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geochia
Reviews
The Tree of Life (2011)
Ontogeny recapitulates Cosmogony
An audacious piece of movie-making, Tree of Life resists easy conventions of narrative and dialog to create a film simultaneously brilliant and banal. Its meaning is conveyed by images, lighting, camera movement and editing, and these elements are usually more important than either the acting bits or the the actors' words. This results in a movie of poetic images, loosely tied to a Manichaean conflict between Nature and Grace, linked even more loosely to the biblical Book of Job. Curiously, the visual archetypes which preoccupy Malik seem more pagan than Judaeo-Christian. In particular, the sun seems to function as a sort of solar-cult motif for the director. (When the sun appears in the story set in the 50s or in the present, it's almost always shot to make the rays flare as a sort of stylized icon.) The recurrent shot of heavy sunflowers, pregnant with meaning as well as seeds, seems transposed in color from Dovzhenko. There are also echoes here of Tarkovsky, Kubrick and of Fellini, especially towards the end when adult Jack steps through the open doorway to make peace with his memories. Whether the human story supports, reflects or indeed enriches through association all this pretty but cosmically-clichéd imagery is the gnawing question that remains unresolved in this viewer's mind. What does endure are vivid glimpses into our characters' lives, especially the brothers' experiences of trust, love, resentment and fear growing up in a household with a stern father and meek but loving mother. Tree of Life is a flawed masterpiece, because the brilliance and seeming-randomness of the scenes of small town life in 1950s Texas are unimaginable without the lovely but ponderous profusion of images of cosmic creation and evolution which make up the rest of the movie. Ironically the visual upheaval of creation seems more stillborn and far less vital than the quietly human scale of the acted half of the movie. The result is that the volcanoes, nebulae, stellar clouds, eclipses and solar flares fly off into a parallel universe of director's conceit, and can't be brought organically to work with the human story. Still, a flawed non-linear cinematic masterpiece is better to me than any conventional narrative film. On that basis alone, Tree of Life is worth seeing.
The Secret of Kells (2009)
Kellbinding Animation.
THE SECRET OF KELLS is an astonishing first animated feature which will dazzle your eye and move your heart. The shortcomings of the film's limited budget and sometimes limited animation are more than compensated for by the visual poetry of the story of young Brendan's heroic quest to become a master illuminator during the dark ages. Historically this was in the late 8th century, when the centers of Irish learning were over-run by the Vikings. The Vikings appear here as brute antagonists, the equivalent on the North Seas of the plundering Huns and Mongols further East. The film's narrative--- which functions more as a parable--- centers around the conflict between Brendan, who seeks to create beauty in his illuminations during a time of encroaching darkness, and his stern Uncle the Abbot-- who seeks to protect the town of Kells and his nephew with a looming wall as barrier against the Norsemen. The Abbot disregards the value of Brendan's art in his quest for security. This is the movie's outer conflict. Brendan's inner conflict is to find the hidden eye of creative illumination which will allow him to complete the most difficult painting in the Book of Kells. This eye is guarded by a Dragon Ouroboros, who destroys from within those not suited to this quest as surely as the Vikings will kill from without (That's as much of the story as I'll divulge!)
What I really like about this film is its creators' imaginative understanding of some of the greatest art work to survive in the West from 1200 years ago. The characters are stylized in flat abstract shapes defined by line just as in the original Book of Kells. (Particularly noteworthy is monk Aidan's pet cat, defined in few lines, yet purely--- and even magically metamorphically feline.) The range of emotion which Brendan and the other animated characters convey given their economy of abstract design is a tribute to the excellent artistry of the director and his animators. The decorative borders on the edge of the picture change to complement the dramatic impact of a given scene, and this characteristic of illuminations from the dark ages is brought to wondrous animated life in THE SECRET OF KELLS. Of course, historical dramas usually tell us more about our own times than the times which these dramas endeavor to depict. However, by introducing archetypal elements into this story, the writers and director of THE SECRET OF KELLS convey a numinous sense of lived-life from that far-off time in Ireland which feels psychologically true, however much the script might stray from pedantic historical fact. (The United Nations' band of illuminators who appear as a rogues' club of artists in The SECRET OF KELLS aren't historically probable, but they're all well-designed, individuated characters who do much to convey the universal appeal of this quintessentially Irish story.) Animation has always seemed the best vehicle to me to better help us understand the visual art of different times and cultures. The magnificent art direction of this movie clearly derives from its historical visual source, but has also been cleverly adapted to the demands of animated storytelling; if animation had existed in the Dark Ages, the SECRET OF KELLS is what it would look like! Finally, Brendan's hero's quest in this film is the artist's perennial quest to convey the spirit of beauty, life and inspiration. (Without being preachy or even particularly Christian, this movie affirms Jesus' dictum that "Man does not live by bread alone." ) In my estimation the most inspired movie about the creative process of visual artists is Andrei Tarkovsky's ANDREI RUBLEV, a film about the great Russian icon painter of the 15th century. The SECRET OF KELLS expresses much the same sense of mystery and exhilaration about the artist's visual quest and creative process. It's certainly not as profound as ANDREI RUBLEV, but--- heck--- its a cartoon! (And one which will appeal to young and old alike.) I think this movie will hold up well to repeated viewing: in its own modest life-affirming way, this stylized SECRET OF KELLS is a classic.