It is time to offer up a dramedy on this site. And not some stuffy Criterion dramedy, but one from that most wonderful and officious of times, the 1980’s. The last time I saw this movie I was twelve years old, and I found the first half of the film all sorts of funny with its jokiness and superb use of a literal literary wall, but the second half with its seriousness and weird villain was not so much to my liking. So now it is time to check in twenty years later and see how Judd Nelson, John Hurt and director Bob Clark are doing.
I’m having a hard time coming up with a recommendation for a theatrical release this week. The mainstream release is Defiance, which sucks something awful, and the only new Oscar bait being released in the arthouse theaters is Revolutionary Road. I’m sure it has fine acting and is all wonderfully melodramatic, but I find myself only passably interested in it because it looks like Mad Men only not as good. So go see it if you must, like I care.
As for DVD releases the picking there aren’t much better. Though that has more to do with me having not seen any of them as far as I can tell. Thus this week I will shirk my responsibilities and pass off the recommendation onto Daniel Getahun over at Getafilm.com who has seen The Grocer’s Son and liked it quite a bit. So go read his short review (and the rest of his excellent site while you are at it), rent the movie and if it stinks remember that I’m just the messenger, he’s the one who sucks.
As I wrap up this first year of Where the Long Tail Ends I want to offer my thanks and appreciation to everyone who has visited, commented, encouraged or simply lurked on the site over this past year. It has been a fun experiment so far, and it seems that you all are enjoying the with me as much as I am. Hopefully anyways.
I’d also like to extend thanks to Derek for his contributions. I know you have had less opportunity to contribute then you had hoped, but I view everything you add to the site as a bonus. And as long as you keep it up, I will gladly wheel you away from danger when the inevitable zombie apocalypse strikes.
As for you Christian, my most half-hearted of thanks for continually writing better columns then me. If you weren’t so irritatingly likeable I would totally hate you for such behavior.
And of course, to Anna, who has sat through hours of my horrible selections, refused to watch my decent ones and who’s lectures of “Its T-H-E-I-R, Idiot!” from the next room keep me grounded and nearly grammatically correct. Nearly.
As for the next year my little Droogs, I have several goals in mind. Most deals with cleaning up the site (reducing and reorganizing the ads, finding and implementing a better site design when I get the chance, creating a usable archive page with downloadable content) and making it easier to navigate and look at. I have been doing some tinkering, but hopefully over the next year I can add a few more features that will be to everyone’s benefit. But the most difficult goal that I hope to accomplish is starting up my own podcast (or two as the case may be). The ideas for them are pretty fun, and hopefully during the next year I can eventually get one or two recorded. Needless to say the topics they will cover should fit in nicely with what we have been doing here so far.
But what about the films you ask? Well I will promise this. We have had a serious shortage of ninja content on this site and I promise that after next year that shall no longer be the case. I will also watch and review films that do not contain ninjas, but at this point it is up for grabs on which genre (Ninja vs Non-ninja) will outnumber which.
But that is the future yet to come, while next up is a film that is from the future soon to be. It is an obscure, yet cherished, Polish film that was recommended to me by none other then the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s film critic Colin Covert to watch for this site. It is best known for being Jerry Garcia’s (as well as many other famous type people’s) favorite film, and thanks to Garcia, Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola it was finally made available on DVD just a few short years ago. And while it may be lacking in ninjas, it does counter by having cannibalistic gypsies, foolish Frenchmen, waking dreams, evil spirits, possibly incestuous lesbian Muslim sisters, exorcisms and The Spanish Inquisition to offer to the viewing public who is able to make it through the entire three hour running time.
That means next week’s film is The Saragossa Manuscript.
Finally an easy week of recommendations. Ignore Big Willie or Jim Carrey, heck ignore Doubt and its prodigious scenery chewing by everyone involved (Pssst … word is in the final tumultuous conclusion that Philip Seymour Hoffmanliterally starts gnawing on his desk in frustrated disbelief at what has occurred). You don’t need a feel good movie, or a comedy or blatant Oscar bait this holiday season. Instead, try something different. Like an Independent Spanish time travel film. You know, like Timecrimes.
And what could be a better gift this Christmas then the gift of Burn After Reading? You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll discover just which of your relatives is part of a League of Morons. And isn’t that what the holidays are for?
Does anyone really like the holidays? I mean, really? Don’t get me wrong I love my family and all, and as far as dysfunction goes I think we are at a perfectly tolerable level, but the travel requirements just make me shudder.
You see my grandparents live in a small town in Ohio, a short 11 hour car trip away. But you see Anna will be spending the holidays with her family this year, so instead of driving that absurd distance all by my lonesome, I have decided to bus to Madison and stowaway in my parents Lexus, a Lexus with heated seats I might add. Of course the last time this happened I got stuck driving the last half of the trip in a raging blizzard in what was then my parent’s brand new Lexus. By the way, if you think driving in a zero visibility snow storm is hard try doing it for four hours with my father shouting “Matt you are scaring the shit out of me!” from the back seat the entire time. So you can forgive me if I’m not jumping with excitement at the possibility of going through that particular torture again. If only a friend could have some sort of a personal crisis that would give me ample reason to break off my travel plans.
Luckily for Patrick Donovan (Paul Hungerford), that is exactly what happens. With one late night call, Patrick is able to come to the emotional aid of his childhood friend Alden (John Crye) who is struggling with a pre-Christmas breakup with his girlfriend. Foregoing family to instead wallow in self-pity, Patrick and Alden find a co-conspirator in Kirby (Thomas Roads), another former childhood friend who is struggling with the recent death of his father, when they decide to dig up a time capsule they buried at their High School graduation where they hope to discover there is more to their lives then what they simply remember.
Happy Holidays is not your standard Christmas film, primarily in that it isn’t constantly reminding you it is a Christmas film. Sure the fact Patrick bailed on traveling with his partner Kevin for Christmas is an important plot point, but the focus of Happy Holidays is on Patrick, Alden and Kirby, and their own unique interactions with each other and how ineffective they are at helping one another cope with their own personal miseries.
Unlike your standard holiday feel good film, Happy Holidays brings its fare share of bitterness and resentfulness to the screen, but rather then rely on ridiculous sight gags and prat falls to heal the divides, writer/director James Ferguson instead laces the dialogue with acerbic wit and real pathos. But don’t let the bigotry, death and ever present break ups fool you, this is a darkly comic film that skillfully mines these potentially off-putting subjects with relative grace and surprising wit.
For those of you like me who work in an environment positively saturated with Christmas songs during this festive season, Happy Holidays adds another welcome respite with its score. Composer Zachary Hexum has chosen to use non-traditional music and the occasional unconventional style to deliver the soothing score. Sure he slips in the odd Christmas jingle but it is reserved enough that you won’t be craving for December 26th to arrive post haste.
At its heart I think that is what I enjoyed most about Happy Holidays. It pleases without pandering and it never overstays its welcome. And with its low key approach it is a Christmas film that can be watched and enjoyed any time of the year.
Happy Holidays will screen on Sat Dec 20 at 8pm at Lake Pepin Art & Design Center. The screening will be preceded by a screening of Red Balloon and White Mane at 4pm. All screenings are free.
I’ve been slogging through genre films for much of the last month or so, thus I think it is high time that I try and find some culture. Unfortunately, my idea of culture is watching a movie considered so shameless when it was made that it effectively ended director Michael Powell’s career. What could possibly be so awful?
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