Depressing Movies Rock!

Maybe this public admission isn’t necessary for those who follow my blog closely but I’ve decided I can’t deny it any longer so I’m coming out of the closet – I LOVE depressing movies!

Who knows whether it’s because it makes me feel better about my own lot in life, or because it just makes me “feel” – whatever the reason I’m over justifying my film choices to friends or trying to work out why so I’m just going to going to run with it. In fact, I’m going to celebrate it.

For any of you fellow depressing film goers out there, I found an awesome list of depressing movies on IMDB, some of which I haven’t even seen so I’m paying homage to depressing movies by committing to work through this list while I’m on mat leave!

Here are a few of my faves from the list if you are in a movie watching mood and feel the need to reign in your own happiness:

#1 - Into the Wild
#4 - Gattaca
#7 - Million Dollar Baby
#13 - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
#21 - American History X
#22 - Black Swan
#24 - American Beauty
#26 - Blue Valentine

I would also add Lantana, Revolutionary Road, Little Children......

Please write in as I would love to hear other suggestions....

127 Hours (Drama)

Based on a little informal survey I conducted since seeing ‘127 Hours’ I know that many people wouldn’t necessarily classify this film as “entertainment” but I found it gripping. Clearly, this movie isn’t going to be every one’s cup of tea but I’m a sucker for a true story. In particular, I love true stories that make me wonder whether the hero had any particularly special attributes, or would most people simply have done the same thing when faced with the same situation?

127 Hours’ is the film based on the book by Aaron Ralston, who is probably more widely known as ‘the dude that cut off his own arm’. The film stars James Franco as Aaron, the adventurer who found himself facing death after he became wedged under a boulder during a solo hike in Blue John Canyon, Utah.

Aside from ‘gripping’, I also found this film ‘to be gruesome’. Not an adjective I employ very often in my reviews but in this case, it’s a word I keep coming back to. 127 Hours runs for one hour and 35 minutes but for me - and I suspect for most people – my memories of the film are dominated by one gruesome 10 minute scene. Personally, I think this is a bit of shame seeing as the movie turned out to be so much more but the word seems to be out already, as evidenced by the fact that I tried to elicit a number of movie going buddies to see this film with me but to no avail! So off I went with the one person that couldn’t protest - little Lilliana.

Lilliana and I were just starting to settle in to the film (I was munching on popcorn, she was munching on something else ) and we were both enjoying the fast paced music and the amazing cinematography so I was more than a bit surprised when the hero of the story became trapped in the canyon not long after we sat down. In fact, I don’t think the credits had even rolled yet?!

My first thought was – geez this is going to be a long morning… I wondered how the hell they were going to fill up the next hour or so. But the remainder of the film was surprisingly engrossing thanks to James Franco’s brilliance. Not only was this a particularly tough gig for Franco given the subject matter, but in addition it was tough because this film is essentially a one man show. There are some brief diversions as Aaron reflects on friends, family, lovers and the last two people he met before his unfortunate predicament (played by Amber Tamlyn and Kate Mara), but for the vast majority of the film, it’s just Franco’s face you see up on screen. For this reason I found Franco’s performance even more astounding.

Rest assured that Franco is a million times better actor than he is an Awards show host!

I loved the way the film was shot in that it was often split between Franco and the footage of his daily video diary he recorded on his VC. I found this really added to the sense of time and the weight of it passing. Apparently Aaron really did keep a video diary of the ordeal and Franco and the Director are the only two people outside his family and close friends that have been allowed to view it. As I was watching the film, I frequently found myself wondering whether or not Aaron would approve? I have since read that when he was asked how authentic the film was, he said, "the movie is so factually accurate it is as close to a documentary as you can get and still be a drama”.

And of course, the question you find yourself pondering in the end is : if I were in that situation, would I be able to cut my own arm off? What lengths would I go to to survive? And whilst I admit that this idea isn’t necessarily new – it does have a kind of ‘Touching the Void’ or ‘Into the Wild’ kind of feel - the way the story is told, and the story itself, is unique. Some might say that 127 Hours’ made them conclude that life is too short to spend in a dark cinema watching some dude cut his own arm off. To which I will only admit that the film could’ve been 10 or 15 minutes shorter, but otherwise, I felt like I was in the canyon with Aaron and I couldn’t have been more engaged…

Black Swan (Drama)

After almost a 6 month hiatus – I’m back in front of the big screen! We have a new addition to the family to blame for my absence. But then she’s so god damn gorgeous I really can’t blame her for anything much. Nevertheless, I have been somewhat distracted by real life over the past few months and so have found myself without the time or the opportunity to escape to a quiet dark cinema to get lost in others’ fictional lives. And so I’m excited about being back watching films and feeling even more unsophisticated than when I last picked up my netbook to pen a review.

So my new movie going mate – little Lilliana – and I went to our first movie together last week. Whilst I was feeling like a bad mum for taking a little person to see a movie that definitely isn’t meant for little people, we went to a mums and bubs session and seeing as half the audience was in nappies I didn’t feel quite so guilty. Nevertheless, Black Swan was more scary and confronting than I was expecting, even for a big person!

Black Swan is directed by Darren Aronofsky who is known for his offbeat and quirky films such as Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, and The Wrestler (which I loved!). He doesn’t disappoint with The Black Swan. Much of the more recent hype for this movie has been regarding the five Oscar nominations and Natalie Portman’s much deserved Golden Globe for best actress.

And as of today, I’m stoked to hear that Natalie also won the Oscar for best actress, hopefully inspiring a revival of movie goers for this film.

Natalie Portman plays the role of Nina Sayers, a ballet dancer in an NYC dance company who wins the lead role in “Swan Lake”. Nina is obsessed with ballet and everything that goes with it including structure, discipline, and control. So much so, she’s bordering on obsessive-complusive in much of her behaviour which makes her character development quite uncomfortable to watch at times. Her personality makes her perfect to play the part of the White Swan but she struggles to identify with the other part of her role – the Black Swan – given she seems to lack sensuality, a strong sense of self, and a sense of freedom or liberation.

The movie ultimately explores Nina’s journey to identify with the “black swan” in her. The relationship Nina develops with a fellow dancer named Lily who is the personification of the black swan (played by Mila Kunis) ultimately leaves her completely unhinged.

And in case you were wondering - Natalie Portman does most of her own dancing although she does have a substitute professional dancer for most of the en pointe. As a ballet lover I was hoping to see more dancing but that’s the only criticism I can offer. I thought Black Swan was dark, scary, stormy, freaky and I loved it! And the performances by the two main characters - Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis (whom I recently heard described as ‘the poor man’s Angelina Jolie’!) - were compelling and eerily convincing. It was also great to see Barbara Hershey (of ‘Beaches’ fame) back on the big screen as Nina’s equally obsessed mother. I found the movie to be a chilling insight into the world of professional ballet – part drama, part thriller, with even a little horror mixed in.

Lilliana slept through the entire movie but that’s a ringing endorsement at her age so that’s a thumbs up from both of us. Although the movie did leave me fearing that I may’ve neglected my own “black” side, particularly since becoming a mum. So must run, I’m off to find the black swan in me...