HopkinsCinemAddicts

The Suburban Film: Booze, Business, and Betrayal

    Revolutionary Road struck me as disturbingly underrated, lost among an exceedingly stellar array of films released in 2008. In the first place, Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio reunite for the first time since Titanic. Only this time, they actually made it to New York, the honeymoon is over, and kids are in the picture. Oddly enough car sex transcends both films. Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition), a director quite familiar with films about dysfunctional families living in the suburbs, helms this character study set in 1950s Connecticut. Frank Wheeler (DiCaprio) commutes to New York each day to work at an unnervingly standard desk job while his wife, April (Winslet), raises their two children. As with any suburban film, a great deal lies beneath the surface. April failed as an actress and, Frank needs a challenge. Intent on overcoming the mediocrity of their lives, April convinces her husband of the need for a change – the relocation of their family to Paris. Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as it would seem.
    This film, though riveting in its own right, is an interesting development in a long line of suburban character studies stemming primarily from American cinema in the 1950s and ‘60s. Following an atrocious war and amidst a revitalized economy, the middle class set it sights on the American dream and, thereby, a suburban lifestyle. Films in this vein focus on the imperfections of this idealized atmosphere, culture, and way of life. Most scenes involve drinking, smoking, going to get drinks, arguing with a spouse (often while drunk), and feigning contentment for the benefit of children and friends. As a suburban film, Revolutionary Road directly examines themes and topics to which similar films at most allude. Contemplating the potential differences between this film and a suburban film actually made in the ‘50s, I came across The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit.
    Written and directed by Nunnally Johnson, a distinguished screenwriter, producer, and director (to a lesser extent), this film explores the emotional and fiscal strains of sustaining an urban household by working for a large corporation. A businessman, Tom Rath, commutes to Manhattan for work each day while his wife maintains their household. During the commute (between war flashbacks), Tom receives a tip about a job opening with better pay in public relations. He decides to pursue the position in light of recent financial difficulties, coming to find it much more difficult than originally expected.
    Because these two films share several key elements, their differences are astounding. Revolutionary Road examines the struggle of a married couple to break out of the norm, even by unethical means (i.e. an internal struggle). The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit considers the struggle of a married couple to maintain a family and their integrity despite an unethical corporate world and pressing emotional and financial issues (i.e. an external struggle). Specifically, the latter film focuses on the pitfalls of juggling a demanding job and family life as well as postwar society while the former centers entirely around the stifling nature of ‘50s suburban culture. The latter portrays suburban culture in a flattering light. It’s only in the process of obtaining the resources to maintain this lifestyle that problems arise. The former looks back upon a dull and monotonous way of life fostered by the culture and setting of this time period. Perhaps the distinction lies in the sum of the current cultural trends of the United States. Today’s audiences might well have found the settings of Revolutionary Road and even The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (despite its generally upbeat portrayal) dreadful in comparison. 

Watch Out for "The Watchmen" - the blue guy gets naked

            With the somewhat recent release of The Watchmen, a film based on the mid-eighties comic book series created by Alan Moore, I got to thinking about the evolution of films adapted from comic books and graphic novels. This film, the latest installment in a long and distinguished line, undoubtedly ranks among the best of its kind (in my opinion, the best so far – no question). Considering the content and the themes of the film, however, Superman would be spinning in his grave if only someone could figure out a way to kill him and make it stick; maybe make the grave out of kryptonite and just to let him spin around a bit - that’s how far this film pushes the envelope. It’s closest predecessor, Sin City, contains more violence and about the same amount of sex, maybe a little more, but, it comes no where near broaching the themes fundamental to Watchmen. The most recent in the extensive collection of Batman movies, The Dark Knight, also raises disturbing questions but, both it and Sin City consist essentially of a morbid look at the dark underbelly of fictionalized urban settings resulting in graphic, violent and, sexual scenarios which inevitably lead to a bleak reflection upon human nature and the state of humanity. Although crime-ridden city streets start out as the problem in Watchmen, things become infinitely more complicated.

With the creator, Moore, and his original illustrator signed on, the screenplay remains as true as possible to the original comics and graphic novels. The plot surrounds several retired superheroes following the unlikely murder of an old crewmember. Although super heroes have fought crime since the 40s, the Cold War and nuclear proliferation pose bigger problems (especially for heroes with limited capacities - the powers of incredible strength and masterful fighting abilities; basically Bruce Lee in a spandex jumpsuit). That is except for Dr. Manhattan, who may be a god. With almighty weapons and entities in the mix, themes of relativistic atheism and post-postmodern dread almost inevitably rise to the surface. What’s more, the all-too-human nature of several heroes shrouds the moral standards of the protagonists in an uneasy, unresolved ambiguity (it goes substantially further than the callous but noble stereotype exemplified by Batman or Hell Boy). Needless to say, it gets complicated.

Director Zack Snyder (300 and the remake of Dawn of the Dead), an apt director in light of the content noted above, continues his legacy of pristine, slow-motion-savvy filmmaking (i.e. 300) with incredibly dynamic shots - most notably, a montage of nearly still frame shots in which the contents move very slightly in slow motion. The effect of these shots is best described as the wet-dream of the Ken Burns effect (slowly zooming into photographs and documents in an attempt to animate an otherwise still frame); like the moving photos in Harry Potter but, much slower, more subtle, and aesthetically pleasing from a cinematic viewpoint. Unsurprisingly, Snyder makes further use of slow motion and airtight effects to impressively heighten important action sequences.

Everyone enjoys a good, solid super hero movie but, Superman, Spiderman, Ironman, Batman, the Punisher, and Daredevil (among many others) represent only the cheesy, goody-goody protagonists of the comic book world (that isn’t to say the Punisher is exactly nice). Even the Hulk, Ghost Rider, Spawn, and Hell Boy, who get into some difficult moral territory due to the nature of their superpowers (technically Spawn and Ghost Rider work for the devil and, to a certain extent, Hell Boy is the devil), still remain innately good characters. The X-Men series makes everything extremely complicated in that mutants change sides, political and military action causes riffs, new mutants foster new agendas, etc. but, for the most part, one side, headed by Professor Xavier, has generally good intentions, and the other side has intentions hinging upon the notion that the ends justify the means (bad intentions). The world in which the Watchmen live has good guys, the super heroes, and bad guys, the villains, but, after a decade of retirement, the lines begin to blur, their relatively sturdy moral foundation falters, and, all the while, the world sits on the brink of nuclear holocaust. The prospect of dynamic characters and compelling themes has only recently broached this sub-genre of films. The Watchmen makes a great deal of progress at raising the bar that much further, which is probably why it’s three hours long.

The New Frontier

About a year ago, the onlookers of the 80^th Academy Awards found themselves stricken with Cohen fever: a dusty, stirrup brandishing, blood soaked tale of moral complexity in the face of greed, woe, and duty (perhaps function serves as a better word) – No Country For Old Men. This film raises daunting questions about the present nature of humanity as the protagonist finds himself facing difficult decisions and inevitably grappling with the consequences. The setting of the “West,” alluding to a simpler way of life in an often rural but requisitely untamed, or unruly, environment, aptly accommodates these studies of human character and emotion.

The protagonist of No Country For Old Men, Llewellyn Moss, stumbles upon a drug deal gone wrong during a hunting outing. Overcome by temptation, Moss takes a case full of $2 million dollars left among the bodies. When a mass murderer completely devoid of emotion, Anton Chigurh, begins to pursue him, Moss unsurprisingly regrets his misdeed but, rather than handing the money over to the authorities, he decides to go on the run in order to distance himself from and protect his wife. Amidst the ensuing pursuit, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, a man of resolute convictions, attempts to resolve and make sense of the whole situation.

Although this film presents many unique themes, much of its premise prompts a look back at Sam Peckinpah’s controversial film, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia. Bennie, a wandering piano player, encounters two bounty hunters in the employ of a rich and powerful Mexican landowner, who has recently given a large reward for the head of Alfred Garcia. Discovering that his girlfriend possesses the rare knowledge of Garcia’s resting place, Bennie decides to collect the head and the reward for himself. His and his girlfriend’s journey to do so leads down a wretched, bloody road.

Both films explore the pursuit of a difficult but rewarding goal, which requires the bending, or even breaking, of certain moral standards. Following a somewhat immoral and certainly greedy decision, the protagonist not only places himself in harms way but also those others who might also have benefitted from the success of his goal – mainly his loved ones. Those that would prevent him from achieving his ends do so under motives similar to his own: greed and ambition. The viewer considers these antagonists as such simply because their moral sense appears much more depraved than that of the protagonist’s though both parties represent complex and corrupted moral perspectives.

While Peckinpah’s legacy will forever remain his many dark and complicated Westerns, the Cohen brothers have only recently broached the genre (already old hands when it comes to the dark and complicated). In light of Peckinpah’s films, No Country for Old Men, Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood, and John Huston’s The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (the screen play of which Anderson evidently read quite often while writing There Will Be Blood) among several others, a subgenre with a focus differing from the standard, gun blazing, saddle slinging, tobacco spitting Western might be in order; it needs a name along the lines of Noir West or the Moody West – West should probably be in the name, that seems important. Blog on it.