Casablanca
I know it's almost a cliche to have this movie at the top of my list, but I
wouldn't have it there if it wasn't deserved. The scrambling and chaotic production
managed to stay one step ahead of itself and in the end produced a magnificent and
transcendant film.
The dialog sparkles . The characters are real and vibrant. And, although filmed entirely on a Hollywood backlot, Casablanca
still immerses us in an exotic locale of intrigue, anarchy and desperation.
The plot isn't groundbreaking, but it serves as an effective vehicle the crux of
the film: Rick's redemption and recovery; his journey back from a self-created oblivion.
This movie is less a romance story, although some people see it that way, than
a discovery (or rediscovery) or purpose. The parallels to America's amibivalence to
World War II are evident; in the end, Rick, like the U.S. eventually would, has
resolved to get "back to the fight".
Apollo 13
"...and I look up at the moon and I wonder: When will we be going back there, and who
will that be?"
Here we have a movie that never ceases to pull emotion out of me, despite
numerous viewings. On the surface, the story itself is straitforward but I can
only sit in wonderment in how this movie brings it to life. It doesn't hurt
that being an engineer myself this is probably the closest my profession gets in cinema to
being truly heroic and that helps bring the action a little closer to home. I'm also amazed
at how the story lends itself to dramatization. The sequence of events, starting
with the explosion and then the journey behind the moon (the nadir of the
story). And then begins the long "climb" back to earth climaxing in the technical
and dramatic reentry (with the extended blackout-!). The whole movie echoes a more
earnest and hopeful time when we truly believed in giving ourselves challenges and
overcoming them. It also leaves me awestruck that men could simultaneously
possess the courage and folly to strap themselves to 360 ft of explosives and
hurl themselves away from the earth. Such an effort walks so closely with both
foolishness and nobility, maybe that's why Apollo 13 can reach the drama that it does;
why NASA, the US and the world worked and prayed so hard to bring those astronauts
home.
Grand Canyon
There might no be a more personal film on this list than Grand Canyon. The movie
is often compared (unfairly, I think) to Altman's Short Cuts. But I found Grand
Canyon to be a far more moving film. The main characters of Mack and Claire in many
ways reflect on the world in ways that I do. And this is done in such a way that
always that makes me think on the connections people make in the world and how
little we know about who intersect with our lives and how we influence the lives
of others. However,this combined with some parts of Grand Canyon that I think are
too histrionic (such as the frequent pronouncements of "decay" in modern life) make
it difficult to strongly recommend this film to others. But it makes my list and I never
tire of seeing it.
Searching for Bobby Fischer
How do we handle genius? Should we even try? And It is especially difficult when the
"genius" is in the form of a young child. If there's a better film that asks these questions,
I don't know of it. Young Josh Fridikin (Max Pomeranz) is a chess prodigy and he
finds himself struggling to work and shape his gift as he is pulled in all directions
by those around him. When his father (played excellently by Joe Magntagne) discovers
his sons gift, he enlists a former chess master to instruct his child in the discipline
of chess, to play by the rules. But Josh finds that he likes more the free-wheeling
wide-open style of Washington Park where speed chess is played among the seedier
elements of New York. The movie is smart enough not to pretend to have the final
answer although Josh survives a crisis in confidence and triumphs by a path that
melds, to some degree, both styles. Ultimately, the characters and their situations
strike a resonance for the type of problems in life, career and parenting that all people
face.
This movie is based on a true story.
On the Beach
"In this last of meeting places
We grope together
And avoid speech
Gathered on the beach of the tumid river...
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper." -T.S. Eliot
While most end-of-the-world movies in the '50's were more in the pulp sci-fi
vein, a very thoughtful and literary effort emerged in 1958. The story picks up
after the great powers have engaged in a suicidal nuclear exchange and life has
stabilized in Australia into some form of normalcy. But the bombs used have poisoned
the atmosphere and the radioactive fallout is gradually inching its way south. How
the people of Australia and a few expatriates, such as the crew of an American
submarine that finds it's way there, cope with this relentess fate makes a very
riveting and dramatic story. At it's heart is a romance, and here the romance drives
the story more than in Casablanca. Here we find an unlikely pairing of a local
woman of somewhat loose character, Moira (Ava Gardner) and the prim and proper sub captain
(Gregory Peck). And as the story progresses, we see the blind spots in each person and
how they are using the romance, and each other, to fill voids in their lives. But rather
than diminish it, this only seems to strengthen their love as they gradually assume roles
needed by the other to survive. It's a wonderful story of human frailty and nobility.
You'll also never hear "Waltzing Mathilda" in quite the same way again.
Happily, this movie is not based on a true story, but is based on the book by Nevil Shute.
A Man for All Seasons No review yet.
Ruby in Paradise This movie is a beguiling story of a young girl striking out on her own and finding her own path after fleeing the hills of Tennesse and an abusive relationship. She lands on the Florida panhandle and from there, although the movie seems to have little of any note happen, as Ruby goes through her life she finds a place for herself and at least a partial understanding of how she can live in the world. It's a wonderfully paced film and Victor Nunez (who also did the recent Ulee's Gold) has a real flair for telling an internal story. I always recommend this film to friends but nobody ever bothers to see it. Go figure.
Honorable mentions:
Raising Arizona
Dr. Strangelove
To Kill a Mockingbird
Pulp Fiction
Das Boot