Is it just me, or is there a trend in moviemaking right now where everyone is trying to either warp my mind or make me question reality? I guess it makes sense that this kind of intense political and economic climate should result in a spate of entertainment that takes us away from reality or makes us think about things from an alternative perspective. Also, I realize that it’s Oscar season, which means this void can’t be filled with a bunch of “stuff blowing up” action-adventure movies. Here’s why I’m mentioning this now—Christmas break is when we usually catch up on all the movies we’ve been meaning to see, and so I’m just coming off of watching a whole bunch of these movies. Notice how they are all “warping your mind” type films:
Inception: What the whhaaat……???? I liked this movie ok and the CGI was totally amazing, but here’s my overall description: a dream within a dream within a two-level dream, and then the top is spinning, and you’re like “ALL I WANTED WAS SOME ENTERTAINMENT, AND NOW I FEEL LIKE I NEED TO TAKE A GRADUATE-LEVEL COURSE TO FIGURE OUT WHAT THAT WAS ABOUT, DUDE.” Like, literally—I feel like I’m a pretty smart person who can grasp a concept, and I had to keep stopping this movie and reading the Wikipedia entry to see if maybe I fell asleep and missed a whole section. Is that the effect the filmmaker was going for? Does everyone have a dream elevator in their mind where they hide a crazy version of Marion Cotillard? I don’t think so—the other day my cousin Kendall left a message on my Facebook wall that she had a dream I got bangs, and they looked good. That’s all I’m saying.
Exit Through the Gift Shop: This is a semi-documentary about street art and Banksy, and you kind of have to at least know who Banksy is before you start watching it, because halfway through, I think Banksy actually hijacked the film and turned it into a piece of performance art (in a mind-warp kind of way). If you saw this film (which I highly recommend), I think the fictional aspect of it begins when Thierry gives his cut of his documentary to Banksy, and then I believe Banksy and Shepard Fairey invented the Mr. Brainwash character and commissioned all that art, and in doing so, performed a perfect sort of “life as art” publicity stunt AND gave their film a great ending. It’s fine if you disagree with me on this. I’m just curious as to whether a partially fictionalized documentary will be eligible for a “Best Documentary” Academy Award. I also wonder this about the Joaquin Phoenix film “I’m Still Here,” which as we now know was at least partially staged. Again, it’s just interesting to me how the layers of “reality” are being explored cinematically.
The Town: This was a more external, more traditional exploration of a flawed protagonist, but there was the “mind warp” element in there with his mother, and the bank robbery victim, and the fact that he is trying to break out of his current reality to move on to something different. Also, this movie had some super cool chase scenes, some of which made me think “It would be easier for you if you just got out of the car, took off your freaky nun costume, and blended in to the crowd,” but that’s just me being a super-practical theoretical bank robber. Also, you should totally see this movie just so you can see the late great Pete Postlethwaite in his turn as The Florist. Fantastic!
Black Swan: Actually, this is the last one on my “to be seen” list and I’m planning to go this week, but I understand it deals with the exploration of the different parts of Natalie Portman’s mind, so that will definitely fit in with this theme. In fact, this will probably go to the top of the “mind warp” examination list when I see it.
What do you think—am I imagining this trend, or am I imagining that I am imagining it? Whoaaaa….trippppyyyy…..
