Submitted by admin on Fri, 2006-11-10 08:00. ::
The films of Mexican master Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu are an acquired taste, like a fine Bordeaux wine, and Babel is now the ultimate example.
Even more than Inarritu's first two projects, Amores Perros and 21 Grams, his new epic is rich in complexity and tart upon the tongue because of its emotional tannins.
I first saw Babel at its premiere in May at the Cannes Film Festival, where Inarritu won the best-director prize. Few days have gone by since when some idea, an image or the film's primal insight has not affected me in some small way.
This effect accumulates, deepening the experience. So I now appreciate the power of Babel to a greater degree than in May. The film played as a gala at the Toronto festival in September and is now in its theatrical run, inviting another visit.
Befitting its inspiration, Babel is a true global film. It plays in several languages, primarily English, Spanish, Japanese and Arabic. It was filmed in Mexico, Morocco and Japan. The key cast members hail from the U.S., Mexico, Morocco, Japan and Australia. There are stars mixed with effective amateurs, including two Moroccan kids who will capture your hearts -- and then break them.
The names range from Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, as an American married couple on holiday in Morocco; to the superb Mexican veteran Adriana Barraza and emerging star Gael Garcia Bernal, as kinfolk who run afoul of U.S. border rules; to Japan's Koji Yakusho and Rinko Kikuchi, as a father-daughter duo scarred by the loss of the mother.
Each segment of the story is given equal weight, as each story is segmented and juxtaposed with the others. So this is not a "Brad Pitt movie" but a true collective -- although he is remarkable in his role as an anguished husband and father caught up in extraordinary circumstances, when a stray bullet causes a crisis.
Critically, the film's point-of-view, while conjured by Inarritu and his gifted screenwriting partner Guillermo Arriaga, has an enlightened, universal quality. They seem inspired by humanism and not nationalism, by dialogue and not demagoguery. It is as if all things good were possible in the world, if only people could rise above their petty behaviours and numbing prejudices.
Of course, they don't. So Babel is rife with tension, intrigue, tragedy, stupid mistakes and sometimes dire consequences. Babel has the taut clench of a thriller, even though it is a serious art-house drama. It could leave you exhausted -- it does run epic length -- and it could have your mind spinning as you reel out of the theatre.
Dark, sophisticated and challenging, this film is a stunning conclusion to Inarritu's trilogy that began with Amores Perros and 21 Grams. Babel's stories are involve parent-child issues, especially fathers. I guarantee each saga will haunt your dreams.
A psychotic ex-soldier and a lamentable loser: What a doomed and damnable pair to be unleashed on the mean streets of South Central Los Angeles.
One, it is the directorial debut of screenwriter David Ayer, who wrote the script for Training Day. In that film, Ayer set the scenario that would finally garner Denzel Washington his best-actor Oscar (although it should have been Malcolm X that did it first). In addition, Ethan Hawke generated a best-supporting-actor nomination.
Two, Christian Bale fashions a stunning portrayal of the psychotic, a military careerist desperate for a new gig, either with the LAPD or in a federal agency such as Homeland Security. Either way, he would still play with guns and perhaps get to kill again. This is not just a post-war trauma case. Our guy was nuts even before he served in Iraq.
Bale captures his character's disturbing mindset with a ferocity worthy of Robert De Niro in Raging Bull. He also invokes the vulnerability of Sylvester Stallone in the original Rambo movie, First Blood. It makes for an interesting dichotomy within a damaged human being.
Freddy Rodriguez, as the loser buddy, is unselfish in support, a sidekick along for the ride to the abyss. He even risks losing his woman (Eva Longoria) to hang out with Bale. That's just stupid. We watch in horror.
These factors might have propelled Harsh Times into instant-classic status. But the movie is soulless. It is Training Day flipped and gutted of its social context. Instead of the two cops in Training Day -- one corrupt, the other the crusading idealist -- Harsh Times features two criminals struggling with the same personality split.
In truth, even Training Day had a B-movie mentality with A-list actors and the burnish of an Oscar campaign. In Harsh Times, there is even less to support the rage. Lacking soul, it plays as exploitation, not insight.
Harsh Times has already suffered hard times as a viable film release. It first screened in Canada at the 2005 Toronto film festival. Here we are two months past the 2006 fest and Harsh Times is only now getting its theatrical release. Clearly, it is a hard sell.
The meek may inherit the Earth but they might never be able to watch all of this brutal, soulless movie. Yet Christian Bale remains mesmerizing.
This is cache, read story here
