The "Catching Fire" Director Scramble

Okay, so I no longer feel incredibly isolated in my belief that "The Hunger Games" was just terrible, as Kris Tapley seems to clearly agree with me. But ignoring my detest of the film, I nevertheless remain solid at the post of interest in whoever ends up chosen to direct the high profile sequel, "Catching Fire". Why? Because I quite simply have to believe that a direct can swoop in and bring back the franchise from the edge of chaos. Personally, my dream list was narrowed down to three, and seeing as Stanley Kubrick is dead, that one certainly isn't about to come to fruition. Given the three act structure of the books, Kubrick would have been an ace at the handle.

The other two are about as far from being chosen as Kubrick, with the top being Lynne Ramsay. Given her breathtaking character work on "Morvern Callar" and "We Need to Talk About Kevin", one can only assume she'd expose the psychological crevices of Katniss' post-games mentality. The other one, and the one I still hope against hope is chosen, is Tarsem Singh. Coming off of two of the most ridiculous films of the past couple months, yet also two of the most cinematically soaring, the man would take whatever is given to him in the script and make it soar. I haven't a doubt in my mind on that, but the fact of the matter is, the search has already narrowed.

For Your Anticipation: I Am the Context

I'm not entirely sure if I posted something back in its initial run in December, but "We Need to Talk About Kevin" is being "officially released" this weekend, whatever that means. I'm not entirely sure why they couldn't have officially released it back in December, but I'll quell my own frustration. You're no doubt aware by now of my deep love for Lynne Ramsay's domestic-horror flick that paints the crevices of Tilda Swinton's tormented mother as she deals with guilt, fear, and frigid loneliness as a by-product of her son. If there is a "Black Swan" of 2011, I'd be willing to make a case for this film. It made me feel very much similar to the way Aronofsky's film haunted me last year.

For Your Anticipation: An Acquired Taste

I haven't been much in the loop of things this week, hence the four clip posts in a row with no other news published. It's not that nothing's going on. It's that I've been painfully busy with other things this week, and will get back into the loop of things next week. I did want to give a second to raise interest for one of the greatest films of this year, which I caught during Telluride by the Sea in September, and shortly later gave one hell of a plug for. Chances are unlikely that you'll catch "We Need to Talk About Kevin" this weekend, for whatever reasons. The brutal subject matter or the lack of availability. In any case, the film is gaining speed with the awards circuits, particularly for Tilda Swinton.

"We Need to Talk About Kevin" Trailer

I think it goes without saying that I was mad in love with "We Need to Talk About Kevin" when I saw it just more than a month back. I maintain those gut feelings about, and in so many ways it's methods are too brilliant to work in a simple trailer. Meticulously made from the first to last shot, and I still have to revisit it when it comes out in December. This trailer works more than decently, but you never really get a feeling for how nightmarish an experience it is until you live it. But this'll do just fine. And that ticking sound is a lot less formulaic than it sounds. Trust me on that one.

Film Review: "We Need to Talk About Kevin" (****)

 

I was in a noticeably uncomfortable position in the earliest hours of Sunday morning in Portsmouth, NH. Waiting by a harshly lit streetlamp for a solid two hours after "We Need to Talk About Kevin" is a position I'd not wish amongst many, if any at all. To say that Lynne Ramsay has made her return with a vengeance would be a gross understatement. In that mystified delirium where the experiences I had been made witness to were drunkenly shooting straight through my mind, the only response I could relate to twitter was this: "I was not prepared for what was beyond the curtain."

That statement was perhaps not the most informative to send out to the uninformed masses of twitter, but I doubt I could have formed anything more coherent for my mindset in that moment. The first image we see of the film is this ethereal white curtain wavering aside an open window. It's a relatively tame image at the time, and the immediate decoder in me is dumbly thinking, "Oh, they're pulling back the curtain to show us what it's veiling." As simple as that sounds, it is in a way true. It's significance is not wholly known at the start, but once you're past it, there's absolutely no going back. You're there to the grim end. It's the only warning the audience is going to get.

2 Years of 'High on Celluloid'!

It's kind of hard to think that I've only been working on this site for two years, but at a point it seems like time becomes a less solid thing. I map things out by experience, and I am still very dissatisfied with my work in my entire first year. It was mostly based on these minimalist and isolationist ramblings of somebody who hadn't lived, and therefore didn't have an opinion. I think that the film that really begged me to be more individual and self-assured in my dissent from the popular opinion was "Black Swan", which was oddly absorbed by the popular opinion. Society's sensual obsession with it seemed to minimalize the accomplishment.

If you brought it up to any average person who liked it, they'll say that Natalie Portman's performance is the film. Those who disliked it will narrow it down to being an average thriller. Both miss the point of the film entirely, and I kept reaching these emotional roadblocks in others' responses, and I simply balked at it. It suddenly became so apparent how flawed the public opinion is, which was further compounded by "The King's Speech" winning Best Picture at this year's Oscar race. I thought of the film's true merits, which were few, and it got me to scrutinize the other players in the race, and finding I wasn't as taken with "Toy Story 3", "The Social Network", or "True Grit" as I thought.

I owe some of that sudden change to my film professors, who've done an absolutely brilliant job of broadening my horizon, if feeding my ego a tad too much inadvertently. I owe a great deal more to "Black Swan", as those central themes of railing against your owners in defense of what you believe just ignited inside me. Realize that I gave 17 A-range reviews last year, and only four so far this year, two of which in the past two weeks. I raised my standards to what they should be, rather than settling for less. If I operated this year the way I did in 2010, I think I'd have lost more readers than I'd have gained. The readers I have now are at least more specific.

"We Need to Talk About Kevin" Poster

GOD FREAKIN' DAMN! I'm sorry, but it's one of those moments when every single other lesser piece of filmmaking is shown up for what it couldn't do. This is one of the poster highlights of this year, and that is not an exaggeration. Strongly evoking some of the 60s/70s era horror posters, with an obvious tip of the hat to Roman Polanski, this makes it clear that it's not the cheery indie of the year. I was already getting massively excited for "We Need to Talk About Kevin", but even more so now than ever. If the French trailer was a bit soft, this certainly isn't. Take a look at the full poster after the jump!