Film Roundup #4

Transamerica *
Duncan Tucker, 2005

Some reviews have suggested that the contrast between humor and emotional tragedy here is a failure but it seems only a reasonable compromise to me. My opinion is that overall the film tries to be too cute, aiming more for general likeability than any insightful observations. That's not to say audiences would necessarily have been as comfortable with such potentially harrowing content--if not for the comedy, the bedroom scene in Phoenix between Felicity Huffman's mother/father and his/her son would be almost unbearably intense. In, say, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the intermittent levity seemed to relieve the building tension whereas here the comedy seems less injected into the narrative than the real basis for the film. Perhaps it's more of a traditional intergenerational buddy comedy with a transgender shtick than a transgender film with a comedy shtick. Is there anything wrong with that? Perhaps not. While I certainly didn't think it was terrific, it's enjoyable enough that you might want to just see it for yourself and decide.

The Iron Giant *
Brad Bird, 1999

Brice really likes this movie. It certainly has its moments, such as when the beatnik/scrap metal collector lets the squirrel out of the zipper of his pants in the restaurant, and when the 50-foot robot meditates on the eternal soul. The making-of featurette with Vin Diesel is priceless, mainly because he's totally whacked out on something. A full bottle of cough syrup, maybe?

Duel [TV] **
Steven Spielberg, 1971

Pretty much awesome. A great example of what's possible with limited resources and a very focused vision. I think commercial breaks might have lessened the slightly repetitive nature of the action by breaking things up a bit, but still a great thriller. I was personally very disappointed at the end when the truck, auspiciously labeled "FLAMMABLE," does not explode after driving over the cliff. Maybe that had to do with the constraints of working on a TV-movie-of-the-week budget and timeframe. Spielberg says he shot it in twelve days.

The protagonist, whose masculinity is challenged everywhere he looks, is named David Mann. Just thought you should know.

Backyard *
Charleen **
Ross McElwee, 1976 & 1978

Charleen is overall the more compelling film because of the titular teacher/poet/lover's vivacious personality, but McElwee uses intertitles and very few voiceovers, which will disappoint any devotee of his work, and I can't imagine any other sort of person will be watching this DVD.