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Gritty reality for a gritty year
By Ryan Heinsius
Published on 02/04/2010
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It takes a lot to get me to the movies these days.
Something about the production of parking, buying tickets, trying to claim a seat in a Darwinian conquest—one in which the loser is relegated to the first few rows, resulting in occasional nausea and possible permanent upper-vertebrae damage. Having to talk myself into some Zen-like, ultra-tolerant state to stave off the sudden murderous rage I feel under a few select conditions: One, crying and/or screaming and/or talking kids, two, kicking and/or punching of the back of my chair and, three, the subtle but deafening squishy crunch of 200 people simultaneously chewing fake-butter-soaked popcorn.
It’s stressful.
Now, I don’t mean to sound like the crotchety old man I will eventually become, but my point here is that there are many, many factors that conspire causing me to shy away from the movie-going experience. But, for a truly great movie, I’ll overlook it all—annoyances fade into oblivion, overcome by those rare glimpses of genius in cinema. Karl Marx once described religion as the opiate of the masses, and I believe that modern film provides this service to our contemporary escapist culture.
And this isn’t necessarily a bad thing (unless you’re venturing out to go see the glowing brilliance of, say, “When in Rome,” “The Tooth Fairy” or “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel”).
Tuesday, this year’s Academy Award nominations were released. For the first time since 1943 (when “Casablanca” won), there are 10 movies up for the Best Picture Oscar, spreading around the post-nomination economic boost to more than the standard five (only two are currently playing in Flagstaff: “Crazy Heart” and “Avatar”).
Perhaps one of the most surprising—at least to me—nominations is for the brilliant sci-fi flick “District 9.” The movie scared the crap out of me, plain and simple. The hyper-real effects, dangerously plausible plot and spot-on performances made for a terrifying, tense and weird journey through a not-so-alternate reality of aliens co-existing with humans. For anyone not intimately involved in the movie industry, “District 9” seemingly popped out of nowhere last year, the work of several then-marginally professional filmmakers from South Africa. A thinly veiled allegory for the horrors of Apartheid inflicted on the native residents of Johannesburg, “District 9,” much like reading terrifying books like Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road,” is full of frightening scenes that don’t require much imagination to insert them into our reality. The aliens, or prawns, are forced into crime-ridden slums and live in filthy structures that, incidentally, were actual shacks used as government housing in the city. As is exceedingly rare in Hollywood these days, art imitating life is a real thing.
And even though several weeks ago I professed my undying love for “Inglourious Basterds” (tell me you remember our discussion on “G.I. Bro”), I’m really pulling for “District 9,” however unlikely, to take the prize. The Coen Brothers are, of course, always brilliant, and their nomination for “A Serious Man,” which never made it to Flagstaff, is great. But I’m an underdog guy.
“Crazy Heart,” which is also up for multiple awards, opens in Flag on Friday. Jeff Bridges, the Dude himself, is up for Best Actor as is the film’s music: “The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” by Texas Americana singer-songwriter Ryan Bingham and the legendary T-Bone Burnett. The beauty of the music behind “Crazy Heart” is that it’s as authentic as it gets. Burnett himself was a music legend even before he toured with Bob Dylan’s traveling musical circus the Rolling Thunder Review in 1975. He was then a member of the on-camera band from ill-fated movie “Heaven’s Gate,” and as a result got to know Bridges and songwriting-legend-turned-actor Kris Kristofferson in 1979.
The music from “Crazy Heart” owes a considerable debt to artists like Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash not only in style but also in attitude, telling tales of a hard life full of motel rooms, dive bars, strange faces and nearly ubiquitous hangovers—all part of the game for the aging country-music road warrior. And Ryan Bingham is a young up-and -coming artist, much like Bridges’ foil and former apprentice in “Crazy Heart,” a young star played by Colin Farrell. I’m pulling for “The Weary Kind.”
So I guess I’ve talked myself into it. For the sake of art and escapism I’ll drag myself to at least see Bridges as a broken-down country singer. The Dude abides after all.
To see recent columns from the Editor’s Head click HERE.
To contact the Editor’s Head, drop it an e-mail at ryanh@flaglive.com.
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