Wall-E (dir. Andrew Stanton, Pixar, 2008)
July 6, 2008
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Wall-E
dir. Andrew Stanton
2008
97 min
Pixar/Disney, never known for anything remotely critical of the system that has enriched them (sure, why risk alienating that massive, conservative “family” demographic?), finally delivers one here. Having mastered the art of inside pop-culture references and intelligent, yet simple dialogue to cater to both children and parents, Wall-E breaks through the safe molds of most previous Pixar releases and one-ups Ratatouille’s social critique of elitism, all while retaining its trademark warm fuzziness.
It’s the year 2700 and the only humans left have devolved into lazy, fat, technology-opiated consumers (is this 2700 or 2007?) who live on a spaceship because we fucked up the Earth beyond repair about 700 years prior. Lonely Wall-E is the last solar-powered trash-compactor robot left from a failed mission to clean the shit up. His daily routine of stacking garbage and collecting shit is shattered when a sleek robot named Eve (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) arrives in search of plants, redeeming him from existentialism.
Pixar’s elegant animation design and commitment to fun save the dreary scenario from it’s own reality. There is not one word of dialogue for the first 35 minutes and, remarkably, the beauty of a desolate New York city and cameos of familiar junk (an iPod, Rubik’s Cube, VHS tapes) along with Wall-E’s cliche’d ET-like expressions were able to hold not just mine but my 3-year old son’s (and all the other children in the Columbia City Cinema audience) attention.
That such an overt critique of (excessive) consumerism has become a plotline for Pixar must mean one of two things: (1) society’s shit has really hit the fan or (2) even the “fuck consumerism” attitude itself has become marketable! Or both. Reviews from both liberal and conservative viewpoints have lauded (or attacked) Wall-E as anti-capitalist propaganda. But while Wall-E makes a statement, it’s still a safe and expected one - kinda like anything Barack Obama has been saying lately. Consumerism is lampooned, but the consumers themselves are the biggest targets rather then the corporations and governments who profit from them, or capitalism itself.
Also, it comes at a time when bleak forecasts for humanity’s near future can be found throughout recent Hollywood fare (The Happening, I Am Legend, The Day After Tomorrow). Wall-E may be a great leap forward politically for American animated features, but you can argue that it’s merely keeping up with the moment. Also keeping with the moment, now available for purchase: mass-produced Wall-E related toys and merchandise! We can’t expect everything from a cartoon made primarily for children (and their parent’s paychecks), but I gotta give props to the first film that the little one and I seemed to enjoy equally.
Pilgrimage (Tadashi Nakamura, 2007)
July 5, 2008
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Pilgrimage
dir. Tadashi Nakamura
2007
22 min
A couple years ago, the homie Tadashi (Tad) Nakamura approached me to submit our music (Blue Scholars) to his short documentary project Pilgrimage - an homage to the group of young, spirited and politicized Japanese Americans in the 1960s who began the annual trips to Manzanar - one of the many concentration camps that JAs were forced onto during WWII - and ensured that this then-unspoken history would never be forgotten. His vision for the project was straightforward, almost urgent, given the slim pickings of quality (especially contemporary) documentaries by radical API folks about radical API history. Impressed by his first documentary project, Yellow Brotherhood (2004), I was happy to oblige.
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SIFF Blog: The Wackness (Jonathan Levine, 2008)
July 4, 2008
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The Wackness
dir. Jonathan Levine
2008
110 min
I was surprised at the lack of visible hip-hop heads at the screening for The Wackness on the last day of SIFF at Cinerama. Judging by the Wu-Tang background music and graffiti titles, it seemed like a movie made specifically for those of us who grew up on 90’s hip-hop. Then again, your average head would probably ask “what the fuck is a film festival?” Read more
The Happening (M. Night Shyamalan, 2008)
June 25, 2008
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The Happening
dir. M. Night Shyamalan
2008
91 min
It’s a tirrrred formula: troubled hero trying to survive a disaster, preferably with a love interest and/or child. Lucky for us, we get both in The Happening - writer/director M. Night (”stop asking me if there’s a twist at the end”) Shyamalan’s latest dreary meditation on fear and humanity.
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SIFF Blog: Donkey Punch
June 23, 2008
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Donkey Punch (2008)
dir. Oliver Blackburn
UK
90 min
I recall a time earlier this year when I went through a streak of really shitty movies that inspired me to seek out the good shit and avoid the garbage. Avoiding pretty much everything Hollywood (except for comic book adaptations), it’s been awhile since I’ve felt a movie was a waste of life. Until I saw Donkey Punch, which ranks 15th out of the 14 SIFF films I’ve watched. Read more
SIFF Blog: Postcards From Leningrad
June 13, 2008
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Postcards From Leningrad (2007)
dir. Mariana Rondon
Venezuela
92 min
Set in 1960’s Venezuela, Postcards From Leningrad (Postales de Leningrado) is a whimsical tragedy narrated by children of revolutionary guerrilla fighters in the FALN (Armed Forces for National Liberation). The primary storyteller, Nina, shares the story of her family, focusing mostly on her cousin Teo, who hasn’t seen his parents since he was a baby, but enjoys receiving postcards from his mother, who writes to him from Leningrad.
It becomes apparent toward the middle of the film that these postcards are actually being written by Teo’s uncle to temporarily shelter him from the reality that his mother, presumably kidnapped or killed, will never return. Throughout, the narrative jumps forth and back in time, often abruptly and in chronological disorder, as our memories tend to do in real life.
As if truly told by a child, the story sets the ideological and political in the background. A life of survival becomes a series of games (reminiscent of Pan’s Labyrinth, but with less fantasy and more realism) - One of their favorite games is to become “the invisible man,” blending into society while paramilitary and police elements wreak havoc on the barrio seeking out militants, real or imagined. The postcards, these games, the children’s laughter - illustrate a world of innocence and play in the midst of repression and combat without resorting to cornball romanticism. The children, even when playing, carry with them a profound sadness sensed through their voice and eyes.
Mainstream cinema has often portrayed the guerilla fighter in extremes - if not as heartless terrorists then as superheroes. Postcards From Leningrad rejects both caricatures and attempts to paint a humanistic portrait: the revolutionary as a devoted family member, lover, worker. The range of personalities depicted among those in the liberation movement also reveal schisms and unities where most unexpected - a far cry from the monolithic, angry mob we usually see. Postcards is refreshing - sympathetic without melodrama - a reclamation of humanity in the name of those fighting to preserve it.
SIFF Blog: Sukiyaki Western Django
June 10, 2008
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Sukiyaki Western Django (2007)
dir. Takashi Miike
Japan
121 min
Any movie with a scene in which Quentin Tarantino beats the shit out of an Asian woman will never, ever get my cosign. It’s too bad - I was actually digging most of Takashi Miike’s Sukiyaki Western Django, Asian stereotypes and broken english aside.
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SIFF Blog: Cecil B. Demented and John Waters
June 5, 2008
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Cecil B. DeMented (2000)
dir. John Waters
France/USA
87 min
Seattle loves John Waters. Or at least, the sold-out crowd at Egyptian Theatre on Tuesday night does. The highlight of SIFF so far was the screening of his film Cecil B. Demented featuring a pre-screening interview with the director himself. He was comfortable and casual onstage, reminiscing on his previous body of work and how much the film industry has changed in the over 30 years he’s been in the game.
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ABOUT
Prometheus Brown is a college dropout who went to graduation anyway. When not re-considering going back to school, he writes, records and performs as the emcee half of the Seattle-based duo Blue Scholars and is a cultural worker contributing to Bayan-USA.
