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American Sniper
Dir: Clint Eastwood |
30/100 |
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Both the style and content of this film are unremarkable - it's questionable politics and inherent lack of moral complexity coupled with its mind-boggling popularity being the only interesting thing about the film. What we have is a very simplistic view of wars - from a singularly American perspective - and the people who fight in them. Why they fight is not explored beyond the protagonist possessing a patriotism ingrained in him from childhood, and why the war in which they're participating is taking place is ignored completely ("because terrorism" doesn't count). This is both Eastwood's biggest misstep, and paradoxically the main reason for the films success. It would seem that people don't want to be burdened by ethical dilemmas - they prefer an updated cowboys and indians drama, with clear cut villains and an upstanding (American) hero as the protagonist.
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Most of the controversy surrounding the film is centred around the protagonist Chris Kyle, and the disparity between the real person and the film version of him. Eastwood portrays Kyle as an exemplar, while in reality he seems to have enjoyed killing people; he considered the people he shot to be contemptible, and most importantly that as far as the war on terror, and his role within it was concerned the ends always justify the means - not surprising as that's the same thinking the US military whole-heartedly embraces, and judging by the films popularity the vast majority of its audience don't see that kind of thinking as being problematic.
American Sniper switches back and forth between two films; one about the negative effects fighting in a war has on (American) soldiers and their families, and the other a Boy's Own type adventure story about our hero protecting his fellow troops while battling an evil nemesis in the desert. The first is full of cliched writing and extraneous and badly executed exposition that merely serves to distract from the second film set in Iraq, which is obviously the one Eastwood was more interested in. The problems with this film though are its pro-war stance, and again the writing. The US troops are sketchily drawn at best and Kyle is a completely one-dimensional non-entity of a character. He's fiercely patriotic, and he's good at his job, which is to shoot strangers from afar. That's it. And because there's absolutely no characterisation of the enemies in his sights it's like watching someone shooting bottles on a fencepost. It quickly becomes monotonous and devoid of impact.
From a storytelling perspective, the films most glaring fault is its lack of depth. It never addresses the question of whether US troops should be in Iraq in the first place - the only opinion it has on the issue is that of the protagonist - a simple (it's tempting to use the word in both senses) guy whose view of America is that it's 'the best country in the world', and his view of the world seems to be no more complex than 'we're the good guys and anyone with different values from us are the bad guys', and that's how the film plays out in its entirety. It's designed to appeal on a purely visceral level, in much the same way as the average summer blockbuster or superhero movie. Maybe they should have called it Sniperman.
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Whiplash
Dir: Damien Chazelle |
60/100 |
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This could have been an absorbing portrait of the student-teacher dynamic, or maybe an intelligent rumination on the nature of creativity, or the abuse of power, but instead it heads off into 'Rocky' territory where merely wanting something badly enough and having a good work ethic guarantees results in the end. While this is presented as being a realistic portrayal of the travails of an ambitious young drummer studying at a prestigious conservatory under the brutal tutelage of an overbearing teacher, it throws in too many unrealistic and over-the-top scenes in an effort to ramp up the drama. It would have been infinitely more effective had these superfluous scenes of car crashes, bleeding fingers and gritted teeth been dispensed with in favor of delving more deeply into the psychology of the two main characters.
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What drives people to greatness? Can genius be attained through hard work or is it innate? How much positive reinforcement or negative influence should teachers and mentors exert on their most promising pupils? There's only one scene near the end of the film that really addresses any of these issues, and it feels like a footnote. An even more important failing of the film though is that it suffers from a fundamental misunderstanding of the subject matter at hand. Is jazz simply about who can play the fastest? Of course not. But, you'd be forgiven for thinking that it was, watching this film, featuring endless scenes of the protagonist battering away on his drums - alone - ever faster and faster, as if jazz drumming were an olympic event, with the winner pounding out the most beats per second. Once again the emphasis here is on mechanical mastery, dilligence and perseverance in the face of adversity rather than a true understanding of and emotional connection with the music, and developing the creative freedom to improvise and make it your own - the core ethos of jazz.
When you get right down to it this film could be about any human endeavour - it's much less about jazz, or even music in general than it is about the virtues of hard work and dogged determination - the most prevalent and tired theme in all of American mainstream films. It's not all doom and gloom though. There are some effective scenes to enjoy, and the performances are good across the board. Simmons richly deserves all the plaudits coming his way this awards season, and Miles Teller as the erstwhile prodigy is effective in a much more contained way, but the film as a whole is a misguided mess, which is a shame because the ingredients are all here for this to be so much more than it ended up being.
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Winter Sleep
Dir: Nuri Bilge Ceylan |
95/100 |
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A feast for the eyes, featuring indoor scenes with a deep, rich colour palette and crisp and biting outdoor photography, this film hammers another nail in the coffin of traditional celluloid filmmaking. Shot entirely using digital technology Ceylan's precise compositions of the stunning winter landscapes are breathtaking to behold, and are the perfect backdrop for the icy atmosphere that's slowly revealed between the main players in this broody and insightful character study from the pen of Anton Chekov, whose short stories 'The Wife' and 'Excellent People' form the backbone of the film. While it's not without incident it's much more concerned with characters than plot, and we spend most of the film following Aydin, a retired theatre actor who owns a small hotel deep in the mountains of Cappadocia, in addition to several properties around the neighboring town that he rents out.
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Aydin's hotel sees few guests and is more of a way to try to connect and socialise with people from different cultures than a source of income for him. He sees himself as something of a renaissance man - he writes intellectual articles for an independent magazine ('Aydin' is Turkish for 'enlightened' - though it's debatable just how enlightened Aydin is; his view of himself doesn't correlate with the view of him that most of the people around him have, and he seems less enlightened and more pompous as the film progresses). There is much verbal sparring between Aydin and his recently divorced sister, and his estranged wife, both of whom are tiring of his perceived egotism.
It's mostly left to the viewer to decide whether the perception the women in Aydin's life have of him is true though, as his backstory and personality is gradually and expertly revealed to the viewer through his actions in a series of subtle but key scenes of seemingly little import when taken individually but very telling when viewed in toto. It's this subtlety in characterisation and deftness of execution that elevates Ceylan above most of his contemporaries, and his style of long takes and stillness is especially effective for those looking for a more contemplative experience. Haluk Bilginer also deserves a huge amount of credit for his interpretation of the central character here. He gives a tremendously nuanced and complex performance, and he's ably supported by Melisa Sozen and Demet Akbag who play his resentful wife and bitter sister respectively, but everything is funnelled through his convincing and dynamic performance. Such a wealth of interesting psychological insights and philosophical musings delivered with perfect understanding and empathy by a magnificent cast makes this the film of the year, but when combined with the stunning cinematography and assured direction this becomes one of the most accomplished and compelling films to come along in quite some time.
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