Starring: Ryan Phillippe, Sarah Polley, Piper Perabo, Robert Sean Leondard, Stephen Lang, Peter Egan, Stephen Graham, Rakie Ayola, Stephen Rea Director(s): Roland Suso Richter Writer(s): Screenplay by Michael Cooney and Timothy Scott Bogart; based upon the stage play, “Point of Death”, by Michael Cooney
Ryan Phillippe tries to piece it all together in ‘The I Inside’
Is it okay to confess that I like Ryan Phillippe? As an actor, I think he’s pretty good. If he’s in a film, I’m always willing to give it a chance. Ever since I saw Antitrust, which is one of those films I can watch again and again. I may not always like his movies, but I’ll watch them. That is why I was willing to take a look at the upcoming DVD release of The I Inside, which comes out March 8th.
Ian Hart (left) is John Lennon and Stephen Dorff is Stuart Sutcliff in ‘Backbeat’
The story of the Beatles is probably one of the most often examined tales in rock and roll history. Yet throughout that history, one story was left behind, as it happened before they became famous.
Stuart Sutcliff was the band’s first bass guitarist, and left the band shortly before they rocketed to stardom. But before he could witness just how famous his former bandmates would become, Sutcliff died of a massive brain hemorrhage.
For the first time his story was told in 1993’s Backbeat, a somewhat slow but interesting film. This isn’t really a great film, nor is it the pseudo-bio pic of the Beatles that one might expect from it. The story is about Sutcliff, his love affair with a German photographer, and his friendship with John Lennon.
We first meet Sutcliff as he hangs out at a club with his best friend, Lennon. The two run afoul with a collection of tough guys, and after a brief chase sequence that plays like an homage to the collection of films the Beatles made, Sutcliff is violently beat by several of the guys. This is meant as an attempted explanation for the brain condition that will later kill him. It is then established that Sutcliff is a rather talented artist. Painting is his first love, but he agrees to play in Lennon’s band as a bass guitarist.
Along with the rest of the band — which includes Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Pete Best — they journey to Hamburg, Germany to play in a seedy club. While there, Sutcliff meets Astrid, with whom he falls deeply in love. This almost instantly creates a rift between him and Lennon, as well as the rest of the band. Eventually, he chooses his art and Astrid over the band.
Okay, I kind of give a lot away here, but the fate of Sutcliff is pretty well known at this point for anyone interested in Beatles lore. However, if you are a Beatles nut, this film may not necessarily be what you’re looking for. That’s chiefly because Backbeat really doesn’t focus much on the Beatles. In fact, the film seems to work rather hard to avoid being about the Beatles at all. Probably a little too hard.
Ultimately, the film is Sutcliff’s. When he meets Astrid and begins his affair with her, the other characters really become secondary to the story. Just like they become secondary to Sutcliff’s life. A reluctant member, who is first to admit he doesn’t play guitar very well, he is quick to immerse himself in Astrid’s counter-culture world.
The difficult part of this film is that Sutcliff’s story, ultimately, isn’t really that interesting. At least to me. What draws you in here is his connection with the Beatles, and that ultimately outshines his own story. Once he starts away from the band, the emotional connection goes with it. It’s interesting in an historical aspect to understand what happened to him, but beyond that I found myself wanting to see more of the Beatles than him once they parted ways.
Sutcliff and his girlfriend, Astrid, actually had a lot of influence over what would become the look of the Beatles, but that is not directly stated in the film itself (although the text at the end does indicate this). For me, the film really falters because I simply didn’t find Sutcliff particularly interesting. His film incarnation, anyway. Regardless of that, I think Stephen Dorff delivers a great performance, as does Ian Hart as Lennon.
This “collector’s edition” DVD is also terrifically packaged. It includes a commentary by Iain Softley, the film’s director and co-writer, as well as a conversation with Astrid Kirchherr, the woman Sutcliff left the Beatles to be with. There are also interviews with Softley and Hart, along with a pair of deleted scenes. The conversation with Kirchherr is interesting, as it’s the only feature where a real person the film is based on discusses Sutcliff. Although I can’t say I thought Backbeat was particularly great, the DVD they put together is pretty good if you’re a fan of the movie.
Things get bloody in ‘Battle Royale’ (Batoru rowaiaru)
Battle Royale, originally released in 2000 in Japan, is a harsh action film with a little horror and comedy mixed in. Featuring a cast of teenage classmates who are forced to kill each other, this film could almost never be popular in the United States with its series of recent classroom shootings. Battle Royale depicts images of a somewhat untouchable topic, putting the responsibility on the adults and government in a kind of reality TV setting. This movie is harsh, graphic, and gory at times, but actually succeeds in making this disturbing topic light hearted and cartoonish. It’s almost like something out of an old Warner Bros. cartoon where Daffy inadvertently blows himself up, trying to off Bugs.
The basic story follows the classmates on a class trip. This group of ninth grade students is drugged and taken to an island where they are forced to kill each other in order for one of them to survive. The two main characters, Nanahara (Tatsuya Fujiwara) and Noriko (Aki Maeda) find safety in each other and a third, older outsider named Kawada (TaroYamamoto). Another noteworthy actress in the film is Chiaki Kuriyama, who was featured in Kill Bill: Vol. 1.
Most of Battle Royale is a series of confrontations between two or more of the 42 students in which someone ends up dead. The graphic battles are interspersed with flashbacks and conversations between the students, explaining their lives together back at school. The organization that brings the students to the island is a government sanctioned, military run group that randomly chooses classes to be eliminated. In the world of the movie, because of mass student protests, the adults have decided that something drastic is necessary in order to force the youth of Japan to become “productive citizens”.
The man running the “game”, played by Takeshi Kitano, was formerly these classmates’ teacher. We discover through a series of flashbacks that Kitano’s character quit teaching because of a knifing incident, and now has his own ulterior interest in this particular group of students.
The casting for Battle Royale deserves note and the acting is exceptional considering the young age of many of the actors and content of the film. Battle Royale is really over the top in violence and even has some scenes that are digitally enhanced to make them even gorier. There are several scenes that might be unwatchable had they been edited differently or not shot heavily shadowed.
Interestingly enough, because of some of the editing choices, the score, and extreme characterization, much of the violence comes off as comical or farcical and leaves a sense of light-heartedness. Putting the violence in such a comical light brings to mind images of another Beat Kitano project, MXC. This is a popular Japanese TV show now imported to the United States by Spike TV in which people are made to traverse different outrageous obstacle courses which usually causes them some rudimentary public or physical trauma.
Battle Royale brings forth some interesting philosophical subjects and social commentary with its portrayal of violence and community reform. Because the violence contains comical residue, the viewer is able to experience much more violence than they might otherwise be able to stomach, establishing new levels of acceptability. But it also realistically portrays violence and allows one to question the extent to which people might be willing to go in order to survive.
Putting a program of systematic youth elimination in the hands of adults makes for an interesting portrayal of what one generation might be willing to do in order to make sure that its group survives. This film brings up interesting pictures of what it is like to make that transformation from youth to adulthood, and how one age group might struggle to maintain its power by eliminating its progeny.
In the end, Battle Royale is an enjoyable first time watch and is easy to get drawn into seeing how each of the students will off themselves or be killed by a fellow classmate. However, the film does not really hold up for repeated viewings. Once the kitsch value has passed, the movie becomes tedious and a bit long.
Okay, so here is the real let down of the entire DVD: there are tons of interesting looking extras on the second disc to the special edition of Battle Royale. However, they are all spoken in Japanese with only the option of Korean subtitles. This was a terrible let down because there really did seem to be some interesting things on the second disc. If it were not for pretty good disc navigation and acceptable picture and sound on the disc, I would have given this DVD an even lower score.
I believe the last time I had seen Bambi, I was five years old and saw it during a re-release or special screening. It was probably the first time I had seen the movie, as well. So, when I was sent the upcoming special edition DVD — which is set to hit stores on Tuesday — it was as if I was seeing the film for the first time.
First and foremost, I’ve repeatedly been impressed with the DVDs Disney has put out of its most treasured classics. They really are shining examples of how films should be released (and I’m not just saying that because I get advanced peaks at these DVDs). And this “platinum edition” of Bambi is probably the single best release of a classic Disney film yet.
I’m not just talking about the restoration, which is quite impressive. The vibrant colors and crisp images are simply stunning. Even the audio get the red carpet treatment, with a brand new 5.1 mix. I attended a presentation a few weeks back that detailed how much work the folks at Disney put into restoring Bambi, and while the few scenes they highlighted were great, watching the entire feature really allows you to see just how much the film has prospered from its makeover.
The preservation of classic films is probably the most important thing Hollywood and its machinations need to concern themselves with these days, and I must applaud Disney’s work here.
Bambi was not only a success with fans, but an important step forward in animation. The artwork was greatly improved over anything that Disney had produced before, with more realistic movement and characters that ushered in a new era.
The movie itself is pretty simplistic, with only a few scenes with any dialogue. It’s a combination of many of the styles of shorts that Disney had produced before, with scenes that utilized music to traditional character interaction and story.
At the beginning, Bambi is born, and introduced to the other creatures in the forest. As he grows we meet the cuddily critters that would become his friends, such as Thumper the rabbit and Flower the skunk. As Bambi learns about the forest, mostly through the teachings of his mother, he discovers the dangers of man.
Tragically, his mother is killed by hunters, and he is raised by his father. Fast forward to a young adult Bambi, he returns to the forest of his youth and is reintroduced to his friends. He soon finds a mate, and survives a deadly forest fire to start a family of his own.
The concept of the “circle of life” that was so integral to Disney’s The Lion Kingstarted with Bambi. In fact, The Lion King was pitched as Bambi in Africa. And while the story isn’t nearly as complex, it’s pretty easy to see how this animated classic became such a hit. It’s sweet, touching, sad and hopeful. It not only spans the emotional spectrum, but does so with such precision.
Although the restored version of Bambi is the main feature of this DVD, what I found to be the most interesting was the extra, “Bambi: Inside Walt’s Story Meetings”. This is probably the closest you’ll get to an audio commentary of a classic film as you’re likely to hear.
According to Disney, this feature was created using recently discovered transcripts of Walt Disney’s story meetings regarding Bambi. They are word-for-word notes of what was said and who was there. The feature casts actors in the roles of the different speakers and the audio plays over a collection of clips from the movie, as well as storyboard drawings and other artwork from the film’s production.
Listening to Walt and the other animators and creators talk about the story, how it was created and its characters, is really pretty interesting. Watching a collection of talking heads discuss how the film was produced is always fun, I suppose, but to hear Walt’s ideas and feelings about the film from the man himself is really fascinating.
Generally, audio commentaries are my favorite feature on any DVD, and in this case this is about the best you’ll likely get. Although not a traditional commentary, it serves the same purpose.
The other behind-the-scenes docs are pretty good, as well. One thing I thought was a short and clever piece was the “Disney Time Capsule: 1942, the Year of Bambi”, which briefly examines what was going on in the United States when the film was released. It helps provide a little more context so viewers can better understand and appreciate the movie itself.
Two deleted scenes can also be found here, but I’m not sure they are all that interesting. And while the games and activities bits are cute, I honestly don’t get why games need to be included on a DVD. But not being a kid, I suppose that feature isn’t really targeted at me.
Overall, this is probably one of the best DVD releases I’ve seen in quite some time for a classic film.
There aren’t exactly that many biopics that I really enjoy. Partially because they aren’t done well, but also because they tend to take too many licenses with the truth. But with Ray we’re given a surprisingly honest film that doesn’t appear to pull any punches. It’s Ray Charles, warts and all, and in the end you may not necessarily like the man, but you cannot leave without respecting his genius.
I’m not sure this is the greatest film I’ve ever seen, but if ever there was a movie that was carried by the performance of its star, than Ray is it. With stunning ability, Jamie Foxx expertly disappears into the part. You forget the actor and feel that you are witnessing a young Ray Charles slamming away gracefully at the piano.
The film’s story follows the professional highs and personal lows of musician Ray Charles. When we first meet him, Ray is just starting out in Seattle, Washington. He overcomes those who are out to take advantage of him, but begins a drug addiction that consumes him for years. Although we meet Ray as a young man, several flashbacks scattered throughout take us to his childhood, exploring his life and how he lost his sight. Many of Ray Charles’ most famous songs are noted, each used to mark milestones in his career leading into the 1970s.
The Ray Charles we’re shown in this film is arrogant, haunted, confident and lonely. A multi-faceted personality that has a clear and profound talent that allowed him to create some of the greatest music ever recorded. He not only understood music, but had the ability to create sounds on the fly and catch a note on the first take. Unquestionably a great talent.
But with that talent came an arrogance and hypocrisy that often alienated those around him. It was surprisingly honest in that regard, never flinching to show Ray’s dark side. It’s here where the film ascends from a standard biopic to a powerful story about the man and his talent. Had it attempted in some way to whitewash him, then it would have become fake and lost depth. I have to respect the filmmakers for that, as well as Ray Charles himself, who participated in the making of the film.
While Ray was constructed well, the glue that holds it together is undeniably Jamie Foxx. His near perfect performance of Ray Charles elevates the movie. I cannot recall another film like it where an actor so beautifully disappeared into the role, leaving behind the ghostly image of the man he was portraying. Where Jim Carrey’s turn as Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon comes off as more an impersonation than a performance, Foxx transforms himself. Although there is a moment or two where the actor peaks through, Foxx becomes Ray Charles.
After taking this film in, I was asked if Jamie Foxx deserves the Oscar for Best Actor. Honestly, my first reaction was torn. Personally, I’ve been rooting for Don Cheadle from Hotel Rwanda as my pick. And to a degree, I’m still a little on the fence. They are both outstanding performances. The biggest difference, however, is that Foxx plays a recognizable figure. Ray Charles, for the most part, is a pop culture legend that most people have seen on stage or in interviews. We have a sense for the man. Jamie Foxx so successfully captured that, making his performance feel better.
Cheadle’s performance as Paul Rusesabagina may also be based on a real person, but there is no personal connection for the audience. Paul is not someone we are familiar with, as such while we recognize him as a real person, we have no frame of reference. Nothing to connection Cheadle’s performance to.
Honestly, I would be happy if either of them win, because of the group I think they are the most deserving. But my guess is that Foxx will get it, and he deserves it just as much as Cheadle does. It is unfortunate that the two had to turn in such stellar performances in the same year.
I don’t want to exclude the other actors in Ray, because there really isn’t a weak performance to be found here. I was especially glad to see Curtis Armstrong, who plays Ahmet Ertegun, one of the producers at Atlantic that gives Ray his first successful recording contract. The man who was “Booger” in Revenge of the Nerdsand Herbert Quentin Viola in the television series, Moonlighting, is one of the most underrated actors. It was great to see him given an opportunity to shine in a high profile production, he deserves the attention.
The Ray DVD includes a collection of great extras, including some insightful commentary by the movie’s director, Taylor Hackford. There are quite a few deleted scenes, 14 all together. Each are accompanied with a brief commentary by Hackford, who explains why the scene was cut. A documentary takes a look at Ray Charles’ life and career, as well as a brief feature that gathers friends and fellow musicians to discuss the artist, who sadly died before the film was released.
There is also an extended version of the film that has about 25 minutes not featured in the original theatrical release. To be honest, I didn’t watch that version. Although I plan to, I really wanted to base my opinion of the movie on what most people have seen.
I wasn’t sure what I’d think of Ray before watching it. I’d heard all the hype about Jamie Foxx’ performance, but sometimes the hype is far from the reality. I was happy to discover that the hype was real, and that Foxx creates a powerful performance in a film that is probably one of the best biopics I’ve seen.
James Purefoy and Reese Witherspoon in ‘Vanity Fair’
Let me start this one off by just saying now that it’s going to be short. This is one of those reviews I struggle through, because I have nothing nice to say about this movie.
Vanity Fair is the kind of period piece I never understand. For the most part, these type of movies are melodramatic nonsense filled with unlikable characters playing the social society game with a lack of compassion and filled with greed. And I just can never grasp why people find them fascinating.
Here we follow the efforts of Rebecca Sharp as she uses sex and wit to slither up the social ladder in the late 1800s England. The story follows the people she steps on as she ascends that ladder, eventually falls off it, then struggles to ascend once more.
I really am sitting here at the keyboard struggling to talk about this movie. It has been quite some time since I’ve been witness to a production that so disgusted me. But what makes this experience unique is that it had nothing to do with the actors in it, the direction, or anything about the production itself. The problem for me was quite simply the story and characters.
Reese Witherspoon in ‘Vanity Fair’
There isn’t one redeemable person in the entire film. There are generally just two types of people here: the disgustingly arrogant elite, and the people they abuse and use. And while there are perhaps a few characters who are not morally corrupt, they are ultimately dramatically stupid that you cannot possibly feel sympathy for them.
Sharp is someone you’re suppose to feel something for, and Vanity Fair does attempt repeatedly to manipulate you into feeling sorry for her. In one scene, she attends a high society gathering where the majority of women openly turn their backs on her. Eventually, one of them takes pity on her, but we the audience know — or should know — that this woman’s noble efforts are wasted. Sharp is not really deserving of sympathy because she is the very person the other women believe her to be: a gold-digger who manipulates her way into rich society. A shallow, selfish woman. And what makes this movie so frustrating is that she never changes. In the end, through all her troubles and everything that she has lost, she remains vain and empty.
It’s as if the movie attempts to con the audience in the same manner that Sharp cons those around her.
Visually, the film is beautiful. Well directed, and Reese Witherspoon does a strong job as Rebecca Sharp. All of this grandeur, however, is wasted on a film that has no redeeming elements to it.
Much as Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa was the Jedi Master of the film school dojo attended by filmmakers Steven Speilberg, George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola in the seventies, Hayao Miyazaki is the Yoda for the modern American animators at Disney and Pixar. John Lasseter, the director of Toy Story introduces Spirited Away on DVD. Lasseter declares his admiration for Miyazaki, a true auteur of animation, who writes, directs and storyboards all of his feature films from start to finish at his own Studio Ghibli outside of Tokyo, Japan. If you loved Finding Nemo and The Incredibles, then you shouldn’t miss Spirited Away, an animated classic, on DVD.
Spirited Away follows the transformation of a typical little girl from a whiny brat into a real heroine who is undaunted by any of the many challenges she faces.
Riding in the backseat of her parents’ car, Chihiro is sullen and belligerent because she has been forced to leave the life she has always known behind when her parents decided to move from Tokyo to the suburbs. Suddenly, as if he is being driven by demons, Chihiro’s father veers off the main road and stops outside of what looks to be an abandoned theme park. Not wanting to be left behind when her parents get out of the car to explore, Chihiro follows them through a darkened tunnel into the unpopulated buildings.
After her parents are transformed into pigs right in front of her eyes, Chihiro is left alone and forced to fend for herself in an enchanted land filled with spirits and strange, magical creatures. Chihiro is befriended by Haku, a boy spirit, she later learns is able to shape-shift himself into a dragon. Haku tells her what she must do in order to get a job doing hard labor in a bath house that is a kind of day spa for spirit creatures in need of rest and relaxation.
Chihiro becomes the apprentice of Lin, one of the many workers in the bathhouse. Lin warns her that Haku is not to be trusted. He is the minion of Yubaba, the wicked witch who runs the bath house. Chihiro has to conquer her own fears and face many obstacles in order to rescue her parents from the pig sty before they are slaughtered for a spirit feast.
Spirited Away is an allegorical fable much like many of the classic Grimm’s fairy tales. The story is fantastical and sometimes difficult to follow, and Spirited Awaypossesses none of the quirky fun, pop culture references, and comedic moments that makes Pixar films favorites of young and old alike. Miyazaki’s storytelling is old-fashioned and the plot is filled with adult metaphors. Aficionados of animation may be the only ones to appreciate some of the visual concepts. And while the hero of the story is a child, the plot may be too convoluted and esoteric for children to follow. There are also a couple of scenes, most notably when Chihiro’s parents are transformed into pigs, that may be too scary for small children.
But children of all ages will be awed by Miyazaki’s overwhelming visual images. It is Miyazaki’s attention to detail that makes Spirited Away so incredibly awe-inspiring. Miyazaki creates an animated world that is realistic in the small details at the same time that the visual images stretch the boundaries of creativity and imagination in their magical appeal.
The backgrounds for the action are incredible, and each new creature that is introduced is more fantastic and than the last. The characters of No Face and the Turnip Spirit are particularly notable for how their appearance and movements reveal their on-screen personality. From the small bits of smudge that carry lumps of coal to the furnace in the basement of the bath house, to the amazing scene when Haku transforms into a dragon and takes Chihiro flying high on his back, it is Miyazaki’s attention to even the smallest details of his animation that makes Spirited Away worth watching.
The DVD version of Spirited Away has only two main bonus features. Both features focus on how the creative team at Walt Disney adapted Miyazaki’s original film for English-speaking audiences. One of the most intriguing moments comes as Miyazaki himself explains how his imagination transformed an occurrence in his real life into something not of this world for Spirited Away. His imagination is obviously unparalleled.
Miyazaki’s most recent masterpiece, Howl’s Moving Castle, is soon to be theatrically released in the United States. It is certain to be another classic from this undisputed master of animation. Before you buy your tickets, you’ll want to check out Spirited Away on DVD, to understand why Hayao Miyazaki is heralded by his peers and considered to be the modern-day Walt Disney.
Musa, originally released in 2001, is an amazing, big budget Korean swordplay film with big name actors set in China during the Ming Dynasty. Musa sets itself apart from the likes of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero with its realistic and historically accurate story. The film serves as a platform to talk about cultural differences, class clashes, and warrior kinship, but also packs a huge punch with amazing actions scenes, great acting, and an interesting story.
Musa follows a Korean diplomatic envoy sent with warrior guards and slave servants to help settle differences with China. The diverse group fails to make it to their designated city for talks and ends up headed back to Korea.
When they find themselves facing challenges, the warrior guards step forward to claim leadership, challenging the wisdom of the politicians. This begins the deterioration of the group’s class structure, and the warriors are soon challenged internally when the more experienced soldiers prove to have knowledge that the younger, “appointed” officer, played by Rongguang Yu (known for his appearance in Iron Monkey) cannot. The warriors’ abilities and training are put into question when it turns out that one of the most capable fighters is a slave. Along the way, the envoy finds itself in conflict with a Mongol army for the life of a Chinese princess (Zhang Ziyi, of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon fame).
Each of the actors in this very large group deliver exceptionally good performances. Virtually every actor is involved in some way or another in the many battles. Some of the combat is quite graphic and may seem excessive, but provides a level of legitimacy and expresses an intensity that makes them more real. The apparent lack of wires or computer generated graphics also make these scenes work. Combined with Sung-su Kim’s tight script and concise direction, this is a highly enjoyable action film.
Visually, the film is quite remarkable, with some incredible cinematography that highlight the beautiful landscapes, costumes and well-crafted sets. I was especially taken by the film’s color and costume direction. At the beginning, while still in a large city, the group is seen in colorful, clean outfits that light up the screen. Each of the characters is garbed in signifying colors that set them apart from the others to establish the various castes. As the movie progresses, the visuals embrace a very brown, golden feel, to signify how the lines between who is good or bad and who is of a higher caste become blurred.
Simply put, Musa is an amazing film that embraces action as a tool to demonstrate philosophical and cultural questions about caste, class, culture, history, kinship and brotherhood. It is a remarkable film that takes what could be a simple action plot and makes it something great. The story deserves more attention, and easily stands up to several viewings, showing something new in character interaction, development, visual beauty, and filmmaking techniques. No DVD collection of modern action films is complete without it.
Enjoying this film as I do, I was disappointed to find that it had no extra features in my one disc import. Yet it does have amazing DTS quality and retains an immense visual quality on the small screen. Still, I would easily say that Musa is well worth a rental and even more, a purchase.
John Cho and Kal Penn get high in ‘Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle’
On the surface Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle is a typical stoner film. On Friday night two twenty-something guys smoke themselves into a wicked case of the munchies, and decide that the only solution is to scarf down as many burgers and fries as it takes to appease their hunger. The catch? The burgers have to be from White Castle, a fast food chain famous for teeny tiny burgers called sliders. Luckily there’s one not far from their New Jersey apartment. Or, there used to be . . .
And so their quest begins. It unfolds during an intermittent dark and stormy night, during which they joust with a gang of skinhead extreme skateboarders, a rampaging raccoon, a racist cop, Kumar’s disapproving father, Harold’s bullying co-workers, a backwoods boil-covered bible-thumping psycho mechanic who invites them to sleep with his gorgeous young wife, an anal narc, a set of beautiful English party girls seized with an unfortunate case of food poisoning, an escaped cheetah and Doogie Howser.
Like The Simpsons, if you want to watch it on nothing but the surface level, you won’t be disappointed. It’s laugh out loud funny. But watch out, because the beauty of pop culture at its most (often unintentionally) innovative is that it can slip in real thoughts and real ideas, while you’re busy cracking up at the two babes playing a rousing game of “battle shits”.
This is a gross out comedy with a twist. This odd couple is smart. No Jeff Spicoli’s here. Forget Wayne and Garth. On the road, Harold and Kumar owe more to Hope and Crosby than Bill and Ted. But wait, there’s more. Harold and Kumar, regardless the rapidly escalating, gloriously over the top situations they find themselves in, are real people. And even more unorthodox, they are friends. Not generic testosterone driven buds, pals or bros. They aren’t even afraid that, if they see each other naked, or sit close together on the couch, it “Means Something”.
The film isn’t homoerotic. It’s something way slyer and far more deceptively subversive: it isn’t homophobic. It is peppered with situations and lines that, stereotypically, call for Harold or Kumar to react in the same way men in movies react when they have to change a baby’s diaper. With a loud ewww, and the desire to get away as fast as possible. Here instead they are secure enough in their sexuality — even if they aren’t getting any — that not only aren’t they threatened, they don’t see the idea of being gay as horrific. It’s a choice, it’s just not their choice. When a white supremacist-in-training calls Harold a “catcher,” he frowns, turns to Kumar and says, “Why do I have to be the catcher?” What he’s asking is, “Do I seem like a wimp?”, completely sidestepping what, in almost any other movie, would be fighting words. There is something stealthily revolutionary, and genuinely endearing, in this.
Kal Penn (right) and John Cho star in ‘Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle’
John Cho is utterly believable as Harold, an uptight Korean-American investment banker who mistakenly thinks that the way to gain acceptance in American culture is to follow all the rules without complaint. His face continually registers his internal battle between disapproval and longing. Even at the end, when he finally cuts loose in a stolen truck, he won’t put petal to the metal to out run the cops until Kumar buckles up.
Kumar, on the other hand, could care less. It isn’t that he’s opposed to rules per se, just the ones that make no sense — and there are so many. Like having to wait for the green light to cross a deserted country road at two a.m. Kal Penn gives Kumar a comfortable air of self-confidence that is completely devoid of arrogance, allowing him to explain the most far-fetched scenarios with such total sincerity that you almost believe him. It doesn’t hurt that Penn has the charisma of a star, and that together he and Cho have far more chemistry than many of the pairings in recent romantic comedies — JLo and Ralph Fiennes come to mind, not to mention Pierce Brosnan and Julianne Moore.
The supporting players take delight in small roles, each of which defines its moment and thus becomes stand alone. Fred Ward as a medical school dean is hilariously outraged by Kumar’s refreshingly blunt admission that even though he has perfect MCAT scores he has no desire to be a doctor. Anthony Anderson is disturbingly earnest as a Burger Shack employee who may make you think twice when biting into your next oozing fast food burger. Bobby Lee does a quick turn as a button down geek who shocks Harold and Kumar when he comes unbuttoned in a scene that underscores the film’s theme — stereotyping isn’t something that we only do to others, we do it to ourselves. And as Bobby Lee’s character, Kenneth Park proves, most of the time, we are wrong. Finally, as Neil Patrick Harris, Neil Patrick Harris is sublime. Doogie has a sense of humor. Who knew?
The DVD also includes a conversation between Bobby Lee, Kal Penn and John Cho that’s entertaining although not enlightening. Far more interesting is the short, “The Art of the Fart,” which illustrates that bathroom humor is not nearly as easy as it seems. Given breakthroughs in manufactured sound — and who hasn’t seen old footage of coconut shells being clapped together to create the sound of thundering hooves? — you’d think that it would be a cinch to whip up a good fart via a synthesizer. Apparently not. In this case, it took a burly sound engineer dressed in granny-style drag infiltrating a public restroom in Arizona, trying, not always successfully, to secretly snake a boom mike beneath the walls of a stall while it’s in use.
But by far the most interesting extras on the DVD are two commentaries, one with director Danny Leiner, as well as Cho and Penn; and the other by the screenwriters, John Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg. The two writers describe what they were going for in each scene, how it was written, what they were thinking as it was filmed and a million little intriguing details that make you feel as if you were there. However, watching them back-to-back is at times a bit of a Rashomon experience, especially when each attributes the creation of a particular line to a different person. It’s definitely worth the price of admission.
Gael García Bernal is Che Guevera in ‘The Motorcycle Diaries’
I have to confess, I am not really familiar with Che Guevara, the famous and infamous revolutionary. What little I know about him is what’s detailed in this film, Motorcycle Diaries, a beautifully told story that charts a young Che Guevara and his friend, Alberto Granado, as they journey through several South American countries in the early 1950s.
Perhaps if I’d had some understanding of the man Che would become after the film before seeing it, I may have felt differently. Perhaps if I was a believer in his cause, I would have seen the film with more emotion. Perhaps if I knew of some of the terrible things he was accused of, I would have been disgusted by how the film idolized him.
Instead, I was the virtual blank slate, having no knowledge of his place in history.
Motorcycle Diaries follows Ernesto Guevara, a medical student who is one semester away from graduating, and Alberto Granado, a biochemist. With an old motorcycle, they set out to see the continent. Along the way, they lose their bike, con men and women for food and services, and spend time helping a colony of lepers.
It’s an interesting film, touching at moments with some strong performances by both Gael Garcia Bernal, as Guevara, and Rodrigo de la Serna, as Granado. Bernal really shines here, not only because of his strong performance, but because of the beautifully written character. So much is said, yet much is left unsaid, expressed through looks and moments that allow Bernal to really display his talents.
Gael García Bernal (front) and Rodrigo de la Serna co-star in ‘The Motorcycle Diaries’
This is the second film I’ve seen where Bernal was a featured player. In Bad Education, he turned in a strong performance as well. But here, much of his work is subtle, taking advantage of small moments. One example would be when Guevara reads a letter from the woman he left behind. Although it is not revealed what is in the letter, the dialogue-free moments after he reads it makes it pretty clear.
I was impressed by how the film wasn’t afraid to not say something. Too often movies feel they must tell the audience everything. God forbid a moment go by where some extraneous dialogue isn’t used to make sure the audience understands exactly what it is they just saw.
It is not my wish to minimize the performance by Serna. Although he is largely the sidekick here, he delivers the part with some natural presence that he often upstages the scene with his humor.
However, as Motorcycle Diaries came to its conclusion, I was left feeling I didn’t get the full effect. To me, Ernesto “Che” Guevara was just a fictional man who discovered the realities of the society he lived in during a life-changing road trip. To others, however, this story was probably an exploration of a national hero. Had I knew who the man was, or what he represented before seeing the film, then perhaps I would have thought differently.
For those who believe Che Guevara was a dangerous, cold-blooded killer, this film could be seen as a glorification of a bad man. Yet those who believed in him could see it as a graceful, complimentary film that honors him.
Me? I felt it was an enjoyable, often humorous, often touching film about discovery. A well told, well acted production that is graceful and smart.
The DVD contains a few deleted scenes, a pair of interviews from Spanish television with Bernal, along with one with the film’s composer, Gustavo Santaolalla, who created some simple yet beautiful music. Yet the highlight is really “A Moment with Alberto Granado”, an interview with the real man who made the journey with Che Guevara. He discusses the trip, and several of the real photographs from their journey are featured.
