11 September 2000

Now that I've written about a film from someone who is too close to me for comfort, I will write about a movie starring an actor who is too close to some of you for my comfort, Guy Pearce. The movie is called Memento and it is an interesting little film indeed. Here's the premise: A guy loses his short-term memory, his ability to make new memories, after an attack on his home in which his wife is raped and murdered. And so, he creates an elaborate system of written notes, tattoos and photographs to take the place of his failed facility. Enter Carrie-Ann Moss and Joe Pantoliano, not through a phone line, but in forms that bounce in and out of Pearce's reality almost as fluidly. You see, we see the world through Pearce's character's mind's eye. (Can I use three possessives in a row?) And we live at the whim of his memory, just as he does. Pearce is on a mission to find and kill his wife's attacker. Who can he trust? Who is out to destroy him? What is real? How can one bend reality? These are all the questions of Memento.

Overall, I enjoyed the picture and I'm sure that there will be critics who will get hot and bothered about this film. But, the one problem is that as well as writer/director Christopher Nolan constructs the film, after a while, the film's central gag makes us in the audience gag. By the end of the first act, we understand that his memory has all kinds of unnatural loopholes and that we are waiting for the explanation that will bring it all together in about 5 minutes. And somewhere in the second act, it starts feeling like Nolan and his character are asking the same questions over and over again. The right running time for this film would really be 60 minutes. It could easily be cut back to around 90 minutes from the 113 minutes at which it now runs. Still, an interesting ride.

As for you Guy gals, he spends an enormous portion of this movie with his shirt off, showing off his muscles and his tattoos. Guy is blonde here and it looks good. And the performance is as nuanced as any he's done. He is tough and gentle and angry and vulnerable. You all are going to love this movie. Me, I've seen him around Toronto quite a bit and I think that he probably thinks I am a gay stalker because I must be looking at him for too long or in some fun way. And for that reason, I still haven't taken his picture here. Sorry. But I hate making others feel uncomfortable and there are few things as awkward as stopping someone to take his photo on the street.

If you saw "60 Minutes" last night, you saw a segment on anti-abortion extremists. Well, when I caught the end of the story on TV, I had a little deja vu, as I had seen a movie called Soldiers in the Army of God on Sunday afternoon. A pretty remarkable film, which is due out on HBO eventually. The filmmakers, Marc Levin and Daphne Pinkerson, got access to the self-anointed "Army of God," a group of anti-abortion activists who advocate the murder of doctors and the bombing of clinics that do abortions. There is no question in my mind about these people and their beliefs. They are not only excessive, but they are remarkably hypocritical. I would love to see some people who really believe that abortion is murder and who are actually willing to fight the "war" like a war. It's not that I want these people to inflict themselves in any way on others. But, it seems to me that if you really believe that there is a holocaust of babies going on in America, you would do more than provoke others to commit violent acts against the supposed perpetrators.

One of the most revealing moments of this documentary is when adult-murderer Paul Hill talks about his arrest after shooting a doctor and two others in Florida. When Hill was arrested, he denied that he had done the dead. Very brave. Very noble. And even his process of doing the deed is loaded with self-righteous claims that God spoke to him directly before he took action. Likewise, Bob Lokey, who is one of the main characters in this piece, talks about the hand of God reaching into his hand and giving him a circumcision as he did his jail time for some petty theft. Yes, God's out there worrying about foreskins and giving orders to kill to guys in Florida. He or She isn't just doing something about the major issues. He's seeking lost souls to guide towards deviant behavior. Ironically enough, on KABC, the radio station where I do my weekly radio show with George Pennacchio, there is guy named Dennis Prager who has rationalized that his believe in the death penalty jibes with his orthodox Judaism. Sounds a lot like these guys.

The whole movie reminded me lot of a great documentary called Blood in the Face from almost a decade ago. The film was almost booed off the screen by Sundance liberals who were concerned that the film wasn't clear enough about what it thought of its subjects. There, the filmmakers had access to a group of neo-Nazis. And the insanity of the cause was quite clear to me. But somehow, it scared a lot of the audience. That's how good it was. These filmmakers have taken a similar tack, not really going too far in saying, "This is bad." And I appreciate their faith in my intelligence and yours. Of course, in the end, this film is very good, but not quite good enough to be scary, like Blood in the Face. Which is why, presumably, you will have a chance to see it in public.

Well, Monday is here and it's going to be a busy one. Not only do I have six movies on the schedule, but I still owe you a couple of other views of things I've already seen.

Until then...

READER OF THE DAY: This came from The Wood: "I haven't seen Almost Famous, and maybe I'm just stating the obvious, but there is just a hint of irony in Crowe's credo 'They're not your friends'--because now, of course, they really are his friends. I don't know what that means in the grand scheme of things. It sure seems like he is the ultimate success story--he gets to make movies, he gets to sit and talk with Billy Wilder for a long time, he gets to marry a rock star. It's easy to envy his access to and acceptance by the interesting and creative people in Hollywood. But does that mean that crossing over to the other side is the ultimate goal; the sign that you're truly successful and worth hanging out with? God, I hope not. We need some intelligent and creative people to stay at arm's length; to accept the loneliness and isolation; to watch from across the room as the privileged carry on their lives.

You mentioned you were going to try to see Dersu Uzala. I hope you do. My father took me see this movie at the local arthouse theater (that also played porn films) when I was a teenager. It was an important film for me to see. It kindled both an interest in film and in the languages and cultures of Russia--two passions which are with me to this day."

E ME: One more week to go. Any advice?