Wednesday, March 27, 2024

To Rome With Love

Written at the time of the film's release...

Around the World in Woody's Malaise
or
The Ozymandius Melancholia Gambit ("Turbulence!  My Favorite!")

Far be it for me to suggest that Woody Allen might actually be comfortable in his own skin as a storyteller. but when it has come time for him to do his own "Roman Holiday" film, To Rome With Love, there's not a hint of Fellini in it (Been there, done that—specifically, way back in 1980, when he made his Stardust Memories in tribute to the great Italian film-maker). 

Truth to tell, his latest has more in common with the Italian "anthology" films of the 1960's, where directors would tackle similar themes in short personal films.

To Rome With Love has four interlocking fantasias about love and personal dissatisfaction: in the first, a young married couple (Alessandro Tiberi and Alessandra Mastronardi) come to Rome, where he is to be introduced to his new work situation—eager to make a good impression, the wife goes shopping and ends up getting lost and involved with an Italian film-star, and hubby, thanks to a case of mistaken identity, must go to his functions in the company of a pre-arranged hooker (Penelope Cruz); the second involves two architects, one seasoned (Alec Baldwin), the other just starting out (Jesse Eisenberg) who become each other's fantasy figures (of a sorts) when the young architect, already attached to Sally (Greta Gerwig), falls for her best friend Monica (Ellen Page), a self-involved, if fascinating, actress.
The third involves a "normal member of the middle class" in Rome (Roberto Benigni) who suddenly becomes "famous for being famous," and is pursued and interviewed by an indiscriminate paparazzi; the fourth involves a former classical music executive (Allen), who discovers a great opera singer (Fabio Armiliato) in the family of his potential son-in-law..with conditions.

The setting is Italian, but the themes are pure "Allen-town." Each of the characters get a brief glimpse of "life on the other side," gingerly placing their toes where the grass is greener, and find it wanting, but themselves enriched from the experience, survived without harm or consequences paid. Baldwin's architect gets to play devil's advocate (much the same way as Bogart did in Play It Again, Sam) with a realist's wisdom, as opposed to a romantic's fool-hardiness—a good cure for his nostalgia. The Italian couple experience romantic fantasies before settling down to domestic bliss, not older but wiser.
Benigni's civil-functionary briefly enjoys cultural significance, with all the invasiveness and dissection of minutiae, before returning to anonymity and the value of a private life, and Allen's retiree gets to witness a fulfillment of his dreams by providing a channel for another, and, having achieved it, returning to his normal life.
Any of these stories could be set anywhere. Rome provides a nice catalyst for these quick short pieces that summarize the Allen world-view: "Life is terrible, but it beats the alternative." And it's buttressed by the standard "Volare"...which mean "to fly." 
Happy landings.

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

The Good German

Written at the time of the film's release...

The Good German (Steve Soderbergh, 2006)

"Berlin July 1945. Harry Truman, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin are scheduled to meet outside the city, in Potsdam, to draw the post-war map. Only Japan continues to fight..."
 
This was the second of Cate Blanchett's (erk!) "Christmas" movies.* And it's a fascinating little experiment, but not a satisfying movie. 
 
In it, Steve Soderbergh attempted to do a film in the old "Warner Brothers" style. It's in black and white, done on back-lots with incandescent lights, and tube microphones and back-projection. Stylistically, it looks a lot like Michael Curtiz's staging of Casablanca, while in the many instances of conflict it resembles Orson Welles' in-your-face direction. The story, which takes place in a divided post-war Berlin is a bit like the cynical The Third Man crossed with the more romantic Casablanca. But it has the modern sensibility of more natural acting, language, nudity and hyper-cynicism. 
And it's like the two don't go together, there's such a cultural disconnect between the "silver-screen presentation" and the story that ultimately they're working at cross-purposes. It's tough to care about the machinations of the script when you're admiring the technique, and playing "identify that shot." 
Plus, the stars are ill-served by the conceits. Clooney is forced to be a bit more broad, which has never been his strength, and poor Tobey McGuire just can't cope—it doesn't help that he's playing drastically against type. The character actors fare better with more theatrical performances, and Cate Blanchett channels the languid sensibilities of Dietrich and Bergman to get by. 
Still, it's not an incompetent film—it's very accomplished. But the directorial decisions undercut the story, and one wonders why Soderbergh decided to pull off these stunts (which couldn't have been easy and certainly flew in the face of what studios think generate box-office) when a more straight-forward presentation might have served the story better.
** Whatever joys the old techniques generate (one of which is hearing Thomas Newman score a movie in the style of his father, Alfred) aren't worth torpedoing the film.

* The "other" was Notes on a Scandal, which also starred Judi Dench.
 
** Why did he shoot it this way? Probably a bit of nostalgia for the Warner style and the style of Michael Curtiz in particular. Curtiz was known to only use five lenses for filming, and Soderbergh restricted himself to just those types of lenses. Plus, the rigors forced him to shoot only what he needed for the film without re-shooting scenes for "coverage." As he told New York Times writer Dave Kehr for an article dated Nov. 26, 2006: "That kind of staging is a lost art, which is too bad. The reason they no longer work that way is because it means making choices, real choices, and sticking to them ... That's not what people do now. They want all the options they can get in the editing room."

Sunday, March 24, 2024

Don't Make a Scene: The Stunt Man (1980)

The Story:
"Eli's Killer Crane."

There is much surreality in Richard Rush's The Stunt Man, but then it does take place in the world of film-sets and the film-makers who inhabit them. Picture-makers have been making meta-references to the fakery involved for almost as long as they've been making films. Toss into that mix a fugitive from justice, already paranoid about being caught, and you have a stew of things not seeming to be what you think. And a lead character suspicious of everything in his immediate vicinity.

Add in a manipulative director who'll do anything to get what he wants, and that's The Stunt Man. a movie that is both action, comedy, psychological thriller, and love story. No wonder studios didn't know what to make of it...or how to sell it.
 
Rush was drawn to the tendency of human beings to "fill in the blanks" when given limited information, more often than not erroneously, and the protagonist, Cameron, already suspicious, is more susceptible to this due to his circumstances. And Rush wanted the audience to have that same discomfort about what was really happening.
 
Enter "Eli's Killer Crane." And from where you least expect it.
 
Peter O'Toole's near-messianic director uses it for high shots, especially among the upper floors of his Hotel del Coronado location. But, there's more than a bit of self-aggrandizement about it, as well. Seeing Eli Cross wafting about his set is a weird jokey bizarre sight—one gets the impression he's controlling it himself, rather than the reality of a Union-guy out-of-sight in the thing's cabin manipulating all the moves. But, that's just one more illusion in a movie that seems to revel in them.
 
Now, there were quite a few changes made to the script between it being written in 1972 and 1977 when it started filming. The major change is the casting of Peter O'Toole as Cross (O'Toole famously told Rush "I am an articulate, intelligent man. I read the screenplay and if you don't give me the part I will kill you") There were lots of opportunities to make the film with more marketable stars, but Rush desperately wanted O'Toole—with evident good reason—and the script was polished and buffed as far as certain word choices in order to better suit the actor. That's the reason for the cross-outs and the Green substitutions for what was in the original script as it was written in 1972.
 
And there already so many gems in the film...to have O'Toole deliver them...what director could refuse (even if the actor had threatened your life).

The Set-Up: Fugitive-on-the-run Cameron (Steve Railsback) has stumbled onto a film-set where they're making a WWI film, directed by one singular Eli Cross (Peter O'Toole). But Cameron's presence caused a stunt to go wrong, killing a stunt man. Needing the location and not wanting to waste time with the police, Eli uses the young fugitive to his advantage, saying that he—Cameron—is actually the stunt man, Burt, who died in the accident...no harm, no foul. Nothing to see here, let's resume filming..."Places, everybody". For Cameron, it seems a lucky break, but, soon, begins to realize that nothing is what it seems it is on a film-set, and he begins to become suspicious of the director's motives...and those of the film's leading lady, Nina Franklin (Barbara Hershey).
 
Action!
 
EXT. CHURCHYARD - BENEATH THE TOWER - NIGHT 
The church door swings open. Nina and Cameron emerge, covering their embarrassment with bravado. Nina is prattling as though to a tour guide. 
CLOSE ON CAMERON AND NINA 
NINA
...And those bells are so interesting. Imagine four hundred years ago by boat from Amsterdam. Thank you for the tour. It was so informative. 
I'm going to...
NINA
...
write my father. He's so interested in God and things like that. 
ELI'S VOICE
Hiya. Good evening. 
ELI
Want a lift? 
Eli miraculously appears from above. He descends and rides around beside them in the bucket of the crane. 
NINA
(ducking) Oh, for Christ's sake, Eli... 
ELI
Palm trees. Yet more palm trees.
 
ELI
(Shouting) Who had the audacity to put palm trees there! 
ELI
They'll be in every shot!
ELI
And what are palm trees doing waving around on a...
ELI
...battlefield in Europe during the...
ELI ...first World War!?
ELI
Answer me that,...
ELI
There once was a maiden Nina, the actress so fair, 
ELI
smooching a guy with red hair who fancied a man with blond hair... 
NINA Eli, get away with that thing
ELI
...Could it be Raymond who's turning this dame on? But Raymond discovers 
ELI
...Or his double, young Lucky Pierre? as he lifts up the covers
ELI
That his double, 
ELI
young Lucky, is there.
ELI
Now...
NINA Eli!
ELI
Yes?... 
Unable to elude Eli in his basket, Nina turns on him in mock frustration. 
NINA
It's gotten...
NINA
...
to the point where I have to look under...
NINA
...the stopper of the bathtub when I take a shower...
NINA
...to make sure I've got some privacy! 
The crew starts to whistle and 
applaud her performance
(broadly gesturing to group) 
NINA
Thank you one and all 
NINA
and good night! 
Privately, she gives Cameron's arm an affectionate squeeze, 
then disappears around the corner of the building.
He is left holding the beach bag, pursued by the Peter Pan in the basket. It has now dropped to ground level so Eli is looking up at Cameron. 
ELI:
Step right in up, folks...
ELI:
the "Killer Crane" Take the ride of the century...
ELI:
...
on Eli's Killer Crane.
CAMERON: Thanks, I'll walk. 
Eli's basket now moves up a few feet so he's looking down at Cameron, riding beside him while he walks. 
ELI: Ah, youth. Six hours in town and caught with the leading lady. Not bad. Shouldn't be so upset. 
CAMERON: Okay to be upset about what happened in the dining room? Why'd you promise to show that cop the film? He'll recognize me. 
ELI: You really don't trust me, do you
ELI:
Hop Get in. I got a present for you.
CAMERON:
Thanks, I'll walk.
ELI:
Ah, youth. Hot youth. 
ELI:
In town for six hours only, he captures the leading lady. 
ELI:
Can't be bad. Shouldn't be too depressed.  
CAMERON: Is it okay to be depressed about showing the cops the film?
ELI
You don't really trust me, do you?
ELI
Come here to me!
He pulls Cameron into the basket beside him so unexpectedly that Cameron drops Sam's bag. Eli picks it up and plops it into Cameron's lap.
Suddenly Cameron finds himself soaring skyward at a stomach-churning rate -- while Eli rattles on...probing, disarming, quixotic... 
ELI
(CONT'D) You constantly amaze me. You don't go to movies. What's that tatoo, a disguise? You a Commie? What are you, a Communist?
ELI
What were those handcuffs, some sort of decoy-disguise?
ELI
Don't Did you not know that King Kong the First was only just three feet six inches tall? He came up to Fay Wray's belly button. 
ELI
If God could only do the tricks we can do, he'd be a happy man
ELI
What are you worried about the film and the cops police and the film for? 
Now, hanging ten stories above the city, Eli is adjusting his viewer, looking at a cluster of RED FLASHING LIGHTS IN THE DISTANCE. 
He hands the viewer to Cameron, who looks through it
We see a telescoped view of THE POLICE ROADBLOCK at the end of a highway with cars waiting to get past ARMED POLICE. 
CAMERON'S VOICE
(muttering) What am I worried about the cops police for?
ELI:
Look over here, son.
ELI:
Look through there. 
He hands the viewer to Cameron, who looks through it. 
We see a telescoped view of THE POLICE ROADBLOCK at the end of a highway with cars waiting to get past ARMED POLICE.
CAMERON's VOICE: Lookin' for big, bad Cameron.
ELI'S VOICE Another one over there. 
THE VIEW WHIPS to a second police roadblock at the other entrance to town. 
ELI'S VOICE (CONT'D) It's a pair. 
TWO SHOT: 
CAMERON:
(puts viewer down) Is this...
CAMERON: ...my present? 
ELI:
No, your present is a piece of good advice. 
CAMERON:
Keep it.
ELI: (patting Sam's beach bag) You've got...
ELI:
...
that look again. That gleam again...  
ELI:
It's so hostile, 
ELI:
it's like of the some sprinter about to set a record...
ELI:
...for the 50-yard dash. Is that why all those cops the fuzz are chasing you? What are you, some kind of sexual freak running dashing across America in spurts with your fly open? Is that why they're after you
CAMERON:
You're close. 
CAMERON:
What's your advice? 
ELI:
Button your fly...
ELI:
...and be at the airport on Sunday at three o'clock with the rest of the...
ELI:
...crew. Climb aboard our chartered 707 and fly away with us to where the setting sun...
ELI:
...
bleeds into a million swimming pools a man can hide in. 
ELI:
You do swim as well as run? 
CAMERON:
(overwhelmed by the offer) I'll swim like a fish. You really mean it? 
(Eli nods) 
CAMERON:
Why are you trying to save my ass? 
Eli hesitates,
then answers quietly -- for him there is great meaning in it. 
ELI:
...Because you're as crazy as the guy young man I'm doing making the picture film about.
(then grinning archly, the mood broken) 
ELI:
...Besides, I've fallen madly in love... 
ELI:
...with the dark side of your nature.

 
 
Pictures by Mario Tosi and Richard Rush
 
The Stunt Man is available on DVD from Anchor Bay Home Video.