Are You Sure You're Ready for Your Closeup?

"All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up."

When Norma Desmond utters this famous line in Sunset Boulevard, it's understood that this imaginary closeup is in a movie about her and this is the moment where we are to experience what she is experiencing. This is what closeups are meant to do. They reinforce a subjective moment. But I've noticed that closeups are being used incorrectly. Directors are unwittingly creating objective moments when they're striving for the exact opposite.

My father, of all people, noticed this trend first. I had seen the The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and been unimpressed when everyone else was going ga-ga over it. When it came to a second-run theater, I figured I'd give it another shot and asked my dad if he wanted to go. When we were walking out of the theater, I asked him what he thought. All he mentioned was the amount of closeups of Frodo and his big eyes. I had wanted a little more of an answer so I kind of dismissed it at the time. It was only when I was watching The Two Towers and felt as apathetic as I had to the first film that I began searching for words to describe my experience. Claustrophobia came to mind and I recalled my dad's words. When I began looking for closeups, I realized my dad's answer was the more I had wanted 'cause there's a ton of them. Rather than creating the expansive feeling that these movies deserve, I felt like I in Bilbo's house in Bag End.

A slightly different problem is that action movies are being filmed in what might be called a cinema verite style. Paul Greengrass's Bourne Supremacy is an example of this. Cameras are handheld and are close to the subject creating an entire movie of closeups. When I saw the movie in the theater, several people I was with had to leave because they were nauseous. Much of Batman Begins, as great a movie as it is, is filmed in the same way. And yet at one point in that movie, it is the perfect choice.

The first time we "see" Batman being Batman is in the warehouse. An exchange of goods between criminals is being made. One by one, Batman is taking out hoods. Growing paranoia sets in among them because they don't know what's going on. Finally, the big showdown comes. This is one of the best scenes of the movie. Batman comes from above and sets down among a number of men, promptly dispatching all of them. At no point do we ever see him completely. It's a hand here, a foot there, a bit of cape. Sometimes we only see a body fall.

Now why does this scene work so well when all of the other fight scenes seem so confusing? It is because in that scene, we are the hoods and not Batman. We are seeing things through their eyes, and to them, it is confusing. We intellectually know that they're being attacked by Batman, but from the moment we step into the warehouse, the movie is from the point of view of the hoods. In all of the other fight scenes, we are Batman.

Now, I don't know about you, but if I got into a fight, I don't think I would have any idea what would be going on. It would be a flurry of fists, pain, and maybe a little joy if actually managed to land a punch. But to fight effectively, as Batman does, you need to counter the person you're fighting. You need to know what is going on in the fight. But all of Batman's fight scenes are filmed in such a way that we can't know what is going on. We are left to guess. And if we are guessing, we are not Batman, and if we are not Batman, then the movie has failed.

The same can be said of Bourne Supremacy. I think it is a very good movie, and perhaps could have been better than Bourne Identity, but Identity understood that Jason Bourne knows how to fight, and so we should have that experience as well. But Supremacy's fight scenes are a jumbled mess. Again, we have been separated from the character we are meant to be with. We are not involved in the fight. We are watching it.

Asian cinema, which has been dealing with intricate fight choreography a bit more than its Western counterpart, seems to understand this. Perhaps it only came from a desire to show the choreogrpahy, but the lesson is still there and the Wachowski brothers certainly learned it. Can you imagine The Matrix without seeing Neo cartwheeling through the air?

The failure of The Lord of the Rings is slightly different. While it's fight scenes have the same problem, it's the true closeups that are its biggest flaw. Peter Jackson doesn't understand how we feel about these characters. The books are large and sweeping and the movie should feel the same. The characters are archetypes, the quest has ramifications on the world. This is not a John Cassevetes movie. But Peter Jackson seems to think he can make the movie something it is not.

Closeups are a trait of his. They show up in King Kong but here they work because he sees this movie as a relationship between a woman and a large ape. Though the movie is a grand adventure, every time it focuses on their faces, we are a part of this relationship.

It's disheartening to see this coming from such fine directors who make so many other great choices. I haven't seen United 93 but I hope that Paul Greengrass used this style for that movie as he did so effectively with Bloody Sunday. I want to be with those people on that plane.

In the end, these directors have two choices. They can either follow directors as varied as Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese and Paul Thomas Anderson and find stories that fit their styles. Or, they can follow Steven Soderbergh and Gus Van Sant and find styles that fit the stories.

So what's it going to be, guys?

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

***1/2

Harry Potter……………………….Daniel Radcliffe
Dolores Umbridge………………....Imelda Staunton
Sirius Black……………………….Gary Oldman
Severus Snape……………………..Alan Rickman
Professor Dumbledore…………….Michael Gambon
Hermione Granger…………………Emma Watson
Ron Weasely………………………Rupert Grint
Voldemort…………………………Ralph Fiennes

Directed by David Yates
Screenplay by Michael Goldenberg
Based on the novel by J. K. Rowling

Rated PG-13
Runtime: 2 hrs. 18 min.


There’s been a lot made of the magic being gone. I have to admit: for a time, I was wondering whether it was.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (movie #5 of 7) doesn’t begin as effortlessly as the others have. There are scenes that don’t pop as much as they have in the previous movies. The lone scene with Harry’s aunt and uncle was uncomfortable, like they tried to cram into a 2-minute scene all of the humor the other movies found in Harry’s home life and it burst.

But at some point, and I can’t say when it happened, the movie took off. I felt the same way I do when I read the books: breathless excitement as each scene unfolds wondering what’s going to happen next.

The movie opens well with a genuinely frightening scene when Harry and his step-brother Dudley are attacked by Dementors. In order to save himself and Dudley, Harry has to use magic.

For this, Harry is expelled from Hogwarts. He is eventually allowed to return, but Hogwarts is not the haven it once was. The newspapers and many classmates are accusing him of lying about Voldemort’s return (Harry fought Voldemort at the end of the previous film). There’s a new Professor of the Dark Arts, Dolores Umbridge, who is also a member of the Ministry of Magic, and who does not take kindly to being questioned. Professor Dumbledore seems oddly absent. And Harry is having recurring nightmares.

There are a few bright spots for Harry. He begins leading a secret class teaching defense against the dark arts because Miss Umbridge is not teaching them anything practical. And then there’s his first kiss.

There are so many intangibles with this outing that I don’t know where to place either the little blame or the considerable credit. There’s a new writer and it’s the longest of the Potter books, but it is new director David Yates who has received the brunt of the attacks. Several critics have said that he hasn’t brought anything new to the series. Really, I’m not sure anyone up to this point has added their stamp except Alfonso Cuaron with the edge he brought to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Yates wisely builds on this as Mike Newell did in the previous installment. But Yates brings a delicacy to this film that has been absent before. This movie has time for character and there are many intimate scenes that depend on acting and not effects. All the actors have improved, particularly Daniel Radcliffe. When he asks Dumbledore why he’s angry all the time, it’s heartbreaking. His scenes with his godfather Sirius (Gary Oldman) are excellent. The bond between them is very real.

Imelda Staunton has been added to the cast and is wonderful as Dolores Umbridge. Everything about her acting, costumes, and set decoration (love the cat plates) undercut her sadism, yet it makes her that much more terrifying.

But please, let’s give it up for Alan Rickman who works his own special type of magic on screen. He has a scene in which he utters only two words, both of which elicited laughs from the audience.

Finally, for all those who are complaining that the wonderment is gone, of course it is. J. K. Rowling’s brilliance was to begin this story as an objective experience, but the more we grow with Harry, the more subjective the story becomes. We have to experience things as Harry is. I suggest you stop complaining and come along for the ride. You might miss some magic you weren’t expecting.

Vent

I was going to blog about my first Cubs game but why waste your time with that when the CTA (Chicago Transit Authority for those who are ignorant of the hate) has provided me with such grand...fodder.

The CTA and I, we're good friends the way that ex-lovers are: You ride 'em 'cause it's convenient, but you'd really rather have another. Ride, that is.

We've come to terms. I catch her an hour before I have to be at work. Usually I'll arrive right on time. Sometimes early. Sometimes 5 minutes late. That's fine. She's a public transportation system. I can't expect her to pay attention to only my needs. But today? Today, she must have forgotten those terms.

Things started out well enough. I wanted to be at work a half-hour early, but I actually only left the house 15 minutes early. I resigned myself to being 15 minutes early. Fine. However, when I got to the train platform, lo and behold, a train pulled up. I'm going to be a half-hour early! Aw, shucks, CTA. You didn't have to.

Things are going smoothly: I'm listening to my friend Tyler's podcast, Battleship Pretension; I've got a Decemberists concert (the reason I'm leaving early) to look forward to; the sun is shining; the stops are flying by. Nice.

Then we hit the Jarvis stop. And stay. For a while. Longer. Longest. How long are we going to be here? Eventually we move. I check my watch. Down to 15 minutes early.

Howard stop. As we pull up, I look for a Yellow Line train to Skokie, my next transfer. None waiting. Still 15 minutes early. And I've got a little cushion.

But not enough cushion. This is when things go haywire. I'm waiting, watching train after train (red, purple) pass with nary a yellow in the mix. People are starting to complain. CTA attendants are stopped and asked what's going on. One tells us to go to the other tracks, the southbound tracks, where we see two yellows waiting. A little unusual since we (there's a number of us now) want to go north, but not unheard of on the CTA. And so we obediently go down one stairwell and come up the other to find one of the yellows leaving. Never fear; another awaits. Down there. We wait for it to come up a bit and meet us as it usually would on the northbound side. But there's nothing usual about today. It sits, and sits. We go to meet it. It moves. We wait to see where it will stop. It doesn't.

I'm a calm person. But at this point, I'm ready to talk to someone. I'm now going to be on time if a train leaves RIGHT NOW. Across the way on the northbound side, the correct side, a yellow line has snuck past us and is boarding. WHAT? People are pointing fingers, asking questions of one another; two CTA workers (one of whom was the one who told us to come to this side) are doing the same thing; and a yellow pulls up dropping people off from Skokie, that now fabled place where I once did travel with great convenience.

We're at the breaking point. I've got a pitchfork in my hand, the man beside me is trying ineffectually to light his torch with a butane lighter, when a voice from on high sounds: "This train to Skokie leaving right out from here."

I board. I check my watch. It's going to be close. Ah, well. Tyler and David are discussing spaghetti on a movie podcast and things are looking eerily normal. I arrive at Skokie and set my feet on the platform as one who has been lost at sea and waded ashore. I begin to kneel to kiss the ground but someone bumps my butt with their bag so I think better of it.

I am on the last leg of my journey. I need a bus right now to be on time. I look. No bus. OK, maybe I have a minute. 5 minutes later, one arrives. I'm going to be 5 minutes late. And just to thumb her nose at me, the CTA has provided me a driver who can't make the turn without backing up: BEEP, BEEP, BEEP.

I did arrive 5 minutes late at 9:05. I began my odyssey at 7:45. You do the math.

Celebrating the 4th

The 4th of July has quickly become one of my favorite holidays. Growing up, the grilling holidays (4th of July, Memorial Day, Labor Day) were not big holidays for my family. We went to some barbecues. I think my great uncle's huge barbecue bash was one of these holidays. But there were many that just passed as nothing more than a day off. I didn't think much of it until I got older and realized there were certain friends I couldn't call on these days because they would be at a barbecue.

Moving to Chicago, I've met some new friends who grew up in these families have decided to carry on the tradition of their parents'. Through them, I've learned why people love celebrating these holidays. It's a great time to get together with people whom you may not have seen since the last grilling holiday and drink copious amounts of beer (but spread throughout the day so no one need get trashed unless one so desires) and play games that you wouldn't consider playing otherwise like volleyball or cornholing (the less vulgar term would be bags).

But of these holidays, Chicago doesn't celebrate any of them like the 4th. And I'm not sure any city celebrates the 4th like Chicago does.

I was only visiting Chicago with thoughts of moving here when I first experienced it. And the amazing thing about it was I wasn't even a participant. That's the thing: Independence Day in Chicago will find you. You want to escape, you leave the city.

I was staying with my friend Carol. It was about 104 degrees outside and even warmer inside. She didn't have any plans and therefore I didn't either, so we figured we'd watch a movie. Since neither of us had seen The Piano, we decided that Independence Day would be the perfect day for viewing it. So there we were, sitting on the floor (it was too hot to sit on the couch), sweating from the exertion of simple respiration, watching The Piano. We began the movie around 4. About 5, the fireworks started.

Now when I went home after my visit, I swore to a friend that the official, city-sponsored fireworks lasted from 5 - 11 p.m. She didn't believe me and was right to not. However, she had not been there. The city fireworks actually happen on the 3rd. I guess the entire city decides to pick up the slack.

Seriously, if you have PTSD, don't come to Chicago. This 4th I went to a beach in Rogers Park, the northern most neighborhood of the city. Right north of it is Evanston whose fireworks we decided we'd catch from there. But who needs fireworks from miles away when you can be in the midst of them?

I looked up Illinois's fireworks laws yesterday. You can play with sparklers and and what not. But these are illegal: Firecrackers, torpedoes, skyrockets, roman candles, and bombs. I saw some sparklers, but I think I was more distracted by the firecrackers, torpedoes, skyrockets, roman candles and bombs. Where were the police? Everywhere, but I think it's pretty hard to crack down when the entire city is exploding.

I went to look for a fountain and felt like I was in a war zone. There were explosions all around us. Far to the north and far to the south. The only reason they weren't to the east is that there's a big lake there. Even then, someone decided to fire skyrockets at a lower angle toward the water.

And we're not talking just rinky-dink skyrockets that make more noise than they do anything else. At least two groups of people had spent God knows how much money on professional grade fireworks. The kind that explode into a color and then become mini sparklers. Ones with monstrous diameters. And they were only firing them 50 yards away. It was a little scary considering that some of the color didn't die before they hit the ground.

We even had a hard time telling when the Evanston fireworks began because someone else further up the coast had decided to buy professional fireworks as well. But Evanston's are beautiful and perhaps the best fireworks I've seen.

While on the beach, in between singing any patriotic songs we could think of, I got to talking with my friend Rick about Independence Day. He said it was a holiday that really made him look back over the year, much more than New Year's. I'd have to say I agree. New Year's carries with it pressure to end the year with a bang. Independence Day? You've got all summer, why not just enjoy what you've got right now.

Transformers

***1/2

I was in the movie theater waiting for Transformers to begin when a friend asked me, “So which Transformers did you have?”

“You know, I can’t really remember.”

My friend almost did a double take. “Where do you come from?”

I remember liking The Transformers (and their lesser-known counterparts, Go-Bots), but I can’t really remember them. I was much more into He-Man and Silverhawks and Star Wars.

All that to say, I watched the movie as a novice. I was in the minority. I couldn’t remember such excitement since Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was released. Maybe The Matrix: Reloaded. Both of those died pretty quickly. This did not. This excitement grew throughout the entire movie. As did mine.

Plot? OK. If I must. A U. S. helicopter that won’t identify itself lands at a US Air Force base somewhere in the deserts of the Middle East. Before you know it, this simple helicopter transforms into a three-story robot that destroys the base…and is looking for something. What? The Allspark. It fell to Earth millennia ago and contains a great power that if harnessed can blah blah blah…. Long and short: good guys (Autobots) and bad guys (Decepticons) both want it and so came to Earth to get it.

Meanwhile, our hero, Sam Witwicky (played by perhaps the next great actor Shia Labeouf) is dealing with high school: he can’t get the girl, the jocks don’t like him, he has friends that embarrass him in front of both, and his parents are ridiculous. But things may be looking up. In a shady car dealership run by Bernie Mac (has this guy ever been unfunny?), he happens upon an old Camaro.

Yes, it is a Transformer. Bumblebee, an Autobot (i.e. good guy, remember?). And so the fun begins. As a summer blockbuster, this is a great movie. As Ebert is found of saying, stuff blows up real good. There is plenty of humor. And the actors fill in what the script has sketched so we care about the characters. Of particular note are Kevin Dunn and Julie White who play Sam’s parents. They are a married couple the moment they share the screen and Ms. White is so funny she almost runs away with a movie in which giant robots fight each other. Oh, yeah. The Transformers. Judging by the cheers of the audience, they were not done a disservice.

I was entertained from beginning to end. Sure, in looking back today, there are bits and characters that didn’t really need to be there, but I didn’t care at the time. And a movie is about what happens to you when you are watching it.

I have hope for Michael Bay. His last two movies (this and The Island) were made without producer Jerry Bruckheimer and have had room for things other than explosions. He will never make a small, character-driven film, but a lot of other people will. He’s going to stick to what he does, and something may actually come of it.