Film Critic

I don't get it. Movie people get so excited about the Coen Bros. and I'm not that impressed. After seeing No Country For Old Men, Jeremy said that it was a movie for moviemakers. He pointed out things I didn't notice and now I can appreciate them after having them identified. But I just watched Barton Fink, which won the Palm d'Or, Best Director, and Best Actor awards at Cannes in '91 (according to wikipedia), and was, quite honestly, a little bored. It was interesting enough at times and I thought John Turturro was good, but I sure didn't find the movie spectacular. I wasn't moved emotionally, I didn't really laugh, it didn't make me think deeply, nor did it even really engage me. And yeah, I've seen Fargo, I've seen Lebowski, and they're fine but I just don't see what the big deal is.

On the other hand, I was deeply moved by The Diving Bell and The Butterfly by the "amateur" filmmaker, Julian Schnabel. It may be that he's not afraid to spend some time turning the camera upside down to watch the trees sway in the wind, that slow-motion ballet dancers glide through the halls of the hospital during a historical reference. Whatever it is, it's gripping and I'd say daring and original. I'd seen Basquiat a few year earlier but don't recall the beauty of it. I've since seen Before Night Falls and was impressed, though not to the same degree as "The Diving Bell..." I've read a few reviews that say things about the former like "it wasn't political enough" or "it was too arty to do his story justice," about the latter, and would respond by saying that the director is a painter. It doesn't seem to me that he's trying to make any statement beyond his impression on the subject and their life; he's sharing his own interpretation in his own way. If you want political, I'm sure there's a documentary out there about Arenas' and others' struggles with homophobia in Cuba; if you want Bauby's story, sans the artsy camerawork or flashbacks, his book is on sale everywhere, even at the Egyptian Theater here in Seattle. I see Schnabel's work as cinematic impressionism, or something to that effect, rather than old-fashioned realism, and I dig it.