Hey folks, Harry here with our first peep about THE MAJESTIC trailer and THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE... two movies created by geniuses that love movies dearly! I've seen THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE twice now... it's perfect. THE MAJESTIC, I wish I've seen twice, but haven't seen even once! Dagnabit.
Thanks in no small part to my recent move to the center of the entertainment industry, I have had the privilege of seeing quite a few advance screenings. I didn't think much of it at the time, but at a screening of The Last Castle the forces that be showed the trailer for The Majestic, which will be the film I walk into after LOTR. The night before I ventured to see The Man Who Wasn't There, which has the best performance of the year in Mr. Billy Bob Thornton. Both the trailer and the movie premiere this Friday.
First, the trailer. It begins with Jim Carrey driving his car off a bridge.__Cut to a man waking him up on rocky shore. He is then led into town where Martin Landau grows convinced he is his son, an eight year MIA from WWII awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. There is a shot of Carrey from a yearbook to prove that, yes, he looks just like the missing soldier. There are brief shots of him meeting with Laurie Holden, his former fiancee who he supposedly has to fall in love with all over again. Various shots of the town celebrating over the hero's return, including a statue erected in his honor. Then Landau proclaims that with his sons return, the two of them will rebuild the rundown Majestic theater as the two walk down the theater's aisle. Then, in a voice-over, we hear Carrey say something like, "The doctor's said I would start remembering things after a while," followed by a quick flash of Carrey being ushered into a HUAC hearing and then a flash of the car going over the bridge. Cut to a shot where Carrey is questioned by a heavy as to "who he really is?" Then, the uneducated in the audience are informed that this film is being directed by god...I mean, "The Director of The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile" (Over a shot a crane shot of a lighthouse). Then, we are asked the question that obviously represents the moral dilemma of the last act of the film, "If someone could choose between two pasts, which would he choose?" At some point, Carrey says to Holden "I guess I used to be in love with you?" Then, there is a shot of them embracing in front of the theater and the camera cuts to a close up of the marquee, whereby we receive the title of the film.
My overall reaction was: Great cinematography. The trailer really doesn't say or show much, which I applaud wholeheartedly. However, it still isn't a good trailer. It just doesn't feel right for the style of the film. Personally I would have liked to have seen an old, 50's style trailer since the warmth and color tone of the footage is dead-on fifties. Laurie Holden literally glows on screen. For some reason, the trailer just felt strange. And sadly, there was no footage of the Bruce Campbell film-within-a film.
Now for what should be hailed as one of the Coen Bro.'s best. The Man Who Wasn't There is, like Fargo, dark and simple. I won't say much about the plot, since Capone previously gave everyone the lowdown. I just felt, having seen it, I should put my two-cents in as well. This film is phenomenal. Never slow, never over the audience's collective head, TMWWT is funny even though, and this is important, it really doesn't try to be. The character's don't say funny things and they don't act funny. But somehow, the Coen's put these people into situations where you just need to laugh. I'm going to probably kill myself in talk-back with this one, but my favorite Joel & Ethan film is The Hudsucker Proxy. This is now my second, besting Fargo. The cinematography, shot in color per USA Film's contract, and then digitally desaturated (much the same manner as Roger Deakins did on Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?) is perfectly beautiful and strange at the same time. The first shot of the film is of the familiar red & blue barber shot spinning thing-a-ma-gig so familiar is small town Americana. For me, in retrospect, this shot perfectly personifies the entire film: Nothing is what we're used to. The 2nd lead is disposed of in the first 30 minutes and the 3rd in the first 60. This is a film about a plan that goes right, then wrong, then destroys everyone around it. And to top it all off, there's a strange supernatural subplot running throughout that has no means in this kind of picture...except when made by the brothers Coen.
Billy Bob Thornton will get an Oscar nomination. I can't imagine him not. Somehow, Thornton is able to tell you a tremendous amount with just the crevices of his face, which are accentuated by B&W. Francis McDormand is great, especially when she breaks into her Fargo accent as she yells "Jesus Christ!" at another woman. James Gandolfini is good, but his character is (naturally) the least fleshed out of all. Michael Baldalucci is Michael Baldalucci, just not as cool as in Oh Brother. The best supporting work comes from big-time lawyer Tony Shaloub (Think Jesus from Lebowski with a lot more self-control) and big-time French piano-teacher Adam Alexi-Malle (Afrim from Bowfinger). Scarlet Johanson, looking & sounding (strangely) really different than she did in Ghost World is gorgeous as a piano "protege" who only plays one piece of music.
This is a fantastic movie. I can't stress it enough. I'm worried that not enough people my age (under-20) will see the film because it is in B&W (Kind of like when my mom found out that Life Is Beautiful is subtitled...only to eventually see and love the film). Go see this, especially if Monsters Inc. is sold out!
The Egotist
