Reviews

Its been awhile since I fell in love with a film, THE LAST MISTRESS reignited the flame. It is by far the best film yet of 2008. Few films can really develop the inexplicable magnetism of one person to another, the unbreakable bond that keeps them from drifting afar for too long. Its rare to experience, and difficult to understand. Somehow Breillat has brought to life a rich portrait of the love of a lifetime. Criticisms of pacing are way off, the performers are thinking, soaking in their melancholy and you track that sadness out of the theater in wet footprints. It was hard to leave the room when the credits were over, I wanted more of them, to believe in love no matter how much pain or consequence weathers its journey. Steadfast and true. One of the best female characters to date, and by far a groundbreaking performance from Argento! Rich, passionate, heartbreaking and Breillat's greatest success yet. This is film-making my friends! The younger ones may have trouble understanding or appreciating. For those of us still in love.

It seems as though a lot of people were expecting a comedy show, as opposed to a documentary on a comedy show. Its a shame they have to pan the film for not dazzling them with humor, when it has so much more to offer. I find the filmmaker's choices and the honesty of those on camera riveting (i.e. insecurity, heckling, bad jokes, good jokes, grateful to ungracious and back again) Maybe I wouldn't have enjoyed the show in person (on an off night), but I truly enjoyed the evolution of the show from Vince's eyes. I want to make love to him. A similar film is THE COMEDIAN, being in show business I find the material incredibly compelling, those of you who like sports or Larry the Cable Guy obviously, it wouldn't be for you. Interestingly there were no women on the crew or in the show . . . hmmmmm

I loved THE STATION AGENT, I mean that is a fantastic, tight little movie. Thoughtful, paced well, bitter-sweet, colorful characters and a real story.

THE VISITOR was a movie I was prepared to love, but its not that great. In fact, I would venture to say its a little preachy. There are moments in which the characters are living the moment, and then they will break out some stale monologue that doesn't quite match the organic dialogue its spoiling.

Even though I am all for loosening immigration laws, and accepting interracial relationships, I just didn't feel like I needed the pan up to the American flag, or the 'How is this different than Syria' or the 'He didn't do anything wrong' Why Why Why Why Why . . . we got it covered, oh-the-injustice. Do we have to continually remind the audiences that our country is flawed and xenophobic? I noticed a similar heavy-handedness in STOP-LOSS with an equally talented director. I have concluded that good filmmakers should not tell stories when they are angry, because it seeps into characters, the landscape and the narrative like red ink.

OK but not great.

Eva becomes a personal hero. What could have been another grotesque documentary about the horrific offenses of the Holocaust, becomes a graceful and incredibly smart analysis of humanity. Eva, this tiny 60 year old lady, with her head hanging off one shoulder, comes out and says she forgives the Nazis, and Dr. Mengele.

Big deal, right? It becomes quite a big deal. Other holocaust survivors, other Mengele twin victims come out to publicly criticize Eva. The body of the film investigates forgiveness- whether Eva genuinely forgave Dr. Mengele or not (I don't think it would be humanly possible to do when he was responsible for killing her entire family) doesn't matter as much as what it means to everyone else. The word forgive comes with this acidic and powerful bang, it opened the flood gates of criticism from the Jewish community.

"We are not Gods, we can not forgive." "To forgive would be to betray our parents." "It is not my place to forgive."

I had never heard of anyone using these excuses before, much less believing them. I realized that forgiveness is emphasized in the New Testament and in my upbringing. Perhaps in the Jewish community it means something different, perhaps they don't see it as a virtue at all . . . and that seems totally bizarre to me.

Please do not assume that I mean to say Catholics and Christians are more virtuous people- they may speak from the moral foundation I know, but they are by NO MEANS, more virtuous people.

This tiny, Polish woman, then, builds a museum in the Midwest where she raised her family, travels the world faced with opposition from the Jewish community and survivors- the only identity she can claim to be her own; without a family, without her home country- and she fights.

I don't see her forgiveness as being weak- quite the contrary, she just wanted to relieve its hold from her soul, she wanted the suffering to be over, so she let it go.