The Art Of Storytelling?

(Yay.)

I dunno maybe it's just me but if it's a film about a school and the teacher coming to shake things up and break traditional norms and teach them about thinking for themselves, I'd rather have them spend more time in the classroom.

It's okay for them to have their respective partners and see how their relationships develop but GOD...SO MUCH?? REALLY??

Written & Directed by: Sofia Coppola

Cast: Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman, Rose Byrne, and Steve Coogan.

  Marie Antoinette is a highly stylized teen movie that masquerades as a period drama. The heart of the film is a teenager, the young Antoinette, barely 15, being married off to the Dauphin Louis Auguste XVI. Much like the dauphine herself, everything in this film is subdued under the glamour and excess of royalty. She lives like a rockstar and draws a number of interesting parallels with modern adolescent lifestyles. In the beginning of the film, the young Marie is on her way to meet her future husband when she shows her friends a picture of him. This seems so familiar that being relatable becomes a recurring theme throughout the movie and never leaves. Watching the sunrise after a wild party, dealing with mean girls and gossip…. it doesn’t really ever stop feeling like this could be the tale of that rich girl that you know from school or even a friend. It comes full circle with the crush on the handsome jock (Axel Von Fursen), crashing a party, and a makeover.

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The film looks absolutely stunning. The visuals are just so appealing to look at from the grand aristocratic French halls to the detail on the costumes that it’s almost overwhelming. Almost. It’s an interesting insight into the world that Marie and the audience are thrust into, with their bizarre customs and strange social mores. It sometimes feels like an ode to cinematography because it’s all shot with the tones that so perfectly complement the situations and yet makes each shot reverberate with the sense of gentleness and simply being…utterly gorgeous.  That being said, this film thrives on style because that’s where all the fun is…the reality of the situations aren’t exactly engaging enough to make me feel very sympathetic towards Marie Antoinette. I understand where she’s coming from and how she is forced to fit in, like the new kid on the first day of school- constantly observed and judged, filled to the brim with shyness, and consumed with just the right amount of hesitation, excitement, and unbridled fear. Even so, her trials don’t seem like trials but more like tasks that she needs to check off her list so that she can get back to partying.

  Antoinette navigates through life in Versailles by partying and simply having a ball since it seems there is little else to do. Another interesting recurring motif is that she is a child, what else would she do? Adolescence and its growing pains are more of an emphasis in the film than anything else but I still think that even that it is heavily diluted under all the glitter and glam. Thank god for Kirsten Dunst, she maintains a balance of gentility and elegance sprinkled with mischief. She manages to make Marie Antoinette everything that she’s supposed to be: a teenager, a rebel, and a Queen.

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There’s a really great line in the film where the dauphin Louis XVI says, “We are too young to reign.” Which is true, they don’t really know what they are doing when the throne suddenly falls to them. His perspective is interesting although his character does comes off as a wimpy little twerp.

  As the film progresses, the audience is left with a sense of “okay but where is this going? What is it leading up to?”. Whether or not one knows about all the French Revolution, the film is just all very sensuous in imagery and sound (brilliant soundtrack).  It can come off as an effective satire of the modern young rich-and-famous-for-no-apparent-reason. It's entertaining to a certain degree because of the lavish extravaganza. But I found it just too slow, boring, and not exactly what I would call a great film if what I were looking forward to the most is…a scene where Marie Antoinette is sent to the Guillotine. 

Hello dear followers,

I have been gone for a while (understatement!), let's just say that there was holidaying in Manali and laziness involved.

BUT I'M HERE NOW! AND I actually wrote things. 

So this is Coppola Conundrum, I'm reviewing Sofia Coppola's films primarily because she's a young female writer and director (whoo!) and although I'm intrigued by it, I've never actually seen any of her work. 

So I'll be reviewing:

Marie Antoinette (2006)

Somewhere (2010)

Lost In Translation (2003)

The Bling Ring (2013)

Along with these, I'm also reviewing some of Francis Ford Coppola's films as well. Obviously these won't include the Godfather trilogy because you don't need to be told again about how epic and well-made those are...

But I am doing:

The Rain People (1969)

The Conversation (1974)

The Outsiders (1983)

Rumble Fish (1983)

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

  Directed by: Steve McQueen 

Cast: Michael Fassbender, Liam Cunningham, Liam McMahon, and Stuart Graham.

  Pain. If there were one word to describe this movie it would be, pain. Steve McQueen’s portrayal of the Hunger Strike of 1981 in Ireland led by Bobby Sands is vivid, unflinching, and bold. The greatest strength of this film is that it’s so silent. The quiet dignity of it further builds the tension of the simmering rage that underlies and drives the film. The prisoners demanding their rights are fearless, dauntless, and allow their anger to fuel their actions. This film is complete in its truth. True to his form, McQueen is unflinching, completely brutal, and unabashed in his honesty of the story that he’s telling. When Bobby Sands is being dragged and beaten, he’s fighting. When he’s arguing with the priest, he’s fighting. Finally, when he’s starving, refusing every morsel of food offered to him, he’s still fighting. This is war; there is no room for backing down, even for a second. The best part is that McQueen doesn’t tell us with lengthy, preachy dialogue, he shows it instead. The plates of food being changed, each as untouched as the next, and the revolution outside, shattering all the illusions of calm as prison officers are shot by members of the IRA are all indications of a constant state of tumultuous rebellion and refusal to give in.

The best segment of the film for me is when Sands (Fassbender) talks to a priest about the aspect of negotiation and the very “business of the soul” as he reveals his plans to go on a hunger strike again…until death. As the characters go back and forth in their conversation, the camera stays fixed. There’s so much electricity in this stillness that it’s captivating. The shot that follows with Sands retelling a haunting memory from his childhood is enigmatic because he’s so strong and reserved even though the agony sears through his eyes. The impact hits so much harder since he is calm and quiet. It’s disconcerting and disturbing.

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Sean Bobbit’s cinematography is beautiful before and while we see Sands dying. The colours are sombre and so the bright red of the blood stands out a lot more. The burden of the situation becomes all the more heavy when it is complemented with dark shades and the chilling sense of winter.

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I have no words to describe Fassbender’s performance in Hunger because it left me speechless and stunned. He lost 16 kgs to play Sands and manages to make Sands tenacious even while he is in a fragile, broken body. When he flinches in pain, so does the audience. He doesn’t need words to describe how he’s feeling. We can see it. In his limited movements, the wounds all over his body, and the intensity in his eyes. He’s not going to be shaken from his purpose. Towards the end of the film he looks more like a corpse than a human being and it hurts like someone just punched you in the gut. Here, his pain is our pain. But he is relentless and never forgoes his ferocity. The way Fassbender portrays this is both heart breaking and fascinating. Brace yourself for only realising towards the end of the movie that you’ve been crying for a while.

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I’ve been saying this for years now and I’ll say it again, where is Michael Fassbender’s damn Oscar?

This movie explores the strength of human determination, the essence of martyrdom, and the extremes that are gone through for basic human rights. There is no shortage of truth in this film. Down to the last detail, it remains sincere. In the end, there are no screams of agony or unrelenting pain, and it’s unnecessary. It’s because we’re already screaming on the inside.

Sorry I've been away...was holidaying and I just got back.

Well friends, it has been a long journey but today everything ends. The Fassbender Bender comes to a close with my last review being that of Hunger. 

So I'm going to watch it later today and post the review immediately afterwards.

It's been one hell of a ride.