Commies vs the Yanks

DR STRANGELOVE : OR HOW I LEARNT TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB (1964)

On seeing Stanley Kubrick's name on the uniquely illustrated title sequence, ideas of controversy (Clockwork Orange), groundbreaking cinematography (2001: A Space Odyssey), and a thought provoking story (Spartacus) came to my mind. By the end I knew my preconceptions were true. This movie is totally strange but extremely compelling as each character has depth and works as a cog to make this consequential story work. Also, the wit has great punctuality which secures the success of the black satirical humour.

Strangely the eponymous Dr Strangelove is the most beguiling character despite featuring little. His presence in a wheelchair makes entrances onscreen obvious and slightly disturbing as his chair squeaks across the polished floor of the almost celestial war room. Portrayed by Peter Sellers, clearly a very gifted actor as he swaps roles, personalities and accents 3 times in this movie (The President Mick Muffley ;) , RAF Captain Mandrake, and Dr Strangelove himself). Kubrick creates the resultant disturbing but also comedic idea of Sellers appearing everywhere, instrumental in deciding the fate of the world. With Dr Strangelove, the overzealous smile give you a false sense of security, as if the German nuclear physicist really is aiding the righteous USA, until the Nazi chauvinsim takes over like some released devil; the prevailing mood darkens.

Another comical character is General Jack D. Ripper who single-handedly causes the imminent destruction of the world by exploiting the loopholes in the retaliation operations and protocols concerning nuclear holocaust. His paranoia of a communist infiltration (as an aftermath of McCarthyism) through fluoridation of water and 'bodily fluids' means he is a serious liability. Mental illness and authority do not go together - Kubrick toys with fantasy and possible reality - merging the two to become almost indistinguishable which is extremely unsettling and shocking.

General Ripper's foil is patriotic Buck Turgidson whose crazily-enthusiastic resolve despite crucial moments in the future of the world emphasizes the absurdity of the situation. This goes for the B-52 pilot who dons an appropriate cowboy hat too. The president himself whose ambling but amusing conversation with Russian premier using the farcical Hot Line between USA & USSR trivialises the situation of the cold war stalemate. However when the peace becomes frail potential nuclear seems unstoppable but as the title says 'How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb' says it all really. The film becomes stranger and stranger but then again strange is good sometimes :)

Kubricks bravery in the face of controversy makes this film all that more dangerous at a time during censorship and barricades of freedom like the Berlin Wall, this film highlights that when the iceberg nearly tipped in the Cuban Missile Crisis, how too world powers - out of control - became totally, hilariously nonsensical in hindsight.

*****

Woody the Robber

Take the Money and Run (1969)

Woody Allen, directs, writes and stars in this crazy movie where he exploits visual humour to a such a successful degree of hilarity. Allen as the character Virgil Starkwell indulges in self pity, the film acts as a mockumentary of the 'trials and tribulations' of his life since birth which makes his descent into a life of crime inevitable but also funny because he is the most unlikely person. It is also sweet to see a romance between a fumbling Starkwell who expresses his usual inability to secure love as a result of a troubled upbringing. The compliant girl (Janet Margolin) delivers some funny moments too - as she strives to function like a good wife yet fails completely when she fries the steak whilst it is still in the packet.

The jokes of the films are typical of Allen's style, the juxtaposition of images and personalities, awkward mumblings and visual incongruence. It almost replicates the typically British comedic style of standoffish characters in funny, compromising situations. Allen makes you feel sorry for his situation and his pitiful exploits in crime. His trivial attitude to crime and at some points people's reactions to crime make this a witty film. 

However, this was Woody Allen's directing debut and you get a feel of him being a novice as he does bombard the viewer with gags, as if he has a checklist of ingredients required to make this movie absurd. This recipe is sucessful. The film is crazy in the sense the impossible occurs far too many times for it to be the best sort of comedy with obvious gags and more subtle skits also. The 'impossible' has the feel of a Marx bros film, whereby fast talking skits are relayed almost too fast for you to understand immediately, but then you experience a delayed reaction of laughter/awe when the joke is just too funny/clever.


Woody Allen has a distinctive style with his large square glasses that magnify his eyes creating his 'rabbit caught in the headlight' expression. His slightly hunched, hands in pocket, dejected swagger whilst wearing a Harrington jacket is cool specially with the atmosphere and lighting that is concurrent with the 60s look. Plus, the blue jail shirts and jeans similar to the uniform in Shawshank Redemption show how that style influences fashion today.  Janet Margolin seems innocent and pure with her childlike middle parting so it makes the relationship all the more adorable as Woody bounces off her less embellished personality.

You have to be tuned to the Woody Allen sense of humour (just pretty quirky) to get all the jokes.

***

Ode to Washington

Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

It is one of the first films I have seen which is directly about politics, and it surprised me at the strength of the plot despite many potential difficulties due to it attacking controversial issues. Politics is rarely engaging with the public, specially shown in Britain nowadays when the ruling class are stereotypically from Eton - so haughty and above the common man. Despite this, Mr Smith Goes to Washington doesn't give you much faith in the government either. Instead it reveals the truth about Capitalism and democracy. With corrupt business owners, infiltration of blackmail and injustice is all too easy.

In my dreams I'm a Marxist and I'm sure that many people are like this too (a fair, equal society - what more could you want?), but unfortunately Mr Marx was dreaming too.

James Stewart (probably one of the nicest guys in film) plays naive rookie to the American senate, Chief of the Boy Scouts; Jefferson Smith; a new senator hand picked by the governor in the hope that he is too clueless to realise he is being used.

Already there is scheming, blackmail, puppeteering that allegedly goes on behind the facade of true democracy. America labelled themselves the 'Leaders of the Free World'. Or rather should they be, as described in Mr Smith Goes To Washington, 'Leaders of the crazed Capitalist world dominated by 'fat cat' businessmen who dictate politics for personal profit?'

As a film, it is poignant and beautifully filmed. Strangely it advertises 'old America' when Jeff Smith is drooling like an excited schoolboy at the legendary, monuments standing resolute in the city. Smith escapes to glimpse the statue of Abraham Lincoln at the Smithsonian. The influential ex-president towers over mortals like a god on Mount Olympus; sitting, pondering, surveying the America that he has helped shaped.

The entertainment value is high as the film engages with all types of viewers so it is universally understood. There are sweet moments of galavanting boy scouts admirably striving to save their hero Jeff from the political machine of the businessman named Taylor. The characters are well developed and relationships are heartwarming because you know in the end humans do have compassion :).

We all end up loving Jeff Smith - the archetypal American hero (before the days of Top Gun though). We admire his motivation to follow through with his plan defeat the 'Taylors' of today. Plus, his determination to uphold proceedings of the senate just so he could triumph, whilst securing friendship along the way.

It is a film filled with food for thought.

 *****

Decemberrrrrr

Hay havn't written in a while - been working hard.

Still been watching films so here is a list of what will be coming up in the near future

Mr Smith goes to Washinton
Ran (Akiro Kurosawa)
Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Time to Fight!

80s fun is summed up in this concise movie: 3 O'Clock High (1987).

Jerry Mitchell, you're average guy who is one of those eager types who joins school communities, wakes up and has an epiphany: today is going to be one of 'those days'. A frantic rush to school follows, he even drives the car whilst brushing his teeth. Kids, multitasking whilst driving is not advised. 

So it starts off a bad day and gets worse when scenes of Grand Theft and brutal fights with knuckledusters take place at High School, surveyed by the menacing principal. It all started when he patted the back of his soon to be adversary; new kid but also a 'touch freak' Buddy Revell.

oh no he didunt!

No its not as graphic as that, in fact its rather sweet. With basic high school story line and witty humour, 3 O'clock High is one of those rainy day films that's light but engaging. Plus it's like a time capsule, American 80s fashion and style is on full display even if it may be over-exaggerated, but hey maybe people really did wear bright orange scrunchies with a 4 coloured sweatshirts? 

The film deals in stereotypes, which makes it more amusing because its easily understandable where the characters fit and consequences of friendships. The story is mostly conveyed by rumours, the kids all know about the 3 O'clock fight, Buddy Revell is thought to be this demonic boy as the gossip augments the truth.

Also, it has a great typically 80s sounding soundtrack by Tangerine Dream.
 ***

Is this Germany efficiency?

I was harshly awakened when I watched Downfall (2004) early this morning; in the comfort of my own home I witnessed the stark brutality and futile nature of the Nazi's last resistance of the ruin that was Berlin. As the scenes of claustrophobia unfurled inside the Nazi bunker, I felt angry and uneasy, but also pity for the disillusioned followers of Nazism, under the assumption that their decrepit Fuhrer Adolf Hitler, would rise up like Jesus or some biblical figure to resurrect the dream of a glorious state of National Socialism. 

I believe the unease created by Oliver Hirschbiegel is mainly because Adolf Hitler is portrayed with some kind emotions, and you see how people actually like him when a young Frau Junge is ecstatic that she has received the job as Hitler's PA. There is no excuse for Hitler to seem 'nice' or human (he even has a wife!). With knowledge of the context, the truth of the concentration camps looms over however this film makes no mention to them. I was speechless after the film to see people wailing and crying at his feet when he announces his suicide. (I hope readers knew this - :/ no spoilers). 

(this has many hilarious parodies)

Hitler's character is fantastically acted and for a 15 year old like me, Bruno Ganz's depiction makes Hitler on screen seem real enough for me. I watched with rapt attention Hitler's frantic hand rotation and jerks. This for me symbolises madness or suppressed fear for me, knowing Hitler suppresses most emotion and feeling; firmly believing that pity and compassion are sins and in conflict with the laws of the Darwinian idea of natural selection. Mood swings are common features of Hitler's controversial personality displayed in this film - his raucous anger attacks leading to rants and disappointment in his incompetent generals. At these points the director reduces him to a spoilt child,  whose elaborate ideals of fantasy land are not going according to plan and he wants everyone to drop everything therefore he has complete tyrannical control.

The bleakness of the film tears all aspiration for the following day out of you. You can not leave the cinema feeling any kind of elation, for if you do the film has not connected with you at all. The claustrophobia of the bunker consumes you to, it is incestuous. Life in this film is portrayed as meaningless, as if individuals are part of a large clockwork that makes up Nazism, and when too many of these parts (the generals/soldiers) die due to war, or the main cog (leader) dies, then it is the other cogs (the civilians) duty to break the rest of the clockwork by commiting suicide instead of aiming to repair it. It comes to point where staunch followers truly believe that living in a world without National Socialism is worse than living at all. Joseph Goebels (the ultimate creep in the whole film) certainly exceeded in the job of propaganda minister. 

The film is horrifically solemn and if there is any light of comedy it it sure to be quashed in the proceeding scenes. There is a lack of soundtrack, of which the only few melodies are again remorseful German laments played on the piano, sounding as if they have given up on conveying meaning. The overall atmosphere is drab and bleak. In the night orangey-yellow lamps shine halfheartedly knowing they can never provide enough protection and comfort for the panicked citizens of fortified Berlin. 

This film is very hard to critique if you submerge yourself in the story as you are reviewing the true horrors of WWII; it is hard to stay indifferent and view it as 'just another film'

****

I want to find an authentic Wonka Bar...

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factor (1971)...

... makes my mouth water. Even the title sequence is heavenly, when various forms of chocolate production are sensuously filmed; from the delicate chocolate drops to the ongoing waved stream of bourbon filling-like chocolate that starts the salivation that ebbs from the viewers mouth. Except, that last image doesn't sound too pleasant. Hopefully thinking about chocolate will make up for it. 

I watched this film when I was about 3 or 4 basically on repeat. Its beautiful images of pure imagination has made a lasting impression on my mind, for when I watched it recently again, everything came flooding back. Especially the cheesy but memorable songs, the psychedelic roller-coaster/boat ride, the orange faced Oompa Loompa's with their moralising melodies. I couldn't even forget the cockney school teacher's gaseous experiments,

This film is quite strange as it is set in a Bavarian styled American town. Moreover, the factory is actually filmed in Bavaria - Munich to be exact. This mixture of cultures is an introduction of the surreal nature that is amplified in the rest of the film. Charlie Bucket is a boy who you really feel captures the essence of innocence. When he receives the sacred bar of chocolate - chocolate is a rarity due to his poverty, yet the sweet taste has tingled and therefore remains on his taste buds - he thinks first of sharing it with his four humourously bedridden grandparents and his mother. His virtuous character is quickly highlighted when it is so greatly contrasted by the 4 other winners of the golden ticket (I hope its obvious that Charlie does receive one - no spoilers). The other children are the epitome of childhood sins: as if Roald Dahl is God of the religion of childhood, dictating his version of the cardinal vices to educate children how and how not to behave without being strict and obvious. Aptly named to describe the sin and personality Augustus Gloop, Veruca Salt, Violet Baureguard and Mike Teavee all have eventful and slightly disastrous experiences in the factory. 

Compared to the 2005 film (Tim Burton and Johnny Depp) there is much more emphasis the ticket frenzy. My favorite 'visual anecdote' is one where a man is pitching a revolutionary machine that uses probability to find out the location of the tickets inside the Wonka bars. The dated computer is absurb but memorably funny.

its funnier when you watch the film....

Onto Willy Wonka played excellently flamboyant by Gene Wilder (The Producers, Young Frankenstein). He is a very misunderstood man. At first one might imagine a brooding genius who locks himself away, mysteriously conquering the world with his monopolising chocolate brand. However, opinions are quickly changed at the first opening of the factory where his eccentric entrance is amusing. Opinions then get confused when he meanders through his maze of a factory (where the less righteous get lost along the way), you don't know whether he is just cray or wise. In the end you share the joy that charlie feels when Wonka turns out to be a very generous man who can really pull off a purple velvet tailcoat and brown top hat. 

This film has amazing inventions, tantalizing food which takes like whatever you imagine it to be. It is the world of pure creation. It's only downfall is that it is 90 minutes long, barely a tv episode nowadays! I want it to go on forever.

*****