Mini-review: Happiness (1998)

Philip Seymour Hoffman looking for a bit of happiness.

Happiness (1998)
Director: Todd Solondz
Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jane Adams, Dylan Baker, Lara Flynn Boyle


I am writing this, stupefied by the man, that is Todd Solondz, writer - director of this incredible movie. This is a movie that humanises misfits and geeks and doesn't create caricatures of them. This is a film that humanises a pedophile without exploiting his lack of normalcy as something sad or evil. This is a movie that empathizes with its characters and gives a shoulder to lean on for those quiet, lonely people whose needs are just the same as other, normal folks - to love and be loved, but cannot express it for reasons hard to describe. A film of this kind seems almost like an intense, personal project, considering how deep and objective and yet understanding Solondz is about these people (much like PTA's Boogie Nights). 


Happiness is the epitome of perfection in film. I am a picky person and quickly notice if there's anything wrong or off track with any scene (at least I think so). And here, starting from the choice of lighting (bland, minimalist, reminiscent of American Beauty) to the choice of music (happy sitcom type) to the choice of individual shots or rather moments that remain etched in your mind long after you've finished watching the film, nothing is out of balance or harmony. I would group this along with The Godfather, Seven, American Beauty and Raging Bull as films that left me satisfied both emotionally and also as an appreciator of fine cinema. 


P.S: Philip Seymour Hoffman is a force of nature. He has not more than twenty minutes of screen-time in the film (he's one of the principal characters however) and yet he lives the role like it's his second skin. Watch him take small pauses, looking uncomfortable, blinking his eyes looking for the perfect words, sighing in pathetic desperation as he acts out loneliness in all its colours - black, grey and a lot more.

Mini-review: High Plains Drifter (1973)

Clint Eastwood in annihilation mode as 'The Stranger'

High Plains Drifter (1973)
Director: Clint Eastwood
Cast: Clint Eastwood, Verna Bloom


Not much going for the plot here. Clint Eastwood plays his trademark role of the nameless 'Stranger' with panache and authority. The film boasts of rich, dark atmosphere owing to its low-key cinematography and haunting background score. Eastwood in his black outfit with hat atop stands out in every frame looking mythical and imposing against the barren scenery. As a director, he has done a fine job with a mediocre screenplay by spicing it up with sharp dialogues, black humor and mood. He is particularly clever at throwing in a possible supernatural explanation for his character's origin at the end of the film, something which has kept people talking over the years. 

Mini-review: Howl (2010)

James Franco stars as Beat poet Allen Ginsberg

Howl (2010)
Director: Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman
Cast: James Franco, David Strathairn, Jon Hamm, Mary - Louise Parker.


The movie is about the Beat generation and its philosophical foundations as much as 24 Hour Party People is about the history of the Madchester music scene. I always try to look for the basic, simple human story underneath heaps of rhetoric, plot and context and to me, 'Howl' is about finding an original voice in a world of cold, clinical machinery run by automatons drained of life blood. The story is the same in every decade. Rock and Roll followed by Beat followed by hippies followed by punk followed by Grunge and so on. The message is the same, it's of protest, just the figures change. 


I have never seen Allen Ginsberg speaking in any documentary or footage before, so I am unacquainted with how he was like in real life. But James Franco gives such a lively, sincere and heartfelt performance that never for a second, I found it difficult to empathize with this lost, melancholic and loving character. Some critics, including Ebert criticized the use of animation to support Howl's (the poem I mean) visual imagery, but for ignorant noobs like us, for us common folk, I think it was a smart move on the makers' part - it allowed me to seep into the world of 1950's post World War trauma and empathize with the lost souls that Ginsberg wrote about in his poem. I am thankful that this film was made or else I would've never come to know about this great man and his mind.