, become two-dimensional, and then one dimensional...that was like watching a Picasso painting become a Calder.
But, the representations of the emotions and people, so-so. Pixar has never been great at it's animation of people in my opinion. Animals, yes. Crazy things, yes. Toys, yes. People...not so much.
For some reason the Japanese anime excels at it. It's possibly just my personal preference. See, I draw people a lot. And my art varies from abstract to realistic, and I'm rather picky about how others do it. There's comics I won't read because I don't like how they drew the people - if the people look too similar to me, it annoys me. It was my difficulty with the Buffy comics, I didn't like the artists renderings of the characters. And a lot of children's cartoons I can't watch because the art annoys me. I'm insanely picky when it comes to animation. In the 1990s, I used to go to the video store and rent cult animated films from various places. Lots of Japanese animated films, a few by Ralph Bakshi, etc. Also my favorite cartoon series as a child was Kimba, and Battle of the Planets, Japanese anime. Add to this -- I love animation. I think I've seen almost every Disney animated film. Because animation, plus fantasy, often fairy tales, with music, what's not to love?
I did skip the sequels and I despised Cars. The computer animation -- I have a love/hate relationship with. Some of it works for me, most of it...I think lacks the artistry of hand-painted cell animation.
Other than that quibble? Lovely film. Cried my way through it. Found it to be amazing, just wish it had better animation - something more in line with past Pixar efforts. I actually think Zootopia looks more interesting from an animation perspective.
2. 45 Years by Andrew Haigh, starring Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtney. The film is a devasting portrait of a marriage. It's adapted from a short story entitled "In Another Country by David Constantine", and in quite a few respects it feels like a slice of life story, reminding me a bit of John Cassavetes films starring his wife Gena Rowlands. Except happier and less melodramatic and gut-wrenching. It is a compelling film and gut-wrenching in its own way. The performances, Tom Courtney and Charlotte Rampling's blew me away.
The film focuses on a Norwhich couple planning their 45 wedding anniversary. The time line is the two weeks leading up to the party, and the party itself. Five years after canceling their 40th Wedding Anniversary party, due to Geoff having heart bypass surgery, they start planning the new party for their 45. Then unexpectedly Geoff recieves a letter from Switzerland informing him that his old lover from the 1960s, prior to when he met Kate, has been found frozen in a Glacier, and is flooded with memories of her. This begins to put a strain on the marriage...
This is one of those films, where the performances and how it is filmed visually compell you. Rampling's face conveys so much. It's quite a good depiction of how you can feel alone with another person. And what it means to love another person.
It's one of the most touching and realistic romantic films that I've seen. And there's a tension throughout of what will happen...even though little seems to happen, a lot does, but underneath the surface. The point of view is Kate's, we see everything through her eyes. And the actress manages to pull you inside her, so you empathize with her as she struggles to deal with what is happening.
It falls within the category of realistic cinema. Quiet and gripping. Slow to start, builds throughout, and packs a quiet wallop at the end. I found it a haunting depiction of what is real, and do we ever truly know what another is feeling? And can they ever know us?
It reminded me of a comment from my book club the other night that continues to haunt me, the fabric between us and others in the universe is spread thin at times. It changes. Sometimes we feel connected to another, truly in sync, and others as if we are miles and miles apart and can't connect to them at all. Sometimes we feel like were in each other's heads, and others like we are strangers, complete foreigners. It stretches uncomfortably. And I think this film portrays that tension and feeling quite well.
I'm struggling to describe it, for it is difficult to do so. But it like the film before it, Inside Out, changed my perspective on things, and made feel less alone. If that makes sense?
Highly recommend both films.
1. Inside Out is the award-winning animated film by Pixar (aka Disney). It's about the emotions inside us, in particular an eleven-year-old girl whose family has moved without warning from Minnesota to San Francisco, and her struggle with the move.
An important caveat, before we go any further, at the age of eleven I moved from my home in Pennsylvania to one in Kansas. Across country. What I went through, while different in some respects, was also quite similar to Riley's experiences in the film, except I had a younger brother to commiserate with at the time. Moving from one state to another at that age is extremely painful. And the distance from Kansas to Pennsylvania is roughly the same as it is from Minnesota to San Francisco. It's like moving to a different country and a different culture. You lose the friends you once had, they're gone. And you're thrust into the middle of a new school, new people, new neighborhood...with a whole new language and mindset. I remember being terrified, and trying desperately to put a happy face on the whole thing. My brother got sick the first day of school and had to be sent home. I was a bit more stoic and pushed my way through. Ironic, considering he fared better than I did...in various ways, in part because he was three years younger and it's easier to move when you are in the second grade than when you are in the middle of fifth grade. Note to crazy parents everywhere? If you want to move kids, do it before they reach their teens.
Anyhow, the movie was quite clever and well written. Creating an entire world of metaphorical goodness inside the head. Islands of personality. An imaginary friend called Boingo, who is half elephant, half cat, half seal or dolphin...because animal things were all the rage when Riley was a little kid. Each of the five emotions jockeying for control -- with Joy controlling everything and pushing the other emotions to one side. Insisting Riley must be happy all the time, she can't be sad, or disgusted or fearful or angry...although she begins to slowly realize that all the emotions are equally important in order to create personality and keep Riley whole and sane.
My only quibble with the film is the animation was...rather run of the mill. I've seen much better..
the art just wasn't up to the quality of the writing. Oh production wise it was, but on a creative scale, it was rather disappointing. There were bits and pieces I thought that were quite good - such as the deconstruction of the emotions in the danger zone, where the go abstract, fall apart, become two-dimensional, and then one dimensional...that was like watching a Picasso painting become a Calder.
But, the representations of the emotions and people, so-so. Pixar has never been great at it's animation of people in my opinion. Animals, yes. Crazy things, yes. Toys, yes. People...not so much.
For some reason the Japanese anime excels at it. It's possibly just my personal preference. See, I draw people a lot. And my art varies from abstract to realistic, and I'm rather picky about how others do it. There's comics I won't read because I don't like how they drew the people - if the people look too similar to me, it annoys me. It was my difficulty with the Buffy comics, I didn't like the artists renderings of the characters. And a lot of children's cartoons I can't watch because the art annoys me. I'm insanely picky when it comes to animation. In the 1990s, I used to go to the video store and rent cult animated films from various places. Lots of Japanese animated films, a few by Ralph Bakshi, etc. Also my favorite cartoon series as a child was Kimba, and Battle of the Planets, Japanese anime. Add to this -- I love animation. I think I've seen almost every Disney animated film. Because animation, plus fantasy, often fairy tales, with music, what's not to love?
I did skip the sequels and I despised Cars. The computer animation -- I have a love/hate relationship with. Some of it works for me, most of it...I think lacks the artistry of hand-painted cell animation.
Other than that quibble? Lovely film. Cried my way through it. Found it to be amazing, just wish it had better animation - something more in line with past Pixar efforts. I actually think Zootopia looks more interesting from an animation perspective.
2. 45 Years by Andrew Haigh, starring Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtney. The film is a devasting portrait of a marriage. It's adapted from a short story entitled "In Another Country by David Constantine", and in quite a few respects it feels like a slice of life story, reminding me a bit of John Cassavetes films starring his wife Gena Rowlands. Except happier and less melodramatic and gut-wrenching. It is a compelling film and gut-wrenching in its own way. The performances, Tom Courtney and Charlotte Rampling's blew me away.
The film focuses on a Norwhich couple planning their 45 wedding anniversary. The time line is the two weeks leading up to the party, and the party itself. Five years after canceling their 40th Wedding Anniversary party, due to Geoff having heart bypass surgery, they start planning the new party for their 45. Then unexpectedly Geoff recieves a letter from Switzerland informing him that his old lover from the 1960s, prior to when he met Kate, has been found frozen in a Glacier, and is flooded with memories of her. This begins to put a strain on the marriage...
This is one of those films, where the performances and how it is filmed visually compell you. Rampling's face conveys so much. It's quite a good depiction of how you can feel alone with another person. And what it means to love another person.
It's one of the most touching and realistic romantic films that I've seen. And there's a tension throughout of what will happen...even though little seems to happen, a lot does, but underneath the surface. The point of view is Kate's, we see everything through her eyes. And the actress manages to pull you inside her, so you empathize with her as she struggles to deal with what is happening.
It falls within the category of realistic cinema. Quiet and gripping. Slow to start, builds throughout, and packs a quiet wallop at the end. I found it a haunting depiction of what is real, and do we ever truly know what another is feeling? And can they ever know us?
It reminded me of a comment from my book club the other night that continues to haunt me, the fabric between us and others in the universe is spread thin at times. It changes. Sometimes we feel connected to another, truly in sync, and others as if we are miles and miles apart and can't connect to them at all. Sometimes we feel like were in each other's heads, and others like we are strangers, complete foreigners. It stretches uncomfortably. And I think this film portrays that tension and feeling quite well.
I'm struggling to describe it, for it is difficult to do so. But it like the film before it, Inside Out, changed my perspective on things, and made feel less alone. If that makes sense?
Highly recommend both films.