Change Your Image
Harlybeast
Reviews
Broken Flowers (2005)
Aging Don Juan Sets Out on Wild Goose Chase
Bill Murray has become that rarest of American commodities---a minimalist comedic actor who seems to have the perfect sense that life (and not a script) is the funniest thing we can turn our attention to. The film "Broken Flowers" is by far the best vehicle Murray has ever found for communicating this message to his audience. I have a feeling that the Europeans are more in tune with this type of comedic acting than Americans are. In America, we still expect our comedians to produce the type of humor that makes us laugh out loud and forget our troubles. Murray (and the Europeans, if my theory is correct) have matured beyond their "ha ha" years and tend to focus on the broad comedy of life rather than its brief and separate moments of extroverted mirth (see "The Aristocrats" if you want a sampling of this kind of comedy). The joy in watching a performance like this from Murray is seeing how he uses his eyes to convey words---and sometimes not words, just feelings, or even the absence of feelings and the intrusion of---what? Well, this is what I think so many American comic actors are so afraid of: The Void. Murray's Don Juan character doesn't simply embrace The Void, he is The Void!! He is The Void bumping up against other mini-voids (ex-girlfriends) he has left in his messy wake. The various performances put in by Sharon Stone, Frances Conroy, Jessica Lange and Tilda Swinton are superb. Murray's character is so calm and observant---at times nearly mute---he comes across as something of an empathetic voyeur, a man who is so struck (saddened? bemused?) by the lives of his former flames that he nearly forgets to pursue the intention of his clue-hunting odyssey. I'm sure it is no accident that Jim Jarmusch has designed a voyage for his Don Juan that gets almost exponentially darker as it proceeds. It is wonderfully appropriate that Murray's quest ends in bitterness and confusion. Murray has worked for a long time to groom himself for this kind of role and it is delightful to see him come of age. He deserves every conceivable accolade Hollywood may have in store for him. America is blessed with many fine actors and actresses, but there is no doubt Murray now holds a special place among them all.
Grizzly Man (2005)
Hubris Brings Down a Quixotic Man-Child in the Wilderness
Werner Herzog has created an outstanding documentary feature, adeptly letting Timothy Treadwell's work speak for itself. Herzog interjects his own opinions only on occasion and makes no attempt to demonize or rehabilitate Treadwell's complicated legacy. The footage of the grizzlies is amazing, something far more intimate (for better and for worse) than anything I have ever seen in other documentary footage. It is almost beyond belief that Treadwell lasted 13 years in Alaska among these bears before he finally met his end. He had deluded himself into thinking that he had earned (or been given by God?) some kind of special immunity from harm among these animals. What complicates this delusion is the fact that he knew he had to behave as a "gentle warrior" among the grizzlies in order to fend off their occasional aggressive maneuvers. This description, although somewhat romanticized, at least acknowledges a rational need for some form of protection among the bears. Treadwell decides to camp in the heart of the "Grizzly Maze" almost as a means of proving his special ability to survive the dangers that would no doubt capture and claim ordinary men. He dares the wilderness to take his life---and it does. I agree with Herzog's decision not to play the audio recording of the attack. Seeing the expression on the ex-girlfriend's face as Herzog listens to the tape himself is very poignant. Herzog, however, seems to grandstand a bit when he counsels the woman to destroy the tape and never listen to it. The woman should be allowed to make up her own mind what to do with the tape and does not need Herzog's or anyone else's advice in that regard. However, this is a minor quibble against so many skillful moments brought to life in Herzog's film. On a final note, I think that Treadwell missed his calling---he was definitely a Fox Man rather than a Grizzly Man! Those foxes adored him!