list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around Watching the Detectives on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/Watching_the_Detectives/286186/default.aspx Title: Watching the Detectives
Year: 2007
Director: Paul Soter, Paul Stoker
Plot: A film freak has his life turned upside down when he starts dating a real-life femme fatale in this comedy. Neil (Cillian Murphy) is a dyed-in-the-wool movie fan who runs a video store, "Gumshoe Video," specializing in classic film noir and offbeat cult items. Neil spends nearly every evening on the couch, soaking up classic movies from the blue glow of his television; Neil's lack of a social life has not been good for his relationships with women, and his latest girlfriend walked out on him after he declared he wanted her to be more like Katharine Ross in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. But then Neil meets Violet (Lucy Liu), a sexy and adventurous woman who is immediately taken with him. However, Neil soon decides Violet may be a bit too adventurous -- while he's content to get his excitement from watching movies, she would rather throw herself into thrilling situations rather than observe them from a distance, and her appetite for danger proves to be far more than he bargained for. Watching the Detectives was the first directorial effort from Paul Soter, who as a member of the Broken Lizard comedy troupe helped write the films Super Troopers and Beerfest. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 14
Number of Lists: 3
Number of blog posts: 6
Number of discussion threads: 1
SpoutRating: 3
]]>Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:59:57 GMTWatching the Detectives2007Paul Soter, Paul StokerA film freak has his life turned upside down when he starts dating a real-life femme fatale in this comedy. Neil (<a href="http://www.spout.com/players/P___271775/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Cillian Murphy</a>) is a dyed-in-the-wool movie fan who runs a video store, "Gumshoe Video," specializing in classic film noir and offbeat cult items. Neil spends nearly every evening on the couch, soaking up classic movies from the blue glow of his television; Neil's lack of a social life has not been good for his relationships with women, and his latest girlfriend walked out on him after he declared he wanted her to be more like <a href="http://www.spout.com/players/P____61632/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Katharine Ross</a> in <a href="http://www.spout.com/films/4867/detail.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid</a>. But then Neil meets Violet (<a href="http://www.spout.com/players/P___267831/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Lucy Liu</a>), a sexy and adventurous woman who is immediately taken with him. However, Neil soon decides Violet may be a bit <I>too</I> adventurous -- while he's content to get his excitement from watching movies, she would rather throw herself into thrilling situations rather than observe them from a distance, and her appetite for danger proves to be far more than he bargained for. Watching the Detectives was the first directorial effort from <a href="http://www.spout.com/players/P___214472/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Paul Soter</a>, who as a member of the Broken Lizard comedy troupe helped write the films <a href="http://www.spout.com/films/184347/detail.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Super Troopers</a> and <a href="http://www.spout.com/films/276239/detail.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Beerfest</a>. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide14Tag Target (>10)3613http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/s286186.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/Watching_the_Detectives/286186/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/blogs/joem18b/archive/2009/8/17/43570.aspx Post By: joem18b
Post To: joem18b Blog
Post Date: 8/17/2009 2:59:57 PM
Body: Viewed Watching the Detectives the other night - a light romantic comedy starring Cillian Murphy and Lucy Liu. Cillian is 33 but in the movie he's playing a younger guy, or so it seemed to me. He has a baby face, so that works ok. Back in the days of Dobie Gillis, Dwayne Hickman and Bob Denver were in their late 20s playing high-school students; Dustin Hoffman was 30 when The Graduate was released. Lucy Liu, on the other hand, is 41. She can pass for younger and she's playing a Murphy contemporary in the movie, and I'd watch her in anything anyway cause I've got a little Lucy Liu jones going, but having said that, it cannot be denied that life is beginning to leave a few signs of road wear on the Liu corpus. The camera is good to her, but, oops, a quick shot of her hands... The hands go first. I read somewhere that the hands go last, but not so. Also a flash or two here and there in the movie - just a flash - of Lucy looking like her mother.A few words on the subject of female stars past 40, which I posted earlier. The thing is, in "Watching the Detectives," Lucy is playing a lovable, or not so lovable, wacky liver of life, hyper, unattached, no doubt because of her deeply neurotic behavior. Cillian, the watcher of TV, of movies, is her antithesis. Meet cute. Mortal opposites instantly attracted. Each pulling the other toward the center while the centrifugal force of their behavior and personalities tends to send them spinning away from each other. What will happen? Will they, can they, end up together, these two? The thing is, if we take Lucy as a woman in her 40s, she isn't zany, she's nuts.And by the way, how is it that English, Irish, Australian, and New Zelandish actors do American accents so well? No hint of Cork in Murphy's work here.Or am I crazy? It's called acting, isn't it? If Lucy gets a gig in which she is required to act young and kooky, a gig's a gig, isn't it? If Mimi Rogers is called upon to play a thirty-something in "Storm Cell" when she is in fact 53, who is Mimi to say no? Who is Mimi to turn down the Rita Fiori role in "Stone Cold" in spite of the fact that Rita is supposed to be a spectacular show-stopping babe?Just to be clear, I have no problem with movie romances in which older women hook up with younger men, no more than with the opposite. But it's just too bad if Lucy had to take the role of a giddy twenty-something just to get work. (Same with Cillian Murphy but not so bad. In fact, I thought Paul Rudd (40) seemed a little old for his role in "I Love You Man.")"Watching the Detectives," by the way, is not good.No, wait. Just caught the last five minutes and came away feeling ok with the film. Lucy's character has been burned and burned again; she's desperate. Delivers a little monolog at the end which on one level could be taken as the desperate cry for love of a 40-something willing to go to any lengths to reel in this B-level dude.Visit MRQE for a list of reviews explaining in detail why the movie sucks. I'm giving it a pass.You know how sometimes when you look up an actor in IMDB and you see that he or she has been in many, many movies that you've never heard of? This is one of those movies. I'm guessing that Cillian and Lucy will thank you for not watching it. Maybe they're both Broken Lizard fans.Final question: Lucy has modeled. Throughout this movie she is garbed to look good. So in the final scene she's in a nifty little green flowered spring number with a scoop back that reveals her bra strap. A style statement, or what? Please explain.
]]>Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:59:57 GMTjoem18bjoem18b Blog8/17/2009 2:59:57 PMViewed Watching the Detectives the other night - a light romantic comedy starring Cillian Murphy and Lucy Liu. Cillian is 33 but in the movie he's playing a younger guy, or so it seemed to me. He has a baby face, so that works ok. Back in the days of Dobie Gillis, Dwayne Hickman and Bob Denver were in their late 20s playing high-school students; Dustin Hoffman was 30 when The Graduate was released. Lucy Liu, on the other hand, is 41. She can pass for younger and she's playing a Murphy contemporary in the movie, and I'd watch her in anything anyway cause I've got a little Lucy Liu jones going, but having said that, it cannot be denied that life is beginning to leave a few signs of road wear on the Liu corpus. The camera is good to her, but, oops, a quick shot of her hands... The hands go first. I read somewhere that the hands go last, but not so. Also a flash or two here and there in the movie - just a flash - of Lucy looking like her mother.A few words on the subject of female stars past 40, which I posted earlier. The thing is, in "Watching the Detectives," Lucy is playing a lovable, or not so lovable, wacky liver of life, hyper, unattached, no doubt because of her deeply neurotic behavior. Cillian, the watcher of TV, of movies, is her antithesis. Meet cute. Mortal opposites instantly attracted. Each pulling the other toward the center while the centrifugal force of their behavior and personalities tends to send them spinning away from each other. What will happen? Will they, can they, end up together, these two? The thing is, if we take Lucy as a woman in her 40s, she isn't zany, she's nuts.And by the way, how is it that English, Irish, Australian, and New Zelandish actors do American accents so well? No hint of Cork in Murphy's work here.Or am I crazy? It's called acting, isn't it? If Lucy gets a gig in which she is required to act young and kooky, a gig's a gig, isn't it? If Mimi Rogers is called upon to play a thirty-something in "Storm Cell" when she is in fact 53, who is Mimi to say no? Who is Mimi to turn down the Rita Fiori role in "Stone Cold" in spite of the fact that Rita is supposed to be a spectacular show-stopping babe?Just to be clear, I have no problem with movie romances in which older women hook up with younger men, no more than with the opposite. But it's just too bad if Lucy had to take the role of a giddy twenty-something just to get work. (Same with Cillian Murphy but not so bad. In fact, I thought Paul Rudd (40) seemed a little old for his role in "I Love You Man.")"Watching the Detectives," by the way, is not good.No, wait. Just caught the last five minutes and came away feeling ok with the film. Lucy's character has been burned and burned again; she's desperate. Delivers a little monolog at the end which on one level could be taken as the desperate cry for love of a 40-something willing to go to any lengths to reel in this B-level dude.Visit MRQE for a list of reviews explaining in detail why the movie sucks. I'm giving it a pass.You know how sometimes when you look up an actor in IMDB and you see that he or she has been in many, many movies that you've never heard of? This is one of those movies. I'm guessing that Cillian and Lucy will thank you for not watching it. Maybe they're both Broken Lizard fans.Final question: Lucy has modeled. Throughout this movie she is garbed to look good. So in the final scene she's in a nifty little green flowered spring number with a scoop back that reveals her bra strap. A style statement, or what? Please explain. http://www.spout.com/groups/Community_Recommendations/Re_Collaboration_Best_Films_of_2008/643/38152/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: mercurial
Post To: Community Recommendations
Post Date: 12/9/2008 6:30:49 PM
Body: Liked these (in no particular order): Cloverfield Incredible theatrical experience. Might be hampered watching at home. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist Cutesy teen flick. Had a great 80's feel to it. Hamlet 2 Perverse and just plain hilarious throughout. Great original music. House Bunny I'm a sucker for Anna Faris and she plays a ditzy Playmate perfectly. The Dark Knight A comic geek's wet dream. My Winnipeg Immensely creative, original film. A flurry of emotions in a bizarre little package. WALL-E Heartbreakingly sentimental love story; action packed galactic adventure. Iron Man Another comic geek's wet dream. And Robert Downey Jr. Nuff said. The Fall Just insanely wondrous film. Deserves the comparisons to The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Speed Racer Seizure inducing fanboy fun. Savage Grace Frightening 'Based on a True Story' film. Amazing performances. The Strangers Nothing new, but executed perfectly. Dark, abysmal terror. My Blueberry Nights Subtle, nuanced performances and beautiful direction. Packed with emotion. Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day Carefree, fanciful period flick. Amy Adams and Frances McDormand are a perfect slapstick duo on screen. Jumper Big budget Sci-Fi blockbuster without all the annoying garnishes. Watching the Detectives Made for cinephiles about cinephiles. Hokey fun. Movies that might be on my list that I haven't seen yet: Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead The Curious Case of Benjamin Button The Spirit Doubt The Wrestler The Brothers Bloom Revolutionary Road Repo! The Genetic Opera Humboldt County Just Buried Milk Australia Rachel Getting Married W. Fear(s) of the Dark Synecdoche, New York Zack and Miri Make a Porno Towelhead Vicky Cristina Barcelona The Wackness Brideshead Revisited Glass: A Portrait in Twelve Parts
]]>Tue, 09 Dec 2008 23:30:49 GMTmercurialCommunity Recommendations12/9/2008 6:30:49 PMLiked these (in no particular order): Cloverfield Incredible theatrical experience. Might be hampered watching at home. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist Cutesy teen flick. Had a great 80's feel to it. Hamlet 2 Perverse and just plain hilarious throughout. Great original music. House Bunny I'm a sucker for Anna Faris and she plays a ditzy Playmate perfectly. The Dark Knight A comic geek's wet dream. My Winnipeg Immensely creative, original film. A flurry of emotions in a bizarre little package. WALL-E Heartbreakingly sentimental love story; action packed galactic adventure. Iron Man Another comic geek's wet dream. And Robert Downey Jr. Nuff said. The Fall Just insanely wondrous film. Deserves the comparisons to The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Speed Racer Seizure inducing fanboy fun. Savage Grace Frightening 'Based on a True Story' film. Amazing performances. The Strangers Nothing new, but executed perfectly. Dark, abysmal terror. My Blueberry Nights Subtle, nuanced performances and beautiful direction. Packed with emotion. Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day Carefree, fanciful period flick. Amy Adams and Frances McDormand are a perfect slapstick duo on screen. Jumper Big budget Sci-Fi blockbuster without all the annoying garnishes. Watching the Detectives Made for cinephiles about cinephiles. Hokey fun. Movies that might be on my list that I haven't seen yet: Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead The Curious Case of Benjamin Button The Spirit Doubt The Wrestler The Brothers Bloom Revolutionary Road Repo! The Genetic Opera Humboldt County Just Buried Milk Australia Rachel Getting Married W. Fear(s) of the Dark Synecdoche, New York Zack and Miri Make a Porno Towelhead Vicky Cristina Barcelona The Wackness Brideshead Revisited Glass: A Portrait in Twelve Parts http://www.spout.com/blogs/mercurial/archive/2008/6/11/31133.aspx Post By: mercurial
Post To: a filmblog
Post Date: 6/11/2008 6:15:27 PM
Body: A respectable romantic-comedy for cineastes, Watching the Detectives details the spastic misadventures of Neil (Cillian Murphy) and Violet (Lucy Liu) as they attempt to deconstruct each others expectations about life and love. Sappy and loaded with filmic references for those in the know; overall a decent little movie for fans of its ilk.
]]>Wed, 11 Jun 2008 22:15:27 GMTmercuriala filmblog6/11/2008 6:15:27 PMA respectable romantic-comedy for cineastes, Watching the Detectives details the spastic misadventures of Neil (Cillian Murphy) and Violet (Lucy Liu) as they attempt to deconstruct each others expectations about life and love. Sappy and loaded with filmic references for those in the know; overall a decent little movie for fans of its ilk. http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/1/15/23920.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 1/15/2008 3:00:53 PM
Body: Let’s face it, fellow film bloggers, we don’t have many readers who don’t have film blogs of their own. The world of cinephilia is quite cannibalistic, and we need each other to survive. However, we don’t just feed on ourselves. We also are part of an extended food chain that includes filmmakers, many of whom nowadays are also or were once cinephiles themselves. These filmmakers like to borrow, pay homage and reference movies of the past more than they like to advance the craft forward with distinct and/or innovative style. But admit it, you sometimes like the movie references, at least if you like the movie being referenced. And maybe sometimes your judgment is a little clouded by all those obscure bits that you feel cool for having gotten. Paul Soter’s Watching the Detectives looks like yet another movie that only us cinephiles are made to enjoy, which is unfortunate since many of us are too pretentious to admit that we’d enjoy just any movie about a fellow movie geek working at a video store and commenting on the merits of City of Lost Children and the faults of Casino (see Clip 1) to our customers — aren’t most of us just like video store employees who own computers and can (sometimes) write well? Watching the Detectives could be something of a light companion piece to Michel Gondry’s upcoming Be Kind Rewind; both films should in theory have little relevance to people unfamiliar with their references to movie-geek favorites. But are there enough of us movie geeks out there to make these films worth their effort? (more…) Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:00:53 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com1/15/2008 3:00:53 PM Let’s face it, fellow film bloggers, we don’t have many readers who don’t have film blogs of their own. The world of cinephilia is quite cannibalistic, and we need each other to survive. However, we don’t just feed on ourselves. We also are part of an extended food chain that includes filmmakers, many of whom nowadays are also or were once cinephiles themselves. These filmmakers like to borrow, pay homage and reference movies of the past more than they like to advance the craft forward with distinct and/or innovative style. But admit it, you sometimes like the movie references, at least if you like the movie being referenced. And maybe sometimes your judgment is a little clouded by all those obscure bits that you feel cool for having gotten. Paul Soter’s Watching the Detectives looks like yet another movie that only us cinephiles are made to enjoy, which is unfortunate since many of us are too pretentious to admit that we’d enjoy just any movie about a fellow movie geek working at a video store and commenting on the merits of City of Lost Children and the faults of Casino (see Clip 1) to our customers — aren’t most of us just like video store employees who own computers and can (sometimes) write well? Watching the Detectives could be something of a light companion piece to Michel Gondry’s upcoming Be Kind Rewind; both films should in theory have little relevance to people unfamiliar with their references to movie-geek favorites. But are there enough of us movie geeks out there to make these films worth their effort? (more…) Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/thereeler/archive/2007/5/4/8125.aspx Post By: TheReeler
Post To: The Reeler on Spout
Post Date: 5/4/2007 8:16:07 AM
Body: The namesake of Stephen Kijak's documentary Scott Walker: 30 Century Man By Vadim Rizov If you're not a music geek and the thought of watching Jarvis Cocker issue a string of bons mots doesn't get you all hot and bothered -– especially if you don’t know or care who Jarvis Cocker actually is -- you might as well skip down to the rest of the reviews. Like most music docs, Scott Walker: 30 Century Man preaches to the converted, rolling out a seemingly incongruous coalition of musicians and music geeks united only to praise its subject as one of the most influential. Musicians. Ever. Other highlights of the film include: listening to excerpts from Walker's songs; watching goofy screen-saver-ish illustrations accompany Walker’s songs; and listening to Walker talk about his songs. In other words, pure cinematic value disassociated from the subject is at a low premium, although the doc is as well-assembled as these things get. Director Stephen Kijak's main task is to locate the roots of Walker's formerly deep-buried sadness and weirdness in his pop-star days with the Walker Brothers, and he succeeds admirably. There's no messing about in the interviews with said admiring subjects (who include Cocker, Damon Albarn, David Bowie, and, uh, Sting), just quotable bits, and the archival footage is all on point. Kijak moves swiftly from Walker's early days with the Walker Brothers to his first interpretations of Jacques Brel, making him look positively foolish by intercutting between footage of a sweaty, consumptive-looking Brel contrasted with Walker at his '60s sex idol prime singing the same songs. But the heart of the documentary –- the entire latter half -- is about the last 12 years and the ultra-controversial Tilt and The Drift (the latter of which my sophomore year roommate claimed to dislike because it was just too frightening). To ease the transition, Kijak offers generous strong excerpts with goofy CGI that seems like a third-grader's attempt to imitate 2001. This actually turns out to be a good idea, forcing viewers to actually focus on the songs rather than try to process visuals at the same time. I can’t recommend the film to all but the most hardened music geeks, but I had more fun watching it than the vast majority of the slate.Watching The Detectives is as inoffensively middling as would-be quirky indie comedies get, but its premise is extra-special-annoying. Video store clerk/owner Neil (Cillian Murphy) is the archetypal stunted geek, obsessively watching movies and passing time with a bunch of equally amiable stunted co-workers. Enter Violet (Lucy Liu), a cute Asian hipster who comes into the store and wins Neil over with her apparent hostility. Neil and Violet become a couple, but he can never get comfortable. Violet is a role-player (non video-game/sexual category) who doesn't watch movies, sports or generally engage in any kind of passive activity; instead, she pranks her boyfriend(s). Her less innocuous pranks drive Neil to the brink of insanity, but of course the audience is supposed to find it endearing and fascinating, and the inevitable happy ending awaits. Even by the low standards set by Natalie Portman in Garden State, Violet doesn't just strain credulity, she breaks it. Her stunts play like particularly cruel episodes of Punk'D, like when she sends in two of her friends dressed as cops to interrogate and threaten to rape Neil. If the romance made up the main plotline, the movie would be tolerable; at least it has a decent feel for what it's like to work in the kind of video store that's perpetually about to go under and seems to be populated by the weirdest film geeks in the world. (At one point, Neil's friends have a long argument about the merits of Japanese snuff anime vs. Korean torture anime.) No, what's really annoying is that Violet's frustration with Neil's film obsession turns into a long lesson about how you should stop watching so many movies and just "live life," whatever that means. (Like all magical indie pixie girls, Violet appears to have no job or commitments to detain her from constant game-playing.) Why in the world would you make a movie about how you should be less passive and watch fewer movies? And for the love of God, why would you screen it at a film festival, let alone host a press screening? I mean, Jesus. After viewing more than three dozen movies, I sat down to carefully examine Beth Schacter’s Normal Adolescent Behavior and provide the same reasoned, measured judgments as for the last 41. Ha. Ninety minutes later, I still didn’t know what it was about. I can’t think of a way to summarize it without making it sound ridiculous, so: This is a film about six BFFs who have group sex. Repeat: not about a casual group of friends who hook up on and off, but who deliberately exclude everyone not in their club (three guys, three girls) and copulate exclusively with each other. Their reasoning actually makes a lot of sense: They’re not interested a world of drunkenly hooking up at parties and scheming for casual sex. Or, as Wendy (Amber Tamblyn) puts it, avoiding “texting some guy who’s gonna cum on my shirt.” Wendy loses the faith fast, though, falling for new jock in town Sean (Ashton Holmes) and getting torn between the potential disillusionments and pitfalls of monogamy and sticking with her friends. In a weird climate that simultaneously markets and condemns teen sex depending on who’s watching, most films that try to take the subject seriously lapse into hysteria and unintentional camp. Which is to say that Normal Adolescent Behavior isn’t Thirteen Pt. 2 –- it’s far too becalmed and boring for that -– but it doesn’t cohere tonally. Is it a satire of the modern teen world, where girls who want to have relationships that involve first kisses and the innocent holding of hands are reviled as unnatural? The title’s would-be irony points in that direction, but it ultimately seems like the group has a point -– that is, until Wendy asks Sean to spank her and he freaks out. So is the message that teenagers need to be more open-minded about sex and less scared of their own desires? No clue. The movie itself is dull, filmed in would-be artful long takes that enable thespian showboating, but the implications are fascinating, as with any film that tries to seriously address a semi-taboo. The premise is ludicrous, but trying to figure out if it’s a satire of what adults think kids are doing or just a metaphorical way of dealing with high school sex could keep you up all night. If you were thinking that a Serbian film titled The Optimists might be ironic in its intentions, you would be correct. Goran Paskaljevic's omnibus is divided into five vignettes reflecting his view of humanity, and -- for reasons too complicated to delve into here -- his vision of us is summarized in a final image of a bunch of people wallowing in a filthy lake and covering their bodies with mud, trying to convince themselves that this will cure cancer. At first, Paskaljevic seems to be hedging his bets, mixing tepid satire with pieties; the second segment tries to depict a brutal rape and follow it up with a scathing depiction of how the rich perpetually screw over the poor. The result is -- not to be impolite –- is a little too heavy on the rape emphasis to succeed as satire and a little too smirky to be taken seriously. Soon, though, Paskaljevic takes the leap from realism to sheer absurdity. The best episode concerns a traveling cardiologist called in to the farm of a pig slaughterer whose son is a compulsive killer of animals, so much so that he's been locked in the room. You haven't lived until you've seen a pre-pubescent child informing his dad, "I can take over the business for you. Don't worry, you can die." The Optimists is, to be sure, heavy-handed in its persistent emphasis on the gap between rich and poor, but it's bleakly assured in its jokes. Filmed in another tone, it might be insanely depressing; as it is, it's kind of bracing, if only 60 percent successful. Three out of five ain’t bad. Takva: A Man's Fear of God has heavy-hitter Fatih Akin (director of Head-On) as a producer, but it's a non-starter. Every year, American films demonstrate repeatedly that anyone devoutly religious is a hypocrite at best, and probably some kind of rapist or murderer in the bargain. Takva's main achievement is to extend that characterization to Islam, giving us Muharrem (Erkan Can), a devout and celibate Muslim whose sinful dreams consist of regular wet dreams and near-rape fantasies. But it's not just Muharrem who's denying his own true nature: his religious sect adopts him as their go-to financial manager, sending him out to collect rent and balance the books. Of course, Muharrem soon goes crazy when he discovers that the sect is perfectly OK with leasing out spaces to non-religious afternoon drinkers but simultaneously not OK with placing their money in a bank, because the interest raised might be sinfully contaminated. Someday, someone will make a movie about people of faith who aren't terrible human beings and/or aren't driven insane. It will not be a smirkingly liberal indictment of the hypocrisy of religion (always a known given in this type of film). This is not that movie. The Man From the Embassy is the rare movie that is so low-key it actually has no impact. Herbert Neumann (Burghart Klaußner) is a mid-level German bureaucrat wh works in the Georgian embassy. Herman is only half-dysfunctional by arthouse standards: He spends most of his evenings staring blankly at RPG games on his LCD projector, but he's also carrying on an affair with a married co-worker (Marika Giorbani). Still, not being completely sexless isn't enough for Herbert, who strikes up a friendship with 12-year-old Sashka (Lika Martinova) and puts her up at his place. Herbert seems to be interested in playing a benevolent paternal role with Sashka -- whose mom spends her days discussing how easy it is to turn tricks as a hooker -- but the world understandably assumes pedophilia is involved. The real problem with this movie isn't its low-key mode, but the fact that Herbert acts in a completely implausible manner. Emotionally constricted movie characters are typically reticent in disclosing key information, but Herbert's refusal to simply explain why he's hanging out with a 12-year-old is beyond the pale. His friendship with Sashka steers admirably clear of cranky old man redeemed by cute child cliches -- neither half of the pair actually fits into that sub-genre -- but its hero's unnatural silence eventually incites active annoyance. Being victimized by a cruel and non-understanding world is one thing; being downright clueless and helpless is another. Discuss these and other Tribeca titles at Spout: Scott Walker: 30 Century Man Watching The Detectives Normal Adolescent Behavior The Optimists A Man's Fear of God The Man From The Embassy Syndicated Feed From:The Reeler
]]>Fri, 04 May 2007 12:16:07 GMTTheReelerThe Reeler on Spout5/4/2007 8:16:07 AMThe namesake of Stephen Kijak's documentary Scott Walker: 30 Century Man By Vadim Rizov If you're not a music geek and the thought of watching Jarvis Cocker issue a string of bons mots doesn't get you all hot and bothered -– especially if you don’t know or care who Jarvis Cocker actually is -- you might as well skip down to the rest of the reviews. Like most music docs, Scott Walker: 30 Century Man preaches to the converted, rolling out a seemingly incongruous coalition of musicians and music geeks united only to praise its subject as one of the most influential. Musicians. Ever. Other highlights of the film include: listening to excerpts from Walker's songs; watching goofy screen-saver-ish illustrations accompany Walker’s songs; and listening to Walker talk about his songs. In other words, pure cinematic value disassociated from the subject is at a low premium, although the doc is as well-assembled as these things get. Director Stephen Kijak's main task is to locate the roots of Walker's formerly deep-buried sadness and weirdness in his pop-star days with the Walker Brothers, and he succeeds admirably. There's no messing about in the interviews with said admiring subjects (who include Cocker, Damon Albarn, David Bowie, and, uh, Sting), just quotable bits, and the archival footage is all on point. Kijak moves swiftly from Walker's early days with the Walker Brothers to his first interpretations of Jacques Brel, making him look positively foolish by intercutting between footage of a sweaty, consumptive-looking Brel contrasted with Walker at his '60s sex idol prime singing the same songs. But the heart of the documentary –- the entire latter half -- is about the last 12 years and the ultra-controversial Tilt and The Drift (the latter of which my sophomore year roommate claimed to dislike because it was just too frightening). To ease the transition, Kijak offers generous strong excerpts with goofy CGI that seems like a third-grader's attempt to imitate 2001. This actually turns out to be a good idea, forcing viewers to actually focus on the songs rather than try to process visuals at the same time. I can’t recommend the film to all but the most hardened music geeks, but I had more fun watching it than the vast majority of the slate.Watching The Detectives is as inoffensively middling as would-be quirky indie comedies get, but its premise is extra-special-annoying. Video store clerk/owner Neil (Cillian Murphy) is the archetypal stunted geek, obsessively watching movies and passing time with a bunch of equally amiable stunted co-workers. Enter Violet (Lucy Liu), a cute Asian hipster who comes into the store and wins Neil over with her apparent hostility. Neil and Violet become a couple, but he can never get comfortable. Violet is a role-player (non video-game/sexual category) who doesn't watch movies, sports or generally engage in any kind of passive activity; instead, she pranks her boyfriend(s). Her less innocuous pranks drive Neil to the brink of insanity, but of course the audience is supposed to find it endearing and fascinating, and the inevitable happy ending awaits. Even by the low standards set by Natalie Portman in Garden State, Violet doesn't just strain credulity, she breaks it. Her stunts play like particularly cruel episodes of Punk'D, like when she sends in two of her friends dressed as cops to interrogate and threaten to rape Neil. If the romance made up the main plotline, the movie would be tolerable; at least it has a decent feel for what it's like to work in the kind of video store that's perpetually about to go under and seems to be populated by the weirdest film geeks in the world. (At one point, Neil's friends have a long argument about the merits of Japanese snuff anime vs. Korean torture anime.) No, what's really annoying is that Violet's frustration with Neil's film obsession turns into a long lesson about how you should stop watching so many movies and just "live life," whatever that means. (Like all magical indie pixie girls, Violet appears to have no job or commitments to detain her from constant game-playing.) Why in the world would you make a movie about how you should be less passive and watch fewer movies? And for the love of God, why would you screen it at a film festival, let alone host a press screening? I mean, Jesus. After viewing more than three dozen movies, I sat down to carefully examine Beth Schacter’s Normal Adolescent Behavior and provide the same reasoned, measured judgments as for the last 41. Ha. Ninety minutes later, I still didn’t know what it was about. I can’t think of a way to summarize it without making it sound ridiculous, so: This is a film about six BFFs who have group sex. Repeat: not about a casual group of friends who hook up on and off, but who deliberately exclude everyone not in their club (three guys, three girls) and copulate exclusively with each other. Their reasoning actually makes a lot of sense: They’re not interested a world of drunkenly hooking up at parties and scheming for casual sex. Or, as Wendy (Amber Tamblyn) puts it, avoiding “texting some guy who’s gonna cum on my shirt.” Wendy loses the faith fast, though, falling for new jock in town Sean (Ashton Holmes) and getting torn between the potential disillusionments and pitfalls of monogamy and sticking with her friends. In a weird climate that simultaneously markets and condemns teen sex depending on who’s watching, most films that try to take the subject seriously lapse into hysteria and unintentional camp. Which is to say that Normal Adolescent Behavior isn’t Thirteen Pt. 2 –- it’s far too becalmed and boring for that -– but it doesn’t cohere tonally. Is it a satire of the modern teen world, where girls who want to have relationships that involve first kisses and the innocent holding of hands are reviled as unnatural? The title’s would-be irony points in that direction, but it ultimately seems like the group has a point -– that is, until Wendy asks Sean to spank her and he freaks out. So is the message that teenagers need to be more open-minded about sex and less scared of their own desires? No clue. The movie itself is dull, filmed in would-be artful long takes that enable thespian showboating, but the implications are fascinating, as with any film that tries to seriously address a semi-taboo. The premise is ludicrous, but trying to figure out if it’s a satire of what adults think kids are doing or just a metaphorical way of dealing with high school sex could keep you up all night. If you were thinking that a Serbian film titled The Optimists might be ironic in its intentions, you would be correct. Goran Paskaljevic's omnibus is divided into five vignettes reflecting his view of humanity, and -- for reasons too complicated to delve into here -- his vision of us is summarized in a final image of a bunch of people wallowing in a filthy lake and covering their bodies with mud, trying to convince themselves that this will cure cancer. At first, Paskaljevic seems to be hedging his bets, mixing tepid satire with pieties; the second segment tries to depict a brutal rape and follow it up with a scathing depiction of how the rich perpetually screw over the poor. The result is -- not to be impolite –- is a little too heavy on the rape emphasis to succeed as satire and a little too smirky to be taken seriously. Soon, though, Paskaljevic takes the leap from realism to sheer absurdity. The best episode concerns a traveling cardiologist called in to the farm of a pig slaughterer whose son is a compulsive killer of animals, so much so that he's been locked in the room. You haven't lived until you've seen a pre-pubescent child informing his dad, "I can take over the business for you. Don't worry, you can die." The Optimists is, to be sure, heavy-handed in its persistent emphasis on the gap between rich and poor, but it's bleakly assured in its jokes. Filmed in another tone, it might be insanely depressing; as it is, it's kind of bracing, if only 60 percent successful. Three out of five ain’t bad. Takva: A Man's Fear of God has heavy-hitter Fatih Akin (director of Head-On) as a producer, but it's a non-starter. Every year, American films demonstrate repeatedly that anyone devoutly religious is a hypocrite at best, and probably some kind of rapist or murderer in the bargain. Takva's main achievement is to extend that characterization to Islam, giving us Muharrem (Erkan Can), a devout and celibate Muslim whose sinful dreams consist of regular wet dreams and near-rape fantasies. But it's not just Muharrem who's denying his own true nature: his religious sect adopts him as their go-to financial manager, sending him out to collect rent and balance the books. Of course, Muharrem soon goes crazy when he discovers that the sect is perfectly OK with leasing out spaces to non-religious afternoon drinkers but simultaneously not OK with placing their money in a bank, because the interest raised might be sinfully contaminated. Someday, someone will make a movie about people of faith who aren't terrible human beings and/or aren't driven insane. It will not be a smirkingly liberal indictment of the hypocrisy of religion (always a known given in this type of film). This is not that movie. The Man From the Embassy is the rare movie that is so low-key it actually has no impact. Herbert Neumann (Burghart Klaußner) is a mid-level German bureaucrat wh works in the Georgian embassy. Herman is only half-dysfunctional by arthouse standards: He spends most of his evenings staring blankly at RPG games on his LCD projector, but he's also carrying on an affair with a married co-worker (Marika Giorbani). Still, not being completely sexless isn't enough for Herbert, who strikes up a friendship with 12-year-old Sashka (Lika Martinova) and puts her up at his place. Herbert seems to be interested in playing a benevolent paternal role with Sashka -- whose mom spends her days discussing how easy it is to turn tricks as a hooker -- but the world understandably assumes pedophilia is involved. The real problem with this movie isn't its low-key mode, but the fact that Herbert acts in a completely implausible manner. Emotionally constricted movie characters are typically reticent in disclosing key information, but Herbert's refusal to simply explain why he's hanging out with a 12-year-old is beyond the pale. His friendship with Sashka steers admirably clear of cranky old man redeemed by cute child cliches -- neither half of the pair actually fits into that sub-genre -- but its hero's unnatural silence eventually incites active annoyance. Being victimized by a cruel and non-understanding world is one thing; being downright clueless and helpless is another. Discuss these and other Tribeca titles at Spout: Scott Walker: 30 Century Man Watching The Detectives Normal Adolescent Behavior The Optimists A Man's Fear of God The Man From The Embassy Syndicated Feed From:The Reeler http://www.spout.com/blogs/kenpete/archive/2007/5/2/8018.aspx Post By: kenpete
Post To: kenpete Blog
Post Date: 5/2/2007 2:25:36 PM
Body: Really funny, fast moving, looks great, acting is fine.
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