Hey folks, Harry here... This is a film that has got Matt Drudge pissed off and that's always a good thing. He's been pissing and moaning about its anti-patriotic themes and the dark shadow it casts upon the modern American military, but I suppose we should watch what we say these days. Satire may be misconstrued as simply anti-Americanism... Funny, I kinda have always thought of this country as being founded by Satirist that were tired of the status quo and wanted the ability to speak their minds and to be heard without the fear of reprisals from those with badges and appointed authority. What was Patrick Henry thinking? Oh well, here's a talk back from hell coming... Can't wait to see the movie though!
Buffalo Soldiers
Films Fans of the world…
I haven’t posted anything since my observations about Phone Booth in January. This absence is not because I’ve stopped seeing films – just I’ve been working my ass off and have consequently missed advanced screenings for practically every film in release and end up seeing them with the ordinary public.
Today I saw a wonderful absurd and militant film – I saw Buffalo Soldiers.
I had great fun watching it.
This is an anarchist’s film. And if the pussy’s Miramax (a once great distribution outfit who used to have the balls needed to release challenging and controversial films and are now instead are more corporate and safe than the studio that owns them!) This film has been sitting on the shelf for nearly 18 months. Also, one of the final swansongs of Film Four – the company behind Trainspotting before they fucked it up in a confusion of trying to appease England’s in house filmmaker luvvies, the modern film making audience and of course Hollywood shininess which as executives they all want to work for after putting their time into the Charlotte Street office.
This would have made some great counter programming in the aftermath of 911! Not in the weeks directly after but during the failed and exaggerated war in Afghanistan (where is Bin laden? Where is Sadam you useless pieces of shit?) A March 2002 release would have been perfect and probably profitable. Instead the film comes out nearly 18 months late. In that time the director has gone on to Prep, Shoot, Edit, Deliver AND release another film – Ned Kelly.
The Basic Plot
The Berlin Wall is on the verge of coming down (that’s 1989 film fans) and in an American Army base in East Germany is run by inept wannabe General played by the excellent Ed Harris we have Ray Elwood played by Joaquin Phoenix, a reluctant soldier who basically is the king of black market and illegal goods all generously provided by the unknowing US Army. Whether its mass supply of cleaning products, drugs or weapons of near mass destruction – this guy has it all. It’s all going along swimmingly, despite the accidentally deaths of various soldiers through petrol tank explosions or simply a mistimed tackle during an in door American football game… Then baddass Scott Glenn shows up, takes an immediate dislike to Elwood who in turn decides the best way to handle this situation is by dating Scott Glenns daughter – Anna Paquin. Drug manufacturing, a massively pissed of father and arms deals get in the way of our burgeoning romance…
Performances
Joaquin Phoenix is the star of the film and despite performing like on Valium he is always watchable AND gets to shag Anna Paquin. Everyone else is a little too black and white for me. Ed Harris plays the ineffectual general simply through twitching his eyebrows everytime he wants to show how weak his character is – and this technique works. Scott Glenn plays a baddass who through some bad scripting becomes even more of a bad guy. I never felt hatred for him but that’s what I liked about this film. I didn’t give a shit about any of the characters. For a film like this – it is perfect.
Technical Stuff
The CGI is shit. Totally terrible. But so what? Its budget probably did not allow for the slickness and time that a bigger budget can buy. We have some great falling shots (you’ll see what I mean) and then some truly terrible CG helicopters that look straight out of 1992 computer game! It’s that bad.
The photography is muted and drifts to the yellow side of things. Kind of like Germany really. I’ve filmed in Germany several times and it’s the easiest of looks to achieve there! Oliver Stapleton does some reasonable work but sadly his lighting is a little inconsistent. Some scenes appear almost natural and “unlit” and then others go for a muddy and stylised look that makes the film so visually inconsistent. But there is some great work in a nightclub scene.
Editing is hard to judge, as I don’t the script, what was shot and in this case what was reedited to appease the nervous and probably terrified cowards at Miramax.
The films greatest asset is the art department. From the striking American Flag that gets walked over in the opening shot to the gritty and numerous grey and lifeless buildings of the various army bases the films art department have done some great and subtle work.
Soundtrack
Oh yeah… New Order, Public Enemy and in the film a statue of Elvis get its head blown off. Perfect.
Other Stuff (and a few spoilers)
But its greatest moments are it’s most absurd and extreme. A tank filled with heroin addicts driving through and over a town with and gets the best Beavis and Butthead moment since… er, Beavis and Butthead. The words “crushing beetle” take on a whole new resonance.
I loved the scene where Phoenix’s character picks up Anna Paquins from right under nose of the her father and his nemesis. The scene in the nightclub is great and anything cut to Blue Monday by New Order gets 5 Stars in my books.
The films is anti military. The families of the dead people get given medals and delicately crafted letters praising their son’s usefulness. Crime is rewarded with money and an interestingly large number of characters end up dead for no particular reason. (drug inhalation aside)
Admittedly some of it is all over the place. There are some pretty obvious places where it appears whole chunks of the film have been removed as do certain characters get set up only not to go anywhere… This has been probably been reedited more times than a draft edit of Car Commercial for the Superbowl.
The film is quite graphic. The tone is always brutal. From an early scene where a character injects his cock with heroin to some very bloody beatings some of the characters endure the film never shies away from showing things as they are. There are no Hollywood cutaways like we had in Gangs of New York. In fact the only time we do cutaway is during a sex scene in a car. But as the car gets blown up in the next scene I guess that is ok.
Towards the end the film takes on a whole new level of silliness. Characters become a little clichéd as the good guys get good and the bad guys get bad. The greyness that I so loved about the film becomes far more black and white and less interesting. But as it all ends with a bang – so what? This is not the sort of film to take seriously. Just to enjoy and take relish at taking pot shots at a useless and corrupt American military (just like we’re seeing with the incumbent and clumsy US in Iraq)
Many people wont like it. I’ve many friends who’ve seen this film over the past year and their opinions cover the whole gamut of film emotions. Love, hate, admiration and boredom.
It’s a cynical film for a cynical time. For people that liked Trainspotting, Mash and even Catch 22 go see it. For those that voted for Bush and plan to vote for him again – go see it – even by definition it makes you non-worthy of its wit and intelligence.
Not a perfect film but the most subversive film Miramax will have the balls to release in a long time.
As ever
Truthgame
