The Culture Beat

(Note: I’m back after the last two weeks of teaching classes for the semester with only exam week-ha! Only! left, so please forgive this absence.)

I got an e-mail from a marketing company this past week offering two passes to see Up in the Air, the new George Clooney movie on Thursday. I took my wife and we stood in line before the appointed time–about thirty minutes since it was a first come, first served basis. The line was mostly people over 30, sometimes well over thirty so I wondered if the targeted demographic wanted to reach out beyond the youth demographic, the standard bullseye of most movie marketing for this kind of movie. The film, made by someone not far above that college age range, Jason Reitman, is his third, after the satirical Thank-You for Smoking, and last years wonderful Juno. This kid, son of comedy director Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters), got his dad’s talent plus a whole lot more savvy at capturing the secrets of the human soul. Up in the Air is his most impressive film to date–at this rate, I wonder where he’ll be in ten years.

The film’s lead character, Ryan Bingham, flies all over corporate America, hired by cowardly bosses to do their firing and laying off. Bingham is smooth and in control at all times, but the real secret of his success is that he has the gift of sensing just the right thing to say to ease the shocked ex-employee into seeing this not as an end but as a chance for a new beginning, and then he hands them their severance packet and tells them they’ll be called later to follow up on their “transitioning.” Ryan spends more than 300 days a year in the air, happy to be above the entanglements of both things and people. His commitment-free lifestyle allows him to make casual hookups with a like-minded lady business traveler, Alex (Vera Farmiga). His purpose driven life is to acquire a magic number of frequent flyer miles and he’s getting close to this arbitrary goal.

Then he learns that a fresh-out-college new hire Natalie (Anna Kendrick) at his company has sold the management a new plan on doing the same job he does by traveling to the companies over internet teleconferences, a cost-saving, “efficient” means of severing employees. Free spirit Ryan sees this not just as a coldhearted way to do a difficult job, but an attack on his independence from everything and everyone. The prospect of being tethered to a monitor and headset angers him enough for him to convince his boss to let me take the newbie Natalie on the road to show her what she doesn’t know about the people she’d fire by remote control. Therein unfolds the gradual unsettling of a complacent floating island of a man as life eventually forces him to question whether travel connections are the only ones that matter.

I won’t get into any more plot points–but I highly recommend it. One of the genius moves by the young director was to film the interviews of people recently laid off in the recession and get them to relate the traumatic experiences on camera. As this NPR article recounts, these were then edited into the montage of severance interviews Bingham conducts throughout the movie giving the film an authenticity no screenwriter could concoct. This is about as timely a feature film as I have seen.

Up in the Air is rated R for some rough language and brief nudity but for most audiences that would be interested–like those in the line that laughed loudly during the screening–they will find this a very good Hollywood movie that reminds us that anyone who thinks he can float above the messiness of real life attachments is likely to face some real turbulence.

After last week’s third season finale, the AMC drama about early 1960s Madison Ave advertising executives did what it needed to cement viewers for next season. A game changer that had been in the works through the season, it felt exciting and logical but managed to surprise and delight nonetheless without being an unsettling cliffhanger. I first reviewed Mad Men in its first season and rereading that post, agree with my initial assessment and can now see how well planned creator Matthew Weiner’s scope for the series is.

I think the reason for Mad Men‘s devoted, if small by cable standards, following is that its storytelling is underplayed and rewards its audience’s close attention. Scenes are mostly about subtext, the real reasons driving characters to say something in a world about appearances and hype. In fact, so subtle are the performances that it’s the only series I sometimes go back and watch scenes again for their rich texture and density.

This season, the downward trajectory of Don Draper, captured every week in the classic animated opening sequence, reached about as far as it could go as his deepest secrets, locked away in his desk drawer, came into his wife Betty’s hands. This emotionally blocked but incredibly talented man who doesn’t have a clue about true love faced the loss of everything he’d so dysfunctionally undermined by repeated affairs and lies. Now that he and several of his most gifted co-workers and colleagues have risked all to gain greater independence, there’s a new chemistry to the show that makes me wonder if there’s a chance Don can begin his own climb into a somewhat more functional human being who truly values relationships. It was a season that, at one point, I almost despaired of ever seeing a chance for Don to change–yet another affair, this time with his daughter’s school teacher, for heavens sakes, had me thinking that the man was stuck in a cycle that he could never break and thus any hope of moral progress seemed lost, yet he wound up being broken anyway as Betty, exhausted by his behavior and fighting with her own demons, finally had enough.

Though I and so many viewers had held out hope for some sort of rapprochement between two of the best-looking characters on television, it was pretty unrealistic to not let this marriage crack under so heavy a weight. And knowing what we do about Don/Dick, why do we still root for him? Because he’s a stud and looks great with that suit and hair? Or does Jon Hamm’s incredibly nuanced performance let us glimpse the tortured soul beneath the tanned face?

I’ve been scarce with plot details in this post because I want those uninitiated to discover this shows pleasures and rewards for themselves. If this intrigues you, you might want to check out the first two seasons on DVD (via sources like Netflix) and if you’re get hooked, iTunes has season 3.

I wonder if Weiner has an endpoint in mind for his admen that will allow the epic/intimate period piece to somehow resolve itself, rather than going into a slow decline. Such an endpoint would help Mad Men stand as one of television’s enduring works of art, not just mere entertainment.

For the last couple of years, Warner Premiere,has been releasing direct to video animated features of DC Comics superheroes. Some of these are great (the superb DC: The New Frontier) and the not-so-good (Superman: Doomsday). The most recent release, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, is right behind The New Frontier in successfully bringing comic book thrills to home video. On a high definition screen, the Blu-Ray version is incredible.

But without a great story, the pretty colors wouldn’t mean as much. Based on an story from Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuiness’run on the Superman/Batman comics title, it asks you to accept that, in a time a great national crisis, the American electorate chooses as president, Lex Luthor. Okay, yeah, that’s really impossible to swallow, even by comic books standards, but if you can just go with it, it sets up the title characters as the only DC heroes standing against Luthor’s schemes in the White House. Once I forced myself past that, the story took off. We see DC’s top characters in fine form as they are forced to fight other superheroes, deputized to enforce the president’s “policy” against “vigilantes” as well as supervillains aiming to collect the billion dollar reward offered for the capture of the Man of Steel. This makes for a series of the most well-executed battles I’ve seen in an animated feature of this kind. I was actually cheering at one point as Supes shows just how much of a threat he is to those seeking to keep him from pursuing truth, justice and the American way.

And the actually more popular Batman is on an equal footing in the heroics department–never has animation managed to show just how cool the Dark Knight is, and best of all, both roles are voiced by the actors who are most closely associated with the animated heroes, Kevin Conroy and Tim Daley reprise their roles as Batman and Superman that they created on their respective animated series produced by Bruce Timm. The writing is sharp and it’s a pleasant surprise to have the characters actually trading quips in ways true to their personalities. This is a great reminder of why these superguys are the world’s finest.

For years I’d heard that Batman creators Bob Kane and Bob Finger drew their inspiration for the Joker from the title character, Gynplaine, in the silent film, The Man Who Laughs, although, as the Wikipedia article on the Dark Knight’s uber-villain states, another Batman pioneer, Jerry Robinson claimed the idea came more directly from the Joker playing card. So, I finally rented the movie from Netflix and it was a revelation. It didn’t resolve the Joker’s origin source but it did remind me how great silent Hollywood films could be and how under-appreciated that era is.

As the marvelous special features point out, Universal Studios, hoping to perpetuate their successful series of Lon Chaney horror films, which included an adaptation of Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame, next chose another of the author’s books, The Man Who Laughs. The historical epic, set mostly in the early 1700s, concerns the son of a British nobleman, Gwynplaine, who is ordered by the king to be mutilated. Gypsies fulfill the king’s command by carving the boy’s mouth into a permanently gruesome grin. The abandoned boy trudges through the snow and discovers an enfant in the arms of his dead mother, Taking the baby in his arms the boy eventually comes upon some traveling performers whose leader, Ursus, adopts them both. He soon discovers that the girl, whom he names Dea, is blind. The children grow up under his care, joining the troupe with Gwynplaine (played by the great German actor Conrad Veidt) becoming the star of the show as “the Man Who Laughs,” a draw for the commoners who flock to his performances that includes Dea. She has fallen in love with Gwynplaine, who knows she would spurn him if she knew what he really looked like. This YouTube ten-minute segment, part of what appears to be the entire film, indicates the visual beauty of the production.

Things really get complicated when the Duchess who has been granted Gwynplaine’s father’s hereditary estate sees the deformed man’s performance and, perversely drawn to him, bids him meet her at what is actually his own family residence. In an horrendous scene, she tries to seduce him as Veidt acts entirely with his eyes, wide with terror, his fixed grin partially covered by a scarf. Things get only more difficult from here.

Universal poured all of its resources into a splendid production and integrated elements of German expressionism, with it’s use of emotional acting styles and shadowy sets. In 1928, sound recording on film had just arrived and the studio had to decide whether it would be a silent or talkie. The issue was resolved when the dental prosthesis that kept Veidt’s mouth in its hideous grin made it impossible for him to say his lines and dialogue was kept to the title cards but the musical accompaniment and some sound effects and crowd vocalizations went on the soundtrack. The film’s director Paul Leni, keeps the camera moving throughout the film to dramatic effect reminding us just how dynamic silent film was. The film is unforgettable and I can see why Batman’s creators could claim it inspired the Joker. This side by side comparison looks like pretty solid substantiation of the inspiration. If you’re looking for a high-class Hollywood horror film this Halloween season, I suggest you treat yourself to The Man Who Laughs.

Now that Lost is heading towards its final season this January, ABC thinks it can carry on the series’unique blend of adventure and metaphysical mystery with the new Flash Forward, a term used for the Lost‘s mind bending peeks into the future of some of the castaways. Flash Forward, loosely based on a science-fiction novel of the same name, makes the mistake of not trusting its audience. Let me explain:

The pilot episode begins with it’s central protagonist, Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes) an FBI agent, wakes up in his crashed vehicle to find that Los Angeles and the world, has been hit by a catastrophe caused when everyone on earth lost consciousness for over two minutes. Those who survived find that they remember what they were doing six months in the future. They mystery is what caused this and how will seeing an often disturbing glimpse of one’s future affect one’s present actions–the old destiny versus free-will trope.

An intriguing premise,with a far larger scale than Lost. But as the hour unfolded, I found it was giving me far too much information too quickly. Knowing the program had been previewed on Lost last year and that it must involve the same sort of complex storylines and enigmas with many characters, I was primed to watch for the little details that might be important later. Sure enough, the words “Red Panda” appear a least twice in different scenes. And close-ups of three five-point stars on a man’s arm are sure to mean something. And lest we miss these clues, during the breaks, the announcer makes sure we are paying attention, telling us that these elements and the kangaroo bouncing down the street is important, so pay attention, folks!

Of course, Lost began it’s pilot episode by focusing on it’s chief protagonist, Jack Shepherd, pulling out from his eye to the jungle he’d just crash landed into. He leaps up to help the survivors and we gradually meet the cast. When Flash Forward‘s Benford begins helping surrounding survivors of the mayhem around him, it seem more than derivative, it’s imitative. At one point, in the episode, there’s even a billboard for Oceanic Airlines! OK, we get it, you wanna be the next Lost! Heck, it even has Dominic Monaghan, who played Lost‘s Charlie coming in as a character soon.

But how different from Lost, which took its sweet time letting the first season play out and kept throwing weird stuff at us with no explanation until our patience was rewarded with a little information. We weren’t even sure there was a time travel element to the series until the fourth season. In Flash Forward, we start with it but are expected to be just as intrigued.

That’s why I think the show doesn’t trust its audience. The producers saw that Lost, er, lost a significant portion of its audience who got tired of waiting for answers and trying to keep up with the details, so they have announcers telling the attention deficient to go to the show’s website for more info (and to see more network promotions) rather than allowing the innate strangeness of the concept draw us in. Flash Forward gives us mysteries, but little mystery. It can’t trust its characters or plots to hook us or let us discover the clues for ourselves, one of the most enjoyable things about Lost. Perhaps it will find a way to hook us into its own complex plotting, but if you make something too easy, you’re rewarding laziness. It may be that this kind of densely plotted, highly allusive narrative is simply not going to attract more than a certain number of viewers, especially if there’s no endpoint in mind, as when Lost‘s producers discovered they needed to give their series focus and drive. They found that it’s one thing to start a big story, you also have to have a final destination to hold your audience. Flash Forward didn’t even start off in a fresh new way and I wonder who it will attract.

Hayao Miyazaki is the top Japanese animator, the creator of brilliantly colored fantasies like Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke and Castle in the Sky. Ponyo is his latest film to come, redubbed with English-speaking actors and distributed by Disney, whose Pixar chief John Lasseter is one of Mihazaki’s biggest fans. Like his earlier film, Ponyo is a fairy story at heart, this time set in a modern Japanese seaside community. And like his other films, it is something that takes getting used to. Miyasaki’s tales have their own rules, sometimes opaque to Western eyes and lacking the clear story logic and life lessons so prominent in homegrown Disney films. I guess dreamlike is the best description for them.

Ponyo is inspired by the original Hans Christian Anderson story, The Little Mermaid, but only loosely. Ponyo is first seen as a red and white gold fish but with a somewhat simplified human face. When she’s rescued by a five-year old boy, Sosuke, her love for him allows her to magically grow into a little human girl. But the magic she has unleashed in doing so threatens to upset the balance of nature and her wizard father and magical sea-mother realize that something must be resolved before harmony is restored. It’s a pretty thin plot, but enough to spark a spectacular series of scenes that are so imaginative that they’re nearly indescribable. One I’ll remember is when Ponyo and Sosuke are riding a small toy boat through the flooded forest with once high branches now just arching over them as they glide through the shaded flood zone, patches of sunlight dappling their way. The film’s backgrounds appear drawn with vivid chalk and in a CGI age, to see the hundreds of individually-drawn fish of many types swimming by is a reminder of the power of two-dimensional animation now so rare in feature films. No one is doing this better than Hayao Miyazaki.

Not everyone can be Pixar but you’re in good shape if you have a profitable animated franchise like 20th Century Fox’s Ice Age films. Following the trail blazed by Pixar, Blue Sky, the production company behind the series, is, like the hardy pioneers who followed the original scouts, less ambitious and resourceful but still able to stake their claim to a respectable entertainment property.

The original crew of Manny the Mammoth and his, er, bride, Ellie, (Ray Romano and Queen Latifah), Saber Toothed Tiger Diego (Dennis Leary) and Sid the Sloth (John Leguizamo) make their way through the still frozen land but changes have strained their little community. Diego feels that his domesticity has taken the edge off his hunting skills and clumsy Sid doesn’t seem to fit into the plans of Manny’s growing household. When Sid tumbles into a lost world of Jurassic Park cast members, the gang has to go looking for him and thus the subtitle’s unfolding. A new character emerges when a wild and wooly weasel, Buck, (voiced well by Simon Pegg) swings into action to help guide the hapless rescuers in their search for Sid.

I found the comedy level down a few clicks as the gags were less sharp than the first two films and I perceived greater dependence on distracting anachronisms than before (one character remarks about someone being “in therapy.”) But the film is saved by the best character of the bunch, Scrat, the manic saber-toothed squirrel, who finds that his endless search for his beloved acorn interrupted by a voluptuous female–it’s the first time Scrat’s had a rival for his affections and the conflict stays hilarious as his adventures weave in and out of the main storyline.

By shrewdly bringing in the ancient lizards to challenge our mammalian friends, the successful series should do well at the box office and please the millions of dinosaur-loving kids, a bit more than their parents, who will remain deeply grateful for past, present and future Pixar films to keep the family entertainment standards at their highest.