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  • An experiment with mixed results

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    Under discussion:

    Aria  (1987)

    Ken Russell  (1973)

    Aria is a movie composed of 10 short films, each centered around a different aria from whatever opera the directors wanted. Some are haunting and beautiful, like Franc Roddam's Tristan und Isolde set in Las Vegas. Some are funny, Julien Temple's take on Rigoletto where a husband and wife each check into the same sex motel with  different partners.

    Others that stand out are Ken Russell's Nessum Dorma and Derek Jarman's Depuis le Jour.

    Some just don't work. Sadly, Robert Altman's Les Boreades never came together for me with its view from the stage into the audience. Jean Luc Goddard's Armide also fails to engage on almost every level.

    I like the short film format because even the ones that don't work take chances that you will never see in full length films.


  • Not a feel good movie, but it makes these guys real

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    Under discussion:

    Bull Durham  (1988)

    Eight Men Out  (1988)

    Field of Dreams  (1989)

    The Natural  (1984)

    Eight Men Out is probably my favorite baseball movie. It isn't a simple movie. It doesn't turn the players into shining heroes who were framed by the man. (If you want that movie watch The Natural (1984) with its cleaned up, bloodless ending.)

    These guys are barely making ends meet while the White Sox owner is raking it in. When a group of gamblers offers them big money to throw the series, they see their chance not only to get their cut, but revenge on the guy they see as cheating them. That's when their victory turns to ashes in their mouths.

     The movie doesn't shy away from the fact that they are in the wrong or the price they pay for their decisions. There is no Field of Dreams (1989) for these guys. There isn' even the redemption that Crash Davis gets in Bull Durham (1988). But this movie is spellbinding in its heartbreak.


 

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