The Tree of Life (2011, U.S.)

I just don't know what to say. At all. Because what just happened? At first I thought I was going to love it. I mean, visually it was one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen. The score was completely out of this world, like a best of the eerie sounding classics. (Hard to describe the subset of music I'm talking about exactly, but it is a type of music I enjoy a lot. I would love to own this soundtrack.) Then there was original music composed by one of my all time favorite composers, Alexandre Desplat. Brad Pitt wasn't bad, but this wasn't my favorite performance of his. I thought Jessica Chastain was the real star of this film, which was unfortunate because she often seemed so peripheral. Overall, it was visually and aurally stunning, and the seed of the plot was good.

But. But but but. It just tried so hard to be artsy and impressionistic that it seemed silly instead. There were dinosaurs, for crying out loud. The sound mixing was not the best, so the score often overpowered whispered lines. I found myself having to turn on subtitles a lot. The part about adult Jack could have added a lot, but I don't think it was made clear enough. Plus, Sean Penn reminded me why I never liked Sean Penn (until Milk made me want to give him a second chance).

It could have been really great, but it just tried too hard and was too self aware. So instead of brilliance and beauty, I was left with a lot of annoyance and exhaustion.

Rating: 1.5

Inception (2010, U.S.)

I don't even know what to say about this one. I had to make a conscious effort to relax my brow at the end of the film because I was doing some intense thinking the entire time. It is one of the most confusing things I have ever watched. There were essentially four stories nested within each other, plus side plots as flashbacks and goodness knows what else.

The basic premise is that a team is going to make a lot of money by placing an idea into a man's head. To do this, they have to approach him in a dream within a dream, thereby penetrating his subconscious as much as possible. The lead, played by DiCaprio, is slightly broken—mentally because he's gone into the dream world one too many times and emotionally because of what happened to his wife. He's a great actor, and he's complimented by a lot of other great actors. Joseph Gordon Levitt is a personal favorite of mine, and the rest of the cast was strong.

Two of the most important parts of science fiction are the world building and convincing science, and both were wonderful. It's one of those things that has to be seen, not explained, however. In fact, I probably need to see it again so I can remind myself what happened.

There were a couple of inconsistencies, but if you like a good thinker, this is definitely one for you.

Rating: 4.0

The Escapist (2008, UK)

This was a great cerebral drama. It's hard to elaborate on the best points without giving away the ending, but suffice is to say that a lot of the elements that don't feel quite right suddenly make way too much sense in the end.

Frank Perry is more than 10 years into a life sentence without parole, and he decides to escape when his estranged daughter becomes ill. He gets a group of cons together and they arrange an escape. After they leave the prison, the rest of the film takes place in the tunnels, sewers, and underground rivers of subterranean London.

The acting is phenomenal, of course. I've never been a huge fan of Brian Cox, but he was pretty great as Frank Perry. Dominic Cooper is strong as the sexually abused young new con, and Joseph Fiennes is, as always, one of the best actors of all time.

Most of the action seemed to be shot with a hand-held camera, and it made it feel like it was a first-person account of the breakout.

I expected a twist at the end, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what pieces weren't lining up. When the twist came, I was floored. It was one of those endings that made the whole film incredible. Good stuff.

Rating: 4.0

The Machinist (2004, Spain)

Apparently The Machinist is a Spanish film, and its official name is El Maquinista—and here I always assumed it was American. (It does take place in Los Angeles.) Spain seems to be more open to brilliant filmmaking than all of the Hollywood studios that turned this one down. And it was brilliant. I can't say that I loved it, because my spine was crawling throughout the entire film, but I can say that it was bloody brilliant filmmaking. At the end, all I could do was stare at the screen in a dumbfounded manner, stifling the urge to voice random strings of expletives. It was just that mind-boggling.

The plot was complex and twisted and left one guessing. Everything you thought you knew about it turns out to be wrong. While you can guess some plot twists, others just hit you like a ton of bricks. As psychological thrillers go, this one is tops. (Although I think "thriller" is the wrong word. I don't know what's better.) Aside from the well-written script, the primary driving forces behind the suspense were an eerie score and incredibly ominous camera angles—if one can describe camera angles as such. Taking all of these elements together... One hell of a ride. Add to that some interesting symbolism, a lesson in morality, and great acting—did I say brilliant?

And we can't review this without mentioning Christian Bale and his unhealthy devotion to perfecting a role. The loss of 63 pounds, to the point where he looked that malnourished, is both impressive and revolting. True, it really did add to the role, but he is still a great actor without the physical modifications. Weight loss aside, this really was one of the best roles I've ever seen him in. He really looked like he was slowly losing his mind. Wow.

A final summary: truly terrifying. It will give you goosebumps and make you look over your shoulder in the dark, but in the end the only thing that's there to scare is what's inside the human mind. Which makes the film that much more effective.

Rating: 4.0 (not entirely sure about this)

The United States of Leland (2003, U.S.)

Last night I put Season 6 of McLeod's Daughters on hold to watch The United States of Leland. It was intense, to say the least. The cast of this film was incredible. Don Cheadle, Kevin Spacey, Lena Olin... great actors. I liked that they all took relatively minor roles in this film and played them well. As great as all of these actors are, they couldn't overshadow one of the greatest actors of what I will call "my" generation -- Ryan Gosling. Gosling has done so few big movie roles, and yet every one of them is powerful and memorable. You can try denying that he is a great actor, but I'm not buying it. This film is a particularly good example.

Gosling plays a very strange, withdrawn teenager named Leland P. Fitzgerald who murders his ex-girlfriend's retarded younger brother. However, the focus of the film isn't about the actual murder (we never see the event) or about solving a crime (he admits his guilt from the beginning). Instead, it is about discovering his character and why he committed the murder. Leland says he doesn't know why he did it, but he begins keeping a journal in prison to organize his thoughts. The "United States of Leland" is what he names his journal. He says it doesn't mean he's the president; it just means it's his way of seeing the world. While he never answers the "Why?" regarding the murder, the observant viewer can figure it out. And the reason is sad, and almost beautiful -- for lack of a better word.

Aside from the casting and acting, I also enjoyed Leland's narration, the repetition of a key image at the beginning and end of the film, and the shaken temporal structure that gave the feeling of a puzzle. The viewer therefore has to piece together Leland's confused thoughts as well as the chronology -- not to mention the relationships of all the characters. Leland's confused, the victim's family is confused, the prison teacher is confused, the viewer is confused. Relationships don't make sense, murder doesn't make sense, pain doesn't make sense, love doesn't make sense, life doesn't make sense. And that's sort of the feeling you get from this movie about a lost, lonely, detached teenager who takes his melancholy to an extreme. Fascinating.

Rating: 4.0