I don't see as many movies as you cineastes and usually even then after they're old news, so I thought I'd better fulfill my duties as a loyal Chicago correspondant and also take advantage of this brief, shining moment on the cutting edge to reveal I've seen both Monster and 21 Grams at the IFP (Independent Feature Project) conference in town this weekend, along with various panel discussions with producers, directors and some independent shorts and features. A great time all around.
Monster will be released in late December, already a major buzz film. Based on a true story, Charlize Theron as a man-hating (with good reason) prostitute gone on homicidal rampage with Christina Ricci as her lover. Big push underway for Oscar consideration for Theron, who gained weight, shaved her eyebrows and looks terrible, but delivers the goods as somebody who has had a terrible life, you don't want to hang out with, but will find sparks of humanity in there somewhere if you stick around. Not necessarily my genre, especially after I heard producer Mark Damon in a panel discussion talk about how easy a film with two hot women in bed together would be to distribute. There's more to it than that, as first-time director Patty Atkins (the film is an amazing accomplishment for a first-time director), who was also present, talked about how she and Theron (a producer on the film) conspired to avoid the cliches and sleaziest expecations to tell a difficult story about a difficult individual, with the right balance of pity and disgust. Wasn't sure it was redemptive enough for me, but my immediate reaction was immediately tempered by Atkins passionate and articulate sharing of her vision. The Theron performance is certainly intense, violently against-type, but occasionally over-the-top -- though no doubt the character (ultimately executed under Jeb Bush's regime) was bizarrely larger-than-life. Theron's best moments are when she is agonizing over what she has done/become and yet cannot pull herself out of the downward trajectory. Not a feel-good film, but, again, powerful material and performances and stunning debut for the director.
21 Grams I think I might have actually liked better, probably better than jRobert. Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu whose last film Amores Perros I loved, this film doesn't quite live up to the Lost Dog story in that film (what could?) but there's alot to like, even though the chopped-up non-linear editing may cause you to wonder if anything is behind the frenetic style. Some moments are, ironically, slow and don't work at all for me: Benicio Del Toro's new ex-druggie religious convert at times falls into the worst Jesus Psycho cliches, which is always a fast turn-off for me. But when he gets away from that stuff he's good, but Sean Penn and especially Naomi Watts are even better. She has some searing emotional moments that made the hair on my neck stand on end as a woman whose personal tragedy becomes entangled with two strangers and their own individual tragedies. The "21 Grams" idea (referencing an urban myth about how much weight the body loses upon death) really doesn't play out as literally as I feared going in, but as a sort of narrative coda on what has transpired, a metaphor for the value of human life. As big a splash as Monster is bound to make, and as imperfect as this one is, seeing them back to back (man, what an intense afternoon) I left thinking this one the more vital and engaging. (But, then again, maybe that's only cause it played second in order).
Hope that makes up somewhat for not keeping up with most every other major release lately. (I did see a great old movie on video this weekend, Force of Evil -- a Martin Scorsese presentation of a classic 1948 film noir I'd never heard of: wow. Go find this one)