Pophistory: music, movies, history, and life.
This new video from Slate illustrates how a movie director can dramatize a monologue through the use of camera movement. In the video, Alisha Harris narrates several examples, including clips from movies such as Citizen Kane (1941), Night of the Hunter (1955), and Forrest Gump (1994).
[2024 Update: Unfortunately, Slate’s video is not presently available.]
Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
The following websites discuss some very good movies you might have missed:
(1) Captain Obvious discusses David Lynch’s The Straight Story (1999), about an old guy who drives a tractor from Iowa to Wisconsin to see his brother. The movie, based on a true story, is unlike most of David Lynch’s movies, although there are some nice small Lynch touches. Richard Farnsworth was a great actor, and this may be his best role.
(2) Concrete Hunter talks about Please Give (2010), one of the best movies from last year that received good reviews but was more overlooked than it should have been. The movie follows two families living in New York and how their lives intersect, and the characters seem very real.
(3) You likely have seen this one, but if not, run out and get The Night of the Hunter (1955). The Onion has a review of the new Criterion DVD release.
(4) Salon has a good slideshow discussion of 10 Brilliant Comic Book Movies, featuring several interesting surprises and reappraisals of flawed but compelling movies.
Finally, in the category of “Movies You Wish You Would Have Missed,” Popdose has a fun article about movie sequels that killed the good will of the originals, thus called “Killogies.” Star Wars anyone?
Missed Movies is our series on very good movies that many people did not see when first released.
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I first learned that there was going to be a remake of True Grit when I saw the preview for the new movie. My initial reaction was, “Why would anyone remake a classic John Wayne western?” As the preview rolled on, I noticed that Jeff Bridges was in the movie, and he is one of my favorite actors. Then, in the preview, there was Matt Damon playing the Glenn Campbell role, which looked good. Finally, at the end of the preview it said that the movie was created by the Coen Brothers. I was on board.
The movie lives up to expectations. The new True Grit (TG2010) is a faithful tribute to the John Wayne classic from 1969 (TG1969) as well as to the novel upon which both movies are based. The acting is excellent. Although the stars Bridges and Damon do a great job as always, the movie depends on the role of Mattie, played by 13-year-old Hailee Steinfeld. Steinfeld carries much of the movie on her shoulders well. The original role of 14-year-old Mattie was played by the 21-year-old Kim Darby, who did a good job but is not quite believable as a child for today’s viewers.
Unfortunately, movies often portray the bad guys as brilliant pure evil characters. Such portrayals are unrealistic, as real-life criminals are generally less intelligent than movie portrayals, and instead of pure evil spirits, they are human beings (and often mentally disturbed as appears in the recent Arizona shootings of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and others by Jared Lee Loughner). Although the villains in TG2010 have little screen time, the Coen brothers add some complexity to roles that others may have portrayed as caricatures. Here, the villains are played as characters with limited intelligence or with realistic conflicting qualities. Barry Pepper does an excellent job in the role originally portrayed by Robert DuVall. TG2010 is a little more violent than TG1969, but the Coen Brothers used violence in a realistic way without raising the violence to a level they have done in some of their other movies like No Country for Old Men and Fargo.
The Coen Brothers also give some complexity to the three main heroes. Although I like the final scene from the original True Grit, the Coens ended the movie in a way that was both faithful to their vision and more faithful to the novel, both in changing the coda as well as changing the fates, to varying degrees, of the three main characters.
Westerns, by their nature, are often elegiac in nature, and True Grit 2010 is no exception. The American Heritage Dictionary defines “elegiac” as “of, relating to, or involving elegy or mourning or expressing sorrow for that which is irrecoverably past.” The movie seems elegiac for both its portrayal of a western past and for its version of how we saw movies in the past.
One of the haunting elements of the movie is its use of a limited musical score, often allowing us to hear the silence and the wind blowing on the plains. Throughout the movie, the ongoing musical theme is the spiritual “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,” which also played a key part in the movie, Night of the Hunter (addressed in a previous post). The musical connection is appropriate, as True Grit and the Robert Mitchum movie both feature the fellowship of good people triumphing over outside threats. When True Grit ends and the credits role, we are given the song once again, this time with Iris DeMent providing the vocals. The words from a specially written song would not fit True Grit’s portrayal of the three-person fellowship better: “Oh, how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way,/Leaning on the everlasting arms.”
Conclusion? True Grit 2010 is a worthwhile remake of a good movie, tweaking the original without obliterating the memory of the first movie. The character studies, the sparkling dialogue, the scenery, and the action make it an entertaining adventure. How does it compare to the 1969 movie? I missed John Wayne’s charm, but overall the 2010 movie has a more believable cast with some nice realistic story twists. Watch and enjoy both.
Bonus “Listen to this Song Instead of Watching the Trailer Advice”(above): Although I loved the preview for True Grit 2010, if you are going to see the movie, you do not need to see the trailer (or you may find it easily on YouTube). The trailer’s focus on retribution is misleading, and it shows a few good lines and scenes that are better left to your movie viewing, especially if you have never seen the 1969 movie. What might help you enjoy the movie is familiarity with the beautiful musical theme of the movie, so instead of the preview, above is Iris DeMent’s version of “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.”
Bonus Reviews (1/13/11 update): If you would like to read more about the plot, check out this review from Cinema Viewfinder, which reminded me that the Coens had echoed Night of the Hunter in Raising Arizona too (with the “Hate” and “Love” tattoos on the outlaw biker). Here is another review that is much more critical of the original True Grit, but it has a nice discussion of Night of the Hunter, noting that the line, “The Dude abides” from The Big Lebowski was also inspired by the Robert Mitchum movie.
What did you think of the movie? Leave a comment.
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The Oxford American magazine recently released its Twelfth Annual Southern Music Issue, and, as always, the magazine and enclosed CD are outstanding. Oxford American is billed as “The Southern Magazine of Good Writing,” and once a year, it devotes an issue to southern music, including a CD of the music discussed in the magazine. I first discovered the annual music issue in 1999, when my friend and co-worker Sid gave me my first copy, and I have been following the magazine ever since.
The “southern music” of these issues consists of nuggets of a wide variety of the good stuff. In the CDs I have from past annual music issues, the artists included people I already knew – such as Sonny Burgess, Odetta, and the Del McCoury Band – to new discoveries for me – like the Gosdin Brothers’ 1968 recording of “There Must Be Someone (I Can Turn To)” on this year’s CD. There are occasional odd gems, like when the 2000 CD included a recording of Robert Mitchum and Lillian Gish singing “Leaning” from Night of the Hunter that made me love the song and his voice outside the context of the haunting scene in the movie.
Last year, Oxford American started a new approach with its music issue. Instead of covering a broad geography, the magazine began to focus on one state each year. Last year was Arkansas, and this year’s issue concentrates on Alabama. I really liked the previous broader approach, but the state-by-state approach is growing on me. And either way, it is the best magazine-CD out there, and it still covers a wide range of styles and time, with songs from the 1940s through 2010. Additionally, I like that the magazine’s approach has evolved over the years so now there is a feature story about each track on the CD.
There are also other articles, like fiction by Greil Marcus and an article about the song-writing team of Felice and Boudleaux Bryant. Never heard of the Bryants? The article will tell you the story behind their songs recorded by the Everly Brothers, like “Bye Bye Love” (recorded by the Everlys just to get the $64 session fee).
Oxford American has struggled through the years to stay in business (like another music magazine I loved, No Depression). From my recollection, and from the missing CD in my collection from one year, the magazine’s troubles peaked in 2004 when they stopped publishing for a period. Do not let that happen again. You may pick up the magazine at most bookstores or order the magazine and back issues from the website, which also has this year’s track listing (under “Further Listening”). FYI, I have no affiliation with the magazine, I just wanted to share.
A version of this review was also published at NoDepression.com