Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
I?m trying to work out a screening of MAY soon m?self. I?m hearing some cool, cool things about the film. LAST KISS is new to me. Two great reviews here by an old friend of AICN, so dig in!!
Harry and Mori,
The San Francisco International Film Festival is under way, and I wanted to send in some reviews of the films I've seen so far. I missed Ichi the Killer and Time Out, my good fortune according to Copernicus's earlier review, on the first day, but caught 2 films on the second day; "Last Kiss" from Italy and "May" a U.S. indie. Both were shown at Sundance and have been reviewed before, but are very good and deserve some more attention.
Last Kiss (L'Ultimo Bacio)
Two years ago I saw the Italian film But Forever In My Mind, written and directed by Gabriele Muccino. The film was a fun exploration of middle class youth struggling to gain identities as adults. Muccino's new film, Last Kiss, looks at a group of men struggling to hold onto their youth. The story follows Carlo and Giulia, a couple about to have a baby, but we also get glimpses into the lives of Giulia's parents and Carlo's close friends. Again, Muccino manages to create strong characters and situations that are
often familiar despite some poetic exaggeration. Last Kiss works much like a Woody Allen film (most specifically, Hannah and Her Sisters) without Allen's trademark humor. Instead Muccino finds humor in everyday behavior and the problems we can all too easily bring upon ourselves. Carlo worries about becoming a father and is soon under the spell of a pretty 18 year old girl. Giulia's mother feels the passion has been gone in her marriage for years and considers going back to a man she once had a affair with. Adriano and Livia are experiencing doubts about their marriage. And Paolo wants out of the family business. The actors tend to shout quite a bit, which could be somewhat cliched, but their arguments and dilemmas come off as very realistic, not contrived. A scene involving the death of a father is so realistic it verges on painful. And the scenes involving Carlo and the young girl display a true understanding of the joys and frustrations to be found in infatuation. What I enjoy most about Muccino's films is that the characters are flawed but likable. We may wish for them to behave responsibly, but we understand their desire not to. Somewhere deep in there is a plea for impulsive behavior, for at the very least it enables us to appreciate stability. Muccino also doesn't create easy answers to the problems. Characters make their decisions, but there is no judgment on whether they are right or wrong, they are simply choices and the consequences may not be realized until much further down the road. Easily classified as a slice of life film, Last Kiss is a fun and honest look at adulthood. An Audience Award winner at Sundance, Muccino's Last Kiss might be finding its way to a
theatre near you, so keep your eyes peeled.
May
May, written and directed by Lucky McKee, is one of the best films I've seen in a long time. It's not perfect, and some people will not like it at all, but it manages to be daring, insightful, and funny and contains an utterly beautiful performance by its lead, Angela Bettis. Also staring is Jeremy Sisto, very good as Adam the object of May's affection, and Anna Faris (the Scary Movies) as a flirtatious co-worker.
May is an intensely shy girl who is also a little unbalanced. In the opening minutes we get her life story; a lazy eye caused her to be self-conscious, her mother was obsessed with perfection, her only friend is a rather creepy looking doll that stands in a glass case. The film follows May's attempts at making human contact and the problems that arise when she finally does. Bettis plays May with just the right amount of offbeat charm and loner strangeness. We want May to find happiness, but not at the loss of her demented quirkiness. There's a moment when Adam shows her a gruesome student film, and her reaction is priceless, for her face expresses such joy in the gory visuals and in knowing that Adam is also a little twisted. Throughout the film, McKee and Bettis give the viewer massive amounts of these types of delightful touches. Another favorite is McKee's use of the sound of cracking glass that mirrors May's crumbling psyche.
I would rather not give away any more of the story, for it works best when the viewer knows little about what will happen. To call this movie darkly comic would be an understatement. Imagine Ghost World with elements of George Romero style horror. I did have one or two problems with it (if you haven't seen the film, just skip to the rest of this paragraph), and my biggest problem is with the end. Without giving it away, the ending somewhat betrays the character. We understand May is troubled, but she developed a strong sense of self in killing. The final moments don't gel with what has come before, and make for a truly unhappy ending since we develop such a strong affection for May, even once she becomes a killer.
Hopefully. May will find it's way to the general public, for I am confident there is an audience that will regard May as one of their favorite films. I also hope to see Angela Bettis in more films (hell, I'm even considering checking out her earlier work in Bless the Child), for her work in May is an absolute joy to watch.
Coming soon; the documentary Journeys With George, Korean epic Musa, and the U.S. premiere of Spirited Away.
Otis Von Zipper
Thanks a lot, Otis. There?s actually a few SPIRITED AWAY reviews up on the site today. Awesome to hear these reactions rolling in. I can?t wait for September 20th, when I can see for myself.
"Moriarty" out.
