Seen It: The Secret of Kells (2009)

While I vaguely recall The Secret of Kells (2009) having a brief run at my local art film theater, I regrettably never had the chance to see it on the big screen. Like so many movies that after seeing the trailer I eventually forget having had a desire to see it, my piqued interest in Kells was eventually lost to the sands of time. Fortunately for those of us with poor memories, Netflix continues to be the gift that keeps on giving. I came across the title as a "Top Picks For You" on the first day of Presidents Week Recess and began my Monday with it, happy to discuss what tremendous treasure it is.

The rarest of all animated movies (independent, multinational financing, hand drawn, and without over-the-top pop music production numbers), The Secret of Kells (2009) is directed by Tomm Moore, who also receives a story credit, from a screenplay by Fabrice Ziolkowski. Based on the story of the origin of the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript Gospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament located in Dublin, Ireland, the film also draws upon Celtic mythology.

The story, with help from Netflix, is simple: "When Vikings attack an Irish abbey, the monks must stop work on the legendary Book of Kells and protect their home. So Brendan (voiced by Evan McGuire), the 12-year-old nephew of Abbott Cellach (Brendan Gleeson), is tasked by visiting "illuminater" Brother Aidan (Mick Lally) with assisting in the completion of the magnificent work. With Brother Aidan's cat, Pangur Bán, as a partner in crime, Brendan's joins forces with Aisling (Christen Mooney), a fairy living in the woods outside of Kells. Rest assured that the execution of the director and animators assures that the story does not play out in an obvious a manner as the brief synopsis suggests.

Brendan and Aisling.

Though the easiest way of singing the praises of any animated film NOT by Disney/Pixar/Dreamworks is by contrasting it with the deficiencies of those same company's films, that would only serve to focus on the negatives of the latter rather then the fabulous positives of the former.

• The voice cast is excellent, and to my ear, comprised of relative unknowns, the most recognizable voice being that of actor being Brendan Gleeson (Braveheart and the Harry Potter films among others) who plays Abbot Cellach.
• The traditional (really "old fashioned" nowadays) animation is gorgeous yet somehow "edgy." When the opportunity to go the "big battle" route with the visual storytelling, the choice is made to get metaphorical (or metaphysical). 
• The romance is real. Of course the romance here is between man and the written word. Though the story and its religious trappings intimates the Word (capitalization intentional), much of the dialogue suggests the world of reading, writing and imagination. When it comes to books, Kells reminds us to "the cover is not the real treasure... open it." The movies core is developed around the completion and saving of "the most incredible book in the whole world capable of turning darkness into light."

If it reads as if the superlatives used here are over the top, you're reading correctly. Tonally, The Secret of Kells owes much more to the works of quiet, magic of Hayao Miyazaka (think Spirited Away)  than with the more common loud and garish assembly line animated movies of recent years. For yours truly, that is more than enough reason to recommend checking it out. My only regret is not having taken the opportunity to support this time of animation/storytelling when it was given its brief theatrical release.

Pangur Bán, Brendan and Brother Aidan in the scriptorium.

Seen It: Vengeance (2009)

Recently the unusual sub-genre of film that is the Asian (Korean/Japanese/Thai/Chinese) thriller has joined the (Spaghetti) Western as one of my favorites. Once in a blue moon, I get lucky and come across a movie which actually draws on elements of both "genres" effectively. How can can a Chinese movie starring a Frenchman set in modern Hong Kong be a "Western"? While a film such as Vengeance (2009) has a very definite Eastern setting, the movie's tone, characterization and aesthetic are, to this viewer, have an unmistakeably Western flair.

Directed by Johnnie To, from a script by Wai Ka-Fai, Vengeance (2009) stars French music icon Johnny Hallyday as Francis Costello, a grieving (and brooding) father who's daughter is victimized by three home invaders. To add to the trauma, his son-in-law and two young grandsons are also murdered in the pre-title assault.

A chef and restaurateur from France, Hallyday's character, with a suitably "secret past," is very much a fish out of water in the Chinese cities of Macau and Hong Kong. Relying on help from some unlikely allies, Costello seeks revenge for the senseless and brutal attack on his family. Further adding to the outsider dynamic, common in the majority of spaghetti westerns, is the revelation that Costello suffers from periodic memory-loss, a condition that necessitates his taking Polaroid pictures of the faces he needs to remember lest he forget them completely--and therefore re-meeting them throughout the film. Cognisant of his health condition which is the result of a previous "secret" activity, Costello acknowledges that at some point in the near future he will not even remember his daughter even as avenging her pain and loss becomes the focus of his existence.

As teased in the film trailer above, Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert has called Vengeance "A Classic Western," and further wrote that the film had "certain parallels" with Clint Eastwood's 1992 film Unforgiven. The film has just as many parallels with some of Eastwood's much earlier westerns. Very much a "Man With No Name," Costello, as played by Hallyday (who at one point was culturally seen as France's equivalent to Elvis Presley), says little while ingratiating himself to the "locals" (translation: Chinese hit men) with whom he develops a deep bond. This bond is further developed when their shared history, and code, are revealed toward the middle of the film. Later, Hallyday is also befriended and assisted by a young women with many children who sees the good in his hear, despite his grisly mission of vengeance.

One thematic cornerstone of the Western present in Vengeance is the depiction of a society organized around codes of honor and personal, direct or private justice. Some other important production choices seem influenced by a desired western motif such as the dramatic staging of key showdowns, as well as the accompanying soundtrack written by Lo Tayu.

Part Western, part Asian Thriller, part character study, more than anything, Vengeance is a well-produced thriller with a number of twists, none of which are novelties, as each further enhances the story of Costello's drive toward revenge. This film is currently available for on-demand viewing on Netflix.

Sources:
Wikipedia

Seen It: The Road (2009)

With the recent success of The Walking Dead television show on AMC, as well as the comic books and trade paperbacks which serve as the source material for it, now seems a good time to revisit one of the more underappreciated movies of the past few years, The Road (2009). (Of course, the highly variable weather--60 degrees and sunny yesterday, 20 degrees and snow 24 hours later--has me thinking of the film's post-apocalyptic set-up...)

Adapted from the 2006 Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Cormac McCarthy (who also wrote No Country for Old Men) , The Road shares quite a bit of thematic DNA with Robert Kirkman's Walking Dead, even more so as the comic book's storyline diverges sharply from that presented in the television show thus far, and (SPOILER ALERT) ultimately becomes a dark(er) story of one man's journey with his son in search of some semblance of peace and normalcy in a post apocalyptic world. The Road offers no zombies as antagonists, but something far worse--regular survivors so desperate to eat or exert control that they'll readily succumb to their basest urges (a motif aped in The Walking Dead, too).

The film, starring Viggo Mortensen (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) and Kodi Smit-McPhee (Let Me In), is directed by John Hillcoat and opened quietly in theaters late in 2009. Like the novel on which is based (that is written from the perspective of Mortensen's character referred to simply as "the Man"), the film is as much more a survival movie than science fiction one, though the trailer might have you believe otherwise. I suspect that the film was kind of lost in release for a few reason, the chief being its meditative pace and a lack of a sun-shiny denouement. In many ways it reminds me of The Mist (directed by Frank Darabount--one of the artists behind the The Walking Dead show) in that both are, in my mind, high quality film adaptations of series novels from genres that often employ deus ex machina means of resolving plot lines neatly--something neither film does.

While the movie does take some liberties with the novel, such as adding some back-story mostly as a means, it would seem, of being able to include the star power and marketability of actress Charlize Theron as "the woman," a character created to offer back story for the man and the boy. Matching the novels power would be difficult, but the film does a fine job of drawing the viewer in until its gut-punch conclusion.

The Road (2009) is available on on disc from Netflix as well as at your local public library (in both book and DVD formats).

Earth Day Poetics

"Poets, as few others, must live close to the world that primitive men are in: the world in its nakedness, which is fundamental for all of us--birth, love, death; the sheer fact of being alive."~Gary Snyder, "Poetry and the Primitive"

The "celebration" of Earth Day can be an awkward and tricky thing.

While the idealistic intention is to (maybe) "honor the Earth," the necessity of a "special" day strikes me as unfortunate: that we, as a disparate, loose community of people, require the setting aside of a specific day on which to 1) demonstrate our commitment through special "events", and/or 2) honor the intrinsic connection through an outward expression of unity.

Perhaps, I'm being too cynical--any progress towards a deeper understanding of our innate connection with nature and each other can only be viewed as positive, right? For me, I'll acknowledge "Earth Day" by sharing Gary Snyder's reading of a piece of his poetry from his excellent collection Axe Handles:


It does sometimes seem apropos that Earth Day falls within The Academy of American Poets National Poetry Month celebration, especially given the connection between the poet's potential role in illuminating/preserving the individual's connection with Nature.

World Water Day 2009

You may have missed it, but Sunday, March 22 was World Water Day. The day, designated by the United Nations, is intended to focus attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.

The theme for World Water Day 2009 is "Shared Water - Shared Opportunities". "Special focus will be placed on transboundary waters. Nurturing the opportunities for cooperation in transboundary water management can help build mutual respect, understanding and trust among countries and promote peace, security and sustainable economic growth."

More than 1 billion people on the planet don't have access to clean drinking water. Non-profit group charity: water funds clean water solutions like shallow wells, deep wells, rainwater harvesting systems, and spring protections to provide people in need with clean and safe drinking water.

The video posted above, prepared by charity: water to promote World Water Day, features the well-drilling work funded by the organization in the Central African Republic. It was directed by Simon Willows, and includes the track "Time Bomb" by Beck.

Breathe in, breathe out… YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!

Seen It: Che, part 2

This afternoon, a week after having seen Che: Part 1, I once again found my way to the Little Theater, our local independent movie house, and took advantage of the opportunity to see the second half of Steven Soderbergh's five hour bio-pic about Marxist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara.

I once again found myself fortunate for having previously read John Lee Anderson's biography, Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life as the movie picks up after Che's success in Cuba, a victory only hinted at in the closing seconds of the first film. The additional information from the book helped to fill in the gaps and allowed me to more fully appreciate some of the nuances of Che's story and especially Benicio Del Toro's performance.

The following premier about the film does a better job than I explaining just what period of Che's life is covered:

Following the success of the Cuban Revolution, Che Guevara is at the peak of his fame and power when he vanishes without a trace. Resurfacing some time later in the jungles of Bolivia, Guevara sets about recruiting a new band of insurgents to help him spread the revolutionary message across the rest of Latin America. But as the Bolivian government and the CIA close in on him, this will prove to be his most dangerous campaign yet.

I found this film to be slightly more lyrical than the first, with a narrative that is loosely told, allowing for the images and performances to transport you to the mountains of Bolivia. While Che's fate is foretold, the manner in which he attempts to maintain his dignity, and that of his men, is poetic (though slightly less true to life perhaps) in its presentation.

Breathe in, breathe out… YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!