Jim Hunter (hunterjt13)
Ada
Jim's Recent Reviews
The Descendants
R
A man finds out his dying wife cheated on him while he decides whether or not to sell an inherited plot of land.
The performances by George Clooney and Shailene Woodley in The Descendants are almost unmatched this year. Clooney's final, tearful goodbye is remarkably compelling, and his balance between jealousy and nostalgia throughout the rest of the film is pitch perfect. And Woodley's underwater crying scene is worth an Oscar nomination in itself (another mistake by the Academy).
The film as a whole, however, is an example of horrid story construction. Approximately the first half hour is nothing but exposition with bland voice overs and plotlines like the children's poor showings at their schools that have nothing to do with the rest of the film. Essentially, the film doesn't really begin until Woodley's character, Alexandra, makes her first appearance. And who is Sid, and why the hell is he in this movie?
Also, i often think of films anatomically. There are the bones and muscles -- the story and the characters. Between the bones and muscles is the connective tissue. In many films the connective tissue establishing shots, little montages, and sometimes scenic views to establish setting. In The Descendants the connective tissue almost takes over the film. There are so many shots of Hawaii that I thought it was a tourist bureau commercial; I know that these attempt to serve a post-colonial point, but this theme is half-hearted at best.
Overall, Clooney is Oscar bait, but I'll be disappointed when it is favored to win it all.
Shame
NC-17
A sex addict tries to reform his life after his sister moves in with him.
I'm glad that I waited until after the Oscar nominations came out to write about Shame and Michael Fassbender's performance. He was robbed of a nomination, and though Clooney will likely win, Fassbender's work is riskier and grittier.
The film works on two levels. First is Fassbender. Brandon is built on silence, hungry looks, and occasional bursts of emotion that are only understandable after the shock of their effect wears off. The second is how sharply subtle the story is constructed. There are no scenes explaining Brandon's development as a character, only actions. This is the year of the silent film (The Artist, the nostalgia of the silent age in Hugo, and Shame's reliance of silence to convey the story).
Additionally, Shame has the unpleasant and challenging goal of making sex look ugly. And it succeeds. Some scenes are tawdry; others are brutal. A few are alluring until the titular emotion replaces afterglow.
Occasionally, Shame commits the venial sin of being too slow, and I thought the exposition in the first act could have been trimmed; like The Descendants, the film really begins when its leading lady, in this case Carey Mulligan, makes her first appearance.
Overall, Shame is an excellent film about sex and obsession with a star that is naked and vulnerable, more emotionally than physically.
