stopping by woods on a snowy evening

It's been a long time since I've seen a movie as intense as Let the Right One In. There aren't really words to describe the film's impact; this quote from Pajiba's review is as good an introduction as I can imagine:

It’s difficult to convey the experience of watching Let the Right One In with words. It doesn’t traffic in many words itself, for one thing, and those it does use are all Swedish. It would be easier to give a sense of the movie’s tone and impact, which has stayed with me for 72 hours and promises to linger for a while longer, by sitting down to perform a haunting piece for cello, or by standing alone with you, silently, during a snowstorm near an abandoned warehouse.

LtROI does not traffic in any of the easy tropes of American horror movies. In that way it's the opposite of the excellent French thriller Tell No One. That movie so thoroughly understood and inhabited thriller conventions that it was able to use them to tell a much bigger story. LtROI will be marketed and described as a horror movie, and there is much in it that fits that description, but the intensity that I described in the opening sentence is an intensity of emotion, of disquieted alienation, not that of adrenaline-loaded thrills.

LtROI was directed by Tomas Alfredson and adapted by John Ajvide Lindqvist from his own novel. The protagonist is Oskar, a 12-year-old who is so passive and boxed-in by life (he is tormented by loathsome bullies at school and lives with his single mom in the dreariest apartment building imaginable) that he barely deserves the designation. Alfredson's presentation of Oskar's life reminded me of both Bekmanbetov's Night Watch and The Lives of Others, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's Oscar-winning German film, in its depiction of the mundane details of lives going nowhere, and how the weirdest, gravest things may be happening in those lives. When Oskar meets Eli, who says she's "been twelve for a long time" and "not really a girl" (an offhand remark that carries much more weight in the novel; there's one brief shot in the movie that really explains what the character means), even the facts and hints of her vampiric existence are introduced in scenes of surpassing banality.

I do not want to write a plot synopsis. The movie's story is well-done and involving, but it is the emotional quality, especially the growing bond between Oskar and Eli, that insinuates intself into your soul. Let the Right One In is not an easy movie, and it's not for everyone, but I found it moving and I believe it will stay with me for a long, long time.

An Embarrassment of Riches

Friday night is kind of the mother lode for the next few weeks, with Monk, Friday Night Lights, and Battlestar Galactica all residing there. The goodness is made more poignant when you remember that this is BSG's swan song and could easily be FNL's last hurrah.

Monk is not in the same league as those two, but it features a winning performance by Tony Shalhoub. He is ably assisted by Ted Levine and Jason Gray-Stanford, and I've even grown tolerant of Traylor Howard as Monk's assistant, Natalie. It's a lightweight comedy that's fine for watching with my daughter, who loves Tony Shalhoub, and my wife, who does not care about movies and TV with nearly the fervor of my daughter and myself.

FNL struggled during it's second season, but it was still head-and-shoulders above almost everything else on broadcast television. The third season has started with a strong episode and the show's trademark camera work--FNL is one of the few shows that actually feels cinematic; the producers seem to actually care about how the pictures look and how they tell the story--is as engrossing as ever. This show may construct the music montage as well as any show ever. It's good to see it back.

BSG ended with it's survivors finding Earth, and finding that Earth was a bombed-out shell. I've read reactions to "Sometimes a Great Notion" that say things like "depressing," but I disagree. It's sad, yes. It's dark, yes. But I wasn't depressed; I was exhilarated by the show's willingness to follow its chosen path to its logical place. I hope the rest of the season stays strong and wraps up this saga in a worthy manner.

"if there was a ticking time bomb..."

24 is back tonight. I enjoyed the show for the first four seasons, but 5 and 6 blew donkeys. At its best, 24 is a popcorn orgy. At its worst... well, we know what it inspires at its worst. Still, this is the funniest assessment (that I've ever read) of certain people's attitude regarding the show.


Update:

Well, I think it's extremely funny that Janeane Garafolo is on the show, and I'm looking forward to seeing Carly Pope because, well, I think she's really hot. Still, the show committed its first major bedshit. When? Oh, at about 9:55 or whenever Agent Walker said, "They deleted the files."

See, I'm no technical maven, but I know that unless you run the hard drive through a woodchipper, the data can be recovered. Of course, watching Chloe, or this season's facsimile of same, poke around a hard drive doesn't give certain people a boner like watching Jack threaten to jam a pen in a guy's ear, so I guess we go for entertainment value.

Anthony Bourdain alert!

New season of No Reservations begins tonight (BTW, I love the cable concept of "seasons": 'Anytime we run more than three episodes and then take a break, it's a season.'). Bourdain might be kind of an asshole in person, but I'm hooked on this show. My wife even digs it.

I think it's the concept that I like, the whole feeling that Bourdain is actually trying to find unique destinations, or a new facet to already popular sites. The emphasis on food don't hurt either.

Also, when is The Middleman going to be out on DVD?

The Oscar should go to Richard Jenkins!

I know that Sean Penn was great in Milk. I know that the Academy will want to reward him for many reasons, most of them noble ones, but... damn, Richard Jenkins swung the weight in The Visitor. Jenkins is a member in good standing of the "Hey-It's-That-Guy!" club; dude's been in everything. It was so good to see him get a part like this and so touching to watch him play it. Not to short Penn, but the Oscar should go to Richard Jenkins.

American Teen and Self-Consciousness

The family will watch American Teen tonight. My daughter and I saw it in the theater and liked it well enough to cajole my wife into watching it. My daughter loved the movie; I kind of liked it, but there was one aspect of it I found interesting and a little disconcerting.

American Teen takes place in a "small" Indiana town (I put "small" in quotes because I've noticed that in the movies and on TV, 50,000 qualifies as "small". I live in a town of 4500. I know from small.) What I noticed was that every kid on screen, every one of them, was completely comfortable with and aware of the camera at all times. Late in the film, when one girl blows up at her best friend, she carefully removes her body mic before storming out of the room.

I don't know if this has any greater meaning. I could speculate about our media culture, a steady diet of reality TV, or the belief that being on screen gives life meaning. I could wax philosophical about how our dreams have shrunk to the point that we cannot imagine anything higher than being on film. I could, but I won't, because that would be stupid. I don't have enough data or a concrete thesis. Take it for what it is--something that poked me in an uncomfortable place.

The Middleman on DVD?

As soon as this 12-episode gem is available for pre-order, it's on the way to my home.
"Hawks of the Luftwaffe!"

Hello, 2009!

Well, 2008 sucked. My brother was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, my mom fell and broke her hip (necessitating replacement), and my daughter came down with mono and spent September, October, and most of November dragging herself through the day.



Now, though, it's 2009. If you haven't yet seen Man on Wire, do it now. Great movie about an unforgettable character made more poignant by the involvement of the World Trade Center.