32. Little Miss Sunshine (Jonathan Dayton and Valarie Faris, 2006)
Paulinka (my ex girlfriend's name) brought this film, and I was prepared to hate on it for the simple reason that Steve Carell has a major part. I just didn't see myself liking this film. And the fact that this was being compared to Wes Anderson films wasn't helping either as I generally dislike that geezer. But as the saying goes: Never judge a book by it's cover. This film is FANTASTIC. It's basically a family road movie with great comedy throughout. Each member of the family have their own little problems. Paul Dano's a mute with teen angst, Abigail Breslin (excellent) is obsessed with competing with 'pretty girls', Steve Carell is a suicidal depressive, and Alan Arkin is a druggie.
Another reason why I feel compelled to rate it this high is because of how I relate to the film. My grandfather passed away yesterday Friday morning, that's why I didn't post anything yesterday. He lived a long lengthy life (he was 73) and he was an incredibly strong man. But his sense of humour andd general personality really reminds me of Alan Arkin's character. They're 75% alike! I only just realised it. My grandad would often say inappropriate things at inappropriate time, and advise me that drinking was better than not drinking, lol. He also went on about women a lot and was always trying to chat up the ladies. We weren't close or anything, and although i'm sad, I wasn't surprised he died because of his liquor consumtion. Anyways, he was a beautiful person and Alan Arkin reminded me of him in this film.
Anyways, back to the film. There is much more charm and substance in 5 mins of this film than all of Wes Anderson's works put together. The family dynamic works brilliant with each actor playing off each other beautifully. This easily could have played out like The Royal Tenenbums, but Dayton's film is too humble and has too much heart be self-conciously quirky. It could have been satirical aswell and some people see it as so. But I don't. I think the film is just whole and simply aims to take you the ride with them.
Dayton and Faris' film manages to maintain a clear, solid mood that sometimes crosses the line over to farce. There's the horny and foul mouthed grandad played excellently by Alan Arkin, who I mentioned earlier. There's funny incidences with porn and some inappropriate dialogue displays during the ride. Non of this is boring. It's constantly funny and may even remind you of yours or a friend's family. They are all black sheeps within the family, nobody's deemed 'too odd' or eccentric in that household.
Now, I know earlier I indicated that I don't think much of Steve Carell, but i'm always happy to give credit when it's deserved. It's a strong performance where he is unusually restraint and playing it fairly straight. His character was probably my favourite in the whole film next to Alan Arkin's cokehead grandfather. Loved Paul Dano in this aswell. Mr Moonface delivered a gut wrenching performance in his breakdown scene. You truly get a sense of a kid who's consistently been holding his emotions throughout his entire life, only to finally snap when he realises he can't do the very thing he wants. It's a shockingly emotional scene.
But that's what Little Miss is all about. It's generally just about family life. It's as simple as that. Nothing more, nowt less. Moments of tenderness, tradegy, relief and joy all flow into one another and they generally are the things we deal with on a daily basis. Specially when family is concerened.
The only dodgy thing about this wonderfully crafted film was the beauty contest. Was I the only one that found those scenes disturbing? How the hell could they dress up those kids like that?? Anyways, apart from that, it's an essential purchase.
31. Boogie Nights (Paul Thomas Anderson, 1997)
If you're short, thick necked and stocky, at some point, you may have considered the potential of a life devoted to amateur wrestling. If you are tall, slender with broad shoulders, then perhaps swimming may have been an option. Or, if you're well endowed, then maybe you can do what Dirk Diggler did and become a porn star.
Boogie Nights is, for my money, PTA's best film to date. Better than Magnolia and yes, even better than the mighty There Will Be Blood. Despite it's subject matter, this film isn't about watching pornos. Rather, it's a very straight forward tale about the rise of a pornstar played by an excellent Mark Walhberg. It charts his rise from a weak, good mannered and naive young man, to a coke snorting, aggressive man who's loses everything and everybody without warning.
Burt Reynold's in his comeback role as Jack is a great performance. Very sleazy, all twinkle in his eyes as he tries to manipulate Diggler and his young co-workers into thinking that the porn industry is 'family orientated'. It's a very predatory role and when in which Reynolds makes it look so simplistic.
But aside from being a by the numbers Rise & Fall story, Anderson also goes out of his way to demystify the porn industry, which was his main aim all along, I feel. I mean, there are some some halirious and crappy behind the scenes set ups that make the industry appear more mechanical than The Terminator himself. It's almost satirical in it's portrayal of the porn industry as an 'ordanairy business'. Of course we know that it's not ordanairy at all.
Anderson also calls forth a lot of great auteurs. His expert handling of the ensemble cast echoes Robert Altman and a great scene where Dirk and Thomas Jane try to rip of Alfred Molina's drug kingping recalls the black humour of Pulp Fiction. The chart through the hedonistic 70s to the capitalist 80s is not too subtle, but still very effective. It's during the 80s we see Dirk start his reign of pill poppin and aggressive lashing outs. And we also see him replaced. These are fairly engrossing scenes, and adds a lot of sympathy to the Diggler character.
All in all a fantastic satirical film that's the birth child of The Player and Pulp Fiction, coupled with the upbringing of Pulp Fiction. PTA at his very best, and Wahlberg giving the performance of his career.
Only two for today, boys and girls. Will be back tomorrow to do more than that.
